World of Wellness
Follow Me:

Sheila's Blog

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Keto Blog
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Aloe Vera
  • Yoga
    • Yoga Classes
    • Yoga Q&A
  • Meditation
    • Meditation Sessions
    • Meditation Q&A
  • Ayurveda
    • Ayurveda Program
    • Ayurveda Q&A
  • Relaxation
    • More about Relaxation
    • Relaxation Training
  • Training Programmes
    • Chopra Centre Programs
    • Retreat
    • Relaxation Training Programme
    • Ayurveda Lifestyle Programme
  • Contact Me

5 Yoga Poses and Journaling Exercises, Paired for Inner Healing

1/3/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
5 Yoga Poses and Journaling Exercises, Paired for Inner Healing - Danielle Simone Brand

​
There’s a saying in yoga—“Your issues are in your tissues.” It’s amusing shorthand, but true. It is not uncommon to be in a yoga practice only to find the unsettling feeling of anger, jealousy, or resentment arise from what seems like out of nowhere. The good news is that yoga can help you acknowledge and digest your difficult feelings—whether they arise on or off the mat.

You bump up against the body-feelings nexus any time you are in a yoga class. And there are times in life when you want is to be anywhere except where you are. It’s a natural part of the human experience. And yet, if you can learn to stay with discomfort, the next moment often yields something new and sweet—release, catharsis, or integration. What brings you to the yoga mat over and over is that wonderful feeling of completeness and peace when you stay present with whatever arises during practice, and also when you bring what is present in your daily life to the mat.

Journalling is another discipline that can help you find clarity in the mire of feeling and sensation. It can feel like talking to a good friend or therapist—only that compassionate, wise person on the other side of the dialogue is you. A journalling practice can be done in a stream-of-consciousness kind of way, or it can take the form of specific questions and answers. Do whatever works for you.
​
In the spirit of inquiry, integrating yoga and journalling can yield riches of self-understanding. Here’s a yoga and journalling sequence for acknowledging, digesting, and integrating emotions that arise for you on and off the yoga mat. This practice includes longer holds of postures (one to three minutes) because that allows space for emotions to bubble to the surface. Use a timer so that you don’t have to keep track yourself, and keep a journal and pen nearby. Consider using the old-fashioned, manual art of putting pen to paper instead of typing your notes—studies show that the mere presence of computers or smartphones alters the way you think.

Picture
1. Child’s Pose (Balasana)

Child’s Pose is the perfect, quiet starting point for this journalling and yoga practice.


  • Start on all fours in Table Pose.
  • Bring your big toes together, separate your knees, and press your hips back toward your heels.
  • Rest your forehead on the floor or your stacked hands. 
  • Exert slight pressure on your forehead toward the brow line (instead of the hairline) to ground and soothe your body and mind.
  • Stay in the pose for two minutes.
  • Regulate the length of your breath to a pattern of four counts inhalation, and eight counts exhalation.
  • Check out instructions for five different modifications for your Child’s Pose.

Journaling Exercise:
  • Ask yourself, “How does my body feel? What are the sensations in my muscles, bones, joints, and organs?” Try not to tell yourself a story about why you feel the way you do. Simply notice the sensations.
  • Next, ask, “Is my mind calm or agitated? Where are my thoughts drawn? Is there a predominating subject to my thinking, or am I pulled in many directions?” Again, try not to criticize or explain any of this to yourself. Simply observe and give permission to be as you are.
  • Last, ask, “What is my state of heart, or emotion, at this moment?” See if you can put a name to one or more feelings, even if they’re difficult ones. Remember that people can hold many—sometimes conflicting—emotions. You might register worry, hopefulness, sadness, impatience, and love all in the same moment.

​Write down your observations before transitioning to the next movements. It’s useful to record even the obvious things, such as “I’m hungry” or “My back feels achy.” This is an exercise in deep self-awareness, and that starts with the outermost layer—the body.

Picture
2. Free-Form Cat and Cow (Marjariasana and Bitilasana)

This enlivening warm-up will prepare your body to hold the postures that follow.
​​
  • Come back to Table Pose.
  • Move your spine in gentle forward and back bends (aka arching and rounding).
  • As you inhale, lift your tailbone and chin upward toward the sky and let your belly move down toward the earth.
  • As you exhale, draw your belly into your spine and round your back toward the ceiling as you tuck your chin and tailbone.
  • Alternate these two movements several times.
  • Now, let this movement evolve. You can sway your hips side to side, or do circles and barrel rolls—whatever types of gentle movements awaken and energize your spine.

Let it feel good and let your body—instead of your agenda—lead the way. All the while, stay aware of your physical, mental, and emotional landscape.

Journalling Exercise:
  • Notice the effects of these simple movements in your body.
  • Ask, “How has my body responded?
  • Do I feel awake in my body—or tired, or tight, or relaxed, or something else?
  • What kinds of thoughts are present? Have my feelings shifted from a moment ago?”

​Remember, it’s okay if sensations and feelings shift, and it’s okay if they stay the same. The purpose of this exercise isn’t to force a change, but simply to grow your awareness.

Picture
3. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

Downward Dog, a ubiquitous yoga pose, gives a luxurious stretch to the entire back of your body from legs to spine and shoulders—and is a healthy place to hold and observe. A mild inversion, it allows more blood flow to your brain.
  • From Table Pose, walk your hands a few inches forward, curl your toes under, and press up and back to Downward Dog.
  • First, pedal your heels and release any tension from your head and neck.
  • Then, straighten your arms, lengthen your torso, lift your sitting bones up and back, press your thighs toward the wall behind you. Bending your knees is perfectly ok here.
  • Encourage your heels toward the floor if that’s available to you.
  • Try to keep all of these actions in the body while breathing deeply and holding the pose for two to three minutes.
Take a short rest in Child’s Pose, and then return to your journal.

Journalling Exercise:
  • How did your body feel?
  • What kinds of thoughts were present?
  • Did you experience resistance to the long hold of the posture?
  • Did your mind wander, and if so, where did it go?
  • What kinds of feelings arose?
  • Are they the same ones from your first round of journalling a few minutes ago, or did they shift? How do you feel now that it’s done?
​

Picture
4. Pigeon Pose (Kapotasana)

According to chakra theory, the hips are the seat of the sacral, or second, chakra, and govern the emotions. In other words, you may find that your issues are most especially in your hip tissues!
  • From Table Pose, slide your right knee behind your right wrist.
  • Flex your right foot and slide the heel toward the front of your mat.
  • Slide your left thigh back and straighten the left knee, then widen the left side of the pelvis toward the left, and descend your hips and buttocks closer to the floor.
  • Walk your hands forward, rest your forehead on your forearms, on a block, or on the floor.
  • Breathe. Allow sensations to be there. Relax all that you can.

Sometimes unexpected sadness or grief can come up here, if you allow it. Tears can provide a welcome release from past hurts that you may—or may not—remember consciously. Try to allow yourself this experience without labelling feelings as good or bad, and without pushing them away. After three minutes, switch sides. Upon releasing Pigeon Pose, return to your journal.

Journalling Exercise:
  • Observe yourself in body, mind, and emotion, and record what you find, along with any insights.
  • You might ask yourself: “Where, exactly, did I feel Pigeon Pose in my body?
  • The back leg or the front leg?
  • The outer hip or the buttocks?
  • What was the quality of that sensation—deep or superficial, localised or diffuse, pleasant or intense?
  • Where are my thoughts now?
  • Is it getting easier to anchor into the present moment by linking awareness of my body, mind and heart?
  • Did my feelings change or intensify in Pigeon Pose?
  • Were any memories or past experiences activated?”

​If you find yourself upset or agitated after this practice, or if you have unaddressed trauma in your past, seek the help of a skilled therapist. There are many therapists who use a somatic, or body-centred, approach.

Picture
5. Corpse Pose (Savasana)

Also known as yogic relaxation or Savasana, this is the ultimate moment to integrate the physical-mental-emotional experience you’ve had.
  • Lie flat on your back and relax your legs to be equal distance from the mid-line.
  • Open your arms to a 45-degree angle, turning your palms up. Take the time to establish Savasanain a symmetrical way so that your Prana, or life energy, flows unimpeded through your physical and emotional bodies—bringing rest, integration, and ease.
  • Let go of thought, analysis, and interpretation, and allow your mind to float or wander if it wants to. You may find yourself blessed with an experience of pure Being.
  • Stay in Savasana for five to ten minutes.

Journalling Exercise
:
Approach this last round of journalling as a way to integrate the whole experience.
  • What are the effects of the whole practice in your body, mind, and heart?
  • How do you feel now?
  • Do you have a message for yourself moving forward, or an affirmation about what you want to create?
  • Again, trust whatever comes to you at this moment, without judging or censoring.
  • Practising awareness of body, mind and heart can lead to more freedom, if you allow it.
  • If it comes easily, you can end this practice with a prayer.

You might ask that your burdens be lessened, or for guidance and direction.
Or you might simply say, “thank you for the gifts and insights of this practice. May I have compassion, and may I see the light in all beings.”

​These poses will each connect your body and mind in a different way, which means that they all have the potential to release different thoughts and feelings. Take the extra time in these poses to heart and use your journal to further explore comes to the surface.
​

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    8 Limbs Of Yoga
    Abundance
    Acceptance
    Accountability
    Active
    Acupuncture
    Adapt
    Affirmations
    Ageing
    Aging
    Airport Stress
    Alcohol
    Alcoholism
    Alisa Paliano
    Allergies
    Altar
    Anti-inflammation Foods
    Anxiety
    Appreciation
    Archetypes
    Archetypes Of Survival
    Aromatherapy
    Around-the-table Meals
    Art
    Asparagus
    Autumn Eating
    Awareness
    Awe
    Ayurveda
    Ayurveda For Dogs
    Ayurvedic Wisdom
    Bacteria
    Balance
    BBQ Sauce
    Beliefs
    Belly Bloat
    BItterness
    Bloating
    Blueberry Smoothie
    Body And Mind
    Body Mind And Soul
    Boundaries
    Brassica
    Breakdown
    Breakthrough
    Breathing
    Broccoli Cheese Soup
    Brown Fat
    Busy World
    Butternut Squash Soup
    Cabbage
    Calm
    Calories
    Camel's Pose
    Cancer
    Cancer Prevention
    Caregiving
    Carrot Ginger Soup
    Centering Thought
    Chakra
    Chakra Clearing
    Change
    Children
    Child's Pose
    Chlorophyll
    Chocolate Coconut Smoothie
    Christmas
    Christmas Stress
    Circadian Rhythm
    Cleanse
    Coconut
    Coconut Oil
    Coffee
    Coherent Heart
    Colourful Food
    Commuting
    Compassion
    Compassion Meditation
    Confrontation
    Connection
    Consciousness
    Cooking With Tea
    Cook Nourishing Food
    Cook Your Own Food
    Cook Your Own Meals
    Cream Of Broccoli Soup
    Creativity
    Crisis
    Cultivate Spirituality
    Daily Rituals
    Dan Buettner
    Dating
    Debate
    Declutter
    Deconditioning
    Deepak Chopra
    Dehydration
    Depression
    Desire
    Detachment
    Detox
    Dharma
    Diet
    Diet Myth
    Digestion
    Digestive Distress
    Distractions
    Divine Couples
    DIY Sunscreen
    Dogs
    Dosha
    Doshas
    Doubt
    Dreams
    Eating
    Echinacea
    Eggs
    Embrace Helplessness
    Emotional Baggage
    Emotional Health
    Emotions
    Empath
    Empathy
    Equinox
    Essential Oils
    Excuses
    Exercise
    Express Love
    Extra Weight
    Eye Care
    Faith
    Fear
    Feelings
    Feeling Stuck
    Feminine Energy
    Fibre
    Fight Colds
    Financial Success
    First Aid
    Fitness
    Flow
    Flu
    Food
    Foot Massage
    Forgievness
    Forgiveness
    Free Your Energy
    Fresh Start
    Gardening
    Getting Back On Track
    Gift
    Gifting
    Gifts
    Gifts That Give Back
    Ginger Shiitake Noodle Soup
    Ginger Tea
    Giving
    Giving And Receiving
    Goal
    Goals
    God
    Good Fats
    Grace
    Gratitude
    Green Beans With Almonds
    Green Goddess Smoothie
    Green Leafy Vegetables
    Green Powder
    Greens
    Green Vegetables
    Grounding
    Growth
    Gut Health
    Gut Instinct
    Habits
    Happiness
    Healing
    Healing Effects Of Art
    Healing With Sound
    Healing Yoga And Meditation
    Health
    Healthy Eating
    Healthy Fasting
    Healthy Food While Travelling
    Healthy Genes
    Healthy Habits
    Healthy Holiday Desserts
    Healthy Iced Fruit Bars
    Healthy Options
    Heart Chakra
    Heart Disease
    Heart Intelligence
    Heavy Thoughts
    Herbs
    Herbs Hands Healing
    Holding Space
    Holiday
    Holiday Gifts
    Holiday Season
    Holiday Stressors
    Homeopathy
    Humour
    Hydration
    IBS
    Ideas
    Immune System
    Imperfection
    Infinite Possibilities
    Inflamation
    Inner Change
    Inner Child
    Inner Healing
    Inner Peace
    Inner Voice
    Inner World
    Inspiration
    Intention
    Intentions
    Intuition
    Jen Miller
    Jenn Miller
    Jill Davies
    Joint Care
    Journal
    Journalling
    Joy
    Judgement
    Juicing
    Kapha
    Karma
    Katie Pande
    Keep Warm
    Kindness
    Kitchen
    Kleshas
    Kombucha
    Leaky Gut
    Learning From Your Dog
    Life Coach
    Life Expectation
    Life Purpose
    Lifestyle
    Lissa Coffey
    Lists
    Loneliness
    Loss
    Love
    Low Lunge
    Lung Problems
    Lymphatic System
    Madisyn Taylor
    Male And Female Energy
    Manifestation
    Mantra
    Massage
    Meal Planning
    Meal Preparation
    Meaningful Connections
    Meat-free Meals
    Meditation
    Meditation Techniques For Beginners
    Mediterranean Diet
    Mental Baggage
    Mental Health
    Mental Stamina
    Mindful Dating
    Mindful Eating
    Mindfulness
    Mindset
    Minerals
    Minestrone Soup
    Mint
    Moderation
    Mood
    Morning Habits
    Morning Person
    Morning Routine
    Morning Routines
    Motivation
    Moving Forward
    Mudra
    Mullein
    Mushrooms
    Music Therapy
    Natural Allergy Relief
    Natural Remedies
    Natural Skincare
    Natural Sunscreen
    Natural Sweeteners
    Nature
    Negative Behvaiour
    Negative Thoughts
    Neighbours
    Nestmaven
    Neti Pot
    New Year
    New Year's Resolutions
    Non-resitance
    Nutrients In Greens
    Nutrition
    Oneness
    Opportunity
    Organic Food Shopping
    Osteoporosis
    Outdoors
    Outer World
    Pain
    Passion
    Patanjali
    Pattern Interrupt
    Peace
    Perfection
    Petitation
    Pets
    Phtyonutrients
    Piriformis Syndrome
    Pitta Dosha
    Planning
    Plant Foods
    Poetry
    Portion Control
    Positive Habits
    Potato Leek Soup
    Poverty
    Power
    Practical
    Prayer
    Present Moment
    Present Moment Awareness
    Presents
    Priorities
    Probiotics
    Prosperity
    Prostitute
    Protecting Your Skin
    Pure Awareness
    Purpose
    Quiet Time
    Quotes To Start The Day
    Rain
    Ray Long
    Recipes
    Reclining Heart Opener
    Regrets
    Reiki
    Relationship
    Relationships
    Relationship With Food
    Resolutions
    Resting Pose
    Retreat
    Ritual
    Rituals
    Roger Gabriel
    Routine
    Rudolf Tanzi
    Saboteur
    SAD
    Salads
    Samyama
    Seated Forward Bend
    Secret To Living Longer
    Sedentary
    Seeds
    Self-awareness
    Self Care
    Self-Care
    Self Compassion
    Self-compassion
    Self-Enlightenment
    Self Worth
    Service
    Setting Intentions
    Shakshuka
    Shatavari
    Simplify Space
    Six Tastes
    Sleep
    Slow Down
    Smile
    Smoothie
    Social Life
    Social Media
    Soma
    Soul Questions
    Soup
    Soup For Cold Days
    Soups
    Spicy Vegetable Chilli
    Spirituality
    Spiritual Success
    Spiritual Wellbeing
    Spring
    Spring Allergies
    Spring Cleaning
    Spritual Connection
    Square One
    Standing Forward Fold
    Standing Mountain Pose
    Statins
    Staying Focused
    Stress
    Success
    Suffering
    Suhas Kshirsagar
    Summer
    Summer Archetypal Energy
    Summer Smoothies
    Sun
    Super Foods
    Susan Pinker
    Susan Weed
    Susun Weed
    Sweet Potato Casserole With Caramelised Bananas
    Sympathy
    Take Charge
    Talents
    Tea
    Tea As A Spice
    Thanksgiving
    The Blues
    The Five Elements
    The Law Of Karma
    Therapeutic Breast Massage
    The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success
    The Whole Cur
    Thinking Patterns
    To Do List
    To-Do List
    Tolerance
    Tough Times
    Traditions
    Tragedy
    Transform Your Life
    Transition
    Travel
    True Self
    Trust
    Trust Your Gut
    Uncertainty
    Universe
    US Election
    Vacation
    Values
    Vata
    Vedanta
    Vegan Soup
    Vibrant
    Vibrant Health
    Victim
    Vision Board
    Visualisation
    Vitamin D
    Vitamins
    Weather The Storm
    Weight Control
    Weight Loss Myth
    Weight Management
    White Bean Chilli
    White Fat
    Who Am I
    Wholeness
    Will Power
    Wine
    Winter
    Winter Activities
    Winter Blues
    Winter Hibernation
    Winter Solstice
    Wisdom
    Wise Woman
    Woman
    Worry
    Yin And Yang
    Yoga
    Yoga Anywhere
    Yoga For Sniffles
    Yoga For Stress
    Yoga For Summer
    Yoga Sutra
    Yogic Eye Exercises

Proudly powered by Weebly