Revive yourself: Yoga and Acupuncutre Workshop

Spring is the perfect time to stop, pause and reassess your life.  Come regroup, revive and restore yourself emotionally, physically and spiritually through this unique offering of Yoga Therapy and Acupuncture.

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist, Shari Arial; & Acupuncturist, Vanessa Groshong present:

The Yoga and Acupuncture Workshop

What’s involved :

-       Three 2 hour workshops, offered in a series of once per week focusing on energetic pathways in the body, accessing them through embodied yoga movement, internal dialogue promoting a self-inquiry approach to awareness, and acupuncture points;
 

-        (1) the mind – we will acknowledge the mind and explore the power it has over our daily thoughts, feelings, emotions and reactions.   Acupuncture points will be used to retune the mind and return us to the center of our body.

 

-       (2) body – we will explore the relationship with our body, which is our greatest teacher in life, learning to love ourselves more.  Acupuncture points will be used to imprint love and compassion for ourselves.

-       (3) spirit – we will honor the deep wisdom that resides within each of us, learning to harness that energy and how use it to make powerful changes in our lives.  Acupuncture points will be used to continue to open us up to our spirit, freeing us from past habitual patterns and allowing us to move forward in life.

What it looks like:

-       75 minute mindful yoga practice with internal dialogue focusing on the weekly theme

-       30 minutes of acupuncture performed during savasana focusing on weekly theme

-       15 minutes of integrating and further imprinting what you may have noticed

Investment:

-       Sign up for one - $90 per workshop; or,

-       Sign up for all three - $250.

REGISTER YOUR SPOT: therapythruyoga@hotmail.com

There is the potential for insurance reimbursement for the acupuncture portion of the workshops

($45 receipt will be provided for each workshop).

Why Lying Broken in a Pile on Your Bedroom Floor is a Good Idea.

The Goddess of never not broken.

You know that feeling when you have just gone through a breakup, or lost your job, and everything is terrible and terrifying and you don’t know what to do, and you find yourself crying in a pile on your bedroom floor, barely able to remember how to use the phone, desperately looking for some sign of God in old letters, or your Facebook newsfeed or on Glee, finding nothing there to comfort you?

Come on, yes you do. We all do.

And there is a goddess from Hindu mythology that teaches us that, in this moment, in this pile on the floor, you are more powerful than you’ve ever been.

This past week, I have been deeply inspired by a talk I heard on the Yoga Teacher Telesummit by Eric Stoneberg on this relatively unknown Goddess from Hindu mythology: Akhilandeshvari.

This figure has snuck up inside me and settled into my bones. She keeps coming out of my mouth every time I teach, and she’s given me so much strength and possibility during a time of change and uncertainty in my own life. I wanted to unpack a little bit about who she is for those that might be, like me, struggling a little bit in that pile on the floor and wondering how the hell to get up again.

The answer, it turns out, is this: in pieces, warrior-style, on the back of a crocodile. Yee ha.

Akhilandeshvari:

“Ishvari” in Sanskrit means “goddess” or “female power,” and the “Akhilanda” means essentially “never not broken.” In other words, The Always Broken Goddess. Sanskrit is a tricky and amazing language, and I love that the double negative here means that she is broken right down to her name.

But this isn’t the kind of broken that indicates weakness and terror.

It’s the kind of broken that tears apart all the stuff that gets us stuck in toxic routines, repeating the same relationships and habits over and over, rather than diving into the scary process of trying something new and unfathomable.

Akhilanda derives her power from being broken: in flux, pulling herself apart, living in different, constant selves at the same time, from never becoming a whole that has limitations.

The thing about going through sudden or scary or sad transitions (like a breakup) is that one of the things you lose is your future: your expectations of what the story of your life so far was going to become. When you lose that partner or that job or that person, your future dissolves in front of you.

And of course, this is terrifying.

But look, Akhilanda says, now you get to make a choice. In pieces, in a pile on the floor, with no idea how to go forward, your expectations of the future are meaningless. Your stories about the past do not apply. You are in flux, you are changing, you are flowing in a new way, and this is an incredibly powerful opportunity to become new again: to choose how you want to put yourself back together. Confusion can be an incredible teacher—how could you ever learn if you already had it all figured out?

This goddess has another interesting attribute, which is, of course, her ride: a crocodile.

Crocodiles are interesting in two ways: Firstly, Stoneberg explains that the crocodile represents our reptilian brain, which is where we feel fear. Secondly, the predatory power of a crocodile is not located in their huge jaws, but rather that they pluck their prey from the banks of the river, take it into the water, and spin it until it is disoriented. They whirl that prey like a dervish seeking God, they use the power of spin rather than brute force to feed themselves.

By riding on this spinning, predatory, fearsome creature, Akhilanda refuses to reject her fear, nor does she let it control her. She rides on it. She gets on this animal that lives inside the river, inside the flow. She takes her fear down to the river and uses its power to navigate the waves, and spins in the never not broken water. Akhilanda shows us that this is beautiful. Stoneberg writes:

Akhilanda is also sometimes described in our lineage like a spinning, multi-faceted prism. Imagine the Hope Diamond twirling in a bright, clear light. The light pouring through the beveled cuts of the diamond would create a whirling rainbow of color. The diamond is whole and complete and BECAUSE it’s fractured, it creates more diverse beauty. Its form is a spectrum of whirling color.

That means that this feeling of confusion and brokenness that every human has felt at some time or another in our lives is a source of beauty and colour and new reflections and possibilities.

If everything remained the same, if we walked along the same path down to the river every day until there was a groove there (as we do; in Sanskrit this is called Samskara, habits or even “some scars”), this routine would become so limited, so toxic to us that, well, the crocs would catch on, and we’d get plucked from the banks, spun and eaten.

So now is the time, this time of confusion and brokenness and fear and sadness, to get up on that fear, ride it down to the river, dip into the waves, and let yourself break. Become a prism.

All the places where you’ve shattered can now reflect light and colour where there was none. Now is the time to become something new, to choose a new whole.

But remember Akhilanda’s lesson: even that new whole, that new, colourful, amazing groove that we create is an illusion. It means nothing unless we can keep on breaking apart and putting ourselves together again as many times as we need to.

We are already “never not broken.” We were never a consistent, limited whole. In our brokenness, we are unlimited.

And that means we are amazing.

This article originally appeared on elephantjournal.com & is written by Julie Peters

Alignment is More than Just Good Posture

Remember when you were growing up and your mom (or your annoying aunt) would always correct you about your posture? “Stand up straight.” “Don’t slouch.” “Shoulders back.” Well, it was right… sort of. Body alignment is important. It affects many aspects of your health. But proper body alignment is more than just good posture.

Proper body alignment can help with body mechanics. That means it helps your body moves in a way that’s smart, efficient and with less risk of injury. In other words, body alignment will keep your body moving, sitting, standing, working, exercising, and being active for a long time. Proper alignment is very important, not only for your back, but for your overall health as well.

Proper body alignment helps the major systems in your body work better: digestive system, respiratory system, nervous system, immune system and more. In other words, everything runs better when the body is aligned.

Body alignment is important when exercising. Body alignment prevents injuries and balances how your muscle groups work. Also, when you are in alignment, you use less energy for any movement and put less stress on the joints. When movements are done from poor alignment position, there is greater wear and tear on joints and  greater is the risk of injury.

How to help body alignment.

Work on posture. Train yourself to recognize Neutral Spine Position—it’s when the pelvis, rib cage and skull are aligned on top of each other.  Instead of thinking of “standing up straight with your shoulders back” imagine being suspended from a string from the top of your head and all the other parts of the spine are suspended from the same string. When in neutral spine position, all 3 curves of the spine (cervical, thoracic and lumbar) are aligned and in natural balance. When you’re in this position, every movement activates from the core muscles.

You can find neutral spine position by practicing a basic relaxation exercise from the floor. You will eventually be able to recognize it while standing, sitting, reclining or moving.

Maintain a healthy weight. Excess weight puts additional stress on the joints and muscles.

Avoid certain body positions and movements. Having a slumped forward head posture, twisting from the spine to a point of strain, reaching for anything too far out from the body, bending from the waist to lift things or reach for things.

Exercise regularly with a program that promotes and builds core stabilization.

• Squats, planks, push-ups, lunges can help strengthen your core. These should be done slowly and with attention to proper alignment. You may want to work with an exercise coach if you are not familiar with proper alignment and are new to an exercise program. Be sure to get approval from your doctor before starting any new exercise or stretching program.
• Practice yoga which helps stretch the muscles, but also strengthens the core (and all major muscle groups). Most yoga classes are available for a wide range of fitness levels. Choose one that is appropriate for you.
• Consider taking up Tai Chi, which emphasizes breathing and slow, balanced movements.
• Try a class in Pilates, which also helps with body alignment and core strengthening. It was developed by Joseph Pilates, who overcame a sickly childhood and later did physical training with WWI soldiers who were recovering from injury.

Remember, all of these exercises can help with body alignment and strengthening your core. But not all exercises are good for everyone. People who have had spinal fusion or a slipped disk should be especially careful with any exercises and confer with their doctor.

This article originally appeared on relaxobak.com

What Your Body Tells You About Your Emotional (Mental) State

Bruce Lipton, a leading development biologist who believes that genes and DNA can be manipulated by our beliefs is not the only brilliant mind to propose such a mind-bending idea. In fact, he says that our DNA and cells do not control our health, our emotions do. Yogis have known for centuries that what we think and feel affects the physical body. It is one of the foundational components of almost any yogic path. Utilizing the teachings of our farthest reaching wisdom traditions and the newest biological advances, we can learn how to look at the body for signs of its deepest, darkest challenges.

The Human Genome Project Was a Failure

Scientists were hoping to map out more than 100,000 genes when studying the human genome, in order to find disease markers, and therefore prevent them, but only 25,000 genes were discovered, and ‘junk’ DNA is still a totally mystery to most scientists. Even more interesting is the fact that you can entirely remove the nucleus of a cell and its DNA and it will still function. Contrary to what was once believed, the cell’s nucleus is not its brain. If, however, you destroy the cell membrane, then the cell dies because it can no longer interact with other cells. Are our cells telling us something about how we interact with the world as a whole?

Through his passionate research, Bruce Lipton discovered that, “The cell membrane is a liquid crystal semi conductor with gates and channels.” He also said in Biology of Belief that, ‘our cells are like programmable personal computers.” That means consciousness, namely our emotional state, can lead to some pretty profound changes in the body.

“The major crisis of the human race is not of raising our IQs, it is one of elevating our WILL quotients. We must will ourselves to happiness, and thereby experience true health.”

Our Physical Bodies Alert Us to Emotional States

Maybe it seems strange that we should look at our bodies for evidence of an emotion, after all, don’t we just feel something like anger, pain, frustration, fear, guilt, etc. when it happens? We don’t need to look at the body to understand an emotion, or do we? It’s not always that simple. Our emotions are intertwined with how we get our needs met from a very young age, so, if you weren’t ever allowed to be ‘angry’ even in situations where this would be a natural emotion, then instead of that anger being felt and expressed, and properly released, it becomes waylaid by the conscious mind. Instead, it is seen as ‘wrong’ and then pushed down into the subconscious mind so that you can ‘deal with it later.’

We can do this temporarily quite well, such as when we learn to hold our tongue when having a disagreement, and due to respect or love, or societal pressures, we choose to communicate our feelings at a later time, when they feel less charged. The problem is that when we push emotions down too long, the subconscious mind will start saying ‘hey, you’ve got some stuff to deal with down here.’

Neuropeptides Lead the Game

Every time you think a thought there is probably emotion attached to it. Perhaps it is positive, perhaps negative, but rarely, is it neutral. With every charged thought you think, miniscule neuropeptides, or chemical proteins trigger a specific physiological response to try to keep your overall system in homeostatis. Examples of neuropeptides are endorphins like the ones released when you have sex or go for a jog, and other hormones, like oxytocin, the natural ‘love’ drug, adrenaline, the natural drug of excitement and fear, cortisol, the hormone of stress, and so on. There are dozens of these neuropeptides being released at any given moment.

Whatever your most consistent emotional state is, then, that is also what chemical cocktail being released into your body, and thereby shapes your physical features. The more prolonged the emotional state is experienced, the more profound the changes can be visually

“Never get angry for anger poisons your system.” – Paramahansa Yogananda

Anger Causes High Cholesterol and Happiness Helps You Live Longer

Scientists have now been able to measure emotions, including their physiological response on the body. For example, anger causes higher cholesterol levels and a faster resting heart rate. Prolonged sadness can cause depression, which leads to a depleted immune system. But how do we ‘wear’ these emotions on the physical body?

Emotions, like any other thought, have a vibrational frequency. Emotions of peace, love, excitement, serenity, joy and thankfulness are of a higher vibration and emotions of anger, fear, and sadness hold lower vibrations. Lipton’s work talks in depth about how emotions can even affect DNA.

Part of the reason that emotions affect us so significantly is because the heart emits a stronger electro-magnetic force than the brain, so even if you are intellectually editing yourself, your true emotions are still being broadcast throughout the body, and arguably, beyond it. The brain entrains with the heart, and not vice versa. The brain becomes coherent with the vibration of the heart. It may sound shocking but recent studies show that depression causes more heart disease than smoking! Depressed people even have stickier blood platelets, so they are more likely to ‘die of a broken heart.’

Observing the Body for Emotional Patterns

As a rule, the left side of the body reflects what has happened to you and how you respond emotionally to your past.  The right side of the body will often display what your emotions are about your future. The front side of the body is the emotional self you present to the world; obvious in your facial features, your posture, etc. Your back side will reflect emotions that you don’t want to deal with or expose to other people. Unexpressed or sublimated emotions will get ‘stuck’ in your back, shoulders, calves, etc. When too many negative emotions are stuffed away where you can’t see them, or feel them, they can cause the body to come out of balance.

Chinese medicine agrees that emotions can create stagnation in the energy of the body, leading to issues with the spleen, heart, kidneys, liver, bladder, gallbladder, etc. They usually categorize the emotions into seven distinct areas – grief, sorrow, worry, fear, joy, anger and fright.  Following are some more general rules about how emotions display in the physical body:

Your head hurts, or your brow is often furrowed: This means you need to stop ignoring your intuition and trust what your ‘higher self’ is trying to tell you about a situation or person. Basically, you need to pay attention to your gut. A pain in the back of the head, instead of the forehead means you haven’t forgiven yourself for perceived faults or past mistakes.

Nearsightedness or Farsightedness: This means you have trouble ‘seeing things clearly.’ Farsighted folks often pine away for the future and nearsighted folks can’t seeing anything but the nose on their own faces. Seeing the here and now accurately is difficult for either person with sight issues. Meditation is one way to offload emotions that cause you to feel uncomfortable in the here and now.

Hearing Problems are similar – it may mean you are tuning out.

Our mouths are associated with our expression of sensuality. If you have lost your taste, it can literally mean you have disconnected from reality because it ‘leaves a bad taste in your mouth.’ This part of the body is also connected with the second chakra, or Swadhistana, which governs all the sexual organs. If you can’t experience pleasure without guilt or over-indulge in sexual gratification, it will also lead to pursed lips or an unattractive mouth.

Your neck and shoulders support the head, but are also the gateway between the head and heart – or the Anahata Chakra (Heart Chakra) and Ajna Chakra (Pineal Gland Center). Issues with the throat, and neck, or tightness in the shoulders may mean you are having a hard time integrating mental acuity and tempering it with compassion. If you are overly intellectual, you may have shoulder and neck problems.  This is the most narrow part of the body between the torso and head, and therefore, a place that easily gets congested energetically. Yoga poses like Matsyasana (Fish Pose) and Halasana (Plow Pose) can help to release blockages here, and the emotions that are stored without conscious awareness.

The Arms and Hands are how you reach out to others. Any stagnation of positive emotion regarding extending yourself to others can manifest as physical symptoms here.

An enclosed and protected heart often means you hunch over and have a constricted chest and lungs. If you have a hard time expressing love or accepting love from others, you will possibly have blockages in your chest, lungs and heart.

There are all kinds of physical issues that can appear based on the health of your spine. Since the spine literally supports your body, ailments regarding the spinal column often reflect feelings of non-support or lack of love. Pain in the mid-back is associated to deficiency in the stomach liver, gallbladder, adrenals, and reproductive organs. Issues with the lower back are connected to the hips, large intestine, immune system, bladder, and kidneys. Childhood trauma that hasn’t been dealt with properly often manifests in lower back problems.

There are literally dozens of other ways that your emotions show on your body, and as recent, paradigm-shifting evidence is showing, feeling happy, calm, and free are the best ways to change not only your health, but your physical appearance. Happiness is better even than plastic surgery, and certainly better than chemotherapy or pharmaceuticals at keeping you profoundly alive and healthy.

While we can’t nor should stuff our emotions down, including negative ones, we can learn to control them and shift our attention to positive feelings as often as possible to dramatically change our bodies – right down to our DNA.

This article originally appeared on wakingtimes.com and is written by Christina Sarich.