Welcome to the Living Practice – July 2002

 

Letter from the editor

When I Want To Kiss God by Hafiz

Dogs and Cats Do It by Sam Dworkis, MS, LMT

Meditation Blooper by Judith

Factors to Consider in Ayurveda by Vijay Kumar

Healthy Habits by Megan McCarver

Reverse Namaste (Reverse Prayer Pose) by Diana Hobstetter

July’s Featured Pose: Release Your Psoas contributed by Yoga Journal

A Note From YogaEverywhere

Yoga eVents and Classified

Past Issues of the Living Practice

 

Dear Lovely viewers,

I am so grateful that you are all here today. Thank you. Please let me know what you think of the new layout of YogaEverywhere.com. If you have friends and family members that might be interested in advertising in our Yoga Store or Yoga Vacation Page, please pass my address on to them. I am creating some new content that should be up in the next two months.

 

A note to the many teachers and yoga practioners on our eMail list: please share your teachings, articles and insights with us. Currently YogaEverywhere.com does not pay for articles submitted, but know that The Living Practice touches many lives each month and you will be doing great service to yoga practioners everywhere. Please try to keep submissions under 300 words and include a short biography (3-4 sentences long). Please send your submissions to my attention

 

While I was teaching by the beach last Saturday, I got a big hit on “giving” that I would like to pass on to you. I instructed my students to step off their mats for standing poses. “It feels so good and grounding to be standing in bare feet on the grass”, I said.  “The earth gives, stand tall and feel her giving to you.” Then I realized my feet were slightly shifting deeper into the grass and damp soil. “How profound ” I thought to my self and smiled. The earth gives way. It then occurred to me that there are two types of giving … giving way and giving to. The earth does both … it gives way as it gives to us all, constantly. So when you have the opportunity this summer, please take off your shoes and stand in Tadasana, mountain pose.

 

With love,

Megan McCarver

 

Ps.  Please tell your friends and family about the Living Practice eNewsletter, our Yoga Store and our Vacation Page. Spread the good word and share yoga everywhere!

 

When I Want To Kiss God by Hafiz

When

No one is looking

 

I swallow deserts and clouds

And chew on mountains knowing

They are sweet

Bones!

 

When no one is looking and I want

To kiss

God

 

I just lift my own hand

To

My

Mouth.

 

Dogs and Cats Do It by Sam Dworkis, MS, LMT

Have you noticed when a dog or a cat gets up from a nap, she almost always takes a really big stretch before moving away from her resting spot? Let’s take a closer look at what’s going on with that stretch and examine why her stretch might have relevance in your everyday life.

 

If you have a cat or a dog, take a moment now and go to her. I want you to grasp her skin anywhere near her shoulder and give it a gentle tug. Did you notice that the skin is highly pliable and that it easily moves away from the bone and muscle structures underneath? Now take your hand and pull the skin of your upper arm or shoulder, pulling with the same amount of pressure you pulled on your pet. If you are like most people, you will notice a significant difference in elasticity between you and your pet. If you experienced an arm or shoulder injury sometime in your past, the amount of elasticity of the skin on that previously injured arm or shoulder will be significantly less than the other side.

 

Notwithstanding evolutionary factors, the fundamental question remains: Why is it that animals are significantly more flexible than people? The more interesting question might be: Why is your skin tighter in the area of a previous injury? It’s not necessarily the skin that’s elastic or stiff; but it’s the underlying “fabric” that has direct responsibly for how flexible you are.

 

This material is called fascia. It lies directly under all your skin and also “wraps” each and every muscle, organ, and gland of your body. Fascia is a profuse tissue that covers your entire body from the top of your head to the tip of your toes. Fascia’s significance is paramount: Remember the cat and dog stretching?  Although it stretches throughout the day, dogs and cats don’t really stretch skin or muscle as much as they maintain elasticity of the fascia.

 

Fascia is a soft-tissue and as such, it responds to stress and trauma by contracting.  Unlike dogs and cats, we humans continually bombard ourselves with emotional and physical stress and trauma: and in so doing, we usually don't take good care of ourselves. The result is that cumulative physical and emotional stress often causes fascia to contract tighter than a drum.

 

Animals, on the other hand, are continually stretching and working out the stress of their everyday lives. Yoga was developed thousands of years ago by paying attention to the animals of nature and learning how to replicate their movements in order to reduce stress. Yoga, when appropriately practiced, is a systematically designed system that restores balance, flexibility, and strength and results in a peaceful body and quiet mind.

 

Sam Dworkis, MA, LMT, is author of ExTension (Simon & Schuster 1994) and Recovery Yoga (Random House 1997). For further information on yoga, see his educational website, www.extensionyoga.com

 

Meditation Blooper by Judith
My children have always been fairly good about allowing my time for meditation. I normally find a sunny window and face the light of the sun. It makes me feel as if I am part of the light. I usually use a crystal ball to "focus" my attention and then placing it on the floor in front of me, I go to "my place". This particular day was wonderful, so when I heard this little voice nervously calling me..."Mom...Mom? I softly said," Nick, please, just give me a few more minutes. "But Mom", he continued, "Please, Nick", I answered. "But Mom" he insisted, "you’re on fire!" My eyes flew open, and yes ... I had set the crystal ball down on my loose pant leg in front of a sunny window. It had become a magnifying glass. Thankfully it had just started smoking, but Nick had saved the day. Life and Meditation can be full of surprises. 

 

Judith lives in Texas and is the mother of Jennifer, Colin and Nick. She recently started
teaching yoga to her granddaughter, Allyson, age six.

 

Yoga is a humbling practice. We want to hear your yoga/ meditation bloopers and giggle too.

 

Factors to Consider in Ayurveda by Vijay Kumar
(1) Ayurvedic system of healing takes somewhat longer than conventional allopathic medicine to fix any problem, as the problem is fixed from the roots and the basic cause of the problem is eliminated. So that's why Ayurvedic herbal products are supposed to be taken with confidence,
regularity, and should be used for a long time.

 

(2) Conventional vitamins and mineral products are synthetic or extracted. Why not take vitamins, minerals and other nutritious components required by the body from herbs? The nutrients and vitamins derived from herbs are in colloidal form, easily and naturally absorbed and assimilated by the body, having nutritional and curative values without any side effects. 

 

One example is Shilajit (Mineral Pitch), which is a natural source of 84 minerals. Minerals are on every cell of the body and are vital for our overall mental and physical well being. The body cannot manufacture any minerals. They must be obtained via diet. Due to the depletion of many minerals in the soil and in order to get enough minerals from the typical diet, we would have to
eat more than we could possibly want to.  The majority of the population is deficient in the 84 minerals required by the body and mind and these can be easily obtained from Shilajit.

(3) Amla (Emblica Officinalis, Indian Gooseberry): Clinical Research has shown that this fruit is one of the richest natural sources of vitamin C, containing up to 720 mg/100g of fresh pulp and 921 mg/100cc of pressed juice. This is approximately 20 times the vitamin C content of an orange.

(4) The properties of single herbs differ from region to region. Different ingredients of single formulations are added one by one according to their ripe/harvesting time.

(5) There are guidelines for collection of different herbs at different times and there is a particular span of time for collecting some particular herbs. Naturally grown herbs are more effective than cultivated ones.

(6) Habitat plays a key role in the effectiveness of a particular herb.

(7) Use of a single herb is not recommended. Every herb has its beneficial effects as well as some side effects. According to Ayurveda, herbs are taken in combination with other herbs to neutralize the toxicity of one herb with the opposing effect of the other or to enhance the particular effect of one herb with the help of another. 

(8) How can a problem be cured so quickly when it took a long time to develop? It is advisable to use natural products for a long time for better results, as herbal products take some time to show any significant results and these results last forever. Herbal formulas act faster in a physically weak person, as compared to a relatively healthy person.

 

For more info click here www.herbsforever.com . We are one of the worlds oldest ayurvedic herbal companies devoted to the wellness and happiness of mankind by providing well- balanced herbal formulas since 1932.  Note: if you want to buy any product click on buy
on line and get our introductory price automatically, which is 50% off our regular price.

 

Healthy Habits by Megan McCarver

Hi YogaEverywhere viewers ... if you have not already incorporated these in to you life style, try these three tips for thirty days and they may become healthy "habits" you’ll want to keep! 

 

We all need to recharge our batteries. And for those that live in Los Angeles, is was a city built on energy! Schedule time each week for you to visit high-energy sites. If you want to be outside, the beach and mountains await you. Holy places like temples, churches and shrines are usually open all day. If you are in LA try the Self Realization Center on Sunset and PCH or The Krishna Temple and restaurant in Culver City glows with prana (energy) too.

 

Here's one of my favorites ... Alternate Nostril Breathing, an easy and effective way to integrate your prana creating balance between your masculine (right, hot, sun) side and your feminine (left, cool, moon) side. Great while you are driving in traffic. Alternate Nostril Breathing purifies your nadis enabling you to glow and flow. If you need instruction on this great practice, eMail me and I will forward you my favorite links.

 

With so much balanced prana we will naturally over flow. If you don't feel like you are flowing, begin to give to a charity and you will begin to flow. Remember to practice abundance … after all … prana is everywhere.

 

Megan is the founder and creator of www.YogaEverywhere.com. She presently teaches privately to students in the LA area and is available to teach yoga for corporate seminars. Her specialty is introducing people to the yoga community in a gentle and kind fashion and working with the senior spiritually matured population.

 

Reverse Namaste (Reverse Prayer Pose) by Diana Hobstetter

Stand tall in Tadasana (Mountain Pose), with your feet parallel, your arms by your sides, looking straight ahead or within.

 

Breathe.

 

Bend your arms and bring your hands to your back, fingers and palms touching, if possible, in a reverse prayer.

 

If too difficult, touch fingers. If too difficult, clasp hands around opposite arms or wrists. (Always do what works for your body - never force the pose.)

 

Breathe. Pray. Om.

 

Hold as long as comfortable (30 seconds, 1 minute, several minutes).

 

Release.

 

Lemon Yoga option:
Hold a lemon in one hand in Tadasana, then between your hands during
Reverse Namaste.

See painting www.lemonyoga.com

Disclaimer: I am not a certified yoga instructor, only a practitioner. Please be gentle with your body and consult a certified yoga instructor or doctor as necessary.

 

Diana Hobstetter is a Los Angeles-based artist, who has exhibited internationally. She works primarily in oil paint and mixed media, as well as doing web design. She had been practicing yoga for about 5 years when she conceived of the "Lemon Yoga" series.