It’s True. Laughter is Good Medicine.
Posts Tagged ‘Yoga Videos’
It’s True. Laughter is Good Medicine.
October 1st, 2009Reason to Love the Tango …
September 22nd, 2009What kind of music do you love listening to when doing yoga? Sun salutations with Otros Aires Rock…
Yes, Yes I am Sitting Too Long on the Computer
September 18th, 2009We are NOT designed to sit and work on the computer for long. I love this video.
Reminds me the amazing feeling you get with backbends. New blood! New Energy!
Thank you Sangha Yoga Shala for sharing this video!
Yoga Inspiration at 83 Years of Age
September 17th, 2009
Bette Calman always radiant and dressed to the nines in bright jumpsuits, lipstick, and earrings, she looks nowhere near her age of 83 as she can contort herself into even the most advanced yoga poses.
This Australian inspiration has been teaching yoga for over 40 years, and says that she can do more with her body now than she could 50 years ago. She teaches up to 11 classes a week.
Bette, thank you for shutting down all of my excuses (I’m tired, I’m busy, blah, blah, blah) as to why I shouldn’t practice today! I hope to be half the yogini you are someday!!!
Good Day Feeling for Oprah! Biggest Flash Mob Yet
September 16th, 2009Take 3 minutes to lift your energy up big time!
The Black Eyed Peas perform a special live version of “I Gotta Feeling” for Oprah while a flash mob of synchronized dancers groove on Michigan Avenue downtown Chicago, IL USA. The performance was at Oprah’s 24th Season Kickoff Party on September 8, 2009.
What an amazing example! Living is about giving.
Yoga Vegetarianism
September 15th, 2009So, you have decided to make yoga a part of your life. But does that automatically mean that you have signed on to be a vegetarian? Is cutting out meat a necessary part of a serious yoga practice? There are many different schools of thought on this issue. You will find that that there as many variations on a “yogic diet” as there are different styles of yoga.
“O Blood Type Needs Meat”
And the Yogic Vegetarian Take…
After practicing for a while, you may notice that your yoga starts to seep into other aspects of your life.
You will cultivate more self-awareness, so it is natural that you would start to question the impact of your everyday choices on your mind, body, and spirit.
A vegetarian diet would be in alignment with the practice of ahimsa, or non-violence. An intelligent vegetarian diet, which incorporates a lot of fruits, fresh veggies, and grains helps to detoxify the body.
But whatever happened to non-judgment? Isn’t that also a part of yoga? How is it yogic to think that someone who eats meat is not as serious of a yogi as someone who is vegetarian?
I think that it is important to remember that a yogic lifestyle is based in moderation. It could be argued that a carnivorous diet that includes a lot of whole grains and fresh organic produce is more desirable than a vegetarian diet that includes a lot of refined sugar and processed foods.
With the practice of self-awareness, ask yourself how you feel after eating certain foods. Play with this – if you eat meat, try eliminating it for a short period and see how you feel. If you feel better in some way, that is great. Explore that more. If cutting out meat is a huge struggle for you and it causes you anxiety, maybe give yourself some more time and try again later.
I do not think that there is one right answer that should have to work for everyone. Whatever diet you decide works for you, make that choice because you feel at peace with it.
Make your food choices from a place of self-awareness, not because you think that your practice has to look a certain way to other people. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were given a list of prerequisites of things to do in order to become a “perfect” yogi? Asana four times a week? Check. Meditation every morning? Check. Vegetarian diet? Check. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. The paths of yoga are many. I think that it is best to stay open-minded on the subject, both as it applies to not only yourself, but also to your fellow yogis.
The Yoga of Forgiveness
September 13th, 2009
We feel centered and calm. Things are going along great, we feel peaceful especially when we are practicing yoga. Until someone does something wrong. Then it seems that everything we have learnt in yoga flies right out the window! All bets are off, and we feel that we are entitled to be mad, bitter, hurt or sad…maybe all of the above.
We need to forgive for our own sake.
By holding on to old grief or hurt, we continue to hurt ourselves by limiting our possibility for personal inner freedom.
Every time we choose to fill up our being with grudges and hurt means less space for good to enter in. Our egos appear – I am a victim, I am unworthy, I must not be cared about.
Try to see the painful situation from a broader perspective.
Is there another way to see the hurtful event? Try to approach this with an open mind and an open heart.
What difficulties might the other person have been facing in their own life at that moment? Were you hurt because you had unrealistic expectations of the other person, and then you were disappointed?
A very yogic way of viewing this is to recognize that, yes, your “self” was hurt. Your feelings and maybe your ego was bruised. But when you think in terms of the “Self”, you will focus on your universal connection to others, including the person who hurt you. You will stop bringing your attention to things of the past, and only then will you be able to enjoy life in this moment.
And isn’t that the whole point of our yoga practice anyway?
The Practice of…Maintaining a Practice
September 11th, 2009
Sri K. Pattabhi Jois quote “Practice and all is coming!”. “95% practice 5% theory”
Maybe you can relate.
At the beginning when I first discovered yoga, I had all of the enthusiasm in the world for this new practice that made my body and mind feel so good. Nothing came between me and my weekly classes. But, as the years went on, and I was practicing more at home and less in a studio, I found myself getting distracted or bored. During my “yoga time”, I would end up doing laundry, catching up on e-mails, anything but yoga. On the days when I would haul out the mat, I might only practice the poses that were easy for me to do – forward bends never seemed to make it to the list!
Fortunately, I found a few things that helped me to stay dedicated.
- First, remember forgiveness. Be kind to yourself. Just because some days you are not in the mood, that doesn’t mean that you are a yoga failure!
- Try something else – get creative! For example, if I cringed when I looked at the mat, on those days I might put on my walking shoes and go for a really long walk through the woods and practice pranayama techniques or listen to beautiful chanting on my Ipod. In the end, I felt calm, completely centered and connected to something greater – and isn’t that the whole point?
- Another way to breathe new life into your practice is to offer your knowledge. Do you have an elderly neighbor whose sore back from gardening could be alleviated through asanas? Teach her, explore this practice with her and see its wonders from her fresh perspective. It might help you to remember why you fell in love with the practice in the first place. Once, my kids’ elementary school let me teach yoga in gym class. To see the kids exploring and playing with the poses reminded me that yoga should be fun – it does not have to be as rigid as we sometimes make it.
- Most importantly, do not beat yourself up over it if you take some time off from the mat.
Remember that a yoga practice can be so much more than just asana. Try to recognize the good even in an annoying co-worker, forgive yourself completely if the laundry pile is six feet high, remember to breathe deeply when you are stuck in traffic and late for a meeting…these are all valid ways of practicing the heart of yoga. Your asana practice will be there for you with open arms when you are ready to return, and when you do, you will probably wonder why you ever stepped off your mat in the first place.
video: The Roads Less Traveled
September 10th, 2009How cool is this …
Eclectic 3.0: The Roads Less Traveled from Ross Ching on Vimeo.
The Roads Less Traveled - Traveling makes me feel free. This video reminds me of my travels. I always thought that I was going away to “find myself”.
I traveled all over the world only to realise what I was looking for could only be found within me. The silence living in the present moment. You can find all of this too by simply stepping onto a yoga mat.
Yoga is the greatest way to connect my body and soul. It was not the physical side of the yoga class that got me it WAS the silence.
video: Imagine Yoga on the Streets
September 7th, 2009Can you imagine how intimidating it would be to have any of these people in your local yoga class??? While some of the poses in this clip are standard staples in a regular practice – shoulder stand, backbend, etc. – most of these are asanas difficult for even the most flexible of the human pretzels! The majority of the poses featured are positions that take years, even decades, to achieve. However, sometimes it’s the challenge of these asanas that create lifetime practitioners because everyone who loves yoga has dreams of achieving at least one of the most difficult poses.
What is your lifetime “dream pose”? Have you achieved it yet?
