Types of Yoga: Your Pick For the New Year

Yoga originates in India and refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines. It is also associated with meditative disciplines in Hinduism and Buddhism. The word "yoga" has many meanings; In Sanskrit, it has many meanings and is derived from the root "to control" or "unite". The most "yogic" expressions stems back to early Buddhist sermons.
A school of philosophy was developed in India during the 4th and 5th centuries called "Yogacara" or, "yoga practice". There are physical postures (asanas) and breath movements (pranayamas). The goal of yoga is universal and that is, to improve health and achieve "moksha", which is liberation from all worldly suffering.
Let's begin to explore types of yoga....
The word Hatha is a compound of the words Ha and Tha meaning sun and moon. Hatha Yoga is what most people in the West associate with the word "Yoga" and is practiced for mental and physical health throughout the West.
Like Hatha, Vinyasa is a general term that is used to describe many different types of classes. Vinyasa, which means breath-synchronized movement, tends to be a more vigorous style based on the performance of a series of poses called Sun Salutations, in which movement is matched to the breath. A Vinyasa class will typically start with a number of Sun Salutations to warm up the body for more intense stretching that's done at the end of class.
Ashtanga practice is very physically demanding because of the constant movement from one pose to the next. In yoga terminology, this movement is called flow. Ashtanga is also the inspiration for what is often called Power Yoga.
Bikram is more generally referred to as Hot Yoga. It is practiced in a 95 to 100 degree room, which allows for a loosening of tight muscles and profuse sweating, which is thought to be cleansing.
Bhakti is devotional yoga. I teach Bhakti Vinyasa Yoga. It is told that the nine forms of Bhakti are:
1. Sravana (hearing of God's Lilas and stories),
2. Kirtana (singing of His glories),
3. Smarana (remembrance of His name and presence),
4. Padasevana (service of His feet),
5. Archana (worship of God),
6. Vandana (prostration to Lord),
7. Dasya (cultivating the Bhava of a servant with God),
8. Sakhya (cultivation of the friend-Bhava) and
9. Atmanivedana (complete surrender of the self).
Any method of Bhakti can be practiced and through it, one can achieve Divine illumination, or, as I feel, a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. Though most Christian fundamentalists consider yoga a demonic influence, I beg to differ. If peace and serenity are achieved with devotion to Christ at the center, what unrest is caused? Perhaps distance from symbolism and structure. Is a society without a rigid structure the path to destruction? Why can't the "structure" equate to no structure? A world focused on non-judgment, no expectations, no competition, respect, and utopia?
For today, let one hour of your day consist of those things. Let us give thanks and gratitude for the time we gave to our bodies. To remove the distractions society and the media give us each day. Let His Grace fill us and sustain us until we allow Him the prayer He deserves once again. For no man can ever fill the voids within us.

Sole & Serenity

Sole (sun) & serenity complete my peace today. Beginning the day breathing in the cool morning air as I brew my Tazo tea - Awake. The aroma of black orchid cone incense fills the air as I stretch to the heavens. Sharing my practice of devotion with others lifted any anxiety that lingered within me. Gracias yogis of St. James the Greater. Until next time......let peace and God's grace allow us to coast through another week.
As I arrived home, the sun welcomed me. I gave it gratitude and let it kiss my face with my companion at my feet. As we sauntered down the street dusted with leaves, the brook sat lifeless. A still morning. I pray for those who won't see in this day all that it offers. His arms embrace us as the birds sing to us. I heard them. Did you?

Music Inspires

Music Inspires

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Sleepless Nights….Sending Peace and Prayer

Why are some souls restless and others peaceful? Is the night air prejudice? Or, perhaps it is unsettled as it lingers, waiting for signs of weakness and not unlike a virus, it feeds on the weak and wraps itself around their core until they stir with unrest. Like many things in life, the more you experience something, the more arduous it is to break the pattern, especially if it is a detrimental one.
To find peace is a gift. To sleep with peace is a blessing. Can one embrace peace after battling with the sleep demon? Sleep is common to all life forms and during this natural necessity we are at a minimal degree of consciousness. We drift off and forget the world, at least the real world. If we dream, it is of another world…something far better or something far worse.
To watch a child sleep brings peace to many. It slows the heart down as it mirrors that of the child. Their soft breath exhaling and their small lungs filling up with the night air. Long and hard they rest. Growing and regenerating. Their precious, petite bodies gently bow to the evening stars as an ethereal presence hovers over them.
My children use dream catchers each night, or rather, I do for them. It has become part of their routine. Somehow we came to rely on these Native American traditions that are meant to protect the children from nightmares. By each bedside hangs a web of color to catch the bad dreams accompanied by the following verse: “Bad dreams, bad dreams go away. Come on back another day! Good dreams, good dreams come our way. Good dreams, good dreams here to stay!” Even if a bad dream does occur, there seems to be no memory of it come morning.
Another legend of the dream catcher tells the tale of the web catching the good dreams adding them to the web of life and the bad dreams are lost through the center hole. It has also been said that the morning sunlight purifies the web of dreams and the feather often found hanging from them allows the dream to slip down it into dreamtime.
The most important component of the dream catcher is that it is surrounded with prayer. Through prayer we calm our souls and allow it to evolve into its ultimate purpose - peace. We connect with our inner self. Slowing our fast pace down to that of nothing. Where are we running to? Why can’t we be “nothing” for a moment in time and let the rest of the world pass us by? Let the moments unfold and body intertwine with the soul like an ebb and flow. Let our heads lay to rest in the palm of the Maker’s hands.
In a time of need a verse was shared with me from my uncle. It is an imprint on my heart now and it reads: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 NIV When total surrender occurs, there is a new light. A new way to approach life and each obstacle it throws at you. For there is only One who will love you consistently each day of your life. He is waiting for us to ask Him into our life. Often we think we have, but one day it will all be clear; The glasses will come off and the peace will fall upon us as we sleep and when we wake.
The sleep demon took years from one man, but he has found a process…a path to peace. “While I'm lying in bed trying to fall asleep, my thoughts are focused on the days events and I have to take each event, analyze it, put it in a box and then put it on a shelf in alphabetical order. Once I've done that for all the days’ events I can go to sleep. Imagine being in a wind tunnel and your thoughts being confetti, each thought associated with a particular event is color coded, I have to gather all the like colors in the wind tunnel prior to putting them in the box to be filed ... but honestly, I did not come to the place I am now, in peace, until I started praying.”
Some choose supplements, herbs, alcohol (clearly noted to have an adverse effect on sleep), and other physical crutches, but perhaps one day they will come to realize that three deep breaths and some time for prayer is the best remedy. For nothing great was ever accomplished with out sleep (or was it enthusiasm? or was it passion?). A delicate balance may be the key, but according to the Dalai Lama ~ “Sleep is the best meditation.”

For those with a fetish for facts:

According to the National Sleep Foundation, those getting a good sleep (and enough of it) are two times as likely to be more productive at work, eat healthy and maintain an active lifestyle. 28% of Americans sleep over eight hours and 20% get less than six.