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Up the Joy

Learned some tension releasing exercises called TRE – which reaffirmed my belief that it’s all … yoga; but of a different kind. I tend to have the typical stiff tight shoulders and neck area and never thought of gut area to be contracted so much but … it made sense. Seeing is believing when you see the tremors and shakes as though it’s acted out – there’s so much we hold inside ourselves in an effort to control and manage everything by juggling what amounts to non-essentials. Other than caring for the essentials, everything else is a circus act.

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The human species is a living paradox. We have a biological imperative to let go of tension and an egotistical refusal to do so. Because most stress, anxiety, trauma and tension recovery has relied very heavily on psychology and ego centered interventions, they are sometimes only moderately effective.

Science is now searching for a new paradigm for stress and tension recovery that can address multi-cultural and national levels of tension, anxiety stress and PTSD. Cross-studies of multiple fields of science such as neuro-biology are discovering that this new paradigm for healing can be found right within the recesses of the human body itself.

Just as the human organism is designed to experience and endure difficult episodes, it is also designed to recover from these experiences. The body contains all the anatomical and physiological mechanisms necessary to restore itself to optimal health after the stress or danger has passed. In fact, recovering from tension is genetically encoded in us to complete our process and begin something new as a part of our unending cycle of evolution. Stress and trauma recovery is moving towards physiological interventions that capitalize on the human biological compulsion to resolve tension while simultaneously circumventing the ego’s fear of the recovery process.

– David Berceli, Ph.D.

We are complex:) Appreciating the complicity while finding the solution to be rather simple. We can shake it off:) Literally. So much stored in the psoas muscles and the rest as we internalize so much. Who knew? A gut feeling was always there though… no?

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Healthy Living Yoga

IMG_0029_smallBronze statues of Terry Fox – “The Marathon of Hope raised $24 million for cancer research in 1980 yet Terry was penniless, yet he was rich with the knowledge that he’d tried his very best, that he had run until he could run no more,” said his father.
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IMG_0016_small A little boy at the leg of this Canadian hero who died of cancer at age 22.

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Beautiful Rituals Yoga

Yoga for Grief Relief

Some may say yoga for the broken-hearted but … it’s not broken. It’s resilient and strong – just ignored or neglected.

Here’s an article that might resonate with some of us this season. It can be about any kind of loss – not necessarily loss of life itself, one might be grieving over. Some people may be so afraid of loss – any kind of loss – that they really have a “grip” and clinging on but sometimes more you tighten the grip, the more what is precious seem to slip through. What is there to be afraid of? Loss of faith, confidence, gasp … control. I suppose the list goes on …Loss of passion in a relationship? Loss of friendship? Loss of all that you possess materially? What if you had … nothing? Is that dreadful? Think – Grace, Peace and Harmony. It’s okay – not everything you have to hold onto, “fight” for; there is no need to slash about, slaying dragons, battling to hold onto all – maybe it’s meant to be that there’s an “end”. That it be lost. There’s no renewal and rebirth, no evolution, sometimes without emptying of what’s had its fill. What needs to change. It’s a cliche these days but we just have to let go. Breathe out the stale and let in the freshness. Feel light; simplify and possess less. Relinquish … control and feel the freedom.

Accumulate less, blow the dust off, de-clutter…just have less… junk, in order that we may discover the subtle power that lays dormant within, feel the real wealth that we each possess.

Reclaim vibrancy and brightness, freedom and … lightness through yoga …

Try the mudra – sure way to regain what’s lost:) Helpful to be a guitar player …

Sa – Index finger to thumb – for cultivating Wisdom and Knowledge
Ta – Middle finger to thumb – for greater Patience
Na – Ring finger to thumb – for restoration of Health and Energy
Ma – Little finger to thumb – for inviting Intuitive Communication

Sat Nam = “Truth is my Name” as I see the divinity, the light, the essence in you. As Judith says, we are merely a conduit or at times a mirror of those we interact with.

By the way, having experienced Gurmukh at Wanderlust, Lake Tahoe and at her home studio, Golden Bridge, in Santa Monica, I came to appreciate this unique practice too – I love kundalini yoga. Why do we have to pick one style? It’s ALL GOOD. Incorporate little gems for that precious moment. That moment when you feel that “prana” zip through you:) Awake without coffee:) Besides, I prefer matcha anyway…