Author: pmcrose

In restorative yoga, you take on sundry supports like pillows, blankets, and blocks to signal the body, the mind, and the emotions–to signal the amygdala or “animal brain” that there is no danger and that you are being held, safe and secure.

Imagine the great ahhhhhh! of relaxation in a most comfortable bed.

In that space of relaxation, you can begin to let go, breath easy, and restore!*

 

After a frightful or dangerous situation, where our fight-or-flight response has been triggered, we can use this knowledge to take on the support we need in restorative yoga poses to “relax” or dial back our nervous system and restore ourselves.

I live about 1 1/2 miles from the recent California wine country fires.  That’s 1 1/2 miles as the crow flies, or in this case, maybe I should say as the wind blows!

We were never evacuated, but surrounding neighborhoods were.  We were on advisory so we needed to be ready in case the winds and fire suddenly changed course.

In short, I felt much like a watchdog–on constant alert, ready for action should the fires come our way.

I want to thank my amygdala or “animal brain” for doing its job–keeping me alert and ready.  My senses were heightened–I noticed the birds and the wind like never before; they were my early warning signals of possible danger.

This keen awareness is a gift when needed to protect us.  It literally can save our lives.

So often this part of the brain gets overly triggered by everyday “stress” in our lives and can run havoc with our sense of well-being.  However, I now have a newfound respect and gratitude for its rightful place in our collective biology.  In times of need, it is there, ready to serve, and save us!

Pushing away or avoiding pain and seeking pleasure are one and the same thing.

Yoga and meditation reveal the endless folly of this paradigm of aversion and seeking.

In their stead, yoga and meditation reveal an eminently more fulfilling bliss and joy and silence which permeates all of life, soothing our restlessness and bringing us home.

Our yoga mat and meditation cushion are like portals to another world–that which tunes us to a finer vibration with which to live.

 

In the stillness of yoga and meditation, we truly feel safe:  here we are both simultaneously supported and free to explore, change, and grow… to transform!

Worry is caring with concern or being afraid that something might go wrong or something bad might happen.

Compassion is quite different.  It is caring for someone’s welfare, wanting the best for someone with no assumption of what might happen.

Worry is nervous or shaky.

Compassion is steady.

At the heart of both is love!

As we practice over time, yoga breathes life into numb areas of our body reestablishing our mind and muscle connections.  We can feel ourselves becoming more fully alive!

Ease does not mean easy.  Far from it!

It takes a lot of strength to be as gentle and elegant as a rose.

Ease is subtle and fine like a feather that helps a bird fly.

The subtlest of shifts can change the world.

Invite ease into your meditation and yoga practices and see how this subtly, and very significantly, changes everything….

Life’s secret is what it has in store for you!

Recognize that which no longer serves you as that which previously did. Respect and love its service to you. Sincerely, thank it!

Only then can you truly begin to let it go!…