Gifts From Solitude

In Gift From the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh says that our alone times are among the most important times in our lives. She says that certain springs are tapped only when we are alone and that we need solitude in order to find again, the true essence of ourselves; “that firm strand which will be the indispensable center of a whole web of human relationships.” And I just love that she adds, later in the chapter, that if we don’t take care of this one, basic and essential need, we will have less to give to our families, to our work, and to our communities. Don’t we know it!?!

See your yoga practice as a small, daily pocket of solitude; an opportunity to tap into the wellspring of your being. In my last post, I spoke of how to get back into a yoga practice you’ve lost touch with. I suggested picking a few asanas you know and like and working with them. Once you have a simple, sweet, entirely doable sequence to work with in your asana practice, then all you have to do is show up for it. The level of acceptance, awareness, openness and presence you bring to the practice is far more significant than your level of physical strength, flexibility, stamina or performance in any given asana.

“Welcome the totality of your experience.”
-Francis Lucille

New website, new blog!

I am moving! Well, my blog is moving... you'll find this blog on my newly designed website. Same address as before... www.smilingyogi.com. Please visit me there, and if you are subscribed here, change it to there.

Jai! Jai! Jai!

Warding Off Flu Viruses

The Yoga Sutras lists 9 hindrances or obstacles to yoga. These are hindrances to the deep, internal stillness that sets the stage for awakening. The top one on the list is illness. I saw on the news this morning, that hundreds of people are lining up for their flu shots - lining up at one in the morning to stand in the cold drizzly rain hoping to not get the flu! How crazy is that? One of the simplest, most inexpensive and practical practices I know of for preventing illness, and this one goes right along with washing your hands, is salt water.

Use it in your neti pot and gargle with it, morning and evening. If you don't have a neti pot yet, go out today and get one. I know here in Point, you can get them at the SPA Coop, and I believe they are available at Walgreens and Walmart. Since Oprah featured them on one of her shows, they've become mainstream. Neti is pouring salt water through the sinuses - in one nostril, out the other. Think of it. Illnesses like colds, flu, even bronchitis and sinusitis, begin in your nose and throat and it takes a day or two for them to incubate. Your sinuses are designed to get rid of foreign invaders. Slime (salty boogers) forms to remove the evil particle before it is absorbed into the system. In your throat, it'll be phlegm (same basic stuff). When your immune system is working overtime to beat off the assault entering your body through your face, you will feel tired. Don't you want to help it along?

In my experience, salt water is more effective than any supplements I've taken to boost my immune system. Why boost it? Why not just help it out? Give it a break. Salt water breaks up your slime balls and gets them out. Then your immune system can work on other issues - the things you can't reach. If you have a cold or sinus infection you just can't seem to get rid of, you very well may be reinfecting yourself. Salt water helps your immune system by preventing that. My neighbor lady was stuck in a sinus infection that wouldn't leave her body. I had this conversation with her and lent her one of our extra neti pots. The next day when she saw her doctor, he told her to get a neti pot! Once you get over those first two or three tries, it gets easier and you'll be adding it to your daily repertoire, right along with brushing your teeth and washing your hands. With illness being a top obstacle to yoga, its no wonder that purity is the first of the niyamas - part of a basic foundation for a rock solid yoga practice. Salt purifies.

Happy New Year

Moving into a new decade, Sally asked me to comment on how my practice has evolved in the last ten years. Ten years ago I was just beginning to realize the effect scoliosis was having on my body and it was particularly noticeable while practicing yoga postures. At the same time people were coming to me at the yoga studio with complicated physical issues. I felt compelled to dig deeper into the study of anatomy and physiology, particularly with regards to alignment in asanas. I took a week long Iyengar teacher training in Minneapolis, a weekend yoga therapy training with Tom Stiles (Mukunda) in Ohio, and a one day scoliosis intensive with Elise Browning Miller (Iyengar Yoga). I also met up with John Friend in Chicago. I loved John's Anusara yoga because to me it seemed to be a blend that included the precision of alignment found in Iyengar Yoga, and the heart of Kripalu style yoga. I thought his universal principles of alignment were brilliant and accessible.

Ten years ago my yoga studio in Park Ridge was bursting at the seams. Every few years we broke another wall down to expand and it seemed we were taking over the building. It was difficult for me to tell where my practice left off and teaching began. It was all one - union - yoga!

Well, since then, the studio moved twice, and now I teach not on a daily basis, but only a couple of times each year. My practices have turned more inward. Back then, my focus was on the physical practice, and my meditation followed. Today, meditation takes the front seat, infusing everything I do in my physical practices and in my life.

Contracting Lyme Disease last year really shifted my practices to a restorative level, but slowly I am regaining strength and stamina for a more vibrant physical practice. I like to start my day reading some inspired works. Right now it is the Upanishads - a gift from Sally. It rings, like our sharing bell in my heart, to read the words, and carries me effortlessly into a morning stillness, awareness, peace. Then I begin my asana practice. Right now my emphasis is on inversions - hoping to help my immune system with its continual effort to maintain balance, and to help purify my body on a regular basis. (Lyme has a way of building up toxins in the body.) Savasana, the conscious letting go and receiving posture that ends all asana practices has taught me so much about the subtle energies in my body, and how I can cooperate with prana to energize and revitalize on a daily basis.

If you have been in the practice for a decade, take a look and see how yours has evolved over that time. If not a decade, then since you began. Let me know what you find. I'd love to hear from you. Or post your comment here for all to read. Happy New Year!