It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity.
-B.K.S.Iyengar
This past weekend, I was once again fortunate to practice under the watchful eye of Iyengar yoga instructor, John Leebold. The bonus this year was offered through his focus on the anatomy of the human body and the genius of B.K.S. Iyengar.
I'm always ecstatic when modern science confirms the validity of age old yogic principles (e.g. nostril breathing and nitric oxide). In reality though, science is just discovering the tools to measure the effectiveness of nature and the brilliance of master yogis.
What I realized through John's teachings this weekend, was that the mastery of yoga already exists within us. It lies in the miraculous construction of our physical bodies, the life force within our core, and the teachings that have already been set forth. All we are doing is discovering the tools: the poses and our practices, that will enable us to appreciate what we've been graciously given.
I'm still watching portions of National Geographic's The Human Family Tree which traces our genetic beginnings to one man and one woman living in East Africa thousands of years ago. It's fascinating. Can you believe that our physical bodies are 99.9% alike?
That we are able to identify, segregate, and discriminate each other based upon our .1% difference is simply amazing. We are amazing!
~~~~~~~ View The Human Family Tree via Top Documentary Films for free although in parts, not in a continuous film. It may also be purchased from NatGeo.
Image: Dropping Knowledge This interactive site pairs often riveting photos with questions. Be warnedthat the stream may contain photos that upset or offend. View it at your own risk.
Imagine that one medical advancement held the
promise to conquer cancer, perhaps within your lifetime. Now imagine
that same advance has the potential to also end more than 70 of life's
most threatening conditions, affecting one billion people worldwide.
This is the promise of angiogenesis, the first medical revolution of the
21st century.
-Dr. William Li
You can imagine how excited I
was to share an article with my teacher, Jehangir Palkhivala, that
contained a list of cancer preventive foods. Since he often suggests
specific foods to heal physical (even psychological) issues, I knew he'd
be interested in this! That was in early February
and I have been waiting
for Dr. William Li's talk on TED to become available for viewing.
Released
last week, Dr. Li's twenty minute presentation is described by TED:
William Li presents a new way to think about treating cancer
and other
diseases: anti-angiogenesis, preventing the growth of blood vessels that
feed a tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting
foods that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game.
If
you're interested, watch it by clicking here. If you're wary of links
to videos, this is the entire URL which you may copy and paste into your favorite browser: http://www.ted.com/talks/william_li.html
The talk lasts exactly 20 minutes and 02 seconds. Watch it with a cup
of green tea or a glass of red wine (both on the list of beneficial
items) and be prepared for the most optimistic cancer solution to date.
A study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has determined that people who eat mindfully tend to weigh less than those who eat mindlessly (eat when not hungry and/or in response to anxiety or depression). They also found a regular yoga practice to be highly associated with mindful eating (1) because of an increased sense of body awareness.
True, even someone new to the discipline might find themselves quickly aware of how they smell, digest, sound or move, as my old "How to Prepare for Class" suggestions cover:
The ideal way to prepare for a yoga class would be to shower and dress in tights or bike shorts and a t-shirt. Your teacher should be able to see the position of your knees, so no baggy pants. You may be bending forward, raising your arms over head and twisting, so wear something that will stretch along with you.
Conscious breathing through the nose is always encouraged in class, so please refrain from using perfumes or after shaves. Heavy or clanging jewelry may inhibit your joint movements so use your best judgment.
If you're hungry, eat something light and easily digestible. Remember, you'll be bending forward, raising your arms, etc. Always let your instructor know if you're experiencing any back, neck or knee problems or if you're recovering from an illness. There may be alternate poses to help your condition.
Most of us come to class after a full day at work and so it's important to spend the first part of class with a routine sequence of sitting, connecting with the breath, closing your eyes and releasing the sounds of the outside. If you are late, please know that you are still welcome but try your best not to disturb the quiet and calm of the rest of the class. Please wait at the door until the instructor waves you in. Generally, it is okay to enter after everyone has opened their eyes and arms are stretched overhead. While you're waiting, take a few deep breaths, forget the fact that you are late and leave your cares under your shoes, at the door.
We learn to be self-referential yet respectful of group energy. In time, the non-competitive nature of yoga must send a message throughout our bodies, "take what you need, and leave the rest". If there's no need to hoard, then, why weight?
Our past, our present, and whatever
remains of our future, absolutely depend on
what we do now. -Sylvia Earle
Every year at the TED
Conference, three
people are awarded $100,000 and the granting
of "One Wish to Change the World".
Oceanographer Sylvia Earle is one of the 2009
winners and this is her wish:
I wish you would use all means at your
disposal - films! expeditions! the web! more!
- to ignite public support for a global
network of marine protected areas, hope spots
large enough to save and restore the ocean,
the blue heart of the planet.
Watch her presentation and find out what
she means when she says, "It is the worst of
times but it is the best of times because we
still have a chance." The video is a little
over 18 minutes long: Sylvia
Earles' Wish. Then take a look at Google
Earth's new
Ocean layer and dive deep into the ocean off
Lanai: http://earth.google.com/tour.html#v=3
When you look at an expanded view of the
earth, don't you think Hawaii should
naturally be the lifeguard for the Pacific
Ocean? Kona Yoga would like to acknowledge
the following Kona residents who have a
passion for
the sea and share their photos and videos
with the rest of the world. Let's make
Sylvia's wish come true!
When I'm not in my right mind, my left mind gets pretty crowded. -Stephen Wright
Almost a year ago to the day, I wrote about a new company that offered to decode your DNA for $1,000. 23and Me has since then managed to lower the cost of their initial spit-test to $399 and be selected as one of Time magazine's Best Inventions of 2008. Obviously, they were right on the money.
While I think it might be fun to trace my lineage and find out why my great-grandparents look more European than Asian, I'm not so sure that I want to know the specifics of my propensities toward certain diseases and conditions. Not yet. I think it would clutter my mind and make it more difficult to locate thoughts of health and well-being.
I watched the Biology of Belief for the fourth or fifth time last night because I love hearing cellular biologist Bruce Lipton emphasize:
Just like a single cell, the character of our lives is determined not by our genes but by our responses to the environmental signals that propel life.
In his book, Lipton speaks of the placebo effect as well as the nocebos, the power of negative beliefs. Citing examples of "staged" knee surgeries and the remarkable recoveries of patients (placebo) to the discovery of no evidence of esophageal cancer in a man who died believing that he had the fatal disease (nocebo along with a misdiagnosis), Lipton calls for Science to bring Spirit back into play.
One of my teachers says this repeatedly in many different ways: "Expectation is a focus with a vibration that permits the receiving of what you're focused upon-and, you expect things, both wanted and unwanted." Hearing someone in a white lab coat tell you that you are at great risk for multiple sclerosis becomes an unwanted condition that is difficult to ignore. I'm not sure that my mind is ready to completely override that, yet. I'm still working on the accumulated clutter.
"A few strong instincts and a few plain rules suffice us." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tricycle delivered another gem of a story yesterday from the book Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: In early times in Japan, bamboo-and-paper lanterns were used with candles inside. A blind man, visiting a friend one night, was offered a lantern to carry home with him.
"I do not need a lantern," he said. "Darkness or light is all the same to me."
"I know you do not need a lantern to find your way," his friend replied, "but if you don't have one, someone else may run into you. So you must take it."
The blind man started off with the lantern and before he had walked very far someone ran squarely into him. "Look out where you are going!" he exclaimed to the stranger. "Can't you see this lantern?"
"Your candle has burned out, brother," replied the stranger.
The short tale was ready for multiple interpretations but paired ideally with an article I had just read titled "Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy?" The New York Times feature was written by science journalist Gary Taubes, who also authored the newly released book "Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control and Disease" that's sure to reignite the high carb vs. low carb debate. Just in time for your holiday eating pleasure!
The gist of Taubes' article is this: be skeptical of any announcement that claims some new drug or an aspect of our diet or lifestyle is killing us or making us healthier. The research and science, he claims, is often flawed and faulty, especially if it's the first report.
I've learned to be skeptical simply through the experience of reading one conflicting report after another, scientific journalism included. Here's the good thing about all of the clashing opinions and resultant noise: it invites me to trust my own instincts and appreciate the time honored, well-worn practices that have served me.
I want to be open-minded and will try something new if it feels right, as yoga did for me nearly 20 years ago. However, as my allowance for 20-year long experiments begins to lessen, I want to develop stronger instincts along with the trust to adopt and adapt with greater agility.
"The really happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery when on a detour." -Source Unknown
When you walk into a room you get an immediate feel for the emotions that are present because researchers say, you're picking up the stress waves being emitted, even though no words are being exchanged. The corollary must be true, as I experienced this week: relaxed waves are emitted and felt as well.
I've been introducing heart coherence along with an hour long lymphatic treatment to my practice this month and the results have been, well...very positive. Have you ever spent an hour with someone who is consistently emitting positive energy? Someone who is relaxed and focused on feeling good? You can't help but feel good too. The results, as well as their implications, are stunning.
We could choose to be sponges and go through life sucking up absorbing other people's moods and intentions, or, we could be the pebble tossed into the pond that causes the rippling waves of our moods and intentions to spread out into the world. We do both rather unconsciously all the time but what if we made a conscious choice to spread peace and calm, joy and happiness?
Turn around slowly and look at your "pond". What's the atmosphere like? Who's in charge of the ripple effect? Are you acting or reacting?
Every waking moment we talk to ourselves about the things we experience. Our self-talk, the thoughts we communicate to ourselves, in turn control the way we feel and act. -John Lembo
Someone once told me that he stopped going to yoga classes because the teacher had begun chanting in class. Although he had grown to truly love the asana (posture) practice, he could not allow himself to be surrounded by the chants. He was wary of the "power of the spoken word". I told him that I thought he was right in not returning to class if he felt uncomfortable, although flippantly dismissing his concerns to myself.
Now that I have experienced the power of attraction, I understand his concern. Continuously doing something that you feel is wrong, is detrimental to your body and spirit. Holding negative thoughts as you chant words that ask for enlightenment, causes stress and may be hazardous to your health!
We seem to be well aware of all the negativity that surrounds us in the newspapers, on television, and at gossipy dinner parties. Although so often, we are unaware of our own insidious chanting.
If someone told you that you were fat, dumb, or lazy, would you be offended? Offended might be a mild reaction. Yet how many times do we pass our reflection in a mirror or stand in judgement of ourselves, offering such comments? Words we would never say to someone else.
Just as pregnant women instinctively begin to treat their bodies with care because of the 'extra' life inside them, we all need to care for the 'extra ordinary' life inside us and be mindful of how we talk to ourselves. Self-talk is a non-stop radio station.
Bertrand Russell said, "The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy; I mean that if you are happy you will be good."
We cannot seek to do good in this world by diminishing ourselves, in any manner. Purring is a prerequisite to roaring.
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