Welcome to the Living
Practice – June 2003
Editor’s
Letter with Megan McCarver
A Crystal
Rim by Hafiz
When Even Yoga Is Over-Stimulating by Sam Dworkis
Teachings
from Siddhar Bhoganathar
To
Yoga is for
Better Health and Living by John C. Kimbrough
Old Bones by Amy Templeton
Sciatica
Sequence by Megan McCarver
Music
Review by Megan McCarver
A Note from YogaEverywhere
Yoga
Classified and Events
Namaste Lovely Living Practice Viewers,
Greetings from the “June Gloom”
My love,
Megan
McCarver
(Please
make your check payable to Megan McCarver /
Crystal Rim by
Hafiz
The
Earth Lifts its glass to the sun
And
light – Light Is poured.
A
bird Comes and sits on a crystal rim
And
from my forest cave I hear singing,
So
I run to the edge of existence
And
join my soul in love.
I
lift my heart to God and grace is poured.
As
emerald bird rise from inside me
And
now sits Upon the Beloved glass.
I
have left that dark cave forever.
My
body has blended with his.
I
lay my wing
As
a bridge to you
So that you can join us Singing.
When Even Yoga Is Over-Stimulating
by Sam Dworkis, MA, LMT
As a
physically active person when I began yoga 28 years ago, I was extremely stiff
and tight. Yoga changed all that. Within a couple of years, my increased
flexibility, both physically and non-physically, helped me to cope with most of
life’s earlier challenges. I became known as an advanced yoga practitioner and
teacher as my body was able to do all that I asked of it; including most, if
not all, advanced asana routines.
However,
those challenges were nothing compared to what was to come later. Nine years
ago, I developed MS and I began to lose my hard-earned flexibility. As my
illness progressed, my shoulders became semi-paralyzed. I gained twenty pounds,
had difficulty walking, and became depressed. Feeling as if yoga had failed me,
I quit practicing and teaching all together.
Then four
years ago, through of an unusual series of events, I decided to renew my yoga
practice. I ironically began using my second previously published book,
Recovery Yoga, as my sole teacher and guide.
It
dramatically changed my life and forever altered my approach to understanding
the needs of injured and ill people and how to teach them. Not just from my
extensive study of anatomy and physiology and developing a reputation for
teaching them; but because I was now one of them.
No matter
how sensitive a normally healthy yoga teacher can be, there can be no
substitute for direct experience. That being said, as close as a person can
come to understanding just what a chronically ill or injured person feels and
how such a person responds to exercise, is to understand how they respond to
“stimulus.”
A
chronically ill or injured person’s nervous system is easily
“over-stimulated.” When this happens,
even the smallest amount of extra stimulation; such as a loud noise or voice,
being touched, normal work or family dynamics, normal exercise, or even a
change in the weather, can cause a person to feel so overloaded that they
literally recoil and must retreat to a quiet place or go to sleep altogether.
When over
stimulated, the last thing a chronically ill or injured person needs is trying
to do yoga. It will only cause further irritation. When a person is “firing” at
their threshold-level, the harder they try to do what they think should make
them feel better, only makes them feel worse.
I
constructed a model that shows how these mechanisms work.
Please feel free to email me, should you have any questions or comments
regarding this model.
Sam
Dworkis, MA, LMT, is author of ExTension (Simon &
Schuster 1994) and Recovery Yoga (Random House 1997). He teaches individuals
and small groups in
Teachings from
Siddhar Bhoganathar
Invite the
breath,
the outer
space,
to come
within your house.
If you are
unwavering,
placing
it there
as though
you were
putting
oil in a lamp,...
They shall
meet.
Breath and
God
becoming
one.
Like wind
becoming breath
there is
no individual intelligence.
The Great
Awareness becomes Siva.
He and
breath
merge
into one.
It is this
light becoming breath
that
redeems the soul.
Surely this
is the truth
of Siva
Yoga!
To
I have an insightful
During the first
Sometimes when I teach a private yoga class and there is a
cultural clash, we chant “Shalom” or “Amen” three times instead of
The other day when I was practicing yoga in my house, Wanda,
my big red dog, joined in howling while I was “
Rose, my four year old daughter’s comment: "That
sometimes I OM with my mommy and it makes me feel happy.”
Megan is the founder and
creator of www.YogaEverywhere.com and editor of The Living Practice.
She teaches yoga in
private homes and in corporate settings and has a community Saturday class in
Yoga is for
Better Health and Living; Each One Has Received a Gift by John C. Kimbrough
“Each one
has received a gift, use it to serve one another” – 1 Peter
The gifts
that we as human beings have are sometimes difficult for us to access and
understand. Many times, real gifts are nothing more then God given attributes
that we all possess and through life and effort, we fine-tune them or because
of lack of mindfulness and tension, anger, lust and anxiety, we weaken and lose
them. They are denied to us through our unwholesome conditioning and the
confusion that has resulted from that confusion. This is a widespread
phenomenon of the human experience, in all countries and cultures.
Each
individual shows their gifts in their daily life… by working, fulfilling their
responsibilities to friends and family, and by feeling compassionate. Their
actions and behaviors reflect their compassion to others in the community and
the world. It can be something as small as the ability to use one’s ability to
speak truthfully, to communicate in a helpful and compassionate way. For most
of us, that is the one way that we can express the gifts that we have.
Sometimes
we misunderstand how these gifts should manifest themselves, and what we will
get from them. We may think that this gift should and will bring us love,
admiration and respect. That is something that many of us need. That is, to be
thought of as being unique, special and important in some way. Sometimes we
think and feel that our gifts are unique to us, and that others do not possess
them. This is nothing more then a form of delusion and a manifestation of the
ego’s need to feel good about one self, or special and superior to others.
Tension in the body and mind influences the state of one’s consciousness also
can be a great contributor to misunderstanding our gifts.
In teaching
people about Yoga and Buddhism, and discussing with them their feelings and
fears, we try to remind students of their gifts and what they have to be thankful
for. Our common destiny, death, and the challenges that we face along the way
are remarkably similar.
Celebrate
our gifts! Along this path of life and living, there are things that we can
understand and do which bring about more wholesome results to us and others. “Each
one has received a gift, use it to serve one another” – 1 Peter
Yoga is for
Better Health and Living,
Old Bones by Amy Templeton
What is it in me
that harkens back
to a time when people said harken?
Why do I seem to inhabit
a 1930's dime store novel
(with frequent interruptions
I grant you, by Anais Nin)?
I've heard the theory of
cellular memory and had
my chakras read, but I prefer
to think my bones are reminiscing.
I am often told I have an old soul,
so perhaps I have old bones as well.
Amy
Templeton Buckley’s,. Her poetry is about community:
"A shared space: a community independent of time and place; concentric
circles which feed us back to each other". A native Kentuckian,
Buckley now divides her time between
Sciatica
Sequence by Megan McCarver
Last month,
I had great insight while suffering over two weeks with severe sciatic pain. My
dull aching nerve pain was in my left outer hip radiating up in to my left
buttocks cheek and down my outer thigh. My foot muscles, shoulders, neck and
jaw reacted by becoming very tight and rigid.
It is very
important to remember that nerve pain is very different than muscle pain. Nerve
pain is usually distinguished by dull aches or throbs, and/or tingling
sensations. Most popular nerve pain usually originates from the two big joint
areas, either the neck radiating down through the upper arm in to the fingers
or sacroiliac region radiating down through the thigh and calf in to the foot.
Sometimes the joint is pinching or the tight muscle is grasping the nerve
causing irritation and inflammation. When ignored and over stretched, the nerve
gets more irritable and pain increases. Healing duration for nerve pain is much
longer than muscle pain. Generally muscle pain is soothed with heat (hot bath
or Jacuzzi and sometimes ice if inflamed) and nerve pain is eased with cold
(ice or a bag of frozen peas).
Remember, the path to inner peace requires passing through the pain itself. Pain becomes our friend or a measurement to the degree of our suffering. Pain is the human initiation of being present and alive. When pain occurs, you must lovingly listen to your body, mindfully consider your options and change your plans according to your body’s needs and immediate requests (relief now!). Perhaps the pain is manageable and something you can surrender to, by changing your daily schedule, resting more, reducing the unflamation by icing, and exploring gentle movements. Or perhaps you should contact your local nationally certified reflexologist.
Here is the
gentle yoga sequence I used for relief. General rule of thumb, no forward bends with
sciatica pain. The first week I had to ice every night after Gary lightly massage
my left calf and foot (with sciatica, you want to lightly massage /gentle
holding the muscles surrounding the pain or ache, not directly on the pain). I
also ingested over the counter anti inflammatory medicine when needed. In addition,
the second week I had a reflexology treatment. Daily, I practiced the sciatica sequence
and listened to my body. It took about two and a half weeks to terminate the
pain and a lot of patience, self love and mercy!
- Hero Pose (Virasana)
sitting on a block
- Toe Stretch
- Virasana
- Slow Moving Pelvic Tilts
- Bent Knee Spinal Twist
- Bridge Pose
- Five minutes of conscious
breathing
- Savasana with bent Knees
Ps. Attention fellow yoga friends …If you have a sequence that works for
Sciatica, please share it with us and I will post it in July’s issue.
Music Review
by Megan McCarver
Appropriate music during your yoga practice should not
demand your attention nor should it distract you from your breath. Music to
enhance your practice should stabilize your attention and support your breath.
Here is this month’s pick for your yoga practice music collection.
Prem translates as “love”
… is an uplifting CD using sacred mantras. The pace of the CD is excellent for
asana or pranayama practice. Snatam’s
voice is as like an angel delivering worldly love through harmonious sound
current. I highly recommend it for listening, teaching and excellent for practice!
Name of CD: Prem
By: Snatam Kaur
Khalsa