Live life again – stop simply existing! 

There is a way to enjoy your life within the limitations that circumstances sometimes lead us to. Empower yourself – don’t let pain be your path.

I say simple, and I mean it, but I also mean persistent.  Pain is persistent, so must the remedy be persistent. You can take a pill and allow yourself temporary relief and watch helplessly as the pain requires larger and larger doses of narcotics to bring that relief, or you can throw the pills away ( or at least hide them somewhere only for extreme emergencies )  and take charge of your life.

Mindfulness meditation is not new, it has been practiced for thousands of years by people of all cultures and races. Some people ( and by that I mean large pharmacuetical vultures) would rather not divulge to you that you can live your life comfortably and in a wholesome manner without the use of their colorfully disguised poisons. They would have you believe that only they have the cure. And they may…but they will never share those cures with you.  They will only share that which will make them money – and those generally aren’t cures, and they aren’t even long-term symptomatic relief. They are simply money makers for Big Pharma.

Mindfulness won’t make anybody money, won’t have any unwanted side effects, and might help you or your loved one live a full and rich life. This is based on the teachings, among many other resources, of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn. So on to the meditation , your pathway to a more fulfilling life:

1- Make yourself comfortable, either lying down or sitting.  Let yourself completely relax, letting gravity help you sink further into relaxation.

2-Start with a couple of deep breaths…inhaling and letting the chest and belly rise up and exhaling and allowing the belly to fall

3- Start to notice every part of your body,starting with your toes and moving up –  really notice and become aware of how it feels – soft and relaxed? or  painful?  what kind of pain?  stabbing, throbbing, prickly? maybe their is a shape to the pain?  a color?

4-Don’t react to the sensations as you become aware of them, JUST notice them

5-  As you finish noticing how each body part feels,  bring your attention back to your breath, , inviting yourself to be aware of the inhale and exhale

6- Bring a cleansing breath to that body part – inhaling good clean pure oxygen and taking it to that point in your body

7- When you exhale – exhale any discomfort or toxins from that region – leaving only the pure oxygen

8- Move on to the next region in your body and repeat all over again

9- Visualize a wonderfully radiant cleansed body and give yourself a few deep breaths

10 – Do not try to fight the pain, do not try to remove the pain, do not try to change anything at all, in fact,  do not have any expectations during the meditation – simply allow  yourself to notice and bring awareness to each area, breathing in fresh air to all the regions in your body

11- Give yourself some time to bring your awareness back to your seat, bed, mat, or chair.

Try this everyday , allowing yourself one hour everyday. Find a gentle hatha yoga class and combine this meditation with your yoga class and awaken to your new life. I said it is simple, I didn’t say it would be easy, and I did say you’d need peristence.  Keep at it, you will feel a difference each and everyday.

For those of you who take yoga classes with me – I will be combining Minfulness Meditation and Yoga for a long needed  Workshop.  I will need your help in determing a time and day that will work best for the majority. Please take the time to fill out the easy survey below ( even if you already filled out the other one) and feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested.  Thank you all so much for your time – I do appreciate it!

Just today, I thought I was being considerate in stopping short of an argument and  conceding to my husband.  ‘You win’ …I don’t have anything else to offer on this ( not because I actually don’t,but I weighed my options and decided whether arguing about a dinner party menu was worth it or not…Not, was my decision). 

Guess what?  That wasn’t the right answer either.  No – the right answer was to keep arguing…or maybe to concede after some arguing…maybe to say, ohhhh, of course then…..You must be right…I hadn’t thought of it that way…oh…what a brilliant idea…(you get the point)  Play out the fact that I was conceding, make a presidential speech – not just suddenly give in.

It is in the end, reminders to myself, in times which are excessively trying, that I can, in fact, be above this.  This moment is only ‘this moment.’  It is not the next moment, it is not the past moment, it is not something that will stay with me because I choose for it not to stay with me – right as I write this blog – I choose for those negative feelings to disappear .  I choose for them to leave me now and return as elevated thoughts upon myself. I am a peaceful soul…remember?  I choose not to give others the power to inluence my own  positive energy. I choose to live my life with only the thoughts that allow myself to be my best self.  After all… isn’t that the only real way to live? 

Needless to say – I loved it there- just like every other time I’ve ever visited and felt the deepest parts of me respond to the genetic pull that country has over me. As I practiced yoga, however, safe in my grandma’s living room, clean and airy, I realized I could never practice the way the native population does- amongst the dirt and grime that coats the country. Does that make me a fake yogi? Or a really lucky one?

Yoga is an ageless, timeless, holistic health system that teaches that the years after midlife are a time of greater perspective and illumination rather than deterioration.

The word yoga comes from a Sanskrit root that means yoke, unite, or make whole. A yoga pose or posture is known by the Sanskrit term asana. When we practice yoga asanas, we position the body in various standing, lying-down, upside-down, or seated postures. Yoga postures are one of yoga’s most significant and practical tools for integrating all aspects of a human being body, mind, and spirit.

Even though yoga has entered the fitness mainstream, its full potential as a preventive and rehabilitative component in holistic, cutting-edge gerontology is just beginning to be explored. Medical research on aging has clearly shown that without proper exercise the body contracts and we lose height, strength, and flexibility. Movement lubricates our muscles, ligaments, and joints.

Stretching daily prevents stiffening, the first visible sign of premature aging. Yoga postures promote healthy aging by lengthening the spine, opening our posture and moving each joint in the body through its full range of movement.

Inverted Poses, The Elixir of Life
Due to cardiovascular problems such as arteriosclerosis, blood flow to the brain gradually decreases as we age. The ravages of senility are apparent in every nursing home in the country. Western medicine accepts the fact that this is a degenerative disease usually associated with inadequate circulation to the brain, but it has found few ways of preventing or treating it.

Yoga teaches that the most effective way of increasing blood to the brain is to allow gravity to do the work for you. Inverted positions, which bring the brain below the level of the heart, permit circulation to the upper body to increase without putting strain on the heart. In effect, inverted yoga positions turn gravity itself upside down and are thus among the best means of slowing down and even reversing the aging process.

Inverted poses are the heart of a yoga practice for people over fifty. They bring emotional balance and mental clarity; by improving the flow of blood to and from the heart, they refresh and rejuvenate the entire body. The older I get, the more I appreciate the feeling of increased energy and revitalization that occurs after practicing inverted poses.

Good circulation and good health are intimately connected. When the circulation of blood is restricted, the cells of our bodies do not get the oxygen and nutrients needed to function effectively. When our circulation is sluggish, our vital energy drops and our whole physical, emotional, and mental response to daily life tends to take a negative turn.

Turning the body halfway or completely upside down increases the circulation to the upper body, including the brain. Blood circulates around the neck, chest, and head, helping the lungs, throat, and sinuses to become resistant to infection.

The endocrine glands in the throat and head (thyroid and parathyroid glands) also benefit from improved circulation. Upside-down poses control the metabolism of the body and regulate blood pressure, glucose levels, and chemical balance.

During the course of a typical day, most people spend 16 hours with the head above the heart and the legs and pelvic area below the heart. Because
of this, one of the first poses I teach to students of all ages, including those who start in their eighties and older, is Legs Up the Wall Pose.

Yoga’s Great Rejuvenator
Supported Legs Up the Wall Pose (Viparita Karani in Sanskrit), known as Yoga’s Great Rejuvenator, is a gentle, inverted pose that can be practiced by almost everyone. It is a safe position that most people can hold long enough so that gravity can return the blood from the extremities to the vital organs.

How to Practice Supported Leg Up the Wall Pose
If you are new to yoga, you may find it helpful to first be familiar with simply relaxing with your legs on the wall. If you have difficulty lowering yourself to the floor, you can practice this in bed by positioning one side of your bed right against a bare wall.

1. Sit sideways on the floor beside a wall, knees bent, with one shoulder and hip touching the wall.

2. Lower your back to the floor, with your legs bent, keeping your bottom close to
the wall.

3. Swing around to bring your legs up the wall, supporting yourself on your elbows and forearms.

4. Place a folded blanket under your head if necessary, to keep the forehead and chin level. Your neck must feel comfortable, without any tightness or pinching at the nape. If blood flow to the head is obstructed, the brain cannot relax.

The next step is to practice with one or two folded blankets within easy reach.

5. Bend your knees, press your feet into the wall, lift your lower back off the floor and place the blanket under your bottom, with your lower back supported.

With practice, you can increase the height under your bottom with additional blankets or a yoga bolster.

Note: Placing folded blankets under your bottom repositions the head and you may no longer need the blanket under your head. People with a very rounded upper back (kyphosis) may still need a folded blanket under the head even when the bottom is supported.

Close your eyes. Observe the rise and fall of your breath. Stay in the pose ten minutes or longer.

When you are ready to come out of the pose, bend your knees, press your feet into the wall, lift your hips and move away from the wall until your whole back rests on the floor.

When you feel ready, turn to your right side and sit up. If you are tired, it is natural to fall asleep in this pose. This pose can be a lifesaver and is well worth learning under the guidance of a knowledgeable teacher.

An eye bag over the eyes and a sandbag on the feet increase the feeling of relaxation.

Note how the position of the bolster causes the rib cage to open and spread. The width of the blanket depends somewhat on your height and flexibility. For most people, the edge of the blanket can be placed at the waist. This placement allows the back to curve in such a way that the chest opens and the lower back feels comfortable.

Part of the soothing effect derived from Supported Legs Up the Wall Pose is due to the angle of the torso.

Note in the photo how the bolster positioned under the pelvis brings the torso into a gentle supported backbend, while the wall supports the legs. As you lie in the pose, you can imagine that its shape creates an internal waterfall, as the fluid in the legs cascades down to the abdomen and spills over into the chest, toward the heart. This waterfall effect creates a peaceful, soothing sensation.

Practice this daily if your legs and feet swell easily or if you have varicose veins. When you are tired, get in the habit of napping with your legs up the wall to replenish your energy reserves.

–Suza Francina, RYT, is a certified iyengar yoga instructor and has taught yoga since 1972. She teaches yoga internationally and is the author of The New Yoga for People Over 50 and The New Yoga for Healthy Aging: Living Longer, Living Stronger and Loving Every Day. To learn more, visit her website.

So after subjecting an unsuspecting couple to way more yoga than they could handle, and then scaring them, I learned my lesson.

We moved this week to doing just the simplest routine from the pawanmukhtasana series and you ,or I, could not believe how much of a difference it made to them and how much better they felt! Sometimes we tend to think that the easy stuff couldn’t possibly be that helpful….that if we aren’t feeling the burn, as is often said, that we aren’t doing it right.

Wrong! Sometimes we just need to back off and let the body heal at it’s own pace. We have to free the healing energy that exists in all of us and allow it work it’s magic at it’s own pace.

Some of the most powerful stuff we can do is also most relaxing! Isn’t that a nice thought?

What? Come challenge yourself with 108 sun salutations! No yoga experience necessary…and you don’t even have to do 108 sun salutations, but you sure can try )

When? September 25th 2011 1pm – 4pm

Where? Anson B Nixon Park (in Kennett Square)

Why? For Ronald McDonald house! Any donations will be given to Unionville High School Ronald McDonald Club.

(Donations accepted, not expected)

There will be drinks and healthy snacks available…any money collected will be donated 100% to Ronald McDonald House! Come one, come all…tell everyone you know and you can always just come to show your support!

This is Yoga Month! Celebrate with the rest of the country….Global Mala Event!

  Doctors and the medical system would have you believe that good health can only be achieved by an inordinate number of pills that they prescribe while being courted by the phamaceutical companies. ( see article on NPR  )     I want to know the last doctor out there who said “Say Ahhhh and let me see your tongue, what did you eat for breakfast, what does your day look like, etc.”  Not one!  They don’t care how you are feeling – they just want to know which drug they can prescribe to you as quickly as possible and shuffle you out the door. You could be eating shoes for breakfast and they won’t ask, and they’ll never know!

Meanwhile, on the yoga front, everyday I see the people who have commited to taking care of themselves and taking responsibility for their own health. Yes – genetic factors can complicate things – but it doesn’t determine everything!  Yes, an injury can complicate things – but your body WANTS to heal!   It will help you, and sometimes you might need a doctors intervention…but your body has whatever it takes to fix the problem if you are patient with it. Like I said, it WANTS to heal.

There lies within your brain two glands, that when activitated and functioning properly will help heal your body like NOTHING else can. See my post “The Third Eye…”  Like I keep saying – DO YOGA

Savasana is that deep place of relaxation where only utter peace and deep  silence can take you…remove the clutter from your mind and if those nasty little thoughts creep in anyway…watch them like a movie preview, or maybe a rerun.  Depends on the thoughts I guess. Don’t get involved with them, don’t judge them, don’t analyze them, don’t agree with them, don’t disagree with them. Don’t do anything with them. Don’t ignore them either, but do watch them. Usher them through the minds eye, quickly or slowly, and invite another thought in. Let that thought be your breath.  …and yes, you may end up in that comfortable repose that we all know as sleep.  If you need it that bad, maybe it’s okay. I think I’ll stay away though, and hold on to my dignity, at least while I instruct the class!