Category Archives: Meditation

My Hope for the New Year: A Full Well

7 Replies

Bricktown, Oklahoma City

I learned a Sanskrit chant in yoga teacher training many years ago:

Om Purnam Adaha
Purnam Idam
Purnat
Purnam Udachyate
Purnasya
Purnam Adaya
Purnam Evavashi

The English translation goes something like this:

This is fullness.
That is fullness.
From fullness, fullness is born.
When you take fullness from fullness,
only fullness remains.

The first time I chanted this. I thought it sounded absurd; in fact, I could barely keep from laughing. But as 2012 winds down and with it, my energy, the words seem much more profound.

I use many yoga tools to help clients build energy, but one of the most profound practices has more to do with daily life than life on the mat. Energy–our ability to give to ourselves and others–is much like a well. When we’re healthy, our energy well is full and our sources of replenishment are abundant. In those times we have plenty to give to others.

My personal energy well is fullest in the summer, when light and warmth surround me, I sleep well, and I have quality time to share with friends and family. In summer, I am “full,” and when I am full, I can give of my energy to others while still having abundant energy left for myself.

The deep dark days of winter are different. During those times, my well runs dry. If I don’t focus on filling myself first, I have nothing to give to others, no matter how worthy their cause might be.

So this winter, I plan to spend time doing activities that fill my well. Not because I’m selfish, but because I’m generous. Only when my own well is full can I give from that abundance to others.

In that spirit, I’d like to offer the reflection below to each of you.

A Meditation to Re-fill Your Well

  • Sit comfortably, with your spine erect and the crown of your head floating up to the ceiling.
  • Allow your eyes to close and notice your breath—without intentionally trying to change it. Bring your attention to the sensation of the breath in your nostrils.
  • When you are ready, imagine all the things in life that fill your energy well: people you love, activities you enjoy doing, gifts of nature, even something as simple as taking a hot bubble bath or savoring a square of smooth, dark chocolate. Let these thoughts float through your awareness as images, sensations, smells, tastes, or anything else that is powerful for you.
  • When your mind wanders, bring it back to the sensations of the breath. Then imagine again everything that brings you energy and joy.
  • After several minutes, ask yourself the following questions.
    1. What do these images tell me about how I can increase energy and foster joy in my life?
    2. What actions can I take in the coming year to invite more energy, joy, and gratitude into my daily life?
  • When you become distracted by other thoughts, simply notice that distraction. Then, with your next inhale, ask yourself the above questions again.
  • Continue this meditation for ten minutes or longer if you’d like.

In this coming year, may your well–and the wells of those around you–be full to overflowing.

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Meditations to Decrease Stress and Inflammation!

Leave a reply

yogi doing meditationA recent study at UCLA’s Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences demonstrated once again that even short meditations, when done consistently, have positive effects on both the body and the mind. The study evaluated 49 caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Almost 50% of these caregivers experience clinical depression, and they are also twice as likely as the general population to report high levels of stress.

The study divided the caregivers (who ranged in ages from 45 to 91) into two groups: one that practiced a 12-minute meditation daily for 8 weeks, and one that spent 12 minutes each day for 8 weeks relaxing while listening to a relaxation CD.

The meditation group showed several benefits over the group that listened to the music:

  • Significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms
  • Improvements in reported mental health
  • Improvements in cognitive functioning
  • Increased telomerase activity in the blood (an indication of decreased cellular aging)
  • Significant decreases in blood proteins associated with inflammation.

All these benefits from just 12 minutes of meditation a day!

This specific study examined a chant and meditation practice called Kirtan Kriya, but prior studies on meditation have shown similar mind-body benefits with a variety of meditations. In short, any meditation practice you do for 10 minutes or more daily is likely to achieve similar results.

The meditation below has been used in other studies on meditation’s “relaxation response.” But remember, the most effective meditation practice is one you will actually do. Hundreds, if not thousands, of meditation techniques exist and are easily found on the web. Experiment and find the one that works best for you.

Simple Counting Meditation:

  • Sit comfortably, with your spine erect and the crown of your head floating up
    to the ceiling.
  • Allow your eyes to close, and notice your breath—without intentionally trying to
    change it. Bring your attention to the warmth and coolness of the breath
    at the tip of your nostrils.
  • After 2 – 3 minutes, or whenever you are ready, start counting each exhalation.
    For example, when you exhale the first time, think “one.” The next time you exhale, count “two.”  Keep counting silently to yourself, until you get to ten. After you reach ten, then start over again from “one.”
  • You’ll know your mind has wandered because you’ll lose count or notice that you’re thinking about something else. When that happens, (and it will!) try not to get frustrated. Instead, simply start over again by counting from “one.”  Without judgment or frustration, notice how often you need to restart counting.   The goal isn’t to get to 10, but to keep refocusing whenever your mind wanders.
  • Continue this meditation for 10 minutes or longer if you’d like.

I’ve outlined two other methods in prior blog articles: a simple Meditation for Inner Peace and a Breath Focused Meditation. I will post additional meditations in the future, so keep checking back. Remember not to worry about “being good” at mediation–just by the act of meditating, you are inherently good at it regardless of how often your mind wanders as long as you keep bringing it back.

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle!

Forgiveness: The Road to Happiness—or at Least Peace

Leave a reply

I look forward to answering your questions in this blog. Please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail your questions to tr***@***********ga.com.

 


A Whole Life Yoga student asks: I’m in the middle of an ongoing conflict with a member of my family, and although I don’t usually feel angry, I don’t feel happy, either. Do you have any suggestions?

I need to make a confession: this question has challenged me.  The yoga teachings talk about happiness, but not in the way that we might hope.  In fact, the teachings warn against seeking happiness, because within happiness lies suffering.  Instead they advise us to seek peace.

I’ll admit that I struggle with that, even though I get the point.  Happiness leads to attachment; attachment leads to suffering.  Peace, on the other hand, leads to acceptance, and acceptance reduces suffering.

So honestly, I don’t have any great yoga tools for creating happiness. But yoga has helped me find it, nonetheless.  When I practice yoga, I find peace. When I’m more peaceful, I’m happier. So perhaps a more meaningful goal is to turn anger into forgiveness, so that you too can find peace.

The Buddhist meditation below can help jump start that process.  In it, you offer healing to yourself, someone you love, someone with whom you are in conflict, and finally the world.

If sending healing to your family member is too challenging right now, start with someone less charged, like a rude grocery store clerk or someone who cuts you off on the freeway. Over time, as you forgive and find inner tranquility, happiness may sneak its way back in.

Loving Kindness Meditation:

  1. Come to a comfortable seated or lying position.
  2. Allow your eyes to close, and notice your breath—without intentionally trying to change it.  Bring your attention to the warmth and coolness of the breath at the tip of your nostrils.
  3. When you are ready, bring your own self to mind, complete with all of your strengths, weaknesses, successes, and struggles.  Silently and continuously repeat the following intentions for yourself:
    • May I be at peace. May my heart be open.
    • May I be healed, and may I be a source of healing for all beings.
  4. When you are ready, bring to mind the image of a loved one—someone you care about.  Silently and continuously repeat the following blessings for that person:
    • May you be at peace. May your heart be open.
    • May you be healed, and may you be a source of healing for all beings.
  5. When you are ready, bring to mind the image someone with whom you are in conflict, or someone who “pushes your buttons” in some away.  Perhaps someone who’s injured you in the past whom you’ve not forgiven.  Silently and continuously repeat the following blessings for that person:
    • May you be at peace. May your heart be open.
    • May you be healed, and may you be a source of healing for all beings.
  6. When you are ready, bring to mind an image of the entire planet. Visualize or sense the continents, the oceans, and the shape of the earth as it moves around the sun.  Silently and continuously repeat the following blessings for the earth:
    • May the earth be at peace. May the hearts of the earth be open.
    • May the earth be healed, and may the earth be a source of healing for all beings.
  7. If your attention wanders (and it will!) just notice it, and invite your attention back to the sensation of the breath at the tip of your nose.  Then continue with the loving kindness meditation from wherever you left off.  The “blessings” above can be modified to anything that has meaning for you.

I hope that helps, and thank you for the question!

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Creating Abundance

3 Replies

“Abundance is about being rich, with or without money.”— Suze Orman

Depending on your perspective, the holidays can either be a joyful time shared with family and friends or a dismal demonstration of unrealized expectations. The choice is yours. Abundance is everywhere, if you choose to look for it.

In my annual Yoga of Thanksgiving class this past Thursday, twenty-two students and I reflected on the concept of abundance: what it means to us, how we can create more if it and how we can share it with those around us.

Our practice included over an hour of movement, but that was the least of it; meaningful  practice tugs more at the heart than the hamstrings. Today, I’d like to share some quotes, breath practices, and meditations we explored.

First Quote: “Whatever we are waiting for — peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance — it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart.”—Sarah Ban Breathnach

First Breath Practice:

  1. Lengthen your inhale and exhale, making them approximately equal.
  2. Remain at that lengthened breath for several minutes. With each inhale, imagine abundance in all its forms entering your heart. With every exhale, imagine those same qualities flowing through your body and taking root in every cell.
  3. After several minutes, return your breath to a normal rhythm. Carry the energy of this breath practice to meditation.

First Meditation Question: How can I invite abundance into my life, regardless of my material wealth?

Second Quote: “The universe operates through dynamic exchange…giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. And in our willingness to give that which we seek, we keep the abundance of the universe circulating in our lives.”— Deepak Chopra

Second Breath Practice:

  1. Lengthen your inhale and exhale, making them approximately equal.
  2. After six breaths at that lengthened breath, add a two second pause after both the inhale and the exhale.
  3. Remain at this breath for several minutes. With each inhale, imagine abundance in all its forms entering your heart. In the pause after inhale, imagine abundance completely filling you. With every exhale, offer abundance back to the world. In the pause after exhale, imagine abundance both within and around you.
  4. After several minutes, release the pauses, but continue breathing with a lengthened inhale and exhale.
  5. After several more breaths, return your breath to a normal rhythm. Carry the energy of this breath practice to meditation.

Second Meditation Question: How can I create abundance in the lives of those around me?

At the end of class, each student chose a string of prosperity hens that was crafted by artisan women in India. Hens symbolize prosperity in Indian culture, because any family fortunate enough to own a hen has a continual source of nourishment. I hope the hens will remind each student to be grateful and generous in the season ahead.

I hope this practice does the same for you.

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and join me in our special New Year’s Yoga Celebration!

ABCs of Yoga

Leave a reply

This week’s blog entry was written by guest author Roy Holman. Roy is a graduate of Whole Life Yoga’s teacher training program. He  can be contacted at ho**********@***il.com and at http://holmanhealthconnections.com.

I had a chance to ask T.K.V. Desakachar a question when he was leading a workshop in Portland a few years ago: “Do you think we in the West are too asana focused?” His eyes lit up and he said,”Oh yes! By age 60 one should be doing 20% asana, 40% meditation, and 40% pranayama.” His father Krishnamacharya once said, “Nowadays, the practice of yoga stops with just asanas.”

Many of us get into yoga for Exercise reasons, which is fine. We may begin yoga for physical reasons–perhaps to help heal an injury–and stick with yoga for other reasons; perhaps we become more centered or peaceful. Some of us may even begin yoga for the other E word: Ego. We may wish to impress people with our fancy poses or even sexy body. As Yoga Sutra scholar Chip Hartranft puts it, “In fact, hatha yoga practice may initially be driven to some extent by narcissism.  After all, hatha yoga can appeal to us because of the powerful way it addresses some of the self’s most cherished preoccupations–health, attractiveness, sexual energy, and longevity.”

There are four letters that precede E that may get ignored.

A might stand for Awareness (not just asana).  Our practice begins and ends with awareness. We can begin to notice what draws us to the mat (or away from the mat). Awareness involves no judgment, just noticing how we feel in each pose, what draws us to certain styles of yoga and to which teachers. What is our motivation? What are our patterns? Additionally, A also stands for Ahimsa (nonviolence), the most important “yama.”

B is for Breath. Connecting the breath to the movement, to me, draws me out of the head and deep into the body and the yoga practice. I begin to lose  myself and find my Self. Breath seems to bridge body to spirit. Pranayama–breath regulation–is a profound but underappreciated limb of yoga.

C is for Compassion and ties into ahimsa mentioned above. We are often so tough on ourselves. Can we accept where we are?  Can we have compassion for ourselves even if we realize that, due to our low self esteem, we indeed practice partially because of the egoist reasons mentioned earlier? Can we have compassion for ourselves when we find ourselves
comparing ourselves to other students or judging the teacher?

D is for Devotion and Divine.  While reading about the great Krishnamacharya’s life and practice, it struck me how dedicated and devotional a yogi he was. He once said,  “…the reason for learning yogasana is not just for good physique but to obtain atmajnana (spiritual progress.)” Yoga teacher Dharma Mittra, known for his ability to do thousands of incredible poses, said,  “The postures mean absolutely nothing, no matter how adept one is with them, if they’re not done is a spirit of devotion.”

When I studied at Oneness University in India, there was a big focus on devotion to the Divine.  It was humbling for me to see that I was really  more into ego and control than surrender, trust and a devotion to the Divine.

Whether you define this devotion as one to your Higher Self, God, Universal Intelligence or whatever, I suppose that all paths eventually lead there even with our egoist detours. Indeed, we need look no further for the Divine than within our most sacred, essential Selves.

E also stands for Enjoy, so let’s enjoy this beautiful yoga journey together!

Roy

Yoga in the Peace Corps: Khotso and Namaste

Leave a reply

This week’s blog entry was written by guest author Barbara Meyer. Barbara is a graduate of Whole Life Yoga’s teacher training program. She  can be contacted at el*********@***il.com.

For thirty years, I’ve wanted to be a Peace Corps volunteer. One year ago, my dream came true—my husband and I received our invitations to serve as Peace Corps volunteers. After several months of preparations and clearing 30 years of accumulated possessions out of our home, we departed for Philadelphia to meet our fellow volunteers. Three days later, we were in southern Africa’s Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. Khotso is a common greeting here, meaning peace in Sesotho. Our host families greeted us with wild ululation, song and dancing and dozens of people pressed against usas we walked to our home for training—a traditional thatched roof rondavel with no electricity or running water. Among the items that made the final cut into my two suitcases were my yoga chimes, a golden silk shawl from India and a travel yoga mat.

During three months of training,I was able to use yoga for stress reduction when things got rough. Since moving to my work site (for two years), I’ve been practicing yoga three to four days per week. We live in a studio (half of a duplex) set in a garden with an amazing view of the mountains. Despite the cramped space, my husband agreed that we needed to preserve the space by the window for yoga.

The Peace Corps ads say it’s “The hardest job you’ll ever love.” One of the hard parts is daily uncertainty about so many aspects of life. Aside from creating my own job on a daily basis, I’m learning a new language (Sesotho), a new culture (Basotho), meeting many new people and trying to figure out how pretty much everything works.

Yoga has become more precious to me since becoming a Peace Corps volunteer. The challenge of cross cultural living in a poor country brings some strain. Children often knock on our door in groups of three or four and say, “I am asking for bread.” Or they may ask for candy, money or a job. When walking through the village, similar requests are made by children and adults alike. The struggle is that we have the means to help some but not all. How do we decide when to respond and when to pass by? In contrast, at our work site, a hospital, many Basotho are extremely well educated with good professional jobs. Life in a developing country is complex. The HIV rate is 23% among adults and many children have lost one or both parents to HIV. Unemployment is nearly 50%. There is so much to think about! And have I mentioned that we live on $250 per month in a town with no restaurant? In fact, no store where you can buy cheese or chocolate! For this reluctant cook, starting from scratch (e.g. make own tortillas and injera) on a daily basis has been a test of my self discipline.

This is where yoga comes in. Three or four mornings a week, my first activity of the day is to clear my yoga space and lay out the mat and clean towels on the floor. I face the river valley with mountains beyond and lengthen my breath. As I proceed through the asana practice, I feel the slowing down and calming that yoga movement brings. Through pranayama breath practices, I have to let other thoughts go as I focus on the counting or the technique for the day. That brings me to meditation. I have chosen three qualities that I want to enhance in myself, qualities that I need on a daily basis here and sometimes find in short supply. I like to end with a short chant that we used to close each class during yoga teacher training. Chanting helps me to visualize the support of the community of people I have met through Whole Life Yoga. It is easy to feel alone in the Peace Corps! Because of my practice, I carry these friendships with me through my day. I end my practice with three chimes. Folding up my travel mat (thanks for the tip, Suzanne Stephens!), I feel calm, peaceful and happy. I am ready to face the uncertainties of the day with some equanimity.

One year into my Peace Corps service, things have become easier. We are building relationships with people here and our work is starting to show results. Maintaining a sense of non-attachment is so useful. Things have a way of moving forward then backward often at a very, very slow pace. One project that I abandoned as a lost cause resurrected itself months later. Someone came up and asked me to get a replacement for a stamp that had been designed for the outpatient department months earlier. I didn’t even realize that they had started to use it again!

Another gift I received from one of my teacher training colleagues was a really useful quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

In my Peace Corps service, regular yoga practice is as necessary as food. The emotional grounding that comes from yoga practice has helped me immensely to meet the challenges I face. Thank you so much, Tracy and the Whole Life Community for all of your support.

If you are interested in reading more about our adventures in Lesotho, our blog is www.alesothojourney.blogspot.com

Namaste,

Barbara

More information about Whole Life Yoga’s teacher training program can be found at our web site:  Yoga Teacher Training at Whole Life Yoga.

 

 

 

 

The Gift of Depression

1 Reply

I wrote this post in early June, but decided to wait until now to share it publicly.  I hope you benefit from these sutra teachings and my personal learnings.

I’ve been fighting a case of the blues for the last several weeks—the kind that makes me want to sleep twelve hours  a day and cry about  every sad story I hear on the news.  Friends cite lots of reasons why I might be depressed:  a pet that recently died, another that is sick without a defined cause, the difficulties of running a business in our current economy, Seattle’s gray June weather, even that dreaded life transition that happens to women of a certain age.

But internally, I know none of those reasons fully explain my lethargic mood.  This sadness has roots deep in my heart. I would feel it even if I were independently wealthy, still in my 20’s, and basking on a sunny beach. The Yoga Sutras call my mental state Daurmanasya, or depression and negative thinking.  They go on to say that Daurmanasya is simply a symptom of something deeper: an obstacle on my path to personal growth.  Sutra 1.31 lists four symptoms that indicate the presence of an inner obstacle.

  • Duhkha: Psycho-emotional suffering
  • Daurmanasya: Depression or negative thinking
  • Angamejayatva:  Instability of any kind, including body, work, and relationships
  • Svasaprasvasa: Disturbance in the breath, including  uncontrolled crying, laughing, or bursting out.

According to the yoga teachings, those symptoms are simply a subconscious warning sign.  When you feel them, you’re up against an inner obstacle, whether you’re not aware of it or not.

Sutra 1.30 lists nine specific obstacles:

  • Vyadhi: Sickness or disease
  • Styana: Fixation or being “stuck in a rut”
  • Samsaya: Doubt
  • Pramada: Carelessness and  impulsive knee-jerk reactions
  • Alasya:  Lethargy, burnout, and lack of passion
  • Avirati:   Inability to withstand the temptation of the  senses
  • Bhrantidarsana: Distorted self esteem ranging from low self esteem to arrogance
  • Alabdhabhumikatva: Not achieving the level you expected of yourself and losing heart
  • Anavasthitatvani: Achieving a level but not being able to sustain it.

Even as I type this list, I have to smile and shake my head.  Doubt and burnout practically leap off the page. I’ve been down this road before.  In fact, these two old friends seem to be recurrent themes in my life.  I don’t yet know what their return means, but that’s the beauty of yoga: I don’t have to.  Sutras 1.32 – 1.39 outline a list of practices I can do to help, regardless of the cause. Historically, I’ve found meditation and reflection to be the most useful.  So it’s back to the mat for me.

And here’s the gift.  As the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” The teachings say that each time I overcome an obstacle, I grow.  I become more resilient and more able to withstand similar issues in the future.  When I come out of this darker period, I know I will be changed. I don’t know exactly how, yet, but I’m sure I will be stronger.  I will have greater clarity about who I am and the role I am meant to play in this world.  And that is truly a gift.

So the next time you find yourself sad or suffering for no clear reason, know that yoga offers tools to help. Try not to run away or bury those feelings.  Instead, give yourself the gift of time, reflection, guidance, and practice.  Like a caterpillar painfully struggling in its dark cocoon, you may emerge brighter, more alive and more vibrant that you ever imagined!

Namaste

Tracy

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle!

Overcoming the Klesas (Seeds of Suffering)

1 Reply

According to The Yoga Sutras, the primary goal of yoga is to overcome suffering.  But it’s not the kind of suffering most people think of. Sure, yoga’s great at overcoming physical ailments, from back pain, to asthma, to insomnia. But yoga’s ultimate goal is to overcome the suffering of the mind, or what my teacher calls psycho-emotional suffering.  The kind of stress, heartache, and anxiety we create within ourselves.  The internal suffering we do over external events.  The suffering we do over our suffering, so to speak.

Sutras 2.3 – 2.12 list five klesas, or seeds of suffering:

  • Ignorance, which is especially problematic, because it is not just a source of pain. It is also the fuel that ignites all other sources of suffering.
  • Ego, the belief that we are somehow separate from those around us. Ego results in feelings of isolation, ethnocentrism, and dogmatism.
  • Attachment, or holding on to something for fear of losing it, including relationships, possessions, job titles, and stature.
  • Aversion, or avoiding something for fear of pain. Aversion results in the victim mentality so prevalent in our society today, prejudice, fear, and blame.
  • Fear, especially the fear of death.

Most of us experience all of the above at one point or another. Some will be recurrent themes in our lives, like an unwelcome house guest that visits at the worst possible time, and then decides to stay longer than planned.

For me, attachment and fear are old friends. I love my house, my dog, my husband—even my yoga studio. I worry about losing any and all of them.  Love isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but does fear of loss cause me unnecessary pain? Does fear of loss invite me to make poor decisions?

The sutras say that actions based on the klesas have undesirable effects.  They leave behind a nasty trail, not unlike a slug’s gooey slime trail.  Worse yet, those effects may not even be seen in our lifetimes.  Future generations may instead pay the price of our folly.  One look at our current political climate, and I know the sutras are still correct, even thousands of years after they were written.

But the sutras also offer hope!  They say that yoga, especially meditation, can help us develop a clear mind. And when our minds are clear, we can choose to act differently. By doing so, we not only decrease our own personal suffering, we also leave a cleaner imprint on our world.

We Seattleites, are known for our concern about the environment.  We reduce, reuse and recycle. We encourage people to drink tap water instead of buying those evil plastic bottles.  We even ban plastic bags in grocery stores.  Our goal is worthy: to leave our world a better place than we found it.  But perhaps we’re missing at least part of the point.  Perhaps we should also work to reduce our internal garbage. By doing so, we may just erase the psychic slug trail of negative energy we’re leaving behind.

According to my favorite Native American saying, “We will forever be known by the tracks we leave.”  Today, I invite you all to make your tracks lighter.  Act mindfully, lovingly, with a pure mind.  Take the Sutras’ advice, and start a consistent meditation practice, not just for your own benefit, but for that of your world.

And here is my blessing for you. May your tracks be invisible.  May your actions support your values.  May you live beyond the klesas so that all beings after you are brightened by the path you leave behind.

Namaste

Tracy

Savasana (Corpse Pose): A Time to Rest or a Time to Become Fully Awake?

3 Replies

I can almost hear the collective sigh of relief when I tell my students it’s time to transition to the period of rest at the end of each yoga class called Savasana, literally translated as “Corpse Pose.”

As each student settles in, I offer softened lights, peaceful music—even neck pillows and bolsters to put under their knees.  Experienced students often cover their bodies with blankets and their eyes with eye pillows.  I tiptoe around the room and verbally guide each student into a quiet place where they can hopefully find, even if for just a moment, a place of internal peace.  I’m rewarded for doing so.  As my students relax, I feel the energy of their tranquility. I sometimes even hear a soft snore or two as they melt away into oblivion.

I don’t think we can underestimate the power of that quiet time.  In our busy world, we rarely take the time to relax and let our minds just be free.  Practiced this way, Savasana provides a time of inner peace. A moment of relief from the information overload of our always-busy lives.

But I sometimes wonder if we’ve missed the point.  According to the teachings, Savasana isn’t really about relaxation.  In fact, I’ve heard Savasana described as the most difficult of all yoga postures.  A posture in which, bodies completely still, we are challenged to keep our minds focused.  The pose is named “Corpse Pose” for a reason. We are to act as if our bodies had dissolved away—as if were already dead, so to speak.

When practiced this way, Savasana is a powerful tool.  It can help us momentarily become less identified with our bodies and less attached to the trappings of our lives. In those last minutes of class, we can reconnect to the pure, perfect essence that already exists within each of us.

I’d like to offer you a challenge. The next time you rest in that final yoga pose, try not to simply melt into rest and oblivion.  Don’t fall asleep, either literally or figuratively.  Instead, stay truly awake, in a sort of resting meditation.  Lie still, in complete silence, present with the sensations of your body and completely aware of the random thoughts of your mind.  Use that time to connect with the beauty and perfection that is already within you.

It won’t be easy.  It might not even be as pleasant as that ten-minute nap you were anticipating.  But finding that quiet place within yourself will be well worth the effort.

Namaste

Tracy

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle!

More Research on the Benefits of Viniyoga–Viniyoga Reduces Workplace Stress!

Leave a reply

I know from personal experience that Viniyoga is an amazing tool for reducing workplace stress—that’s what hooked me on it almost fifteen years ago, when I still worked at Microsoft.  But now, research proves it!

Aetna, inc. recently studied methods of stress reduction in the workplace. The results were published in the online version of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. The study evaluated the effectiveness of Mindfulness Meditation (a specific type of meditation) and Viniyoga on both perceived levels of stress and biological markers of stress. The Viniyoga intervention used in the study was designed by my teacher, Gary Kraftsow. The study participants included 239 Aetna employees located in California and Connecticut who were split into three groups:  the Mindfulness Meditation group, the Viniyoga group, and a control.

The results were encouraging.  Both the Mindfulness Meditation and the Viniyoga interventions saw over a 30% reduction in perceived stress levels. Participants also showed significant improvements in several heart rate measurements, suggesting that their bodies were better able to manage stress.  Even better, both Viniyoga and Mindfulness Meditation worked in about half the time as other commonly used mind-body interventions.

The Viniyoga intervention included a twelve-week yoga program that used physical yoga postures, breathing techniques, and guided relaxation. Participants met in class once a week and received practice handouts to use at home and in the office. Which just goes to prove what I’ve said all along—a well-conceived home practice gets results!

For more details on the study, check out the article on Aetna’s web site.

Be well, and come see me in class soon to reduce your stress!

Namaste

Tracy

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and check out our Series on Yoga to Ease Stress!