Mind-Body Mastery Tools and Techniques Archives - Page 2 of 13

Hakini Mudra for Brain-Body Balance, Problem-Solving & Focus

September 7, 2018 by Julie Lusk

The Hakini Mudra for brain-body balance, problem-solving and focus is one of my favorite hand mudras. It’s very effective and easy to do.

Mudras are yoga positions, gestures, and seals for your hands and fingers that facilitate health, healing, psychological balance and spiritual transformation. Some mudras use the whole body and breath. They are effective, easy to learn, practical and powerful, and anyone can do them. Learn more about mudras here.

Hakini Mudra Benefits:

Directs the breath, awareness, and energy to the entire body to balance the bodymind physically and energetically
Complete and full breathing is facilitated effortlessly
Reduces stress
The first six energy centers (chakras) are stimulated and harmonized
Both hemispheres of the brain are integrated and invigorated
Boosts memory, concentration, and assists problem solving

How to do Hakini Mudra:

Gently touch the fingertips and thumb of one hand to the corresponding fingertips and thumb on the other
Hold your palms apart as if you were holding a ball
Place your hands in front of your solar plexus (mid-section)
If your fingernails are too long to touch the fingertips together, interlace all the fingers, separate your palms, and touch the tips of the thumbs together

References: Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation & Stress Relief – Printed Book & Audio download, Julie Lusk. New Harbinger Associates, pg. 165-166.

The hakini mudra illustration is from Mudras for Healing and Transformation and courtesy of Joseph and Lilian Le Page of Integrative Yoga Therapy. Their permission was given to use it in Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation & Stress Relief and associated materials.

The 4 Keys to Happiness

July 9, 2018 by Julie Lusk

The one thing we all have in common is to find happiness. Here are the 4 keys to unlock happiness. They are from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 1.33.

The 4 Keys to Happiness

~ Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras 1.33 ~

The mind becomes peaceful and free when the qualities of the heart are cultivated.

These qualities are:

Friendship toward the joyful,

Compassion toward the suffering,

Happiness toward the pure, and

Undisturbed toward the impure.

Click for a guided yoga nidra meditation
focusing on the
4 Keys to Happiness.

Sri Swami Satchidananda helps us better understand what Patanjali is conveying in his booklet, Integral Yoga: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Pocket Edition). On pages 16-19, he writes:

“Whether you are interested in reaching samadhi or plan to ignore Yoga entirely, I would advise you to remember at least this one Sutra. It will be very helpful to you in keeping a peaceful mind in your daily life. In my own experience, this Sutra became my guiding light to keep my mind serene always.

Patanjali gives us four keys: friendliness, compassion, delight, and disregard. There are only four kinds of locks in the world. Keep these four keys always with you and when you come across any one of these four locks you will have the proper key to open it.

When you see a happy person, use the “friendliness” key. Why should Patanjali say this? Because even four thousand years ago there must have been people who were not happy at seeing others happy. It is still the same way. Suppose somebody drives up in a big car, parks in front of his huge palatial home and gets out. Some other people are standing on the pavement in the hot sun getting tired. How many of those people will be happy? Not many. They will be saying, “See that big car? He is sucking the blood of the laborers.” We come across people like that. They are always jealous. When a person gets name, fame. or a high position, they try to criticize him. “Oh, don’t you know, his mother is so-and-so; she must have pulled some strings somewhere.” They will never admit that he might have gone up by his own merit. By that jealousy, you won’t disturb him, but you will disturb your own serenity. He simply got out of the car and walked into the house, but you are burning up inside. Instead, think, “Oh, such a fortunate man. If everybody were like that how happy the world would be. May God bless everybody to have such comfort. I will also get that one day.”

Make them your friend. That response is missed in many cases, not only between individuals but even among nations. When some nation is prospering, the neighboring country is jealous of it and wants to ruin its economy. So we should always have the key of friendliness when we see happy people.

And what of the next lock, the unhappy people? “Well, Swami said everybody has his or her own karma. This person must have done some wretched thing in her last birth. Let her suffer now.” That should not be our attitude. Maybe someone is suffering from previous bad karma, but we should have compassion. If you can lend a helping hand, do it. If you can share half of your loaf, share it. Be merciful always. By doing that, you will retain the peace and poise of your mind. Remember our goal is to keep serenity of our minds. Whether our mercy is going to help that person or not, by our own feeling of mercy, at least we are helped.

Then comes the third kind, the virtuous people. When you see a virtuous person, feel delighted. “Oh, how great she is. She must be my hero. I should imitate her great qualities.” Don’t envy the person; don’t try to pull them or her down. Appreciate virtuous qualities in that person and try to cultivate them in your own life. Look for noble qualities in everyone.

Lastly, the wicked. We come across wicked people sometimes. We can’t deny that. So what should be our attitude? Indifference. “Well, some people are like that. Probably I was like that yesterday. Am I not a better person now? He will probably be alright tomorrow.” Don’t try to advise him because wicked people seldom take advice. If you try to advise them you will lose your peace.”

Or that calm is retained by the controlled exhalation or retention of the breath. Yoga Sutra 1.34

Or engage the focus on an inspiring object. Yoga Sutra 1.35

Or by concentrating on the supreme ever-blissful Light within. Yoga Sutra 1.36

Or receive grace from a great soul. Yoga Sutra 1.37

Or reflect on a peaceful feeling from an experience, dream, or deep sleep. Yoga Sutra 1.38

Or dedicate yourself to anything that elevates and embraces your heart. Yoga Sutra 1.39

Integral Yoga: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Pocket Edition). Translation and commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda. Integral Yoga ® Publications. Buckingham, VA. 1985.
The Secret Power of Yoga. Nischala Joy Devi. Three Rivers Press. NY, NY. 2007.

How to Make a Yogatini

July 10, 2017 by Julie Lusk

How to make a Yogatini ~ Inspired by Tracey Rich

Ingredients:

Yoga mat
Fresh air
Music
You

Mix:

1 part Ocean sounding breath – also called ujjayi breath
1 part Salutation to the Sun – See video here
Practice barefoot in the grass or on a sandy beach for some great grounding time. Here’s more about it.
Stir in your own music, flow, fun, and friends.
Cool down with Shitali Breathing
Finish with some floating yoga nidra bliss.
Have a beautiful summer and c ome Yoga with us!

Benefits:

Calorie Free
Gluten Free
Feelings of freedom, happiness, and joy!

Click now for more Meditation, Relaxation, Guided Imagery Techniques & Articles

Give Yourself Some Space

October 17, 2016 by Julie Lusk

Out for a walk the other night, I was stunned to see how groups of people were all looking at their phones instead of talking with each other, let alone noticing the brilliant sunset. Even the bikers were glued to their devices while riding their bikes. I was surprised that people weren’t crashing into one another. More folks were glued to their screens at the restaurant too. We all know that too many people text while driving – another recipe for disaster.

Living in a fast-paced 24/7 world, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. We’re pushed to work harder, take care of our family, and keep up with current events along with a constant social media stream. Expectations are high all the way around.

Pico Iyer, a lifelong travel writer says ““In an age of acceleration, nothing can be more exhilarating than going slow. And in an age of distraction, nothing is so luxurious as paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is so urgent as sitting still.”

His Ted Talk video is well worth watching. It will inspire you with ways to take back your time in ways that will replenish your body, mind and soul.

Why not take a few moments out right now? Here’s how …

Turn your phone, TV, radio and other electronic devices off for a while.
Focus your attention on the moment by breathing fully and mindfully. It is calming and refreshing for your nerves and it will light up your energy. Try out yoga’s ocean-sounding breath (ujjaya breath).
Blink your eyes a bunch of times till they water. The moisture will help your vision.
Yawn. It cools the brain, gives you a burst of oxygen, and refreshes your eyesight and hearing. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch some flies.
Take a “2-hour nap in less than 1o minutes.“
Give “The Inner Eye of Awareness Meditation” a shot.
Add your own ___________________________.
Bone up on mindfulness. It’s easy with this “Stop ~~ Look ~~ Listen” meditation.
You guessed it, practice yoga nidra – yogic sleep. It’s totally replenishing. Experience yoga nidra at a virtual class with Julie Lusk, author of Yoga Nidra Meditations and 5 more books and dozens of recordings.

Not Sleeping Soundly? Here’s Help

July 14, 2016 by Julie Lusk

Have you ever felt like you were ‘half-awake or only half asleep’ all night? Me too. It’s so frustrating, especially knowing that you have a big day ahead and want to be feel sharp and well rested. Perhaps you don’t want to miss a moment of your vacation or there’s an important conference you’re excited about.

As it turns out, half of your brain can sleep while the other half stays awake, according to sleep scientist Masako Tamaki and her colleagues at Brown University and reported in Current Biology*. They found that this usually happens when sleeping the first night in a new place, like a hotel, friend’s house, or while camping. The second night is much better.

It’s our brain’s attempt to protect us by going into survival mode. What happens is that the right half your brain sleeps while the left half stays alert, standing guard. How strange is that?

Scientists measured the slow-wave activity of the brain, something that occurs during deep sleep. They measured brain activity during light sleep by first playing a tone and then a different tone was played. Surprisingly, the brain reacted to the variation in sound only on the left side of the brain – the right side stayed asleep.

Next, they played a sound loud enough to awaken someone. They found that when it was transmitted into the right ear, the subjects in the experiment woke up faster than if it was sent to the left ear. The right ear is associated with the left side of the brain.

It stands to reason that it would be the left side of the brain that stays on duty since it is known to be objective, analytical, and rational and would be more prone to be protective whereas the right side is best at intuition and abstract thinking. Could this phenomenon be at play when sleeping in an unsafe neighborhood or household? What about when having to keep an ear out for a child or sick person. More studies are needed.

Sleeping ‘half-way’ is involuntary and the brain’s way to keep you alert enough to save yourself if something bad happened and most likely associated with the flight-fight-freeze response to stress. Because of this, scientists think there’s not much you can do about it other than to accept it rather than letting it bother you. Some suggest going two nights ahead of your big day since it’s so hard to sleep that first night.

Here are my suggestions:

Make the room feel familiar and safer to you, tricking the brain into sleeping better. Try using a familiar scent – lavender is calming and aids sleeping. If you’re used to sleeping with a fan whirling away, bring one with you. Using your own pillow makes sense too.
Try yoga nidra. It’s a comprehensive practice done lying down to go far beyond deep relaxation and mindfulness to a place of natural peace and quiet that is tremendously restful. Along with being a special type of meditation to increase uplifting levels of awareness, it can also be practiced at bedtime as a sleep aid. Layers of stress are cleared out so they don’t follow you to bed and disturb sleeping. In fact, while not a substitute for actual sleep, one hour of yoga nidra practice is equivalent to 4 hours of sleep. This is due to the types of brain waves experienced along the way. Proven relaxation skills, specialized breathing techniques, guided imagery, and mindfulness are systematically used. Learn more about yoga nidra here
Use a yoga nidra recording. See below for recommendations. Download it to your listening device, put it on airplane mode, and listen by putting the ear buds or the device itself under your pillow. It will transmit right through your pillow and not disturb your sleep partner.
Use a mudra. They are yoga positions for the hands. Curl your fingers into a fist. On the same hand, touch the tips of the thumbs to the tips of the first finger to form a circle. Rest your hands with your palms pointing down. It helps bring on sleep and reduces stress by promoting a sense of safety and security. Learn more about mudras here.
Breathe slowly and smoothly. To calm your nervous system, breathe in to the count of four or five and then breathe out for five to ten. When you get distracted, gently go back to focusing on your breathing.
Use the Moon Breath to calm your bodymind and brain by combining a mudra with breathing. Bend your index and middle finger of your right hand to your palm, leaving your ring and little finger softly extended. Softly press your right thumb to your right nostril and inhale through your left nostril. Next, release your right thumb and press your ring finger to your left nostril while exhaling. In other words, in left / out right / in left / out right and so on. Learn more about this and other practices in Yoga Meditations: Timeless Mind-Body Practices for Awakening (WPA, 2005)
Follow the guidelines for good sleep hygiene. Here’s the Mayo Clinic’s 7 tips for doing so. Read How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep – The Ultimate Guide. It’s excellent.

So even if you can’t sleep as soundly as you might like due to your brain’s insistence on staying half-awake, at least you now understand the reason why. The above suggestions may lull you to sleep, and if they don’t, you will at least make use of the time in a positive, productive way.

Sweet dreams!

Sleep Well | Yoga Nidra CD

Use deep relaxation, soothing flute music & ocean waves to go to sleep. "I slept like a log." Downloads available. By Julie Lusk, Yoga Nidra Meditations author.