september 2012 essential wellness
DESCRIPTION
Holistic publication about wellness and spiritualityTRANSCRIPT
september 2012 • resources for inner peace, health and healing
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moving to heal8-13Yoga practice is more than just the posesBY LAURA ERDMAN-LUNTZ
16-25Learning the yoga of humilityBY ERIN HOFFMAN
28-31Authentic Movement taps into inner wellspring of life forceBY ROXANNA RUTTER
34-37Tai chi helps us realign and reconnect to our true natureBY COLIN SNOW
38-39HEALTHY RECIPESRoasted Eggplant With Tahini DressingBY SARA TENENBEIN
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BY LAURA ERDMAN-LUNTZMOVINg TO HEAL OURSELVES
OGA IS so pop-ular these days. The last official statistic on re-cord estimated that over 15 bil-
lion Americans practice, and that was four years ago. Yoga is every-where—athletic clubs, corpora-tions, yoga studios, even in the streets, with our local Guerrilla Yogis group showing up in park-ing lots. But what most people think of as yoga—the practice of doing physical poses—is but one aspect of this ancient art. In fact, yoga is an entire life philosophy, a way of being that deepens our experience of life.
THE FOUR PILLARS OF YOgA
A well-rounded yoga prac-tice is comprised of four parts. Think of it as a chair with four legs, each of the legs having equal value. The poses represent one leg, not more or less important than the other three, which are meditation, breathing, and the study of yogic philosophy (such as compassion and truthfulness, among others). Together, these four aspects of the practice work on all aspects of our being. In yogic thinking, our bodies have five layers, or koshas, each serving a different purpose for physical, mental, emotional, energetic, and spiritual.
Yoga practice is more than just the poses
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“Leadership is not just what you do. It is who you are. Your interior condition —everything from your emotional state to your breath—has an influence on your communication with others.” —Wendy Morris, MA, Wellbeing Leadership Faculty
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All of these layers need tending to best support us in our daily lives. Each can get cluttered. We can easily understand this idea with the physical body. “Clutter” shows up as physical tension, low energy or general lack of well-be-ing. When our body is fitter and healthier, we feel better and have the energy to do more. The other layers work similarly. A “well-rounded” yoga prac-tice is one in which we are sup-porting all of these layers. Just as the poses work the physical body, meditation works the men-tal body, breathing the energetic body, philosophy the emotional body, and all of them together help us to enter our spiritual body. Let’s look at each one in more detail.
POSES AFFECT PHYSICAL BODY
Poses: Poses can easily be seen as affecting the physical body. Benefits to the physical layer are often the first benefit people ex-perience when beginning a yoga practice. Tension in the shoul-ders melts away, lower backs feel more comfortable, and the relax-ation at the end, simply fabulous!
MEDITATION IMPACTS OUR MIND
Meditation: Then comes our mind. While we get a taste of the peaceful benefits yoga can give us when we are doing our asanas, it is only with a regular meditation practice that we enjoy deep men-tal cleansing and can access the superb calm that results.
BREATHINg SHAPES OUR NERVOUS SYSTEM
Breathing: A yogic breath-ing practice is called Pranayama, and involves things like slowing our breath, enjoying the pauses at the end of the inhales and ex-hales, invoking the parasympa-thetic nervous system response (“Relaxation Response”). In San-skrit, the word “prana” has many meanings. It means breath, en-ergy, and spirit simultaneously. It is through this practice that we access our energetic body, our life force.
YOgIC PHILOSOPHY INFLUENCES OUR EMOTIONS
Philosophy: The main pre-cepts for yoga are called the Yamas and the Niyamas. The
Yamas reference how we relate to the world and the Niyamas to how we relate to ourselves. There are five of each. The Yamas are: Compassion, truthfulness, gen-erosity, moderation, and abun-dance. The Niyamas are: Simplic-ity, contentment, self-discipline, self study, and surrender. Until we add the study of these tenets to our practice, we are not truly practicing yoga; we are merely doing physical exer-cise. Once we begin to incorpo-rate compassion and truthfulness to our practice and lives, as well as the other Yamas and Niyamas, and use it as a tool for self-study, we experience the deeper benefits of yoga. How we relate to our-selves, as well as to the rest of the world, changes dramatically. Our lives are significantly enhanced. One strives to implement these concepts into a yoga practice, both on the mat and in daily life to fully embrace the yogic path. This is not to say that yogis are out there spending hours tending to all five layers all the time. There are often times when one layer needs more attention than another. If our day has been
stress-filled, the physical and mental bodies need the work more than others. As I get older, I find I am less in need of asa-nas, and more in need of medi-tation and breathing. Through the deepened experience of liv-ing that yoga affords you, you will know which layers of your being need more of your time. Laura Erdman-Luntz, MA, E-RYT (500), has been a Yoga Instructor for over 20 years and a teacher of Yoga Teachers for 15 years. She teaches weekly public classes in Eden Prairie, MN and private classes at corporate loca-tions throughout the Twin Cities. Her internationally renowned Yoga Teacher Training program is taught in and around Min-nesota as well as in Mexico and Costa Rica. www.MuseLaura.com, www.MuselanYogaTeacher.com.
MOVINg TO HEAL OURSELVESYoga practice continued...
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BY ERIN HOFFMAN
O R O T H Y , WE’RE not in Kansas any-more. More ac-curately, Doro-thée, nous ne
sommes plus dans le Kansas. That was me: A city girl from the Midwest, practicing an In-dian tradition, listening to a mix of Sanskrit and French, all in a college town in Europe. Prior to my trip to Aix-en-Provence, France, I enrolled in a teacher training program at Sun Moon Yoga in Mankato, MN, and naïvely, I thought the transition abroad would be seamless. After all, I was highly experienced; I had prac-ticed both Iyengar and Baptiste Flow, and now I was a teacher
trainee. I was practically an au-thority, right? Pas vraiment…
KNOWINg ALL ABOUT FRENCH YOgA
I’d studied the French lan-guage and culture for over 16 years, including living in France for two periods of study, so it seems logical for me to assume there would be cultural differ-ences in the way the French react to and teach yoga. Maybe I was too busy soaking in the café life, but I somehow didn’t put deux and deux together there, leaving me blissfully unaware of the cul-tural blunders I was soon to en-dure. I was cocky and arrogant, and I deserved to be knocked on my derrière. My most memorable stop led
me to a place I affectionately re-fer to as The Lion’s Den, because it almost ate me whole. I emailed studios I wanted to visit, notify-ing them of my arrival and ask-ing questions about the classes, but The Lion’s Den never replied. Typical French. Why would someone bother with email when they could be enjoying fresh fro-mage with a baguette?
DON’T SMILE BUFFOON & WEAR SOCKS
Nevertheless, I showed up for class, smiled brightly at the in-structor, and introduced myself as the American woman who had emailed a week prior. Madame responded with a tight-lipped,
D
MOVINg TO HEAL OURSELVES
Learning the yoga of humility
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I put my bag on a hook in back, grabbed my Viking-pur-ple mat, and walked nervously into the studio. Not so fast! Madame stopped me, glanced down, and asked where my socks were. “I took them off, of course,” I replied, puzzled. She promptly shook her head and
told me to go put them back on. Merde! The French have a deeply-ingrained aversion to bare feet, and you’ll never see a French man or woman walk-ing in bare feet anywhere but the beach. (But then, at the beach, everything is bare. God bless Europe!) Even in a yoga
studio, the French fear of foot fungus trumps Indian tradition. “Great,” I thought, “Now she thinks I’m mentally impaired and unsanitary.” Strike two.
“Oh, we don’t read emails” and shrugged off my introduction as insignificant. I should’ve known better. What was I thinking, smiling away like an idiot? It is in my Midwestern nature to smile big and often, but to the French, smiling Midwestern-ers come off as total buffoons.
The French smile, bien sûr, but toothy grins to perfect strangers are generally an indication that a person is one crêpe short of a full-course meal. Strike one. Madame informed me that the class, labeled Tradi-tional Hatha Yoga, was entirely breath-based and went on to
explain the pranayama tech-nique used. I practically cut her off, explaining that I knew my pranayama—I was a skilled uj-jayi breather. What else could there possibly be to know? I may have forgotten the smil-ing bit, but I was sure to let her know I knew how to breathe!
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CONFUSION REIgNS
Did I know what I was get-ting myself into? Was I going to embarrass myself again? I went to stake out a spot and saw that ev-eryone had thin carpets, not sticky mats. Was this some kind of trick? I asked if I could use my own mat and was grateful that the answer was yes. Finally! Some small piece of familiarity! I pushed aside the magic-carpet-looking piece of fabric and laid out my well-worn mat. I was ready. I proceeded to spend the next hour in utter confusion. It showed on my face, and it un-doubtedly showed in my stiff and insecure body. We spent the practice going through no more than 10 postures, each with a mini-savasana afterward. What was this? Instead of trying to figure out what in the world kind of yoga it was, I should have simply accepted the obvi-ous; it was French yoga. And who was I? I wasn’t so much a Minnesotan in that room, or even an American—I was The Confused One.
ROAR LOUDER
The final pose was The Lion, which I’d never done before, and it showed. I was on my knees, sitting back on my heels, propping myself up with fists, sticking my butt back, neck up and tongue out, and mak-ing strange, audible, exhaling sounds. “I’m a lion,” I kept tell-ing myself, “I’m a lion.” Predict-ably, Madame came over to ad-just me, instructing me to open my eyes wider, stick my tongue further out, and make more noise. I didn’t feel like the King of the Jungle. I felt like a side-show freak at a circus. At the end of a restless sava-sana, I gathered up my mat, peeling my dignity off the floor with it, and went to thank Ma-dame for the learning experi-ence. “Maybe next time you should come to the beginner class.” Strike three. Yogini out. I took classes at three other studios in the same town, but it was the Lion’s Den that gave me a lesson in humility that I’ll never forget. But isn’t that
what we’re trying to do with our yoga?—let go of ego so we can get out of our heads and deeper into our bodies? Ultimately, it was an ex-perience that left me feeling as though I was part of some French experiment in culture—combine one part Minnesota, one part India, and one part France. Beat well. Add a dash of cluelessness, a pinch of em-barrassment, and a generous scoop of confusion. Bake for three days in the hot, southern sun. Let cool, and enjoy with a nice glass of rosé—but be sure to leave your socks on as you partake.
Erin Hoffman, M.A., RYT, teaches regular vinyasa classes at Inspir-ing Actions in Hudson, WI and Big River Yoga in St. Paul. She led her first “Yo-Cation” with Inspiring Actions students to Paris and the south of France this year.
To learn more about classes offered at Inspiring Actions, visit our website at http://www.inspiringactions.com/
MOVINg TO HEAL OURSELVESLearning the yoga of humility continued...
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BY ROXANNA L. RUTTER,
IN THE BEgINNINg . . .
N THE grand scheme of things, movement is integral to the evo-lutionary process. Without movement nothing manifests into
form; there is only the form-less. Thus, by its very nature, movement is about polarities (duality); the original polarity being form and formlessness. At the very beginning of a human life a woman breathes rhyth-mically, creating a movement that gives birth to a new being. With baby’s first breath, s/he sounds her/his arrival (in a mov-ing body). Before technology and the industrial age, there ex-isted, amongst indigenous peo-ples, a most beautiful practice of the expectant mother listening from within for the signature
sound of the life she carries. (Angeles Arrien, 1989). At time of the baby’s birth, she calls out her baby’s signature sound; a sound welcoming baby to Earth!
IN THE PRESENT . . .
Our cacophonous, high-tech world has whirled a great distance from such heart and soul-centered practices. The old Chinese proverb/blessing, “May you live in interesting times,” rings true for every one of us. Indeed, a juicy time to be alive! A multitude of doors are open-ing, from quantum physics to biomimicry, revealing a universe far more. Science and spiritual-ity dance together for, perhaps, the first time. This wondrous dance reconnects spirit and soul with mind and body. In the in-formation age we
know so much, move our bod-ies so little, and long for trans-formation. For many of us, we feel the impulse, cry and call from our bodies, our voices to do something different, to take action, to get moving, to go on pilgrimage, to break free from that which has shack-led and shut us up. It is my hope and passion to contrib-ute and do my part to correct this imbalance, both person-ally and through my life’s work. PRACTICE OF AUTHENTIC MOVEMENT
Authentic Movement (AM) offers a subtle and pow-erful form to tap into an inner wellspring of life
MOVINg TO HEAL OURSELVES
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Authentic Movement taps into inner wellspring of life force
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force beyond the ego. Par-ticipants discover movement patterns, deepened con-nection to self, broader range of expression through creative pursuits and relation-ships, and a growing embodied
awareness. AM is practiced in myriad ways, from therapeutic to contemplative dance to con-flict resolution with groups and communities. In its simplest form, the ground form, we have a wit-ness and a mover. The witness (teacher, therapist) sits on side of the studio, as close to a clear, compassionate presence as pos-sible. She holds the greater re-sponsibility for consciousness. The embodied presence of the witness observes without ex-pectation, with compassion and openness. The mover (student, client) moves, with eyes closed,
in response to sensations, emo-tions, memories, and/or images. Sessions are collaborative and exploratory. The studio is a sa-cred space and lab simultane-ously science and spirituality moving together.
Movement as a practice becomes its own stream of life, stretching muscles of courage into a buried past, stepping boldly into a new ground of being. In the ground form a mover often progresses through five stages of development, reflect-ing the healing process and spir-itual unfoldment. Each person’s movement journey is unique; each mover and witness collabo-ration creates its own rhythm in relationship. Briefly, the first stage is the mover’s search for movement which emerges from within, not controlled by thoughts,
ideas, or ego. Trust deepens in the second stage and through free association in movement s/he begins to recognize a reper-toire of movements in the third stage. Emergent themes of one’s psyche show up and experienc-ing the emotions leads toward freed energies and embodied transformation.
AUTHENTIC MOVEMENT AT VESSEL OF VOICES
“Movement, to be experi-enced, has to be found in the body, not put on like a dress or a coat. There is that in us which has moved from the very begin-ning. It is that which can liberate us.” —Mary Starks Whitehouse Authentic Movement is a perfect form for integrating the arts and mystical practices. Body of the Mystical Heart women’s groups are half day workshops to three day retreats where AM is uniquely augmented with sound (Voice Movement Ther-apy, Tibetan Healing Sounds), painting, drawing, and integra-tive heart meditations. Time for moving and practicing the art of
MOVINg TO HEAL OURSELVESAuthentic Movement continued...
witnessing are balanced. The art of clear, open heart-ed witnessing is key to evolu-tion of our consciousness, in-dividually and collectively. The act of witnessing takes practice; it is elegant, it is embodied and allows for an exquisite experi-ence of unity in higher states of consciousness.
Two groups are scheduled: Fall at Aslan Institute, Eagan. Limited to 11 women. Saturday afternoons, Sept. 29 and Oct. 20. http://aslaninst.com/? page_id=96 http://vesselofvoices.com/classes_mn.htm Individual sessions available by appointment; mention this arti-cle for 50% off, September only for new movers.
Roxanna l. Rutter, Ph.D. artist, licensed psychologist, and spir-ited adventurer. Founder/Direc-tor of Vessel of Voices (www.ves-selofvoices.com), located at Aslan Institute, Eagan, MN. Contact info: 763-391-2764 (vm) Vessel of Voices Genuine Trans-formation for Highly Sensitive Women, Girls http://www.vesselofvoices.com
“Every motion that springs forth from this silent life is a vibration and a creator of vibrations.” —Hazrat Inayat Khan
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BY COLIN SNOW
Tai chi helps us realign and reconnect to our true nature
MOVINg TO HEAL OURSELVES
Y FIRST m e e t i n g with tai chi took place in Britain back in
the early 80s. The instructor was Richard Farmer, Founder of the UK’s premier Tai Chi School, Rising Dragon Tai Chi. I became his assistant and after an appren-ticeship of eight years, a qualified instructor. Richard is now the Honorary President of the Tai Chi Union for Great Britain and men-tor to the teachers and students of the school I founded: Natural Step Tai Chi. While listening to and watch-ing his demonstration 30 years ago, an awareness beyond that of my familiar sense of self was touched by the grace, flow, and dignity of his movements. Often described as “medita-
tion in movement,” the playing and exploration of tai chi as both a health and spiritual practice be-came a regular daily occurrence for me. I had just embarked on a very demanding career as a primary school teacher and playing tai chi became a necessity as the means to find some solace and ground-ing at the start, middle, and end of many stressful days. Even after 30 years this pro-cess of practice, the path of tai chi, continues to resonate with me today, to gently unfold and reveal itself as a welcoming companion that provides constant nourish-ment for mind, body and spirit. In this lineage one begins tai chi by re-connecting awareness with the physical body. We enable this through an exercise that al-lows us to find a naturally aligned, postural step forwards. From this place we begin to know and ap-
preciate what it is like to take a naturally aligned step in life, liv-ing each and every day not from a place of just surviving it but from being truly alive to it and with it. And so, Natural Step School of Tai Chi (NSSTC) was estab-lished as a way to offer guidance for empowering others to realign and re-connect with the natural ebb and flow of life through the direct experience of ones own true nature. A VERY SHORT HISTORY OF TAI CHI
There are many stories and legends associated with the ori-gins of tai chi. Its philosophical root derives from Taoism which is at least 4,000 years old. One story ascribes the movements of tai chi to Bodhidharma, a monk
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famed for bringing Buddhism from India to China and found-ing the original Shaolin temple (527 AD). These movements were integrated with the cultiva-tion of non-violence and peace-ful mind by the monks. This developed into a practice of self defense which didn’t contradict their vows or disturb their med-itative state of mind. Whatever the truth is, tai chi has stood the test of time over hundreds if not thousands of years. This is a remarkable testa-ment to its continuing effective-ness as a healing art form that originates from probably many ancient wisdom traditions be-cause anything that doesn’t work usually becomes obsolete.
MANY SCHOOLS OF TAI CHI
Tai chi today tends to fall into two categories with ele-ments of each found in the other and there is plenty of variety. So like bread, it’s all bread but there are many types to choose from. Some teachers like to focus on the martial art aspects, while oth-
ers incline towards delivering the health and meditative benefits. Sometimes teaching which falls into the second category will un-derstand and offer guidance in the spiritual path of tai chi and the Four Principles. What is the purpose of a true spiritual path? To reunite with the stillness, which by direct experience of any gifted moment, is undisturbed by the movement of thought. HEALINg AND EMPOWERINg SELF
One of the distinct advan-tages of tai chi over other West-ern exercise systems is that the movements, if correctly taught, will be low impact, graceful, easy to learn, and enjoyable. As a consequence tai chi becomes very accessible to all, regardless of age, ability, or current level of health. It requires no special clothing or external equipment and once learned it empowers and informs practitioners wher-ever and whenever they choose, for the rest of their lives. We live in a culture that
would appear to provide a fix-it antidote for anything that has a negative impact on our physical or social well-being. Unfortunately this fix-it cul-ture creates a very linear and fragile way of living life be-cause it excludes any preventa-tive measures to ensure that we don’t reach that point of need-ing something to be fixed. Tai chi is preventative medi-cine at its best, while offering an amazing array of health benefits that are both physiological and psychological in nature. Con-temporary scientific and medical research is growing and conclu-sive in that many common acute and chronic ailments have been relieved and in many cases over-come through the regular prac-tice and integration of tai chi.
BECOMINg STILL THROUgH TAI CHI
Parallel to the healing pro-cess that begins in the body, the experience of practice in-vites the meditative qualities of stillness, space and presence to
guide us towards the creation of inner peace and understanding. This empowers the practitio-ner to release themselves from negative conditioning, fear and reactivity, replaced by the cre-ation of space for just being with the natural movements of life. Once inner alignment with our truth and absolute acceptance of what is becomes established, greater love for ourselves and others will become wholly inte-grated into our everyday lives. We then live life more from the heart than the mind, which is the third principle from this lineage and particular path of tai chi.
Colin Snow is the founder and principal instructor for Natural Step School of Tai Chi in Min-neapolis. For information on workshops and classes, go to www.NaturalStepTaichi.com or Colin: 612-377-6469. © NSSTC llc. All rights reserved, including the right to change or reproduce in whole or in part except by per-mission from a representative of Natural Step School of Tai Chi.
MOVINg TO HEAL OURSELVESTai Chi helps us realign continued...
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MEREDONE.COM’S HEALTHY RECIPES SARA TENENBEIN
Roasted Eggplant With Tahini DressingMe, Redone is a blog written by Sara Tenenbein, where the theme is health, happiness and a touch of humor. In this column, Sara brings us her most popular healthy yet deli-cious recipes.
had this dish at The Hummus Place last week. It was so incred-ibly delicious; I had to try to recreate it at home. Eggplant is very
sweet and delicious is summer months so this made for a per-fect Saturday lunch. The dress-ing is wonderful on chicken, fish, and salads so I made extra.
Sara Tenenbein is the author of Me, Redone and travels the world find-ing healthy recipes with her husband Steve and their dog Bea Arthur. For more recipes and other healthy content, visit www.MeRedone.com. Contact her at: [email protected] or 646.783.8363.
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INGREDIENTS:• 2 medium sized
eggplants• 2 tablespoons extra virgin
olive oil• Sea salt & pepper• 2 tablespoons chopped
parsley or basil as garnish
Preheat the oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with parch-ment paper or grease a glass baking dish with olive oil. Slice the eggplant lengthwise in thick slices (at least 1/2 inch). Season both slides of the egg-plant with salt, pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 30-40 minutes, rotating once halfway through. The egg-plant should be mushy and the edges almost crispy. Remove eggplant from oven and sprin-kle with salt. Transfer to serv-ing plates, drizzle with 1/4 of the dressing and sprinkle with parsley or basil. Add the addi-tional dressing in a side bowl and serve. Enjoy! Serves 4
DRESSING:• 4 tablespoons tahini
(well mixed)• 3 tablespoons freshly
squeezed lemon juice• 1 clove of garlic,
grated• 3 tablespoons hot
water• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt• 1/4 teaspoon cumin• 1/8 teaspoon ground
coriander
Whisk all ingredients together. Add more hot water if the consistency is too thick.
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