Yoga

We all know that "parabens" are sketchy right? In case you're like "para-what?" here's the low down:Parabens (methyl-, butyl-) are used as preservatives and can be hidden under the "fragrance" ingredient in most commercial cosmetic products. They also mimic estrogen behaviour and there have been studies questioning their safety. The problem is that parabens easily penetrate the skin and enter the bloodstream and the European Commission of Endocrine Disruption categorize them as a 1 priority as parabens discrupt hormonal function.But what if they are "derived" from food? What if they are labeled "food grade"- that makes them safe, right? It would appear that parabens also appear in low levels in certain foods, so if we eat it, it should be safe.... right? Lush makes the connection that parabens are found in certain foods like blueberries and some of their customers are under the impression that they actually derive their parabens from berries.Well... there's arsenic in apple seeds, but that doesn't make it safe. Just saying.The problem with this reasoning, other than the fact that just because it's naturally derived doesn't automatically mean it's safe, is that parabens in food is not the same thing as parabens in cosmetics.1. The paraben levels in food are low and are easily metabolized through our digestive system that is well equipped to handle naturally occurring levels (or we'd all have died off from cancer thousands of years ago...). Our stomach acids are hardcore, and often destroy most harmful substances prior to reaching our bloodstream.2. However, when applied directly to the skin, parabens are easily absorbed and enter our bloodstream intact. This results in a higher probability that they may affect hormonal function.3. Finally, the studies on paraben safety haven't looked at the interaction between the dozens of products containing different parabens that enter our bodies through cosmetics. According to David Suzuki, some studies show that women are exposed to over 50 mg of parabens per day from cosmetics. Even if each individual product has "low" levels, combined they add up.(David Suzuki Foundation- Parabens, Ecoholic 2006, Ecoholic Body)So... the next time a company tries to sell you the safety of their "naturally derived parabens"- politely inform them to eat some apple seeds...

Last week was my birthday - I turned the big 35 (no hiding here). I noticed the changes I've made in my 30's vs. my 20's. One change I realized was my friendships and how they are more about truth. The authenticity of friendships took over just having friends. Is there truth in our friendship, can we tell each other anything without judgement or negative criticism. Can we be that positive light in each others lives. Can we stick together as a positive shield against the negative vampires (people who suck the energy out of you). Can we inspire each other? Can we just be there? I have a group of friends in my life, who some have met each other but most of them have not met. There are a few here in the south and a couple out west. I sometimes think if only this group of friends could all get together it would be a powerful scene of truth, positivity and amazing glowing energy. I am so thankful that I have these friendships that welcome me each day, week, month. Do you find truth in your friendships? Are you being authentic in these relationships? These are questions I ask myself. This post from Crunch Frugalista - are your friendships toxic? It's an interesting post to read if this question pops into your head. MSN actually wrote a post on toxic friendships. On the other hand beliefnet wrote a post on 12 ways to make good friends. My truth is - do what you love to do, be authentic, be nice, be happy and good friends will come along. When they do, let them know they are a good friend, be loyal, be truthful, be honest and spread the love. Peace

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about support and stability lately. I’ve been in a particularly busy time with my work, so I’ve needed to shore up my self-care reserves even more than usual (although my instinct is to fill them less because I “don’t have time”). I was really struck by how important a firm foundation is when I told a friend I was off to attend a yoga class for a change. She said, “How do you have time to do it, this week of all weeks?” I thought for a moment and then said, “I don’t have time NOT to do it, this of all weeks.” Base of Support I’ve learned this first and foremost through my yoga practice — both in the action of the physical poses and through seeing, time and again, how much yoga meets my physical, emotional and spiritual needs. In other words, when I don’t practice, I’m a bit of a hot mess.  Recently, I was teaching Warrior 2. Many people overuse one of their legs in this pose and don’t use the other one much at all. For most people, this is the front leg. Other people hardly use either of their legs for support and try to hold the whole pose up by their arms, or clenching their jaw or squeezing their butt. Because when they don’t use their full foundation, they have no choice but to create tension somewhere else. Sound familiar? Warrior 2 I think that message resonates with many of us, whether on or off our yoga mat, so that’s why Warrior 2 is this month’s pose. Let’s start with building our firm foundation: You might like to begin by a wall if possible. We’ll start with activating the back leg. Stand with your body perpendicular to a wall, with your L foot near the baseboard. Step your R foot forward a foot or two. Turn your L toes in about 30 degrees and press your heel against the baseboard. Turn your R leg and foot out 90 degrees. Your torso will want to turn towards the R leg, but see if you can keep it more in line with your pelvis, facing the wall in front of it. Using your breath, inhale and bend the right knee; exhale and straighten the right leg. Try this a few times, noticing what happens to your back heel. Does it come off the baseboard at all? Next time you’re through a bent knee, hold it there. Press your heel back into the baseboard if it has moved, noticing how that activates the back leg. If your heel never left the baseboard, take a moment to allow it to collapse a bit. The leg is, of course, still supporting you somewhat, but the energy and feel of the leg is quite different from when it is active. Re-press the heel into the baseboard. Extend your arms out at shoulder height. Your L hand may have to press into the wall, which is fine. Your R arm/hand can extend out, palm facing the floor. Keeping your hands and feet where they are, gently turn only your head to look out over your R fingertips. Take one full breath here. Bring your hands back by your sides. Turn your feet to parallel and turn around to do the other side. To feel the activation of the front leg, we’ll switch the orientation a bit. You’ll need a wall and yoga block for this (or something firm but not too hard that you can press your knee into). Stand about a foot away from the wall, perpendicular to it, with your L foot closest to the wall. Turn your R toes in 30 degrees and turn your L leg and foot out 90. Bend your L knee, placing the block on its shortest width between your knee and the wall. Adjust the knee/leg/block until you are in a comfortable bent knee position, pressing the block into the wall with your knee. You may be able to come down a bit farther than normal because the block helps you to hold up your leg. Hold here, extending the arms out at shoulder height. Your L hand will likely press into the wall, but it depends on how far away you are. Turn your head to look out over your L fingertips, taking a full breath here. Take a moment to feel the energy of t

Yesterday I got a second opinion about my teeth. I'll get a third one next week and this was it then. This shall be enough to make a decision.On these dentists day I seem to be unable to do anything else. Yesterday morning I felt excited and wanted to prepare myself. When I was at home again in the evening I had Adrenalin in my blood. I calmed me with food and a glass of red wine. I hadn't eaten anything the entire day except a small breakfast.The dentist No2 is located far outside of Munich. This is a negative point for me. To return home means to walk 20 min to take a first train which comes in 30 min distances. After one station I have to change the train which means to walk to other rails which are a bit far away. Then again I must be 30 min in the train before I reach Munich main station. From there I need about 15 min with the Straßenbahn to be at home. To commute 90 min minimum with an open wound in the mouth is doable, but not a joy.OK, but what was his opinion or diagnosis:He would only pull 5 teeth, 3 of them are wisdom teeth, and not 11. This is a huge difference. Wisdom teeth don't count, I've learned. They are trouble makers despite their name. I had never troubles with them, but one was pulled already 30 years ago. I still can remember the pain, but not why it was pulled. Many young people lose the wisdom teeth and can live without them. The wisdom teeth are the teeth No 8. No dentist even thinks to implant those teeth, except dentist No1. It is not at all necessary to implant wisdom teeth. Dentist No1 was creative. He even wanted to make money as much as possible with my wisdom teeth and my naivety. But I'm losing my naivety.So the dentist from yesterday would implant 2 teeth. And what about the other teeth, that should be pulled by dentist no1? He sees a possibility to heal the periodontosis with deep cleaning. This should happen via a surgery, but there seems to be a possibility that I can have my own teeth a bit longer. After the deep cleaning it can be that the bones recover. I want to try this first . For sure.I'm so glad now that I got another opinion. I hope that dentist No3 comes to a similar conclusion. If not I'll have difficulties to convince him to do less, I know this. Every dentist is convinced, that he's right.But I'll wait, I wanted to hear a third opinion. First I must listen. Then I'll make my own opinion.The therapy plan of dentist No2 is 10 times (!) cheaper than the one of dentist No1.Yep another issue of dentist No2 is that they can do the implants, yet not the crowns on the implants. So I need a second dentist anyway. Dentists are specialists these days.Many dentists write on their signs that they are specialised in implantology. Yet this is not a protected profession. A dentist can read a book or make a workshop and then he can render this service as a dentist. Implants are expensive. Experience is everything here, I think.It's the same with yoga teachers or photographers. If you want to be one, you are one.In my case or for all those who suffer from periodontosis it makes sense to see first a dentist specialised in healing the gums. To implant new teeth shall be the very last step. Yet if a dentist is specialised in implantology he is proned to do it faster than necessary. Makes sense.I'm a bit less afraid now and a bit closer to a solution, a tiny bit closer.It is even possible to live well without teeth No7. I tested it in front of the mirror. Even when I smile as much as I can one wouldn't see it. Yet beauty is not my issue, it's life quality. I want to be able to bite and to eat properly.I lost 2 pounds from yesterday morning to this morning even though I ate a bar of marzipan chocolate beside all the other food I shoved into my body to calm down yesterday night. This shows me how exciting this all is for me and how much energy I need.Summary and tips for a periodontosis treatment:1. Get your teeth cleaned professionally on a regular basis.2. Then a test about the bacteria might be

Ariadne's thread ( last few seconds are a little gruesome)Mediation in the context of Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga can be confusing. Sometime the idea is presented that the asana practice is itself meditative, that no other meditation practice is necessary or that it will take years of asana practice before we're ready for Pranayama let alone Meditation, that we need to be able to sit in an asana for three hours at a time....Recently however, Sharath has mentioned Japa mantra practice in conference. This is a little confusing also, at times there seem to be the suggestion that Japa is just a relaxing practice that you might do for ten minutes before bed, or that it's part of the morning Puja practiced throughout India by yogi's and non yogi's alike.But also that it can lead to deep concentration.There can be confusion surrounding our use of the term meditation, is it the seventh limb, Dhyana, or do the last three limbs together, Samyama, make up the meditative practices of yoga.I was taught Japa by Ramaswami as a meditation practice. Ramaswami presents it as the first stage of Samyama (the sixth limb, Dharana), often described as concentration practice or meditation-on-an-object.There are alternatives to using a mantra, you might want to focus your attention on effulgence, an icon, there are several options.We might employ a mantra like Om Namah Shivaya, I used that for a couple of years. This last year I've tended to us the Jesus prayer, mainly because it comes from my own tradition and seems to have more resonance. Another option might be loving kindness, May all be safe, well, healthy and peaceful (or a variant), the actual mantra or prayer does not perhaps matter too much except that ideally it should be up-lifting. It should also be added that the idea here is not to meditate as in reflect on the meaning of the prayer but rather to use the mental chanting of it as something to attach the mind, somewhere to bring the mind back to, Ariadne's threadJapa should not be dismissed as something trivial, object meditation is where the hard work of meditation practice begins. The idea is to sit in an appropriate comfortable posture, decide how long you intend to practice, ten, fifteen, thirty perhaps forty minutes say and then mentally repeat a short mantra over and over. The mantra gives the mind something to cling on to, when the mind wanders you bring it back ( Like a puppy according to Jack Kornfield ) to the mantra or the internal drishti point in which you've placed it. At the end of the practice you reflect for a few moments on how the practice went."When, in due course, the mind is able to stay with the object to the complete exclusion of all other thoughts, it becomes dhyana, the second stage of meditation" RamaswamiOver time the distractions become less and you manage to stay with the mantra longer.The difference between this and the supposed meditative aspect of our asana practice is that nothing else is going on. Where not changing posture every few minutes or breath cycles in pranayama, there's just you and the mantra.Ramaswami stresses that the asana practice gets rid of the rajas, our agitation, pranayama reduces tamas, lethargy, leaving us in a more satvic state to practice japa, to develop our focus and concentration upon a single object.Japa is is the simplest and yet most challenging of practices.Here's Ramaswami on meditation followed by the Samyama sutras from Patanjali and Aranya's commentary. At the end there are some quotes from conference reports relating where Sharath has mentioned the practice of Japa.On MeditationBy Srivatsa RamaswamiOnly an orderly mind can successfully meditate. Sattwa (purity) is the quality of the mind that produces order and enables it to be one-pointed, a prerequisite for meditation, or dhyana. How can one make the mind and even the body sattwic? Yoga offers asanas and pranayama as the means of reducing the non-meditative, distracting, and dull qualities of the mind. These qualities

Pregnancy Yoga, Ease Hip Pain and Discomfort in Lower Back http://www.EkhartYoga.com Francesca Giusti introduces us to this Pregnancy Yoga movement that can ease hip pain and discomfort in the lower back and stabiliz... From: Ekhart Yoga Views: 36 1 ratings Time: 03:57 More in Sports

...

Have you ever have one of those moments on your yoga mat when you just feel so darned good...your body opens, you feel firmly grounded in a posture, your alignment totally supports your body making you feel like you could stay in the pose forever (or at least longer than 5 breaths), you can't help but grin because you feel so joyful and full of happy energy? Oh yes, I've had many moments like that on my mat. And off my mat, for that matter. A little over a year ago, I was having one of those moments. I had just made a big life change that felt so right that I awoke each morning feeling pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming giddy (yeah, it was that good!). I was at beginnings of a relationship that seemed solid. I was feeling healthy and free and abundant. I was beginning to become aware of old habits and patterns and committed to new ways of being. I was metaphorically in Warrior Pose, feeling powerful and open and strong. I was creating a life that I adored. At the time I felt like I had hit the sweetest of sweet spots, like it couldn't possibly get any better. The thing about moments is that they pass. And when we're having a good moment, we want to cling to it, to make it last beyond the moment. That's where the ouch comes in. It's like staying in a yoga pose too long or going to deep -- it feels good for a minute and then it doesn't. For every pose there is a counterpose which takes the body in the other direction to balance it out.  About a month of so after that moment I found myself still clinging to it even though it had passed. It no longer felt good or right or organic. Instead it felt forced and very, very wrong. Just like the counterpose, the next moment stretched me in a different direction. At the time it didn't feel all that great. But when I finally let go of that past moment and immersed myself into the present moment, things shifted. I went into the stretch, quieting my resistance, instead focusing on moving in a new direction. It feels like a lifetime of moments have passed since that time. The moment I find myself in now is richer, more joyful, more resonate with my soul. I could never have conceived of this moment when I was so wrapped up in that moment of seeming perfection. It reminds me of something a friend of mine said once (wise words passed down from her father): Life is like a spiral. You come around and view things full circle but from a higher elevation. I couldn't have said it better myself. In this moment I still find myself in that pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming giddy state but it has that higher elevation feeling about it. How could I have possibly thought that that moment over a year ago was the sweetest of all sweet spots?!?!?! This moment isn't all that different in terms of the contentment and happiness that I feel and yet it is. It feels like so much more. It's like I've come into Wheel pose once again but this time my body is opened even more than it was last time and the energy is infusing my whole body. Oh yes, higher elevation it is. Yet I know that there's a counterpose and that at some point in the near future I'll think of this post and shake my head thinking that the moment I'm in is even richer and brighter and more powerful than this one. Just when you think you've hit that sweet spot, it gets sweeter. Not clinging to the sweetness of the moment opens you for even more sweetness in moments to follow. All you can do is be in this moment, regardless of whether it's bringing you sweetness or an uncomfortable stretch or even numbness. These days I'm grateful for all of my moments, for they add up to a merry adventure of a life. And in appreciating what the present moment has to offer, I find my life getting sweeter and sweeter. Here's to the spiral and coming back to higher elevations! Namaste!

Clara Roberts-Oss Yoga: Up, Down, Upside Down Clara Roberts-Oss Yoga: Up, Down, Upside Down. See full yoga video here ... http://myyoga.tv/v4yN Clara Roberts-Oss leads this live Power Vinyasa class; Up, ... From: My Yoga Online Views: 2 0 ratings Time: 09:28 More in Howto & Style

Rod Stryker Yoga and Ayurveda: The Vital Essences Rod Stryker Yoga and Ayurveda: The Vital Essences. See full length yoga video here ... http://myyoga.tv/v4y3 This talk at Wanderlust Colorado with Rod Stryke... From: myyogaonline Views: 0 0 ratings Time: 09:51 More in Howto & Style