What? ...a pain in the neck

Is life giving you a pain in the neck? Are you carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? Is so, you're not alone. 

Neck and shoulder pain usually go together. The most common cause of neck and shoulder pain is stress, either emotional or physical. Much of the physical tension we experience comes from our lifestyle choices. Many of us spend most of our days sitting, rounding our bodies forward while driving, working on a computer, or scrolling through our smartphones. Yes, even the way we sleep can give us a pain in the neck, and in our high-stress, hurried world many of us often feel the weight of the world on our shoulders. The body is clever though, when we are out of alignment it gives us a nudge. If we take notice and make adjustments, life can return to normal pretty quickly. But if we ignore the signals, what starts out as a little pain frequently turns into a big pain. 

Tight shoulders and a stiff neck may be telling you something on an emotional level. The mind/body connection is real. We know our minds carry our emotional stress, but our bodies do too. Our necks relate to how we express ourselves. Are we able to speak our personal truths? Neck problems can also relate to flexibility. Our necks allow us to turn and see things from a different perspective. Are we being stiff necked about something? Do we need to look at it from a different angle? Everything that is dear to us is held by our hands and carried to our hearts through our shoulders; however, our shoulders are also where we carry our burdens. Are we carrying too much responsibility? Can we set something down? 

Yoga helps us ease neck and shoulder pain on many levels. Physically, we stretch tight muscles and strengthen weak ones as we cultivate flexibility, stability and ease of movement. Emotionally, yoga is a potent stress reliever. It teaches us how to relax and connect to an inner sense of peace. Using yoga as a tool to relieve physical and emotional stress is one of the many ways we can heal ourselves. Taking the time to relieve the stress of neck and shoulder pain can help you feel revitalized in the whole body. Revitalized, I love this word, to be imbued with new life and vitality.  

Our story this month; Relieving stress revitalizes me!

The following are a couple of stretches to relieve neck and shoulder tension. 

Come to sitting mountain, easy pose, a stable, steady cross legged position, let your seat settle into the ground, let the spine be straight and strong and the head lift high to the sky. You can come into sitting mountain in a chair also, both feet resting on the ground, knees hip distance apart and over the ankles. 

Neck stretch 1; Inhale and extend the spine as you bring the hands behind the head and interlace the fingers, the elbows are out wide, exhale and lower the chin to the chest bringing the elbows toward one another, pause, let the gently weight of the hands and gravity release the neck, relax the shoulders. Inhale slowly and deeply as you lift the head and open the elbows wide, repeat the movement several times. (see image above)

Neck stretch 2; Interlace the hands behind the back and bring both hands to the left waist. Inhale and sit tall, exhale and lower the left ear to the left shoulder, relax the shoulders. Hold the pose for 3 deep breaths. Return the head to the center and turn to look left. Hold 3 deep breaths. Repeat on the opposite side. 

Happiness and health, 

Kathe

Aparigraha

Aparigraha is the last of the five yamas of Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga. It often translates as non-greed, non-possessiveness, and non-attachment. It involves letting go of our attachments to possessions and people as well as letting go of our opinions. Our egos love to cling to our ideas and inflexible opinions, however, being inflexible keeps us stuck in a rut. It is better to change our minds - so to speak - and be open to another way of looking at things, to be open to another perspective. Everything in the world is always changing. Change is the only constant thing we can expect in life. Trees don't cling to their leaves but instead drop them in autumn so they can grow new buds in the springtime. Day turns into night in order for us to rest and rejuvenate for the next day, and if we cling to the day we would not get enough rest and would become exhausted. 

We go through changes every moment of every day. Our emotions change. Happiness, joy, and peace are important emotions to feel but so too are anger, sadness, and loss. To experience only the good stuff is to experience only half of what life has to offer. The school of life exists to allow us to experience and learn from every aspect, both the light and the dark, and to truly live we must not push away the things we don't want to feel, but allow them to happen, and know that this too shall pass. We can allow ourselves the freedom to rely less on material possessions or relationships to bring us happiness. We can allow ourselves the freedom to experience everything life has to offer, whatever that may be because letting go is not a loss, but an emancipation.    

Our story this month is, "Non-attachment offers me freedom." 

Our peak pose this month is Shoulder Stand, an inversion dubbed, "The Queen of Asanas" or "The Mother of Asanas." Because inversions can be tough - not to mention humbling, practicing them provides an outlet to learning non-attachment. With practice you learn not to focus on what the pose looks like, but on being in the moment. 

If you would like to give Shoulder Stand a try there are a few precautions you need to be aware of. If you are suffering from a neck or shoulder injury Shoulder Stand should be avoided. Those with glaucoma, high blood pressure or pregnant may want to substitute a restorative pose such as Leg's Up the Wall Pose. If you have not attempted Shoulder Stand before and are new to yoga it would be best to have a yoga instructor assist you. With that said, Shoulder Stand has tremendous benefits. It increases circulation in the lymphatic system, improves digestion, nourishes the thyroid, parathyroid and thymus glands, and last but not least helps to relieve emotional stress. 

Lie on your back and bend your knees placing the soles of your feet on the ground. Place your hands on your waist, palms and fingers supporting underneath your back. Bring your knees up toward your forehead; let the knees rest on your forehead. Straighten your legs up toward the ceiling and work your hands up your back toward the shoulder blades. To come out of the pose slowly soften your knees toward your forehead, and then slowly lower your feet back to the mat using your hands to support your back. Congratulations on completing the Mother of Asanas!

Love, Light, and Laughter, 

Melanie

What we resist persists

Resistance and resolution are opposites. Resistance is basically not being willing or able to deal with the difficult experiences in life. Resistance will never improve our circumstances, as Carl Jung said, "What we resist persists."

We are taught early on in life to separate things into good and bad, complaining about the bad and rejoicing in the good. Life is constantly in motion however, everything comes and goes. What we deem good and bad comes and goes.  Our emotions come an go, but when we hold on to feelings of hurt, sorrow, anxiety, or anger they persist. They stay with us, these emotions get stuck in the body causing tension and dis-ease. 

Yet when we feel these negative feelings in a positive way, we then can let them go and a feeling fully felt will finally fade. Feeling these feelings does not mean we obsess about them or react to them. It means we become aware of them and breathe through them. Our emotions are essential to having a deeper understanding of our inner spiritual nature and creating authentic power. Becoming emotionally aware helps us move into our full potential and not be bound by experiences of fear and resentment. Resolution to life's problems means we must deal with these feelings and experiences, not deny them or fight against them. By fighting against them we only create tension in all areas of our life. 

Feelings and thoughts go hand in hand. All feelings are caused by thoughts. All thoughts produces feelings, and feelings create actions. Quantum Theory says our thoughts and feelings shape our life. Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to what is happening. The Yoga Sutra also tells us, when the mind is disturbed by disturbing thoughts cultivate the opposite; pratipaksha-bhavana. In other words, change your thoughts...change your life. 

Therefore, we are best served by accepting our present circumstances - this is what is happening - and in doing so make a choice and act in support of that choice. By making responsible choices we can change our thoughts and feelings, and in changing ourselves we change our circumstances. 

We have been moving full speed ahead since spring and with summer in full swing a nice cooling Yin yoga practice seemed appropriate. Yin allows us to cool down, relax and let go. It helps us to let go of resistance which manifests as tension and dis-ease in the body and mind. Yin increases flexibility focusing on inter-connective tissue, ligaments and joints. When we practice yoga, we breathe through what is happening as well as what we are feeling. Our story this month; I relax and let go.  

Yin poses are typically held for 5 minutes. We cooled down, relaxed and let go with Supported Reclined Butterfly pose. Give it a try, we think you'll like it!

Supported Reclined Butterfly

The shoulder blades and head are supported with a yoga block, bolster, or rolled blanket. Be creative with whatever you have. This pose loosens the hips, groins, knees, and inner thighs as well as the shoulders, opens the chest and improves blood flow. It lowers blood pressure, decreases muscle tension, reduces occurrences of headaches, relieves fatigue and insomnia, reduces nervous tension and stress, and relieves anxiety and panic attacks. Supported Reclined Butterfly is a doozey! 

Set up your support. Sit tall bringing the soles of the feet together, relax the knees open, lean back on the elbows and ease into the pose finding support for your shoulder blades and head, making adjustments as needed. Lie back and bring the arms alongside the body palms facing up. Close you eyes. Breathe. Relax and let go.

To come out of the pose, draw your knees together. Roll to your side and use your hands to press up to a seated position. 

Relax and let go, 

KH

Libraries Rock!

We spent several adventurous days with the Richland Public Library's amazing kids for the Summer Reading Program!

The sun beamed bright, the day a delight as our yoga storytelling adventure began. Our plans included a stop off in Ruston for peaches. Ruston is north Louisiana's peach paradise and the season had just opened. Mitcham Farms is just peachy, it has a delightful gift shop with all sort of peach goodies and fresh peaches galore. Millions of peaches...peaches for me! After a few sweet purchases we lapped up some peach ice cream before shoving off for Richland Parish.

Richland parish is the home of Louisiana's first public library. Who would have known? It was built in 1927, the year of the great flood. Stories are told of people who paddled their pirogues into town to borrow books until the water receded. A sturdy, red brick building it is still is use as a memorial library.  

Good girl scouts always scout out their territory so we google mapped the addresses for the branches we were to visit and set out to locate them ahead of time. Gotta be prepared ya know, don't want to get lost or be late. Well...the printed map and the mobile map got us lost, and if we would have waited til morning we would've definitely been late! The first library was just up the road from where we were staying but the map took us this way and that way to no avail. Putting the maps aside we allowed intuition to guide us and found it easy peasy just around the bend.

We can't say enough about the librarians we worked with. They were incredibly welcoming, thank you Debbie, Amanda and Sara! Richland parish is rural, it has two branch libraries each one about a 20-minute drive from the main library in Rayville. The libraries have recently been handsomely renovated and it was wonderful to see the communities utilizing them. Libraries Rock!

Four presentations were scheduled, two each day. Each session the kids sat enchanted as we told The Impossible Dream. Introducing kids to yoga is exciting as well as rewarding, you never know what you're gonna get. One of our participants had a leg in a cast and was on crutches. Did it stop him? No way! Which only reminded us...Nothing is Impossible!

In gratitude. 

KH

Finding Joy

Joy comes naturally during the easy times of life, but it takes effort to find moments of happiness during the hard ones. Life has many trials and tribulations, but we can experience joy throughout if we keep in mind that hardships do ultimately dissipate. Growing up any time I was sad or frustrated my Mom would tell me, "this too shall pass", and this did seem to help somewhat because it gave me hope that things would eventually get better. I still think of those words today whenever I am feeling down. 

One way to find happiness during difficult times is to be grateful for all the good that you have. Recognize the abundance and blessings in your life, even in the midst of the difficulties by appreciating the things that you have and not taking things for granted. It may be simple as appreciating having a roof over your head and food in the cabinet. Writing down what you are grateful for expands the process. Keep a gratitude journal and write in it every night before bed or maybe once a week. You might even want to write down your troubles. Let enough time pass before rereading what you wrote in your journal and you could discover there was a reason for the difficulty and it may even have been a blessing in disguise. 

Another way to find happiness during difficult times is to live in the moment. There are moments of joy in even the most painful times of life. You could be having a troubling day but look up to see a magnificent sunset or a glorious flock of birds flying overhead. Let the beauty of the scene transport you to another plane of existence where troubles do not lie. Which brings me to a third way of finding happiness, embracing nature. Two of the most profound places of peace are the forest and the ocean. If you can go to a forest and breathe deeply, letting the oxygen fill your lungs it can instantly bring a peaceful feeling. Just being among the trees can uplift and energize you. Take a walk on the beach and open up your senses to feel the sand between your toes, listen to the waves and smell the salty air. Merely doing this has a way of renewing us and bringing comfort. 

Last but not least, moving your body can transform your experience. Take a walk preferably in nature, through the woods or on the beach, in a park or even around your block. Turn on some music and dance. And you probably know what I'm going to say next...try doing some yoga. Doing yoga moves energy through meridians in our body that can remove negativity. Sometime we may cry while the negative energy moves through us, but then we can release it rather than holding onto it, allowing room for joy. Try it next time you are feeling low. 

Our story this month; May I be filled with joy. 

We found joy in our practice this month as we practiced Wild Thing. If you would like to give Wild Thing a try the instructions are as follows:

From Down Dog come into Side Plank on your right side. Step your left foot behind you, keep your right leg straight and push your hips up away from the floor. Scoop your tailbone and use your legs to keep lifting your hips. Curl your head back, lift your left side body, and keep your left upper arm moving toward your shoulder socket. Extend your left arm overhead and curve into a rapturous backbend. Have fun. Be wild. Taste your freedom. Then release, step back to Down Dog and switch sides. 


Love, Peace and Joy!
MM

The Mind is like the Moon

It's been said that the mind is like the moon. Why? Because, the moon has no light of its own. It is just reflected light. Just as the moon's light comes from the sun, the mind's light comes from our inner sun. 

Like the moon, the mind tends to wax and wane. It may be filled with interest in something, then in the next moment that interest will fade. The mind, like the moon, does this because it is reflected light. It is not self-luminous; it is susceptible to fluctuation and change. We often seek the light from outside ourselves, looking for bright things, hoping they will fill us with light. We seek light from the outside because we haven't yet realized our own self illuminating nature. 

The moon and the mind also have a dark, shadow side. When we allow the inner light to illuminate the dark places however, things don't look so scary. We can do this by simply observing our thoughts and feelings. Without judgement just witness thoughts that are negative and become aware of the feelings that arise. Once you become aware that these thoughts and feelings do not serve you, the inner light can guide them in the opposite direction. 

The inner light is all wise, all powerful and all loving. When you are unsure of your way and all around you seems dark allow the inner sun to guide you. When the inner light guides you, you'll find peace in all of life's situations. Turn inward, find your inner sun, realize your self luminous nature and shine your light on everything and everyone!

Our story this month; I honor my inner light.

Half Moon Pose

We will begin in Mountain Pose, move through a variation of Pyramid Pose and then let our inner light shine as we find Half Moon Pose using a block. 

From Mountain Pose place the block alongside the right foot. Step the left foot back about 3 feet, turn the foot to a 45 degree angle. Place the left hand on the hip. Inhale and lengthen the spine, exhale and fold forward hinging at the hips, bringing the right hand to the block. Pause and feel the stretch. Inhale and bend the right knee, lifting the heel of the left foot, into sort of a lunge. Exhale and rock back lowering the left heel as you straighten the right leg. Repeat several times, inhale as you lunge forward and exhale as you rock back.

On the next inhale pick up the block and place it about 18 inches in front of you, the back leg will automatically begin to lift. Exhale as work toward bringing the back leg parallel to the ground. Engage your core as you straighten the front leg. Actively reach through the back heel, flex the foot. Stack your top hip over your bottom hip, stack your left shoulder over your right and open your torso. Then extend your top arm and lift towards the sky. Balance and let your light shine! Repeat on the opposite side. 

Here is a short meditation to connect with your inner light. 

Sit in a quiet place, comfortable with your hands resting on your knees palms facing up and eyes closed. Begin by taking several slow, deep breaths. Now visualize a light within your heart. Focus your attention on that inner light. When the mind wanders, gently bring your focus back to the inner light without judgment. 

Once the image of the light is clear, add a simple gesture to the visualization. Inhale and softly open your arms. Exhale and place your palms over your heart. Repeat twice more. With your hands over your heart sit quietly for a few moments breathing gently. When you are ready open your eyes and remember this light of wisdom, power, and love is always within you. 

Mahalo, we serve. 

KH

Sutra 2.36 Satya

Dedicated to truth and integrity, our thoughts, words, and actions gain the power to manifest. (Translated by Nischala Joy Devi)

The Yamas are a code of conduct for the Yogi. Sri Swami Satchidananada explains that Samadhi, which is the ultimate goal of yoga, should not be practiced without the proper moral background.  In Christian terms the yamas would equate to Matthew 7:12, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." 

Sutra 2.36, Satya, is the second of the five Yamas. This yama specifically relates to truthfulness and integrity. It refers to the idea of lying as intentionally misleading others. It means never giving someone else even a slightly different impression from what you know to be true. It is an injunction against deception. Keep in mind that an omission is also a deceit. By deceiving another you are essentially harming them. When others know we are honest, we'll build a trusting relationship. It should also be pointed out that satya should always be in service of ahimsa, the first yama. This means that one should speak carefully and avoid brutal honesty and gossip. It is important to be mindful of the boundary between constructive criticism and destructive criticism. Always communicate with kindness. 

"When you have become willing to hide nothing, you will not only be willing to enter into communion but will also understand peace and joy." - A Course in Miracles

A truthful statement conforms to the way that things are, but a lie requires an ongoing process of bending the facts to support its existence. Lying to others chips away at one's inner integrity and may plant itself like a seed in one's consciousness, giving rise to an inability to see oneself honesty. Nischala says it beautifully, "The power of truth is created through the alchemy of personal integrity."  She equates the power to "feeling" truth as a physical reaction. For example, tears may fall spontaneously as your heart unfolds with words of truth. On the other hand with words that dim truth, you may experience a tightening in the body that releases a wash of fear and anxiety. The heart rests when it is in Satya. Truth carries it's own reward.  "The truth shall set you free." John 8:32

Our physical practice this month is all about core strength because a strong core supports our body. Core strength also refers to the spiritual, ethical, and emotional essence of who you truly are. This means core strength also supports your mind and spirit. 
Our story this month is: I am strong in body, mind, and spirit. 

One of the core poses we practiced this month is called Dolphin Plank. Dolphin Plank builds strength through resistance of your body's weight, which helps to increase bone density. This pose strengthens the arms, legs, and core muscles, including the abdomen, chest and low back. It also strengthens the muscles around the spine which helps to improve posture. 

Begin on your hands and knees. Align your wrists directly under your shoulders, and your knees under your hips. Lower your elbows to the floor directly beneath your shoulders. Keep your forearms parallel to each other. Distribute your weight evenly across both forearms. Tuck your toes and step back with your feet, bringing your body and head into one straight line. Align your heels over your toes. Keep your thighs lifted and take care not to let your hips sink too low. Keep your head in line with your spine. Engage your abdominals. Gaze between your hands. Hold the pose while breathing smoothly for five breaths. Those using the pose to build stamina can hold for up to five minutes. To release the pose slowly lower onto your knees, then press back into child's pose. 

MM