Special Mind Body Weekend this week in place of regular class.
Centering - Turn senses inward in centering exercise. Observe the quality of mind and breath before, during, and after the invocation. See if there’s a subtle shift in your energetic and physical body during and after this exercise.
Invocation or Chanting – calms the energetic body, singing can also have the same effect.
Anxiety/Panic Attacks – Anxiety is a survival mechanism…there’s nothing wrong with you
1. Turn inward, live in the present instead of past or future illusions. The past never happened exactly as you remember it. The future will never work out as you imagine in will when you worry about it.
2. Breath…double your exhalation count to inhalation count. Hands on belly and chest to feel full breaths as you inhale from belly to chest and exhale from chest to belly.
3. Acknowledge the goddesses of our thoughts, thanking them and then dismissing those that don’t serve our highest and best intentions in the given moment. Our thoughts both good and bad are just transitory things orbiting our mind, not a permanent part of us. The heart is permanent and true. Trust and follow your heart.
Asana for Anxiety – practice Chaturanga Vinyasa, moving with the breath. Chaturanga Vinyasa is cycling though these poses: standing – forward bend – downdog – float forward to plank – lower down to belly – rise up to cobra – exhale back to downdog – forward bend – standing. Try holding plank six inches off floor and observe if you are still breathing during this difficult moment. Mindfully return to your breath and continue to connect to your breath and body throughout the sequence as you repeat this several times. Holding plank is like having to rough moment. Poses that can help you open your heart, become more embodied, and relieve anxiety…
1. Cat/Cow – on all fours, inhale lift the head and drop the belly, then exhale drop the head and lift the belly.
2. Bow – lay on your belly, grab your feet and kick your feet back into your hands to rise up.
3. Child’s pose – bring your big toes together with knees mat’s width apart and bow forward.
Diet Tip: Cut out the caffeine and sugar…either reduce dosage to a smaller cup or switch to decaff beverages.
Depression – realize the part of the cycle that you are in. There will be ups and downs in life. If you’re down you need to re-invigorate the body so you feel embodied and connected to your feelings instead of numb. Don’t check out when life gets tough. Connect back to body and breath. Recognize the impermanence of both positive and negative experiences. Try leaning into the sharp edges of your life and challenge yourself to live more fully in that intensity.
1. Commit yourself to remaining active with the faith that you will pull through the fatigue and weariness. One or more hours of workout at least 1-2 times per week, no matter how much you don’t want to go on any particular day. Make yourself go. Reward yourself for going aftwards.
2. Get some sunlight. Light affects your mood.
3. Feel free to take a mental health day. Find a way to take a break from work or household responsibilities for an afternoon. Remember Ahimsa or non-harming applies to yourself as well as others. Honor yourself by not overextending your energy when you are low and need to recharge.
Asana for Depression - Poses that can help you become embodied and energized:
1. Dolphin Pose – downdog with forearms on the ground. Step feet in towards your elbows and soften heart. If you are at the wall you can kick up to Peacock (handstand on your forearms).
2. Handstand at the wall. Can put feet in L pose with feet standing on the wall. Soften heart before you go up.
3. Uttanasana, touch your toes with knees bent if you can’t touch the floor. Easy to do in the office or in a seated position and good for both anxiety and depression.
Anger – remember that anger isn’t something bad. It is a legitimate emotional state. It can even be righteous.
1. Be honest with yourself and others about what angers you. Verbalizing your anger in a constructive, non-abusive way can help disarm it sometimes before it boils over. “I have to be honest, that makes me angry when…”
2. Reduce your swearing internally and externally. Recognize when the things that may make you angry (driving mistakes, lines at the store, etc…) are not caused intentionally by others and forgive them.
3. Cool off. Again don’t drink too much coffee or heating drinks. Even consider less spicy foods. Anything overly heating can contribute to an anxious and angry mind.
Asana for Anger - Three more poses to ease an anxious mind AND anger as they help cool and calm the body down.
1. Bridge – laying on back, bend knees and bring heels close to butt, lift pelvis and clasp hands under your back.
2. Shoulderstand – keeping a safe space behind the neck (put shoulders on blanket if needed) lift torso and legs
3. Legs up the Wall – butt up against the wall with thighs pressed into into the wall. Also aids digestion.
Insomnia - At the end of the day, a good night’s sleep helps your mental state.
1. Uttanasana – forward bend, a gentle inversion to slowly ground your energy and clear your head.
2. Downward Facing Dog – let your head and neck hang lose. Soften your heart and repose.
3. Seated Forward Bend – sit up on blanket to root thighs onto the floor. Bow from the heart forward.
Success/Concerns! The class size was the largest I'd dealt with before (36 people), which offered some unique challenges serving all of the students by myself. I had a shorted time period of 60 minutes (usually class is 90 minutes) to cover all the material for the workshop and had a few students who weren't actively doing poses on the periphery of class. Would have liked to have been able to help them with an alternate pose.
Next time I'm going to structure the class so there's at least one demo and assist where regular students assist new students to help make sure everyone gets served even if I can't give them individual attention on every pose due to time constraints. Also, I'm going to make sure that when I have a workshop like this that I structure the class to serve a wider audience. I thought that some of the inversions like handstand at the wall and dolphin would be more accessilbe to everyone, but actually lost some beginners mind there. The handstand was not necessarily the best choice for this class even though it was good to show the students that could confidently attempt it. I'll keep thinking about this one.
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