Yoga with Melissa

Yoga for Worry

I was writing an exam for a course and even though it was a take home exam I experienced a lot of worry. My body was jumpy and on edge. I could feel my jaw tighten. My breathing was tight up in my chest. My shoulders lifted and my neck got sore. I could feel myself trying to control things as the restlessness, agitation, and nervousness heightened. I felt my temper shorten with my husband Tim and my daughter Trinity. Can you relate to those sensations when worry arises in your experience?

More than that, even though my task was to sit and write my exam and in particular finish the final question it felt impossible for me to sit still. This exam was for a course on Tibetan Buddhism and so we had protocols about how to be in our bodies in a calm and relaxed manner and yet I was not able to connect with my breath, be in my body or feel the stability of the earth underneath me.

The exam question I was working on was a simple fill in the blank and maybe ironically I was drawing a blank. I panicked. My mind was spinning in circles and I felt like a complete failure. I couldn´t believe that I couldn´t recall the material from the course that should go in the blanks. And so I did that thing that I do when I worry. Instead of staying close in, in my body, connected to the earth, and my breath I watched my energy scatter. I frenetically searched through all the course material for the answers.

Sometimes when I worry it looks like checking my email, checking my social media, doing more work any work, cleaning the house, eating some juknk food that will temporarily make me feel better and then soon after make me feel worse, going shopping. Out, out, out, disperse, disperse, disperse. Impossible to stay present.

After searching high and low through all the course notes I found some answers that fit somewhat in the blanks and I handed in the exam. I wanted to get it off my plate. I didn´t want to worry about it anymore. Not surprisingly, 2 days later I got the exam back from my teacher saying, you passed all the questions except the fill in the blank question, go back to the text referenced in the question and try again.

Jack Kornfield says that worry often comes in response to pain that we don´t want to feel. Iḿ pretty sure in this situation I didn´t want to feel like a failure. I didn´t want to feel the sting of failure and all the trauma of past educational testing and grading held deep within my psyche was rapidly rising to the surface through this exam.

And yet, as my story shows too, worry is an impermanent state of conditions that are bound to change. When I got the exam back to rewrite the final question, I was able to find the quoted text for the first time in the textbook and fill in the blanks with complete ease. From that place of ease and steadiness, it was the easiest question on the exam.

Teachings inspired by Jack Kornfield´s A Path with Heart

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

Yoga Props: Yoga Blocks, Bolsters, Yoga Strap

Yoga Postures or Asana: Heart Bed Pose, Bridge Pose or Setu Bandhasana, Supta Padangusthasana or Hand to Big Toe Pose, Child´s Pose or Balasana, Triangle Pose or Trikonasana, Legs Up the Wall Pose or Viparita Karini, Sphinx Pose or Salambha Bhujangasana, Janu Sirsasana or Head Beyond Knee Pose, Savasana or Corpse Pose, Mushti Mudra

Today I was stretching myself as a teacher and attempting to teach from a story. If you like being taught from a story, please let me know by pressing that like button.

Also, all the teachings are included in the story. I know you are all incredibly intelligent,

Yoga and Judgment

As Jack Kornfield says, for many of us judgment is a painful theme in our lives. Our reaction to it is to see what is wrong with it and the judging itself continues to be strong and painful.

Trying to get rid of our judging is another judgment in and of itself. We notice our judging and then we say to ourselves, ¨I shouldn't be judging. More judgment. We judge ourselves. We have our standards of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.

On Tuesday of this week I went on what Tim would call a bender of anger, rage and judging others. Wednesday I woke up full of remorse and self-judgment. Jack Kornfield says, to understand the judging mind, we need to touch it with a forgiving heart. Jack Kornfield says, ¨To become fully conscious , we must fully allow each difficult state we have rejected - including our judging mind - to come back into our heart.¨

My teacher, Reggie Ray would say it a little differently, when judging happens, come into your body, feel what is happening. Reggie explains that self criticism is a defense mechanism against what is actually happening. So we come back to our body, our present moment circumstances and check in with what really is happening.

Sometimes the things that are coming up in our lives are very painful. Rage. Anger. Judgement. These things are completely inconsistent with our image of ourselves. They are completely out of alignment with our self image. When we feel rage, anger and judgment, our beliefs about who we are as a person being called into question. It is painful, destabilizing, and threatening.

We judge ourselves, and Reggie explains that this is a discursive way of jumping to conclusions about what is coming up for ourselves. We start spinning. This spinning is a way of avoiding what is actually happening for us. What is being asked when judging is happening is for us to come back into our bodies. We just need to be present to what is happening now.

The tendency to judge ourselves is simply all the ways that we avoid the direct experience of life itself. Instead our teachers ask us to be kind to ourselves. Be generous with ourselves and let go of judging ourselves.

¨We have to take the risk ourselves, on our selves. We have to be willing to be a person, that according to our judgments, should not exist.¨ Reggie Ray

Props Needed: 2 blocks, bolster

Yoga Postures or Asana: Supta Baddha Konasana or Reclined Bound Angle Pose, Knees to chest pose or Apanasana, Pigeon Pose or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, Lunge Pose or Anjaneyasana, Compassionate Eagle Pose or Garudasana, Peaceful Warrior, Gomukhasana or Cow´s Face Pose, Savasana or Corpse Pose, Mushtika Mudra

https://www.melissawest.com/membership/membership-sign-up/

Weekly Yoga with Melissa #382 Photos of Yoga Poses

Yoga and Judgment As Jack Kornfield says, for many of us judgment is a painful theme in our lives. Our reaction to it is to see what is wrong with it and the judging itself continues to be strong and painful. Trying to get rid of our judging is another judgment in and of itself. […]

Yoga and Judgment

As Jack Kornfield says, for many of us judgment is a painful theme in our lives. Our reaction to it is to see what is wrong with it and the judging itself continues to be strong and painful.

Trying to get rid of our judging is another judgment in and of itself. We notice our judging and then we say to ourselves, ¨I shouldn’t be judging. More judgment. We judge ourselves. We have our standards of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.

On Tuesday of this week I went on what Tim would call a bender of anger, rage and judging others. Wednesday I woke up full of remorse and self-judgment. Jack Kornfield says, to understand the judging mind, we need to touch it with a forgiving heart. Jack Kornfield says, ¨To become fully conscious , we must fully allow each difficult state we have rejected – including our judging mind – to come back into our heart.¨

My teacher, Reggie Ray would say it a little differently, when judging happens, come into your body, feel what is happening. Reggie explains that self criticism is a defense mechanism against what is actually happening. So we come back to our body, our present moment circumstances and check in with what really is happening.

Sometimes the things that are coming up in our lives are very painful. Rage. Anger. Judgement. These things are completely inconsistent with our image of ourselves. They are completely out of alignment with our self image. When we feel rage, anger and judgment, our beliefs about who we are as a person being called into question. It is painful, destabilizing, and threatening.

We judge ourselves, and Reggie explains that this is a discursive way of jumping to conclusions about what is coming up for ourselves. We start spinning. This spinning is a way of avoiding what is actually happening for us. What is being asked when judging is happening is for us to come back into our bodies. We just need to be present to what is happening now.

The tendency to judge ourselves is simply all the ways that we avoid the direct experience of life itself. Instead our teachers ask us to be kind to ourselves. Be generous with ourselves and let go of judging ourselves.

¨We have to take the risk ourselves, on our selves. We have to be willing to be a person, that according to our judgments, should not exist.¨ Reggie Ray

Props Needed: 2 blocks, bolster

Yoga Postures or Asana: Supta Baddha Konasana or Reclined Bound Angle Pose, Knees to chest pose or Apanasana, Pigeon Pose or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, Lunge Pose or Anjaneyasana, Compassionate Eagle Pose or Garudasana, Peaceful Warrior, Gomukhasana or Cow´s Face Pose, Savasana or Corpse Pose, Mushtika Mudra

http://www.melissawest.com/membership/membership-sign-up/

Weekly Yoga with Melissa #382 Photos of Yoga Poses

Yoga for Anger

If I may be so bold, one of the core and unspoken beliefs held by yoga and spiritual communities is that to experience anger is somehow unspiritual or un-yogic. The truth is sometimes life will be all rainbows, lollipops and unicorns and sometimes life will hand us the most antagonistic set of circumstances we can imagine. Our body will respond the way our body will respond. Unless we plan on taking an emotional lobotomy (a term I love coined by Ngakpa Chogyam and Khandro Dechen) then anger is going to be part of our everyday experience.

Our knee jerk reaction will be to somehow control and manage our natural arising of emotions within our body. Anger has a particular intensity which urges us to react or push through with even more restraint and emotional supervision. And yet there is another option, which is opening to directly to our anger, not to react with an emotional outburst, or try to control it, manage it, suppress it, or push through it, but open to the truth of it as it is in this moment.

Anger is a powerful force that shows up in many forms in our lives. It is all the ways we judge, push away, condemn, criticize or hate some experience in our lives. It can run the gamut of annoyance, deep fear, hatred to rage. At the core we can recognize a dislike or aversion to some aspect of our present moment experience.

When anger arises notice what is happening. Notice that anger happens when we are hurt or when we are afraid. Anger is a powerful medicine. It shows us where we are stuck, where our limits are and where we are clinging to our beliefs and fears about how things in our lives “should” be unfolding. In other words, anger is based on our limited beliefs about how our world should unfold and how we should be treated.

When anger arises, notice the anger. Where do you feel it in your body? What happens in your body when anger arises? Can you notice different kinds of anger? Can you feel the effects of anger on your breath? Can you feel the contraction in your body when anger arises? Can you feel the affects of anger on your mind?

Our practice does not allow is to eliminate anger from our lives. That is an impossible task. Our lives will unfold as they will unfold. People will treat us the way we will treat us. All of this is beyond on our control. Relating to anger as it arises and passes is a lifelong journey, one that takes tenderness, patience and compassion.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

If you appreciated this approach to opening to anger rather than going for an emotional lobotomy give the video a thumbs up.

If you know somebody who would benefit from this class please feel free to share the video with them.

Props Needed: Yoga Blocks, Pillow, Meditation Cushion, Blanket,

Yoga Poses or Asana: Bridge Pose or Setu Bandhasana, Boat Pose or Navasana, Chaturanga Dandasana or Tricep Pushup, Pigeon Pose or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, Goddess Victory Squat or Utkata Konasana, Dolphin Pose or Ardha Pincha Mayurasana, Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana, Cow’s Face Pose or Gomukhasana, Lion’s Breath or Simhasana, Savasana or Corpse Pose, Samputa Mudra

Let me know in the comments if this was a different approach to anger than you are used to experiencing in a yoga class in if so, how was it different for you?

Thank you so much for your donations: Carla from Belguim and Sonja from South Australia.

Today we practiced Goddess Victory squat as a way to connect with the strong emotion of anger. If you would like a full class to connect with your fierce Goddess, In our membership community we have a long yoga class called The Transformative Power of Kali (55 mins) Kali’s fierceness often reminds me of the powerful emotion,

Yoga for Anger If I may be so bold, one of the core and unspoken beliefs held by yoga and spiritual communities is that to experience anger is somehow unspiritual or un-yogic. The truth is sometimes life will be all rainbows, lollipops and unicorns and sometimes life will hand us the most antagonistic set of […]

Yoga for Anger

If I may be so bold, one of the core and unspoken beliefs held by yoga and spiritual communities is that to experience anger is somehow unspiritual or un-yogic. The truth is sometimes life will be all rainbows, lollipops and unicorns and sometimes life will hand us the most antagonistic set of circumstances we can imagine. Our body will respond the way our body will respond. Unless we plan on taking an emotional lobotomy (a term I love coined by Ngakpa Chogyam and Khandro Dechen) then anger is going to be part of our everyday experience.

Our knee jerk reaction will be to somehow control and manage our natural arising of emotions within our body. Anger has a particular intensity which urges us to react or push through with even more restraint and emotional supervision. And yet there is another option, which is opening to directly to our anger, not to react with an emotional outburst, or try to control it, manage it, suppress it, or push through it, but open to the truth of it as it is in this moment.

Anger is a powerful force that shows up in many forms in our lives. It is all the ways we judge, push away, condemn, criticize or hate some experience in our lives. It can run the gamut of annoyance, deep fear, hatred to rage. At the core we can recognize a dislike or aversion to some aspect of our present moment experience.

When anger arises notice what is happening. Notice that anger happens when we are hurt or when we are afraid. Anger is a powerful medicine. It shows us where we are stuck, where our limits are and where we are clinging to our beliefs and fears about how things in our lives “should” be unfolding. In other words, anger is based on our limited beliefs about how our world should unfold and how we should be treated.

When anger arises, notice the anger. Where do you feel it in your body? What happens in your body when anger arises? Can you notice different kinds of anger? Can you feel the effects of anger on your breath? Can you feel the contraction in your body when anger arises? Can you feel the affects of anger on your mind?

Our practice does not allow is to eliminate anger from our lives. That is an impossible task. Our lives will unfold as they will unfold. People will treat us the way we will treat us. All of this is beyond on our control. Relating to anger as it arises and passes is a lifelong journey, one that takes tenderness, patience and compassion.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

If you appreciated this approach to opening to anger rather than going for an emotional lobotomy give the video a thumbs up.

If you know somebody who would benefit from this class please feel free to share the video with them.

Props Needed: Yoga Blocks, Pillow, Meditation Cushion, Blanket,

Yoga Poses or Asana: Bridge Pose or Setu Bandhasana, Boat Pose or Navasana, Chaturanga Dandasana or Tricep Pushup, Pigeon Pose or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, Goddess Victory Squat or Utkata Konasana, Dolphin Pose or Ardha Pincha Mayurasana, Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana, Cow’s Face Pose or Gomukhasana, Lion’s Breath or Simhasana, Savasana or Corpse Pose, Samputa Mudra

Let me know in the comments if this was a different approach to anger than you are used to experiencing in a yoga class in if so, how was it different for you?

Thank you so much for your donations: Carla from Belguim and Sonja from South Australia.

Today we practiced Goddess Victory squat as a way to connect with the strong emotion of anger. If you would like a full class to connect with your fierce Goddess, In our membership community we have a long yoga class called The Transformative Power of Kali (55 mins) Kali’...

Feeling Incomplete

We have this core belief about being a human being that we need to get more to be complete. If we could improve our physical appearance, our health, improve our relationship or get in a better relationship, fix our job or get a better job, fix up our house or move to a better house, buy a better yoga mat, better clothes, a better night’s sleep, then we would be fulfilled.

In our culture, we are taught that when we grasp enough pleasureable experiences one after the other our lives will be happy. The problem is that wanting is like an intoxicant and we are unable to see clearly.

The truth is, we do not need to acquire things or change things, we can see how our sense of longing and incompleteness gets us caught in a vortex of desire and wanting. It creates a belief and a feeling that we are separate and not whole, that we are deficient and inadequate in some way.

With the stability of our yoga practice we can notice that we are caught up in a painful narrative of grasping and wanting and come back to resting in our body. When we stabilize our awareness opens.

When the desire, longing, wanting arises. When that sense of being partial, defective or imperfect in some way comes up it is an invitation to stabilize so our awareness can open. We can become curious about the longing. How long does it last? Does it intensify? Does it fade away? How does it feel in your body? Where do you feel it in your body? What emotions are attached? Is it charged? In what way? Notice how the longing, wanting and desire shifts and changes as you pay attention to it.

With awareness we can distinguish unhealthy desire from skillful motivation. We can start to open to our experience of desire, longing and wanting and with wakeful conscious attention unlock the valuable energy bound up within them.

This is not a matter of creating a club to judge our experience or push it away as if it wasn’t happening. And we are not confusing desire with pleasure. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a pleasant experience. We are bringing compassionate, tender awareness to acknowledge the longing that is present in our lives so that we can respond more skillfully. We understand that nothing lasts forever, just as the desire arises, it too will pass away.

At its deepest core all of our unskillful desire is a deep spiritual longing to connect with our own completeness. The more we support our awareness and sense into each experience we can recognize that we are intrinsically good and honour our precious human life.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

Yoga Postures/Asanas: Supported Fish Pose or Salamba Matsyasana, Sphinx Pose or Salamba Bhujangasana, Ardha Dhanurasana or Half Bow Pose, Cat Pose or Marjaryasana, Downward Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana, Pigeon or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, Dancer Pose or Natarajasana, Over the Moon Pose or Ardha Chandrasana Chapasana, Wide Legged Standing Forward Fold or Prasarita Padottanasana, Zig Zag Twist or Bharadvajasana, Bound Angle Pose or Baddha Konasana, Savasana or Corpse Pose, Bhairava Mudra (Male) or Bhairavi Mudra (Female)

Props Needed: 2 Blocks

Were you able to stabilize and open your awareness in this class? If so press the like button.

If you know somebody else who could benefit from seeing clearly their completeness and the preciousness of their human life, please feel free to share this class with them.

Let me know in the comments how longing, desire, and wanting felt in your body and how it shifts and changes as you pay attention to it.

Thank you so much for your donations: Donna, Leah, and Cornelia and Donna

We did a lot of backending and hip opening today.

Feeling Incomplete We have this core belief about being a human being that we need to get more to be complete. If we could improve our physical appearance, our health, improve our relationship or get in a better relationship, fix our job or get a better job, fix up our house or move to a […]

Feeling Incomplete

We have this core belief about being a human being that we need to get more to be complete. If we could improve our physical appearance, our health, improve our relationship or get in a better relationship, fix our job or get a better job, fix up our house or move to a better house, buy a better yoga mat, better clothes, a better night’s sleep, then we would be fulfilled.

In our culture, we are taught that when we grasp enough pleasureable experiences one after the other our lives will be happy. The problem is that wanting is like an intoxicant and we are unable to see clearly.

The truth is, we do not need to acquire things or change things, we can see how our sense of longing and incompleteness gets us caught in a vortex of desire and wanting. It creates a belief and a feeling that we are separate and not whole, that we are deficient and inadequate in some way.

With the stability of our yoga practice we can notice that we are caught up in a painful narrative of grasping and wanting and come back to resting in our body. When we stabilize our awareness opens.

When the desire, longing, wanting arises. When that sense of being partial, defective or imperfect in some way comes up it is an invitation to stabilize so our awareness can open. We can become curious about the longing. How long does it last? Does it intensify? Does it fade away? How does it feel in your body? Where do you feel it in your body? What emotions are attached? Is it charged? In what way? Notice how the longing, wanting and desire shifts and changes as you pay attention to it.

With awareness we can distinguish unhealthy desire from skillful motivation. We can start to open to our experience of desire, longing and wanting and with wakeful conscious attention unlock the valuable energy bound up within them.

This is not a matter of creating a club to judge our experience or push it away as if it wasn’t happening. And we are not confusing desire with pleasure. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a pleasant experience. We are bringing compassionate, tender awareness to acknowledge the longing that is present in our lives so that we can respond more skillfully. We understand that nothing lasts forever, just as the desire arises, it too will pass away.

At its deepest core all of our unskillful desire is a deep spiritual longing to connect with our own completeness. The more we support our awareness and sense into each experience we can recognize that we are intrinsically good and honour our precious human life.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

Yoga Postures/Asanas: Supported Fish Pose or Salamba Matsyasana, Sphinx Pose or Salamba Bhujangasana, Ardha Dhanurasana or Half Bow Pose, Cat Pose or Marjaryasana, Downward Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana, Pigeon or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, Dancer Pose or Natarajasana, Over the Moon Pose or Ardha Chandrasana Chapasana, Wide Legged Standing Forward Fold or Prasarita Padottanasana, Zig Zag Twist or Bharadvajasana, Bound Angle Pose or Baddha Konasana, Savasana or Corpse Pose, Bhairava Mudra (Male) or Bhairavi Mudra (Female)

Props Needed: 2 Blocks

Were you able to stabilize and open your awareness in this class? If so press the like button.

If you know somebody else who could benefit from seeing clearly their completeness and the preciousness of their human life, please feel free to share this class with them.

Let me know in the comments how longing, desire, and wanting felt in your body and how it shifts and changes as you pay attention to it.

Thank you so much for your donations: Donna, Leah, and Cornelia and Donna