Posts Tagged ‘yoga therapy’

Refresh and Restart

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Just like a personal computer, your mind needs to refresh and restart. The problem is we have so many buttons and codes imprinted in our brain, including the physical and light body that it is hard to be aware of the sequence of emotional triggers that may cause an emotional drain. The wires and connection are installed, learned, by our environment. By changing the environment we live in mentally and spiritually, I guess it does not matter if you live in a war zone. We may be able deal with our present situation with where we live inside our head and spirit. After all, isn’t the concept of belief and faith an intangible concept. Yet some individuals have belief and faith so deeply rooted in their psyche that they can relocate from their present environment. Not by escaping to somewhere else, by refreshing and restarting your frame of mind and maybe changing locations within dimensional space time sequences.

Yoga Therapy

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Yoga therapy is the new buzz word in the yoga community, but what does this really mean to the people who are not aware? There is an influx of wonderful qualified healers that may fill the gap between the doctor, psychiatrist, and physical therapist. Yoga therapy is a burgeoning healing art and science within the great tradition of yoga in union with western medicine and anatomy knowledge. It is meant to focus on the specific needs of people who may not be able to go to a regular yoga class. The sessions are one on one so that a physical, emotional, and dietary assessment can be made to fit a treatment plan for the individual in need of this type of remedy. The most important thing to remember with the healing process is it is not a quick fix. Healing in the vernacular of the yoga therapist is about healing the whole person, not just fixing a chronic lower back pain or neck injury. The relationship between the client and the therapist has to be established so that an honest dialog can be made to get a clear picture of the problem at hand. This type of exchange may not happen at the doctor’s or physical therapist’s office. Yoga therapy may be used as a complimentary treatment program after talking to your local health professional.

Don’t confuse Bliss with Exhaustion

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

 

Yoga can be applied as a mental tool when needed for a mind and body tune up. An obsessive daily routine with a motivation of attaining a perfect pose or a blissed out state of mind by pushing and pulling the muscles of the body to their limits can lead to exhaustion. Exhaustion may sometimes be associated with surrender and a temporary suspension of thought, but it is not bliss. It is just plain tired, your body may be depleted of its vital energy from trying to achieve the definitive power vinyasa flow.
Observation of how your subtle body is feeling and how the synergy of breath and movement affects your state of mind is the process of becoming the silent witness. Check in with your body and ask yourself how you are feeling. Make sure all systems are go before, during and after your practice. Yoga is not necessarily a goal oriented practice but an ever present realization. Spiritual progress is not a horizontal or vertical progression, it is multidimensional, you have to view it in many different angles. Don’t do yoga because you think you need it to be healthy and sane, do it because it strikes a chord in your heart and mind, make yoga an enjoyable experience.
So what is the purpose of daily practice? One is example I like to use is the lady at the check out counter at the grocery store. Even if he or she does not practice any type of yoga, to me she is an advanced practitioner because he or she is able to maintain her poise, patience and composure amidst the chaos of  long lines and the complaints of disgruntled customers.
In my opinion yoga is not about being able to twist and bend into difficult physical contortions until you are completely drenched in sweat to the point of collapsing, then come into corpse pose and think you have reached a state of stillness. Let the teacher within you speak, call it instincts or intuition, but if you listen to the intelligence of your body, energy awareness will lead you on the path that honors your skills and ability on and off the mat. The proper motivation should be towards more therapeutic modalities and much more heart centered. If you practice yoga six days out of the week to achieve the perfect alignment of a pose that is great. But in the end, there is no definite authority for the type of yoga you practice. Sutras, gurus, and postures are only reflections of what is already inside your heart and mind, yoga is a referential vehicle so when applied with the proper motivation may lead to liberation and health.