Meditation chanes everything

Meditation has changed my life.  Dramatically changed my life.  I first sat down to meditate 12 years ago.  Let me tell you, for the first 10 years meditation for me was like trying to bag two dozen cats.  I would try to sit for just 5 minutes and all I wanted to do was jump up and run from my own skin.  In fact it was near torture and I could could barely keep my eyes closed for longer than a minute with out having to open them to see what was going on.  On good days sitting for a whole 10 minutes was a miracle.  I wanted so desperately to be a "good" meditator but I didn't know how. So I prayed for a way. Ask and ye shall receive. One day I was coming out of the Wedge  a man handed me a flyer with this guys face on it....

There he was, Sadhguru, this beautiful man with an answer to my prayer.  The flyer was for a 7 day meditation course called Inner Engineering.  I didn't know who he was or what this Inner Engineering was, all I knew was that this I had to take the course, and so I did.  In the Inner Engineering course we learned the Shambhavi Maha Mudra. A 21 minute meditation to do daily.  And I have been doing it daily (sometimes more than once a day) ever since.

In yoga we say our spiritual journey is like trying to reach God at the top of a very high mountain.  We all have different paths to the top.  Some prefer to zig-zag, some like the rough terrain, and some like to camp out along the way.  Prayer and Meditation is like jumping on the the Autobahn- it gets us to our destination faster.  Since I have began a regular meditation practice I can say with confidence everything in my life has changed for the better. Sadhguru calls it Inner Engineering because we have no control over the outside world.  The only control we have is on our internal world.  So what better way than to engineer an interior world that is peaceful and content.  Then whatever happens on the outside world we are able to approach it from that place of peace and contentment.

Most people sit down to pray to God for all the things they want, need or desire then say their amen and move on with their life.  They never give God a chance to respond.  "Dear God, I need this, this and this, Amen" We ask in prayer, but it's in meditation that we receive.  And you don't even have to be a Yogi or a Buddhist to meditate.  Even throughout the Bible it talks about prayer AND meditation. Heck, meditation is for everyone, even those whose paths are unnamed.Meditation is finding oneness with our highest truth.

There are many many many ways to meditate. There is not one way in which you are meditating correctly.  If it works for you then it's working.  Yoga means Union.  The Union of self with the Highest Self- God. Oneness.   The following is a video of Sadhguru talking about this union through meditation.

For more information about Sadhguru and his work you can check out his website ....

ishafoundation.org

On this website there is a link to a meditation called Isha Kriya.  It's free to learn but you do have to sign using your email address which will be used to keep you updated via email about different events.  But it's a good place to start if you need some guidance.

For the time being I hope this inspires a desire for your own meditation practice. Meditation changes everything.  I will do a little more research and get back to you in a future post with other resources for cultivating a meditation practice of your own. Whether I give you resources or you find them on your own, all you have to do is try (even if it is bagging cats) and have the desire and your practice will find it's way. Also, please feel free to leave a comment if you have resources or suggestions or even questions about meditation.  Namaste.

Besse Cooper- wise beyond her years!

RIP Besse! 12/4/12

This is Besse Cooper and on August 12 of 2012 she became the world's oldest person according to the Guiness World Records.  Besse was born in 1896 which makes her a cool 116 years in age!  Even cooler than her accomplishment of longevity  is that when she was asked her secrets to longevity Besse's answer was quite simple yet extremely profound, "I mind my own business and I don't eat junk food."


 That's deep and yet so simple- if only we could just put her secrets into action in our own lives. Worry, control, and nosiness are useless activities that cause our own suffering.  How often do we worry about people or situations that we have no control over? Or even worse try to control people or situations we have no control over? And what about making other peoples business our business?  USELESS!  Worry, control, and nosiness cause the most suffering to those who are worrying, controlling, or nosy.  The truth is, our internal experiences are more changeable than those we perceive through our senses (than the external world).

 In fact Besse's secret is so spot on that it is one of the main goals of all yoga practices.  Thousands of years ago the great yogi sage Patanjali wrote a set of instructions  for yoga.  The first set of Patajali's  yoga sutras states,  YOGA CITTA VRITTI NIRODHAH.   This essentially means "The restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is yoga".  When we really get down to it, isn't Besse right?  When we mind our own business isn't that essentially what we are doing, modifying and restraining the mind-stuff. And when we mind our own business are we not then inclined to start working on our own personal improvements and development?  Really how can we get to know our highest Self (yoga = union of self and highest Self ) - God within, if we are too busy caught up in what other people are doing?  Think about it.

Believe it or not, the second part of Besse's secret, "and I don't eat junk food" is just as profound as the first.  The interesting thing is Besse was probably eating "Superfoods" before the term ever existed. Foods that were organically grown from the earth that were farmed in her backyard.  Talk about local and all natural.  She lived in the times when that's all that existed and it was just called food back then. There weren't the added fats, sugars, sodium and chemicals that plague today's modern Western diets.  Just good wholesome food the way God intended.

So as you move throughout your days and years just remember Besse's words "mind your own business and don't eat junk food" and you are well on your way to following in her foot steps of a long healthy life.

Relaxation is Action!

As most of you know I teach several Restorative Yoga classes.  I once invited a friend of mine  to come to one of my classes,  she said to me, "I would like to but don't have the time.  I only have so much time to work out during my week and I don't want to give up one of my workouts for relaxation."  The irony of this conversation was that this friend of mine had just been diagnosed with stage 4  breast cancer.

As I explained in my last post stress is acceleration.  Chronic perpetual stress reeks havoc on the body.  Not only does it accelerate the aging process (by decades!) but it compromises the immune system, causes poor digestion, can cause you to retain weight, be moody, poor sleep habits,  poor sexual function, and it can even prevent  pregnancy.  That is in addition to creating a toxic internal environment (acidic pH) perfect for dis-ease and illnesses to thrive in the body (plus all the symptoms and side affects that are associated with those dis-eases). Chronic stress is no good ya'll!

But thankfully this post is about relaxation and all the benefits relaxation has for the body.  Herbert Benson, a cardiologist and a professor at Harvard Medical School has determined that the body has a response that is the exact opposite to the stress response.  He coined this the "Relaxation Response" and this is the function of the parasympathetic nervous system.  So as we learned in the last post there is the "Fight or Flight" response of the sympathetic nervous system and then there is the "Relaxation  Response" of the parasympathetic nervous system.  Both of these responses are part of the autonomic nervous system which keeps the body in balance.

When the body is relaxed and calm it is operating in the parasympathetic nervous system , also known as "rest and digest". The functions of this system include decreased heart rate, increased metabolic rate (meaning that your energy is now focused on your internal organs and your digestive actions go to work),  elimination,  suppression of the production of adrenaline (keeps us mellow), stimulation of the vagus nerve, and has a role in sexual arousal and reproduction functions.  This system is your bodies restoration mode where it cleans, heals and builds. Ideally, we should be operating in this function most of the time.

What my friend had not yet realized was the Relaxation Is Action!!!! So much is happening in your body when you are relaxed that it is vital to keeping  it healthy and functioning at an optimum level.  Mind you, the body is indented to operate in this relaxed mode all the time except when it  is faced with an emergency or danger.  However, as I mentioned before we have conditioned ourselves to be operating in the "fight or flight" mode the majority of time which is not normal or healthy.

Getting people to slow down and relax is a hard sale.  I often tell my classes they are cross-training.  In fact if you exercise regularly, adding relaxation to your routine will actually increase your performance!   Let alone what it can do for your relationships (uhmmm sexual arousal), immune system, sleep, digestion, mood, healthy reproduction and over-all sense of well being.  Not only that, but giving yourself time to relax is a natural high.  You should see my students after 75 minutes of relaxation- everyone is so mellow and happy- it's great!

You have to be pro-active in your relaxation routine.  Relaxation doesn't just happen and nobody can do it for you- Relaxation takes action!  Make time for yourself to relax.  Even just sitting and being quiet for 5-15 minutes a day can have monumental effects on your overall well-being. Relaxation is not a luxury but a necessity! Stay tuned and I will continue to offer simple ways to include regular relaxation into your life.

Real or imaginary?

Hi everyone- forgive me for such a lengthy span in between posts, but the truth is I just have not been inspired to write lately. To be inspired means that we are operating "in - spirit". Rather than post junk just to post something I figured I would wait to be be inspired for this next post. Thank you for you patience and please look forward to my weekly postings every Monday.

This post is about what it means to truly relax. I asked in one of my previous posts what folks do to relax and the answers included activities such as cooking,  biking,  watching t.v., and reading to name a few.  See here's the deal, while most of us think those activities are relaxing the reality is that they are not actually relaxing for the body.  You are still doing something in each of this activities.  And while the mind may feel relaxed because it is not concentrated on the stresses of daily life, the body is still not getting to relax.  In yoga therapy this is called "sensory diversion". To most people allowing the senses to be diverted from what is deemed normal activity (I call it perpetual over-stimulation)  is considered relaxing according to our modern definitions of the word. Believe me, these activities are still very important because they are part of the stress releasing aspect of relaxation.  However, commit this next statement into your being....         
 Total Body Relaxation is the Best Antidote to Stress.

Stress is an accelerated poison to the body.  An antidote is something that can counteract a poison. When we are stressed the body goes into survival mode.  It's called "fight or flight" and it is a function of the sympathetic nervous system.  When this system kicks in adrenaline and other hormones are pumped in to the blood stream and create a chain reaction to prepare us for the ensuing battle or flight from the situation.  Breathing  gets short and rapid to supply the muscles with quick oxygen, the heart rate increases to supply the blood that carries the oxygen to the muscles, our metabolic rate changes and the body gets flooded with adrenaline and cortisol to aid in the reaction. This physiological reaction is critical to our survival in situations of danger or emergency.  However, today reacting like everything is an emergency or dangerous has become the new norm.  Screaming at the car infort of you to "MMMMOOOOOVVVVEEE IT!" so you don't get stuck for another 2 whole minutes at a stop light is considered completely normal behavior.  Even more importantly to realize is that even this type of reaction causes the exact same physical reaction as if you were being chased by a saber-tooth tiger!

Over time of constantly having increased blood pressure, short oxygen intake, and adrenalin and cortisol pumped into the body it begins to take a major toll on the body. Stress is acceleration and the long term effects are linked to all of the major dis-eases and illnesses present today.

For this next week I ask that you pay attention to how many tigers chase you?  Every time you feel your heart rate increase, or have a feeling of urgency, or impatience, or outburst of anger or anxiety, or feel you are all bound up in a ball of stress- ask yourself is the tiger real or imaginary?

Check in next week - I'll start to address how to combat these imaginary tigers!