Om Namah Shivaya

Om Namah Shivaya

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Strength Receiving along the Ganga

YOU

"You don't need to find yourself for you never lost yourself" Mark Whitwell

What a powerful statement...meditate on that for the day.

If we were never lost, then what are we searching for?
As Mark and his teachers say, "To merge and to be with our own experience, rather than react, is yoga"


This is the yoga I practice, I teach, I believe.


This is yoga where if all I can do is breath in and out on the subway or in traffic, or maybe before I go to sleep I inhale and exhale my hands above my head and to the floor for a few minutes...then I am yoga.


As Mark says, "All you need to be a yogi(ini) is your body, breath and the beautiful embrace of your own reality"


That sounds like a perfect mixture to me...and something that I can take anywhere I go, for the rest of my life.


So far, it has already impacted my life on a deep level bc there is no excuse that I do not have enough time or money to practice yoga...bc yoga is me, breathing strength receiving.


om shanti

Monday, May 17, 2010

DO even when you don't want to Do it

What a past few days...
First of all I have had a horrible stomach ache. Its so strange...I was in India for a month and never got sick...and then after eating a vegan pita pocket with an organic salad in NYC...boom! I got food poisoning or something painful and awful.
Doing my yoga was not easy.
So I simply did alot of breathing...deep breathing...a lot of child pose...for a long period of time.
And what did seem to help was leg raises and the Single and Double Wind Relieving poses: Vatayanasana.
This pose gently massages the digestive system and gives relief from excess gas (hence the name of the pose) , stomach and intestines.
basically you lie on your back
inhale and exhale on knee to your chest
pull in the knee to your chest with your hands wrapped around the knee
breath in and out
switch legs
do this four or five times with at least 2 or 4 big breathes while holding the knee to the chest.
Then you can bring both knees to the chest and inhale and exhale for a while.

What a relief!
To find more great releaving yoga poses...check out the book: The Sivananda Companion to Yoga

Om Shanti

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Sore!

I am so sore from yoga class yesterday! I guess you do sometimes work your muscles a little more in class than in your personal practice.
Guess it goes with everything else in my life: have a nice balance of both so you can have the best of both!
hari Om

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Yoga Class

I took my first yoga " class" today... its been over a month.

My personal practice has been so strong and wonderful...that I have not needed to pay to go to yoga. But I decided to go today and wow...it felt amazing!

Usually when you have not been to a class or the gym for a while...its so hard to get back into it...your muscles ache and your mind wanders. But I was in bliss...in a packed room with wonderful people, sharing energy and moving with our breath and the sound of jazz music and Krishna Das...

The whole class was a joy. Even at times when they were moving a little faster than my breath could handle...I slowed down to my own pace and kept the ujjayi breath Mark taught me.

My muscles felt elongated, my breath was deeper, my body was more relaxed, my mind was at peace.

The NOT going to yoga class and practicing my OWN yoga helped so much.

So many people that I talk to about yoga make excuses about how much money yoga classes are in the city or how they don't have time to go...and I keep saying to do your OWN yoga. Take out a few minutes in the am and pm and just do the breathing sequence of lifting the arms up over head and bending forward with the exhale. That's it for now and if that is all they can do  then that alone WILL change their life.

I am living proof. Who knows what the future will bring, but right now I am a believer in Marks' promise and I will continue to do my yoga!

om shanti

"Yoga is your direct participation
absorption in the given wonder
the extreme intelligence of life
that is of course in every person
every creature
you can do this
it's not a search
it's not to use the mind
it's not to use the body to try to get somewhere
as if you are not "Somewhere"
as if you are not the full blown wonder of life
dependent on a vast process
for your own existence
so there is a right yoga for you
you learn to do that yoga
and then you too can enjoy this direct absorption
participation in the nurturing force that is life already given to you
you are completely loved
completely loved
you are completely cared for
everybody is completely loved
completely cared for
even if the social conditions are suggesting otherwise
even if your mind doesn't recognize it
by doing your yoga practice on a daily basis
actually and naturally
not obsessively"
-Mark Whitwell  http://www.heartofyoga.com/

Monday, May 10, 2010

Jalandhara Bandha

 

 

 

 

Benefits:

  • Jalandhara Bandha benefits the thyroid and the parathyroid glands.
  • The pressure on the carotid sinuses facilitates a cranial circulation and helps in lowering the blood pressure.
  • It has a stimulating effect on the muscles of the throat and improves the blood circulation in that region.
  • It exercises the neck muscles and stimulates the spinal nerve centres.
  • It cures many disorders of the throat.

Mark and Me in India. the night of the Kumbha Mela

Doing my Yoga has already...

Doing my yoga everyday has already helped my...
aches and pains
mind chatter
breathing
relationships with others
appetite
weight loss
and sense of my self

Its been about a month that I have been doing my yoga everyday now...sometimes for 7 minutes and sometimes for 30 minutes. It starts to feel so good that I do not want to stop.

My routine:
Basically I start standing up, eyes closed, hands down by the thighs.
Inhale my hands up above my head gently touching fingertips and look up at hands
Exhale hands down to touch thighs.
Continue this for at least 3 or 4 breaths...up to as many as you feel.
Really hear the inhale and exhale...to the point that the throat is open and mouth is closed.
Ujjayi Breath

The with the exhale fold down, fingers touching the floor
Inhale all the way back up fingers touching the tips and look up
continue with the breath for as long as you like

Then
Extend one leg forward about 2.5 feet, hips width apart
and inhale your hands to the sky and exhale all the way down so they finger tips are touching the floor
tilt your chin to your chest for Jalandhara Bandha

change legs

rest in childs pose

try this for a few days

It seems that my body is being naturally stretched so that the soreness is released, easily. BC every day and night that I do my yoga, I feel looser and leaner. I have not gone to the gym or eaten more or less. But my body is responding to this deep, conscious breathing..and my heart is responding to this time I am putting in for me.

You try.

From Mark Whitwell:
"The ancient wisdom of yoga teaches that Life is already given to you, you are completely loved, you are here now. It teaches that we are not separate, cannot be separate from nature, which sustains us in a vast interdependence with everything. The universe comes perfectly, and is awesome in its integration and infinite existence. This union is our natural state, this union is Yoga."

Monday, May 3, 2010

The Ups and Downs of Relationships, Literally.

After returning from my amazing and fullfilling trip to India...the connection with my boyfriend has changed a bit. I feel this is quite natural, especially considering all the life evolving and transforming that went on with in myself in India while he stayed in his everyday life of NYC.
We seemed off. A lot of changes are happening in our lives and we were not communicating very well...to add my jet lag and culture shock of arriving back to the 'in your face' world of America.
So...we debated, argued, listened, cried...and before we were going to head out the door I said, "Drop your bad and take off your shoes". We stood face to face and I lead him in the simple breathing that Mark teaches. Inhale the hands up and above the head and then exhale the hands to namaste/pranam. We did that for a few minutes and then went on to the next step which is the same breathing pattern but this time as we exhale we bend down so our fingers touch the floor. On our inhale we rose to standing, hands above head and exhale we descended our spine, fingers touching the floor. We continued on with this for a few breaths and then finished with chanting to Lakshmi (Om Shreem Sri Hai Namaha) and many moments of silence with our hands in pranam. I opened my eyes and said to him, "Namaste: The light with in me honors the light with in you" and he smiled. Our energy was sealed and all the past and future dissipated into the heartspace NOW.
Om Shanti!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

In me As me

"Nurturing source reality is appearing in you as you" -Mark Whitwell http://thepromise.com/


Since I have been taking out a few minutes in the morning, evening and night to do my yoga...I have found this quote to be true.


It might be too deep or even too trivial to explain. All I know is that since I have been choosing to take time out of my days to spend in my own breath, touching my feet and belly, closing my eyes and listening to the sound of nothingness while i flow in the strength receiving cycle of this yoga...I have been nurturing my Self...in me as me. 


So far so good

Saturday, May 1, 2010

The Promise

From the day I met Mark Whitwell a few years ago in LA and having recently spent a few weeks in India with him...he continues to promise me that if I practice my yoga for 7 minutes a day for 3 months...my life will change for the better through creating intimacy with my Self. What does all of this mean?

I spent 2 weeks in India with some beautiful strangers, now friends...and our hearts were open to receive Mark's teachings. Though his teachings are quite simple..they are also complex. That is why I will be having some of the other students and teachers share their experiences on this blog as well. The day to day quests and questions of 'this Promise'...

Here we start.