On a global scale, we have seen the effects of the pandemic which has had not only economic impacts on a micro and macro level but also mental and emotional impacts as people have had to learn to adapt to changes within their lives such as loss of income, jobs and business closure due to lockdown, for some not being able to see family and friends, home schooling, learning how to deal and operate in a world where we have had social distancing, fear of catching the virus (particularly for those who already have compromised health) to name a few.

The world is no longer the same place as what it was a year ago and as a society we had to make many adjustments that we may not have imagined that we would have. Reflecting upon the changes that have taken place in 2020, has led us to ponder on a concept that is presented in the yoga teachings (from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras) and that is that change is part of life, that it is inevitable, and learning to accept and handle change is part of the practice of yoga and integral to our health and wellbeing.

During this year, we have focussed on developing deeper stillness. This has hugely supported us to adapt and navigate change with steadiness and an embracing.

Stillness is not about doing nothing, being physically still, or being inactive or idle. Stillness is a quality that we innately have, that resides deeply within us all, that is at our core, is at our essence.

When there is the connection of the body and being together, stillness is the quality that is felt and then we move in this quality. The more we connect and hold this quality, then we feel a deep settlement within the body that is free of needing to be stimulated of anxiousness or of stress. There comes a feeling of deep connection, clarity, of oneness, of harmony.

Holding the quality of stillness is very supportive when it comes to things in life that challenge us.

If we already hold a marker in our body where we know what stillness feels like, then when times get tough, when there is change that we are challenged by, we are much better equipped to handle those times. Developing stillness, putting it into your foundation (i.e make it your ‘normal’) supports you when the ‘going gets tough’. And when times are so-called ‘good’, then you have the opportunity to enjoy, deepen into this quality and enjoy all of the benefits that come from it.

Particularly at this time of year, as our borders open as do our homes with the ease of restrictions, life can get busier with social engagements, school finishing, holidays etc. Remember to give yourself the gift of stillness by making how you live your life about the quality, the connection and the spunk that you live it by.

Embracing stillness will not only benefit you, but your loved ones will feel more settled around you and thereby it is a gift that is offered to them too.

To support in developing stillness, try practising The Gentle Breath Meditationor one of our Body Awareness Meditations.

The post Embracing Change appeared first on Yoga & Healing | Therapies Massage Exercise Corporate Wellbeing | Sydney, Balmain & Northern Rivers.

In part 1 which we recently published “Our thoughts – how to change them”  we discussed how behind every thought there is an energy first and as such every thought we have comes with a specific quality and affect on our body, health and wellbeing. From there we also revisited how to change the quality of our thoughts or thinking – ultimately we need to change the quality of our movements.

At the core of being able to have a quality of harmony with our thoughts is a deep level of care for our body and an ongoing developing or deepening of love for ourselves. This includes an attentiveness, an honouring and a forever growing sense of responsibility brought to the following key pillars of health: our quality of sleep, food, exercise, relating with others, commitment to life and the management of our emotions and reactions.

In this article, we are sharing our other top tips to support true mental health.

Observe your thoughts 

As you develop conscious presence in your body, you will become increasingly aware of your every thought and their specific affect on your body. This new awareness can feel a bit intense and overwhelming at the beginning, but as you learn to simply observe your thoughts and not get identified with them, a clarity and freedom is experienced.

Change your movements – Gentleness, Delicacy, Presence

If a thought erodes, disturbs or distracts you in any way, don’t try to talk or rational yourself out of it, it does not work. Change your movements – reconnect to your body, move gently, delicately, bring your full presence to what is in front of you, check your posture, feel the tone of your voice, reconnect to purpose …

“Not true, I am not listening” 

A simple practice we use and share with our clients is to “call out” any thought that does not hold harmony, love, stillness or truth in it. Telling yourself from a place of connection with your body “not true – I am not listening” can be an effective way to develop an absoluteness with not entertaining any dis-harmonious thought.

Re-connect to Stillness

Our nature is love and stillness. Any thought holding a stimulating, distracting, disturbing or checking out quality is ultimately taking us away from our presence, our essence – or in other words sabotaging our connection with Stillness. Esoteric Yoga, also called The Yoga of Stillness, is one of our favourite ways to reconnect to the stillness within and learn how to live in day-to day life with and from stillness.

There comes a point in life where everything in you does not want to settle for less anymore in terms of quality of thought, thinking and mental space. When you reach that point of healing, a new level of awareness and responsibility is felt in regards to the type of thoughts one allows and entertains in their head.

Ultimately, again, as our energetic awareness develops, we come to realise that it is the quality of our movements that determines the quality of our thoughts.

At Yoga & Healing we offer the services of Remedial Massage, Esoteric Healing, Esoteric Massage, Connective Tissue Therapy, Yoga, Exercise and Meditation. We offer live classes and online yoga and exercise classes. We are in the business of offering support for true health and wellbeing. Contact Us.

The post Claiming Your Mental Space appeared first on Yoga & Healing | Therapies Massage Exercise Corporate Wellbeing | Sydney, Balmain & Northern Rivers.

The practice of Esoteric Yoga, The Yoga of Stillness was unlike any other yoga class that I had attended and I must say it was a game changer for me in that I experienced everything that I had always been looking for in yoga, but had not yet found up until that point.

The practice was far simpler than anything else I had ever done in any other yoga class before. The practitioner instructed me to be with my body and to connect with my being. What was offered was an enormous amount of space for me to do this with gentle reminders to come back to my body. The focus in Esoteric Yoga is for the mind to settle into being with the body (conscious presence) and it is through this settlement that we become aware of the being that resides within the body.

A large component of the practice is about being still, that is no movement and deepening into the body through the feeling sense. It involves only a few simple movements, such as sitting up from a lying position, lying back down, a bending of the knee and opening and closing the eyes. These movements are divinely designed and follow a particular order to support the body to the return to its innate state of being, that is stillness – the union of our body and our being.

What is emphasised in these classes is that stillness isn’t about ceasing movement and just being physically still. We learn that we can walk this feeling of stillness and take it into our daily movements. The simplicity of not much movement in the class allows one to reconnect to this quality and then it is about expanding that quality and bringing it into our daily life in all that we do. Esoteric Yoga provides the pathway to reconnecting to this feeling of stillness, it certainly isn’t about leaving it on the mat.

The word esoteric means connecting with our inner-most and the practice of Esoteric Yoga, The Yoga of Stillness is about returning to this place, that part of us which is innate and deep within us all. This part of us is within the inner-heart and is never tarnished or scarred, no matter what we do and we always have a choice to return to it if we so choose.

At the end of that first class I had experienced something different within my body and my being that was somewhat familiar to me, yet it felt like it had been a very long time since I had experienced this, perhaps lifetimes. I had read and heard it described many times in a yoga class or a course, yet had never actually felt it before. It was a deep settlement, a feeling of returning home.

The practice itself was challenging, not due to anything being hard on a physical level, but because of the level of connection to my body that I was being called to as guided by the instructor. There were no postures or breathing practices that I could escape into. The cues were always asking me to be with my body, for the body and being to be at one.

What I experienced was that the more I chose for my mind to rest with my body, to accept what it was that I was feeling and to not try and escape what was there, the more there came an unwinding of the momentum that I had been living in until I felt a settlement and the being and the body uniting as one.

This was what I had always thought and read yoga to be about and I was surprised that I finally experienced this with such a simple practice. I had always thought that the pathway to feeling this union needed to be much more complex.

This class gave me a marker in my body as to what it feels like when I choose to reconnect to me. As I got up and went back out into my day to day living, I wasn’t able to hold that connection like I had felt it in the class, but I had a reference point as to what I now knew was possible to live.

Union, described as the practice of yoga, was no longer something that seemed unachievable or foreign, it was something that was very tangible.

In this class I had felt it in my body and I knew it was only a matter of time before I could live more of this in my day to day life. This ultimately is the goal of yoga, to not just leave the practice on the mat but to bring it into our daily lives, otherwise the practice is something that we use for relief, to make us feel better, rather than a practice that supports us to reconnect with our soul.

Donna Nolan teaches Yoga, Exercise & Massage and is a Bodywork Therapist. She has a love of supporting people to connect to their body and being, in stillness and in movement. Contact Us

The post The Yoga of Stillness, Esoteric Yoga – My introduction appeared first on Yoga & Healing | Therapies Massage Exercise Corporate Wellbeing | Sydney, Balmain & Northern Rivers.