Greetings everyone! I chose not to bring any electronics with me to India so I could enjoy the whole experience of not being plugged into my everyday life (which is dependent on computer, cell phones, and electric toothbrushes). Power outages, broken computers, long lines and time crunches have made writing a post a challenge (to say the least). But as the saying goes around here "This is India." Anytime something is funny,beautiful, strange, amazing, broken, kind, loud, unusual, unpleasant, unwordly, anything really we say "Ah, this is India!"
So far my experience has been all I could have hoped for and more. Every day is filled with yoga, eating, yoga, eating, yoga, eating, sometimes more yoga and sleep. Of course when I say yoga I am not talking about doing 12 hours of physical practice. The program encompasses all yoga practices of meditation, mudras (chanting), asanas (postures), cleansing techniques (yikes), relaxation and theory. I am gaining so much useful knowledge that I can't wait to share it all with you!
I will share this with you. In yoga there are 5 levels of our being called Koshas. To put it simply they are the physical, energetic. mental, knowledge, and bliss (spirit) levels of our being. Starting from the outside 1. The physical body - Annamaya Kosha. 2. The energetic level- Pranamaya Kosha. 3. The mind level- Manomaya Kosha. 4. The knowledge level- Vignanamaya Kosha. 5. The Spirit/bliss body- Anandamaya Kosha. What I have learned is that most (90 %) of our diseases and illnesses come from the third level, the mental level - Manomaya Kosha. Stress in the mind penetrates the other levels of our being and causes harm to our physical, energetic, and mental beings (the 3 outer layers). The 2 inner layers of our being, the knowledge body and the spirit can not be harmed.
I say it all the time in class "total body relaxation is the only anti-dote to stress." Most all of what I am learning is not what postures to do if you have a backache or high blood pressure (although that is included) but how to get all the layers of your being relaxed. There are some very powerful techniques that I can't wait to share with you all. The good news is that much of what we do in the restorative class are techniques I am learning here. But that is only the beginning. There is so much more! When we learn how to calm the mind, slow the breath, and relax the body we penetrate into the layers of our being and release toxic tension that may have been stored for years or may have manifested as disease.
This is the yoga therapy that I am learning in India. Techniques that are thousands of years old that are useful today. Even more impressive is the fact that not only are they relevant today but how much they are NEEDED by everyone. We all have some need of healing even if it's not in our physical body. I could go on and on about this but two power shortages (oh India!) and another class to go to in five minutes means I have run out of time. Be well and be happy!
So far my experience has been all I could have hoped for and more. Every day is filled with yoga, eating, yoga, eating, yoga, eating, sometimes more yoga and sleep. Of course when I say yoga I am not talking about doing 12 hours of physical practice. The program encompasses all yoga practices of meditation, mudras (chanting), asanas (postures), cleansing techniques (yikes), relaxation and theory. I am gaining so much useful knowledge that I can't wait to share it all with you!
I say it all the time in class "total body relaxation is the only anti-dote to stress." Most all of what I am learning is not what postures to do if you have a backache or high blood pressure (although that is included) but how to get all the layers of your being relaxed. There are some very powerful techniques that I can't wait to share with you all. The good news is that much of what we do in the restorative class are techniques I am learning here. But that is only the beginning. There is so much more! When we learn how to calm the mind, slow the breath, and relax the body we penetrate into the layers of our being and release toxic tension that may have been stored for years or may have manifested as disease.
This is the yoga therapy that I am learning in India. Techniques that are thousands of years old that are useful today. Even more impressive is the fact that not only are they relevant today but how much they are NEEDED by everyone. We all have some need of healing even if it's not in our physical body. I could go on and on about this but two power shortages (oh India!) and another class to go to in five minutes means I have run out of time. Be well and be happy!
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