Making Good Use of my TIME

SOME Story-time…

“I wasn’t Despairing, I was Preparing” – Nelson Mandela

I remember the words of Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years.
Interviewer: Weren’t you despairing during all those difficult years?
Nelson Mandela: I wasn’t despairing . . . I was preparing.

President Mandela was so right. Instead of despairing, we need to be preparing . . . for something greater. It is true, we are in a time of darkness, but the greater the darkness, the greater the light. It is time to activate our light bodies. We need Light Travelers to become shining beacons for others.

Are you ready to become a Light Traveler? Do you think of this time as a disaster, or a Divine tap on the shoulder? If you think of it as a tap, you have been called.
– Denise Linn

The ROOT Cause
I said to my son: “Hey buddy. Imagine we have a tree and the green leaves are turning brown. We’re not sure what’s going on, we just know something’s not quite right. So, we call in an expert gardener to see what he thinks we should do.”

He nods his head.
I continue: “So, this guy shows up, looks at the brown leaves then reaches into his bag and pulls out a can of green spray paint.”
Pause. Emerson’s eyes are widening.
“Then you know what he does? He paints the brown leaves green and tells you that should do the trick. Then he writes down the type of green spray paint we should get and tells us all we need to do is spray just a little bit on the leaves every day and we’ll be fine.”
Pause. Emerson is looking at me in disbelief.
Then I continue by asking: “What would you say to that guy?”
To which Emerson immediately replies with a laugh: “I’d tell him we want the tree to be ALIVE not DEAD!”
To which I laugh and say, “Right?” (Hah.)
He continues: “I mean, that might make it LOOK GOOD but it’s still not going to live.”
What could I say other than: “Exactly, buddy. Exactly.”
Then I asked him what he thinks would help. He thought taking care of the soil and watering it and giving good nutrients would help. I agreed.

Then we had a conversation about the parallel wisdom with our health and the importance of getting to the ROOT CAUSES of our ailments rather than prescribing proverbial spray paint.
Root causes and childlike wisdom for the win!
– Brian Johnson

YOGA – Connects us to our ROOT Causes…

Times change and we change with seasons, with age, with moon cycles – the ebbs and flows of life as we transition through time. Whether we are forced to change from outside influences or from within our own internal environment, we change.

In all the change, we can exist within it and find our ROOT energies, our foundations whether we’re in the dark, turning brown or upside down we have a foundation. If we find the root of our cause then the effect will change once we connect to the root causes. In finding our roots – our balancer, and again that is an individual aspect, then rather than despairing about our situation we look forward and prepare.

The incredible strength and wisdom of Nelson Madela is inspiration, if we can have courage to prepare for our future with a lightness and respect for all we all will live in lightness. The answers lie within.

Let us not spray paint our edges, but instead sit into ourselves, in life, in yoga and find the essence that will carry us forward with light and love. Coming into ourselves and onto our mats to practice and be and find our inner light! YOGA is said to peel away the layers and release us from our sufferings! Let it be!

May all beings be free of pain and suffering, may all people live in harmony and freedom.

The weekly schedule is up, so why not take this moment “right now” and book yourself in for a few classes this week. Take the action right now to create your better well-being! We all know that yoga really does make us feel better from the inside out, and I’ve had so many comments and thanks from returning Yogi’s who feel so much better for creating that time and space we all need for ourselves to feel better.

PREPARE for your week ahead: Book into a class today. Join me on Zoom and prioritise your wellness.

Continuing to Spring Clean our Poses

Core poses and Inversions
Build our strength from the inside and when we’re feeling upside down in the world and turned all around, Inversions help us to see the world in a different light!!!

CONNECT WITH OUR CORE

Society has a fixation with the core body, but perhaps this is an overdeveloped rectus abdominus, which are the superficial 6pack! Looks good, and usually most people with it will have their shirts off to show it off :-)…
However the core body we want to strengthen and integrate into our practices are the deeper core muscles of which the Transverse abdominus is the deepest and is like a belt that wraps around and connects to our lumbar spine. Think of a corset, and think about squeezing and wrapping it tightly as we do some core initiative poses this week. Drawing your front hip points towards each other and elongating the spine.

Modern life can lead to a weak core – sitting for work, rest and play, can make for a weakness overall…

CORE BENEFITS

They are said to build heat and strength. is said to feel like you’re building building strength from the inside out, and is often correlated with positive psychological, emotional and spiritual states, including feeling strong and resilient.
A strong core is recommended to support the lower back, and can eliminate back pain. Is said to support the abdominal organs, improve your posture, improve your digestion and elimination process and is associated with a healthy Agni – digestive fire!
A strong core can also help in athletic performance – i take that to mean our everyday life too as the amount of work we can do -we need to have a strong core!

NOTE: if your core is weak – there is a tendency to overarch the back – drop into it and this leads to pain and long term issues.
Think of your core as stabilising you – so holding you strong and firm. (NOT TENSE!!!)
Overall tension in the belly – pulling in and holding in can be from anxiety and tensions where we don’t digest/assimilate due to our lack of understanding of strength without tensions and being able to let go and be kinder to ourselves!!

Watch out for:
Abdominal doming
Over arching the back
Straining the neck
Overuse of the hips flexors

“Pay attention to the timeless core of your being.” -Deepak Chopra

INVERSIONS

To invert means to tun upside down, and yoga inversions invert the body’s relationship in space and time, with a gravitational pull on us.

There are restorative inversions and active inversions, supported and unsupported and we can have our full body in an inversion and we can have 1/2 inversions too. The heart is higher than the head in some inversions, and full inversions where the whole body is higher than the head

NOTE: Inversions of any type are contra-indicated for any conditions that may be made more severe by an elevation of blood pressure or intracranial pressure.
Brain conditions – Epilepsy, Trauma, Stroke, Intracranial pressures
Cervical Spondylitis, Diabetes, Insulin resistance, Eye issues – glaucoma or retinal detachments, Heart or Circulatory Conditions: CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, HYPER-TENSION, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE!!!
Menstruation, Overweight, Pregnancy, Vertigo, Viral infections – colds/flu/ear infections/sinus
In some poses where weight bearing occurs on: Neck/Shoulders/Wrists/Elbows

Please only take the poses to where you feel comfortable and that means you can breathe into the posture.

In saying all the above: We can learn so much about ourselves in yoga and in exploring our body and mind in poses and inversions.

Inversions can reverse the effects of gravity in the body!
Improve blood flow back to the heart – venous return
Reduce BP and the heart rate
Increase Lymphatic Circulation
Strengthen the upper back
Release tension
Sending more blood flow to the head is said to stimulate the immune and endocrine systems and to nourish the brain
Said to provide more efficient oxygen to blood exchange and healthier lung tissue
May contribute to better sleep
Requires more work by the diaphragm – strengthening the breath capacity
Revitalise
Improve Focus and Concentration
Alter Mood
May bring up joy and accomplishment
May bring up fear and help face and develop courage
May inspire seeing things from a different perspective
Said to Bring more energy to the heart.

In all poses, if our foundations and foundational work leading up to poses is stable then we can be stable and safe. Remember to be light and learn and listen and enjoy where you can be with stability from within and ability from that stability.

We come from all walks of life and come together as community. We find the connections and light to move and shift and change from the old into the new. There is always light at the end of the tunnel…

Have a lovely week and I look forward to us all finding our inner strength to be resilient and continue our pathway and journey in life.

Namaste Lou xo