The Intangibles

By Niki Hayes

Why do you practice yoga?

Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to be able to touch your toes again? Did your doctor send you here to help with your high blood pressure? Did your chiropractor send you here to help with your bad back? Do you want to lower your stress level?

If you answered yes to any of these - good news, you are on the right track! Yoga will help with all of this. Just know that while you may be doing yoga to heal your knee injury or shrink your waistline, there are also benefits occurring simultaneously that you may not be aware of. Bikram describes these benefits as “the intangibles”.

“Keep in mind that yoga is not reducible to a quantified number of medical benefits. Even as yoga makes measurable changes in your muscles, organs, bones and spine, it's also working on what we call the “subtle anatomy”, renewing and reviving you at the cellular level, invisibly taking care of every atom and molecule. There’s an emotional and psychological aspect to the healing process as well – the mind/body connection. This is soul-stretching, mind-restoring and Spirit-building. The unquantifiable improvements in your quality of life and your attitude toward life make themselves felt in every cell as well. When you’re well, they’re well.”

Be well my friends.

Adversity is a Gift

By Steve Rumpp

Welcome the adversity in your life. Don't go looking for it, or enjoy it- but welcome life’s physical, mental and emotional adversities as they happen, with total mindfulness.  See more clearly than you normally see, breathe more calmly, think more soundly, and be with the adversity in your life.

Your true strength lies within it.

Bikram likes to say, “The darkest place is under the lamp.”  Implied then, is that the brightest place (with the most to learn) is in total darkness.  “The more you suffer, the more you benefit.  If $1 buys 2 apples, then when you suffer more, the same $1 buys 4 apples.”  While we think we’d prefer to go through life without adversity, this proverb implies we would miss an important point were we never to be challenged to work through difficult times.  Conveniently, life is filled with plenty of just such opportunities!

It is in the depth of our challenges that we have the best view of our own life, of our present degree of Self-realization, of a fear we can dissolve in order to live a more fulfilled and happy life.  Just as it is within the stillness of our yoga that our most rare gems are to be found, so it is within our darkest moment that gifts await.

Greet adversity with increased calmness.  Demonstrate to yourself that you can handle anything.  That nothing steals your peace.  Ever. This is what you practice each day you step onto your yoga mat. Practice being faced with challenges and rising above them to find peace under any circumstance.

Learning to discover deeper strength, greater peace and new solutions to old problems from within our most difficult times, also serves as a model for the global response required if we are to meet the adversity facing our planet.  It is within this kind of peace that all of the world's problems will ultimately be dissolved.

Just like there is no such place as 'away' when we think of throwing something there, there is no such time or place called 'later' when it comes to living in right action.  No such thing, just an excuse to avoid ourselves.  Every choice matters, especially during our most difficult times.

How we handle adversity defines our power as individuals.  The seeds we plant through our actions and our thoughts create in turn the life we live.  No deals.  No exceptions.  No way around it.  We deliver ourselves to ourselves in every moment – good and bad.

Care about every little thing as if your life depends upon it.  Your happiness does.  Plant seeds of good in every action and every thought, and watch your life turn into the magic show of bliss and blessings that this life is meant to be.  Practice your yoga, live as a yogi in the fullest expression of detachment doing the right thing.  There is no need and no place for worry.  The universe will provide.

Adversity is also our reminder to be humble.  Say thank you, embrace these moments for the richness they possess and don't miss out on one of the momentary insights they contain.  Your life is about to change for the good.

In Your Face!

Did you know that your face is effecting your yoga?!?! Smile to improve your yoga! Read this next blog to learn the effects of smiling.

Soft Faces of Yoga

by SCOTT KILPATRICK

Smile!

How many times have you heard this cue from a yoga instructor? If you are hearing this command in class, then likely the last thing you are thinking of at the moment is a cheekish grin. Maybe you’d oblige to showing your teeth, and maybe let out a little growl to express your disdain for the asana that you may find yourself in. This is really a nice cue, and though I will admit, it’s one command I loathed for some time, it takes a bit of deeper understanding of how a smile in yoga can empower your yoga practice. I’ll take a step back from smiling, and use the word softness since there are some of us that just take things too seriously to smile randomly, and some of us may take our yoga so serious, that a smile is not warranted. I like to think that there are poses that need a very serious gaze, or dristi, yet there are some that are complimented with a soft face or a warming smile.

A person’s facial expression is always the fastest response of the mind’s input and the most universal form of communication, transcending all language barriers between human beings. You have more facial expressions than you probably realize and they include expressions of pleasure or  displeasure , judgment or approval, understanding or disagreement.  Facial expressions send messages to those around us, but there is also two-way communication between the face and the mind.  You can test this yourself . Take a moment to cultivate a sense of awareness in the body and turn your attention inward. Experiment with different contortions of the face and watch where the mind goes. What happens when you smile? What feelings arise when you furl your brow? Does frustration arise when you clench your jaw? Do you feel attractive with fluttering lashes and a coy smile?

I’m asking you to experiment with facial expressions and their accompanied emotions, thoughts and feelings because this is a counterpart to your internal dialogue, or your mind chatter. Yoga teaches us that where the mind goes, the body follows and vice versa. But often, facial expressions are left out of this teaching.  Smiling is one of the self-evident principles taught in yoga. This is why you hear it so often.  When students are in difficult postures, the teacher may likely see contorted faces, clenched jaws and expressions that tell the story about what is going on inside the student’s body. When we smile, we instantly feel uplifted, lighter, etc, and this is due to the chemical response of the brain in reaction to a smile.

Give smiling a try. Or maybe even your version of a soft facial expression. Next time your internal voice is screaming, “I HATE THIS POSE!” See what happens if you smile. Can you tell yourself that you hate something while you are smiling? In yoga,  your face always tells the story. Change the expression on your face, change the story of your practice.

The 20 muscles of the face.

• Occipitofrontalis
• Temporoparietalis
• Procerus
• Nasalis muscle
• Depressor septi nasi
• Orbicularis oculi
• Corrugator supercilii
• Depressor supercilii
• Auricular muscles (anterior, superior, posterior)
• Orbicularis oris
• Depressor anguli oris
• Risorius
• Zygomaticus major
• Zygomaticus minor
• Levator labii superioris
• Levator labii superioris alaeque nasi
• Depressor labii inferioris
• Levator anguli oris
• Buccinator
• Mentalis

This faithful reproduction of a lithograph plate from Gray’s Anatomy, a two-dimensional work of art, is not copyrightable in the U.S. as per Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.; the same is also true in many other countries, including Germany. Unless stated otherwise, it is from the 20th U.S. edition of Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body, originally published in 1918 and therefore lapsed into the public domain.

This article was originally published on September 24, 2012 at:

http://thoughtsonyoga.com/soft-faces-of-yoga/

Bikram Yoga - "It's Like a Cruise Ship!"

Bikram Yoga Paradise Valley's October 2012 Student of the Month, on yoga.  When David heard about Bikram Yoga more than a year ago from another BYPV student he decided to give it a try. 

He says that before starting yoga he was "out of shape, more of a couch potato, no motivation, and lots of stress". Now, he says he's in much better shape. "My stress level is way down and in general I just feel better.  Yoga has definitely helped my knees after years of karate and many operations. My knees feel 'younger' and I'm still working on locking them! I have also had six shoulder surgeries that have not helped my flexibility, but by practicing yoga my shoulders are starting to feel more limber."

David says his favorite postures are in the spine strengthening series. "I like all of the postures done on the belly. It stretches me out and I can feel my back getting stronger when I do them."

When asked what advice he would give new students, David says, "Just stick with it. It's like a cruise ship, the more you participate the more fun you have!"

Bikram Bungy Jumping

By P.J. Stuart Thank goodness for Pranayama breathing … or I may not have kept my cool.

Standing on top of the world’s tenth tallest structure – the Macau Tower in Macau, China – I could feel small beads of sweat running down the small of my back, quickly mounting in succession.

My palms were clammy and my heart rate increasing, while I tried to suppress the nausea I felt as I peered over the edge. I was about to surrender myself to a dizzying sensation, as I prepared to plummet down the side of this 1,109 foot building, with a bungy cord attached to my legs.

It’s no big deal if you’re skydiver Felix Baumgartner, who broke the sound barrier this month during his record-setting jump from the edge of space.  Peanuts to him, perhaps. But in my world, this was a much feared item on my “bucket list,” and one I stubbornly pursued despite the naysaying voices in my head telling me to hold back.

In fact, that’s precisely where I can credit my Bikram Yoga practice for pushing me through. Ignoring those pesky voices and continuing to breathe, despite my discomfort.

Forget locking my knees. They shook and trembled, while staff members on the tower clipped me into a harness. I inhaled deeply through the nose … releasing a steady exhale through my mouth. Again and again, as the seconds leading up to my “plunge” ticked by slowly.

Then that familiar feeling came. The one where you need to make the decision – are you gonna do it or not?  Grab your foot for standing head to knee and get in, no hesitation? Step into balancing stick pose quickly or let those ten seconds pass you by? Unfurl yourself into a camel pose or timidly stay seated on your mat?

I guess I could have turned around. But I’d come this far. My heart rate was up, and, though it wasn’t pleasant – I knew I could sustain myself through the anxiety and prevail. All those hours in the torture chamber had prepared me for this.

Three, two, one … and I was flying. Lost my breath for a moment in exchange for a death-defying scream, one I didn’t’ know I had inside of me. And then, once I got used to the unfamiliar feeling – pure joy. Laughter. Giggles, even. A beautiful release, despite the suffering I went through to get there. Sound familiar?

It’s just another reminder – it’s never as bad as we make it out to be in our tricky little minds.