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Loving Kindness Facelift

October 6, 2017 by Julie Lusk

Many thanks to Dan Leven for sharing this Loving Kindness Facelift. He was inspired by Sharon Salzberg’s book, Real Love.

As he puts it, “It begins with “may my face be happy, may my face be peaceful.” And then you continue moving through each body part wishing them well in this way… “may my neck be happy, may my neck be peaceful … may my shoulders be happy, may my shoulders be peaceful,” and so on. You open your heart’s kindness to your whole body (including your own heart).”

It’s a great way to start and end the day. I love it. I really go to town with spreading happiness and peace throughout my entire body. I enjoy coming up with new places to shower with loving kindness with each practice such as for my brain, blood, eyes and ears – even my hair. Before long, it’s going out to family, friends, pets, strangers and to all kinds of situations. This meditation is especially handy when my attention is restless since it lets me jump all around. It can be any length too – long or short. It sure feels uplifting.

Experience the Lovingkindness Facelift. It’s a replay from one of our yoga nidra on zoom classes.

Dan goes on to explain the science underpinning it. He says, “the vagus nerve is a core part of our parasympathetic nervous system that has two branches. One branch is associated with surviving in a perceived life or death situation where our whole body slows down, feigning death (a primitive survival mechanism). The other branch is about helping us relax and soften into the loving support of others and is associated with the release of oxytocin (the cuddle or bonding molecule). Both branches are about our relationship to “others, “that being dangerous “others” or safe and loving “others.”

Here’s the kicker he reports, “the vagus nerve has many fibers that connect to our facial muscles where we reveal our emotions through a plenitude of expressions. Scientists have logged 21 different emotional expressions that register within the face and there are 8 universal emotional facial expressions that you don’t need a translator to interpret. So our face can register the vagal response from shock and terror, like a deer in the headlights of a moving car (survival vagus nerve), to happiness and peace, like a contented Buddha face (loving vagus nerve)! However, we can also create the response as we bring happiness and peace to our faces!”

So the KEY point, according to Dan, “is that as you invite or train your facial muscles to discover happiness and peace you are strengthening the relaxation response that’s linked to feeling supportive or loving connection with others -to feeling safe in the world.”

Come on – Give it a shot!

PS. May you be happy and peaceful!

Wabi Sabi – The Power of Imperfection

October 25, 2011 by Julie Lusk

♥♥♥

Wabi-Sabi is my new favorite concept. It refers to the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.

Wabi is a Japanese word that connotes rustic simplicity and the understated elegance found in both natural and man-made objects.

Sabi is the beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of something and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear as well as in any visible repairs.

What a wonderful concept that softens the sting of aging and the illusion most of us are under that demands that we always get it right. Not only does it soften it, it elevates imperfection to an art to be treasured.

So, the next time things don’t seem to go right, simply smile and say “Wabi-Sabi”. It’s a real time-saver too.

Please give us examples of how you are celebrating the spirit of Wabi Sabi in your life. Add your comments below.

Memory, Multitasking & Mindfulness

October 10, 2014 by Julie Lusk

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 efficie desktop diva 8-31 b nt 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
- Yoga Nidra – Info here
- Mindfulness – What it is and how to practice.
- Kirtan Krya, the Sa Ta Na Ma 12-minute meditation for memory improvement and to decrease anxiety and depression – Resources here
- Complete Yoga Breathing for clearing your mind, calming down, and increasing energy
- Guided Relaxation and its benefits here

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

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In the News

Julie Lusk has been interviewed on the following TV and radio shows throughout the years.

ABC – TV
ESPN / WBOB radio
CBS – TV
NPR – WVXU radio
NBC-TV WVTF
WFIR radios in Roanoke, VA
FOX – TV And more….

Magazine Stories Written by Julie Lusk

Idea Today – How to lead visualizations
Whole Living Journal – Yoga for whole living
Kripalu’s Yoga Bulletin – Guiding deep relaxation and yoga nidra experiences
Wellness Management – Mercy holistic health and wellness centers complement traditional medical care

Magazine Stories and Interviews with Julie Lusk

Yoga Journal – Little Altars Everywhere (February 06)
Business Courier – Meditating on the Job by Jack Williams
Parenting Magazine – Hand-Me-Down-Stress. When you’re tense, your kids feel it. How to ease the pressure for everyone by Jessica Snyder Sachs.
Cincinnati Woman Magazine – Cover Story – The Fitness Benefits of Yoga
Cincinnati Magazine
- Desktop Yoga by Elissa Sonnenberg
- A Daily Dose of Prevention by Doug Uhlenbrock
York Sunday Times – Great Escapes
Roanoke Times and World News
- De-stressing with a Calming Influence
- At Work Feature – Give her your tired eyes, your oxygen-poor blood, your hunched backs
- Yoga book shows computer users how to avoid body stress
- Just Relax: Taking time is the key to beating battle with stress, relaxation expert says…

New Woman Magazine – 10 Secret Signals of Stress
New Age: Body & Soul – Yoga for Strength- A Face Workout
Journal of the International Association of Yoga Therapies – 30 Scripts for Relaxation, Imagery and Inner Healing, Volumes 1 & 2 (book review)
Wellness Junction – Desktop Yoga
Vegetarian Times – Yoga for the Face
Health eOffice – Deep Breathing Exercises and Simple Neck Stretches
Salem Times Register – Desktop Yoga: Relieve stress without leaving the Office

Empowering Intentions & the MindBody Connection

February 9, 2015 by Julie Lusk

Have you run across The Hidden Messages in Water, a book by Masaru Emoto’s? He is the researcher who looked at the power of intention and the mind body connection and “discovered that crystals formed in frozen water reveal changes when specific, concentrated thoughts are directed toward them. He found that water from clear springs and water that has been exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns. In contrast, polluted water, or water exposed to negative thoughts, forms incomplete,asymmetrical patterns with dull colors,” as reported in his book. Examples of his work using high-speed photography are below. A video of water crystals responding to the Blue Danube can be watched HERE.

"Love & Gratitude" frozen water crystal by Emoto — “Love & Gratitude” frozen water crystal by Emoto

"You Make Me Sick" frozen water crystal by Emoto — “You Make Me Sick” frozen water crystal by Emoto

His experiments were to “demonstrate that human thoughts and intentions can alter physical reality, such as the molecular structure of water.” What has put Dr. Emoto at the forefront of the study of water is his proof that thoughts and feelings affect physical reality. By producing different focused intentions through written and spoken words and music and literally presenting it to the same water samples, the water appears to “change its expression.” The implications of this research create a new awareness of how we can positively impact the earth and our personal health. In other words, if our bodies are 80% or so water, the messages we get and the words on what we wear just may make a difference on our health and well-being. After this work came out, plenty of people joined the bandwagon and believed what he reported. Others claimed he was a fraud, especially since his work had not been replicated.

As for me, I knew about plenty of valid, well-documented research about the power of the mindbody connection and its influence on health and disease and how thinking, positively or negatively, has an impact on results and outcomes. Emoto had a way to make this point by demonstrating these concepts in pictures. It always made an impact when these pictures were shared in my workshops and classes. However, I always wondered how valid his work really was.

All this came up for me again in an article, Scientific Evidence: Thoughts & Intentions Can Alter the Physical World Around Us, published by Mind Unleashed. Not only did it briefly summarize his work and conclusions, it also showed research that he did using positive and negative messages on bottles filled with water and rice. Ah haa! That’s something I could do to see what happened. Read on to see my results … [Read more…]