Tag Archive for: mantra

Stuttering In Your Yoga Practice This Holiday Season?

How to stop stuttering and suffering in your yoga practice this holiday season - Axis Yoga Teacher Trainings Denver, CO

Axis Yoga Trainings of Denver, Colorado - Yoga Teacher Training 200-Hour Program

Don’t let your yoga practice suffer in the holidays.

Binge drinking eggnog?  Cookie O.D.?  Late night raucous caroling?  Has your yoga taken a hit over the holidays?

It’s not uncommon for one’s commitment to yoga to waiver this time of year as outward activities subvert one’s inner peace.  Whatever your particular vice, consider these practical steps to reclaim your practice and keep your yoga on point in this celebratory season.

1. It is Never too Late!

No matter how low your practice may have declined, it is never too late to renew or revive it.  It is those first initial steps that can seem the most insurmountable.  Once you get started the rest seems to fall into place.  Yoga is the most dear friend that will never abandon you no matter how much you have abandoned it.

Don’t delay until the new year!  In fact, now is the time to create momentum that will launch you into the next trip around the sun with a fresh outlook on life.

2.  Let Go.

This is a totally different angle on yoga than practicing poses, but it is an easy and fulfilling way to bring the spirit of yoga to your daily life.  Letting go.

You do not have to look far to find examples of excess within our culture, just look at the latest holiday catalogue to show up in your mailbox and ask yourself “is this really necessary?”

In our materialistic culture, it can be easy to assume that we need something additional, something outside of ourselves to be fulfilled.  When in fact, the reverse is true.  Is there something that we are holding onto that we would be happier without?

This pertains to not only physical possessions but more importantly, mental attachments.  Clearing up psychic clutter of fear, resentment, anger will open the gateway to deeper levels of fulfillment in our day to day lives.  What are you willing to let go of, that once it’s gone, will free you up for more fun?

new-years-event-banner

3. Have Fun!

Yogic wisdom tells us that we are here for four primary reasons, one of which is kama or enjoyment.  We are here to experience the world in its fullness, joyfully.  Allow yourself to participate in the season’s celebrations, and your yoga practice, in the spirit of satisfaction and pleasure.

Consider adding some spice to your practice!

Expand your horizons, attend a class with another and highly reputable teacher.  Many studios offer “Friday Night Yoga” classes that feature very festive themes.  Attend classes that play (or don’t play) music.  Host a fellow yogi get together or simple bring a friend to class.

4. Make Mountains into Molehills.

It can be easy to get caught up in a grand vision of what our practice is supposed to look like, not meet that expectation, get discouraged, and quit. Sometimes less is more.

In my classes, I encourage students to begin by making small, manageable and sustainable changes.  Can you dedicate 20 minutes or more to a daily home practice?  Gradually increasing practice over time is more likely to stick than one big, ecstatic burst of inspiration.

If you do receive such a burst of enthusiasm (which can be great!) keep it in perspective and know that it is unlikely that you will live that way for the rest of your life.  (Sorry to be such a downer).

Consistency is the key to making long term progress on the path of yoga.  What can you do on a regular basis?  Life is better with yoga

5.  Prioritize Peace.

The goal is peace. People come to yoga for lots of different reasons: to lose weight, to find their tribe, to mend from an injury.  All of which are to be appreciated.  One essential reference point of the practice in peace, peace that brings freedom from internal friction within our own minds, peace that instills us with compassion and cultivates contentment.

Peace is something intrinsic within us, not something to be acquired.  In this season of “Peace on Earth” where does peace fall within your yoga practice?  Are you busy pursuing the outward appearance of the pose? How does peace show up (or not show up) in your relationships? How much do we practice self love and acceptance, the fruit of a peaceful perspective.

 

New Years Day Mantra for Inner-Illumination & Peace
– Jan. 1 at 9:30am

Start the new year on a sacred note. It will look very different than a conventional asana class, as we welcome the new year with meditation, individual and collective discussion (always inspiring!), and chanting the Gayatri Mantra 108 times. Create peace, within and without. Click here for more information.

3250 E. Sixth Ave. UCC
Suggested Donation ($15-20)

 

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Getting Out of Your Head

Everyone hears their own chatter in their head at times. The message is sometimes full of praise but often times full of self-criticism. Learning to script the message of this chatter is something everyone can benefit from. This Axis Yoga Teacher Training student took time to reflect on this challenge while focusing on a return to creative expression.

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Getting Out of Your Head: Summary

In a big nutshell:

I have been an artist for as long as I can remember.  Instead of connecting with people and relating, it was just me, a pen, and paper.  Sitting for hours and drawing my life as I saw it or wanted it to be was my life force.  School was art-centered.  College was even better because it gave me more opportunity to fully immerse myself into being creative.  Working in the corporate world for the past 13 years being told how to design and what to design sort of interrupted my flow of creativity up until last year when I left it all.  The process to do my art again has been slow.

Idea:

I would like to give myself the opportunity to create something – a doodle, sketch, an entire piece — something expressive, something artistic once a week.  Maybe then I can get that momentum going again and just have it flowing from my fingertips instead of reeling in my head and feeling stuck.

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Getting Out of Your Head: Goal

The process of being creative and staying creative has gone through different stages in my life.  As a small child, it streamed like water from a steady flowing faucet.  The thoughts, emotions, urges, expressions all came out effortlessly and consistently.  School and college still supported the imagination but then the work started turning into assignments with due dates.  Fast forward to the working world and corporation employment – something happens emotionally and/or mentally that somehow halts my ability to express myself.  The ideas are there spinning in my head, collecting in folders on my computer desktop, saved and bookmarked…. but I just can’t seem to let it go.

The goal of creating something once a week to share with others was supposed to be an easy way to get it all out – to not feel stuck, to stop keeping it all inside and connect with others.  The experiment was not as successful as I wanted it to be.  One piece of work was created and shared within three weeks.  There was a lot of judgment and criticism, “Only ONE piece of art in three weeks?  Good artists constantly doodle and have something to reveal daily.  What’s wrong with you?”

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Getting Out of Your Head: Observation

Having a busy schedule or other things taking priority is always the excuse.  This experience has actually slowly been revealing itself within the past year.  The journey has been full of me being with myself.  I have been learning to guide, nurture, and encourage myself to start making art again.  It truly is a daily affirmation game for me to get going.  I never really needed it from the outside world because I have become numb to others’ prodding and confidence.  I have even let positive comments from others to run dry through me.  I needed it within myself to step onto the path and be my own biggest fan and supporter.

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Getting Out of Your Head: Conclusion

I knew deep inside that I was the only one beating up myself.  I was the only person holding myself down.  Once I became aware of the mantra “analysis causes paralysis”, I then put myself through an exercise of closing my eyes, taking a deep breath, and jumping in.  Thoughts are like chatter, sometimes, it gets to be too much.  I am left covering my ears, screaming, and running out of the room.  Since it has only been a year that I have been doing this practice of nurturing and motivating, I still need to stop, and self-guide myself to even pick up a pencil.  Imperfection is still something I am learning to become friends with – it’s OK to draw a line that doesn’t make sense, it’s OK if I only do one sketch a week, a month, or whenever it happens.  No one is expecting anything of me, I am in safe place of expression.  Everyday is a work-in-progress.

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Calming the Kids

Axis Yoga Teacher Training students are able to choose any topic for their final experiment. Through insightful observation, this student chose to focus on using Yoga to help calm the children at bedtime. The results were rewarding for the whole household. This account stands to be useful for any parent!

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Calming the Kids: The Experiment

So I initially set out to do an asana practice with my children daily to try and work on their issues.  Well four children, school, homework, very different dosha’s, holiday, etc.  The daily asana sounded good, but wasn’t very practical right now.  So back to drawing board, which brought me back to bedtime.  It had become a very large ordeal at night, three of the kids went to bed fine but our spirited 6 year old not so much.  It reached a point to where it was keeping not only us up but the other children too.  I decided to use the Mahamrtanjaya Mantra with each child every night.  This mantra was simple, melodic, calming and healing.  Perfect! It fit what each child needed.  So my boyfriend and I set out to spend 5 to 10 min every night one on one with the kids individually. We started with our little one.  We had her lay down in a restorative yoga pose on her back with a blanket under her to help open up her chest.  Then we had to teach her how to breath slow and calmly.  That alone helped to slow down her energy.  Then we started the mantra on the Ipad ( i found a nice 5 min session of it on youtube ).  I held her feet and my boyfriend took her head and we just focused all of our energy and attention on her.  She lasted for about 3 min perfectly still, which for her was a tremendous feet! Then she just softly asked when she was done.  We told her in 2 min, and she quieted back down.  Her total energy was calm for the rest of the night.  We then proceeded to do this with each of the other children, giving them our full undivided attention for that 10 min.  The oldest finally started to take a full breath,  the 2 middle children fell asleep fully relaxed, and it helped to calm us down as well.  The little one still was awake when we finished with the other children but she was calm.

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Calming the Kids: The Results

Over all it has been a great success.  The kids now remind us if we got busy and forgot, and love the individual time with us.  It has totally changed our night time routine and has helped everyone’s attitude during the day as well.  My son has also started to see images in light while we are with him doing the mantra.  He is drawing them for me. His migraines have subsided when we are consistent with this routine.  My daughter is not sick anymore, and growing pains have started to subside.  And in my opinion, most importantly, it has brought a calmness and peace to our home, and a bonding experience one on one with each child.

I look forward to continuing this with my children and sharing my experience with other parents.  Once I have healed from my injury I will continue to expand in this practice and hope to work with children and their families.

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