Collage Take Two

Earlier in the semester, I posted a collage of pictures that brought me peace and joy. I found that experience so relaxing that I intend to do the same in this post. However, this time I will post pictures of the new things, places, and adventures that I would like to experience. This is a post about my future self, and what I hope to achieve in the many realms of my life. My inspiration for this particular idea came from the sudden, panic-ridden thought that I am going to be a senior in less than one year. Soon I will have to face the world, with what little resources I have. Not only does this thought paralyze me, but it strikes fear into my heart. I am afraid of the future, afraid possible failures, and afraid of possible heartbreaks. Hopefully this post will tame some of this fear, and make my future seem less forbidding.

Intention #12

Tonight, I intend to practice some relaxation techniques that we have been talking about in class. I will take just a few minutes every hour to loosen my body, relax my mind, and let go of my worries. Hopefully, this will help me to achieve a more productive and relaxed evening.

Music and Meditation

I found this playlist online while I was practicing some yoga over the Thanksgiving break. Feel free to enjoy.

Music is an integral part of my every day life and of my yoga practice. As a long time guitar, piano, and flute player, I know the power of music and how it can affect almost any part of the human experience, from our mood, to our posture, to our social interactions. There is something so innate and sensitive about music that every new song I experience is a new sensory and cognitive adventure. This is especially true when I complete some simply yoga exercises. I will continue my search for meditative music and for new experiences in the musical realm.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL84E63806B487F948

Freaky Yoga

A friend of mine shared this video with me over the weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLBOsOt3qtc&feature=related

I was both surprised and awestruck to witness the abilities of such a practiced member of the yoga community. What amazed me most, however, was the performer's flexibility and relaxation. Throughout each exercise, I could see his ribs visibly rise and fall with a calm and deep breath. There seemed to be no strain or discomfort as his movements became progressively more demanding and complex. I, as a beginner yoga student, find it hard to maintain this composure - sometimes I fight to reconnect with my breath, and more often than not I find myself wincing with the struggle of bending into certain positions. Seeing this young man perform with such a relaxed air, and with such strong breath, was enlightening. Although I may not be able to fold myself into such complicated positions as he did, I can still see how breath and calm are integrated into every part of the yoga practice from beginning to end. My intention is to focus on this sense of calm and to reconnect with my breath every time I do my yoga practice. Maybe once I stop focusing on the pain, or the disappointment that perhaps my body cannot do a certain pose today, I can truly tap into the wonderful experience of self-rejuvenation that yoga has to offer.

Uptight Shoulders

This entire week I have been experiencing sharp pain in my right shoulder. In class on Monday we talked about the fact that women store a lot of stress and tension in their shoulders - I can definitely say I am among the masses that experience this. So I did some research about the topic: how muscle knots form, what types of treatments are recommended, why the pain is so persistent, and how knots can be prevented. While doing my research I came upon a handy little article about ways to relieve shoulder pain through yoga. The author's suggestions included eagle pose, shoulder rolls, dolphin pose, and side bending neck stretches. I carefully read the "how-to" of each pose and decided to give them a try. In eagle pose I experienced overwhelming relief in my upper shoulders. It was a bit difficult to increase the angle at which my arms were bent, but with careful monitoring of my body's signals I could find a comfortable angle at which I was still receiving a stretch. The shoulder rolls are a well known strategy - we have even done them in class - and they were also quite helpful. Dolphin pose is basically a downward facing dog pose that has been modified to increase shoulder strength and to provide the shoulders with a better stretch. This pose was more difficult than I had supposed, but once I got the hang of it my shoulders began to relax down my back and the stretch became deeper. The side bending neck stretches were actually quite painful in my situation, although I have had experiences where they felt very relaxing. The source of the pain wasn't targeted as well and that "crick" in my neck prevented much sideways movement. Overall, I felt that my shoulder stretching experience was successful, and I can't wait for the chance to practice some of these poses in class.

Managing My Stress

As dedicated students at the Colorado School of Mines, I would say stress is a part of every day life. The average amount of sleep me and my peers normally get is usually less than 6 hours, and the amount of work our professors assign is overwhelming. Sometimes, I feel like I just can't win. If I relax, then my grades suffer. If I excel in school, my mental and physical health suffers. Here at Mines, balance is not important to most students, professors, or administrators. However, balance is important to me, and I struggle with the fact that it seems so out of reach most of the time. So I decided to do a little research on my own about how to manage stress as a Mines student.
Not surprisingly, I found very little information about stress management that I didn't already know. Breathing exercises, journaling, meditation, exercise, and good organization are all stress relievers, and I feel that most students are aware of these stress reducing activities. Nevertheless, I feel that these habits are harder to maintain than most people realize, and in an environment that almost encourages stress, it is near impossible to find the time and the energy to simply stop and take a breather. Instead, most students (including myself) deal with stress by going through bouts of under eating and overeating, by drinking too much, by procrastinating, and by lashing out at others. So how do we integrate healthy ways of coping into our overwhelmingly full lives? My answer at this point is I have no idea. I myself struggle on a daily basis to manage my stress, my schoolwork, my body, and my mental health. In some ways, I believe the school is to blame - why create an environment for students that cultivates stress, anxiety, and imbalance in their lives? In others, we as students are to blame for these emotions when we make bad decisions about coping.
Because of my nearly fruitless research about and experience with coping mechanisms for stress, I have made it my intention to try different and new ways of coping. Armed with an arsenal of experience about how to deal with stress, then I can decide what fits my busy lifestyle and what mechanisms remain as lasting habits.
(http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm)

Meditation Flash Mobs Promote Peace

I have heard of flash mobs before, and seen the videos that flood the internet overnight, but I have yet to hear of a meditation flash mob. These artful gatherings of meditators are organized by an organization known as MedMob, or the Global Flash Mob Meditation Movement, which was founded in 2011. The group got its start "in a seemingly auspicious way." In the year 2012, Patrick Kronfli had a vision during his meditation practice: "hundreds of people gathered in silent, leaderless meditation outside the state capitol" of Texas, Kronfli's home state. After he arrived home from a trip to India, Kronfli shared his experience with two friends who, inexplicably, told him they had both experienced the same vision during meditation. Kronfli recalls, "it was so powerful to think of connecting in the public as a group, to pause for a moment and just allow a new stream of conciousness to go through." From that point forward, the friend's vision was to become a reality. They publicized the idea through a facebook page and held their first meditation flash mob with a total of 60 particpants shortly afterward. With each successive flash mob the number of meditators grew, and eventually the movement spread to other cities. On September 21st of this year, the organization joined several ofthers for Be the Peace, which is a larger scale meditation movement "to celebrate the International Day of Peace" with 248 cities participating total. Kronfli's words about the event were that is was "a chance to invite the masses to join in a prayer and meditation for world peace."
This article struck me when I read it for several reasons. The idea of a flash mob, translated into a meditation movement, seems amazing to me. In essence, its purpose is the same as the purpose of a traditional flash mob: to gather together strangers in an event which celebrates life. And yet, the meditation mob is different and unique in its own way, for it promotes a much deeper and more profound sense of a connection between every individual. Sitting in silence in class, with both friends and strangers around me, I experience only a small part of this larger purpose. The next event is on November 11th, and I plan to join in on the meditation.

Doing Something Good For Myself

As I began researching yoga articles and journals, pictures and videos, I realized that I don't want to blog about anyone else today. I want to do something good for myself - and right now, that means posting a collage pictures that I find soothing and interesting to me, the one member of my yoga community. Instead of delving deep into the feelings and insights of others, I want to delve into my own joy and happiness. As school wanes, I can't help but feel the immense weight of stress pressing down on my shoulders and my heart. I've become so much heavier in my spirit, and I intend here to relieve this, if only for a moment. So, I present my collage of things that make me joyful, happy, and spirited - this is my visual yoga practice.

Intention #11

"Take a leap into the unknown and know that where you land is where you are meant to be." ~Unknown

Tomorrow, I will release myself from the feelings that detain me in the future and not in the present. I will know that where I am right now, in my career, my life, and my schooling, it is where I am meant to be. And I will seek out those precipices from which I can take that leap into the unknown, and find myself in a whole new place.

Mountain Yoga

Today, I went up to the mountains to escape from the problems and worries associated with Golden, Mines, and the city in general. I often feel confused and overstimulated by the busy nature of Mines curriculum and the chaos of my own feelings and those of others around me. When I began this yoga course, I found a temporary relief from these overwhelming sensations. For 45 minutes, I was able to concentrate on my breath and my body, and nothing else. It was amazing to feel the tension strip off of my body into nothingness as the breath became my mind and the body became my only sensation. As school becomes more and more involved, and worries about the future plague my fretful thoughts, I find myself doing less and less yoga on my own. So this Friday and Saturday of fall break, I escaped to the mountains. I found there a sense of detachment, a feeling of separation from myself. Just by being up in the mountains and taking in the beauty around me, I was able to find that detachment I crave so often now that the spheres of school, career, and family close in around me. Although I never did yoga in the mountains - in fact, I mostly slept, read, and enjoyed the outdoors - I found the same relief in this haven as I find in yoga. I wanted to share this experience I had, an experience of mountain yoga (without the yoga).

Intention #10

"I'm a reflection of the community." ~Tupac Shakur

After today's class, I really explored my reaction to partner and community yoga. We all have our trying days, and mine have been piling up as my schoolwork steadily builds. But today, I felt healed and strengthened by my classmates. It was surprising to me that merely touching and interacting with strangers in a safe, healthy environment could be so restoring. So today, I am going to extend my hand to my community of students, friends, family, and strangers. I am going to conciously be part of the community that surrounds me every day.

Yoga and Technology

As I began searching for new articles and videos about yoga this week, I was overwhelmed by how saturated the media is with "yoga knowledge." The Google search I performed on just the word "yoga" returned about 369,000,000 results! Our generation's world is expanding, and we are becoming engorged with information that we often only subconsciously absorb. And yet this expansion also reflects our widening world view, our growing tolerance for new ideas and practices. But how do we, as individuals, navigate the information provided us by modern technology? How can we use the Internet, for example, as a means of deepening our experience of yoga and, in turn, how can such technology harm our yoga practice? These questions only skim the surface of this complicated and ever-changing issue surrounding technology. Yet I feel they are important ones to ask.
Regarding my own practice of yoga, I gravitate towards the end of the spectrum that rejects technology. In so many ways, technology can dislocate our sense of existence - we are often unaware of our own bodies, our own thoughts, and our own surroundings. I believe this dislocation to be stagnating, for it prevents us as individuals from connecting with the very things that sustain and validate our existence - such as our breath. I relish the chance to simply lie on the ground, close my eyes, and surrender myself to the sounds, smells, textures, and sensations that I often ignore in daily life. In our Wednesday yoga class, I found peace within myself simply by experiencing music while lying still, and I find it hard to believe that such revelations can occur when staring at a television or computer screen that pulls us outside of our own bodies and suspends us in a type of limbo, a half-existence. Despite my own concerns about technology use in my yoga practice, I acquiesce that technology has aided the spread of yoga throughout the globe. The Internet can provide us with information about yoga techniques, and can even provide us with music to accompany our practice. Where do we draw the line though?

Intention #9

"When you've experienced grace and you feel like you've been forgiven, you're a lot more forgiving of other people. You're a lot more gracious to others." ~Rick Warren

Tomorrow, I will give the gift of forgiveness to those around me. We are all human, and to be forgiven allows our human nature to evolve and grow from our experiences. I have experienced grace, and will be more gracious to others because of it.

Intention #8

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience" ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Tomorrow I will seek out new experiences. I want to explore what life has to offer - whether that means trying slacklining for the first time, cooking my own meal without a recipe, or dancing at a concert like the hundreds of people around me aren't watching (snoopy style). Life is there for living, and I will live tomorrow without fear.

Intention #7

"When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady. But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life. Therefore, one should learn to control the breath." ~Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Today I will bring my wandering mind back to my breath - I will reconnect my breath, my mind, and my body and translate this energy into new vigor for my daily activities.

The Seven Chakras Revisited

Earlier in the semester, I wrote about the seven chakras after reading a very informative article on the subject. My understanding of these energy centers was much deepened, however, by the chakras movements we did in class. Although some asanas were more difficult than others, I felt a profound sensation of energy and rejuvination within each one, and could visualize the different colors associated with the charkas. I was surprised to discover the intensity of emotion and energy stored in the different chakra centers of my body, and felt renewed and invigorated after sealing my yoga practice at the conclusion of class. I came out of this experience wondering why these chakras were located at specific parts of the body, and why they carry an array of associated emotions and energies? I found myself questioning the origin of the chakras, and the effect that life and its hardships have on these different focal points?

Intention #6

"Yoga is the fountain of youth. You're only as young as your spine is flexible." ~Bob Harper

Tonight, I will rejuvenate my obviously sore back by pursuing poses that invigorate and loosen my spine. I will extend this newfound flexibility into my own life as new stresses and worries bombard my mind and try to tighten my back and shoulders.

How Yoga Can Boost Your Immune System

Fall is here! The leaves are changing colors, the air is cooler, the nights are getting longer, and flu season is back. The first signs of a cold began to linger in my sinuses and throat this week, and although I welcome fall with open arms I am less excited about the sniffles, sneezes, and coughs that it brings with  it. Searching for some preventative measures I could take to nip this cold in the bud, I stumbled on this article by Anna Roberts McMurray (http://www.active.com/fitness/Articles/How-Yoga-Can-Boost-Your-Immune-System.htm), which is about how yoga can boost your immune system.
McMurray discusses four different ways that yoga can reduce our susceptibility to colds and viruses. First, yoga helps diminish the psychological stress that comes on full force in the fall as we are bombarded with exams, work, and holiday planning. By lowering our stress hormone levels and relaxing the nervous system, yoga tells our bodies to settle down and stop attacking the foreign bodies in our nasal passages (which we expel on our own by sneezing once a day).  She writes that "when the immune system backs off, inflammation and mucus decreases and symptoms diminish." Second, yoga can boost the health of our respiratory system, which is a chief player in housing and attacking cold-causing bacteria. According to McMurray, "breathing technique and asana (posture) help improve the mechanical efficiency of our lungs by conditioning the repertory tract that increase the elasticity and strength of the whole lung." This increased strength helps fight off infection more effectively. Third, yoga aids our body in clearing out the natural toxins and mucus that builds up in our organs. Yoga also stimulates breakdowns of these toxins in our body by supplying fresh blood and oxygen to different organs. The different asanas we assume during yoga helps tone, massage, and stimulate certain organs which increases their functionality and ability to fight off infections. Finally, the fluidity and movement of yoga lubricates and strengthens our joints and muscles, which can become stiff and uncomfortable in the cold, dry weather that comes with autumn and winter. 
McMurray prescribes yoga participants to pursue movements that open the chest and to breath deeply and fully into each pose. She suggests such asanas as pranayama, bow, camel, cobra, and half moon for pursuing a revitalized and stimulated immune system. 
I, personally, found this article helpful and informative, especially as my own levels of stress, sleep deprivation, and muscle tension begin to escalate with approaching exams, projects, holidays, and papers looming in the near future. 

Intention #5

“ Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built.” ~Rumi

Today I will meditate for 10 minutes and search for the barriers within myself, especially regarding fear. After the hardest hike of my life, I have found that fear paralyzes me - I am averse to feeling afraid. My intention is to find this  barrier that keeps me from accepting and facing my hidden fears.

Intention #4

"And love in your heart
Wasn’t put there to stay -
Love isn’t love
'Til you give it away."
~Oscar Hammerstein, Sound of Music, "You Are Sixteen (Reprise)"

Today I will give my love away. I will express my heart chakra (anahata) by expressing my ability to love others.

The Seven Chakras

Yoga and the Chakras: Giving Energy and Identity

Yoga focuses on asana (poses) and pranayama (breathing exercises) to maintain balance between our physical and mental existences. According to writers at Yoga.com (http://www.yoga.com/about-yoga/articles/chakra-meditation/yoga-and-chakras-giving-energy-identity/), "part of this personal relationship isrecognizing the chakras." But what are the chakras? The word chakra originates from the Sanskrit word for 'wheel,' and together the seven chakras are "thought of as spinning vortexes of energy" arranged vertically in the body. From the base of the spine to the crown of the head, the chakras receive and transmit energies concentrated in particular physical regions. This energy is translated through the emotions, breath, and movements of yoga.

 

After reading this article, I at first felt skeptical about these lines of energy being transmitted from our body. With more contemplation, however, I began to arrange this information into an idea that made sense to me. The chakras represent different parts of our body that are significant to mental and physical well being. When I read about the heart chakra (anahata), represented above by the green dot at the center of the chest, I could feel the energy in my chest flowing and understand the emotions stored in this part of the body. I found it intriguing to note that in situations where my love for someone or something has becomes so overwhelming, my heart seems to compress and attempt to jump out of my chest. This is anahata - I love. Similarly, when I read about the throat chakra (vishuddha), shown in the figure above by the blue dot at the neck, I translated the idea of throat energy into the real emotions I could feel coursing through my neck. I found the unspoken remnants of anger, sorrow, happiness, and more stewing inside my throat, and was amazed at the strength and energy of these emotions. This is Vishuddha - I speak. As I perused through all seven chakras again, I found it easier and easier to identify parts of my body with the emotions and energy represented by the chakras. It was a learning experience to be remembered.

Now that I am concious of the chakras, I feel that I can give a name to those emotions I find difficult to describe - that I can describe physically how I experience these emotions. Not only does this make it easier to face these emotions, but this will make the practice of yoga itself more valuable for breaking down the walls that hold these emotions at bay. Through the chakras, I can fine tune asana and pranayama such that my yoga experience is taken to the next level.

Not so successful...

Practice makes Perfect

After practicing I wish I was this woman in the picture below. She looks serene, comfortable, relaxed, and happy. My experience after completing yoga exercises on my own is nothing like this. My back feels strained, my head hurts, my palms are sweaty, and my legs are frankly jello. It seems contradictory that such a practice as yoga, which is intended to release the tensions of your body, can create a whole heap of new tensions in places I didn't want them. What is it about yoga that seems so hard - I find it frustrating that I can't master, or even attempt at times, the fluid motions and breaths that are a core part of yoga. Is it really practice that makes us perfect, or is it something else? I don't know how much more practice my body can take at times.

Intention #3

"Blessed are the flexible, for they cannot be bent out of shape." ~ Unknown

Tomorrow, I will be flexible with myself and with those around me. I will accept what my day has to offer knowing that to live life means to bend my path to those laid out for me.

Intention #2

"Let go or be dragged." ~ Zen proverb

I will practice awareness of my mind and my body. I will not judge nor ignore what I find. I will do my best to accept the tensions I find and to let them go when I am ready.

Letting Go

Open Your Hips & Face Your Demons ~ Monica Jones

Yoga instructor Monica Jones wrote "It is on our mats where we can face our demons" in her article Open Your Hips and Face Your Demons posted on the elephant journal website (http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/08/open-your-hips-face-your-demons-monica-jones/). She enforces this idea that "we store our tensions, emotions, judgments, and thoughts in our bodies," and that the practice of yoga releases these tensions. Her words struck me deeply. As she relates the story of her grandmother's passing and how yoga allowed her to finally let go, I began thinking about my own thoughts, judgments, losses, and griefs. I was astonished to find that if I was truly and fully aware of my body, I could feel these tensions in almost every part of my body. Most pain was centered in my back, shoulders, and neck, but I somehow felt tension contracting in my face, my lungs, and even my toes. Yoga preaches a sound mind and body, and from this awareness I found that these entities are difficult to mediate. Although mind and body to me are distinct beings, one being housed by the other, this disconnect is not so complete. Somehow, my emotional pain subconsciously settles into the concrete, physical parts of my body. Somehow, mind and body are connected beyond conscious control. Monica states that it is the release of physical tensions that allows us to face the subconscious emotional demons that haunt our mind and limbs. She writes that yoga allows us to "feel our true emotions and let the flow," until our fear of these painful emotions is "replaced by freedom," until the truth that our the demons of our emotional existence cannot destroy us is realized. As I delve deeper in my yoga practices and my self-awareness, I will strive to find these demons, to accept them as part of the pains that come with the passing of life, and to let them flow out of my body so I can accept my freedom.

Intention #1

"Good things happen when you meet strangers." ~ Yo-Yo Ma

Tomorrow, I will meet a stranger and strike up a conversation with them.