I am having this OMazing massage with Sister Goddess Galant. She combines modalities of BioOrgonomie, Thai Massage and reflexology in my healing process. She is working on my belly, helping me release tension in my digestive organs. She probes her fingers in as she manipulates and moves my organs around. She creates space where there was tightness. She touches a certain point and applies pressure. I feel a great discomfort - not familiar with this new sensation. I am way out of my comfort zone.
Eating Seasonally and Locallyby Steve and Patricia Nakon
The foods that we choose every day have important impacts on our health and the environment!
Perhaps you've heard the phrase “eating seasonally and locally” and wondered what that means. Eating seasonally is simply eating those foods that are harvested in the current season. Eating locally means to eat food that is grown in the part of the country, or the area, where you live. Eating seasonally and locally benefits both your health and the environment.
Health Benefits
The secret to health and well being is to live in harmony with nature. Nature provides the foods that keep our bodies in balance at certain times of the year. By eating the food that grows around us from season to season, we receive the best nourishment to support and balance us.
In the spring, cleansing and revitalizing foods, like leafy greens and sprouts, help harmonize the body with this season of rejuvenation and growth.
I was a gate agent at Miami International Airport. Sometimes I had to single-handedly de-plane and board passengers on oversold flights in record-breaking time to get the flight back out, and sometimes the scene got pretty ugly. A vegetarian for many years, I considered myself a relatively healthy young person, but I had fallen into some unhealthy habits and lifestyle choices and did not know how to relax.
It was around this time that I “accidentally” found a small book by Swami Sivananda at the airport. It was titled Inspiring Stories and instead of taking it to Lost and Found, I started reading it. It was also around this time that a co-worker noticed I was on the verge of a meltdown and said to me, “Hey, have you ever heard of this yoga retreat in the Bahamas? You should think about going there for a few days to chill out!”
"As Satsang* is the only safe boat to take you to the other shore of Bliss or Moksha (liberation), you should all try as best as is in your power, never to miss it." - Swami Sivananda
*SATSANG is a spiritual gathering with guided meditation followed by kirtan (call-and-response mantra chanting and music) and a short reading, all in the Sivananda tradition. Beginners and members of all traditions are welcome.
For directions and more information on Satsang and other events go to www.yogawarehouse.org.
On why we are called to practice and the sacredness of the yoga mat.
The yoga mat is sticky under my bare feet, a rectangle of gummy purple rubber. I spread my toes wide and ground my feet – all four corners -- flat on the mat as I am instructed, feeling everything, every millimeter of skin on rubber beginning to slide on a trickle of perspiration. The yoga mat is the center of the universe for that hour of practice. A practice toward spiritual enlightenment? Toward the integration of body, mind and spirit? Grounded in the asanas and anchored in the breath, I flow through the postures as the Chi rises from my core like a furnace heating a house. ...
Yoga Teachings to Defend Against Swine Flu and Morefrom Saraswati
Yoga and Yoga teachers help students prevent catching what is going around. Ideally, Yoga intends to prevent all disease and illness. A few nights ago, in response to a broad media buzz about swine flu, I reminded my students of yoga techniques designed to keep immune systems strong and ward off illness at its first signs. The next day, I received a query about what people can do to stay healthier in the face of swine flu and other bugs. As I was writing what I hoped were some helpful tips, it occurred to me that visitors to our Yoga2You.us Web site may find this information helpful too.
First, practicing Yoga, even once a week, boosts your immune system. The deep yogic breathing alone keeps students healthier, but new research shows that the deep relaxation part of Yoga also boosts the immune system.
Peace on Earth, Peace Within Yoga2You Introduces News Category Dedicated to Peace
"Now think of this: everyday, every week, regularly and all around the world there are people, individuals and groups, praying, chanting, meditating in one form or another for Peace."
There is a saying in yoga that for there to be Peace on Earth, peace must exist within our own hearts. Which makes sense, really, when you think about this idea in physical terms. I know when I have a toothache, for example, I usually stay to myself because it's really hard when a tooth is throbbing to be pleasant with anyone. Pain makes most of us cranky. Likewise, it can be difficult (if not impossible) to be peaceful when we are in any kind of pain~whether physical, emotional, spiritual, or these days, for many of us, financial.
Along with physical pain, we generally feel out of sorts, abnormal. "Our nerves are on end" can be said of such instances, but the same can be said of other kinds of stressful times and other types of pain as well, right? I can recall having to deal with a flat on the Dan Ryan Expressway in the harsh Chicago winter winds. Nerves definetly on end. Or times when loved ones were injured, when loved ones died, of other losses, injuries, estrangements, miscommunications. Pain comes in many shapes, sizes, places and persuasions.
Nails scratching on a blackboard, a screeching cat, a disharmonious chord come to mind as sounds that would represent such discordant experiences. But what does sound have to do with Yoga or Peace? Well, in a word: Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Why yoga works—simply
Ancient yogis knew the benefits that came with regular yoga practice. Today, advancements in technology enable scientists to show precisely how these ancient practices work to benefit the mind and body. Yogis have been passing on the teachings of yoga for nearly 5,000 years.
Most simply, using proper breathing, especially during asana practice, enables the average person to develop the breathing apparatus and strengthen the vital life force. Once that begins, everything else flows from it. Why yoga works is really that simple. Any time you lie on the mat and breathe, the benefits of yoga begin.
There is a saying in yoga that when we control the breath, we control the life force, and when you think about that, it's really true.
We'd like to hear from you!
Simply type your feedback below.
(Include your email if you'd like a reply.)
Yoga Poetry
Attention Yogi Poets: Please submit your Yoga Poetry for publication in this corner--share your artistic light with others. (Poet keeps all rights.) Meanwhile, please enjoy these prayers and chants that follow. Namaste.
I first became aware of this prayer during Yoga Teachers Training. It is one of my favorites, and it is also a call-and-response chant that is sometimes sung during satsang. Enjoy!
A Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon,
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may
not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive--
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
I am having this OMazing massage with Sister Goddess Galant. 
*SATSANG is a spiritual gathering with guided meditation followed by kirtan (call-and-response mantra chanting and music) and a short reading, all in the Sivananda tradition. Beginners and members of all traditions are welcome.
The yoga mat is sticky under my bare feet, a rectangle of gummy purple rubber. I spread my toes wide and ground my feet – all four corners -- flat on the mat as I am instructed, feeling everything, every millimeter of skin on rubber beginning to slide on a trickle of perspiration. The yoga mat is the center of the universe for that hour of practice. A practice toward spiritual enlightenment? Toward the integration of body, mind and spirit? Grounded in the asanas and anchored in the breath, I flow through the postures as the Chi rises from my core like a furnace heating a house. ...
Along with physical pain, we generally feel out of sorts, abnormal. "Our nerves are on end" can be said of such instances, but the same can be said of other kinds of stressful times and other types of pain as well, right? I can recall having to deal with a flat on the Dan Ryan Expressway in the harsh Chicago winter winds. Nerves definetly on end. Or times when loved ones were injured, when loved ones died, of other losses, injuries, estrangements, miscommunications. Pain comes in many shapes, sizes, places and persuasions.
“Health is wealth, peace of mind is happiness. Yoga shows the way.”
