The Organic Center

This web site - The Organic Center - looks interesting.  

Is James Fallows mocking yoga?

There will always be a San Francisco - by James Fallows.

Fallows got a bit of flack for posting this photo. It's funny. And nice to see yoga creeping into even the most prestigious of political blogs.

Fallows posted this, rather lengthy, follow up the next day where he asserts he was not making fun of yoga. Even yogis can take themselves too seriously I guess, even in San Francisco. Or perhaps always in San Francisco.

Hot Oil Massage in the Winter

These cold months are a perfect time to develop a routine for the ayurvedic practice of Abhyanga - a full body oil massage. A regular practice of giving yourself a full body oil massage is an essential part of yogic health.

Ayurvedic medicine complements and completes yoga and is the traditional healing system of India. As old as yoga (5000 years old!), ayurveda uses the same Sanskrit language as yoga and struggles as well with the translation of certain concepts and attitudes which originated in a very different language, rich and with deep roots. Ayurveda, like yoga, encompasses more than the physical. In Sanskrit, Ayur means "life" and Veda means "science or knowledge." So ayurveda means science or knowledge of life. Therefore, in ayurveda, good health address all of life - not just the physical organs.

Snehana is the Sanskrit term for massaging herbal oils into the skin. The root of this word highlights a vital aspect of this practice. Sneha means love, and the literal translation of snehana is to love your own body. So as you do this, you really need to feel affection for your own skin and what's underneath.

Abhyanga is any massage treatment that uses oil, and here I describe how to administer a self oil massage.

Abhyanga is also a Sanskrit word and with ang meaning "movement" and the prefix abhi meaning "into" or "toward", Abhyanga literally translates as moving into the body. Moving what into the body? Energy, love, prana.

I used to heat up the oil on the stove. But my own yoga teacher showed me an easier way, with some tools easily available from from Bed Bath & Beyond. First I looked for a hot plate for a mug. Turns out an electric candle warmer does the trick. I'd never heard of a candle warmer before, but it's just the right size. You can check them out here. I got the Valmour brand. Electric power heats the plate and on top I place a Faberware "melting pot. You can check that out here. It's just the right size and has a pouring spout.

Then all you need is the oil and the time. Check out the link with instructions above.

Zen Dens - Yoga Retreats from Conde Nast

concierge.com assembled a roster of wellness retreats you can check out here. Compiled in 2006, it's still interesting.

This place, Parrot Cay's Shambhala Retreat, is where I've been twice for yoga retreats. Once with Cyndi Lee of Om Yoga and once with Donna Farhi, both in 2002.

If you just want to check out the resort, click here.

I can't recommend it highly enough.

Here is Zen Den's review and recommendation on Parrot Cay.

This is the spot for well-heeled yogis whose idea of Zen minimalism doesn't extend to thread counts and evening meals...Turks + Caicos has snow-white sand and turquoise coves, and the rooms are unfussy but gorgeous, all teak and white cotton....Dive or snorkel in the most pristine waters and healthiest reefs of the Caribbean region.

The reefs may be the healthiest. I can't say for sure but I do know they are clear and pure and beautiful. I came away healthier than I'd been in a very long time.

Yoga Hyde - New Online Yoga Gear

I've not tried any of their clothes, but they look lovely. Check out Yoga Hyde - especially the outerwear.

Meditation Can Help Heart Disease, Medical Study Finds

A medical study suggests that meditation provides physiological benefits - at least with people with coronary artery disease. The New York Times time reported the news in a brief blurb, Regimens: Meditation, for the Mind and the Heart.

Money quote:

The participants found transcendental meditation easy to learn and practice, Dr. Schneider said. He suggested that the stress reduction produced by the meditation could cause changes in the brain that cut stress hormones like cortisol and dampen the inflammatory processes associated with atherosclerosis.

Lemons:Cool and Useful Information

Beliefnet.com offers a slide show entitled 15 Hidden Health Secrets of Lemons. Some are pretty cool and news to me - like treating acne or canker sores or corns and calluses, eczema, bad breath, bug bites!

Something about it's akaline properties counteracts acid. That acid/akaline balance seems to be coming up a lot lately.

Arnica Use Backed By Science

Arnica use is now backed by science, according to a New York Times post, The Alternative Medicine Cabinet: Arnica for Pain Relief.

It is believed that the plant contains derivatives of thymol, which seems to have anti-inflammatory effects. Either way, scientists have found good evidence that it works. One randomized study published in 2007 looked at 204 people with osteoarthritis in their hands and found that an arnica gel preparation worked just as well as daily ibuprofen, and with minimal side effects.

This entry is apparently the first of many that Times columnist Anahad O'Connor (I love America!) will do weekly to explore "the claims and the science behind alternative remedies that you may want to consider for your family medicine cabinet"

You can check out other entries for The Alternative Medicine Cabinet here.

A New Line of Yoga Attire

I've not tried any of this line, but it's associated with Seane Corn, whom I respect.  The yoga clothes and supplies look pretty neat.

Check out here.

Has any one else tried?  If so, please provide feedback in the comments section.

Yoga=Mindful Eating=Healthier Weight

Regular yoga practice is associated with mindful eating, and that in turn causes people to be less likely to be overweight, finds a new medical study published in the August issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

What seems particularly interesting is that it's yoga - not just any exercise - that provides this associated benefit.

The researchers found that people who ate mindfully—those were aware of why they ate and stopped eating when full—weighed less than those who ate mindlessly, who ate when not hungry or in response to anxiety or depression. The researchers also found a strong association between yoga practice and mindful eating but found no association between other types of physical activity, such as walking or running, and mindful eating.

The key too is that the practice of yoga has to be regular. To the study, that appears to translate to more than one hour a week, a pretty low threshold, it seems to me.

The study measured:

• disinhibition – eating even when full;
• awareness – being aware of how food looks, tastes and smells;
• external cues – eating in response to environmental cues, such as advertising;
• emotional response – eating in response to sadness or stress; and
• distraction – focusing on other things while eating.

You can read more here.

What Trying to Meditate is Really Like

Robert Wright is one of my favorite writers and thinkers.  He just published his third book, The Evolution of God earlier this summer.  In hearing him promote his book, I'd heard him speak of his attraction to Buddhism and meditation, so I was delighted to come across this rendition of time he spent on a meditation retreat on the New York Times Opinionator Blog: Self, Meditating.

As usual, he's brutally honest about the experience of meditation - the frustration, the imperfection, the confusion. And he's funny.  And smart. 

Here's a taste:

This retreat is coming at a good time for me. In June I published a book that I’ve been feverishly promoting. Publishing and promoting a book can bring out the non-Buddhist in a person. For example, when book reviewers make judgments about your book, you may make judgments about the reviewers — ungenerous judgments, even.
Also, you’re inclined to pursue the fruits of your activity — like book sales — rather than just experience the activity. Checking your Amazon ranking every 7 minutes would qualify as what Buddhists call “attachment.” And attachment is bad. (Oops: I just made a judgment about attachment.)

Yoga and Desire

Sally Kempton is a regular columnist for Yoga Journal and I love her essays on yoga philosophy and living.

This one on desire is particularly acute. She incorporates a mythical story of the Hindu god Brahma and from there provides constructive insights on the nature of desire, how to use as a force for good in our lives and avoid the pitfalls.

Here's a taste:

Well-managed desire can inspire you to action and help shape your life. Unmanaged desire—well, distraction is the least of it. Even Brahma, the ancient, ageless creator of the universe, turned into a hormone-crazed teenager when inflamed with desire. In fact, his story reveals the power of desire and what's needed to turn it into a force for good.

And another:

Yet whether deep or superficial, all these desires have the potential to manifest results. Your life situation at this moment is to an amazing extent the product of the desires you've held—often desires that you forgot long ago. As one of the Upanishads says, "As a [person's] desire is, so is his destiny. For as his desire is, so is his will; as his will is, so is his deed; and as his deed is, so are its consequences, good or bad."

Knowing how to direct the power of desire toward growth can help you create a life of beauty, love, and even enlightenment. On the other hand, if the desires you follow are unhealthy, if you have not brought them fully to consciousness, or if you continually follow the distracting impulses of momentary desires, you're likely to find yourself in situations that don't serve your highest goals.

Click through to read the whole thing, Gotta Have It? It's not long and worthwhile.

If you like yoga and you like word puzzles, you might like these products. The puzzles are based on BKS Iyengar's books and teachings and you'd better know your Sanskrit or be prepared to learn some. From the home page:

Whether you are a teacher studying to improve your Sanskrit spelling and vocabulary, or a student just wondering what in the world these words mean, these books will provide you with a few hours of exploration and discovery and definitely some good activity for your brain cells.

Fresh Ginger Ale!

One of my students knows I love and make my own ginger tea. I modified a recipe I got on my first yoga retreat to Parrot Cay - the retreat that changed my life as well as my palate.

Well, ginger is getting more popular and she sent along this New York Times article highlighting the trend of home made ginger ale - Ginger Ale Without the Can.

I couldn't agree more:

But beyond current fashions, homemade ginger ale has a lively bite that is especially appealing as summer nears.

“It’s a very refreshing, vibrant feeling,” said Geoff Alexander, the managing partner of Wow Bao, part of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, the Chicago restaurant company.

Typically less sweet than store-bought sodas, the handmade ales get an added zing from fresh ginger.

Here's a recipe to make Ginger Ale at home. Also from the New York Times.

Thanks Sara!

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Clear Your Clutter, Find Your Life

I found this to be a really helpful, succinct article on how to de-clutter your home in this time of spring. Clear Your Clutter, Find Your Life is from Body & Soul's April 2009 issue.

I'm not even going to try and excerpt the good bits, because it all seems very constructive and helpful. So click through and let me know what you think.

Do-It-Yourself Cleaning Tools from Martha Stewart

This link is the portal to all sorts of home remedies and cleaning supplies - how to make your own all purpose cleanser, laundry detergent, silver polish, toilet bowl cleaner, etc. etc. 

Not only will these tips save money but will also reduce chemical residue and are better for the environment.

If you try any, please report back your experience. 

"Yoga IS My Bailout"

Very cool and clever t-shirts. Check them out here.

The Perils of All That Mindfulness

Judith Warner of the New York Times penned a witty, perceptive essay, Being and Mindfulness, on the perils of trendy "mindfulness."

Mindfulness is supposed to bring people together. By embracing your essential humanness, getting in touch with and accepting your body, sensations, emotions and thoughts, you are supposed to join with, and empathetically connect to, all humanity.

This, I think, is true and sort of defeats the purpose:

in real-life encounters, I’ve come lately to wonder whether meaningful bonds are well forged by the extreme solipsism that mindfulness practice often turns out to be. For one thing, there’s the seemingly unavoidable problem that people who are embarked on this particular “journey of self-exploration,” as Pipher has called it, tend to want to talk, or write, about it. A lot.

And one of the problems with this tendency is that everyone's experience with the practice is unique.

And those who talk, write, share it tend to hold out their experiences as ideal, which in turn leaves those who've never felt the "kundalini rising" feeling left out, inadequate and perhaps quit. This difficulty was one of my problems with Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love, as I discussed in my review.

It also bring to mind the passage from Matthew's gospel which tells Christians to pray in secret and not to blab or brag out it (Matthew 6:6-8).

One of Warner's concluding insights:

Some of us experience our emotions always in capital letters and exclamation points. This isn’t always pleasant but, to go all mindful for a moment, it is what it is, and if you are one of these people then probably one of the great pleasures of your life is finding others like you and settling in with them for a good rant. A world devoid of such souls can be cold and forbidding, and above all terribly, terribly dull.

True. But for me, it's still worth while to try and smooth out the edges. To me, the practice is like a calculus curve - always approaching. I'll never get there, but that doesn't mean I stop trying.

Thanks to student Sara for the link.

Yoga as an Olympic Sport?

Apparently if Bikram has his way.

Neal Pollack, Slate, offers a dispatch Top Yogi from the 6th International Yoga Competition. He remarks - "Yoga has done more for my physical and mental well-being than anything else I've tried."

I steeled myself to bear witness to some sort of whacked-out yoga circus, and that's more or less what I got. But a lot of yoga culture feels weird and circuslike to me anyway, so I would have felt disappointed if it had ended up being otherwise.

Well if you're exposure to yoga is Bikram, it is wierd and circuslike and whacked out. It's also not yoga:

At the center of the weekend, wearing flashy suits and various fedoras, stood Bikram Choudhury, the animating force behind the competitive yoga circuit. Here's a man who's copyrighted his style of yoga (26 postures, repeated twice, in a room heated to 105 degrees Fahrenheit), sends cease-and-desist letters to those who dare flout the copyright, and, in interviews, summarily dismisses all other forms of American yoga while also bragging about his love for McDonald's and his large fleet of self-restored Rolls-Royces. He once famously told Business 2.0 magazine that his yoga was the "only yoga." When asked why, he said it was because he has "balls like atom bombs, two of them, 100 megatons each. Nobody fucks with me." Not surprisingly, other yoga circles view him and his particular craft with everything from mildly dismissive amusement to a disdain coming close to disgust.

That sums up Mr. Bikram - but that's not why he disgusts me. Rather it's because he is popularizing only one very small part of yoga. Yoga has 8 limbs, or parts; the poses (asanas) are ONE part. One/eighth.

Regardless of the size of his balls, his pea brain can't apprehend. His ego is simply a symptom of his misunderstanding of all of yoga's component parts. If he understood yoga, his humility wouldn't enable him to say in a recent interview said that prop-heavy Iyengar yoga studios look like "a Santa Monica sex shop."

With out any sense of irony, Mary Jarvis, a San Francisco-based yoga-studio owner who was one of Bikram's first U.S. students, states:

"The more advanced a yoga posture is, the more humble the yogi should be," she said. "If somebody's really arrogant, I won't train them. They can have a great posture on stage and be a total asshole."

SO funny!

Yoga Journal Video on Romance Love and Yoga

A good friend and fellow yoga trainee attended the Yoga Journal conference in San Francisco last month and had a very funny, ironic (?) story about another attendee who appeared to be inebriated at 3:45 in the afternoon!

And now I've discovered that Yoga Journal produces small videos and this one is a treat - On Romance, Love and Yoga. YJ interviews Michael Franti, Scott Blossom, Tias and Surya Little, Rod Stryker and Gary Kraftsow. Cassandra Fox conducted these interviews at that YJ conference last month (and no one seems drunk on anything other than yoga - check out the first guy).

I found Rod Stryker and Gary Krafsow (who come at the end of the 8 minute video) the most helpful with constructive thoughts and perceptions.

Stryker describes the yogi who have partners who - egads! - don't practice yoga or don't practice as much or is not completely in synch - and who seem bothered by this. He dismisses that, suggests that those fixated on our partners' practices, or lack thereof, let that go. He urges us to be kind and be respectful to our beloved.

Kraftsow points out that we have to be fulfilled first and not look for fulfillment in the other. Yoga itself "says you have to do yoga for yourself no one can do it for you. Same lesson is true about successful, loving, romantic and passionate relationships...look for your own inner fulfillment and then share that with another."

Elizabeth Gilbert on the Creative Process

Some of you are aware of TED -  

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

Most not in the know heard about Ted with the proliferation of Jill Botle Taylor's talk on her "Stroke of Insight," which you can watch here.   Last week, Bill Gates' 18 minute talk engendered some press because he released a swarm of mosquitoes during his discussion on malaria apparently as a visual aid.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray Love (which I reviewed here) gives a 18 minute talk about the creative process, which is actually pretty entertaining.   Just last week I posted an interview she did with the Seattle newspaper, which may also be of interest to her fans. 

You can watch here:

Yoga - The Reliable Raft

Gary Kraftsow has long been a hero of mine but I did not know of his own personal health "opportunity" until I read this piece, Radical Healing, in the current issue of Yoga & Joyful Living (formerly Yoga International). Kraftsow won't allow his brain tumor and surgery to be called an ordeal.

I've admired him because of the medical studies on yoga he conducted which got wide coverage -

Kraftsow may be best known as the architect of rigorous studies of yoga’s efficacy. He showed that yoga can alleviate chronic back pain in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health, the results of which were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

That's the sort of credibility yoga needs and won't garner with gym rats taking a weekend yoga teaching course and hanging out a shingle.

In the three hour teaching seminar I took with him, Gary Kraftsow also impressed me greatly with his knowledge base, intuition and approach. So I own both his books. Perhaps he simply resonated with me because of my own health opportunities. He articulated my experience. I feel I have a sense now of how and why.

Of his health crisis, he says, “I would never wish it on my worst enemy. But if it happens to you, it’s an extraordinary opportunity to grow.” In the hospital, when the haze lifted, Kraftsow discovered new depths of stillness. “The stillness of meditation is one thing, but this stillness—I hadn’t had any experience of it before,” he says.

I've said, and never lightly, that yoga saved my life. Not simply the poses, but all of it. This article on Kraftsow explains what yoga teaches beyond the asanas.

Kraftsow stresses two aspects of yoga - the individuality (which is the primary difficulty in conducting medical studies) and that yoga is more than the physical poses (asanas). He properly notes that asana is mentioned only twice in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

“My desire for all those who have only been exposed to the asana part of yoga is that they have an opportunity to appreciate the depth and breadth of this great tradition,” he says. “When you have a life-threatening or serious condition, you can’t rely on what you could rely on before. Yoga is like a raft that can help you go through these things. But in my case it wasn’t asana. It wasn’t even breathing. It was attitude, prayer. These are going to help you when you can’t do anything else.”

Just as illuminating, the piece fleshes out the Kraftsow's principles by following Ellen Fein's pilgrimage after she became ill. She came to study with Gary Kraftsow and he helped her. Regarding his teaching method -

“It’s so individual,” says Kraftsow. “You never know what it’s going to be, what gives somebody a sense of pleasure, fulfillment. What we as teachers are trained to do is read body language. When someone makes a connection to something that’s meaningful, they’ll light up. That’s like a clue, and then you’re like a treasure hunter. You follow it, try to bring it out, and help them make a connection to something that can give them some sense of joy.”

Here's just a clue to one part of his teaching which touches on the layers of the body (some translations call the layers sheaths).

The cornerstone of Kraftsow’s practice is pancha maya, a model of the human system referenced in ancient Indian texts. According to this model, also known as the kosha model, we are comprised of five dimensions or layers: the physical body (annamaya), the breath or life force (pranamaya), the intellect (manomaya), the personality (vijnanamaya), and the heart, which is the seat of bliss (anandamaya). In the days leading up to surgery, Kraftsow plumbed every dimension of his being.

Yoga teaches so much, so much that is valuable and helpful.

New Interview with Eat, Pray, Love Author

The Seattle Post Intelligencer's John Marshall did a recent interview with Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love.  

Topics covered include her nervousness preceding her appearance on Oprah; the status of her relationship with the Brazilian man she fell in love with at the end of Eat, Pray, Love; the nature of her fan mail and what she likes; what fame has been like; and what's she working on for her next book -  


The alchemy of "Eat, Pray, Love" is specific to that book. That was five years ago -- my life has changed since then, my voice has changed. I can reconstruct that voice, but that would not be authentic. Authenticity is what people want..

Enjoy. 

A Yoga Lesson for Blagojevich? Not Seriously.

A columnist at Huffington Post put together a tongue and cheek yoga lesson for former IL governor Rod Blagojevich.   The primary focus is the "monkey mind"   There's a list and a video.  

I think this does a disservice.  To yoga.  It trivializes yoga.  Her remark about supta virasana (reclined hero's pose) to me is out of line and not funny.   She obviously thinks it is as she repeats it twice.  That's aside from the fact that she doesn't demonstrate it properly adapted for the runner that every one knows that Blagojevich is. 

Yoga and Fun

New York Times outlines the dangerous role ego has come to play in some yoga quarters where yoga and the teachers take themselves and yoga a bit too seriously and self-righteously.   Yoga can be and should be fun.  

It's a fun piece called The Enlightened Path, With a Rubber Duck.

Enjoy.

(I watched the two You Tube videos and didn't think either of them were that funny or worthwhile, but there are two included in the article.

Setting Intention

“You are what your deepest desire is.
As your desire is, so is your intention.
As your intention is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.”
 ~ Upanishads

I got that from Chopra's newsletter.  The Chopra Center's newsletter also includes a guided meditation for setting intention that you can listen to here.    

Meditation Alleviates Medical Symptoms

Natural News headlines - Meditation Benefits for Those with Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia
I knew this already. Guided meditation can be especially helpful when the symptoms are persistent. I've experienced remarkable improvement after listening and following the instructions of a 15 to 20 minute guided meditation (Shiva Rea's is a favorite).

The article outlines the mental/emotional benefits of meditation:

• More even moods, fewer mood swings.
• Releasing Depression
• Less anxiety
• Increased energy and vitality
• Improved memory and cognitive function
• A sense of peace and calm
• Less Stress

Physical benefits of meditation:

• Lowered blood pressure
• Reduced heart rate
• More balanced nervous system
• Better Sleep
• May help balance the immune system to help the body resist disease and heal
• Less physical stress and a more balanced the autonomic nervous system (which is what governs the stress response in the body.)

Specially in regard to FM and CFS, the article outlines this:

Stress exacerbates CFS and FM, as well as causing more of it, creating a vicious circle. Lowering stress in some way is important for sufferers...Meditation has also been shown to improve sleep patterns and increase energy. Furthermore, research has continually shown that it reduces pain levels. It can enhance the body’s ability to heal itself, and improve overall quality of life. Physically, it can lower the level of cortisol in the body, which is a stress hormone. Mentally, it helps you to get your mind off of worries, pain, stress, and illness. It allows you to cultivate a focus on something completely unrelated to your life, your pain, or your illness.

Johns Hopkins Study Finds Yoga Alleviates Symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Here is news of the benefits of yoga for those with Rheumatoid Arthritis -

On a more positive note, scientists from John Hopkins University in Baltimore have discovered that people with RA can greatly benefit from a program of yoga poses, breathing and relaxation.

And the article concludes with this:

Those who participated in the yoga program had significantly fewer tender and swollen joints than they did before beginning the class. The waiting list group saw no significant changes in their tender and swollen joint counts. “We have previously reported that yoga helps people to feel better, and we wanted to make sure it wasn’t harmful to arthritic joints. So, we were glad to find that there actually seems to be improvement in joint symptoms for RA patients,” said Steffany Haaz, MFA, and recipient of the Arthritis Foundation grant that funded the study. “The next big question is figuring out how and why yoga might be having this effect, since it is such a multi-faceted activity.”

New Yoga Catalogue

A new yoga catalogue - with not just clothes, but jewelry and beauty products.   Seems Christy Turlington is on board.  I love her book, so I check it out.

Here it it: The Y Catalogue.

Let me know what you think.

An E-Card to Encourage Yoga

A very funny e-card to send to some one you are trying to get to try out a yoga class (preferably at nilambu!).

Check it out here. 

(hmmm, and they've got a Mad Men e-card here.  And an Olympic gymnastics one here)

Okay, I'm done browsing.  Have fun!  

Mad Men's Jon Hamm Contemplates Yoga

well, well, well - from TV Guide, an interview with Jon Hamm, and HE brings up yoga. I knew I loved him!

TV Guide: How do you get camera-ready for Mad Men's sex scenes?
Hamm: I try to stay in shape. I am not a gym guy; it bores me to tears. So I play tennis and hike in the hills with the dog. I don't think I have the temperament for yoga. Is there competitive yoga? Then maybe I'd be into it.

Typical alpha male!

How to Recycle Your Ipod

Apple helps.

For how to, click here.

What's In and Safe in Your Skin Care Products?

www.ewg.org/skindeep

The Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep website, which hosts a comprehensive data base to find out what's inside your beauty products.

Great Recipe to Substitute for Your Morning Coffee

I highlighted a Yoga Journal article last week on how to wean from caffeine.

Now, here's a terrific substitute from Gillian McKeith, host of the BBC America show, You Are What You Eat.

Assemble into a blender the following ingredients

• 2 teaspoons dandelion coffee granules
• 1 Tablespoon hot water
• 1 ripe medium banana
• 200 ml unsweetened rice milk

Mix it up and drink. Yum! This recipe, with the banana, helps boost depleted potassium, which can be a result of caffeine addiction.

Whole Foods Not So Wholesome

Check out this investigative report from the local ABC affiliate, WJLA, here in DC. As usually the FDA is protecting the industry more than the public. Most of the problem foods are under the Whole Foods label 365, which also tends to be the cheapest on the shelf. Problem is that most of the frozen packaged food is grown and packaged in China. So don't be sure it's really organic or safe for you or the environment.



To see the list you can click here. It's an 8 page pdf with the subheading - "Whole Foods Internal Document - Do Not Distribute"

Click here for more information (scroll to bottom) and to file a complaint with the FDA National Organic Program.

Well, I suppose now I'll be going to the Dupont Circle Market today and every Sunday......

Green Your Fridge

Vegetarian Times offers 10 steps to "green" your refrigerator. Several would only be pertinent if you were building or remodeling your kitchen (i.e. move your refrigerator away from a window or don't buy a refrigerator with ice and/or water dispensers).

Nonetheless, some of the other suggestions are helpful. The link also includes some food safety tips.

How to Eliminate Caffeine

Caffeine drips into my diet via chocolate. I'm not sure how much I get in my dark chocolate fixes, but I feel lucky not to be drawn to coffee every day. It's evolved into a luxury I reserved for after dinner, when I'm dining with someone with whom I wish to prolong the time!

Why eliminate caffeine from your diet? Well, the kidneys and adrenals are depleted by caffeine as are numerous minerals.

But doing so is not easy to do - headaches, anxiety, insomnia, mood swings can ensue.

Yoga Journal offers some concrete counsel on how to kick a caffeine habit. Before changing anything they suggested adding a few items to your diet. One is yogurt or kefir and other is a bit labor intensive. Then a plan for the big day is suggested and to help with the transition, a peppermint infusion is said to help provide that wake up feeling without the caffeine.

I'm thinking of a few guys I know who are addicted to caffeine who will never do this, but I offer the link anyway. It may just work.

Local Web Site Helps You Go Green

For those in DC, Wednesday brings us the launch of Live Green.

Live Green is a local network organization that aims to

• do the research and led you to locally available, high quality green goods and services,
• provide tips for living green
• help businesses adopt green practices

For more on Live Green's services, click here.

The launch party on Wednesday, June 18th is at Local 16, 1602 U Street, NW Washington, DC. There'll be live music. There's a small fee, $13 ahead of time, $15 at the door (but RSVPs are requested).

Check it out.

Yoga Vote T-Shirts

Be Present, a great yoga clothing vendor, is featuring a special t-shirt for the season (the election season).

The word "vote" is on the chest, with the om symbol substituting for the the "o". It's very cool and comes in 4 colors.

Click here to see pictures. Price range is $27 to $35, in a variety of colors and cuts.

America's 2 Most Prominent Buddhist Teachers in DC

Well, aren't we lucky?

Thanks to the National Cathedral, Robert Thurman and Sharon Salzberg are returning to the DC for a seminar on Working with Our Enemies: Finding Freedom from Hostility and Fear. What an appropriate subject for this age of fear and hostility.

Here's an excerpt describing the subject:

Enemies—habitual, painful mind-states and people toward whom we steadily feel antipathy or fear—consume tremendous energy that we can liberate for powerful, healing change.

These pioneers in bringing Buddhist practices to the West guide us to explore our inner and outer enemies, and the stuck mode of “us” and “them” that constricts our lives. Through lecture, dialogue, and meditation practice, they show us the way toward the potential boundlessness of lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity—the four sublime states of mind known as the Brahma Viharas.

Format: both lecture and workshop.
Date & Time: Friday June 27th at 7:30 pm.
Saturday, June 26th from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
Sponsor: Cathedral College
Location: the Kay Spiritual Life Center at American University (at Massachusetts and
Nebraska Avenues).

It's sure to fill up fast so register at the link above. It is possible to attend either Friday or Saturday or both. Special senior, student or limited income fees are available.

These are two great teachers. Salzberg books are well loved. I feature one on my web site: Loving Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Some find her writing too personal, too confessional. But I find her writing on Buddhist precepts to be practical, when other writers on the same subjects can be abstract or elliptical. As one intelligent friend remarked, it seems the counsel is simply: be truthful. Well, Salzberg provides further helpful guidelines.

I've never heard Thurman speak, but he is well-reputed as well. He teaches at Columbia University. He did have some recent notoriety in testifying against his daughter's stalker and evidence some self-deprication, as reported in the New York Times back in April:

In spite of the stressful subject, their testimony was sort of a star turn for the Thurman parents, who gave a strikingly poised, sometimes compassionate and even humorous accounting of grappling with Mr. Jordan.

“I’m known as the father of Uma,” Dr. Thurman testified, with whimsical pride. “It’s my major accomplishment in life.”

Reading excerpts from 19 e-mail messages he received from Mr. Jordan, Dr. Thurman described his growing sense “not as a psychiatrist, but as a literary critic,” that Mr. Jordan was delusional. “I imagined us in a cave a long time ago, Shiva Parvati carved or mummified in that stone temple with the elephant outside of it,” Mr. Jordan wrote in one e-mail message, referring to a Hindu god and goddess that he equated with himself and Ms. Thurman.

“By this time I’m trying to remember the telephone number of the F.B.I., frankly,” Dr. Thurman testified.

In one e-mail message, Mr. Jordan addressed Dr. Thurman as “Ten zen Thor man.” Mr. Jordan’s lawyer, on cross-examination, asked whether that might be a typographical error, derived from Dr. Thurman’s nickname, Tenzin, given to him when he was a Buddhist monk.

“Not likely,” Dr. Thurman said, adding that it seemed to him that “there was a mythic thing going on.”

If any of you register to go, please let me know!

Psychotherapy Uses Mindfulness Meditation

In a story entitled Lotus Therapy by Benedict Carey, The New York Times reported on the use of insight meditation to deal with pain, both physical and emotional. And on how the practice is infiltrating psychotherapy.

“I was able to be there, present for the pain,” he said, when the meditation session ended. “To just let it be what it was, without thinking it through.”

The therapist nodded.

“Acceptance is what it was,” he continued. “Just letting it be. Not trying to change anything.”

“That’s it,” the therapist said. “That’s it, and that’s big.”

This exercise in focused awareness and mental catch-and-release of emotions has become perhaps the most popular new psychotherapy technique of the past decade. Mindfulness meditation, as it is called, is rooted in the teachings of a fifth-century B.C. Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha.

So what? What's the promise?

The promise of mindfulness meditation is that it can help patients endure flash floods of emotion during the therapeutic process — and ultimately alter reactions to daily experience at a level that words cannot reach.

Jon Kabat-Zinn is at the forefront of this and his book, Full Catastrophe Living:Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness, published in 1990. I have found this book to be invaluable. I recently bought it on DVD so I can listen to it when I'm too unwell to read. And he is featured in the Times report:

Buddhist meditation came to psychotherapy from mainstream academic medicine. In the 1970s, a graduate student in molecular biology, Jon Kabat-Zinn, intrigued by Buddhist ideas, adapted a version of its meditative practice that could be easily learned and studied... The goal of mindfulness meditation was different, to foster an awareness of every sensation as it unfolds in the moment.

Dr. Kabat-Zinn taught the practice to people suffering from chronic pain at the University of Massachusetts medical school. In the 1980s he published a series of studies demonstrating that two-hour courses, given once a week for eight weeks, reduced chronic pain more effectively than treatment as usual.

Word spread, discreetly at first. “I think that back then, other researchers had to be very careful when they talked about this, because they didn’t want to be seen as New Age weirdos,” Dr. Kabat-Zinn, now a professor emeritus of medicine at the University of Massachusetts, said in an interview. “So they didn’t call it mindfulness or meditation. “After a while, we put enough studies out there that people became more comfortable with it.”

A related technique is Action and Commitment Therapy, which is focused on results:

Steven Hayes, a psychologist at the University of Nevada at Reno, has developed a talk therapy called Acceptance Commitment Therapy, or ACT, based on a similar, Buddha-like effort to move beyond language to change fundamental psychological processes.

Harvard Brain Scientist Explains Bliss

A Superhighway to Bliss is the most read article at the New York Times web site. So I checked it out. It's about how a stroke at the age of 37 led a Harvard brain scientist to experience bliss and come back from that to explain her experience in scientific terms.

The story reports on the Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke:

Within minutes, her left lobe — the source of ego, analysis, judgment and context — began to fail her. Oddly, it felt great.

The incessant chatter that normally filled her mind disappeared. Her everyday worries — about a brother with schizophrenia and her high-powered job — untethered themselves from her and slid away.

Her perceptions changed, too. She could see that the atoms and molecules making up her body blended with the space around her; the whole world and the creatures in it were all part of the same magnificent field of shimmering energy.

And then explains the role of the two sides of the brain:

Today, she says, she is a new person, one who “can step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere” on command and be “one with all that is.”

To her it is not faith, but science. She brings a deep personal understanding to something she long studied: that the two lobes of the brain have very different personalities. Generally, the left brain gives us context, ego, time, logic. The right brain gives us creativity and empathy. For most English-speakers, the left brain, which processes language, is dominant. Dr. Taylor’s insight is that it doesn’t have to be so.

The Times even interviews two religious and spiritual thinkers I've read and respect. First Sharon Salzberg:

“People are so taken with it,” said Sharon Salzberg, a founder of the Insight Mediation Society in Barre, Mass. “I keep getting that video in e-mail. I must have 100 copies.”

She is excited by Dr. Taylor’s speech because it uses the language of science to describe an occurrence that is normally ethereal. Dr. Taylor shows the less mystically inclined, she said, that this experience of deep contentment “is part of the capacity of the human mind.”

And Karen Armstrong:

Karen Armstrong, a religious historian who has written several popular books including one on the Buddha, says there are odd parallels between his story and Dr. Taylor’s.

“Like this lady, he was reluctant to return to this world,” she said. “He wanted to luxuriate in the sense of enlightenment.”

But, she said, “the dynamic of the religious required that he go out into the world and share his sense of compassion.”

This is how the experience affected Dr. Taylor's life:

she has dialed back her once loaded work schedule. Her house is on a leafy cul-de-sac minutes from Indiana University, which she attended as an undergraduate and where she now teaches at the medical school.

Her foyer is painted a vibrant purple. She greets a stranger at the door with a warm hug. When she talks, her pale blue eyes make extended contact.

And regarding organized religion and it's relationship to brain science, in light of her personal experience:

her father is an Episcopal minister and she was raised in his church, she cannot be counted among the traditionally faithful. “Religion is a story that the left brain tells the right brain,” she said.

Still, Dr. Taylor says, “nirvana exists right now.”

Okay, I'm off to my meditation mat to see if my right brain (empathy, creativity) can overflow my left (ego, context, time, logic, stories).

Try Walking the Labyrinth

Speaking of walking meditation, you can walk the labyrinth next Tuesday, May 27th at the Washington National Cathedral from 6:30 to 8:45. The stain glass windows of the Cathedral capture the setting sun beautifully.

Walking the path of a labyrinth is an extraordinary experience and a very unique form of meditation. Words can hardly capture the sensation of shifting perceptions as you twist and turn away and then go back toward where you just came from. You pass or shadow strangers, each off on their own path. You can be alone on one part and then suddenly congested amid twenty. So you step aside wait. Then you are alone again, stepping apart. The movement inward, arriving at the center, can be powerful, like entering a womb. Walking the labryinth becomes a metaphor for life, for the many journeys on which we embark.

The Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage opens at 6:00 pm for centering prayer (also known as meditation). The Center is right off of Resurrection Chapel and if you've never visit, you're in for a treat.

Upstairs in the nave, the Cathedral makes two labyrinths available for this special contemplative practice which is free and open to the public. A harpist will accompany you on your walk. And Compline is said at 8:45.

A special additional offering 7 pm a special program is offered in the Bethlehem Chapel. This month Deryl Davis offers Drama for Your Spirit: Acting Faithfully.

For more information about the program at the Washington National Cathedral, click here. The National Cathedral offers this program on the last Tuesday of every month.

If you don't live in DC, here is a world-wide labyrinth locator. And here's a link for all you might want to know about the types of labyrinths and the history of the practice from classical times through the Middle Ages to our own time.

Yogis Set Intentions For Lasting Change (Part 2)

Early this week, a dear old friend was in town and we got a chance to meet. We're both in our early 40s and discussed the humility of realizing how little we have directed in our lives.

Though no one controls outcomes, there are aspects of our life experience we can command. We can hone our approach, manage expectations, set intentions.

Back in January, nilambu notes set forth the yogic approach to setting intentions. Rather than make resolutions and focus on the results (the scale, your marital status, achieving lotus pose), yogis set intentions and concentrate on the steps that make up the process of change.

While we can't control results, we can direct our approach and our behavior.

This nilambu notes outlines how to do that, how to integrate your intentions into lasting change and new habits.

So what do you do?
There is another term in yoga – samskara. Samskara is an ingrained pattern or “grooves” of thought OR behavior. These ruts are changed by creating new ones.

And that’s where the three niyamas - burning enthusiasm, self-study and devotion to a higher power - come in. (See the last nilambu notes).

And they do so in four distinct steps, that you cycle through over and over: S.A.S.A. which stands for see, accept, set, act.

SEE You need to see clearly what is – what are your ruts, samskaras? What are your ingrained patterns of thought or habit?

An accurate perception of your limits, your unhelpful habits, your distractions is the entry point to change (and you’ll re-evaluate your perception along the way).

Nothing will change if you don’t see clearly. At this stage, others can help provide loving perspective. Turn a flashlight on in your life. See what is really going on in those dark corners so you can dust them up.

How do we do this? Using burning enthusiasm (tapas), we study ourselves (svadhyaya). That may mean keeping a food diary or examining your schedule to see where you allot your time. This self study reveals your patterns, your values and can help you see clearly what is. You do this again and again as you evaluate and reassess, and nimbly readjust your behavior. Self-study can help you see unconscious habits that could sabotage your intentions.

ACCEPT With devotion to a higher power (ishvara pranidhana), we humbly accept what is, what we don't control.

So, for example, we admit we don’t really as eat as well as we think, we have a serious illness with no cure, we are beyond our breaking point with stress, the mother/father of our children doesn’t want to be married any more. Further, we accept what we cannot change the outcome.

Some realities are mutable; some are not. When we accept the things we can not change, that yielding can allow us to relax. It can lift a tremendous burden. We can stop fighting.

A yoga teacher of mine told me you can have pain without suffering. What she meant was that we can't always control the pain, physical or emotional, but we don't have to suffer if we are able to adapt our response to the pain.

Admittedly, sometimes that may be easier to do than others. But by yielding to what is, to what we can't control, that acceptance can alter the experience. And in doing so, you may actually change the dynamic of your situation, your nervous system will ease and may even improve your vitality and ability to deal with illness, or divorce or grief.

So this is the interesting thing: sometimes things, situations, reality will change as a result of accepting what is. That shift in perception, that letting go, can confer a freedom that will in fact improve whatever situation was resisted, struggled with or burdensome.

SET You set an intention. Make a promise to yourself and remind yourself over and over of that intention. Plan, with specificity, a course of action that will support your intentions. You can do that for each intention and one intention may have several supportive steps.

Some examples are:

• Practice yoga 20 minutes every day.
• Keep a food diary
• Wind down your day by 10 pm by creating a night time ritual.
• Eat without the television on.
• Meditate 5 minutes.
• Speak to your partner lovingly, and if necessary with a therapist to navigate communication and prevent harm.
• Hug your spouse and hold them for a full minute every day.

Try to visualize and imagine yourself doing what you promised yourself. Schedule activities into your routine. Put up reminders around your home or in your car.

Not giving up helps too, which brings us to action....

ACT You act. You take a step. A small step, again and again.

Don’t visualize the goal; visualize the step, the action.

Don’t give up. Keep getting up. If you get knocked down, get up and get up and get up. Another said you might have to keep at it "a billion times." No matter how weary you are, keep going, keep trying.

Burning enthusiasm (tapas) works at this stage as well. Sometimes you can only get up with discipline or with burning enthusiasm for the intention because the short term result seems so undesirable.

This stage is crucial; no question it can be easier to stay on the floor and not get up. It is easy to stay in the old patterns and habits and ruts (samskara).

If your actions are not in line with your intention, with out judgment or self-laceration, see that clearly through your self-study and adjust your course. Be willing to adjust your course. And don't give up.

To sum up:
See (clearly) – using self study and discipline
Accept (reality) – using humility
Set (intentions, sankalpas) – using much specificity, planning, visualization, and imagery
Act (over and over) - using discipline and that burning enthusiasm

S.A.S.A. You go through this cycle over and over – See, accept, set, act.

Finally, be gentle with yourself. And you’ll be able to create new habits (samskaras), new grooves for your life, better actions and possibly a new outcome.

Oh yes, and according to a British study, yogis (men) do better if they are specific while yoginis (women) more often succeed if they share their intentions. So be specific and share! (depending on your gender)

And The New York Times earlier this month published a piece on changing your habits that echoes many of these themes. One of those quoted noted, "you cannot have innovation unless you are willing and able to move through the unknown and go from curiosity to wonder.”

nilmabu Guided Meditation

This month, nilambu yoga introduces guided meditation. 

Guided meditations can be helpful during the particularly stressful times in life. Intense emotions or stress make the "monkey mind" particularly rambunctious.  “Monkey mind” is Anne LaMotte’s wonderful phrase for unsettled thoughts.  A quiet, seated meditation can become challenging.  So listening to another's voice can enable you to approach the practice in a new way. 

Contrasts in your meditation practice can deepen your experience.  A walking meditation practice provides new experiences that can then alter your quiet seat.  In the same manner, a guided meditation can support and renew your quiet meditation practice.  

Here's how to listen:  Click here and wait.  Depending on your default settings, you computer will open either Quicktime or Realplayer.  You can listen right there at your desk.  The meditation is 9 minutes and 31 seconds.  

Here’s how to download:  To download the .mp3 file for your Ipod or other mp3 player, simply right click here.  If you are in Microsoft Explorer, select "Save Target As...".  If you are in Mozilla Firefox, select "Save Link As..."  

So give it a try.   I hope you enjoy.  And if you have a moment, please provide some feedback to aide and guide nilambu yoga in future recordings. 

So What About this Eat, Pray, Love?

A year ago, within the span of about 2 weeks, five friends told me about this book. I was even going to go to a book talk, without having read the book, but a snow stormed ended that plan! Just as well. I wasn't quite ready last January. I read it in August in 24 hours. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is her true account of a spiritual pilgrimage over a year. She spent 4 months regaining her health and vitality by living in Italy - surrounded by beauty, learning a beautiful language and eating sensual food. Over the next four months, she explored her spirituality at an ashram in India. Finally, she headed to Bali because she deemed it a place of beauty and spirituality combined. And while in Bali she found love with a Brazilian.

And I had mixed feelings and views about the book. (Okay, besides jealousy). The story obviously engaged me. But I felt it did so because it was a fairy tale. My yoga teacher's response to that was: "You know, fairy tales do come true." And yes, I do believe that - but I felt that too much went too right for her. She wrote a note of intent - a message asking for her husband to sign the divorce papers. And lo and behold, minutes later her lawyer called with the news. She prayed for her nephew who was having trouble sleeping and she called home after and her sister was astounded to report the nephew was better. Liz meditated and felt the kundalini rising. (Kundalini means "coiled energy," and rarely during meditation that energy is released in a feeling that, apparently, moves up the spine. The result is a sense of deep connection with all living beings. For more information, click here.) And in Italy she ate pasta every day and gelato every day, sometimes twice a day, gained 20 pounds and wasn't overweight! See, a fairy tale!

Okay, so what's wrong with that? I agree that books should entertain. Ideally, they do so while they educate. And she did the best description I've ever read of the process of developing a meditation practice - the frustrations, the goal, the process and how to set your intention. And I felt her self-deprecation and voice offered an accessible tone. These types of stories can be so preachy and condescending. She avoids those pitfalls. Reading about her, you cared about her and wanted to find out what happened.

But, I worried that she set up expectations that could create yearning, a sense of deprivation by comparison and/or inspire people to follow her path exactly. Now, in interviews since the popularity of this book took off, Gilbert made clear that her path was her path and that one doesn't need to go to Italy, India and Bali to turn around their lives and find happiness. (She addresses this question specifically on her web site.) For one thing, most people can't. They don't have a book advance to make it possible. They have children who can't be abandoned for a year. I've heard her concede this in subsequent interviews. Also, I was relieved when a friend, Richard, whom she met in India, appeared with her on Oprah - he described his own experience with meditation which was very different. And to me more typical and more real. And he noted that not all people have or need to have, as Liz did, the kundalini rise.

Secondly and more importantly, I felt that the doubts of veracity would undermine the helpful messages embedded. Perhaps readers would say, no way because the story was too good to be true and likewise dismiss many of the very helpful lessons. And her lessons are worthwhile.

Well, in the week before Christmas, NPR finally got the memo that people were interested in this book. I love NPR but sometimes they just miss the ball and seem to be of the view that if something is popular (on Oprah!) that their listeners would not be interested. Talk of the Nation's Neal Conan interviewed Ms. Gilbert. The discussion was a good one - mostly because of the callers' questions. One caller, who said maybe she was a skeptic by nature, observed it was such neat package. Too tidy. "You go from divorce to marriage. You go from looking for God, to finding God. How much is genuine and how much is wanting to sell a good book?" (It's about 23 minutes into the interview).

I thought, yeah - I wanted to know that too and could add to the aspects that made me suspicious. Gilbert admited that she felt an obligation to her reader not to make them go through every moment of "my 4 years of despair with me". (Because readers need to be entertained, engaged?...) She took a 5 year period of her life that was a "disaster zone," and condensed it. The book was the way I wrote myself out of it. "I didn't know how it was going to turn out." She admitred a lot of what happened isn't even in the book.

The book is very good and worth the read. But I think it would have been even better if she had included a few more of the times that her prayers weren't answered quickly so tidily. I acknowledge that she was balancing interests - engaging her reader and being honest with them. I just wish she'd tipped the scale a little bit more toward reality once her journey started. That would have made her example all the more potent and stimulating.

To buy the book, click here. To check out Elizabeth Gilbert's web site, including her thoughts on writing and photos of some of the real people she met on her journey, click here. And the Oprah site has an Eat, Love, Pray section.

Clear Your Mailboxes of 41 Pounds!

I've found some great tools online to help you reduce the onslaught of paper and phone calls coming into your house. It could not be simpler.

Step one: Register for the "Do Not Call List" This literally takes less than a minute. You enter your phone number and provide an email address. The government sends you an email. You open the email. Click on the link. And confirm. Now the telemarketers can't call you. Note that non-profits are exempt. And originally we would have to re-register every 5 years, but the program has proved so popular that Congress is considering eliminating that requirement. Go to this link: DoNotCall.gov. (Government can do good).

Step two: Reduce those catalogues. A great new web site called Catalogue Choice can help you do that. First you register - name, email address, real address. They send you an email and you confirm. Then whenever you get a catalogue in the mail that you don't ever look at - you simple go to the web site, type in the number from the mailing code. And Catalogue Choice will do the rest and get you off the mailing list.

They have many common catalogues listed. But if the one you've gotten in the mail is not listed, there's a mechanism for Catalogue Choice to help with that as well. And if you don't have the mailing label, and only have your address, they can still help. Check it out: catalogchoice.org.

Step three: New American Dream is a web site with the mission to help us "live consciously," "buy wisely" and "make a difference." They offer many mechanisms to help us achieve these goals. (Last month, nilambu notes featured their Simplify the Holidays brochure). You do need to register, but then you get access to all of their services; much is still accessible regardless. And don't worry, they won't use your email to clutter up your mailbox. I have gotten some emails from them, but it's not a deluge.

And they have a special section to help you contact all the folks necessary to rid you of useless mail. You simply type your address in, and the site does the rest. Click here to get started and generate the letters. You just print them out, sign them, and mail them away. Begin now!

One other option - which I've not tried - is a service offered by 41pounds.org. So called because, on average, each American gets 41 pounds of junk mail a year. 41 pounds! So, for $41.00 they will remove you from mailing lists and catalogues. If anyone tries it out, please report your experience back to me.

One final resource - Martha Stewart lists 100 ways and reasons to "Get Rid of It." So if you want to get rid of that mattress or old lap top or suitcases or eyeglasses or pretty much anything else, check out this list of resources to help you figure out what to do with all your needless stuff.

Yogis Set Intentions for Lasting Change (Part 1)

So, where are you headed? Do you feel frozen? In a rut?

Well, yogis and yoginis don’t make resolutions at the start of the New Year. Instead, we set intentions. Using three yogic principles (from the niyamas), we work to change our ingrained habits to get ourselves out of our muddy ruts.

Samskara the yoga term for those ruts. Specifically Samskara is defined as an ingrained pattern or “grooves” of thought OR behavior. A thought pattern can be just as destructive as actions.

These ruts are changed by creating new ones.

How can yoga help in this quest?
That’s where the three niyamas come in. Yoga philosophy is set forth in some ancient texts. In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali set forth 8 limbs of yoga or aspects of yoga. The yoga poses (asanas) is just one, the third. The first and second aspects or limbs are the yamas and niyamas. Together they form the "ten commandments" of yoga, but commandment is too strong a word. Simply, they are yogic principles for living.

Three of the niyamas are particularly useful as they help us set intentions. They are:

• tapas – translated as discipline or (as I prefer) burning enthusiasm.
• svadhyaya – translated as self-study. This niyamas requires us to be engaged learners and endlessly search for knowledge. We are to study our strengths and weaknesses and redirect unhelpful behavior.
• ishvara pranidhana which is often translated as devotion to God. But with that implies a humility and asks us to give up the illusion of being in control and accepting reality.

(For an overview of all the limbs of yoga and the yamas and niyamas, click here.)

So how do does all that relate to making lasting change in your life this year?
Foremost, change your approach. Don't make resolutions. Set intentions. Sankalpa is the yogic tool of intention. Setting your mind on an intention can increase the chance it will occur.

And here's the twist - there is an essential distinction between what you intend to do and what you want to happen as a result.

Statements like these focuse on desired outcomes:

• ‘I intend to lose 25 pounds’ or
• ‘I’m going to beat this cancer/fibromyalgia/rheumatoid arthritis,’ or
• “I’m going to get married/have a child/get a divorce” or
• ‘I want to do Lotus pose by the end of the year,’

But these are not intentions (even though they use words like "want" or "intend" ). They are desires for the future.

And as soon as these ideas become resolutions, they become attachments. They are what you hope will happen in the future. The catch is Yoga recognizes is that you can’t control results. Yoga says you can’t control outcomes.

Therefore, yoga suggests we avoid attachments to desires for the future. We can’t control falling in love. We can’t always control the course of a disease. There is much in our lives we can't control.

We can only control what we do. And what we do may affect the future, may increase odds of recovery, may put us in the right place at the right time, may open our hips, may improve the quality of our life. May. Not guaranteed.

You’ve got to act – for that possibility to be fulfilled. And hope for the best for the outcome.

So what does an intention sound like? Intentions would sound like this:

• I will rebuild my body. (Not I will lose 25 pounds)
• I intend to reduce mental distractions. (Not I want a peaceful life)
• I want to open my heart to love. (Not I want to find a lover)
• I intend to practice yoga.. (Not I want to do a certain pose).

Part two will appear in the next nilambu notes and will more concretely outline what to do and how to implement and integrate this yogic approach into your life.

In the meantime, start delineating your intentions with care. Examine whether you're attached to a particular or specific result. If so, try to recalibrate your thinking toward steps or actions that you can control instead.

Unclutter Your Mind

Celeste West urged us to "Unstiffen your supple body. Unclutter your quiet mind. Unfreeze your fiery heart." I love that. And hope that for all of you in 2008.

Namaste - Cassandra

6 Ways Yoga Can Relieve Seasonal Stress

Stop and breathe. Simply taking a moment to consciously breathe can alter your nervous system. Try to breath into your belly which will help to release the diaphragm.  You can do this any time any where any time during the holiday season when you are feeling tense or anxious.   (The hard part is often remembering to do it!).  Here are six common breathing mistakes and how to spot habits that aren't maximizing the benefits of the 'life force' - oxygen in the body.  

Enter the yoga pose called "Instant Maui"  This marvelous creation is Judith Lasater's - the preeminent restorative yoga teacher in the US.   You lie on the floor on your back and place your calves on the seat of a chair.  You may need to raise the level of the chair if your calves are not parallel to the floor.  You can do this with blankets or towels.   The thighs should be perpendicular to the floor so that you have 90% angles at your hips and knees.  You can place a blanket or soft pillow under your head and, if you have one, a sandbag over your shins.  And a blanket over all of you. The restorative pose got its moniker because it "instantly transports you to Maui."   Well, it does feel pretty good.   

Listen to music.   I'd avoid the carols that pervade the stores and go for something different, different melodies that will catch your attention. Classical or opera can alter your brain waves (See Oliver Saks terrific new book, Musicophilia :Tales of Music and the Brain). Really listen to the music and don't just play music as background noise.   Be mindful and try to limit the multitasking.  See if you notice your breath altering to match the rhythm of the music. (This is why you might want to try calmer music).  

Put your legs up the wall.  This yoga pose, also known as Vaparita Karani, is terrific to do after shopping.  The action of inverting the legs improves the circulation.  Don't worry if you're hamstrings are too tight that you can't get your butt to the wall.  Just move your butt away from the wall.   Also, if you don't have a yoga bolster, you can use stacked towels or even have the whole torso flat on the floor and still benefit from the pose.  Yoga Journal offers a picture and complete instructions.  

Enjoy a guided meditation.  At busy times like these, meditation can be challenging as lists of things to do dance as rambunctiously as sugar-plums in a child's head on the night before Christmas.  One solution is to try a guided meditation which can help you keep your focus.  Here's awhole page of free guided meditation that range from five mintues to an hour and guided by Tara Brach of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. 

Place a roll under your upper back. This is a modification of savasana or corpse pose, which you can read about here.   The roll (which can be a blanket or a towel) goes under your back at the base of your scapula.    The purpose is to counteract the forward curvature of the upper back and to open the front torso for the breath to move freely in and out of the body. The diameter of the roll depends on what you can tolerate.  If the pain of unfolding your back muscles is too intense, try a smaller roll.