I think I've told you all before that I'm somewhat of a yoga moron. I totally get the concept of yoga, and I know I need to learn some of its basics. But I just get confused when instructors tell me to look out of my third eye. I look around and see what other people are doing--is the third eye on the backside or the front side? Why does no one else seem confused?
My friend Priscilla Warner knew about my difficulty with yoga, so when I came to New York to stay with her, she arranged a private yoga session with a wonderful instructor, Julie. Having trained in India, Julie is the real deal. Walking into her peaceful tent constructed in her backyard, I immediately began to feel my blood pressure drop. By the time she was done with the class, and was anointing my forehead with oil, I was won over.
So I decided to interview her on why she became a yoga instructor, and what it can do for folks who suffer from depression and anxiety. Here she is!
Low levels of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) have been associated with depression and particularly anxiety, and antidepressants have been shown to increase GABA levels. Now, preliminary research suggests that the regular practice of yoga may be an effective, nonpharmacological way to raise GABA levels and potentially improve anxiety and depression symptoms.
Researchers recruited eight longtime yoga devotees who practiced twice a week for at least four months and 11 comparison participants. Both groups had a baseline brain scan done. Then the yoga participants performed a one-hour yoga session while the control group read books or magazines [or packed snacks for their kids so they wouldn't be yelled at] for the same time, and all participants were rescanned immediately after.
The yoga volunteers showed a 27 percent increase in GABA levels compared with baseline, but there was no change among the readers [or snack-packers].
Several previous trials have demonstrated that yoga can reduce anxiety and depression symptoms, but this is the first study to identify a possible mechanism for the effects.
The investigators conclude that yoga may serve as a useful adjunct to standard treatments recommended by your doctor. This research was published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
I was reading "The No-Cry Discipline Solution" last night (because I'd like to discipline without the tears and tantrums!), as recommended by my psychiatrist, and found author Elizabeth Pantley's points for building a strong parental foundation to be ones that I can incorporate into my mental health program. Here they are:
1. The big picture is more important than any one action.
To even attempt perfection would be ludicrous and stressful, yet ... most of us criticize ourselves unnecessarily over every negative situation.
2. Relax more and stress less.
View the little things for what they are--little things--and don't let them get in the way of taking pleasure out of every single day.
3. Play more.
You don't always have to have one eye on the clock when you're immersed in playtime....Let the answering machine pick up a few more messages. Ignore the ding of incoming e-mail messages on your computer.
4. Give yourself more credit for what you do right and don't examine so intently the things you do wrong.
Do your best, learn from your mistakes, and appreciate that you are doing a grand and important job. Give yourself a pat on the back, and give credit where credit is due. You are doing a better job than you think.
"To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness." - Robert Morely
Love is one of the most powerful energies on the planet. We are born with love in our hearts, and it lives within us all. But some of us put so much focus on finding love and approval "out there" that we never get a chance to truly develop it within ourselves. We look for it in the external world--from parents, partners, friends, bosses, new people we meet, people we admire. If any one of them disappoints, devastation follows.
How many times have you been hurt because of someone else's opinion of you? When we experience self-esteem only through the eyes of others, one unkind word or a bad mood in another can shatter our sense of self.
Are you feeling the love? If not, it is time to take our self-love challenge--10 tips and techniques to help you enhance your life by cultivating love from within.
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven."
This is one moment in which Peter said the right thing, and that didn't happen too often. In fact, peppered throughout all four gospels are the clumsy Peter stories: when he argued that he was most beloved by Jesus to the other disciples, when he denied that he was a disciple of Jesus (three times), and (my favorite) when he tried to walk on water and, well, sank. (HELLO?? ... Peter, you ain't divine like the Lord, and your faith appears shallower than the water you are swallowing.)
But the fact that Peter was awarded the "rock of the church" honor despite all of his weaknesses brings home your point, God: that you love us for who we are, and you love us despite our sins. Peter reminds us that we need to remain humble of heart. Which means knowing that we will always be defective without you, and that we can be confident of your love even in our sinfulness. In "The Jerusalem Community Rule of Life," it is written:
Humility should remind you first that you are only a creature. Remember that your strength if from the Lord. Like Peter, acknowledge that you too are only a man, a mortal man like everyone else. And that to be pleasing to God, the greater you are, the more humble you should be, for great is his power, he is honored by the humble. Be willing, then, to be a mere creature before God, and through such fear you will penetrate his secrets.
Humility should also remind you that you are still a sinner. That is the grace of God that makes you what you are. He did not come to call the righteous but sinners. Humble repentance alone can justify you...The man who knows his own weakness is greater than the one who contemplates the angels.
My friend Jim Martin took the name of Peter as his vow name. Here's why, as he explains in his bestseller "My Life with the Saints": Understanding Peter's humanity was a liberating insight for me. For if God calls each...
Because I'm on vacation this week, I've decided to publish posts from the two-week test pilot of Beyond Blue back in October of 2006, two months before its initial launch in December 2006. We've come a long way! Ghandi once...
Because I'm on vacation this week, I've decided to publish posts from the two-week test pilot of Beyond Blue back in October of 2006, two months before its initial launch in December 2006. We've come a long way! When I...
Because I'm on vacation this week, I've decided to publish posts from the two-week test pilot of Beyond Blue back in October of 2006, two months before its initial launch in December 2006. We've come a long way! Just before...
Because I'm on vacation this week, I've decided to publish posts from the two-week test pilot of Beyond Blue back in October of 2006, two months before its initial launch in December 2006. We've come a long way! I found...