Mental health

Dealing with Emotional Overwhelm in Yoga Class

Emotional Overwhelm Josefin Wikstrom

Josefin Wikström and Stu gives some advice on how to handle emotional flooding in class, depending how the student is reacting. Always remind students that strong emotions might arise from a yoga practice and that it is OK and natural when we start to relax. Focus on long deep breaths with a relaxed belly. You can also ask the student to name 5 ordinary objects in the shala in order to come back to the present moment and re-connect to…

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Some Techniques for Dealing with Panic Attacks

Panic Attacks and Yoga Techniques

Josefin Wikstrom gives a short instruction with a few practices that can be helpful if you are suffering from panic attacks. Please seek professional advice if you are experiencing this frequently. It can also be helpful to add a ”mantra” behind the breath silently for your self. Here is a example: When you are inhaling thinking the words- ” I am here” and on the exhalation- ” I am safe”. Try to name a few ordinary objects in the room…

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Free the Breath

Sari Fried Feel the breath

This past summer I was invited to attend an event series called ‘Resistance is Futile! Mental Wellness and Sensuousness.’ It was a communal exploration of these topics, with a focus on the epidemic of millennial anxiety and given the nature of the subject matter, the hostess asked me to open the evening with a meditation and movement exercise with the intention of helping people to ground, release nerves and arrive in their bodies. I prepared talking points to inspire discussion.

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Processing Grief With Yoga

Processing grief with yoga

Today is the one year anniversary of my Mother’s death. Which happens to be the day after Mother’s Day this year. It has been a rough week and a rough year. Charlene suggested that I write a blog about it and how yoga helped me cope with the loss. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it.

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The Labyrinth

Sari Fried - Labyrint

2018 has so far been a time of deep letting go and reorientating into a new way of being. The lunar eclipse and Blood Moon at the end of January created an opportunity for a new level of healing, which has been demanding that I walk fearlessly into the unknown, that I break free of the stories of my past, which means breaking free of my victim narrative. When I came onto this earth, my soul made an agreement to come into this body. My original alignment: mind, body and essence.

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Respecting the Undertow

For years I was desperately treading water, trying to stay afloat, gasping for oxygen yet getting pulled under by a relentless undertow, a toxic vortex of suppressed emotion. I was trying to move forward, reaching for shore, yet beneath my consciousness was a powerful opposing force holding me back. I was living out of my body because being in body, actually feeling all that had been getting pushed further and further down, was too painful. It was a terribly destructive way of…

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Alexander Medin Interview (Back In The Ring)

Back in the ring prison yoga

Alexander Medin is now into the second year of his ‘Back In The Ring’ project, which aims to help people suffering from drug addiction (mostly heroin) to stay clean through the use of Ashtanga Yoga and the selfless helping of others. The mission statement is: Strength, clarity and transformation through helping others.

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Feed Your Soul

Feed your soul

“Sometimes we are not fed by food but by the energy in our lives… everything is food… We hunger for play, fun, touch, romance, intimacy, love, achievement, success, art, music, self-expression, leadership, excitement, adventure and spirituality” Joshua Rosenthal, Integrative Nutrition.
When I studied with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition I was introduced to the concept of Primary Foods – the idea that there is so much more in life that nourishes us than what we put into our mouths (secondary food).

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When Yoga makes you angry!

melanie cooper

A new student recently said she had been told that if a yoga teacher knows what they are doing and teaches the class properly then the students should leave feeling energised and good. Did I agree? Well, I thought, I guess that does often happen – but not all the time. Students can leave an asana practice feeling angry, depressed, paranoid, and hopeless. So what is that about? Isn’t it supposed to make us peaceful and serene?

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The Mistaken Expectation of Joy in Yoga

Ganesh

Our yoga practice can give rise to difficult emotions, causing unnecessary confusion in our lives. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras offer a surprising context to help us understand this phenonoma. It seems there is a growing frustration in our contemporary yoga community as the popularity of this ancient Indian practice reaches new frontiers in our part of the world. Recently I have had several students approach me with a particular question about the presence of strong negative emotions in their practice and their lives.

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