Keeping your spirits up ! Sometimes we need to relax, sometimes we need to re-balance and other times we need a bit of cheering up. Did you know that yoga based breathing exercises can speak to each of these? Create a tool box for your own transformation with a more personalized yoga practice – you can contact me in Jersey City for details
I love my yoga practice
Laughter is the breath medicine 🙂
The best thing about private yoga classes, as my students tell me, is that they get to ask questions. Maybe you don’t feel your third eye (yet) or have awareness of your thighs (yet) or are less fearful (yet) … but … every time you practice you can enjoy some aspect and self-reflect, learn about yourself, and ultimately transform/organize/balance out in a new way. Enjoy the day on and off the yoga mat
Breathe, Stretch, Relax !
I am teaching a free yoga class on the Pier at Exchange Place tomorrow, Saturday June 7 2014.
You need to RSVP and bring a mat and 2 towels
If you cannot make it, you can always book a private yoga class with me 🙂
The Breath…Ahhh…
“The purpose of pranayama is to make the respiratory system functin at its best. This automatically improves the circulatory system, without which the processes of digestion and elimination would suffer. Toxins would accumulate, diseases spread through the body and ill-health becomes habitual” ~ B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Pranayama
Do you have tension in the neck, shoulders and lower back? Do you complain about headaches, poor sleeping habits, fatigue, stomach aches and high levels of stress ?
Maybe you do not breathe well. Part of a balanced yoga practice frees muscular restrictions which impede healthy breathing. I have some basic breathing practices on my Yoga Mind Cd and am available for private yoga classes to address your particular needs. There are also a few articles I have written online with practices you can check out.
Breathing Techniques For Mindfulness:
If you are thinking stressful thoughts the body will hold onto them and create knots in the muscles, this post gives breathing techniques for mindfulness. “Whatever you are FOCUSING upon is TRAINING you into a habit of thought” ~ Abraham Hicks
So what would happen if you focused on your breath? It would not change the situation, but it would alter your perception. I just experimented with this at the dentist. First focused on my breath, then the drilling (OWWW) then back to my breath. Drilling still there, I was calmer though. My heartbeat wasn’t pounding. So … taking this to another situation seems like a good stress management plan.
mindfulness
This is a great reminder. The breath is the link between mind and body. If you are thinking stressful thoughts the body will hold onto them and create knots in the muscles (etc). This is why learning to use your breathing in a conscious (mindful) way will help you in all kinds of ways by triggering the parasympathetic response (relaxation response) in the nervous system. Like anything it takes practice, and the good news is I am available here in Jersey City for private yoga lessons or to give a workshop at your studio 🙂
“If you want to conquer the anxiety of the moment, live in the breath” ~ Amit Ray. Anxiety can be very loud, and this noise can cloud judgemtn. What would happen if we could just be, in silence?
inner listening through mindfulnness
Focusing on the essential natural breath ( a practice from my YOGA MIND cd) is easy to use and learn, because it basically requires you to cultivate awareness more than “technique”, and can be done even 5 minutes a day – anywhere: car, subway, bus, walking, at your desk…
Mindfulness
Meanwhile this is one of many breathing techniques for mindfulness – you simply repeat to yourself when you breathe in, breathing in relaxation and when you breathe out, you focus on breathing out tension. It just takes a few moments to breathe mindfully so give it a whirl
Be still and listen..rather an art form.
It’s incredible how the breath can give us clues-be a barometer for-what is on our mind. Perfect example, navigating traffic in a foreign place. Not Europe. Jersey City. I just moved here but my GPS is on the fritz and gives me directions that are way off. I noticed how panicky I was and made a conscious effort to slow my breath down. Of course, the first step is always noticing the natural, essential breath and if it is anything but, that is a sure sign you are stressed out.
The photo shows a pranayama called alternate nostril breathing which is also balancing, though more of a formalized practice, not one you can do in your car. Yoga is a practical system and helps us in many ways contend with the daily grind. So when you get up and go don’t forget you are not leaving home without a built in anti-anxiety tool.
This is an interesting focus for a pose that many people do regularly.
Sometimes you just have to give up the past in order to embrace the present.
I say this after moving (again) ~ Now happily settled in Jersey City, NJ., so if you are looking to get your yoga on, are in pain, on the mend, stressed out, need some R & R you should reach out, private yoga classes are just the ticket !
Yogatherapy for the neck is one of my favourite yogatherapy subjects! I have a perfect yogatherapy workshop entitled “Pain in the Neck” so when I found this photo I quickly chose it for today’s blog.
Here is what one new student said after a private yoga class where we focused on learning skills to improve her posture especially since she is prone to headaches:
“I feel more space in the back of my neck very cool” ~ R.G.
I think what we all need to remember is that the body eavesdrops on our thoughts, responds to our sleep positions, driving habits, and other holding patterns. Change or transformation is possible through Yoga if the right practices are used for the right person. This includes postures, modifications of postures, breathing, affirmations, insights and so on.
Today’s yogatherapy tip: just be aware how you hold your head – does it tilt, fall, is your chin lifting up? Maybe this affirmation will help you heal today, feel your head on straight with the top throat light or at least not clench up as you deal with whatever life brings your way…”It is with flexibility and ease that I see all sides of an issue…”
