Sunlight streams through the window while rhythmic New Age music fills the air. This is the atmosphere specially created by  Stephanie Churchill for yoga practice. It is the early morning, and a fresh chance to shape ourselves for the coming day. What kind of person will we be today? Generous, kind, and humane? The yoga space is ripe with possibilities. It has been too long since I have practiced yoga, yet I sense a new beginning with Stephanie’s expert guidance.

Stephanie begins with meditation and breathing suggestions that form the backbone of the session. Her calm voice encourages the deep breathing that has me inhaling the good and exhaling the toxic. With each breath I feel more centered in my body and more relaxed for the workout to follow. On a spiritual plane, every inhale invigorates my life force for good, and every exhale sheds the negative energy that keeps me from being all I want to be. I meditate, like many others, with eyes closed. I follow Stephanie’s beautiful narrative and breathing suggestions. She suggests that my inhales be white light that I guide to my body’s center. I cheat here. I direct the white light of breath to far reaches of my body, that have been neglected of deep breathing for far too long.

Stephanie segues from meditation and gentle stretching to some more formal postures. She alternates more strenuous postures with relaxing ones, giving my body a respite and my mind precious moments to ponder the postures. At different moments, Stephanie interrupts her own practice to ensure that my positioning is the most that it can be for me. Sometimes she is a brace, and sometimes she lengthens and coaxes a stretch. Stephanie intuits easily when I need an assist.

As the session moves forward, Stephanie juxtaposes the positions of downward facing dog to the cobra. My mind is an empty slate, but then I reflect upon the rich imagery of these positions. I think of the submissive dog, bowed low, simultaneously humble and regal, and intensely loyal. Then I bring to mind the cobra, strong and proud, crown reaching toward the sky, vertebrae elongated. With these two images in my mind, I form the positive intention to live my day with both humility and strength.

Thank you, Stephanie for a meaningful reunion with yoga practice!

Breathing allows us to live each and every day. But, did you know that the breath could train the mind? In meditation we train the breath to clear the mind. The first step is a strong, constant breath. Then, building your concentration to clear the mind by breathing white light or breath without thought. There are many forms of meditation but they are all tools to quiet the mind and be one with your true self.

Another concept for breath training that facilitates mind training is using the breath to create positive thought, intuition.

In a breath cycle we have an inhale and exhale. What if we used each part of the breath to create intention?

When we breathe deeply we send new oxygen, energy, and vitality to the whole body. If we attach a message to that breath the mind, body and sprit receive this message and can integrate it into your consciousness.

For example:

If you want to become aware of the energy you create, you can breathe in to receive energy and breathe out to give energy.

If you are feeling run down you can use a cleansing breath to renew your energy. Breath in white light and breath out grey light.

If you feel you need good things to enter your life. Try and breath in what is good and breath out what is bad.

If you want to be surrounded by positive energy; then, breathe in positivity and breathe out negativity.

To balance your energy, you can breathe in the force of yin and breathe out the force of yang.

To connect yourself with the Universal energy all around us, you can breathe in to absorb energy and breathe out to emit energy.

With all these slightly different messages you can send your brain to help develop and/or sustain a balanced, positive approach to life.

Most of us have become familiar with the concept of the laws of attraction. We can use our breath as a way to develop our mind. It will help to reinforce the positive forces you want or have in your life.

Breathing Exercise:

Take time in your daily life to breathe in one or all of these qualities.

It doesn’t matter where you are, if your eyes are open or closed or if you take 1 breathe or 15 minutes to breath in these powerful messages.

You can look at the list while you do your breathing exercise or learn the intentions and go through them in succession. This will build a balanced mind and energy field around you.

Try one round and then build up to 9 breaths of each. 9 is the number of completion in Chinese.

If you think one message serves you better focus to that repeteviily.
This will enhance the intention ad strength of this message.

You CANNOT go wrong with breath, mind training. In fact, the benefits are endless!

Breathe In:                                                      Breathe Out:
                 Receive energy                                                   Give energy
                 White light                                                          Grey light
                 What is good                                                      What is bad
                 Positivity                                                             Negativity
                 Force of yin                                                        Force of yang
                 Absorb energy                                                    Emit energy

Continuing our Qigong Fundamentals Series with some thought into, How to Practice Correctly. Like anything you engage in practicing Qigong correctly is the key to receiving the greatest benefits of this energy exercise form. Qigong is a very powerful healing discipline and should be engaged in with concentration and focus.

The most important element of Qigong is the breath. Breathing is the key to the creation and movement of energy. Without a constant stream of deep breathing the body is unable to cultivate true chi (vital energy).

Usually you begin Qigong with a meditation to connect to your breath and relax your body. After you sink into meditation it is useful to begin visualizing the breath as white light that flows through your body. As your practice progresses you will be able to channel the energy to places in your body that need to be healed.

The system of internal arts or healing discipline is based on the Traditional Chinese Medicine Theory. Using the acupuncture points to circulate energy throughout your body. This will allow your body to naturally balance the yin and yang forces.

Proper posture is imperative each and every time you practice. Mentally scan your body to see that:

• The feet are planted firmly into the ground at the ball, heel, left and right side of feet
• The knees are bent slightly
• The legs shoulder width apart
• The buttocks tucked under the hips
• The head tucked under so the nostrils are flesh to the Earth
• The tip of the tongue is curled up so that it rest on the back of the upper teeth
• Arms should be engaged on the outside and open and easy on the inside
• Usually the arms are rounded and lifted away from the torso to let the body breathe fully

Practicing with an educated teacher will prevent unwanted mental or physical side effects.

People should not practice when they are:                      

• Pregnant
• Have a fever
• Dizzy
• Internal bleeding
• Infection

Try to practice Qigong at the same time every day to establish a body rhythm and habit of practice.

Practicing three days before and after the full moon increases the blood and chi’s circulatory ability because of the gravitational force of the moon.

Practicing outside is best because you absorb the energy of the natural elements around you. If you practice around trees in the park you will feel differently than indoors. I just experienced a lovely session of Qigong in the park. The sun was warm and the light perfect. The temperature outside was moderate with a small breeze and the change of season ripe in the air. I felt so calm; but, still buzzing with energy after the session.

Practice Qigong correctly and you will experience tremendous energy, vitality and health improvements.

Thanks to all the people who came out and supported and participated in Greenfest Philly 2008. It was a blast! It was my first time being an exhibitor ever; so, there was so much to do. Now that I have the hang of it there will be much more of the same in the future!

Meeting old and new friends. I am so grateful and appreciative to have had the opportunity to be a part of such a meaningful day with a wonderful message!

You could truly sense people educating themselves, discovering new ways to be more aware of the environment, different products to do the same thing as their old but better for the environment, alternative methods to the same end. There were all kinds of people at Greenfest trying to help others make a difference. Props to all those that organized, facilitated, managed, participated and attended the event!

Water was the theme of the event and water is a metaphor for healing energy in Qigong. So, the organizers asked me to share some Qigong exercises. Around mid afternoon dead heat we connected and cleared our energy through meditation & breathing, then we expanded and contract our energy and finally we washed the healing energy over our bodies like water to cleanse, strengthen and purify the self. I was very happy that some strangers took the time to join me.

Helping and reaching to make a difference feels good.

Thank You!

Meditation is the next layer you add to a yoga practice once you have found posture and breathing. Building a yoga practice bit by bit takes hard work, just like anything you really want to succeed at in life. Indeed, yoga is a life skill and in this hectic world we live in meditation can be as essential as yoga. They compliment each other; but in yoga the real work does not begin until you learn how to meditate because then you can tap into the internal and external energy. It is my deep belief that if everyone meditated there would be a lot less hostility in our world. This is how powerful, transformational and critical meditation can be to your health and happiness and everyone else’s.

Moments of time connected by nothing but breath & clear presence are the crux of meditation. Finding things you might have lost along the way we engage in meditation to reconnect to the source. Deep relaxation can be achieved by participating in a regular practice of meditation. Awareness to the self and others can be cultivated by means of meditation.

When we were babies we had no constant ticker tape of thoughts trailing our every move. We had no information highway, bills, business, relationship woes, concerns or considerations. As we get older the chips start to stack and the pile gets so large just thinking of it can raise your blood pressure, make you sweat, frown, curse and sometimes a lot worse. Just think of all the tragic abuse and killings we hear about every day in every corner of the world.

Meditation helps you regain your center so that all these problems become manageable and approachable. You can take action instead of get stuck in stress of many types; like: fear, anxiety, worry, anger and other more negative emotions.

How do we learn to meditate?                                              

It starts with your breath in a quiet place and an intention to build breath energy without thought. (Refer to the breathing post from 7/3.)

Once you learn how to deep breathe in a constant, cyclical manner you have begun the rhythm or energy.
To transform this energy, which is your breath into clear and positive white light. 

People suggest many different types of concentration and awareness tools:

Some people like to chant, others like to visually see the breath as white light, another method is connecting to the sensation that is your breath. Focusing on a point outside the self or within the self are still other forms of meditation. I began by counting the breath because it is hard for thoughts to enter in your mind when you are counting.

Don’t try too hard and do not get discouraged. I did not learn to meditate for about two years. It depends on your concentration and focus, your openness and effort, your intention and desire.

Start with nine deep breaths without thought once, twice or three times a day. Later you can sit, lie or walk in meditation for longer periods. Build your meditation strength and skill as you would any other learned skill or behavior.

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Ultimately, your goal is to return and join with universal conscious-ness, the divine power, a higher force that exists around you and within you. The One that helps you elevate your level of consciousness so that the “little things” that used to alter your mood or behavior are now more manageable because you have a tool to feed you that true power. Eventually, this leads to peace and contentment.

There is conscious breathing, which is the type we practice in Eastern Arts and meditation, and then there is unconscious breathing that is regulated by our brainstem and keeps us alive. Ideally, we train the unconscious breath to become a deep, “clean” conscious and then we do not have to work so hard to behold a restorative breath.

There are tremendous benefits to be gained by developing our deep breathing skills. Think of the deep breath as the nourishment for the entire self. Energizing the body with the breath helps the body become more alive. We can strengthen the body with sleep, nutritious food and breathing alone.

As we develop better breathing habits we increase our breath capacity and breathe strength. Deep breathing helps reduce stress by calming the nervous system, strengthens the circulatory system, increases lung capacity, lowers blood pressure and improves cardiovascular health. Physically, we have more energy and are more relaxed when we practice regular deep breathing. With ALL those amazing benefits, I wonder why I didn’t start deep breathing earlier!

The result of better breathing on the mind is increased concentration, focus and clarity. We will delve further into these components in the next installment of this series, which is meditation.

Spiritually, when we nourish our bodies with our breath then our bodies relax and our minds open. The result is the beautiful rays of pure, white light that shine from our souls!

In Daoist breathing, we can heal our bodies channeling the breath to send the healing white light (breath energy) to our bodies to cleanse and nourish the self, internally and externally.
It just makes sense to spend time consciously breathing every day!

Here are a few breathing exercise to try every day:

Deep Breathing

A long, slow, deep breath that draws all the way into the belly and back and then slowly releases from there. Inhale is shorter than exhale: try inhaling for three seconds and exhaling for six seconds.

This is a great way to calm the nervous system!

Challenge yourself to just nine deep breaths every day, once accomplished that task; then try nine deep breaths morning, noon and night.

Eventually, you will be able to fill in the gaps to truly energize and calm the self.

Daoist Breathing , Qi (Chi) Energy Breath                                                           

Try sitting tall in lotus position or lying on your back, corpse pose, with your hands on your belly.

In the beginning, it is much easier to identify the deep breath if you lay on your back. A good way to cure insomnia is: corpse pose while counting the deep breaths until you drift off. If you count your breaths, you can’t think and this is usually the problem!

To begin the deep inhale: breathing in through the nostrils, imagine the breath as white light drawing down into the body from the nostril all the way to the root, right underneath the belly button. (The root is 3 inches underneath your belly button, 3 inches into the body.)

Once the breath is expanded into the root; then, exhale from the root to the crown (or nostrils.) This action of root breathing expands the belly and back and then contracts it.

This is the action of expanding & contracting your energy, or chi.

Training this breath will help you identify then build the life source, which is the root power. You can use this chi energy to heal and cleanse you and others.

Breath of Fire , Kundalini Breathing

Practice short, rapid breaths that take the energy into the diaphragm and then contract the abdomen to slightly force the exhale out of your nostrils.

Repeat in short increments until you get the strength, pace and endurance to sustain breath for longer periods.

Breath of fire seds bursts of oxygen to the whole body and nourishes the blood and strengthens the organs. Feel invigorated!

Alternate Nostril Breathing , Nadi Sodhana

Place your right index onto your third eye. Begin by placing the thumb on the right nostril, inhaling up the left nostril. Cover the left nostril with your middle finger and exhale out the right nostril.

Once there, alternate between lifting and lowering your thumb and middle finger until you perform nine rounds of breathing. Then you reverse the direction of the breath work for nine more rounds.

Thefresh oxygen revitalizes the mind and nervous system, activates the pituitary and thyroid glands and evens out the two hemispheres of the brain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breath

This is my friend Kimberly Garrison. Kim is a personal trainer, fitness column writer and fitness expert in and around Philadelphia. She is pregnant; so, we decided it would be fun to make a unique, relaxing and challenging fitness routine for all new moms to be and post pregnancy moms!

We will offer our own twist on a pregnancy fitness video. This video celebrates the goddess in all females; but, is especially geared towards the ones who have taken their fertile flower and created a new seed.

The video will play out as such: I will lead us in a meditation segment. Then, engage our mind, bodies and spirits in the pregnancy yoga routine suitable for all three trimesters of a pregnancy. Finally, Kim will lead us in a high-spirited strength training segment that will use the fitness balls and hand weights to work the whole body. We feel this video will provide a nice blend of activities and have enough variation that you will stay excited as we are about it!

I thought spending some time in meditation for pregnant people can help them remain healthy and clear. Another meditation that can be useful is using the breath as a bond between new moms and their babies. Lastly, learning and practicing the birthing breath is a necessary step to prepare for in pregnancy.

Remember that when you are pregnant everything you think, feel and eat is transferred to your baby. It is ultra important to try and manage your stress, get plenty of sleep, eat the right foods and amount of liquids and try and stay supple and strong!

Breathing meditations practiced in a yoga class may become essential during labor! Additional benefits pregnant women can gain from practicing yoga are: relief from back pain, nausea and increased stamina. Yoga is a low-impact exercise which will help expectant moms to stay in shape. The exercise balls and hand weights are perfect ways to provide some support and structure to free weights. Keeping the weight low is a safe practice during pregnancy!

Our video will be ready for market in the following months. There is still a lot to do: editing, packaging, photos and original music. It’s an exciting, creative cumbersome undertaking made with heart and soul straight from us to you!

In pregnancy there a lot of considerations to become mindful before engaging in any fitness routine and talking to the doctor before you start is an ABSOLUTE MUST!!

Here’s an article Kim wrote about pregnancy and fitness:

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/kimberly_garrison/20080207_Kimberly_Garrison__Exercises_for_you_when_youre_exercising_for_two.html

Anyway, I got to thinking of a practice I enjoy a lot and thought I could share it with you because it is easy, fun, portable and builds character.

I learned walking meditation from my Master. He would have us line up on one side of a big practice space and learn the art of conscious walking. When you pick up each foot and raise it up towards your chest, pulling your toes back to open the ball of your foot; you extend that foot and place the heel on the ground. Slowly and carefully, you roll through your foot, opening your arch. Then, press your whole ball of your foot equally and with intention into the Earth to flow through your step. Then it is time to pick up the other leg and do it again.

It is best to find breath with each step. If it is possible to inhale as you raise the leg/foot flexed and exhale as you extend the leg to the Earth and flow through your step, use this breathing pattern. If that is too much try and get at least a breath in some how on each individual leg or foot.

Now, you are practicing breath control, body control and mind control because of that deep connection to what you are doing and how you are moving and breathing.

After we learned this form my Master would send us all around the room, practicing this technique in the midst of others. I used to get a giggle out of it because it was like learning how to walk all over again. It actually is a bit challenging in the beginning. Being in control and aware and making sure each part of a step happens fully and gracefully takes work!

Looking around the room first feeling goofy and then returning to my space you could begin to feel the difference this intention made in the room. Many people creating order, intention and energy together and apart was pretty cool!

So, in my life, I think of this mindful walking and practice it once in a while. You can really feel how things start slowing down and your connection to where you are and all your surroundings increases tremendously!

I have practiced this in nature outside where you can get a real sense of being connected to nature and Earth. It is so relaxing and amazing how you become one with your environment! It becomes so quiet that each sound is crystal clear and evokes deep sensations within you.

In the city, it is a totally different feeling, of course! I use this technique to change a foul mood or clear my mind.  In this situation it actually does the opposite for me. It allows me to remove my self from the connection to the business of urban dwelling and refocus on my intention of walking, moving, being in step/in sync with my inner self. I usually don’t walk quite as slow, unless I feel like having people look at me as if I was weird which is fun sometimes too!

Truly this walking meditation done at a slow, conscious pace is enough to still the mind and remove the clutter.

It is a lot easier for me to refocus after a quick dose of pure energy which is only fully developed if you are doing your breathing constantly and deeply!

Maybe you will feel inspired to try this practice in your living room, at work down a long hall, a nature walk or hoofing it through center city.

(Try it for 5 minutes, then 10, 15, 20)

 Happiness Is sort of a debate at the holidays.. Some people really love the whole idea of the festivities and celebrations while others turn their noses up to the tradition of excess, presents and planned activities.

My family doesn’t live in Philadelphia; so, I usually travel to see them at the holidays and enjoy this time of year a lot. This year I went to see my mom and dad before the holidays. My dad’s family is a big family , full of great people, I don’t get to see them much because they live in Texas which makes my visits very special. My mother now lives in sunny Florida; fortunately, my mom and I have developed a close friendship and I cherish her presence in my life.

Above and beyond my personal experience and family life, I am sharing this stuff with you as a way to explain the deeper level of happiness I experienced and noticed when visiting each of these sets of family this year. It is like a well of gratitude filled up and spilled over into my heart. This observation got me thinking about my evolution.

As I grow and learn and practice the art of compassion, love and understanding I feel my time with family and friends and walking through my life is filled with a deep-rooted sense of joy I did not always experience in the past. Now, contentment and pleasure are multi-dimensional experiences that light up my soul and travel to warm my body and fill my essence with true substance.

I think the practice of yoga that includes breathing and meditation can help people to create a way to clear out the chaos and chatter of life. When you cultivate a connection to your inner self this will provide a message to your spirit. When you follow your spirit you will be lead to happiness because you are acting in accordance to your true nature. Happiness can be found in a multitiude of people, places and things;but, true happiness must begin and end in oneself. I have found my practice the most effective and predictable way to keep my spirit balanced and light. I have been really happy lately and I am really grateful! It is not to say things don’t get me down or blue! But, if I give myself a chance to flip the switch; I know just what to do to find my happiness again: pranayama, meditation and yoga.

Here’s hoping you can find your happiness too!