Tag Archives: yoga

Yoga Practice For Patience

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Now that I have relocated from Montreal to Jersey City, I am seeing just how fast-paced everything is!! Even Yoga.

All I know is that when impatience shows up on your mat, injury can prevail, and mindfulness can flounder.  There is something to be said, and this is why I love a Yapana® Yoga practice, to practicing skills to improve the way your body navigates the postures, from warm ups (vinyasa) to static/strength building and restorative/flexibility inducing ones.

Practicing patience is hard! We want outcomes. For my top 3 tips click HERE and let us today just add a slight pause here and there between breaths, during poses, activities ~ and affirm to yourself that all will be revealed
patience

Yoga as a Way to Cultivate Open Mind, Body, Heart

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I had this in mind when I practiced today ~ yoga as a way to cultivate open mind, body, heart

I reflected that I was grateful for a space to unroll my yoga mat, stack my props and breathe.

The pose, ustrasana = camel pose, can jam the neck if done in a hurry or incorrectly so it isn’t the first pose in your sequencing. There is an art to opening your upper spine (mid-back) and chest fully and this not only frees the neck but also helps ihelps protect your lower back from compression and improves nearly every other aspect of the posture ~ that’s my yogatherapy tip of the day. It is a pose that really prepares you for pranayama too.

That and “make an attitude to be in gratitude”…an attitude of gratitude can help

An affirmation to keep in mind on your Yoga Mat

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This is an affirmation to keep in mind when you are on your yoga mat.

Sometimes as a yoga teacher we give adjustments and it is important to remember that these are meant in the spirit that you are perfect as you are; perhaps you might use them as you would a GPS – to navigate a path that needs a little direction so as to keep you safe in your range of motion and reach, or to help light up the path so your body can find its way.

Comparison robs us of joy and peace of mind. It is far better to just be the most excellent variation of our own self that we can. So today in your practice, tune into the rhythm of your breath, focus on your inner self – the light body – and repeat: I am perfect the way I am

You do not need to compare and or contrast yourself to anyone or any notion of what practice is

I am perfect as I am

Fighting the Mind

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Who do you identify with?

If you plan to sit with your breath, I give full details on how to set up on the Yoga Mind cd; there should be no anxiety or discomfort in your posture, so use a few yoga props to ensure the spine is straight. My curiosity goes to the man on the left – he needs to sit on at least one(or two!) folded blanket(s) so his knees are not higher than the hips and bolsters fit under the outer hips is always welcome relief. Sukhasana = happy seated pose…

Also just know that meditation is a process and involves practice, patience, and replacing old patterns of thinking with a relaxed focus. You are undoing tension to uncover the calm that predates the anxiety..but just coexisting rather than resisting – honouring and accepting and gaining some distance from the busyness of the mind.

Once you are comfortable in your posture, and you are ok with touching base with your witness self, there is no need to force anything. Just bring yourself to the feeling of the breath touching the inside of your nostrils and focus on this sensation.

We can replace panic with peace as a destination  🙂 just stop fighting the mind long enough to practice taming it

thinking:notthinking

Yoga Practice Word of the Day: Acceptance

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Very yogic lesson; Open to Grace…

According to the Yoga sutras 1.12-1.16: there are 2 concepts ~

practice/persistance (ABHYASA) and non-attachment/letting go (VAIRAGYA) 

Practice leads you in the ‘right’ direction, while non-attachment allows you to continue the inner journey without getting sidetracked into the pains and/or pleasures along the way…

We tend towards thinking it is all about the body whereas the ‘goal’ of yoga is sattva/balance/peace…and cultivation of our innermost truest highest self…

acceptance

Ah! Feeling Good

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Some days, my yoga practice makes me feel smooth, kind of like gliding, and I realize that whatever is going on, I am actually feeling “good” and then it just becomes an overall positive day. Wishing you the same ~ a unity of mind/body/spirit 🙂

This is a lovely reminder to do something, even if you just take a walk, eat something fresh, sit and breathe, just to do something that nurtures that ‘feel good’ , wholesome, healthy feeling energy

feeling good

Your Postural Core And The Role Of Yoga

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As you can see, the load we put on our spine can create certain imbalances. We each have a postural core – so what is the role of yoga? As a psycho-somatic discipline it means that everything we think,do, feel is reflected in our bodies (body-mind-spirit=one)

Finding out who you are before you step onto a yoga mat is useful, especially in finding your path and practices to move toward symmetry. Beyond that, the more subtle aspects of yoga practice can show us areas and patterns of thinking and acting that only add more stress and load.

Awareness is the key. Even for something as simple – for this skeleton as stopping to hold the telephone with one ear…but you can see how even the basic pose – tadasana – standing mountain, would be a challenge to maintain.

Once we understand and make connections between muscles, posture, movement, impingement, we can then bring in a series of remedies to help create more ease for the individual. This is basically the goal of the therapeutic approach of yoga. I think that once a student is empowered through a private yoga class assessment, they have an increased knowledge base for practicing on their own, or in group classes where the cues may not address their specific situation.
spinal imbalances

Plank like an expert

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So cute! Just look at that supple spine, and how, although we know this asana takes strength from the arms, the lack of tension in the shoulders makes it seem so effortless ~ the blend of strength and flexibility, plus the calm breath

How do we, as adults, re-create this? Often we have to let go something to ‘achieve’ something else.  One of the things you want to consider in plank pose is safety in the wrists.

If you are starting in downward facing dog, inhale and draw your torso forward until the arms are stacked with shoulders directly over the wrists, torso parallel to the floor.

Press your outer arms inward, firming the bases of your index fingers into the floor. Keep your shoulder blades against your back, with some expansion from the spine. Also spread your collarbones away from the sternum.

Draw your front thighs up toward the ceiling, but resist your tailbone toward the heels. Lift the base of the skull away from the back of the neck and look straight down at the floor, keeping the throat and eyes soft.

As with any Yapana® yoga therapy practice, we modify with strategic prop placement depending on who you are and what needs to be worked or relaxed. That is where a private yoga class comes in handy, as it assesses you

plank like an expert

Savasana Funny

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This is hilarious!

Everyone is different of course, some people “can’t” relax, some people fall asleep instead of relaxing. I find in many classes that I have seen, there is only a 5 minute savasana; it isn’t enough. Mostly I think people just want to come in and bang out a work-out, but you really aren’t doing your Yoga justice to omit the very core of practice ~ integration, calm, witness, awareness, dropping into your light body…..

You can build a sustainable relaxation practice on your own. By that I mean, time spent on the mat that cultivates the calm tools for getting through daily stress.

There is one track on my Yoga Mind cd that I like for learning, called Diving Deeply into Relaxation, I think you can listen to a clip on I Tunes

If you are a bit overloaded by Saturday, which many of us are, just taking some time to lay out your mat, cover your eyes, and turn the world to mute will refresh you. Try it 🙂
Savasana funny comic

The Power Of Relaxation And Letting Go

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The Power Of Relaxation And Letting Go ~ reaping the benefits through yoga ~You get to move on, grow, transform, have a new day, a new opportunity, you get to reboot, refresh, release, embrace

When will you let go what makes you unhappy? It is called a yoga ‘practice’, so today on your mat, before beginning, touch base with the most tension-full place you have and allow the light of your practice, of your inner being, to permeate that place, calming it and releasing just a little. Move in the direction of balance and healing. If it suits you, include my yoga therapy breathing exercise to create joy, or one of the tracks from my Yoga Mind cd or book your private yoga class with me ~ am happy to guide you mind/body/soul  🙂

letting GO