Namaste Yogis and Yoginis! During the retreat, as a preparation for a complex practice called Tonglen, we were guided through several meditations using the natural rhythm and spaciousness of the breath. The time spent in these fundamental techniques has had an immeasurable impact on my day-to-day wellbeing, inspired my teaching, and helped to set the ’slower’ tone for my fast paced summer. The best news is that conscious breathing is the perfect portable practice; you can practice anywhere, any time. You don’t need to go on a retreat or to your yoga studio, church, or special garden. Your peace is only a breath a way. And this issue of Yogalicious is packed with inspirations to help center your self in the ‘flow’ of your breath moment by moment! Practice, NOW! It will change your day, (and your days, become your life time!) PS. If you are thinking about a retreat… there are only 10 Spaces left for the Fall Foliage Retreat in the Berkshire Mountains October 16-18. Read more below and grad your spot! Visit, write, call: |
|
——
IN THIS ISSUE —— |
 |
| THE ULTIMATE CONNECTION ONE BREATH |
|
"One of my favorite ideas about our breath is: very literally, we are united with all of creation through the breath. All humanity, all of creation, shares the breath; it is neither yours nor mine. Each breath you take in was some one else's exhale. Each breath you release will be another's inhale. Each individual wave of breath, that rises and falls in and out of each person, is ultimately sourced from a singular ocean of breath, one singular source of infinite energy. And when we experience this fully, we gain a deep sense of belonging, connection, and oneness. back to top |
| MAKING THE CONNECTION |
|
In July, still high from my time with Pema, I taught a retreat at Kripalu, which was one of my best to date! It went like this…. 18 DIVERSE people arrived for the opening evening. They came from all over – from Canada to Kentucky, ages spanned from 30 to 72, occupations ranged from Artist to Government Official. Levels of experience varied from beginner to advanced. Yoga preferences ran from yin yoga (a passive relaxing practice) to Ashtanga yoga (an athletic, vigorous practice).
|
| SEEK IT |
"Peace is not won by those who fiercely guard their differences, but by those who with open minds and hearts seek out connections."-Katherine Paterson. back to top |
| A BREATH AWAY FROM DELUSION |
| Albert Einstein shares: "He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security." back to top |
| WILLIAM 101 BREATHING FOR CHANGE... TANTRUM RX |
| You may have read about my creative, brilliant, sensitive and wise(recently 6 year old) son William. I don’t often write about the days that he makes me want to pull my hair out, or his.... But of course, there are those days.
William is a spirited child who feels things deeply; his joy is super intense, his tantrums too. And, while I don’t like to admit this, I sometimes engage him at this level and slide right into his tantrum - negotiating, lecturing, or yelling back (you get the picture) instead of giving him space to let his intensity rise and fall. However, I was greatly surprised by my reaction to his eruption last week. After a 10-day vacation together, it was time for him to go back to camp. He woke up in the morning and with his first words launched into a wicked outburst of a long list of things he was going to punch if he had to go back to camp. (Mind you, he really enjoys this camp. And, I needed him to go so I could get work done, plus I wanted a break after 10 days together.) Now, instead of my habitual response - like yelling back at him that he shouldn’t think of punching things, or that he had to go, or what ever… I stayed with my breath and relaxed my body as much as I could. I kept my face open and non-judgmental (which helped me keep my mind non-judgmental too). Well, after 10 minutes of raging, William paused for a breath and said, “So do I have to go?” I responded, slowly with few words: “I love you. Yes, you have to go.” So, he continued to rant, but not as intensely and eventually he tired and distracted himself with something else in the room and simply changed the subject. I went along and engaged him on the new subject. And that was that. We didn’t even discuss it again. Normally, we would have had a really hard time all the way to camp drop off. But my non- habitual reaction, actually gave him room to calm down and switch gears. (Plus I was much happier not getting all wound up myself.) In hindsight, I think his tantrum was not so much about going to camp, as it was a way of working out separation anxiety of after being together for 10 full days. If I went head to head with him, there would have been no room for him to really relieve himself of this anxiety, and we both would have just built up more. The best news is, when I picked him up, he said, “camp was Great!” Phew. back to top |
| WAKE UP WITH THE BREATH INSTEAD OF A TANTRUM |
| Thich Nhat Hanh Wakes up with the Breath... “Twenty-Four, Brand-New Hours… Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours will bring peace, joy and happiness to others and ourselves. Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We don’t have to travel far away to enjoy the blue sky. We don’t have to leave our city or even our neighborhood to enjoy the eyes of a beautiful child. Even the air we breathe can be a source of joy. We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there for us to be alive. Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity.”
Thich Nhat Hang is a master on living in the present – and often uses the breath as a meditation tool. He will be in the USA August through October. Visit: http://www.plumvillage.org back
to top |
| EASY AS 1, 2, 3... TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE IN ONLY THREE BREATHS! |
| When practiced regularly, taking a Three Breath Pause can then be more accessible to you in times when you really need to change your habitual chain reaction. I LOVE this practice and HIGHLY recommend trying it. You can practice Three Deep Conscious Breaths any where, anytime and as often as you wish. However, when you are just starting out it can be helpful to follow these few simple steps to enhance the effectiveness of your practice: 1. Stop whatever activity you are involved in so you can give your full attention to the breath. (Over time you will be able to consciously breathe in any moment – while you are walking, eating, talking, listening, working ect, but in the beginning it’s good to stop what you’re doing so you can concentrate more easily.) 2. You can sit in chair or on the ground with your back relaxed but straight or stand with your weight distributed evenly on each foot. 3. When you are new to the practice, and if you are in a safe environment, you may close your eyes so your attention is on the breath and not on outside activities and scenery. However, eventually, you actually want to do this practice with your eyes open, aware of your environment. This way, you learn to connect to your breath, as you are moving regularly from moment to moment, engaged in the world around you. 4. Relax and take a deep, slow breath through your nose, and then breathe out again through your nose. Allow your mind to follow your breath in and back out of your body. You can focus on the tip of the nose where the breath enters and leaves or you can mentally follow the breath on its complete path in to and back out of the body. I mostly focus my attention on the movement the breath causes in my rib cage and chest. 5. After you have completely exhaled, allow another natural breath to flow in. Don’t pull or suck the breath in, it will come to you naturally. Once you have a full breath in, exhale again with out forcing or pushing the breath out. Allow all of the breath to empty from your lungs with out jumping ahead to the next inhale. Simply rest your mind on the breath and feel its affects; observing and sensing. Stay relaxed and allow your awareness of the breath to be soft, not heavy with concentration. 6. Each inhalation and exhalation is one cycle. Do three cycles and allow your mind to rest fully on the breath. You may notice that your mind wanders even after the first breath. When you notice that the mind has tripped out to your to-do-list, dissecting a past conversation, or balancing your checkbook just acknowledge that you’ve been distracted and gently guide your mind back to your breath. The attitude in which you guide yourself back to the breath is KEY. So when you find yourself tripping out, just be humored, and with the warmth you’d offer your best friend, guide your mind back to the flow of your next breath. (We tend to go where we feel welcomed, to relax and expand more when we are not bullied.) 7. After getting the hang of paying attention to Three Conscious Breaths bring the practice into your every day life as often as you can. You skip parts 1-3 and jump right to 4-6. Use this Three Breath Pause through out your day in any moment, when you are walking to your office, eating lunch, in a conversation with a friend, working on your computer, waiting on a line, stuck in traffic, when ever. You will find this practice transforming your day. And, eventually, you will find the Pause more accessible to you in those harder moments, like when you’ve just been insulted, or your child or parent is pushing your buttons, or anytime you feel your anger or irritation building. back to top |
| MEETING ME HERE |
| Thank you for meeting me here and sharing the path! Check below for retreat updates and schedule of events. As always, I love to hear your comments. Please help spread the word- share this email with friends, or have them send me an email to be added to this distribution. May you slow down and enjoy the summer wind, sun…. or rain! And, may each of us, may all beings, experience the deep calm of belonging. One Breath, Jillian back to top |
| INSIDE THE BREATH |
| "Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat. My shoulder is against yours. You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor synagogues, nor in cathedrals: Not in masses, nor kirtan, not in legs winding around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables. When you really look for me, you will see me instantly... You will find me in the tiniest house of time. Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God? He is the breath inside of breath." – the Kabir Book translated by Robert Bly |