Refine Your Practice, Inversions and Yoga Nidra

Here is the info I said I would post:

Benefits of Inversions:
An inversion refers to any posture or position that places the head below the heart. The reversal of gravity's effects helps to take pressure off the heart, decompress the spine, improve circulation, stimulate the endocrine system - and just make people feel good. Handstands, in particular, strengthens the shoulders, arms, and wrists, stretch the abdomen, increase balance, calm the brain and help relieve stress and mild depression.

I'll leave it at that for now.... with Google, Blogs, etc... you can search and explore this to whatever depth you would like, depending on your questions and where your practice is at.


Yoga Nidra:
Yoga is union or one-pointed awareness and Nidra is the Sanskrit word for sleep, that is sleep where the conscious mind is asleep and awareness remains active.

In Yoga Nidra, the state of relaxation is reached by practicing Pratyahara (turning inward), the 5th limb of yoga, moving away from outer experiences. When consciousness is separated from external awareness and from standard sleep, it can be very powerful and can be applied in many ways, for example, to develop memory, increase knowledge and creativity, or transform one’s nature.

Yoga Nidra also induces complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation. Adherents claim that half an hour of Yoga Nidra can replace up to three hours of normal sleep, although its regular use as a sleep substitute is not recommended as the body and mind still requires sufficient rest through standard sleep.

Enjoy!!

Anatomy Book

LYTT/DYP group....
Karen found this book and Jenn Chase also told me about it. Beth and I will review to see if we will use this, in addition to or in place of the anatomy book we planned to use.
"Yoga Anatomy: Your illustrated guide to Postures, Movements, and Breathing Techniques" by Leslie Kaminoff on Amazon.
See you a week from tomorrow!!

living yoga on and off the mat

Hi all!!

In our all day session on October 13th, we will discuss Yamas and living yoga on and off the mat. What does that look like? What does it feel like? Use all the senses to explore this.

Also, reminder to journal about your personal code of ethics for teaching and/or practicing yoga!

Here is one of my favorite quotes, thanks to Beth for bringing this quote to my attention. It's from Marianne Williamson. In yoga we tend to move away from readings/quotes that mention God in respect to different cultures and beliefs. One of the NiYamas is Isvara Pranidhana – faith/trust in a higher being. In some yoga sutra tranlations, it reads 'trust in God'. So, as we do with the sutras or other readings, if your 'higher being' is not God, please substitute that with what it represents for you. We will talk more about this in Session II when we study the NiYamas.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Shine on!!

~Maureen

BANDHA BLOG from Beth

I can't stress enough the importance of approaching this practice of shaping the breath with a sense of exploration, curiosity and playfulness.

Movement very literally begins in the mind as an image guiding movement. (Thanks Rachel for your question about visualization). Effort to change movement inevitably leads to a distortion of the intended pattern. I look at the more advanced and subtle aspects of this internal practice of Banhdas not as something to gage my own performance against but as a context in which to explore the internal experience in my practice. In other words, forget about the idea of "getting it" or "not getting it".

Along this vein, I love these words from David Swenson:

"There is no end to the refinement of practice. Yoga has no limit or finality. Rather, the greater the depth of knowledge obtained, the greater the understanding that there is infinitely more to know."

Share your visualizations!
Beth

Global Mala

Check the link for photos from Saturday's Global Mala event.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmillernh/sets/72157602114621330/

Thanks to all that participated.

Peace,
~Maureen

Breathing Blog from Beth

In the practice of Yoga we move from the gross to the subtle. We move from the outward expressions of the practice to the inward expressions of the practice: Drishti, Breath, Bandhas. Through these unseen parts of the practice, our postures become about moving energy rather than using muscular effort. Yoga becomes a way of expanding the ability to know our own mind and a way to open to the tremendous sensory information within our own body.

We all must start with the most gross aspects of the Ujjayi breath, breathing through the nose, lengthening the breath like a whispering from the back of the throat. Once we can stay with these aspects of Ujjayi, we are ready to begin to experience the breath as the movement of Prana, the ubiquitous life force energy that rides on the breath. Our attention then resides with the direction of movement of the air we are exchanging from within us and around us rather than primarily with what we are "doing" with the outer movements of the body. This is the beginning of articulating the deeper parts of our selves both mentally and physically. We begin literally to know where we are in space from the inside out.

I invite you all to explore this in your asana practice or simply sitting and breathing and share your experience with the group on our BLOG.
Inhale, direct the breath all the way down to the base of the body, the tailbone and the feet. Exhale, direct the breath upwards all the way from the base of the body through the crown of the head.

Victorious breath-
Beth


FROM KURT:
Last night was great! A special thanks to "Mary-Beth Poppins" with her umbrella, for totally confusing me on what I thought I understood. But its good as I now have to re-examine what I thought I knew. Love having the 2 different styles of teachers...it adds a lot of depth and breadth to the instruction.Kurt
September 18, 2007 5:41:00 AM PDT

Talitha said...
Thank you Beth & Maureen for a great experience last night!! I really took a lot from the time. It left me craving for more more more. :) I have been practicing my ujjayi breath since I left LY last night. I had my "Aha" moment with my breath this morning. It will be a good day. Enjoy the day everyone!!

Living Yoga Teacher Training/Develop Your Practice

Hello everyone.... welcome to the world of LYTT/DYP blogging.... it will be fantastic to have as much participation as possible to explore the various aspects of our program as well as to stay connected in between sessions. Current LY teachers will also be weighing in on the blogging and offer their words of wisdom, having been where you are now!!In this first posting I would like to offer the opportunity for us to post - living the Yamas off the mat.... please post how you do that, others you have observed, anything really.
Peace.

Yamas ~ moral codes/ethical disciplines ~ establish yourself in peace
Ahimsa – non-violence in your thoughts, words, actions
Satya – truthfulness, integrity of thoughts, words, actions
Asteya – non-stealing/not taking what is not yours/not taking more than you need
Brahmacharya – healthy expression of sexual activity
Aparigraha – generous in every thought, word, action