You are always, always loved and protected. You are good enough. You deserve to live a wonderful life and so it is… 1) Stop criticizing yourself: If we tell ourselves that we are okay, no matter what is going on, we can make changes in our lives easily. It is when we make ourselves bad that we have great difficulty. Our ability to adapt and flow with the process of life is our power. Think for a moment about the words you use when scolding yourself or some of the phrases you hear when you were small: stupid, bad boy, bad girl, useless, careless, dumb, ugly, worthless, sloppy, dirty, etc. Are these the same words you use now when describing yourself? There is a tremendous need to build self-worth and value in ourselves, because when we feel not good enough, we find ways to keep ourselves miserable. We create illness or pain in our bodies; we procrastinate about things that would benefit us. We are all insecure in some ways because we are human. Let release the need to be perfect. Having to be perfect only puts immense pressure on ourselves, & it prevents us from looking at areas of our lives that need healing. Instead, we could discover our creative distinctions, our individualities, & appreciate ourselves for the qualities that makes us unique. 2) Stop scaring yourself: Many of us terrorize ourselves with frightful thoughts & make situations worse than they are. We take a small problem and make it into a big monster. It's a terrible way to live, always expecting the worst out of life. Examples: Someone makes a remark at work, and you begin to think you're going to be fired. You build these paralyzing thoughts in your mind. Remember, these frightening thoughts are negative affirmations. OR, people who are ill often visualize the worst or they are immediately planning their funerals. OR, someone doesn't call you immediately, and you decide that you are totally unlovable and you'll never have another relationship again, feeling abandoned and rejected. If you find yourself habitually reviewing a negative thought or situation in your mind, find an image of something you really would like to replace it with. It could be a beautiful view, or a sunset, or flowers, a sport, or anything you love. Use that image as your switch-to image every time you find that you are scaring yourself. Say to yourself, "No, I'm not going to think about that anymore. I'm going to think about sunsets, roses, Paris, yachts or waterfalls, or whatever your image is." If you keep doing this, eventually you will break the habit. 3) Be gentle and kind and patient with yourself: Impatience is a resistance to learning. We want the answers without learning the lesson or doing the steps that are necessary. Think of your mind as if it were a garden. If you take loving care and attention to this garden, it gradually keeps improving and will blossom. The same with your mind, you select nurtured thoughts & with patience they grow and contribute to creating the garden of experiences you want." 4) Be kind to your mind: Let's not hate ourselves for having negative thoughts. We can think of our thoughts as building us up rather than beating us up. We don't have to blame ourselves for negative experiences, but can learn from these experiences. Being kind to ourselves means we stop all blame, all guilt, all punishment, and all pain. Relaxation is absolutely necessary for tapping into the Power within, because if you are tense & frightened, you shut off your energy. As you become tense, take a few deep breaths, close your eyes, and release whatever tension you are carrying. As you exhale, become centered & say to yourself silently: "I love you. All is Well." You will then notice how much calmer you feel. 5) Praise yourself: Criticism breaks down the inner spirit, and praise builds it up. When you berate yourself, you belittle the Power that created you. Begin with little things." 6) Loving yourself means supporting yourself: Reach out to friends and allow them to help you. You really are being strong when you ask for help when you need it. Support groups can help, like 12 step-groups. 7) Love your negatives: No matter what negative situation you are in, it's there for a reason; otherwise you wouldn't have it in your life. 8) Take care of your body: Drug and alcohol abuse, overeating, and smoking are just some of the substances we take into our bodies to numb out the pain, and deal with life better. But, the sad fact is that it doesn't help make it better. Take care of yourself, exercise regularly so your body can help support you in whatever comes your way. 9) Mirror work: In order to find out the cause of an issue that keeps us from loving ourselves. Try looking in the mirror the first thing in the morning and say, "I love you. What can I do for you today? How can I make you happy?" Listen to your inner voice, and start following through with what you hear. Then, if something unpleasant happens to you during the day, go to the mirror and say: "I love you anyway." Affirmations performed in front of a mirror are advantageous because you learn the truth of your existence. When you do an affirmation and you immediately hear a negative response such as, "Who are you kidding? It can't be true. You don't deserve that", that is a gift you can use. You cannot make the changes you want until you are willing to see what is holding you back. The negative response you have just discovered is like a gift in that it becomes the key to freedom. Turn that negative response into a positive affirmation such as: "I now deserve all good. I allow good experiences to fill my life." Repeat the new affirmation until it does become a new part of your life. 10) "Finally, love yourself now! Don't wait until you get it right. Dissatisfaction with yourself is a habit pattern. If you can be satisfied with yourself now, if you can love and approve of yourself now, then when good comes into your life, you will be able to enjoy it. Once you learn to love yourself, you can begin to love and accept other people. We can't change other people, so leave them alone." A yoga class is a treat to yourself. Few moments in life allows us to step out of the stress of the normal life and return back home, to our body, feelings and emotions in a safe place and just be… Acceptance is key! · Acceptance of the current state of strength and flexibility of your body. Some days we feel great and we are capable to do amazing things, to hold almost every pose with ease and even try those challenging ones. Other days, well… It seems that even sitting with the legs crossed is something destined only for yogis heroes… In those days, be kind and gentle with yourself and your body. If you need to be all the class in shavasana or in a restorative pose go for it!! It exactly what you need! Have always close by a bolster in case you need to rest and give to yourself a big dose of TLC! It’s ok!! Rest and relax. You will be rocking again in not time! · Acceptance of your body as it is. Shape, size, flexible or stiff, strong or weak, however you perceive it, let I be, own it with grace. You and your body are unique. No need to wish to be different. Honour it with all the flaws that you see (as only you think there are flaws!!). You are beautiful and perfect the way you are! · Acceptance of your present situation and this moment in particular. Again, own the moment you are living right now and accept whatever it brings to you. Yoga helps to see it as ok (even if you think there are so many things to change!) Not now, not in this moment. Just allow yourself and your body to be. Get lost in the sensations and feelings. You are in the right place doing exactly what it is supposed to be. · Avoid competition and comparison! Everybody is different and it meant to be that way! (Imagine a world where everybody is the same – pretty boring!!). So, when you are in your poses, don’t look to how the other person besides you performs. Focus in yourself and your experience. We all have different body shapes and abilities. Maybe you feel bad because you can touch your toes and the other person can, but, in the next pose, probably you can do “better” than him or her, so, what is the point to compare? The way that you are now is the way that has to be. The place where you arrive in that pose, is the right for you at this moment in time. No worries attached! Again accept where you are right now and your conditions and everything will fall into place. When working in the poses: Always build the pose from the floor, from your grounding. Every part of your body that is in contact with the floor become your foundation. And from there is like building a castle, so, going from bottom to top expanding and growing without lose the connection with the floor. The more rooted you are, the more you can grow J (Imagine yourself as big tree) With the same idea, work from the centre of your body to expand and grow toward your limbs. (starfish) Maintain the flow of your breathing. Don’t block it. Allow your body to be open and moved naturally by your breath. Agitated breathing means you went too far! Come back to a place where you can maintain a comfortable rhythm. Don’t push so much! Go to a place where you feel the stretch but not pain. Pain means you went too far again! Always be kind and gentle with your body and yourself! When competition and pride kick in, just breath and remember that you don’t need it, you are perfectly ok as you are!! Allow yourself and your body to enjoy the different poses: Let go completely in the relaxed poses (sweet and trusting surrender) and enjoy the feeling of power and strength in the standing and balancing poses. Humour in essential!! Don’t get caught in your need to be perfect. When learning new and challenging poses approach it with curiosity and a good sense of humour and bring out the child in you and have fun! During the course of an average mile run, your foot will strike the ground 1,000 times. The force of impact on each foot is about three to four times your weight. It's not surprising, then, to hear runners complain of bad backs and knees, tight hamstrings, and sore feet. The pain most runners feel is not from the running in and of itself, but from imbalances that running causes and exacerbates. If you bring your body into balance through the practice of yoga, you can run long and hard for years to come. Although yoga and running lie on opposite ends of the exercise spectrum, the two need not be mutually exclusive. In fact, running and yoga make a good marriage of strength and flexibility. Striking a Balance Runners who stick with running are most likely structurally balanced individuals who can handle the physical stresses of the workout with minimal discomfort. Yet, many runners don't survive the imbalances that running introduces. Often, they suffer from chronic pain and are sidelined by injury. A typical runner experiences too much pounding, tightening, and shortening of the muscles and not enough restorative, elongating, and loosening work. Without opposing movements, the body will compensate to avoid injury by working around the instability. Compensation puts stress on muscles, joints, and the entire skeletal system. If you're off balance, every step you take forces the muscles to work harder in compensation. Tight muscles get tighter and weak muscles get weaker. A tight muscle is brittle, hard, and inflexible. Because muscles act as the body's natural shock absorbers, ideally they should be soft, malleable, and supple, with some give. Brittle muscles, on the other hand, cause the joints to rub and grind, making them vulnerable to tears. Muscle rigidity occurs because runners invariably train in a "sport specific" manner—they perform specific actions over and over again and their focus is on external technique. This repetitive sports training or any specific fitness conditioning results in a structurally out of shape and excessively tight body. Yoga's internal focus centers your attention on your own body's movements rather than on an external outcome. Runners can use yoga practice to balance strength, increase range of motion, and train the body and mind. asanas move your body through gravitational dimensions while teaching you how to coordinate your breath with each subtle movement. The eventual result is that your body, mind, and breath are integrated in all actions. Through consistent and systematic asana conditioning, you can engage, strengthen, and place demands on all of your intrinsic muscle groups, which support and stabilize the skeletal system. This can offset the effects of the runner's one-dimensional workouts. Body Wisdom In addition to physically counteracting the strains of running, yoga teaches the cultivation of body wisdom and confidence. As you develop a greater understanding of the body and how it works, you become able to listen and respond to messages the body sends you. This is especially important in running, where the body produces a lot of endorphins. These "feel good" chemicals also double as nature's painkillers, which can mask pain and the onset of injury or illness. Without developed body intuition, it's easier to ignore the body's signals. Awareness translates to daily workouts, too. You learn through the practice of yoga that each day is distinct, much like each run. Your energy levels fluctuate daily, even hourly, thus it's important to have a sense of your reserves. The calmness you glean from yoga practice allows you to manage and economize your energy. You can learn to intuit where you are on a given day and what resources you have to give. Therefore, you don't power drive through every workout mindlessly but rather respect your body's limitations. You can, however, maximize those varying energy levels by focusing on another nonkinetic aspect of yoga: relaxation. When you're able to bring your body into a state of repose, you become more effective at using and conserving strength. If you're in a contracted state—tight muscles, limited range of motion, chronic pain—your body requires more energy for all activities, running included. Relaxation allows you to burn energy at a more efficient level. The resulting increased vigor means a greater freedom of movement and ultimately, more enjoyment of all your physical activities. Tension is the athlete's downfall, and breath awareness is key to reducing it. Conscious breathing and Pranayama exercises, which soothe the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and relax the entire body, can be of great benefit to runners. Many runners know that improving VO2 Max—aerobic capacity—is vital for running and racing success. Runners with a high VO2 Max have the capacity to pump large amounts of oxygen-rich blood to working muscles. Maximum oxygen intake is a crucial physiological variable determining performance and endurance for runners. With pranayama and asana conditioning, you can maximize the size of your pump and the quantity of fresh blood coursing through your body. A somewhat vigorous yoga practice can increase your oxygen capacity. Pain Prevention Even the most centered and relaxed runner can face injury—the bane of all athletes. Damage to a runner's body is often the result of overuse instead of collisions or falls. It all comes back to—you guessed it—balance, symmetry, and alignment. The body is the sum of its parts and impairment of one affects them all. A bad back is going to affect your ankles just as weak knees can throw off your hip alignment. For example, shin splints are the result of a seemingly minor misstep: an uneven distribution of weight that starts with the way the feet strike the ground. Each time the foot hits the pavement unevenly, a lateral torque travels up the leg, causing muscle chafing and pain up and down the tibia known as shin splints. Knee pain, too, is related to other parts of the body. If the ankles are weak or the hips are not aligned, that can put strain on the anterior ligaments in the knees. Meant to work like a train on a track, a knee thrown off balance is equivalent to a train derailing. Due to constant forward motion, hip flexor muscles shorten and tighten and can cause hyperextension in the lower back. This constantly arched position holds tension in the back and can hamper the fluidity of hamstring muscles as well. What does this mean for the runner with pain in his lower back? Or a painful heel condition? First of all, don't ignore your body's signals. Take a break when your body needs one. Learn to intuit when rest is appropriate. Secondly, start incorporating yoga postures into the warm-up and cool-down portions of your workout. Think of running as the linear part of your workout and yoga as its circular complement. There's no need to be sidelined by injuries and discomfort brought on by your running program. Chronic injuries can eventually self-correct through a gentle yet consistent yoga practice. Remember, your body is on your side. It has an inherent intelligence to bring about a state of equilibrium no matter how many times your feet hit the pavement. 12 Great Reasons to Start Alternate Nostril Breathing by Carol Fogarty (from Rejuvenation Lounge)16/6/2013
Your nose is exceptionally clever. Simply by practising a few rounds of alternate nostril breathing (pranayama) for a few minutes each day, you can help restore imbalances in your brain – improve sleep – calm your emotional state – boost your thinking – calm your nervous system. How impressive is that! Another interesting fact about your nostrils, is that you don’t breathe through them equally all the time. Right now, you will be favouring either your left nostril or your right nostril. Left nostril for calming – right nostril for energy: Your nose is directly linked to your brain and nervous system. For thousands of years the Indian yogis believe that many diseases are connected to disturbed nasal breathing. Breathing in through your left nostril will access the right “feeling” hemisphere of your brain, and breathing in through your right nostril, will access the left “thinking” hemisphere of your brain. Consciously alternating your breath between either nostril will allow you to activate and access your whole brain. 12 benefits of alternate nostril breathing: 1: Revitalizes you: A few rounds of alternate nostril breathing is a quick pick me up if you are feeling flat, tired or even stressed. It provides your body with a much needed dose of extra energy. 2: Improves brain function: When you mind is dull – concentration and clarity is poor. Alternate nostril breathing brings equal amounts of oxygen to both sides of the brain for improved brain function. Five minutes of alternate nostril breathing before an exam or interview is a great way to access your whole brain for improved performance. 3: Cleanses your lungs: A daily five minute practice morning and night of alternate nostril breathing is great way to remove stale air and impurities from the bottom of your lungs. 4: Calms an agitated mind: I’m prone to worrying. A few minutes of focused alternate nostril breathing is helpful (for me) in calming my “over thinking” mind. The ancient yogis believe that if you can regulate your breath, then you can control your mind. 5: Merges the left “thinking” brain and right “feeling brain: Alternate nostril breathing optimizes both sides of your brain so you can access your whole brain, and all the benefits that go with it. The flip side of course is, single nostril breathing can be used to activate, just the left”thinking” or just right “feeling” side of your brain for specific situations. Try it out next time you need to drive your car. Cover your left nostril with your thumb and breathe only through your right nostril for one minute. This should keep you more alert when driving. 6: Encourage a calmer emotional state: In times of emotional distress and upset, a few rounds of mindful nostril breathing will soften the intensity of over reactive emotional states. The longer you practice, the more stable your thinking, and the calmer your emotions will become. 7: Improves sleep: If you can’t sleep at night lay on your right hand side, gently close your right nostril with your right thumb and breath through your left nostril. This will activate your parasympathetic nervous system which will calm you down and slow your heart rate. 8: Great preparation for meditation: Alternate nostril breathing is a simple little trick that can be practiced for a few minutes before you begin your meditation practice. It’s a very easy way to help you find your meditation groove. 9: Soothes your nervous system: By focusing on your breath and deepening it, your brain will register this message and trigger the parasympathetic nervous system. You have effectively switched your nervous system from a stressed response, into a relaxation response. Single left nostril breathing (by closing your right nostril) will direct the flow of oxygen and energy to the right hemisphere of your brain, allowing once again, for the parasympathetic nervous system to be switched on. Gosh, your breath and nose is very clever. 10: Regulates the cooling and warming cycles of the body: Left nostril is feminine, nurturing, calm and cooling. Right nostril is masculine, heat, competitive and force. Favouring one nostril more than the other can effect the heat or coolness of your body. 11: Clears and boosts your energy channels: Slightly forced alternate nostril breathing improves and directs the flow of energy throughout your body – preventing sluggishness. It oxygenates your blood and allows the energy (prana) in your body to be strong and flowing. 12: Enhances rest and relaxation: A restless mind cannot relax. Alternate nostril breathing melts away an imbalances between the right and left hemisphere of your brain and calms your thinking. This is perfect for helping you access rest and relaxation far more efficiently. From better sleep to more energy and strength, this list provides several benefits of practicing Yoga: Aging. Yoga stimulates the detoxification process within the body. Detoxification has been shown to delay aging, among many other health benefits. Posture. The very nature of yoga teaches the practitioner how to hold and control one’s body in a more healthful position. Through consistent practice, your posture will improve so that you look more confident and healthy. Strength. One of the premises of yoga is that you are using the weight of your own body for overall strength. Energy. Regular yoga practice provides consistent energy. In fact, most yogis state that when you perform your yoga correctly, you will feel energized after your yoga session rather than tired. Weight. The benefits of a better metabolism along with the exercise of yoga work to keep your weight in check. Additionally, the stretching of muscles longwise helps to reduce the amount of cellulite that can build around muscles. Sleep. Because of the many benefits to both body and mind that a yoga routine can provide, many find that their sleep is much better. Balance. An integral part of the yoga practice is balance and control over your body. With a consistent practice, you will find that your overall balance will improve outside the yoga class. Integrated function of the body. Yoga is derived from Sanskrit and means "to join together and direct one’s attention." This is exactly what happens to your body after you start practicing yoga. Yogis find that their body works together much better, resulting in more graceful and efficient body movements. Body Awareness: Doing yoga will give you an increased awareness of your own body. You are often called upon to make small, subtle movements to improve your alignment. Over time, this will increase your level of comfort in your own body. This can lead to improved posture and greater self-confidence. Core strength. With a strong body core, you receive better posture and overall body strength. A strong core helps heal and reduce injuries. This is why a lot of athletes do yoga as cross training. PROBLEM: The flight or fight response -- the natural response to stress -- essentially puts the nervous system in overdrive. So it's no surprise that its opposite state, known as the relaxation response to stress, is associated with feeling good, in a general sense. People are able to evoke the relaxation response by repeating a yoga pose, prayer, or mantra while disregarding other thoughts, and it's been shown to protect against psychological disorders like anxiety and depression as well as physical conditions like hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and types of cancer that are exacerbated by stress. METHODOLOGY: Researchers at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Subjects trained 26 adults with no prior experience in this type of meditation for eight weeks. They practiced deep breathing, repeated mantras, and learned to ignore intrusive thoughts. Initially, they were given blood tests immediately before and 15 minutes after listening to a 20-minute health education CD. This was repeated after their training, only with a CD that guided them in their meditation. Twenty-five other participants, who had long-term experience in evoking the relaxation response, were tested as well. RESULTS: All of the subjects' blood samples revealed changes in gene expression following meditation. The changes were the exact opposite of what occurs during flight or fight: genes associated with energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, insulin secretion, and telomere maintenance were turned on, while those involved in inflammation were turned off. These effects were more pronounced and consistent for long-term practitioners. IMPLICATIONS: People who practice simple meditation aren't "just relaxing," explained the study's senior author, Dr. Herbert Benson (he of the aforementioned institute). Instead, they're experiencing "a specific genomic response that counteracts the harmful genomic effects of stress." While this study only looked at one way of reaching this state, people have been figuring this out for themselves for thousands of years, through yoga, prayer, and other forms of meditation. Yet this is the first time researchers have been able to use basic science to show that these practices actually have an observable, biological effect. It's only gene expression that is altered, not the genes themselves. But these results also showed that the effects of the relaxation response become stronger with practice, typically twice a day for 10 to 20 minutes. Fortunately it's not hard to learn -- in what was perhaps the most pleasant turn an interview has ever taken, Benson guided me through a meditation session. "Do it for years," said Benson, "and then these effects are quite powerful in how they change your gene activity." Lindsay Abrams is an editorial fellow with The Atlantic Health channel. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times http://m.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/05/study-how-yoga-alters-genes/275488/ Yoga can help prevent slouching—and the depression, shallow breathing, tension, and headaches that often go with it. "My middle back is tense and hurts almost all the time," said the young man slumped in my office chair. "I'd like you to show me how to stretch it out." He was quite surprised when I told him his back needed to be strengthened, not stretched, and he needed to stretch his front body, not his back. I see an epidemic of slumping all around me, and it contributes not only to problems in yoga poses but also to back pain and other significant medical problems. Happily, you can use a well-balanced yoga practice to help correct the muscle imbalances that cause you to slump, at the same time relieving midback pain and creating a beautiful, upright posture. The muscle imbalance that causes slumping may begin to develop early in life, when as children we have to round the spine to reach the back of a chair. Eventually, the muscles of the front body become short and tight and the muscles of the back body become weak and overstretched, causing the spine to curve backward and the head to poke forward. This slump of the midback—the thoracic spine—is called a kyphosis. The thoracic spine is prone to excessive kyphosis for several reasons. First, a normal thoracic spine has a mild amount of backward curve, which balances the normal forward curves of the lower back and neck. Second, the rib cage tends to limit the mobility of the thoracic spine. The 12 ribs attach to the 12 thoracic vertebrae in back and to the breastbone in front, forming a protective cage around vital organs. But when the thoracic spine begins to curve excessively, the rib cage's natural tendency to immobility can result in a "stuck" midback. The third reason for excessive kyphosis is our everyday movement and sitting habits. If you spend a lot of time with your head and arms forward, the natural curve in the thoracic spine will increase. And if you sit slumped, your weight hangs on the ligaments of the spine. The back muscles are in a lengthened position and not engaged; eventually, they become weak and overstretched and lose their ability to hold us in an upright position. As the back muscles weaken, the soft tissues of the front body—including the front spine ligaments, the tiny muscles between the ribs (intercostals), and the abdominal muscles—begin to shorten. Shortening of the abdominals can be exacerbated by a fitness regimen that overemphasizes abdominal strengthening exercises, like crunches, without balancing them with back-strengthening exercises. While bad posture habits can cause a mild to moderate kyphosis to develop, more severe kyphosis can indicate significant medical problems that require expert professional attention. Conditions such as osteoporosis, extreme scoliosis (spinal curvature), and ankylosing spondylitis, a painful form of rheumatoid arthritis that attacks the spine, can cause severe and painful kyphosis. If you have one or more of these conditions, the careful, therapeutic application of yoga asanas can help, but it would be a good idea to get advice from a medical expert and an experienced yoga teacher first. The Cost of Slumping Once established, hyperkyphosis contributes to a variety of health problems. As the kyphosis increases, the head migrates forward, causing chronic neck tension. Increased kyphosis can also limit our ability to breathe freely. The collapsing chest compresses the diaphragm at the base of the rib cage, and the tightness of the intercostals restricts the lungs' ability to expand. This limitation is a liability in daily life as well as in any yoga practice, especially pranayama, but it is even more troubling for anyone with a lung problem such as asthma or chronic obstructive lung disease. While the severe kyphosis associated with diseases like osteoporosis, scoliosis, and ankylosing spondylitis can cause severe health problems, as well as significantly limit overall mobility, even mild to moderate postural kyphosis can get in the way in yoga. It's especially problematic in backbending poses, when the whole spine should share in the curve. If the thoracic spine is stuck in a forward bend, then the lower back and neck, which are naturally more flexible in backbending, tend to overwork. The resulting localized excessive backbending, or hyperextension, contributes to compression and pain in the lower back and neck. Because of the decreased mobility of the rib cage associated with increased kyphosis, the ability of the spine to twist can also be restricted. Limited rotation can cause difficulty in most standing poses but is especially problematic in pronounced twists like Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) and the many seated twists. The Slumping Antidote: Yoga!! A well-rounded yoga practice will gradually reduce excessive kyphosis. Valuable poses are included to stretch out shortened chest and abdominal muscles and the front spine ligaments. A yoga class also includes poses to strengthen the back body. The muscles that hold us upright are called, appropriately, the erector spinae. They are the large muscles that lie on each side of the spine and extend from the pelvis to the upper back. When they contract, they pull the spine from a forward bend to a backbend. Practice often your new kyphosis awareness several times throughout the day, at home, at work, and in your yoga practice. If you find yourself constantly slumped down in your chair, perhaps it's time for a new one. Can you keep your chest open in your yoga poses? Be especially careful with forward bends, as it's easy to collapse into an excessive kyphosis. Learn to pause for a moment as you begin each pose, to feel the vitality of the support muscles of your back, the spaciousness of your lungs, and the openness of your heart. Over time, this practice of opening your heart will contribute not only to changing your posture but also to the development of compassion. In just this way, the physical practice of asana changes our outlook on the world and the way we interact with other beings. |
Claudia Gutierrez
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Yoga Fitness BlogI am Claudia Gutierrez, owner of Yoga Fitness, originally from Argentina and proudly Irish Citizen since 2012. Archives
November 2021
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