Jun 3, 2013 |
Have you always wanted to try meditation but don’t think you have the time or ability to sit still and quiet your mind?
These are the two biggest factors that keep people away from the incredible benefits of meditation, and that was the impetus behind my development of Hang Ten Meditation videos.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/lVnw2GqhaD4[/youtube]
Carve out just ten minutes from your busy life, and I’ll take you through a guided meditation. Not just any meditation – Hang Ten Meditation videos are filmed right on the beach with the soothing sound of the waves to calm the mind and fill you with bliss. Meditation can boost your immune system, ease anxiety and depression, and alleviate chronic stress-related issues like insomnia – even a few minutes from your day can help you reap these benefits and more.
Meditation is all about quieting the mind, but what most people don’t realize is that when you meditate, the mind is just naturally going to wander. That’s not a bad thing; it’s what’s supposed to happen! It is when we recognize this and come back to our breath that the practice of meditation begins. I can’t think of a better mental cue to remind you to come back to the breath than the magical sound of waves.
The first two videos were shot on the lovely shores of Firefly Beach in Huron, Ohio, and coming soon I’ll have videos available that were shot while I was in Aruba for my Beach Yoga Bliss retreat. I plan to offer videos in different time lengths, but they’ll always be ten minutes or less and will include beautiful beach footage and a soundtrack of the shore.
Check out my Hang Ten Medition Videos on YouTube to find free videos about how to settle into stillness, including a quick five-minute asana practice to prepare the body for meditation. Ready to dive in and break the crashing waves of your mind?
I am a big proponent of letting go, quieting the monkey mind, and offering the brain a chance to rest and recharge. Invite in the scenes from the beach and sound of surf to make a mini vacation in the middle of your day, and you’ll walk away with a refreshed mind and a renewed sense of creativity.
Stay tuned. I’ll be writing more about the benefits of meditation here on The Daily Downward Dog and sharing Hang Ten Meditation videos.
Got ten minutes? Hang Ten Meditate with us and find your bliss!
Stay in touch and share the love by following Hang Ten Mediation on Twitter and Facebook!
Join me next September 2015 for my yoga retreat in Santorini, Greece!
Mar 19, 2013 |
The coolest things happen when I’m teaching yoga, so I decided to start sharing some of my yoga teacher tales here on the Daily Downward Dog. I can’t tell you how many times a student has told me how much better they feel after practicing yoga – their aches are gone, they sleep better, or they are using their breath to take them through difficult situations off the mat. These stories warm my heart and are what make sharing the practice of yoga so gratifying.
The other night when I was teaching a class for beginners, one student commented about how she felt she would never get all the asanas and breathing techniques correct. I reminded her that this was only her third yoga class ever, so it was perfectly normal that she didn’t remember some of the steps of a sun salutation. I always try to encourage students by letting them know that they don’t have to do the poses perfectly. As long as they are breathing and coming to the yoga mat with an open heart, they have a lifetime to refine their practice.
It was so much fun teaching the beginners’ group how to do virabradhasana 1 and 2, trikonasana, and of course ending with some cool-downs and twists. After bringing the class out of savasana and closing with seated breath meditation and namaste, I looked up at that student who had a blissed out look on her face as she proclaimed for everyone to hear,
“I love yoga!”
The entire class, including me, busted up laughing because it was such an enthusiastic, heartfelt expression of how the practice of yoga can enrich our lives. I loved hearing these words from a student who had come to class that night expressing judgment and doubt; in contrast, she found peace and joy in her practice. For me, that’s what teaching is all about! I love seeing the transformation, seeing students get hooked on the practice of yoga.
I love teaching yoga!
Got a good yoga teaching tale or inspirational ah-ha moment from your own practice? Please share with a comment below.
Feb 21, 2013 |
Last week I got to hear four blissful words that I never hear my husband say:
Let’s Go Do Yoga!
Just the sound of those precious words coming from his lips was enough to make my heart swell with delight. I love my husband and I love yoga, but my husband does not practice yoga, so to get to share some time with him on a mat is one sweet, yogalicious treat!
Our yoga date was not a typical hour-long asana class, but rather a two-hour partner Thai yoga massage class led by the awesome Tracy Rhinehart, who expertly guided the couples through the fine art of Thai massage, which has been affectionately dubbed “lazy man’s yoga.”
Many of the maneuvers Tracy took us through were familiar asanas to me, so I loved hearing my husband exclaim what a great stretch he was getting in his back when I gently guided him into an assisted bhugangasana (cobra pose) and seeing his relaxed smile as I assisted him into a gentle supta matsyendrasana (reclined twist).
It will probably be a while before I get him to come to another yoga class with me, so I will savor the memories of this stellar experience. I know that each time he gets a little taste of how awesome yoga is, his appetite and curiosity will continue to grow. And he knows that I will always have a yoga mat ready for him!
I want to give a big shout-out and hug to Tracy for hosting this class at YogaBliss Akron and for providing the yummy chocolate and wine afterward. You can book Tracy for your very own Thai massage or private yoga session, or if you live in the Akron/Cleveland area be sure to attend a yoga class with her.
If any of you have tips on how you get your partner or friend to the yoga mat – and, more importantly, hooked on the practice – I’m all ears, so please leave a comment below.
A Sweet Yoga Treat (and Challenge) for You!
I love a good challenge. And, if it is a yoga related challenge, all the better! This week, I decided to take Cora Wen’s 30-day Savasana Challenge. All you have to do is commit to resting for 15 minutes every day for the next 30 days. The actual challenge started on February 14, but it’s not too late to join in. You can get all of the details on Cora’s blog. When you leave comments on the 30-day Savasana post and share your savasana experiences, you are also entered to win some really cool prizes, including a Vernice Vita yoga mat that makes your savasana experience even more yogalicious with its middle layer of memory foam comfort.
Anna Guest-Jelly of CurvyYoga.com, Cora Wen, and Maria in Cleveland, Ohio
Blissed out after a day of yoga workshops led by Cora!
To quote Cora:
“Just 15 minutes of savasana a day can help you find that peace within and gain access to the space in between your thoughts. There, according to wisdom traditions, you find the window to the infinite mind and the mystery that some people call spirit or core consciousness.
The reason for restorative yoga isn’t so you can get away from it all, but that you can get in touch with it all.”
So, in other words, we’re not slacking when we rest in savasana; we are seeking peace and plugging into our consciousness for a few minutes, which is a great way to unplug from our phones and the internet for a refreshing change.
Please join me in this awesome challenge!
Jul 9, 2012 |
I often marvel about the number of things I encounter in an average day that relate to my yoga practice and can bring a spark of inspiration for a class theme.
The other morning said inspiration came from a sixty-second radio commercial for insurance. I was driving up to Vermilion to teach a beach yoga class and was listening to the announcer explain the importance of slowing down when you make the important decision of selecting an insurance carrier. She ended the spot with the following tagline:
Slow down – there’s plenty of fast out there.
I’m borrowing that line from Liberty Mutual, because this is one mantra that bears repeating.
How often do you find yourself in a yoga class, rushing from pose to pose? Anticipating the teacher’s next instruction so that—before you’ve allowed yourself to find your breath in one asana—your mind has already jumped off to the next one. We’re so hardwired to rush through our day that sometimes it can be hard to shake off the frenzy in yoga class.
Slow down – there’s plenty of fast out there.
Do yourself a favor and consciously work on slowing down when you practice yoga. Take a moment to settle into an asana, listen to the cues, check to ensure you’re in proper alignment, slow down enough to really notice how you feel, and deliberately move through the postures to the pace of slower breathing that comes naturally when you focus on ujjayi pranayma. Aahhhh, slowing down in yoga class can be a beautiful thing.
Most of our day is spent rushing, so what a refreshing concept it is that in yoga our goal should be to slow down. Yoga is the antithesis to the rest of your stressful day. It gives you an hour of pure bliss and, more importantly, that much-needed time to give your mind the break it deserves.
Don’t worry – there’s plenty of fast out there when you need it. And hopefully the practice of slowing down on your yoga mat is something you can learn to do off the yoga mat as well.
Jul 3, 2012 |
I’m too old for yoga.
I’m too inflexible for yoga.
I’m too overweight for yoga.
I’m too [fill in the blank] for yoga.
Need a little inspiration to get you off your ass?
Watch the video below. It will only take 4:55 minutes of your time, and I guarantee you will be moved. Even if this video doesn’t inspire you to give yoga a try, it can give you hope that just about anything you think might be unattainable in your life is possible if you just believe in yourself.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/qX9FSZJu448 [/youtube]
You might have already seen this video. It’s got over five million hits and is the personal yoga journey of Arthur Boorman, who for 15 years of his life was a disabled veteran of the Gulf War. He received his injuries as a paratrooper and was told by doctors that he would never walk on his own again without assistance.
For a while, Arthur gave up and turned to food to console him, bringing his weight up to 297 pounds.
Arthur happened to catch a video of former pro-wrestler Diamond Dallas Page (DDP) and decided to give DDP’s brand of yoga a try. He reached out to DDP as well and received personal encouragement from him while he went on his yoga journey.
Don’t give up, keep going, and know that anything is possible.
How many times do we all face personal challenges like this? They might not be as extreme as Arthur’s situation, but we all have projects that at first seem daunting. But if taken in small steps, with patience and a lot of self-love, eventually we can accomplish what initially seemed impossible.
Arthur fell many times, but he got back up. He continued to tell himself that “just because I can’t do it today doesn’t mean I can’t do it someday.” And you will see in the video that Arthur experiences many yoga victories, including losing weight, rocking a headstand, and then coming down from the headstand into crow and jumping back into plank. I can’t even do that – so WOOHOO, Arthur!
I wanted to share this video for anyone out there that might be afraid to try yoga or has given up after just one class. I know yoga is not for everyone. But it’s not something that is going to be easy at first, especially if you have not been exercising regularly. It takes time, determination, and courage. You won’t be able to do everything at first, and the results will not come overnight. But gradually you will start to experience a transformation. Each time you come to your mat, there is an opportunity to make new discoveries, each one taking the body and the mind a little further.
You have to come into yoga with an open mind. When you first start, you might think you’ll never be able to move and stretch the way some of the other students do. The fact is that we are all so much stronger and capable than we allow ourselves credit. And yes, I’m guilty of this too. When I first started, I thought there was no way I’d ever be able to do a headstand or crow pose, and today I can do both of these poses. I can only imagine how much further I’ll take my yoga practice – if Bette Calman can do peacock pose at 93, so can I!
Over the course of one year, Arthur Boorman lost a total of 140 pounds, and more importantly, he was able to prove the doctors wrong. He is walking, practicing yoga, running, and sprinting without any assistance.
Never underestimate what you can accomplish when you believe in yourself.
Never Give Up.
That’s Arthur Boorman’s yoga story. Watch the video, decide what you want to get out there and accomplish in your life, and then set your sights on never giving up!
If you have a personal victory that you would like to share, please leave a comment below. I’d also love to hear from anyone who has tried DDP yoga.
