Back on the Mat on Thursdays

Open your Heart on Thursdays, we are back on the Mat @ GEMS

After a bit of a break our Thursday classes have resumed again at GEMS Cambridge International School, Kampala, Uganda.

4.00-5.00pm  Satsang  - a Session of contemplation, meditation and the chanting of Kirtan and Mantra.  Uplift yourself with this joyful session and curb the negativities turning them to positives and feel refreshed and rejuvenated.

5.00-6.30pm  Open Sivananda Asana class - Relax, breathe, stretch and find yourself again after a busy day.

Both classes are open to all levels and are donation based.

Looking forward to meeting you again at GEMS.  

Foundation block - upstairs.

Have inspired practice

Om shanti Om

Mangala / Nicky.

Suffering from anxiety and panic attacks?

Anxiety and panic attacks can be shocking, disruptive, curb our confidence and intimidate us.  They may be something that comes and grabs you by surprise or they can creep up on you slowly.  It may also be something that you feel that you can’t explain to those who surround you or whom are normally supporting you.  Also you may not want to admit that this is happening to you or talk about it. 

Suffering alone and hoping it will go away is a very troublesome path and will only increase the pain and torment you may be feeling.  Admitting that you need a little help is the first huge step on the road to overcoming or recovery from these issues, and approaching someone that has also had similar problems through centers and groups could be the best answer.  Trying to explain how your panic attack is effecting you even to your closest and dearest may seem impossible.  But without approaching your feelings and your mind you may be worsening your symptoms and even may find that you cannot face to go to work or to other commitments that you may have and things can really nose dive from here. 

Know that you are not alone there are so many people all over the world suffering with similar issues and that you are by no means no less than anyone else because of them.  Don’t hide away; talk to those that are closest to you and although it may be the hardest thing to explain just getting it out in the open is a massive step and relief.  Saying it out loud “I’m not coping,” to someone you can trust can be a massive relief, just saying those words, then look for the extra help you need.  If you feel you really can’t talk then write it down that may be an easier approach – what it is that you are afraid of, where do you think this has stemmed from?  It may be something that you have gone through recently that has triggered it or it may be something from so far back, but someone you have known for a long time may even be able to shed the light on why this is happening to you more easily than you imagine.  As soon as you admit to yourself you have fears etc, then the path forward can open itself to you.

Look for a great gentle yoga instructor that can guide you through a soothing and calming practice that you can learn and practice daily.  Guided meditations are a great way to affirm positive thoughts and uplift you and build your confidence up again.  Proper exercise in the respect of working through each part of you without over stressing is essential, too much exercise is going to give you more stress, but it is very important to get out and into nature.  You have to find your level and limitations and stay within them until you are ready to move on.  Never try to force a tougher workout or feel under pressure to do so, now is the time to be gentle and go slowly slowly.

Eat well; good organic foods made from the heart, avoid junk foods to try to console yourself, this will only effect you negatively.  Drink plenty of water to support your emotions.

Get out into the garden or a garden and plant some seeds, do some gardening and nurture yourself with mother earth.  Get enough rest is a must and definitely increase the amount of sleep you are having for a while.  Speak to a counselor and get some feedback on your how you are doing.  I found making lists of what I needed to do invaluable and help to ease my fuzzy head!  Nurture yourself with holistic approaches so you can find your inner medicine and avoid making yourself feel better with things that are dependent such as drugs and alcohol.  Yoga, aromatherapy, massage, tai chi and acupuncture are all wonderful ways to reach your goal of wellbeing of mind and body, because you deserve it, there is nobody who doesn’t deserve to be well and happy, because essentially that is your true nature.  If you need to take time off then do so.

Here is a beautiful guided contemplation that can help you – sit in a quiet place with phone off and no distractions, it wont take long and over time when you are more settled you can increase your time for sitting.  You can sit cross-legged on the floor or if this is uncomfortable or not possible sit on a chair as long as the spine is held straight.  Close your eyes and start to feel your body, are you warm, cool, do you have any sensations within the body.  Acknowledge those sensations and allow them to be there without judgment.   Start to become aware of your breath and allow your mind to follow every inhalation and every exhalation; just follow you don’t need to try to deepen the breath or change it – just follow.   Then start to tell yourself –

I breathe in calmness and I breathe out calmness

I breathe in quietness and I breathe out quietness

I breathe in stillness and I breathe out stillness

You can repeat this for some time whatever is working for you,

and then begin –

I cannot give to anyone else what I first have not given to myself

I feel the space around me and I feel this moment

I deserve this moment of peace and stillness

From this moment on I chose to love myself just as I am.

From this moment on I chose to love myself just as I am.

I am loving and I am loveable.

I have strength and I have courage

I love myself just as I am right now in this moment.

I will always be here for me and I will never abandon me.

I love myself just as I am right now in this moment and all moments.

You may then like to move into child’s pose for some time and simply breathe.  Feel nurtured by the universe and breathe and be.  Give yourself time to come out of the practice in a relaxed way – slowly with no rush, you may even like to place your hands over your closed eyes for a few moments then open the eyes behind your hands before releasing your  hands down.

Take care everybody and love yourself, look after yourselves, wishing you all courage and to feel the beauty of whom you are.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Mangala / Nicky

Deep in the Mud

A lotus is a flower that grows deep in the mud.

From a tiny seed it is pure awareness, full of potential, energy and consciousness.

When the time is right it begins a journey, which can be painful and slow.

As the oak stands in time and space

It grew.           It went through change with pain or with no pain.  And every season it honors that change with courage and strength and with generosity with every leaf and acorn.

She gives shelter from the sun in summer and shelter from the snow in winter.

In autumn she shows her un-attachment as she simply lets go.

And in spring she releases her creativity.

She is grounded and she is the earth.

In every plant, tree and seed there is knowledge;

Knowledge of being conscious; knowledge of when to give and when to withdraw.

And knowledge of how to be one with the earth, water, fire, air and space.

As he the Divine sun gives his light, the sunflowers raise their heads from the mud and look upwards,

To a fresh view of positivity, and they follow.

A lotus is a flower that grows deep in the mud.

The deeper the mud, the more beautiful the flower.

A flower in simple awareness, nothing more and nothing less just sweet pure awareness.

A lotus is a flower that grows deep in the mud.

Things you think may be healthy but actually are not.

You may be very conscious of trying to make the right choices in your lifestyle to make it a beautiful healthy one.  However in terms of looking from a yogic or Ayurvedic point of view, some of those things you may have appreciated as being healthy can actually be throwing you out of balance.  Making some small simple changes can make a big impact.

1. Drinking cold or too much water.

Imagine a hot stone in the sauna and then what happens to it when you throw cold water on it – a big reaction and a lot of steam!  This is exactly how your internal fire is within your system that fuels the digestive system, which allows the nutrients from your food to transform to your body.  So drinking cold water is aiding to extinguish your digestive fire and hence can cause loss of nutrients and discomfort in the stomach area.  When eating definitely avoid drinking large amounts of water or cold water.  A few sips of room temperature or even warm water will aid the digestive process instead of impairing it.  Of course any other form of drink other that water will absolutely cause an in-balance in how you digest your food.  It is better to wait for about an hour after you have eaten to drink or at least until you feel thirsty again.  Drink enough to support your emotional stability and improve every function of your body, but not whilst eating your food.

2. Eating Raw or uncooked foods.

As I said in my last post about Aloe Vera, all plants hold knowledge but we also need to be able to digest them well.  I was surprised to know that spinach, kale, chard or cabbage should not be eaten raw as it makes them a tough thing to be able to digest well and get hold of all the minerals into your system.  Cooking your vegetables lightly will bring the fire element into the food and aid how you are digesting.  Over-cooking will also take out all the nutrients but light cooking is going to help you.  Although we do need a little raw food with each meal to help keep the alkaline levels correct, so foods such as cucumber, fruits or tomatoes can be enjoyed but the rest of your delicious veg needs a little light cooking.  This is more true if you are like me and the vata type – the air and space elements, digestion for us is a little harder than the pita and kapha types, so give you tummy a hand and cook those cabbages!

3.Eating a small lunch and a bigger dinner.

Actually it was never the way that our ancestors ate to eat your more substantial meal at night or evening.  Always if eating 3 times a good breakfast, a hearty lunch and a light super.  Or it has been said to eat breakfast as the prince, lunch as the king and dinner as the beggar.  If you think about it, it is actually very logical, we eat to nourish ourselves and for a source of our energy, so why take this in its largest form and then shortly after go to bed?  Eating your most substantial meal at lunch time will boost your energy throughout the day and provide you enough time to digest properly when the digestive fire – Agni is at its most powerful, enabling good assimilation.  In the evening Agni is low, and you will spend most of the night trying to digest putting added pressure on your system, hence why you wake up feeling so tired sometimes with no reason.  When you have thought you have had a good sleep and rested, you have actually spent much energy trying to digest your pasta instead of assimilating the goodness!  Turn your meals around, this may take a bit of a change and different organization and many people say to me – how can I do that – I haven’t got the time etc etc, yes we know we have heard it all.  But it just takes a little different thinking that is all.

4. Overexerting ourselves with too hard a workout, or too much working out or just generally doing to much in our lives.

Taking time to rest is vital, and although in todays society we are seemingly guided to gyms, fitness centers and all sorts, over exerting ourselves is not recommended.  It is a wonderful thing to use this body that we have and see what we can achieve, and exercise is vital for our health as doing nothing is also damaging.  Exercise will remove toxins from our tissues, boost immunity, prevent fatigue and help to reduce fat that is not needed.  However too much of it is going to be in the long term damaging and create in-balance somewhere along the line.  So be kind and gentle to yourself, do enough but not too much.  I am now coming up to 46 years old, and at present have been suffering with anemia, allergies and going generally bonkers, largely due to me not recognizing enough my own need to rest and calming down my asana practice a little bit.  And not having to do 3-4 hours self practice a day plus 1-2 classes plus get a walk in and run around looking after the house, husband etc etc.  As women we all know it right.  And as yoga teachers there is an enormous pressure these days as YOGA has now been thrown into every corner of the world and pushed to all sorts of limits, extremes and goodness knows what nonsense actually.  But there is a feeling of expectations and judgements from your students whom you may not be familiar with, how you look etc, but by trying to do too much to achieve the radiant Goddess we sometimes can put ourselves in the opposite state.  So although it is important to do, just don’t overdo, it will have a negative effect later on down the line and create some problems. 

So be kind to yourselves folks and give yourselves a hug and send a warm and loving smile down to your heart.  Forgive yourself for any past mistakes and come back to peace.

Have beautiful days

Mangala / Nicky

This article was inspired by Ayurveda next door