Finding Balance Tools

Saturday 13th Dec 12-3 p.m.
Learn real world skills from a Yoga Master.

I’m attending a Meetup with Safe Yoga: Sun Salute Yoga Center Dana Point http://meetu.ps/2F6NSl

Brain vs Mind

Death meditation is a Yoga technique.  Bhagavan Das described in his autobiography himself being taught the fragility of life by meditating at the funeral pires in India where bodies are cremated. The mediator is covered by ash from the fires and drink from a scull cap. The actual top of a scull is their cup and dinner plate. As primitive and blunt as this appears to most it is a stark way of seeing the fragility of life and the distinction of mind from brain and body.

I think you can also achieve this when someone close to you dies and at least for me and my obsessive mind the survivor contemplates the horrible things your loved one went through in dying and what their body must be doing as the years go by.  The practice of burial in a coffin with embalming is preposterous and polluting. The body is filed with chemicals to prevent decay and stuck in a very expensive box that won't decompose. So the body never gets to return to earth or nature. It's a  superstitious practice. I'd rather return to ash. And if you contemplate for a spell what happens to the body in cremation you can't be attached either.  However instead of meditation on death I feel the same result can be achieved by contemplating on the miraculous functioning of the body we inhabit. The visceral effect of being inside a machine such as the physical and being aware of its biology for me reminds me that I am not this body and that it's biology is finite in its functioning. It then becomes an invaluable and irreplaceable commodity that one has to care for and maintain the best one can while in possession of it. Just contemplating the chemistry of the sperm and it's miraculous journey to fertilize the egg that become the body reveals the fragility of our bodies and shows us how it takes biological matter that existed before we became conscious to create that which we call 'Our Body'.   How did it become ours? Did we purchase it? No. It was a gift to us to care for and maintain while in possession of it. Or it's in possession of us. It needed an operating system to run it efficiently. The brAin the hard drive the OS is our consciousness.

This week I've been meditating on and teaching about the difference between the brain and the mind. The mind is our knowledge our self identity what we have learned in our life our family traits and heritage. Our Brain is an organ so to speak, tissue and matter controlling and regulating the functions of the body. It keeps the body in balance through chemistry. We need it to be healthy so we can enjoy a well functioning machine. It has to work optimally with the body and other organs. But it's not our ego mind which contains our thoughts learned behavior and intellect. So I've been working on staying out of my mind and focusing on the brains function and relationship with the rest of the body. 

These ideas are why eating disorders are a mental illness. The brain doesn't want the body abused for if there is no body there is no brain. Learning the physical damage caused by starvation, dehydration or over eating is eye opening and sometimes irreversible. If we eat for healthy function of the brain and body we then lose unhealthy habits and learned behavior eating that may cause the body harm. Most all religions and higher practices suggest forms of abstaining from that which in excess can cause the body harm. Intoxicant distractions that potentially numb the mind but destroy the body. Just learning the chemical reaction and destruction drinking alcohol creates in the brain and body through oxygen depletion and the demand on the liver should make one not imbibe. We know we are destroying the bodies health and reducing its function thereby causing our life to become harder and potentially shorter. The act of smoking and the biological pandemonium it creates is a great tool for the difference of the mind and the brain organ. The brain and it's functional responsibility to the body would never ask that harm be done to it. However our learned mind and it's perceived reaction to handling stress makes us go for the easy out of chemical numbing irreguardless of the physical damage it causes. So the mind separate from the body grabs the smoke,  drink or emotionally satisfying junk food. 

Therefore it becomes only logical and the only conclusion that can be drawn is to identify the source of the reaction to stress perception and practice healthful ways to deal with the reaction for the health of our temporary body. The source is always the mind. Never the brain. Of course chemical and biological imbalances through injury and illness can create damage and harm to the very functions itself. Which only makes the case for the healthy individual to choose ways to prevent injury or illness. Yoga is the management of the distractions of the mind. If one becomes aware of the constant state of flux within the mind and it's perception one can practice management of the damage the mind can inflict. Through perception of the brain as separate from the mind we can see the brains innate desire for conditions that preserve its functions and thereby the health of the body we inhabit. When the minds choices are destructive to the brain and body leading to injury or illnesses the body suffers. The hangover hurts because the brain tissue was damaged and needs to shut the other functions of the body down to heal the brain. So what can we do? Try to make better choices both in the minds perception of life's stress and it's reaction to it. Or manage the mind. In doing so we create unity in the functions of the body and harmony with the events of life. However this is not an easy undertaking. 

It is a Practice. So is Yoga. Doctors practice that way. They own a practice. They practice at health and healing. Helping bodies recover from often times self inflicted injury and illness. The body can turn on us and disease can create harm to the body and the Doctor practices helping us heal the body because it is only temporary and if ill will cease to function. We can be the Doctors of our mind and practice administering health to our brain and body within our powers. Practice managing the mind through Yoga, meditation, arts, sports, better choices. Remembering not to blame the mind when the practice becomes hard and we make poor choices is the productive way to practice. Watching or ways of behaving allows us see if we are inhabiting the mind or the body as the brain and body will never choose unhealthy options but the mind will. 
The brain wishes to function optimally and wants the body to live. The mind knows the body will perish eventually. Therefore wouldn't it only make sense to want to create the environment of health and well being if we want to inhabit a healthy body and sustain it's life? Every breath becomes a meditation. Each heartbeat contains the creation of life. The healthy skin allows sensory experience in unique ways. Life becomes a constant gift and we practice taking care of each valuable temporary and fragile moment we are in the body. We practice healthy. Keep practicing.

3 Things to Consider When Improving Your Balance

What is the best way to improve your balance? Learn easy yoga poses you can do anytime, anywhere using props such as folding chairs, a wall or blocks and straps or better yet a partner.  
Learning to balance makes you present, centered, and relaxed in difficult situations.
Balance also means more than standing on one foot. I often comment during Yoga class that we have the opportunity to create balance in every aspect of our lives. If you exercise hard one day you need to do the opposite to relax and be still in order to balance out the hard exercise you did. If you worked hard at work all day you need to find time to create stillness and quiet to balance out the hard work you did. If you run you need to sit still,  if you cycle or spin you need to lie down and relax, if you have an argument you need to create quiet time. If you go on a spending spree you need to spend some time saving money. Life is all about creating a sense of balance.
3 ways to improve your physical balance. Number one: look to the distance. Look away from you off to the horizon. If you are feeling seasick the instructions are to look at the horizon. If you are relearning how to walk the instructions are to not look down. The same applies for balancing on one foot, look to the horizon and not down at the ground. For where you look you will go. If you look to the horizon you will soar if you look to the floor down you will go.
Number 2: your eyes need to relax. If you are distracted by outside sounds, objects moving around then you will focus on the distractions that keep you balancing but if you allow your eyes to go soft focus only on yourself and pointed straight ahead balance will improve. You no longer feel the need to pay attention to distractions and are free to focus only on yourself.
Number 3: Breathe and be okay with what is. If you lose your balance breathe and be okay with where you are at now.  So often I see people fallout of balance curse or laugh louder than normal and joke about how they can't balance. If we fall out of balance the only solution is to take a deep breath and get back right away without comment or judgement. There are plenty of times later to comment but by attempting to create balance in our lives and our bodies we need to move forward right away, commenting and judgment is a backward energy.  If we fall out of balance and focus or create a production about being out of balance we stay out of balance. If we fall out of balance and breathe and get back into balance without commentary judgement or criticism our balance will return.
Happy balancing.
Troy Cox
Sun Salute Yoga

What? ?

Free Yoga

Kunda.. what?

There are all types of Yoga for all reasons and types of people. When I took my first Kundalini class I didn't know what was going in. So many different types of repetitive movement I'd never seen in my then 8 years as a Hatha Yogi and my 16 as a mediator. I was intrigued and intimidated and boy did my arms ache. But since I was at the L.A. headquarters taking a class firm the leading teacher in the country I wasn't abit to give up. I had to overcome my expectations and give it a try to see what it was about. Besides the music wad really pretty and I wasn't being asked to chataranga (Yoga pushup).
So now many years later I love the boost of energy that a Kundalini class gives me. It works a whole set of different muscles than my regular practice and keeps my mind distracted. And did I mention the music? 
Carmen Uma Shakti is classically trained in India and here in the U.S. which gives her teaching an authentic yet modern feel. To top it off she's just plain sweet and caring. Her Kundalini class is one of the easiest to follow and understand.
Whether it becomes your main practice or like me it becomes a great addition to what you already do you should definitely give it a try.
Have fun and sing along.
See you on the mat,
Troy
Http://www.sunsaluteYoga.com/