by Brianna | Sep 19, 2012 | Breathing, Healing, restorative yoga, silence, Yoga
Not sleeping but actually relaxing? Are you constantly compelled to go, go, go? Are you stressed upon waking? Midday? Evening? Although I have no desire to go through it again my period with Chronic Fatigue taught me many things. There are far too many to list but one of the most compelling lessons was that my body needed space and time to reset. Since that time, no matter how overwhelmed, no matter how teeth-grindingly stressed I may be, I afford myself time to sit still, breathe deep, and let myself come to center. We all need time to reset. While we are designed to go full tilt for short periods of time we are not designed to go at mock speed all of the time. In the 70’s Henry Benson a Harvard Cardiologist began, much to the chagrin of his colleagues, to research the physiological affects of meditation. In his first studies he focused specifically on the practice of transcendental meditation (repetition of a word or mantra) and its affects on hypertension (high blood pressure). What doctor Benson ascertained from his studies was that through meditative techniques the body has an innate ability to move to a state of relaxation. In this state there are observable physiological symptoms: decreased heart rate, slowed breathing, and lowered blood pressure. He poetically titled it the “Relaxation Response.” In other words Benson found that the body is innately programmed to be able to reset. The technique utilized to trigger the “Relaxation Response” is incredibly simple. Though it can be done in a secular fashion, it is also a technique that is interwoven...
by Brianna | Aug 21, 2012 | Breathing, Healing, silence, Yoga
Stillness is an action. It requires effort. It requires focus. It requires a willingness to be present in order to remember to be still. Stillness is important to many aspects of the practice. In postures stillness can generate strength in the more active poses and aid relaxation in the more quieted ones. If stillness is coupled with breath awareness a powerful entrance point to meditation is activated. Keep thinking about it and the power of stillness will keep expanding. In my classes when stillness is requested most of my students will become mostly “still”. Many will continue to actively wipe and wiggle, blink, and adjust. Sometimes these movers and shakers send off electrical firestorms inspiring bursts of movement by their neighbors. Lately I have been using guilt to make my students be still. Admittedly, I feel a little guilty about it but it is surprisingly effective. And maybe, in this one instance my Mom’s logic is right. Maybe “I am not guilting, so much as reminding them” that our actions impact others. Next time you are moving through your personal practice in a community space and stillness is requested of you – put forth some focused effort – try to be honestly still and offer that energy out to the healing of your neighbor....
by Brianna | Apr 19, 2012 | Affirmations, Breathing, Change, Kundalini Yoga, Yoga
When I first started with Yoga I was so uncomfortable with myself that being present was a very difficult thing. For that reason I hated to hold stillness and observe my breath. Even when guided to by a teacher I didn’t do it and sometimes to be entirely honest I just left. The breaking of my resistance to breath-work took time and didn’t occur until I encountered an entirely different style of yoga then I was practicing. In 2001, a friend invited me to yoga (which at that time I defined as Vinyasa) and drove me to a Kundalini Yoga class. Almost five years into the practice and the turbaned woman in white who greeted me made me distinctly uncomfortable. If I could have, I would have immediately run away. A traditional Kundalini Yoga practice is made up of Kriyas, repetitive movements that utilizes both powerful breath-work and chanting. Everything about Kundalini made me uncomfortable but as the class started that day I made up my mind to do it anyway. So I breathed, chanted, stomped my feet, and jumped around like a crazy person long after I wanted to stop. As the class progressed I moved through a litany of emotions but at the end I was calm, I was still, I was aware of my breathing and at peace. I was changed. In fact that one class altered my whole perception of Yoga. It shifted me forever. One of the most remarkable and lovely parts of being a teacher is having the opportunity to observe the transformation that the practice inspires in others. Sometimes those shifts are...
by Brianna | Mar 16, 2012 | Affirmations, Breathing, Change, Fear, Healing, Power of Thought, practice
Historically it has been difficult for me to remain calm when others are being emotional. Like an absorbing mirror I breathe their emotion in. Always categorized as extremely sensitive, it wasn’t until my late 20s that I realized my mood was transient because I was constantly absorbing other people’s feelings. My personal boundaries were so blurred that I didn’t realize where I ended and others began. My energetic awareness shifted one day waiting for the ATM in a line that was two people deep. I went from feeling happy and light to being pissed. It was a heady enough shift that I stopped and asked myself: “where is this emotion coming from.” It was then I realized the line had grown and was full of agitated people. Without a doubt, my willingness to make inquiry was rooted in my time on the mat. Since then I tune in when I feel myself shift and I ask: “Is this really my emotion or is it theirs?” That question and the awareness to ask it changed my life and set me on a path of energetic exploration. Sunrise at the Healing House I first began to share the energetic toolkit that I developed as a presentation in Charm City Yoga’s teacher training about four years ago. In it we discussed mirror neurons, the idea of a professional persona, the need for grounding through presence, protection through appropriate boundaries, and the awareness and willingness to release. I have made this presentation numerous times and its content has grown into a three-day retreat that I offer once a year. During my most...
by Brianna | Aug 26, 2011 | Breathing, Healing, practice
Years ago I discovered Rumi during a yoga class and he has been a meaningful part of my practice ever since. If you have yet to make your way to Rumi’s writings I recommend that you get yourself a book. If you are anything like me it will be worn by your hands. Today to mark the start of my personal practice, I blindly opened my book and was struck by this beautiful passage: The spiritual path wrecks the body and afterwards restores it to health. It destroys the house to unearth the treasure, and with that treasure builds it better than before. Rumi I remained still for a moment giving his words room to have weight. After a bit, I turned my focus inward and became aware of my breath rolling in and my breath rolling back out. I added movement for a while playing with my edge. Moving and breathing, breathing and moving, I made my way back to...
by Brianna | Jul 24, 2011 | Breathing
When one massacres so many the ripple, the effect, is felt. Today, as an offering to those families who are actively undergoing what we can barely think about, I want you take a moment and create a sincere ripple of light. What do I mean by that? Here is a list of ideas to get you started: Hug someone with the intention of truly being present (Hug it Out) Surprise someone with a phone call. Someone you know will start to speak with a smile the moment they realize it’s you (personally I have found that elderly relatives are always good for this). Make your family a beautiful dinner. Nothing fancy, just a meal with a lot of love in it. Do a Big favor for someone with no expectation of return. Play with your children or help out a friend with theirs. Donate something, anything: time, money, clothing, furniture, etc. Buy the guy in line behind you his cup of coffee. Even it is a skinny extra hot three shot latte. Today, take some time to practice living from the space of your authentic awakened heart. Channel an Elephant if you need some more inspiration: Compassion is not reserved for offspring alone in elephant society. Elephants appear to make allowances for other members of their herd. Observers noted that one African herd always traveled slowly because one of its members had never recovered from a broken leg. And in another case, a park warden reported a herd that traveled slowly because one female was carrying around a dead calf. One perplexing report was of an adult elephant making...
