A few months ago, I attended a two-hour yoga session with Jamie Elmer at a local studio Yoga Gallery. I believe she studied with Max Strom. It was a tapas practice, which means discipline in Sanskirt, but do not make the mistake that it means it's a difficult practice.
Judith Lasater described tapas on YogaJournal.com:
"A better way to understand tapas is to think of it as consistency in striving toward your goals: getting on the yoga mat every day, sitting on the meditation cushion every day—or forgiving your mate or your child for the 10,000th time. If you think of tapas in this vein, it becomes a more subtle but more constant practice, a practice concerned with the quality of life and relationships rather than focused on whether you can grit your teeth through another few seconds in a difficult asana."
Before we moved into the asanas or postures, Elmer led us through a meditation so we could find our own personal affirmations that we would carry and silently say to ourselves throughout the practice. First she had us choose something we were in need of and made us think of the one word every time we inhaled. Then she instructed us to pick a word that encapsulated what we needed to remove from our lives and then say in our mind with every out breath. I ended up choosing "source" on the inhale because I had just "attended" a virtual Abraham-Hicks presentation via Hay House and they are always referencing tuning into "source," which bascially means God and all that is good. On my exhale, I said "fear," which is all around us right now. I did change it sometimes to "worry" since Elmer said we could check in and alter our affirmations if needed and at anytime. She also moved very slowly and had us hold the poses between one to three minutes; she stressed backing off the poses instead of attacking them at 100 percent.
Afterwards I talked with Jamie about her meditation and tapas practice and how it tied so much with what I've been studying in Louise Hay, Abraham-Hicks, etc. It was very simple yet powerful. During my studies on the power of affirmations and thoughts, I’ve been wondering how I can tie yoga and this together, and Jamie did a beautiful job and definitely inspired me to create my own practice utilizing the power of our thoughts and minds.
I’d like to incorporate affirmations and the law of attraction to my yoga classes, but I don’t want to run people away either. Any thoughts?
6 comments:
I think it is wonderful for you to want to incorporate your law of attraction learnings into your yoga teaching. It doesn't have to be complicated and I doubt anyone would run away (wink) when they feel your good intentions (which are a vibration of course). When you authentically share what has been of value to you to your students, I'm certain they will be very grateful. Consider having them experiment with the affirmations, "center", or "balance", or "peace" or "oneness" or "joy" and ask them for feedback on how that feels in their body. If you ask them for feedback - not only will they become more aware of their vibration - you will be gaining valuable information about them. And you can even have them experiment with so-called lower vibrations such as "anger", or "fear" - just to experience what that feels like in their bodies. Enjoy! and congratulations on your spiritual journey.
Yoga is an art of discipline that was developed by an Indian Hindu named Patanjali. Retreat yoga about benefits of yoga exercises, yoga meditation, yoga practice.
Thanks Karen - wonderful suggestions!
Hi every one. I just wanted to thank you for the great blog you got here. I love Yoga and it's always nice to get involved with other people practicing it. Namaste!
Mediation yoga
Yoga has been known worldwide for some years now and it has become very popular on the entire planet. Millions of people engage into it for various reasons everyday. But even though it has tremendous benefits and millions of people stand as proof to that, there are still some that do not really believe in its health benefits. But can those contradict the millions of people whom have already tried and benefited from it
I love your comment about being consistant and regular in your practice. It's so true that once it's routine it is so much easier- and I find breaking my yoga routine actually makes my body hurt!
Love from Blackbird!
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