A Bit of Radiance for 2021 ~ by Marj Ivancic

A few years ago, I attended a yoga class in which the instructor read a passage to us that left me with a deep sense of peace and awe. I learned afterwards that it came from a book called, “The Radiance Sutras: 112 Gateways to the Yoga of Wonder and Delight” by Lorin Roche.

This book is a translation of a portion of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, which is an ancient teaching of yoga mediation. It is written as a conversation between two lovers, the God Who Is the Consciousness that Permeates Everywhere (also called Shiva or Bhairava) and the Goddess Who Is the Creative Power of the Universe (also called Shakti or Devi). Their exchange is centered on finding the divine in the everyday, in the world around us, and in our own hearts and bodies.

As we roll into a new year, I thought I would share one of the verses because it captures for me how I feel coming out of 2020 and also settles me into a hopeful, radiant mindset for 2021. I hope it might do the same for you.

Yukti Verse 89

“You are stunned, powerless.

You thought you knew

What was going on.

Now you realize you don’t have a clue.

You are stopped in your tracks.

Everything within your skin is shaking.

                                      Enter this shaking.

                                      Get curious.

Look around inside with wonder.

Unmind your mind.

All the walls have fallen down—

Go ahead and dissolve.

The One Who Has Always Been,

Who has seen much worse than this,

Is still here.” 

Where Am I Looking? ~ by Author Marj Ivancic

I recently attended a friend’s yoga class in her wooded backyard. It was wonderful to be outside, listening to the birds singing in the trees, the breeze drifting through the branches overhead. It felt so very natural when she had us move into Vrikshasana, or Tree Pose.

Anyone who’s tried to stand on one leg knows that the trick to maintaining your balance is to keep your eyes locked on a steady point either straight ahead or on the ground in front of you. I started out that way, but I found myself distracted by the gal ahead of me, and it was dominos from there. She wavered, caught herself, then over compensated and lost the pose. And try as I might to ignore her wobbling, to root my toes into the ground and “become” the tree, I too teetered one side to the other, finally dropping my foot down to steady myself.

As I admonished myself for not focusing, it brought to mind a Facebook thread I read the other day. In one of the many author groups, a writer posted a question/topic something along the lines of—“I just published my first book. It took me a year to write it. But I see that many authors put out 3 or 4 books in that time. I’m so slow…”

The worry and unhappiness in her words as she questioned her abilities and her right to play in the indie author arena stayed with me long after the reading was done. Probably because they resonated with many of my own fears.

Then, in my moment of “yoga failure,” it hit me. I realized that the  author had done what I had just done. She took her eyes off the focal point that kept her steady—herself. She shifted her attention from herself, from her own hard work and success to someone else’s. And as a result, her mental and emotional equilibrium began to wobble.

It is no easy feat keeping Pride, Humility, and Confidence from seesawing, not just in the indie author world, but in life in general. Comparing and judging come too easy.

Look up to someone, and your confidence is at risk of lowering.

Look down on someone, and you’ll notice your pride skyrocketing and your humility plummeting.

That’s not to say you can’t admire someone or seek to improve yourself. Role models are an important part of evolution and growth. But they are meant to be educational, not destructive. And ensuring they stay so is up to you.

When we keep focused on ourselves, on our own improvements and accomplishments, we can stay balanced. And when we are balanced, we are content and comfortable with who we are and where we’re going. We don’t need to worry about what others think.

So, we should be vigilant and ask ourselves often—where am I looking?

Ruminations on Meditation REPEAT from 2/8/2018 by Cynthia Land, LMT, RYT

I think the first time I tried to meditate I was on a Metro bus in Seattle.  It was the 1990's, I was working at the ABC radio affiliate KOMO AM 1000 and was exhausted.  Rain outside caused heavy condensation on the inside of the bus windows.  I was warm and cozy in my seat but my mind was agitated by the stress of working in radio news.  Somewhere along the way I'd picked up that meditating would quiet my mind.  I closed my weary eyes and imagined I was sitting among fog enshrouded Douglas Fir trees.  I slowed my breath and visualized the limbs of trees, the individual needles and the smell they produced.  I was amazed at how quickly I calmed down. 

     That was just one experience in hundreds perhaps thousands of days of stress and spaziness where I would, instead of meditating, turn to overeating, over-drinking and eventually smoking cigarettes. Slowing down enough to meditate was not yet in my vocabulary.  It was something I aspired to but couldn't quite slow down enough to attain. I began a practice of yoga well before I was able to settle into meditation.  In the 90's, I lived in a world where self-care still wasn't part of my routine. The notion of self-care is still something I'm defining for myself.  

     Nearly a decade would have to go by before I came to a more steady meditation practice and even then I would have stretches where my A-D-D mind would take over with something way more “important”. Meditation takes a level of discipline many in our culture aren’t willing to settle into. The odd catch is that when you do commit and start to feel the effects of meditation, you can’t see your life without it. 

     There are many styles of meditation. I tried Zen, Insight, Kriya and probably several others I can't remember right now but finally settled on Transcendental Meditation.  I really just stumbled into it because my boyfriend did it and knew a teacher.  A group of us committed to go through the training which made it a lot easier.  Meditation alone is great but meditating with a group can be even more powerful, especially if there are experienced meditators with you. Now your mobile phone can be your meditation teacher.  Meditation apps abound.  They’re a great place to start and play around with different techniques. 

     What does it mean to meditate? For me it's how I get grounded, get centered, get focused and get in contact with my higher power. When I'm going through my day my mind comes across all kinds of negative emotions and thoughts from others, from myself and situations where I find myself. I can then become sidetracked into things that aren't important.  Meditation allows me to ask, "What is it I really need to be doing today? Where will I focus my energy?" Along my travels I've heard that, "Praying is asking God for what you want and meditating is listening for his/her answer." Just recently I've really started to adhere to this notion.  I get quiet so I can listen.  I then take note of what messages am I getting and how can I put them into play.  When I do this consistently my life just runs better.  

     What's happening while I'm "in there?"  Getting the mind to settle down takes time.  It never truly disengages. I believe we just learn to direct our awareness in other ways.  We pay more attention to our breath or how we're feeling in our bodies.  Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield has a seminal book on meditation (A Path with Heart) where he likens the mind to a puppy we're training to "go on the paper." We must constantly be vigilant to direct it back to where we want.  But be vigilant in a kind and not punishing way.  I watch my mind go astray dozens of times in a meditation session and gently bring my awareness back to my breath.  When I'm successful, I arrive at a sort of "no-place" neither here nor there, a place of no time passing.  My mind and body relax deeply but more impressively, my mind seemingly disengages from chasing thoughts hither and thither. 

     To be clear, this doesn't happen instantly for me.  I probably sit for a good ten minutes before my mind is finally able to release itself from spin mode.  This is probably why I have such a tough time meditating in the afternoons.  I am so fully engaged in the day that getting my mind to let go for 20 minutes seems insurmountable.  It's my next big hurdle.  

     I’ve meditated in; cars, airports and on airplanes, on ferries and on beaches. Today I often sit in a comfy living room chair, light a stick of incense and meditate while the sun is coming up. I focus on my breathing for a couple of minutes and then consciously make myself available to “hear” my higher power. My mind will attempt to hijack me into something momentarily fascinating and as soon as I notice it, I come back to my breath, maybe visualize one of my chakras, say my mantra and get quiet again.  This repeats and you kind of get used to it once you understand how the mind works. 

     Here’s what I know, meditation helps me slow down in a world that’s going ever faster with no intentions of slowing down.  I have no need to go that fast and when I do I inevitably hurt myself either physically or emotionally or both. When I slow down, I see the world more clearly and make better, more elegant decisions in alignment with my deeper desires and needs. 

Passion ~ by Cynthia Land LMT, RYT

One of the great things about starting a diet or projects/resolutions at the beginning of the year is that there is so much wonderful collective energy around them.  In yoga this determination or passion to persevere is called tapas. The yogic principle of tapas refers to three ideas simultaneously; heat, discipline as well as passion. Tapas comes from the second of the Eight Limbs of Yoga  .  When we discover something we’re passionate about we can say that it lights us on fire. Sometimes fire doesn’t carry us all the way and we have to have discipline to carry us through to achieve our goals. 

When I discovered how wonderful yoga made me feel not just physically but also mentally and emotionally, it lit me on fire. I became passionate about learning how to teach it to others. And 17 years later I am still passionate about passing on its powers to others.  Tapas is why you see professional football players become coaches, it’s why are you see professional dancers become instructors, it’s certainly one of the reasons why you see people like Neil deGrasse Tyson pontificating about astrophysics, it’s a passion so strong it cannot be contained to one medium.

You don’t necessarily have to be great or gifted at the thing you do. I am probably the least flexible yoga teacher I know.  That is why I have the discipline to keep working on my yoga poses to maintain my flexibility. However I have such a passion for the philosophy of yoga and a desire to learn, that I continue to delve into the books and teachings, broadening and deepening my knowledge base. 

As you can see right here on Originality by Design there are many things keeping people passionate and on fire.  What keeps you passionate in life? 

Stuff, Stuff & Stuff ~ by Cynthia Land, LMT, RYT

I was recently surprised/not surprised to see Marie Kondo capitalizing on the fame of her decluttering books by selling items to, wait for it, clutter your house.  

Here's a recent article about it in The Atlantic. I get that she's pushing out her brand but it sure looks funny from my end.  

We in the West seem to be susceptible to all kinds of buying strategies.  If you tell us it's good for us or will help us to lose weight, we're likely to buy it.  Marie convinced us to buy her book to help us bring more joy into our lives.  The idea was to help us get rid off all the clutter in our homes, the things we were no longer using that had simply become a burden.  

In the practice of Yoga, with a capital "Y", we approach this idea of decluttering from the very first limb of the eight limbs of yoga.  The first limb has five parts and one of them is called Aparigraha, or non-possessiveness.  Sometimes it's translated from Sanskrit as non-attachment.  Many of us become attached to "things." "Don't take my Cuisinart, I can't live without it."

I confess to a deep desire for a Maserati Quattroporte.  I had this desire imprinted even deeper when my ex-brother-in-law bought one and I got to ride around in it.  That said, I realize this desire is unfounded and that my budget is no where near the reality of purchasing one, so I don't linger on this desire.  I just admire them.  Now you Tony Robbins types may say, "but Cynthia, anything is possible, you could start thinking big and saving for that car." And I will tell you that while I would love to have a Maserati, the owning of one, doesn't run my life.  I think of it in passing, occasionally.   I'd really rather think big on other things.  

On the other end of the spectrum, I see women blindly attached to the idea of relationship bliss that they destroy themselves to be with a man. Their notion of being single so abhorrent that they will attach themselves to men so deeply unhealthy just to prevent themselves from being single.  We are only starting to foster a woman's individuality and that she doesn't need a man/relationship to define or value herself.   Yes, I recognize I just compared my desire for a car and a woman's desire for a man but I wanted to show that one attachment can be manageable and one can be damaging.  So how do we get out of this mess?

Yoga suggests we practice letting go.  Let go of these attachments so strong they drive us to distraction, attachments so strong they cause us pain.  Obviously this is a practice, not something we just drop like a hot potato.  I too used to throw myself at men because I thought that's just what you did.  I felt so strongly that I HAD to be in a relationship or somehow I was less than my fellow woman.  My self esteem was lacking, that's for sure.  I sought counseling to put my mind in the proper perspective but I also meditated on letting go.  This is a process I have by no means perfected, but I keep meditating and my mind no longer holds on to things like it once did.  

FOMO or Just Taking the Road Less Traveled ~ by Cynthia Land LMP, RYT

 Many who come to a yoga practice have heard a teacher make reference to something called the 8 limbs of yoga. Many of you have come expressly to practice one of those limbs, asana (limb 3, the physical postures of yoga).   Perhaps you have an interest in dhyana (meditation, limb 7) or pranayama (breathing exercises, limb 4) but you haven’t asked for these things specifically, they are an interesting by-product of a class.  If your teacher is steeped in the 8 limbs, you may begin hearing about and become fascinated with the rest of the limbs. 

Pratyahara, limb 5, invites us to turn our awareness inward.  Take your eyes off the iPhone, put down the fork, stop talking, turn off the music and just become quiet and completely disengage from everything.  This will be nearly impossible for some of us, especially if you suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out).

     We live in a society that pushes us to have and do more.  In fact, we are often told via advertisements that we are empty and we must fill our lives with a myriad of wonderful products and experiences, take a cruise, buy a new car, and check out the shoe sale on Zappos!  Who can pass up the latest and greatest new thing?  No one wants to be left behind. 

     And yet we struggle with the burden of all these THINGS in our lives.  We can barely manage all the events we have scheduled, all the running hither and yon, taking the kids to yet another soccer practice and picking up groceries for the week.  We long to shut things off but just can’t figure out how.  So, just as we started, we must slowly begin to remove things from the schedule. 

     However, this notion of pratyahara (withdrawing the senses) may seem frightening, who really wants to shut down their senses?  They’re kind of handy.  Yet, all day we’re bombarded with sounds, smells, sights and some tastes we’d really rather forget.  Let’s take a look at this limb in a slightly different perspective.

     In the book, The Yoga of Discipline by Gurumayi Chidvilasananda the author says; “the whole purpose of hatha yoga is to draw the attention inward.” Simply by stepping onto the mat, we have already started the journey.  And just like many yoga postures, we go slowly.  Maybe take just a minute to start. 

     Go into a darkened room and sit, quietly, no distractions.  Your mind will probably seem loud but you will learn to divert the attention IN to the body and begin directing your thoughts.  Pratyahara doesn’t necessarily mean shut OFF, it means go INWARD.  Start to listen inward, feel inward and see inward.  You might be surprised at what you start to learn about yourself.  You might learn you don’t like going hither and yon as much as you thought.  You might learn that you don’t need as much as you thought and that you can live with a lot less and the things that you do have will have much more meaning and usefulness to you. 

     

After some time, maybe a LOT of time, you’ll start to crave this thing called pratyahara.  You’ll be able to go out into the world, engage when you need and then disengage when you need to and recharge.  That’s the beauty of the 8 limbs of yoga, there’s something there for you all along with path of this thing we call life.  Don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself.

The Four Yogic Virtues Part II ~ by Cynthia Land LMT RYT

Welcome to part two of our look at the yogic view on the virtues. The yogis of yore believed there are four things that can get in the way of our relationships with others. Last month we discussed getting caught up in others happiness and letting another’s suffering negatively effect us. This month we take a look at ambition and nefarious characters.

This is an excellent time to explore the arena of ambition.  Numerous political candidates have come onto the field to test their mettle and share their ideas about how they think they can make our country a better place.  Maybe we don't agree with them but we're in no way about to jump up onto the proverbial soap box to take their place.  Is it possible to look at our emotions and our motivations and understand why we might feel strongly against an ambitious person?  Are they doing something we couldn't possibly ever do and we're jealous about it?  Are they doing something we feel so strongly against that we want to jump up and down and shout them down?  Take a pause and look deeply.  Understand what's motivating your feelings around that person's ambitiousness.  Is it possible to simply have joy around their energy and cheer them on?  

Alternatively, there are those out there doing things we believe to be downright wrong or maybe even evil.  Be especially careful here.  We may want to run out and right the wrongs.  Is it our place to do so?  If an act is truly unlawful perhaps the best we can do is report it to the authorities and step away from the results.  Is there a possibility that what's happening has nothing to do with us?  Can we then merely be neutral and walk away from the drama?  Some of us are attracted to drama like a moth to the flame and look what happens to them.  If you truly want change in your life, then you must walk away from the drama.  

As I said in last month's entry, this may take practice.  Relationships take practice.  This is merely a guide.  

Yoga is a tree not a stick~by Cynthia Land

One of the most common questions I get as a yoga teacher from people who haven't practiced before, is something along the lines of "how often should I go?" For the most part, I know what they're asking me. They want to know how long before they can reach their toes in a standing forward bend, when they'll be able to do a handstand or perhaps when the pain in their low back will go away. The answer depends on many individual factors but the question also tells me they haven't quite grasped the meaning of yoga. It's as though the person grabbed what they think is a stick and not realized they actually have hold of a tree.  

When I came to yoga in the mid 1990's, I was in an urban fast lane that I thought I loved. You either ran with the wolves or you were eaten by them. I was about to be devoured. I loved playing with the big dogs but I was really out of my league. The stress was building. Some people handle stress well, or at least they give the appearance of it. I smiled, put on a gorgeous red suit and swirled in denial. On some level, however,  I knew I was drowning. I needed to slow down but I just didn't know how. The world seemed very black and white. 

I was a member of one of Seattle's elite aerobics clubs and went to step aerobics several days a week. As the pressures of living in the fast lane continued to bear down on me, I decided to try a yoga class. What did I, fast lane denizen, think of my first yoga class? I hated it. It was hard to breathe AND move in the sun salutation. I could not yoke my mind to my body much less understand what it meant. The whole experience, from where to put my foot to my perception of the teacher's "I'm better than you" attitude totally turned me OFF. I was so frustrated that I didn't return to yoga for two more years. I was still in the fast lane, but by then, it had worn me out and I was ready. 

How long yoga takes is relative. For the sake of argument, let's say we are really ready for this thing. How much time does it take to *get it*? If we're just talking the physical postures, not long. I'm aware in my body and eager to learn. My hamstrings were my nemesis for years. They never seemed to lengthen. I tried so hard that I even injured myself and had to back off quite a bit to rehabilitate them. In the meantime, I learned my sun salutations, my twists and backbends, warriors and balances. Sometimes I went once a week, and sometimes I went daily. I purchased books on yoga and began practicing at home. I taught myself how to do headstands and breathing techniques. Then something happened to me over the years of "trying." I found I cared less about how flexible my hamstrings were or if I could do forearm stand and became more curious about other aspects of my practice, meditation and chakras/subtle energy. I now spend as much time with them as I do with asana/poses. So in terms of the bigger picture of yoga, I'm still "getting it" nearly 20 years later.

On any given day, each yoga pose can feel quite different. The triangle pose of today is not the triangle pose of tomorrow. If you're an athlete you know that how you perform in your sport of choice varies from day to day sometimes based on things as basic as how well you slept the night before. If you are not an athlete, know that each time you get on to your mat it is like an author looking at a blank piece of paper. You will make new discoveries each time you start. You might know where to put your feet in each pose, but it will feel different day to day. Going to a class can be misleading because the teacher has to design a class that fits MOST people. If you practice on your own, you can design a practice that fits your immediate needs. You can take your time and breathe life into a backbend that might get short shrift in a classroom setting. Consider the classroom a place to get ideas for your home practice.  

As you work through your poses, use them to teach you about yourself in the moment. Don't force the poses. Resist the urge to make them "look" a certain way. Feel your poses. Surrender to their shape and individual requirements. What do their alignment rules tell you about yourself? Do you rebel or acquiesce? As you hold the pose and breathe, what can you learn in the moment about yourself? You may find you don't like what you learn about yourself and this is why many people leave a yoga practice. No one likes to look in the mirror (figuratively speaking) and really see their flaws, but it's how you get better, on the mat and off the mat.  

If we look at the overarching goals of yoga, they include ending suffering and improving meditation. Diligently do a practice, physically and mentally and then you tell me how long it takes. I'll await your reply. 

You Deserve a Massage! ~ by Cynthia Land, LMT

In the 1990's, my little home-town of Bremerton, WA didn't have many massage spas like it does today. In fact, I didn't know too many people who got massages. My parents certainly didn't get them. I came from a family were there wasn't much hugging or snuggling so comforting touch was kind of an anomaly. Somehow I came across friends who were enlightened about such things and they convinced me that my nagging upper back pain could be alleviated by simply getting a therapeutic massage.  

I laugh at myself today because the person who showed up for that 30-minute appointment in the early '90s was a scared, doe-eyed innocent. The only experience I'd had with anything resembling massage was the play kids did in elementary school where we drew designs on each other's backs when we should have been paying attention to the teacher. This massage was held after-hours at a Curves-like establishment in a room carved out of the center of the space. I was too scared to take off all my clothes so I left my bra and panties on. The very capable massage therapist did a terrific job working around my shyness and supplied great relief to my back pain. I was hooked!  

I stayed with that therapist, following her from venue to venue, for years. When you find someone who understands your body and can alleviate your pain, you stick with them! I can't believe I waited as long as I did to seek massage. I have since had dozens of treatments from dozens of therapists and have honed in on what type of massage works for me. A decade after that first massage I became a massage therapist myself and now help others find relief from chronic and acute pain. However, sometimes we can't get in to our therapist and we need relief now. Aspirin and muscle relaxers are fine as far as it goes, but here are a few ways you can take care of those aching muscles yourself.

Topicals:

Acute issues - Tiger Balm and Arnica oil

This works best if you use it directly after whatever strenuous activity you've been doing. I found it worked wonders after a day of downhill skiing, but it could work after a day in the garden or after a long day helping a friend move. I'd come home from skiing, pop in the shower and directly after toweling off, set the towel on the floor with the container of Tiger Balm and arnica oil and mix a little of both in my hands and then massage my legs.  This isn't just a lay the concoction on my skin procedure, I really get into the tissue and rub the muscles. Probably about three minutes per leg. The Tiger Balm has menthol and camphor in it which opens the pores and increases circulation, helping to move along any lactic acid build up in the muscles. The arnica reduces any inflammation or bruising. A winning combination.

Chronic issues - CBD creams or oils

I use this on arthritic joints and sore muscles. I've had good results with making my own cannabis creams by combining organic coconut oil with CBD oils. In states that allow the purchase of such oils, you can ask the bud tenders about percent of CBD oil to percent of coconut oil. Some places even sell the pre-made creams or topicals. The creams are super easy to make and you can add essential oils to make them smell good and add more therapeutic benefits. If you live in a state where marijuana is not yet legal, I understand aspercreme is a good substitute.

Self-assisted massage:

Foam roller

These are an excellent tool for getting at places you can't get at yourself. Many physical therapists are known to torture their patients with them. One can buy them in different densities depending on your preference so they're not quite so tortuous. Here's a series of videos from the Mayo Clinic on how to use one.  https://youtu.be/QUszqQf51zY  I use my foam roller almost daily to help relieve tension in my upper back. The roller will almost always gloriously help adjust my spine. Not as often, but just as good, I will use the roller on my calves, thighs, and glutes which can be excellent for working out areas that are prone to spasms.

Tennis ball/Lacrosse ball

As the foam roller is broad the tennis ball is specific. I use it for knots in the upper back, hips, and calves. Just be sure to avoid contact with bony structures such as shoulder blades or you may have bruising. You can lay down on them or use them as you stand against a wall. I know people who have them in their cars and sit on them while driving. I have a fallen arch on my left foot and will use a Lacrosse ball on the bottom of my foot while standing to roll out any aches and stiffness. It does wonders!

As a massage therapist, I recommend getting a massage once a month but if you can't do that or you need something in between treatments, use the above to get your through to the next session. You've only got one body. Take good care of it!

Saucha / Cleanliness ~ by Cynthia Land, LMT, RYT

amazon.com

How many of you are going through your closets deciding what shirts bring you joy?  The Marie Kondo plan of simplifying is not a new one.  The yogic concept of saucha or cleanliness has been around for millennia and feeds into this idea of austerity.  If you understand the 8 limbs of yoga, much of it is about eliminating suffering. Within the first limb of yoga is the concept of saucha.  Here we find removing clutter also helps clear the mind which in turn helps reduce suffering. 

I need only glance at the mess on my desk to know that it brings me anxiety/suffering.  Where to start is always the issue. I’m tempted to throw everything in a burn barrel and start over. No, that’s not the answer but the solution often seems overwhelming. This has happened to many of us. We have become overwhelmed. We’ve accumulated so many things, whether they be papers, books, cars, shoes or problems that we don’t know where to start. Thank goodness for others who have come up with processes that work. 

https://lennymud.com/products/mature-key-plate-my-fn-keys

If you’ve ever watched any of the cooking shows, you’ll notice that chefs clean as they go, wiping spills and washing knives right after use. Much of life SHOULD go this way and yet the socks somehow can’t quite hit the hamper. Note that putting the socks IN the hamper takes a millisecond and creates a cleaner space in your room. Are you willing to give two shits for some happiness? Translate this into the dining room after a meal when instead of leaving dishes on the table you instantly put them in the dishwasher, or when you come into your home you leave your shoes by the door and put your keys in a pretty dish where you can easily and quickly locate them the next morning.  

Another process I’ve found useful is the 15 minute rule. “I’ll only do this for 15 minutes.” (Pinterest task list) Completely cleaning off my desk or cleaning my house is instantly overwhelming. But if I can tell myself, I'll just clean for 15 minutes then the task seems manageable. I use this method with a lot of things in my life. Even writing. I like it because I can see an endpoint and I don't feel as though it has to be perfect, I just have to get started. Getting started several days in a row, gets things done. Also, I don't limit myself to 15 minutes. If I want to longer, then I give myself permission to do as much as I like.  

One of the other yogic practices related to saucha is kriya or cleansing techniques. There are a litany of these and I won't go into all of them here. You can see and try a few by referring back to my blog from January. Suffice to say the yogis found living in the corporeal world a little trying. They're were constantly finding things about the body to clean. They cleaned their diet by often being vegan or fasting.  They did intense water cleanses of the digestive, respiratory and excretory systems. Some of these were done around the change of the seasons. All of this was done in an effort to remove any impurities that might hamper their ability to reach enlightenment. Today we learn from these techniques but we don't have to adhere to them.  

When it comes to removing clutter, we might also want to turn the spotlight on our relationships.  How are the people in our lives supporting us?  Do they bring us joy or suffering?  If they are bringing suffering, are we willing distance ourselves from them?  Some feel compelled to keep certain people in their lives because they are family or we've known them since childhood.  But if these people are toxic and preventing from us growing and succeeding it might be time to let them go.  I stopped talking with my dad for about a year when his PTSD got to a point where I could barely have a conversation with him without it turning into a full blown argument.  My parent's home was no longer safe for me.  We both went into counseling in separate ways but were eventually able to come back together and are now closer than ever.  

This spring I tell myself I will take everything out of my clothing closet and keep only what brings me joy, 15 minutes at a time. 

5 New Year's Self Care Techniques by Cynthia Land, LMT, RYT

At the beginning of every year many of us make obligatory resolutions, often abandoned within days of making them.  Today I offer you a set of somewhat yoga related self care items you can easily drop into your existing wake-up routine. They will help you feel refreshed and ready to face the day.  For the most part, they're easy to do and don't require you to purchase a lot of expensive equipment such as you might need with exercise regimes.  Give them a try. What do you have to lose but the parts of you you didn't want anyhow?  

• Lemon Water

By the time you get to my age, there's a chance you're already drinking water with your handful of supplements and/or medications.  Warm lemon water jump starts your digestive system by moving the sludge of the previous night out of your digestive tract and infusing you with a big hit of vitamin C.  The writer in this link doesn't mention it, but I have personally found that a big cup of warm water in the morning gives peristalsis a kick and might just help you run a little smoother if you know what I mean. 

• Skin Brushing 

This is one of those techniques that sounds uncomfortable but is really quite nice.  One of the first times I experienced skin brushing was at a waterfront hydrotherapy spa near Seattle.   The practitioner gently brushed my skin with a boar bristle brush and prepared me for a deep cleanse of my pores in a sauna.  It was amazing!  I now do this for myself and I love the way it makes my skin come alive. Remember, your skin is your body's biggest organ. I also know I'm helping slough off heaps of dead skin.  Yay!  Skin brushing isn't for everyone.  If you have eczema, psoriasis or just sensitive skin, you might not benefit from this technique.  

Banyan Botanicals image

• Abhyanga (self massage)

Skin brushing is often followed by a shower, but I recommend abhyanga or self massage.  If you think your skin feels soft after the skin brushing, get on your warm massage oil, hop in a warm/hot shower to open up those skin pores and then see how soft your skin is!  I was using heaps of body butter to just barely not feel as though my skin wasn't going to break off from dryness.  When I do these two techniques together my skin is happy, happy, happy.  The video above also notes that you can get oils mixed for your dosha.  I just use sesame oil but am thinking I might add a drop or two of rosemary or verbena to soothe my doshas.  

• Five minutes of pranayama 

https://www.givinghandsreiki.com

I suspect this will be the hardest one for folks to add, next to the last one but it really sets the tone for your day.  Pranayama is the breathing exercise that determines the setting on your energy.  If you need more energy, pranayama. If you need calmer energy, pranayama. If you need more uplifting energy, pranayama.  Just five minutes a day can really make a difference as you head into meditation and into your day. Don't take my word for it, try it for yourself.  There are many different kinds of breathing exercises, be sure to check with your teacher to find the one that is right for you.  

• Meditation

Ah yes, if you are a yogi, all roads lead to meditation.  If you really want to be calmer and have more serenity this year meditation must be included somewhere.  I was reminded recently that meditation doesn't always mean sitting with your eyes closed.  Some people meditate while walking (Thich Naht Hahn), some even come to a place of peace by jogging or swimming.  However you get there, eke out a space in your daily life to soak in it. 

image from pinterest

Some would include neti pot in this list and that would be excellent.  Personally, I do nasal cleansing at the end of the day. Give one or all of these recommendations a try for 30 days and see what you notice.  And remember that meditation can start at five minutes and work up to something longer.  The important part is regularity.  The only way you'll notice a change is if you do these things regularly.  Let me know what you find!

Experiences in Meditation ~ by Cynthia Land, LMT

I think the first time I tried to meditate I was on a Metro bus in Seattle. It was the 1990's, I was working at the ABC radio affiliate KOMO AM 1000 and was exhausted. Rain outside caused heavy condensation on the inside of the bus windows. I was warm and cozy in my seat but my mind was agitated by the stress of working in radio news. Somewhere along the way I'd picked up that meditating would quiet my mind. I closed my weary eyes and imagined I was sitting among fog enshrouded Douglas Fir trees. I slowed my breath and visualized the limbs of trees, the individual needles and the smell they produced. I was amazed at how quickly I calmed down. 

That was just one experience in hundreds perhaps thousands of days of stress and spaziness where I would, instead of meditating, turn to overeating, over-drinking and eventually smoking cigarettes. Slowing down enough to meditate was not yet in my vocabulary. It was something I aspired to but couldn't quite slow down enough to attain. I began a practice of yoga well before I was able to settle into meditation. In the 90's, I lived in a world where self-care still wasn't part of my routine. The notion of self-care is still something I'm defining for myself.  

Nearly a decade would have to go by before I came to a more steady meditation practice and even then I would have stretches where my A-D-D mind would take over with something way more “important”. Meditation takes a level of discipline many in our culture aren’t willing to settle into. The odd catch is that when you do commit and start to feel the effects of meditation, you can’t see your life without it. 

There are many styles of meditation. I tried Zen, Insight, Kriya and probably several others I can't remember right now but finally settled on Transcendental Meditation. I really just stumbled into it because my boyfriend did it and knew a teacher. A group of us committed to go through the training which made it a lot easier. Meditation alone is great but meditating with a group can be even more powerful, especially if there are experienced meditators with you.  

Now your mobile phone can be your meditation teacher. Meditation apps abound. They’re a great place to start and play around with different techniques. 

What does it mean to meditate? For me it's how I get grounded, get centered, get focused and get in contact with my higher power. When I'm going through my day my mind comes across all kinds of negative emotions and thoughts from others, from myself and situations where I find myself. I can then become sidetracked into things that aren't important. Meditation allows me to ask, "What is it I really need to be doing today? Where will I focus my energy?"

Along my travels I've heard that, "Praying is asking God for what you want and meditating is listening for his/her answer." Just recently I've really started to adhere to this notion. I get quiet so I can listen.  I then take note of what messages am I getting and how can I put them into play. When I do this consistently my life just runs better.  

What's happening while I'm "in there?" Getting the mind to settle down takes time. It never truly disengages. I believe we just learn to direct our awareness in other ways. We pay more attention to our breath or how we're feeling in our bodies.  Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield has a seminal book on meditation (A Path with Heart) where he likens the mind to a puppy we're training to "go on the paper." We must constantly be vigilant to direct it back to where we want. But be vigilant in a kind and not punishing way. I watch my mind go astray dozens of times in a meditation session and gently bring my awareness back to my breath. When I'm successful, I arrive at a sort of "no-place" neither here nor there, a place of no time passing. My mind and body relax deeply but more impressively, my mind seemingly disengages from chasing thoughts hither and thither. To be clear, this doesn't happen instantly for me. I probably sit for a good ten minutes before my mind is finally able to release itself from spin mode. This is probably why I have such a tough time meditating in the afternoons. I am so fully engaged in the day that getting my mind to let go for 20 minutes seems insurmountable. It's my next big hurdle.

I’ve meditated in cars, airports and on airplanes, on ferries and on beaches. Today I often sit in a comfy living room chair, light a stick of incense and meditate while the sun is coming up. I focus on my breathing for a couple of minutes and then consciously make myself available to “hear” my higher power. My mind will attempt to hijack me into something momentarily fascinating and as soon as I notice it, I come back to my breath, maybe visualize one of my chakras, say my mantra and get quiet again. This repeats and you kind of get used to it once you understand how the mind works. 

Here’s what I know; meditation helps me slow down in a world that’s going ever faster with no intentions of slowing down. I have no need to go that fast and when I do I inevitably hurt myself either physically or emotionally or both. When I slow down, I see the world more clearly and make better, more elegant decisions in alignment with my deeper desires and needs.