Saturday Yoga during Carpenter Rec Center Shut-down 10:30 am at Lake Village Park!

While the Margaret Carpenter Rec Center is shut down, I'll be hosting one Yoga class each of the next two Saturdays 9August 26 & September 2) at Lake Village Park in Thornton, across from the Eastlake Preserve.

Click HERE for directions!

Fee to attend is $5.00 per person.

Blessings!

Vincent

Your Second Chakra-Creative Power and Energy

Creative people have many faces. We all have areas where we are able to be creative. Each of us also has passion; much depends on what we like or are exposed to in our lives.

The powerful, driving force comes from our second Chakra, or Svadisthana. The second Chakra is a powerful one, and the subject of mature discussion, as it also governs sexual energy.




When the second chakra is properly balanced,  we are able to empathize, to initiate and create and to share sincerely with others. This kind of sharing includes willingness to foster connections with others that are mutually beneficial and empowering to all parties.

When the second chakra becomes imbalanced,  the impact is especially apparent.

When it is overcharged, due to a spiritual blockage that prevents energy from flowing upward to the third chakra and beyond, one can become overly self-serving, will act shallow and fail to recognize emotional boundaries with the self and with others. Sexual energy can also build to an unhealthy level.

Cat pose (Majaryasana), Doward Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) and Cobra (Bhujangasana) all can calm the second chakra down. Also, you can meditate on the color blue-use a a blue light or a piece of blue material to look at. One can modify Cobra into Sphinx pose (Salamba Bhujangasana)

If the second chakra is undercharged due to weak energy flow, one becomes emotionally cold, distrusting and overly sensitive.

Triangle pose (Trikonasana), Revopled Triangle pose (Parivrrta Trikonasana) and King Pigeon (Raja Kapotasana)-1st stage are all effective poses to help awaken the second chakra. You can also meditate on the color orange.

FIND PICTURES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF YOGA POSES IN THE ASANA INDEX AT:

http://yogadancer.com/

I have no affiliation with this site but it is a fabulous resource, so enjoy it and do donate if you can.

SOURCES:

YogaFit 

Yoga Paws

Your First Chakra...and Your Yogic Roots

We've all known some person who seems so perfectly grounded. They smile all the time and they seem to always attract positive attention.  We're all capable of living in a blissful state; it all hinges on feeling grounded and emotionally balanced.

What we might not have known is that getting to this state of being isn't that hard. There are physical channels within our bodies which we need to trigger in order to create the needed energy and purge that energy that makes us feel stale.

The seven chakras are the major energy centers we're talking about. Various Yoga poses, or asanas can trigger response from our chakras and enable us to change and improve how we feel.

Your first chakra is called Muladhara, which loosely translates to "roots". It's located at the base of the spine.

When the first chakra is balanced properly, we feel good-specifically, we have an obvious sense of self-worth, feel connected to the Divine and see things as they happen in the present tense. We're able to learn from adversity and find the positive in any situation. We also feel able to give our attention to others in a positive way because we see ourselves positively and don't feel wounded.

Some benefits of a balanced first chakra include:

• A well-functioning digestive system
• Trust in self and others
• A healthy drive that allows passion and ambition to be used constructively

When the first chakra is imbalanced, blocked, suppressed, whatever you want to call it, it messes with our ability to recognize our ow self-worth and goodness.

We become driven in the wrong ways.

When the first chakra is weak, the workaholic takes over, and we keep working harder and harder but without a goal We think working harder and pushing ourselves will create self-value where we don't see it. We become self-serving in a desperate effort to bolster our feeling of weakness and we forget how it impacts others as well as ourselves.

When the first chakra is too strong, we become domineering, greedy and act dishonestly and may have violent thoughts.

Some indications of an imbalanced first chakra:

• Issues with digestion; sciatica and back pain
• We fell mad at the world
• We feel worthless and avoid connecting with others

Various Yoga poses can help bring the first chakra into alignment. Keep in mind that some poses calm it down while others wake it up. 

• Most forward folds awaken the first chakra (Muladhara), such as Uttanasana (standing forward fold), Paschimottanasana (sitting forward fold)  and Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (supported bridge) and help us remove stress and regain a sense of grounding.
• Child pose (Balasana) and Reclining Bound Angle pose (Supta Badha Konasana) help calm it down.

FIND PICTURES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF YOGA POSES IN THE ASANA INDEX AT:

http://yogadancer.com/

I have no affiliation with this site but it is a fabulous resource, so enjoy it and do donate if you can.

SOURCES:

YogaFit 

Mind Body Green

Curing Cold Feet

Many would like to go barefoot more often, but a common complaint is shared by many who don’t…

“I would, but my feet get cold…”

 

Cold feet are the result of reduced blood circulation in the feet. Our feet get compressed by our shoes and the blood vessels get restricted.

Good news: this can be reversed and wildly improved upon…

Start by dong more Yoga....take a short, brisk walk in your shoes first to warm up

 

Remember something else that also helps.........Summer is here. Go barefoot all the time at home, and especially on the patio and the walkway that’s warmed by the sun.

Keep a Yoga mat in a convenient place and do some poses throughout the day while doing chores etc.

 

What else can help? …Shoes that bend with your feet when you walk......and mimic going barefoot.

My personal favorite are Xeroshoes. I was part of the original experiment that later led to their mass production. They are tried and true. Xeroshoes started the trend for barefoot sandals that has made many followers in the market, the selection is huge.

 

What’s even better…you don’t have to sacrifice looking cool-in fact, Xeroshoes offer great-looking options for less than most others.

The Yoga of Integrity

Integrity is largely applicable to our relationships with others. We rarely think of integrity when we ponder how we relate to ourselves.

Loosely defined, integrity means truth that only you know; it means being truthful to others even when you could totally get away with lying since only you know the truth. It can become very difficult to lie to yourself.

It’s true that the power of denial is huge; we can deny almost anything we want to deny, but it requires us to bury the truth deep inside. It can stay buried for years, even decades, and causes us to become divided beings; eventually, we fail to ever feel completeness of the self.

Burying the truth, any truth, no matter how benign, forces us to disconnect the conscious from the subconscious. We divide ourselves into two beings: the truth teller and liar, and a type of cold war begins between our two half selves. To end this war, we must start being truthful to ourselves.

An exercise in integrity….

We need not get into a deep, philosophical project here; your home yoga practice provides an easier option-so find a good spot that allows you some privacy and step onto your yoga mat. Before you start moving into your poses, set your mind in the same mode you would use when talking to someone else.

When you talk to someone else, you apply all manner of civility; you think carefully about how you will say things, how you will describe their actions in order to be supportive and to avoid being insulting. Show the same compassion and understanding to yourself.

As you acknowledge yourself moving into and holding a yoga pose, keep your approach less emotional and more analytical.

Instead of saying “this is where I always screw it up...” or “this is where I start to suck at it…” say, “this is where I start to lose balance…” this is where it starts to hurt…”

Then examine your position analytically instead of judgmentally; look at yourself and determine where your feet are, which way your toes are pointing, the position of your shoulders, etc.

Hold it right there and then say: “this is where I start to observe what I’m doing instead of judging myself”

Think in terms of “now, if I move my left foot this way…what happens?” Make mental notes on what is happening physically, and don’t use the pose to try to determine what kind of person you are. Trust that you are OK being who you are, and just focus on the movement and how it makes you feel.

The more you practice this way, the less judgmental you’ll be, while becoming whole again.

 

 

Meditation Explained-Twisted Bliss

There are all kinds of theories on meditation, but despite all these ideas, there are really no rules to meditation except that you should be sincere with whatever thoughts come to mind when you are meditating yourself. 

The truth is, your mind mind not be totally silent or quiet-that's only one type of meditation. If your true needs as a human being mean coming to grips with old or buried thoughts, or just to process all the information that buzzes through our minds as part of our crazy lives, then your mind may be quite noisy during your quiet meditation.

The ancient yogis created the 500 original yoga poses as a means of quieting and calming the mind. 

We contort our bodies into twists, hold different standing and sitting poses in order to draw the mind out of the ruts and familiar paths. Familiar paths aren't always negative-in fact, many of thee paths, or grooves, that the mind settles into are simply carved out during our daily journey through life.

Those paths that the mind is used to traversing, over and over again, become so familiar that the many distractions, repetitious patterns of thoughts and actions don't stand out; instead, they become automatic signals and controls that draw us into an pathetic, unchanging state of being.

When we contort and twist our bodies, we contort and twist our minds. our minds are then jarred back into the moment, into the present tense and are freed from the distractions of the familiar grooves where they were stuck. 

New thoughts, new revivals of old, positive perspectives we may have forgotten, can then begin again. 

Minimalist Shoes Get New Look for Spring

Minimalist shoes are getting a new look this year-which is good news for a lot of reasons...

For those who don't dig sandals or who spend lots of time in places where they can't wear sandals, these shoes offer all the benefits of barefoot sandals with a close-toed shoe.

They come from Xeroshoes, the original maker of barefoot running sandals that became popular after the release of popular running book Born To Run. While the hype about barefoot running has quieted, the demand for better running shoes-be they sandals or proper running shoes that actually let your feet move naturally, has not.

Nor has Xeroshoes slowed in its growth and success. When it's owner, Lena Phoenix, and her husband, Steven Sashen, professional sprinter who is dubbed the "world's Fastest Jew over 50" ditched Shark Tank's stingy investment offer, their growth only took off.

Forbes Magazine profiled Xeroshoes and gives details of the company's real growth and their strong position in the global shoe market.

As part of the original experiment that led to the production of Xeroshoes-a project that started ten years ago, I'm excited for the new stuff, and attest that the original sandals are still just as awesome!

Living Your Yoga-a must read for every Yogi

I recently started re-reading my beat-up old copy of Living Your Yoga by Judith Hanson Lasater.


I read it when I first started practicing Yoga 16 years ago and I've since often carried it in my bag over my 11 years as a Yoga teacher.

Living Your Yoga is an awesome companion to have on your journey into your Yoga practice. It relates to normal life-the life we live where we work, where we live-where we live for real.

Anyone can get an amazing experience from some dazzling, far-away Yoga retreat-don't get me wrong, if I can go to Costa Rica or India for a three-week Yoga retreat, I'm there. But the quintessential Yoga practice is one that you live wherever you are,and that's what this book helps you to do, and do it well.

I gain nothing financially from promoting this publication; it's simply that good for any and every Yoga student.

Shanti Om!

-Vincent

Yoga starts wherever you start.

 Yoga doesn't care about your age or how flexible you are.

 Yoga doesn't judge you by bad things you've done or mistakes you've made.

 Yoga sees you without judgment.

 So do Yoga by looking at yourself the same way.....

the Yoga of Kindness

Kindness is a component of any spiritual practice and is part of living your Yoga practice as well. Of course, in our Yoga practice, we learn to ignore the voices in our head, the ones usually put there by others, that say we're not being kind enough or that we're bound by a rule that defines kindness in a way that "counts", and which denies the presence of the self,

While we are making good karma when we are acting kind, we aren't looking to "score points".

Kindness loosely means giving to someone in need. Need is a loosely-defined word. Think of a time when you were extremely angry at the world and and some random person was nice to you, exactly when you needed it to happen.

Kindness comes in all sizes...

Such acts are powerful due to sincerity, not size. Maybe you were carrying a bunch of stuff through a doorway and you about to drop all of it on the floor, and someone held the door for you so you could get through, preventing an aggravating you certainly wanted to avoid. Maybe someone gave you a ride when you were stranded,

Whatever the act of kindness you witnessed or received, it made you feel alive again and reminded you that you weren't alone...

A gift of a flower, a hug or even just a good compliment can change a whole day and change the whole course of life for a person. To know that you have such power to change is in itself a great gift to you, and makes it easy to give without need of a gift in return.

Shanti Om!