Greetings LifeFit Yogis and Friends!
‘Tis the season to be … jolly, busy, patient and above all, thankful. After all, gratitude is the “mother of all virtues.” I would like to think that gratitude is what drives all of our best wishes to those around us – gratitude for all who are in our lives and what we have been blessed with. Thank you all for your support of LifeFit and please know that already I am planning for what we can manage to do together in 2010!
News and reminders:
1. Classes at Christ UMC are about to come to a break for the holiday schedule. They are all participating in a great effort to show our appreciation to be able to use the new youth building that will begin construction in the new year. Right now the church is in the middle of a fund drive. Each class will get an extra day to practice together and instead of paying LifeFit, all payment will be a donation to this group effort to raise funds. Please consider at least the cost of our classes. The 9:45 am class will have their day, Tues Dec 15. The 12:15 Beginner’s Yoga class will have their day Tues, Dec 8th. The 12:15 Chair Yoga class will have their day Thursday, Dec 10. The 11:00 Simply Fit class will have their day Tues, Dec 15. And, the 5:15 pm Sunday class will have their day Dec 13. These extra days are also great for any potential students to visit and experience our classes. And,….if any regular/returning students are unable to come on these days, please consider making a contribution to our group effort – thank you all!
2. On these special days, I will have some requested items for sale….they all make great stocking stuffers! Sunbreeze oil, neck wraps, eye pillows, straps and blocks – I suggest you have your own for home practice over the holidays as well as in class. More and more, people consider yoga straps and blocks “personal items” for practice. After all, we are in the midst of flu season.
3. I have had just a few requests for toe socks. If anyone wants, please let me know as in the new year the price will increase. Right now I have to order a minimum of 2 dozen. They come in black, grey, white, and stripes: blue, brown and now red/white(candy cane just this month). They come in kids sizes for those of you who have kids who do yoga…especially with the” wii fit.”
4. In the new year, two “group” practice times at my home studio will open up – Mondays and Wednesdays in the early mornings. That can be anywhere from 8:15 – 10:30 depending on who signs on. These small group classes can accommodate up to 5 people who will split the cost of the hour and classes will run in 6 week sessions. If you are interested or have any friends who are interested, please sign up sooner rather than later. This is another great way to spend time with friends!
5. ASAP I need to have a confirmation of all class members/retuning students so I can assess where we have “space.” Thank you all for being attentive this way!
Recently I spent time with a writer’s group and the assignment was to write on what clutters our minds/days. This was my contribution….
What clutters my mind and what clutters my days….too many things to mention… if I were to try to list them all they would continue to do just that. When I become overwhelmed and realize the need to act against the mounting clutter, I bring my focus to my breath. There I find refuge, instantly, every time. I encourage you to try it. You can do it almost anywhere, no matter what the position of your body.
When I begin to focus on my breath, immediately the breath slows down…like a watched pot. I know this from the feeling that the previous breath was in fact not this slow and relaxed. It was probably either much more shallow or both shallow and harried. I am reeled in by the immediate effect of “calm” that comes from the message of this first breath to “slow down.” In wanting more, I know to make my breath slower, steady and more full, not just the inhalations but the exhalations as well.
Knowing the physiology helps me. I know not to rush the experience, not just because part of the journey is savoring the experience but more importantly, not rushing things ensures the desired outcome. The main reason here: the diaphragm is a muscle and it needs to warm up to the required deeper, slower breaths. It is foundational in providing/creating the depth of each breath and is shaped like a dome along the underside of the ribcage. The myriad of smaller muscles that run between the ribs, the intercostals, are less strong yet have the same physiological need to warm up so as to stretch better and take part in deeper breathing. The muscles of respiration are both voluntary and involuntary. When the breath is “watched”, the voluntary system overrides to a degree. If you are not being as careful to provide your body the amount of oxygen it requires, the involuntary system tells you so and you must attend to the feeling of needing a few shorter breaths now and then.
The following exercise is one of my favorites and can be played out in many ways with more detail to refine and effect slightly different outcomes. Keeping it simple also serves the purpose of sweeping out the clutter without adding more. Begin to notice how much you can in fact lengthen your breath without creating a counter effect. Know that it will get deeper as you continue and resolve for it to be slow, steady and full. As your body adjusts to this change, your focus should then go to lengthening the exhalations. They should come to be twice as long as your inhalations. This too should happen slowly, and with consistency. The physiology here is rather interesting. Doubling the exhalation reverses the switch between the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The “fight or flight response” that is responsible for increased heart rate and blood pressure, for tense muscles and quickened respiration, for increased anxiety and feeling of panic, all of that gets reversed. All of those symptoms truly reverse, whether mentally you are inviting that to happen or not. Once this kind of breathing exercise becomes a regular practice, the brain begins to recognize the pattern more readily so that the pleasant physiological responses are greater and come to happen faster. This simple exercise is so useful and in a society where we are wanting an “instant fix” for almost everything, it is reminding us to slow down and to listen to our bodies.
In the 5000 year old practice of yoga, the breath is used as an entryway to meditation, as a means to quiet the “monkey mind,” as a way to provoke thought and bring clarity, and eventually as a way to “enlightenment.” There are many more meditative techniques, simply other avenues to quieting the mind and also useful spiritual vehicles. The place my mind gravitates to for added refuge is well beyond the physiology. After all, isn’t everything? Spirituality is far greater, far stronger and we need to recognize and acknowledge that more and more. Here is my meditation while in this breathing exercise: “ I am breathing therefore I am; I am here; I am here because I have a purpose on this earth today; God has a purpose for me; my purpose is Gods purpose.” Like this poem I once read, my breaths come to have a spiritual focus, which leads to the final part of my renewal:
I Thou
I Thou
I Thou
I Thou
I Thou
I Thou
“Inner peace, world peace.” – Zen teacher Cheri Huber
Wishing you peace,
Mona Flynn
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