The Tibetans Buddhists say the body is a slow mind. That what your mind does your body will follow. Whatever beliefs you hold, feelings you suppress and experiences that happen through out your life, the body will store them and shape itself around the energy interruptions. This then shows up in the body as tension or pain, as illness or physical conditions that prevent us from being comfortable and at our best. This week in Yoga Coach world we are learning how to assess the body, look at the areas that are tight and the areas that need strength. It is an amazing and detailed process that helps bring awareness to mis-alignments in someone's body. And more often than not, you don't even realise you are not in alignment, as the body has reorganised itself around the area and everything feels normal. It is only when you start to come back into alignment that you realise that perhaps that feeling of tension in your neck does not need to be there all the time, that the headaches you experience weekly subside or for some people, they start to access the full potential of their breath that you start recalibrate your "normal" and feeling good scale.
I have changed how I work with my body significantly over the last 18 months. I went from 4-5 yoga classes a week and 3-4 boot camp sessions, maybe a weekend run to making sure I am walking somewhere every day (and in Mcleod with 330 steps to go up and down each day, it is not that hard) my own gentle asana practice which was no more than 30 minutes and worked primarily on stretching the areas of my body that I was holding tension (often calves from all those stairs and hips where I store my emotions) a daily pranayam (breathing) practice and meditation. All up about an hour. Much less time than I spent in Sydney, but it seems to be more useful for me. Certainly my body is not in perfect condition, I am sure my core strength can do with some work, and I perhaps could not run the City to Surf next week, but I feel generally pretty good and I can still hold my own in a strong asana class. My diet in India was reasonable, but it did not include words like raw, organic or even wholefoods....I had coffee each day and the occasional beer. But it was reasonably balanced and mostly home cooked with ingredients that don't come from a shelf.
I think I wrote the other day I feel better in my body than perhaps I ever had. But I also feel better in my mind. It really hit home to me late last year when I discovered I could stay in Bakasana with relevant ease - a pose I had always struggled with - it requires power from your core, your energy centre that stores your beliefs about yourself - my body had not changed, if anything it would be less, but my self belief had.
I have learned to take my body to the subtle edge, not push it into pain and strain barriers and it is through gentle exercise that I have found my body find it's alignment. I have limited stress in my life, and it shows in my body. It really is a slow mind. Mark talks about "if you want to know what your body will look like in 10 years, look at the contents of your mind today". I am not sure that it really takes that long for the body to respond, but I honestly believe that my body really is just my slow mind.
I have changed how I work with my body significantly over the last 18 months. I went from 4-5 yoga classes a week and 3-4 boot camp sessions, maybe a weekend run to making sure I am walking somewhere every day (and in Mcleod with 330 steps to go up and down each day, it is not that hard) my own gentle asana practice which was no more than 30 minutes and worked primarily on stretching the areas of my body that I was holding tension (often calves from all those stairs and hips where I store my emotions) a daily pranayam (breathing) practice and meditation. All up about an hour. Much less time than I spent in Sydney, but it seems to be more useful for me. Certainly my body is not in perfect condition, I am sure my core strength can do with some work, and I perhaps could not run the City to Surf next week, but I feel generally pretty good and I can still hold my own in a strong asana class. My diet in India was reasonable, but it did not include words like raw, organic or even wholefoods....I had coffee each day and the occasional beer. But it was reasonably balanced and mostly home cooked with ingredients that don't come from a shelf.
I think I wrote the other day I feel better in my body than perhaps I ever had. But I also feel better in my mind. It really hit home to me late last year when I discovered I could stay in Bakasana with relevant ease - a pose I had always struggled with - it requires power from your core, your energy centre that stores your beliefs about yourself - my body had not changed, if anything it would be less, but my self belief had.
I have learned to take my body to the subtle edge, not push it into pain and strain barriers and it is through gentle exercise that I have found my body find it's alignment. I have limited stress in my life, and it shows in my body. It really is a slow mind. Mark talks about "if you want to know what your body will look like in 10 years, look at the contents of your mind today". I am not sure that it really takes that long for the body to respond, but I honestly believe that my body really is just my slow mind.
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