Backbends are a sure thing for unleashing prana

Natarajasana B (Image © Yoga Robin®)This pose feels so good with the strap. The Ashtanga way is to hold the toes, no strap (and for me, this means that all of my energy goes toward not dropping the foot, or even getting it). My favorite Iyengar teacher instructs this one with a strap.

It is a wonderful shoulder opener (euphoric) and doing it this way I'm feeling the Prana in my shoulders, entire back, up and down legs. I'm even smiling. Using resistance against the strap (foot and shoulders higher up) feels even better. I forget I'm even balancing. My favorite backbend...

Backbends are a sure thing for unleashing all kinds of emotional holding. For me, it's a guarantee and always leaves me happier. Some people experience fear and sadness in backbends (and I'm also one of them) as these feelings hide inside a broken heart or cold heart that doesn't feel much...but can't help but rise to the surface in backbends. Getting the energy to express itself is a wonderful way to release it.

Namaste.

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Image © Yoga Robin®)

Cardiovascular System, Blood

Healing the Total Body: Where Western Anatomy Meets Eastern Spiritual Science

Healing Series, part 10

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You transfix me: You are my chakras

you are balanced. i live with you.

You are a work of art. It’s not easy but you do it. You live true to who you are and know it. When you are open, chakras, in my yoga practice, I don’t question it. 

dear chakras, you help me walk with strength, enchanted. i’m open to each of you as you arrive, speak and feel. i know who you are…

-->> chakra article moved to here.

As if hidden, you are this

(image: owningpink.com)

I am hidden. Are you? As if to be hidden behind words that speak illusively, at all times, bouncing off buildings and walls. I shoot an arrow and it comes back to me. Some day.

are you just words?

Who are you anyway? Are you the words or are they merely what comes out when trying to speak? There is no time to leave important words unsaid. I speak of eloquence.

Inspirational times with comic undertones spark a tune in another. Sometimes. But, truly, it’s all for you. You who deserve to be timeless and unforgotten. You are where my eyes open to receive what I’m waking up to now. I am here now because you were there and smiled and felt.

i will walk with you

Create. Create all you can be. Be creative. Be daring. Be you.

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Be humble every day: Follow your heart

you are free

The root of who I am, sometimes channelled—through other people or inanimate objects—is held in the secret. It is the key to banishing anger, sadness, frustration and any overwhelm.

i feel humble.  i am real. does that touch your heart when i say it that way?

Getting in touch with your own heart is easier said than done. It can live unconsciously in ways you never notice until it is pointed out to you, or until you have an epiphany. Too many people speak in a tone that aludes to the opposite of real. When I say real I mean authentic. I mean coming from the heart. This doesn't necessarily mean crying and professing undying love. It means being real, eyes wide open. It's the opposite of being in denial. Isn't that what we all strive toward? Or do we instead wish to hide?

Being humble is the opposite of showy. It's conscious and unmasked. It's secure and intimate. Don't be someone you're not. Every word counts, even the ones you tell yourself internally (the ones you say no one hears). Humble deserves to be repeated. 

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Surrender to your heart: Let go of anger, sadness and stories that cover up your love

find your peace

Maybe it doesn't seem like it at times, but there is peace within you. Sometimes it's hiding on purpose, so that you cannot find it easily. Let's say you find the source of a problem and throw it out the window. But your inner chaos returns. Why?

Surrendering is a process. You need to believe that it relieves you. And then know that this action needs to be repeated.

But what does surrender even mean?

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protect your heartbeat, yoga can help

hearts matter

You believe in your heartbeat. You live by it unconsciously, but more importantly, you trust it. It is a gage for how you feel. It's a symbol of livelihood. It's the engine for your life's blood.

When you inhale deeply to the top of your chest and feel the euphoria of your day—or stress, and then exhale deeply to the bottom of your solar plexus—as far as you can go held as long as you can go, you feel yoga.

You also feel your parasympathetic nervous system in action. Befriend it for stress-reduction and a healthy heart.

On the flip side, the sympathetic nervous system, which releases the adrenaline hormone when you are stressed, is predominate in sufferers of disease.

Your heart always beats though

Yes, it does but it matters how it beats. The ability of the heart rate to change its beating

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Savasana: A true art

Reflection

Savasana, the final pose of any decent yoga practice is the place where you reflect upon your entire practice as it comes before your eyes from a distant cloud.

Savasana is one of the most important poses in yoga, reflecting true peace as the culmination of your practice.

This final resting pose, otherwise known as Corpse Pose, is a pose in which to wrap the fruits of your labors, your joys of movement, and your love for your body.

Wring out toxins

After moving the precious prana within your body through movements that flow through you, twists that wring out toxins, and peaceful moments in between that take your breath away, savasana is a time to celebrate and smile within. It's a place for stillness.

Celebrate

Celebrate your life force. You may have a tendency to ignore it as you move along in your busy day.

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