August 2017 | Essential You Yoga

5 Tips to be a Friendly Traveler in the Developing World

I got a lot of raised eyebrows when I first told my friends and family about my proposed travel plans. Traveling through and living in the developing world proved some of the toughest and most rewarding experiences of my life. Here are some tips and things to think about if you are considering a trip of your own.

1. Be Not Afraid

The most common advice that I received from well-meaning family and friends was to WATCH OUT. Continue reading “5 Tips to be a Friendly Traveler in the Developing World”

Barriers to Practice

Creating any healthy new habit is not easy. It’s heartening to me that Patanjali acknowledges this in the Yoga Sutras. As he’s espousing the many benefits you’ll gain from your new yoga practice, he stops to mention the barriers you will encounter.

As with other truths discussed in the Yoga Sutras, these obstacles are as relevant for people today as they were for yogis committing to the practice thousands of years ago.

All nine obstacles are disruptions to the heart-mind field of consciousness (citta) and can be debilitating to a practice, because distracting thoughts and emotions (vrtti-s) arise when antarāya-s are present. These nine obstacles are:

Disease

Apathy

Self-doubt

Carelessness

Fatigue

Regression

Sexual preoccupation

Erroneous views

Ungroundedness

~Nicolai Bachman, The Path of the Yoga Sutras

It’s great to know that these obstacles are out there, because, with planning, you can anticipate them and stop them from disrupting your practice.

Continue reading “Barriers to Practice”

Breath as a Bridge to Joy

“The yoga tradition tells us the mind and breath are twin laws of life, they travel together. When the mind is calm and clear, the breath flows smoothly. Conversely, when the breath flows smoothly, the mind calms and clears.

The condition of one determines the condition of the other….We experience the boundless joy deposited within the mind itself, which manifests when the mind is able to plumb its own depths.”

~Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, The Secret of the Yoga Sutras

When I started my yoga practice, I was regularly not breathing.

Crazy, right? But my body’s reaction to stress was to tense EVERYTHING up, including my abdomen, and just hold my breath.

In that state, my feelings of stress would increase to feelings of panic, and everything would feel like a life or death situation. Psychologists call this “fight or flight” syndrome, and it’s a classic reaction to stress.

Continue reading “Breath as a Bridge to Joy”

Be the Change

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the part I play in creating my world. I’m not speaking here of my individual world – creating and taking responsibility for making a life that fulfills me and allows me to serve others. Since being blessed with becoming a mother, my thoughts have turned to the part I play in my community.

I’ve also become vitally reminded of the importance of independently owned businesses. After returning from my travels where the majority of businesses are independently owned, it’s really come home that we need to be a little rabid in making sure that we frequent businesses we want around. Otherwise, it’ll be all Walmarts, Targets, and Olive Garden, and that’s not the world I want to live in.

One aspect of traveling is that you’re always moving on.

Continue reading “Be the Change”