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Sep
11

Oh Those Canadians: Yoga… ‘Cannabis Enhanced’

Leave it to the Canadians and their legalized marijuana to find yet another excuse to get high:  yoga class!

I suppose to some, yoga and pot are synonymous anyhow.  But to those of us who practice regularly, the high we get from a practice, any practice, from more mellow Iyengar to balls out Bikram, is just so satisfying and remarkable on its own, it keeps us coming back to the magic of the mat as often as we can.

But, apparently there is another faction of yogis that feel there’s just that much more can be achieved through a practice enhanced by the ganja… the herb… the tea… by the cannabis that they’ve developed a series of classes incorporating the hallucinogen to maximize their yogic experience.

Dee Dussault, founder of Follow Your Bliss center and Ganja Yoga classes, told Relaxnews that she has “been smoking marijuana for four years, practicing yoga for 15 years” and “teaching cannabis-enhanced yoga for about one year.”

Classes range in participation from four to fifteen students, and along with mats, towels and water bottles, it’s a strict policy of  BYOP: Bring Your Own Pot.  There is no sharing or mooching and there is certainly no buying or selling.

Classes include “a vaporizer café and chat (approximately 30 minutes), followed by a profoundly trippy yoga class, set to mystical music (approximately 75 minutes). Light munchies served afterward” for about $15 CDN.

Most of us don’t live in the Toronto area to take advantage of this unique approach to yoga, but if you’re interesting in experimenting with your own ganja infused practice, Dee Dussault offers a few pointers:

-  Focus more on the sensations that one feels in the body than on trying to achieve more intermediate or advanced postures while high.
-  Really slow down, focus inwards, let go of your idea of what “yoga” is supposed to look like. Just “be” in different poses. Hang out there, let the ganja take you to new realms of experience. Notice your breath. Notice how the body moves and feels. Do some simple stretches, whatever your body calls for.
- Always listen to your body, and err on the side of doing less than you think you can.
- Stay away from balancing poses unless you are used to them, as marijuana can negatively impact balance for some people. Spend a lot of time in meditative poses.
- If your mind wanders, just come back to your breath. If thoughts interrupt or distract you, see if you can commit to focusing on the breath and the feeling of the body.
- Marijuana is great for making us super-interested in things for the short-term. Be super-interested in things you’ve never noticed about your body before. Continually commit to coming back to the breath, to the body.
- If you feel anxiety or cannabis-induced paranoia, try “Child’s Pose” – kneel on your knees and lower legs, with your hips reaching down towards your heels, and your forehead on the mat. You can have your arms extended over your head, or by your sides. Child’s pose reduces mental tension and anxiety.

Category: Articles, Class-y, health, Just Crazy... In A Good Way, news, Practice, yoga  One Comment
Mar
24

Yoga For Teens… And Credit!

teenFinally… a school district that has actually taken on the “higher” in higher learning!

A British Columbia school district has approved, among other courses such as Musical Theatre and Outdoor Pursuits, yoga in an effort to address kids’ interest and demand.

According to Superintendent Jan Unwin, “the wide variety of courses is intended to keep kids in school by offering them something they will be interested in.”

This marks a new era in education (finally!?) as those interests that were once considered ‘alternative’, particularly given the spiritual component to something like yoga, are now seen as so positive and constructive as to be considered part of a public school curriculum.

Yoga has proven benefits in the areas of self-esteem and healthy body image, two critical aspects of children’s development, particularly for girls.

Introducing adolescents to the power and beauty of yoga really only introduces and reinforces the power and beauty in themselves…

which is something everyone needs!

Good on School District No. 42 for recognizing it!

Category: Articles, health, Kids, Spirit, yoga  Leave a Comment
Dec
12

Fertility God? Heck No… Fertility Ball, If You Please!

fertilityI guess yoga isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to makin’ babies… and surely, I don’t think I ever thought of massaging my innards with a ball when it came to the months we spent trying to conceive the energetic little pip that is my second son.

But then again, I’m an old fashioned gal, who until now, believed it was just a matter of charting cycles, analyzing cervical mucous and otherwise good timing in creating energetic little pips.

That said, I pride myself in having an open mind and when I came across the growing trend of yoga geared to enhancing efforts in conception, well, I decided to have a look-see.  After all one never knows….

I don’t know if you remember the girlfriends of Seinfeld, but one in particular has been making a name for herself beyond the mega-successful TV show.  Brenda Strong, formerly best known as Sue Ellen Mischke the “bra-less wonder”… oh, and the dead lady neighbour narrator on Desperate Housewives – hel-llooo!- is a yoga teacher and expert, specializing in helping women get pregnant through the ancient practice of yoga… and a few new-fangled props, such as her trademarked Strong Fertility Ball.

fertilityball According to her website, Yoga4Fertility, The Strong Fertility Ball Method, created by fertility yoga expert Brenda Strong, is a way for women to empower themselves to:

- Stimulate Circulation/Blood Flow

- Massage Internal Organs

-Use Acupressure Points for Fertility

-Help to Regulate Gynecological Function

-Detoxify and Cleanse

-Decrease Stress

-Open Connective Tissue/Fascia.

The ball acts as a tool for acupressure, and when combined with yoga…

…you get the benefit of two ancient healing systems working together to help your body release tension and balance it’s natural ability to function.
Use of mind/body practices help support your doctor’s protocol by lowering stress and help you feel more in charge of your chances to conceive.

The beauty of this program, or any other yogic practice in trying to conceive or during pregnancy, is that if nothing else, it offers a means to maintaining flexibility and a certain level of fitness while, most importantly providing a valuable tool in stress management essential for effective coping during what can often be a time of stress and fatigue.

Category: fertility, health, news, people, Products, Trends, yoga  2 Comments
Dec
06

Breakfast… And Yoga. The Keys to Success

We’ve all known for ever the importance of a healthy breakfast to children’s learning, but one British primary school is also recognizing the benefits of incorporating yoga and meditation into education.

Riverside Primary in Rotherhithe

Riverside Primary in Rotherhithe

According to a recent article in The London Evening Standard, the children of Riverside Primary in Rotherhithe were provided with not only a proper breakfast heading into their primary SAT’s but also,  under the guidance of a local yoga instructor, exercises in breathing and yoga.

The results astounded as the school, serving an area of considerable social disadvantage, found themselves ranked top of the Evening Standard’s league tables today, helping pupils soar more than a year ahead of their peers between the ages of seven and 11.

While the school made a concerted effort not to merely teach to the controversial tests, contributing to the remarkable results, the additional support in the form of healthy breakfast and relaxation exercises without doubt paid off this year.

Category: health, Kids, Meditation, Spirit, yoga  2 Comments
Nov
30

The Balancing Series… Love on One Foot. Part 3: Dekasana… Airplane!

airplane Back from Thanksgiving and, Idon’t know about you, but I’m finding the need for balance, in diet- navigating my way from abundant meat and cheese (until Christmas, creamy fondue and Calabrese salami!) and back to hot rice cereal, greens and lean protien…    and practice!  Whew! Moving on in the series we find ourselves moving from grasping our toe as though for dear life long, extended and upright, into Dekasana, or Airplane Pose… I’m guessing (cuz I don’t really know) a modern, 20th century evolution of Virabhadrasana III, or Warrior III.  Regardless, a welcome relief from the intensity of Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, or Extended Hand-to-Toe! From the extended leg, hand-to- toe, the leg is brought forward briefly yet again where the toe is released, controlled of course, not dropped… the hands grasp the hips and that extended leg is lightly, strongly extended forward from the hip.  Alternatively, that leg can be supported by the hands, fingers intertwined below the hamstring- my preference, in fact. more »

Category: health, Postures, Spirit, strength, surrender  Leave a Comment
Nov
17

The Balancing Series… Love on One Foot. Part 2: Utthita Hasta Padangustasana or Grab Your Toe and Don’t Forget to Breathe!

bal-legraise-sketchJust when you thought all was well with the world… you’ve successfully unwound yourself out of Eagle and with a long, delightful exhale are ready to take it down a notch.

Well, nope.

The series continues, long and extended, as we head into a remarkably high energy posture, Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, or Extended Hand-to-Toe, requiring strength along with steadiness and focus. The good news is that for beginners, or if the day- and the joints- say, “let’s just not” there is a lovely modification that still fosters knowledge and understanding on one leg, but offers a little break in the intensity.
To modify, rather than grasping the big toe and extending the leg, merely keep the knee bent.  Keep the hands on the hips and hold the knee forward for five breaths, foot flexed and supporting foot grounded into the floor to maintain the stable foundation.

After five breaths, keeping the knee bent, move the knee to the side of the body and hold.  If you’d like to intensify this a little, challenging the balance, turn the head to settle the gaze on the opposite wall to the bent leg.  After five breaths bring the bent leg back to the front, with hands still on hips, hips square, extend the leg forward and hold at whichever height your leg and hip allow for a breath or two before releasing to the floor to switch sides.

If you’d like a little more challenge, actually working towards extending the leg and maintaining that extension, consider using a chair on which to support that leg for the five breaths.  Props are always strongly encouraged!

As with all of the balancing postures, this provides wonderful strengthening and lengthening in the supporting leg, and certainly that which is extended should you take it in that direction. As always, here’s a little more info…

Lovely.  Lovely.  Lovely.

Category: Postures, Spirit, strength, surrender, weight loss  One Comment
Nov
16

The Farmer’s Luck… Maybe. Words to Live By

zenshortsI’ve raved written in the past about this wonderful book of stories before.

In Jon M. Muth’s Zen Shorts, Stillwater, the serene and friendly Giant Panda of a neighbour to three children, siblings Karl, Michael and Addy, offers his own brand of Zen guidance and advice.

Through ancient stories infused with traditional Buddhist teachings, Stillwater provides solutions to the childen’s various individual conflicts.

These stories provide such tangible messages through simple yet engaging narrative along with wonderful artwork, moving between the full colour drawings of Stillwater and the children, and black & white sketches of the various ancient tales.

And while, yes, this is another plug gentle encouragement to give this book to your child, or your neighbour’s child, or your sister’s husband’s mother’s child… or yourself for that matter, it’s really one of the stories I’d like to specifically address here.

It’s the tale of an old farmer and his son.  In short, and without infringing on copyright(!), the story has the farmer’s son buying a horse (good luck?), horse running away (bad luck?), horse returning with two other wild horses (good luck?), boy attempts to ride one of them and is thrown, breaking his leg (bad luck?), shortly thereafter visited by military recruiters who won’t accept him due to his injury (good luck?)….

And so it is.  With each new circumstance the ever-sympathetic neighbours qualify it with either judgement, “such good luck”  or conversely, “such bad luck”, to which the wise old farmer consistently and simply replies, “maybe’.

The message, as summed up by young Michael to the gentle Stillwater, “Maybe good luck and bad luck are all mixed up.  You never know what will happen next.”

Hmmmmmm.  Wonderful messages and a certain must read for any child… or adult….

Category: Kids, maybe, reading, Spirit, surrender  4 Comments
Nov
13

Little Bits of Nice… Add Up to Wonderful

ringletWe have been trying to implement a regular routine of meditation for the kids…

It’s short and sweet, don’t get me wrong.

While eleven year old sits and is definitely interested in ‘getting it’, the others are typical kids and do what they have to to endure the seemingling endless minutes.  There’s a bit of fidgeting by seven-year-old. And five-year-old lone girl child feels the need to act out the scenes I describe to facilitate relaxation: eyes scrunched shut, turning her face upwards with an exaggerated smile towards a fictional sun or scratching and digging her toes into the floor as though it’s actually warm Caribbean sand.

Regardless the fidgeting and dramatic performance, it’s a practice. It’s a practice that will provide them with a personally valuable life skill.  The ability of being able to still the mind, get quiet, calm down, gather.  It’s a practice that will serve them well as they grow and mature and the anxieties and stresses of life intensify. They don’t understand that now, certainly.  But I take heart in this being a gift I can give them that will provide them infinite rewards as they evolve into teens and adults.

However, as we- parents- make our way through our own transition right now, implementing new strategies to manage our stress and keep thinking positively, and as we enjoy the benefits of these strategies, it becomes clear that these few minutes early in the day are only part of the picture.

gusti-jump_02The practice extends beyond just a few minutes of focusing on good feelings for a few moments.  It’s an exercise in looking for, recognizing, and even getting excited anticipating, good things throughout the day.  Little things, sometimes really seemingly insignificant- inconsequential- things, but together add up to a wonderful day.

As homeschoolers we’re together most of the day.  This lends itself to great quality time, but also to more opportunities for conflict and irritation.

So, we’ve begun making lists throughout the day… making a brief stop here and there to quickly consider and jot down those good things that happen, no matter how small.  Say, really simply,  ‘I had leftover pizza for lunch…”  or “I got my language arts done in only one hour…” or “Sister helped me build my fort…”

These little things end up being pretty easy to identify (particularly for kids!) and what’s remarkable about this exercise -an introduction to appreciation and gratitude- is how fast the lists are compiled and how much fun it becomes!

There is no right or wrong in the lists, as long as they’re positive and that they please us to look back upon.

It brings colour to the day.

Of course, this practice doesn’t eliminate the bumps and challenges that can be part of our days, but it gives us a little precious perspective, balancing the conflicts, trials and frustrations with appreciation, fun and wonder.

Category: gratitude, health, Kids, Meditation, Spirit, strength, surrender  Leave a Comment
Nov
10

The Balancing Series… Love on One Foot. Part 1: Garudasana or Eagle Pose

bal-eagleMaybe it’s autumn, maybe it’s my current serene state of mind, fair & balanced, but I’m all about incorporating the Balancing Series into my practice these days.

So, if you’re looking to cultivate strength, balance and open-ness… look no further!  The Balancing Series provides you with a well-rounded and challenging set of postures to help you achieve all three!

It’s a personal favourite of mine, and one that I look forward to as I’m sweating through the warrior series in anticipation of the sweet serenity and focused stillness of standing on one foot.

I know it may not be everybody’s cup of tea.  Balancing postures, while providing a beautiful payoff, require a heck of a lot in return.  Passive it ain’t.  You will work… your. butt. off!  Heh heh.

But, truly, the balancing postures embody the foundations of yoga and are so worth getting to know better despite the degree of  physical endurance.  The rewards extend, literally, from head to toe and I encourage you to incorporate it, in part or in full, regularly into any practice.

more »

Category: health, Postures, Practice, strength  Leave a Comment
Nov
09

Children’s Meditation… Life Strategy.

meditation-kids_01

In a recent post I addressed, through the words of Deepak Choprah, the importance and power of meditation in enhancing the lives of our children.

Through meditation- sitting in stillness, engaging and developing the frontal portion of the brain, we encourage the best in who we can be:  compassion, empathy, love, and ultimately, happiness.

And isn’t that really what we want for our kids… particularly knowing that all the stuff (TV, video games, mp3′s and all the rest!) isn’t really doing it.  Ironically,  at least for my own kids, indulging in these pursuits as fun as they may think they are, tends to make them just plain unpleasant rather than happier!

For those of us who make a practice of sitting in meditation know what hard work it can seem.  And if it’s this hard for an adult how possibly can my high energy seven-year-old son manage?  Well, not on his own, that’s for sure…

“Thump… thump, thump!”

“What’s going on in there?”

“I’m meditating!”

Now, unless my child is gifted at telekinesis, somehow the school chairs came to be overturned with a cat cowering beneath for cover!

more »

Category: health, Kids, Meditation, Spirit, strength, surrender  One Comment
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