Weekly Inspiration
Yoga is the Uniting of Consciousness in the Heart
2012-01-29 22:14:44
One of my beloved yoga teachers, Nischala Joy Devi, in her book, The Hidden Power of Yoga, defines yoga as, " The uniting of consciousness in the heart."
A lovely-and even fluffy-sounding explanation, perhaps, but the more I work with Nischala's way of seeing the world, the more profound this definition becomes.
When everything I do is motivated from my heart, when I am tempted to react out of fear or anger or misunderstanding but instead I move back to my heart, I AM in a state of yoga, of stillness and balance.
This perspective makes every action of my day, potentially, karma yoga. It makes my eating a meditation. It renders my cooking of a meal for my family a prayer.
And it honours the perfection within each and every one of us.
Peace,
~Lonnie
How Yoga Helps Back Pain - Part 7
2011-09-18 15:00:42
Yoga postures are not static positions?
Yes, it's true! As a matter of fact, good posture is dynamic and involves agility - the ability to adjust the body at any instant to do whatever is required.
Some yoga asanas are particularly good at developing balance and thus increase agility and protect against possible harm. Potentially damaging situations such as lifting are ameliorated when one has developed good balance.
Yoga tends to help people recognize what they CAN do as opposed to focusing on what they cannot. Also, yoga, because of its holistic nature, tends to foster in people a belief that they HAVE a condition as opposed to BEING that condition. Donna Farhi quotes Dr. Roger Cole, health psychologist, "Yoga teaches people how much they can do rather than how much they can not do. Instead of 'I'm a back pain sufferer,' they say 'I am a person who is able to do all kinds of things, but sometimes I get back pain'."
Balance - one of the hallmarks of yoga practice: back pain relief is a side benefit!
DID YOU KNOW? 80% of North Americans will experience back pain, yet 85% of them will not receive an accurate diagnosis. In non-incapacitated sufferers, exercise, particularly YOGA asana, plays a crucial part in recovering from chronic, debilitating pain.
This series on using yoga to alleviate back pain was initiated on July 18 and is based on an article written by Donna Farhi for the fourth volume of the Journal of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. That article was entitled "Moving Through Back Pain."
The therapeutic elements involved in developing an appropriate program to address back pain need to be taken together, so I highly recommend that you refer to the last several posts so you can see how the parts fit together.
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