Yoga Support
Yoga offers you a variety of ways to support
yourself in wellness
Half Sun Salutations
Contributed by Karen Moss, eRYT500
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Begin by standing (or sitting in a chair) and "centering" at the top of the mat. "Centering" is a process of pausing and breathing; or noticing your feet on the mat, eyes open or closed. Centering could also be thought of as "arriving" or "calming". Take as much time as you like.
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Try to feel your weight in your feet, how it evenly distributes itself as you notice it, perhaps rocking forward and back, side to side on your feet.
Notice your body's natural alignment from your feet, legs, hips, belly, vertebral column, ribs, heart and lungs, shoulders, and head. Breath and
notice.
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On your exhalations relax your face, shoulders, draw the head back until it feels light. Relax the eyes deeply, and the big muscles of the jaw and tongue.
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Yoga at home is a gift of wellness to yourself and others. These practices enliven you, awakening your Tejas, (Tay-jas) (your inner sparkle) and allow you to enjoy a personal relationship with yoga movement and breath practices in your own home.
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These practices can be done separately or as a series; do a short practice in the morning and a short practice in the evening. The length or intensity of the practice is optional; allowing yourself even a short time to rejunevate is a gift of wellness. Enjoy the practices!
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Join us for a yoga class, drop-in any time. Any of Sangha's classes welcome beginners, students rediscovering Yoga, students working with pain or recovery, as well as students seeking to know their practice with more awareness.
Yoga Support # 2: Yoga and Intention
Intentions are inspirations powered by your heart reaching into the possible and crafting a dream. Intentions nourish us, keeping us awash in fresh vision; the world is full of opportunity from the lens of intention. Intentional relationship with yoga, interacting with the practices from a place of deliberate ease, curiosity, and lightness enlivens your ability to enjoy all your relationships from this yogic place of heart-inspiration. Intentions are heart guidance gifted to us from pure love to move us in all ways. Yoga moves you too, in more ways than one. Enjoy this article about The Power Behind Setting an Intention in Yoga. Click the link below:
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-18626/the-power-behind-setting-an-intention-in-yoga.html
Yoga Support #3: Pace Yourself
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Viparita Karani, Legs Up the Wall, is a restorative posture the yogis recommended for rejuvenation and stress-relief. It is a gift for many of our body systems; as an inversion, it helps restore balance to our fluid flow as well as release muscle tension as the body relaxes into this anti-gravity rest. A few minutes of Legs Up the Wall, with deep, natural breath at least twice a day (AM and PM) will allow you to pace yourself in the bustle of the Holiday Season.
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A short video explaining how to prepare and abide in a simple Legs Up the Wall Pose.
Yoga Support # 4: Take a Deep Breath
Holding the breath, or breathing shallowly, is a habit based on anticipation, anxiety, trying to keep up....waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. This habit is one that comes with lots of activity, doing, running around, feeling incapable, feeling joyful even; holding the breath is a pattern of attempting to hold the self together, in many ways. The video on the left is Three part Breath Pranyama, a breathing yoga practice, which allows us to feel how the breath really works, a practice of deepening the breath to truly support our activities. A practice in the morning sets your awareness of breath for the day; if you find during the day you are "holding", you can use this breath to repattern your breath response to a deeper, more supportive breath. In the evening, try Legs Up the Wall from Holiday Support # 3 for a practice to ease, soothe, and nourish you. This video comes from my beautiful teacher, Linda Oshins.
Yoga Support #5: Rest the Senses
The eyes are the windows to the soul, and to the sense organs of our nervous system. To truly rest means to rest the eyes, to rest the senses, and restore the nervous system to a calm awareness. Using an eye pillow during rest and restorative yoga gift the eyes rest; the weight of the eye pillow initiates a relaxation response. You can induce this any time via placing the heels of your hands gently on the eyes; the warmth and slight pressure allows the eyes to soften. As a results, you soften as well.
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Whether resting in bed, on the couch, on the floor for yoga, or with the Legs Up the Wall, try an eye pillow to rest your senses, and rejuvenate the sparkle in your eyes and heart!