There are times when sadness and anxiety can invade your brain and cloud your reason. As a woman, I admit, there are times when I plummet into a state of emotional confusion and despair. When I was younger, I reveled in it. Anyone else relate to this thinking? I enjoyed wallowing in sadness and self pity. It was almost pleasurable to experience despair, as sadistic as that sounds. But as I grew older and got married, I realized I now had to be a grown up. Continue Reading…
Sitting in a circle of people. The room is dark. Our minds are ready. There are seven chakras in the body and we breathe our way through a meditation that opens them. I have to admit, the sounds are perceived to be demonic, the audible chanting noises that they make as they concentrate on different chakras. I sit and retreat into myself as the others continue. I don’t understand the process. It seems a foreign and unnatural. And I write it off as against my religion. Continue Reading…
I am forming opinions on a topic, I admit, I am still learning about. So, let this be an open and educational discussion for all of us. And let me share my concerns with the digital yoga world. When I was first learning yoga, I took one class. I memorized the routines and I did it on my own after the class had ended. This was good. I think it is important to have a personal yoga practice. Your yoga practice can be very spiritual and restorative in a quiet setting between you and God. Continue Reading…
The endless benefits of yoga never cease to amaze me. Recently I was able to further my education in the area of pre-natal and post-partum. It was a great weekend. It made me realize the dilemma that has played out in the minds of many moms throughout the years when it comes to exercise. Some women have assumed exercise is unnecessary and dangerous when pregnant. Others have changed nothing, continuing their exercise routines like normal. Continue Reading…
You won’t see me at a Star Wars convention or hear me recite behind the scenes information about the Harry Potter movies. I can’t hold a conversation about football or memorize the models of antique cars. But put me in a room with other yoga practitioners and teachers, and I barely breathe in between sentences.
How can yoga affect fertility? Of all of the systems that benefit from yoga, the endocrine is the one we hear least about. Yet the benefits are still there.
I found my answers in the bandhas.
There are six bandhas in the body. A bandha is a lock you engage during postures. The Great Lock is what is known as the Maha Bandha. The Maha Bandha is a combination of three locks: the pelvis, the abdomen, and the thyroid. When Maha Bandha is engaged, you are stimulating the endocrine system. Here is how it works. Continue Reading…
Our turtle died Tuesday. He’d been in the family longer than I have. Seth got him about 4 or 5 years ago. It is always a sad day in our home when a pet dies. No matter how small the creature, we develop an emotional connection to them. Continue Reading…
Yoga teachers in America would say yoga is not a religion. It is a philosophy. It can be paired with any religion. I have studied yoga philosophy, though, and found beliefs and practices I could not embrace. They did not coincide with my religious faith. Yet I still embrace the general standards of yoga philosophy. Continue Reading…
When people first hear the word “yoga” they cringe and imagine themselves tied up in awkward knots. There was a time in America where this was a reality. Yet since then, a yoga revolution has occurred. Yoga has become a practice for everyone. No matter your age or body type, yoga is for you. You do not have to be able to lie on your stomach with your feet on your head or do a headstand to be a yogi. Yoga is more than your asana (posture practice). Continue Reading…
Does prayer put you to sleep? Of course it does. It forces you to slow down and focus on one object at a time. It gives you a sense of peace and security. In a similar way, meditation aids in our rest. And is widely known to cure insomnia. Continue Reading…
