In Sickness and In Health

Hello again!  Despite my months of neglect to this blog, here it is waiting for me to share some piece of myself.  And to the readers, thank you for being present with me once more.

The sun, nearing winter solstice, travels low across the sky in a multiple-exposure picture.

As we hurdle toward the holidays and the seasonal shift to Winter, we naturally reflect on the changes in our lives.  Our tendency to seek the comfort and security of cozy inside spaces nurtures us physically and spiritually.  Our relationships glow a little more vividly, giving warmth to ourselves and others.  Repair and regeneration of the body and mind occur when we have time to rest in quiet contemplation.  And we realize the profound importance of caring for each other.

Helping Hands by Sarah Playle

This past week my husband and I learned an intense lesson in gratitude for our health.  He was sick with food poisoning.  It was absolutely awful.  The body's way of healing itself is to eliminate the internal mayhem, leading to total energetic wipeout.  And then, slowly but surely, the gut-brain mends itself, recovering its usual role of fiery-immune-warrior.  We both recalled how happy we were eating our last meal of sushi together before the evil illness struck.  Taken for granted days before, every food item in the fridge and pantry has come under my paranoid scrutiny.  Is this good for us?  How will it affect my stomach?  Did anyone touch this with unclean hands?

I realize the exaggeration may seem a bit self-absorbed, but interpreting and sharing our life experiences can draw us closer, make us thankful for being here, and illuminate areas in need of attention.

Although Thanksgiving has passed, we should celebrate and give thanks every day for our blessings.  Let's all find some process or experience to actively give thanks through (gut-wrenching or not).  Feel free to post your story or thoughts about what you are most thankful for.

Try this mukula (beak hand) mudra for self-healing.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
Audrey Hepburn

STAY TUNED!

Write in the Thick of It

Well, Spring has Sprung, and in the madness to tend to all Things with a fresh spirit, I will contribute another post to the new/old blog.  We have been a house of haste lately, meaning that things are getting crossed off the list left and right in this tremendous energy of changing with the seasons.  Cleaning, planting, growing, playing, decorating, fixing, renewing, and accomplishing.  Feels so good.  And tiring, too!  The kind of tired that makes you slumber off to dreamland soon after the head meets the pillow.

So, in the natural effort to seek balance along with these bursts of high energy, I have been taking some time for restorative poses.  These are effective for treating fatigue and lethargy and can also help with the imbalances of restlessness and anxiety.

Restorative asanas have really become the foundation of my yoga therapy group in the clinic.  When I began teaching more of a restorative style to my chronic pain patients, they loved it.  So now, with our big bolsters, blankets, and belts, we spend 50 happy minutes doing the deepest relaxation, meditation, and breathing exercises right in the middle of everyone's busy schedules.  Perfect timing.

Here is one that you can easily do at home for 10 minutes a day to get that central nervous system in a sweet Zen place.  Also, I commonly recommend this comfortable, relaxing pose to patients with low back pain, fibromyalgia, or chronic fatigue syndrome.  Try it for yourself and then SPRING back to life! =)

Legs Up The Wall

Love,
Kelly

Mountain

I have been using a lot of grounding poses lately in my yoga therapy class for patients and at home for myself, and so my mind is wondering why this dynamic posture benefits us so much.  Examples of grounding "asanas" are Mountain Pose, Tree Pose, Chair Pose, and Half Moon Pose.  I love the balancing forces of consciously pushing down into the earth while stretching up towards the sky.  

Physically, it is therapeutic for the body to breathe into and expand the space between the vertebrae of the spine, into the lungs and ribcage, from the toes to the crown of the head.  Improvements in posture, muscle imbalance, blood and lymphatic circulation (immune functions) are evident in the scientific study of these yoga poses.

Metaphysically, it is calming to ground the energy deep into the earth, while at the same time, stretching our limits towards the heavens.  It is the reflection of experiencing heaviness and lightness that we can interpret as the metaphor of life's ups and downs.

In daily life, we often encounter the call to "stretch" ourselves in ways that challenge our habitual behaviors.  If we take a minute to ground ourselves, to breathe, to know that we our rooted in the truth of our existence, it is easier to keep the balance that sustains our dynamic upward reach.  

"Posture is our attitude toward life."

--Stanley Paris, founder of University of St. Augustine's Doctorate of Physical Therapy program

flower power

Okay, I've gotten really busy again.  Busy with school, work, family, friends, life.  So now is the time to take a deep breath...  followed by a pause...  exhale...  notice the pulse, the posture, the gaze.  Gaze inward.  Reflect on the blessing of being busy.  Reflect on the blessing of not being so busy it's unhealthy.  I still have time to cook dinner with hubby, time to enjoy a glass of wine, time to stretch and breathe, time to play with the dogs and time to not be serious, etc.   oh yeah, and time to post on zee blog...

So today I want to share with you the "lotus mudra".  I learned this mudra last year in a yoga class and have found it helpful when experiencing increased stress or fatigue.  I also think it's appropriate as we begin to move out of January and into February, heralding our long journey through Winter to Spring.

Place both hands in front of your chest so that only the edges of your hands and pads of your fingers touch each other: This is the bud of the lotus flower. Now open your hands, but maintain the contact between the tips of the little fingers and the outer edges of your thumbs. Spread the other fingers open as wide as possible. After four deep breaths, close both hands back into a bud, place the finger-

nails of the fingers of both hands on top of each other; now join the backs of the fingers, the backs of the hands, and let your hands hang down relaxed for a while. In the same way, bring your hands back into the bud and the open flower. Repeat a number of times.

This mudra belongs to the heart chakra and is the symbol for purity. Love lives in the heart, together with goodwill, affection, and communication. We are meant to keep it pure and give it unconditionally, like an open flower that holds its chalice open for the insects. It is their nourishment and gives them warmth on cold nights. In turn, the insects pollinate it and help it fulfill the purpose of its existence. We are connected with our fellow human beings in more or less the same way—in both the good sense and the bad—and dependent upon them. However, the open flower has another message waiting for us. It opens to the sun, the divine principle, and lets itself be given whatever it needs; and it is given in abundance—it receives much more than it "needs." We enjoy blossoming flowers because they bear joy, the divine countenance, within themselves, and exude it to us.

from Gertrud Hirschi's book Mudras:  Yoga in Your Hands.

Clouds of Geese

Tell stories to each other.  Make songs for each other.  Celebrate our life with each other.   Ask questions of each other.  Be vulnerable to each other.  Be here for each other.

Alys Beach at Sunset

"Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver 

You do not have to be good. 
You do not have to walk on your knees 
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. 
You only have to let the soft animal of your body 
   love what it loves. 
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. 
Meanwhile the world goes on. 
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain 
are moving across the landscapes, 
over the prairies and the deep trees, 
the mountains and the rivers. 
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, 
are heading home again. 
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, 
the world offers itself to your imagination, 
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place 
in the family of things.

from "Dream Work" by Mary Oliver, published by Atlantic Monthly Press

Bluster!

Today is a cold, windy, blustery, cloudy day outside.  Perfect timing for nurturing our inner warmth, settling into quiet coziness and contemplation.  Part of my classwork today involves studying the sacrum and pelvic floor, an area of the body that holds our deepest core energy, or "root".  So, in the interwoven nature of all things mind and body, I want to share a mudra called the triple warmer.  This mudra relates to the Chinese deep meridian of the liver, which lines up through the ring finger.  The force here gives stability, patience, and protection, including the ability to maintain equilibrium in stressful situations and a properly functioning immune system.  I think its cool that I wear my wedding ring on this finger, since marriage is a template for living out the personal lessons of stability, equilibrium, and growth in my life.      

The triple warmer goes like this:

Sit or lie down. Now encircle your left ring finger with the four fingers of your right hand, with the right thumb extending to the middle of your left hand. Close your eyes.

Imagine bare earth and crushed rock in all its forms -- as deserts, mountains, and islands. What happens when masses of earth begin to move? When the earth dries out? When the earth is completely exposed to the sun? Now imagine fertile earth. Slowly let the vegetation be created -- little plants, big plants, much green. Now focus on one single seed resting deep within the earth. With every breath, something moves inside until the seed bursts and a shoot stretches in the direction of the light. At the same time, it sprouts roots deep into the earth. It becomes a tree that grows very slowly. You wait patiently and watch how the plant develops into its full size. Keep breathing.  Time has no significance. Only the constant growth counts. The tree blooms anew every year, and bears fruit. Like the tree, we also do not know why this is. Like the tree, we want to give ourselves completely to life, and know this has its purpose, even if we will probably never be able to completely fathom the great mystery. As the tree changes every year, our inner development also continues. We decisively influence whether it is joyful or sorrowful.

Keep holding your finger for a while and feel the flowing warmth. Then encircle your right ring finger and hold it for the same amount of time.

This exercise and other mudras are taken from the website Innerself and the book Mudras: Yoga in Your Hands by Gertrud Hirschi, ©2000.  

On Being

One of my little treats lately has been listening to podcasts while I'm driving.  I really don't mind sitting in traffic when I am happily listening to one of the insightful podcasts from the show "On Being" from American Public Media...  Here are some of my most treasured:

Yoga. Meditation in Action with Seane Corn [American Public Media]

Matthew Sanford's Story, The Body's Grace [Speaking of Faith from APM]

Words That Shimmer [onBeing.org]

The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi [On Being]

A Wild Love For the World with Joanna Macy [On Being]

Robert Coles and The Inner Lives of Children [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]

Hope that a fun weekend awaits all of you.  Go LSU and Go SAINTS!!!