Breathe.
This simple act has the power to calm your mind, connect you to your body, and cultivate a sense of inner peace and clarity. While breathing is one of the most healing and centering things we can for ourselves, it is easy to forget to bring awareness to this dynamic force.
Our breath sustains life and is one of our most powerful tools for transformation. The breath cleanses physical toxins, releases stored emotions, and nourishes every cell in the body. In yoga, the breath is known as "prana" which translates to "life force", or "to fill". The Hindus believe that breath is a gateway between the mind and body. When you bring awareness to your breath, you can quiet your thoughts, and allow a soothing, healing rhythm to flow through your body. This flow of breath, this force of life, continually enters and leaves the body, connecting you to the present moment and to the world around you. It is a reminder of the constant eb and flow of life.
The average person uses only about 1/3 of their lung capacity. Shallow breathing leads to stress, anxiety, depression, inability to concentrate, poor metabolism, fatigue and a build up of toxins in the body. Bad breathing habits contribute to many manifestations of physical disease.
I recently was talking with a friend who is trying to quit smoking cigarettes. He told me that he smokes more when he is working on a stressful job. He said that smoking is a socially acceptable way to take a break, and ironically enough, breathe. While I am not a fan of smoking, I could see his point. When someone smokes a cigarette, they lengthen their inhales and exhales, quiet their mind, and momentarily remove themselves from their shallow breathing stressful day. Unfortunately, this habit not only pollutes the body, but the air around us, which makes it harder for everyone to breathe deeply. This conversation with my friend brought my attention to one of the most addictive things about smoking, which is simply the act of breathing.
I suggest removing the smoke from a "smoke break" and take a "breath break" instead. If you are a smoker or not, everyone can all benefit from this calming exercise. The next time you find yourself stressed at work, caught up in your thoughts, or overwhelmed with your day, take 5 minutes to try this simple relaxing and healing technique:
Breath Break
1. Sit or stand in a comfortable position, preferably outside, or in a quiet space.
2. Close your eyes. Rest your hands in your lap, or release them to the sides of your body.
3. Bring your awareness to your normal breath without changing or deepening it for 10 breaths. Notice how you feel in your body and where you are holding any tension. Notice any thoughts you are holding onto that are stressful.
4. Soften any places in your body where you feel tension-relax your face, your jaw, your shoulders, your hands.
5. Take 10 deep, slow breaths in and out through your nose, with a slight constriction in the back of your throat. As you inhale, fill your lungs to their full capacity, noticing the expansion you feel through your belly, your whole chest cavity, and across your shoulders. As you exhale, empty your lungs completely and notice the experience of complete absence of breath.
6. Next, take 10 deep breaths, making your exhalations twice as long as your inhalations. Breathe in through your nose for a count of 4. As you inhale, imagine your breath moving into any parts of your body where you are holding tension, or to any stressful thought you are carrying. Now, exhale through your mouth slowly for a count of 8. As you exhale, imagine your breathe releasing your physical tension, and cleansing your mind of your stressful thoughts. Let each new breathe bring in health and a sense of peace.
7. Open your eyes and take a moment to connect to your surroundings.
8. Return to your day and take with you this new sense of inner peace, calm and connection.
I recommend take a breath break at least 3 times per day. You will be amazed at how it will make you feel! You can create the change you want in your body, your mind and your spirit, one breath at a time.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Spring into Health
It is official. Spring is finally here! The sun is coming out and flowers are beginning to bloom. It is a time of new growth, fresh ideas and transformation. As we move into this new season, there is an eagerness in the air for new beginnings. But before you embrace the new, I encourage you to take time to create space and let go of anything you have been hanging onto that is holding you back.
There is meaning behind the saying “Spring Cleaning”. This time of year, people are having garage sales, washing their cars, and beginning to weed their overgrown gardens from the past few months. Now is a time for all that has collected over the winter to be cleaned out to create space for new possibilities and growth.
This philosophy applies not only to your home and garden, but to your body as well. Now is a perfect time to clean up your health, and give your body the “Spring cleaning” treatment too.
Here are my suggestions for creating space for change in your life this Spring:
Clean up your diet!
Take out the junk you don’t need this month. I suggest simplifying your diet for a few weeks and notice the difference in how you feel. Take out inflammation causing foods like sugar, wheat, dairy, soy, processed foods, alcohol and caffeine. Instead choose fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, nuts and seeds, brown rice and filtered water. This will help you create space for healing throughout your body. Clean out your kitchen before you go shopping. Create space in your refrigerator and cupboards for all the wonderful and healthy new foods you are going to eat!
You may consider doing a liver cleanse or fast. Talk to your physician about a cleansing program that would best suite your individual needs. Your liver is how your body filters toxins, and like any filter, this will become clogged over time without regular cleaning.
Eat and drink dandelion to support your liver. Dandelion has been used historically as a spring tonic, the theory being that after a winter of eating heavier, fattier foods, the body and blood were cleaned out with these greens. This plant is well known for its liver cleansing properties. It is no wonder that this time of year is when this plant begins to pop up in our gardens. This spring, take advantage of this plants health restorative benefits. Dandelion leaves go well in salad. The whole plant including the root provides the best benefit, and this can be ground into juice, and mixed with carrot or apple for example. Another alternative is to dry the root and grind it for use as a coffee alternative. You can buy roasted dandelion root tea at most health food stores.
Practice yoga to create space in your body for change.
This month, I recommend including twisting postures in your practice. These poses stimulate the digestive, circulatory and lymphatic systems. Twisting postures help to wring out the internal organs. By bringing new blood flow to the liver, pancreas and intestines, this encourages the body’s ability to remove waste products. Some specific postures include: marichyasana I and II (seated spinal twist I and II), parivrtta parsvakonasana (revolved extended side-angle), parivrtta utkatasana (revolved chair) and parivrtta trikonasana (revolved triangle).
De-clutter your mind.
By creating space in your surroundings, you will help to de-clutter your mind. Here are a few simple projects that help create a sense of ease, openness and receptivity to change and growth:
Clean out your closets. Clean out your drawers at your desk at work. Clean out your car, including your glove box and trunk. Weed your garden. Donate any old clothes or household items that you do not need. You will be amazed at how much mental clarity you can gain by these simple projects.
I encourage you to fully embrace Spring this year. Let go of anything that isn’t serving you, and invite in change, growth and new possibilities!
There is meaning behind the saying “Spring Cleaning”. This time of year, people are having garage sales, washing their cars, and beginning to weed their overgrown gardens from the past few months. Now is a time for all that has collected over the winter to be cleaned out to create space for new possibilities and growth.
This philosophy applies not only to your home and garden, but to your body as well. Now is a perfect time to clean up your health, and give your body the “Spring cleaning” treatment too.
Here are my suggestions for creating space for change in your life this Spring:
Clean up your diet!
Take out the junk you don’t need this month. I suggest simplifying your diet for a few weeks and notice the difference in how you feel. Take out inflammation causing foods like sugar, wheat, dairy, soy, processed foods, alcohol and caffeine. Instead choose fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, nuts and seeds, brown rice and filtered water. This will help you create space for healing throughout your body. Clean out your kitchen before you go shopping. Create space in your refrigerator and cupboards for all the wonderful and healthy new foods you are going to eat!
You may consider doing a liver cleanse or fast. Talk to your physician about a cleansing program that would best suite your individual needs. Your liver is how your body filters toxins, and like any filter, this will become clogged over time without regular cleaning.
Eat and drink dandelion to support your liver. Dandelion has been used historically as a spring tonic, the theory being that after a winter of eating heavier, fattier foods, the body and blood were cleaned out with these greens. This plant is well known for its liver cleansing properties. It is no wonder that this time of year is when this plant begins to pop up in our gardens. This spring, take advantage of this plants health restorative benefits. Dandelion leaves go well in salad. The whole plant including the root provides the best benefit, and this can be ground into juice, and mixed with carrot or apple for example. Another alternative is to dry the root and grind it for use as a coffee alternative. You can buy roasted dandelion root tea at most health food stores.
Practice yoga to create space in your body for change.
This month, I recommend including twisting postures in your practice. These poses stimulate the digestive, circulatory and lymphatic systems. Twisting postures help to wring out the internal organs. By bringing new blood flow to the liver, pancreas and intestines, this encourages the body’s ability to remove waste products. Some specific postures include: marichyasana I and II (seated spinal twist I and II), parivrtta parsvakonasana (revolved extended side-angle), parivrtta utkatasana (revolved chair) and parivrtta trikonasana (revolved triangle).
De-clutter your mind.
By creating space in your surroundings, you will help to de-clutter your mind. Here are a few simple projects that help create a sense of ease, openness and receptivity to change and growth:
Clean out your closets. Clean out your drawers at your desk at work. Clean out your car, including your glove box and trunk. Weed your garden. Donate any old clothes or household items that you do not need. You will be amazed at how much mental clarity you can gain by these simple projects.
I encourage you to fully embrace Spring this year. Let go of anything that isn’t serving you, and invite in change, growth and new possibilities!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Look, Listen and Lead with your Heart
Welcome! My name is Dr. Kate Smith. I am a licensed Naturopathic Physician and certified Yoga Instructor. My patients tell me they experience Yoga through my Naturopathic Medicine. My Yoga students tell me they experience Naturopathic Medicine through my Yoga classes. I have found that Naturopathic Medicine and Yoga share a common philosophy and are the perfect compliment to each other. By bringing your awareness into your body and listening to your emotions, you can begin to create change through your thoughts, with the foods you eat, the air you breath and the movement you create in your body.
This month I am dedicating awareness to the heart. While Valentines Day traditionally is a time to celebrate love, heart opening and connection, sometimes this meaning can be lost in boxes of chocolate and the illusion that this holiday is for couples only. I suggest we use this month to remember the true meaning and celebration of the heart.
Within the yoga philosophy, the chakra system has been used for centuries to bring awareness to different parts of the body and to illuminate and correct for emotions, beliefs, or physical symptoms which are out of balance. This month, I invite you to bring your awareness to your heart chakra.
The heart chakra is located in the upper chest, and the body parts associated with this chakra include the heart, lungs and thymus. The color associated with the heart is green. The sanskrit name for this chakra is Anahata.
When the heart chakra is in balance, the qualities you experience include a sense of love and compassion to yourself and others, kindness, understanding, peace, generosity, receptivity, openness, connection and a sense of trust. When the heart chakra is out of balance, you can feel a sense of isolation or abandonment, lack of self love, jealousy, co-dependency or a lack of connection and understanding toward others. You may feel a sense of lack of trust or fear of opening up to others.
Physical symptoms you may experience if your heart chakra is out of balance include heart conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease, breathing disorders such as asthma or recurrent bronchitis, immune dysfunction such as increased susceptibility to colds and flus, or autoimmune conditions.
Here are some of my favorite ways to create a sense of balance in your heart chakra.
Begin with the breath. Here is a simple breathing exercise that is great for creating a sense of heart opening and awareness to the heart chakra.
3 part breath: Imagine your lungs and entire chest cavity as a vase. Begin by exhaling out all of your breath, emptying your vase. Inhale 1/3 of your breath, expanding your low ribs and belly and pause. You can visualize your vase being 1/3 of the way full. Inhale 2/3 of your breath, expanding through the middle of your chest and rib cage and pause. Here your vase is 2/3 of the way full. Inhale 100% of your breath, lifting through your collarbones and shoulders and pause. Now your vase is completely full of your breath. Exhale out in 1/3’s, in the reverse manner. This breath focuses on whole lung and chest expansion, and begins to create a sense of heart opening.
Yoga is a wonderful way to create on your mat what you want more of in your life. Backbending poses, such as urdhva dhanurasana (wheel) and ustrasana (camel) encourage a sense of heart opening, connection and trust. For a more restorative heart pose, I recommend uttanasana (foreward fold). This encourages a sense of self reflection, and cultivates a sense of self love. This is also a great pose to practice leading with your heart. As you lean forward let your head follow your heart. Then, you can begin to apply that principle to your life off the mat.
Use your food to encourage heart health. The top tips I recommend:
Eat more green! Include more green leafy vegetables in your diet including kale, swiss chard, spinach and broccoli.
Decrease your consumption of animal products and lower your saturated fat intake.
Increase your essential fatty acids. Fish oil is known for its cardioprotective effects and cholesterol lowering abilities. Essential fatty acids can also be found in nuts and seeds like flax, pumpkin, and walnuts.
Eat foods rich in magnesium. Magnesium helps to encourage vasodilation, or opening of the blood vessels, and invites a sense of heart opening. Magnesium rich foods include green leafy vegetables, beans, fish, and nuts.
Prepare your food with love. Whether you are cooking for yourself or for your family or friends, set an intention of love into your food. Your meals will taste so much better!
Begin to create heart opening through your every day actions.
Come from a place of love. Commit to leading from a place of love in your life. Each time you make a decision, ask yourself, is this coming from a place of love?
Create positive affirmations. Write down 1 new thing you love about yourself each day for one month. You will amazed at how many things there are to love about you!
Connect to your community. Put together a pot luck with friends and neighbors. Get to know the people who work in the building next to you.
Give. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, homeless shelter, or other organization you believe in.
I encourage you to try some of these suggestions this month. Begin to notice how wonderful it feels to create a sense of openness and connection within yourself and with those around you. Let yourself look, listen and lead with your heart. In celebration of heart health, I wish you a wonderful February!
This month I am dedicating awareness to the heart. While Valentines Day traditionally is a time to celebrate love, heart opening and connection, sometimes this meaning can be lost in boxes of chocolate and the illusion that this holiday is for couples only. I suggest we use this month to remember the true meaning and celebration of the heart.
Within the yoga philosophy, the chakra system has been used for centuries to bring awareness to different parts of the body and to illuminate and correct for emotions, beliefs, or physical symptoms which are out of balance. This month, I invite you to bring your awareness to your heart chakra.
The heart chakra is located in the upper chest, and the body parts associated with this chakra include the heart, lungs and thymus. The color associated with the heart is green. The sanskrit name for this chakra is Anahata.
When the heart chakra is in balance, the qualities you experience include a sense of love and compassion to yourself and others, kindness, understanding, peace, generosity, receptivity, openness, connection and a sense of trust. When the heart chakra is out of balance, you can feel a sense of isolation or abandonment, lack of self love, jealousy, co-dependency or a lack of connection and understanding toward others. You may feel a sense of lack of trust or fear of opening up to others.
Physical symptoms you may experience if your heart chakra is out of balance include heart conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease, breathing disorders such as asthma or recurrent bronchitis, immune dysfunction such as increased susceptibility to colds and flus, or autoimmune conditions.
Here are some of my favorite ways to create a sense of balance in your heart chakra.
Begin with the breath. Here is a simple breathing exercise that is great for creating a sense of heart opening and awareness to the heart chakra.
3 part breath: Imagine your lungs and entire chest cavity as a vase. Begin by exhaling out all of your breath, emptying your vase. Inhale 1/3 of your breath, expanding your low ribs and belly and pause. You can visualize your vase being 1/3 of the way full. Inhale 2/3 of your breath, expanding through the middle of your chest and rib cage and pause. Here your vase is 2/3 of the way full. Inhale 100% of your breath, lifting through your collarbones and shoulders and pause. Now your vase is completely full of your breath. Exhale out in 1/3’s, in the reverse manner. This breath focuses on whole lung and chest expansion, and begins to create a sense of heart opening.
Yoga is a wonderful way to create on your mat what you want more of in your life. Backbending poses, such as urdhva dhanurasana (wheel) and ustrasana (camel) encourage a sense of heart opening, connection and trust. For a more restorative heart pose, I recommend uttanasana (foreward fold). This encourages a sense of self reflection, and cultivates a sense of self love. This is also a great pose to practice leading with your heart. As you lean forward let your head follow your heart. Then, you can begin to apply that principle to your life off the mat.
Use your food to encourage heart health. The top tips I recommend:
Eat more green! Include more green leafy vegetables in your diet including kale, swiss chard, spinach and broccoli.
Decrease your consumption of animal products and lower your saturated fat intake.
Increase your essential fatty acids. Fish oil is known for its cardioprotective effects and cholesterol lowering abilities. Essential fatty acids can also be found in nuts and seeds like flax, pumpkin, and walnuts.
Eat foods rich in magnesium. Magnesium helps to encourage vasodilation, or opening of the blood vessels, and invites a sense of heart opening. Magnesium rich foods include green leafy vegetables, beans, fish, and nuts.
Prepare your food with love. Whether you are cooking for yourself or for your family or friends, set an intention of love into your food. Your meals will taste so much better!
Begin to create heart opening through your every day actions.
Come from a place of love. Commit to leading from a place of love in your life. Each time you make a decision, ask yourself, is this coming from a place of love?
Create positive affirmations. Write down 1 new thing you love about yourself each day for one month. You will amazed at how many things there are to love about you!
Connect to your community. Put together a pot luck with friends and neighbors. Get to know the people who work in the building next to you.
Give. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, homeless shelter, or other organization you believe in.
I encourage you to try some of these suggestions this month. Begin to notice how wonderful it feels to create a sense of openness and connection within yourself and with those around you. Let yourself look, listen and lead with your heart. In celebration of heart health, I wish you a wonderful February!
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