Rambling Yogi

Tag: guide

  • Lessons of 2015

    Lessons of 2015

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    With great challenges come great lessons. While this year has been one the most heart breaking and challenging periods in my life thus far I can honestly say that I have also never felt more alive, capable and on purpose.

    I want to share my big lessons from this year in the hope that they enrich your life in some way.

     

    1. Let go of all the ways you thought life would unfold. Letting go of the plans and expectations you hold for your future is extremely liberating and allows you in live in flow with the universe. I realised the more I agonised over the loss of the future I had always dreamed of the harder life was to stomach. I had never even imagined a life where my dad wouldn’t be around to simply talk to and one day walk me down the aisle. Letting go isn’t a simple little choice you just make one day and then you’re done. It takes self awareness and consistent choice. When you begin to let go and allow things to just be as they are you’ll be blown away by the possibility that stands before you. Sometimes things better than your wildest dreams can just show up but you have to be open to the possibility that you don’t always know where life is taking you. You can fight that and try and control things or you can dance through the journey…the choice is always yours.
    2. Don’t fight with hard emotions. When you’re sad and you go into overdrive trying to shake it off and make yourself happy again you can wind up doing more harm than good. I never really realised until this year how much I truly loathed feeling sad. We’re all probably guilty of trying to numb or suppress undesirable emotions from time to time but doing it repeatedly not only means that you’re living an inauthentic life but it also dulls down all the good stuff. You can’t selectively numb emotions. When you let yourself experience sadness and pain the happiness and joy in your life also intensify. Allowing yourself to really sit with and feel your emotions grows your ability to experience the full spectrum of human emotions.
    3. Don’t get addicted to emotions. This is a follow on from my last point, while you should always let yourself feel what you need to, you also want to have enough self awareness to discern when you’re dropping a little too deep into an emotion or spending a little too much time there. I talk about this mainly in relation to pain and sadness but know that excessive emotion of any kind can be damaging to your body. It’s important to honour how you feel but you don’t want it to consume your life. Know the people, places and things that bring joy to your life, that make you laugh, balance and ground you, restore your calm and heal your heart.
    4. Don’t compare the beginning of your journey to some else’s middle. When I first lost my dad I’d often to talk to people who had been through a major loss and I’d find myself getting jealous of how well they were doing. There were times where I got insanely frustrated and felt like it wasn’t fair that I had to go through all of this, why couldn’t I just get back to good. It wasn’t until I got comfortable with pain and sadness that I began to realise how much I had to learn. Don’t cop out on the lessons in the challenges. As much as possible try and live in your own life and embrace your precious journey.
    5. Slow Down! Time will pass regardless of what you choose to do with it so don’t be in such a rush to get everything done yesterday. You never know when your time is up so be micro ambitious. Care more about short term goals and the everyday things. The only time you have to be alive is in each moment so live for your moments and enjoy each breath. And if you find that you’re living for future goals and wishing away your days I hope you find the courage to make some changes and take back your life.
    6. Know your worth. When I started telling myself “I am enough” each day I was amazed by all the things that came up. I was able to really clearly see all the areas that I didn’t believe I was enough and that awareness began to create a shift in my thinking. The stories I’d been subconsciously telling myself about my shortcomings we’re getting replaced with this new story that I am enough. All the crazy expectations that I pushed on myself in a bid to reach some dreamed up ideal fell away.  I began to believe that I don’t need more in order to be my best self…I was already there. I can’t even begin to tell you how much easier life got.
    7. Get help when you need it and don’t be too proud to accept it when it’s offered. I’ve never been overly brilliant at asking for help or accepting help when it’s offered but I’m so glad that all of that has changed. I knew this year that old habits and ways of coping were just not going to cut it. Accepting and asking for help from family and friends made me feeling so supported and really reassured me that I was going to be okay.  Getting professional help made me feel a bit sick at first but it was truly one of the best things I’ve ever done. There were sessions where I felt like I was making heaps of progress and then there were sessions that felt a bit pointless but it’s all contributed to bringing me into an amazing space.
    8. Make it happen; sort it out. All those things you’ve been putting off – the hard conversations, the mess and clutter, the mile long to do list – just do them. Previously I’ve been a pretty big fan of sticking my head in the sand when things have felt a little too difficult, unpleasant or overwhelming. All the things that I knew I should deal with would buzz around in the back of my brain creating a mild anxiety that I could usually balance out with a bit of yoga and meditation. But when I lost my dad I realised that I just didn’t have the capacity to carry the mild anxiety that lingered in the back of mind and I started to learn to deal with things. It didn’t just happen over night but like learning any new skill bit by bit I got better and better at dealing with things when they came up. I slowly stopped letting things run out for weeks and started taking action.  It feels absolutely brilliant to live in such a bold way.

     

    Take the time to figure out what your challenges have to tell you about yourself and find the lessons hiding in your experiences. You hold the answer to all of your questions you simply have to look within.

     

    Love and Blessings

     

    xx

     

     

     

  • Are you living a life that you are proud of?

    Are you living a life that you are proud of?

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    “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.” –   F. Scott Fitzgerald
    How often do you take the time to check in with yourself and the path you’re on? When your time comes how will you look back on your life? Will you have many regrets?

    In 2009 Australian palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware wrote a blog post called regrets of the dying. In this post she listed the top 5 regrets people under her care had voiced in their last weeks of life.

    I’d like to share these reasons with you now because I think we can all take something away from them.

    Take a moment now to read through them slowly. Let each one sit with you.

    •  I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
    • I wish I didn’t work so hard
    •  I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings
    •  I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
    • I wish that I had let myself be happier

    If you read any of these points and know that you would feel the same way then today is a great day for you my friend!

    If you can acknowledge that you are currently spending your time in a way that you will later regret you now have a choice. Now that you know there is the possibility that you can make a change.

    You may say to me that yes I work hard but I have to , I can’t change that I need to work this hard to survive. Firstly know that your immediate response to get defensive about any of these points is your ego saying this is who I am and I will not be changed or challenged. The things we do everyday, our behaviours and our way of being make up our identity and it can be crazy hard to challenge that. But if your first response was a defensive stance from your mind I invite you to challenge that view point ask yourself if that is really true and explore what your life could like if you did change. When something is unknown, there exists infinite possibly. Get excited about who you could be without the story you’re telling yourself.

    Changing your life and setting new priorities for yourself is not a walk in the park.  It can become battle ground in your own head with your ego fighting to keep things the same not liking that you may perhaps be moving closer to connecting with your true self. It can also become a battle ground with the people closest to you who have formed an idea of who you are and do not like the change that ripples into their lives when you change. Change takes courage and commitment but as things begin to settle and fall into place other people begin to appreciate your choices.

    Give yourself permission to live a life that you are proud of because you deserve the best life has to offer!

  • An inversion a day keeps the doctor away

    An inversion a day keeps the doctor away

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    I’m a really big fan of inversions in all their forms.  Generally speaking an inversion is any pose where your head is below your heart. So while headstands and handstand are probably the first things that come to mind you’re also in an inversion in downward facing dog, standing forward folds and even legs up the wall.

    While I love all inversions I’d like to speak more specifically about headstand using props. Now before I ramble on about all the amazing benefits its important to note that headstands are not for everyone, people with neck injuries, epilepsy, high blood pressure, heart conditions, acid reflux  and eye problems should seek medical advise before getting upside down. Also women on their monthly cycle may also want to avoid headstand (think gravity and flow …enough said).

    Traditional headstand can be a little scary for students and teachers alike. If you don’t get the correct alignment you put your neck at great risk of injury and if you don’t yet have the strength simply lifting your legs up can feel like mission impossible.

    So how do you do a headstand without putting your neck at risk and use a little momentum to take yourself up? You don’t need any fancy yoga props you just need to chairs and a wall. To be kind to your traps use padded chairs or put down cushions and/or blankets to give yourself a little padding and if you’re crazy like me and kind of enjoy a little pain you can skip the padding idea, you’ll be working deeper into releasing your traps. If your chairs feel like they may slip place a yoga mat under the feet of your chairs.wpid-collage_20150122171617410.jpg  Bring the chairs snug up against the wall facing each other (see picture to the right). Fold forward and bring your head into the gap between the chairs and against the wall, you want the tops of your shoulders to be resting evenly on each chair. For me having the chairs about 25 centimetres apart works well but you’ll need to have a bit of a play around to see what works best; you want to feel comfortable and stable. When you’re ready walk your legs in towards the wall, have your hands planted on each chair finger tips facing the wall then press into your hands for leverage and either lift yourself up slowly using core strength or kick your legs up(see video below). From here if you’re feeling steady you can experiment with different arm positions to work on releasing tension in your traps. When you’re ready to come back down press your hands firmly into the chairs and slowly lower yourself back down then come to rest in childs pose while you let the blood run back away from your head.

    The true benefits of headstand are said to be experienced after around 3 minutes of inverting, 3 minutes can feel huge is you’re not used to going upside down, so I recommend start off small maybe just 30 seconds and then working your way up. I personally practice this type of headstand supported by chairs for about 5 minutes and for me it’s magic. Speaking of benefits here are some of the many benefits of having a regular headstand practice.

    • This style of headstand helps to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which produces feelings of relaxation and calmness.  Your parasympathetic nervous system is a brilliantly peaceful place to be.
    • Forget expensive spa treatments reversing gravity flushes fresh nutrients and oxygen to the face and stimulates the facial capillaries giving you a beautiful healthy glow.
    • Not quite so regular…when you first think about it may not make sense that turning upside down would actually help you go but keep reading.   When you invert your body you allow the stool that is moving through the ascending colon to move with the force of gravity. The pressing of the stool against the intestinal walls also encourages movement and the pressure on the walls of the digestive tract stimulates a stronger peristalsis (muscle contractions that occur in your digestive tract).
    • Hit a wall can’t concentrate or focus? When the brain lacks a sufficient blood supply, the body becomes slow and sluggish because the brain uses 25 percent of the body’s oxygen. Increasing blood flow nourishes brain cells with more oxygen resulting in improved concentration, memory and awareness.
    • Felling a little down…turn the frown upside down! When you go upside down the adrenal glands are flushed and detoxified, this stimulates the release of neurotransmitters and endorphins that allow you to immediately feel uplifted and can counteract depression and mood swings.
    • No one really likes getting sick! Headstands help increase immunity and prevent illness.  Your lymphatic system has a key role to play in keeping you well. As lymph moves through the body it picks up toxins and bacteria to be eliminated by the lymph nodes. Lymph moves as a result of muscular contractions but is also affected by gravity. So when you go upside down you’re sending your lymph to your respiratory organs, where germs often get into the body. When you return to an upright position, gravity drains the lymph away again, sending it through your lymph nodes for cleansing.

     

    So go have fun get upside down and enjoy the new perspective but also never forget to always be listening to your body, not all days will be the same. Honour where you’re at and what your body needs.

    Love Blessings and Kindness

    xxx

     

  • Yoga Teacher Training Day 3

    Day 3 and we’re in to our proper schedule
    6.30am meditation
    7am breakfast
    7.50am theory
    10.30am asana practice
    1pm lunch
    1.50pm theory
    3pm study time
    6.30pm dinner
    7.30pm yoga documentary
    8.30 well and truly ready for bed

    Over the next 30 something days I’m sure there will be days that really push me to my limits but as they say that’s where your growth edges are.

    I’d like to share some of the guidelines we’ve been given for our yoga practice because they translate so nicely into every day life

    – Practice Daily – this doesn’t have to be yoga it can be anything but daily rituals are important to maintain.
    – Honor where you are now, do not force things, be mindful of challenges.
    – Learn to listen, to wait and to tune in.
    – Don’t rush.
    -Learn to perceive your intention and what is motivating you.
    – Learn to see subtle agendas and games you play with yourself.
    -Learn to control your approach,  intention and attitude.
    – Value silent time. Practice being still
    – Be attentive to the moment rather than a goal or idea of how it should be
    -Discover where you tend to over work and where you tend to under work

    May you take these little tips into your life to create a more beautiful experience of life

    Namaste

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