Search Results for: core/details-yoga-meditations-book-and-cd-set/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/RicardoLuis@icloud.com

Good to the Core: Yoga to strengthen & flatten abdominals, tone back, legs, hips, and more.

August 6, 2011 by Julie Lusk

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.

Click here for your complete pdf handout on ” Good to the Core: Yoga to strengthen & flatten abdominals, tone back, legs, hips, and more” from Julie Lusk

Yoga Mudras for the Hands

October 10, 2010 by Julie Lusk

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.

Complete Yogic Breath: Dirgha Breathing

April 4, 2014 by Julie Lusk

Dirgha is pronounced DEAR-gah

Summary: This breathing technique is done with long, slow, deep breaths while focusing on the lower, mid, and upper portions of your chest. This allows for the fullest breathing possible and will improve respiration, circulation, and even digestion. The complete breath will soothe your frazzled nerves, clear your mind, and will replenish your life force.

Controlling the volume, duration and frequency of the inhalation, the exhalation, and the pauses between each breath enhances prana, the energy that supports and sustains the life force. Breathing becomes slow and refined.
~~Yoga Sutra 2.50

How to practice the complete yogic breath / dirgha breathing

Either come into a comfortable seated position with your spine erect or lie on your back. It is easier to learn this while lying on your back.

Breathing through your nose is optimal because it [Read more…]

Chakra Chart of Elements, Directions, Sounds, Senses, Attributes +

Chakra Chart of Elements, Sounds, Directions, Senses, Attributes, and Koshas
Composed by Julie Lusk – Jan 2024

Ancient and modern cultures, countries, and teachings have acknowledged and honored the directions, elements, seasons, and the chakra energy centers and their sounds to help provide them with meaning and purpose. See more below the chart.

Chakra	Vedic Sounds Activating Dispersing	Elements Bhuta	Direction	Senses Indriya	Attributes	Koshas Sheaths	Other
Root Muladhara	Lam (as in Lum) O (as in toe)	Earth Prithivi	Below Down	Smell Gandha	Ground Central	Anna Physical	Present
Sacral Svadhisthana	Vam (Vum) OO (two)	Water Apas	Left East	Taste Rasa	Flow	Anna Physical	Ida Nadi
Solar Plexus Manipura	Ram (Rum) Ah (awe)	Fire Agni	Right West	Sight Rupa	Energy – Action	Prana Energy	Pingala Nadi
Heart Anahata	Yam (Yum) AA (play)	Air Vata	Inward Central	Touch Sparsha	Feeling	Prana Energy	Sushumna Nadi
Throat Visuddha	Ham (hum) EE (speak)	Ether Akasha	Back North	Sound Shabda	Hearing	Mano Mental Emotional	Past
Third Eye Ajna	Om Mmmmm	Light Jyotis	Front South	Light Joytis	Vision – Witness	Vijnana Intuition	Future
Crown Sahasrara	Silence Ing (wing)	All Pervading ———– Maha Bhuta	Up – All Up – All	Beyond Senses	Space	Ananda Joy ———– Atman True Self	Timeless

Through the ages, philosophers, scientists, religious organizations, mystics, shamans, and native peoples from the Americas, Asian countries and other areas have used their perspectives personally and collectively to understand, honor, and respect our place in the world around us. This has been expressed prayerfully and ceremonially, scientifically and soulfully.

Some identify four directions while others focus on six. Sometimes five elements are recognized. There are 118 elements on the periodic chart. It’s summer in one hemisphere while it’s winter in the other. It’s daytime in one part of the world whereas it’s nighttime elsewhere.

Making sense of these variations from reputable sources was both thought-provoking and daunting. It finally dawned on me that there are many right ways to do this. Just because one system says the east connects to the earth and the west with water while other systems say something else doesn’t necessarily make one right or better and another wrong.

The point is to feel these influences and use these connections to better understand these relationships for balancing health and wellbeing personally and collectively.

Don’t be fooled by seeing this information boxed into columns and rows. The lines are there to help clarify the information. Think of it as an intermingling and as a gradual blending. It’s somewhat like how the colors in a rainbow gradually transform from one shade to another and at the same time a color can stand on its own. Ultimately, there is no separation. We are in a unified field of oneness that is as directionless and timeless as it is spacious. http://JulieLusk.com

I compiled this Chakra Chart from my in-depth studies and understanding of yoga combined with the knowledge I’ve gained from my other interests. It is fluid and changeable. It is neither conclusive nor comprehensive. Use it if it helps. Go for something else or come up with your own. Get my Complete Chakra Chart.

Learn about chakras and their influences | Get your Complete Chakra Chart
Chakra Balancing with Sound Healing. Use the Elemental Chakra Tone Chart to balance your chakra energy by either increasing or decreasing their energy with sound, color, and special mantras. The Vedic (Yoga) and Tibetan notes and tones are given. It’s fun.
How to balance chakra energy with toning and hand & finger movements called mudras.
Get info related to chakra elements, directions, sounds, senses, and other attributes
Chakra Energy Flow Meditation
Understanding OM | AUM
Book a Musical Sound Bath session

Yoga Meditations: Timeless Mind-Body Practices - Book & CD set

Awaken joy, peace and inspiration with this yoga meditations book. Yoga Meditations contains a wide variety of mind-body practices, such as: * Guided relaxation exercises * Breathing practices * Yoga Nidra * Meditations and guided imagery * Affirmations * Yoga postures and meditations for each chakra * Yoga wisdom for contemplation Get a FREE Wholesome Energizers CD in every book! CLICK the blue title link above to find out more...

Chakra Chart

Finally! A complete Chakra Chart with all the chakra names, locations, colors, sounds, yoga postures, breathing techniques, psychological & energetic influences and more. There's handy tips for using the chart on the reverse side. It's 8 1/2 by 14" and laminated. CLICK on the blue title link above to find out more...

Chakra-Based Guided Meditations

Real Relaxation Yoga Nidra takes you into a deeply relaxing and powerful restful state of being fully aware while being in the state of deep yogic sleep. It helps with balancing chakra energy, and can improve immunity, heart health, relieve stress and give you inner peace and balance.

Get it from Amazon, iTunes, Spotify & other online stores

Chakra Balancing with Toning and Hand Mudras

Chakras, Mudras, and Sound Healing

Learn an Elemental and Chakra Meditation with
Hand movements, Color, Sound, and Intention

The major chakras are spinning wheels of energy that span from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. They guide the wellbeing of our bodymind and LifeForce energy.

Chakra energy can be balanced, excessive, or deficient. Being out of balance can negatively influence your actions, relationships, as well as your physical, mental, and emotional health. Use my Chakra Chart to determine if your energy is in balance or not. You’ll get a variety of helpful strategies to improve your wellbeing.

Yoga Mudras are yoga positions, gestures, and seals for your hands and fingers that facilitate health, healing, psychological balance and spiritual transformation. They are effective, easy to learn, practical and powerful. Mudras can be a powerful and effective way to help gain balance and have better health by either increasing or decreasing chakra energy.

Sound healing can also be used for chakra balancing.

Elemental & Chakra Meditation with
Hand Movements, Color, Sound, and Intention

See how the fingers and the thumb are associated with specific chakras and their associated sounds with this color-coded hand diagram.

Bija sounds encode the 5 elements into sound and increase and attract energy. They are lam, vam, ram, yam, ham, Om, and silence. They are pronounced with a ‘U’ sound and rhyme with hum. Vowel sounds decrease and disperse energy.

Experiment & Discover | Hum. Play a variety of sounds, tones, notes, and musical instruments. Use your intuition. Tune in and trust your direct experience by listening and noticing your physical and energetic response.

Mudra Hand Meditation | Tone & touch the thumb to each fingertip on both hands. Try starting on the ring finger (4^th finger) for the first chakra. The index and thumb are used for both the 3^rd and 4^th chakras. Join fingertips and thumb for OM. Reopen hand for silence. Alternatively, try starting with the OM and descend from the crown chakra to the root using the associated finger and sounds.

Tuning Fork Meditation | Listen to unweighted tuning forks associated with the chakra notes. Touch a weighted OM fork to fingertips and center of palm on both hands. Treat both hands.

OM | Find out about the purpose, meaning, symbolism, and benefits of OM.

Learn about chakras and their influences | Get your Complete Chakra Chart
Chakra Balancing with Sound Healing. Use the Elemental Chakra Tone Chart to balance your chakra energy by either increasing or decreasing their energy with sound, color, and special mantras. The Vedic (Yoga) and Tibetan notes and tones are given. It’s fun.
How to balance chakra energy with toning and hand & finger movements called mudras.
Get info related to chakra elements, directions, sounds, senses, and other attributes
Chakra Energy Flow Meditation
Understanding OM | AUM
Book a Musical Sound Bath session