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- eat well through nutritious foods
- move well through physical activity that suits our bodies and
- think well by keeping an empowered mindset.
- We could potentially hurt ourselves
- We will feel discouraged and may not want to stick to our practice
- Our minds will be occupied by the thoughts of our sore wrists instead of being present with the movement of the spine and our breathing.
Tis the Season of Giving… and RECEIVING!
December 5th, 2011This is the time of year when we are focused on giving – whether it is gifts for our loved ones, charitable offerings, our well wishes, etc.… With the spirit of the season, we even feel more inclined to “lend a hand” to a stranger or give a compliment to someone.
And while learning how to GIVE is an important practice, not only for the holidays but also for our on-going personal growth, learning how to RECEIVE is just as important. And that, for many of us, is not as easy!
I’ll give you my own example. There were times in the past when someone would compliment me and I would immediately say something like “It’s not a big deal” or “Thank you, but I really didn’t do much.” Instead of wholeheartedly accepting the compliment, I would minimize it or even dismiss it.
Or when I received help from someone – whether it was advice, a favor or even a gift – I would immediately think about what I could do to “pay him/her back”. I always felt like I didn’t want to “owe” anyone.
Then one year, I was attending a course given by one of my yoga teachers and this concept of “receiving” was brought up. It was then that I realized how I had been doing a big disservice not only to myself, but also to all those people who had tried to give me something.
My teacher explained that some of the reasons that we have difficulty with Receiving are because we feel…
- guilty or inadequate (I don’t deserve this)
- entitled and therefore not fully appreciative (I should have received this anyway)
- afraid of whether we can reciprocate (Now I have to do something in return)
- unsure of the giver’s intention (What’s the catch?)
- inferior when we accept favors (I shouldn’t have to ask for help).
Certainly, we must first be able to discern between what I will call “genuine giving” vs. “gifts with baggage”. Once that is done, we must recognize the beautiful balance between Giving and Receiving.
Think of how you feel when you give a gift to someone and he/she is truly excited to use it! Think about when you help or teach someone and he/she shows genuine gratitude for the service or teachings. How does it make us feel to Give and have it Received wholeheartedly? It feels GREAT! In fact, that is why many of us like to give… because it makes us feel good. Giving allows us the chance to participate in the service of others in our own unique way.
By not allowing ourselves to genuinely receive (receive without attaching any of those added thoughts/emotions listed above), we do not allow others the opportunity to give! We do them a disservice by quashing their goodwill and their chance to serve.
This lesson hit me like a bolt and I began to reflect on why I could not fully “receive”. I began to acknowledge my insecurities and fears around receiving, and apply yoga practices of awareness, deep breathing and surrender to come to terms with them.
Over time I was able to release these feelings and allow myself to truly accept and enjoy a compliment or a favor. I was able to wholeheartedly embrace a gift or the intention behind a gift and share in the giver’s joy of giving!
This season, I invite you to check-in with yourself when you are on the receiving end of a gift, favor, or compliment… and if you don’t feel completely open to the Receiving, take a few DEEP BREATHS and see if you can allow yourself to surrender any judgments around it. Then, give yourself permission to simply and fully EMBRACE it. It may take some time, as it did for me, but once you are able to experience that balance between GIVING and RECEIVING, you open yourself to greater depths of enjoyment for both!
It’s Time to Take Charge!
November 1st, 2011Let’s talk healthcare…. But not healthcare as you hear about it in our media and politics (in my opinion, that debate is about medical care, NOT true healthcare!) I’ll begin by asking you a simple question: Do you feel “in charge” of your health?
I ask this, because I find more and more people have the impression that something or someone outside of themselves (a medical doctor, a surgeon, a therapist, etc.) is going to “fix them”. We as a society have relinquished our responsibility for our own health.
Being a massage therapist as well as yoga instructor/coach, I frequently hear clients say things like “I want you to fix my back” or “Can you fix my neck?” To these type of questions, I usually reply, “I don’t fix anything…. YOU do your own healing. I’m here to facilitate and support you in that process.” That’s what all healthcare and medical care professionals are here to do.
And don’t misunderstand me… when I speak of us healing ourselves, I’m not talking about some “voodoo”. I am talking about each individual taking responsibility to take the committed actions necessary to be healthy. And depending on what you are dealing with, that may require having surgery or some specific treatment. However, how healthy we get or feel goes beyond a surgery or treatment – these are things that come after–the-fact. I’m speaking more about healing and taking care of ourselves in a preventative way.
I guess my point is that we must take back our power when it comes to how we feel – feeling and BEING healthy in mind, body and spirit comes from our own committed effort to feel GREAT each and every day. It comes from inside of us when we choose to take daily actions to
Unfortunately, many of us lack the proper knowledge to do one or more of these things. In my own experience, I felt I wasn’t eating well enough despite the fact that most people would consider my diet to be a healthful one. I have been learning more and more about the kinds of foods that work best for me – that I can best digest and give me the most energy. So I’m re-training my body to eat differently.
Similarly, many of us lack the knowledge of how to “move” in ways that suit us best and “think” in ways that are empowering. Now in these areas, I do have some knowledge and experience! 
Yoga has so many practical techniques to offer us when it comes to learning how to “move well” and “think well”.
To that end, I’ve developed a new workshop called The “ABC”s of Yoga Self-Care. In this workshop, my intent is to not only teach yoga techniques but to advise on how to practically apply them to our daily lives. In doing so, we begin to create better habits of moving well and thinking well… we begin to take daily actions to feel good in body and mind… and we begin to reclaim our power for creating our own good health.
So if you answered my question at the beginning with anything but a resounding “YES”… I invite you to contact me and learn more about how to TAKE CHARGE of YOUR HEALTH!
Pausing, Breathing… and Reflecting on a Modern Yogi
October 10th, 2011As we headed into October last weekend, I found myself wondering (as I do at the beginning of each month) what to write about in this month’s newsletter; however, nothing was coming to me. When that happens, my first instinct is to get anxious about getting something out – “I’ve got to get something out there… everyone else already has their newsletters/blog posts out this month?!” That’s one of MY samskara – a conditioned pattern of thought and/or action based on my past experiences – that I am continually working to re-program. Luckily, the yogi in me recognizes this pretty quickly, and so I PAUSE… and then I BREATHE deeply… several times… and I realize the futility of my anxiousness. So I let it go.
I then wait until I stumble upon some words of wisdom or thought-provoking topic that I feel compelled to share rather than simply writing something for the sake of a “deadline”. Well yesterday morning, I found that inspirational spark…
I was reading an article in the November Yoga Journal called “Stay Connected” which discussed how leaders in the Tech industry marry their love for technology and yoga to balance their lives (I recommend the article, especially if you are a ‘techy’.) There was a mention of the late Steve Jobs in this article and suddenly an old memory came to me regarding him.
While his technological brilliance is well known, some may not be aware of the wisdom and light he also shared throughout his life. I myself only recently learned that he was a self-proclaimed Buddhist who had visited India in the seventies looking for spiritual enlightenment. And the more I learn about him, I feel he was in his own way, a modern-day yogi.
I have my own story about how Steve Jobs inspired me… As most of you know, I worked in the corporate world for over 15 years prior to my quitting in the summer of 2006. While deep down in my heart, I knew this leap of faith – relinquishing the comfort and security of a steady job to pursue my passion to teach yoga and provide healing massage therapy – was the right thing to do, I certainly had bouts of fear and doubt!
A few months after I had quit my job, a friend of mine emailed me a copy of the 2005 Stanford commencement speech given by Steve Jobs. WOW… I was blown away. I felt as if Steve was talking directly to me! I remember now how it had inspired me to hear his words of validation and wisdom, which so closely resembled many of the lessons I’d learned throughout my yoga training & education.
Things like:
- Relinquishing attachment to material results (vairagya)
- Finding your truth (dharma) and taking action toward it regardless of others thoughts
- Trusting your Intuition, your “heart-mind” (citta)
- Self-Surrender
… just to name a few.
So below, I share a video of that speech with you in hopes that you too are inspired as I was 5 years ago and have been once again today.
Steve Jobs 2005 Commencement Speech at Stanford University
Stuck in a Rut?!
August 9th, 2011I recently read an online Yoga Journal article that I feel inspired to share with you. For me, this article is timely and inspirational because it validates my focus to a more therapeutic form of yoga services.
Allow me to give you the ‘short and sweet’ of it… entitled “Change for Good”, the article explains that we, as human beings, have specific energy patterns (called samskaras in yoga) that manifest as habitual tendencies. Often, these habits are disempowering and even destructive. While the author of the article speaks specifically to samskaras as being of a mental or emotional nature, I would suggest that they also manifest as physical patterns as well. Let me give you some examples to better explain….
Physical:
- How do you hold your posture: do you tend to lean forward or round your shoulders?
- Do you have certain common movements or actions you habitually do without even realizing it? Like always crossing your legs a certain way, tilting your head to one side, or crinkling your forehead when you’re thinking?
Emotional:
- Do you get defensive when in conversation with specific people?
- Do you get fearful or discouraged by specific situations and circumstances?
Mental:
- Are you able to stay focused on one train of thought without getting derailed by other thoughts?
- Do you make assumptions about your abilities or what you are capable of? For example when faced with a new challenge, do you automatically think, “I can’t do this” before you even consider what’s involved?
- Do you have a tendency to procrastinate?
Now if you found yourself relating to any of these examples, you are not alone. We ALL have our own physical, mental and emotional tendencies! They are part of the human condition. Our samskaras have developed over years of experiencing repeated actions, movements, circumstances and thought processes.
Over time, they become our “modus operandi” or blueprint for how we live our lives. In the article, the author uses the metaphor of “mental grooves, like the rivulets in sand that let water run in certain patterns.” This offers a great visualization to further understand samskaras.
Imagine your mind as soft, unprinted sand. As you go through your life experiences and you act or move in a particular way, or think and react in a certain manner to similar situations, grooves are being carved into this sand.
Each time you repeat these actions and thoughts, those grooves get deeper. As time passes, these grooves become deeply engrained in your mental foundation. And you “fall into” them whenever those same or similar conditions and circumstances present themselves.
Thus physical, mental and emotional habits are formed and unfortunately, many of these internal patterns can feel very disempowering – like we repeatedly make the same mistakes or perhaps continue to injure our selves in the same area. Certainly, I am simplifying to illustrate the nature of samskaras, but this is the essence of how they work.
The good news however, is that we CAN change them. Just as a wave can wipe away the markings in the sand, we too can clear our old grooves. We have the ability to re-draw the lines of our blueprints and create new empowering habits. And when we work toward shifting these patterns, we embark on a journey to truly transform our well-being.
This is EXACTLY the crux of yoga. All the poses, breathing exercises, mantras, visualizations and meditations that we do are tools… tools to help us retrain our bodies to respond and act with more ease and comfort. Tools to help us re-pattern our thoughts and emotions so we feel internally clam, clear and “uncluttered”. This combination of retraining our bodies and re-patterning our minds is what allows us to transform our health to …what I like to call… an “elevated state of being-ness”.
And this is EXACTLY the mission of the Therapeutic Yoga program that I have been developing for the past several months. It offers a systematic structure that supports you in your daily effort to retrain the body and re-pattern the mind to be healthier and more empowered.
So I encourage you to read the full article (http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/1719 ), and if it inspires you to want to take charge of your health, give me call… I would love to share more on how the Therapeutic Yoga Program can transform how you feel – in mind, body and spirit! OR better yet… come see me this weekend (Aug 13/14th) for one of my 3 Therapeutic Yoga workshops and get a live experience of how powerful this practice can be.
Here’s to creating new empowering grooves… Be Well and ENJOY ~ Sheetal
Got Tension?
May 26th, 2011Maybe the better question to ask is “Who DOESN’T have tension?!” For the majority of us, experiencing a certain level of mental and physical tension has become commonplace.
In this context, tension can be defined as:
1. A strained state or condition resulting from forces acting in opposition to each other
2. Mental or emotional strain; stress
Thus we can experience tension physically when parts of our bodies feel strained or opposed. When we have repetitive or “stuck” thoughts and feelings, we also experience mental and/or emotional tension.
Yoga is an excellent way to address all forms of tension. Through a consistent yoga practice, we not only train our minds and bodies to release the tensions, but we also attempt to discover their sources.
How does yoga teach us this? In my therapeutic yoga approach, there are 4 key components to relieving the body and mind of stress and tension:
1. Awareness
2. Breathing
3. Patience
4. Surrender
It all begins with awareness! Many of you who have taken my workshops/classes before know that this is the first thing I always teach. Sometimes, we aren’t even aware of the tensions we hold because we’ve gotten so used to them!
For example, do you find yourself crinkling your forehead when you think? Does squeezing the muscles of your forehead somehow make you think more clearly? NOT!
How about when the temperature in the room suddenly drops… Do you find yourself shrugging and lifting your shoulders? Does this action bring you warmth? NO!
And most of the time we aren’t even aware when we do these things because we are so conditioned to them. So first of all, we must become aware… we must observe our minds and bodies and ask ourselves, “Where are our holding patterns?” It is this type of introspective observation that can also help us to “undo” our conditioned responses.
Once we become aware of the areas we hold our tensions, we begin to breathe into those areas. I know what you’re thinking, “Sheetal, how the heck do I breathe into a part of my body?”
Its actually quite simple… just imagine it! As you stay aware of your area of tension, imagine your breath flowing into that area… slowly and gently soothing the area and causing the tension to dissipate. This is a simple form of visualization that can be surprisingly powerful.
The 3rd key, which for many people is the most difficult, is to be patient with yourself! Only when we give ourselves the patient time to feel supported and safe will our bodies respond. It’s like wanting to come to a gradual stop while driving a car, but we keep giving it gas. If we don’t let the foot off the pedal how can we expect the car to naturally slow down?!
Similarly, we must take the time to stop “fueling” our bodies and minds and instead let them come to a gradual halt where they can then unwind or do whatever needs to happen.
Finally, the last key is to surrender. Just allow yourself to let go. Sometimes, even when practicing first 3 keys we fail to completely release certain tensions because we are unwilling to give them up. I know it sounds strange but it goes back to the idea of our minds and bodies being conditioned to respond in certain ways.
“Muscle memory” may sometimes be so engrained into our beings…. or certain thought patterns may be so woven into our psyches that we must willingly and conscientiously surrender them in order to truly release the tension we hold.
And while all of this may seen logical or at least easy enough to understand, it’s the “doing” that is the tricky part! Like anything, these techniques to releasing tension take practice. But, believe me, they are well worth the effort. In fact, I’ll be so bold as to say that the Keys to Releasing Tension are the also keys to proactively staying healthy!
So I invite you to join me in June to learn AND practice these techniques. Check the Calendar for dates/times/locations in Eastern PA. And at the end of the workshop when I ask you “Got Tension?”…. you may just be surprised by your answer!
Happy Joints… Healthy Body!
May 4th, 2011Last month, I talked about Yin versus Yang energies. And I introduced the notion that we could benefit from more Yin-like experiences to balance out the prevalent Yang-like activities in most of our lives.
This month, I’m offering you the perfect opportunity to experience this! In my May Therapeutic Yoga workshop, we’re going to learn how to stretch our joints. Yes, you heard me right…. We’re going to STRETCH our joints!
Now I know what you’re thinking… “Sheetal, you’re nuts! You’re not supposed to stretch your joints – you can really hurt yourself by stretching them!” And my response is that you are absolutely correct…. IF you are thinking of stretching your joints in the same manner that you stretch your muscles. IF you try to use the same type of approach then you may most certainly harm your joints and that is NOT recommended!
Ok – so now that I’ve completely confused you, let me explain further…
At our joints, we primarily have a variety of connective tissue – things like tendons, ligaments and fascia. All of these things bind or “connect” the muscles, organs and systems of our bodies. Without connective tissue, we would not be able to hold our “shape” as humans.
When compared to muscle, connective tissue is Yin (hard and inelastic) while muscle is Yang (soft and elastic). This key difference is EXACTLY why we cannot exercise and stretch connective tissue, or for our purposes – our joints, the same way that we exercise and stretch our muscles.
This idea of exercising and stretching the joints at all may seem foreign to most people. We all understand and accept that exercising and stretching our muscles are important because that’s how we can stay strong and flexible. But working our joints & bone is equally as important.
To quote Paul Grilley, a leading authority on Yin Yoga which focuses on joint health:
I have known many muscularly powerful adults who are physically incapacitated or uncomfortable because of joint problems…. Bad ankles, bad backs, bad knees – these are the injuries that force athletes to retire and old people to shuffle around. Yin Yoga postures gently stretch and rehabilitate the connective tissue that form our joints.
So while taking that run, weight training, cycling, power & flow yoga are all great examples of working the Yang parts of our bodies (like muscles), therapeutic and yin yoga are effective methods for exercising the Yin parts (like our joints). Both are important and for most of us, it’s matter of learning how to balance the two in a way that suits our own bodies.
That’s why I’ve chosen the topic of “Maintaining Healthy Joints” as the focus for this month’s Therapeutic Yoga Workshop. The manner in which therapeutic yoga and yin yoga postures are experienced is very similar; thus, including some yin yoga as part of our therapeutic yoga practice is natural.
Check the Anyone Can Do YOGA calendar for dates/times and locations. Remember… Happy Joints lead to a Healthy Body!
I’ll take some Yin with that Yang Please!
March 29th, 2011
Most of us would recognize the above symbol to represent the Chinese Taoist concept of Yin/Yang. In Taoist philosophy, as well as Chinese medicine, these terms are used to describe all aspects of our world.
Yin and Yang are relative descriptors that beautifully depict how complimentary opposites co-exist in nature to create perfect balance.
To give you an idea of their meaning, each can be characterized as follows:
Yin Yang
Hidden Exposed
Dark Light
Cold Hot
Moon Sun
Still Moving
Downward Upward
Calm Excited
Female Male
In the yoga tradition, the Sanskrit word hatha (as in Hatha Yoga), is defined as sun (“ha”) and moon (“tha”). The principles and practice of Hatha Yoga is one that aims to bring balance to the opposing aspects of our being - lunar and solar, female and male and yes…. yin and yang.
I am fascinated by how these ancient philosophies are analogous in their approach to life. As I continue to study these concepts of Yin and Yang, it becomes more and more evident to me that our current day lifestyles are greatly skewed toward Yang.
In my opinion, most of us could all use some more Yin experiences to balance out the plethora of Yang activities in our lives! Take a moment and think about your daily activities…. would you describe most of your activities to be more Yin-like or Yang-like? Technically, these are relative terms that should be used in a specific context… so I ask you to allow me some leeway to make a point.
My intention is to have you develop a “feel” for your daily life. How many activities excite your emotions versus calm your nerves? How many feel hectic and rushed versus patient and slow? How many are active and result-focused rather than passive and experience-oriented?
I think the majority of people now-a-days would say that their scale tips to the Yang side a bit more! So how do we bring more balance into our lives when everything around us – the societal energy around us – pushes us to be more Yang-like?
First, we must begin to identify and recognize what types of things may be tipping our scales – and of course, this will be different to everyone based on their own unique set of circumstances.
Then, allow me to suggest some “baby steps” for introducing more Yin-like experiences each day:
1. Take yourself out off the “Noise” for 15-30 minutes each day. Whatever your environment – the workplace or home – find a way to remove yourself for a brief time. Take a quiet walk at lunch (now that spring is approaching!), take a power-nap (and DON’T feel guilty about it!), or even have lunch by yourself and enjoy the time alone.
2. Simply eat during meals. Instead of watching the TV, reading, surfing the web or texting while your eating, just EAT! Really be present with your food – savor it and see if you can identify its flavors. You’ll not only enjoy your food more, but you’ll become more aware of how much you are eating and when you are really full.
3. “Get off the Grid” at a certain time each day. We don’t need to be connected to the world (at least in a technology context!) 24/7. Stay away from your computer and turn off your cell phones at a certain time each day.
4. Take “Breathing Breaks”. When you feel things speeding up with the potential to get “crazy”, pause and take 5-10 deep breaths. You can even set an alert on your cell phone or computer (during your designated grid time of course ) to remind you about these breaks. It may sound silly… but whatever works!
5. Incorporate more passive forms of physical activity into your workouts. Balance the vigorous aerobic and strengthening routines with passive, focused stretching. Or add experience-oriented practices like qi-gong, tai chi, or hatha, yin and therapeutic yoga approaches to your athletic regimen. Giving equal time to these passive practices will actually improve your more active workouts.
Of course, these are just some simple, general suggestions and you may find many others that are more suitable to your specific situation. And certainly, I am not suggesting that Yin experiences are better or more desirable than Yang experiences. We need both… but we need both in equal proportions.
My point is to have you notice how the Yin and Yang forces are at play in your life…. Do they feel as if they co-exist harmoniously feeding one-another? Or do they feel “out of whack” with one dominating over the other? And then ask yourself if you couldn’t use a little Yin with that Yang?
Empower Your Self with Self-Care!
February 3rd, 2011To bring the instrument to its natural state of wholeness, regular care and maintenance are ideal. The body speaks to us through sensation, not necessarily words; so as we listen to what is tight and where there is stress, we can begin to use the tools of self-care. Through a practice like yoga, we begin to follow what we need in each moment to feel good in our body. – Cheri Clampett, “The Therapeutic Yoga Kit”
I am very excited and fortunate to be participating in a Therapeutic Yoga training with Cheri Clampett in a few weeks! This quote from her book “The Therapeutic Yoga Kit” nicely describes our bodies as instruments needing regular maintenance and care.
Now this may seem really obvious… “Duh Sheetal, of course we need to take care of our bodies!” But my question back to you is “To what extent do we do this and more so… do we even have the proper skills for self-care?!”
For many of us, I would argue, “NO”. And I would also add that the reason we don’t have self-care skills is because in our modern western world, we are not taught these skills. We are taught to eat well and exercise (whether we practice this as a society is a different story!)… but we’re not taught how to TRULY, DEEPLY and CONSCIENTIOUSLY rest and recover!
And I qualify rest with the words “TRULY & DEEPLY” because I am not referring to simply plopping on the couch and ‘zoning’ in front of the TV! 
And I use CONSCIENTIOUSLY to point out that I’m not talking about the rest we get when we sleep.
What I am referring to is the ability to still our bodies and minds in a way that allows us to listen and become aware of what the body needs in any given moment. It is in that place of quiet, patient awareness that the body’s “relaxation response” kicks in and true healing occurs to counteract the daily stresses we encounter.
Be honest with yourself… what do you do in your daily life to give yourself this level of self-care? Do you feel you have the knowledge to do what you need to do to feel better, healthier?
I’m not posing these questions to you to make you feel bad about yourself or point out deficiencies… my intention is to first, make you stop and think! And second, to suggest that it’s never to late to learn self-care skills!
And this is exactly why I have fine-tuned my own practice and teachings to the therapeutic yoga approach. What I find empowering about therapeutic yoga is that its tools & techniques are gentle, supportive and non-aggressive. They include things like:
- meditation & visualization
- breathing exercises
- supported yoga poses
- intentional movement
- self-massage.
These practices can be easily applied to rehabilitative situations and chronic conditions as well as for simple, everyday “maintenance”.
Just to give you a taste of a simple deep breathing and meditation technique, I’ve included below an audio for you to follow. In just this quick technique, we are practicing deep breathing, maintaining awareness in the moment and quieting the body and mind. All important things for inducing the relaxation response.
Try it out and let me know what you think! Post your questions or thoughts regarding therapeutic yoga – I’d love to hear from you!
And if you are in the Eastern PA area and want to experience therapeutic yoga, check out my website calendar for my monthly workshops – February’s focus: ‘Relieving Low Back Pain/Tension’.
In 2011… Don’t Resolve. Commit!
January 10th, 2011As with each New Year, it is common for us to reflect upon the previous year and think about how or what we want to change this year. I had already started going through this process myself a couple months ago, and what inspired me most was a verse from the writer, poet, philosopher Goethe that I recently rediscovered. It goes like this…
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy… the chance to draw back… always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and endless plans:
That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would come his way.
Whatever you can do or dream you can begin it!
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!
So this year, I did NOT make any resolutions. Instead, I made a New Year commitment!
Now, I know that the word commitment can feel intimidating. In fact, the difference in perception between these two words – commitment vs resolution – is in itself a great illustration of what Geothe was saying.
‘Resolution’ seems to lack power. For those of us that have broken our New Year resolutions in the past, there exists an underlying assumption of failure… or as Goethe put it “the chance to draw back… always ineffectiveness.”
The reason ‘commitment’ feels intimidating and even sometimes scary, is because of the powerful energy behind a commitment… “the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.”
But why is that? I think it’s because we really cannot commit to anything unless we truly believe it in our hearts. In yoga, this “truth” is called satya. And what is satya for one person may not be for another – we all hold our own individual “truths”.
We cannot commit to something that we conjure up in our minds because that’s what we think we should do. Nor can we commit to something that comes from our egos based on what is expected of us. There will always be a “back door”… a way to escape the latter two because we don’t truly believe in these things with our hearts.
I think many of us could reflect back and find experiences where once we got behind an idea, or a goal wholeheartedly – in mind, body and spirit – that goal was eventually and most certainly achieved.
So think about what you may have resolved to do this year…. Are you truly committed to this? Do you truly believe in this? And if you haven’t made any resolutions this year, allow me to suggest to you that instead, you think about committing to something that is in your heart, which is satya for you. As Goethe said… “Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”
Here’s to a MAGICAL new year… I hope to share it with you!
Be Well and Enjoy…. Sheetal
The AHA Principles – Honoring the Body
September 28th, 2010When we begin practicing yoga, it is easy to get caught up in the idea of doing the picture- perfect pose. Our competitive minds make us think that if we don’t bend far enough, or aren’t able to touch our toes, or look a certain way in our poses it’s just not good enough. But yoga is NOT a competitive sport! And a picture-perfect pose is not the end-goal (if you happen to achieve that along the way, then it’s just an added bonus.)
In the previous blog post, we spoke about having full awareness while doing yoga poses. By using our breath to stay in the present moment we can really discover a lot about ourselves. However, this awareness does us little good if we then choose to ignore the signals our bodies provide. Thus, the next step is to HONOR this information.
I always instruct students to really pay attention to their first point of resistance in each pose – I like to call this “the edge”. Once we find “the edge”, we just hold, breathe and observe. What are our bodies telling us at this point? If the body is saying “this hurts!” or “I don’t feel balanced/steady”, then we should back off a bit, make adjustments and/or add support to the part of the body requiring it.
Using accessories to support the body is a great way to not only experience a pose but also allow the mind to be present in each pose. For example, imagine we are on our hands and knees doing the Cat-Cow movement – in Cat-Cow, we flex and extend our spines while grounding through our hands and knees (for more information on doing Cat-Cow, please visit www.anyonecandoyoga.com and download the FREE chapters of our yoga guide).
For many of us, the wrists may begin to feel pressure in this pose since we are supporting a good amount of our weight on our hands. We can easily support our wrists to alleviate any pressure. But if we choose to “tough it out” and ignore the message our wrists are conveying …
By bringing support under our wrists to alleviate the pressure, we would eliminate the distraction of discomfort and be able to stay present with the pose to gain its full benefit.
The moral of the story… HONOR your body! Don’t resist or dismiss the sensations that come up. Our egos may say “tough it out”, or “I bent further yesterday, why can’t I do the same today?” The tendency is to follow the ego, to compare and to push further despite what we feel.
We think of ourselves as weak if we “give in” to our sensations of discomfort or pain. But nothing is farther from the truth. Being honest and honoring where we are at this time takes courage! Giving in to our egos only keeps us in pain and prevents us from truly enjoying the benefits of our practice. The idea is to challenge the body, not to punish it!
So let’s put those egos aside and instead HONOR our bodies wherever they may be in this moment. Then, not only can we gain great benefit from our yoga practice, but we can truly enjoy it!
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Check out this video clip on “Honoring the Body” from Anyone Can Do YOGA’s Yoga Essentials-Fundamentals DVD. For more information about the DVD or to purchase, visit the Anyone Can do YOGA Shop.