Gratitude

New Year – Let’s Dedicate!

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A new year is always a good time to restart. It’s often a time of renewal, recommitment, and rededication. Many of us make resolutions to start working out more, eating healthier, maybe even drinking less alcohol. All these are great! It’s always great to dedicate yourself to YOU!

My resolution is simple. New year, same me. I am dedicating 2019 to ME!

One way I’m doing this is renewing my dedication to yoga. I am continuing my intention to practice yoga on a daily basis. That can be quite a daunting task. Most of the time when I wake up, I don’t want to get on the mat. I want to stay in bed and be lazy…especially on the weekends. I often need motivation to participate in a daily practice. That’s where YouTube and my favorite YouTube Yogi comes in.

Every January Adriene from Yoga with Adriene puts out a month long practice to rejuvenate a daily yoga practice. This year, it’s called Dedicate. What a perfect name for 2019??

Some of the videos are long, some aren’t. So far I’ve been able to find time to do all of them. I have to say, this has been a great way for me to keep myself accountable. After 20+ days, it will once again become a habit.

I wish you all the best of luck keeping your resolutions this year. I know I will do my best to keep mine. Here’s to another year, another 365 pages to fill in the book of life!

 

 

 

Yoga for Travel

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When we travel, whether its domestic or international, often we feel fatigued and our bodies just want to rest. While rest is important, it is also important to move the body a little so that you can stretch out stiff areas and flex out tight muscles.

On long flights, its important to get up an move around. Sometimes we don’t have the luxury of doing a full yoga routine, especially on a 10 hour flight overseas. Here are a few things you can do in small areas, on the plane or off, to help you reduce stiffness and hopefully help alleviate fatigue.

  1. Walking meditation (up and down aisles of the airplane)
  2. Forward Fold/Standing wide legged forward fold
  3. Standing cat/cow
  4. Standing side stretches
  5. Malasana squat
  6. Crescent lunges
  7. Standing upper body twists

When you land at your destination, here are some yoga moves you can do to help reduce fatigue so that you can get right to the fun!

  1. Sun salutation A
  2. Standing side stretches
  3. Warrior series
  4. Chair pose
  5. Boat pose
  6. Headstand/handstand
  7. Supine twist

Hopefully these help you as much as they have helped me in my travels! Enjoy the holiday season and happy new year!

Image result for travel yoga

A Month of Gratitude

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When you think of November, what comes to mind? Fall colors, great food, maybe even family? Another thing that usually comes to mind is gratitude. Many folks use this month as a jumpstart to express their gratitude for the past year. Towards the end of each year we often find ourselves reflecting on the past year and thinking of all the good times as well as the bad. Setting yourself up with a 30 day gratitude challenge is a great way to focus on the good.

It doesn’t matter when you start, doing a 30 day gratitude challenge is great for any time of year.

Here are some great tips on expressing gratitude:

  • Be an active listener
  • Give out compliments
  • Write positive affirmations for yourself
  • Be thoughtful
  • Volunteer
  • Give a hug
  • Share praise
  • Journal on gratitude
  • Donate
  • Say thank you
  • Smile

Remember, expressing gratitude for yourself is just as important as expressing gratitude to others. Loving yourself is often more important too!

Have fun with this gratitude challenge and happy holidays!

Image result for gratitude

Month of Meditation

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May is the National month of meditation. If you have never meditated, starting a meditation practice may seem the furthest from your mind. For those of us who have been practicing meditation, we like to prescribe is as a panacea. To those who have never tried it, however, it may seem the hardest concept.

Styles and lineages of meditation can be overwhelming. Do we sit still and focus on the breath? Do we find a mantra to focus on? Should we start with guided meditations?

Yes, to all of the above.

There is no cookie cutter answer. There is no solution that works for everyone. Like yoga, each person has to find the meditation that works for them. Trying different meditation styles, from guided to silent, each person can find what works for them and really allow the meditation to unfold naturally.

Meditation is our natural state, our calmest state. Society has not allowed us to embrace this, so we have to retrain our minds and bodies to allow ourselves to return to that state. By taking just a few minutes a day to try to retrain ourselves, we can really move towards a more peaceful and accepting life.

For apps to help start your meditation path, see my previous post on meditation.

 

New Year – Opportunity to Restart

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Another new year, another new year’s resolution…right?

Maybe not so much! We don’t have to wait until the new year to restart our dedication to our yoga practice. Each day is a new day and a new opportunity to restart your daily yoga practice.

This year, I began the new year with a 30 day yoga journey created by Yoga with Adriene! Each year a new year’s restart is offered up, allowing us all to start the new year on a new track. It’s important to note, however, that we are not restricted to January to start a new year. Adriene offers monthly calendars on her website, allowing each month to become a restart.

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So get out there – find the calendar for you and restart your life! You’ll only have yourself to thank.

Pose Breakdown: Badha Konasana (Cobbler Pose)

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Towards the end of a yoga sequence, relaxation poses are incorporated to help the body start to cool down, allowing the muscles to begin to let go of any tension caused by some of the more active poses. Badha Konasana (literally meaning “bound angle pose) is a relaxation pose often incorporated towards the end of yoga sequences. This pose is most often called cobbler pose or butterfly pose.

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Pose Breakdown:
-Begin seated with your legs straight out on the mat or ground, keeping your back straight.
-Bend your knees and slowly drop your knees out to the sides, like a book, bringing the soles of your feet to touch.
-Take both hands and wrap them around the feet.
-Sit straight and tall, focusing on the posture and breath. You can also slowing pull your upper body towards the feet, incorporating a forward fold.
Modification:
-Supta Badha Konasana is a modification where you are laying on your back with your legs/feet in the same position.
-Start laying on your back with both legs straight out in front of you.
-Follow the same directions with the legs as seated badha konasana.
-Take your feet further forward, away from your body, to ease any discomfort in your knees or hips. Using support items, such as blocks or blankets, under the knees can also assist with discomfort.
-Take one hand to the chest and one to the belly.
-Lay still, focusing on the breath.
Image result for supta baddha konasana
Benefits:
-Relieves menstrual cramps.
-Reduces symptoms of depression.
-Improve energy levels.
-Reduce symptoms of anxiety.
Enjoy this wonderfully relaxing posture!

Meditation Made Easy

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Meditation has been proven to reduce physical manifestations of stress. The act of deep breathing assists in invoking calm and reducing anxiety. However, committing to a meditation practice can be a daunting idea. How do you even start? In our fast paced society, sitting still for a few minutes a day, trying not to let our thoughts distract us…this can be hard.

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Often, we rely on resources, like YouTube videos or applications on our smart phones, to assist us. Here are a few user friendly meditation apps that can be downloaded on any smart phone.

  • Headspace – Free
    • App requires membership after free trial ($7.92), beginner friendly, easy to use. Offers instructions on how to meditate.
  • Meditation Studio – $3.99
    • Powered by Gaiam, offers many different types of meditation, offer guided meditations
  • Calm – Free
    • App requires membership ($4.99), offers different types of meditations,
  • Stop, Breath, & Think – Free
    • App requires membership ($4.92), offers tutorials on types of breathing as well as guided meditations
  • Oprah & Deepak 21 Day Meditation – Free
    • App offers free 21 day meditations series, guided meditations with theme, offers mantras as well as journaling prompts

There are many more apps that can be used. Going to a meditation workshop is also an option. Anyway you do it, meditation is only going to be a benefit to your life.

Meditation can be done anytime, anywhere. Whether you’re just starting your day, in the middle of some work, or even driving home (though you don’t want to close your eyes during this meditation!), you can take a few minutes to meditate. Even going for a walking meditation can combine the calming benefits of meditation with the physical benefits of walking.

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So go, download an app, and let’s meditate!

Satya – Finding Your Truth

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Satya is the Sanskrit word for truth. Truth is often seen as a binary, black and white issue. A truth is a truth and a lie is a lie…right? Well, people have different truths. Truth can be very subjective, specific to the individual. What is true for me isn’t true for everyone. Yoga philosophy teaches us that truth is when our thoughts, words, and actions are all in harmony. Gandhi equates this to true happiness. Yoga also teaches us that with truth, no harm is done.

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Using these principles in considering what is true and what is not, we can move from judging others towards acceptance. By accepting that all truths are different, one can live a more free life. Without the burden of judgment, we can detach ourselves from having to be perfect, from having to project our own truth onto others.

This is applicable to yoga as we often find ourselves judging and criticizing others on their yoga practice based on where we are in ours. Going to a studio can be daunting, as we may feel judged and compare ourselves to others. You may not be able to get into that headstand or handstand, you may have trouble with the warrior series. It’s okay…that’s your truth. Don’t judge your truth, your practice based on where others are at. Don’t feel like a failure if you use props. Props can be a great addition to an already established practice.

props

Ultimately your practice is your own, your truth is your own. By trying to focus on that and not what others are doing, you will be happier and more free in life.

Happy practicing!

Finding Your Yoga

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One of the questions I am asked most often is “which yoga is the best?”

I always respond the same way, it depends.

The type of yoga that is “best” depends on so many factors. It depends on the person practicing, it depends on the mood of the person, it can even depend on the time of day the person is practicing.

Here are a few things to ask yourself when looking for a “type*” of yoga to best suit you.

  1. What do I want to focus on with this yoga practice?
  2. What do I want to feel after this yoga practice?
  3. What is my primary reason for participating in this yoga practice?

These questions will give you a sense of what you’re looking for out of a yoga class and help guide you to specific types of yoga classes.

Here are a few popular types of classes available in most areas:

Hatha Yoga

This is basically the source of all yoga. It generally encompasses all practices of yoga. It is were most yoga practices stem from, from the asana (pose) sequence as well as pranayama (breath) practice.

Vinyasa Flow Yoga

This type of yoga is very much the typical yoga people think of. It’s very fluid, moving from one pose to another in line with the breath. You breathe in with one pose and out with another. This can fluctuate in intensity, from power yoga which is usually very active, fast paced, and builds strength, to Ashtanga, which holds a bit longer in each pose.

Yin Yoga

This type of yoga is slow paced, holding poses for long period of time (can be anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes).

Kundalini Yoga

This type of yoga blends together spiritual practice with asana. This practice incorporates movement with breath as well as chanting specific mantras. The goal is to increase consciousness as well as improving vitality.

Bikram Yoga

This type of yoga uses the same 26 poses in the same sequence. It stemmed from hatha yoga practice, joining movement with breath. Generally, Bikram Yoga is practiced in a hot room for 90 minutes.

There are many other types of yoga out there. I always recommend new yogis try different types of classes as well as different teachers. You may find you like the style, but a different teacher can really change the outcome of the class. Ultimately, like I said, the style of yoga depends on a lot of factors. The best thing one can do as a new yoga student is to be a YES, be open to the possibility of the class. You never know what you’ll find.

 

*(Note: I do not subscribe to types of yoga, for me its all about the sequence that is put together, not the name given to a sequence or flow)

A Yoga Sequence for the Feminine

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In honor of International Women’s Day, I wanted to share a sequence that is often used to specifically honor the feminine within. Now, this doesn’t mean that men can’t do this sequence. On the contrary, I believe this sequence can and will help anyone, whether its to honor the feminine or just as an alternative sequence.

Traditionally, it is called the Moon Salutation. One can consider it the sequence to honor the moon, like the Sun Salutations are used to honor the sun and fire within.

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Here is are the poses (pictured above) that make up the Moon Salutation Sequence. (Note, this is one variation of Moon Salutation. Many more variations can be found online.)

Standing Mountain Pose — Tadasana

Upward Salute Side Bend/Half Moon — Urdhva Hastasana

Goddess Squat — Utkata Konasana

Star Pose

Extended Triangle Pose — Utthita Trikonasana

Pyramid Pose — Parsvottanasana

Low Crescent Lunge — Anjaneyasana

Low Side Lunge

Garland Pose — Malasana

Low Side Lunge

Low Crescent Lunge — Anjaneyasana

Pyramid Pose — Parsvottanasana

Extended Triangle Pose — Utthita Trikonasana

Star Pose

Goddess Squat — Utkata Konasana

Upward Salute Side Bend/Half Moon — Urdhva Hastasana

Standing Mountain Pose — Tadasana

This sequence can be done any time of day. Morning or evening, when the sun in shining or the moon is beaming, the Moon Salutation sequence can be incorporated in any yoga sequence.

Go forth! Honor the feminine within!

Happy International Women’s Day!