Category Archives: Yoga
Your Presence & All It Stands For
Sandra at 71 years young.
The most important thing is our PRESENCE and all it stands for.
It doesn’t matter where we live, what degrees we posses, the car we drive or how deep our pockets are.
What matters is that we are REAL and it takes TIME to become REAL. We are in the process of becoming REAL. In real-ity— all we have to give to someone—in truth, is who we are.
By removing our emotional blockages, Yoga puts us in touch with our FEELINGS. More in touch with our feelings, we grow to value our needs and views.
Learning to TRUST in our unique needs and views we begin to loose our anxiety and fear, and we become more AUTHENTIC.
AUTHENTICITY is ENDEARING. We take our suffering seriously and this gives us our energy field or aura weight. We are REAL. We are GROUNDED. Our head in the clouds and our feet planted firmly on the ground dealing with our sh…
Yoga gives us the courage to be who we are. This creates PRESENCE and, over time, we get clearer, wiser and real.
Something Worries Me About Arthur
Arthur Boorman
Diamond Dallas Page @RealDDP lifts people, like Arthur Boorman, up and out of their pain, into flexible, strong Yoga bodies,
See Arthur right here! But something worried me about Arthur. Let me explain it to you.
Arthur now enjoys a strong and flexible body. But, what comes next?
Since his body is MORE REFINED, he needs a SUBTLER FORM of asana.
Refined asanas strengthen deeper muscles, close to the core. Muscles LOOK smooth and elongated and BALANCED. They SLIDE over each other, preventing injuries.
Bulky, defined muscles pull on bones and compress joints.
SMOOTH muscles run Prana. Prana dissolves emotional blockages and get us in touch with our feelings. We more responsive to in-depth subtleties and layers of life.
Eventually we FEEL our bodies as they were BEFORE the traumas occurred. This HEALS posttraumatic stress (PTS).
When Prana FEEDS the BODY we are more INSIGHTFUL, INTUITIVE and INSPIRATIONAL. Discovering our own CREATIVITY, we are more whole and AUTHENTIC.
My wish for Arthur CAME TRUE!
In Arthur’s own words, “I practice several forms of Yoga including, Kundalini and Yin. I think that there is no perfect form of Yoga and each one has its place.” “I spend everyday working on breathing.”
You Are Dominated by Everything You Identify With
Everything we identify with we will be dominated by. Non-attachment means we are not 
possessive of it.
We LOVE it; we WANT it; we are there for it; but WE DON’T NEED IT TO BE.
This develops a PASSIVE VOLITION. We are involved with our whole self in a non-attached way. Doing for the sake of doing it—for the fire of doing it. It is disorganized but don’t get caught in the chaos, just truck along, adjusting as you go and your AWARENESS GROWS.
Shouldertand—A Natural Tranquilizer
Sandra, 69 years young
After teaching a workshop in Vancouver, a young, wide-eyed, woman rushed up to report that after she practices Yoga she feels headachy; energy gets stuck in her head. She asked me what to do. I told her to do the Shoulderstand.
She said, “What’s the Shoulderstand?” Shocked, I got down on the floor and demonstrated the Shoulderstand. Others hadn’t heard about it either.
Upset about this I made a video on the Shoulderstand—and its’ accompanying asanas, the Plough and the Fish—so the important information on these amazing asanas wouldn’t get lost. Everything I knew about them went into these videos.
The Sanskrit name for Shoulderstand is Sarvangasana. “Sarvang” means WHOLE. Shoulderstand bathes your WHOLE body in Prana, the energy medicine of Yoga. Prana moves down, into your body (not stuck in your skull!)
Prana in your body quiets your mind. The quieter your mind, the more relaxed you feel, like after great sex. And, like great sex, Shoulderstand takes the stress out of your face, relaxing wrinkles and creating a glow.
The Shoulderstand stimulates your pineal and thyroid glands. Mystics refer to the pineal gland as the “soul” of the body as, they say, it receives the spiritual light.
The pineal gland is associated with darkness and light and is lauded for its production of melatonin, which is essential for sleeping deeply.
The Shoulderstand creates more space for your thyroid gland by relaxing tense shoulders, rigid jaws and tight throats. Then your thyroid gland functions more efficiently and you are neither too “hyper” or “hypo”.
To stimulate your thyroid and pineal glands the weight of the Shoulderstand needs to be on the occiput (base of your skull.) This creates a Yin or relaxing effect in your body.
If the weight of the Shoulderstand is not on your occiput—due to being practiced up on blocks or with blankets under the shoulders—the weight rests higher up on the skull. This is dangerous as it compresses your cervical spine and, instead of activating the pineal gland, it now activates the pituitary gland, creating an overabundance of Yang or stimulating energy.
Every asana (Yoga position) is a vehicle of reception. The Shoulderstand delivers us Tranquility. That’s why I nicknamed it the Tranquility Position.
Like a great work of art, it has survived over centuries of time. It will continue to survive because the Shoulderstand:
- Drains tension out of your shoulders
- Lengthens your cervical spine (neck) eleviating the dowager hump
- Lengthens your arms
- Creates natural anti-depressants, with no side effects
- Boosts your immune system
- Releases melatonin for deep sleep
- Balances the thyrod gland
- Releases your breath, so you naturally breathe deep and full
- Benefits menstration, peri-menopause, and virility
- Actvates your “third eye”
- opens you into your unconscious and higher mind, by activating the feminine (Yin) aspects of your nature
Menopause
Share with menopausal women everywhere.
Sandra at 71….no photo shopping….no fillers…just Yoga….
Suzanne Somers IS PEDALING NONSENSE. SHE, HERSELF, DOESN’T LOOK THAT GREAT FOR 66. (Her pictures are photo shopped and her face has fillers.)
The following is from Sandra’s soon to be released book, “YOGA FICTION:YOGA TRUTH”.
The glandular and hormonal changes that occur during PERI-MENOPAUSE send PRANA (energy) streaming through the NADIS (meridians) to break up PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL TOXINS. For many women this initiates a HEALING CRISIS, resulting in hot flashes, sweats, tingling, rashes and cold sensations (just like in asana).
A woman receptive to her INNER processes senses that along with her PHYSICAL changes, a PSYCHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION is occurring.
She may lament the passing of her youth and reproductive abilities, think about and grieve lost opportunities and wonder about her future, while she juggles work, family and aging parents.
To support herself through this PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL TRANSITION, she needs to boost her NUTRITIONAL INTAKE, get extra REST and practice YOGA.
Once the woman arrives at MENOPAUSE (in usually three to five years), her ENERGY, scattered during the hormonal adjustments of peri-menopause, RETURNS in ABUNDANCE, along with the WISDOM of where she has been, where she is and where she is going.
Stepping into her MATURE YEARS, she is a worthy and INSIGHTFUL GUIDE for the younger generation.
The use of pharmaceutical hormones, EVEN BIO-IDENTICAL ONES, truncates the DELICATE dance between her hormonal system and its ability to FINE-TUNE HER BODY in accordance with her UNIQUE physical and emotional needs.
To uproot EMOTIONAL baggage hormones are CONTINUALLY adjusting. If she relies on the WISDOM OF HER BODY to bring her through this NATURAL healing crisis, instead of outside agents, the prize is a more MATURE and WISER self.
However this takes PATIENCE and ENDURANCE, just the traits needed for the challenges most people face in their later years.
On the other hand, women, who bypass the struggle of passing through the tunnel of introspection BY TAKING OUTSIDE AGENTS THAT DISRUPT THEIR HORMONAL SYSTEMS act like debutantes, or worse yet, teenagers, well into their mature years.
Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly targeting men, too, to recreate their youthful years. YOGA, EXERCISE and a HEALTHY DIET are a far better way to go due to the long-term side effects of medications.
If medication is needed, my recommendation is THE LEAST AMOUNT OF MEDICATIONS FOR THE MOST AMOUNT OF GAIN with the LEAST AMOUNT OF SIDE-EFFECTS along with YOGA.
During my menopausal years I influenced many women to STOP taking HORMONAL-REPLACEMENT THERAPY. Now the NEGATIVE SIDE-EFFECTS are being shown. No need to be a GUINEA PIG for medical research.
MENOPAUSE IS A NATURAL PROCESS. IT MAKES US WISE.
PASS ON TO MENOPAUSAL WOMEN.
Your Power is the Pause
Sandra at 69. Pure bliss….
PAUSE-HOLD-MOVE in asana to extend endlessly. During the PAUSE breathe and sense for PRANA (the energy medicine of Yoga).
Also, sense for any images, feelings or associations. REMEMBER the ones that are important to you. PAUSE-HOLD-MOVE until you reach your edge. Then you DO MORE with LESS EFFORT and TIME.
Give your body time to REST before returning to the asana. In the meantime practice other asanas.
PAUSE-HOLD-MOVE in your life. Your POWER is in the PAUSE. This is where you CHOOSE your RESPONSE.
Your RESPONSE creates your FUTURE.
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Get Your Thinking Straight
Each time we Meditate an inner centre builds that we can return to over and over for Consultation, Support and Hope.
Sandra at 71. Meditation keeps my thinking straight.
Instead of running around the same old problems, in the same old way REAL change is initiated in our EVERYDAY LIVES.
Straight thinking sets the stage for the PEACE that comes from INTELLIGENT ACTION. The following MEDITATION PRACTICE is so simple, yet so effective at putting our thinking straight. (see previous post)
YOGA MEDITATION
Mediating between the DIFFERENT parts of ourselves.
1. Focusing on our Breath
“My Breath breathes me. I am being breathed by my Breath.”
2. Reviewing our Past Days
Notice tbe Positives and the Negatives.
PRO-ACTIVELY deal with the negatives by FIRMLY telling yourself
what you need to do about them. ACT on your insights.
Notice your POSITIVES. They were the negatives of yesterday.
Feel deeply GRATEFUL for your Positives
Be SPECIFIC about what you appreciate about yourself.
3. Gratefullness
APPRECIATE the significant others in your life.
Be SPECIFIC about what you APPRECIATE about them.
Save the negatives for the Review, where you can PRO-ACTIVELY deal with them.
4. Where are we being pulled emotionally and creatively?
EMPOWER the direction you are being taken.
Not where you want to go but where you are actually being pulled.
This is usually a challenging place.
Support yourself EMOTIONALLY in that direction.
Overtime this Meditation deeply settles your ‘rascal’ mind
Bringing dramatic self-growth
After awhile, it can be done very quickly, even while on-the-go.
5. Your ‘rascal’ mind is settled
Let yourself be pulled into the peacefulness of Samadhi.