Faith and Patience

Hello All,

I spent the past week at an international academic conference called Pathways to Resilience and met some amazing people. In one of my interactions our discussion went towards faith and patience being closely related like two sides of the same coin. I could feel a relaxation or de-stressing occur at a deep level in the simple acknowledgment of patience. It is easy to be taken away by ambition and future-orientation. While in that mode tensions accumulate and when we re-prioritize relaxation and patience there is subtle mental and physical healing that takes place.

Take a moment, close your eyes and bring your attention to your breath. Let the tension in your shoulders melt away or fall away like water from the duck's back (just saw a mama duck and her 5 babies walk by). Have you become preoccupied by some thought or plan for the future? Practice patience and faith by allowing a deep sense of trust without needing to know exactly 'how', notice the effect on your body. You may notice a softening or releasing of tension you were not aware of. I had this experience while in Halifax and wanted to share. Tension is insidiously linked to expectation (even those we are not fully conscious of). Let go and allow that tension to be released, this process will allow for greater creativity as space is created in the mind and body for the 'how' to spontaneously appear.

Namaste,

Steve

Step off!

The sky is bright and blue as Spring is making a comeback here in our beautiful community. The emptiness and expansiveness of the blue sky is similar to the spaciousness of mind that we can cultivate through meditation. Our days are filled and our minds are filled with thoughts of yesterday and tomorrow. As we sit for meditation we simply observe those same thoughts and step off the wheel. You know the little wheel the hamster runs around? In meditation we step off that wheel. The wheel is the story that you are running about your life, the complaints, the regrets, the thoughts of revenge. The wheel is still there, the mechanisms of the mind, the old thought patterns and habits are still there but something else manifests. A vacuum is created as we "step off" and drawn into the space of the vaccuum is a deep sense of peace. When do you experience deep peace in your life? I bet you know how often you experience its opposite. Peace is not a luxury to be felt by the unencumbered but rather the very foundation of health, the proverbial fountain of youth. Find a way to experience peace every single day and if you do a little peace inventory and find your life wanting then get to yoga class and take back what only you can give away.

We will have yoga at the boathouse tonight with Claudette as I am traveling today. She may not want me to say this but Claudette radiates peace in a way that is deep and rare. She will guide you to move your body with awareness and with the intention of peace; to strengthen and to lengthen the body within the embrace of peace; to contract your muscles and relax your muscles with the attitude of peace and finally to relax deeply your mind and body so that you may realize peace to the very core....AS the very core of who you are.

I read a quote the other day that said, "Tension is who you think you are while relaxation is who you really are."

Namaste,

Steve

Messages from Mother Earth: Awaken Your Intuition

We have become disconnected from our intuition because we have become disconnected from the earth. The vast deep wisdom that is our intuition has often been described as the voice of the Great Mother Earth. Anything we can do to restore our connection to the earth will improve our intuitive abilities. As we improve our ability to listen closely with mind, body and heart our intuitive faculty will develop. Practice reconnecting to the earth at these three level and watch your life change for the better.

Thinking as One

By thinking about the fact that our bodies are composed from the earth it may help us recognize that we are not separate from nature but an integral part of nature. Contemplating a philosophy of unity will help uncover your intuition. Namaste is more than just a greeting we use at the beginning and the end of our yoga class. It is the active awareness that the essence within me is the same essence within you. It is a subtle acknowledgement of the interconnection of all beings. You can mentally greet life with this beautiful word, Namaste as you pass people, animals, trees and all manner of beings. Each time recognizing that you all arise from the same Source.

Feeling Grateful

From a heart perspective we can tune ourselves to a deep sense of gratitude for these bodies and for life itself. Spending time in gratitude every day releases tension and the residue of stress in the mind and body. These subtle (and not so subtle) stresses keep us separate severing the connection to our intuition. Deep feelings of gratitude always inspire a deep sense of relaxation in the body and both help restore your intuition.

Core Movement

A regular mind-body practice whether yoga, tai chi, dancing or some other form of movement that is done with an awareness of the breath and body helps to strengthen our connection to the earth through the body. In this day and age most of our attention is at the mind-level, this is evidenced by the fact that even our movements tend to originate from the head. It is very important for our physical health, alignment and ultimately for our intuitive faculty to begin moving from our core. The core is a set of muscles at the lower part of the abdomen and the pelvic floor. This 'navel' area deserves a great deal of attention and can be considered the center of power in the body. This is the location of the third chakra in the yoga system and the dan tien in Tai Chi and Chi Gong.

As you are moving through your day be aware of the soles of your feet and that base connection to the earth. Hold some attention at the core as you move feeling grateful for the earth beneath your feet. By strengthening your base connection to the earth you will be amazed at how your perspective can shift and the wisdom that can spontaneously arise within.

Intuition is not something that happens outside yourself but rather it is that subtle inner voice that speaks from a place of unconditional love. It is not a function of the intellect nor is it related to the instinct. It is subtle, ancient and an integral part of who you are. Practice reconnecting to the earth and you will discover you are reconnecting to your intuition.

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

Relax Your Way to Creative Genius

There are many benefits of a regular yoga + meditation practice that people do not realize either because they have never stuck with it or simply have not embraced the practices. One of the most remarkable is a whole new access to creativity. Our culture under-values relaxation and yet idolizes creativity and innovation. Creativity brings us closer to our Source than almost anything else. Creativity can help mom discover new ways of making the mundane entertaining for the 5-year old. Creativity can inspire the teacher in the classroom to present that same material in fresh and fun ways for their students. Creativity is the impulse behind the artist and poet but also allows the government employee to find new ways of doing things that improves the system for everyone. But how do we access this fountain of innovation and inspiration?

Relaxation is paramount to opening the door of creativity in any given moment. Tension in the mind and body serves to limit our ability to get "outside the box". In fact, "the box" is made of tension and its resulting contractions at both a mental and physical level. Sometimes we hear of creativity happening as a result of overwhelming tension but I would argue it is when the individual has "surrendered" to their circumstance that the creative solution manifests. This does not mean "giving up" but rather speaks to a deep acceptance of the here and now that opens the door to an unbounded future.

Learning to relax may be the greatest thing you could do to improve your health and quality of life and it may just awaken that creative genius that lies within each of us. You have access to a well of creativity that is only yours and I pray you are able to access it and express it in your life for everyone's benefit.

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

The 9 Yoga Myths

This week we completed our blog series, Breaking Through the Yoga Myths. We discussed 9 Myths that tend to keep people from experiencing the depth of yoga. They may also be described as "excuses". Each of the 9 Yoga Myths below are linked to the original blog posting in case you missed it.

#1. I'm Not Flexible

#2. Yoga is a Religion

#3. I Don't Have Time

#4. I'm Too Tired

#5. I Can't Meditate, My Mind is Always Racing

#6. I Have to be Thin for Yoga

#7. Real Men Don't Do Yoga

#8. Relaxation is a Waste of Time

#9. Yoga Begins and Ends on the Mat

The number of ways we can convince ourselves that making time for ourselves to cultivate relaxation and awareness in our lives is virtually unlimited. Start to notice how your mind/ego robs you of opportunities to go deeper into relaxation and compassion that you know would improve the quality of your life. Find a yoga class or other mind-body activity and take positive steps towards improving your mental and physical health.

To Your Health,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

Yoga Myth #9: "Yoga Begins and Ends on the Mat"

Our final myth in this blog series strikes at the heart of the limited view of yoga in the West. If you think that your yoga practice is a physical workout that begins and ends on your mat you are missing the vastness and broad application of the practice to daily life. The core elements of our yoga practice apply to every part of our life. We face resistance in physical and mental formats in our practice that prepare us for those moments in our life when we instinctively resist. There is a popular saying out there (I can't remember where I heard it first) that says, "What you resist persists". This resistance can take many forms but there is always a "contraction" involved, mental and physical.

In our yoga practice on the mat we can become more and more aware of subtle contractions in the body and apply concentrated relaxation methods. Sounds like a bit of an oxymoron but welcome to the mind-body world. According to John Milton, a Tai Chi master and remarkable spiritual teacher "Relaxation and Presence" is the simple reality of conscious living. To learn to relax (surrender) in the face of your own resistance is a powerful outcome of taking yoga beyond the mat. Becoming aware of our mental resistance and physical contractions gives us the opportunity to claim responsibility. The social norm is to blame someone or something else for triggering this reaction if we are even aware of it at all.

Take your yoga beyond the mat by noticing your reactions that are composed of mental resistance and physical contraction. Relax and remain present with the feelings that are triggered and allow them to move through your body like a wave and let them go. Come back to the breath...back to the moment, be present. This simple process will change your experience of life and will undoubtedly improve the lives of those around you.

We will be practicing Beloved Yoga on the mat tomorrow morning at the Milo Boathouse at 10 am. I hope you can make it.

In the mean time relax and be present.

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

Yoga Myth #8: "Relaxation is a Waste of Time"

We are nearing the end of our series to break through the many myths of yoga including who can benefit. One of the attitudes that I feel more from men, sorry guys, though it is certainly a pervasive mentality is that relaxation is not "productive". In these fast times we have lost the art and forgotten the import of relaxation. Many of the activities in which we participate do not serve as relaxation but rather build stress in other areas. Ideas like "Work Hard, Play Hard" and "No Pain No Gain" contribute to the cultural bias against relaxation.

I had the privilege of participating in a Skills for Healing workshop with Dr. Rob Rutledge who is a Radiation Oncologist on the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He spoke to a group of cancer patients, survivors and caregivers about the evidence relating to the Relaxation Response. The medical community is now understanding and documenting the benefits of relaxation on dealing with stress and its many adverse affects on health.

The World Health Organization has defined stress as a global pandemic. Relaxation is a major step towards vaccinating yourself against the harmful effects of stress. Don't let our need to be "doing" all the time rob you of your health. Take time to relax alone and quiet without any distractions, including television, the Internet, reading, etc. Too often we engage with a mental distraction as a defense against stress but we do not elicit the Relaxation Response which allows us to release stress more deeply. According to Dr. Herbert Benson, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, "The relaxation response is a physical state of deep rest that changes the physical and emotional responses to stress... and the opposite of the fight or flight response."

Everyone needs to start taking action to promote their own mental and physical health and relaxation is an important element of any preventative health regimen. Find a yoga class if you can't make it to Beloved Yoga at the Milo Boathouse in Yarmouth, NS, learning to relax may just save your life.

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta

Stress...The White Plague

The new social rituals forming around H1N1 are incredible. People are confused about whether to shake hands, bottles of anti-bacterial gel everywhere and you may have seen that look of shame and guilt on people's faces as they cough or sneeze worried that people may label them as "infected". I can't help but wonder what things must have been like during the time of a really dangerous pandemic like the Black Plague. Imagine how every facet of life was impacted as millions became infected.

I see H1N1 as the first successfully "branded" disease of our time, they tried with the Bird Flu and that was pretty well done but nothing compared to the Swine Flu and then of course H1N1. It seems people of our generation are more responsive to a technical term than to animal-based nomenclature. As a former advertising executive I have a fondness for effective advertising although the novelty wears off when I see such blatant disregard for the fundamentals of health as I am witnessing in this day and age.

You may not even realize but there is another global pandemic that is affecting many, many more people than the latest and greatest H1N1. In fact, it contributes to the death of 4 times more people than all the deaths related to influenza and pneumonia combined, according to the Center for Disease Control. The World Health Organization identified STRESS as a global pandemic years ago. The real problem seems to be one of marketing. People do not realize that STRESS KILLS. In fact, I gave a presentation on stress just yesterday and it is amazing how people cling to their stress. People think that if we ever took it from them they would be unproductive couch potatoes, the lowest of the low in our culture.

I think we need to re-brand STRESS to something more flashy, more deadly, perhaps THE WHITE PLAGUE. The all-caps thing can be effective too until we get a funky, ominous but fresh logo. The WHITE PLAGUE is here and the scary and yet attractive characteristic from a marketing perspective is that everyone is a carrier for this disease. You can look at a room and tell them straight up that 25% of every person there will be helped to the grave by the WHITE PLAGUE of stress. We don't even have to make up statistics, just share them with people.

Of course we would need to create an expensive vaccination because just letting people know the incomprehensible power of simple breath-awareness would never fly. People need big-budget marketing and spoon-feeding by Big Pharma. I am sure we could create a placebo vaccination in the form of an inhaler to combat the WHITE PLAGUE we could name it DBN (Deep Breath Now) and make billions. Even better we could create a sugar pill that melts on your tongue but takes a couple of minutes and we could put on the label that you must remain relaxed and aware as the pill dissolves on your tongue. If your attention wanders a toxin is created that can do more harm than good. Is it ethical to scare people into mindfulness? Fear, it seems, is the only thing that motivates our culture. We could call this special tablet XALER...get it?

Well, I may not have the attention span for this marketing push but you can do your part by beginning to honor the role of relaxation and mindfulness in your own life. Observe the play of stress and try to educate your children on relaxation and mindfulness. Of course, the most effective way to educate the little ones is by example. There is no easy way out except the easy way in...through the breath.

Namaste,

Steve

Yogi Jayanta