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While rest and relaxation are incredibly therapeutic in their own right we increase their healing benefits exponentially by practicing in nature. 2016 we went to Little Corn Island, 40 miles off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. June 2017 we traveled to Mexico in June for the ultimate R & R at Haramara. And December 2017 we took a very special, once-in-a-lifetime trip, deep into the Amazon Rainforest. Stay tuned for upcoming retreats.
There are a lot of tests out there to help you find your Ayurvedic dosha. It’s a good idea to take several tests and look for consistencies. To be absolutely sure though you must find a good Ayurvedic practitioner and have them help you determine your Prakruti and Vikruti so that you can start making wiser choices for yourself. Prakruti is your natural born constitution. Vikruti is your current constitution. Ayurveda aims to get your body and your mind from Vikruti back to Prakruti.
One of my favorite quizzes can be found here.
UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) is an incredible resource for slowing down. They offer free weekly classes! Their mission is “to foster mindful awareness across the lifespan through education and research to promote well-being and a more compassionate society”
Mindful awareness can be defined as paying attention to present moment experiences with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be with what is. It is a necessary antidote to the stresses of modern times. It invites us to stop, breathe, observe, and connect with one’s inner experience.
There is so much information out there on the psoas muscle. What is most interesting to me recently is the connection between psoas health and the mind.
I teach yoga for a living. I try to remind them that they should listen to themselves first and me second. As a teacher you’d think teaching myself would be easy. It’s not. The self-critical voice that tells me I’m not good enough, or the judgmental voice that likes to look at what’s wrong with stuff rather than what’s right always gets in the way. The best and simplest way I know how to be my own best teacher is to get still. Really still. And I don’t mean just stillness of body, but stillness of mind. It is in that stillness where I can hear myself more clearly. When you stop that incessant train of noise barreling through your head, when you can find the gap between the thoughts, there is a voice worth listening to. But that voice is below the surface. And most of us are too damn busy to even pay attention. You are not your thoughts. Thoughts are superficial experiences you have. Thoughts are the waves on top of the ocean. The stuff worth exploring is below the surface. It’s in the depths of the ocean, and being still is how I most easily access that space. It takes practice. And it is not an easy practice, but it is a worthwhile practice. Everything you desire is already there – it’s inside you. Being still takes courage and vulnerability and it requires you to tap into the side of yourself that doesn’t have all the answers. The world does not teach us how to do this. You must teach yourself. So do yourself a favor and stop listening to your yoga teacher. Start listening to yourself. If you don’t, no one else will.
There is so much to be said about gratitude. Here’s a taste of what a few great thinkers have had to say:
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” ~ Eckhart Tolle
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” ~ Cicero
“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Gratitude opens the door to…the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the Universe. You open the door through gratitude.” ~Deepak Chopra
“Trade your expectations for gratitude and the world changes instantly.” ~ Tony Robbins
“Gratitude is heaven itself.” ~ William Blake
And there is a ton of research on what gratitude does for your well-being. The results are astounding. Turns out being grateful makes you feel better and isn’t that what we all really want? Just to feel good?
“Our world is pretty messed up. With all the violence, pollution and crazy things people do, it would be easy to turn into a grouchy old man without being either elderly or male. There’s certainly no shortage of justification for disappointment and cynicism.”
“But consider this: Negative attitudes are bad for you. And gratitude, it turns out, makes you happier and healthier. If you invest in a way of seeing the world that is mean and frustrated, you’re going to get a world that is, well, more mean and frustrating. But if you can find any authentic reason to give thanks, anything that is going right with the world or your life, and put your attention there, then statistics say you’re going to be better off.”
READ MORE ON GRATITUDE:
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” – Carl Jung
Restorative yoga is a passive yoga, in which the body is supported so that it can rest deeply and completely, allowing habitually held layers of tension to release. Poses are held for long periods of time and are suitable for anyone who wishes to quiet the mind and reconnect. It can be quite challenging for those who are use to DOING all the time. This is a practice of BEING.
READ MORE ABOUT RESTORATIVE YOGA:
Liberated Body is “100% in service of helping people to reduce or eliminate pain, normalize range of motion, and embrace their body’s full potential by returning it to the happy, fully functional, badass state that is its birthright.”
Here you will find some nice articles on fascia, chronic pain and so much more:
“Therapeutic yoga is defined as the application of yoga postures and practice to the treatment of health conditions and involves instruction in yogic practices and teachings to prevent reduce or alleviate structural, physiological, emotional and spiritual pain, suffering or limitations. Results from this study show that yogic practices enhance muscular strength and body flexibility, promote and improve respiratory and cardiovascular function, promote recovery from and treatment of addiction, reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain, improve sleep patterns, and enhance overall well-being and quality of life.”
Turns out being relaxed is good for us. We have access to our higher creative brain, we are more likely to be present, our peripheral vision opens, you become more sensitive to the world and most importantly it feels really good to be relaxed. Meditation is a great tool to get there. Meditation has been around for thousands of years and it seems only recently we are waking up to the profound transformation it allows. From lowering blood pressure to reducing stress to restoring the brain. In fact, the body can heal itself given the opportunity (time spent in a deeply relaxed state). There is a ton of research being done on the effects of being still and meditating. The neuroscience behind what’s happening during mediation is fascinating. This is an area of ever expanding awareness, so the following articles are only a brief introduction to the vast nature of the mind. Hope you enjoy.
http://www.mindful.org/the-science/neuroscience/your-brain-on-meditation
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/
