Wholesome Resources for Mind-Body Mastery through Yoga, Meditation, Guided Imagery, Stress Relief, Wellness
Are you feeling the peace and joy of the season? Hopefully taking time for deeper quiet and reflection, and for setting the stage for renewal in the new year?
Actually, it’s too common for there to be extra stress and busyness for nearly everybody during this amazing season. It’s a particularly alarming time for folks who already are running on fumes.
Hatha yoga is a mind/body exercise which dates back thousands of years to India. The word yoga means 
“union” or “joining”. Although there are several branches of yoga (Raja, Karma, Jnana, Bhakti and others) Hatha yoga refers to achieving the union of the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual selves through the practice of physical postures and special breathing techniques. For those interested, yoga can go beyond the physical exercises to incorporate dietary recommendations, meditation, service to others, philosophy, and moral and ethical guidelines for living. Yoga is neither a sport nor religion.
Hatha yoga is noncompetitive and emphasizes show, purposeful movements practiced mindfully and in combination with deep breathing. Yoga can be modified to help people achieve a wide range of personal and fitness goals. Some styles of yoga are gentle and slow while others are vigorous and strenuous. Yoga’s benefits include the ability to: [Read more…]
This yoga sequence helps with abdominal core strength and tones the back while also lengthening the psoas muscles.
The psoas, deep and large, runs from the lumbar spine, stretches over the hip joint and under the abs, and attaches to inner thigh bone.
Traditional leg lifts, “crunches” and sit-ups are often done to strengthen and flatten the abdominal muscles. The problem is that they also tighten and shorten the psoas tipping the pelvis forward, pushing your belly out (yuk) and misalignment of the back.
A tight psoas contributes to back, hip and knee problems, indigestion, dysfunctional breathing, instability, and other problems.
This particular yoga sequence activates the psoas muscle in a progressive manner: first facing forward, to the side, and then turning.
Other beneficial yoga postures are the forearm plank and side plank (creates core stability and strength with a neutral psoas) and pigeon (stretches and releases the psoas).
Consult a qualified yoga professional for instructions and contraindications. As with all exercise, practice for your own benefits and at your own risk.
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.
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