During today’s radio show Charly and I discussed relaxation, visualisation and meditation. Nowadays these terms are often used interchangeably and there is some confusion as to which one is which, whether it does matter in the long term which one you choose, which one you should do first, especially if you are just starting out on your yoga path.

Have a listen to our show to find out more. You might then be able to decide which is the best starting point for you.

Till next time,

Connie Your Yoga Partner

from

www.yogainahurry.com

With the recent bushfires and the terrible damage and trauma they have inflicted on so many people I want to do my little bit to help children and adults to deal with it.

I am giving you a link to a beautiful ritual which was designed by Petrea King. If you haven’t heard about Petrea and her amazing work, have a look at her website after you download the Rainbow Ritual. Go to:

http://www.questforlife.com.au/

Click on the “Services” link on Petrea’s page (on top of the page, just under the lotus flower) and in the drop down box you will find a link to “Rainbow Ritual”. From there  download the free PDF file and save it to your computer - it is really beautiful.

Children who have been traumatised need lots of reassurance and patience. They deal with feelings in a different way to us adults. Their feelings are expressed through behaviour. Most children cannot verbalise that they feel upset, angry, distressed or sad – but they certainly show it in their behaviour.

Be patient with your child, give lots of reassurance and help them feel secure by doing a nightly ritual like the rainbow one. It will help children and adults alike.

Yoga also can play a big role in recovering from trauma. According to yogic philosophy trauma stops the proper flow of prana (life energy) and this leads to all sorts of problems. The diaphragm (a very important internal sheet of muscle that stretches across the bottom of the ribcage and helps with breathing) gets contracted or “frozen” and breathing becomes shallow and too fast. Different imbalances arise from there.

The first thing to try and restore in a traumatised person is slow, steady and deep breathing. This will take quite some time but even short bursts of deep breathing will be very helpful. Breath is the main vehicle for getting prana into the body.  When the respiratory system starts to malfunction, the ability of prana to enter, be absorbed and circulated through the body’s energy channels becomes severely compromised. This will lead to all sorts of other problems, so prana flow needs to be restored to the body as quickly as possible to avoid further issues.

One technique would be to inhale through the nose and mentally say to yourself: “I am”. When you are exhaling say to yourself “letting go”. Try it, I sincerely hope that you will benefit from this simple technique.

Till next time

Connie

Your Yoga Partner

from

http://www.yogainahurry.com

I know that many of you are interested in the powers of the mind, and realise that your thoughts do in fact create your reality.

I don’t expect you all to believe that creative visualisations actually work. Just imagine for a second that they do work, that you can achieve what you turn your mind to. How important do you think is it, to control your mind?

I mean how important is it – really – to be in possession of an optimistic, expectant, intention-based mindset? Is life REALLY Good?

What do you think?  Hold that thought for a minute?

What was your answer?

Did you answer — both?  Good AND Bad?

So did most everyone else…

Do you “do what you like and like what you do”?

Is the glass “half full”?

Is the leftover pie on the plate half eaten?

There is a line that is crossed with each result we have in life.

Ask yourself these questions:

Is your weight “half empty” or “half full”?

How about your purse?  Half empty or half full?

What about your relationships?

How about your health?

What about your general *luck* in life?

What about your self esteem?

How about your looks?

“Half empty” or “half full”?

What are your results in those areas that are “half empty”?

What about the ones that are “half full”?

See what I mean?

Let’s face it, we all don’t have hours every day for each of these issues to go and meditate on a mountain top somewhere to solve these problems.  However, your bank account, concentration, health, kindness, weight, happiness, expectation, optimism and intention can all be improved each day — every day in a row — with some amazing CDs (downloadable).

Have a look here https://paydotcom.com/r/47928/ConnieY/20228651/ I really love them, they are great!

They even come with a 30 day guarantee! 

The only thing you need to do is relax, listen to these audios as the most calming, soothing voice places incredibly positive messages into your subconscious mind.

Everything else will take care of itself!

It just happens!!

Give it a shot and check it out for yourself!

https://paydotcom.com/r/47928/ConnieY/20228651/

Choose your future today.

Connie

Your Yoga Partner

from

http://www.yogainahurry.com 

The Vision

It all started about 4 weeks ago. My son and I went on a bushwalk and found two beautiful, smooth stones. They both had the ideal shape to be painted, varnished and turned into beautiful snakes.

Stone snakes

My snake ended up with brown and yellow stripes with zig-zag borders. It has big eyes, two nostrils and a smiling mouth. My son’s snake has rainbow coloured stripes and the same face. According to his instructions I had to paint a big marone zig-zag stripe along its back.

Rubber and velvet snakes 

Two weeks ago we had seen a beautiful play whose main character was a cobra called “Parvati”. It was sewn out of purple velvety material, had a red tongue, big eyes and was simply magnificent.

Then my son remembered that he had a rubber rattle snake and brought it to the table while we were painting. We talked about where they lived and why they might have a rattle. We talked about pythons and the different types of snakes that lived on different continents, and discussed what they ate.

The Real Thing Materialises

Two weeks ago we went away camping with a number of other people. It got quite hot and there was a tidal creek nearby.

About eight people were jumping about in the creek, making lots of noise and splashing around. I stood near the edge, the water was only up to my knees. You can take a guess at what happened next. Suddenly there were screams from the group of people. I turned around and couldn’t believe my eyes.

There was a snake swimming across the creek, right past the noisy group of people. I had never seen anything like it – the snake swam by moving its body like it does on land. Its head and 20cm of its body were upright and sticking out of the water. It could see exactly where it was going and it could breathe.

I froze and screamed as it swam past me (less than a metre away), then it landed at the shore and slithered away into the bushes. It was at least 1.5 metres long.

I am afraid I have to inform you that all yogic thoughts, breathing techniques or anything else I learnt to cope with unexpected, stressful situations completely vanished. This was a matter of survival!

The Brown Snake

The swimming snake was identified as a Brown Snake by a knowledgable person who was swimming in the creek. I did some research today and all I can say is that sometimes “ignorance is bliss”!

This is what my research unearthed:

• The brown snake is one of Australia’s more deadly creatures. They have venom which can cause death to humans relatively quickly if left untreated.
• Snakes have no eyelids and cannot close their eyes. Their eyes are protected by a clear scale which is part of their skin and functions like a spectacle. Many snakes have excellent eyesight and most have good eyesight at least over short distances.
• Scientific Name: Common or Eastern Brown Snake = Pseudonaja textilis
• The Brown Snake may be found all over Australia. It has extremely potent venom, and although the quantity of venom injected is usually small, this snake causes more snakebite deaths in Australia than any other. Sudden and relatively early deaths have been recorded.

The above information was compiled by Chris Thompson, RPAH, Camperdown, Australia 2050

Recommended Action for you:

• Go to a reputable website for First Aid and read up about snake bites
• Australian Red Cross or St. John Ambulance are the ones in Australia
• Attend a First Aid Course and keep it up to date, procedures change all the time
• Buy two full length elastic bandages and carry them with you on all your bushwalks

By the way, snakes and their symbolism have a lot to do with Yoga! I will talk more about that in future articles.

2007 is coming to an end and I found some interesting ideas on how to finish the year off.

Here are two of them:

Don’t start planning for 2008 until you truly acknowledge and celebrate what you have achieved in 2007. Don’t just talk about it, sit down and “map” it out on a big piece of paper, in nice colours. Include your whole family. Use symbols for each one of you and your family as a whole.Tthen draw lines with “bubbles” for each thing you have achieved. Soon your page will be full.

This idea comes from Janet Beckers, if you want to find out more or read the original article, go to:

http://www.wonderfulwebwomen.com/rep/Connie.html

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