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Snow Policy for in-person classes

Safety first! Classes are usually held unless local officials advise staying home.

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Miami Township Civic Center

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Yoga / / 10 am / Date

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Yoga on Zoom on meets on Wednesday at 7 pm. Click on the highlighted link below OR enter the meeting ID and passcode. If needed, download the free Zoom app when prompted. Here’s a Tutorial on using Zoom. Please allow ample time to sign in and get settled.

Hatha Yoga, Mindfulness + with Julie Lusk

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85245473125?pwd=RzI1SXY2NkNreXdkWUFIT01kWUJUUT09

Meeting ID: 852 4547 3125

Passcode: hatha-yoga (case sensitive)

Zoom Class Replay

Link to class recordings are available here within 24 hours after class is held. Enjoy it for 14 days of unlimited streaming for personal/noncommercial use.

Date | Title

Contact Info

Miami Township Recreation Department (513) 248-3727

Julie Lusk

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.

Reference: Current Biology Volume 26, Issue 9, p1190–1194, 9 May 2016

Resources: Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation & Stress Relief by Julie Lusk (NHP 2015)

Yoga Nidra: Guided Meditations for Relaxation & Renewal (Health Journeys 2016)

Julie Lusk, MEd, E-RYT 500, has more than 35 years of expertise in stress relief, yoga, relaxation training, guided imagery, and meditation as an international author, recording artist, and workshop leader. Julie is the author of Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation and Stress Relief, Yoga Meditations, two volumes of 30 Scripts for Relaxation, Imagery and Inner Healing, and Desktop Yoga®. Her CDs include Wholesome Relaxation, Power of Presence, Blue Moon Rising, and many others. Learn more at WholesomeResources.com

Yoga Basics Guidebook by Julie Lusk

Get your free Yoga Basics Guidebook, an eBook by Julie Lusk. It has…

How to Practice Yoga: Steadiness and Comfort vs. Struggle and Control
Guidelines for the Practice of Yoga.
General Benefits, Cautions and Contraindications of Yoga
Yoga Guidelines for Health Conditions
Yoga During Pregnancy: General Guidelines and Cautions
Yoga Practice Sheet
Basic Alignment and Selected Warm Ups to Open Joints and Warm Muscles
Yoga Practice Sheet – Earth Series ©
Yoga Practice Sheet – Sky Series ©

As a bonus, you will get the Wholesome Resources News. It features:

Practical tips for improving your health through relaxation training, yoga,
meditation, and other mind/body techniques. See previously published articles here.
Info on books, CDs and other services from Julie Lusk
Special offers, class and workshop schedules, valuable opportunities and more
Sandy Byrd says ” Here are real practices for real life! The content is great…Practical ideas that can be implemented easily. I always love the quotes.”
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Yoga Nidra FAQ on Setting Intentions & Sankalpas

This article is a yoga nidra FAQ on setting intentions & sankalpas for making durable positive changes effectively.

Yoga nidra is rapidly gaining in popularity these days, mostly because it’s so blissfully exhilarating. Yoga nidra (pronounced nih-drah) means “yogic sleep” and is an ancient yoga practice with benefits supported by modern-day science. It’s a powerful experience of progressively relaxing and restoring physically, energetically, mentally, and emotionally that naturally opens us to accessing our intuition, unconditional joy, and deep restorative peace. It’s very refreshing too. In fact, one hour of practice is equivalent to four hours of sleep. See more documented benefits of yoga nidra here.

The yoga nidra process also makes it completely possible to clear out useless habits and bring about positive and durable changes to your lifestyle and positive personality changes by using a sankalpa at the start and the end of the practice. A sankalpa is a special intention, a self-selected resolve that you choose yourself. It’s a sacred vow and promise you make in support of your highest truth. Sample sankalpas are “I am courageous,” or “I have confidence,” or “My life is worthwhile.” It’s a quality that helps you become or do something worthwhile with your life. Likewise, it can be a reflection of your True Self such as “I am conduit of love,” or “My true nature is peace.”

How yoga nidra helps you make behavior changes and enables you to develop positive personal qualities.

“Our day-to-day frame of consciousness (beta brain waves) makes it extremely difficult to make and maintain our good intentions because they crash into our long term conditioning, habits, and social pressures,” as reported in Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation and Stress Relief (New Harbinger Publications, 2015). “Through no fault of your own, your mind is simply not very receptive to making these changes. During yoga nidra, we knowingly, consciously, and consecutively experience different types of brainwave levels that are receptive to change that include alpha, theta and delta frequencies and are associated with levels of consciousness. The level reached during yoga nidra depends on the depth of your experience. When we implant a resolve in the subconscious mind, useless thoughts and behaviors can be weeded out and the conditions are created for significant and transformative change to take root and grow.” Success is fortified by staying with the same sankalpa from practice to practice until it becomes a reality and takes root. Consistency counts.

Setting Intentions & Sankalpas

Time is set aside at the beginning of yoga nidra for a sankalpa to reveal itself naturally instead of intellectually. Making intellectual sankalpas rarely yield results. In other words, one that you “should” make or one to please others. Instead, have one that resonates and rings true with you. Go for a balance between letting it come to you intuitively and thinking it through. Furthermore, you could have one specific to help with weight loss, getting more exercise or stopping an unhealthy habit, but it’s advised that you pick a grander quality instead. In doing so, the behavior change is likely to happen anyway and you will also reap many more benefits. For example, if you choose kindness as your sankalpa, true self-kindness will lead to eating better and exercising more by being kinder to yourself in support of your health. In addition, kindness will naturally bring on generosity, patience, and other positive qualities.

Word your sankalpa positively, in the present tense, clearly, and concisely. Keep it consistent. Back it up sincerely with gratitude and inner will. If using “I am” seems too challenging or too mindboggling, try adding “more and more” to it. For example, “I am content, more and more.”

Sample Sankalpas:

I am kind.
I am trusting.
I am accepting of my feelings. Or, I accept unhappiness as part of my human experience.
I have abundance.
I am grateful for a peaceful nature.
I embrace all of who I am.
I enjoy life fully.
I welcome health and wellness.
My true nature is joyful.

Using a Sankalpa during Yoga Nidra.

A sankalpa is first silently said at the beginning of your yoga nidra experience and with your whole heart. It helps if you use your senses to imagine what it would be like if it were already true. Once again, repeat your sankalpa several times near the end of yoga nidra. Namely, when you are totally at ease and in the fertile delta brainwave state, and before coming back to full awareness. This is when your brain is most receptive.

Outcomes

I had my doubts about the effectiveness of using a sankalpa, especially when writing Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation and Stress Relief, so I put it to the test with a variety of students. Much to our delight and satisfaction, results started rolling in. Find out for yourself by reading their stories in the book. Better yet, try it yourself. Please let us know about your experience.

How to Experience Yoga Nidra:

Like all worthwhile things, regular practice yields the best results. It’s as easy as 1-2-3.

Listen to Yoga Nidra Meditations: 24 Scripts for True Relaxation | Audible – iTunes – Amazon
Read about it and get free audio downloads in Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation and Stress Relief (New Harbinger, 2015).
Experience yoga nidra on video/audio.
Attend a virtual yoga nidra class held weekly on Zoom.
Take a yoga nidra teacher training course and earn a certificate.
Get yoga nidra downloads here.

Resources: Books, Recordings & More

Get yoga nidra downloads here.

NEW! Yoga Nidra Meditations: 24 Scripts for True Relaxation

Experience peace and deeply restorative rest that heals your body, mind & spirit. Features 24 Yoga Nidra scripts written by author Julie Lusk and 12 of the world's master teachers. Enjoy 6 levels of relaxation for a joyful meditative experience. Learn to use yogic sleep to revitalize your inner reservoir of intuitive understanding and unconditional joy. Audiobook available. CLICK the blue title link above to find out more...

Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation & Stress Relief - Print Book & Audio download

Yoga Nidra can stop tension in its tracks with a wonderfully, powerful & unique state of deep relaxation, mental clarity & insightful awareness. These practical, empowering relaxation exercises, meditations that soothe and visualizations that renew are based on classic yoga and backed by modern science. They’ll help you unwind, replenish, and feel refreshed with durable peace and unconditional joy. CLICK the blue title link above to find out more...

Yoga Nidra Essentials CD

Find your calm spot. Brighten your energy. Enjoy a more meaningful life. Experience 6 levels of relaxation. Reclaim optimal health for your body, mind & heart. Laura says "My focused mind easily. I was 100% worry-free. It's wonderful." By Julie Lusk, 6-time author. Digital downloads available.

Author: Julie Lusk, M.Ed., E-RYT 500