If you are thinking about creating a journal, now might be just the time to pick up a pen and start writing.

Psychological research suggests happiness is more related to being grateful for what we already have than achieving a goal or acquiring a possession. With that in mind, it’s nice to take the time, be it daily or weekly to jot down a few or many thoughts that express why and what you are currently grateful for in your life…i.e. things that make you happy.

I also find that my journaling has lead me to more positive affirmations during the day as I find myself reflecting and reacting in that place of gratitude more often. This I find to be a valuable secondary benefit of journaling. For example, when that driver cuts you off or that pesky person at work is in your face once again, stop and remember what you entered into your journal last evening and re-focus your energy. Remember back to those people, places, and memories – things that make you happy; that you are grateful for and use your journal to pull you out of your funk and into a more positive peaceful place.

For me my gratitude journal is a perhaps a prayer of sorts. It’s my way of expressing and reminding myself and my “higher power” or anyone else who may be listening for that matter, that my life is beautiful and I am surrounded with many remarkable gifts.

Tips for Creating / Keeping a Gratitude Journal

1) Pick your “venue” – Electronically or via a notebook and No. 2 pencil.

The advantage of going electronic is you can carry your journal with you always and make entries all day long when a thought strikes you. It just depends on what strikes your fancy. It’s also nice to set aside time at the end of the day; perhaps just after crawling under the covers. Reviewing your day and what you are grateful for is a wonderful prelude to drifting off to sleep.

2) Start each entry with what makes sense to you.

Suggestions would be: “Today I am thankful /grateful for…” or “I am blessed because” or “What made me happy today….”

3) Focus also on the WHY.

It’s important to know what you are thankful for in your life, but don’t forget the “why”. Spend some time thinking about why this thing/person/event/blessing/talent has brought you joy and happiness. It’s an excellent exercise and it allows you to focus on where your priorities are or should be now and what you should aim your energies toward in the future.

4) Take the time to look back.

Living in the moment is so important to living a joyful life, but taking some time to reflect back on the gifts of the pasts, allows us to enjoy our journey and concentrate our energies on the good and not as much of the “not so good.” So take the time to review your past entries and enjoy the road you have traveled.

We would love to hear your feedback on what has made your journaling successful and how it has changed the way you live. As always…feel free to participate in this conversation or our other blog entry practices to “energize your life”.

Namaste

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I realized recently that my current thinking toward time passing me by was resulting in a feeling of being completely out of control….never a comforting feeling.  So in an effort to slow the clock down and gain some of my power back, I decided I must change my thinking and a few of my habits.

As with any problem, a good place to start is my current beliefs or perceptions of what the problem is.

Perceived Problem:  Time is passing me by (way too quickly).

Perceived Result: Feeling completely out of control (and a bit depressed / scared… you name it…I was feeling it).

With this problem defined I knew I needed a new way of thinking. First, I would start with augmenting my schedule at the end of each day. (Seemed like a good baby step for me…full life transformations never work so well).

In analyzing my patterns I realized in the recent past when the day was done, I would lay my head on my pillow at night and immediately start calculating in my head all the tasks and goals I had on my list that did not get completed during that day.  Not only is this, in and of itself, depressing but I would end my day virtually transferring in my head all those incomplete tasks from today’s to do list to tomorrow’s. Not the best idea if you are looking for a resentful night’s sleep and/or feeling good about the day you had just completed, or for that matter, the one that lay ahead.  I don’t believe I am alone in this destructive pattern.  I would say this is a habit most of us pick up without even thinking about it. It’s an auto-pilot response to what we think is keeping us more organized, but at least for me, I think it’s destructive.

My first new strategy involves either writing down or reciting in my head what I DID accomplish for the day.  Most people I know run from the minute they get out of bed to the minute their head hits the pillow at the end of the day.  So if you reverse your thinking and look at all you DID accomplish that day, your list would typically be rather extensive and you / I would feel great about all we DID DO that day rather than the items that didn’t quite make it to completion.  I have started doing this consistently and I have to say it definitely leaves me with a better taste in my mouth (or is that my new toothpaste) than the feeling of defeat I was feeling at the end of each day.

My second strategy involves focusing on daily mini-achievements that get me closer to one main goal that I am trying to attain.  As part of my new strategy, each day I now make sure that I have done something (one thing…be it big or small) to move closer to achieving that goal.  I know it may seem rather simplistic but this strategy in particular has really helped me feel like I have more control over time and my life.   At the end of each week I can look back and know I am at least 7 steps/tasks closer to achieving that goal than I was the week before and somehow that makes me feel I am using my time more wisely, that I have more control and that I have made progress that week.

These two new habits have helped me feel more in control of my day and my life and although time seems to move at a pace faster than I would like, the tick-tock of the clock doesn’t seem to be keeping me up as late into the night.  I am no longer reciting in my head the regrets of the day but rather my accomplishments (big AND small) and look forward to looking back at the end of the week knowing I have made progress this week and have used my time wisely.

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Yoga Blocks

Iyengar believes that yoga is a constant learning process and that you’re not really performing yoga unless you’re doing the poses correctly. For that reason he encourages the use of blocks to modify and adapt the asanas to the beginning student. Blocks also help you transition between poses to avoid potential injury and make the process seamless. If you’ve injured yourself, blocks could compensate for any loss of flexibility or strength. And your yoga teacher may recommend these props so that you perform the poses correctly.

Yoga Straps

As their name implies, yoga straps look like belts with a buckle at the end. They are particularly useful to open up the pelvic area, such as in the cobbler pose, where you loop the strap around your waist and feet together then pull the loose end such that your knees move toward the floor and your feet meet your body. A yoga strap can also be used to more deeply stretch the hamstrings and quadriceps.

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The surya namaskar, or sun salutation, series of yoga asanas is ideal for the beginning student.

• Position One: Stand with your feet together and your palms pressed against each other at chest level then slowly inhale.
• Position Two: On the exhalation, bend forward at the waist and place your palms against the floor alongside your feet.
• Position Three: While keeping your palms against the floor, move your left leg behind you so your toes and kneecap press against the floor as you inhale then arch your neck and extend the chest upward and outward with your right leg bent.
• Position Four: Hold your breath as you lift your left kneecap then extend your right leg behind you, lined up with your left leg, then lock out your arms and legs in a straight line.
• Position Five: As you exhale, bend your elbows, knee and head to the ground so they touch, along with your upper chest. This is the ashtanga pose as eight areas of your body are touching the ground.
• Position Six: Inhale, straighten out your arms and arch your back while keeping your knees and toes pressed into the floor.
• Position Seven: Hold your breath as you press your chin downward then push your body backward so your heels remain pressed against the floor as your hips rise.
• Position Eight: Continue to hold your breath as you assume Position Three in reverse, with the right leg behind you and your left folded in front.
• Position Nine: Exhale as you move your right leg forward to align it with your left, lock out both legs and press your forehead to your knees.
• Position Ten: Inhale and return to Position One.

Although this series of yoga asanas is the most basic, it can be challenging to those who are unconditioned and stiff. Just take your time to develop your flexibility and breathing techniques and it will all come together.

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A Shao-Lin monk named Bodihdharma is credited with developing six of the moves that are still practiced in modern tai chi. He noticed how poorly-conditioned his fellow monks were due to their sedentary meditative practices and introduced a form of exercise into their daily rituals. This practice was also incorporated into Kung-fu martial arts at the time; indeed “tai chi” is the shortened term for “tai chi chuan,” which means “supreme ultimate fist.”

In the early 1400s, another monk, Chang San-feng, of the Wu-Tang monastery, developed the 13 postures, which form the foundation of modern tai chi. These are the:

1. ward off
2. roll back
3. press
4. push
5. pull
6. split
7. elbow and
8. shoulder strike.

There are five styles of modern tai chi; the most popular in the Western world is the “yang” style, which has 103 postures in the long form and typically takes a mere 20 minutes to do.

The best way to start practicing tai chi is to find an open class, whether at a community center or the YMCA. Many senior centers offer tai chi classes because this exercise method is a gentle, easy way to maintain flexibility, balance and bone density in older individuals through slow, flowing movements. Or you could rent a DVD or refer to online resources to learn the basic movements and practice them before venturing out to a group you’ve been observing for a while.

The great thing about tai chi is that you can do it anywhere you have some standing room, and it doesn’t involve any special equipment. Since it’s become fairly popular as a practice for Westerners, you likely won’t raise any eyebrows if you go out to a park and begin the movements by yourself. You might actually get a few curious onlookers to join you. Tai chi attracts young and old alike, and the American Medical Association, the Arthritis Foundation and the Mayo Clinic all support the practice to relieve stress and optimize health.

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The Pilates Method was developed by Joseph Pilates, a German prisoner during World War I who used his training as a nurse to help bedridden English patients increase their range of movement in a confined space and ultimately get out of bed. In fact, the first reformer, a machine used in Pilates, was most likely a mechanically-cranked hospital bed. Pilates moved to the U.S. in 1926 where he established his first studio with his wife, Clara, in New York City. The couple began teaching students there how to develop their core muscles to better support the spine and improve their posture and overall health.

What is Pilates is basically a focus on the stomach, lumbar and pelvic areas of the body. By using specific and directed movements, these muscles are given a workout, and the smaller supporting muscle are also involved. What is Pilates is an understanding of how precise movements better train muscles rather than many sloppy repetitions, which can result in injury.

In a Pilates studio, you will typically see a variety of machines. These include the reformer, the Cadillac, resistance bands, the barrel and the chair, along with assorted mats for floor work. The reformer has a system of pulleys and springs that uses the individual’s own body weight as resistance. The Cadillac is a padded table with a trapeze bar mounted above it with resistance bands and offers a greater range of exercise options. Resistance bands, as their name implies, offer a level of resistance to students when doing floor work during a Pilates class. The Pilates barrel is used as a flexibility and stretching aid, and the chair is actually a seat with a pedal mechanism that can be depressed to work the triceps, latissimus and other ancillary muscles to the core muscle groups.

If you still have questions about what is Pilates, your best bet is to check out a beginning Pilates class. Start out in a small class where the instructor can best monitor and give you feedback on the movements. This should give you a great introduction into a vital exercise style and routine.

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Many yoga studios and some local community recreation centers offer prenatal yoga classes; but if one isn’t available in your area, consider a beginning yoga class and tell the teacher that you’re expecting. Stay away from hot, or Bikram, yoga classes; these are conducted in rooms with temperatures of up to 105 degrees, which can raise your core body temperature and potentially affect fetal development.

Generally, a prenatal yoga class incorporates props, such as folded-up blankets, towels and cushions, to accommodate students as they perform floor work and to get them into the proper position. Breathing exercises are a critical component of any type of yoga, and in prenatal yoga they prepare you for the pursed lip breathing utilized between contractions and the more strenuous grunts performed during active labor. The meditative aspect of yoga comes into play for managing the pain of contractions; in Lamaze classes, instructors advise parents-to-be to bring a focal object into the labor and delivery room to focus on. In Ashtanga yoga, the teacher may advise students to focus on a gazing point, or drishti, such as the thumbs, navel, sky or toes. A focal point concentrates the mind and allows the prana, or life force, to flow through the energy meridians, which can be a transformational experience and an excellent way to process pain.

Because your body is gradually modifying itself, you will have an entirely new form at the end of nine months. Your muscles and joints will need to be flexible to accommodate these changes, and prenatal yoga is one of the best ways to develop this capacity. And once you give birth, you will appreciate this flexibility when it comes to pushing yourself out of a chair while holding the baby. In the last trimester, the breathing exercises will be helpful, especially when the baby is doing somersaults or if you’re experiencing strong Braxton Hicks contractions. Use the tools available to you from prenatal yoga to achieve mental clarity and some physical relief.

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Pranayama is the Sanskrit word for extended breath or, more strictly defined, prana (life force) and yama (extension). Beginning yoga students typically start with Hatha yoga, which involves regulated breathing, while performing the poses, to achieve more flexibility and control. With any type of physical conditioning, the proper breathing technique comes into play, whether you’re a first-time jogger contending with breathlessness or a conditioned athlete setting a personal best at the bench press. Think of it this way: breathing comes to us automatically unless we’re under stress, at which point it becomes an effort. Pranayama regulates the breathing so that the body directs its focus to the task set forth, be it a difficult pose or a stressful life event.

Just as breathing is necessary for life, the act of inhaling and exhaling is central to yoga’s principles, by linking the physical to the mental and spiritual. Pranayama involves four stages:

• Arambha, considering the place, time, diet and mental state of the practitioner;

• Ghata, considering the causal, gross and subtle nuances of breathing;

• Parichaya, the consistent practice of yoga to cast off bad karma;

• Nispatti, the consistent practice of eating well and living in harmony with the self and others.

So breathing has suddenly become a little complicated. However, pranayama is the way to properly breathe and is intentioned. Rather than solely breathing from the chest, pranayma is the practice of breathing from the diaphragm, a technique well known to opera singers and professionals, which increases lung capacity and generates well-rounded, fully-sustained sounds. Pranayama also releases toxins from the body, improves its ability to fight off disease, helps digestion, increases stamina, relieves stress and clears the mind.

How many times have you heard someone say to you, “Take a deep, cleansing breath,” when you’re presented in some kind of workplace challenge? The type of breathing involved in pranayama is what they’re saying: breathe intentionally before you act or become stressed-out. Pranayama works in concert with the mind to control breathing, lower the heart rate and ultimately not over-react to a stressful situation, which is why it’s important to master.

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Through kundalini yoga, the blockages in the way of accessing this energy are removed through kriyas. Kriyas can take the form of long, sounded-out chants that make the body vibrate while performing the asanas. Controlled and sustained breathing comes into play when performing the mantras. Accessing this energy, through kundalini yoga, also involves working with bandhas, some of which resemble kegel exercises that regulate urinary flow. The mudras, or finger positions, allow the student to sustain poses longer by holding onto the extremities, such as the toes, or lifting the body from the floor with the palms.

Kundalini yoga has many advanced mudras and bandhas that are combined and should only be practiced by experienced students under the advice and guidance of a yoga master. Yogi Bhajan introduced this mystical form of yoga to Westerners in 1969 at a time when young people were looking for alternative ways to develop consciousness; since then, kundalini yoga has become a lifestyle for people throughout the world. Kundalini yoga considers the entire person and their choices, from the type of clothing worn (white is preferred as it combines all colors of the eight chakras), to advocating a lacto-vegetarian diet for more energy and improved sleep. Kundalini yoga followers also believe in the importance of seva (self-less service) to show compassion and caring to others, which leads to emotional well-being and good karma.

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The idea behind practicing yoga in a hot studio is to cleanse the body of toxins through sweat. By performing the linked poses in a heated studio, the risk of injury is substantially reduced because the body is already warmed up and the muscles are ready to be stretched and challenged. Some students attend hot yoga classes strictly with weight loss in mind; in a typical session, participants can expect to burn between 400 to 1,200 calories. Practicing the poses consistently three to four times a week will improve muscle memory and increase the students’ ability to perform the asanas correctly and fluidly for optimal flexibility.

Hot yoga is not for everyone, however. Although each class begins with simple poses, the asanas gradually increase in terms of difficulty and could exacerbate pre-existing medical conditions, such as high blood pressure and heat-related disorders.  Women who are pregnant should consider how hot yoga increases the body’s core temperature, which could lead to developmental issues in the fetus. Be sure to talk to your doctor before beginning any kind of exercise regimen, including hot yoga.

Hot yoga has come under fire recently from traditional adherents with the idea of competition. Although the goal of yoga has always been one of spiritual awakening through practice, deep breathing and meditative focus, there is an international movement afoot in hot yoga that advocates competition, even creating a new category in the Olympics. Performing the postures correctly is the goal of all yoga students; whether they want to take it on-stage in a series of compulsory asanas is the individual’s choice. However, this idea of competitive yoga is nothing new: the founder of “hot yoga,” Bikram Choudhury, was the youngest yoga champion in India and called the “Yogi Raj” at the age of 14.

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