Tag Archives: yoga

Word of the day is drishti

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Word of the day is drishti “or focused gaze, is a means for developing concentrated intention. It relates to the fifth limb of yoga (pratyahara) concerning sense withdrawal, as well as the sixth limb dharana relating to concentration.”

drishti

drishti ~ focus, gaze

 

Sometimes we practice asana with eyes open, sometimes, eyes closed. When we focus with open eyes, this focus is called drishti, or gaze.  It is a soft and diffused gaze rather than a hard stare. Many classical poses have drishti points, and some pranayama techniques also call for a specific position for the eyes, such as the “third eye” area between the eyebrows, or, at the tip of the nose.

A classical yogic meditation techinique is Candle Gazing, where you maintain a soft eye focus on a candle flame. The focus helps to calm the mind, via the eyes. We are a very visual culture (think TV, Ipads, movies etc) and if you ever watched a crime show thinking you were relaxed, you should periodically check your heart beat because often the seeing is actually stressing the system. This doesn’t mean don’t watch your favourite crime show, just be aware that there is a powerful effect going on in your nervous system.

A nice way to “reset the eyes, erase the mind” is to palm the eyes after your meditation or relaxation. This technique is a way to relax the eyes, and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. You rub your palms together to generate warmth then bring your palms gently over closed eyes

Find Peace This Weekend in Jersey City

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Find Peace This Weekend in Jersey City cause I am teaching an all new restorative yoga class …   peace – do you find it elusive?

Finding Peace In Jersey City

Restorative Yoga Class Jersey City  ~ Restorative Yoga: This is exactly what is being recommended as a Yoga practice to promote recovery. Whether you are an athlete and find it hard to rebalance from high energy workouts, or whether the daily grind leaves you worn out, restorative yoga is fast becoming the new go-to practice.  This is a series not to be missed as it promotes flexibility and the rest and digest mechanisms necessary for optimum health.  Learn strategic prop supported “being” and “still” asanas that deepen your experience of yoga.  Whether you are new to yoga, looking to refine your yoga practice, or balance out an active existence, this series will give you the opportunity as well as provide you with relaxation and breathing techniques to combat the stresses of daily life. The class is a 1 hour 35 minute format, and will also cover pranayama and savasana. Come chill! Here’s the link to the calendar:  https://ranawaxman.com/calendar/

Not convinced? check this out “Their findings showed that the restorative yoga practitioners lost significantly more subcutaneous fat over the initial 6 months of the study period, and kept losing it during a maintenance period with less direct supervision. There was no significant loss of visceral fat in either group.” and the following article which stresses the crucial role of recovery: “Without question, yoga provides excellent opportunities for recovery. But restorative yoga—a specific, passive style of this popular mind-body technique—can be of particular use to fitness professionals with stressed-out, maxed-out clients. Here are practical strategies for introducing restoratives into your client’s everyday routines to promote recovery and relaxation…Restorative yoga combats fatigue, balances tight muscles, reduces overtraining injuries, speeds recovery from illness or injury, and reduces depression and anxiety”

 the dance for peace

 

Healthy habits

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Favouhabitsrite quote of all-time

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit” ~ Aristotle

Healthy habits: creating healthy habits and encouraging positive transformation is built into the yogic system

I think I also read ‘we form habits then they form us’. As a Yoga professional, I see Yoga as much more than fitness, it is self-transformation (agree with Joel Kramer)…As a balanced system and practice, gives us tools to substitute comfort for tension, peace for panic, and emotional perspective instead of blockages.

What are some of your healthy and unhealthy habits? Are there any you would like to change? Day to day life loads our system with obvious and subliminal stress which depletes our energy and leads to restlessness and fatigue, among other issues. Asana and pranayama become yogic tools to benefit us by releasing tension  and bringing us to a state of conscious relaxation ~ being aware and also, relaxed. In this state, we tend to make better choices. One of the most interesting things I have read is a statement by Gary Krafstow, that “asana practice is not fundamentally about the asanas, but about the practitioner…As a tool of personal transformation, asana can function at many levels of our human system.”

 

yoga basics in Jersey City

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yoga basics: come join me at 9:30 Sundays for yoga basics class in Jersey City

“yoga is not for the flexible, it’s for the willing” love it!

I am teaching this morning, a basics class, called FUNdamentals. Each week we break down some of the essential skills in asana and pranayama, and try to fit in a little practical yoga wisdom so that you leave feeling refreshed and inspired. Last week we worked on backbends. This week we are going to work on standing poses. All standing poses begin with Tadasana, mountain pose. Also referred to as samasthiti, which means pose of balance, this one pose establishes the fundamentals of alignment that are required for al other standing poses. Look for creating symmetry and stability.

The key ingredient to any pose is awareness, even if you can’t somehow access a certain area in your body, or movement that is asked of you. In this pose we look for a neutral pelvis, and a lengthening from kneecaps up.. It is also a great pose to investigate how you place your head, whether you thrust your chin forward or drop your head back. We look to lengthen the back of the neck and lift from the crown of the head upwards. Any gains in flexibility, by the way, happen when you are not struggling, and you are able to hold a posture for a length of time, as opposed to just 3 breaths. Join us or contact me for a one-one!

 

yoga basics

yoga basics

yoga and its cold cures

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from overload to cold curesyoga and its cold cures…

“It’s not the load that breaks you down it’s the way you carry it”.

I think this expression needs a little play. Are any of you suffering from the common cold? Perfect example of a little viral infection – actually of the mucous membranes that line the respiratory tract – which includes nose and throat. Common symptoms can be nasal congestion, discharge, sinusitis, sore throat, coughing, headaches. So how does yoga help? Well, yoga postures can be pretty helpful for respiratory disorders. Some sequencing might include downward facing dog with head support, other inversions and some soothing backbends to open the chest. The focus is more restorative, opening, and relaxing for the system. Downward facing dog is not a restorative in that it requires a lot of muscular effort but a bolster under the head or some other support has benefits for the brain, very soothing to the nervous system and can cure fatigueI am actually teaching a restorative yoga workshop to support the immune system – check it out

Stress definitely knocks us out when we don’t have a plan, and even the best of us, with the most disciplined practice get overwhelmed sometimes. All you can do is your best to prevent the cold, but if you have it, you will find it will pretty much dictate its needs which usually include rest and fluids. The neti pot is my favourite yoga cleansing technique, which pretty much keeps the airborne viruses at bay. You have to do it routinely. And here is something to think about when you feel like your resistance is low, resistance takes a lot of energy, and as BKS Iyengar said: “fear and fatiigue block the mind. Confront both, and courage and confidence will flow into you”

 

Nurturing The Spirit With Yoga

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Nurturing The Spirit With Yoga

“It is not selfish to love yourself, take care of yourself, and to make your happiness a priority. It’s necessary.” ~ Mandy Hale

According to the yogic system, it is the fluctuations of the mind that impose themselves on the body  and thus bring about mental and physical imbalance. The remedy if you will, is a focused and dedicated practice of asana and pranayama to calm the agitated mind, or wake up the sleepy mind, and balance out our system, thus preventing disease. While this may mean that restoratives are called for, it may also mean that a stronger practice (like standing poses) is a better recipe.

As always, you need to start where you are. Usually we just do more of the same, whereas your practice should be organic. The balance between the more active and passive postures will vary from person to person, and season to season. Too much of the active practice can still exhaust you, too much passive can lead to lethargy. I usually teach both constituents in my classes but in private yoga lessons,  the practice will specifically address the student. I also have two upcoming workshops which will give you some idea of how restorative practices can be used to enhance calm and support the immune system.

I find this interesting: “Lymph glands are scattered throughout the body, including between muscle fibres. The muscle is literally helping to pump the gland to effectuate lymphatic flow.  Hence, inactive muscles impact on the lymphatic function” ~ Pete Egoscue

Always add relaxation. It is the integrating factor.

Nurturing The Spirit With Yoga

Nurturing The Spirit With Yoga

Restore Your Calm

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Restore Your Calm

PeaceFULL : A Restorative Yoga Workshop to Combat Holiday Stress and Help you Reconnect With Your Calm Centre

Holiday Season is upon us, yet with all the extra festivities, so many people are stressed-out, with huge ‘to-do’ lists and “get-it-done” momentum, leaving them feeling exhausted, pressured and with no ability to recover. As the workload increases, and our social calendars fill, our digestive system becomes overloaded and sluggish, and our nervous system can feel more frazzled than filled with joy.

Restorative yoga is the antidote and will benefit and balance out the more active practices that Yoga offers. This specially themed class is a practice of BEING poses, postures held with strategic placement of props for an extended period of time, where the practitioner can detoxify, replenish and recover from fatigue, overtraining, and anxiety. We will also include breathing practices and deep relaxation to help regulate, repair, and allow your body to naturally release tension, elongate chronically tight musculature, and help you access your inner core of joy and peace, light and love.

Come and celebrate the season by immersing yourself, in this peaceFULL practice that will give you the gift of relaxation and rejuvenation so that you can enter into 2015 with a calm and centered approach. It is appropriate for all levels and all are welcome.

$25 in advance call 201-993-1110

$30 at the door

Sunday, November 23, 5:00 – 7:00 P.M.

Jivamukti Yoga Center Jersey City

restorative yoga for calm

Calm and PeaceFULL

yoga being and becoming

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yoga being and becoming

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yoga being and becoming are addressed in this lovely quote

“change is the essence of life…be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become”… yoga practice is a strong reminder of change. Someone can to class yesterday with a sore/stiff shoulder. The practices we did proved very therapeutic to her, and when we left she remarked about it. The photo above draws us into movement – from storm to calm. To some degree you have to know where you are and have a idea of where you want to be, even though there is nothing wrong, in the wholeness of the moment, where you are.

BKS Iyengar wrote: ” life inevitably oscillates, moves, and changes between the known and the unknown. So often we are not ready to accept the flow of life. We seek freedom but cling to “bondage”.  We do not allow life to “happen” and take on its own shape. Conflicts, opposition, clash of interests and ideas, collision of ego (personal and collective), and limited understanding are all inevitable parts of life. The yogic solution to all these vicissitudes is to study how to adapt and build ourselves up. The key is to control the emotional disturbances and the mental fluctuations”

There are a few practices on my cd, YOGA MIND which will perhaps help you with this process. Starting where you are, just kind of settle into practice and the journey of it. Also check out my workshops for some key peaceful practices

free yoga in jersey city heights

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free yoga

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

free yoga in jersey city heights

this weekend, on Saturday October 25th come meet me for a free yoga class in jersey city heights…bring a friend! I have 3 classes on the schedule right now with several workshops in the making

Q.How can I FEEL BETTER through YOGA?

A. Regular practice of YOGA will help you FEEL BETTER by
*Increasing strength, flexibility and cardiovascular endurance
*Lubricating joints, tendons, ligaments
*Improving overall mood and energy level
*Working out tensions in the body
*Preventing disease
*Detoxifying the body and delaying the ageing process
*Helps control overactive emotions
*Decongesting the toxins from the organs glands and deep tissues

Q. How can I THINK BETTER through YOGA?

A. Regular practice of YOGA will help you THINK BETTER by
*Harnessing the power of your mind
*Improving memory
*Improving communications skills and creativity
*Decreasing the effects of stress through its meditative aspect
*Helps create focus and inner balance
*Quiets mind so one becomes freer to make better decisions
*Peace of mind creates efficiency and productivity

Q.How can I LEAD A BETTER LIFE through YOGA?

A. Regular practice of YOGA will help you LEAD a BETTER Life by
*Teaching self-mastery
*Access inner resources of confidence and inspiration
*Improves performance
*Long -lasting sense of inner happiness an positive outlook
*Access intuition
* Free-spirited ness that translates into being centered during stressful situations

 

yoga and patience quotes

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yoga and patience quotes

“you will get there when you are meant to get there. So relax, breathe, and be patient”.

I love this quote. We rarely use that word anymore, but it is a good one to pull out and examine when you can. We seem to practice impatience a lot because that is what we are used to. You may even have done it today at the grocery store when you were waiting in line and the person ahead of you was taking FOREVER to pay. You rolled your eyes, stamped your foot. Everything has to be done yesterday or it isn’t good. Well, I don’t think speed is the same as intelligence.

Hey we all have our own pace. Interesting to watch my students today doing a simple vinyasa with forward folding. Each was at their own tempo and it was great because I could tell they were watching their alignment and waiting for their breath, pretty much all I could ask for. Science lately is revealing that chasing a stretch with vehemence does not change your body’s set postural point and may in fact, put you at risk for injury. I prefer to set up a pose with a great prop and settle in for a bit. Wait, and let the pose be revealed a bit. Wait some more and it may get interesting.

yoga and patience quotes

yoga and patience quotes