Sunday, July 25, 2010
Cushions are not just for the sofa...
Build buffers into your off-hour plans. Cushions aren't just for the sofa! Don't schedule you, family or friends to the microsecond. Intentionally create spaces that could accommodate a second cup of coffee, and unexpected visit or a short mid-morning nap in the hammock.
Your Brain on Yoga
"Yoga is the ending of the disturbances of the mind." (Yoga Sutra, 1.2)
Nothing is quite as satisfying as a yoga practice that's filled with movement.Wheter you prefer and intense and sweaty practice, a gentle deliberate practice, or something in between, all systems of hatha yoga provide a contented afterglow for the same reason: You sync your movement with your breath. When you do, your mind stops its obsessive churning and begins to slow down. Your attention turns from your endless to-do list towards the rhythm of your breath, and you feel more peaceful than you did before you began your practice.
For many of us, accessing the same settled, contented state is more difficult to do by yourself. It's not easy to watch your mind reveal its worries, its self-criticism or its old memories. This requires patience and even more challenging for most of us is time. So why do you put yourself through the struggle?
Quite simply, yoga and relaxation can profoundly alter your experience of life. Thousands of years ago the sage Patanjali, who compiled the Yoga Sutra, promised that the practice of yoga could eliminate the suffering caused by an "UNTAMED" mind. He taught his students to cultivate focused attention, compassion and joy. He believed it was possible to change one's mental powers and emotional patterns by regularly experiencing meditative states.
Science has proven that meditating actually restructures your brain and can train it to concentrate, feel greater compassion, cope with stress and more. SO put it into practice.
Namaste
Nothing is quite as satisfying as a yoga practice that's filled with movement.Wheter you prefer and intense and sweaty practice, a gentle deliberate practice, or something in between, all systems of hatha yoga provide a contented afterglow for the same reason: You sync your movement with your breath. When you do, your mind stops its obsessive churning and begins to slow down. Your attention turns from your endless to-do list towards the rhythm of your breath, and you feel more peaceful than you did before you began your practice.
For many of us, accessing the same settled, contented state is more difficult to do by yourself. It's not easy to watch your mind reveal its worries, its self-criticism or its old memories. This requires patience and even more challenging for most of us is time. So why do you put yourself through the struggle?
Quite simply, yoga and relaxation can profoundly alter your experience of life. Thousands of years ago the sage Patanjali, who compiled the Yoga Sutra, promised that the practice of yoga could eliminate the suffering caused by an "UNTAMED" mind. He taught his students to cultivate focused attention, compassion and joy. He believed it was possible to change one's mental powers and emotional patterns by regularly experiencing meditative states.
Science has proven that meditating actually restructures your brain and can train it to concentrate, feel greater compassion, cope with stress and more. SO put it into practice.
Namaste
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