Grounded, Gratitude & Gravy

Greeting from Salt Lake City! Many of you might know or not that I have been in Salt Lake City with my kid for the past couple of weeks nurturing a serious concussion.   I felt it apropos to use this current experience as the theme for my monthly e-news because it relates directly to my personal yoga practice and the teachings that I try to bring forth in my weekly classes, workshops and longer retreats on zoom and at Ascend Center, Ful-being Collective and Day Dream Clinic. The essence of our existence of spirit expressed as human form at this moment is fully intertwined with every breath, emotion and thought. Being present with our yoga practice is designed to be the tool to help us explore, tolerate, heal and grow into being a fully connected conscious kind human on this earth in this moment grounded even in the shadows or the sh*t storm of our own experiences.

If we look at Patangali’s yoga Sutra’s – the thread of the HOW to find this deep connection through the yoga practices - we know early on that there has to be a balance between the “doing “ and the “allowing” creating a space in between that is created to form the depths of the balance.

Sutra’s 1.13- 1.16 Explain this relationship

The first part of this recipe for balancing and stilling the mind is Abhyasa. It means making your best effort to focus on all the Vritti (mind fluctuations) on one single point, whether it is action, object, thought or image. Abase becomes well established when practiced consistently and with sincerity over a long period of time.  Sounds familiar --- right – just meet yourself on the mat so that you can meet yourself or your frustration with patience in line in the supermarket when someone cuts in front   of the line.  

The second part of the recipe is Vairagya, the ability to let go of any desire for the fruits of our efforts to focus the mind. This allows our consciousness to take action in the world with out the attachment.  Sounds Familiar—right – just meet yourself on the mat at breathe in your mountain pose connected with feet grounding down and lengthening your spine… are you aware of any clenching in the jaw or hands? Can you not  “do “ the pose but be with yourself fully connected in the body, breath experience for awareness sake and hold on to a chair if needed to find this?

When we practice Abhyasa together with Vairagya, the mind remains poised in a state of balance between doing and allowing and our consciousness so it can act in the world without getting entangled in its interactions. This sattvic sate of mind—this in between - created by Abhyasa and Vairagya is what allows us to transcend the continual polarized movement of primary forces of nature that are responsible for all the change and movement that we experience in life. These forces of nature in yoga philosophy are called the Gunas – Satva is a balance between movement and stillness.  Rajas- is an outward, dynamic, centrifugal force and tamas is an opposing inward, centripetal, and contractive.

So why my explanation of the pillars of the yoga practice and of the Gunas and when dealing with my kid’s concussion?   These concepts are the inherent concepts for self –awareness that are needed to help the healing process.  In most yoga therapy, the breath is the connection to navigate in the space in between for you to understand the why in the yoga asana, pranayama and meditation practices.  The breath is also your connection to the gauge to help you regulate your nervous system.

When there is a concussion … the brain is seriously bruised, shaken, shifted and injured.  Along with this soft tissue damage the neuron pathways for function, simple thought, movement and daily living does not travel properly on the previous neuron high ways because not only is mission control of the different parts of your brain disconnected or short circuiting but the sympathetic nervous system is sustaining is “fight flight freeze responses “. All good at the initial time of the head trauma but not able to equalize post the trauma is what has to be retaught, rewired and connected. Post concussion syndrome side effects will occur like fatigue, memory loss, temperature shifts, shakes, emotional volatility and heightened anxiety and depression.  The brain shuts down and takes control to shut the body down to.

Remember that the senses are a doorways and windows into consciousness, especially when turning them inward through pratyahara  (sense withdrawal). Well, with a concussion, the senses are so raw and heightened, stimulus in sound, sight, touch, taste all increase and the mind can NOT be the guide to bring them in because the brain isn’t functioning properly. And most of the times the eyes are the gateway to the stimulus and they want to shut down to heal.

The breath and the body dealing with concussions are then asked to take part of the process of healing to help rewire the brain super mindfully with cognitive and physical exercises. The caveat is that  “doing “ and the “allowing “ have to be met in awareness before 3 symptoms surface. And then you need to meet your breath as the regulator to maintain the threshold of rest & digest, to be safe.

Constructive rest is a VERY important time when doing this. So next times you are in class – take the rest and know that the rest is what is rebuilding the resilience, strength and flexibility. The rest can be seated in a chair or standing in mountain or lying on the floor   NOT collapsing but truly connecting to your breath as you lengthen your exhale to surrender the empty. NO fancy mat is required. It is of no surprise that during December your will have many options for restorative type classes

Wow- that’s a lot and I am not the one with the concussion! I am so grateful for the tools of this practice that I have learned, teach and use regularly to help me navigate the ups and downs, the ins and outs, the roundabouts of mindful living for a healthy balanced life.  I can say, first hand, that being the mom and watching my kid suffer has been hard.  But it is through the willingness of the practice to meet myself on the mat when it is hard, build the resilience, acceptance and softness to be in the presence of slow difficult healing.

I feel like my yoga therapeutics training has gotten me to this pinnacle point to help not just me navigate my emotions as a Mom. (I know I can make the soup and give hugs) but yoga also has helped me be a supportive healer in connecting the dots for people to be an active part of their healing and living process.

In any case the integration of care, breath work, neuroscience, PT, yoga, art and play ---- are the spaces that I step into and surround myself with people that “get it “ and support me!  Thank you -Ascend, Full-Being and Day Dream Clinic where you all help connect the dots … on this path to of healing, wholeness and love.

Gratitude as a form of meditation and grounding can be extremely empowering and beneficial. You don’t need to close your eyes in prayer or be alone. You can practice giving thanks as you go about living your day-to-day life. By actively expressing gratitude, you situate yourself in the present and begin to take note of all the small (and big) things around you (and within you) that make this life worth living.

Here are simple steps to practice gratitude as grounding:

 “I am grateful for my body’s ability to be in this environment.”
Begin to do a sort of body scan, thanking your body, part by part, for all it does to move you in and out of environments. Our bodies are always working, always taking care of us — even when we aren’t being kind to it. Expressing gratitude towards our bodies can help to ground us in the present, but also remind us to return the gratitude by loving and protecting our bodies.

While you’re outside for example, begin to thank your legs and feet or your arms and wheelchair for their power. As long as we’re breathing, there is always room for gratitude to our body for all it does to keep us alive that we don’t notice. Express gratitude for your lungs that allow you to breathe in deep. Express gratitude for your nose and take in the scents around you. Express gratitude for your eyes, however great your vision is or even if they hurt, for the beauty you get to witness in your environment.

Similarly at the dinner table tomorrow, thank your mouth, tongue and brain for helping you taste and savor food. And maybe you notice the gravy on top of the potatoes and stuffing is making your mouth water. Express gratitude for your ears and/or the devices that help your ears enjoy the music and the sounds of other people gathering in fellowship around you.  And remember as long as you have the breath … you have the ability to connect and reconnect to your true self and others.  You don't need your brain to lead the way. Follow your breath and your heart.

Deepest Gratitude

OM Shanti

Xoxo Dani