Here is a short video that deals with the relationship between the breath and the emotions. In a study, scientists discovered that when emotions are elicited in trial participants, their breathing pattern changes. But the interesting thing is that the opposite thing also happens: When breathing patterns are altered, the corresponding emotion is elicited. Let’s allow Emma Seppälä to explain it:
Breathe Better: How to Improve Your Mind, Attention, and Memory
In the video, she demonstrates the yogic breathing technique known variously as Nadi shodhana or anuloma-viloma. Alternate nostril breathing works just fine, too.
Pratyahara
David Frawley of the American Institute of Vedic Studies is, in my opinion, one of the most erudite and informed yoga pundits on the scene today. I shall share with you a link to his writings on pratyahara, the fifth limb of Astanga yoga. If you have been practising with me this winter, you will know that pratyahara has figured in my teachings. I hope that this article enlightens you on its philosophical underpinnings. Om shantih shantih shantih.
Pratyahara: Yoga’s Forgotten Limb
On balance – Part II
In yesterday’s post, I hardly had time to get started. Talking about the balancing act between prâna and apâna, I likened it to the accumulation and ridding of material things. I wanted to finish the post by discussing the IN and the OUT of yoga practice.
Most of us arrive at a yoga practice carrying a lot of impressions (samskaras). When used therapeutically, yoga helps us to unpick the essential from the superfluous. Let’s use fear as an illustrative example. A healthy amount of fear, or caution, is necessary. Otherwise, we might try to fly off mountainsides, or jump into strangers’ cars at 4 in the morning. But too much fear can stop us talking to interesting strangers at parties, travelling to unknown lands or otherwise enriching our human experience. So, the continuous practice of yoga, especially challenging postures that elicit a certain amount of fear (say, backbends, breath retentions) allows us to watch our fear response, get to know it intimately and then, ultimately, control it at important moments.
So, yoga can be used to unpick the essential from the superfluous. When there is a dominance of prâna>apâna, there may be a tendency to flightiness, an abundance of ideas without the capacity to distinguish the good ones from the mediocre, and an inability to realise/materialise one’s own ideas. Somatic manifestations like headaches, twitching eyelids, tooth grinding, jaw tensing, ear ringing, panicky breathing, neck and shoulder tension, pounding heart, tingling fingers and nervous habits like skin picking, smoking and nail biting are all related to prâna>apâna. (please bear in mind that prâna and Prâna are two different things. The lowercase version refers to the vayu that dominates the upper body. Uppercase refers to the universal energy that sustains all Life.) When prâna is in balance, our thoughts are fast but not fleeting, we have good recall and can crosslink ideas as well as exercise intuition. When prâna is overactive, we are nervous, irritable and irascible. When it is underactive, we are forgetful, fretful and worried.
Of course, we need adequate prâna to sustain life. Likewise, we need adequate apâna, also. Apâna dominates the digestive organs and pelvic region. When it is out of balance, all manner of digestive troubles may ensue, as would varicose veins, swollen ankles, heel spoor and other foot disorders, cellulite or peau d’orange as well as general sluggishness or tiredness. When apâna is strong, we are able to rid ourselves of waste material (urine, faeces) but don’t excrete too much (frequent urination, irritable bowel). When it is weak, we may have flatulence, constipation, diverticules and pelvic prolapse.
Of course, should anyone out there reading this believe that yoga alone can cure any of the above named disorders, I have to do the responsible thing and state this this post is for informational purposes only and should not be used to diagnose any medical problem. Go to your doctor, FFS. But, if they can’t put a name on what ails you, as often happens, ie: you don’t have a diagnosed and named pathology, then maybe some self-care in the form of yoga can prove helpful.
How to balance prâna and apâna? Coming soon…but Krishnamacharya would probably say apanâsana and dvipâdapitam…
Namaste and may you be filled with joy. JSK.
On balance – Part 1.
I have been offline for most of the past month. Firstly, it was due to a fault on my ADSL. Latterly, because I have been staying away from home for a few days.
It is a strange thing to be semi-connected in times like these. Of course, I had my iPhone, so Whatsapp, Facebook, email and the like were a-ok. But, due to the limitations of screen size, I read more than I wrote.
This can be compared to the twin, yet opposing, forces of prâna and apâna. Prâna in the intake and upper energy, apâna is the emission and lower energy. They are inseparable, and each influences the other. In prânayama, we can modify the inhale by modifying the exhale, and vice versa.
One relationship of IN-OUT that I like to contemplate is that of material goods. We are spirits in a material world and most of us have far more things that we need. But, it is when we get to a point of having far more things than we really want that it can get sticky. You see, getting rid of stuff is hard. Apart from the sentimental value that we may place upon an item, there is also pure attachment, as well as ecological considerations. I was a pack-rat in an earlier life due to all three things. I know how hard it is to debride oneself of possessions. But it is absolutely necessary.
Think about this: When you set out to buy something, you will often invest a lot of time in choosing, comparing characteristics, price-checking and what-have-you. Whether buying online or on the High Street, you will pay for transport of some sort. It is a process that takes time and energy. Yet, conversely, we will often throw things away rashly or badly. If this is not clear to you, I invite you to take a look at the trash by the kerb of an evening. All sorts of stuff, from furniture to computer parts to recyclables will be there. We hate being told to separate our trash, or that we will be charged for its collection and disposal. Maybe, if you are reading from somewhere more evolved, like Sweden, this won’t ring true. But here in Spain, it certainly is. The funny thing is, the expats also get used to the laissez-faire attitude to waste disposal and after a few months to years living here are just as likely to leave their dog’s doo-doo on the street as anyone else. Mediocrity breeds mediocrity.
So, I need to close this soon. To sum up: prana and apana need to be in balance in order for harmony to exist. In must equal out. If it doesn’t, something is wrong. Figure out what it is and fix it. Preferably with yoga!
The Guru is in you. Practice and all is coming. Love in all around. JSK.
Re-blogged: What is "beginner's mind"?
I like this article that I found over at Yogapedia: https://www.yogapedia.com/7/9543/self/self-work/what-is-beginners-mind?utm_content=bufferf99a6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
How to choose a yoga teacher
As a yoga teacher, this is a healthy and humble article to post. I have had a long journey with yoga, and have been gifted with humility as a result. Believe me, I did not arrive at adulthood knowing how to love, nor how to transmit compassion, nor how to respect other people’s limitations, beliefs or lifestyles. In yoga, this is fundamental, because every single student is singular, unique and on their own journey. You can only teach yoga from the heart, respecting physical limitations of the human body, and believing wholeheartedly that there is a Spirit guiding us from within if only we learn to tune into it. Om.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/27/yoga-injury-class-regulation-bad-practitioners
Best Diet To Prevent Cancer? Paleo? Ketogenic? Vegan? — Breast Cancer Authority
What is the best diet for preventing cancer? Does the paleo diet stop cancer? What about the ketogenic diet and cancer? Can a wholefood plant based diet prevent cancer? Can we be healthy if we don’t eat meat? Do we need meat to be healthy and cancer free? What about free range, organic, grass fed […]
via Best Diet To Prevent Cancer? Paleo? Ketogenic? Vegan? — Breast Cancer Authority
Let your yoga sing
Why practise?
It is well and good to analyse the physiological and anatomical reasons for practising hatha yoga. It is well and good to tell you why you ought to practise and what you ought to do. Yet, there is another way to saying the same thing and it is much simpler.
Dear reader, happened upon this blog, you should practise yoga just because. Just because yoga makes your body sing. Because when you become very very still and very, very quiet, you can hear that miracle of your own song, your very own vibration. You can connect with a timeless quality that is nonexistent in practically every other sphere of your existence.
You should start practising yoga right now, even if it’s nothing more than sitting in a straight-backed chair, breathing in and raising your arms to shoulder height, then breathing out to lower them slowly down again. Even this simple movement, isolated from any other posture, breath or sequence, repeated with enough intention and presence will bring you into a place of peace that you cannot know under different circumstances. It is as simple as being quiet enough to listen, quiet enough to hear, your own song.
Why, you may ask, ought I listen to my song? There is music on the radio, on the TV, on Spotify…there are so many things to listen to, surely it’s not that important. You err, I will reply. You don’t know what you don’t know until you know it. You are deaf to the chorus of your bodysoul and if you choose not to even look, then you are cowed and craven, too. This is not to insult, not to chivvy, but yes, I would like you to wake up. No matter how hard I try to detach from my longing to awaken each and every one of the beautiful human souls on this planet, no matter how unrealistic and even juvenile this deeply held longing may appear, it is there, it is real. I want you to wake up and the best tool I can offer you is yoga.
Why hear your song? Why listen? Because then you can hear all the messages from within and without. You can then hear your body tell you which foods give life and which foods burden you. You can then hear your soul’s messages about which company to keep, and for how long, and which relationships are toxic and which are good. You can hear the live-giving messages from Nature, the chant of the wind and the whisper of the trees.
And why might this be important for breast cancer survivors? Well, because your song is your life singing. And your life – so rudely threatened by disease – is pretty darn important to you, I will wager. Yoga integrates movement, breath and mind/thought to bring about harmony in all three spheres. I do not say this it should be practised to the exclusion of all other sports or creative activities. But, it complements so well anything else you do that it should be practised alongside your other activities, and not left until last but given priority and done with constancy.
Why practise? Because you can. Because you are here. Because you are alive. Because yoga makes you feel more alive. Because yoga has been around forever and keeps coming out tops from practically every angle. I yog just to know that I am alive. Om. Peace out.
Yoga for breast cancer
My path until here, from here on…
Weaving the strings of our lives together into a coherent pattern, our unique tissue, might be the best objective we can strive for in this life.
I am a Gemini. I have a lot of interests. At times, it seemed as if they might pull me to pieces. Yoga. Guitar. Nutrition. Travel. Family life. Tattoos. Bodywork. Sexuality. Languages. Crochet. Technology. Parties. Books. Clothes. Shall I continue to list?
In the language of yoga, tapas is the burning up of impurities. In practical terms, it is the shedding of that which distracts us from the path. This can include things like divesting oneself of excessive possessions, losing excess body weight, severing ties with people who do us harm, and shedding activities that only serve to distract. Tapas comes along quite naturally, when practice is continuous and conscientious.
I have written of tapas before in this blog. It is something that has occupied my mind for some time. I was quite certain that some of my, uh, stuff, needed to be bidden goodbye. But, when the process is motivated by rajas – the energetic guna, the one that I tend to have in excess – the shedding is likely to be excessive, and possibly lead later to regret (a swing into the opposite of rajas, tamas, the heavy guna). When the process of tapas is sattvic – sattva being the balanced, calm guna – then it is filled with gratitude, awe, thankfulness and joy. (btw: the gunas are the three qualities of matter, as postulated in the yoga theory that I have studied. rajas-tamas-sattva are found in matter and mind, only pure spirit is nirguna, without these qualities. It is a bit hard to explain in few words. If you don’t get it right now, don’t worry, there is plenty of time to learn.)
I think, I believe, that I have reached the point in which the strands of my various interests begin to weave together to form a special tissue.
Yoga therapy for breast cancer rehabilitation.
I began working in breast cancer rehab in 2005. I had qualified in Manual Lymphatic Drainage and, with some trepidation, began treating oedema. Then, later, lymphoedema. It was scary. The first scars, the first radiation burns, the first time a patient developed metastasis, the first patient to die. It was a path that demanded a lot of me both as a therapist and as a person. To stand in front on one person after another and reflect back their fears, doubts, triumphs, to stop getting angry at intransigence and inability to change, to understand that an experience of facing death does not automatically change a person, that the fear of changing habits that are ingrained is stronger than the fear of dying.
I feel that MLD therapists have a different relationship to our patients than do oncologists or radiologists or plastic surgeons. We all share a therapeutic role, but the fact that MLD is usually applied outside of the hospital setting and the therapy lasts at least an hour and may be ongoing for years means that we develop a true relationship with our patients. This can be taxing, especially when they relapse, or die. But it is also rewarding in the sense that friendship is always rewarding. People are interesting, their stories are interesting. I have learned more about modern European history by listening to my patients than I ever could have studying in University.
The ongoing tête-a-tête with death stimulates a need for answers, for ways to reflect back to these women some ideas about what the bloody hell is going on here, anyway??? I was already contemplating all this, and from a young age. Death and dying fascinate me in the way that only a person with a huge zest for life can be interested in them. Without fear. I am a Gemini. I like opposites. I have fit three lifetimes into my first 42 years. I can’t wait to see what the next 80 years bring!
Yoga is the path I chose in my quest to find the answers. I has helped me enormously.
And so, I chose to teach yoga to my breast cancer patients. Simple as that.
So, from now on, instead of blogging about this and that, I choose to blog about yoga therapy for breast cancer rehabilitation. Sounds pretty good, eh?
I ought to get organising my categories then, yes? If you have any suggestions for a blogroll, would you please be so kind as to comment? Many thanks and a big, fat om.
Bonds, not things.
Yoga teaches me that the process of purification – tapas – is necessary and useful. Yoga teaches me that the time for tapas arrives just when it should. Yoga teaches me to recognise the disordered perceptions handed down by our families and to modify them as needed. My parents were both hoarders. Not hard to justify if you grew up in Depression-era Toronto or WW2-time Leeds, as they did. In the age of plenty, collections of yogurt pots and old socks are unnecessary. Yoga teaches me to discern between detachment and spurning. I have spent the past year emptying my closets of clothes, books, cables, tat and trash. The end result is a spectacular spaciousness where once there was clutter. The elation at seeing emptiness outstrips the flea market triumph of the find that brought most of this stuff into my life. Yoga teaches me that I could have ejected these things from my life much earlier, but the process would have been aggressive and unconscious. I could have become angry at the clutter – this has happened – and rid myself of things that are useful or treasured. Instead, I found myself one day in a place where I truly appreciated the things, gave them thanks, even embraced them, then happily let them leave my life. It is a nice, comfortable process. Yoga teaches me that the space we empty of things can fill with other things, but they are not likely to be material. We moved to a larger house in order to have more space for, well, everything. Hobbies, art material, instruments, cooking implements. But the only space that love needs is a corner in the heart. The heart is infinitely big, its capacity untested in most cases. I don’t need a bigger house to house more things. I need a bigger heart to hold more people, to make the bonds that tie stronger and stretchier. But, caution, with detachment. I hold you in my heart, but I never aim to own you. Yoga teaches me to lighten my home and open my heart. Yoga teaches me, patiently and carefully, that our wholeness is something felt from deep within.