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This month Bluroseyoga turns its attention to the mind and how Yoga Therapy helps to balance the emotional and mental layer of the body.

The March edition of Mindful Musings goes deeper to explain how the mind is divided into parts and how mental distress and disorders are assessed through the lens of Yoga Therapy.

In this issue:

Understanding the Mind Through the Lens of Yoga Therapy

Yoga for Medicine – Anxiety and Depression

Asana of the Month - Supine Twist with Arm Movements

Understanding the Mind Through the Lens of Yoga Therapy

Ayurveda and yoga therapy consider the mind to be an organ and as such it is treated like an organ on the body.

Just as the body is governed by the balancing of doshas, the mind is influenced by three forces which are constantly in movement. These forces or gunas are sattva, rajas and tamas.

Sattva is the reconciling force

Rajas is the affirming force

Tamas is the denying force

Rajas moves, its excitable, its radiant, has desires.

Tamas is stable, inert, resists change

Sattva is right action, its light, the observer, it forgives.

A rajasic mind its constantly moving, like the body the mind never rests. It is motivated and moves towards its desires. 

A rajasic mind moves us into action and is excitable.  When out of balance rajas is unstable, unpredictable and is easily disturbed. Rajas moves outward.

A tamasic mind is stable in structure and moves little if not at all. Resists change, is heavy and dark, it masks the world around you. If left alone, tamas leads to stagnation and death. Tamas moves downward.

A sattvic mind is harmonious, light and clear. Sattvic moves us into right action and towards spiritual awakening. It’s the knower and the observer. A sattvic mind forgives. Sattva moves inward and upward.

If sattva is the mind in harmony, rajas and tamas is the mind out of balance.  However, we experience and need all three gunas to have a healthy mind.

At conception we receive our mental constitution from our parents, rajas and tamas, and sattva we receive from the universe. We are predisposed or naturally wired in a certain way.  That is not to say we do not experience the other gunas.

Throughout one day we move 

continuously between all three gunas. For example, you wake rested and content and ready to start your day, you are smiling, and all is well in your world (sattva). On the way to work you get a flat tire which makes you late for an important meeting. This leaves you frustrated, maybe even angry and impatient for a resolution (rajas). Finally, at work, meeting done and successful you are back to feeling content, (sattva) then you receive news that leaves sad and upset (tamas).

These are extremes but it is to show you how the mind is constantly shifting between all three gunas.

Mental distress and symptoms of mental illness are types of rajas and tamas. Yoga therapy firstly assesses the body and make changes here, letting the mind receive the positive effects of the physical changes. Rather than direct strategies towards the guna which is out of balance, work is aimed at moving towards sattva, indirectly through the senses, the organs of cognition and the organs of action.

Yoga for Medicine – Anxiety and Depression

Most of us will have experienced anxiety and depression on some level in our lives. These moments can come and go and for others the symptoms remain and reoccur more often.

Anxiety and depression are comorbid disorders. Almost half of people diagnosed with depression also are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Seeking clinical help and therapy is advised and yoga therapy can coexist alongside these. 

Firstly, the whole body is assessed in yoga therapy no matter the reason for seeking support. Mental disorders are viewed in the same manner by looking at the qualities of the condition, decreasing those qualities and moving the mind towards a more balanced, sattvic, place.

How can Yoga Therapy Help?

Depression is tamasic. 

(can be rajasic when paired with anxiety)

·  Look to increase physical activity to some capacity. This of course depends on the individual and the severity of the condition.

·  Using the body to stabilize whilst offering movements to help lift and energize

·  Aim is to increase and cause disruption

·  This will also relieve tension in the muscles

·  Focus on the inhalation and moving the breath into the chest

·  Chanting or singing

·  Being outside in the sun, light exposure

·  Opening the eyes

·  Avoiding sugar and alcohol

·  Finding support in family, friends and community

·  Be in service to others

Anxiety is rajasic.

·   Movement should meet the body’s current energy level then should slowly be reduced

·  Side stretches and gentle twists to stretch and open the ribcage

·  Reduce muscular tension around the ribs 

·  Breathing down into the diaphragm and focusing on the exhalation

·  Relaxation with blankets and weights

·  Exposure to sunlight

·  Use sound/music to distract from thoughts

·  Avoid caffeine, alcohol and sugar

·  Meditation and/or prayer

Asana of the Month – Supine Twist with Arm Movements

Lay on your left side with arms stretched out at shoulder height, right arm resting on top of the left, knees bent.

Inhale and lift your right arm up toward the ceiling and as you exhale allow the arm to reach behind you as if you were drawing a semi-circle. 

If the arm doesn’t reach all the way back, take it as far as you can and return to the start.

Keep moving in this manner. Moving slowly and intentionally being guided by the breath. 

If the arm reaches the floor and its comfortable to do so, stay for a few breaths. As you inhale sense and feel the ribs expanding and contracting back on the exhale.

Remember to do the other side.

For depression, this posture offers support, stillness and activity. Movement is centered on the upper half of the body. Breath is in the chest. Keep the eyes on the fingers of the moving hand and hum softly.

For anxiety, the body is grounded. You may even place a blanket over the legs. As you settle in with the arms out wide, breath into the belly on the inhale and as you exhale draw the abdominal muscles back toward the spine. Eyes closed or a soft gaze.

Each month my intention is to bring you information which you will find interesting and informative. 

You can view previous newsletters on www.blurose.yoga/newsletter

LEARN MORE AT BLUROSE.YOGA

This month Blurose Yoga is looking at eating seasonally and digestion, in particular elimination complaints. The latest article in Mindful Musings explains how Ayurveda views digestion and how to eat for your dosha type.

Yoga Therapy doesn’t just focus on movement, we also look at your lifestyle. How you live your life and the impact on your health and wellbeing.  Making small changes to your eating habits can result in huge benefits to your digestive process, gut health and your health and wellbeing.

In this issue:

Benefits of Eating Seasonally – with a bonus recipe

Yoga for Medicine

Asana of the Month

Benefits of Eating Seasonally

When I was young child, I knew Winter/Christmas was approaching as satsumas and brussels sprouts appeared in the stores. New potatoes and rhubarb appeared in the late Spring/early Summer. The Summer months brought strawberries, peaches and the abundance of apples in Autumn. Now we can buy seasonal fruits and vegetables all year round but often they are not their best.

Eating fruits and vegetables that have been forced to grow out of season often have a different texture, flavor, maybe smaller in size and can contain less nutrients.

Eating seasonally follows the natural rhythms of nature. Vegetables and fruits have seasons and if grown and harvested in season, they are nutrient dense and full of flavor.

Where we buy our produce makes a difference. Fruits and vegetables bought from local farmers and farmers markets have been picked just a few days before selling, making them fresh and more nutrient dense.

We are continually looking to keep our bodies in balance and the elemental balance changes season to season. Syncing our eating habits to the seasons helps to keep our bodies in sync as mother nature intended.

Examples of Winter seasonal fruits and vegetables are:

Apples, bananas, grapefruits, kiwi, oranges, pears, pomegranates and pineapples.

Beets, Brussels, cabbage, kale, leeks, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips and winter squash.

One of my favorite soups for the season uses many of the vegetables readily available at this time of year. What is also good about this soup is that it’s a great way to use up vegetables, you can mix and match depending on what you have available.

Winter Vegetable Soup for the season.

3 1eeks thinly sliced

2 celery sticks sliced

2 large carrots chopped 

1 parsnip cored and chopped

1 small turnip cubed

4 sweet potatoes cubed

(substitute any of the vegetables)

32 oz vegetable stock, more if needed

1 oz butter

1 tbsp olive oil

Melt the butter and oil in a large pan and add the leeks and fry until soft.

Add all the other vegetables and fry for 4 minutes.

Cover the pan and sweat for 10 minutes

Add the stock and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Turn off the heat. 

I like to blend the soup and leave some chunks in.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Yoga as Medicine

Constipation and Diarrhea, one extreme to another.

We all suffer with occasional constipation and/or loose stools from time to time. Usually, symptoms pass within a day or two. If we change what we were eating our bowel movements return to normal within a day or two.  However, chronic constipation and/or diarrhea can be a problem if it is a symptom of another more serious condition.

When we experience constipation, our stools tend to be small, hard, and difficult to pass. The frequency of our bowel movements are infrequent. The opposite to that is diarrhea, where the movement is fast, frequent, and stools are soft to liquid.

How can Yoga Therapy Help?

We turn to Ayurveda and Yoga to help identify which elements are affected and in turn which doshas are out of balance.

Constipation gives us the qualities of hardness and dryness of the stools and slow elimination. This points to a vata dosha imbalance as vata is cold, dry and light. Vata also ‘lives’ in the colon. 

There can be a few causes of constipation but there is probably insufficient fiber in the diet as well as water. Changing the foods we eat and the beverages we drink to offer us the opposite to the imbalance, in this case it would be warm and moist.

Cooked warmed vegetables, ripe bananas, soluble fiber such as oats and warm chamomile or peppermint tea. Exercise such as walking or swimming will help the digestive process to move. Forward folds with belly breathing helps to massage the colon and squats help to push the waste down and out.

Diarrhea on the other hand is wet, soft and moves quickly, quite the opposite! The digestive fire, agni has become weak and digestion is moving too quickly through the small intestines, indicating a pitta imbalance. Yoga therapy looks to strengthen agni by balancing the doshas, in this case pitta. Occasional diarrhea can be remedied quickly through changes to what we eat and drink.

Eating foods to reduce pitta such as oatmeal, white rice, applesauce and avoiding caffeine, spicy and fermented foods. Diarrhea is also dehydrating so be mindful of your fluid intake. Gentle twists to balance pitta dosha with a focus on retention of the breath after inhale. Kriyas, which are cleansing techniques may be advised. To counter the excessive downward movement of energy, gentle supportive backbends to bring the energy up into the body.

Stress and anxiety can also upset the digestive process. Look to take breaks in your day to walk outside, practice breathing techniques such as alternate nostril breathing, meditate or sit quietly for a few minutes, take a break from technology. When we are experiencing stress we often forget to eat, eat the wrong foods, or eat too much.  

Asanas of the Month

 Balasana – Child’s Pose

Bala meaning child, asana meaning position

In this supine version of child’s pose, the knees are held against the front of the body. Hands holding the knees. As you inhale breathe into the belly and let the knees move away from the body as far as the arms will allow.

As you exhale, allow the belly to contract back towards the spine and bring the knees back into toward the body, gentle massaging the abdominal organs.

This is helpful to pacify vata and so practice this for constipation.

Supta Matsyendrasana – Reclining Twist pose

Supta meaning reclined and Matsyendra meaning Lord of the Fishes. The sage who founded Hatha yoga

Beginning in a reclined position with the knees bent and the feet on the floor. Let the knees fall to one side, bring them back to center and move to the other side. Repeat the movement slowly. After a few moves left to right allow the knees to stay on one side and place support under the knees if the knees do not touch the floor. Hands can rest on the body or out to the side. Hold for a few breaths and come back to center, pause and continue to the other side.

This is helpful to soothe pitta and so practice for diarrhea.

Each month my intention is to bring you information which you will find interesting and informative. 

You can view previous newsletters on www.blurose.yoga/newsletter

LEARN MORE AT BLUROSE.YOGA

After the hustle and bustle of Christmas, we welcome the New Year with ideas of how to replenish, renew and recharge. Leaving behind the old and starting with the new. We set resolutions, some we keep, some we don't and for the most part they fall off our radar. 

For more information on how to set yourself up for success check out my recent blog, or mindful musings on www.blurose.yoga for a five step plan on setting goals for the year and pointers on how to stick to the plan.

Healthy Tips for the Winter Season

We are in the midst of Winter and no matter where you live in the continental US, the Winter months can leave us feeling a little down. This low depression comes and goes and can alter our mood, our feelings, change how we think and behave. For some the Winter blues can develop into SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder. Should you think that you may be suffering with SAD, seek help and talk to a therapist.

Here are some tips to help combat those Winter blues and help you to create a more positive "Winter" mindset.

• Embrace the season and turn those negative feelings into positive ones. You cannot change the season but you can change how you react to it.
• Get more sunlight. Open the blinds and curtains, sit by a window or use light therapy to recreate the outdoor light inside the house. Take a vitamin D supplement. 
• Spend as much time as you can outside. Wrap up warm and enjoy nature.
• Exercise, outside if you can.
• Adapt your yoga practice for the season, making sure to include forward folds and gentle back bends. A more active practice in the morning to boost energy and a gentler restorative practice in the evening.
• Warming pranayamas (breathing exercises) such as ujjayi breath, more energy boosting practices such as breath of joy may help too.
• Spend time with others, try not to be alone. 
• Eat nutritional seasonal food. Enjoy comfort foods such as soups and stews to help balance the elements within our body.
• Find a new hobby or craft.
• Book a vacation!

Each month blurose yoga will highlight a common health condition or complaint and show how yoga therapy can help to reduce symptoms and bring the body back into balance.

High Blood Pressure or Hypertension 

The circulatory system relies on the heart to pump blood around the body. Blood pressure is the result of two forces, systolic measures the force of the heart as it pumps out the blood into the arteries, diastolic measures the beat of the heart as it rests between heart beats.

When the pressure in the blood vessels is too high and consistently high it can cause damage such as tiny tears. The body naturally repairs these damaged areas, but overtime fats and cholesterol can stick to these areas. 

If high blood pressure is left unchecked and uncontrolled it can lead to other serious conditions, such as heart disease, stroke and can even affect other organs in the body including the brain. Generally, there are no symptoms for high blood pressure however, you may notice changes such as shortness of breath, dizziness, anxiety, heart palpitations.

WHO organization say that 46% of adults have hypertension and do not realize it. Hypertension is a major cause of premature death worldwide. There is good news, it can be controlled through lifestyle changes and if needed through medication.

How can Yoga Therapy help?

Firstly, if you suspect you have high blood pressure you should visit your doctor. Secondly, regularly checking your blood pressure at home should be part of your preventive care protocol.

When balancing the body we look at the play of elements, how they have become unbalanced and how they are interacting with the body. 

When blood pressure is high the heart is working harder than it needs to be so we help the body to slow down. Changing strenuous activity to a more gentler practice. It's important to still move the body. Consider a more gentler yoga practice, lateral stretches, avoiding deep twists. Think about the body cooling rather than heating. Cooling and calming breathing techniques such as sitali or sitkari breath, drawing the breath into the mouth over the tongue to cool the body. Chandra Bhedana, a version of alternate nostril breathing where you inhale into the left nostril and exhale out the right, continuing in this pattern. Introduce savasana, relaxation techniques and meditation. Our emotional state can also factor into hypertension and this may be an aspect to consider. Seeing a yoga therapist can tailor make yoga practices specific for your needs.

• Lifestyle changes depend on the individual circumstances. 
• Be physically active, it's good to exercise the heart. If you tend to sit at lot, make sure you get up and move the body, consider chair yoga..
• Weight management. Weight loss is 80% the foods you eat and 20% exercise.
• Eat more fruits and vegetables. Consider a diet like the Mediterranean diet is heart healthy.
• Avoid salty, fatty, hot and spicy foods.

Asana of the Month

Chandra means moon. Ardha means half. 

Practice in the evening when it's typically cooler outside balancing the heat from the day.

If you have uncontrolled hypertension start moving one arm at a time with shorter holds. 

• You can be seated on the floor or in a chair, standing or laying down.
• Begin by grounding through the feet or your seat. Take a moment to center yourself feeling balanced through the left and the right side.
• Lengthen the spine and release the shoulders. Think of two forces, one lifting you up and the other grounding you down.
• Feel the breath, the inhale and the exhale, sensations and movements of the body as you breathe.
• As you inhale reach the right arm up above your head, soft bend in the elbow. Remain grounded through both of the feet or the seat.
• Breathe into the right side of the body, gently pushing down through the right foot/pelvis as you reach the right arm up.
• Take a few breaths then release the arm back down on an exhale. 
• Take a pause, notice sensations and repeat for the left side.

Each month my intention is to bring you information which you will find interesting and informative. If you have any comments or considerations for future newsletters please let me know.