Yoga Arts and Crafts

An article written by NM Harmony My childhood and teenage years were very happy. In my adulthood, I suffered from many hardships (stress, anxiety, a stiff body due to long hours and hard work for many years, supporting my own plus my fathers family of 12 for 30 years, bladder cancer and subsequent surgery than went wrong, hypertension for 8 years, blurred vision for about 5 years, a urostomy, and an ileostomy). Despite all this, at 64, I am one of the happiest persons in the world. Partly this is due to my will power. But partly and certainly, it is due to the practice of YOGA over the last 30 years or so. The first thing I do each morning without fail is yoga for 30 to 45 minutes in a very gentle slow way where all limbs are stretched gently and slowly to the maximum until there is a tingling sensation in all of my body's cells or at least in those limbs I am stretching. I can even do the shoulderstand - I had practiced this before the operation but even now with my two bags (uros...

Simple techniques for meditation include: i. meditation on the breath ii. meditation on a visualized or actual object such as an area of the body for healing, the chakras within the body, a deity, mandala, candle, yantra, or a quality such as compassion, and/or iii. the repetition of a mantra , (a sacred sound), which can be with the use of a mala , or prayer beads. Don't Worry About "Achieving" the Meditative State - This Occurs Naturally After Some Time Once you are well on your way in your yoga practice and healthy in body and approach you may be able to sit still and focus your awareness on a single point. This, according to the Yoga sutras of Patanjali, will lead you spontaneously into meditation. So it is actually concentration that we sit down to practice, i.e. the continuous focus on a specific point, not meditation. Meditation is the stage that follows it. Some Benefits of Meditation Meditation offers a chance to bring our attention to our rich inner and ...

Injuries to the body from accidents can take a long time to heal and require a holistic approach to compensate for the shock received to the body. Yoga is a very practical but nurturing solution. Gentle yoga mobility exercises plus relaxation and healing meditation and visualisation can combine to aid the road to recovery. Elkie who was told she would never be able to raise her arm up after an accident that dislocated her shoulder says, "After having had a bad accident...dislocated and fractured my shoulder.....I feel very privileged to have met Sejel who with her expert knowledge and wonderful calm being has helped me mentally and physically. There is no doubt in my mind that Yoga has been very powerful in my complete recovery and I look forward to seeing Yoga Harmony every week!"  Elkie, London