11/20/2012 0 Comments My story- On the way to healingFinding something you never thought would interest you as part of your new passion is great. So many of us go on about our life’s without taking the time to listen to what our mind is craving to learn and what our bodies are willing to experience. But life is long and we can learn so many things that can become part of our life and shape us into better beings. I found myself wanting to learn Yoga and not because I was ready to learn, but because my body was telling me that it was drowning and suffocating in its own misery. Before, my mind was closed to things like this, I didn’t understand how Yoga can even help, if all it is – is just exercise. How can an exercise help me with my emotional despair, how can it give me positive outlook on life? So, I just didn’t give myself a chance to even learn what it is about. After so many yoga videos I was wondering why everyone talked about Yoga like it was some kind of soulful bliss. But with curiosity and my obsession of constantly trying and I repeat trying to be fit, I decided to give it a try and take a class. Since I wanted to make it interesting I found a workshop that was about chakra balancing- when I researched further it was what got my attention. How interesting it is that we have energy spots running through our bodies. And in order for us to be healthy and happy to (a point) at least we should have that energy flow through us freely. Apparently if we are down, or get sick often or just not feeling ourselves it could be the reason for our energy imbalance due to some emotional or physical traumas. Even small things like stress can clog up our energy sources and cause us to have all sorts of things. This made me think, maybe this was it! Maybe I had my energy spots (Chakras) all clogged up and therefore I had so much things going wrong for me in my life. My health, my “self- worth" feelings, my overall being wasn't happy. Part of me wanting to get fit is probably one of my imbalances because I was always at a healthy weight, but looking at myself as not good enough. I had to go to this workshop and learn how to balance my chakras, and so I did. When I left the work shop I was trying to see if I felt different, and as I drove down the highway home- I felt some sort of energy. I felt lively, I felt like I was ready to learn more to get myself to a happy place and if yoga could do that then why not try it. For month I read and researched books about what is yoga all about,I bought many DVDs on different styles of yoga and read about chakras which had me most fascinated. I've made my decision to sign up for a yoga teacher training because I have noticed with little bit that I knew about yoga and as much as I practiced at home I did feel more energetic but still very lost in the whole world of yoga and what it had to offer. I wanted to learn about it completely and not from a DVD but personally experience it as I would learn in details. By the time I came in for teacher training first day meet and greet I was anxious, and I was desperate to become happier. I looked at this class as my way to get fit and see if I can really find my happiness that I was lacking in my soul. You would think being married and having two beautiful kids- why would someone not feel happy, but inside me I felt dead, I felt like I needed to get out. I was so emotional when I had to talk about what has brought me to this training, I almost felt like I had entrusted my heart and soul to this class and I was hoping it could fix me for the better. As the training started my teacher has warned us that with each thing we will go through in this training we will be going through each chakra as well, and we might see changes in us or our life’s. I didn't believe this. How can certain moves or chants change what's in my life or how I felt? And so I gave my whole to learn, with each book we had to read and each essay we had to write- I read and I applied it to me, I wrote and I cried as I read it back. I couldn't believe how much was coming out of me; the things I didn't notice were on the inside hurt. When I would read my essays back to myself I was exploring my own self from the inside, I had realized how much was hurting and how much I was blocking it from my own self. I was broken on the inside, but I always tried to keep everyone else together- neglecting my own feelings and needs as a human being. It was a very hard time for me during the training, and with each month I grew more aware of my own feelings and with every month of training I became more confident. This training was my “self” therapy no one else can give me before. By the time I finished the course my view on life has changed and so I was ready to make many changes in my life, whether they were going to be hard or not. I was ready to listen to myself and do what made me happier, even if it meant to go through hard times first. Here I am today, looking at yoga as something more than just physical fitness, more than just a feel good exercise- but as a way to listen to your heart and soul. I want to teach yoga to those who are willing to give it a try, to those who are looking for some peace and those who want to heal. I always get excited to share my own experience and offer what I can to others. I want others be able to feel that happy, little spark inside like I did and know that they can give themselves love that they need and confidence to keep going. My teacher once told me “you will be a great teacher" and she had laughed at me saying that I had absorbed everything we were learning like a sponge. Few months later I had gone to get certified in Reiki, to work more closely with energy and chakras even more. With two years of practicing Reiki I have received many beautiful experiences with spiritual world. I had learned to connect with spiritual guides and started to recieve mediumship messages. I continued to advance myself with my knowledge by reading more books and taking more workshops. I had also recieved Master Reiki certification to strengthen my energy healing skills. My goal has become to help others to heal. I am on a journey to learn as much as I can about our souls and self healing. I embrace new lessons and try to apply them towards possitive self healing and development. This is my story about how yoga and energy work has changed me. And I'm sure there are many people who can tell you so many stories on how much yoga has helped them as well. We have a long life in front of us so why not learn new things, and find what can change us for the better. And if you can help why not.... this is the best feeling in the world to be able to help another soul. Julia Sh.
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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. |
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