Tag Archives: yogatherapy

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

Breathe

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It is still so cold outside as I look out my window, this is not what I see, but it is the energy I wish to invoke…fresh, growth, potential, possibility, encouragement, calm. I cannot help but take a picture of my houseplant, the new little shoot is just beautiful and symbolic of this season which is upon us.  I actually wrote a blog about purification, if you are interested in reviewing it – click here

new growth

The breath is one of the foundations of yoga practice ~ when breath and body movement are coordinated, energy circulates into the musculature and the opportunity for postural change is enhanced ~ a sunken chest becomes more open, shoulders release away from the ears, digestion improves and so on!

So breathe in fresh energy and release anything with your exhale that you do not need; in this way you are using the breath like spring cleaning even when it is still pretty frozen outside! After a few moments, your nervous system may just move from panic to peace and with very little cost, you have added a dose of regeneration and relaxation to your day 🙂

breathe

Setting Your Intention

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Intention provides direction. Helpful to be clear about what that intention is. A few minutes of mindful breathing can help clear the mind for this process.

In 20 years, I have heard many reasons why people practice yoga, and they are all valid. One of the things that I find useful whether you are building a home practice or at a yoga class, is to set an intention and check in with it periodically, mindfully.

For example, if, at the beginning of your practice you notice that you are really stiff in the neck, guide yourself to bring balance…watch that you are not tightening the shoulders or clenching your teeth in your poses. If you have a very stiff lower back, perhaps try more restorative poses that provide traction, instead of over doing strong backbends.

If you are setting goals for your day, your career, relationships, check that your actions bring balance and that you are moving in the direction of your intention. I am available for private yoga classes to help you with the process. When your practices are meaningful to you and do move you towards your state of equipoise, then you are using your yoga practice therapeutically 

setting your intention

The benefits of finding calm through Yoga

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“What makes the mind so powerful and difficult to ‘still’ is its rajasic impulse to do – to think about what to do, and about what to do about what it is thinking, and so on” ~ Doug Keller

Sometimes the body needs to do less as well.  What I love about restorative yoga is that it helps the mind settle as the body learns to let go into gravity. This prepares us for the sweet practices of yoga such as meditation and relaxation which help us so much in daily life.

The benefits of silence are numerous. Click HERE for the top 7 that come to mind and HERE to check out my cd, which will help you along the way.

If you typically think a lot during the physical practice of yoga, it could be that you haven’t quite got the right alignment information – so – I am available for private yoga classes to help you get in touch with the power of silence within. For now: food for thought: The benefits of finding calm through Yoga  are numerous and silence is stress relief…

silence is a place

Feeling Lighter After Yoga

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Had two students come up to me after yoga class (one with sciatica and one with back pain) and say they felt lighter and ready to “do stuff” so this photo seems appropriate. The average class actually may be asking you to overdo and over lengthen which can actually cause damage. While it seems like more is better with flexibility, this is not actually so. What I like about the Yapana® practice is that we don’t try to shout cues at people; we feel that the yoga mat is a place to take your muscles to school, sometimes retrain, sometimes rehab, sometimes repose – in other words, yogatherapy 🙂 …and it is a place to learn to relate to a spectrum of sensations. Then, having mastered the art of listening, to put into practice in your daily life…ahhh…there the benefits.  As always, I am available for private yoga classes to help you navigate your practice or learn ways to practice that will best suit you. And you can learn to relax  anytime with my Yoga Mind Cd (portable peacefullness)yoga = light

A yoga therapy breathing practice for joy

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celebrate what is rightThe breath is the link between the mind and the body; the key to finding the peace and joy that resides within. This is an exercise that anyone can do, you can do it at the end of your savasana, or meditation, or as a yoga break anytime.

Choose a comfortable set up for your practice. I have 3 different ones to choose from on my Yoga Mind cd. I was always told that palming the eyes creates a fresh perspective, it is also super important for our ‘staring into screens’ culture as it brings relaxation to the the eyes themselves as well as triggering a parasympathetic response in the nervous system.

Gently rub your palms together for about 15-30 seconds, feeling the warmth and visualizing it as healing energy.  Place your palms on the brow and cheekbones – as opposed to the sensitive eyeball area.  You can let the top throat pull up and back lightly and allow your head to be somewhat heavy into your hands. Tune into your breath, and let the thoughts and images fade into the palms as you feel the warmth from your breath passed back to you from the palms. Let your face feel hollow. When you are ready, let your eyes open from bottom to top and notice how you feel, how the breath feels. Focus in on any new sensations of release of tension, that is always a place of peace and joy.

If you would like any personal assistance, and to learn more breathing practices, I am available for workshops and private yoga classes

 

All you do is