Inspirational

Breathe In, Breathe Out

Yoga and meditation are practices that have been around for thousands of years. These practices can help reduce stress and bring you into a more present focused state of mind. Many people today in our society are bombarded with busyness and technology and we don’t take time to shut down and relax. Even when we think we are relaxing… our minds are still going and going and going like the energizer bunny. Many “veg out” by watching television or looking at media following our long work days. This type of “vegging out” however does not allow our mind to actually rest. Mindfulness through yoga and meditation can be an important means to regain vitality and energy.

Like many others, I have had bouts of stress and mild anxiety in my life. I have found that yoga and meditation practice help to ground me and relieve this stress. I wanted to share these practices and how they have helped me. These practices relieve the stress, but also bring me to a point of increased clarity about the world around me. I feel a sense of control and difference in my response to the world as I become more engaged with the present moment and less worried about the past or what may happen in the future.

Scientific research has found both yoga and meditation to have substantial benefits including:

• ·         Recent studies in people with chronic low-back pain suggest that a carefully adapted set of yoga poses may help reduce pain and improve function
•   Other studies suggest that practicing yoga may reduce heart rate, blood pressure, anxiety, or depression.
• ·         Mindfulness meditation activates the ‘rest and digest’ part of our nervous system helping with stress management.
• ·         According to research, meditation promotes ‘divergent thinking’, a type of thinking that allows many new ideas to be generated. (This is one of my favorites! Totally awesome!)
• ·         Neuroscientists found after just 11 hours of meditation practitioners had structural changes in the part of the brain involved in monitoring our focus and self-control.
• ·         Research indicates that relationships benefit from meditation. Those who meditate experience improved communication in relationships. In addition, those in marital partnerships experience overall improved quality of their relationship.

Sources: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health Website: https://nccih.nih.gove/health/yoga/introduction.htm ;

Headspace Treat Your Head right Website: https://www.headspace.com/science

Yoga

Yoga focuses on movement, breath and awareness of the present moment. There are many different routines that focus on different elements such as stretching, balance, aerobic activity, breathing, or often a combination of these elements.

It does not take an extensive dedication of time to introduce a yoga practice into your routine. I use Gaiam’s Relax and Restore Yoga DVD for my regular practice. The 24 minute yoga session on this DVD focuses primarily on basic yoga poses that allow for mindfulness of the whole body and breathing. I practice 3-5 times a week. I also try to not put too much pressure on myself if I miss a session and do what I can depending on what is going on during the week.

Meditation

Have you ever tried to meditate? It can be quite uncomfortable and difficult to sit and do nothing. It is so rare to do this in our world today.  It is challenging to empty our minds that are so full of thoughts, worries, or obligations. You don’t need to do a long meditation to get the benefits of meditation, 5-10 minutes can be plenty to center yourself (especially when you are first starting as 5 minutes may feel like an eternity.) ;-) You can increase the length of meditation in time, if you want.

There are many different versions of meditation. Meditation can be tailored to your individual needs or personality.

Olivia H. Miller wrote a book called Essential Yoga that I use as a reference guide for both yoga asanas, breathing, and meditation techniques. She includes a group of example meditations in her book. I am going to share one example below. I share this example because I think this a good meditation for beginners. It’s often difficult to clear your mind completely and often times thoughts may pop in your head. It helps to have a focal point and this particular meditation provides both a visual and verbal mantra to use as a focal point. I often set a timer and then once my timer goes off that is the indication that the meditation is over. I try to choose an alarm that is more calming, so that it is not jarring if I am in a deeper meditative state.

Meditation of Connection

• ·         Imagine an awe-inspiring natural place. It can be a real place you have been or a place that you have conjured in your imagination.
• ·         Go to this place and look around. What do you see? What do you hear? Notice the details about your natural, beautiful space.
• ·         Breathe deeply in your special place.
• ·         Inhale and repeat silently: I stand in awe of the beauty and grace.
• ·         Exhale and repeat silently: That is the natural world.
• ·         Inhale and say silently: Beauty and grace.
• ·         Exhale and say silently: Natural world.
• ·         Continue in this repetitive cycle focusing on your natural scene and the meditation mantra: Inhale- beauty and grace, exhale natural world 

Adapted from Essential Yoga by Olivia H. Miller

Relax

Busyness leave me

Let stillness rejuvenate

May I leave relaxed

And now it is time for me to return to my relaxation practice. I encourage you to try yoga or meditation techniques. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have below. Below is an interesting TED talk on meditation by mindfulness expert, Andy Puddicombe. Enjoy & Namaste!

Wishing You're Life Away

“You’re wishing your life away…” my great grandmother would say in response to my mom when she expressed a wish for something in her life to pass quickly. The phrase resurfaced from time to time growing up with my mom. It stuck with me, even in the absence of my great grandmother and mother.

One day in college, my best friend and roommate was lamenting about an abundance of schoolwork that needed to be done and wishing for college to be over.

The words came back again and popped out of my mouth… “You’re wishing your life away…”

 I’m not sure how much she appreciated it. I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic or condescending. It just came to me, like a gift, as she was complaining about our workload. Her wish for our tedious work to be done was completely rational and made sense. I agreed.

However, I also knew that I really enjoyed living with her and that we would never get this time back. Like the seasons change, from fall to winter to spring and then summer, so would our current circumstances. We were (and are) confined by time.  Eventually, we would outgrow this stage of our life and go onto the next. As it should be. But we wouldn’t live together anymore.

Now I cherish the memories we made while living together and going to school.

Sometimes, we are so focused on getting to the next step that it seeps the joy out of the current moment. I’m definitely guilty of this because I tend to be future-focused… always planning what’s next. Who really knows what’s next?

I trust my great grandma.  She was right. Life is far too short to be wishing it away.

Tomorrow will come and then I will live tomorrow as today. We only ever get to live in ‘todays’.

Measured Time

Measure your time in

Many laughs with kindred souls

Before you wave "Bye".

My great grandmother had already lived the majority of her life. She was giving the best advice she could give to someone, who most likely had far more days and wishes left ahead than she did. Advice can be the most wonderful gift to give…

The days go by so quickly…

Have a wonderful weekend, full of laughs with kindred souls.

I know I will.

Built for Struggle

Often, life brings struggles that can leave lasting scars. Our bodies and spirits seem to be built for struggle, whether we like it or not. I think the trouble lies in our resistance; we try to avoid pain at all costs. This is natural and makes sense. However, pain and struggles are also natural parts of life (bummer, right?). We learn from struggles and they teach us lessons. Our deepest pain somehow imparts an even deeper inner wisdom, opening us up to future experiences.

Last month, I cut my finger slicing some bread. It was a pretty deep cut and it bled profusely, until it finally subsided. It was painful and I had to put antibacterial ointment and bandages on it for quite a while. The wound has since healed and is looking much better. It still needs some more time to heal completely, but it is on its way. I know there will always be a scar there now and perhaps it won’t feel quite the same as before. Much like my finger our life struggles leave lasting impressions, metaphoric scars.

The healing process went more quickly due to the care I took tending to my wound. I made sure that I put organic antibacterial on it to provide the best care. I made sure to protect the wound while it was still open by keeping it bandaged. Our daily struggles and bumps in the road need the same care.

Trials and tribulations bring about wounds that will eventually heal, much like my finger. How we learn to overcome and deal with these struggles determines the healing time and the pain during our healing process.

We can become bogged down in the turmoil of hardships, yet sometimes in the midst of struggle we can have our best breakthroughs, as well. Instead of fighting against the pain we need to examine it and care for it.

The wounds will fester and become bigger; if we don’t care for them in appropriate ways.

It is important to acknowledge our struggles and equally important to not give our struggles power. Your external struggles do not have power. I repeat do not. You have power. You are the transforming agent in your one beautiful life. The power is always within ourselves to transform situations, to transform ourselves. More than anything our ability to deal with adversity defines us.

I encourage you next time you are at a point of great struggle in your life to reframe it. Reframe it by looking at the situation carefully and taking time to care for the situation and yourself.  I’ve recently gone through some personal struggles and I found that these ways of reframing helped me.

-See the difficult situation as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. It could be an opportunity to try something new that you’ve never done before.

-Reach out to others. I think when people face struggle they often isolate themselves. This severely hampers and limits opportunities. Reaching out to others builds a web of security, support, and possibilities.

-Reflect on your current situation. You can look at it with renewed clarity and decide what you really want out of life. Is what you’re doing right now or the steps you are taking bringing you closer to your most fulfilled life or purpose? Perhaps, you need to take steps to go in a completely different direction.

-Give to others. It doesn’t take money to do this! I think many people have the false impression that it does. You can give your presence and time. It can take your mind off your current predicament and you can come back with a renewed perspective later. It is also another opportunity to form connections!

-Breathe. Whether it is meditation, yoga, or just taking a minute or two for some deep breathing. Breathing helps to create a more calm, controlled, and centered self.

Living ecstatically can be a challenge. Recognizing and reframing the hardships in your life can leave more room for a more joyous and peaceful experience. Our reaction to struggles is what ultimately defines us and our circumstances. How will you be defined?

I encourage you to share your struggles (big or small). How have you overcome or reframed them to make room for more joy?