Dru Yoga was first taught in the West by a small group of people at Bangor University, North Wales, UK from the late 1970s onwards. Mansukh Patel, John Jones, Rita Goswami, Annie Jones and Chris Barrington were trained in Dru Yoga by Mansukh’s parents. They had participated in Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha campaigns in India. Mansukh and his family emigrated to the UK in the 1960’s from Kenya.

Dru Yoga has become popular in Australia over the past 10 years or so. We talked to Andrew Wells who is one of the most eminent teachers of Dru Yoga here in Australia. He conducts Dru Yoga teacher training all over the world. He has taken Dru Yoga into war zones and it has brought amazing benefits to severely traumatised people.

Listen to the interview here:

Dru Yoga is accessible to all body types, the body is used to transform the mind and the emotions. It doesn’t matter how “fit” you are. In case you can’t perform certain postures, you can visualise doing them, feel the energy flow they would create and you will still get a lot of the benefits.

According to Andrew your own body is a much better tool to transform your unconscious mind than your conscious mind. Yes, you read that right – your body is the tool transform negative emotions into positive ones – anxiety into confidence, anger into empowerment and hatred into love, just to name a few.

The ultimate goal of any yoga practice is to achieve a physical and mental state that allows you to meditate with ease. A stiff, painful body and any emotions that cause “turbulences” in your mind will stop you from meditating effectively. Those turbulences need to be cleared.

Dru Yoga is a soft form of yoga with flowing movements and many different sequences. To find out more, have a look here:

www.dru.com.au

www.druworldwide.com

www.druyogaonlinestudio.com

Till next time

Connie

Your Yoga Partner

from

http://www.yogainahurry.com

This post is quite long but I think it is worth reading…please persevere with it. Last Sunday I went for a very interesting afternoon of discussions and brainstorming at the home of Richard and Maria Maguire. Their Motto is:  “Transforming individuals and organizations toward a future worth living now. ”

Their work revolves around “enabling people to think and act together, strengthening their innate capacities to make a difference”.

During that afternoon a small group of us, under the guidance of Richard and Maria, looked at the “crisis” that is affecting everybody in one way or another at the moment. All of us have met people in the last few weeks who are deeply affected, shaken to the core by what is going on. The effects of the whole crisis go far beyond the “economy”. The changes and uncertainties affect every area of life, not just the economy. The lack of money is the most immediate and most keenly felt threat by a lot of people but it goes far deeper than that.

Over the last few weeks so many people have told me how they have fallen into depression or that they know somebody who has. There have also been a number of suicides in the circle of my acquaintances which are  a direct result of the economic crisis. This is very sad. So I decided to do something and get a different perspective “out there”. I hope it will give comfort and direction to  some of you and hopefully prevent some tragedies. (more…)

Do you like chilies? Hot food? Did you have a hard day and feel exhausted?

Certain foods may help to lift your spirits. Scientists have come up with the term “Pepper High Effect”. The chemical substance capsaicin which is contained in chili stimulates the pain receptors on our tongue. The body reacts and pours out endorphins.

Endorphins reduce pain and lift our spirits – we can even become slightly euphoric. “Endorphin” literally translated means the “morphine within”. The so called “runners high” is also caused by endorphins. Any type of prolonged exercise releases endorphins.

Coming to back to food: the “Pepper High Effect” can be triggered by chili sauce, fresh chili, chili powder, ginger, mustard, wasabi and horseradish.

Next time you are in a bad mood or stressed out, visit a Thai restaurant, this might just be the answer.

Till next time,

Connie

Your Yoga Partner

from

http://www.yogainahurry.com

Recently I came across a study that assessed the benefits of Yoga for women diagnosed with breast cancer and receiving conventional treatment. The main focus of the study was on “Anxiety”, the reason being that anxiety experienced after diagnosis and during treatment causes various problems and the overall outcome of the treatment is not as good. Here are a couple of quotes from the study:

“Earlier studies have shown that anxiety increases psychological distress and side effects following conventional treatment. This treatment-related distress is predictive of poorer treatment outcome, poor treatment compliance,
greater pain, longer hospital stays, more postoperative complications and immune suppression.”

“Therefore, there is a need to reduce anxiety in these patients.
The literature on psychosocial treatment for breast cancer patients provides uniform evidence for an improvement in mood, coping, adjustment, vigour, and decrease in distressful symptoms using a variety of behavioural approaches including alternative medicine approaches such as yoga.

Yoga as a complementary and mind body therapy is being practiced increasingly across the world. It is an ancient Indian science that has been used for therapeutic benefit in numerous health care concerns in which mental
stress was believed to play a role. This could be particularly useful in cancer patients who perceive cancer as a threat. ”

In other words, it is crucial to reduce stress and anxiety when confronted with a diagnosis like breast cancer. Yoga is one of the methods that can help to achieve better outcomes.

The reference for the study is:

Anxiolytic effects of a yoga program in early breast
cancer patients undergoing conventional treatment:
A randomized controlled trial
M. Raghavendra Rao, Nagarathna Raghuram, H.R. Nagendra,
K.S. Gopinath, B.S. Srinath, Ravi B. Diwakar, Shekar Patil,
S. Ramesh Bilimagga, Nalini Rao, S. Varambally
Departments of CAM, Surgical Oncology, Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology,
Bangalore Institute of Oncology, Bangalore, India
Department of Yoga Research, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, Bangalore, India
Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS, Bangalore, India

and you can find it at:

http://www.sciencedirect.com

Till next time,

Connie,

Your Yoga Partner,

from

http://www.yogainahurry.com

As we become more and more “available” our stress levels increase. I might be giving away my age here – but I remember a world with no telephone, no TV, no mobile phone, no computers, no email and no internet…..

I also remember a time when shops closed Saturday lunch time and did not re-open till Monday morning.

Life was definitely slower. Throughout history there was more time than opportunity – meaning that we actually had spare time on our hands – this is how things like embroidery, poetry, making music, dance etc. have evolved. I think the world would be a much poorer place without all those lovely things.

We now have reached a time in history where for the first time we have more opportunity than time. There is simply too much on offer, too much going on, constant stimulation. As a result, our creativity suffers. You may think that this doesn’t matter much because those “creative things” are a luxury. Some might be, but creativity is absolutely essential for problem solving, for seeing things from different angles, for finding solutions, for thinking outside the “box”. Creativity will give you new ideas for your business or workplace and will inspire you to try something new.

It is very important to nurture our creativity and have complete “time out” from all responsibilities and put an end to this constant availability.

How about a full day (24 hours!) without phone, mobile phone, computer, TV and whatever else you may have that makes you electronically “available” to others and keeps your brain occupied….

At least think about what you would do with your time and how it may benefit you, then take action. You may enjoy it so much that you may want to make it a regular event.

Till next time,

Connie

Your Yoga Partner

from

http://yogainahurry.com