NAMASTE

NAMASTE
mother nature is beauty

Yoga Journal Pose of the Day

Rodney Yee's Daily Yoga Pose

Monday, March 22, 2010

The Eight Limbs



In Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, the eightfold path is called ashtanga, which literally means "eight limbs" (ashta=eight, anga=limb). These eight steps basically act as guidelines on how to live a meaningful and purposeful life. They serve as a prescription for moral and ethical conduct and self-discipline; they direct attention toward one's health; and they help us to acknowledge the spiritual aspects of our nature.


Yama

The first limb, yama, deals with one's ethical standards and sense of integrity, focusing on our behavior and how we conduct ourselves in life. Yamas are universal practices that relate best to what we know as the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The five yamas are:


Ahimsa: nonviolence


Satya: truthfulness


Asteya: nonstealing


Brahmacharya: continence


Aparigraha: noncovetousness


Niyama
Niyama, the second limb, has to do with self-discipline and spiritual observances. Regularly attending temple or church services, saying grace before meals, developing your own personal meditation practices, or making a habit of taking contemplative walks alone are all examples of niyamas in practice.


The five niyamas are:



Saucha: cleanliness


Samtosa: contentment


Tapas: heat; spiritual austerities


Svadhyaya: study of the sacred scriptures and of one's self


Isvara pranidhana: surrender to God


Asana.

Asanas, the postures practiced in yoga, comprise the third limb. In the yogic view, the body is a temple of spirit, the care of which is an important stage of our spiritual growth. Through the practice of asanas, we develop the habit of discipline and the ability to concentrate, both of which are necessary for meditation.


Pranayama

Generally translated as breath control, this fourth stage consists of techniques designed to gain mastery over the respiratory process while recognizing the connection between the breath, the mind, and the emotions. As implied by the literal translation of pranayama, "life force extension," yogis believe that it not only rejuvenates the body but actually extends life itself. You can practice pranayama as an isolated technique (i.e., simply sitting and performing a number of breathing exercises), or integrate it into your daily hatha yoga routine.


These first four stages of Patanjali's ashtanga yoga concentrate on refining our personalities, gaining mastery over the body, and developing an energetic awareness of ourselves, all of which prepares us for the second half of this journey, which deals with the senses, the mind, and attaining a higher state of consciousness.


Pratyahara

Pratyahara, the fifth limb, means withdrawal or sensory transcendence. It is during this stage that we make the conscious effort to draw our awareness away from the external world and outside stimuli. Keenly aware of, yet cultivating a detachment from, our senses, we direct our attention internally. The practice of pratyahara provides us with an opportunity to step back and take a look at ourselves. This withdrawal allows us to objectively observe our cravings: habits that are perhaps detrimental to our health and which likely interfere with our inner growth.


Dharana

As each stage prepares us for the next, the practice of pratyahara creates the setting for dharana, or concentration. Having relieved ourselves of outside distractions, we can now deal with the distractions of the mind itself. No easy task! In the practice of concentration, which precedes meditation, we learn how to slow down the thinking process by concentrating on a single mental object: a specific energetic center in the body, an image of a deity, or the silent repetition of a sound. We, of course, have already begun to develop our powers of concentration in the previous three stages of posture, breath control, and withdrawal of the senses. In asana and pranayama, although we pay attention to our actions, our attention travels. Our focus constantly shifts as we fine-tune the many nuances of any particular posture or breathing technique. In pratyahara we become self-observant; now, in dharana, we focus our attention on a single point. Extended periods of concentration naturally lead to meditation.


Dhyana

Meditation or contemplation, the seventh stage of ashtanga, is the uninterrupted flow of concentration. Although concentration (dharana) and meditation (dhyana) may appear to be one and the same, a fine line of distinction exists between these two stages. Where dharana practices one-pointed attention, dhyana is ultimately a state of being keenly aware without focus. At this stage, the mind has been quieted, and in the stillness it produces few or no thoughts at all. The strength and stamina it takes to reach this state of stillness is quite impressive. But don't give up. While this may seem a difficult if not impossible task, remember that yoga is a process. Even though we may not attain the "picture perfect" pose, or the ideal state of consciousness, we benefit at every stage of our progress.


Samadhi

Patanjali describes this eighth and final stage of ashtanga as a state of ecstasy. At this stage, the meditator merges with his or her point of focus and transcends the Self altogether. The meditator comes to realize a profound connection to the Divine, an interconnectedness with all living things. With this realization comes the "peace that passeth all understanding"; the experience of bliss and being at one with the Universe. On the surface, this may seem to be a rather lofty, "holier than thou" kind of goal. However, if we pause to examine what we really want to get out of life, would not joy, fulfillment, and freedom somehow find their way onto our list of hopes, wishes, and desires? What Patanjali has described as the completion of the yogic path is what, deep down, all human beings aspire to: peace. We also might give some thought to the fact that this ultimate stage of yoga—enlightenment—can neither be bought nor possessed. It can only be experienced, the price of which is the continual devotion of the aspirant.


by Mara Carrico


information from Yoga Journal


Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Sound of Om

Om--the ancient sacred syllable--may be the only mantra you'll ever need.

By Richard Rosen

Mantras, sacred chants, come in all shapes and sizes. They can be composed of sentences, single words, or even single syllables; they can be perfectly intelligible or completely mystifying (at least to the uninitiated).

Single-syllable mantras, known as bija (seed) mantras, are the easiest to remember and recite; they're also the most powerful. It's believed that, just as a tiny seed contains a majestic tree, each bija contains vast amounts of spiritual wisdom and creative force. One of the oldest and most widely known of these seeds is om.

Om is frequently called the pranava, literally "humming," a word that derives from pranu, "to reverberate," and ultimately from the root nu, "to praise or command" but also "to sound or shout." It is the audible expression of the transcendental, attributeless ground of reality.

Om is the "primordial seed" of the universe--this whole world, says one ancient text, "is nothing but om." It is also considered to be the root mantra from which all other mantras emerge and to encapsulate the essence of the many thousands of verses of Hinduism's holiest texts, the Vedas. According to the Katha Upanishad (2.15), om is the "word which all the Vedas rehearse."

As such, om is the meditative seed par excellence. Patanjali--who wrote the Yoga Sutra and is considered to be the father of classical yoga--taught that when we chant this sacred syllable and simultaneously contemplate the meaning of it, our consciousness becomes "one-pointed: and prepared for meditation. In a commentary on the Yoga Sutra, the ancient sage Vyasa noted that through chanting om, "the supreme soul is revealed." In a similar vein, Tibetan scholar Lama Govinda wrote that om expresses and leads to the "experience of the infinite within us." Thus, chanting om may be the easiest way to touch the Divine within your very self.

Yogis often meditate on the four "measures," or parts, of om. Though commonly spelled om, the mantra actually consists of three letters, a, u, and m. (In Sanskrit, whenever an initial a is followed by a u, they coalesce into a long o sound.) Each of these three parts has numerous metaphysical associations, which themselves serve as meditative seeds. For example, a (pronounced "ah") represents our waking state, which is also the subjective consciousness of the outer world; u (pronounced "ooh") is the dreaming state, or the consciousness of our inner world of thoughts, dreams, memories, and so on; and m is the dreamless state of deep sleep and the experience of ultimate unity.

By contemplating the meaning of each of these letters as we chant them, we are led through the three states of our ordinary consciousness to the mantra's fourth part, the anusvara (after-sound): om. The vibration slowly dissolves into silence, symbolic of the transcendent state of consciousness, equated with Brahman (the Absolute). This silence is the crown of the mantra; it is described in the Maitri Upanishad as "tranquil, soundless, fearless, sorrowless, blissful, satisfied, steadfast, immovable, immortal, unshaken, enduring."

Richard Rosen teaches in Oakland and Berkeley, California

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Sun Salutations





Surya Namaskara = salute to the sun



This sequence of movements and poses can be practiced on many different levels.



1. Mountain Pose or Prayer Pose (Tadasana) exhale

2. raised arms pose (Urdhva Hastasana) with back bend inhale

3. Standing Forward Bend (Utanasana) to Flat Back exhale

4. Lunge (aekpaadprasarnaasana) inhale

5. Plank pose exhale

6. Salute to the Eight Limbs pose (Ashtanga Namaskara or Chaturanga Dandasana) or stick

7. Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana) or Upward Facing Dog (Urdhva Muhka Svanasana) inhale

8. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) exhale

9. Lunge inhale

10. Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana) exhale

11. raised arms pose with back bend inhale

12. Mountain or Prayer Pose exhale


There are several variations of the sun salutations. Depending on when you are doing it, and how advanced you are, and how much time you want to spend.
The idea is to flow from pose to pose in a continuous motion, using your breath for each change of pose.

You can add or subtract various poses into the salutation, as you like. You can also chant mantras while performing these asanas, if you choose. You can affiliate them with the chakras as you focus on each pose.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Stop sitting still !


Wiggle, Squirm, Stretch and Reach.



What you are taught to do, what you are paid to do and what you were designed to do, have very little in common.

When you were three years old you ran, bouncing up and down with arms and legs flailing. Movement is joyous to a small child. Around age six you were admonished repeatedly to sit still, stop squirming, sit up straight and behave like a little grownup.

Your parents trained you to be accepted in any social venue, to be the social and professional equal of anyone regardless of class so you learned manners. Being "polite" doesn't encourage
stretching, skipping or waving your arms about.

Your company hired you to keep your nose to the grindstone and your butt in the chair for eight hours with only a couple of pee-breaks and a short lunch. Unless you have a job as a telephone lineman, a mail-delivery person or a basketball coach, you don't stray far from your assigned seat. Your supervisor wants his or her department to shine and will replace you in the blink of an eye if you don't march in lock-step to the corporate drum de-dum dum.

Mother Nature, on the other hand, had only one thing in mind . . YOUR SURVIVAL! The basic blueprint for your body and your mind includes fairly constant MOVEMENT.

Mother Nature spent tens of thousands of years designing a human body and mind that either moves or sleeps. You are designed to endure for a very long time and be productive until you cease to exist. In our hunter/gatherer history (which is most of the timeline for our species) every person had to keep up and share in the workload and therefore humans evolved to do just that.

In a thousand years we will perhaps evolve into creatures with reeeeeally skinny fingers that work digital keyboards more easily, large buttocks to pad our vulnerable sciatic nerves when we sit for days and our eyes will be closer together for better screen focus. We probably won't need peripheral vision by then anyway. But as of today, WE ARE NOT DESIGNED TO SIT IN A CHAIR. . . . NOT EVEN AN ERGONOMICALLY CORRECT ONE!

The human blueprint has evolved as the result of tens of thousands of years as hunter/gatherer. You could say that we are stuck in a challenging transition with a beautifully designed hunter's body that hasn't had time to adjust to our life in a corporate "cage." Your body is "making do" and it pays a very high price for this new lifestyle. As if that weren't enough of a burden, we are living almost twice as long as our predecessors. A small mistake (like sitting in a chair) takes a very big toll when you repeat it thousands of times over 80 years!

Since it is unlikely that you will decide to return to your hunter/gatherer or agrarian roots, the challenge becomes: HOW CAN YOU THRIVE IN CIRCUMSTANCES THAT ARE DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE WAY YOU WERE DESIGNED TO FUNCTION? We could explore this dilemma for at least 100 pages but for now let's try to distill the problem down to a few easy suggestions.

Moving big CORE MUSCLES for a couple minutes every hour will move along your blood and lymph fluid effectively even though you are stuck at your desk or airline seat. Relatively tiny muscles are not up to the task (like wiggling toes and circling ankles).

Core muscles are the big THIGH MUSCLES, BUTTOCKS, ABS and DIAPHRAGM (the floor of your lungs). Alternating sides while remaining in your seat, raise one KNEE at a time as if you are marching in place. Each foot will leave the floor a couple inches. Keep your upper body straight and still. Then tighten your BUTTOCKS, alternating sides, as if you are marching with your bottom. Then, as you exhale, draw in your BELLY BUTTON as if it can touch the back of your chair. Relax as you inhale. Then press your SHOULDER BLADES into the chair back. Of course, KEEP YOUR BREATHING SMOOTH AND EVEN DURING ALL EXERCISES! Next, blow out all your stale air and BREATHE in evenly through your nose.

Unfortunately you will do these exercises ONCE after you read them. Then, in spite of good intentions, you will be so engrossed in your work that you will forget in spite of the fact that you feel much better after you do them. Me too. Use your computer, your watch or your iPhone to SET AN ALARM FOR ONCE AN HOUR. The quick and easy exercises are guaranteed to give you more energy, to refresh your mind as well as your body. This is good for you AND your boss.




written by Diane Neuman


information from http://www.selfgrowth.com/

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Violet-Flame Meditation




Use the Violet-Flame meditation as a powerful tool to release negative karma, raise your vibration and consciousness.


The violet flame is a powerful tool anyone can use in meditation. It helps release negative karma, raise your consciousness awareness, the frequency of your vibration, and accelerate your spiritual growth. Energy can’t be erased but it can be changed, transmuting negative into positive, darkness into light. This allows you to make the choices you feel negatively about become positive, while also changing your emotional experience. Physically, the violet flame releases emotions and energy pent up within that make you vulnerable to illness and disease.

The violet flame in meditation uses a combination of affirming thoughts and visualization. Once centered, begin by surrounding yourself with white-and-blue protective energy. You may even want to call on archangel Michael for his protection while you go into this powerful spiritual state. Then repeat thoughts such as “I am cleansed and purified by the violet flame.” Picture a huge bonfire before you, its immensity making you feel small beside it, and marvel as the colors flicker between purple, violet, and bright pink. Sense its warmth while noticing that it will not burn you. Step into the flame, letting it surround you entirely while also filling the spaces in your body, your thoughts, even the cells and molecules within you. Once there, focus on the positive things you’d like to create in your life or your hopes for others. Visualize the violet flame in the midst of the scenes as they unfold in your mind. You may want to ask that the power of the flame be multiplied to assist those in need.

When you have finished your meditation, be sure to close with gratitude. The violet flame is a powerful tool that should be used consciously and with intent. Forgetting to close with thanks keeps you connected and may lead to the unintentional misuse of this energy. It is always a good idea when finished with any spiritual practice to give thanks as this creates closure. Saints and adepts throughout the ages have known how to use the violet flame, but it is available for all to use to raise our awareness and, eventually, that of all mankind.





information from www.dailyom.com

CORE of Support

When your core is strong, you'll feel easier in your poses and more capable in your life.

By Andrea Ferretti

This sequence by Harvey Deutch and Sarana Miller, a student of Ana Forrest, taps into your core, the literal and symbolic center of power. But this isn't a "Get a six-pack in six weeks" deal. Instead of focusing on the rectus abdominus (the six-pack), you'll work the deeper layers of the abdominal area, such as the transversus abdominus.

Switching from the six-pack to the deeper layers takes subtle awareness, so be patient even if you can't access the muscles right away. (When all else fails, try laughing, says Miller, since you use the transversus to laugh or cough.)

It's important to persevere, but don't work to exhaustion or you'll end up using your lower back and hip flexors. Plan on doing just a few repetitions each day, and your body will respond quickly. The result of all your hard work? A stronger core, more ease in your poses, and a more powerful you.

Before you begin

Mula Bandha (Root Lock)
Engaging Mula Bandha, or the perineum, contains your energy and strengthens the pelvic floor. Sitting in Virasana, roll your sitting bones back and engage Ashvini Mudra (the anal sphincter muscles). Bring your pelvis back to neutral. Now try to feel the perineum, the area right in front of the anus. Engage Mula Bandha by lifting the perineum (the action is very similar to Kegels). Do 30 lifts 3 times, breathing naturally.

Finding Your TA
The transversus abdominus (TA) is the deepest of the four layers of abdominal muscles. It runs from your lower ribs to your pubis and acts like a girdle, wrapping around your body. Lie back with your feet on the floor. Place your first two fingers on your frontal hipbones and move them an inch toward your navel. Exhale and engage the TA by drawing your belly back toward the ground. Take5 breaths, keeping it engaged.

Please click on the images below to see them in more detail

1. Happy Baby Pose, variation

Lie on your back, engage your TA, and reach your arms up. Lift your legs off the floor, with your knees over your hips and your shins parallel to the floor. Keep your TA drawing in as you move your arms and legs back and forth a few inches, like a baby reaching up to play with a mobile. Continue for 30 seconds and then rest. Repeat 3 to 5 times.

2. Toe Taps

With your TA engaged, breathe normally as you slowly tap your right toe to the ground and return to neutral. Do the same with the left foot. Repeat 4 times. A sore lower back or hip flexors means you're relying on them instead of your TA to do the work. Reduce the number of repetitions and try it again tomorrow.


3. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose)

Bring both feet to the floor. Place a block between your thighs. Reach your tailbone toward your heels and lift your hips into Bridge Pose. This doesn't have to be your highest version of Bridge; focus on keeping the TA engaged. Stay for 3 to 5 breaths. Repeat 2 to 5 times.


4. Dolphin Pose

Come onto your hands and knees. Place your elbows under your shoulders and press your palms together firmly. Come into Dolphin, feeling the abdominal area hollow out and the perineum lift. Stay for 5 to 10 breaths.


5. Dolphin Plank Pose

Walk your feet back until your body is parallel to the floor. Keep pressing your hands together and hug your inner legs toward the midline. Hold for at least 3 full breaths, using your TA for stability.


6. Salabhasana (Locust Pose)

Lie on your belly and bring your arms to your sides, palms facing up. Draw your lower belly toward your spine and lengthen your tailbone toward your heels to engage your TA. Lift your chest off the floor, drawing your heart forward and spreading your collarbones wide. Now lift your legs off the floor. Keep your neck completely relaxed. Stay for 5 breaths.


7. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose)

Come into Downward Dog. To feel Mula Bandha and the transversus, roll your sitting bones toward the ceiling. Then draw your tailbone toward your heels and hug your thighs as if you're holding a block between them. Exhale, then draw your lower belly toward your spine. Stay for 5 breaths.


8. Low Lunge

Step your right foot forward between your hands into a low lunge. Bring your hips over your back knee. Press the top of your back foot into the ground and tuck your tailbone. Place your right hand on a block and reach your left arm up. Bend to the right to create a stretch in the left side of the belly. When you're ready, inhale back to center, then step back to Downward Dog. Repeat on the other side.


9. Adho Mukha Vrksasana preparation (Handstand preparation)

Stand in Tadasana with your back to a wall. Place your feet a few inches from the wall and hug a block between your thighs. To feel Mula Bandha, roll your pelvis forward and take your thighs back. Then draw your tailbone toward your heels and squeeze the block. Bring the lower ribs toward your spine as you reach your arms up, palms facing the ceiling. Come onto your tiptoes, using the wall for support.


10. Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand)

Now it's time to put it all together-upside down. Place your hands a few inches from the wall. Come into Downward Dog. Inhale as you kick up. Use your core muscles to help you reach your heels higher up the wall. Stay for 5 to 10 breaths, then come into a forward bend.



information from http://www.yogajournal.com/

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

3rd eye meditation


Imagine what your life would have been like if you had kept your eyelids shut for your entire lifetime. Your eyes would have worked perfectly and yet your sense of vision would have gone to waste. Similarly, not using your 3rd eye is keeping you in the dark in relation to enjoying the wonders and wisdom of your sense of mystic sight.

Every one of us had our 3rd eye fully open when we were babies. We were effortlessly able to witness the glory of the universe from its subatomic nature to its multi-galactic infiniteness. Through conditioning by our parents, teachers, and peers, we started a process of covering our 3rd eye with layer after layer of illusion. As an example, let's imagine that at one month of age we were laying in our crib looking at the paisley patterned dance of energy that life is. Our mommy stuck a stuffed doll in front of our face and said, "Look at the piggy, look at the piggy." We then started the process of recognizing that particular shape and associating it with the label "pig". We also might have been introduced to the concepts of color, texture, size, and other things. "Baby, look at how pink and fuzzy the nice little piggy doll is." And this began our habit of replacing direct perception of reality with a perceiving, labeling, reacting physically, emotionally, and mentally process. And we went further and further away from an unfiltered pure experience of living life as it takes place. As we aged, we also added a thought analyzing method of judging, comparing, and commenting on every thing our senses brought our attention to, and we got less and less in touch with Now.

The result of this process is similar to putting shutters on a window. No light comes through and those within can only imagine what is on the other side of the shutters. Unfortunately, this really leaves us in the dark about what is real and what life is really about. Just as you can't adequately describe an orange to anyone who has never seen the color orange, or has not tasted one, you cannot understand what a 3rd eye vision is like from reading about it, or hearing it described by someone who has them. You will have to experience it first hand. So, the experience of divine perception, astral sight, aura awareness, mystic vision, or whatever other esoteric label you put on it, will remain only a theory until a way is found to actually open the 3rd eye.

Every time you sit in meditation and do the 3rd eye technique, you remove one of the shutters covering your inner window of wisdom. It is often compared to peeling away layers of skin from an onion. This continues until there is nothing left. And in this No-thing, there is everything. And we return to the pure direct perception of the glory and wonders of the universe we beheld as a baby. But now, we have the understanding that only comes with maturity.

The 3rd Eye Meditation Technique

To begin, place yourself in the place and position that you have found to be most advantageous to meditation. Relax your mind, body, and emotions. Command your mind to cease its chatter, your emotions to stay in a serene mode, and your body to not disturb your meditation in any way. Focus your attention to the sound and feeling of your breath coming in and going out. Return to your breath awareness if you witness that you have lost your focus. At no time during your meditation should you chastise yourself about anything. So, for example, if you lose your attention and then realize this, just accept it without commenting. Return your attention to your breath and then continue with your meditation.

Close your eyes. Place your attention on the area between your eyebrows. After a short time, a point of light will present itself in the center of your inner field of vision. Keep your focus there. For some people, it will be beneficial to raise your eyeballs as if you were looking up at about a 25-degree angle. For others, just directing their attention upwards will be easier and less distracting. After some experimentation, go with one of the ways exclusively. In the beginning of 3rd eye practice, it may help to place your thumb at the outer edge of one eye and your middle finger on the outer edge of the other, while placing your index finger at the mid-point between your eyebrows. This gives you a point of focus to place your attention. It also allows you to prevent your eyelids from fluttering. This commonly occurs, and can be distracting until you get used to the sensations that accompany this technique.

Let the light come to you. Be available to be filled. The more you continue practicing this meditation, the more layers of the veil of illusion will peel away and Reality will reveal itself to you. As you perceive the Truth, your understanding of the delusional concept that you are apart from the rest of the universe will lose its grip on you, and the knowledge that you are a part of all and everything will become undeniably apparent. Your chattering mind will eventually dissolve in the unspeakable transcendent light of love that is now and forever within and without you.

Once you stop being locked into viewing reality from just one perspective, you will start to be free from habitual reactivity. 3rd eye experiences put you in that position. You will recognize that nothing more than a show has been playing out before you in what you considered "real life". And, just like when you are at the theater, you may be interested to some degree with seeing how the plot turns out, but knowing that it is all just a story, you won't take it any more seriously than a show. The constant anxiety and fear that is attached to a singular ego centered view of life will end and be replaced with the bliss of effortlessly merging and identifying with all of creation.

Once a chick has pecked its way out of its shell, it knows that there is a lot more to life than was within its dark confines. Mother Nature, Grace, then gives the chick strong wings that let it fly to the heavens. The 3rd eye meditation technique has the potential to be the beak you use to break out of your shell, as well as the wings to transport you to the infinite, eternal, universal divine reality that is your birthright.


- information from 'cosmic consciousness'