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Healing Though Meditation
February 28, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 1 Comment
Healing though meditation occurs in multiple ways. There are all the physical and psychological health benefits we gain from the practice. There are also deeper levels of healing available in meditation.
When we are practicing a body based meditation, we may begin to notice all manner of aches and pains in the body. They may range from gross to very subtle. If there is a pain in a particular part of the body our habitual reaction will usually be to want it to go away, to change it or move away from it. If it is not indicating a physical problem, with the knees for example, then there is the opportunity for release and healing.
Pain and tension in the body indicate a place of holding, a place where some unresolved, incomplete or unhealed ‘past’ is held in the subconscious. The body being the
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreWelcome back! Keep updated - Subscribe to my RSS feed & Scroll Down to leave a Comment
Yoga A Treatment For Depression?
February 27, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Feeling depressed or down? Don’t automatically reach for an anti-depressant. Do some yoga. These days, the typical treatment for depression comes in the form of a pill, which can often lead to serious side effects and dependency. Prior to modern drug companies, however, sages from the East discovered a method of calming the mind and soothing the spirit. These physical exercises, called "asanas," are what modern Westerners typically think of when they hear the term "yoga."
…Western studies have shown that regular exercise can provide relief from depression. In addition, yoga postures have been specifically shown to increase levels of the neurotransmitter GABA, which may alleviate depression. Furthermore, as many enthusiastic practitioners of yoga will tell you, yoga seems to go beyond the benefits of general exercise and helps increase overall happiness.
….On a physical level, yoga postures are designed to massage the internal organs, increasing and decreasing blood flow to targeted areas. This circulates the blood and lymph, thus removing stale bodily fluids from vital organs and helping flush toxins. The physical movement can also stimulate certain hormones and neurotransmitters, leading to positive feelings and emotions.
Additionally, according to the Eastern medical model, yoga exercises are also designed to specifically move the "prana" or life force energy in the body (traditional Oriental medicine calls this "chi"). Keeping this life force fresh and alive is vital to well-being, according to Eastern philosophy.
Above are short exerts from Yoga: An Alternative Treatment for Depression
You can also combat depression by altering your diet
Worldwide Resource For Yoga Teacher And Practitioners
February 26, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Are you a yoga teacher? A yoga practitioner? Do you know about YogaTag yet?
YogaTag is a great, new, web resource for all people who love to practice and teach yoga – and who want to share their yoga experience to benefit others.
Yoga Students can find classes, teachers and styles in studios, retreats and workshops around the world, as well as connect to friends and teachers to learn more and share their yoga experiences.
Yoga Teachers and Yoga Studios can present their yoga related schedules online, in real time, and keep closely connected to their student community everywhere, as well as the yoga community worldwide. YogaTag provides all the tools needed to publish and promote, workshops, trainings conferences and retreats.
Yoga Teachers can create comprehensive, easy to maintain online profiles with aggregated, up to date teaching schedule information. Add to this features like blogging, media galleries and customized social network features you have a platform where teachers can stay connected and promote themselves to their growing communities. And it’s free, yes free.
Who created YogaTag, and why?
In November of 2007 Art, Chris, Carmel, Melinda, Lutz and Andrew had an idea about how they could be practical contributors to the yoga community. They plugged in their laptops, put hearts, minds, love of yoga and technology together and created YogaTag, to better connect all of us, who, by practicing and teaching the art and science of yoga, make a positive difference in this world for ourselves and those around us.
So if you are a fellow yoga lover and want to connect with your like, or a yoga teacher/studio that want to promote your teaching, or a wandering yogi(ni) looking for a class that suits your flow, head over to YogaTag now and join the online yoga community that’s singing your song!
By the way, I met Art on Twitter, such interesting people tweet!
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreJanu Sirasana Yoga Asana
February 24, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 1 Comment
Often called head to knee pose Janu Sirasana is a basic forward bending asana. In looking at it I will cover some principles applicabale to all forward bending poses. Let me start by saying I don’t like "head to knee" as a description for this pose as I feel it gives completely the wrong idea of how to do it, as the head doesn’t go to the knee, nor should it.
Here then is the description of doing Janu Sirasana.
Sit up straight with legs evenly extended in front. Inhaling bend the right leg at the knee and draw the foot toward you so that the heel is in the right groin and the front of the foot touches the left thigh. The left leg is now somewhere up to 90 degrees out to the side. Turn the foot so that the bottom of the foot is facing upward and presses the bent knee down. It is important that the angle of the bent leg is comfortable, I am inclined to suggest not going past 70% of your bodies capacity.
You can put a folded blanket or yoga mat under the knee and-or under the buttocks. You can also use a belt or similar for the next part.
Having positioned the foot and knee of the bent leg correctly, extend the left leg out. Keep the sense of extension from deep in your pelvis, down the leg an into the heel. Extend through the heel and and draw the toes up and even back towards you. Feel how this opens the whole sole of your foot.
Now inhale and extend through the full length of your spine, imagining a cord at the crown of your head as an extension of the spine, drawing you upward. As you exhale, maintain this lengthening up through the cord and move forward over the straight leg. You can use a belt, held in both hands and around the foot of the straight leg, or if possible without strain, grasp the foot of the straight leg with both hands.
When doing any forward bending always remember this principle – The Spine Moves Forwards. If in attempting to get your head down your back begins to arch you are no longer doing forward bending. So only move forwards as far as you can without rounding the back. Your head should be the very last part to make contact with the straight leg for those with very open hips.
Also ensure the head remains in alignment with the spine, watch for a tendency to lift the head back andover extend the neck, or drop the head down and arch the back.
When this posture is done correctly and completely, you will feel yourself lifting up and out of the pelvis and the body extending forward over the straight leg, the spine absolutely straight from the tail bone to the head. There is also a lifting in the front of the body, up through the abdomen and expressing through the breast bone.
Stay there breathing deeply into the pelvis for several rounds of breathing.
Inhaling, release the hold on the foot of the straightened leg, come up smoothly with the feeling of extending the spin up through the cord from the top of the head. straighten the bent leg and relax.
Repeat on other side, generally for the same amount of time. If however you begin to notice that you are much more open on one side than the other I recommend beginning on the least open side, do an equal length of time on the other side and come back and do the least open side for a little longer. This is a good guide to follow for any asana that requires a left and right sided pose. In this way the less open side will slowly increase it’s openness until both sides are equal.
Benefits of Janu Sirasana
Stimulates the internal organs, Kidney, liver and spleen. Helpful to aid sleep.
For men, benefits prostrate health.
For women, benefits fertility.
Janu Sirasana is contra indicated for lower back problems. Because there is a slight twist in the spine, I also suggest taking great care if doing Janu Sirasana with a partner pushing from behind.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreHas Yoga Become Fitness Masquerading As Spirituality?
February 23, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Yoga instructor and social scientist Tom Pilarzyk argues in his recently-released yoga book "Yoga Beyond Fitness", that yoga in the Developed world today is an strange blend of ancient spiritual path from India and American commercialism, begging the question, has yoga become fitness masquerading as spirituality?
An estimated 16 million Americans practice Yoga and spend roughly 6 billion dollars annually on classes, workshops, products, and services. On the one hand, yoga’s widespread popularity means that more people are being exposed to the benefits it offers. And yet, yoga has expanded over the decades to become a full-fledged industry of the contemporary marketplace, with producers, sellers, and consumers outnumbering the spiritual teachers, healers, and devoted adepts.
Its double-edged development as a popular fitness workout and a path of spiritual liberation poses a unique dilemma for those sensitive to yoga’s ancient roots. "As it morphs into physicality, fun and foolishness attracting more secular and fitness-driven consumers," says Pilarzyk, "industry leaders argue that more people now have a chance to explore its spirituality. But what is the inclusive spirituality inherent in the path and can yoga students ‘get it’ if more and more teachers only teach hatha yoga poses?" He wants to provide a resource for those just discovering Yoga and those who have practiced for a while and feel that there is a deeper meaning readily accessible but not directly evident.
Pilarzyk argues for restoration of yoga’s transformative heart by showing how to bring greater attention to its more serious practice, both on and off the mat. His recent publication, he says, "is both a sober wakeup call about how Yoga is being transformed and a hopeful, heartfelt tribute to its highest aspirations." Or as a December 2008 review of his work in Yoga Chicago Magazine concludes, "Ultimately, Pilarzyk’s book is both a love letter to yoga and a plea to yoga’s leaders."
He received his doctorate in the social sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has written on Eastern religions and yoga as well as on educational management, and has practiced daily yoga and meditation for over 20 years. Currently a college administrator, he has been a staff director for a national medical society as well as a market researcher which together shape his unique views on American yoga. With personal stories and testimonials from students, teachers, and other professionals, Pilarzyk delivers a guide for staying true to the essence of Yoga.
If you care about yoga and consider it a spiritual path this yoga book is a must read
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreThe End Of Patenting Yoga
February 22, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
India is going all out to save yoga — a 2,000-year-old art of righteous living, from
western pirates.
Instances of self-styled yoga gurus claiming copyrights to ancient ‘asanas’, especially from the West, is now becoming rampant. This has made 200 scientists and researchers from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Union health ministry’s department of Ayush join hands to put on record all known yoga postures and techniques that originated in India.
Scientists are presently scanning through 35 ancient Sanskrit texts, including the Mahabharata, Bhagawad Gita and the Yoga Sutras
of Patanjali to identify and document all known yoga concepts, postures and terminology.
Till now, 600 ‘asanas’ (physical postures) have already been documented. The team plans to put on record at least 1,500 such yoga postures by the end of 2009.
Once completed, they will be put in the world’s first Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) created by India. They will then be recognised as India’s public property.
Read the complete article here
Read what other bloggers are saying about this yoga patenting story story
India Patenting Yoga Moves to Battle “Patent Pirates” – Neatorama – as the number of Western yoga teachers has grown, there has been a steady increase in patent applications claiming each pose in their class is not part of the ancient discipline of mind and body, but their own unique invention. …
India’s Traditional Medicinal Herbs, Yoga Postures Deemed ‘Public … – Traditional remedies, such as these neem twigs (used to clean the teeth and prevent gum problems), have been the subject of patent battles in the past. Photo: Meena Kadri via flickr India has taken a bold move to prevent.
India Actively Sharing Knowledge Base Around The World To Stop … – In fact, it appears that the only entity trying to patent yoga positions is India, though I was unable to find a single yoga position or technique patent in the United States. I ask again, who can show me a patent for a yoga position or …
Putting The ‘Om’ in ‘Shalom’ « Precious Metal: the blog – India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research is now “working to identify all ancient yoga positions” in an effort to “stop patent pirates from stealing its traditional knowledge,” according to The Daily Telegraph. …
The Real Yoga « Merinews-power 2 people – If Yoga is not an exercise, what’s the point in comparing it to any or saying that I have designed this kind of yoga programme and I want to patent it for the entire human race! A real teacher would always customize a programme for an …
Article on cult copyrights & trademarks: Trouw newspaper … – The Netherlands is not impressed by Bikram’s strategy of patent and copyrights. Bikram Yoga is quite popular, so there is the danger of competitors. Sauna and Beauty Center “Zwaluwhoeve” in Veenendaal offers Bikram yoga. …
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreWalking Meditation
February 20, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Walking meditation as a practice comes from the Buddhist tradition, specifically Theravada Buddhism. It is a very helpful practice if you find it difficult to sit still without physical discomfort while meditating. It can also be rotated with sitting practice, for example 15 minutes sitting practice 15 minutes walking meditation.
There are three primary components to a walking meditation:
1: Being aware of your breathing
It may be a good idea to begin by standing still and attuning to the breath before you begin walking.
Become aware of your breathing by first noticing the movement of the body as you breath. See if you can notice the exact moment you begin to inhale, and follow the movement as breath enters. Then see if you can notice the exact moment when the inhalation completes, notice what happens next. And see if you can identify the exact moment exhalation begins and just when it finishes. Notice what happens next.
Do your best to let your body breath, after all it does it all by itself 24/7 since you were born. All you are doing is paying attention to the process. Maybe the process changes because you are paying attention but let go of trying to control the breathing.
Spend a few minutes walking just with attention on the breath entering and leaving the body, let go of any uneccesary tension around the breath as it enters and leaves.
2: Being conscious and attentive to your body’s movement.
Pay attention to your body’s movement. Start to notice the contact with the earth on the soles of your
feet as you walk. Notice which part of your foot makes first contact and how the rest of your foot comes down. Feel how the weight of your body is carried forward onto the leading foot as you walk. Notice what muscles come into action and when. Also notice how your breathing has changed as you walk.
Notice how your arms swing as you walk along. Feel how you hold your head and neck, is it rigid and tense or fluid and moving? Switch your attention to different body parts as you are walking and you may be surprised at what you find. Do you feel the air brushing onto your skin, the warmth of the sun? Can you feel your heartbeat, or notice blinking?
Do our best to keep some degree of awareness on the movement of the body as it breathes and notice if it changes and why.
3: Paying attention to your surroundings
When you consciously begin paying attention to your surroundings, you’ll probably be surprised at just how much you notice. We tend to take lots of things for granted in our everyday life and much of what is around us goes largely
unnoticed.
As you are doing walking meditation, notice the different colors that you see. Notice how the color of things changes as you move. Is the quality of light constant or changing? Notice that the green of a tree for example is actually many varieties in color and hue. You’ll find that once you start this attuning process, you’ll notice more and
more things that have previously escaped your attention.
Also pay attention to what you hear and smell. There may be bird song, road noise or the
chatter of people or animals. Consciously tune in to these different sounds. Notice the
sound of different birds, different vehicles. Listen for subtler sounds as you tune in to the soundscape that constantly surrounds us. You’ll find yourself hearing things that have merely passed you by before. There are also plenty of smells around you what can you identify as you focus on this sense?
Once you’ve completed your walking meditation, take a small amount of time to just be still. In this stillness, observe you state now. Then mentally run through what you experienced during your walking meditation time. See how long you can maintain this openness of awareness and carry it from walking meditation into your life.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreCan Yoga Delay The Onset Of AIDS?
February 19, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
PANAJI: Fr Joseph Pereira, the first Christian priest to be awarded the Padma Shri for social work this year, has said that in India where
anti-retroviral treatment is beyond the reach of most people, yoga can delay the onset of full-blown AIDS by five to ten years, depending on the age of the person.
Popularly known as Fr Joe, the 67-year-old founder of Kripa foundation has done pioneering work in the field of yoga for alcohol de-addiction and HIV-AIDS in India and abroad for the last 27 years.
Read the rest of the article here
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
Breathing Meditation Instruction
February 18, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Breathing meditation is one of the most basic forms of meditation. Deceptively simple, it will soon show you what a monkey mind you have. It is the foundation of many buddhist meditation practices such as vipassana and mindfulness meditation. Breathing meditation is also an important yoga meditation.
Some forms of vipassana place emphasis on observing the breath at the nose tip, while others at the navel. Here are the breathing meditation instructions of my own, I will endeavor to record it and make it available as a free resource. My emphasis is attention on the body moving as it breathes. As I see it breath doesn’t actually exist, it is just air that the body draws in and expels. So the place to
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreBeginning Yoga? 7 Tips For Success
February 17, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Yoga is well proven to relieve stress and create well being by using postures and breathing that unify the mind, body, and spirit. If you are thinking of beginning yoga, these tips will help you on the road to a sustainable yoga practice and more fulfilled and healthy life.
1. Take time to find a yoga class that best fits your abilities and objectives. Talk to prospective teachers and their students and explain what your needs and limitations are. Ask them if the style of yoga they teach is a good match for you. Also get a sense of who the teacher is and if they feel compatible for you. You might even ask if you can sit in and watch a class before you join or at least try a class to see their teaching style. It is very important to take it one step at a time and finding the right teacher teaching the right style is vital.
2. Take your time and avoid competitiveness to move ahead too quickly. Give your body time to adjust to your new practice and enjoy noticing the gradual changes. Learn to listen to your body and develop awareness of your physical abilities and limitations. Remember it’s a process there is no goal. Communicate with your teacher if you have questions and let them know any limitations you may have. Especially let them know any physical or medical conditions you have, they may rule out specific poses if you have high blood pressure, glaucoma, a history of retinal detachment, or heart disease for example.
3. Remember, this is supposed to be fun and relaxing, if it isn’t making you feel good identify why so you can find exactly what you need.
4. If you can’t find a class that meets your needs, why not try private lessons? You can book some one-on-one sessions with a teacher in your area. Many yoga teachers offer private instruction and can design a program specifically for you. While more expensive this is a great way to jump start your learning. You can move on to group lessons or personal practice at home after you’ve done private lessons and learned a solid foundation to build on
5. Find a yoga buddy. Its nice to go to class and practice with someone. You will both support and encourage each other to stick with it so it’s a great way to keep up your enthusiasm and interest.
6. Eat lightly before doing yoga practice and drink plenty of water afterwards. The scriptures say it is best Wait two hours after meals before doing yoga practice. This is because generally a meal takes two hours to fully digest and your body can complete that process. Equally it’s not a good idea to practice when you are hungry as your mind won’t be clear and then injuries are possible.
7: Once you’ve found a teacher and style that works for you make a commitment to attending for at least two months, this will give you time to make some progress and really begin to appreciate the benefits. This in turn becomes a major encouragement to make yoga practice a regular part of your life.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
