On Patience

Elizabeth Mindset , ,

Waiting

“How lucky,” we thought. Our plane had arrived early in Baltimore after our 4 ½ hour flight from Las Vegas. Our luggage tumbled onto the carousel with no wait. We called the nearby hotel where we had left our car a week earlier, and the receptionist assured us it would only be a short wait for the van to pick us up.

Our journey visiting children and grandchildren had taken us to the sun and warmth of Los Angeles and Las Vegas. As we stepped into the Baltimore late afternoon, I was glad I had chosen my ‘smart wool’ socks and shoes to wear home, rather than sandals.

Perhaps 15 or 20 minutes passed before the white Ramada Inn van pulled up to the curb of Number 1 Area, and a smiling driver hopped out. As he opened the back of the van and lifted one bag, and then the other inside, we felt close to end of our journey.

We were ready to slip into the warm van as the driver walked to the passenger side door to open it for us. But the door was locked. The driver walked around the van to his door, and even before he said a word I knew. Locked. Back door. Locked. And, the van was running with the keys safely locked inside.

The driver assured us this had never happened to him before, and you could tell he was really upset. I tried to comfort him by telling him the story of how my husband had done the same thing one time. Except the car was a rental car, and it was parked at a Target in Los Angeles, running. Things had worked out there.

But things weren’t working out here. The hotel desk told the driver that no one was available to bring another set of keys to the airport. My husband and driver stood around a little longer, talking, until my husband decided to call the hotel desk. Using what can best be described as his stern Marine sergeant voice, he told the receptionist that they had to get someone to bring the keys. And about that time, a family with 2 kids showed up, luggage in tow, also needing a ride to the Ramada Inn where their car was parked. They were in sandals, and it was getting chillier.

“Someone’s bringing the keys,” the driver finally announced, and he suggested we go inside the terminal, where it was warm, and come back out in about 15 minutes. Of course, all of us took him up on his suggestion. But when we came back out, the keys had not yet arrived. So we waited some more.

When an Inn employee pulled up to Area 1 and handed keys to our driver, we thought ourselves delivered. But when our driver tried the key, it was clearly not to our van. Our driver, now as frustrated as we were, slipped into the black SUV with the Inn staff person and returned to the hotel to find the correct set of keys.

I consider myself a pretty patient person, but annoyance had started to flicker inside me. After our driver disappeared into the early evening airport traffic, I went back into the terminal, sat down, and began to think about patience. Patience just doesn’t happen, I thought. What allows us to feel patience?

Obviously, we make a choice. For I could stand outside in the cold my hands in my pockets, cussing the incompetence of the driver, the van, the Inn and the entire hotel industry. Or I could sit in the terminal, where I was warm, pick up some crackers, fruit and water at a nearby kiosk, and read my book until the driver returned.
What made the difference was my decision to accept the situation and make myself comfortable as I waited rather than expend my mental and emotional energy on something I could not fix. And, I was lucky. There was a place to be comfortable as we waited.

In the end the driver returned, opened the van, and safely chauffeured us back to our cars, so we could begin the final leg of our journey home.

For me this experience was a lesson on the nature of patience. Cultivating patience requires accepting the reality of a situation for what it is, especially if it is not what we would choose. Acceptance allows us to decide a course of action based upon the circumstances that exist. And, that means our course of action is more likely to have positive results, and our bodies, minds and emotions less stress and greater calm.

Yoga, Wellness and Aging Gracefully

Elizabeth Advice, Health , ,

Yoga Aging Gracefully

When I taught Yoga I and Exercise and Stress Management at HACC, we talked about the concept of “wellness” rather than “health.” “Health” is often viewed as the absence of disease – chronic or otherwise. “Wellness,” a concept adopted by the World Health Organization, is a holistic view of human beings. The concept of wellness refers not only to physical wellness, but also to intellectual, emotional, social, environmental, and spiritual wellness and recognizes their interdependence in the well-being of a person. Moreover, our wellness depends not on our genetic inheritance, which is a given, but rather on the choices we make in our life.

The yoga classes I taught at HACC met twice a week for fifteen weeks. In that time students grew in their awareness of their behavior and reported seeing areas of their lives where their choices were not supporting their wellness. Many students started to make changes as a result – stopping smoking, choosing healthier foods, letting go of depleting relationships, and making changes in how they responded to others.

Once they came to realize that wellness was attainable, not because of their genetic luck, but rather because of their choices, many felt empowered to make change.

In the January, 2014 issue of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter, the writer looked at a concept – salutogenesis – which means “the origin of health.” He goes on to suggest that this idea is critical when we look at “healthy aging.” “It shifts attention to what supports health and well-being – what creates “health” – rather than what causes disease. This concept of “health” is very much like that of “wellness.”

Our perception of our own health is very subjective. This article mentions studies in which older adults are asked to assess whether they have “aged successfully.” “One study of 205 older adults with physical illnesses or disabilities found that most considered themselves to be aging successfully.” In another study of 1,900 women over 60, most rated themselves as aging successfully even though physically they would not meet “objective standards for having good physical health.”

Many of us see members of our family or our friends experiencing serious illnesses, and many of us have lost people close to us. Some of us are dealing with a chronic condition or illness right now in our own lives. This can lead us to have negative expectations as to what we will experience as we grow older, perhaps even leading to a sense of helplessness.

But I believe most of us hope to age gracefully. Embracing the concept of “wellness” and an appropriate practice of yoga can help us live with grace. As a holistic practice, yoga can support physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual wellness. The awareness it brings to our behaviors and relationships with other beings and the earth can support social and environmental wellness. Yoga teaches us awareness so we can live the only life we have, which is in this present moment. Focusing on the concept of wellness, despite what ailments or chronic conditions we may face, can help us to have a more balanced perspective on our lives. It helps us to see we can make choices that support us, whether we are 18 or 80, and that is empowering.

 

Benefits of Chair Yoga

Yoga 4 Healthy Living Current Events, Health, Regular Classes , ,

Chair Yoga class

A woman I know was clearly annoyed observing a Chair Yoga class at her gym when she told me “those people need to get up and move.” Her comment made me wonder about the misconceptions people may have about a Chair Yoga class.

Participants in the Chair Yoga for Seniors class I teach range in age from late 60s to early 90s. While they can stand for some poses, some using the chair for stability, they are not getting down on the floor. But they want the benefits of improved stability, flexibility and balance in their bodies, self-awareness and clarity in their minds, and a sense of calm and balance at the level of emotions. They want to worry less and enjoy their lives more.

An understanding of yoga postures or asana can be helpful in understanding the value of what can be done in a Chair Yoga class. Yoga postures are divided into categories based upon their functions. For example, the function of bending forward in a posture is to stretch the back. The function of a back-arching pose is to stretch the front of the body; a twist twists the spine; a lateral pose stretches the sides of the body. As we work in postures in Chair Yoga, we need to achieve the function of the classical postures in a modified context.

Let’s keep this in mind: if someone 70 years old has a stiff back and legs, gently bending forward while seated will stretch the back. The function of the pose can be achieved even though the form differs from the classic form of bending forward standing, legs straight, hands on the floor. In fact, trying to achieve this form could cause injury to the person with such stiffness.

When people assume that someone should move a certain way to be doing yoga, they are missing the point. When a person using the breath in a way that supports that function and moves prana or energy. By connecting the mind and body through movement, the mind begins to focus. Awareness develops as the participants are given time to observe the effects of what they have done. Additional work is done as they sit with an assigned breathing practice to steady breath and mind.

The point I want to make is, depending upon the audience, a Chair Yoga can offer the benefits of regular yoga class. In form it may not look as demanding as the posture done classically, but it might be accomplishing the same benefit based upon condition of the person doing the posture. We have to remember that we are all different. There is no one yoga practice to fit all people at every age. But there is a yoga for everyone and every body.

Chair Yoga is a gentle, non-traditional form of Yoga that reduces strain on limbs and joints. Participants are guided in postures, breathwork, and meditation. Postures may be done in the chair and/or standing with the support of the chair. This practice promotes stability and flexibility at the level of the body, self-awareness and clarity at the level of the mind, a sense of calm and balance at the level of the emotions, and overall wellness

Chair Yoga at Susquehanna Township Recreation Building meets Thursdays from 11:00 am to noon. Please contact me at eterryyoga@gmail.com or call 717-645-0067 for more information or to sign-up.

 

A Symptom of Inner Peace

Elizabeth Health, Knowledge, Yoga Terms , , , , , , ,

Peaceful Purple Sunset

“A loss of the ability to worry” is a serious symptom of inner peace, according to one writer’s reflections on inner peace I found stuffed away in a poetry folder. I smiled as I read this because I believe we all might agree that worry and inner peace do not co-exist in our bodies or minds.

Have you noticed how you are conscious of the present moment when you feel a sense of peace? Worry, on the other hand, takes you out of the present. The mind becomes occupied with what might happen in the future or the ramifications of something from the past.

My parents were great worriers, and so I grew up with worry as an unconscious habit. Focusing on the worst case scenario of a choice, behavior, or event, I would make decisions as a way of “protecting” myself from the disastrous outcomes that I imagined. The great irony of this is that I was not protecting myself, as I really did not have control over the outcome of things worrying me; rather I was creating a negative and unhealthy environment for my body, mind, and emotions.

Worry is about fear. We fear something bad will happen. Often what we dread is a loss. It might be a loss of a person, pet, reputation, success, power, possessions, health, or life. Fear engages the stress response, our body’s natural physiological response to a threat or danger. When this response is activated a flood of chemicals in our system raises blood pressure, increases respiration and heartbeat, and creates tension in our muscles, all preparing us to respond to the threat of danger we believe is immanent.

Worry, and especially chronic worry, has negative health effects, and it does not even protect us from the bad things we fear will happen. Worry keeps us from living the only life we have – this present moment.

In yogic terms, worry is avidya or lack of awareness or knowledge. We are caught in illusions that we have power over events when we don’t, or that things must never change when it is their nature to change, or that we have knowledge of what will happen in the future when we cannot know what will happen. Avidya inevitably leads to duhkha or suffering. When we worry, we suffer.

Yoga can help us with avidya and worry through practice (abhyasa) and discrimination (viveka). Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra gives us the eight limbs of yoga – ethical practices, behaviors toward ourselves, postures, breathing practices, and the inner limbs of yoga, all leading to purification of the body, mind and heart. Through diligent practice of the limbs of yoga, purification leads to greater clarity. We begin to see our ourselves and our behaviors; we see what we what we can change and what we must let go of. We have strategies in our practice to take the mind to a more peaceful place when habits of worry return. As the mind becomes clearer, we develop discrimination, the ability to see what is helpful and what is harmful and to base our decisions on that knowledge.

While banishing worry from our minds forever may not be attainable for most of us, discrimination that comes out of a consistent and sincere yoga practice can help “weaken” our tendency to worry. And, as worry diminishes, inner peace can take root and grow.

 

Spring Cleaning

Elizabeth Advice, Health, Seasons , ,

Spring Cleaning

The wind in March sweeps away the residue of winter and prepares us for change. As the earth releases what is old, space is made for the new growth to come.

Last week I attended a class offered by my friend and Health Coach Ruth Seitz at the Cornerstone Coffeehouse. In keeping with the traditional notion of “spring cleaning,” Ruth’s class focused on “Lifestyle Practices that Cleanse the Body and Soul.”

In her presentation, Ruth discussed the many ways we might include cleansing practices in our life. For example, we may commit to drinking more water, eating organic, deep breathing, skin brushing, and including foods in the diet that are known to cleanse and purify. What especially grabbed my attention was her recommendation to “dispense with what does not serve you.” As she explained, things that don’t serve you or bring you joy dry your soul.

A metaphor I’ve heard talks of a cooking pot that is used day after day without scrubbing it clean. When we continue to use the pot without cleansing it, the dirty pot taints each new dish we prepare. When we allow things to accumulate around us, they can taint whatever new project we undertake. They impinge on our space, creating tension so our bodies and minds cannot relax. When a flower pushes through the earth only to be choked by weeds and other plants competing for space, water, and light, it cannot flourish. And, neither can we.

We can start our cleansing practice by looking at the physical space around us. Are there objects, papers, clothing, “stuff” we do not need? We can look at ourselves. Are there issues affecting our physical health that need attention? Are we doing so much that we feel anxious and exhausted from all our commitments? Are our activities keeping us from getting adequate rest or eating in a way that supports us? Are there relationships that leave us feeling depleted? Do we have habits that continue to cause us suffering?

Our practice of yoga always requires svadhyaya – self-observation. We set an intention to be observant so that we can see what we need to clean out in our lives. Then we can set the intention to let go of what no longer serves us with the knowledge that this release will give us the space to breathe and bring to life what is new. Like the cook cleaning the cooking bowl soiled with the remnants of many meals, we may require time and patience and scrubbing. But as we clean gradually and steadily, the shine will come through.

If you would like more information about the classes Ruth Seitz teaches, you can reach her at ruthhealthcoach@gmail.com or by phone at 717-238-7878.

 

Reflections on Attachment

Elizabeth Advice, Knowledge , , ,

Lillian the catCan we ever really live detached from what we love deeply?

I asked myself this question this last Tuesday after having put to sleep my dear, beloved cat Lillian. Lillian, a stray who found us, was 19 years old and had survived asthma so serious she was in oxygen, a brain tumor, food allergies, and irritable bowel. As she struggled to breathe from what was the malady that did her in – a tumor in her sinuses, my husband I struggled to face what we needed to do so her suffering did not go on. That meant letting go. And that is when I realized how attached I was to Lillian.

Her health issues had meant giving her medicine morning and night, a shot of B-12 periodically, vitamin supplements, special food and innumerable trips to the veterinarian. Her habit was to sit with her front paws, chest, and head on my lap each evening as I sat in a chair in front of the woodstove. She was loved by guests upon whose lap she insinuated herself, and by the staff and doctor at the veterinary hospital who cared for her over the years. They had even name two tortoise shell stray kittens Lilly and Ann after Lillian, who was herself a tortoise shell.

Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra writes about those things that cause us suffering. Raga or attachment is one of the most powerful. When we experience something pleasureable, it is natural that we want to repeat the experience. When we cannot repeat the experience and we suffer loss, then raga has been activated.

With loss comes grief, which may be subtle or profound depending upon the degree of attachment. Grief unbalances us, affecting us at all levels of our system – physical, mental, emotional, energetic, and spiritual.

On his website, www.yogaforgriefrelief.com, Antonio Sausys talks about detachment (vairagya) as being critical to releasing suffering or grief. He explains that detachment is not a cold, unloving concept. Rather, it is based on “the acceptance that everything [in our material world] is impermanent.” He maintains that this acceptance can allow us to love more deeply and appreciate more fully that which we know will not be with us forever.

We develop detachment through our yoga practice (abhyasa), which encourages to see ourselves more clearly through self-observation (svadhyaya) and to focus on our own inner light of awareness (purusa). Over time, focusing on this inner light, which is eternal, leads to less attachment to what is impermanent.

While I knew my Lillian kitty wasn’t going to live forever, and though I know intellectually that everything changes and there is no permanence in our material world, letting go of her was and is painful. In answer to the question I posed at the beginning of this reflection, I don’t know if we can ever live detached from what we love deeply. I don’t know if I can.

Finding acceptance of impermanence and detachment will continue to be a practice for me.

 

Prana and the Snow Drop

Elizabeth Knowledge, Mantras ,

Prana and the Snow Drop
“Stabilizing and refining prana, our life force, is the centerpiece of yoga practice.“

…Nicolai Bachman in The Path of the Yoga Sutras

Prana is nothing less than life itself. The steady of flow of prana is necessary to support our physical, mental and emotional health. In the course of life, blocks or obstacles may develop in our system, inhibiting the movement of prana. When that happens dis-ease and illness set in. As we approach the end of life prana becomes diminished until it can no longer support life. With the last breath, prana leaves the body.

As critical as prana is to our health and our life, what can we do to support it?

The eight limbs of yoga support prana, but the tool of yoga most connected with maintaining the flow of prana is pranayama, which means “extending life force energy” or prana. When we practice pranayama we use techniques to develop a smooth, steady breath. Because the breath and mind so intimately affect one another, the smooth steady breath calms the mind, and so the body. Pranayama has the potential to remove blocks and obstacles in our system, supporting our overall well-being.

Sometimes an image comes to me that I feel compelled to share with my yoga class because it illustrates a teaching of yoga. Last week the image was a snow drop. They are small, modest, white flowers on delicate green stalks. But they can bring joy far outsized to their height and beauty as they are usually the first flowers to appear in late winter. This year, with the snow covering much of the ground, snow drops have remained hidden.

But what can a snow drop teach us about prana?

In class we began by visualizing a snow drop as the breath deepened. We stood and began to move on inhale lifting the arms and heels, and lowering them on exhale. We paused, coming back to the image of the snow drop, visualizing the first tiny shoot emerging from the bulb beneath the earth, its life force energy pushing it upward. We moved into a posture we call “triangle twist,” connecting with the shoot’s flexibility to push around obstacles and our own spine’s need for flexibility.

In honor of the life force of the snow drop and our own, we chanted a little Sanskrit chant acknowledging prana’s power and our reverence. In meditation we visualized the snow drop, its life force energy supporting its growth and blossoming.

Each day now as the snow melts, I look in my garden just outside the backdoor for the snow drops. Waiting, I think of its life force – its prana – pushing it upward through the cold earth to emerge into the light and blossom. Grateful for the life force that supports the snow drop, that sustains me and all beings, I am nourished.

You can hear the chant we used in class, honoring prana, by clicking the arrow below.