by Brianna | Sep 12, 2013 | Breathing, Healing, practice, Reading, Yoga
There are several essential oils that act as natural balancers. These adaptogens, as they are called, will instigate a reaction in the body that is appropriate to achieve a state of homeostasis or balance.* If you have interacted with me in the last few months I am pretty sure I have waxed poetic to you about aromatherapy. Recently I started to blend my own oils and have been reading about, researching the scientific literature, and playing with the actual oils pretty much daily. This week I stumbled upon the notion of adapotgenic oils. Adaptogens have a normalizing effect on the body so they can be both (and this is weird) a stimulant and relaxant. The oil “adapts” depending on your nervous system’s particular needs. Amazing, right? Adaptogenic Foot Rub: 1 TBL Vegetable Oil (carrier oil – I use Grapeseed) 3 drops essential peppermint oil 3 drops essential lavender oil 3 drops essential lemon oil Rub the oil all over your feet, breathe deep and smile. *Valerie Anne Woodward, The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy,...
by Brianna | Aug 20, 2013 | Craignair Inn, Reiki, Travel, Uncategorized, Yoga, Yoga Retreat
The Healing House is such a remarkable place for practice. I so hope that you can join my parents and I for three days of contemplation, renewal and healing. All practices at the Healing House will be held with this beautiful view in sight. Healing House Retreat Schedule Friday Evening (November 8, 2013): Meet and Greet / Agreements | 8:30 pm Fire and candlelight practice | 9:00pm – 10:00pm Saturday (November 9, 2013): Singing in the Sunrise |6:00am Morning Practice| 7:00am – 9:00am Tea at the Healing House | 9am – 9:30am Inn Breakfast/ Private Time | 10:00am – 3:00pm Afternoon Practice | 3:00pm – 5:00pm Selfless service |5:30pm – 6:00pm Healing House Dinner | 6:00pm Fire and candlelight practice| 8:00pm – 9:00pm Sunday Morning (November 10, 2013): Meditation Walk | 6:00am Singing in the Sunrise| 6:30am – 7:00am Morning Practice | 7am – 9am Tea at the Healing House | 9am – 9:30am Inn Breakfast/check out | 10am – 12pm Accommodations: Craignair Inn by the sea (originally owned by my beloved Godmother) is located less then a mile from the Healing House. Each room at the Inn is unique and therefore the pricing for the three-day retreat ranges from: $405 – $505 (Single Occupancy) The fee includes the following: 2 nights accommodations All practices and classes Breakfast Saturday and Sunday Dinner Saturday night Taxes Please contact Craignair Inn to reserve your space! Payment and Cancellation Policy: A deposit of $300 is required to reserve your space. The balance of your room is due at check-in. Your deposit is refundable if the cancellation is made 14 days (October...
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 | Jul 18, 2012 | Affirmations, silence, Transformation, Yoga
This past year I feel like I have been seated in a sea of discomfort in many of the facets that make up my life. Nothing is horrible but it is uncomfortable. I feel wiggly inside and often I want to run away. If you start to feel uncomfortable or hurt, sad, tired, depressed, or angst ridden, where do you go? Are you able to allow yourself your feeling? Or do you cover it over, metaphorically burying the sharp object in the sand, and try to pretend it isn’t there. Choose your poison, the list of ways to escape is endless. I believe that a powerful tool that rolls off of the yoga mat into our daily life is the requirement that we actively practice presence while remaining in discomfort. Recently I was flipping through Teaching Yoga and stumbled on this simple yet encapsulating statement: In [practice], stay in non-painful discomfort – breathe and transform. Relate the discomfort in [practice] to the discomfort in life…stay with the difficult feelings as a way to explore breakthroughs, cultivating balance and strength in the [practice] and applying this to the healing process. ~ Teaching Yoga by Mark...
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...
