Celebrate Yoga
Celebrate Yoga
Trusting-Flying
I have been practicing yoga for almost 40 years and can attest to the magnitude of benefits, beyond body, mind. Though my relationship with yoga spans four decades; the primary focus was learning how to alternate asanas (yoga poses), to develop a leaner and stronger body with little attention on pranayam (breathing), or the understanding of a spiritual philosophy. Those early days of yoga left me thirsty for a greater understanding of the roots of yogic practice. I cannot escape the benefits of weaving The Seven Principles of Success into my fitness programs and daily living. I am testimony that this practice will bring more value to your life as well as your yoga experience. These days, my practice is mostly about the breathing and the spiritual message of the day or week. So, not only has my knowledge and experience expanded, my reality, my biology has also changed. I celebrate yoga, for this is the tool that has brought me into the awareness of the power of my spirit. I knew it forty years ago, as I passionately do now.
As a Certified Instructor of Raja Yoga, I am humbled to share my knowledge and experiences. This approach towards wholeness is a path that takes your awareness inward to deeper levels of consciousness. Raja Yoga is a technique that awakens poise, grace, strength, and the development of life centered awareness even in the midst of chaos. From consistent practice, my students have noticed increased vitality, better mental and physical capacity, awakening an integration of body-mind, and soul. Raja yoga is consciousness through movement, aligned with breath, awakens poise, self-confidence and self-knowledge, resulting in increased strength and stamina. The binding ingredient for this yogic practice is to honor the needs of your body~slowing down, not speeding up, encouraging each of us to look inward for change, not outward.
Mindful yoga can be practiced by anyone, with very little training. Even if your primary motivation is to lose weight or to develop a more muscular body, you will notice a reduction in your stress level while at the same time generating a heightened sense of potential, giving and receiving, transformation of karma, and the easier fulfillment of your intentions and desires. Through detached awareness you will gain insight to your natural talents and gifts, performing action that is aligned to the essence of spirituality, a sense of unification.
Celebrate yoga - a time honored practice which cultivates an inner state of peace, that cannot be disturbed by the turmoil of daily life; adding value to each and every day. Experience physical and emotional stability, develop your ability to share life with enthusiasm, authentic compassion, and expand beyond your imagination. Radiate and celebrate the yoga, the union, the yoking of mind, body and spirit. Breathing is the bridge that will take you there. Live yoga off the mat, discover the power of your spirit and Celebrate.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti
Deborah Shemesh
Antidote to Stress at Sebastopol Area Senior Center
Antidote to Stress – Offered Free Seasonally – Sebastopol Area Senior Center (call for special events)
The Sebastopol Area Senior Center hosted an afternoon entitled Meditation The Antidote to Stress on March 25th. This is the second presentation hosted by the Senior Center and will continue upon request. In this workshop we identified the different kinds of stresses that we experience in our lives, and learned how to better identify these stresses so that they do not produce disease, or premature aging in our bodies. This two hour workshop is Free and is held in the main room at the Senior Center, offering a video introduction with Dr. David Simon who talks about the benefits and history of meditation. This eloquent DVD presentation is a beautiful segway into pranayama or breathing exercises to clear the mind in preparation for a 20 minute guided meditation. This informal class winds down with a brief personal history of my experiences, and how this practice aided me in the transformation from illness into health. The session ends with nourishing, rejuvenating, fluid yogic motions that are performed on a chair. Questions are always encouraged, and is open to everyone, all ages and stages in life.
This workshop is available to any corporation or company upon request. The Sebastopol Area Senior Center hosts this workshop twice a year, and is located at 167 N. High Street in Sebastopol. Gloria Kelley, Emily Webster, or Terry Kelly can be reached at 707-829-2440 and can better direct you to the next workshop or schedule one.
For those of you who just love to meditate, regardless of a specific Mantra, please join me and your local community for FREE First Sunday Monthly Meditations at The North Main Street Studio – from 10-11 a.m., rain or shine and everyone is invited. You can bring you own mantra, or I can assign you a spiritually aligned mantra that will leave you wanting to experience the value of community and world unification through meditation. Space is limited, so be prompt, bring a friend and take a walk through the Farmer’s Market afterwards. Experience for yourself, the lavish display of samadhi as you meditate and radiate bliss wherever you go. People will notice.
If you’re interested in taking your meditation to a deeper level, I encourage you to explore Primordial Sound Meditation and discover for yourself, the sound the universe was making at the time of your birth. Learn the seven stages of consciousness and the software of your soul. Having your very own Primordial Sound Mantra is like having your own special sacred space, making meditation easier, taking you into higher states of consciousness more easily. To ignite your curiosity, link on to the Meditation Blog and Primordial Sound Blog. The universe supports your inquiry and you can always go to Chopra.com and find out more. Perhaps you will discover that one of the 1,000 Worldwide Chopra Center Primordial Sound Meditation Instructors is in a community near you offering you a group to meditate with. Like taking a daily shower, meditation becomes a ritual that benefits your body-mind-spirit. Honor the needs of your body, and remember all ages are welcome. Know that meditation is a state of going inward. My motto, community builds immunity. The only tool you require is an open mind, and a cushion helps.
Please do read more on the Meditation or Yoga Blogs, familiarize yourself with the benefits that include better sleep, less stress, reduced blood pressure. Introduce meditation seminars to your company to build team productivity, and widen your corporate vision, increasing team work, and enhancing communication needs. For corporate rates, call 707-824-9690. Available for Networks, Markets, Hospitals, Churches, Schools, Firehouses, Police Departments, and all environments that require people to work through a state of restful awareness and conscious choice making.
Namaste,
Chopra Center University, Primordial Sound Meditation Instructor, and Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga Instructor and Featured Teacher, July 2010.
Deborah Shemesh/RYT/CPR
Visit Chopra.com – community 95472
Pranayama
Pranayama (breathing) is the underlying essence of who we are. It drives the essence of who we are and breath moves through the channels of your body bringing us information. We take about 17,000 thousand breaths per day; yet we pay very little attention to our breath. The first thing we do on our own is breathe and the last thing we do is breathe. Breath is a gift that is unappreciated, unrecognized and underestimated. Breathing connects us to the peacefulness within ourselves. Breathing not only nourishes each and every cell by bringing oxygen into the body, it relaxes us and is responsible for our ability to balance and heal the body.
The autonomic nervous system is responsible for digesting our food, elimination, and governs basic bodily functions over which you usually have no conscious ability to influence. These include core physiological functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, regulation of your temperature, hormone levels in your body, and perspiration. Your autonomic nervous system also plays an important role in the regulation of your immune system. Modern neurological science suggests that most people are incapable of affecting these core physiological processes, however, with training I believe you can re-create health within the molecular body. Through breath you can influence your blood pressure, change the flow of your blood, reduce heart rate, and improve the digestive function.
Conscious breath work is capable of overriding the autonomic nervous system enabling us to heal, creating vibrant health. Energy flows through the left (ida) and right (pingala) sides of our body and travels upward through the sushumna (or spine); our body will shift channels from left dominance to right dominance every 90 minutes. Connecting with your breath will strengthen your lungs, heart, brain, and your whole body will be rewarded with increased vitality, clarity, and a deeper focus on your intentions and desires. Paying attention to your breath, just may return your body back to its natural pattern of health, it has mine.
Remember full deep breaths, and it’s free.
Deborah Shemesh
