Pranayama – the Fourth of the Eight Limbs of Yoga
29 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
Pranayama is the fourth limb of Ashtanga Yoga and is the technique used to measure, control and direct the breath of the yoga practitioner. It is the breathing exercise that promotes proper breathing and aims to restore and maintain health, controls the energy within us and provides more oxygen supply to the body.
In Sanskrit, the word prana means “life force” or “life energy” and ayama means “suspend” or “restrain”. It is often translated as control of the life force. Breath control is a practice of cleansing the mind and body. In order for Pranayama to be practiced appropriately, it should be practiced with proper preparation and guidance from the yoga teacher.
The following summarizes the benefits of Pranayama:
- Reduces toxins and removes wastes from our body.
- Improves metabolism
- Develops and improves concentration and focus.
- It banishes stress and relaxes the body allowing peace of mind
- Allows clear functioning of the mind, helping to avoid arguments and wrong decisions.
- Leads to spiritual journey through a relaxed body and mind.
See the following link for more information on pranayama http://yoga.iloveindia.com/limbs-of-yoga/pranayama.html
On a personal note, I used pranayama to help me go through child birth calmly and control the pain for both our kids. I could not have delivered without it and truly game me a positive and peaceful birthing experience.
Take a deep and slow breath in…….and now exhale all the air from your lungs. Do it one more time – this time with your eyes closed. Take a nice long breath in…..now, a nice long exhale. May you find peace, breath and happiness in your day today!
~Sasha
Asanas and an Ode to Great Summer
22 Sep 2010 3 Comments
Asanas – the Third of the Eight Limbs of Yoga
Asanas are the postures practiced in yoga. It is the most commonly known aspect of yoga for the modern “yoga” world or for those unfamiliar with the other seven limbs of Pantajali’s Yoga Sutra. Asana literally means pose or posture in Sanskrit. This is why you will typically see the word “asana” at the end of most yoga poses (i.e. savasana means “corpse pose”).
The following yoga asana photos were done by my great friend, Todd Good. Check out his work at
http://ec-designstudiosblog.com/
The asana practice has a wide range of benefits; physical, mental and spiritual. Of these benefits, the most underlying is the physical benefits improved health, balance, flexibility, and strength. On a deeper level, the practice of asana can be used as a tool to quite the mind and move into the inner essence of being. The challenge of an asana practice can offer the opportunity to explore and control aspects of the practitioners focus, intention, emotion, faith and the connection between the physical and spiritual self. The asana practice can be a way to explore our mental attitude and find balance between our material world and our spiritual experience.
For a bit more on the third limb, asana, check out Yoga Journal’s link http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/158?page=2
An Ode to a Great Summer
The following are just highlights are the wonderful summer we had this year:
- Great times with college girlfriends at Melbourne Beach in Florida (our hubbies – Mike, Steve, and Bill- enjoying the surf)
- Boys (Oliver 18 mo and Aidan 4) doing down dog in the sand
- Watched my hubby, Mike, complete and do amazingly in his very first Iron Man race in June. The whole family drove out to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to see him complete in an awesome 10 hours and 21 minutes! A very inspirational event to watch.
- Sunny days here and there all over Denver and the burbs. Aidan at the park and the boys with the Kaplan kids on our “Wildflower Hike” on Turkey Creek trails somewhere in Evergreen
- Mountain biking with friends. Here I am with Chelle at Deer Creek trail – one of my fav trails to ride.
- Grilling and eating dinner outside! This night we had grilled pepper stuffed with cheese, roasted sweet potatoes with tarragon and beet salad.
- Camping in the Rockies
- Oyster Urban Adventure race in Denver with good friends, Jeff and Adrian. Lots of fun but was six hours too long! We did not do as well as we thought we would! http://www.oysterracingseries.com/
- Lake-side picnics at Evergreen Lake http://www.evergreenrecreation.com/facilities.php?id=10
As much as I dislike saying good-bye to summer, fall shall bring new adventures. I shall relish in all the moments so that they bring joy and not sadness to say farewell.
May you find peace and happiness in your day today!
~Sasha
Niyamas and a Naughty Bear
08 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
Niyama – how can you better yourself?
Niyama is the second limb or constituent of Yoga, which means laws or rules. It contains the five internal practices of Niyama (observance). Niyama can be described as the rules that need to be observed by individuals, at the personal level and are `more intimate and personal, as compared to the yamas. They refer to the attitude that we adopt toward ourselves, as we create a code for living meaningfully. The practice of Niyama helps us maintain a positive environment and gives us the self-discipline and inner-strength necessary to progress along the path of yoga. (http://yoga.iloveindia.com/limbs-of-yoga/niyama.html). The five directives of niyamas, according to yoga.iloveindia.com, are:
- 1. Sauca – cleanliness
This is the first Niyama or rule of yoga and stands for cleanliness. However, in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, Sauca has a deeper meaning, with both inner and outer aspects of a person included in it. Outer cleanliness refers to personal hygiene, while inner cleanliness indicates maintenance of a healthy body and mind, with positive thinking. Cleanliness of mind is achieved by the removal of mental impurities, such as jealousy, pride, anger and so on. On the other hand, the purity of body is attained not only by cleaning one’s body parts, but also by consuming nutritious foods and following a vegetarian diet.
- 2. Santosa – contentment
This is the second rule of Niyama and stands for contentment. It also means accepting the truth ‘as it is’. Yoga sutra teaches us that instead of grieving or complaining about the things that have gone wrong, we should accept the truth and learn from it. It aims at helping a person attain a state of calm and happiness, irrespective of what is going on in the outer world.
- 3. Tapas – generating heat
‘Tapas’ means the strength of being unaffected by opposites, such as heat and cold, hunger and thirst, sitting and standing, etc. It also refers to the activity of keeping the body fit, or to confront and handle the inner urges without outer show. Tapas also signify cleansing the inner debris existing in the body, through asanas and pranayama. ‘Tapas’ deals with correct eating habits and breathing patterns. The main purpose of this rule is to make our mind pure and clean.
- 4. Svadhyaya – self realization
The fourth Niyama in yoga is Svadhyaya, which means becoming close to oneself, through meditation and self-exploration. The name itself explains the meaning – ‘Sva’ meaning self and adhyaya meaning ‘inquiry’ or ‘examination’. It refers to knowing more and more about oneself, intentionally. This rule teaches us to give up destructive tendencies. It teaches us to be centered and non-reactive to the dualities, to burn out the unwanted and self-destructive tendencies.
- Isvarapranidhana – surrender to God
Isvarapranidhana, the fifth rule of yoga, is also known as ‘Celebration of the Spiritual’. The simple meaning of Isvarapranidhana is to lay all your actions at the feet of God. Yoga Sutra teaches us to accept the fact that we will not always get what we wish for, in life. We should only be concerned with putting all our efforts in a specific task. As to the end result, it should be left to God. This rule also instructs us to spend some time, each day, in recognition and realization of the omnipresent force (God), which is larger than us and is guiding and directing the path of our life at all times.
One Naughty Bear at Winter Park
Sadly, we only managed to do one camping trip so far in 2010. However, rather than dwell on the negative, I can practice Santosa and be happy that we got to go camping at all! Having said that, I am happy to tell you about our fun camping weekend in Winter Park where we discovered a new favorite camping spot. Even though we know Winter Park like we know our neighborhood – from the ski trips to the mountain bike trips to the Christmas tree cutting trips and the simple good old camping trips – we were pleasantly surprised to find such a winner only 2 miles outside of town.
We headed up to WP with Rob, Jess, Fleet, Jen, Baby Dean-o-Bean-o and our combined five dogs. Headed up Vazquez Road and found a beauty of a spot right along the bend of the creek. There were a perfect amount of trees for hammocks and a nice fire ring along the edge of the creek.
Early on Sunday morning – around 6:30-ish, I heard “Jen” rummaging through our cooler thinking that she and Fleet were heading out early and she was looking for some of their food. Ingo (our pooch) was whining a bunch but I thought he was just excited to see Jen or to go have a pee. About half hour later when I came out of the tent, I saw the cooler and our food container opened and turned over. All the left over chocolate, marshmallows, English muffins were missing, a bag of pretzels ripped open and an empty yogurt container was on the ground. I just made the assumption it was a raccoon and made a side note to the crew about the wild animal invasion and late realized it was not “Jen“ going through our cooler.
It was not until I was returning from a nice morning jog with Ingo that I saw Rob and Jess’s large storage plastic container strewn about 75 feet from our camp spot on the side of the road that I thought it may be something bigger than a raccoon. When Jess went to retrieve their container with all of their food that was when we saw the large claw marks inside of the peanut butter jar and it occurred to us that it was a bear. No way! How unsafe of us to not take the “put away your food in your car before bed” rule seriously. Now we know better. Thank God I did not let Ingo out the tent when he was whining like we normally do. Who knows how that would have ended!
As we were all packed up ready to roll out of the tent, who decided to show up but Mr. Yogi himself. He was big! I could not believe that he was not making more noise at the cooler just outside of our tents. Mike revved the jeep engine and honked the horn to send him on his way as he was only about 30 feet from the jeep – too close in my opinion. I tried to get a video of him but the video looked like I was shooting from a roller coaster and I got nothing but me saying “do you see him – he is huge!”. It was a nice end to see a beautiful piece of nature. However, we have learned to take this seriously and next time to put our food away.
Since I was not able to capture on film all the nature we saw (including the black bear), I can share a pic of some cool mushrooms that we found throughout the area.
Until next time, find peace and happiness in your day.
Sasha
