4/3/2014 3 Comments Meditation?This is for those who have done some meditation and also for those who never tried before. How easy it is to get busy and chaotic in a daily life of choirs, job, family, kids and on and on the list goes on. We get so caught up in things, we don’t even realize that we have completely taken the time away from us. Our own selves. We are no longer properly resting, we gave up our daily or even let it be weekly meditations (for those who don’t meditate it can be an activity that makes you at peace) and now we are sinking in our own thoughts of constant worries to a point that we don’t even notice that this is why we are not able to even get a simple thing as a “good sleep”. Just think about it. Meditation is such an amazing thing for your body, your nervous system, and your soul. At the time of meditation we allow ourselves to calm down, slow down the brain activity of all the non-stop thoughts and worries that keep circulating in our head and connect with our inner self, our soul. When it’s done on regular basis, we get into that wonderful peaceful state much quicker. We are also able to hear what our soul is trying to convey to us. What it needs, what it wants and how to go about our life’s journey, because now we are more in tune with our senses and aware of the inner wisdom our soul holds. Because we are able to become more still, calm and aware at this time it leads us to have a much more worry free day. This also leads to more restful sleep and stronger immune system. Meditation helps us to be more open, compassionate, have a bigger heart towards things and people, and be more forgiving and loving. Oh, the benefits of meditation are known and spoken in now day and age constantly. So why are we allowing the craziness of daily life get in the way of such great thing? We must not forget how healing, soul feeding and wonderful it is for us. We must find at least 15 minutes every day to meditate and free ourselves of all that clutter in our heads. Let’s make that a promise to ourselves. Just like a daily need for food, let’s make it a necessity to survive. If you don’t know how to meditate start with guided meditation. You can find so many great guided meditations on YouTube now. Find the one that sound just right for you, and relax. As you can master the part of letting go of thoughts, as you get better at emptying your mind you can then practice on your own by using visualization or just a breathing techniques. To visualize- as you lay with your eyes closed start with the top of your head. Visualize the white light entering the crown of your head filling it with this illuminating light, continue down to your throat, your arms, down to your chest. Stop for a minute to concentrate on the heart chakra as you visualize the light filling your heart, removing all the dark corners by filling it with light until your heart is glowing with light and radiating with love (all visually) and (don’t forget to breath slow deep breaths as you do this the whole time). Now continue letting this light flow down to your belly, thighs, legs, all the way down to your toes until you are completely covered in the light. Once you are done Ujjay Pranayama or Ocean brath (try this breathing technique) My favorite pranayama- breathing technique is Ocean breath also known as Ujjayi breath. It’s known as a balancing and calming breath which helps to increase oxygen to the lungs and builds internal body heat. It tones the lungs and helps a healthy flow of prana, while regulating blood pressure. It’s great to use this kind of breath when you have anxiety, when you need to calm yourself from a stressful situation, when you practice yoga and can also be used in meditation. Here is how it works: You inhale and exhale through your nose only, while you do that try to say “ha” with your mouth closed, do it slowly. As the throat passage is narrowed so is the airway- creating a hissing sound. By contracting you throat you create a balanced breathing, slowly taking in and out the oxygen and calming down the mind. Love and Light Julia Shestak
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11/13/2012 1 Comment Healing the heartEvery single one of us go through life experiencing different situations where we feel pain, anger and sadness. In order to not get caught up in your own misery that you’ve created -you need to find a way to heal your heart and move on. I’m not saying you should be cold-hearted and not feel sad for things that may hurt you. I’m saying allow yourself to feel the pain, acknowledge it and come to terms with it. When we feel pain we get sad and depressed, we tend to go back to that moment that has made us sad and hurt us but yet we don’t fully except it. We just dwell on it, that it was hurtful and you ask yourself why it happened to me. Try these moves towards a better recovery. Center yourself with Mountain pose, raise your arms out to the side and as you inhale bring them over our head as you exhale bring them to your heart in Namaste. Do a few of these breathing moves to feel the energy flow. Then go down to the floor and warm up your spine with Cat and Cow pose- don’t forget to take good deep breaths as you do it slowly. Now that your spine is warmed up you can start to work on your heart. Starting with Camel pose, stay in it for a few minutes at a time. Camel pose opens up the heart area allowing the energy to flow, allowing us to become more forgiving and compassionate, allowing us to feel the love and be loved. While you are in that pose visualize a golden light penetrating straight through your heart and filling your heart with golden light, healing any pain and darkness it may have. Other postures that will work on the heart area are: Cobra Pose, Sphinx Pose, Wheel Pose, Upward Dog Pose, Upward Plank Pose and Upward Facing Two Foot Staff Pose (maybe a bit challenging) When working on these postures always take the time to get connected with your breath and work with your visualization of healing the heart. Finally sit down in Lotus Pose and meditate. Take all that pain and heart ache that you have and feel it, imagine hugging yourself on the inside and accepting the fact that you have been hurt. With each inhale take the pain in, feel it, caress your heart on the inside and with each exhale let it go leaving your heart glowing with love again. We learn compassion and forgiveness only after we ourselves have experienced the pain, when we have felt it, that’s when we can understand someone else’s pain and be compassionate. The same goes for forgiveness; if we learn how to forgive we can have more love in our hearts. 10/3/2012 2 Comments Heal and Move OnIt’s amazing how fast our life goes by and yet so many of us don’t stop to take the moment and really take it all in. Who we are today is what our experiences have shaped us to be. We run our daily chores and busy lives without realizing that there is a soul inside that needs to be heard and recognized with its needs. Living blindly to take the time to nourish our own well-being is what causes us to feel unbalanced and unhappy. Taking in what your soul wants you to be aware can be sometimes overwhelming. When you sit with yourself and you let the flood of emotions and memories pop up it’s unexpected. You thought it’s just your thoughts, but it’s things that your soul hasn’t healed from. If you have memories that make you sad, nostalgic or emotional – ask yourself why does it make you feel this way? Has there been words that have been said that hurt you, action that were done that you still can’t forgive or emotional and physical traumas? This is the time to give yourself a time to sit with these feelings and let any emotion to fully come out. If you want to cry, please do. Crying is one of the best way to heal and let go of the heaviness in your chest. If you are angry write it out, even as a letter to a person who you are angry with, even if you are not really going to give it to them. Hug yourself on the inside and comfort that heart of any pain it has. You had reasons to feel the way you feel, and you shouldn’t suppress your emotions and feelings by covering them up with your busy schedule. By going on about our life without dealing with what’s bothersome on the inside can eventually catch up with us and cause more issues such as: depression, anger, physical and emotional abuse towards self or others. At the same time you might not realize what bothers you inside if you don’t sit down and sift through your thoughts and feelings. Finally, put yourself in that persons shoes and try to see why would they have acted or said things they did. Try to be understanding and take in consideration that behind those words or actions was also a hurt soul. Forgive and move on, because forgiving is what opens the energy to continue to flow and bring in positive, no longer keeping you in negative setbacks. Remember meditation helps to sort out your emotions, because you are doing it with calm mind. Don’t ignore what bothered you before; don’t brush it off even if it’s a simple comment from someone. Acknowledge it as something that has affected you and now it’s time to heal, and then move forward. 9/24/2012 0 Comments Digestive problems due to stressSometimes we have so much stress and anxiety that it puts a strain on our digestive system causing many runs to the bathroom. Stress affects our nervous system and can cause our stomachs to feel weak. To help ease these symptoms you can practice a few times a week the following postures in yoga. Childs pose with a twist, legs up the wall, shoulder stand; plow, seated twist and seated forward bend are some of the great poses to work with. Let’s not forget to breathe calmly during these exercises and one of my favorite breathing techniques during yoga practice is Ujjai breath,(check out one of my blogs about Ujjai breath also known as Ocean breath under the title Yoga Breathing).Take the time to also meditate to help your nerves to settle. Namaste Julia Sh. 9/17/2012 0 Comments Stimulate Your Thyroid GlandThyroid is one of the most important glands in our body. It regulates our body function and gives the balance to our well being. Certain Yoga postures can help to stimulate the thyroid gland to help its proper functions. Here is a few poses you can do at home : Plow, Bridge, Supported Shoulder stand and Fish. Remember to not push your body if you can not do a pose, instead try to modify it. I am also including a video I had found on this subject. This is a beautiful video but a little bit advance and NOT for EVERYONE. So, please, please I ask you not to force yourself to do exactly to detail these moves if you are not as flexible. You can do these exercises without having to fold your legs in lotus pose, and you can do these inversions by using props under your back so you can stay longer in the pose to get the benefit of stimulating thyroid gland but not hurting your back or neck. Give it a try with gentleness in mind. Namaste Julia Sh. 9/5/2012 0 Comments Yoga BreathingUjjayi Pranayama or Ocean breath My favorite pranayama- breathing technique is Ocean breath also known as Ujjayi breath. It’s known as a balancing and calming breath which helps to increase oxygen to the lungs and builds internal body heat. It tones the lungs and helps a healthy flow of prana, while regulating blood pressure. It’s great to use this kind of breath when you have anxiety, when you need to calm yourself from a stressful situation, when you practice yoga and can also be used in meditation. Here is how it works: You inhale and exhale through your nose only, while you do that try to say “ha” with your mouth closed, do it slowly. As the throat passage is narrowed so is the airway- creating a hissing sound. By contracting you throat you create a balanced breathing, slowly taking in and out the oxygen and calming down the mind. Julia Sh |
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