108 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD DO 108 SUN SALUTATIONS

Yoga Inside Out is hosting our first 108 Sun Salutation Challenge:  Mama Yoga Mala.   Traditionally this ritual is done at the turning of each season or done for celebration or coming together to support a cause or purpose.   We are doing 108 Sun Salutations to honor all the mothers in our lives and the mother of mothers, Mother Earth.  The number 108 has many different significant meanings in many cultures.  Here are some:

- 108 is the number of “Upanishads” comprising Indian philosophy’s “Vedic texts”.
- 108 is the number of names for Shiva (a really important Hindu god).
- 108 is the number of names for Buddha.
- 108 is the Chinese number representing “man”.
- 108 is the number of beads on a Catholic rosary.
- 108 is the number of beads on a Tibetan “mala” (prayer beads, analogous to a rosary).
- 108 is twice the number 54, which is the number of letters in the Sanskrit alphabet, one set of masculine (shiva) and one set of feminine (shakti).
- 108 is twelve times the number 9, which is the number of vinyasas (movements linked to breath) in a Sun Salutation
- 108 is the number of Sutras in the Yoga Sutras
- 108 connects the sun, moon and earth as the average distance  of the sun and moon to earth is 108 times their respective diameters

Here are 108 reasons why you should do this practice with us on May 12 ,2013 from 8:30am – 11:30am.  CLICK TO REGISTER

108.  You would’ve breathed at least 1,080 breaths by the time you’re done (doing only Sun As).  Imagine the high.

107.  108 sun salutations = at least 108 push ups!  Can you say toned triceps?

106.  It stretches your hamstrings.

105.  It lengthens your spine.

104.  It flexes your spine.

103.  It focuses your mind.

102.  It increases your breathing capacity.

101.  It’s grounding.

100. It invites stillness.

99.  It strengthens your core.

98.  It strengthens your shoulders and upper body.

97.  It’s the foundation of any vinyasa yoga class.  You’ll be a master of them by the time you’re done because repetition increases competence.

96.  Inversions… downdog brings blood flow back to the head and face which could mean less wrinkles.

95.  Energizes your cardiovascular system.

94.  It’s serves as a mediation in motion.

93.  You’ll get to bask in the energy of the group’s vibration.

92.  It’s builds internal heat… burn baby burn away what ever bogs you down.

91.  Every round is an opportunity to experience devotion.

90.  You stand with attention.

89.  Sun Salutations “bestow upon us the good fortune of having only good thoughts, of hearing and speaking only good words, and of attaining a sound and strong body, so that we may have a long life and, one day, achieve oneness with God.” – Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

88.  The Sun represents the 3rd eye center and sun salutations can stimulate and balance out the 7 chakra centers.

87.  To bow and salute with gratitude to the Sun for giving us a new day filled with life-giving light and sustenance.

86.  It’s like a challenging and karmic marathon.

85.  It’s a personal accomplishment.

84.  It’s a opportunity to devote your practice to something bigger than yourself.

83.  You get to test out the saying “doing the same thing over and over again is the definition of insanity.”  Is it true for this case?

82.  You can verify if feelings are really fleeting.  Believe me, you’ll feel all ranges of emotions during the challenge.

81.  You’ll learn that when you’re not attached to results, the process gets easier and is actually fun.

80.  It’s cleansing.

79.  It’s gratifying.

78.  It’s challenging and who doesn’t like to be challenged.

77.  Some people run to find a cure for cancer and we salute the Sun for all sorts of reasons.  You don’t really need a reason but this time we’re honoring all the moms out there.

76.  It’s a great reason to get a bunch of yogis and like-minded people together to celebrate something.

75.  All of your muscles will be stretched and toned.

74.  You’ll have the best savasana of your whole entire yoga life ever.

73.  108 is a very auspicious number.

72.  Surrender to the process and bow with humility.

71.  It’s a great way to get to know your fellow yogis in your yoga community.

70.  It is said that humans have 108 sins, desires, delusions, and lies. For each sun salute you do, one sin is peeled away. After completion you feel pure and at peace.

69.  Develop discipline.

68.  Some say there are 108 feelings: 36 related to the past, 36 related to the present, and 36 related to the future.

67.  It improves blood circulation throughout the entire body.

66.  It can change your life.  That’s the truth… I’ve met people who swore their life was transformed after doing their first 108 challenge.

65.  It’s an act of commitment and focus.

64.  It’s a lovely way to honor life and the world we live in.

63.  Oh, come on.. if the sun can rise 365 days a year, year after year, you can do 108 rounds.

62.  You get bragging rights.

61.  To say “boo-ya” to those who doubted you and for you to doubt your own doubts.

60.   By aligning many people around  a mission, intention, focus, and breath, it is a great reminder of how we are connected and one.

59.  It truly is one breath at a time, one movement at at time, one round at a time.

58.  At the end of it all, you might just be able to touch your toes.

57.  Enlightenment may be waiting for you at the end.

56.  To tell your mind to shut the F*%$ up.

55.  It can become your personal practice while you’re away from your community studio.

54.  It symbolizes the strength and perseverance that we’ve always had within ourselves to accomplish goals and dreams.

53.  Take the above 54 reasons and multiply by 2 = 108 more reasons.  :)

τεχνική εμπλουτισμού του νου με θετικότητα

Κλείστε τα μάτια σας και προσπαθήστε να θυμηθείτε, με κάθε λεπτομέρεια, ό,τι σας έδωσε ευχαρίστηση μέσα στην ημέρα. Μπορεί να είναι κάτι τόσο απλό όσο η ανάμνηση ενός όμορφα σερβιρισμένου φαγητού το μεσημέρι ή το άρωμα που δοκιμάσατε σε ένα κατάστημα καλλυντικών, ή ίσως η ανάμνηση μιας αγκαλιάς του παιδιού σας. Προσπαθήστε να αισθανθείτε αυτά τα συναισθήματα για άλλη μια φορά. Όσο πιο λεπτομερείς είναι οι μνήμες σας και όσο περισσότερο δραστηριοποιείτε τις πέντε αισθήσεις σας, τόσο πιο αποτελεσματικές γίνονται. Στην αρχή, μπορεί να δυσκολευτείτε πάρα πολύ, ακόμη και για να βρείτε μία ή δύο όμορφες στιγμές μέσα στην ημέρα σας, αλλά όσο συνεχίζετε να εκπαιδεύετε το μυαλό σας τόσο περισσότερο θ’ αρχίσετε να εστιάζετε σε λεπτομέρειες που στη αρχή σας ξέφευγαν. Θ’ αρχίσετε επίσης να βρίσκετε περισσότερη ομορφιά και χαρά σε απλά πράγματα, όπως τις σταγόνες της πρωινής πάχνης κάτω από το φως του ήλιου ή στο χαμόγελο ενός αγνώστου.

Όσο περισσότερο παρατηρείτε τα θετικά στη ζωή σας τόσο περισσότερο αυτό θα σας επιτρέψει να συντονίσετε καλύτερα τη μελωδία της ψυχής σας προς ελαφρότερες και υψηλότερες δονήσεις. Η μουσική του εσωτερικού μας εαυτού παίζει πάντα μέσα από τα μάτια μας. Ρίξτε μια ματιά στον καθρέφτη και δείτε τι είδους μουσική μεταδίδουν τα μάτια σας. Κατά τη γνώμη μου, το κλειδί για το μυστικό της νεότητας βρίσκεται στη μουσική και στην ικανότητα μας να νιώθουμε και ν’ ακολουθούμε το ρυθμό αυτό ανεξάρτητα από αυτά που μας ρίχνει η ζωή στο δρόμο μας. Αισθάνομαι πάντα απίστευτη χαρά, όταν συναντώ ηλικιωμένους ανθρώπους με μάτια νεανικά και αστραφτερά. Το νεανικό και νέο πνεύμα τους τους κάνει πιο ζωντανούς από πολλούς 20χρονους.

Read more: http://enallaktikidrasi.com/2014/01/texniki-emploutismou-tou-nou-me-thetikotita/#ixzz2rukA359S

Τεχνική για να απαλλαγείτε από τις ανεπιθύμητες σκέψεις

Ιδού, λοιπόν, μια τεχνική που θα σας βοηθήσει ν’ απαλλαγείτε από τις ανεπιθύμητες σκέψεις.

* Αναπνεύστε βαθιά και ελεύθερα. Καθώς εισπνέετε, με τη φαντασία σας σπρώξτε όλες αυτές τις ανεπιθύμητες σκέψεις μέσα σε μια πυκνή μπάλα, ένα θύλακο. Μπορεί να είναι μαύρη ή οποιοδήποτε άλλο χρώμα. Αν δεν καταφέρετε να τα βάλετε όλα μέσα με μια εισπνοή, συνεχίστε να εισπνέετε σαν να φουσκώνετε ένα μπαλόνι.

 Μπορείτε να φανταστείτε την μπάλα αυτή της πυκνής ενέργειας οπουδήποτε στο σώμα σας: στο στομάχι σας, στην καρδιά σας ή στο λαιμό σας.

» Όταν δημιουργήσετε αυτόν το θύλακο, εκπνεύστε απότομα: είναι σαν ένα γερό φτέρνισμα ή σαν να φυσάτε τη μύτη σας. Βγάλτε δυνατά τον ανεπιθύμητο αυτόν θύλακο από το σώμα σας, καθώς εκπνέετε και φανταστείτε ότι μετακινείται προς τα επάνω και μέσα από την κορυφή του κεφαλιού σας, μέχρις ότου το σπρώξετε έξω στο περιβάλλον.

* Αν αισθάνεστε ότι δεν καταφέρατε ν’ απαλλαγείτε απ’ όλα όσα θέλετε, πάρτε μια κανονική εισπνοή και στη συνέχεια εκπνεύστε ξανά υπό πίεση με μια ρυθμική ανάσα σαν τρόμπα. Συνεχίστε μέχρι να μην αισθάνεστε πλέον αυτές τις δυσάρεστες αισθήσεις που σίγουρα έχουν μείνει στο σώμα σας.

* Φανταστείτε τώρα ότι ο θύλακος με τη μορφή μπάλας που εκπνεύσατε, υπερίπταται ένα με δύο μέτρα πάνω από το κεφάλι σας. Πάρτε μια κανονική εισπνοή και εκπνεύστε πολύ μα πολύ αργά. Αρχίστε τώρα να εισπνέετε και πάλι με έντονο ρυθμό τρόμπας, σαν να βομβαρδίζετε την μπάλα με την αναπνοή σας, μέχρι να τη διαλύσετε και μόνο με τη δύναμη της αναπνοής σας. Συνεχίστε το βομβαρδισμό μέχρι στη φαντασία σας να δείτε την μπάλα να γίνεται σχεδόν πυροτέχνημα, να εκρήγνυται και να σπάει δημιουργώντας πολλά λαμπερά φλας. Τα φλας αυτά είναι φωτεινά, καθαρά, όμορφα πολύχρωμα αιωρήματα – αφήστε τα να φύγουν.

Read more: http://enallaktikidrasi.com/2014/01/texniki-gia-na-apallageite-apo-tis-anepithymites-skepseis/#ixzz2ruitzYa3

How to Change Your Stress Response

Remember the tale “The Lady or the Tiger?” As it ends, the hero is standing before two identical doors: one conceals a beautiful maiden; the other, a ferocious tiger. The hero must open one of these doors—the choice is his—but he has no way of knowing which will bring forth the lady and which will release the tiger.

I’m sometimes reminded of this story when a patient is describing one of the symptoms of chronic stress: headaches, indigestion, ulcers, tight muscles, high blood pressure, or some combination of these. When I point out that the symptom is stress-related, the patient seems resigned—stress is such a constant in most people’s lives that all the doors seem to have tigers lurking behind them. Most of the people who find their way to my office know the fight-or-flight response is hardwired into our nervous system and many have come to accept a constant feeling of tension as normal, even inevitable.

It isn’t. Like the hero in the story, we have a choice. There is another door, another response to the challenges of everyday living that is also hardwired into our nervous system. And unlike the hero, whose destiny rests with chance, we can discover which door is which. A general understanding of the nervous system and how it responds to stress, coupled with training in three fundamental yoga techniques, make it possible for us to distinguish one door from the other. Practicing these techniques gives us the power to choose the lady while leaving the door that unleashes the tiger firmly closed.

Releasing the Tiger

The autonomic nervous system controls all the body’s involuntary processes: respiratory rate, heart rate, blood pressure, gastric juice secretion, peristalsis, body temperature, and so on. It has two main components or branches—the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. When we feel stressed, our brain activates the sympathetic nervous system, which has come to be known as the fight-or-flight response. This causes the adrenal medulla to secrete adrenaline (also called epinephrine), a hormone that circulates through the bloodstream, affecting almost every organ. Adrenaline revs up the body to survive a threat to life and limb: The heart pumps faster and harder, causing a spike in blood pressure; respiration increases in rate and moves primarily into the chest; airways dilate to bring more oxygen into the body; blood sugar rises to provide a ready supply of fuel; some blood vessels constrict to shunt blood away from the skin and the core of the body, while others dilate to bring more blood to the brain and limbs. The result? A body pumped up to fight or run, and a mind that is hyperalert.

This response is a crucial reaction to a life-threatening event: when we find ourselves face-to-face with a mountain lion, the stress response dramatically increases our chances of surviving. And we’ve all heard stories of fantastic feats: the mom lifting a car off her trapped child, the firefighter carrying a man twice his size from a burning building. These are the benefits of the sympathetic nervous system. Any time we respond quickly and decisively when a life is at stake, this is the system to thank.

The fight-or-flight response is meant to be triggered sporadically, in those rare moments when we are actually in peril. Ideally, it remains dormant until the next closecall (weeks, months, or even years later!). But in many of us this response is triggered daily, even hourly. Some people—soldiers, tightrope walkers, members of a SWAT team, for example—do find themselves in life-or-death situations frequently. But for most of us, such situations are rare: a mugging, a traffic accident, a close-up with a bear in the backcountry. Once the threatening event is over, hormonal signals switch off the stress response, and homeostasis is reestablished.

Fear of the unknown, major changes in our circumstances, uncertainty about the future, our negative attitudes—all these are sources of stress.

The problem is that for many of us the fight-or-flight response rarely switches off, and stress hormones wash through the body almost continuously.

The source of our stress is psychological rather than physical—a perception that something crucial to us is threatened.

Fear of the unknown, major changes in our circumstances, uncertainty about the future, our negative attitudes—all these are sources of stress. Today we worry more about our jobs, our relationships, or getting stuck in traffic than we do about fighting off a wild animal, but even though the perceived threat is psychological, it still triggers the archaic survival response.

The upshot is that our bodies are in a constant state of tension, ready to fight or flee, and this causes a host of physical problems. You can see what some of these are if you look again at what happens when adrenaline courses through the body: elevated blood pressure, rapid shallow breathing, high blood sugar, and indigestion. What is more, adrenaline makes our platelets stickier, so our blood will clot quickly if we are wounded. This increases our chances of surviving a physical injury—but chronically sticky platelets are more apt to clot and create blockages in our arteries. And this sets the stage for a heart attack or a stroke.

The damage doesn’t end there. When we are constantly in fight-or-flight mode, the adrenal cortex begins to secrete cortisol, a steroid whose job is to help us adapt to a prolonged emergency by ensuring that we have enough fuel. Cortisol acts on the liver and muscle tissues, causing them to synthesize sugars (glucose) and fats and release them into the bloodstream. From the body’s viewpoint, this is a reasonable response—dumping fat and sugar into the blood will help us survive a shipwreck, for example. But when this fuel is not metabolized in response to prolonged physical duress, disease results. Excess sugar in the bloodstream leads to diabetes, and excess fat to high cholesterol/high triglycerides. Both conditions boost our chances of developing heart disease.

The steroids cortisol and cortisone quell inflammation in autoimmune diseases and asthma, and so are useful when used infrequently and for brief periods, but their constant presence in the bloodstream suppresses immune function. This causes the white blood cells—those hardy defenders against bacteria, viruses, cancer cells, fungi, and other harmful microorganisms—to become sluggish. And this makes us more prone to disease, especially cancer and chronic infections like Lyme disease, hepatitis, and the Epstein-Barr virus.

Sounds grim, doesn’t it? It is. It’s a tiger. A chronically activated sympathetic nervous system keeps the body under constant pressure. If we ignore early warning symptoms—tight shoulders, digestive upset, recurring headaches, an increasing tendency to lose our temper or become easily upset—sooner or later the tiger will tear us up. But we can make another choice. The autonomic nervous system has another component, the parasympathetic nervous system. Rather than living under the tyranny of a ramped-up sympathetic nervous system, we can learn to trigger the parasympathetic system, the rest-and-digest response, instead.

Just as the fight-or-flight response automatically kicks in at the threat of danger, the rest-and-digest response automatically responds to our sense of equilibrium.

Just as the fight-or-flight response automatically kicks in at the threat of danger, the rest-and-digest response automatically responds to our sense of equilibrium. When it is activated, the heart rate drops, blood pressure falls, and respiration slows and deepens. Blood flow to the core of the body is reestablished—this promotes good digestion, supports the immune system, and infuses us with a sense of well-being.

We unconsciously achieve this state on vacation, in the throes of a hearty laugh, or in deep sleep. It feels good, and it offers a much needed respite from the hectic pace we set for ourselves. But we have come to accept stress as the norm and to expect the feeling of relaxed well-being to come about only sporadically—and so it does. We release the tiger a dozen times a day, even though the other door is also there in every moment. Once we learn to open it at will, we can override the harmful habit of triggering our stress response by activating the rest-and-digest component of our nervous system instead.

Greeting the Lady

I use a variety of natural therapies in my medical practice, but the basic treatments are drawn from yoga—stretching, breathing, relaxation, and meditation—and these techniques are especially effective when it comes to managing stress. You already know from personal experience that aerobic exercise is excellent for dissipating stress-created tension, and that sugar, caffeine, and spicy food contribute to jangling your nervous system and shortening your temper. You are probably also familiar with the relaxing effects of practicing yoga postures—they teach us to move and stretch our tense, strained bodies and to focus on the breath. But do you know that breathing slowly and deeply is the easiest way to activate the rest-and-digest system? That is one reason yoga classes are so popular—they soothe frazzled nerves and quiet anxious minds. But yoga also works at an even deeper level: it reestablishes healthy breathing patterns, teaches us to relax consciously and systematically, and gives us the opportunity to explore the inner workings of our minds through meditation. These techniques—both separately and in combination—nourish and strengthen the parasympathetic nervous system so that the relax-and-digest response becomes our normal mode. The fight-or-flight response is then reserved for emergencies, as nature intended. So let’s take a look at some ways we can open Door Number Two.

Diaphragmatic Breathing

Babies and young children breathe deeply and fully, using the dome-shaped diaphragm that separates the chest and abdominal cavities to move air in and out of their lungs. Their bellies are relaxed and move in concert with their breath. This is the natural, healthy way to breathe. But as we grow up we are taught to constrict the abdomen (Pull your stomach in and stand up straight!), and that training, coupled with an unconscious tendency to tighten the belly when we experience stress, disrupts the natural flow of our breath. With the abdomen pulled in, the breath is confined to the upper portion of the lungs (from about the nipple line up). And because this breathing pattern is perceived by the body to be a stress response, it reinforces the fight-or-flight reaction.

Diaphragmatic breathing, on the other hand, activates the relax-and-digest response by stimulating the primary mediator of the parasympathetic nervous system, the vagus nerve. This nerve travels from the brain to nearly all the thoracic and abdominal organs (“vagus” comes from the same root as “vagabond”), and triggers a cascade of calming effects. Most of the time we wait for it to be activated by something pleasant and hope for a trickle-down effect, not realizing that the nerve (and hence the entire parasympathetic nervous system) can be turned on from the bottom up by diaphragmatic breathing.

Of all the processes regulated by the autonomic nervous system (heart rate, blood pressure, secretion of gastric juices, peristalsis, body temperature, etc.), only breathing can be controlled consciously. And in doing so, we stimulate the branch of the vagus nerve that innervates the diaphragm (which carries a message to the other vagus branches and the brain) to activate the entire rest-and-digest response. This is why the first step in reversing our chronic stress response is to learn to breathe again the way we were born to breathe.

If you haven’t been trained in diaphragmatic breathing, find an experienced teacher and practice every day until it once again becomes a habit. Then, as you develop the skill of breathing from the diaphragm in the course of your daily activities, you will begin to experience your breath as a barometer for the nervous system. As long as you are breathing deeply and from the diaphragm, you will find that you can access a feeling of calm and balance even when you are confronted with an unpleasant situation. And you will also notice that if you allow your breath to become shallow by breathing from your chest, anxiety creeps in, your muscles tighten, and your mind begins to race and spin. When this agitated breathing is prolonged, it creates an unsettled and defensive outlook on life. Once you know this from your own experience, you can make a different choice.

Systematic Relaxation

To activate the parasympathetic nervous system, diaphragmatic breathing makes an excellent beginning. But we need to do more, particularly when we have spent years unconsciously flinging open the door to the tiger’s cage. Daily periods of relaxation are a must. When I tell my patients this, many of them say they relax while they watch TV or read or knit or socialize. The problem is that while these activities distract the mind from its usual worries (and so provide some relief), they do little to relieve the stress we hold in the form of muscular contraction and tension.

To reverse well-established habits of holding tension in our bodies, we need to work with what the yogis call the energy body (pranamaya kosha). Systematic relaxation practices offer a precise, orderly technique for releasing tension from head to toe. There are a number of these techniques, and like all yoga practices, they are best learned from an experienced teacher, and then honed through patient practice. They range in complexity from simple tension/relaxation exercises and point-to-point breathing practices to techniques that require making fine distinctions among various points in the energy body. But all involve moving our attention through the body in a methodical fashion, usually while resting in shavasana (corpse pose). And all require that we withdraw our attention from the drama of our lives. For the duration of the practice, we let go of our memories, plans, worries, and fantasies, and focus on what we are doing here and now as we move our awareness calmly and quietly from one part of the body to another.

Breathing from the diaphragm, while systematically bringing our full attention to one point in the body after another, not only releases tension and fatigue in the places where we rest our attention, it also augments the energy flow among those points. This promotes both healing and cleansing. Further, because full engagement with a systematic relaxation practice requires that we clear our minds and attend fully to the present moment, we are also refining a skill that opens the door to meditation.

Meditation

Since stress begins with the perception that our lives (or at least our sense of well-being) are in danger, working with the mind to alter our perceptions is the most powerful technique for quieting our stress response. Most of what activates our fight-or-flight response is not a matter of life or death. We may feel pressured to accomplish a certain task or worried about what will happen at tomorrow’s meeting—but our lives don’t depend upon the outcome. With rare exceptions, the habitual thought patterns that create the experience of stress for us are overreactions to events in our lives. Instead of responding in a way that floods the body with adrenaline, however, we can reframe the experience to make it not only less stressful, but also more accurate in reflecting what is really happening (“I’m only in a traffic jam, I’m not at death’s door.” “I want to please this person, but if I don’t, I’m not going to be fired.”) This goes a long way toward quieting the fight-or-flight response, and it is a skill that comes with experience in meditation.

Meditation helps us understand our mental habits by giving us the opportunity to observe them from a neutral vantage point. This is why I often prescribe meditation to my patients as a way to manage stress. I don’t mean to minimize meditation as a means of spiritual transformation, but in its early stages, one of the most delicious benefits of meditation practice is seeing that it is possible to avoid getting sucked into the banter and hysteria of our mental chatter. Meditation allows us to witness that banter—to observe it impartially—without being smack in the middle of it. It’s like watching a rainstorm from a warm, dry room. The peace we feel when we are watching our minds rather than identifying with our thoughts is the peace that is at our core.

When you are first learning to meditate, the mind will wander away from the object of meditation to dwell on some other thought. This will happen again and again. Your job is to gently and repeatedly bring your attention back to your object of meditation, and to do it patiently, without judgment. Sometimes it may seem as if the distracting thoughts are like movie images projected onto a personal viewing screen in your mind. And some may be strange and wild. But you are in the rest-and-digest mode, and as strange as they are, your projections don’t trigger the fight-or-flight response. The ability to simply observe them is evidence that they aren’t you. And the ability to distinguish between the inner observer in you and the chaotic jumble in your mind means that you can respond with equanimity, rather than react and flood your body with stress hormones.

The more we practice meditation, the more we will be able to discriminate between what is real and what is not—between what is truly life-threatening and what is just a habitual overreaction. And once we begin to see that almost everything that triggers our sympathetic nervous system is merely a habitual overreaction, we can begin to make different choices. Instead of reacting to an unpleasant event, we can cushion the jarring effect on our nervous system by observing it in the same way that we observe our mental chatter in meditation and by consciously breathing from the diaphragm.

This is likely to prove challenging in the beginning. When your spouse or a coworker snaps at you, you may find yourself halfway into an angry retort before you noticethat you have switched to chest breathing. Then you need to remind yourself to breathe from the diaphragm and to find a neutral vantage point. But this skill comes with time, particularly when you are sitting for meditation regularly, practicing diaphragmatic breathing, and punctuating your day with a systematic relaxation practice. And as you choose to activate your rest-and-digest response consciously and continuously, you will find yourself in fight-or-flight mode only when your car skids on a patch of ice or the cat knocks over a candle and sets the curtains on fire. Your health will improve, to say nothing of your outlook on life. You have learned to choose the right door.

ABOUT Carrie Demers Board-certified in internal medicine, Carrie Demers, MD, is a holistic physician who blends modern medicine with traditional approaches to health. After receiving her medical degree from the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Demers went on to study massage, homeopathy, nutrition, herbal medicine, yoga, and ayurveda. She has been the Director of the Himalayan Institute Total Health Center for the last 16 years. Widely recognized for her expertise, Dr. Demers has been interviewed by numerous magazines and newspapers and lectures nationally on holistic health and ayurveda. She is a frequent contributor to Yoga International.

http://yogainternational.com/article/view/chaos-or-calm-how-to-rewire-your-stress-response

5 Poses to Reduce Hypertension

Reduce hypertension with this sequence of gentle stress-relieving poses.

Chances are at least one person in your life—a family member, someone you work with, or a good friend—has high blood pressure and takes one or more pills a day to bring it under control. Why so likely? Because high blood pressure—what doctors callhypertension—affects one in three adults in the United States. Elevated blood pressure, which increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, and kidney disease, is often described as a “silent killer.” Recognizable symptoms do exist—fatigue, nosebleeds, nervous tension, ringing in the ears, dizziness, bursts of anger, headaches—but not generally until blood pressure is dangerously high.

Stress: The Culprit of Hypertension

Blood pressure—the force blood exerts against the walls of your arteries as it travels through the circulatory system—fluctuates during the day, increasing during exertion or stress and decreasing when the body is at rest. Most doctors agree that a blood pressure reading of less than 120/80 is ideal for adults, and diagnose hypertension when those numbers reach 140/90. The top number (the systolic pressure) refers to the amount of pressure in the arteries when the heart beats or contracts. The bottom number measures the diastolic pressure, or how much pressure remains in the arteries between beats, when the heart is relaxed.

A high-stress lifestyle can lead to what doctors call "essential" hypertension, where there is no disease-specific cause.

Although several conditions can cause secondary high blood pressure (kidney disease, hormone abnormalities, type 2 diabetes), more often than not a high-stress lifestyle can lead to what doctors call “essential” hypertension, where there is no disease-specific cause.

Yoga, when performed mindfully, can reduce this type of stress-induced hypertension, while addressing its underlying causes. It pacifies the sympathetic nervous system and slows down the heart, while teaching the muscles and mind to relax deeply.

Pranayama can also be extremely beneficial. Research studies demonstrate that conscious breathing quickly lowers blood pressure. Practicing pranayama while lying down encourages the breath to arise smoothly from a relaxed state, without any force. If you do choose to sit, keep your spine straight and lift your chest, while keeping your head down in jalandhara bandha, so that there is no strain on the heart.

Yoga can reduce stress-induced hypertension, while addressing its underlying causes. It pacifies the sympathetic nervous system and slows down the heart, while teaching the muscles and mind to relax deeply.

While a general yoga practice has a pacifying effect and can bring the nervous system into balance, some asanas work better than others for actually lowering blood pressure—and simple modifications make others more beneficial. For example, do cooling poses, such as forward bends where the head is supported—to bring a sense of calm to the head, neck, face, and diaphragm. Modify any standing poses in which the arms are normally extended overhead (likevirabhadrasana I) by placing your hands on your hips. In trikonasana (triangle pose), look down toward the floor instead of up at the ceiling to keep blood pressure from rising. Steer clear of poses that compress the front of the diaphragm, such as dhanurasana (bow pose) and mayurasana (peacock pose), which can drive blood pressure up.

Anyone with untreated high blood pressure should avoid unsupported inversions, such as shirshasana (headstand pose) or adho mukha vrikshasana (handstand pose)—or any other pose in which they can feel pressure in the throat or temples, or that cause respiration to become heavy or difficult.

Practicing a modified halasana (plow pose) is a good way to experience the benefits of inversions without the potentially harmful effects, because you can learn to bear weight on the upper body and lengthen the sides of the neck without any strain. So if your blood pressure reads on the high side, stick to the modified version below.

Forward bends and other introverted asanas teach us how to quiet the brain and lengthen and soften the neck along the path of the carotid artery. When doing these poses to lower blood pressure, support the head, which has a cooling, calming effect on the whole body.

Research studies demonstrate that conscious breathing quickly lowers blood pressure.

The following sequence is designed to prepare you to work toward the practice of inversions safely and without raising your blood pressure. At no time should you feel agitated or uncomfortable in any of these poses. If you feel flushed, hot, or dizzy while practicing, come out of the pose and rest in balasana (child’s pose) until you feel normal again.

End your practice with at least five minutes of shavasana, using a blanket, if necessary, to support the back of your neck so it stays long and your face can completely relax toward your chest.

Adho Mukha Shvanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose) with Support

Begin on your hands and knees and place two or three blankets (folded lengthwise) underneath your chest. Press the weight evenly through the hands as you straighten your arms and lift up through the inner edges of the arms. Release your shoulder blades away from your neck toward your hips, straighten the legs, and lift your pelvis up into adho mukha shvanasana (downward-facing dog pose). Separate your feet wider than hip-width apart.

Lift the pelvis away from the wrists and, keeping the legs firm, press the fronts of the thighs away from the torso toward the backs of the legs and lengthen your calves down toward your heels. Extend the inner arms from the wrists toward the shoulders as you move the shoulder blades away from the neck toward the pelvis.

Let the back of your neck release down so that your head (somewhere between the top of your forehead and the crown of the head) can rest on the support. If your head doesn’t comfortably reach your support, add another blanket. You shouldn’t have to bend the elbows in order to reach the blankets. If your neck feels compressed or your head jams into the blankets, lower your support.

When you can balance the dynamic action in the limbs and torso with the rest and relaxation in the head and neck, you’ll be able to hold the pose for a few minutes without feeling strain. When you come down, separate and bend your knees, sit on your heels, and release your head to the floor in balasana.

Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend Pose) with Head Support

Separate the feet as wide apart as the narrow side of a yoga mat. Align the outer heels and little toes on the edges of the mat, and place a block at its tallest height between your feet and in line with your big toes. Depending on your proportions and the flexibility of your hamstrings, you may need more or less support. Stack a couple of blocks, if necessary, or put the blocks or a folded blanket on the seat of a chair to rest your head.

Bend forward, straighten your legs, and place the crown of your head on your support. Hold the ankles and spread the elbows apart from each other. Move your shoulder blades away from your neck, but let the back of your head descend toward the floor. Even though your head is resting on your support, keep the majority of your weight in your feet, balancing the weight evenly between the front, back, inside, and outside edges of the feet. Lift your thighs firmly and press the thighbones toward the backs of the legs without disturbing your head. The back of the neck should feel long and the chest broad. Breathe normally and stay in the pose for as long as you like, up to three minutes. Place your hands on your hips, inhale, and come up.

Pashchimottanasana (Posterior Stretch Pose)

Sit on two folded blankets and extend your legs straight in front of you in dandasana (seated staff pose), feet hip-width apart. Place a bolster lengthwise on top of your legs, with a folded blanket on the bolster closer to your feet. Lift the sides of your torso up. If you find that you’re slumping backward, sit on more support. Extend forward and hold the outside edges of your feet with your hands. Lengthen your abdomen over the bolster and rest your forehead on the blanket.

If you can’t reach your feet, hold a belt around the feet; if your head doesn’t reach the blanket, rest it on a chair instead, padded with at least one blanket. Straighten your legs and press the thighbones toward the floor as much as you can without allowing your heels to lift. Relax the forehead and spread your elbows as you release the shoulders apart and away from your neck.

Extend through the backs of the heels and move your back ribs toward your front ribs down onto the bolster. Keep the back of the neck long and soft and relax your facial features. Hold for two minutes and then return to dandasana.

Halasana (Plow Pose)

Experiment with this pose using blankets, a bolster, and a chair for support. If you feel any discomfort, simply come out of the pose and rest in shavasana. Stack three folded blankets at the end of your mat. The smooth, folded edges of the blankets should be in line with the edge of your mat. Open another blanket on the floor in front of your mat for the back of your head, place a bolster on the mat behind your blankets for your pelvis to rest on, and position a chair on the floor in front of your mat and folded blankets. Lie down with your shoulders, upper back, and base of your neck on the stacked blankets, your head on the blanket on the floor, and your pelvis resting on the bolster.

Reach your arms overhead and hold the feet of the chair. Push the chair away from you until your arms are straight. Bring your arms back by your sides and place your palms on the bolster. Rotate your upper arms outward and open the chest. Pressing your hands into the bolster, bend your knees toward your chest, lift your pelvis off the bolster, and take your feet overhead, toes onto the seat of the chair. Separate your feet as wide apart as the seat of the chair, toes curled under.

Clasp your hands behind your back, straighten your arms, and roll onto the outer front edges of your shoulders. Press your wrists into the bolster and lift the sides of your chest away from the floor. Relax your throat and allow the back of the neck to softly lengthen.

Pressing your toes down, lift the fronts of your thighs away from your head and straighten your legs. Release the clasp of your hands and rest the backs of your hands on the floor besides your head, elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. Keep your legs active but your head and neck passive, and your throat and face completely relaxed. To come down, bend your knees and slowly roll your upper, middle, and then lower back to the floor, keeping your head down. Rest on your back for a minute before rolling to yourside to sit up.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose)

Sit on the front end of a bolster and belt the tops of your thighs together. With your knees bent and your feet on the floor, lie back onto the bolster. Using your feet to push against the floor, slide off the bolster just until your shoulders reach the floor and are at the same level as your head. Then extend your legs straight, backs of the heels on the floor.

Roll the outer edges of the shoulders underneath you and broaden your chest as you lengthen your arms alongside the bolster. Turn the upper arms out and the palms toward the ceiling. If your lower back aches or feels compressed, elevate your feet on a support and lengthen the sacrum and buttocks toward your heels.

Some asanas work better than others for lowering blood pressure--for example, cooling poses, such as forward bends where the head is supported.

 Relax your throat and allow the root of the tongue to descend toward the back of the throat. You can close your eyes and gaze inwardly toward your chest, so that your forehead and cheeks soften and release completely. Relax the area between the eyebrows and around the temples.

Stay in this pose for as long as you like—up to 10 minutes; you should feel completely relaxed. On an exhalation, bend your knees, push your feet into the floor and slide off the bolster until your entire back comes to the floor. Rest the backs of your legs on the bolster for a few moments and then roll over to your right side and sit up.

After sitting up, you can cross your legs and bend forward to rest your forehead on the bolster. If your head doesn’t reach, elevate the support. Hold for a half a minute and then change the cross of your legs and repeat on the other side before sitting up.

ABOUT Marla Apt Marla Apt is a senior-level Iyengar yoga teacher based in Los Angeles, California.

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hypertension