I just read a very profound quote by author Cyril Connolly:
“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”
This quote definitely struck a chord with me because I feel like I have been trying to let go of all practices where the self is undermined. It’s not an easy task. It is like learning how to walk again! It is so rewarding to look at our actions through the day and meditate on whether they are genuinely coming from our truth or more from someone else’s truth that is rubbing off on us? This can be from your perception of how you think your boss wants you to act, your father wants you to act, your students want you to act, and the list goes on and on. Freedom can only come from being in touch with your SELF. Tune in and see what the depth of your heart says. Make sure that all that you do is coming from an authentic place.
I sat down at my computer yesterday at 8pm and started playing around with Garageband and recording a cover of a song that I really like right now. I kept at it and before I knew it, I was done and it was 1:30am!!! Time felt like it swooped by and when it came to finally getting some shut eye, it was impossible with my overactive mind and energy.
Now I know that when it gets to 9pm that it’s probably best to start winding down rather than wind up! It is difficult when you might get inspiration and then you are so excited to get things done. But inspiration can come at 9am if you sit down to work. Arriving at your pen and paper, at your keyboard, at your instrument, at your desk. Usually that is all it takes. Picking up your tools that help you to create and just holding them. That always leads to something….just makes sure it’s not at 11pm!
Check out an audio file from a Taste of Chicago show that I did this past July! It was so much fun and the sound was amazing! You can also download the song from my Myspace Account: http://www.myspace.com/dianarein
I went to the chiropractor today, who is also very knowledgeable with the art of yoga. She is really great and let me know that what I was dealing with is a very strained trapezoid muscle. She told me that my injury was probably due to headstand and attempting it before I was strong enough and not placing the lift in my neck while doing it. So I will be working with dolphin pose A LOT and pushing down into the ground with my elbows to create the space that my neck longs for. She adjusted my neck many many times, it was very stubborn. I may have to go back once more as I don’t feel that the pinch is completely gone on my right side. But it could also still be tender from the fact that it was like this for three weeks! So be careful with inverted poses yogis! Make sure that you always have a curve in your neck, that it is always lifted and never compressed and that you keep your shoulder blades down and back away from your ears!! Have a great day, I know I will now!
“Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears”~Marcus Aurelius
I have tried to put this quote into practice many times and I don’t feel that I gave it a fair chance. I feel that we are attached to our injuries for one reason or another. It gives us something to talk about, it keeps us in victim mode, it helps us to feel like we exist. But what if we wholeheartedly believed, without a doubt, that we are not our injuries? We are so much more. Could we chip away at the pains and hurts that we experience in our lives?
I know that Louise Hays, who wrote You Can Heal Your Life, has a comprehensive list of facets in our lives that correspond to certain illnesses or pains in our bodies. I believe I mentioned it here before on Nirvana Island. It might be good for us to revisit her list according to things that ail us and to see if we can detach from the root of the problem. We can choose to think of it as neither good or bad, but a fact of our lives, igure out the cause and forgive whatever we need to in order to let it go. It takes some work, it takes some relenting of the ego, but it will bring us more towards balance.
“GIve up all bad qualities in you, banish the ego and develop the spirit of surrender. You will then experience Bliss.”~Sri Sathya Sai BabaL
Happy Sunday everyone! So as I mentioned, I was going to talk a bit about yoga and injuries. It’s true, a lot of people can recover from injuries by doing yoga and gently easing their bodies back to a balanced state. It is also true that many people can cause their bodies injury while doing yoga. This happens either because of an uneducated instructor, a students inability to follow instruction, or a disturbed ego that cannot it’s bodies limitations. When I began doing more yoga, I came to the practice with a pre-existing condition of a ganglion cyst in my wrist. Doing yoga has been the best thing for it, especially when I learned that almost every move in yoga requires that you are constantly mindful of your shoulder blades moving away from your ears, shrug them down your back. This creates space in your neck and shoulders and puts less strain on your wrists in such poses as downdog or updog, plank and even dolphin pose. I also notice that if I skip a day of yoga, I can definitely feel that my wrist isn’t too happy about that! But, just recently, I injured my neck during a class, or as a result of a couple of classes. I can’t pinpoint it to a specific move, but I believe that it happened during headstand, plow pose, or shoulder stand. I know now that during plow pose or shoulder stand, the neck has a tendency, if forced due to the ego self egging you on, to flatten out on the floor. Well, the neck has a natural curved shape and by not observing that shape while on the ground and allowing it to completely flatten out, you are on your way to injury. Before we can attempt certain advanced moves in yoga, we really have to take time to develop strength. Yes, we may have been able to do shoulder stands when we were kids, but if a lot of time has elapsed from those flexible years, we need to gently work on our stiff muscles and accept where we are right now. Since I am experiencing this neck injury now, I am still practicing yoga, but I am altering my moves if I feel the least bit of strain. I am hoping to get in to see a chiropractor as well to get adjusted and to get a professional opinion. My situation occured because I thought that I was more flexible than my neck did and I was not aware of the intricate details about keeping the curve in your neck while in shoulder stand and plow. Lesson learned for sure! Until next time, adjust each move in yoga to fit your body. Your body is very quick to tell you when it doesn’t agree with something that you are doing. That is when being in the present moment comes in handy! Use your breath to keep you in the here and now and be good to yourself.
Hello friends! My yoga journey continues as I attend yoga classes five times a week. Some days are better than others with my wrist, but it is a test of my ego to just let it be and work around it. I don’t let it get in my way. I know that one little ganglion cyst cannot keep me away from enlightenment!! I am also preparing for my teacher training course that will be starting in October. I am reading some very interesting books in order to prepare that are included in the course work. Learning and educating myself is so much fun when I am actually interested in the materials! I remember watching Oprah where they were talking about really identifying your kids interests and nurturing them in what they really love to do! We should all be taught to love what we do and excel at it, rather than be chastised because we are not great at math or to be nudged into a career or job choice that goes completely against our true nature. Since my last yoga journal post, I have also become a vegetarian. I barely ate meat before, so now I have omitted it completely. It started when I began volunteering my time at a no kill humane society for dogs and cats. I know that we, as Americans don’t eat dogs or cats, but we are all One. Chickens deserve happiness too while on this Earth. It is not our job to determine how long any sort of animal has to live on this planet. One person can and does make a difference. I am not doing this for selfish reasons, only because I feel that it is right….for me. It does have great side effects, like helping to increase flexibility in your yoga practice because meat makes your joints stiff, aiding digestion and having a general light feeling. But saving animals and doing something good for another being on this Earth far outweighs the physical benefits. Tonight I am going to my first Kirtan! I am looking forward to it! I will write next time about injuries and a couple of main things that I have experienced that I would like to share with you that can help you to be safe in your practice. Namaste!!
Do you like ice cream but wish it could be more healthy? Have you ever heard of Kefir? It is a great yogurt drink that is packed with probiotics and great ingredients for your tummy. Just take a bottle of Kefir and pour the whole bottle into a larger piece of tupperware. Load that in your freezer and 4-6 hours later, you will have a healthy and cool treat!
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