Applying the lessons of the Ashtanga Yoga practice for a healthy life.
We experience emotions through our gut. Along with food, this is where we digest our human experience. All of what we eat is being processed by the body. ALL of what we eat is contributing to our evolution. It’s going to take more than a 30-day detox to clean out thousands of DNA-coding proteins. Yet, sometimes all it takes is a second to release a samskara that we have been holding on to, processing.
Read MoreThe practice of ashtanga yoga is a formula designed to keep us paying attention. It keeps us on our toes and keeps us able to pursue our spiritual journey.
On a physical level one way the practice restores or sustains our health is by keeping our digestive system strong.
The digestive system works to serve the other organ systems. The cardiovascular/respiratory, neuro, reproductive, endocrine, etc. These other systems work to keep us on our spiritual path. The digestive system is made up of a number of organs, glands, and tissue. Digestion begins before we take the first bite.
Read MoreIt’s the worlds most widely used drug. It’s an adenosine antagonist, and it’s delicious.
I take mine black. Single origin (Unblended) in a V60 pour over. I prefer a light roast because of the more complex flavors.
Coffee and the effects of caffeine can improve attention, dilate the bronchial tubes, improve memory, and stimulate bowl movements. Caffeine is proven to enhance muscle strength and power* and increase the body’s metabolism. But it elevates your blood pressure by constricting the blood vessels. Caffeine can also enhance the effects of NSAID’s (Motrin) but so can ginger, and turmeric.
Read MoreI wanted to talk about the digestive system but I can’t talk about digestion without first taking a side road into pain and the ‘fight or flight’ mechanism. They are interrelated. All of the organ systems are interrelated and dependent on the other. Together they make up the whole of us on our spiritual journey.
If we take the sequence to be a formula, a medicine to heal. First we move through the practice to move away from pain and suffering.
In a limited sense this is showing up every day. Standing on the mat. Ekam, inhale the arms up. Period.
That is moving away from the pain and suffering of our life before we practiced.
Read MoreIs there any danger practicing beyond an asana that you can’t do?
Here is a practice designed to heal, and restore the basic needs of an individual before working on the psychological needs. The needs involving intimate relationships, family, friends, achievement, and respect. Those all come ONLY if we have a sense of safety and proper nutrition/digestion.
I’m doing a terrible thing and assuming you are practicing this method for more than exercise. If you are doing this practice for exercise the danger is that the Ashtanga police will give you a ticket and make you pay a fine. BUT there is the possibility of driving a pathogen or disease inside the body.
Read MoreThe asana that we stop at in our daily Ashtanga practice can be looked at as a metaphor for a samskara, or issue that we are dealing with in our life outside of the practice space. Each day we get up to that asana, that samskara, and each day we work at it. Some days we do better than others. Some days we believe it is possible to move past the samskara or asana. Somedays it feels impossible.
Sometimes we simply need to shift our perspective.
Read MoreI’m afraid of the dark. I still run for the bed after turning off the lights at night. The bed is safe. Under the covers, I’m protected. Maybe I watched Gremlins, or Jaws, or It and they left an impression that plays out every time the lights go out until I’m safe in bed?
The point is I’m a grown man. I shouldn’t be afraid of the dark, but I am. And only at night. At 4am when I’m stumbling around to the shower before practice, the darkness doesn’t bother me. I have no fear at 4am. I’m not thinking enough to be afraid.
The first 10 minutes of my practice is on autopilot.
Read MoreI find it incredibly hard to start again. I’m unsure of my voice.
Over the past 3 months I started to write about a few different topics and each time I talked myself out it. I allowed things to come up and distract me. I got away from my practice of writing.
How do you get started again?
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Ashtanga Yoga in Los Angeles, CA
