I know, sometimes it’s hard to get out of your chair – but you can do yoga right where you are! Isn’t that great?
By all means, get up and move when you can, but sometimes it’s okay to do yoga sitting right where you are. This is a great little practice to help you stay healthy and feeling good while you’re working.
This video gives you some great options for doing yoga while seated:
Read More “A Seated or Chair Yoga Practice You Can Do Right Now”
One of the most important considerations in your health is the food you choose to eat. And not only what kind of food, but where it comes from and how it was grown.
For some incredible inspiration, watch this amazing short video about a community within the city of Milwaukee that is making huge change by growing their own food:
Yoga is a moving meditation, and walking can be a wonderful way to practice it.
The idea of walking meditation, just like other meditations, is to be fully present. You can bring such awareness to the way you walk, your surroundings, and the moment itself, that this practice can create a heightened state of connection and peace.
My first experience with walking meditation was at a yoga teacher training in Baja, Mexico. Each morning we got up super early, did a short asana practice, then we went out to the beach for walking meditation.
I would place my feet slowly, mindfully, listening to the waves crash on the shore. I felt the subtleties of each step, and often would close my eyes or even walk backwards to shift my perspective.
Yoga cultivates strength, wisdom, and the ability to discern truth from confusion – all attributes of a skilled Peaceful Warrior. Even Warrior Pose comes up in myriad forms during an asana practice.
As your yoga practice extends into every aspect of your life, you find yourself becoming stronger and yet more receptive; making choices which benefit both you and the greater good.
Personally, I have witnessed an incredible shift in my own self; changing patterns that were not serving me and re-creating myself as who I want to be.
I share the following with you because these inspired words came to me this morning, and I think you may see yourself reflected in them.
In the minds of most people, perfection is an unachievable yet oft reached for thing, yet with this perspective that I learned from Anusara® yoga, stress and anxiety can melt as you shift your perspective.
You hear the term ‘perfectionist’ and it conjures images of someone who is constantly striving for every little detail to be ‘just right’, and quite possibly affecting innocent bystanders (family members, friends) with their slightly neurotic behavior.
Sound like someone you know? Maybe you?
This idea of inaccessible perfection tends to cause a lot of unneeded pressure and worry.
But there is a different way to think of perfection.
When you think about blessings, what comes to mind?
A kind thought or word? A gracious gift from the universe? A friend or loved one?
Blessings come in myriad forms, yet the ones that YOU spark are so special. Positive thought has been proven again and again to have profound impact on every level. By using blessings (or prayer if that word resonates with you) you tap into a bigger energy and amplify your own intention for higher results.
One of the ways I use the power of blessings every day is with food. By being grateful and blessing your meal before you eat it the food’s vibrations are raised.
The devastation Haiti has experienced, this latest time with a massive earthquake, moves the heart to want to contribute something, anything, to help. It is this response of deep caring and compassion that makes us human.
Because it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and doesn’t have the kind of infrastructure necessary to deal with what has happened, monetary donations are very needed.
However, money isn’t the only thing you can send them. Blessings, prayers, and healing light are incredibly powerful and can do so much to shift the energy of that part of the earth into harmony.
Below this short video is a simple meditation you can do to shine light and love into the heart of Haiti.
When you unfold the treasure of the mantra that has become known as the Anusara Yoga Invocation, you see within it the philosophy that informs freedom and awakening which is the reason hundreds of thousands of people have been drawn to this path of celebrating and refining the self.
This mantra is the first part of the Niralambaya Upanishad.
Anusara yoga has its roots deep in the soil of ancient tradition. The chant itself is very old, and carries with it a resonance of powerful wisdom and transformation. Yet, while this school of hatha yoga joyfully honors that which has comes before, it also opens up to the unlimited possibilities of evolution.
One of the many strengths of Anusara yoga is its innovative spirit. There are Universal Principles of Alignment, which guide both the thought and action of the yoga. Using these guiding principles, you can do anything! Invention happens daily. Creative expression and beauty are a part of every practice, on and off the mat.
So let’s take a look at how a relatively short little song can describe an entire system of thought and practice.
Ah, the yoga bliss of savasana. Sometimes at the beginning of class I ask if anyone has a request. One of the most frequent is “Savasana please!” followed by a big grin.
Savasana literally translates as corpse pose, and signifies the end of the practice and a time of transition. It is one of the most difficult yoga poses to do fully. Why?
Well, because totally relaxing and yet staying fully present is not something most of us know how to do. Yet this pose is one of the most beneficial, so it’s worth giving the practice of mindful relaxation your best… ‘er… effort. 🙂
Okay. I admit it. Sometimes my will power is a bit weak. I’m working on it.
It’s funny because I wake up with a green smoothie every morning, I eat a salad nearly every day, and I don’t really drink anything other than water and herbal teas. But then I get around bread or cookies, and my discipline evaporates. Do you have this issue? It can’t just be me – leave a comment below and let me know what your food delights are so I feel like I’m in good company, eh?
Are bread and cookies terrible things that should be avoided at all costs? No, of course not. But is it really in my best interest to eat as much of them as I have over the last month? Well…
