For attractive lips, speak words of kindness
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed
If you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each your arms.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Yoga in Everday Life
Yoga is not only poses and meditation, many of you practice yoga without even realising it! For instance, cleaning your house is a KARMA Yoga.. your space is a relfection of your state of mind, replinishing, polishing, clearing and washing, are acts of love for your space which reflect on your inner self.
The Gift of Giving is a karma yoga..what goes around comes around. Any gift you receive should be with gratefulness for the sheer thought of the act. Whether it be a material gift or not... In my mind the Gift of Time is the most priceless and precious gift anyone can ever give you.
Good Deeds with no need for recognition is another practice in Yoga. Living for Each Other, not against each other.. Uniting, Giving Thanks...BELIEVING
Some of my favourite quotes....
*INTIMACY... into-me-i-see
*The Soul cannot be killed, only it's vehicle can die
*Deisre is the Design Flaw
*When there is pride there is always ignornace
*For attractive lips speak words of kindness
*Our hands are cosmic conductor cables
** As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others
The Gift of Giving is a karma yoga..what goes around comes around. Any gift you receive should be with gratefulness for the sheer thought of the act. Whether it be a material gift or not... In my mind the Gift of Time is the most priceless and precious gift anyone can ever give you.
Good Deeds with no need for recognition is another practice in Yoga. Living for Each Other, not against each other.. Uniting, Giving Thanks...BELIEVING
Some of my favourite quotes....
*INTIMACY... into-me-i-see
*The Soul cannot be killed, only it's vehicle can die
*Deisre is the Design Flaw
*When there is pride there is always ignornace
*For attractive lips speak words of kindness
*Our hands are cosmic conductor cables
** As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Drop in Yoga Classes
The Athenaeum Spa, Corinthia Palace, Attard/Malta
*Mondays @ 7.30pm
*Wednesdays @10.30am
*Fees
*7 euros/class
*50 euros/10 classes
* All classes are on an ongoing basis
* Space is limited, call the Spa on 25443001 to book
*Mondays @ 7.30pm
*Wednesdays @10.30am
*Fees
*7 euros/class
*50 euros/10 classes
* All classes are on an ongoing basis
* Space is limited, call the Spa on 25443001 to book
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Feel Good Factor Instructing Yoga
I would like to take this opportunity to share with you the joy i feel each time i teach a yoga session...
For 13 years i was an aerobics instructor/personal trainer, so this field has always interested me. I worked for the YMCA OF GREATER TORONTO for 8 years, involved in many different positions. Within the fitness industry things changed from year to year. One year they suggest doing a specific exercise, the next year they tell you not to do it because of the injuries that arose through it... it can get very aggravating when you're trying to teach people how to improve their lives, and yet most of these exercises we were taught to pass on resulted in injury, mainly to the knees and lower back areas.... which once injured cause incredible discomfort and have serious effect on one's health.
Yoga is a 5000 year old healing art and the basis of it has never changed. A client is taught to listen to their own bodies, given poses that internally massage the internal organs and drain them of any built up toxins and emotions. When i encountered other instructors who had been teaching Yoga for years, the quality of their skin was always so youthful looking, as was their outlook on life. This is what attracted me initially to Yoga.
Once i began taking my own practice seriously i started noticing the changes in my attitude, changes in my attitude towards others, my body always felt lengthened after a class and my mind at ease, i was hooked!!
I then decided to start instructing Yoga and passing on this amazing tool that teaches you how to heal yourself through a pose rather than popping a pill, turning to alcohol, which i myself did for years, or other drugs. Many of the poses in Yoga help one through addictions, are disease fighters, cancer included. There are poses that will clear a sore throat, cure a cough, bring ease to a migraine or headache, drain your liver, cleanse the lungs and kidneys, message the glands in the head and calm the nervous system, poses to help cure insomnia and i can go on and on...it's mind blowing to learn that we have everything we need from head to toe and that we still look for outside sources for a quick fix. We've been given these amazing human bodies, which is the most complicated piece of machinery around, and yet we seem to take better care of our cars and homes then we do of our own being. Funny thing is that it's your health that will carry you happily through life if you treat it right, all your possessions get left behind...HEALTH IS WEALTH...
In every yoga session I teach I pass on this valuable information that is so precious. The clients feel this and the unity felt in the room is breathtaking!! Every client is breathing deep, every movement having a breath. All you hear throughout the class is the sounds of breath, and as an instructor you learn who is holding back, who is letting go...you learn to body read people and help them target problem areas in their bodies which in result relaxes the mind and brings them to self awareness. It gives me such great pleasure to be able to introduce people to this world for it's practical uses more than spiritual. The spiritual comes automatically to those open to it but i do not preach this, it's very individual .. i do preach about how to help yourself through any emotions or physical ailments, only because it has worked wonders for me....
We are all so spoiled in this life, yet seem so unappreciative of it. There is soo much poverty and real suffering in the world, and yet we allow our little mundane problems to become so large and egotistical...always wanting more...when we already have too much. Throughout my travels i always found that the poorest people were always so much more in tune with themselves and content with just that. They are the happiest people i have encountered, rarely complaining of anything, serene in their facial expressions, just enjoying what they've been given, which is so little to the Western eye, yet so much more to them.
Yoga has taught me to appreciate what i have in my life, not what i don't have. To focus on the positive not the negative. To not just speak words, but to take action on them... Yoga has given me soooo much courage to do the things I've always wanted to do, it taught me to move through my fears, and through that my courage has grown more so. At the end of every session that i teach i don't want it to come to an end, and this passes onto my clients. It truly brings joy to my life and this is what i wanted to share with you.... I am far from being a true angel and i still battle with many things, but everyday and in every way i feel like i am getting better and better. I will always be better than before, and so can you... BELIEVE!
"If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation" J.Krishnamurti
For 13 years i was an aerobics instructor/personal trainer, so this field has always interested me. I worked for the YMCA OF GREATER TORONTO for 8 years, involved in many different positions. Within the fitness industry things changed from year to year. One year they suggest doing a specific exercise, the next year they tell you not to do it because of the injuries that arose through it... it can get very aggravating when you're trying to teach people how to improve their lives, and yet most of these exercises we were taught to pass on resulted in injury, mainly to the knees and lower back areas.... which once injured cause incredible discomfort and have serious effect on one's health.
Yoga is a 5000 year old healing art and the basis of it has never changed. A client is taught to listen to their own bodies, given poses that internally massage the internal organs and drain them of any built up toxins and emotions. When i encountered other instructors who had been teaching Yoga for years, the quality of their skin was always so youthful looking, as was their outlook on life. This is what attracted me initially to Yoga.
Once i began taking my own practice seriously i started noticing the changes in my attitude, changes in my attitude towards others, my body always felt lengthened after a class and my mind at ease, i was hooked!!
I then decided to start instructing Yoga and passing on this amazing tool that teaches you how to heal yourself through a pose rather than popping a pill, turning to alcohol, which i myself did for years, or other drugs. Many of the poses in Yoga help one through addictions, are disease fighters, cancer included. There are poses that will clear a sore throat, cure a cough, bring ease to a migraine or headache, drain your liver, cleanse the lungs and kidneys, message the glands in the head and calm the nervous system, poses to help cure insomnia and i can go on and on...it's mind blowing to learn that we have everything we need from head to toe and that we still look for outside sources for a quick fix. We've been given these amazing human bodies, which is the most complicated piece of machinery around, and yet we seem to take better care of our cars and homes then we do of our own being. Funny thing is that it's your health that will carry you happily through life if you treat it right, all your possessions get left behind...HEALTH IS WEALTH...
In every yoga session I teach I pass on this valuable information that is so precious. The clients feel this and the unity felt in the room is breathtaking!! Every client is breathing deep, every movement having a breath. All you hear throughout the class is the sounds of breath, and as an instructor you learn who is holding back, who is letting go...you learn to body read people and help them target problem areas in their bodies which in result relaxes the mind and brings them to self awareness. It gives me such great pleasure to be able to introduce people to this world for it's practical uses more than spiritual. The spiritual comes automatically to those open to it but i do not preach this, it's very individual .. i do preach about how to help yourself through any emotions or physical ailments, only because it has worked wonders for me....
We are all so spoiled in this life, yet seem so unappreciative of it. There is soo much poverty and real suffering in the world, and yet we allow our little mundane problems to become so large and egotistical...always wanting more...when we already have too much. Throughout my travels i always found that the poorest people were always so much more in tune with themselves and content with just that. They are the happiest people i have encountered, rarely complaining of anything, serene in their facial expressions, just enjoying what they've been given, which is so little to the Western eye, yet so much more to them.
Yoga has taught me to appreciate what i have in my life, not what i don't have. To focus on the positive not the negative. To not just speak words, but to take action on them... Yoga has given me soooo much courage to do the things I've always wanted to do, it taught me to move through my fears, and through that my courage has grown more so. At the end of every session that i teach i don't want it to come to an end, and this passes onto my clients. It truly brings joy to my life and this is what i wanted to share with you.... I am far from being a true angel and i still battle with many things, but everyday and in every way i feel like i am getting better and better. I will always be better than before, and so can you... BELIEVE!
"If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation" J.Krishnamurti
Sunday, February 8, 2009
MEDITATION
Once the breath is focused on methods of self exploration, inner awareness, concentration, self awareness all aid in one's strength and stability through self realisation which then lead to MEDITATION - whose aim is to remain grounded in self awareness under all conditions of joy, sorrow, pleasure, pain, gain or loss.
An undisciplined mind oscillates between two primary states in meditation - the first being a dull sleepy state and the other is the restless dissipated state, both of which are normal. MEDITATION leads to allowing the body to let go and fall deep into sleep while the mind remains alert to the inside. It becomes challenging with old mental patterns, undigested emotions and experience that comes up when we quiet the mind - we need to face, handle and digest them. It is in this state that you become an observer of your own mind without reaction.
Freudians say 'Unhappiness is the inevitable result of the clash between our natural drives and civilizations needs'... DESIRE BEING THE DESIGN FLAW
'Human contentment is a simple case of mistaken identity. We're miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and flaws, resentments and mortality. We wrongly believe that our limited little EGOS constitute our whole entire nature. We have failed to recognise our deeper divine character. We don't realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme SELF who is eternally at peace. That supreme SELF is our true identity, universal and divine.'
Turn your eyes to the inside to heal and free your soul...
An undisciplined mind oscillates between two primary states in meditation - the first being a dull sleepy state and the other is the restless dissipated state, both of which are normal. MEDITATION leads to allowing the body to let go and fall deep into sleep while the mind remains alert to the inside. It becomes challenging with old mental patterns, undigested emotions and experience that comes up when we quiet the mind - we need to face, handle and digest them. It is in this state that you become an observer of your own mind without reaction.
Freudians say 'Unhappiness is the inevitable result of the clash between our natural drives and civilizations needs'... DESIRE BEING THE DESIGN FLAW
'Human contentment is a simple case of mistaken identity. We're miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and flaws, resentments and mortality. We wrongly believe that our limited little EGOS constitute our whole entire nature. We have failed to recognise our deeper divine character. We don't realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme SELF who is eternally at peace. That supreme SELF is our true identity, universal and divine.'
Turn your eyes to the inside to heal and free your soul...
BREATHE IN LIFE
Yoga is described in Sanskrit as Union. It originally comes from the root word YUJ, which means 'to yoke', to attach yourself to a task at hand with ox-like discipline. The task at hand in Yoga is to find Union between mind and body, the individual and universe, between our thoughts and the source of our thoughts, between teacher and student. Yoga takes you back to basics and focus's on BREATH-one of our most powerful tools that many adults forget how to use. Through breathing, we can change our mind state and cleanse the body of built up toxins and emotions.
BREATH with awareness helps you focus on the fullness of each breath and listen to all that arises within your mind and heart. The process of cleansing the body begins here and free's the mind from past experience, letting the breath wash through bringing in new energy with every INHALE and connecting with your creative self. On the EXHALE we release old energy, we let go of anything that doesn't serve us. Through BREATH you will slowly see that a calmness of mind is brought about, an openness of heart and body is rediscovered, and a secure connection with the ground is achieved.
In Yoga VINYASA is the term used for breath. To execute this type of breathing one inhales from the nose and then exhales from the back of the throat producing a sound like that of the wind or ocean. There are four stages to our BREATHING...
1) UJJAYI - is the method of breathing which conquers bondage and liberates the mind.
2) PURAKA - inhalation, draws energy in to inspire our body to flow upwards
3) ANTARA KUMBHAKA - moment of suspension when your inhalation is complete but the exhalation has not yet begun
4) RECHAKA - the exhalation breath is released from the upper body and empties down through the lower body which releases energy downwards, connecting us to gravity and the earth.
BREATHE DEEP
NAMASTE
BREATH with awareness helps you focus on the fullness of each breath and listen to all that arises within your mind and heart. The process of cleansing the body begins here and free's the mind from past experience, letting the breath wash through bringing in new energy with every INHALE and connecting with your creative self. On the EXHALE we release old energy, we let go of anything that doesn't serve us. Through BREATH you will slowly see that a calmness of mind is brought about, an openness of heart and body is rediscovered, and a secure connection with the ground is achieved.
In Yoga VINYASA is the term used for breath. To execute this type of breathing one inhales from the nose and then exhales from the back of the throat producing a sound like that of the wind or ocean. There are four stages to our BREATHING...
1) UJJAYI - is the method of breathing which conquers bondage and liberates the mind.
2) PURAKA - inhalation, draws energy in to inspire our body to flow upwards
3) ANTARA KUMBHAKA - moment of suspension when your inhalation is complete but the exhalation has not yet begun
4) RECHAKA - the exhalation breath is released from the upper body and empties down through the lower body which releases energy downwards, connecting us to gravity and the earth.
BREATHE DEEP
NAMASTE
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga
There are many different branches of Yoga, and the one that interested me most is Ashtanga Yoga. Ashtanga Yoga defines as 'Eight Limbed Yoga' . The Eight Limbs and their Sanskrit names are as follows....
1) YAMA ones behaviour in the world and attitude towards others
2) NIYANA ones behaviour and attitude towards oneself
3) ASANA physical pose/posture
4) PRATHAYARA withdrawal of senses, focus goes inwards, losing awareness of what is going on outside oneself
5) PRANAYAMA breathing exercises which increase life force and lead to a calmer mind
6) DHARANA concentration and focus without distraction
7) SAMADHI enlightenment
Through practice one can see all these mental and physical limbs becoming more exposed. Yoga has taught me to look into mySELF and start to understand why it is that certain things cause me upset and why I react certain ways to specific situations
1) YAMA ones behaviour in the world and attitude towards others
2) NIYANA ones behaviour and attitude towards oneself
3) ASANA physical pose/posture
4) PRATHAYARA withdrawal of senses, focus goes inwards, losing awareness of what is going on outside oneself
5) PRANAYAMA breathing exercises which increase life force and lead to a calmer mind
6) DHARANA concentration and focus without distraction
7) SAMADHI enlightenment
Through practice one can see all these mental and physical limbs becoming more exposed. Yoga has taught me to look into mySELF and start to understand why it is that certain things cause me upset and why I react certain ways to specific situations
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