Namaste all,
Greasby Centre: Mondays 11.15 a.m.
Monday 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th.
Hoylake Community Centre Wednesdays 10 a.m.
Wednesday 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th.
Yoga Retreat Day and Sound Bath Sunday 14th December
This event is now fully booked, but do please let me know if you are interested in going on to a waiting list.
Understanding thoughts and using the light within to help!
With the arrival of winter and the onslaught of Christmas with all the distractions, stresses, and general mayhem that ensues, as night becomes darker and the weather colder, it may be worth remembering the following:
Dealing with difficulty is a challenge in that we would prefer to run away from anything we consider difficult, painful, awkward or upsetting.
How is it possible to manage strong emotions, to befriend the difficult so that we can be with it while it lasts?
Can we switch on a light, shine a light on the difficulties and how to manage them?
Consider the following:
1. What happens in the body?
2. What happens in the mind?
3. What happens in your actions?
We get hijacked by chemicals and have no choice when the chemicals have been triggered!
Can we use yoga, meditation, pranayama and mindfulness?
Yoga and meditation - Would a daily yoga practice help to energise the body and keep the mind focused? Release muscle tension, calm the nervous system?
Can meditation practices help the mind to focus and the body relax through mantra, visualisation, and concentration practices?
Mindfulness means that we need to notice where we are feeling the stress – where is the stress signature in the body being felt?
• What sensations are in the body, and can we be with the sensations of discomfort without being drawn into them?
• If we can get that far, can we then notice where are thoughts are and what they are doing again without getting drawn into the thought traffic – is it possible to just observe our thoughts?
Breathing - Pranayama - Then, finally, can we notice the breath?
• Where is the breath being felt most easily in that difficult moment?
• Is the breath fast or slow, shallow or deep?
• Can you feel the pause at the end of the in breath and the end of the out breath?
• Can you allow the connection to the breath to continue for several moments?
• Can we turn towards the difficult feelings, allow them to be there, and BREATHE?
• In short, can we BE rather than DO (try to fix the difficulty)?
Deeper pranayama practices:
Nadi Shodhana - alternate nostril breathing - would this help to balance both hemispheres of the brain?
Can we learn through a variety of practices to CHOOSE to RESPOND rather than REACT?
We can use the tools of yoga, connecting to our inner being, the higher Self, the place of kindness, compassion and non-judgement, to help us, first of all, to NOTICE that we have habitual patterns of thought, and our habitual REACTIONS. The more we practise noticing our patterns, the easier it becomes to change the patterns and the easier it is to become kinder to the ‘self’ – after all
“A thought is just that, only a thought, and we can change a thought”
A thought is just a thought! Lightbulb moment!
And indeed, thoughts can be changed. And, if we practice noticing them, we can release them of their power and change them!
While this is not an easy practice, it may take time and a lot of daily practice and noticing, but we can, over time, learn to discipline the mind and choose our thoughts wisely and work from the inside of our being, from the heart space!
So, let’s begin! With kindness, compassion and without judgement!
Where are you feeling your body?
Where are you feeling your breath?
How is the mind?
Where is the mind?
How is the nervous system?
And how is the Heart Space - the place of kindness, compassion and above all, non-judgement! The place where it is said the ‘soul resides’.
Keep practising turning on the light of your own soul!
I am the Light of my Soul. Click the link to listen to Ajeet Kaur sing - I am the light of my soul.
Shanti Om
Namaste
Sue x
