Tag: empowerment

Yoga is Good For You

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Yoga is good for what ails you.

Just for starters Yoga helps manage or control anxiety, arthritis, asthma, back pain, blood pressure, carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic fatigue, depression, diabetes, epilepsy, headaches, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, stress and other conditions and diseases.

On top of all that Yoga improves your muscle tone, flexibility, strength and stamina, it reduces stress and tension, boosts self-esteem, improves concentration and creativity, lowers fat, improves blood circulation, stimulates the immune system and creates a sense of well-being and calm.

That’s all just scratching the surface. If you delve further, deeper, you find connection to your transcendent Self and gain true happiness, liberation and enlightenment.

 

Hatha Yoga / Styles

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Regardless of your age and/or level of fitness you can find a style of Hatha Yoga that will appeal and be most appropriate for your particular body and/or personality. Throughout all styles of Hatha Yoga, basic asanas (postures) and pranayamas (breathing exercises) remain the same, however it is within their order, how they are approached and where attention is focused that differentiates them. The emphasis may be on the postures, the breath, the rhythmic movements, the philosophy or a combination of non-exhaustive factors. There will always be the specific characteristics which reflect any particular teacher’s approach too. All styles and all teachers have their own personalities and it is about finding one which suits you.

Ananda Yoga ~ this method combines physical and spiritual with its purpose to clear and energize the systems of your body in preparation for meditation. Every posture looks toward expanding or heightening self-awareness. It is enhanced through affirmations which are a distinctive feature of this system. This style utilizes series of poses called ‘energization exercises’ which involve tensing and relaxing different parts of the body synchronised with breathing exercises to send energy to all parts. There is emphasis placed on relaxing deeply into the poses reflecting the intention that Hatha Yoga is a preparation for meditation.

Ashtanga Yoga ~ this yoga system is a rigorous practice and can be compared with the training of an elite athlete. There are 240 postures done in six successive series which are all linked by the breath (vinyasa flow). This style of Hatha Yoga represents the most intensive form with its purpose to create heat which in turn produces a cleansing/detoxifying effect on the body. There are equal emphasis placed on strength, flexibility and stamina within Ashtanga practice (also known as ‘Power Yoga’).

Integral Yoga ~ this combines all paths of yoga to benefit all aspects of the individual. One approach is made through asana (postures), pranayama (controlled breathing), selfless study, chanting, prayer, meditation and self-inquiry. Integral Yoga is more meditative than anatomical. This approach encourages one to be ‘at ease in body, peaceful in mind and useful in life’.

Iyengar Yoga ~ this is probably the most widely known technique of Hatha Yoga and is prescribed by yoga master B.K.S Iyengar. It is rigorously scientific and therapeutic and concentrates on alignment, correcting those structural imbalances of the physical body. One will pay close attention to the placement of hands, feet and pelvis as well as gaining alignment of the spine and appendicular frame (arms and legs). There is much attention to detail within Iyengar Yoga and props (wooden blocks, belts, straps, blankets, bolsters) are made available to assist in achieving great symmetry of the skeletal frame and progressing in extension within the posture.

Kripalu Yoga ~ this style of Yoga has been described as ‘meditation in motion’.  There is less concern with the structural detail of the poses more rather how the student feels mentally and emotionally whilst holding the posture. This style encourages a gentle, compassionate and introspective approach and due to the nature of holding the position for a longer time, it helps the practitioner to explore and release any emotional/spiritual obstructions. There are 3 stages to this style of practice, willful practice, will and surrender and surrendering to the body’s wisdom. There are differing intensities offered, gentle, moderate and vigorous. On top of all of this there is spontaneity encouraged through sequences of postures and too in individual postures to be guided by the body’s internal awareness.

Kundalini Yoga ~ this is the ancient practice which is designed to unlock and bring forth the reservoir of energy located deep within the base of the spine. The use of breath, posture, chanting and meditation are all encouraged to stimulate and consciously awaken the ‘kundalini’ through the chakras of energy centres positioned along the spine. The most common breathing exercises to be emphasised are : alternate nostril breathing, diaphragmatic breathing and a dynamic technique called ‘breath of fire’.

Sivananda Yoga ~ this style of Hatha Yoga incorporates a 5 point method of practice. It includes proper exercise, breathing, deep relaxation, vegetarian diet and positive thinking and meditation. The practice herein follows a routine of breathing exercises, sun salutations, a series of postures and then relaxation. Short Mantra chants and prayers will always begin and end each class.

Viniyoga ~ this style is ‘middle of the road’ between exacting Iyengar Yoga and demanding Ashtanga Yoga. Its basis is within the realm of ‘organized course of yoga study’.  There is the combination of asana, pranayama, meditation, text study, counselling, prayer, ritual, chanting and using the powers of imagination. There is a tailoring of the postures to the physical needs of the individual student, the emotional needs and also the cultural heritage. Breathing is considered to be one of the most important parts of the movement and inhalations and exhalations are consciously coordinated and articulated in varying length and ratios. This style of yoga is tutorial on a private one-to-one basis.

Bikram Yoga ~ this style is also known as ‘hot yoga’ for it is practiced within temperatures of 80 degrees or more (supplemented by a humidifier). The 90 minute class consists of 26 hatha yoga postures repeated twice over and there is a pranayama exercise at the beginning and the end of the session. A brief relaxation concludes the class. This style of yoga is exhilarating and an excellent routine for the physically and mentally fit.

 

Branches of Yoga

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There are a good handful of individual Yoga practices all with the common goal to unify both body and mind. They are as follows:

Hatha Yoga ~ otherwise known as the ‘forceful path’ which relates to the yoga of physical well-being. In our Western society it is used primarily as a physical therapy and consists of asanas (postures), pranayamas (breathing exercises) and meditation. The word Hatha comes from 2 parts Ha (The Sun) and Tha (The Moon) ….

Raja Yoga ~ considered the highest form of Yoga for Raja means ‘royal’ and within this practice meditation is the focal point. Approaching Raja Yoga consists of great adherence to the 8 limbs of Yoga (see The Yoga Sutras by Patanjali).  This branch of yoga is also known as ‘classical’. Raja yoga typically starts with practicing hatha yoga which prepares the body in health and strength so as to proceed forward into more advanced stages of training ….

Karma Yoga ~ is the path of service with the principle that what one experiences today is created by one’s actions of the past. With that in mind all present efforts become a conscious way to create a future that gives freedom from negativity, narrow-mindedness and selfishness. Karma Yoga is practiced within everyday work and play in a selfless manner and with intention to serve others ….

Bhakti Yoga ~ is the yoga of the heart, the path of devotion to the Devine. This type of yoga builds a positive way to channel all emotions and provides opportunity to cultivate an acceptance and tolerance of everyone you come into contact with …..

Jnana Yoga ~ is the yoga of the mind, it is the way of the wise, the path of the sage or scholar and requires development through many levels of study of the ancient scripts and texts of yogic tradition ….

Tantra Yoga ~ is a pathway of ritual and brings experience of the Divine in everything undertaken. It is the most misunderstood and misinterpreted path of yoga. It is about cultivating the mind with reverence and encouraging a ritualistic and positive approach to life in all manner ….

All above branches/paths of Yoga can be integrated with each other and one can practice and combine any number of expressions to unlock and release one’s full potential as a human being.

Bliss Yantra

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ImageMeditating upon the Bliss Design is like looking through a doorway to the creative, sensuous self. Observing beauty through the senses of sight, sound, touch and taste creates a bliss-filled meditative experience and allows us to access the subtle realms.

The healing arts of aromatherapy, colour therapy and sound therapy facilitate this sensual connection. Surrounding yourself with beauty and comfort brings inner harmony: wearing smooth fabrics, eating delicious food and creating delight in your environment, all feed and nourish the senses and guide their perception inward to a refuge of silence.

Venus – the planet of love – is associated with the Bliss Yantra. Romance, love, devotion and the sensuous side of relating are all highlighted through this design. If you are seeking these qualities, this design enhances the energy of attraction. The Bliss Yantra generates optimism and idealism, the ability to connect to positive outcomes and the best possible situation in all situations. Seeing the inherent beauty within and around you generates positive qualities and a sense of calm and joy in the mind.

By repeating this Mantra (either externally or internally) while working with the visual Yantra, the quality of Bliss will present itself to you…..

I honour the positivity and beauty that surrounds me

Oṁ śuṁ śukrāya namaḥ

(om shoom shoo-cry-yah nahm-ah-ha)

Swadhaya through Pranayama

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Our breathing not only connects us with the outer world, but it also connects our body, mind, emotions and spirit. Sit quietly with eyes closed and spine erect but supple.  Begin to relax more and more into this very simple posture. Simply follow the breath going in and out of one’s nose. Then follow the actual movement of the air into and out of the lungs. Observe the body and sense where the breath is taking place. Does it take place in the shoulders, the chest or the lower abdomen? Do your shoulders go up when you inhale? does your belly go out or in? Do you feel your breathing in your ribs, your back and your pelvis? As you sense your breathing, are your inhalations and exhalations taking place evenly and harmoniously or do they seem to pull in one direction or another? What tensions do you feel? What does your breathing ‘sound’ like? As you sense the location of your breath, do you feel peaceful, agitated, angry, joyful, sad, bored or wilful? Are you being stubborn or rigid in your thinking? What are you thinking and feeling?

In addition, at the more advanced levels of this work with breathing, one can even sense a certain quality of energy that seems to enter with each breath, and one can follow the movement of this energy in one’s body. The purpose here is simply to observe – not to analyze, judge or manipulate.

Do self-study at least 20 minutes at the beginning of each day.

Swadhyaya through Yoga

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Yoga is a philosophy of life, which is not restricted to just Asanas and Pranayama. It is a path of all-round development of an individual’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self. As the Vishnu-Purana states that self-study and yoga are not ultimately two separate things but both arise together from each other. Through Yoga and study, we have a chance to observe how our bodies, breath, mind and emotions have responded. For example, when you do a Yoga pose, you follow instructions. You learn as to how to get into the pose and how to align all body parts in tune with gravity. This is just the knowledge and the foundation of the yoga posture. But the power of the practice comes when we add observation or consciousness to the knowledge i.e Swadhyaya. Though consciousness already exists in the body, it needs to be tapped through Swadhyaya. Then in each pose, we align the body mindfully in tune with gravity for maximum balance, space and freedom to the spine, inner organs and to the breath. This observation leads to a deeper understanding and a communion with each asana. In the same way you can add the quality of curiosity, observation and exploration in each step of your life. Whatever you do, do it mindfully and consciously instead of doing it mechanically. It is true that mechanical repetition only dulls, but where there is profound attention one never stops seeing deeper and deeper. The next time you step into your Yoga pose or into your daily routine, add Swadhyaya to it.

Breathing Meditation

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Generally, the purpose of breathing meditation is to calm the mind and develop inner peace.  We can use breathing meditations alone or as a preliminary practice to reduce our distractions.

Simple Breathing Meditation

The first stage of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind clearer and more lucid. This can be accomplished by practicing a simple breathing meditation. We choose a quiet place to meditate and sit in a comfortable position. We can sit in the traditional cross-legged posture or in any other position that is comfortable. The most important thing is to keep our back straight to prevent our mind from becoming sluggish or sleepy.

We sit with our eyes partially closed and turn our attention to our breathing. We breathe naturally, preferably through the nostrils, without attempting to control our breath, and we try to become aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is our object of meditation. We should try to concentrate on it to the exclusion of everything else.

At first, our mind will be very busy, and we might even feel that the meditation is making our mind busier; but in reality we are just becoming more aware of how busy our mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but we should resist this and remain focused single-pointedly on the sensation of the breath. If we discover that our mind has wandered and is following our thoughts, we should immediately return it to the breath. We should repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath.

Benefits of Meditation

If we practice patiently in this way, gradually our distracting thoughts will subside and we will experience a sense of inner peace and relaxation. Our mind will feel lucid and spacious and we will feel refreshed. When the sea is rough, sediment is churned up and the water becomes murky, but when the wind dies down the mud gradually settles and the water becomes clear. In a similar way, when the otherwise incessant flow of our distracting thoughts is calmed through concentrating on the breath, our mind becomes unusually lucid and clear. We should stay with this state of mental calm for a while.

Even though breathing meditation is only a preliminary stage of meditation, it can be quite powerful. We can see from this practice that is is possible to experience inner peace and contentment just by controlling the mind, without having to depend at all upon external conditions.

When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subsides and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within.  This feeling of contentment and well-being helps us to cope with the busyness and difficulties of daily life. So much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, and many of the problems we experience, including ill health, are caused or aggravated by this stress. Just by doing breathing meditation for ten or fifteen minutes each day, we will be able to reduce this stress. We will experience a calm, spacious feeling in the mind, and many of our usual problems will fall away. Difficult situations will become easier to deal with, we will naturally feel warm and well disposed towards other people, and our relationships with others will gradually improve.

PSYCHOLOGY (part 1)

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Psychology is the study of the mind. It is a vast and complex subject.

Here, we deal with the mind in general, in a very straightforward, easy-to-understand study.

THE MiND

Mind is tangible. It consists mainly of thoughts, ideas, reasoning, awareness, perceptions, concepts, memories. It is creative, calculating, scheming, imaginative. Although completely non-material and non-physical, mind is a kind of receptacle for everything one experiences throughout life.

UNCONSCIOUS MIND

In order to give a little substance to mind, let us, in imagination construct a working model – a representation of mind in symbolic form. Firstly, imagine a sphere, the solid interior of which represents the Unconscious Mind: that part of mind which is normally inaccessible: that part of mind which contains a complete record of all past experience.

SUBCONSCIOUS MIND

The surface of the sphere can represent the Subconscious Mind. The subconscious, although accessible, functions in a very special way – secretive and somewhat obscure. It deals with a continuous influx of impressions drawn in from every direction. As long as the impressions continue to strike the surface of the sphere (sub-conscious) in darkness, they occur as subconscious impressions, incapable of entering consciousness.

Using the imagination once again, imagine a dense population of ‘tiny men’ covering the entire surface of the sphere (subconscious). These ‘tiny men’ represent Subconscious Response to the continuous influx of impressions and are of course influenced by all impressions that reach the subconscious.

Each impression acts as a stimulus, and each stimulus demands some kind of response. A response coming from a group of ‘tiny men’ receiving an impression, could be negative or positive. If positive, it could be either Instinctive or Conditioned. The ability to respond instinctively is inherent in humans from before birth, whereas conditioned responses are the outcome of training or learning (conditioning).

The ‘tiny men’ are most obedient; but they lack such faculties as initiative, reason etc. They are only able to respond as they have always responded to stimuli. In fact, it could be said that they represent that motivating force known as Habit.

CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE CONSCIOUS MIND

Now practically all that has so far been mentioned has been to do with the unconscious and the subconscious. What then of the Conscious Mind and Consciousness?

If we use the imagination yet again and imagine a helicopter of convenient size, in flight around the sphere, at a distance from the sphere’s surface (subconscious) and imagine also, a searchlight fixed to the underside of the helicopter, its beam of light scanning the activities of the ‘tiny men’, then we shall have a fair representation of consciousness. As for the conscious mind, of which consciousness is a part, that can be best represented by the helicopter, its equipment and crew members.

the following explains exactly what each symbol represents:

HELICOPTER – several crew members occupy the helicopter. The Pilot represents the Will, whereas other crew members represent various faculties of the conscious mind such as Reason, Logic, Decision etc

SEARCHLIGHT BEAM – the beam of light from the searchlight represents Attention and can be moved by the helicopter to illuminate any part of the surface of the sphere (subconscious) within its focus

ILLUMINATED AREA – the ‘populated’ area of the sphere’s surface illuminated by the beam of light from the searchlight, represents Consciousness.

7 Pointers to A Great Life!

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1.   S = SIMPLIFY

a great life is a result of simplifying your life… people often misinterpret what ‘simplify’ means. When you focus on simplifying your life, you free up energy and time to enjoy the purpose of why you are here … in order to create a great life you have to make room for it ….

2.   E = EFFORT

make some adjustments, re-evaluate how you spend your time … look for new ways to spend your energy and ensure this coincides with your definition of ‘a great life’ …

3.   C = CREATE PRIORITIES

become aware of what gets your attention, is it conducive to your ‘great life’?  focus on removing any obstacles or obstructions in your way … spend your days moving forward to your priorities ….

4.   R = RESERVES

have reserve of time, money, energy, love, space … have more than you need, they reduce fear of consequences, they allow you to make decisions on what you really want instead of having ‘fear’ decide for you …..

5.   E = ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS

get rid of anything that is draining, distracting or debilitating you … protect your mental energy, find ways to free up your daily mental energy for things that are important to you ….. let go of that which is no longer bringing you joy or happiness or support to reach your goals ………

6.   T = THOUGHTS

control your thoughts so that you accept and allow that a ‘great life’ can be yours, that you can have all that is good happen to you – your belief in your outcome will directly dictate how successful you are …. motivate yourself through positive thoughts of achievement … believe in your solutions to any problems you may encounter … whatever you think and believe, you create … listen to what you tell yourself and ensure it is in line with your goal of having a ‘great and happy’ life ….. you can adjust the voice in your head, you can keep your thoughts in control ……

7.   S = START

do it!  the best thing to do to get your life on track is to START … right now, it’s the best time to START taking a step in the direction of your heart’s desires … it is what you do right now, TODAY that will make a difference in your life tomorrow …..