 photo: Natalie Grainger The purpose of yoga is stretch, open and expand our physical boundaries. Boundaries that contract over the years. The tight spine, the creaky knees, achy elbows …. looking over the shoulder to reverse the car is an effort. Forget any wild idea of touching the toes or heading south any further than to peer over your glasses. Oh, that text neck. Ouch. Youch. No. Surely there’s a better way. But yoga? Are you kidding me? Turning myself into a pretzel (hello, I might look like a peanut, but …) it’s out of the question. And seeing you asked, I don’t need to stand on my head. Life stands itself on its head anyway. Far too much. Hang on … hold it right there. No, not the yoga pose ... your disbelief. Yoga can actually stretch, open and expand your physical boundaries without a whole lot of effort. Without fancy poses or uncomfortable contortions.
Without even getting out of breath. Believe me, I do it daily. If you were to walk by my yoga mat and glance over at that person lying there doing nothing much, or sitting up rotating her knee, or standing up still, with arms overhead … you might wonder what the heck I was doing. She's not even huffing or puffing. It doesn’t look like the yoga we see on the cover of magazines. But indeed it is, verily it is, yoga. Of a slow and gentle style. A slow gentle style of yoga that will meet your body exactly where it is ... and you can work outward from there. You can work outward from there, as your mobility grows through regular practice of simple movements. When performed with breath awareness and presence, these simple movements become yoga. The great tradition of yoga, stretching back a thousand years. It means the body can be more comfortable, have less aches and pains, less tightness & tension. More mobility, more elasticity, more reach, more stretch. More joy. The best bit is that it's really not all that hard to do, whatever your body type. If you want to see what it looks like, head over to the demo clips at youtube or here. As they say, yoga is a work-in, not a work out. Thanks for reading. Namaste. WATCH THE VIDEO CLIP HERE .
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“People look for retreats for themselves,
in the country, by the coast, or in the hills . . .
There is nowhere that a person can find a more
peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind. . . .
So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself.”
in the country, by the coast, or in the hills . . .
There is nowhere that a person can find a more
peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind. . . .
So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself.”
WHAT WOULD YOU RATHER ...
Meditate? Who, me?
Perish the thought.
If you happen to be someone who would prefer to give yourself an electric shock than be stuck in your head, take heart.
You are not alone.
WEIRDO MEDITATOR
Back in the day when I started as a meditator, meditation was still regarded as a slightly suspicious navel-gazing endeavour.
STRESSCALATION
Has your family or workplace ever felt like a chain gang throwing the hot potato of stress from one person to another?
HARD WIRED TO FRET
It’s not easy to be human. The brain is wired to
- pay far more attention to negative information than positive
- learn a whole lot faster from pain than pleasure
- perceive negative stimuli more quickly and easily than equally intense positive stuff
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