Create Pray Love - Day 1

Now I will do nothing but listen. I hear all sounds running together, combined, fused, or following, sounds of the city, and sounds out of the city - sounds of the day and night...-Walt Whitman

Collect objects based on the sounds you can make with them. Experiment with adding or combining sounds, or adding other elements (try water!) What about a vegetable orchestra? Consider that we experience sound in all parts of our body, not just our ears - feel the vibrations.

Notice...

Share your experiences here!

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Grounding Meditation

How to Simplify When You Love Your Stuff

HOW TO SIMPLIFY WHEN YOU LOVE YOUR STUFF
By Barrie Davenport
ZenHabits

...........

"It all depends on whether you have things, or they have you."

-- Robert A. Cook

............

Simplicity. It is a lovely ancient spiritual tradition that has seen a
recent resurgence in popularity.  As we try to make sense of our erratic
economy and the accompanying financial anxiety, it is natural to leap to a
less risky lifestyle extreme -- stop spending, scale back, live lean.

If you are a regular reader of Zen Habits, you are probably intrigued by the
idea of simplifying. In fact, you may have even given up many material
things and actively live a very simple life. People who have adopted this
level of  simplicity, especially in the land of consumerism, are incredibly
inspiring and fascinating.

But let¹s be real here. In spite of embracing the concept of simplicity,
most people really love their stuff, and they love acquiring more stuff.
Like our attitudes about a healthy diet, our feelings about material things
are complicated. We know what¹s good for us, but we just don¹t want to give
up what we like. Our stuff makes us feel good.

Is it possible to live a simple life and still love stuff? How much letting
go of stuff really counts toward simplifying anyway?

Living simply and detaching from material things will make you happier.
There is real research and lots of anecdotal evidence to support the truth
of this. But is it possible that some material things can add to our
happiness, sense of contentment and joy in life? If so, how do you go about
deciding what¹s good stuff and what¹s bad?

Perhaps the deciding factor is motivation. Do the things that you own or
wish to buy support your ego, or do they enliven your soul? Some material
things can afford you a sense of warmth, coziness, beauty, fond memories, or
comfort. There are other things that offer only that fleeting rush of
acquisition.

If you infuse mindfulness into your ideas and actions around material
things, you can create a gentle balance between loving stuff and living
simply.

Here are some thoughts that might be useful.


1. Look around your house now.

Walk from room to room. Do you see things that you never use and don¹t
really care about? Why not give them away or sell them? Clear physical and
psychic space by removing the ³dead wood² in your environment. Someone else
might really need these things.


2. Examine why you are hanging on to something.

Is it truly useful or meaningful, or does it feed your ego in some way? Are
you holding on to it just to impress others or to make yourself feel better
or more important?


3. Look at how you spend your time.

Do you have things you own for hobbies that you never pursue? Do you have a
kitchen full of gadgets but you rarely cook? If you truly think you will
come back to a hobby or activity, box things up and put them out of sight
until you do. Be realistic about how much time you have to use your
extraneous stuff.


4. Are you in a career that is thing-focused?

Decorators, car dealers, retailers and others involved in creating, buying,
selling and marketing merchandise, can have a hard time detaching from
material things because they are always surrounded by the newest and best.
There is beauty and art in many things, but consider this: you don¹t have to
own them all to appreciate them. Eckhart Tolle once suggested to Oprah
Winfrey that she not buy everything she likes or wants -- just savor it for
the moment in the store.


5. Consider experiences rather than things.

On the whole, experiential purchases provide far more pleasure than material
purchases. The memory of experiences improves with time, but material
purchases are harder to think about abstractly. Experiences also encourage
social relationships which provide long-lasting happiness. If you are
itching to spend, spend on a great experience with someone you enjoy.


6. When you think about your things or want to purchase something new,
consider these parameters:

- It brings beauty into your life and stirs your soul.

- It supports a passion or hobby.

- It helps bring family and friends together in a creative, meaningful way.

- It educates and enlightens.

- It makes life profoundly simpler so that you can pursue more meaningful
things.

- It helps someone who is sick or incapacitated.

- It is useful and necessary for day-to-day life.

- It¹s part of a meaningful tradition or a reminder of a special event.


7. You will know you are buying mindlessly if you:

- Buy on a whim.

- Buy to impress others.

- Buy because you feel you deserve it.

- Buy when you can¹t afford it.

- Buy just to update something that still works or looks fine.

- Buy because someone else has it and you want it too.

- Buy because the advertisement seduced you.

- Buy because you are bored.

- It¹s purchased because buying soothes you.


It is possible to balance a simpler life with owning and acquiring material
things. You can enjoy stuff without living the life of an aesthetic. The
exact balance you create is a matter of personal preference. But realize
there is a diminishing point of return with accumulation and materialism
that undermines authentic joy and fulfillment in life.

Apply mindful purging to your current lifestyle and belongings, as well as
thoughtful consideration to your future purchases. Carefully examine your
motivations for keeping possessions or buying new things. Once you allow
things to serve your soul, rather than you being a slave to your things,
your life will evolve into an artful harmony between what you have and who
you are.

Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is a text that covers many aspects of life, beginning with a code of conduct and ending with the goal of yoga, a vision of one’s true Self. The Pantajali’sYoga Sutras is probably the most authoritative text on yoga. It defines yoga as a focusing of the attention to whatever object is being contemplated to the exclusion of all others. Yoga isn’t only about postures, or meditation, it is a way of life, or religion. In this influencing scripture there are eight steps to awakening or enlightenment through yoga. These eight astanga or limbs of yoga are: yamas, niyamas, asanas, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi.

The yamas consist of lessons in moral and social conduct in our environment. It teaches us to restrain from lying, stealing, and greed. Non-violence and consideration toward all living things is the key. Communication with sensitivity towards others and moderation in all things we do is revered.

The niyama focuses on attitudes towards ourselves: compromising, cleanliness, serenity, devotion, and asceticism. One should study and reverence to a higher intelligence. There is an acceptance of our limitations in relation to God. It is key to have removed the impurities from the mind and body.

In the asanas, one focuses on posture practice, positioning the body while incorporating the breath to achieve a greater awareness in the mind. One is alert and relaxed without tension, while observing the reactions of the body and breath to various postures. This minimizes the effect of the external influences on the body, such as diet and climate.

Pranayama, or the restraint and control of the breath, helps with concentration, energizing and balancing of the mind and body.

Pratyahara is the relaxation of the senses, where no distractions actually activate the mind.

Dharana, or concentration, is the ability to direct the mind toward a chosen object and focus in on it alone.

Dhyana, or meditation, is the ability to develop focused interactions with what we seek to understand.

Lastly, but most importantly, Samadhi is the ultimate state of Self-realization, or union with the Source.

Yoga for Tennis Players

Yoga and Sports: Tennis

Tennis requires cat-like reflexes with short bursts of strength. These short movements do not allow the muscles to extend their full length. When muscles are strenuously worked they become tight and can lose their elasticity unless properly stretched. Yoga exercises can increase the body's range of motion. The lack of movement because of inflexibility binds the joints. Without the elasticity of the muscles, I think an athlete can be a prisoner within his own body.

Using yoga techniques makes it possible to retrain the muscles. Most tennis athletes play in a constant state of muscle tension. Yoga trains the body to relax muscle tension. Learning to begin your game in a relaxed state could mean gaining an extra step on the ball.

When in a ready position muscles are contracted and ready for action. To move, muscles must be relaxed and then contracted again to spring in any direction. By retraining the muscles you begin from a relaxed position, giving a quickened reaction time.

Yoga breathing exercises can help improve endurance and stamina. When exerting in sports or exercise we often hold the breath as a way to create strength. Yoga trains the body to create strength through breathing control. Holding the breath at points of exertion takes a great deal of energy that could be used during long sets or matches.

Learning the correct way while doing a yoga pose is simple. Exhale during the execution of a pose until you feel the muscles' full length of stretch (maximum resistance). Never hold your breath. Breathe normally and listen to the body. Hold for 30 seconds, then release the pose slowly. By constant practice of yoga poses you'll soon apply breathing techniques in everyday routines.

A simple spine twist is excellent for rotational sports. It can help increase needed flexibility of the shoulders and back and hips. Remember to apply the breathing technique to this pose.

Begin the spine twist by sitting on the floor with both legs straight out in front of you. Keeping the spine straight, bend the left leg placing the left foot on the outside of the right knee. Now, place the left hand on the floor behind you with your arm straight and the right elbow bent. Positioned on the outside of the left thigh place the right hand on the left hip.

Slowly exhale while turning the head and upper body to the left, looking over the left shoulder. Pressure from the right arm should keep the left leg stationary while pressure from the left arm and torso gives you the twist. Stronger use of both arms increases the twist. Hold this pose for 30 seconds and repeat twist on the opposite side.

A total body conditioning and flexibility routine is essential for the avid tennis player. Yoga techniques could be the edge you need in developing your game.

Yoga & Fitness

By Kerry-Lee Jesson

Yoga can both prevent disease and help you recover from it.

If you are a passionate yoga practitioner, you’ve probably noticed the ways yoga works – maybe you are sleeping better or getting fewer colds or just feeling more relaxed and at ease. Western Science is starting to provide some concrete clues as to how yoga works to improve health, heal aches and pains, and keep sickness at bay.

Improved flexibility is one of the first and most obvious benefits of yoga. It is no coincidence that with practice aches and pains starts to disappear. Tight hips can strain the knee joint due to improper alignment of the thigh and shinbones. Tight hamstrings can lead to a flattening of the lumbar spine, which can cause back pain. And inflexibility in muscles and connective tissue, such as fascia and ligaments, can cause poor posture.

Strong muscles do more than just look good! When you build strength with flexibility, you protect the body from conditions such as arthritis and back pain, and help prevent falls in elderly people.

Poor posture can cause back, neck and other muscle and joint problems, which causes pain and degenerative arthritis of the spine. The head is like a big bowling ball, round and heavy and when it is balanced directly over an erect spine, it takes much less work for your back and neck muscles to support it.

Yoga practise takes your joints through a full range of motion, which lubricate the cartilage with fresh nutrients only when its fluid is squeezed out and a new supply can be soaked up. Without proper sustenance, neglected areas of cartilage eventually wear out and exposes the underlying bones like worn out brake pads.

Your spinal disks crave movement – they are the shock absorbers between your vertebrae that can herniated and compress nerves. If you practise a well balanced routine of asanas with plenty of backbends, forward bends and twists, you will keep your disks supple.

Many postures in yoga require that you lift your own weight, which strengthens bones and help ward off osteoarthritis. Yoga also reduces the stress hormone cortisol in the body , which in turn helps keep calcium in the bones.

Yoga gets more oxygen to your cells through its ability to get your blood flowing through your body – especially your hands and feet. Twists wring out venous blood from the internal organs and allow oxygenated blood to flow in once the twist is released. Inverted poses encourage venous blood from the legs and pelvis to flow back to the heart, where it can be pumped to the lungs to be freshly oxygenated. Yoga increases the haemoglobin and red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the tissues. Yoga also thins the blood and makes the platelets less sticky and cuts the level of clot promoting proteins in the blood. This results in lowered risk of heart attack and strokes.

Contracting and stretching muscles, moving organs around and coming in and out of yoga postures helps with lymph drainage. This helps the lymph system fight infection, destroy cancerous cells and disposes of waste products of cellular functioning.

Yoga practice lowers the resting heart; increases endurance and improves your maximum uptake of oxygen during exercise.

Consistent yoga practice improves depression and leads to increased serotonin levels and a decrease in monoamine oxidase (an enzyme that breaks down neurotransmitters) and cortisol.

Regular yoga practice gets you moving and burns calories, and the spiritual and emotional dimensions of your practice may encourage you to address any eating and weight problems on a deeper level. Yoga inspires you to be a more conscious eater.

Yoga lowers blood sugar and LDL (bad) cholesterol and boosts HDL (good cholesterol). This occurs due to : lowering cortisol and adrenaline levels, encouraging weight loss and improving sensitivity to the effects of insulin. Get your blood sugar levels down, and you decrease the risk of diabetic complications such as heart attack, kidney failure and blindness.

Stimulation is good, but too much of it taxes the nervous systems (central and peripheral). Yoga provides relief from the hustle and bustle of modern life. Restorative yoga, guided relaxation encourages a turning in of the senses, which provides down time for the nervous system.

Ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, constipation – all can be exacerbated by stress. So if you stress less – you will suffer less! Yoga relieves constipation and theoretically reduces the risk of colon cancer, because moving the body facilitates more rapid transport of food and waste products through the bowels.

Yoga quells the fluctuations of the mind – it slows down the mental loops of frustration, regret, anger, fear, and desires that cause stress. And since stress is linked to so many health problems – from migraines to insomnia, lupus, MS, eczema, high blood pressure and heart attacks – if you learn to quiet your mind, you will be likely to live a longer healthier life. Yoga encourages you to experience feelings of gratitude, empathy, and forgiveness, as well as a sense that you are part of something bigger.

If your medicine cabinet looks like a pharmacy, maybe its time to try yoga – you will save money and are less likely to suffer the side effects and risks of dangerous drug interactions!

Yoga and meditation build awareness. Chronic anger and hostility are as strongly linked to heart attacks as are smoking, diabetes and elevated cholesterol. Yoga appears to reduce anger by increasing feelings of compassion and interconnection and by calming the nervous system and mind. It also increases your ability to step back from the drama of your own life, to remain steady in the face of bad news or unsettling events. You can still react quickly when you need to – and there is evidence that yoga speeds up reaction time- but you can take that split second to choose a more thoughtful approach, reducing suffering from yourself and others.

A good teacher can do wonders for your health. Exceptional ones do more than guide you through your postures. They can adjust your posture, gauge when you can go deeper in poses or back off, deliver hard truths with compassion, help you relax and enhance and personalise your practice.

A respectful relationship with your teacher goes a long way in promoting your health.

Love may not conquer all, but it certainly can aid in healing. Cultivating the emotional support of friends, family and community has been demonstrated repeatedly to improve health and healing.

A regular yoga practice helps develop friendliness, compassion and greater equanimity.