It's been a tough couple of months for me. For those who I see regularly, they know I've really been suffering with chronic stuffiness which has progressed to maybe 5% airflow over the past month. The result is extreme fatigue, inflammation, bloating, facial pain, loss of smell, taste and I recently realized, loss of some hearing not to mention low motivation and maybe a bit sad sometimes; All because I can't breathe and in a state of dis-ease. The Medical Route: From Disease to Wellness - or so you think. This situation is ongoing since childhood. I know the ENT all too well, have had more than one surgery and thus far, the medical field has not provided or offered permanent solutions. If I go to my doctor now, I will get the pharmaceutical that I know works for me, I will get the immediate gratification of feeling better but I'm tired of taking a pill every day and I don't want to be on medicine forever, I want a solution! With that said, I am so thankful to pharma research and doctors because that option does work. This year I've incorporated Ayurveda which definitely had a positive impact on my body and most recently I've tried homeopathy which gave minor relief but just isn't strong enough. I ordered some stronger products plus some Chinese herbs and hoping, just hoping I figure this out and find freedom. As a yogi, I am intuitive to my body's needs but sadly sometimes I ignore them for impermanent gratification (food, drink, etc.) but my practice is helping me to rid myself of poor habits. When I started yoga, I couldn't stand on one foot because my balance was so bad. I set balance as the intention for at least the first year of my practice and what I found was my life was out of balance. Three years later, I can more easily stand on one foot but still practicing, can see physical imbalances when I look at my body in pictures but accept where I am today, and while my life is much more balanced, I still struggle. My journey is to find a permanent state of health, free of dis-ease, through being on my mat...especially when I don't want to. As Ricky Tran says: The times you least feel like practicing are the times you need it most. That has never been truer than now. Do you know how hard it is to practice (for those of you who don't do yoga think about running while holding your breath) when you can't breathe? Ughhh, it's hard!!! I'm on a wellness journey and sharing to let others know they are not alone in their daily struggles. Everyone is facing something so please remember that the next time someone frustrates you and show compassion to their struggle and maybe even help. Please share this post. "Peace out and Practice On" ~Tina #fitover40tina
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Belly fat, that’s all we really care about these days isn’t it? Well, mainstream society sure does feed us enough marketing for ways to lose weight quick and you will be happy to know that yoga is one of the quickest and safest ways to lean out the body. If you are interested in yoga for physical reasons, you are among millions of people who have found yoga in the same way but there is more “benefit” than meets the eyes that will keep you consistently coming back for more.
From the moment you step into our studio, your body actually begins to transform and shift into a healthier state. How? Good, good, good, good vibrations! My students tell me they can feel the positive energy. This energy calms their nervous system and aids healing before they even move. Current peer reviewed medical journals have published clinical studies proving yoga decreases stress leading to measurable improvements in health markers such as blood pressure, body inflammation, cell aging, body pain, body function, and heart rate to name a few. My mission as it has been taught to me by my teachers is to provide students with a sanctuary for healing, transformation and awakening. This is the difference you will find practicing with us. Yoga (union) is not just flexibility and strength, which you will improve, but something more that is felt immediately and developed over time. Flexibility and strength are byproducts of yoga not the yoga itself. A great quote from Ashtanga founder Sri K Pattabhi Jois is “Body not stiff, mind stiff”. People work so hard to improve themselves often failing because of will power or any number of reasons and get into a cycle of perpetual fight with the Self. Yogis experience change differently by allowing things to come or leave organically which happens through their practice. “Practice and all is coming” as Sri K Pattabhi Jois used to say. Yogis have learned that fighting with The Self is futile because the mind by nature is rebellious. We use the breath to distract the mind thereby creating space between thoughts or more simply stated, creating moments of emptiness in the mind. The Yoga Sutras state “yogascittavrittinirodha” = “yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind”. Have you ever experienced a time in your life when you are not thinking, talking to or answering yourself? If you observe yourself closely, you will notice, your brain is constantly stimulated even when sleeping. It’s time to find peace of mind and you can do that through a consistent yoga practice with a quality instructor. The benefits of finding that peace are innumerable. Yes, your yoga practice will cultivate a healthier body but you will also gain peace of mind, oneness with Self, improved concentration, better sleep, improved relationships, glowing skin, but it’s the lightness of heart that is my addiction. Please first seek the advice of a licensed physican to see if yoga is right for you. TinaLorenYoga.com Ohio State University Research News: KEY TAKE-AWAYS: This LARGEST known randomized controlled trial that included biological measures targeting Breast Cancer Survivors, however a huge take-away is that the researchers believe the results can benefit other groups who suffer from fatigue and inflammation...these days, that's just about everyone in the world due to increased stress. Researchers encouraged participants to practice at home and a secondary analysis showed that more frequent yoga practice produced larger changes in fatigue vitality and depressive symptoms as well as between an average 4 to 6 percent reduction in two of the three pro-inflammatory cytokines. The yoga group also reported significantly improved sleep compared to the control group. “Yoga has many parts to it – meditation, breathing, stretching and strengthening. We think the breathing and meditation components were really important in terms of some of the changes we were seeing,” Kiecolt-Glaser said. So what are you waiting for....get started TODAY.
Why Meditate?
Learning to meditate has changed my life in ways one can only experience. The first level of meditation I experienced was moving meditation through asana (postures) yoga which is what is most popular in the West. Simultaneously, I learned pranayama (breathing), mantra (mental phrase repetition) and chanting (mantra singing). Meditation has helped me see who I am and has made me kinder (to myself). It is a powerful healing tool. Meditation takes us from activity into silence, giving our body a very deep level of rest. Rest is how the body heals itself, which it does by throwing off the stress, fatigue, and toxins accumulated during our daily life. The silence of pure awareness is extremely refreshing to the mind, which finds it increasingly easy not to cling to old thought-patterns; rigid habits of thinking and feeling begin to fall away of their own accord. When this happens, the mind is actually learning to heal itself. The physical and emotional health benefits of meditation include stress reduction, better sleep, lower blood pressure, decreased depression and anxiety, improved cardiovascular function, and strengthened immunity. Perhaps even more exciting, a growing body of studies is finding that when people meditate on a regular basis, they influence the activity of their genes, helping to "turn on" the good genes and "turn off" the bad ones. Beyond these significant health benefits, the greatest gift of meditation is the sense of calm and inner peace it brings into our daily life. When we meditate, we go beyond the mind's noisy chatter into an entirely different place: the silence of a mind that is not imprisoned by the past or the future. Meditation brings us home to the peace of present moment awareness. How Does Meditation Work? We are all engaged in a continuous internal dialogue in which the meaning and emotional associations of one thought trigger the next, usually without our being consciously aware of the process. Yoga philosophy describes this process as samskara, which can be seen as grooves in the mind that makes flow thoughts in the same direction. Our personal samskaras are created from the memories of our past and can force us to react in the same limited way over and over again. Most people build up an identity on the basis of samskaras without even realizing they are doing this. In meditation we disrupt the unconscious repetition of thoughts and emotions by focusing on a new object of attention. Meditation is one of the best ways to loosen the grip of sticky emotions and connect to our true self, which isn't limited, angry, or fearful, but is infinite, pure consciousness. It gives us a direct experience of our Spirit and in the process dissolves the impurities which are preventing Spirit from shining forth in our lives. Adapted from personal experience and The Chopra Center |
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