Category: Yoga

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Beautiful People Healthy Food Yoga

Sharon Gannon is coming!

Who is Sharon Gannon? She is the co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga Studio and School in New York. I had been drawn to their practice in the past and have really enjoyed some of the classes taught by Jivamukti teachers. I especially enjoyed classes taught by Giselle Mari who teaches in San Francisco-Silicon Valley- Bay Area. Her cues are perfect, her playlist is joyful… but unfortunately, having developed this weird vertigo in recent years, I have been shy about going back out of fear of inversions – lately, any highly flowy or faster paced classes make my head swirl and whirl… and who needs a spinning class rather than yoga, when your head is indeed spinning enough – apparently too much fluid in my ear – triggered by air travels, high sodium diet (no more soy sauce on sushi, et al), inordinate stress. Yet for the rest of us, that is, for anyone in good health, I highly recommend her class for the pure joy, sunny positive energy, that exuberance she brings with her charisma, intelligence and kindness.

Her mentor, Sharon Gannon’s book on Vegan Cooking is hot off the press and to promote it, Sharon Gannon, herself is coming to San Francisco for a book signing engagement. While I understand that the book signing and practice on October 18th is sold out; because it’s sold out, there may be a session added on Sunday, so don’t give up hope:) What a treat:)as I have heard about her and seen her on videos but have never directly had the chance to take a class from her – figuring Giselle channels her beautifully; but I love cooking (Eating more so) and have been exploring Macrobiotics cooking from some of the finest local Japanese teachers (Fumi Arao-sensei, Fumi-sensei, Shinobeau-sensei) and Yukie Kawase-sensei, Japanese Vegan cooking from up and coming Rising Star, Ryoya-sensei, I am so ready to study her book and give her recipes a try!!! If I can’t go all out for the asana practice due to my head swhirling with dizzy spells – makes for an interesting psychedelic-ish practice – I am going to definitely give these recipes a try as soon as I get my hands on this much talked about book next Saturday:) SO exciting. What kind of non-vegan gets so excited about a vegan cook book? An aspiring or just an admiring one iThink.

sharonshrink

Categories
Healthy Activities Healthy Living Yoga

Playing with words…synonyms, antonyms…images come alive:

Movement vs. Stillness
Vibration, gyration, fluctuations, oscillation vs. calmness
Dynamic vs. Static
Surge, Swell, Waves vs. Ripples
Pouring, soaking vs. dripping… oozing…
Jumping, skipping, Stopping vs. Flowing
Splitting, pounding, stabbing, splintering, separating into parts vs. combining, folding, melding, merging into wholeness
Agitation vs Peace
Shaking, tremors, rolling, swaying vs. centering, grounding, settling…
Hardness, Toughness, tightness vs. Softness, tenderness…
Resilient vs. Delicate and Mellow…or the ideal would be resilient ANDdelicate and mellow probably…
Roughness rockiness vs. Smoothness…

Sharp vs. …. soft, cuddly, squishy…
Solid, firm & steady vs. Flexible, Fluid and …Foolish? no, no, Flowing:)

Which will you choose? No, no, that is the wrong question. It’s not about making a choice – its about striking a balance.

… Going from one extreme to the other? Or stuck in the extreme? Find the equilibrium, the balance of all the forces that whirls around you.

We are programmed to go into heightened “Flight & Fright” mode instantly – it’s a matter of seconds when we respond and that electric responsiveness, while meant to be a lifesaver in the pre-historic times may not be as beneficial when it leads to chronic stress, chronic tension, chronic fatigue, heart disease, anxieties and that general feeling of … un-wellness. We are wired to respond with alarm at a speed of light as our defensive mechanism is instinctive. After all, its developed since the primitive caveman’s time to protect ourselves from predators and other possible disasters where, without our alertness and quick responsiveness, we would have perished. We are the survivors – just the fact that we are here today, we are the by-products of chosen strains of DNAs after repeated tests of survival of the fittest…so we are already experts at sympathetic nerve system aiding us in times of crisis…or not.

On the other hand, to truly feel relaxed and comfortable … to feel fully safe, we normally take upwards of 20 minutes (or more for some Vatta and Pitta personalities) or so. Such “rest and digest” mode is needed for our body to nourish all its cells, repair some of its cells, renew all its cells so that we can once again be who we are – luminous light, our true nature to warm our heart and soul. Physiological part, we learned from Roger Cole, PhD. To get to para-sympathetic nervous system dominance, today, that usually means that we are getting our nervous system into balance as there’s a general deficit on the para-sympathetic nervous system. Most of the time, we have a tendency to dip more into the sympathetic nervous system dominance – that’s our modern life style with the constant barrage of stimuli coming at you. It’s hard not to respond, especially given the fine sensitively we have developed to hear, feel and heed our body.

It is interesting to note though, that harder the exterior shell, softer the interior flesh… and that exterior shell, that skin of our’s is also … an organ. The largest organ … all its pores opening and closing… breathing rhythmically. The rise and the fall…

May we feel the Source.

May we feel the Light.

May we feel GOOD.

May we find joy, ease and comfort. Namaste.

Categories
Beautiful People Beautiful Places Beautiful Rituals Yoga

Recalling the majestic … Mt. Shasta…
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My apologies. I said tomorrow night is New Moon at tonight’s class. Like one of those people with a jet lag, I was a bit off – New Moon evening is TONIGHT (or more like tomorrow morning) not tomorrow night! I was looking at my Japanese lunar calendar but realizing now that Japan’s time zone is almost a day ahead (i.e., 18 hours to be exact) so it’s tonight. No worries though, even if you set your intention tomorrow night, I learned that it’s better within 24 hours AFTER rather than before – doing something like setting an intention before its time is apparently too desperate. It is the law of Universe that if you chase too much, if are too needy and grasping and attached to the idea of getting and possessing, you will not catch “it”, hold “it” or realize “it”.

Key words for New Moon is … seeds, detox, fresh new start, ending and a beginning, a new beginning in the cycle, intuition.

Great time to review a Bija mantra – or what’s known as seed mantras.

First of all for some of us – What is a Mantra anyway? A sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered “transformative”. The Sanskrit word mantra consists of the root ‘man’- “to think” (also in manas “mind”) and the suffix, ‘tra’ meaning “instruments” or “tools” … So a literal translation would be “instrument of thought” encapsulated into a phonetic phrase or sounds.

Then, what is “Bija” Mantra? Bija means seed. A seed is the origin of life where growth is founded on. “The Bija mantras are one-syllable seed sounds that, when said aloud, activate the energy of growth in the chakras. That sound travels to purify the mind & body. When bija mantras are used, you resonate with the energy of the associated chakra that Bija strums. Bija mantra, strikes a chord of that specific chakra region.

What is a chakra? In Sanskrit, chakra translates into “wheel”. These “wheels” can be thought of as vortexes that both receive & radiate energy. There are 7 major energy centers (aka chakras) in the human body. They run from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. Mind and body balance & mental clarity is determined by how open or unobstructed chakras are to let the flow of prana travel, filtering the energy, nourishing the body and mind – prana flow. Just like “energy” cannot be seen, chakras cannot be seen – its in the astral body energy flows (or the case may be, stagnates or dissipates).

In traditional Hatha Yoga, the 7 bija mantras associated with the chakras are:

“LAM”- chakra 1 (root)
“VAM”- chakra 2 (sacral/navel)
“RAM”- chakra 3 (solar plexus)
“YAM”- chakra 4 (heart)
“HAM”- chakra 5 (throat)
“U” (as in “U”ber) chakra 6 (third eye/brow)
“OM”- chakra 7 (crown)

Chanting or recitation of the bija mantra associated with each energy storehouse can allow you to detox the built up impurities that may be blocking the clear flow of prana. There are methods in chakra cleansing which greatly improves your meditation practice. Combining body scan, visualizing the kundalini rising up the spine, stopping at each chakra… reciting bija mantras… is an exquisite cleansing practice when we are in the darkness of a New Moon. Start the practice with intention setting. Try it – or we can try in our class as done of group, energy felt is…something else.

Happy New Moon… May all your intentions, allow you to sow the seeds of hope and affirmations. All it takes for the seeds to grow and sprout is… FAITH:)