Finding the Shape of Happiness in Your Bodymind Part 2
admin | 31 October, 2008 11:16
These shapes in the bodymind are created by trigger points, triggered habitual response patterns that become our personal history. A situation occurs, triggers a cellular memory, a reaction. When our back is up against the wall, we do one of the following, fight or flight, freeze or faint based upon our habitual responses. After years and years, we tend to react in the same way, healthy or not, effective or not. When we react, the bodymind takes on the shape of the reaction, and then the bodymind holds the shape of that emotion, long after the situation has ended, creating an incredible amount of stress in the bodymind.
We live out this personal history, hanging onto these beliefs and habits, experiences and emotions, from a state of consciousness where our actions are dominated by these unconscious beliefs and habits. Our lives become routine and mechanical. It is as if we have somehow ended up on automatic pilot. Slowly, day by day we move further and further away from our own humanity. We stay in jobs that are not satisfying, and relationships that are not fulfilling. Because we, as human beings, have a core need to have meaning, purpose, heart in our lives, walking through our lives in an unconscious state, numb to life, sleepwalking through life, threatens our well-being.
We tolerate unacceptable situations in our lives. We talk ourselves into an illusion of okayness, making our lives acceptable by numbing ourselves through many different methods including alchohol, drugs, food, cigarettes, gambling, relationships, material acquisitions and overconcern with other people and their lives. Even activities like watching television and reading can become addictive, mind-numbing activities. These, and so many other behaviors are all distractions that offer us the opportunity to forget, temporarily about our unacceptable life situations. Sometimes we do not even forget, we just feel apathetic about it for a short period of time, while we are distracted. All of these behaviors take us further and further from our humanity.
A few of us embrace our oneness with the universe and hold onto it throughout our lifetime, but most of us do not. Even those of us who do embrace our oneness with the universe from an early age, eventually lose that connection as we grow up. We spend our lives trying to recover our humanity, that feeling of wholeness we once had, trying to ease the pain of that hole in our gut, filling the emptiness with whatever we can find to distract us from our pain.
Through Yoga Heart Meditative Movement TM awareness practices, we attain an increased level of bodymind awareness. We learn to notice how life moves through the bodymind and how the bodymind moves through life. We begin to know ourselves and we begin to see how we are moved by those around us. We are able to become aware of the trigger points, our habitual response patterns, and change our responses. We begin to see how our bodymind takes on the shapes of life experiences. We are able to let go of those emotions and experiences in the bodymind. We wake up and have a choice as to how we will respond to our environment, people, places and situations. Then we are able to choose to move through life more effectively, moving from the heart, the authentic self. Wellness is experiencing balance in your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual life. It is knowing when you are off-balance and knowing how to find the balance again. Balance may look different in each individual life, however the result of balance is wellness for everyone.
Finding the Shape of Happiness in Your Bodymind
admin | 30 October, 2008 11:12
Human beings are creatures of habit. A habit originates as a stress response to a particular situation. Something happens. We react from an unconscious place. The bodymind registers a cellular memory of reacting a particular way to a particular situation. Eventually it becomes a habit. As children we form beliefs based upon our patterns of habitual response. In this way, our experiences create our personal history and we wear our personal history like an inner layer of clothing. Each experience registers a cellular memory in the bodymind, and the bodymind takes on the shape of that experience including the emotions, feelings and thoughts. There is a shape to anger, fear, disappointment, joy, happiness and every other emotion that exists. We take on these shapes in our bodyminds in different ways.
Try this experiment now:
Notice your bodymind right now just as it is. Notice every part of your bodymind, your head, neck, shoulders, belly, back, arms, legs, breath, eye contact, throat and whatever else you notice. Now
Finding The Heart in Your Yoga Practice Part 2
admin | 29 October, 2008 11:44
This practice offers us the opportunity to become aware of our core, authentic self. We allow the posture to move us, noticing the difference between pushing into a posture and allowing the posture to move and shape the bodymind. We are changed by the feeling and movement of the posture. Notice
Finding The Heart in Your Yoga Practice
admin | 28 October, 2008 10:59
We have heard many statements about finding your heart, spoken many times, in many different ways. This is one of the deepest needs of the human spirit. We need heart to feel it and to be it, in other words, to fully experience our lives, to find happiness and real purpose.
Coming from the heart is feeling the internal pulse, the vibration of the body as it responds, reacts, changes with each experience, each interaction. This is the place of truly knowing yourself, a genuine recognition of your core feelings, that place where you know what you know from the bottom of your heart, in your innermost self, your authentic self. This is where you are one with the universe. Take a moment to think about some of the common phrases related to this authentic heartfelt place in our English language.
These statements are all expressions that come from the heart:
Put your whole heart into it.
If I am going to do this I have to feel it.
My heart goes out to you.
I know this in my heart of hearts.
Follow your heart.
The focus is on the heart feeling state of bodymind
while moving through each specific posture. Through this practice, we
experience our true nature within each posture. We return to the
heart. To begin to understand the practice from an experience in the
bodymind, try this practice. When you do your yoga practice today,
move with a heart feeling meditative pace, focusing on the pulse of the
bodymind as it emanates from the heart, carrying the breath through the
body, incorporating pranayama breathing techniques, while moving with
and through the yoga asanas. The yoga movement is flowing, feeling and
being present in the moment, moving from the heart center of the
bodymind. In each posture we notice the pulse and we move from that
place in the bodymind where we experience the pulse. We refer to that
as moving from the heart, or moving with heart.
5 Things You May Not Know About Yoga
admin | 13 October, 2008 21:10
There is a lot of information floating out there about Yoga but still there are a lot of details about the practice of Yoga that most people do not know. Here are 5 facts regardingYoga you might not know:
1. Yoga is, for the most part practiced as a physical activity in the West but it started in the East as a much more meditative discipline. Hatha Yoga is the form of yoga that is primarily related to physical movement. Most people in the West practice Hatha Yoga and they call it Yoga, not knowing it is only one form of Yoga.
2. You do not need to do a lot of Yoga in order to experience benefits in your body. Even if you just practice Yoga for a half an hour a few days a week you will still get some of the benefits that Yoga offers. So don't put off learning Yoga just because you think you do not have enough time. Even just a little Yoga can really create a state of improved health.
3. Yoga is equally beneficial for women and men. The press coverage of Yoga tends to show primarily women as opposed to men practicing Yoga. The literature leads you to believe that Yoga is only beneficial for women but the fact is that Yoga is clearly as good for men, and for kids too, as it is for women. A regular Yoga practice can be a tremendous plus for anyone. Besides the media portraying yoga students most frequently as being caucasian, female and blonde, they are also portrayed as thin. The truth is that Yoga is good for a person of any race, gender or body type.
4. Yoga is one of the safest exercises for pregnant women, as long as the Yoga that is practiced is adapted for the particular stage of pregnancy the women is in. Many women say that doing Yoga while pregnant helps them prepare mentally as well as physically for the birth.
5. Yoga is one of the oldest forms of mental and physical exercise. The origins of Yoga go back over 5000 years. Humans throughout the ages are known to have practiced Yoga to create a state of balance in the body and mind.
You
Overcoming the Causes of Fear
admin | 12 October, 2008 20:31
The brain is a profound organ, consisting of clusters of nerves. The nerve cells in the brain send sensory messages to almost every part of the body that is connected to it. It can either be a signal to makes us conscious of things every where in our bodies or a signal that can be present only when stimulated. One of these signals is fear; fear is aroused by numerous stimuli, varying in form and condition. Fear is felt when certain factors create a feeling of being threatened or being afraid of something that could possibly happen in the future.
There are many classifications of fear and the causes of fear itself. Our brains develops to identify that which leads to and signifies fear in us. There are a lot of sources from which our fears originate. Fear can originate from our social environment, in our subconscious mind, and in the interpretation of our norms and values, or even during drastic changes.
There are different levels of immediate responses, according to the degree of fear. One can react to a mild cautionary fear, phobia or trauma, or paranoia. Certain emotional responses to anxiety, pain, worry, fright, panic and terror relatively emit fear.
Today, there are several aspects of fear that trigger these emotional responses. Some of the causes of fear that are most common are the fear of terrorist's attacks, death, failure, war, heights, crime, violence, and some animals and insects like spiders or cockroaches. But in reality, we all get that feeling of fearing something once in awhile in our life and the best thing to do is to works towards overcoming the causes fears so we can live according to what we want and not be controlled by our fears.
Yoga For Body, Mind and Spirit
admin | 11 October, 2008 17:43
For years mind body and spirit yoga has been used for many forms of healing and relaxing and its benefits have been proved over and over. There are many forms of yoga and finding information on the web can be overwhelming.
Yoga Classes can be expensive so many people search the internet hoping to find videos and instructions on how yoga can benefit you from home. All styles of yoga can benefit the the mind, the body or the spirit.
Body focused sorts of yoga include Bikram yoga, Ashtanga yoga, Iyengar yoga and Vinyasa yoga. These types of yoga benefit the body in different ways which include strength and grace.
Mind focused yoga includes Bhakti yoga, Mantra yoga and Raja yoga. The benefits of mind yoga vary just as much as body yoga. These practices offer tools to acheive patience and concentration and can have positive effects on meditation.
There are a multitude of forms of yoga besides the ones mentioned here. The goal is to find a suitable style for your needs. All forms of yoga have advantages, depending on your body, mind and spirit. Combining different forms of yoga for your personal needs can be a good way to practice.
Explore many types of yoga until you discover which style of yoga you think you would benefit from. There is so much information on the internet and narrowing down what you are looking for can help immensely. Once you feel comfortable with your first choice, perhaps combine it with something new.
True Grit
admin | 23 August, 2008 12:33
It is said that the true measure of a person is not when everything is going his or her way, but rather when there is controversy and difficulty that you really see what the person is made out of.
Question: What are you made out of? Can you stand the test of time?
Let us look at today. So many things are happening, uncertainty in government, people, politicians, religion. How do you establish yourself when you are up against so many obstacles? Those who are out of integrity, corporations for example, do not give the appearance of being who they say they are.
It is extremely important to know the principals that you stand for. How do you establish that? One of the key ways to establish principals to live by is to ask your self this question:
What is really important for me? In how I do business? In how I do life?
Finding the Path
admin | 05 August, 2008 23:52
Our daily blog ... words, thoughts, and advice.
Visit back often as we update this page.
