by Brianna | Nov 21, 2013 | practice, Yoga
It seems like sometimes I simply wake to the taste of fear. Like the emotion tiptoed in during the night and perched on the very tip of my tongue. In those instances, fear easily builds on fear and suddenly I am in the Sea of Worry drowning in the distance parts of my mind. Go, knock at the door of your own heart. Rumi Practice, my practice, has been instrumental in helping me to realize when I am down shifting into fear. I have learned with time, to listen in – but not necessarily buy in – to the stories that are swirling in my mind. Now when I first taste fear, I pull myself to pause. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t – I am imperfect and that is why this type of self-work is so aptly called practice. When it works – simply pausing will often reset me automatically. When it doesn’t, I consciously choose to redirect my mind’s focus and reach for one of my healing tools in my proverbial toolkit. I find that it is the remembering to do so that is the real trick. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti The truth is that it is easy to practice when things in your life are nice. It is difficult to practice when you are completely overwhelmed with busyness or mired in worry, fear, or worthlessness – the irony is that practice becomes most important when you are these places of deep discomfort. By practicing in your dark as well as in your light you start to really know yourself and your mind’s trickster nature. You start...
by Brianna | Nov 15, 2013 | Affirmations, Breathing, Chanting, healing house retreat, Healing Yoga Practice, Kirtan, Maine, Yoga, Yoga Retreat
I always loved singing but when I first started with yoga I hated chanting. HATED it. In my world chanting was not singing – at that point in my practice my personal comfort zone was so narrow and tight that I am amazed I could breathe. Looking back I think it was the delivery of my first teachers that turned me off so much. In the classes I attended chanting seemed tortured, usually the teacher was loud and everyone else was whispering. We were all uncomfortable and for years I thought it was the lamest most antiseptic thing ever. Sometimes I would get so frustrated by chanting in a class that I would simply roll up my mat and go. I was years into my practice before I attended my first Kirtan and my belief about chanting shifted. Kirtan is a beautiful practice of call and response chants. I realized then that chanting is uplifting, it is freeing – my first Kirtan was absolutely opposite of every experience I had had with chanting until that moment. I fell in love with the practice – in LOVE. Singing as healer is as old as human kind. It is part of every tradition. Like songs chants can be short and sweet or long and elaborate. By nature chants are repetitive and repetition is a known doorway to the meditative mind. Chanting is an energetic expression and a powerful tool of healing. Now, I use it daily and infuse it into my world by chanting while driving, or cooking, or showering. I interweave it into my classes and try to inspire my...
by Brianna | Oct 30, 2013 | Breathing, Healing, Yoga
Yesterday I was honored (and I mean that in the truest sense) to present as part of the Yoga as Medicine series at The Institute for Integrative Health. My presentation focused on the healing power of the breath and its ability to deepen a Yoga practice. It challenged me (ugh PowerPoint), pushed me to speak in scientific language (not woo), and inspired me (the breath is a powerful tool of healing – of that there really is no doubt). During the two hours we looked at simple tools that could easily and effectively engender the Relaxation Response. The Relaxation Response was quantified by Dr. Herbert Benson and unequivocally proved that we have an innate ability to relax ourselves. How awesome is that? The discussion of the Deep Breath examined its: impact on the Immune System (your Lymphatic System is pumped by muscular contractions and the diaphragm is one of the strongest muscles in your body). power over the Autonomic Nervous System (Sympathetic (fight or flight) and Parasympathetic (Relaxation Response)). remarkable ability to release and relax your body, mind and spirit. We moved on to utilize three different breath-deepening techniques during a Hatha Yoga practice: Deep Belly or Diaphragmatic Breathing http://briannabedigian.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Deep_Belly_Breathing.mp3 Exhale all the air out – contract the muscles of the stomach to force the air. Now inhale and you will feel the belly expand with the breath. Humming Breath Humming automatically lengthens the breath. It also vibrates our sinuses. When the sinuses vibrate they release nitric oxide (vasodilator), which can help us to relax. Read more here. Blowing Breath Forcefully blow the air out of your mouth (like...
