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5 Positive Lifestyle Changes for the New Year (Part 5)

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Are you in a rut? Are you feeling like you’re losing your “touch”? Is complacency becoming the norm? Maybe what you need are some basic lifestyle changes. In the coming days we will review five suggestions for the New Year to help improve your health and overall wellbeing – helpful advice that may also initiate a sense of self-renewal and give you more energy, which in turn will give you a whole new outlook on life.

To review part 1, click on: Go on a cleanse or detox diet.

To review part 2, click on: Improve your dietary choices

To review part 3, click on: Find a daily activity that insures you’re getting enough exercise.

To review part 4, click on: Pick one habit or trait that is detrimental to your health and eliminate it.

Here’s part 5…

5. Find a practical technique to reduce stress in your life.

Did you know that a recent scientific study conducted by cellular biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton at Stanford University concluded that “over 95% of all illnesses occur because of stress in the body’s autonomic nervous system”?

Also, did you also know that stress can seriously accelerate the rate at which you age because of the incredible and excessive strain it puts on your body?

Many of us have never considered how dangerous stress can be to our health and very few of us make a conscious effort to manage stress in such a way that it doesn’t take over our lives.

Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. A normal stress response won’t harm you, and is the body’s way of protecting you. When working properly, it helps you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life. But beyond a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts negatively affecting your mood, your productivity, your relationships, and your quality of life, including major damage to your health that can lead to these negative conditions:

  • Heart palpitations
  • Panic and anxiety attacks
  • Chest pain
  • Dizziness
  • Depression
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Spastic colon
  • Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
  • Chronic fatigue Syndrome (constant tiredness)
  • Chronic and migraine headaches
  • Insomnia, frequent waking
  • PMS – Premenstrual tension

It’s not unusual for excessive stress to change your personality and affect the way you interact and deal with other people. Problems like anger, irritability, aggressiveness, verbal abuse, mood swings and road rage can be brought or exaggerated if there’s too much stress in your life. So, when stress gets out of hand, it’s time to find some practical ways to slow down and get your stress levels back to normal.

Here are eight free suggestions for you to try; they are simple stress-reducing activities you can do right now to help lower your stress levels:

1. Get away from your TV – There’s too much drama there that is unrelated to your real life, plus watching the news for long periods of time can cause depression and increase your stress levels.

2. Deep breathing is an easy stress reliever that has numerous benefits for the body, including oxygenating the blood, which ‘wakes up’ the brain, relaxing muscles and quieting the mind. Breathing exercises are especially helpful because you can do them anywhere, and they work quickly so you can de-stress in a flash.

3. Get outside and go for a walk. Weather permitting, take time to reconnect with nature and enjoy the sense of space that surrounds you when you’re outdoors.

4. Practice a simple meditation technique. Meditation affects the body in exactly the opposite way that stress does, it restores the body to a calm state, and this helps the body repair itself, preventing new damage, plus it shields you from the effects of chronic stress.

5. Spend time with a friend, meet them over a cup of coffee or join them for lunch. Often times, a few minutes in the company of someone you love and trust can make a huge difference in the way you feel. Never underestimate the power of human contact and friendship, especially if you’re having a difficult time.

6. Listen to some relaxing music. When dealing with stress, the right music can actually lower your blood pressure, relax your body and calm your mind.

7. Spend some time at the local library or your favorite bookstore: This is a great activity to help you relax, and who knows, it might get your creative juices flowing again!

8. Take a hot detoxification bath. Mix ¼ cup of baking soda and ¼ cup of Epsom Salt (or Sea Salt) and add to a very warm water bath while it is filling. Soak for 20 – 30 minutes. After the soak, scrub the skin gently using a natural fiber and pure Castile Soap. Shower to rinse well and follow with a brisk towel rub. You will feel like a new person, guaranteed.

Let’s hope at least one of these free stress relief activities has spoken to you in a helpful way. Try one, two, or all of them and notice how much your stress has lessened.

5 Positive Lifestyle Changes for the New Year (Part 4)

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Are you in a rut? Are you feeling like you’re losing your “touch”? Is complacency becoming the norm? Maybe what you need are some basic lifestyle changes. In the coming days we will review five suggestions for the New Year to help improve your health and overall wellbeing – helpful advice that may also initiate a sense of self-renewal and give you more energy, which in turn will give you a whole new outlook on life.

To review part 1, click on: Go on a cleanse or detox diet.

To review part 2, click on: Improve your dietary choices

To review part 3, click on: Find a daily activity that insures you’re getting enough exercise.

Here’s part 4…

4. Pick one habit or trait that is detrimental to your health and eliminate it.

Bad habits often have a huge effect on your life and what makes these habits so challenging and hard to change is the reality that they usually aren’t based on well thought out choices and decisions, so using logic to eliminate them is oftentimes unproductive. Think about it; for instance, everyone who smokes cigarettes knows without a doubt they are bad for them, but that knowledge doesn’t help them much when the try to quit. They require a bit of strategy to overcome.

Try these strategic tips to help get you rid yourself of these habits and get your life and health back on track:

Replace a bad habit, rather than simply trying to drop it. You must have felt some benefit to the habit or you wouldn’t have allowed it to become a part of your life. Consider substituting something positive as a replacement for that which was given up. Examples: When craving a cigarette, sit down and breathe slowly and deeply, visualize yourself inhaling smoke rather than clean air, you’ll be amazed at how effective that can be. If you are in the habit of being a couch-potato after dinner, instead of plopping down in front of the TV, take the dog for a walk or find some other semi-pleasurable chore to engage. Use your imagination, you’re bound to come up with some sort of practical substitution.

Don’t take on too many things at once; deal with one challenge at a time. Perhaps you’ve decided you want to quit smoking, improve your diet and start an exercise program…all that would be overwhelming and you’d probably cave on all three. Pick just one; give yourself a month or so. Then, once you have a handle on that, add another one and give that a month.

Have patience with yourself; don’t be in such a hurry. Think how happy you’d be if you could get rid of your four worst habits. By dealing with one habit at a time as recommended above, that’s only four months, which is a relatively short time if you consider how long you’ve had each habit.

Learn to recognize the triggers that prompt bad cravings and/or your addictive tendencies and remove them. If your intention is to improve your diet, get rid of all the junk food in your house and go to the bathroom or simply walk away when those tempting TV commercials come on. Most habits don’t have a much of thought behind them, they’re a lot like reflexes without sensory stimulation they have little power.

Tell any friends who may be sympathetic and supportive. These friends can help you reach your goal by reminding you should you stray from your purpose.

If you’re going to start a regular exercising regime, be consistent; schedule yourself so that you do it at the same time each day. Many find this to be much easier than trying to exercise 3 or 4 times a week.

Stay motivated, keep reminding yourself that there’s no better feeling than knowing you have control over your life. Your self-esteem will soar as you realize you’re a victor and no longer a victim of your bad habits.

 

Yoga & Body Detoxification…

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Did you know your body is designed in such a way that it will automatically engage in some form of detoxification every single day? Regular daily yoga practice is one of the best ways to insure that your body remains subtle and as toxin free as possible.

First let’s take a look at how the body actually accomplishes the task of detoxing…

The three main bodily systems employed to get rid of accumulated waste and toxic debris are the circulatory, digestive and lymph systems. Each one of these plays a crucial role in the process. The circulatory system pumps blood throughout the body, delivering oxygen to and carrying waste products away from cells. The digestive system processes the food we eat, separating nutrients from waste and eliminating anything the body doesn’t need. And the lymphatic system collects intracellular fluid from throughout the body and transports it to the lymph nodes where anything harmful (such as bacteria or other contaminants) is removed before the lymphatic fluid is returned back to the bloodstream.

Under optimal conditions, these are robust systems that work well on their own. However, in today’s world, the excessive exposure to both external and internal toxins, the many stresses that are often placed on our lives and an all too often, nutrient-poor diet place an undo demand on these systems, and yoga is an ideal solution to these problems.

How yoga facilitates cleansing

Some forms of vigorous exercise can stimulate all three of these systems of elimination to some extent. But yoga, with its focus on systematically and alternatively stretching and compressing every part of the body, is particularly well-suited to keeping the toxin/waste elimination on par and functioning well.

A well-rounded yoga practice session, engaging every part of the body, facilitates the removal of waste products, including carbon dioxide and lactic acid, and in turn stimulates lymphatic drainage in areas that traditional exercise just doesn’t reach.

Yogic breathing (pranayama) also plays an important role in promoting detoxification. Many people sit with poor posture which impedes the lungs from inflating fully, and our chronic state of low-grade stress often leads to a constricted diaphragm which further inhibits proper breathing. As a result, we aren’t able to take in as much life-sustaining oxygen when we inhale, or expel as much of the potentially hazardous carbon dioxide when we exhale.

Clear your body, clear your mind.

In addition to all the physical benefits of the poses (asanas), yoga aids in mental detoxification as well. Performing yoga helps to purge toxic thoughts by teaching you to move your awareness away from the constant “chatter of the mind” and back to the present “now” moment, a practice that’s not commonly found as a basic component of conventional fitness pursuits.

Furthermore, a regular daily yoga practice helps you to eliminate both the tangible and the intangible toxins that could otherwise keep you from feeling your best and maintaining a state of health and wellness.

 

Third Eye Meditation – Opening the 3rd Eye

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Can you imagine what your life would have been like if you had kept your eyelids shut since you were born? Your eyes would have worked perfectly but yet your sense of vision would have gone to waste. Similarly, not opening your 3rd eye is keeping you in the dark in relation to enjoying the wonders and wisdom of your sense of mystic or spiritual sight.

This can be likened to putting shutters on a window and keeping them closed. No light comes in and those on the inside can only imagine the marvels of all that exists outside of those shutters. Unfortunately, this really leaves us in the dark about what is real, who our true Self is and what life is really all about.

While attending a secret, esoteric school in Egypt, Pythagoras was given the following technique…

“ATTENTION BETWEEN EYEBROWS, LET MIND BE BEFORE THOUGHT. LET FORM FILL WITH BREATH ESSENCE TO THE TOP OF THE HEAD AND THERE SHOWER AS LIGHT.”

Pythagoras then traveled with this technique to Greece, and consequently he became the fountainhead, the primary source of all mysticism in the West. He is recognized by many to be the father of mysticism in the West.

Attention between the eyebrows – although relatively simple, this technique is very deep. When we try to mentally comprehend this, modern physiology and scientific research, points out that between the two eyebrows is a gland which is the most mysterious part of the body. This gland, the pineal gland, is the third eye of the Tibetans; Shivanetra (the eye of the Shiva), of tantra. Between the two eyes there exists a third eye, but it is impotent, non-functioning. It’s there, it has the ability to function any moment, but it does not normally function on its own. You need to do something about it, you have to open it. It’s not blind; it is simply closed.

Now, some notes on the technique used to open the third eye…

Close your eyes, (or keep them half-open/half-closed) and look upward – not forcibly crossing your eyes, but instead, converging them slightly. Then focus both of your eyes just in the middle of the two eyebrows. Focus attention just in the middle, as if you are looking with your two eyes. Give your total attention to it. This is actually one of the simplest methods of being attentive. You cannot be attentive to any other part of the body quite as easily. This pineal gland absorbs attention like a sponge. If you give attention to it, both your eyes become mesmerized with the third eye. They become transfixed; they cannot move. The third eye catches attention; it’s like a magnet for attention. Traditions all over the world have used this method. It is simple because with a little effort in trying to be attentive, the pineal gland itself helps you; it is magnetic. Your attention is brought to it and then that attention is absorbed.

It is said in the ancient tantric scriptures that attention is food for the third eye. It is hungry; it has been hungry for your whole life. And once you pay attention to it, it becomes awake. It becomes alive! The food is given to it in the form of attention. And once you know that attention is food, attracted by the gland itself – then it is not a difficult thing. One has only to know the right point. The important thing is to bring your attention to that area. Don’t try forcibly to bring your eyes to a focus, but gaze mentally towards that point, and let the spiritual eye draw you into itself. Remember at all times keep your eyes relaxed and your brow smooth. When it becomes difficult to move them, then know you have found the right point.

Being focused on the third eye, suddenly you become a witness. Through the third eye you become the witness and you can see thoughts running through the mind like clouds in the sky or people passing on the street. While focused in the third eye, suddenly you can observe the very essence of breath, not just the breath, but the very essence of breath, which is prana.

Pythagoras’ sutra says, “Let form fill with breath essence to the top of the head…” And when you come to feel the “essence” of breathing (prana), just imagine that your head is filled with it, simply imagine that. No need for any effort. When you are focused on the third eye center and then imagine it filling all the space in your head, the “shower of light” happens, then and there – a shower of light falling down from the top of your head. This shower can recreate you; it can give you a new birth.

This 3rd eye meditation technique has the potential to throw the shutters wide open, as well as provide you with wings to transport you to the infinite, eternal, universal divine reality that is your inherent birthright.

Yogic Alignment – Body, Mind & Spirit

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For thousands of years humans have been practicing a variety of yoga techniques and reaping not only the physical benefits but mental and spiritual benefits as well. Yoga practice brings “alignment” to all aspects of life.

Although life can be a beautiful journey, we are also reminded that life is occasionally accompanied by storms throughout our journey. But did you know that yoga practice can help you to prepare for and weather these storms. Yoga enables the body, mind and spirit to recognize these storms and watch them unfold, similar to watching a feature film. We are able to experience all sorts of feelings and emotions, yet we are also able to detach ourselves, knowing “this too shall pass,” even in the midst of all these sensations.

Yoga assists us in stimulating, detoxifying and strengthening all our anatomical systems:

  • Endocrine
  • Respiratory
  • Circulatory
  • Digestive
  • Immune
  • Lymphatic
  • Muscular
  • Reproductive
  • Digestive
  • Skeletal
  • Urinary
  • Nervous

When working with different poses (asanas) we learn to balance and strengthen the relationship we have with our own bodies. This is a most important relationship to promote when we consider that this body is the vessel that will take us through our entire life.

Enjoying a body that you can understand, listen to, and love is a proactive course in the promotion of your overall health and well being. Additionally, you’ll be increasing your balance, flexibility and improving an abundance of other physical attributes.

When we consider building a very complex structure, we would first establish a solid foundation to ensure it could withstand the whole structure. Yoga works in the same way. Example: by standing in Tadasana (the Mountain Pose) you can quickly learn to create this solid foundation. By learning to stand correctly in this pose (and others) we can increase our muscle’s “memory” to unconsciouslyand automatically program the body to assume its correct alignment. Proper alignment prompts the above mentioned systems to function optimally.

Yogic Alignment of the Mind

Take slow, deep, rhythmic breaths through the nose, followed by a slow, even exhalation which empties the lungs completely. This simple breath practice done slowly and fully, with intention, concentration and relaxation activates all of the brain’s primary and beneficial neurotransmitters. Next, take notice of how you feel? Breathing in this fashion and being aware of our breath brings us into the present moment, focusing on the “Now”.

Whenever we train our mind using yoga, pranayama and meditation techniques to focus on the present, we may fully experience that moment. During yoga, practice this by constantly reminding the body to breath, and observe the body in each pose. Breathing has been used and is still being used in treating many mental issues, especially depression and panic attacks. Proper breathing has also been proven to significantly decrease pain and is used in many pain management clinics.

To quote Remez Sasson: “The mind is your instrument. Learn to be its master not its slave.”

Yogic Alignment of the Spirit

Correct alignment with the Spirit enables you to feel a greater connectedness with the Divine or “Self” (Atman) in which you inherently exist. This relationship with the Self is strengthened by practicing internal awareness, or inquiry into the sensations arising within the body.

Literally translated yoga means “to join”, implying the unity of the body, mind and spirit. When these three aspects exist in complete harmony peace becomes your very nature. When practicing yoga on a regular basis, students may feel a sense of ”lightness” of their spirit, experiencing a true connectivity to the world in which they live. Hostility, anger and negativity seem to lift, and the deeper Self is actualized.

But please, keep in mind, that this means next to nothing if the practice of yoga, meditation, mindfulness is not integrated into your lifestyle.

Learn these Basic Principles of Yogic Alignment

The classic Yogic Alignment Principles were introduced to the world at large by Master BKS Iyengar in the book “Light On Yoga”. These Iyengar classes are taught by Rae Indigo in the tradition of this living yoga master. The Asanas are learned with a systematic approach to help students develop strength and flexibility, while fostering a greater sense of well-being and inner peace.

When studying with Rae you will learn to bring the body into complete unity with each pose by using correct alignment and implementing props when necessary, and subsequently these classes are excellent for both beginners and for those with physical limitations as well as advanced practitioners.

Also, check out: Yoga Teacher Training

Ten-hut – Yoga & the Military

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When I work with military personnel I’m dealing with bodies that have been through very specific training, and that training leaves some tell-tale issues such as Collapsed Arches, Lower Back Pain, Tight Hamstrings and Ankle Injury, to name a few that are fairly common.  These men and women have been through hard training, and in addition to that, many of them are athletes with a firm mental attitude that won’t allow them to quit.  So, I work with guys who run relay marathons, pushing themselves to the extreme and this often ends up with it causing some sort of mishap, like tearing their hamstring during the first mile, and then continuing for the next 20 miles with a torn hamstring because they’re determined not to let their team down.  For them failure is not an option.  It is a powerful attitude, and working with this attitude is a real pleasure, for with the right instruction, the right alignment and wellness sequences, they can recover very quickly.  Their attitude keeps them dedicated, and this dedication pays big dividends in yoga.

Yoga also helps to develop the “witness mind”, which is not only a tool warriors use to calm their mind during intense battles, but it’s also a very effective technique that is taught in all yoga classes.  With the ability to drop your thoughts, and then create a gap before the next thought emerges, you can interrupt your attachment to the constant chattering of the smaller mind, the monkey mind.  This practice helps not only during times of war, but during times of peace and even when post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) arises. The cultivation of this state, often times described as Satwa or steadiness (tranquility) in the face of fluctuating pranas, is tremendously helpful when the impulses and thoughts arise from past stresses, be they of war or otherwise.  The development of steadiness, of the ability to just witness the arising of the Chitta (mind-stuff) and impulses/pranic/energetic- stuff is the goal of yoga, and this is what enables the yogi to live a stress-free or greatly stress-relieved life.

The practice of pranayama, which controls (or suspends) these pranic fluctuations (which never completely cease until after death, they only become more still and less likely to engage you) is what supports the passive state of meditation and the resulting steadiness which is achieved when the mind is calmed, subsequently giving rise to the state of Samadhi.

In conclusion: The healing power of Yoga is immense. We can only hope that someday all military personnel (including the leaders of our society) will be required to practice Yoga as a means of giving them the temperament for justice and peace that most Yogis have enjoyed for centuries.

Yoga and Depression

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Much of the suffering due to depression can be relieved with simple yoga practice.

Nearly everyone experiences depression at some time or another. And when it does occur, there are those rare individuals, who are able to work through it, but for most of us it’s a battle and we easily succumb to denying it.

Oftentimes when we deny depression, it shows up in our bodies as physical symptoms such as aches and pains that seem to rise out of nowhere and often recede when we receive some form of treatment. It is also quite common for many of us to not recognize the extent our depression until the people we love and care about don’t want to be around us anymore, or someone who loves us reminds us that there is a natural way to feel better.

It is a well proven fact that a slow, gentle yoga practice, one that also includes some dynamic movements and energizing breathing exercises, works best to alleviate the symptoms of depression. Most people will benefit by beginning slowly in seated meditation, focusing on the breath, and “scanning” both their physical body and their emotional body before determining the type of practice they need. They then gradually begin to deepen their breath, expanding their lungs with Dirga Pranayama (Yogic three-part breath). In addition they may also hold a posture like the Tadasana (Mountain) pose or Virabhadrasana (Warrior) pose, prompting them to witness, with patience and awareness, all the feelings they are experiencing in their physical body and their emotional body, without the normal reaction that could feed the depression.

Holding the poses for a length of time gives one an opportunity to notice the places in the body where energy is blocked, places where emotion, even trauma is stored. Unaddressed these energy blocks eventually lead to symptoms and then manifest as illness, both physical and mental. When focusing the breath and the awareness where the sensations are the strongest, a process has begun which allows energy to flow through these areas of the body where they feel blocked. Accordingly, as we hold a yoga pose, not only is there an emotional clearing as the pose is released, there’s a physical cleansing of the lymphatic system.

For some people, especially those whose depression is accompanied by anxiety, they may find that a more active practice is required to meet their mood head-on. Someone suffering from anxiety will probably feel impatient with a slow, steady practice. They might need to start with a more dynamic and vigorous session, and then slow the movements down as the anxiety lessens. The ultimate beauty of yoga is that anyone, at any level or condition, can practice it. With proper instruction, there’s an appropriate practice for everybody, even someone who may be impaired by injury or disease.

All the various tools of yoga, not only the postures, but also yogic breathing exercises (pranayama) and meditation techniques, plus the use of mantra and/or affirmations, are meant to bring balance to both the physical as well as the emotional body. If someone can’t stand on their head, they can instead stand straight with her arms over their head, taking long, deep breaths in mountain pose. And even if they’re unable do any kind of movement, they can still learn a simple breath (like the Yogic Three-Part Breath) that studies have shown even that calms the mind and elevates the mood.

Discover Yoga for yourself – today…