Yoga Lesson: Let go of Resistance

Due to this being at home these past few weeks to study I haven’t been able to take a yoga class in a studio for a while, but I have been hitting the mat frequently myself in order to ease the tension in my back, working up some sweat and staying sane mentally.

So I was very excited to have scheduled a ‘real’ class at a studio for last night. It was a class at a studio I’ve never been to but taught by my favourite teacher from Leuven, so everything was sunny in Mixxedtape land.

That was until I consulted the site of the studio a couple of hours before the class and found out that the schedule had changed. I was planning to attend an ashtanga short form which had suddenly changed into a mysore class.

And my reaction to that was mentally changing into a nagging 6-year-old.
You see, I have followed mysore classes, but only the preparation ones, that were actually still led classes. I’ve never ever done the primary series on my own with no one talking me through it. Trust me, I’ve tried it at home and it didn’t work out that great: the standing poses are just fine but when I’ve gotten to the sitting poses I’m always sick of it and out of focus and NO, I do not want to do another vinyasa in between those two postures.

How mature of me 😉

Yet, I decided to just suck it up and go for it anyway, I was full of resistance, feeling really awkward and uncomfortable (especially when I was the only one there to start and other people came walking in after a few minutes while I was busy doing sun salutations).
I was struggling and out of focus, looking at other people, not really knowing what I was doing and things just felt all wrong, but I gradually let go of it, relaxed a bit more, gained some focus and then it got wonderful.

I’ve learned quite a bit about myself yesterday and the adjustments were spot on so I think this will really help me overcome these mental barriers that are holding me back when I’m doing the ashtanga series on my own.

You see, yoga is not just about the asanas, it’s about this too: overcoming mental barriers and letting go of resistance, not just on the mat but in every day life situations as well.

Namaste, M.

Yoga Marathon

So as announced before, I participated in a yoga marathon to raise money for enbloc4cancer yesterday and it was an amazing experience.

We had four classes and a 15 minute break between each class to get something to drink or go to the bathroom. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this before here, but I have a really small bladder (people who know me and are reading this will definitely snort now and say that that’s an understatement)  and I think I took 5 bathrooms breaks during that marathon, blame it on the yummy tea that got served!

First class was an easy flow class and we did take it very easy so it was a nice and relaxing way to get into it and warm up those muscles.
The easy flow class was followed by a vinyasa power class which was followed by an ashtanga short form class, and those were very challenging. I did enjoy them very much though, the temperature was just right (25°C, it was not a hot yoga class, I would die if I had to do 4 of those!).
Last class was a yin yoga class, I have to say I thought that class was the most challenging. Yin yoga is always a huge mental challenge for me, but I’ve never  experienced real discomfort in yin yoga before. Let me tell you, if you take 3 other yoga classes before taking a yin yoga class and you are having a full bladder you will feel discomfort.. and a lot of it!

I learned a lot about fuel before and during yoga as well.
For breakfast I had a bowl of oatmeal with cottage cheese and peanut butter about 2 hours before the first class. I had a carton of rice milk after my second class and a some strawberries and a handful of nuts after my third class and those did not bother me at all. I’ve heard from other people that a banana is a great way to refuel in between classes as well, the cake on the other hand (it was actually there for after the classes, but who can resist cake?) was not such a great idea.

Post yoga meal: Bulgur, cherry tomatoes, lentils, baby carrots, avocado and falafel (x3). Plus a dessert with cottage cheese and peanut butter, I had to eat that for some extra protein to restore my muscles not because I am in love with it or anything ;).

Namasta, M.

Flow: On Art Journaling

One of the ways to deal with your thoughts and emotions talked about in Flow Magazine is art journaling.

Art journaling is an alternative way of keeping a journal, unlike a ‘normal’ journal you don’t just write entries about your day but you do something creative with it: you draw, paint, paste in things… and write stuff in there as well.

An example of pages of an art journal by Elizabeth Titus

Art journaling shares a lot of characteristics with mindfulness, you pay attention to your own experiences and at the same time take some distance from them by drawing and writing about it.

Unlike mindfulness though, art journaling is not about the present but about the past. One of the pitfalls of staying mindful and creating an art journal is that you might live your day with the sole purpose of creating a nice entry about or only pay attention to the things you go through in the perspective of ‘How could I journal about this’. In Flow Magazine they compare it to tourists taking heaps and heaps of photographs of stuff only to come home, look at the photographs and realize they never even took the time to enjoy those things they photographed in real life (blogging can be like this too if you’re not careful!).

It sounds like such a great idea to document your life while at the same time boosting your creativity. Art journaling also gives you an opportunity to look at your life from a different perspective which can make it easier to process things.
Too bad I can’t draw, I’m more a cut and paste girl, but I think I might give it a try anyway and make it more like a collage.

Another way of keeping a journal without using the conventional diary form  is the ‘one line a day format’ in which you keep a journal by writing down one line a day (hence the name ;)). Apparently that one sentence can be the key to a lot of memories if you do it right.

Love, M.

Flow: On Eating Mindful

Nowadays a lot of people eat on the go or in front of the laptop/television.
We have lost connection with our body and don’t recognise cues such as hunger and satiation any more. We just eat when we want to, what we want to and sometimes we don’t even know why we’re doing it.

That’s why it is a good idea to take a step back from our eating patterns to look at the things we eat and why and how we eat them.
Mindful Eating teaches us to break certain habits we created (such as eating in front of the television, eating a bag of crisps when we watch a movie, eating chocolate when we’re sad or pmsing…). By staying mindful when we are eating we will learn to listen to and act according to the signals our bodies are sending us.

I became interested in mindfulness with regard to eating when I started practising meditation and learned that mindfulness can help us battle emotional eating.

Yes, there are endorphins in chocolate and those will help you to feel a bit better sometimes…
But wouldn’t you feel much better if you were able to savour a small piece of chocolate and satisfy those (emotional) cravings rather than still feel unsatisfied and unhappy after wolfing down an entire bar of chocolate and a packet of cookies. I know I would sign for it!

Mindfulness helps us pay attention to our body signals and hunger cues, but it also makes us able to notice the effect certain types of food have on our body.
When eating mindful, you will learn to enjoy your food more and ultimately will eat less. Paying better attention to our hunger cues will also do our digestive system good.

Here are some of the tips featured in Flow Magazine with regard to eating mindful:

1. Start small: choose one meal or snack you will try to eat mindful and built it up from here
2.Eat at a table and no eating when on the go
3. Eat with other people: you will enjoy your food more when you’re able to share it with others
4. Eat with knife and fork, make small portions
5. Quality over quantity

It’s amazing how even a stupid little thing like a cherry tomato is filled to the brim with flavours when you start to pay attention to it

Things that also worked for me:

1. Eat with your eyes close the first couple of times you try it
2. Focus on one aspect first:  one flavour, the flavours as a whole, texture, different components… when this is going okay, focus on more of these aspects
3. Try to identify the different components/flavours and how they match
4. Draw an exclamation mark or a cross on your right hand, you will see this when you start eating and it will remind you that you’re supposed to be mindful

Love, M.

Mindfulness and Flow

A couple of weeks ago we talked about meditation (I still owe you a post on  mini-meditations by the way) but in the meantime I’d also like to address a subject that’s intricately intertwined with this subject: Mindfulness.

This week I came across  ‘Flow’s Mindfulness doeboek’.
Flow is a Dutch magazine, which publishes 8 amazing issues per year.
It has an amazing vibe to it, great life lessons, interesting articles and marvellous pictures, patterns, images…
The whole magazine is just a work of art.

The cover of last week’s Flow

With lots glitter and lots of goodies: gift paper and Christmas cards, a notebook and stickers

Lots of beautiful stuff
I’m particularly fond of the photographs they use 

Anyway, they published a spin-off, a do-book full of articles about mindfulness and tips and tricks. I’ll be introducing some of those topics on the blog.

The first post will be about mindfulness and eating, because that’s something I’m still struggling with and thought it might be useful to look at a couple of tips to make this easier.

Love, M.

Miscellaneous Mondays

Today was a grey day, the first day the weather resembled more like an Autumn-almost-Winter day rather than a Spring-almost-Autumn day.

It was nice for a change though, some gloomy weather rather suits my mood.
And you don’t always need sunshine to bring some rays of light into your life!Today’s rays of light:

1. The Perfect Avocado

This avocado was the perfect base for a messy sandwich for lunch:

2. Kefir 

I was a bit disappointed by the textured. I’d read it was more like a drink, but thought everyone was just exaggerating and it was like a rather liquid yoghurt… nope, it is definitely more like a drink!
That’s where stubbornness comes in: I still ate it with a spoon and granola in it, just like any other yoghurt.
Very yummy, very tangy.

3. A 60-cent-cappuccino from the fair trade coffee machine during English literature

4. Strawberries

Nothing exclaims ‘Sunshine!’ more than strawberries.

5. The expiry date on the bag of lamb’s lettuce

That’s my birthday!
It’s all about the small things 😉

6. First Yoga Class Ever

This was great for a couple of reasons. First of all I stepped out of my comfort zone and did something unexpected.
I tried to talk myself out of it all afternoon, telling myself it rained, I didn’t know the location so probably would end up getting out at the wrong bus stop, probably would be crappy at yoga any way… but I dragged myself out of my room and went for it and I’m so glad I did.

It was such a great class and really nice people.
I love how I feel right now, like I’m made out of elastics (my legs and lower back feel amazing) but also energized, ready to conquer the world (or at least deal with it).
And they hand out free tea, definitely going back to that place!

7. Friendly bus drivers who help people find the place they need to be

8. Amazing Mascara

My mum’s aunt give this to her, she used it once and didn’t like it (she gives away a lot of make-up/perfume she buys and eventually doesn’t like… I’m not complaining though, especially since it’s all Dior and Chanel and stuff).
At first I didn’t want to use it because its smell and texture was awful, it looked like it never would get of without using a steel brush, but as soon as it was on, I fell in love.

My lashes are gigantic!
Extremely long and very,very black and people noticed so go buy this mascara right away!
Too bad it’s a really expensive brand of mascara…

Love, M.

Week Four: Loving Kindness

Love isn’t a feeling, it’s an ability

Back in the time when Charlotte was a baby, and the fanciest camera around was the one on Daphne’s cellphone…

Today we’re going to talk about the fourth and also the last week in Sharon Salzberg’s meditation program.
In this week loving kindness is the central theme.

Loving kindness is a meditation in which we pay attention to ourself and other people, with a caring mindset. Compassion plays a very important role in this meditation.

The aim is the add a sixth meditation session of 20 minutes to your weekly schedule (needless to say I never succeeded in this, feel free to try it though!).

This week’s main exercise consists of five parts.
First were going to apply loving kindness on ourselves, secondly on someone we know well and has been a real support for us, thirdly on someone we know well and who’s going through a rough time, after this on someone we don’t really know all that well and finally on someone we’re having a difficult relationship with.

Every time I do a loving kindness session my mum is in there somewhere,
she can really use some loving kindness right now, so I hope it’ll do her good

We always use the same mantra:

May I be safe, may I be happy,
may I be healthy, may I live with ease

Needless to say that if you’re ‘sending’ loving kindness to other people, you use ‘you’ instead of ‘I’

I have to admit this will make you feel very awkward at first, especially when saying this mantra for yourself, but it does get better.
I’ve also noticed that being able to ‘say’ something helps me to stay focused.

I’m still not really comfortable with this kind of meditation and I tend to stick to body and emotion scans, one exercise of loving kindness I do apply frequently is an exercise that tries to calm your inner critic: it makes you think of a ‘bad’ experience and focus on the emotional and physical feelings this experience conjures up. Instead of thinking about the situation as ‘bad’, we’re going to try to look at it as something ‘painful’, approach it with compassion and friendliness and then look at the emotional and physical reactions on this approach.

This exercise really opens your eyes, it makes you realise how harsh you can be on yourself.
It also shows you that ,although the situation stays the same, a different approach on a difficult situation can really make a difference in how you’ll feel about it.

Showing my affection for animals is obviously no problem, now I have to learn to apply this on people as well…

With the end of week four, we have come to the end of the meditation program, there are still  some posts on how to keep on meditating and mini- meditations planned though.

 

Other posts on this subject:
Real Happiness: the Power of Meditation
Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation – Introductory Post
Week One: Concentration
Week Two: Mindfulness and the Body
Week Three: Mindfulness and Emotions

Week Three: Mindfulness and Emotions

When you look into a pool of water, if the water is still, you can see the moon reflected.
If the water is agitated, the moon is fragmented and scattered.
It is harder to see the true moon.
Our minds are like that. When our minds are agitated, we cannot see the true world.

In week three of Sharon Salzberg’s meditation plan we’re yet again trying to be mindful but this time with regard to our emotions.

We’re going to use to take a closer look at our emotional state.
Again, we’re not trying to ban all the ‘bad’ emotions, we’re just going to be more aware of them and accept them for what they are, a passing state of mind.

This week’s aim is to meditate five times for 20 minutes. I honestly never meditate for more than 4 times a week, but if it fits your schedule, feel free to do so. Personally I like to meditate in the morning, just after I wake, and I only have time to spare for 4 (max 5) mornings to do this, other mornings I’m too anxious the hit the pavement (or the wood trails) as soon as I wake up.

Here’s a totally unrelated photograph, but I wanted something to break up the wordiness of the post and I do really like this photograph 😉

The exercises can be compared to a body scan, but now we’re doing an emotion scan, we’re also going to try to pay attention to the physical reactions those emotions evoke.

I had a very though week when I did week three of the program (I haven’t really been following the plan too strict: I started week three about three weeks ago and did those exercises for two weeks instead of one, so I’m already in week four as I’m writing this).
But back to week three: I started it in my first week getting back in Leuven and the change of environment and the rush and planning of my first week back at college made it really hard for me to concentrate.
I was constantly so excited and jumpy, it made meditation a living hell instead of a moment to revitalise.

I had an enormous check-list at the beginning of the academic year: classes had to be chosen, books had to be bought, arrangements had to be made, choosing a subject for bachelor paper… and as soon as I sat down and tried to relax, I couldn’t help but thinking about all the stuff I still had to do and new things for the to do list sprang to mind… not so relaxing.

But as soon as I finished some things and was able to cross things of my list, my focus came back along with the joy of meditation (thank God!).

This is a good example of how you can tell what kind of emotional state you’re in just looking at how your meditation sessions are going. This also applies on emotions that aren’t all that clear in everyday life in the first place.
Meditation thus can help you figure out your emotional state of mind. 

Next post on this subject will be about the last week of the program, loving kindness.

Other posts on this subject:
Real Happiness: the Power of Meditation
Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation – Introductory Post
Week One: Concentration
Week Two: Mindfulness and the Body

Week Two: Mindfulness and the Body

Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. 

In week two of Sharon Salzberg’s meditation plan the emphasis lies on mindfulness with regard to our own bodies.

Now that we’ve practised to concentrate in the first week, we’re going to try to use that concentration to be mindful and just live in this moment.
Doing the exercises that focus on being aware of your body will also make you more aware of it when you’re not meditating.

In this week the aim is to meditate four times for 20 minutes. The focus isn’t just on breathing any more, but also on sounds that surround us and on our own physical feelings (the emotional feelings will be dealt with in next week’s program).

The different exercises go from a total body scan to a meditation on walking (I haven’t tried that one yet, but it sounds like fun). I really liked the body scan exercise, it made me feel focused and aware of my body.
It made me feel at home in my own body.

Trying to be more aware of small, everyday things can really make a difference. One of the ‘mini-meditations’ mentioned in the book focuses on drinking tea in mindful way.

In my opinion, this kind of meditation is very useful for runners (or people who do other sports for that matter). I’ve noticed some minor soreness in my shin during meditation, because I was so in sync with and focused on my body.
On my next run I remembered feeling that soreness and indeed it was present, hidden behind all the endorphins, but there was certainly a bit of tightness in my shin. I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t practised meditation but now I was able to deal with it before it could become a real problem (I took it easy, put some ice on the tight spot after running) and a couple of days later the tightness was gone.

Mindfulness for Breakfast, anyone?

I’m trying to be more mindful in everyday life, and I’m particularly trying to eat more mindful: not just wolfing down whatever’s in front of me, but trying to really taste and enjoy it. It’s really hard though, I’ve only succeeded in this a couple of times, most of the time I only think about trying to be mindful after I’ve finished my plate, whoops 😉

Mindfulness isn’t difficult,
we just need to remember to do it.

Next post on this subject will be about the third week of this program, mindfulness and emotions.

Other posts on this subject:
Real Happiness: the Power of Meditation
Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation – Introductory Post
Week One: Concentration

Week One : Concentration

‘Breathing and the art of starting over again’

Week One of Salzberg’s meditation program focuses on concentration. Concentration is all about calming and focusing your attention, this will make you feel re-energised.

Being concentrated is going to help you to be mindful and is going to combat the ‘foggy’ feeling of everyday life with all its worries and external distractions.

Fussy everyday life

The exercises of the first week focus primarily on breathing.
In this first week the aim is to meditate 3 times a week for 20 minutes.
It sounds a bit hard, 20 minutes seem like an eternity if you put it like this  but the book also says you can start with 10 minutes and built it up from there on if you’re a bit intimidated by it.

20 minutes seemed impossible for me as well, so I started my first session with 15 minutes, as these went by surprisingly quick I decided to try 20 from then onwards.

A bit of focus puts things into another perspective 

It’s not trying to focus for as long as possible that’s important, but learning to let things go without judging them. This will show you that you have the ability to start over and it will make you less harsh on yourself.

For my own meditations I mainly focused on the first exercise the book mentions. You just have to sit (or lie) down in an easy position and focus on your breathing. Inevitably you will start to think about other stuff and at that moment you just have to realize you’re not focused any more, without connoting the action (don’t be mad, don’t feel like a failure, or if it’s a happy thought, don’t try to hold on to it) just accept you’re thinking about something else, let that thought drift away and try to focus on your breathing again.

Personally, I think it’s useful to write down some notes (I took notes in my diary), just write down which exercise you tried, for how long you did it and a few key words that show how you felt. Some of the key words I used this week : focused, worried, sleepy (I wrote down sleepy a lot ;)), contented, relaxed.

‘Success in meditation isn’t measured by what happens to us, but with how we deal with things that happen.’

Side note: I read this book in Dutch so my use of terms can be a bit vague, as can the quotes be, cause I translated them into English.

Next post on this subject will be about the second week of the program, mindfulness and the body.

Other posts on this subject:
Real Happiness: the Power of Meditation
Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation – Introductory Post