Yoga Every Damn Day Challenge

A couple years ago I offered up the 30 Day Yoga Challenge. Well, a couple of it's videos are missing, and it's been a while - so here's a new fun current challenge being offered up by someone else.

The 2013 Yoga Challenge : Yoga Every Damn Day

Click through for Rules/Details and to Join on the the ChallengeLoop page.

by 1Shot Photography - via Tumblr

From the Description:
The #yogaeverydamnday challenge has been ongoing since January 1, and it's open to all. Every month we have had a new twist (to bring gratitude into our daily lives, to meditate etc) but there will not be a twist this month. I want us all to go back to what's at the core of any yoga practice: to practice every single day. I want you to find the joy of living your yoga, on and off the mat, and to remember that yoga is not a pose but a practice! This does not mean you have to take a full sweaty 90-minute class every day (feel free if you like!), but that you incorporate yoga into your life somehow, every single day of this month.

This is just an excerpt, so head on over there to learn how to join and share your practice progress.

Last I checked there were just shy of 5,000 participants!
There are even prizes - Yoga Every Damn Day tanks from yours truly (creator Rachel Brathen) and @seasonfive

via Yogaholics

Meditate.

via Awakened Lotus

Meditation for Spring

Tiffany Cruikshank and Lulu via Awakened Lotus

Seek out a tree and let it teach you stillness. - Eckhart Tolle

Occasionally I like to share my Grounding Tree Meditation, and this quote reminded me that today would be perfect. This meditation is great for beginners that have trouble sitting for extended periods and those with a lot of trouble controlling their monkey mind.

Lotus via Yoga, Water, Sun, Light 

Benefits of Meditation

Meditation doesn't have to be a huge ordeal. Most sane people don't just start with 30+ minutes a day of seated meditation. In fact, meditation can be done lying down, sitting in a chair, walking down the street - or wherever. Start with this One Moment Meditation to easily jump start a functional meditation practice.

Baron Baptiste Flow Practice for Meditation

I've been getting really sucked into meditation lately. I'm not doing it as much as I should, but sometimes just out of nowhere I feel myself drawn inward. Guided to my breath by the soft breeze and the sound of birds competing for mates and nesting materials outside.

The primary purpose of asana practice is to prepare the body to comfortably sit in meditation for great lengths of time. Here's a 20 minute flow sequence by Baron Baptiste (founder of Baptiste Power Yoga) to open the hips and spine for happy healthy meditation. Give it a shot!

   

 Readers via Email - Click Here for the Video

Free Online Yoga Resources

To qualify for this list pages had to meet a few "requirements":
Have at least some free stuff all the time and not just a free trial
Post more than just a couple times
Not set off my anti-virus software
Most have been widely recommended by others.

This is nowhere near an exhaustive list. Just a jumping off point.
Heart-felt thanks to everyone that is making all this magnificent yoga available to the world.

Asana Videos:

Youtube - Sadie Nardini, Yogatic, Tara Stiles, KinoYoga...

Vimeo - Kripalu
http://www.artofattention.com/videos/
http://yogayak.com/ - full classes, meditation, pranayama, etc.
http://www.learnitlive.com/
http://www.yogajournal.com/video/

http://www.doyogawithme.com/

http://www.yogatoday.com/ - some free

http://www.yoganonymous.com/take-a-class/ - weekly free class through GaiamTV

http://www.yogacards.com/

http://erichschiffmann.com/category/medium/audio/

http://pinterest.com/pin/267049452874333658/

Podcasts (mostly iTunes):

http://elsiesyogakula.com/
http://hillarysyogapractice.wordpress.com/

http://www.yogadownload.com/Resources/Podcast.aspx
Faith Hunter
Eoin Finn
Les Leventhal
Kinndli McCollum
TeriLeigh Schmidt
Sofi Dillof
Live Love Teach Yoga School

http://www.omlightphotography.com/2011/11/aubrys-class/

Free PDFs of major texts:

http://www.yogavidya.com/freepdfs.html

Meditation:

http://www.meditationsutras.com/
http://www.fragrantheart.com/cms/free-audio-meditations

Other:
http://bighappyday.com/ -short fun videos for philosophy, motivation, education, etc.

Meditation Education

Recycled Post: Tree Meditation

It's time for another Recycled Post! This is a Grounding Meditation that anyone can do. It's great for beginners, and you do it in a standing position. I love it, my students love it - it's popular. 

Become one with nature with this Tree Meditation.

All photos via Pinterest

Simple Illustrated Guided Meditation

Source: http://www.qualitypeoples.com/image-pile-up-207-2

Breathing Practices for Anxiety

I was asked a while back about pranayama (breathing exercises) for anxiety. Especially quick practices you can use during a mild panic attack or to calm jitters just before a performance.

I wanted to share my answer with you here today:
I'd suggest a few minutes of belly breathing through the nose with eyes closed and make sure that you take long slow complete breaths, but make your exhales twice as long as your inhales. For example... breathe in for 4 counts and exhale for 8 counts. Works wonders on the nervous system. Keep this going for anywhere from 2-5 minutes+ and it should relax your entire system quite effectively.
(This practice is also great for regular meditation practice.)

All About Belly Breathing:
Ultimately it's like filling and emptying a balloon over and over. Start by finding a comfortable seat of course - Eyes closed. Lengthen your spine from your seat through the top of your head.

Begin by exhaling completely. Then as you inhale focus on filling your torso with breath beginning all the way at the bottom - in the floor of your pelvis. Allow each piece of you to expand gradually as you slowly inhale... from that bottom piece up. As you fill upwards - expand in the lower belly, the navel region, the ribcage expanding outwards, the chest filling out and up... All this should happen on the one inhale, but don't force it. If you have trouble just breathe in and follow it best you can. The longer/more you do it - the easier it will get.

Then on your slow exhale - slowly empty your breath in reverse - empty the chest, the ribs, then the belly... all the way down to the pelvic floor which you can feel lift at the very end of the exhale. Just inhale and exhale this way. Watching your breath fill and empty over and over like waves on a beach rising and falling.

There should be no straining or trying too hard because you CAN injure yourself with breathing exercises. If you feel that you're struggling just return to normal breathing and observe it without controlling it.

If your concentration/focus wanders that's totally normal. You will generally find that it happens less the more you practice... but there will always be days when you're just not focused and that's okay too. When that happens just take a few normal breaths and begin again. Allow yourself to return to normal breathing for a bit before you completely stop. It's best for your nervous system.

One-Moment Meditation

I found this awesome video recently and I even did the meditation presented in the video. I found it amusing that knowing it was a one-minute meditation I still found myself feeling like it was the longest minute ever. I've meditated for upwards of 45 minutes, yet this one minute was super-hard. How silly. 

 I felt great afterwards though.

   

 Readers via Email - Click Here for the Video.

Handy Yoga Timer

In the aftermath of all this holiday business - take a moment and maybe $2 to treat yourself for a change.

Yogis these days have all sorts of interesting things at our disposal. What's something we could really use though? Timers. Whether for timing meditation or timing each pose during a home practice. What's an easy way to know when you've been in a handstand at the wall for 2 minutes (or that you've had your students there that long)?

This Yoga Timer App by Simple Touch Software.

I've noticed my teachers using this app a lot in the past year. Maybe for you too - this could be perfect.

Screenshots from Apple

Keeping Anxiety in Check

Many of us living people deal with anxiety.  I definitely deal with anxiety all the time (a certain degree of it is normal and healthy after all). I wouldn't say I suffer from it or anything, but it's around. I find that my yoga and meditation practice helps me to keep it from getting out of hand. If you don't have a regular yoga practice you might wonder how that idea is supposed to work.

Well, meditation trains the mind to be more still, more quiet, and in general to focus not on what-ifs but on the moment as it truly is. Even if there's a lot going on outside of myself, I can take respite internally where there's always some peace keeping a level head.

What your parents think when you don't answer your phone.

The asana practice helps too, but it's not quite as obvious how it works. Even if I explain it... if you've never done it - it's all just hearsay. I'll do my best. When I'm in a pose I don't just find a boring middle point and hang out... and I don't power through into the next thing. No, I find a spot where there's a mild discomfort and I sit with it for a bit. It's not serious pain or anything I can't handle. It's comfortable enough that if I focus on my breath then I might not even notice. This is the edge where I sit. Right on the line between "this sucks" and "I love this pose". Now what does this have to do with anxiety and stress? Well if I'm practicing finding this subtle place where it's almost uncomfortable then I learn to see that this spot is not a big deal. I learn my personal boundaries where I can weather the storm and where it's a serious problem.

Later when I'm not on my mat I can start to see when I'm worrying about nothing (because how many of my worries actually happen?) and when it truly is a problem. If I can recognize the non-issues sooner than I waste a lot less time and energy being anxious and I can spend a lot more time enjoying life.

5-Minute Meditation Music

If you're the type that likes a little music to your meditation (it can help with timing and atmosphere) then I have just the video for you. This little gem by kirtan artist Wade Imre Morisette is 6 minutes and 41 seconds long, which I think it just enough time to hit play, get settled, meditate for 5 minutes, and slowly draw yourself back to your day to day.  Also a natural fit on playlists for pranayama and asana practice. Enjoy!

Readers via Email - Click Here for the Video.

7-Day Detox with Yoga Journal

Yoga Journal is having a 7-day fall detox program created by Ayurvedic consultant Scott Blossom. Anyone can join and I signed up, but I'm not really going to do the whole program. It's not one of those detox programs where you fast or live off juice for weeks. Instead it's one week of cleansing kitchari (a rice, beans, veggie mix), hot tea, lots of self care, yoga, and meditation.

However, I'm not really a detoxer. I don't do that kind of thing... but I do intend to slow down my days, follow the self care techniques such as abhyanga (daily self massage with oil), yoga classes, and meditations. I'm even going to try kitchari which is a cleansing but nourishing dish. I'm turning off my cell phone for the week and I'm essentially going to treat this week as a retreat at home.

The detox program has officially started today with daily emails going out to guide you through it with guided meditation and yoga sequences with awesome teachers like Sianna Sherman. It's all pretty spelled out for you, so it would be good for those that have never done a detox of any kind before. They even provide a shopping list (for recipe ingredients and the like) which is pretty helpful. However, the list is incomplete, so be careful with that.

Go Here for a basic breakdown of the plan and HERE to sign up. You can join at anytime, but if you want to slow down with me - start today!

Chakra Meditation



If you want to do this meditation - start with the Red one and follow the line of mantras around to the purple one.

Photo Source: Coffee and Yoga

Meditation - Success!

Remember ages ago I was talking about trying to build a regular daily meditation practice? I had arbitrarily set the goal to every day for six months. I figured if I'd made it 6 months it was a real habit and I was serious about it.

I just realized today that a couple weeks ago I hit my 6 months of meditation. Yay!

It's definitely a habit now. I meditate every day rain, shine, or apocalypse. Sometimes it's 30 minutes, sometimes it's 5... on a rare occasion it's like 2 which hardly feels like meditation but it counts.

The Power of Visualization

When it comes to talking about "Visualization" I am not usually a big fan. If you suggest to me that I read "The Secret" I'll probably roll my eyes. I'm all about action - not so much about thinking your way to a better life. So let me tell you that what I'm going to talk about is not quite like that. It's similar, but not quite the same.

When I was in teacher training one of my fellow teacher trainees was sick... and we were going to do 27 sun salutations that night. Our trainer for the night informed him that if he didn't feel up to it or started to feel sick during the sequence - that he could lie in child's pose and simply visualize himself doing the work and it would still have some of the same effect as if he were doing the yoga. I was kinda skeptical, but didn't think too much of it.

Later I read somewhere that some scientific study had found that visualizing yourself doing something like lifting weights or doing yoga would provide you with 30% of the progress that physically doing the work would achieve. I was impressed, but still skeptical. I actually tried it last year when I was just starting to really work on Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana and trying to lose my reliance on the strap to reach my foot. That pose is a ton of work and it's hard on the body to do it all the time. I was already doing it at least once every 2 days and didn't want to overdo it... so I started doing a Pigeon Pose visualization meditation every day.

I would simply sit in meditation like usual and after I had myself centered I would simply visualize every single step of setting up and moving into the full pose effortlessly. I imagined it without the strap and happening with ease grace and beauty. Within a week or two I was strap free and have been ever since. Was it because of the visualization exercise? Or was it simply because I was working my ass off? I don't know... but I wouldn't hesitate to practice some visualization to get me into more difficult poses in the future. You know, just in case.

The 5 Most Common Alignment Mistakes in Meditation - (Video)

I meditate all the time. I've been taught meditation by many teachers and I've taught meditation to lots of people. I've always been able to explain to people how to sit - but not real great at explaining why, so I'm glad that I found this video a couple days ago. In this video Amy Ippoliti (amazing Anusara teacher extraordinaire) explains the 5 most common alignment mistakes in meditation, why they hurt, and how to fix them. If you experience discomfort during meditation then this video may help you out because it's the best explanation of this topic I've ever heard.

 

Readers via email - Click Here for the Video

Yoga for Heart Health - Emergency Room Edition

As a yoga fanatic, I tend to prescribe yoga for everything. It's just what I do. Turns out, the rest of the world is starting to catch up with me on that one. Especially for heart health.

Late last week Adam started having heart palpitations - a lot. Eventually we ended up in the emergency room and long story short he has a lot of abnormal heart rhythms and we have to wait and see if it continues to worsen or not. Not a whole lot of help, but in our research and in our take home pamphlet we're finding a lot of lifestyle tips. Mostly things like don't smoke, don't drink, don't do drugs, quit caffeine, eat your vegetables, and avoid cough/cold medicine (which apparently can cause heart arrhythmias). We also know that getting more cardio exercise is important, and everywhere we look people suggest yoga and meditation (primarily for stress relief).

Luckily, Adam already does yoga and meditates every morning, but he hasn't been doing it regularly, long enough to have a big impact on his health and stress levels. While doing yoga and meditating has an immediate effect - it takes about 6 weeks to have a greater overall health impact.

So do yoga and meditate every day - not just because I said so, but because it's doctor recommended and good for your heart.