how will your day reflect this ?
support for practice
Category Archives: modern yoga wisdom
lessons of yoga
fabulous
So, it is definitely the season where everyone I speak with wants a new wardrobe, people are tired of winter (here anyway) and a few folks I know are just plain waiting for new energy to take over their lives. So today, let’s breathe for renewal. Sit tall, take the hands into prayer pose, inhale as you take the arms overhead, exhale as you bring the arms down and the hands back to prayer pose. Try this 10 times. Renew. Re-energize. Refresh.
comfort
A balanced yoga practice will help reduce cravings and bring a sense of inner comfort and self-sufficiency.
A few moments of mind/body/spirit connection, or the mantra “I’m full and free and whole just as I am” can rope in an overactive munching practice.
That being said, I do make an awesome organic chocolate cake with heaps of dark chocolate frosting!!
asana
move from inside to outside
“Being able to do complicated postures doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to do yoga. The essence of yoga is not attainments, but how awarely you work with your limits wherever and whatever they may be” ~ Joel Kramer, Yoga as Self-Transformation
simple
K(eep)
I(it)
S(imple)
S(illy)
k i s s
🙂
kindness
February! Month of Valentine’s Day! Let’s spread that lovin’ feeling throughout the whole month by focusing on ahimsa (consideration for all living things) qualities such as kindness, patience, tolerance which is one of the YAMAS (how we relate to others: our actions/thoughts/speech)
How does this show up for you on and off your yoga mat?
om
a yoga mind is on channel OM 🙂
Craving a Vacation? 10 Ways to Cultivate your Yoga Mind
Craving a Vacation? 10 Ways to Cultivate your Yoga Mind
published on Greenster
It’s Friday as I write this post. The end of a typical workweek.
Yet, for many of us, Saturday and Sunday are far from mini-holidays. Thinking about this fact leads me to reflect on the concept of “time off”. For parents with children, is there really such a thing? If you’re self-employed, what does this expression actually mean? Some of us work, get groceries, cook, clean, do laundry, have family obligations–the to-do list is constant and never-ending. When we think of time off, we visualize taking a break from these daily activities and duties but by the weekend, when we have the “time off” work, we might have to pick up on some of the chores.
If you “can never relax”, as some people have expressed to me, then is time “off” really valuable or any different than time “on”? As well, what are we taking time “off” from? It seems to me that the expression is literally dependant on one’s mind-set. And that, dear friends, is what Yoga can help you with: a relaxed mind can travel through time and space with more ease.
How can Yoga help? Many people turn to Yoga for “stress-management,” expecting yoga to take their stress away. That may not happen, but Yoga can offer the best possible “time-off” in that it gives the thinking mind a little brain holiday. As Daniel J. Siegel says in The Mindful Brain, “Stillness is not the same as a void in activity, it’s more like a stabilizing strength”. This calm inner center is what provides us with the ability to relax even when we are in the midst of taxing circumstances. That is the number one reason to cultivate what I like to refer to as “yoga mind”.
Your “yoga mind” is able to surf into stillness even when you are on-duty, and it becomes your essential tool. I am not referring to ‘spacing out’, but rather, learning how to tame the mind, calm the chatter and experience newness within the daily flow.
Here are 10 ways to cultivate your yoga mind and incorporate the peaceful perspective into your week without getting on a plane (though that could be nice too!):
- Take a break from social media –whether the whole weekend or just part of it, in order to have a break, you need to create one!
- Turn your cell phone OFF (not to vibrate)
- Skip one thing in your routine and see if you miss it
- Try a new yoga posture
- Try a new pranayama
- Invest 15 minutes a day in relaxation
- Cut out one yoga posture from your daily flow or -try the same posture but in a different variation
- Take a break from sitting a lot by standing and shaking your legs out
- Periodically close your eyes or look away from the computer and take a few easy breaths
- Just sit quietly and follow your breath for 5 minutes
Photo Credit: Ian Bothwell
published January 30, 2013
believe
Discouraged? Sometimes it helps to try things differently, sometimes not to try, but always BELIEVE that natures design evolves itself. Pranayama for optimism:
A great breathing practice to help foster optimism is Kapalabhati Pranayama (pronounced (kah-pah-lah-BAH-tee). Kapala = skull and bhati = light (implying perception, knowledge).
This wonderful breathing exercise will clear the mind, release emotional tensions, improve digestion, and leave you feeling energized and “brighter,” almost as if your brain was standing in a warm and happy sunbeam.
Build up slowly!
Step by Step Guide:
Sit comfortably, using any support or props. Try seated tadasana on a chair, if you like.
Focus on your lower abdomen, placing your hands there, one atop the other. Breathe in and then try laughing.
Notice the activity under your hands, as the belly contracts in short bursts.
Inhale, and as you exhale next time, repeat the same “ha ha ha” action but using short exhales through the nose.
Your inhales can be long, passive and slow, the exhales will be shorter bursts. You can keep your hands on the belly and use them to pump the abdomen until you are comfortable and feel more adept at the rhythm.