Grounding Intermediate Yoga We resist embodiment and we remain outside of our embodied experience. We are disassociated from our bodies, their sensations, aliveness, pain, joy, pleasure. This summer with the explosion of pokemon go we became floating heads attached to screens hunting our next acquisition. Our energy has recoiled into our heads for a completely […]

Yoga Breath

Why is breathing, mindful breathing and yogic breathing so important to our overall health? In our day to day life we experience extended periods of stress, over thinking, exercise, breathing deficiencies and because of this our blood becomes acidic. If your body is acidic you might experience headaches, light-headedness, cognitive issues, confusion, sleepiness, joint pain, muscle aches, osteoporosis, weak brittle bones, nausea. It is not uncommon for a stressful day of work to cause acidosis. You might also experience brain fog, poor memory, fatigue, restlessness, nervousness, anxiety, indigestion, cardiovascular disease, colitis and heartburn, poor sleep and autoimmune diseases. When your brain cells work extra hard without being properly nourished with oxygen, it is easy for brain cells to not be properly nourished with oxygen. It is possible to alkalize your blood and tissues with additional oxygen. Deeper breathing throughout your day, during times or increased stress, problem solving and physical exertion can help to prevent an acidic environment in your body as well as connective tissue damage.

The average breath capacity of an adult is 6K cubic cm. When you breathe unconsciously in a relaxed way you might breathe between 500 to 700 cc in and out. There will be about 1, 200 to 1, 500 cc left in your lungs during this breathing. If you focus on completely breathing out, that is taking a complete exhale, you have the capacity to move between 4, 800 and 5, 200 c of air. With mindful breathing it is simple to bring more oxygen into your bloodstream and release stale, acidic carbon dioxide as you exhale.

Oxygen is the most powerful nutrient that you can take into your body. Oxygen is vital the the operation of every organ and tissue in your system. Oxygen improves the immune function of your blood and tissue making your blood and tissue less hospitable to bacteria and viral invasion. Better oxygen in your tissues will allow your body to be more efficient overall since restricted airways and contaminated air lead to tissue damage.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

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Today’s question to answer in the comments is, what do you notice from increasing your oxygen to your cells today? How have you benefited from expanding your lung capacity with your yoga practice today? Let me know in the comments below.

Props Needed: 2 blocks, meditation cushion, folded blanket or chair,

Yoga Postures/Asanas: Side Bend or Supta Ardha Chandrasana, Cat Pose or Marjaryasana, Puppy Pose, Downward Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana, Shakata Mudra II, Tadasana or Mountain Pose, Chair Pose or Utkatasana, Warrior One or Virabhadrasana One, Downward Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana, Fish Pose or Matsyasana, Easy Twist or Parivrtta Sukhasana, Kapala bhati Pranayama or Skull Shining Breath, Navasana or boat pose, Corpse Pose or Savasana

Yoga Breath Why is breathing, mindful breathing and yogic breathing so important to our overall health? In our day to day life we experience extended periods of stress, over thinking, exercise, breathing deficiencies and because of this our blood becomes acidic. If your body is acidic you might experience headaches, light-headedness, cognitive issues, confusion, sleepiness, […]

The First Step

Start Close In by David Whyte

Start close in,

don’t take the second step

or the third,

start with the first

thing

close in,

the step

you don’t want to take.

Start with

the ground

you know,

the pale ground

beneath your feet,

your own

way to begin

the conversation.

Start with your own

question,

give up on other

people’s questions,

don’t let them

smother something

Simple.

To hear

another’s voice,

follow

your own voice,

wait until

that voice

becomes an

intimate

private ear

that can

really listen

to another.

Start right now

take a small step

you can call your own

don’t follow

someone else’s

heroics, be humble

and focused,

start close in,

don’t mistake

that other

for your own.

Start close in,

don’t take

the second step

or the third,

start with the first

thing

close in,

the step

you don’t want to take.

A David Whyte poem from

River Flow: New & Selected Poems

Many Rivers Press

This poem reminds me of the quote, don’t compare your beginning with somebody else’s middle. In the age of digital media, it is natural to compare our beginnings with everybody else’s middle when we decide to start something. We cannot expect to be a master at the beginning. We cannot expect to skip all the steps that our teachers have taken along the path to get where they have gotten.

About a year ago, I started drawing mandalas, this led to an interest in art more generally speaking. I live in a huge artist community here in Victoria, BC and in an age of digital media when there are loads of art teachers online as well. I even had one of my yoga with Melissa students, an artist, step forward and offer to teach me. It was very difficult not to compare my rudimentary paintings to their practiced works of art. I had no experience with colour, shape, values, rules of thirds, perspective, shadows … at the beginning it was all overwhelming. However, I took the first step, everyday I would practice some form of art, painting, collage, sketching, drawing, something. I took art courses, I looked at art. Over time, I learned more and my art improved. I took the first step, I started close in, with the step that I didn’t want to take. My art wasn’t very good at the beginning. I made my own mistakes. I learned from my mistakes. I keep trying and taking the next step, the one closest in.

A similar thing is happening now after two years of having frozen shoulder, I almost have full range of motion back in my shoulder. I want to be able to do everything again, however my shoulder and arms have lost a lot of mobility and strength. The same principle has applied. I was not able to go from nothing to back to doing handstands, I had to take the next step, the one closest, building my strength, mobility and endurance slowly, following the wisdom of my own body.

Reflect on these teachings and how they relate to you. When have you wanted to be in the middle instead of at the beginning taking the first step? What is the first step that you can take right now in your life?

Props Needed: 2 blocks, meditation cushion or chair, wall

Yoga Postures/Asanas: setu bandhasana or bridge pose,

The First Step Start Close In by David Whyte Start close in, don’t take the second step or the third, start with the first thing close in, the step you don’t want to take. Start with the ground you know, the pale ground beneath your feet, your own way to begin the conversation. Start with your […]

Heart Opening Yoga

Untitled

by Dawna Markova

I will not die an unlived life,

I will not live in fear

Of falling or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days

To allow my living to open me,

To make me less afraid,

more accessible,

To loosen my heart

Until it becomes a wing,

A torch, a promise.

I choose to risk my significance; to live

So that which came to me as seed

Goes to the next as blossom

And that which came to me as blossom

Goes on as fruit.

By Dawna Markova, from the book I Will Not Die an Unlived Life

When we practice yoga, we move our body into shapes that “loosen our heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise” the effect of such movements on our body is that the seeds that are held in our body become a blossom and then go on as a fruit.

Backbending yoga postures in particular open up our heart centers. In order to open our hearts, we must be rooted in legs and feet (in other words ourselves) and flexible in our spines. Backbending are postures of emergence and confidence. They help us to overcome doubts and fears about ourselves. By opening up the front of our body and strengthening the back of our body, we activate our innate ability to be present to life and to create – as the poem says.

Backbends take courage as they ask us to let go of the protective defenses around our heart including power and control issues so that we can express ourselves more fully. While backbending opens us to our vulnerability in order to express our authentic self, it also asks us to tap into our strength and our willingness to commit to our life’s purpose.

Props Needed: 2 blocks

Yoga Postures/Asanas: Supported Fish Pose/Salamba Matsyasana, Reclined Side Bend or Supta Ardha Chandrasana, Reclined Knee Down Twist or Supta Matsyendrasana, Lunge Pose or Anjaneyasana, Twist and Side Bend in Lunge Pose, Mudra: Vajra Mudra, Standing Twist, Standing Side Bend or Ardha Chandrasana, Warrior One or Virabhadrasana One, Wide Legged Standing Forward Fold or Prasarita Padottanasana, Downward Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana, Upward Facing Dog or Urdvha Mukha Svanasana, Dying Warrior, Upavista Konasana or Wide legged forward fold, Savasana or Corpse Pose

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

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Thank you for your donations: Peige, Sue, Hannah

Today’s question to answer in the comments section is: What is blossoming to become a fruit in your life right now?

If you would like an infographic of my top 3 benefits of engaging with poetry then scroll down to the opt in box and type in your email address. We will send you a beautiful infographic of my 3 benefits of engaging with poetry.

If you would like to further open your heart like ...

Heart Opening Yoga Untitled by Dawna Markova I will not die an unlived life, I will not live in fear Of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days To allow my living to open me, To make me less afraid, more accessible, To loosen my heart Until it becomes a wing, A […]

Body Awareness

“TWO COUNTRIES”

by Naomi Shihab Nye

Skin remembers how long the years grow

when skin is not touched, a gray tunnel

of singleness, feather lost from the tail

of a bird, swirling onto a step,

swept away by someone who never saw

it was a feather. Skin ate, walked,

slept by itself, knew how to raise a

see-you-later hand. But skin felt

it was never seen, never known as

a land on the map, nose like a city,

hip like a city, gleaming dome of the mosque

and the hundred corridors of cinnamon and rope.

Skin had hope, that’s what skin does.

Heals over the scarred place, makes a road.

Love means you breathe in two countries.

And skin remembers–silk, spiny grass,

deep in the pocket that is skin’s secret own.

Even now, when skin is not alone,

it remembers being alone and thanks something larger

that there are travelers, that people go places

larger than themselves.

From: Naomi Shihab Nye’s collection of poetry, Words Under Words: Selected Poems.

This poem reminds me of everything I learned during my training as a Phoenix Rising Yoga therapist, teacher and group facilitator – that our bodies are an incredible source of wisdom. Since our bodies have been present with us every moment of our lives, they hold all of the memories of our lived experience: good, bad and indifferent.

Just like the poem says, your body experiences your reality, feels what may never be seen, knows the unknown and untold parts of your story. Your body is intelligent and aware of every experience that has happened in your life. Your body holds the memory of everything that has happened in your life.

Through the practice of yoga, you come to experience your body in a deep and profound way. You no longer separate your mind from your body. You become curious about the felt sensations of your physical experience and how they connect to your emotions, thoughts and energy. Instead of looking to external resources for answers, you begin to rely more and more on your own lived experience as lived by your own truth. As my teacher Elissa Cobb says, ‘Awareness happens through your body.”

Resource: The Forgotten Body by Elissa Cobb

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

Did you like today’s show?

* Share it with a friend, family member or email it to a coworker.

* Like

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* Leave your comment below.

Thank you for your donations: Donna, Sean, Viola, Rickianne, Sakari, Lakita,

Thank you for your continued kindness and generous support. It helps us to produce this show and offer a free one hour yoga class every Friday.

Today’s question to answer in the comments is: What is your body telling you this week?

If you would like an infographic of my top 3 benefits of engaging with poetry then scroll down to the opt in box and type in your email address. We will send you a beautiful infographic of my 3 benefits of engaging with poetry.

If you would like more support in bringing awareness to your body, I highly recommend our introduction to meditation series in our membership community. This 5 day series introduces you to meditation by preparing you for sitting, how to sit and be in your body, being with your breath and a candle gazing meditation.

Body Awareness “TWO COUNTRIES” by Naomi Shihab Nye Skin remembers how long the years grow when skin is not touched, a gray tunnel of singleness, feather lost from the tail of a bird, swirling onto a step, swept away by someone who never saw it was a feather. Skin ate, walked, slept by itself, knew […]

Paradox

by Jeff Dickson

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less.

We buy more, but enjoy less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.

We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life.

We’ve added years to life not life to years.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.

We conquered outer space but not inner space.

We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.

We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less.

We accomplish less.

We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait.

We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.

These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.

These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.

A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

This poem speaks clearly about how our yoga practice allows us to stay connected in a high speed, low connection culture. It reminds me of the slow movement, which seeks to connect us more meaningfully with others, the place we live and ourselves. The issue of time poverty can be solved by making a connection, with ourselves. The slow movement evolved out of an effort to counteract our fast-paced, commodity-focused, unbalanced and impersonal modern culture.

Through our yoga practice we can slow down and get to know how our body feels, not just how it looks. It may be tempting to shape your body like the latest cover of a yoga magazine or that photo you saw on instagram, but even more important is to slow down, find space within you and ask yourself, how does this feel in my body? Our yoga practice gives us space away from the busy-ness of daily life where we can develop a relationship with our breath, our body, our mind, our emotions and energy that is truly our own, far away from the showroom window. Through our yoga practice we connect to the ground of ourselves and create the inner space to truly know our soul.

The practice itself is quite minimalist, even without a yoga mat, with only your breath and your body you can develop an intimate connection with your true home, discover what really matters to you and begin to shape a life that is meaningful to you. We develop patience over years to allow our body to unfold as it will. Through twists we allow our bodies to digest at a pace that makes sense to each one of us as individuals,