If you’ve got stress, you are not alone. The American Psychology Association recently reported that 80% of Americans feel stressed by the economy, 60% feel angry about it, and 52% are having trouble sleeping. Physical and emotional symptoms due to stress appear to be increasing. So, what exactly is stress and how does it affect your life? Defined, stress is a specific response by the body, which disturbs or interferes with one’s normal physiological equilibrium. Sleeplessness, feelings of irritability or anger, lack of interest or motivation, depression, sadness, headaches, muscular tension, and many diseases and disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), cancer, heart disease, asthma, fibromyalgia, chronic pain and chronic fatigue, are all stress-related health concerns.
However, contrary to popular opinion, all stress is not necessarily bad. In fact, it’s normal, and we all experience it. Stress is integral to our growth and to some extent we need stress, just as trees need the stress of wind to build strong trunks and branches. What is important to our overall well-being is how we relate to stress. It is un-managed stress (or un-processed stress), which causes problems. No matter the cause, the results of unmanaged stress are the same – less peace of mind, serious health concerns, and less enjoyment of life.
One thing is sure; we can’t always eliminate the causes of stress in our lives. However, we can identify the underlying sources of stress and find positive ways to manage it. Many people have found tremendous relief from stress by exploring the relationships between their body, thoughts, feelings and life, within Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy sessions.
Your body has, of course, been with you during each significant event in your life, and is responsible for expressing, filtering and processing your experiences. Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy is based in the belief that our bodies hold memory and emotion, just like our brains do, and that the source of chronic pain and stress can be the result of blocked or unresolved emotions stored in the body. In a yoga therapy session, clients are physically supported through postures to stimulate the memories and emotions that reside in their bodies, while simultaneous dialogue helps bring the source of those emotions to light. Awareness around behavioural patterns helps one find lessons rather than becoming frustrated, and peace rather than giving into anger or anxiety.
What sets Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy apart from most other therapeutic approaches, and other methods of yoga therapy, psychotherapy, or even physical therapy, is that it is non-diagnostic and non-prescriptive. In other words, the therapist doesn’t give their opinion, interpret the client’s experience or offer advice, on what the problems or solutions might be. Rather, the practitioner facilitates a session by inviting the client to explore whatever is happening in the present moment, and then encouraging the client to open to his or her own inner wisdom to find the life connections between what was experienced in the session and what is true in the clients daily life . This approach is quite empowering, making Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy a profound compliment to both psychotherapy and physical therapy, and an integral part of the process of whole healing. Continue Reading
Many yogic texts, such as The Vedas, say that the whole universe is evolved through Sankalpa (the yogic version of intention); that everything we perceive is constantly shifting, changing and moving with the conceptions and ideas created in our minds and hearts. The Vedas are some of the world’s oldest sacred texts, dated some 1500-1000 BCE; well before new age culture and movies such as “The Secret” popularized the idea that we can shape our own reality. From the yogic perspective, positive thought patterns have always been paramount to seeing through the illusions of our fleeting emotions and fickle minds.
In practice, setting an effective Sankalpa is relatively easy and can be summarized in the following three steps:
1. Sit quietly, breathe and perhaps journal your way into one main, realistic and positive intention. Focus on the course of action you intend to follow, rather than what you DON’T want (see last week’s post), using wording that is in the present tense; wording that can become your motto or mantra. For example: “I am living a happy, healthy lifestyle”.
2. See yourself in that state you wish to embody and invite. Sit in it, feel it, write about it and examine what it looks like until you believe it is possible for you, and your sankalpa becomes something tangible. Do this for a short time each day.
3. Let go of the outcome, and especially let go of the “how”. Just by setting a positive intention, and spending a little time with it each day, you are already helping to shift negative thought patterns in the mind. Remember that you are embarking upon a journey, if you hit some bumps along your path, accept them for what they are: challenges to learn from.
Yogis have known for thousands of years that the universe will support us in whatever path we choose, whether positive or negative. To shift the negative to the positive, all that we need do is consciously choose a direction, and focus on it lightheartedly and with diligence. Inevitably, our eyes will open to what the world has on offer.
As another year passes us by, for many of us, comes the inclination to set some solid resolutions for the upcoming months. Looking back at the year preceding, so often what stands out is areas in which we could have been “better” versions of ourselves. Whether it is in our careers, relationships or just all the excess over the holidays, what we tend to focus on are specific things we “shouldn’t” do. So when the clock passes midnight on December 31st, and we are rejuvenated with a sense of renewal and fresh starts, resolutions are born. We resolve to take out all the things that have been creating suffering in our lives. To do with out, go with out and let go of anything that has made a negative impact on our life. Whether it’s to stop drinking, cut out sugars, quit smoking, quit over spending, or to diet; we resolve to mold a “better” version of ourselves by letting go of vice. And it usually works for a time. But then the negative habits creep back in slowly, and before we know it, we are back where we started.
So why don’t resolutions work? In the context of yoga, and other reputable disciplines, there are a few fundamental flaws with new year’s resolutions. First and foremost, resolutions are mostly set in the negative. We tell ourselves what we WON’T do, eat or say, and in this way we are actually still subconsciously focusing on the aspects of our lives we wanted to let go of. We are negating an aspect of our self, and essentially trying to stave it off by sheer will power. Willfulness may work temporarily, but there is no power in will if you can’t see yourself doing it. And you can’t conceptualize, visualize or even imagine yourself NOT smoking, NOT drinking, NOT eating cookies. It is impossible. Which leads us to another fundamental resolution flaw: we brought all our focus onto a goal, an end result, that we can’t clearly see ourselves achieving.
This is where intention comes in. An intention is a course of action that we intend to follow. It is about the journey towards a more positive version of ourselves, reflected in our actions. In yoga, the practice and power of intention, has been around for thousands of years. It is known as sankalpa. To set sankalpa means to invite and embody a more positive aspect of ourselves into our lives. Specifically. If you want to stop over eating, set an intention to eat smaller meals. Invite in healthy eating habits, and see yourself eating that way. If you want to stop over spending, set an intention to save money. Invite in savings, and see yourself living in abundance. When we focus on the positive, we can conceptualize ourselves there. We can see it, feel it and believe it. When an intention is properly set, it becomes not about the end product, but about THE PATH towards bringing out more of what is already there for us. And that is the beauty of sankalpa, we invite something in clearly and definitively, and here is the key: we let go of the outcome. Because on the path towards a more positive you, there is no ultimate destination, each small step forward along the way is an opportunity and a blessing.
The stories, symbolism, attributes and legends surrounding Lord Ganesha are so numerous and varied, that this humble blogger can only hope to lift the curtain and shine a little light. I will share some of my favourite attributes and symbolism in this first part. After that, i leave the door open for you to share and comment on whatever experience and knowledge you may have regarding Sir Ganesh, The lord of the hosts, Ganapati, the destroyer of obstacles..
Where to start but at the beginning…..He is the first born son of Shiva and Parvati and within his name Ganesh, ‘Ga’ symbolizes Buddhi (intellect) and ‘Na’ symbolizes Vijnana (wisdom). Ganesha is thus considered the master of intellect and wisdom. His big belly symbolises the prosperity of nature, and is thought to contain infinite universes. With equanimity, Ganesha swallows the sorrows of the universe, to protect the world. His wide ears denote wisdom, an ability to listen to people who seek help and to reflect on spiritual truths. They signify the importance of listening in order to assimilate ideas. In this way Ganesh’s ears are used to gain knowledge. In Hindu belief, the large ears indicate that when God is known, all knowledge is known. The broken tusk of Ganapataya stands primarily for his ability to overcome or “break through” the illusions of duality, to see that we are one. Ganesh is escorted, attended to and occasionally carried by a mouse. According to one interpretation, Ganesha’s divine vehicle, the mouse or mooshikam represents wisdom, talent and intelligence. It symbolizes minute investigation of a cryptic subject. A mouse leads a clandestine life below the ground. Thus it is also a symbol of ignorance that is dominant in darkness and fears light and knowledge. As the vehicle of Lord Ganesha, a mouse teaches us to remain always on alert and illuminate our inner-self with the light of knowledge.
Philosophically, Ganesha, is the symbol of one who has discovered the Divine within himself. Ganesha’s is the first sound, OM, from which all songs were brought forth. When Shakti (Energy) and Shiva (Matter) meet, both Sound (Ganesha) and Light (Skanda) were born. Ganesha represents the perfect equilibrium between force and kindness and between power and beauty, in this way he provides a representation of the ability to perceive distinctions between truth and illusion, the real and the unreal.
In general terms, Ganesha is a much beloved and frequently invoked divinity, since he is the Lord of Good Fortune who provides prosperity and is also the Destroyer of Obstacles. To bring prosperity and release blockage in households and businesses, it is a tradition to place Ganesha in the first left hand corner, as you enter. At Inner Space Yoga, we built the alcove for Ganesh, before we even had the beautiful muerte (statue)….
Join us every Saturday at Inner Space Yoga for poetic themes and Anusara Inspired yoga with Rebekka
Another year gone, leaving everywhere
its rich spiced residues: vines, leaves,
the uneaten fruits crumbling damply
in the shadows, unmattering back
from the particular island
of this summer, this NOW, that now is nowhere
except underfoot, moldering
in that black subterranean castle
of unobservable mysteries – roots and sealed seeds
and the wanderings of water. This
I try to remember when time’s measure
painfully chafes, for instance when autumn
flares out at the last, boisterous and like us longing
to stay – how everything lives, shifting
from one bright vision to another, forever
in these momentary pastures.
~ Mary Oliver ~
(American Primitive)
You may have noticed our beautiful new om symbol in the west yoga room. Hand carved for us by our friend and local artist Darren MacDonald, this symbol is perhaps one of the most prevalent and important yogic symbols. The layers of rich history, of both the chanting of AUM and the symbol of om, are woven over thousands of years and through many different philosophies. The Yogis, Buddhists, Jains, Hindus, Tantrikas, Sikhs, Tibetans, Indonesians and Tamils all have a version of the traditional om symbol.
In yogic philosophy, the story of om stems from before the Vedas, some of the earliest yogic texts. Om is said to be the essence of the Veda; in sound and form it signifies both the infinite, ultimate reality and the entire universe. Om, therefore, represents both the unmanifest and manifest aspects of our highest selves. That is why it is also called pranava, to mean that it pervades life and runs through our prana or breath. It encompasses all potentialities and possibilities; it is everything that was, is, or can yet be.
Each section or swirl is representative of the 4 states of being. The large lower curve symbolises our waking state: consciousness turned outwards, the upper curve signifies the unconscious state, and the middle curve to the right signifies our dream state: consciousness turned inwards.
The dot at the top represents Turiya, the state in which consciousness is turned neither inward or outward, but is entirely open, still and blissful. This state of Turiya illuminates and radiates the other 3 states. The half circle at the top separates the dot from the other three curves and signifies the veil of maya, the illusion that we are separate from our bliss.
Long story short? Everything is possible in every moment if we pull back the curtain and shine in on our blissful nature…. And that is why we have hung this beautiful rendition of om.
