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Yoga Mudras for the Hands

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Have you ever needed the benefits from yoga (energy, relaxation, clear mind, emotional balance, etc.) but couldn’t practice a pose because you were in public, not dressed for yoga, or didn’t even know how to do yoga?  This happens to me several times a day!  Luckily, I have found another secret that really works.  It’s Yoga Mudras – yoga poses using hand positions and gestures.

I finally started taking these ancient teachings seriously while I was teaching relaxation training and guided imagery in the Bahamas last spring for the Easter/Passover Symposium on Yoga and Sacred Healing at Sivananda Ashram.  Amy Weintraub (Yoga and Depression) and Joseph and Lilian LePage (Integrative Yoga Therapy) taught them as part of their presentations.  This experience convinced me that Yoga Mudras are very effective, simple and profound.

As soon as I got home, I began investigating and practicing Yoga Mudras more and more.  One morning I was reading a book on Yoga Mudras by Gutrud Hirschi and it described amazing results and reasons to practice Yoga Mudras.  The results sounded too good to be true.  Since I was suspicious, I wanted to put it to the test.

Meanwhile, I was suffering from seasonal allergies –  my nose was running, my eyes were watery and itchy, and I was sneezing.  So I tried Bhramara Mudra.  It worked – and quickly too!  Naturally I shared this with my yoga students and they also reported positive results too.  We were so excited and it convinced us that Yoga Mudras have lots of valuable benefits to offer.

There are Yoga Mudras to help with allergies, feeling calm, lifting energy, headaches, chakra balancing and many more.

So, how can you learn more about yoga mudras for the hands?

1.  My next 2 blog posts will show you wonderful mudras to practice. (use the RSS feed so you don’t miss out – it’s up in the right corner of this blog)

2.  Attend yoga classes.  See my schedule. Let me know if you would like to book me for a workshop.

3.  Joseph and Lilian LePage have been studying Yoga Mudras for 10 years to write a book all about them.  Their book shows 108 hand gestures along with guided meditations and affirmations.  I am honored and excited that they asked me to edit the guided meditations.

How to do the Breath of Fire: Kapalabhati Breathing

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Kapalabhati is pronounced KAH-pah-lah-BAH-tee.

The Breath of Fire is a powerful yoga breathing technique that emphasizes a pattern of quick exhalations followed by passive inhalations.

Benefits of the Breath of Fire – Kapalabhati Breathing

It cleans and purifies the respiratory system, invigorates the vital organs of digestion, and strengthens the nervous system. Due to the swift and sharp exhalations, a shift in pressure occurs in the cerebral spinal fluid. This causes a massaging effect on the brain, enlivening every cell, and creates an “aura’ of light and vitality around the skull. According to yogis, it has a positive influence on both the third and sixth chakras.

How to do the Breath of Fire – Kapalabhati Breathing

The breath of fire is best practiced on an empty stomach. It is not to be practiced if you are pregnant, menstruating or have high blood pressure, recent abdominal surgery, heart disease, severe lung disease, hiatal hernia, or glaucoma. Do not use too much force and be cautious if you have digestive or respiratory problems.  If you have questions, please consult a qualified teacher.

Practice three rounds daily.

Come into a comfortable seated position with your spine erect. Take a few deep breaths and relax.

Exhale quickly and completely through the nostrils by contracting (snapping) the abdominal muscles toward the spine. Follow this with a passive inhalation. Repeat this several times slowly. The secret is in the rapid pumping of air out from the lower lobes of the lungs, followed by a passive inhalation that occurs naturally and automatically. The exhalation is active and the inhalation is passive.

To learn the proper amount of effort needed for each exhalation …

[Read more…]

What is Golden Repair Kintsugi or Kintsukuroi

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What is Golden Repair Kintsugi or Kintsukuroi      

These Japanese Words mean Golden Repair

Kintsugi (金継ぎ) or Kintsukuroi (金繕い) 

“Kin” is translated as Golden

“tsugi” means Repair

Kintsugi or Kintsukuroi prizes imperfection. It is the art of restoring broken pottery with gold so the fractures are literally illuminated, capturing a kind of physical expression of its spirit.

“As a philosophy, kintsukuroi, celebrates imperfections as an integral part of the story, not something to be disguised.  The true life of an object (or a person) begins the moment it breaks and reveals.that it is vulnerable,” says Georgia Pelligrini.

This technique suggests many things. Maybe we should think twice before throwing away broken objects.  Perhaps, we should try to repair things rather than assume it is no longer useful. It may sometimes become a more valuable object.

This is the essence of resilience. Each of us can look for a way to cope with traumatic events in a positive way, learn from negative experiences to take the best from them and convince ourselves that every experience makes each person unique and even more precious.

Pictured are a few golden repairs that I have done.  Doing kintsugi gave me welcome relief when a few things that held sentimental value to me were better than before.

Inspired by Georgia Pelligrini, Steffano Carnazzi, Leggi L’Articolo, and Beth Owens

Here’s a little more background on Kintsugi with
instructions on how to make your own ceramic golden repairs  

 

Many thanks to Imaginative Crafts, Do-It-Yourself Projects and Video Tutorials by Robert Mahar, robert-mahar.com

Materials:
Broken pottery
Clear two-part epoxy
Mica Powder

Directions:
1. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, dispense a small amount of the clear two-part epoxy into a disposable tray.

2. Scoop a small amount of the mica powder onto the epoxy and stir thoroughly to combine.

3. Using a toothpick or sandwich pick, generously spread the epoxy along one edge of the broken pottery seam.

4. Align the two pieces of pottery and press together. Hold in place until the epoxy sets. Allow epoxy to fully cure before using.

Details Yoga Basics Guidebook

Yoga Guidebook: How to Have a Great Yoga Experience

by Julie Lusk, M.Ed., C/RYT -E500

Yoga Guidebook - Instant PDF Download!
Yoga Guidebook - Instant PDF Download!
Yoga is the perfect way to * Tone your body and improve health * Clear your mind and calm emotions * Change negative stress into positive energy and * Make new friends. This handy download gives you all the essential resources and guidelines you need for a great start.
Quantity:  
Price: $5.00

Yoga is the perfect way to

 

  • Tone your body and improve health
  • Clear your mind and calm emotions
  • Change negative stress into positive energy
  • Make new friends

This handy download gives you all the essential resources and guidelines you need for a great start.

This eBook highlights:

  • Essential information to help you know what to do to maximize your experience
  • Guidelines for health conditions with tips for people with arthritis, back problems
    cancer, high blood pressure, and women’s health (menstruation, PMS, menopause)
  • List of benefits, cautions, and contraindications for yoga postures
  • Handy yoga glossary, drawings of yoga postures, warm-ups, and lesson plans
  • How to start and maintain a yoga practice for yourself
Yoga Guidebook - Instant PDF Download!
Yoga Guidebook - Instant PDF Download!
Yoga is the perfect way to * Tone your body and improve health * Clear your mind and calm emotions * Change negative stress into positive energy and * Make new friends. This handy download gives you all the essential resources and guidelines you need for a great start.
Quantity:  
Price: $5.00

Memory, Multitasking & Mindfulness

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How has your memory been lately? Is it easy to remember things that happened years ago but you have a hard time with what happened this past week? Can you remember what was for lunch yesterday? Do you get home from shopping and realize that you forgot to buy what you went after. Then there’s remembering conversations and what happened at meetings. Perhaps you’re starting to worry if your memory is starting to fail for real.

People like us regularly need to get more done in less time so we go online/watch TV/or work while eating. We talk on the phone and listen to music while driving. Perhaps go online to look something up and end up checking mail, reading some news, and looking at the weather forecast while there in the hopes of being efficiedesktop diva 8-31 bnt and to save time. We all do it, right?

It’s possible that multitasking may be a big factor in not being able to recall things.

Multitasking seems smart but it does not work in the long run. While it can be useful in rote tasks that require little intelligent brainpower, multitasking is detrimental in tasks requiring brainpower. It contributes to stress, wastes time, lowers productivity, and hurts short and long-term memory.

The brain is not capable of taking in and dealing with two different streams of information simultaneously. It is impossible for the brain to encode more than one stream of information fully into short-term memory at a time. Information will never make it into long-term memory if it does not go into short-term memory first. Either way, information cannot be recalled and put to use. This pattern contributes to forgetfulness, poor memory, and more stress.

From Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation and Stress Relief by Julie Lusk

Solutions include:

  • Stay focused by doing one thing at a time
  • Don’t let yourself get distracted from the task at hand
  • Increase your brainpower, ability to concentrate, and improve your memory with

Guided Mindfulness Meditations: Practicing Presence & Finding Peace Download
Guided Mindfulness Meditations: Practicing Presence & Finding Peace Download
Ease into mindfulness with a clean, user-friendly, body-based, joyful approach. Gain calmer nerves, a brighter outlook, stronger memory, sharper focus, healthier body awareness & more balance. Get a long & short guided experience. Learn informal ways to be more mindful during the day. Available at Hay House https://www.hayhouse.com/guided-mindfulness-meditations-audio-download
Price: $5.99Price: $29.99 

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