Newsletter Articles

It shows how the medical field more and more recognizes the benefits of alternative health therapies, including meditation and yoga.

Meditation and Related Therapies

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that 90% of all doctor visits are related to stress.

Meditation, breath work, guided imagery and some yoga disciplines are effective ways to slow down the mind, relieve stress and bring body, mind and spirit into balance. More than 1,000 published studies have linked various types of meditation as well as contemplative yoga to changes in metabolism, blood pressure, brain activation, stress relief and pain reduction.

Angela Wilson, assistant director of the Institute for Extraordinary Living (IEL), affiliated with the Center for Yoga and Health, in Lenox, MA reports burgeoning interest in these therapies. “Doctors have become very interested in any practice that can help people slow down and calm down,” observes Wilson.

A 2007 NCCAM study found that 9.4% of U.S. adults, more than 20 million people, had practiced meditation in the previous year.

Some of the latest IEL research provides scientific proof that yoga can act as a buffer, “…helping people to face daily challenges without getting rocked off their feet or off their center,” says Wilson.

She is also excited about a recent Massachusetts General Hospital study. It showed that in just eight weeks of practicing meditation, subjects experienced physiological changes in the part of the limbic system that relates to fear, resulting in less stress and anxiety.”

“His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life." "No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer.

At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel. "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of."

And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.”

Source: www.lecontact.com

I was looking for an inspiring and uplifting story for the New Year for our Yoga friends and came across “Farmer Fleming”. Somehow it touched my heart. It shows me the magic of life, carried by compassion and love from heart to heart. To live life’s magic we have to stay in tune with the sweetness of helping each other and ourselves.

Happy New Year from

Irmi and Sal

By Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D.

We are truly living in exciting times.  The challenges and crises facing the world today are portents of imminent change in civilization. We are on the threshold of an incredible global evolutionary shift.

Albert Einstein once commented, “We cannot solve the problems with the same thinking that created them.” The planet’s hope and salvation lies in revolutionary new knowledge being revealed at the frontiers of science. New awareness is shattering old myths and rewriting the “truths” that shape the fate of human civilization.

Leading this scientific revolution is a paradigm-shattering “new” biology that demonstrates the link between mind and body. These new insights challenge established scientific theories and prompt a complete re-evaluation of life as we know it. One of the most important advances contributing to the shift in scientific thinking is revolutionary new knowledge in the field of genetics.

Since 1953, when James Watson and Francis Crick revealed the nature of the DNA double helix, science has presented the belief that an organism’s traits are encoded in DNA segments known as genes. Within ten years of this discovery, schools and the media began programming the public with the belief that genes turn “on” and “off,” and in the process, control an organism’s physical, behavioral, and emotional characteristics.

The public has learned through biology classes, the news, and personal experience with family lineages, that mutations in the genetic code can be expressed as diseases and dysfunctions that can be passed from parent to child.

In addition to perceiving that our fates are determined by our heredity, we are led to believe that inherited gene programs are fixed and as unchangeable as a computer’s read-only memory. In believing that we are victims of genetic forces outside of our control, the assumption of powerlessness becomes a one-way street to personal irresponsibility. Too many have said, “Hey, I can’t do anything about it anyway, so why should I care? Overweight? It has nothing to do with me, it runs in my family.”

While science has dramatically veered away from the notion of genetic determinism, educational institutions and the media still program the public with this archaic belief. Since we did not pick our genes — at least as far as we know, and since we cannot change our genes if we do not like our traits, we are left with the understanding that genes control our fate and that we are “victims” of heredity. This belief is especially discouraging to those born into families whose lineage express what appear to be “genetic” diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and obesity.

Forty years ago, while teaching medical students the then accepted science of genetic determinism, I was also cloning stem cells in my research on muscular dystrophy. I would isolate one stem cell and put it in a culture dish by itself. The cells divide every 10-12 hours. After two weeks, the cultures would contain thousands of cells, all genetically identical since they were derived from the same parent cell.

Cells were split into three groups and each group was inoculated into its own tissue culture dish. A different culture medium, containing a unique blend of chemical ingredients, was introduced into each of the three dishes. The culture medium represents the cell’s “environment.” In one dish the cells formed bone, in one dish the cells formed muscle, and in the third dish, the cells formed fat cells.

The big question addressed by these experiments is, “What controls the fate of the cells?”  Since the all cells were genetically identical, the answer was a no-brainer: The environment controls the fate of the cells.1

This was readily apparent when I would put cells in a less than optimal environment, the cells would get sick and the cultures would inevitably die off.  To “heal” the cells, we did not use drugs, we simply returned the cells to a supportive environment and they immediately recovered and the cultures flourished. This study demonstrates that cells adjust their genetics and biology to become structural and physiologic complements to their environment.

These pioneering experiments presaged one of today’s most important fields of research, epigenetics. As mentioned above, the public has been programmed with the conventional concept of genetic control, which literally means, “control by genes.” In the new term epigenetics, the Greek prefix epi- means “above.” Consequently, the science of epigenetic control literally means, “control above the genes!” 2, 3

We have been led to believe that genes are “self-emergent,” meaning they can control their own activity. However, genes are linear molecular “blueprints,” whose code is used to build the body’s 150,000+ different protein molecules. Proteins are the molecular building blocks that provide for the body’s physical structure and behaviors. Genes are blueprints and as such, they do not have an “on” or “off” state. To understand the significance of this awareness, ask an architect if the blueprint she is working on is “on or “off,” and observe her response.

If genes do not control their own activity, what does? The answer is found in the new science of epigenetics, the study of how of how environmental signals interface and control gene activity.  Epigenetics defines the molecular mechanisms by which environmental information in tissue culture media selects and regulates the activity of stem cell genes.

How do the findings in the stem cell cultures relate to you? To understand, we must first correct a general misperception: A human being is not a “single” living entity, because a human body is actually a community comprised of approximately fifty trillion individual cellular citizens. In truth, we are “skin-covered” Petri dishes containing trillions of cells. Our blood is the culture medium that nourishes and controls the fate of the cells inside our skin-covered “tissue culture” bodies.

Changing the composition of the blood’s chemistry has exactly the same effect on body cells that changing culture medium has on cells in plastic culture dishes. The insight leads to a very profound conclusion: The system that regulates the blood’s chemistry regulates the fate of the cells and controls an individual’s health and biology.”

The regulatory system alluded to is the brain, the organ that controls and maintains the chemical composition of the blood. In response to our experiences, the brain releases regulatory hormones, growth factors and emotional chemicals into the blood stream. The function of the neurochemicals released into the blood is to coordinate the body’s response to our perceptions and emotions. For example, when we experience the perception of love, the brain secretes oxytocin (a “love” hormone), serotonin and dopamine. When these chemicals are added to cells in culture, they enhance the growth and health of cells.

In contrast, when a person is in fear, their brain engages protection mechanisms by releasing stress hormones into the blood. Stress hormones, such as cortisol, norepinephrine and histamine, shut down cellular growth processes and inhibit the immune system in conserving energy for fight or flight responses. Consequently, chronic stress leads to both a breakdown of the body’s cellular systems and the onset of disease. Ninety percent of doctor visits in the United States are due to the effects of stress. Simply, stress kills.

Under the belief of “genetic control,” we essentially perceive of ourselves as “victims” of our heredity. However, epigenetic science completely rewrites that limiting belief, for it reveals that through our “mind,” we can control the chemistry of our blood and in the process, become “masters” of our genetic fate. Perceptions and life experiences control health. When we change the way we respond to the world — we actively change our health and fate.

Epigenetic studies reveal that gene activity is continuously being adjusted, day to day, to conform to our experiences and perceptions of life. The influence of environment is dramatically revealed in studies of identical twins. At birth and shortly thereafter, twin siblings express almost the same gene activity from their identical genomes. However, as they age, their personal individualized experiences and perceptions lead to activation of significantly different sets of genes.4 This is why one twin can die of cancer and the genetically-identical sibling live a healthy, happy life.

Researchers recently tracked low-risk prostate cancer patients who decided against conventional medical treatment and chose an alternate path. These patients engaged in three months of major lifestyle changes, including eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, moderate exercise such as walking for half an hour a day, and an hour of daily stress management methods such as meditation.

The health of the participants improved and researchers were surprised to find profound changes in the patients’ genetic activity when they compared prostate biopsies taken before and after the lifestyle changes. In three months, the men had changes in activity in about 500 genes — including 48 that were turned on and 453 genes that were turned off. The activity of disease-preventing genes increased while a number of disease-promoting genes, including those involved in prostate cancer and breast cancer, shut down.5

Lead researcher Dr. Dean Ornish reported, “It’s an exciting finding because so often people say, ’Oh, it’s all in my genes, what can I do?’ Well, it turns out you may be able to do a lot. In just three months, I can change hundreds of my genes simply by changing what I eat and how I live.”6

New science emphasizes that we actively control our genetic expression moment by moment, throughout our lives. We are learning-organisms that can incorporate life experiences into our genomes and pass them on to our offspring, who will then incorporate their life experiences into the genome to further human evolution.

The new science of epigenetics prepares us to shed the notion of “victimhood” and realize “mastery” in the unfolding of our lives. The knowledge offered by this new science can be employed to maintain health and wellbeing in the face of global upheaval.

For further information on the new biology and resources that can facilitate the changing limiting perceptions, please visit: www.brucelipton.com.

References:

1. Bruce H. Lipton, “A fine structural analysis of normal and modulated cells in myogenic culture,” Developmental Biology, 60:26-47 (1977)2. E. Watters, “DNA is Not Destiny,” Discover (November 2006): 32 3. John Cloud, Why Your DNA Isn’t Your Destiny,” TIME (January 18, 2010)4. Mario F. Fraga, et al, “Epigenetic differences arise during the lifetime of monozygotic twins,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102, no. 30 (July 26, 2005): 1064–1069.5. Dean Ornish, et al, Changes in prostate gene expression in men undergoing an intensive nutrition and lifestyle intervention, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, no. 24 (June 17, 2008): 8369–83746. Change in diet, exercise may change your genes Reuters: June 16, 2008

 Source: OM Times Magazine (http://s.tt/13t7e)

Enjoy,

Irmi and Sal

By Paula Duffy

Bill Clinton, a lover of hamburgers and all things greasy, has become a vegetarian. He has lost weight and is attempting to prevent another heart episode.

The former U.S. President sat down with Wolf Blitzer of CNN to talk about a plant-based diet. Since changing what he eats in a radical manner, Clinton has lost 24 pounds, returning to his high school weight, according to him. It wasn’t just about how heavy he was, because he got very thin after he underwent quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery six years ago.

Despite eating healthier and exercising, Clinton endured a heart episode in early 2010. It isn’t uncommon, he was told, that bypass patients continue to suffer from weakening of the arteries which restrict blood flow to the heart. Surgeons inserted two stents in the affected artery and told him that he shouldn’t be alarmed if it happened again. Knowing Bill Clinton, you’d expect that he wouldn’t be satisfied with the news that he couldn’t fix himself.

He told Wolf Blitzer that he read up on the situation, talked with his doctors and found a way to keep himself from having plaque continue to block his arteries. In his research, the former President found that since 1986, 82% of people who commit to a plant-based regime are able to keep their blood flowing without blockage.

Bill Clinton has lost weight by eating only plant-based food and hopes to avoid multiple heart episodes caused by blocked arteries. Here is a summary of what he eats now: vegetables, fruit, legumes, beans, protein shakes, fish on rare occasions, and that’s about it. He refrains from meat of any kind, whether it is beef, chicken or pork and consumes absolutely no dairy.

The eating regimen doesn’t just keep the stents at bay, it actually begins to heal the cause of the blockages themselves, says Clinton. The calcium deposits around the heart break up, which puts less strain on the weakened arteries and veins.

He began to search for answers after his daughter Chelsea asked him to lose weight prior to her wedding day. Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. of the Cleveland Clinic published a paper on his research, about alleviating the explosion in the United Stated of cardiac episodes caused by blocked arteries.

With Dr. Esselstyn’s 25 years of results on the record, Clinton took the plunge. He hopes to live to see Chelsea’s child or children and believes he can avoid the “sins of the past.” No more McDonalds for Bill. (End of article)

This article was published in the magazine “Healing our world” from the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida in their resent issue. Hippocrates Health Institute is a none- profit, tax-exempt organization whose purpose is providing guests and students with progressive information.

 If you want to receive the “Healing our World” magazine for free or want more information on alternative healing, please visit:

www.hippocratesinstitute.org

Feel inspired and hopeful to take control over your life and health.

See you in Yoga class,

Irmi and Sal

“Rest is suspension of the moving activity of the mind in a state of homogeneous balanced vibration. While resting one should reside in the belief that no new disturbing forces are coming into the subtle bodies. If rest is done with self-observation on the level of consciousness, or pure awareness, it is meditation.

For all people, with the exception of high adepts, sleep is a necessary process to regenerate the body and to reestablish equilibrium in the emotional and mental bodies. The principal of consciousness never sleeps, not even in the deepest states of dreamless sleep. By remaining in the state where consciousness is aware of itself, you can remain in full conscious awareness even while the body rests and all emotional and mental activity is at a standstill. This kind of sleep becomes a meditation.

The point in time just before falling asleep at night and just before waking up in the morning are especially valuable and significant. At these times you are still consciously self-aware, but the activities of the mind and emotions are in abeyance (suspension). Because you are conscious, but the attention is unoccupied with any particular thought or perception, you are able to receive intuitive impressions coming from the higher levels of spiritual consciousness. This state is very much akin to the states achieved in meditation.

Always be careful to make the last thought in your mind before you go to sleep a positive and spiritually uplifting one. Since this is the last thought to go into the unconscious mind before sleep, it acts as a very powerful suggestion which will continue all night in the deeper levels of mind while you sleep.

Likewise, when you awake in the morning, start your day off with a brief period of meditation and then proceed into your day’s activities, operating from the higher level of consciousness established in your meditation upon awakening. To facilitate this process, it is often good to read a few pages out of some sacred book or to go through a few either mentally or out loud.”

Excerpt from the book: Survival into the 21th century, by Viktoras Kulvinskas   

A wonderful way to go to sleep and come out of sleep is the corps pose, which is also called relaxation pose and in Indian Sanscrit it is Savasana.

Instructions for the Corps Pose

1.     Lay down on your back (this can be done right in your bed).

2.     Bring your feet about 10 in. apart and let the feet and legs flare open.

3.     Bring your arms about 6 in. away from the body with the palms facing up.

4.     Roll the head from side to side to release the neck and then center it with chin slightly tugged towards the             chest.

5.     Close your eyes.

6.     Start breathing through the nose in and out.

7.     Bring your hands just below your navel and feel the belly rising with the inhale, and falling with the exhale.

8.     Focus on this movement and observe it for a few moments to relax.

9.     In your mind say: I am a good person and god blessed me with a good life, thank you! Repeat this positive             affirmation (or anyone you would like) a few times until you feel what you say.

10. With this feeling of gratefulness, open your eyes and slowly come out of the relaxation pose to get up, or if it is         in the night, stay until you fall asleep.

      Wishing you sweet dreams and see you in class to awaken,

      Irmi and Sal

We are teaching Chair Yoga classes on a regular basis in different retirement homes in our local area. The seniors in these facilities love Chair Yoga. They look forward to us coming. We stretch, move and breathe with them. After each class we feel better. Muscle tension, stiffness, shortness of breath and many other ailments are relieved. It makes us happy and gives us a positive outlook for their day. We love teaching seniors, they are appreciative, grateful and friendly people with a lot of wisdom and life experience.

But Chair Yoga can be useful for everyone. At a desk job Chair Yoga poses can be incorporated into the work day or Yoga is also helpful during traveling. Chair Yoga can be practiced sitting in a chair on a plane, train or automobile and relieve tension from sitting too long in one place.   

Below you will find simple Chair Yoga instructions by Nicole Carlin.

The Best Chair Yoga Workout

Overview

Yoga is not just for the preternaturally flexible among us. There is an appropriate set of yoga poses for every body type and that includes seniors, paraplegics and those of us bound to an office desk every day. Practicing chair yoga requires no props other than a chair and can be performed anytime and anywhere. Chair yoga poses are gentle and focus on relaxing the muscles of the shoulders, back, chest and neck. The poses are designed to decrease tension and increase relaxation and well-being.

Neck Stretch

Sit up tall and keep your chin level as you lengthen your neck. Slowly drop the right ear towards the right shoulder, keeping the shoulder stationary. Notice the stretch along the left side of the neck. To stretch deeper, place the right hand on top of the head and press gently to the right. Repeat the stretch on the opposite side.

Shoulder Rolls

Release accumulated tension in the shoulders by practicing shoulder rolls. While inhaling, move the shoulders forward, up towards the ears and back. On the exhale, circle the shoulders down and back to the front. Synchronize the circular movement with slow, deep breathing. After 10 to 15 circles, repeat the motion in the opposite direction.

Chest Stretch

The chest stretch counteracts the forward slump that happens as you sit at your computer. To practice a chest stretch hold on to the back of the chair with both hands. Drop the chest forward slightly, puffing out the sternum and rib cage. Curl the shoulders back behind you and breathe deeply.

Seated Twist

A seated twist massages the muscles of the upper and lower back. Sit up straight in your chair with your back away from the back rest. While inhaling, lengthen the spine. While exhaling, twist the upper body to the right. Move back to center and repeat on the other side.

Side Bends

Stretch the muscles of the entire side of the torso with side bending pose. Inhale and bring both arms above your head with the palms facing each other. Grab the right wrist with the left hand. Exhale and pull the right arm up and over to the left. You should feel a stretch down the right side of the waist. Come back to center and repeat on the opposite side.

Deep Breathing

Practice deep diaphragmatic breathing while seated at your chair to calm an overactive mind. Place your hands on either side of the rib cage below the chest. Breathe deeply and slowly. Feel the rib cage expand and contract as you send the breath deep into the belly. Practice deep breathing for one to five minutes. End of article

Incorporating Chair Yoga into your day can make it a much better one than expected. Yoga always brings us back to ourselves, relieves physical, emotional and mental tension and lets us go on with our day in a more positive way.

Enjoy your summer and come back to our regular Yoga classes as soon as you can!

Irmi and Sal

and we ask them what ails them we are amazed at how many people say they have knee problems.
The knee seems to be one of the most compromised areas in the human body. Some students have knee problems to the point where they have to get knee replacements.
It keeps me thinking why and what is going on with our knees. Since I always want to get to the bottom of things I was looking for answers that also include the emotional, mental and metaphysical reasons for a problem.

I came across the article “Knee pain - The importance of flexibility” from www.bodywindow.com

which gives some interesting insights to the subject. It also gives some lead way to finding the causes and solutions for knee pain so it does not have to come to severe problems or even knee replacements.
Yoga of course is our recommendation when it comes to picking a gentle exercise program to build strong knees and bodies. Yoga can also help reverse done damage because it aligns and balances the body. Its workload than can be evenly distributed to the joints. Enjoy!

When the cartilage or the meniscus of the knee is overused or improperly used, osteoarthritis can develop. The meniscus is the cartilaginous cushion between the femur, the bone of the thigh, and the tibia, or the bone of the lower leg. Without this cushion, to provide the glide needed during the bending of the knee, the bones would rub against one another. This is the cause of arthritis knee pain.
Wear and tear on the knee cartilage, as a result of minor injuries, unrecognized overuse or repeated twisting motions of the knee causes the slow degradation and/or tearing of the meniscus. When this happens, the bones on either side of the cartilage develop small stress fractures as they rub together. Then the bones try to heal themselves, by creating more bone. Slowly, the additional bone mass creates more problems with stiffness of the knee, when it tries to bend with bone rubbing on bone. This condition is known as osteoarthritis, a common condition of ageing. Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of chronic arthritis knee pain and can lead to knee replacement.

How to Prevent a Knee Injury and/or Knee Pain

The metaphors surrounding the knee that express our inner truth, through the Body Window, are:
"On bended knee" – This represents begging for forgiveness or pleading for something. You can make it even more dramatic, if you “fall on bended knee.” Since most of us have a hard time asking for forgiveness, maybe we ought to practice kneeling down and asking for forgiveness of God/the Universe and to our closest relationships. It might be interesting to see what happens!
"Get down on your knees!" or "On your knees!" – This is a command to force someone into submission. Can you just picture a powerful figure with a switch to the back of your knees, as he/she states this command? Makes you want to shudder. Beware if you have a forceful person in your life – your tendency will be to physically lock your knees in resistance.
"Knee-jerk reaction" – This is a quick reaction you make without thinking. It comes from the reflex of the knee when you strike just below the kneecap at the patellar tendon, to illicit the knee movement or jerk. Meditate on whether you do things with a knee jerk. Is this showing flexibility or a lack of it?
"Brings me to my knees" – This describes a humbling event or one that reduces you to subservience. Humility may not be a bad thing, if it is appropriate. If you are metaphorically doing this too often, you may be:
"Weak-kneed" - An expression portraying ones lack of will power, strength or purpose. It is not a good thing to be weak-kneed all the time.
"Knee to the chest, knee to the groin, knee to the face." – These describe severe blows from the knee to the body part of choice. A devastating event. If you are the one delivering the blows, shame on you, unless it is in self-defense.
"Kick to the knees." – The knees are an easy target when using kicking as an offensive maneuver. The results are devastating because the knees are weak. Again, this metaphor is similar to one used as a way of protecting oneself or striking out against someone else.
If you have knee pain, and you felt a twinge of something when you read the above expressions, perhaps your Body Window is speaking to you through your knees?
Are you a rigid person, unwilling to change or bend to new ideas or new situations? Are you weak-kneed, bending and giving into others too easily? Do you need to strengthen your resolve and strengthen your knees? Do you strike out with your knees, metaphorically to harm others, or do you do it to protect yourself? Meditate on your truth so you can heal your knee pain.

Healing Knee Pain

May your knee pain be healed through your application of self-awareness and your understanding of your body window manifestations in your knees. May your knees bend and flex and bring to you a new understanding of the twists of fate in your life, to help you heal your body-mind-soul!”  Source: www.bodywindow.com  End of article

To prevent or reverse knee problems it is important to strengthen the legs so the knee joint is properly aligned with the femur and tibia. It is helpful to practice standing postures such as the warrior series and side angle poses. Relaxing and opening the pelvis area with hip openers such as the cobblers and hero’s pose helps to align the femur with the pelvis. In conjunction the femur than aligns with the knee joint. See, it’s all connected!
We hope you find answers and inspiration for your body’s needs to stay in the healthy/happy zone, or return to it.
Come and join us in class,
With love,
Irmi and Sal

(Please scroll down for more interesting articles)

Over the last few weeks, during the month of May, Sal and I underwent our annual Parasite cleanse and Liver/Gallbladder Flush.

Every person and animal is a carrier of parasites. We take parasites into our bodies through food, water, air, other people and animals. There is no way not to contract parasites, but there is a way to keep them under control and harmless to our health.

Every disease, from the common flu to cancer starts in the colon according to Dr. Hulda Clark and may other medical and alternative health care practitioners.

Parasites live in the digestive system where feces and undigested food provide the perfect growing grounds. Parasites not only can cause health problems like constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, fatigue, allergies, cancer and many other ailments and illnesses, but they also eat our nutrients. This leads to a feeling of constantly wanting to eat without ever feeling satisfied.

To rid the body of parasites one has several options to do so. We like to use Dr. Hulda Clark’s herbal method (please follow the link below to learn more about parasite cleansing and how to do it).

 http://www.drclark.net/en/cleanses_clean-ups/parasite_cleanses/parasite_chart.php

Dr. Clark developed over her many years of medical practice an herbal component of Black Walnut, Wormwood and Cloves that is taken over a period of time to kill over 100 different kinds of parasites and their eggs. This method is non-invasive and easily integrated into a normal, daily eating routine. In fact, you don’t have to change your eating habits. The herbs do the job. Black Walnut and Wormwood kill adult parasites, cloves kill the eggs.

Dr. Clark has written numerous books about how disease and parasitic infection is related to each other and how to treat it. She helped cure many of her patients of serious illnesses like cancer and AIDS.

After the parasite cleanse digestion is improved and the body is again able to eliminate waste and toxins properly. This elevates your energy level and you will feel a difference in your overall wellbeing. A healthy colon provides no breeding ground for unwanted invaders.  A weekly maintenance program is suggested after the initial cleanse to keep the body from getting infested again.

We like to add another cleansing program right after the parasite cleanse; the liver/gallbladder flush (please follow the link below to learn more about it and how to do it).

 http://www.healingdaily.com/liver-detoxification/liver-flush.htm  

The reason for this is to now rid the liver and gallbladder of stones. It is very important to do the liver/gallbladder flush after a parasite cleanse because parasites are also living in the gallbladder and liver, attached to gall stones (parasites like toxic waste).

If parasites are still present while doing the flush you will get nauseas and the flush won’t work.

The gallbladder/liver flush is best done over the weekend. It takes a little bit of preparation but is otherwise simple. An Epson salt/grapefruit juice mixture is taken several times over two days to open the liver and gallbladder ducts, preparing them for the stones to be flushed out. Gall stones are also stored in the liver after the gallbladder is overloaded with them. Gallstones are basically globs of cholesterol (fat) and look a lot like split peas, varying in size and color. Some of them are brownish in color others green. Some stones are still soft others harden over time and can get very painful; hence gallbladder operations are ramped. They float on top of the toilet water (fat rises). This is how they are easily distinguished from feces.

To actually flush out the stones a grapefruit juice/olive oil mixture drink is taken before bedtime. During the night this drink passes through the gallbladder and liver and then the rest of the digestive system. You will experience diarrhea in the morning which brings out the stones.

Positive health benefits and overall wellbeing is achieved by this method. It can help with chronic headaches, arthritis pain, digestive problems, back pain, low energy, allergies, fatigue and the list goes on and on. Most ailments and illnesses result from an overload of toxins in the body especially in the colon.

Gall stones accumulate in the gallbladder and liver from eating to many fatty foods, processed foods such as fast food, dairy and meat. We are all guilty of bad eating habits more or less. After you see what comes out of your system you might think twice about your diet. The great benefits of cleansing the body periodically is of course to avoid serious health problems like cancer, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc..

Prevention is better, cheaper and much easier than dealing with the consequences of a life-threatening disease.  Ancient health care systems (Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, Herbalism and others) are focusing on the prevention of disease.

“In certain parts of China, there used to be a healthcare system where you paid your doctor all the time you were well. The moment you became ill, you stopped paying and did not start paying again until you were fully restored to health.” Excerpt from: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ENERGY HEALING, by Andy Baggott

This year (we do the flush and parasite cleanse once a year) not many stones came out because we have done it several times. Our diet is very reasonable, mostly vegetarian and vegan with occasional exceptions.

After the flush we experience higher energy levels, better moods, better digestion and an overall positive outlook on life. We live without medications, shots and routine operations.

Different cleansing systems are part of a healthy life style and are practiced by many individuals in different cultures around the world for many centuries.  In November 09 our monthly newsletter discussed the Salt water flush which is also a very beneficial way to rid the body of toxins (read this newsletter on our website, www.yesyoucanyoga.com   click on newsletter articles and scroll down to Nov.09).

Regular Yoga practice also provides cleansing for the body accomplished through physical stretching and deep breathing. In the Yogic System, Hatha Yoga (physical Yoga practice) is considered a practice of Hygiene.

As we take showers and brush our teeth, Hatha Yoga cleanses the body and mind system. The nervous system, respiratory system, digestive system, muscles, bones and connective tissues are supplied with fresh oxygen and in exchange toxins are eliminated.  The mind becomes clearer and negative thinking subsides over time. We can relax more and our stress levels decrease.

The combination of Yoga practice, a healthy diet and cleansing routines is very powerful and helps to lead a happy and healthy life.

Disclaimer: The information provided here is for educational purposes only, if you have a health problem, please consult your health care provider.

Enjoy yourself and see you in class,

Irmi and Sal

(Please scroll down for more interesting articles)

“Over the last decade or so, yoga has exploded into a full-fledged fitness phenomenon. Everyone seems to know someone who practices it, and classes are popping up at community centers and gyms everywhere.

As if that wasn’t enough, there also seems to be a new type of yoga every time you turn around. There’s yoga for couples, yoga for kids, and even classes for pregnant women.

If you’ve never tried yoga for yourself, seeing all these options can set your head spinning – or at least make you a little skeptical. You’ve probably noticed how quickly trends change in the fitness arena, with whatever’s hot cooling off just as soon as you’ve bought into it.

How many of us still have a Thighmaster laying around, or a Tae-Bo tape that’s gathering dust? It’s shocking how many people have never tried yoga out of fear of getting invested in something that could be on its way out of fashion.

As anyone who’s practiced yoga can tell you, it’s not going away anytime soon. Yoga was born in India over 4,000 years ago, and has been practiced consistently ever since. Though it’s seen a surge of popularity and new formats appearing in recent years, this ancient fitness method is the furthest thing from a flash in the pan.

What’s made yoga become and stay so popular isn’t its status as a trendy exercise class, or its prestigious lineage. Yoga is a lasting part of the fitness landscape because it’s effective, and offers real health benefits to its practitioners.

Among its many bonuses, yoga builds functional strength. It’s an effective form of bodyweight exercise, which builds muscle tone using your own weight as resistance rather than weights or machines. It’s famous for its ability to improve flexibility, and also improves range of motion.

The stretching and posing moves used in yoga are effective at relieving joint pain, and releasing physical stress. Though most forms of yoga are performed slowly, the amount of muscle involvement also helps users reach or maintain a healthy weight.

There are also numerous internal health benefits to yoga. Relieving physical stresses like joint pain helps users sleep more comfortably, and spend more time in REM sleep. Improved sleep in turn improves brain functions, such as memory and concentration.

Stretching the limbs with yoga promotes circulation, which carries more blood and oxygen to extremities and internal organs. Performing any kind of exercise regularly strengthens the immune system, as sweat helps to rid the body of toxins. Some intensive forms of yoga (such as hot yoga) force the body to secrete large amounts of sweat, to shed harmful toxins as well as excess water weight.

Another reason yoga has remained so popular is its potential to improve mood. Practicing yoga helps users to clear their minds, focusing only on the movements of their bodies. Forgetting about mental and emotional stresses for a while allows people to feel refreshed, making it easier to focus and relax.

Over time, yoga also helps users to build self-confidence as their bodies begin to look and feel better. Enhancing strength and fitness produces a feeling of accomplishment, especially if you started out being inflexible or overweight.

Each of us has a slightly different reason for pursuing a fitness program. Some of us want to be healthy enough to run around with our grandchildren, while others just want to wear a small pant size. No matter what your reasoning, yoga’s got you covered. Don’t let the fact that it’s popular keep you from trying one of the world’s oldest, most beneficial and best-loved fitness methods.”

See you in class,

Irmi and Sal

(Please scroll down for more interesting articles)

For a while now I am feeling the need to talk about menopause.

I reached this time in my life, experiencing menopausal symptoms, especially mood swings, hot flashes, irregular menstruation and stomach problems for a few years now.

The following thoughts are experiences I go through right now and/or have been going through over the last three to four years.

The Yoga classes taught by my husband and I are mostly attended by women reaching their middle age or beyond. I am one of them and probably go through some of the same or similar physical, mental, and emotional issues. There is a need to share.

I am not a medical doctor and the information I provide comes from my own experience. (If you have a health problem, please visit your doctor.)

Some woman experience fewer periods, I have the tendency to longer and/or more frequent menstrual flow. When my hormone levels fluctuate my stomach is affected too, and in turn affects my entire digestive system.

Yoga is improving all of our lives, men or women, but menopause can be a challenging time in a women’s life. Yoga can help meet these challenges.

Menopause is basically the time in a woman’s life when the hormone levels of estrogen and progesterone start to decrease and fluctuate. The ovaries reduce, and eventually stop its production. The childbearing years of a woman come to an end and no more eggs are needed for reproduction.

Menopause is a time of change, not a disease. Woman need to understand the difference. Medical attention is not necessarily needed if we understand what is happening to us in those years and how we can help ourselves (if you are uncertain about your health condition, please visit your doctor).

Uncomfortable symptoms arising from menopause can be met with alternative methods of exercise such as Yoga practice and a natural diet with some supplements such as progesterone derived from plants (progesterone is often overlooked by medical doctors; more emphasis is put on raising estrogen levels, hence hormone replacement therapy). When progesterone is up through plant derived progesterone, estrogen also is balanced out and no additional estrogen through medication is needed.

Over the period of spiking and crashing hormone levels I learned to find out what my body needed. As I mentioned earlier my stomach was also affected and when it hurt and my digestive system suffered from bloating and burning sensations in the lower abdomen, I was in misery for weeks. Once I had lost my hormonal balance it took weeks to get back to normal. I am very careful now to stay in-balance.

With a regular Yoga routine, a healthy diet and natural progesterone creme I stay in my comfort zone. I also take in more calcium through green vegetables, whole grains, such as brown rice, whole wheat bread, millet, etc., molasses, sea weed, and anything containing high levels of easily absorbable minerals without side effects, giving the body important building blocks to stay strong and healthy.

Yoga postures balance the hormone glands.

The article below, excerpted from the book:

THE SIVANANDA COMPANION TO YOGA,

explains clearly the benefits of Yoga postures, breathing-, relaxation-, and meditation techniques on our health and well-being. My personal experience practicing the following postures especially during my menstrual cycle and in times of discomfort is very positive. I feel supported and enabled through Yoga.

 “The ovaries are the main source of estrogen, the hormone which regulates the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, breast feeding and female physical appearance and sexuality. The backward bends and forward bends massage the womb and ovaries, the cobra being especially helpful for painful or irregular menstruation.

 The pituitary gland, also called the master gland regulates secretions in all the other endocrine glands, and is directly controlled by the brain. The headstand is the most beneficial posture here.

Thyroid and parathyroid control the basal metabolic rate, growth, and cell processes. The parathyroid controls calcium and phosphate in the blood (important during menopause, where more calcium is needed for bone health, ( (my input) ). Both are massaged by the shoulder stand and plow.

The secretions of the pancreatic and adrenal glands are essential to life, affecting your emotional and physical state strongly. The pancreas produces insulin to regulate blood sugar, and is helped by the peacock and blank pose which massages it and the spleen. The adrenal cortex produces sex hormones, and the vital corticosteroids; the medulla secrets adrenaline to arouse the body to “fight and flight”. Yoga postures, relaxation and meditation stabilize stress reactions and adrenaline secretion.

The testes are the main source of the male sex hormone, testosterone. Regular practice of Yoga postures, breathing, and relaxation keeps the male hormones in balance and helps to relieve sexual problems and disorders.”  End of excerpt

A nutritious diet filled with naturally occurring minerals, such as calcium and iron helps to feed the body properly.

Mindful Yoga exercise balances the system and helps tremendously to stay fit, flexible, and mentally and physically strong at any time of your life but especially in the years of menopause and beyond.

Come and see us in class, benefit from Yoga practice, and learn to sail your own boat!

Irmi  (and Sal)

Please scroll down for more interesting newsletters

With every Yoga practice we have the opportunity to release old tension.

With simple stretches we can expand the physical body, breath deeper and relax our mind.

Spring is just around the corner and this time of year offers a great opportunity to begin something new, something worth our while, something worth our health.

“Like the symbol of the spiral, which begins its expansion at the point of maximum contraction, the journey to wholeness is one in which the destination is reached when we return to the self.

Yoga postures represent just such a return to the self. As we bend forward or twist our bodies we curve our awareness back towards ourselves, looking inward to find the stillness of our center. As we learn to surrender and release into that return, we can recuperate from the outward actions of our busy everyday lives, taking solace in self-reflection. This movement inward is like the coiling action of the spring, and is the necessary precursor to our uncoiling into our next project, activity, or growth spurt. Without it, we can become like elastic that has been stretched too far: unable to return to its original length, it loses its ability to hold things together.

Many people begin practicing Hatha Yoga with the belief that one elusive day, when they have touched their toes or achieved a particularly difficult posture, they will be doing “good” or “real” Yoga. In truth it matters little how far you can bend forward or how far you can twist, for wherever the point of resistance lies is the place where you have the greatest opportunity to learn and to change. This opportunity exists whether you have the flexibility of an ironing board or the mobility of a gymnast. If you can meet yourself just where you are rather than always looking beyond yourself to where you'd like to be, this attitude of steadfastness and compassion will bring the fruits of yoga to you.

On a physical level the forward bends release all the muscles along the back of the body – the notorious hamstrings and the spinal muscles. The action of bending forward is restful for the heart and cooling and calming for the body and mind. Twisting the body opens the spine at its deepest level, releasing locked-in tension.
Whenever you've done a lot of bending forward or backward, twisting, even briefly, brings the spine back into a neutral state. Through the squeezing-and-soaking action that comes when the internal organs are alternately compressed and released, toxins and excess heat are expelled, and fresh nutrition is brought to these vital powerhouses.”

Extracted from: “Yoga, Mind, Body and Spirit”, by Donna Farhi

New beginnings with Yoga are possible and available for any age-, weight- or gender group.

Give Yoga a chance, give yourself a chance!

Come and see us in class,

Irmi and Sal

We all have our own experiences with Yoga, but I think we can agree, after some time of practicing

Yoga we see a noticeable change in our well being.

Be it physical, emotional, mental, or most likely a combination, Yoga improves our life’s quality.

My biggest gain from Yoga practice is better physical flexibility, strength, endurance and muscle tone,

which is accompanied by greater awareness of my feelings, my reactions to my feelings and dealing

with them.

Mentally, I am more stable, accepting the ups and downs of life as a natural occurrence

rather than an attack from the outside.

The “observer”, whom we talk about often in Yoga, becomes stronger and evaluates a situation before

jumping to it hastily. Individual assessments of right and wrong become stronger.

Yoga is an exercise program, yes, but it is so much more than that! I know, how many times do we hear

that! You don’t have to take my word for it, just practice and you will reap the benefits.

Only time and practice will tell, and the ones enduring in it have the chance to grow from within and

bloom, unfolding their fullest potential and devote themselves to their lives.

Below you will find an interesting article with scientific information about Yoga’s

benefits compared to regular exercise.

Yoga and meditation promotes psycho-physical poise and a quiet mind that protects against the stress of modern life, which destroys health and happiness, and is indeed a major killer in civilized society.

The newcomer to yoga and meditation receives a shock when he first sits down in a quiet place and turns his attention inwards. Our attention is normally turned outwards to cope with the challenges of the environment - but look within and you find that the mind is filled with the chatter of thought and the flashing of images; as rowdy as a cageful of mad monkeys, say some old Yoga texts. Yoga meditation sets out to reduce the clamor and the number of thoughts, to open up spaces between thoughts, to smooth out waves in the mindsuff (citta).

Merely sitting still for a fifteen or twenty minute period each day - just sitting, letting thoughts flow and observing its flow - provides a mental hygiene.

In fact, this is a meditative practice given pride of place by a leading school of Zen. But there are many other meditative methods, active and passive. The reader should experiment and select the method or methods best suited to his temperament, circumstances, and organism.

Meditation works upon the nervous system and the organism’s physiological processes, and the results are extended beyond the duration of a daily session of contemplation to bring increased physical and psychical poise to life’s daily activities. One experiences an inner sense of floating with the stream of life, with the Way or Course of Nature, which the Chinese call the Tao (pronounced ‘dow’).

William James, who made a still-unsurpassed study of the psychology of religious experience early in this century, as impressed by the mental regeneration of a friend who had taken up Yoga practice, and wrote:

　Laboratory investigation confirms scientifically the subjective experience of lowered blood pressure, relaxed muscles and mind; and EEG tests on mediators show that their brain waves exhibit a slow pattern distinct from that of ordinary waking, hypnosis, or sleep.

It is but a short step from harmony with Nature or the Tao to meditating for reasons that are religious, or at any rate mystical. So far we have given reasons for meditating that are apart from the metaphysical and spiritual dimension. The word ‘Yoga’ has a mystical meaning as the supreme goal, as well as one representing the practices used to realize the goal.

Today in the West there is a widespread yearning for psychic wholeness and a ‘religious’ feeling (in the broadest sense) that is eclectic and has no place for the doctrinal rigidities and dead dogmas of institutionalized religion. ‘How does one live with religious emotion in the twentieth century (now twenty first century)?’ asks Monica Furlong, in Contemplation Now. ‘The longing for meaning, for wholeness, and for what the French philosopher Hubert Benoit calls “inner work” is common to everybody, but no one any longer, is sure of what the “work” consists of.’

Well, the Yoga of Meditation is the oldest form of ‘inner work’ still alive and in use, and it is one which many thousands of occidentals are finding puts them in touch with the springs of spiritual life. To quote Miss Furlong again:

‘Most people are not aware of such a call, yet they may feel the strongest attraction to make some sense of the ‘God - feeling’ within them, and be overwhelmed by feelings of sickness, sadness, depression and despair if they suppress it because they disagree with conventional kinds of religious belief, or are afraid that others will think them mad or odd. If it is true that ‘this is a society that represses transcendence’ then they will find it painful to begin with to admit to being driven by such an improper longing, but if they will get past this stage they will discover that most people have a very good idea what they are talking about and are suppressing similar longings and experiences of their own.

Mystical experience transcends all religions and cultures, though each mystic tends to describe his experiences in the jargon of his particular religion and culture. But the sense of the unity of all things, the heart of the mystical experience, is not confined to followers of specific religions, and peak experiences of a spiritual nature can come unbidden to people who neither seek nor cultivate them.

Meditation and Yoga offers the possibility of our opening up, as a flower to the sun, to the bright emotions of love and joy, even of ecstasy; of enriching immeasurably our relations with wives, husbands, children, parents, neighbors, and workmates - relationships base on I-Thou rater that I-It, in Martin Bubers’s well - known phrase.

Extraction from James Hewitt’s book, THE COMPLETE YOGA BOOK.

　Lets stay on track with our Yoga practice (which is by itself a form of meditation) in the New Year and keep on cultivating good physical and mental health and a good character.

Happy New Year and see you in class,

Irmi and Sal

Take a heap of child-like wonder
That opens up our eyes
To the unexpected gifts in life—
Each day a sweet surprise.

Mix in fond appreciation
For the people whom we know;
Like festive Christmas candles,
Each one has a special glow.

Add some giggles and some laughter,
A dash of Christmas food,
(Amazing how a piece of pie
Improves our attitude!)

Stir it all with human kindness;
Wrap it up in love and peace,
Decorate with optimism, and
Our joy will never cease.

If we use this healthy recipe,
We know we will remember
To be in the Christmas spirit,
Even when it's not December.

The month of November brings Americans the great Holiday of Thanksgiving!

Family and friends gather around tables filled with an array of homemade comfort dishes from corn to turkey.

And corn gave me the idea to pass on this very interesting article about genetically modified foods since corn is such a staple in the American diet, prevalent on the Thanksgiving table, and one of the eight GM crops (learn more about the remaining seven below).

By now we all heard about genetically modified foods. But are we aware of the fact that we’re eating it in numerous ways since it was silently introduce into the food supply in 1996, and what it does to our health?

In the US it is not a law to label GM foods.

We eat it and don’t even know it.

I think every mother, grandmother or any person who feeds and nourishes a family should know about the risks of GM foods.

Doctors and animals alike tell us:

The farmer grinned as he told the visitor, “watch this!” He called his pigs, which ran frantically towards him to be fed. But when he scooped out corn and threw it on the ground, the pigs sniffed it and then looked up at the farmer with confused expectation. The farmer then scooped corn from another bin and flung it near the pigs, which ran over and quickly devoured it.

The farmer said, “The first corn is genetically engineered. They won’t touch it.”

It’s not just pigs that swear off genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

In South Africa, Strilli Oppenheimer’s chickens won’t eat genetically modified (GM) corn. Most buffalo in Haryana, India, refuse cottonseed cakes if made from GM cotton plants. Geese migrating through Illinois only munched sections of the soybean field that was non-GMO. When given a choice, elk, deer, raccoons, and rats all avoided GMOs. And even during the coldest days of Iowa winter, squirrels, which regularly devour natural corn, refused to touch the GM variety.

One skeptical farmer who read about the squirrels wanted to see for himself if it was true. He bought a bag full of GM corn ears, and another of non-GM, and left them in his garage till winter. But by the time he fetched the bags, mice had done the experiment for him. They broke into the natural corn bag and finished it; the GM cobs were untouched.

No one knows why the animals refuse GMOs, but according to a 2009 statement by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM), when lab animals do eat GM feed, it’s not pretty. “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food,” says the AAEM policy paper, which specifically cited infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system, among the impacts of eating GMOs. “There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects, “they wrote. “There is causation...”

Although we humans don’t have a natural sense to stay away from GM foods, AAEM’s position indicates that we should take a lesson from the animals. This renowned medical organization, which first recognized such dangers as food allergies, chemical sensitivity, and Gulf War Syndrome, called for a moratorium on GMOs, long-term independent studies, and labeling.

Fromer AAEM President Dr. Jennifer Armstrong says, “Physicians are probably seeing the effects in their patients, but need to know how to ask the right questions.” Renowned biologist Dr. Pushpa M. Bhargava and many others believe that GMOs may be a major contributor to the deteriorating health in America since GM foods were introduced in 1996.

There are eight GM food crops: soy, corn, cotton, canola, sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya, and a little bit of zucchini and yellow squash.

The two primary reasons why plants are engineered are to allow them to either drink poison, or produce poison.

Poison drinkers are called herbicide tolerant. Their DNA is outfitted with bacterial genes that allow them to survive otherwise deadly doses of toxic herbicide. The first five crops on the list above have herbicide tolerant varieties. The poison producers are called Bt crops. Inserted genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus Thuringiensis produce an insect-killing pesticide called Bt-toxin in every cell of the plant. That is found in corn and cotton. The papaya and squashes have virus genes inserted, to fight off a plant virus. All GM crops are lined to dangerous side effects.

GM foods are particularly dangerous for pregnant women and children. After GM soy was fed to female rats, most of their babies died - compared to a 10% deaths among controls fed natural soy. GM-fed babies were smaller, and possibly infertile. Testicles of rats fed GM soy changed from the normal pink to dark blue. Mice fed GM soy had altered young sperm. Embryos of GM soy-fed parent mice had changed DNA. And mice fed GM corn had fewer, and smaller babies. In Haryana, India, most of those buffalo that did consume GM cottonseed ended up with reproductive complications such as premature deliveries, abortions, and infertility; many calves died. About two dozen US farmers said thousands of pigs became sterile from certain GM corn varieties. Some had false pregnancies; others gave birth to bags of water. Cows and bulls also became infertile.

When insects take a bite out of the corn and cotton plants engineered to produce Bt-toxin, their stomach splits open and they die. Because that same toxin is used in its natural bacterial state as a spray by farmers for insect control, biotech companies claim that it has a history of safe use and can be incorporated directly into every plant cell.

The Bt-toxin produced in GM plants, however, is thousands of times more concentrated than natural Bt spray, is designed to be more toxic, has properties of an allergen, and cannot be washed off the plant.

Moreover, studies confirm that even the less toxic natural spray can be harmful. When dispersed by plane to kill gypsy moths in Washington and Vancouver, about 500 people reported allergy or flu-like symptoms. The same symptoms are now reported by thousands of farm workers from handling Bt cotton throughout India.

GMO safety expert Dr. Arpad Pusztai says changes in immune status are “a consistent feature of all the (animal) studies.” From Monsanto’s own research to government funded trials, rodents fed Bt corn had significant immune reactions.

Soon after GM soy was introduced to the UK, soy allergies skyrocketed by 50%. Ohio allergist Dr. John Boyles says “I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it.” GM soy, corn, and papaya contain new proteins with allergenic properties. In addition, GM soy has up to seven times more of a known soy allergen. Perhaps the US epidemic of food allergies and asthma is a casualty of genetic manipulation.

In India, animals graze on cotton plants after harvest. But when shepherds let sheep graze on Bt cotton plants, thousands died. Investigators said preliminary evidence “strongly suggests that the sheep mortality was due to a toxin...most probably Bt-toxin.” In one small study, all sheep fed Bt cotton plants died; those fed natural plants remained healthy.

In an Andhra Pradesh village (India), buffalo grazed on cotton plants for eight years without incident. On January 3rd, 2008, 13 buffalo grazed on Bt cotton plants for the first time. All died within three days. Bt corn is also implicated in the deaths of cows in Germany, and horses, water buffaloes, and chickens in The Philippines. In lab studies, twice the number of chickens fed Liberty Link corn died; 7 of 40 rats fed a GM tomato died within two weeks. Those rats had refused to eat the tomato and had to be force fed.

The only published human feeding study revealed that even after we stop eating GMOs, harmful GM proteins may be produced continuously inside of us; genes inserted into GM soy transfer into bacteria inside our intestines and continue to function. If Bt genes also transfer, eating GM corn chips might transform our intestinal bacteria into living pesticide factories.

According to documents released from a lawsuit, in 1991-92 scientists at the FDA repeatedly warned that GM foods might create allergies, poisons, new diseases, and nutritional problems. But the White House ordered the agency to promote biotechnology, and Michael Taylor, Monsanto’s former attorney, heated up the FDA’s GMO policy. That 1992 policy - still in effect today - declares that no safety studies on GMOs are required. Monsanto and other producers determine if their foods are safe. Taylor later became Monsanto’s vice president, and was reinstalled at the FDA in 2009 by the Obama administration as the US food safety czar.

Biologist Dr. David Schubert of the Salk Institute says, “If there are problems (with GMOs), we will probably never know because the cause will not be traceable and many diseases take a very long time to develop.” In the 9 years after GM crops were introduced in 1996, Americans with three or more chronic diseases jumped from 7% to 13%. Allergies doubled in less time. And the incidence of low birth weight babies, infertility, and infant mortality are all escalating. But without any human clinical trials or post marketing surveillance, we may never know if these or other disorders like autism, obesity, and diabetes, are triggered or made worse by GMOs.

We don’t need to wait for more research to learn our lesson from the animals and the doctors. Consult the Non-GMO Shopping Guide (www.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com) to learn how to avoid GMOs. Even a small percentage of people choosing non-GMO brands could force the food industry to remove all GM ingredients. By doing so, you are not only being careful about your own health, you are being compassionate to the environment and future generations - since GMOs wreak long-term havoc in our ecosystem as well. End of article

When you shop for Thanksgiving this year (or your next shopping) avoid GMO and seek out natural foods. One easy and obvious way to distinguish GM foods and natural foods in the store is the little sticker that is now on pretty much every single piece of produce. This sticker shows a 5 digit number. If the number starts with a 3, the produce is genetically engineered. If it starts with a 4, the fruit or vegetable is naturally raised and breed. If it starts with a 9, you have your most desirable food in your hand, it is organically grown.

If there is no labeling, ask the sales person to tell you want kind of food you are buying. Create awareness with your questions.

It is too early to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, but we do wish you a Happy Shopping experience that puts you a little bit more in the power seat of your life.

With love,

Irmi and Sal

The traditional Yogic diet is basically a lacto vegetarian diet.

In the yogic diet, food is categorized into three types:

- Sattvic food, being the purest food

- Rajasic food, being hot, bitter, sour, dry or salty, destroying the mind-body  equilibrium

- tamasic food, being putrefied, overripe, rotten or impure in some way

Each of these classes of food has a corresponding state of consciousness: spiritual, intermediate, and gross, for sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic foods respectively.

“We are what we eat. This statement is true in more senses than one. Food is of course necessary for our physical well-being. But as well as this it also has a subtle effect on our minds, since the essence of food forms the mind.

A natural diet, a pure or “sattvic” one, is based on fresh, light, nutritional food such as fruit, grains and vegetables. It keeps the body lean and limber and the mind clear and sharp, making it most suitable for the practice of yoga.

Full of prana (life force), a pure and moderate diet is the best possible guarantee of physical and mental health, bringing harmony and vitality to both body and mind.

We look at the reasons behind the yogic diet and give advice on how to change to a more balanced and wholesome eating pattern.

The yogic way of eating is quite simply the most natural.

The sun, air, soil and water combine to produce the fruits of the earth - vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts and seeds. The goodness we gain from these foods comes first hand.

By contrast, the goodness obtained from eating meat, fish or poultry comes at second hand - we consume the flesh of creatures who have themselves processed the natural energy drawn from different plants. (It is interesting to note that we eat only herbivorous animals, such as cows, sheep and goats; only very exceptionally do we eat carnivorous creatures, such as dogs.)

Animal flesh contains a high proportion of toxins (80 per cent of food poisoning cases are caused by meat or meat products) and tends to cause disease. It also lacks vital vitamins and minerals and contains more protein than we need. In eating meat, we are compelling our bodies to adapt to an unnatural diet, for which they are not designed. Our teeth and intestines are very different from those of carnivores - in fact, the anatomy and physiology of the fruit-eating primates is closest to our own.

But quite apart from the crucial considerations of health and natural goodness, meat-eating is both inefficient and wasteful. Many pounds of cereal must be fed to livestock to produce one pound of meat on the table; the “wasted” food is used to supply the animal with energy. As protein converters, livestock are inefficient.

An acre of cereal will produce five times more protein than an acre devoted to raising animals for human consumption. The figures for legumes - ten times more - and leafy vegetables - fifteen times - are even more startling. Some individual vegetables are yet more efficient.

In establishing a natural diet, we must also ask ourselves whether we can consume with a clear conscience the flesh of a living creature, of another being slaughtered often under the most barbaric conditions. In the so-called civilized world we are distanced and anaesthetized from the horrors of the meat industry.

Faced with neatly packaged portions of meat or fish we no longer make the connection between the product and the animal that has been killed - unnecessarily for our sakes.

Ahimsa - the sanctity of all living creatures - is among the highest laws in yogic philosophy and cannot be disregarded if we are to grow spiritually. For the yogi, all life is sacred: every creature is a living entity, with a heart and emotions, breathing and feeling, so even to contemplate eating meat or fish is quite impossible.

Once you become conscious of where your food comes from and how it affects you, your mind will gradually open, and you will come to realize that all creatures are as divine as you yourself are.”

From: The complete Yoga book, by James Hewitt

Relaxation is the key to unwind the body/mind system which is easily facilitated through long deep breathing.

With relaxation we discover our physical limitations with grace and acceptance. Acceptance (a form of relaxation) releases the mind and than the body from a otherwise tense postures.

This is the reason why most Yoga classes start with breath awareness and then integrate movement, a combination that connects and harmonizes body and mind.

Ahhh... here relaxation begins.

Sometimes we think we have to twist our bodies into impossible looking shapes and forms, as we see them on TV or in magazines performed by mostly very young and advanced Yogis.

But the truths is, everyone has to start Yoga at their personal level and advanced Yogis also started out as beginners.

Give yourself permission to NOT be a pretzel, give yourself permission to be unsure about your abilities, give yourself permission to be curious, and give yourself permission to be drawn into a new adventure.

In our Yoga classes we use props to help us compensate for distance and depth to be reached. Yoga blocks and straps help us to be more secure and comfortable in a pose that’s to deep for us right now. Over time and with practice we experience a slow but magical transformation in our bodies, minds and emotions. This will encourage and amaze us of the progress that has been made.

It is important to be patient with yourself and willing to let things happen as you do the best you can to keep yourself in a steady practice routine.

Even though we are in a Yoga class together with other people, we individually learn to find this fine line between challenge and pain in a posture.

Pain should be avoided at any time, challenge is the desired place to be.

To have a relaxed attitude about the practice is the best way to approach Yoga in the beginning and throughout your life.

Once you realize the treasure you found in Yoga, you’ll never want to let it go!

“Yoga is a timeless passage.

What does it mean to look inside or meditate?

As there are as many individual meditation experiences as there are people,

lets look at it from a simple perspective.

The first thing we do to look inside in a Yoga class is closing the eyes in a seated position.

Now the outer visual world is shut out.

We only hear soft music and the voice of the instructor.

Looking inside begins.

What are we looking for?

The first perception is the physical body. We might feel tension, pain, pleasure, or anything in between.

This is an inner perception, looking inside.

We might realize a feeling that we did not recognize before because we were in a hurry and had no time to pay attention to it.

This is looking inside.

We might “hear” our mind telling us to do this or that, forgot to call a family member or friend, must pick up something somewhere, what to do for dinner?

This is looking inside.

We feel the breath, shallow or heavy, fast or slow.

This is looking inside.

Every observation of ourselves with closed eyes, bringing the focus away from the outer world and turning inwards is looking inside.

Meditation is not a mystery, it is simple and natural, looking inside.

We all know the expression: “let me sleep on this”.

While sleep is not meditation it implies that we need time to find an answer to something and we are looking for the answer inside while we are sleeping (resting).

Realizing pain in the body, feelings untold, thoughts unnoticed is looking inside. We are

becoming aware of parts of ourselves we did not know before. As soon as awareness sets in the light is turned on and our entire being will now integrate this new self awareness for the better.

There is no end to self discovery. We are endless and eternal.

As we learn to go inside deeper and deeper we become more and more aware of ourselves and as a result, more aware of our surroundings and environment.

Experienced Yogis are able to control their blood pressure, heart rate, breath and other

autonomic bodily functions by will, to give further examples of looking inside.

Ultimately we are looking inside for the very source of our beings which lays beyond the body, mind and emotions.

If you have a birthday coming up or any other occasion for a free wish, wish for a good juicer!

Freshly pressed or squeezed juices are always a plus in our diet, but now with an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables in season it is a great time to start juicing.

Fresh juice captures the essence of summer fruits and vegetables and gives us a nutritional boost. Loaded with vitamins, minerals and enzymes it builds up the immune system, helps digestion and gives us more energy.

There is something miraculous about drinking fresh juice, it’s like drinking liquid energy!

Michelle Thatcher, a naturopathic physician in Tucson, AZ, puts it another way: ”Juicing is a great way to get a concentrated daily source of vitamins and minerals,” she says. “And raw vegetables contain naturally occurring enzymes, which help your body break food down into more manageable, absorbable parts.”

Click here to read more about the important role of enzymes in our diet: http://www.earthportals.com/walker.html

Stress creates tension!

Stress levels are easily heightened in the work place, family situations, relationships, and by political and environmental conditions (the oil spill in the Gulf creates uncertainty and fear for our entire region).

Our hasty lifestyles create a rat race for time and space.

Constant pressure takes a toll on our physical, emotional and mental health.

There is not enough time to relax and smell the roses!

Therefore it is of utmost importance to find time to relax.

In a state of relaxation the body has space to put its natural healing mechanisms into play. The nervous system transmits and reports inside and outside stimuli and sends messages to the brain that result in some action in the body. Usually we respond with a fight or flight reaction.

Caring for our nervous system translates into caring for our entire well being and gives us an opportunity to transform these primal reactions into a more human caring behavior.

We also recommend to watch Dr. Christopher Lepisto‘s, ND, video clip

                                            The Alderwood Center For Natural Health

About stress and health: Click here

It brings us the oxygen and the prana that we need. Breath is the reflection of our state of health: the deeper our breathing the more our life is intense, the shorter our breath the more our life will be short and unsatisfying. When we breath at full lung capacity, we can feel a fullness entering us, a profound peace installing itself within.

Next, it is important that the inhaled oxygen passes completely into our bloodstream. For that, slow, deep and complete breathing is essential. Furthermore, our blood must be able to capture and transport the oxygen to our cells all over the body. This requires quality hemoglobin at higher quantities, that can be obtained through healthy nutrition and taking health supplements which the body will use to manufacture hemoglobin.

Moreover, physical exercise is essential to activate the body’s metabolism and specifically breathing and circulation. Massage may also be helpful for this. It is important that our blood vessels be clean so that the blood may easily circulate.

Source: www.bioperfection.com

http://drinkh2o2.com/

http://www.oxygenhealth.com/order.html

Start, end or intervene your day with a short ten minute Breathing and Yoga routine.

Clear and calm your mind, flex and strengthen your body and feel the peace and love inside you!

When time is flying and obligations are pressing, take only ten minutes out of your day to increase your overall well being.

It doesn’t take a lot to change your attitude, breath deeper and feel more comfortable in your own body.

- 2 minutes breathing exercise (pranayama)

- 5 minutes yoga postures (asanas)

- 3 minutes relaxation/meditation

Wear comfortable exercise clothes and practice before eating or at least 1 hour after eating.

- Start in the easy pose (cross legged position) or any comfortable seated position, you also can sit in a regular chair.

- Close your eyes and start to breath through the nose in and out ( if your nose is congested or otherwise compromised, breath through the mouth).

- Put your hands below the navel and push the abdomen out on every inhale - gently, pull the belly back towards the spine on every exhale - gently.

Continue this breath for 2 min. (wear a watch or have a clock visible).

- Now you are settled in and more relaxed, feel how the stress diminishes slowly.

- Bring your arms to the sides and move them up and overhead, hands touch, with every inhale, and bring them back down with every exhale.

Continue for 3 rounds.

- Change position onto your hands and knees into the table pose (either on your Yoga mat or on a carpet).

Hands are shoulder width apart and under the shoulders, knees are hip width apart and under the hips.

Start to move your head upwards and the spine down towards the floor with every inhale, bring the chin to the chest and the spine up towards the ceiling with every exhale. Like a cat!

This is one round of the cat stretch, continue for 5 rounds.

- At the last round of cat stretch, when the head is looking upwards, curl your toes under and push your hips up towards the ceiling into the downward facing dog. Adjust your feet (usually you have to walk the feet towards the hands a little bit), let your head hang loose and stretch out your arms and shoulders by really pressing the hands into the mat (fingers are spread).

Take deep breaths into the belly, soften your knees or bend them as much as you have to to be comfortable in the position.

- Now move back onto all fours (table pose) and cat stretch as before for two rounds. After the second round, when the head is upwards, curl the toes again and push back up into the downward facing dog.

- Alternate between the cat stretch and downward facing dog for the remaining time (5 min. in all).

- Come out of the table pose by sitting back onto your heels, stretch your feet forward and slowly roll onto your back.

- Now you are in the relaxation position or corps pose.

Relax your legs and feet, let the feet flare towards the sides about 10 in. apart. Hands are about 6 in. away form the body, palms facing upwards.

Roll your head from side to side to relax the neck.

Close your eyes and start to watch your breath. Feel the abdomen rising with the inhale and falling with the exhale. Lay and relax for 3 min., if you have more time stay longer.

- Open your eyes slowly and get up slowly, take your time!

- Feel refreshed, relaxed and focused!

- Enjoy your day, night or the rest of your day.

Are designed for senior citizens or anybody with special needs.

In Chair Yoga students are sitting in a regular chair or wheel chair which gives stability and support to their practice. Modified Yoga postures and breathing exercises are easily and safely practiced.

Sitting in a chair, the practice has the same multiple benefits for the participants as traditional Yoga practice. Students leave the class with a smile on their faces, better postures, and a deeper breath.

If you have difficulty getting up and down from the floor because of knee and/or hip problems, high blood pressure, body shape, shortness of breath, or any other physical limitation that keeps you form moving or exercising, Chair Yoga is a great opportunity for you to get yourself moving in the right direction!

Yoga Postures strengthen and tone the muscles, bones and connective tissues, creating more range of motion and flexibility in the body.

In conjunction with deep breathing, Yoga practice not only effects the physical body but also calms the mind and emotions facilitating a feeling of relaxation

and contentment.

Yoga promotes a healthy and vital lifestyle, helping to prevent illness, injury, and pain

Breathing is a vital part of Yoga practice, without proper breathing the physical Yoga postures are not considered yogic.

The conjunction between the breath and the postures makes it Yoga.

The movements are always connected with the breath.

Raise the arms up with the inhale, bring them down with the exhale.

Breathing through the nose in and out, the nose is for breathing, not the mouth.

In Yoga we learn to breath naturally which means we use the diaphragm as the main means to move the lungs, ribcage and chest.

It is very important to re-learn to breath like this since it is the natural way to breath.

We all started out like this.

Watching a young child or infant breathing in its sleep, we find its belly rising on the inhale and falling on the exhale.

This belly movement shows that the person breaths the natural way.

“The diaphragm is a huge muscle that rests horizontally across the base of the rib cage. Imagine an oval shaped dinner plate or bowl, turned upside down, and inside your lower rib cage. The diaphragm is connected in the front, along the sides of your lower ribs, and also along the back.

Diaphragmatic Breathing
by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

Movement of the Diaphragm

Extraction from

We hope you all arrived refreshed and safe in the New Year!

The New Year is certainly a great time to make new resolutions for the up coming year. We all want to start new endeavors, improve our lives in one way or the other or make brand new starts.

But what about all the good things we started last year, or the year before, or so long ago we don’t even remember when it was?

Let’s talk about enduring in the things we cherish already, the things that make our lives good and healthy.

One of those things is Yoga!

Yoga practice is a fantastic way to keep your body, mind and spirit healthy, stable and fresh.

To make anything better, deeper, more detailed or stronger you need to practice regularly.

For example, if you want your child to learn an musical instrument, you have to constantly remind it to practice, practice, practice and over time you will hear great sounds coming out of his or her room.

If you want to learn or deepen your Yoga postures, you have to practice, practice, practice.

To put it in other words, you have to endure in it.

Webster’s New World Dictionary defines the word endurance as follows:

Ability to last, continue, or remain, ability to stand pain, distress, fatigue.

Breathing deeply again and again, stretching and bending muscles, bones, tendons and tissues again and again brings consequently more physical flexibility, strength, muscle tone, relaxation and less pain, forming you into a more graceful person.

A body that feels healthy and rejuvenated effects the mind and emotions positively.

A Yoga class can get you out of the dumpsters in an hour and save your day!

It’s a win win situation!

Endurance is the key to keep on doing what’s best for you. Endurance is like riding the right train to the destination you want to go to, a better life, which is happing every moment.

Our New Year’s message to all of our students is endurance!

It does not matter what your personal rhythm of practice looks like, everybody is different. The important thing to remember is to endure in Yoga practice and gain more and more control over your health and life.

See you in class,

Irmi and Sal

The sea salt water flush

Source: www.naturalhealthweb.com

Time is flying!

Yes, next Saturday (9-19-09, 11:00 am to 2:00 pm), our Yoga workshop will be here!

Anyone regardless of age, gender or body type is welcomed to participate!

If you are beginning or returning to Yoga, or just want to spend more time to practice Yoga on a deeper level, our workshop is a great opportunity to get in touch with Yoga.

By the end of the workshop you will have the confidence, understanding and practical knowledge to participate in a Yoga class or practice on your own!

The reason why Yoga becomes more and more popular is simple:

Yoga is a low impact exercise, but is much more than that!

Regular Yoga practice strengthens the body, makes it more flexible, relaxes and calms the mind, and puts the day in a slightly brighter perspective.

It is a good tool for maintaining well being, reducing stress, pain, tension, and emotional imbalances.

Along the way we will discuss Yoga philosophy and history, yogic diet, and practical ways to maintain and restore health.

We will introduce you to a natural way of breathing and you will learn how to use the breath to release tension from the body/mind system.

Yoga postures will be a big part of our workshop.

Irmi and Sal will demonstrate and teach the most traditional and basic Yoga postures slowly, detailed and easy to understand.

Standing postures, seated postures, spinal twists, postures that build strength, postures creating more flexibility, and relaxing poses will be in our repertoire.

Every posture has a modification (easier variation), and a deeper version (more challenging). According to your strength, flexibility or physical make up, Yoga has a place for everyone to start!

Over time and with practice Yoga students increase their strength and flexibility and can move into deeper versions of the postures. Your progress will encourage your practice more and more!

Relaxation and Meditation is a big part of Yoga!

We will lead you through a guided visualization/relaxation sequence to completely relax at the end of a Yoga class or anytime you chose.

Together we will meditate and learn simple ways to deepen our awareness of the integration of body, mind and spirit.

Throughout the workshop there will be ample time for discussions, questions, individual assistance, breaks and to connect with each other and have an enjoyable time!

Please come in comfortable exercise clothes, bring your Yoga mat if you have one, drinking water, and a little bit of curiosity to find out what Yoga can do for you!

If you don’t have a mat we have clean mats available for you!

Don’t eat for at least one hour before the workshop.

Please contact us for more information and registration!

Spaces are limited, so reserve your spot now!

One time $ 29.00 special!

We are looking forward to seeing you soon,

Irmi and Sal

Mula Bandha or Root Lock, is one of three major muscular locks in Yoga Philosophy.

Bandhas are practiced in conjunction with advanced breathing exercises (pranayama) and to arouse the Kundalini energy, but can also be practiced with Yoga Postures (asanas), or just as a muscle contraction by itself.

Mula Bandha is the most frequently applied muscular lock.

Mula, or Root, refers to the root or base of the spine, the pelvic floor or, more precisely, the center of the pelvic floor, the perineum. The perineum is the muscular body between the anus and the genitals.

This area is also the seat of the first and second charkas, containing our survival and emotional energies, instincts and habits.

Bandha means lock, bondage or contraction.

Mula Bandha is the muscular contraction of all the muscles between the anus and the abdominal muscles. The anus is contracted first, than the genital muscles and than the abdomen while “pulling” the contracted muscles upwards and back towards the spine. The Mula Bandha is performed while retaining the breath either on an inhale or exhale.

Iyengar, an Indian Yoga Master defines Mula Bandha as:

This month we want to introduce you to a simple but very effective Yogic cleansing method, Neti.

Neti is nasal cleaning with salt water.

“In doing Neti (Nasal Cleansing), the water you pour into one nostril flows up above the bridge of your nose, where the normal air flows meet, back into the central cavity. It then flows down and out the other side of your nose. In this way, it flows by your mid and frontal nasal sinuses. In this stage water should not flow backwards into your throat or mouth. If you do it properly you will, normally, feel very little sensation. This is because the water is the same temperature as your body temperature, and the salinity is the same salinity as your tears. This is why your nose will hardly feel the water flow through.

Neti is nasal cleansing with the use of warm saline water. It is a very ancient technique that has been passed down for thousands of years by the Yogis. It is said to have great physical benefits as well some spiritual ones. This, perhaps, is the best time for such a technique to be practiced by modern people. With the rise in respiratory problems like coughs, colds, sinusitis, asthma, allergies, and bronchitis among others, coupled with the rapid degeneration of spirituality in most of society, the practice of Neti will definitely be a panacea for many ailments. Neti is basically beneficial to the cleanliness of the nose, eyes, throat, ears, lungs, plus the brain.

Benefits of Neti

You can buy a Neti pot in Health food stores and drug stores (comes with instructions). Neti is becoming more and more popular in the West because of its fast and effective results in clearing out the sinuses. Many people suffer from allergies and by removing the mucus from the nasal passages tons of germs, bacteria, viruses and other intruders are being eliminated from the body and can not enter any further into the system.

Neti is an easy and effective daily cleansing routine and helps you to stay healthy.

It is worth a try and after you get the hang of it you will love it!

Irmi and Sal

The breath brings air into the body and with it comes the life giving component oxygen.

Indian Yogis refer to the air as food, the most important food. We can live without solid food for

several days maybe even weeks, without water for a few days, but without air we only live for some

seconds. Our bodies need oxygen to live, but we also need to get rid of toxins and transport them out of

the body.

The inhale brings oxygen into the body, the exhale transports toxins out of it.

In the West this is what we think the breath is, an inhale and an exhale.

In Yogic breathing (pranayama), the breath contains of four components:

- inhale- pause -exhale - pause.

If the breath would only consist of inhale and exhale it would be linear and it would not flow but

rapidly swoosh in and out.

You can try this, breath in and out, just pushing air in and out of the body.

When we add the two pauses (which happens naturally), the breath becomes circular and smooth.

Try this too, inhale normally and exhale normally and if you pay close attention you will notice a short

little pause after the inhale. Now the exhale happens and at the end of the exhale there is another small

pause. Than the next inhale takes place.

The two pauses are very subtle, but they make all the difference for the breath to be circular. This has

the important purpose of exchanging oxygen with toxins. After the inhale the subtle pause gives time to

exchange the delivered oxygen with CO2 and other toxins from the respiratory system into the blood

stream and verse visa. The same thing happens after the exhale, the subtle pause gives time to release

all the toxins out of the lungs.

In Yogic breathing (pranayama) more emphasis is put on the exhale than on the inhale, because it is

very important to get all the old air out of the lungs. After the lungs are fully emptied fresh air can

stream in.

In our upcoming Yoga classes we will use breathing methods to utilize the four parts of the breath and

to empty out the lungs completely from foul air.

In the COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF YOGA, by Swami Vishnu-Devananda, it says

about Yogic Breathing:

Here is one simple way to practice emptying out the lungs more sufficiently:

Sit in a comfortable position (you can sit in a chair too) with a straight spine and inhale through the

nose into the abdomen, counting to 5 slowly.

Now exhale slowly, pulling the abdomen towards the spine, counting until 10.

You can breath like this for five rounds; this is a good start.

We will practice more of it in Yoga class.

And now take a deep breath and relax!

Irmi & Sal

There is a lot of controversy and theory about the location of the mind in our bodies.

But one thing most people agree on is that the mind affects the body and the body affects the mind.

In our practice of Hatha Yoga we are using postures, stretches and the breath to directly relax and rejuvenate the body, while directly or indirectly calming, focusing and opening the mind.

With Yogic movement and breath we come across pain and stiffness and can remember where a certain pain or injury originates from, even if it happened decades ago. The experience is stored in the body. Sometimes a whole story comes up, where, when, why or how something happened. This shows that the body stores experiences that the mind can recall.

In Yoga, working with movement, focus, and the breath, pain, stiffness and sometimes emotions are released from muscles and other tissues of the body so they can function freely and energy can flow naturally.

The mind we grew into from childhood has itself manifested in our bodies. Good experiences are also stored throughout the body. For example, walking barefoot in a summer meadow, feeling the soft and cool grass can instantly release a memory of a happy day as a child. This simple experience can produce feelings and emotions that the mind converts into words and pictures. Recalling memories of a time and place gone by.

The entire body is filled with memories or experiences, good or bad, conscious or unconscious.

Physical and emotional trauma can shock the body/mind system and “freeze” our whole being into a traumatic position. For example a minor accident contracts the body and mind, constricting their range of motion and the ability to breath deeply and think freely. This “restricted” state can stay with us throughout our lives.

Yoga postures let us revisit these experiences and memories consciously or unconsciously and release pain or joy or anything in between.

In our Yoga classes we achieve relaxation of the mind/body system and become more aware of ourselves. We open the door of opportunity

to free our minds and bodies of the tension that can restrict us from moving our lives in the direction most suitable for our individual and collective well being.

So come to class and practice, practice, practice!

Namaste,

Irmi and Sal

Easter is coming soon, a Holiday bringing us colors, ribbons, flowers, sun shine, and lots of eggs. This month we want to talk about how Easter and Yoga relates and what we can extract from the traditional Easter message for our own lives.

In Christian Faith Easter is probably the most important Holiday throughout the year. I know Christmas is much bigger in excitement, preparation and money spent, but Easter has the most powerful and life changing message: Resurrection! Jesus overcame death, the ultimate challenge!

In a way the teachings and practices of Yoga tell as that same message:

look inside and you will find the place that never dies, the place of silence and peace!

We use Yoga asanas ( postures) to focus our mind for a little while inwards, we watch and observe our movements, thoughts and sensations to become more aware of ourselves.

Jesus was very aware of himself, he knew exactly what would happen to him if he would not obey the Jewish Clergy, and it happened. How did he know that they would come to kill him? He knew their minds and at the same time he did not change his own mind. He did what he was set out to do, even though he had to go through all the suffering and pain, he knew beyond the body, beyond the thoughts and beyond the physical world lays life too and death does not end life.

The Ancient Yogis in India (and the contemporaries) did just do that very thing: observing the body and mind and experiencing the part inside that is everlasting life, our spirit, our soul.

If we look at Jesus through the eyes of eastern philosophy, he was a Bhakti Yogi.

Bhakti Yoga is the Yoga of love and devotion. The will of God and the needs of others are more important than the own self. Jesus showed love and devotion to the poorest and most unimportant people and at the same time did not stray from his path to do the will of his father. In India this is called Bhakti Yoga, one of the nine main Indian Yogas. Hatha Yoga ( the Yoga we practice) is another main Indian Yoga.

James Hewitt writes about Bhakti Yoga as follows in his book,

“Bhakti Yoga is the Yoga of strongly-focused love, devotion, and worship, at its finest in love of the One. The Hindu may concentrate his devotion upon a worshipped deity ( Krishna is the most poplar) or upon the divine principle as incarnated in a guru. Bhakti Yoga is accessible to Westerners with highly devotional temperaments: others are made to feel uncomfortable by some of the excesses. This could be said to be the favorite Yoga of the Indian masses. Its disciplines are those of rites and the singing of songs of praise. St. Francis of Assisi is often mentioned as an example of a Christian Bhakti Yogi.”

In the same book: THE COMPLETE YOGA BOOK, James Hewitt writes about Hatha Yoga:

“Hatha Yoga exercises are practiced extensively in the West for their practical benefits to the health of the nervous system, glands, and vital organs. When it is practiced similarly in India it is sometimes called Ghatastha Yoga; but there physiological Yoga is less often separated from its over-all mystical setting and purpose. Hatha Yoga may be viewed as a hygiene which takes into account the purification of the total organism. It may sound quotidian to some people to call this Yoga a hygiene, but there is a mainstream tradition that sees Hatha Yoga as a purificatory preparation for Raja Yoga, which is work upon consciousness itself. Such mental disciplining can best be effected in a healthy, relaxed body in which the energies have been equalized.”

The French writer C. Kerneix, writing under the pseudonym ‘Felix Guyot’, opened his book YOGA: THE SCIENCE OF HEALTH, with these words:

“Keep well, remain young a long time, and live to a good old age, such is the threefold wish that the men of every race and country have, at all times, formulated at the bottom of their hearts. This threefold wish is a very natural one, for it is simply the expression of the most powerful and the most tenacious of instincts: self-preservation. Live! We want to live with the greatest amplitude possible. To fight against disease, when it comes, and to avert, as far as it possible, the threat of death which is in its train; to defer old age, and, by doing so, put off death itself, we have hygiene, which is only, it is true, an autonomous but not independent province of the medical kingdom. But there exists a science, practiced in India and Tibet, and more or less throughout the whole of China, which is somewhat mysterious, for it is not taught to all comers. This science is traditional and its origin is lost in the night of time. It has precisely the same object as hygiene in Western countries: to keep its adepts in health and strength and to ward off old age and death for the longest time possible. This science of Life, which is only a branch of the secret of the Yogis, is called the Hatha Yoga.”

Since there are many ways to God and to self awareness, according to Indian philosophy, Hatha Yoga and Bhakti Yoga (Raja Yoga being another main Indian Yoga, as mentioned in James Hewitt’s writing above) are only a few disciplines of many to choose from to come closer to God and to the inner self.

Maybe we cannot overcome physical death as Jesus did, but we can experience everlasting life inside of us. The practice of observation in our Yoga practice and in meditation might enable us to observe the moment of our death, when the spirit moves from this body to another place. The moment of death is very important and should be a beautiful and positive moment. In our society death is almost a taboo even though it is going on all the time. Death is a part of life and people should die in the comfort of their homes and families with comforting and reassuring words from their loved ones to be able to go in peace and have the chance to witness their own passing.

In eastern philosophy the moment of death is very important because it brings us either consciously or unconsciously into our next life. In the Christian Faith one can be saved in the moment of death. To be aware and without fear at the moment of death can transform a persons life and the lives of family and friends being present. A peaceful passing can show how death is beautiful and sad in its own way.

Through death we gain life again!

Easter also means spring time! In the cycle of nature spring means the beginning of new life after the death of winter.

New growth starts to sprout, flowers bloom and in the animal kingdom mating season brings new offspring. A new beginning, a new chance for life to press on,

Birth and re-birth, resurrection!

Before religions replaced or over coded the natural cycles of nature, people celebrated the seasons of the year because nature gave them life and they knew that they were part of it.

Easter falls every year on a different date, did you ever wonder why?

Easter is celebrated every year on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

Sounds natural? Think so.

On this note we wish you all a wonderful Easter Holiday with family and friends to celebrate your Easter, your health, your life, your nature, and your resurrection!

Irmi and Sal

I started yoga in my early 20’s in the 1970’s, after watching a TV show, called “Yoga for Health”, taught by Yogi (someone you practices Yoga) and teacher, Richard Hittleman. The whole philosophy seemed foreign and strange, but I was absorbed by this man’s peacefulness that was projected in all his words and gestures. At this time I was into bodybuilding and various sports. I was young and in control ?

After trying the Yoga postures, breathing and meditation exercises, I found my body was stiff, my spine inflexible, my breathing short and sporadic, and my mind unfocused and wandering. I was shocked from these findings and realized I wasn’t as healthy and in control as I thought. Hittleman became my TV Guru.

I became a vegetarian, practiced Yoga on a daily bases, and took a course in Transcendental Meditation, as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I started to feel a growing sense of unity and joy, but my family, friends and coworkers thought I was nuts and must be high on drugs instead of Yoga.

Fortunately these days the benefits of Yoga postures, breathing (pranayama), and meditation, have been studied and well documented. Now I don’t look so crazy anymore. In all my 58 years I have not found a more complete, practical, efficient, and most important, enjoyable form of exercise than Yoga.

The health benefits from the emphasize on the breath, increases the oxygen level in the blood, calms the mind and emotions, and energized the whole system. When you combine that with the stretching and flexing movements of the Yoga postures (asanas), you have a formula for health and fitness that is unsurpassed.

As written in a segment by

The Sivananda Yoga Center, in The Sivananda Companion Book

I moved to Hawaii in 1979 and studied massage and body/mind therapies and received my massage certification there. I also started studying with Yogis, healers and mediators from all over the world. This lead me to open a relaxation center, where I combined healing body work, deep tissue massage and body/mind therapies.

This combination was very effective for relaxing and relieving pain in the body, and opening the mind. I also started to teach meditation classes and seminars about the body/mind connection.

Lorraine Cooper at project-meditation.org

Says in here article

After years of teaching meditation and giving body work sessions I realized that my clients needed something to maintain the profound changes they were experiencing through the sessions. I started to incorporate Yoga practice into my work to give my clients a way to maintain their physical and mental well being on their own. Although healing, health and well being can be brought about and accelerated through a competent practitioner, it must be maintained by the individual. I find Yoga to be the most efficient, practical and enjoyable way to do this. This is why I teach Yoga.

The five principles that bring about the unity of body, mind and spirit are explained in the

The Sivananda Companion Book

I want to thank GOD for my family, my wife and best friend Irmi (who’s idea it was for us to teach Yoga together and become Certified Yoga Teachers), and for sending me such wonderful and inspiring teachers. And I want to thank all my students for allowing and trusting me to guide them on this profound journey called Yoga.

Love and Peace

Sal

Growing up in rural Bavaria, Germany, in a strict catholic family with fatal diseases brewing, my sense of right and wrong developed in a peculiar way.

Being as young as still believing in Santa Claus,

I was wondering why people who claimed to do the right thing, are sick a lot.

In my simple mind this did not fit together, righteousness and sickness.

Since my grandfather was the sexton of our local church, I spend a lot of time throughout my childhood and teenage years in the church behind the scenes and as a participant in catholic masses, ceremonies, prayers, processions etc.. We were doing the “right thing” all the time, but why was my mother and grandmother suffering from chronic high blood pressure, and why was my father struck by severe attacks of back pains several times a year?

It just didn’t add up, and when I lost my father at the age 12 to cancer of the bone marrow, and my mother at the age 18 to heart disease, I was shocked into finding a new way of life.

After trying many different exercises, believe systems, diets, and traveling to the East, South and West of the world,

I found Yoga three years ago (through my husband), and I realized quickly, that it made my health and my life better. There was no discrepancy between the practice of Yoga and my normal life, in fact, it made it better.

I gained muscles strength, my body became more flexible and I was emotional more balanced. This improved not only my health, but also my relationships with family and friends.

Since I am concerned about my medical family history, I find Yoga to be the perfect solution to prevent heart disease and other diseases.

David Gutierrez at: http://www.naturalnews.com/metabolic_syndrome.html

writes in his article,

Yoga Found to Reverse Metabolic Syndrome, Ease Blood Pressure (1)

“Yoga can improve blood pressure and other symptoms associated with the condition known as metabolic syndrome, according to a new study.
Metabolic syndrome refers to a cluster of symptoms that are associated with an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. The symptoms of metabolic syndrome include central obesity, high blood pressure, high triglyceride levels, low levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol and fasting hyperglycemia (including symptoms of diabetes).
In this study, published in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, researchers from the SP Medical College in Bikaner, India studied 101 adults with symptoms of

Yoga pays a lot of attention to the spine. Bending and flexing the spine in different directions increases its flexibility, therefore strengthening it, bringing more blood flow to the spinal column, increasing the oxygen level in the blood, nourishing the spine.

This is a very interesting fact to me, since my father died of spine marrow cancer. I love to bend and flex my spine and often when I do, I think of him and that his untimely death was not unpreventable.

Shameem Akthar at:http://specials.rediff.com/getahead/2008/aug/19slide1.htm

(Trained with the Sivananda Yoga Vendanta Center)

Writes in her article,

“Yoga fusses a lot about spinal health because it is where man, by standing up and defying gravity and his animal instincts, slowly tries to reach the divine. Apart from the psychic symbology invested in the spine, it also has several practices exclusively to keep it healthy, youthful, supple and flexible because it is through the spine that the rest of the body connects, through nerves, to the brain.

The spine is also the basic and most important frame on which the rest of the body, including its most important organ systems, hang. But this evolutionary move, to shift from being a four-legged creature to a two-legged one has taken its own toll on the spine: it also suffers the burden of this through pain when it is neglected or when we are stressed. It is a common belief that a huge percentage of spinal problems are a result of stress, while the rest (barring in extreme cases of accident) are caused by its neglect.

Unlike other forms of exercise which can actually stress the spine (like running or jogging), yoga uses several natural stretches which give the spine a powerful traction. With the twists this traction reaches new highs because here the spine gets a rare transverse twist. The twists work out more than the spine: all the internal organs and glands, hanging in the torso experience a powerful squeeze-release massage that renews the flow of blood, removes toxic build-up, rejuvenates cob-webbed parts of these organs/glands that have been in a comatose state. This is why yogic twists are regarded as its detoxifying and anti-aging practices.”

Bibliography

1. Gutierrez, David

At: http://www.naturalnews.com/metabolic_syndrome.html

2. Akthar, Shameen

At http://specials.rediff.com/getahead/2008/aug/19slide1.htm

There are seven major chakras throughout the body, corresponding to the nervous system. The locations of the charkas are connected to the central nervous system, where nerve ganglias are branching out from the spinal column.

Glands of the endocrine system and many bodily functions, such as breathing, digesting and reproduction are influenced by this system. The charkas exist in the physical body as energy centers and influence the body’s emotions, health and thoughts.

The word chakra comes from the Sanskrit (ancient language of India) which means wheel or disk. The charkas are thought of as spinning wheels of energy.

They are located vertically along the spinal column.

The first chakra sits at the base of the spine, the second chakra in the abdomen and genital area, the third chakra relates to the solar plexus, the fourth chakra to the heart, the fifth chakra to the throat, the sixth chakra sits between the eyebrows, and the seventh chakra is on top of the head.

Each chakra relates to our physical body, our emotions and thoughts in its own way.

In our upcoming Yoga classes we will work with the chakra system, stimulating the different charkas through Yoga postures, breathing exercises and relaxation/meditation methods.

We will explore what each chakra means to us, strengthen and balancing its energy, releasing tension, stress and get in touch with our deeper nature. All this while in getting in shape. Wow!

Yoga will help us to understand ourselves a little bit better and this is a nice New Years Outlook for 2009 !

Newsletter

In this letter we want to inform you of the many health benefits yoga brings. The following article is extracted from a great book about yoga practice and philosophy. After the article you’ll find a convenient step by step reminder of warrior 1+2 and extended side angle poses for your home practice. We hope you will find this newsletter interesting and inspiring for your week ahead!

Yoga and Health

From the Sivananda Companion book to Yoga

Yoga is a science of health - unlike modern Western medicine which is largely a science of disease and treatment. The teachings of yoga are based on an intricate and precise understanding of the healthy functioning of the human body and mind, and its techniques are designed to maximize your own potential for good health, vitality and lasting youthfulness. When you practice yoga in your daily life, you are like a car owner who maintains and services his own vehicle, keeping it running in tiptop condition and gleaming like new, year in, year out. Without this discipline, you are like a car owner whose vehicle will not start in the morning, needs expensive servicing and occasional major repairs, and may ultimately break down at a critical moment, with serious consequences. The natural state of the body is health - every smallest part and function has one overriding biological aim, to seek and restore health at all times. Wounds heal, bones mend, fevers abate, toxins are removed, fatigue is repaired - we have at our command a miracle of bio-engineering which should last us into a peaceful and healthy later life. This section describes the functioning of this remarkable living system, looking in particular at three major functions: the body’s strong, flexible frame of muscles, bones and ligaments; the nutrient cycles of digestion, respiration and circulation which nourish and service every cell and tissue; and the vital messenger systems of nerves and hormones which balance and regulate our physical, emotional and mental responses. Yoga, unique among all forms of bodily culture, works systematically on all these parts of the living body to keep them functioning in balance and in perfect condition. In contemporary life, the experience of full and vital health is a rarity after childhood.

Taking our bodies for granted, we abuse them without thought. We spend long hours shut off from air and sunlight, sitting uncomfortably, snatching hurriedly cooked meals, finding no time to stretch our bodies, allow them free movement, deeper relaxation, clean air, or fresh natural foods. If our bodies complain, we take pills - silencing the very signals that might alert us to trouble, and further damaging the body’s natural repair systems. By getting these natural systems working in balance again, yoga can do much to restore good health even after years of unhealthy living have resulted in the ailments familiar to us All - stress, fatigue, hypertension, insomnia, rheumatism, and so on. Much of the illness and loss of vitality we suffer arises from long-term running down of the body systems, due to under use and under stimulation of vital functions. Exercise is now advocated by all health disciplines, but the yoga exercises are unique. The principle yogis have understood for thousands of years is that proper exercise is designed not to develop muscle and exhaust our strength, but to gently stretch and tone the body and above all to stimulate circulation, right down to the cellular level, so that tissues are nourished, wastes removed, vital organs returned to full efficiency, and the metabolism of health is restored. The physical body is only one aspect of health in yoga philosophy - mind and spirit are just as important. Western medicine, too, has begun to understand that the mind must heal for the body to mend. But the Western approach is piecemeal - whereas yoga integrates the science of mind, body and spirit. From the Sivananda Companion book to Yoga

For those of you who participated in last Saturday’s yoga class , (or for anybody else for that matter) a brief overview of the warrior poses we practiced to help you practice at home:

1. From a standing position ( mountain pose), turn towards the right.

2. Bring feet about 4’ apart.

3. Turn left foot forward to the front of the mat, turn right foot about 45 degrees Forward.

 4. Bring hands to your hips, turn hips forward.

5. Bend left knee, so knee and ankle are in a straight line.

6. Bring arms to the sides.

7. Inhale, and raise both arms up along side your ears, fingers are pointing up.

8. This is warrior 1 pose.

9. Stay here for a few moments, breathing normally into the belly.

10. Exhale, lower both arms, left hand pointing forward, right hand pointing Backwards.

11. This is warrior 2 pose. ( knee stays bent)

12. Stay here for a few moments, breathing normally into the belly.

13. Inhale, lengthen the spine, exhale, bend left elbow and lower it onto your left Thigh.

14. Right arm raise upward, fingers pointing up, or arm can rest anywhere on the Back.

15. This is extended side angle.

16. Stay here for a few moments, breathing normally into the belly.

17. Inhale, bring arms back to shoulder level (warrior 2 pose).

18. Exhale, bring right hand forward to touch left hand.

19. Inhale, raise both arms up and bend slightly back.

20. Exhale, bring both hands down to the floor.

21. Step right foot forward, next to left.

22. Slowly raise your spine, vertebra by vertebra.

23. Mountain pose, take a deep breath and relax for a moment.

24. Repeat on other side.

Well done! Don’t worry if you can’t get it “perfect” right away, it takes a little time to learn something new. You will improve your practice over time, and you will stretch you body more and more. More flexibility means less stress and tension in body and mind. Warrior poses strengthen the legs, hips and chest; stretch arms and legs; develop concentration, balance and groundedness; improve circulation and respiration, and energize the entire body.

Have a great week, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at:

Hatha@mediacombb.net or 850 983 3527

Irmi and Sal Presutto, Certified Yoga Teachers