by Brianna | Aug 12, 2014 | Breathing, Healing, Healing Yoga Practice, Moving Meditation, practice, Yoga
Sometimes busy bees do not have time for an extended practice. Sometimes busy bees are wearing dresses instead of pants and only have one minutes to themselves. Sometimes busy bees are exhausted and an extended practice will harm them more than heal them. One of the most freeing realizations I had during my healing from Chronic Fatigue was that practice is not defined by time – practice means practice. Some days for me my practice is hours and sometimes its minutes. Everyday though I take time to breathe deep, feel my feet, lift my heart and connect my body, mind, and spirit through the beautiful three part practice of Yoga. Yoga requires: YOU Yoga does not require: A mat. $100 pants or pants in general. an hour of your time. a heated room. an instructor in special pants, on a special mat, in a special room. How is your mindset impacting your practice? Does it bolster it or does it defeat it? Now shake a tail feather – get out there – DO THE YOGA! Here is a 1 minute practice to inspire beautiful YOU! ...
by Brianna | Feb 2, 2014 | Breathing, Healing, restorative yoga, Yoga
Out beyond the idea of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I will meet you there. ~Rumi This line has been on repeat in my mind lately. I find myself reciting it and imagining the field that sits out beyond judgment. That notion seems wildly beautiful to me. I think that there are very few things that feel as magical and moving as deep love and acceptance. I Bow My Head to God and God took all of me. Every imperfection. God took all of me. ~Yogi Bhajan Being judged whether by your own self or by others is a horrible feeling. It holds us separate and makes us feel less then. After working as a healer for the past decade I can honestly say that worthlessness and self -loathing are epidemic in this world. In truth we are our own worst critics. In all actuality we damn ourselves. That is why actively creating a field of peace in your life – through interacting with others or simply through practice – is so important. I have been lucky enough to have several relationships throughout my life that represented a field of acceptance. Recently someone whose hand I held for many years in the beautiful meadow of our friendship passed away. Losing someone who stands beside you – hand to hand – in the best of times and in the worst of times, leaves an awfully large hole of longing. My grief has been a tidal wave because of it. Rest easy friend. Grieving is a healing. ~ smoke shop guru I hate this idea but I...
by Brianna | Jan 10, 2014 | Healing, practice, Reiki, restorative yoga, Uncategorized, Yoga
An age ago a very wise friend gifted me with the book Relax and Renew by Judith Lasater. Since then Restorative Yoga has been a regular part of my varied yoga practices and particularly useful when I am feeling overwhelmed by stress or exhaustion. I find that I am drawn to this style of Yoga in the winter months – it feels right on a cold and blustery days to indulge in a form a practice that requires a heap of blankets. Out beyond the idea of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field, I will meet you there. ~ the ever dreamy Rumi Here are some things I love about Restorative Yoga: In a pinch you can practice one Restorative pose for 5 to 10 minutes and shift your mood. Wrapped in blankets, supported by props, breathing deep. No technology, just you, your breath, and the practice. It is effective, quieting, nurturing, and simple. The Restorative Yoga practice I offer at Quiet Winds, like all of my offerings, is a layering of healing arts. My intention behind this methodology is to create a deeply relaxing experience where my students have the opportunity to rest and restore themselves. As a teacher I am often shocked by the level of stress that my students bear on a regular basis both personally and professionally – I love to help my students unwind from their world and become deeply...
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...
