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How to Handle Major Life Changes Like a Spiritual Warrior

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How to Handle Major Life Changes Like a Spiritual Warrior

By Rana Waxman as originally posted on MindBodyGreen

 

Warrior Poses Yoga TherapyI ran into someone today and, after I asked, “how are you?” this person blurted out: “I’m in transition.”
From the intonation, I got the feeling that transition was perceived as a place of uncertainty and unease.
Later, I reflected on the conversation and my first thought was, we are always in transition or in contact with it in one way or another. 
Nature is our first mirror: sunrise to sunset, waxing and waning moon, conception to pregnancy to birth, childhood to adulthood to death, seed to tree, seasons.
We witness transition on a daily basis, but when in a new phase, there is a tendency to feel lost and sometimes worried: When will this be over? or How will I do it?
We become one with the confusion of foreign circumstances, instead of embracing an inner knowledge that this too, shall pass because it’s part of the whole. Then somehow, we prepare ourselves, we cope, master, muster, muddle and make it. This despite not always having the end in sight.
I see students through life transitions and feel privileged to witness huge transformations. For some, feeling lost or not at the next step of the journey, provides an opportunity to seek reconnection or new acquaintance with inner guidance.
Yoga is an awesome choice for this; from the internal practice of meditation to the external attitudes towards self and environment.  If you’re faced with the transition from marriage to divorce, job to job-seeking, breakdown to breakthrough, grief/panic/loss to equanimity, insomnia to inner rest, finding a way to be peaceful and at ease in the wholeness of your present moment provides a clarity and inner strength, a resilience and an inner resourcefulness that anchors you. And, let us not forget, surrender…
I know it’s not always easy. I think about this every March because here in Montreal, the crocuses and tulips start to peek through the ground, which is not always fully thawed. How hard it must be for these flowers to sprout and be colorful amid the gray of our not-yet-finished winter.
Yet, those flowers push through and it all works out. I’m sure not all of them bloom but for the most part, Nature has both the challenge and the reward of growth built in.
We kind of have to be warriors in life. Spiritual Warriors. This is not a reference to fighting per se, but to perseverance, and determined inner strength.
Warrior Pose (Virabhadrasana) in its variations actually refers to the dialogue in the Bhagavad-Gita, and is more of an ideal for the practitioner, who exhibits bravery in the battle with the universal enemy of self-ignorance (avidya), which in the yoga system, is seen as the ultimate source of our suffering – if we only felt at one with where we are and who we are without feeling disconnected from the Source…
If you’re in transition, here are 10 things you can try: 
1. Practice “let go and let God.” 
Show up, do your best, and let the universe do the rest.
2. Simulate. 
Who is it or where is it you want to be?  What are the attributes you can simulate now?
3. Breathe. 
Inhale full, exhale with the Aaahhh sound…deep sighs help to train you to hear your own voice
4. Practice gratitude. 
Before you go to bed at night, say thank you for one thing
5. Listen. 
Practice listening to what you are hearing as guidance. Check in with yourself and notice hatever it is that comes up: witness, hear, listen and act. It could be as simple as buying kale, going to the gas station, updating your CV, saying hello to someone, and connecting on LinkedIn.
6. Try one new thing. 
Get out and do one new thing. Movement of any kind trains your brain that you are not stuck.
7. Relax. 
Try a relaxation practice. Some ideas include: talk therapy, massage, or meditation.
8. Don’t listen to everyone else’s advice. 
Sometimes if you are in transition, less advice is better, or just the ‘right’ advice…it’s OK to be protective of new growth.
9. Honor yourself. 
Honor and accept yourself as you are where you are…there is usually a beginning, a middle and an end to each cycle before a new one starts
10. Try yoga.  
Try the whole the whole system, but for now – a little experiment:
Simplified directions for Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana1) 
  • Stand tall and straight in Mountain Pose, legs parallel
  • Step one leg forward, while keeping the back leg straight, rooted through the heel, and slightly angled
  • Exhale and bend front leg without lunging forward
  • Keep spine vertical
  • Inhale raise arms to align with ears or where comfortable for your shoulders or just resting them
  • Tuck pelvis under, and by pushing into feet, feel the upper body become light and free as you reach up through fingers
  • Breathe steadily for about 10 breaths, comfortable in balancing with one leg forward, and the other leg back then repeat on other side…process by standing still after…
How did that feel?
Om shanty shanty shanty. 

 

Published October 26, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Yoga Therapy by Rana Waxman
About Rana Waxman
Rana Waxman is a Yoga Therapist, who has taught in Montreal for over 17 years. Her background in the healing arts of massage have earned her the nickname ‘the muscle whisperer.”  Often called, the “modern yogini,” Rana likes to empower students to take their practice home with them so their yoga becomes a tool for transformation. Her inspired style is a blend between alignment, vinyasa and restorative yoga to promote healthy posture, peace and positivity. Follow Rana on Facebook and Twitter.More from Rana Waxman on MindBodyGreenIf You’re Getting Injured In Yoga, Something Isn’t Right
7 Tips to Prevent Headaches

The Modern Yogini: 7 Tips to Prevent Headaches

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7 Tips to Prevent Headaches
By Rana Waxman posted on MINDBODYGREEN

7 Tips to Prevent Headaches

The neck is the superhighway between the head and the heart. This path can be affected by stress, which can impede proper breathing. The result? Tension headaches. For these, relaxation is a great cure. One way to soothe your nervous system is through pranayama (alternate nostril breathing). Continue reading →

free time and the modern yogi(ni)

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“viveka-khyatir-aviplava hana-upayah”
“The means of attaining cessation is the unceasing vision of discernment” – Yoga Sutra 2:26


“The first thing to do is to introspect.  Take stock of yourself and your habits, and find out what is standing in your way” – Paramahansa Yogananda, Where There Is Light


“Stillness is not the same as a void in activity, it’s more like a stabilizing strength” – Daniel J. Siegel, The Mindful Brain

Time off is relative I think.  Some folks get an entire summer “off”, some take a week or 2, some have long weekends.  For parents with children, is there really such a thing?  If you are self-employed, what does this mini expression actually mean? Continue reading →

The Open Heart & the Modern Yogini.

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photo: breahn

“A weak or concave chest indicates a depressed, sad or helpless attitude, which can be uplifted by deep breathing.” ~ Deb Shapiro

The other day I was talking to a friend, also a yoga teacher, about the expression “open your heart—lift your heart.” It is a great cue to get students to expand the rib cage and drop the shoulders away from the ears. Especially in back bending asanas, we want to lift up through the mid torso and ribs to avoid compression in the lumbar spine, and to bring more breath and energy into the lungs and heart. This encourages a shift from shallow breathing and also enhances lung capacity. Continue reading →

Sound and the modern yogi(ni)

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“Dhyana (meditation) means absorption.  It is the art of self-study, reflection, keen observation, or the search for the Infinite within.  It is the observation of the physical processes of the body, study of mental states and profound contemplation.  It means looking inwards to one’s innermost being.  Dhyana is the discovery of the Self” – B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Pranayama


“Sound can change our entire life’s course in an instant. Words spoken in anger can cause permanent problems between a husband and wife, or parent and child.  The throb of a well-tuned motor can engender such satisfaction in an amateur mechanic that a whole new career path suddenly opens before him.  A word of encouragement from a teacher at just the right time can inspire a student for many years to come.” – T. Ashley-Farrand, Healing Mantras 

Each one of us has a story about where we find ourselves at this moment in time, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually.  Continue reading →