Yoga, training and health inspiration for you

We have taken away many natural pauses in our daily living here in the West. Our fast way of life  comes with the cost of higher and higher tension- and stress levels. We also see many new diseases that are stress related.  I think one part of the answer is to add more pauses and slowing down our pace. For me it is a question of integrity. Of intention. Of asking oneself with what kind of energy I wish to wake up within two years from now. 

This is the second part of four in our yin and restorative December focus. Read part one here to get the introduction! 

Your life is the sum of your living

Life contains and involves everything. This everything possesses many definitions. Life refers to a collective phenomenon and to the ability of an individual organism to metabolize and grow, and life refers to the history of activities that an organism undertakes. Life is also the sum of our living: One’s experiences, discoveries, movement, and moments. Einstein once said that life is like riding a bicycle. In order to keep our balance, we have to keep moving, keep living.

When we are constantly on the go, we lose connection with ourselves because we don't pause to recharge our batteries in a biological, natural way. It is like we demand that our batteries recharge themselves. It seems we have become disconnected to the point where we no longer identify ourselves as humans, but consider ourselves more like gods, or robots. We are driven by schedules or perceived obligations. The busy mind has taken over, and our life has become built on concepts rather than the true aliveness that allows it to emerge naturally and effortlessly. We live in a cultural poverty where we no longer know how to to take a break, and many of us believe pausing is something strange or weak.

What if we took another route? What if some answers about the growing health problems lie in doing less rather than doing more?

Unblock your prana
A Buddhist thought regarding this is that life is movement, or change. The more fluid you are, moving with movement, the more alive you become. In yoga, life is what is experienced. It's philosophy also claims that life is being expressed out in our cellular structure and it is linked together by life force: prana.

We want our life force to flow uninterruptedly within our channels in order to be in homeostasis, balance. Over thousands of years, yogis have researched through their own and others’ practice that the body, mind, and spirit work in correlation and in connection to one another. If our circulation of life gets stuck somewhere due to too much stress and tension, then what we need to do is to unlock the blockages of prana and homeostasis will return.

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.

—Mahatma Gandhi

My own path 
When I first started yoga, I was introduced to a quite physical way of doing it, in which my teachers were strict and options were limited. It was good for me at the time, not to have so many options, to limit possibilities and variations in an attempt to simplify things. After a while, however, I began to feel insecure and vulnerable in my practice, so I moved on and kept searching for a yogic approach that resonated better with me. Years passed and through many in-depth studies in various styles of yoga, my yoga practice grew and became strong and selfless. I am so utterly grateful for all the techniques I have learned and for the knowledge and wisdom I have come across through several phenomenal teachers.

In teaching yoga, I am deeply imbedded in the various aspects of the architecture of this practice and I acknowledge the importance of tradition. I try to help my students to evolve and find the keys of the practice by helping them get inside themselves through investigation and inquiry, since it is only when we allow ourselves to play with conceptions and ideas that we start to research possibilities, and through that we evolve. So see if you can be your own teacher this week. What do you know already and what do you need in order to rest more?

This week's yoga and contemplation

Begin this week by doing one thing at a time. Stop multitasking! When you are focused on one thing and giving something or someone your undivided attention, you give yourself space and time to reflect and react without distraction. With a calm mind, you are less likely to feel overwhelmed and are able to tune in to your surroundings. It heightens your senses and intuition and you get to enjoy the flavors of life while making confident decisions with mental clarity and deliberate intention.

​In the attention you give, you are building a strong foundation and connection to create the trust and value to sustain the outcome you seek. With thoughtfulness and care you also tend to create better results as less careless mistakes are made along the way, enabling you to get the job done properly. When you slow down you encapsulate the “less is more” philosophy. 

This week try to:

• Put your phone away more often
• Avoid listening to music and ride on your bike at the same time
• Add more pauses and more silence
• Read a book on your way home from work if you commute
• Rest your brain. By doing something that adds knowledge to your living, not adding reaction and tension

For some help, ask a friend if you can support each other.

Videos of the week
Pick one of the Restorative yoga classes and one of the Yin yoga classes below and practice this twice this week. Follow up with one of the the recommended meditations right after. The other days work on balancing this class with some stability, flowing or strengthening classes.

Contemplation of the week
Ask yourself and inquire around the following questions when you have a moment before, during or after your practice:

• What have you done today that is really good? What felt really nice?
• When you hear ”good living” what does that mean to you?
• Do you smile a lot? If not, why is that do you think?
• Do one thing everyday that is new to you. Simple things like taking another road to work or drinking less coffee. Listen more when people speak. Favor silence at least an hour everyday.
• Lay yourself on the floor at home for 20 minutes daily and listen to some great music, closing your eyes and breathing deeply. Make wishes for the future that makes you smile.

Yin, restorative & mediation videos for this week

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Get some flow in between

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Since the start of civilization we have emphasized the active life (yang) in some cultures and the contemplative life (yin) in others. Now we have the opportunity to explore both and find the appropriate balance between the two. But how do we find time to figure out what we need when everything around us is spinning so fast?  What does mindful living mean in a modern world? 

Find a balance between yin and yang

For most of us life today doesn’t offer any natural breaks. We eat lunch on the go and we are constantly online or communicating on phones, laptops and iPads. We may even try to do yoga while doing these other things. But to achieve deep relaxation and mental ease, we need a practice where we can turn our senses inward and quiet the mind. We can stately claim that the need for a more inquiry based, contemplative, complementary practice, is well needed in the life of the modern human and yogi.

Yin and yang can be described as two variables; they are either on the opposite ends of a cycle, like the seasons of the year, or opposites on a continuum of energy or matter. The opposition is relative and can only be understood through relationships between the two. For example: Water is yin relative to steam but yang relative to ice. Nothing is totally yin or yang. Just as a state of total yin is reached, yang starts to grow.

This is evident in the yin yoga practice, since after you have gotten deep into relaxation and mental stillness in a yin yoga pose, the blood circulation increases and you can start to feel heat inside. You are ready to mobilize energy into movement and weight bearing.

They constantly transform into each other, just as there can be no energy without matter and no day without light. The classic energy philosophy state that yin creates yang and yang activates yin. This falls true in one's yoga practice when your breath brings stillness to the mind and you start to flow through the poses. You experience inner heat rather than extensive sweat (that cools your body). This way the metabolism and circulation increases, and your body is enable to burn toxins and impurities better.

Different types of yoga
Yoga means “to yoke” together opposites. That is also what hatha yoga, the platform for all physical yoga practice. To balance the ha (yang) and the tha (yin); the solar (doing) with the lunar (being) aspects of the practice. In this sense, our yoga practice should be a blend of yang/out/action/contraction and yin/in/observation/extension to make the whole balanced and to affect our entire health to move towards homeostatis (the maintenance of equilibrium). Yang yoga is a more vigorous yoga practice that targets the muscular tissue and through movement creates heat. Examples of yang based yoga is ashtanga vinyasa, power yoga and anusara yoga.

Through the practice of yin yoga, one targets the fascia/connective tissue in the body, which makes it a marvellous therapeutic tool for healing bodily, mental, and emotional imbalances. Yin yoga is most effective when more active forms of yoga or exercise are also practiced regularly.

Let go of your own limitations and your preconceptions when it comes to yoga
The demands of Western culture can easily lead to low self-esteem. While there is usually room for improvement, we are all amazing beings just as we are. In a yoga practice we should just get to the mat, work within our limitations, and feel how we detach from all of what inhibits us, rather than get caught up in competitiveness without looking for some specific results.

There is a misperception that an “enlightened yogi” is passively accepting of all circumstances and will not care how she or he is treated or what her circumstances may be. Study and application of your practice will erase many of those misperceptions.

For example, there is no sutra stating that the true yogi never says “no.” Sometimes practicing truthfulness and respect for yourself, others, and a given situation may result in more action as you develop clearer boundaries and integrity. This has been my experience. Before yoga and meditation, I had little awareness of my own boundaries and I had never been showed to move inwards for answers. I searched on the outside instead and I had such a need for affirmation and acceptance that I never said “no.”

For me it took many years of practice and life lived in order to move more into sattva guna; to a more centered positioning in myself where I could speak of my needs. This spiritual maturity gave me the ability to better accept different situations and of letting go of things that doesn´t give themselves automatically.

To be a yogi, you just have to practice yoga regularly. The yoga will do the rest. Becoming a yogi doesn’t mean giving up the old you and becoming someone else. However, things that are not serving you well may fall away. As you practice yoga, you move toward the more intuitive, less fragile you.

The yogi way
On the other hand, being a yogi doesn’t mean you don’t have problems; you just have more tools for dealing with them. Yoga provides kaivalya, or space around your experience that allows you to have perspective regarding your problems and what to do about them.

In yoga, we work with tension and through different techniques we wish to move deeper into it, step by step, day by day, practicing again and again, until we reach its core. Then we stay with it and use releasing techniques like slow poses, visualization, breath, and silence in order for the tension to resolve. We need to slow things down in the core of tension so the bodily systems that have perhaps been drained of energy can take some time to recover new energy, and slowly the stress and tension release their grip.

Take a sponge as an example. We leave it close to water and it will slowly start to move toward the liquid in order to absorb it. That is the code, the programming of that texture. We can look at our own systems in a similar way. The more we use them the wrong way, the more we take away from their binary code intelligence.

This idea is shared in general in medicine and, similar to yoga (though carried out in different ways), its aim is to lower the thresholds so the obstruction of flow can be reduced in order to get the blood pumping and nerves to speak with each other again. Here they use medicines, surgery, and other techniques but with the same aim, in general.

The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.

—Thich Nhat Hanh

So on the question regarding if it is possible to live more mindfully in the society of today I would say yes. And the first step is to start adding more slow style practices into your life. Add the natural breaks that your life is not handing to you. Otherwise life will runa away with you.

If you wish to read more on behalf of this topic, I have written a book on yin yoga called YINYOGA – An Individualized approach to balance, health and Self wellbeing available on www.amazon.com.

This weeks yoga and contemplation

Pick one of the two yin yoga classes below and practice this twice this week. Follow up with the recommended meditation right after. The other days work on balancing this class with some stability, flowing or strengthening classes.

I also invite you to ask yourself and inquire around the following questions during the week when you have a moment before, during or after your practice:

• Is there anything I can remove from my schedule that is not that important?
• Where do I experience stress in my body right now?
• Does my thoughts move around a theme? Are they pulling me towards validation? Negative criticism?

Give yourself this month of recurring stillness. Let go "yinside"! 

This weeks videos

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Are you running to fast and tend a bit lost? You are not alone! This is why I would like to invite you to a month filled with yin and restorative. To find inner peace in Christmas time, and a harmonious ending to this year. We'll start these four weeks tomorrow, but get a sneak peak here! 

Find the balance between yin and yang

December is a month where we try to desperately unwind all the stress and tension created by high expectations, a massive workload, managing several social events, endning the year in grace and prepare and enjoy Chistmas time. Yet, why do we run so fast? It is not like time will stop at New Years. It is not like you do not get more chances to improve or work.

My advice to you is to practice adding pauses. Say no to events you do not have to participate in and don't start any new projects on this side of the year. Plan for them instead. Focus on closure. On pausing. On spending time with yourself everyday. Both on and off the mat. Mix your social life with solitude. Time with YOU and those you care strongly for. Stop running. This month is a fantastic month to practice pausing, rebooting and restoring. Welcome to this month's theme: Slow Down – GoYin

Many of us strive to maintain a balance between yin and yang, the active and the passive, the hard and the soft. Both on and off the yoga mat. This month I will share some thoughts around ways to unwind tension, seek clarity, release stress and boost inner peace. 

This month will consist of four parts broken into four weeks.

Starting tomorrow I will guide you here on the blog and in our Facebook community BEYOGA365 with inspirational reading and video recommendations on Yogobe. Welcome to a month of going more yin.

Start december right...

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Yoga teacher Frida Starvid (fd Boström) asks her self if there really are some yoga forms that are better than others or more true? And does it really matter as long as you find the yoga form that suits you and your needs?

Exercise as such has never interested me

I´ve known for a while that this piece was going to center around a book by Haruki Murakami called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. This month´s blog theme is “pulse, heat and exercise”, and I had picked this book in lieu of having to write anything personal. It´s a good read, which you might expect from a writer of his caliber. Murakami writes about running, basically, in a very straightforward fashion, but uses the subject as a cover-up for what is really an autobiography.

It wasn´t obvious, however, what my take on the subject would be, even through the lens of Murakami. Not until I found myself in a locker room with one of my students after a challenging Rocket class, and the opening appeared as if by magic. While changing, we were leisurely talking about different styles of yoga, and my student made the observation that it seemed like yoga was gaining popularity because people see it as a form of physical exercise. “I don´t know much about that”, I said, pulling on my jeans. She looked at me, confounded.

A long conversation followed, in which I talked about the background of Rocket yoga - that while it is up-tempo and physically challenging, it is derived from the disciplined Ashtanga tradition, firmly grounded in yoga philosophy and that it has mantras, bandhas and breath work at its core. I talked about the fact that exercise as such has never interested me. That only insofar as my mind can be absorbed into something more meaningful while moving, my body is willing to work. The girl nodded thoughtfully. “I guess I´ve never looked at it that way,” she concluded, just before we said goodbye.

Is there only one true yoga form?
While I sat on the bus, I thought about things I´ve heard people sometimes claim over the last couple of years - that physically demanding yoga in some way should be less profound and require less awareness than slower forms of practice - and therefore is shallower and more about performance. I´ve heard someone say, for example, that sitting in Lotus and meditating is harder than doing Pincha Mayurasana. And that is perhaps true, depending on who you are. But perhaps not. Or maybe on some days, and not others. The question is, does it matter? Isn´t the comparison futile? To me, doing advanced asanas is not about snapping fancy pictures, but about a natural will to progress. Being spurred on by gradual development, having positive mental and physical feedback from trying new things and achieving postures one never thought possible, is a good thing in my book. That does not, however, make me opposed to any other type of yoga, which is the main important point I want to drive home. Everyone should not have to prefer the same things.

Absorbed in the physical concentration
I think one´s preference when it comes to style has a lot to do with one´s personality. In his book, Murakami reflects that to a certain extent we can change our physical and mental setup, but we all have slightly different constitutions, and in the end, you have to make the best of what you have. Murakami is a proven long-distance runner; I would not choose that term to describe myself. Both in yoga and in life I am good at dynamic and creative aspects, good at initiating stuff, happy when I reach fast results, but with a sad tendency to burn out because of it.

I am at the core a fast, driven, restless person without much patience, so when I started doing yoga, there was no chance I would have been able to continue with something like Hatha or Yin. I tried, so I know. Then one evening, without the slightest idea of what to expect, I tried a Rocket yoga class. And when I came out of the studio 90 minutes later, it was the first time in my life I experienced my mind quiet. I had been so absorbed in the physical concentration, that I´d had no time to notice that something had miraculously shifted. A mediation class would never have done the same job. Not for me, not ten years ago.

The physically challenging yoga was my entrance to mental stillness
What I can say, is that dynamic yoga has helped me work with some of the negative aspects of my constitution. Physical challenges make my mind one-pointed, as I need to concentrate my whole being, be one with my breath and my body and feel what´s going on in each single body part. While naturally I want to succeed the first time I try something new, practicing this way has taught me patience to a degree I never thought possible. It has been my entrance to mental stillness, to concentration, and in its wake, to meditation. Also, when I practice I need to stay focused solely on myself. I sometimes go through large parts of a class with my eyes closed. And whether that´s the case or not, after class I never have an idea of what the person next to me has been up to. I am so focused that there is no room for comparison. To me that´s a big part of what yoga is about. What style one chooses in order to achieve this is superfluous to the equation.

Murakami´s autobiography is one long contemplation on running, and on life. He talks about ageing, the way the body and the mind changes, and that his preferences change with it. And he manages to squeeze in lines as beautiful as “The most important thing we ever learn at school is the fact that the most important things can´t be learned at school.” In fact, he writes, most of what he knows about writing fiction he learned by running every day. I guess I could say something similar about life and yoga.

Videos you might like

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Read more

• On the Pursuit of Slackness, by Frida Starvid (fd Boström)
• Living Healthier with Ayurveda, by July Huang

About Frida

Frida Starvid (fd Boström) is a Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Rocket and Yin teacher (200+140 hr), educated in India, Sweden and Spain. She started off as an architect but after a burnout she decided to shift careers. Her first trip to an ashram in India in 2015 led to many more, and evoked her already existing curiosity about philosophy and meditation, as well as fun and physically challenging yoga. Frida gives regular classes and assists at yoga teacher educations in Sweden and abroad. Read more about Frida at her website or follow her at Instagram: @fridastarvid

What if you should just leave your job and go to the other side of the world to live your dream? That is what Maria Paulsson Rönnbäck did. Here she shares her story about her yoga- and surf adventure in Sri Lanka. 

Adventure awaits

About a year ago I did something that at the time felt like the most stupid thing I could ever do for my career. I quit a job I had thought of as a dream job. It was a well paid founder role at a hyped social impact tech start-up. On the paper it looked perfect, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing. I’ve always had a constant longing to be close to nature and the one thing I knew was that I wanted to live by the ocean and to surf. A couple of months later I left Sweden for a six month employment in Sri Lanka. I was going to work as Sales & Marketing Manager for Sunshinestories and Ceylon Sliders, a surf and yoga retreat and a boutique hotel, founded by two fellow Swedes, Linn and Petter. I had met the couple on a surf trip to Sri Lanka a few years back and found their lifestyle so inspiring. They seemed to live the ultimate life, combining entrepreneurship, surf and yoga. And what was more, it took place on the beach underneath the palm trees.

Let go of the excuses
Today I laugh about how difficult the decision to leave Stockholm felt at the time, and yet how easy it was to make the actual move. I understand I was in a fortunate position to get an amazing job in Sri Lanka, but still booking a flight ticket and find someone who could take care of my apartment wasn’t that difficult at all. It was just a bunch of ideas and excuses in my head that had stopped me before. Going to Sri Lanka and working with Sunshinestories and Ceylon Sliders, is probably one of the best decision I’ve made in my life. Working with two things I love, surf and yoga was of course amazing. But most importantly, I learned things about my self, that I would not have done if I had stayed in Stockholm.

When arriving in Sri Lanka I promised myself two things. First, to skip all the ”extras”, and secondly not to make any decisions about what to do when the six months came to an end. Let me explain the ”extras”. This was my endless list of to-dos and side projects, that I of course had with me to Sri Lanka. Start a travel blog, learn how to edit videos for Youtube, learn Sinhalese, start company X, start company Y, read this book, watch more surf videos, learn handstands, take an ayurvedic course. All this I'd planned to do besides my full-time job as a Sales and Marketing Manager. I realized if I were to do all this, I wouldn’t have time to enjoy life and to surf, which I had been dreaming about. So I decided my daily activities were going to be surf or yoga, work, eating curry and enjoying the sunset. Nothing more. Also, since I lived in accommodation provided by my employer, I didn’t have to worry about paying bills or thinking about how to decorate the house. I mean, how much time do Swedes spend decorating their homes? It’s ridiculous!

Basically my life was very simple. I didn’t cook and since there were no shops in the fishing village where I lived, I didn’t spend much time shopping, besides buying beer and food. Adding to that it took me two minutes to get to work and to the yoga shala, and five minutes to the local surf break. Having decided not to plan my next step in life, also meant I didn’t spend time working on my CV, contacting companies and applying for jobs. As a result I had time to just think and my mind wandered without any specific direction. It was like I had a playground to explore the ideas and I had the time to do it. I had so much time, and I felt so free.

Trust me, I’m the queen of planning and being one step ahead. When coming home to Sweden after the six months in Sri Lanka, it was the first time since leaving highschool 15 years ago that I didn’t have a plan and a next step already figured out.

Letting go of the extras and taking a break from planning my life was that big deep clean I really needed. Without really trying to find myself (I just worked and surfed) I gained insight into how I want to live my life. I think I also defined what happiness means to me. It is being perfectly content with where you are without wanting to be anywhere else than in a smelly little fishing village called Weligama right by the Indian Ocean.

Let yourself just be
I can truly recommend everyone to give yourself a gap year. I mean, really give your self a year of NOT thinking so much about who you are, the meaning of life, maybe not digging so much. Just be. Do things you like together with people you like. And it will come to you.

If you feel like going abroad for work, I can definitely recommend Sunshinestories and Ceylon Sliders as a employer, and Sri Lanka as your playground. Sunshinestories has recently opened up for the opportunity to host your own yoga retreat at their venue, a beautiful Dutch colonial villa in a buddhist little village in South Sri Lanka. The villa has a newly build lush yoga shala feeling like you’re in the jungle and has high quality props and mats. The delicious home cooked food is made with organic veggies and fruits from the local market. If you fancy a Sri Lanka yoga adventure for your retreat or teacher training program, send a message at [email protected] .

Hope reading this has given you some food for thoughts, I you want to follow my next adventure or ask any questions, you’ll find me on Instagram @mariaelvirapr.

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Read more about yoga and health

• On the Pursuit of Slackness, by Frida Boström
• What is my path cultivating?, by Luke Bache
• Going outside, being lost, and staying found, by Frida Boström

More about Maria

Maria Paulsson Rönnbäck is a yogi and entrepreneur. Maria found yoga when she was working in India. She immediately realized what a powerful tool it is was for increased well-being in a stressful everyday life.  After this first trip to India Maria has been to a number of yoga retreat around the world, often combining yoga with surf, which is her other great passion in life. Her passion brought her to Sri Lanka in 2017 where she lived and worked to grow local companies and started a technology project for Sri Lankan children, Lankan Tech Kids.

Contact or read more about Maria on Instagram.

Kello tikittää eteenpäin ja yö käy pimeämmäksi, mutta uni ei vain tahdo tulla. Olemme varmasti kaikki joskus olleet tässä tilanteessa, kun stressi vain kasvaa mitä pidemmälle yöhön mennään. Jooga, hengitysharjoitukset, rentoutuminen ja meditaatio voivat auttaa unensaantiin yleisesti, mutta myös hätätilanteisiin löytyy hyviä harjoituksia. Seuraavaksi annan muutaman vinkin.

Kello on kaksi yöllä ja olet maannut sängyssä jo monta tuntia saamatta unta. Ajatukset pyörivät päässä ja ärsyttävät koko kehoa. Hyörit ja pyörit peiton alla, nouset ylös ja yrität tehdä jotain muuta. Huominen päivä on täynnä tärkeitä asioita, joihin tarvitset kaiken energiasi. Alat panikoida.

Me kaikki tiedämme varmasti tuon turhauttavan tunteen. Jotkut näyttävät pärjäävän ongelmitta muutaman tunnin yöunilla (hienoa heidän kannaltaan), mutta itse ainakin tarvitsen vähintään 8 tuntia unta, jotta pystyn toimimaan normaalisti. Jos nukun liian vähän, kehoni reagoi heti ihottuman, vatsakipujen ja päänsäryn muodossa. Siksi sängyssä valveilla makaaminen ilman tietoakaan unesta, kun seuraavana päivänä pitäisi olla skarppina, on ehkä kamalinta mitä tiedän. Aikoinaan panikoin, kun näin kävi (esimerkiksi ennen tenttiä) mutta joogan ja meditaation avulla olen oppinut tekniikoita, jotka auttavat nukkumaanmenon aikana harhaileviin ajatuksiin ja levottomaan oloon.

Alta löydät kaksi lempiharjoitustani jotka toimivat silloin, kun on vaikeaa saada unta.

Viparita Karani

Viparita Karanin sanotaan olevan yksi vanhimmista jooga-asennoista (heti istuvien meditaatioasentojen jälkeen) ja sitä käytetään melkeinpä kaikissa joogamuodoissa. Koska se on kulkenut mukanamme niin kauan ja on niin pitkälle levinnyt, on sen pakko toimia. Sen lisäksi, että viparita karani on äärimmäisen palauttava asento, se myös rauhoittaa hermostoa ja tasapainottaa verenpainetta. Itse käyn joka ilta tässä asennossa ennen nukkumaanmenoa.

Tee näin:

1. Käy selinmakuulle ja nosta jalat kohti kattoa, 90 asteen kulmaan ylävartalosta. Jalkojen rentouttamiseksi vie huivi, vyö tai muu vastaava jalkapohjiesi yli (kts. kuva), jolloin ylävartalosi kannattelee jalkojen painoa.
2. Toinen vaihtoehto on nostaa jalat seinälle. Pääset asentoon helpoiten makaamalla kyljelläsi kohtisuoraan seinää vasten ja nostamalla jalat ylös samalla, kun kierähdät selällesi. Vie takapuolesi mahdollisimman lähelle seinää niin, että se tuntuu edelleen mukavalta.
3. Levitä kätesi rennoksi sivuille tai pään yläpuolelle.
4. Rentouta koko keho ja anna hengityksen kulkea luonnollisesti.
5. Pysy asennossa niin kauan kuin se tuntuu mukavalta, noin 10-20 minuuttia.

Hengitys vasemman sieraimen kautta

Joogatraditioissa on hyvin tiedossa, että hengityksen rytmillä on suuri vaikutus omaan olotilaan, mutta paljon kertoo myös se kummalla sieraimella on helpompi hengittää. Tietyn ajan päivästä toinen puoli on selkeästi virtaavampi, mutta muutaman tunnin kuluttua dominointi siirtyy toiselle puolelle. Vasen puoli rauhoittaa ja oikea aktivoi. Harvoin huomaamme näitä siirtymiä päivän aikana, mutta huomioimalla ne voimme käyttää niitä hyödyksemme. Erilaisten hengitystekniikoiden avulla on mahdollista vaikuttaa siihen kumpi sierain on dominoiva - toisin sanoen voimme hengityksen avulla vaikuttaa omaan mielialaamme. Joten illalla, kun haluamme rauhoittua ennen nukkumaanmenoa, on hyödyllistä saada vasen sierain virtaamaan.

Tee näin:

1. Laita kello soittamaan viiden minuutin kuluttua ja asetu mukavaan asentoon.
2. Aloita muutamalla uloshengityksellä, jotka tyhjentävät keuhkot kokonaan.
3. Sulje oikea sierain painamalla kevyesti sormella ja hengitä 4-5 kertaa syvään sisään ja ulos vasemmalla sieraimellasi.
4. Hengitä sen jälkeen 4-5 kertaa molemmilla sieraimillasi.
5. Jatka hengittämällä vuorotellen pelkästään vasemmalla ja molemmilla sieraimilla.
6. Jatka näin, tunnustelemalla samalla kehon tuntemuksia, kunnes kello soi.

Lukuvinkkejä

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• 7 vinkkiä täydelliseen iltarutiiniin
• Nuku hyvin - tietoa unen tärkeydestä

With the coming of her second child, yoga teacher Anastasia Shevchenko had to re-think her work. Read her story about bringing a big project to life despite a very small budget and lack of investors – while taking care of two small kids!

When life with kids make you change your plans

This story began last summer when our family got the good news: we were expecting! My husband and I wanted to have a second child, our 2 year old just got out of diapers, so we let the nature take its course… As I got pregnant, I realized that my life would have to change.

Before having children, I was a new yoga teacher, very keen to take on any teaching opportunity I got, even if it wasn’t well-paid, or even if it wasn’t paid at all for that matter! I just wanted to learn, to gain experience, to build on my resume… I started out, like most others, subbing classes for more established teachers and teaching at weird times that nobody else wanted.

With Liam’s birth, I had to become more picky, and frankly speaking, we could afford it. My husband had a fruitful work period, and I established myself with a small number of dedicated students who were happy to follow me from one rented space to another. At this point, I still liked to take some time in the evening away from the family for my work.

Changes had to be made
With the coming of the second child however, I had to re-think my work. I wanted to establish a way in which I could work more during the day or in high-intensity time chunks, work less, and be more recognized for what I do and how I do it.

And so, in the end of the summer 2017, the idea of the Berlin Yoga Conference was born. In September I put together a temporary website and outlined my vision, then approached the yoga teachers to see if the ideas resonated with them. I also started looking for a venue, which was one of the biggest challenges so far: Berlin has become very expensive and the venue costs a substantial chunk of my budget. In the end, I found an amazing venue that could not have been more perfect for the occasion – Malzfabrik. The people working there were very happy and supportive about the idea of hosting the Berlin’s first ever Yoga Conference.

With the venue finalized, by October a list of presenters was ready as well, with some basic notions about the programming and the business plan. In November, I approached important service providers for the next steps - the designer and the programmer - as well as the possible sponsors and media partners. 

Creative ways of bringing a project to life
Why have I planned the Berlin Yoga Conference so much in advance? By now you know the first reason – because of my daughter who was born in the end of February. The second reason is simple – because I needed a lot of time to compensate for the lack of money. Planning in advance has provided me with enough time to come up with all kinds of creative ways of bringing this project to life despite a very small budget, lack of investors, connections, or a well-known name in the community.

So now, here I am, working full-time (without getting paid for this), while having a newborn baby, nursing her while doing emails, Skyping with people while she’s asleep, and taking her with me in a sling to business meetings – all of this before my 3-year old comes back from the day care and we spend some time as a family the four of us.

And the last thing: I manage to do my daily practice! At 20:00 when we put the two kids to sleep, I have that one hour to practice, well, usually while trying to catch up with my husband stretching next to me. Well, maybe it is not a traditional Ashtangi kind of way, but that’s what I can afford at this point!

Interested in the Berlin Yoga Conference? There is a chance to experience a little taste of it through the photos from the Pop Up#1:Meet the Berlin Yoga Conference or to come over (link to the program for the pop up#2) to the Pop Up#2: Berlin Summer Yoga Edition this August 18, 2018

Find out more about Anastasia Shevchenko 

Home page, Facebook and Instagram.

Photo Credits: Alessandro Sigismondi

It all started with philosophy. Yoga was developed as a practical way to break free from certain patterns and to reduce suffering. But yoga in itself is not important. What is important is the effect it might have on you. Dare to try Yoga Philosophy online!

How can yoga have transformational effects?

I turn everything I do into a project. This is one of the negative patterns in my life. When I do something, I have a hard time taking it lightly. I become ambitious and I want to become good at what I do. This is not necessarily a bad thing. However, looking closely at this pattern I feel an underlying sense of unease. It is so familiar and subtle that I easily forget that it is there, but it is both powerful and poisonous. It whispers in my ear that I am not naturally OK, and gives me the uncomfortable feeling that I need to be successful to be good enough. If I just follow my usual impulses, then I will seek relief through ambitious behaviour, and sadly this strategy never gives me the relief that I am longing for.

Yoga is'nt something to be good at

The reason why I share my personal pattern is that it serves as a good entry towards an essential philosophical point regarding yoga. Think about the sentence: “Laura is good at yoga.” Most of us would not raise an eyebrow if we heard the sentence in a conversation, and we would immediately understand, what is meant. Laura is experienced in yoga, and she is probably both flexible, strong and able to do advanced yoga poses. Or she is good at meditating for long periods or breathing in intricate ways. However, from a traditional yoga point of view it does not matter so much, what you think it means to be good at yoga. The problem is the very notion that yoga is something to be good at. The point can be expressed very simply: Yoga is not important in itself. It is only important because of the effect it has on you. On the surface, this may sound trivial, but if you look closer it is both significant and important.

Originally, yoga was not developed as a training system. It started with philosophy. Yoga began with an acknowledgement that there are certain patterns that most of us seem to be trapped in, and that these patterns bring suffering to our lives. Yoga was developed as a practical way to break free from those patterns and to reduce suffering. From a traditional perspective, yoga can therefore be compared to a medical treatment. You take a painkiller to reduce your headache, and to say that someone is good at taking painkillers, would be weird. The same is the case with yoga, if you look at it this way.

How to make yoga a deeper practice

Yoga is a way to deal with the patterns that create suffering in your life. This is what yoga was developed for, and this is still in the DNA of yoga. However, to tap into this transformational potential of your practice, you need to keep your eyes on the ball. It is true that yoga can give you a better life, but it is equally true that your patterns are likely to sneak into your yoga practice, if you are not aware of it, and then your practice will not have a deeper effect. If you are a control freak, then you become a “yoga control freak”, and if you are a neurotic “achiever” (like me), then you can easily become a neurotic ”yoga achiever”. In fact, yoga can easily become yet another arena, where you act out your negative patterns.

I am not saying that it is wrong to set goals or achieve in yoga, and I am not saying that making yoga into a project is bad yoga. Honestly, I think it can be great fun to do so. All I am saying is that if you wish for yoga to touch you deeply, then you need to know, what you are dealing with, so you can distinguish, when your practice serves you well, and when it becomes harmful towards yourself. In other words, I am advocating a shift of perspective. Yoga is about you. Yoga is about life.

Let the practice suit the person

In my own practice, I daily observe ambitious impulses to get into better shape and push my practice to the next level. However, when I have the presence to observe these impulses clearly, I see how they arise out of my feeling that I am not good enough. When I follow these impulses, I feel a sense of numbness and disconnection. Because then my focus is on external ideals and because I naturally try to ignore, when my body’s signals tell me that I am overworked and tired and that I need rest rather than results. Your patterns are likely to be different from mine, but I imagine that most people practicing yoga can recognize the potential of letting the practice suit the person, rather than trying to be good at yoga.

Online Yoga Philosophy Course

Are you curious of learning more about yoga philosophy? If you are serious about letting yoga have a profound, positive effect in your life, you need to look honestly at your life and your patterns. Challenge yourself to actually try something new. In this Yoga Philosophy course Simon guides you through philosophy lectures and yoga classes. Read more about the course here!

Read more

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• Yogis and yoginis – Let's get lost together, by Simon Krohn.
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