Tuesday TeaThyme 2/12

Tuesday’s TeaThyme           

Your weekly wisdom and inspiration!

a personal spiritual path

Part 2: Niyamas

All of us have a desire for finding a better way.  Hoping that we make an impact on the world around us.  We want to contribute in some way that makes a difference.  

Part 1 describes the 8 limbs of yoga.  Patanjali, a Sage from the second century, wrote about the Yogic life style.  

     Part One describes the Yamas, moral code of conduct

Here I will talk about the second limb called, Niyamas.

Niyamas are the practices to support the individual who is creating a more spiritual path.

Bring these practices into your daily life to foster true awareness of who you are as well as a soft heart.  

Finding the joy and sorrow in our life as blessings.  Treating them equally in your mind, body and spirit.

Niyamas:

     1.  Saucha - purity and cleanliness

     2.  Santosha - contentment, embracing the moment

     3.  Tapas - discipline, training the senses of the body and mind

     4.  Svadhyaya - sacred self examination, contemplation

     5.  Isvara Pranidhanan -  surrender  to the Divine

Tuesday Tea Thyme 2/5

Tuesday’s TeaThyme           

Your weekly wisdom and inspiration!

Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga 

Part 1

Patanjali, a Sage from the second century, compiled four books called the Yoga Sutras.  He describes eight aspects of a Yogic lifestyle.  These eight limbs represent a guide to a meaningful and purposeful life.  A well rounded life is his goal to educate people on the limbs.

The limbs are not rungs on a ladder, but spokes on a wheel.  You work all eight at times, or you can work on one at a time.  They limbs are not progressive, but a collective and united way of being.

1.  Yamas:  The Yamas are moral codes of conduct.  the way we interact with each other, and how we treat ourselves.
     a.  Ahimsa- non-violence, non-harming, kindness and compassion to all
     b.  Satya - truthfulness, honesty, and integrity
     c.  Asteya -non stealing, not taking from others, having a big heart
     d.  Brahmacharya - non excess of energy, awareness of energy
     e.  Aparigraha - non possessiveness, non-greed, non-attachment, awareness of abundance

Tuesday TeaThyme 1/29

Tuesday’s TeaThyme           

Your weekly wisdom and inspiration!

Aging gracefully and youthfully in the practice of yoga.

Are there poses and modifications that you should be aware of....Absolutely.

Here are 5 ways to modify your Yoga practice as you age (of course not everyone...but at least good to know)

So you say your are in great health because you are still doing (or started) yoga.  Hooray for you.
No physical issues to really complain about....but as we age...we certainly can not and should not treat our bodies as a 20 year old.   Our bodies are not twenty anymore.  So treat it with that respect.

Less Physical stress....the same joyful practice.

1.  Know the difference between yin and yang stretching.
 Extend your warm up, stretching period a little bit longer.  Add extended forward fold, (standing and seated), knee and hip rotations, neck and shoulder stretches...Complete warm up and check in

2.  Remember your restorative poses.
Letting go of the clutter in your mind and decompress from the stress.  As we age, our stresses are so very different than our 30 year old friends.  Legs up the Wall and child's pose should be staple poses for your practice.

3.    Neck and shoulder stretches.
As you practice these important stretches bring awareness to the back of your neck and never compress the back side of your neck.
Any time your head is tilted back the carotid arteries in the neck become flat and the flow of blood to the brain is restricted.  Never restrict the blood flow completely.
I do not tilt my head back without my hands behind my neck to protect and elongate the neck.

4.  Chaturanga with my knees hard at work
I may attempt one full plank pose to the floor, but after that...knees to the floor!
I put less weight on my back and shoulders and arms as I let myself down to the mat.  I can still feel strong, still lengthen my spine, still pull my stomach in and use my core. 
No added physical stress.

5.  Always ...and keep reminding yourself...
Savasana is the most important pose.
Allow yourself to let go, and gain acceptance as you end this practice and bring the benefits with you throughout your day (and the next)

Know your limits and your strengths.
be kind and gentle to yourself as you practice yoga
_______________________________________________________________________________

Janine is a Yoga Instructor and Ayurveda Wellness Counselor, practicing from her home studio in Massachusetts and Ogunquit, Maine. Janine's work includes recovery from illness, trauma and stresses (physical and emotional) caused by everyday living.   She teaches and coaches a style of yoga called integral or classical yoga, which uses the four paths of yoga to reach full awareness and complete balance of mind, body and spirit.
 Janine's yoga practice has tremendous therapeutic effect on your body. Not only does it work your physical body, it works on better breathing, vitality, concentration, healing and relaxation.   As an Ayurveda and Yoga Wellness Counselor, she will provide guidance on ayurvedic and yogic lifestyle change to bring about greater health and harmony.          

Call for more information   207-251-9577

Janine Robichaud

Tuesday TeaThyme 1/22

Tuesday’s TeaThyme           

Your weekly wisdom and inspiration!

Your 2019 Numerology: 

Universal Year:  3

2019 = 2 + 0 + 1 + 9 =12

12 = 1 + 2 = 3

3

All of us will begin to feel the energy starting January 1, 2019 and the effects will end on December 31, 2019. 

 

A year of creativity and self – expression awaits us in 2019, the 3 Universal Year!  Yahoo. 

2019 will be a joyful year, an optimistic year, socially and physically.  We will tap into our own creativity, enjoy more fun filled activities and people, we will laugh more and feel lighter.  We be inspired and uplifted.  Speak your truth! 

  Feel the power of 2019 by :

a.    Practicing impeccable communication

b.   Lighten up and see new possibilities

c.   Learn something new

Challenges for 2019:

a.    Manage your emotions

b.   You may feel scattered as you try too many new things

c.   Think before you speak

Let your light shine in 2019!  Feel bright, be bright, and share your brightness!!

WHOLE30

Starts October 1st,
"change your life in 30 days"
hmmmm .......what kind of changes do I want to see...this could be interesting.

I am ready!
there are 8 easy (maybe not so easy) steps..We shall see.
Step 1.  Find out what is Whole30...Ok, that is do-able.
Step 2.  read the program.  What exactly can I eat...what is off my plate.
Step 3.  Commit...Okay, Okay
Step 4.  Build your support network (I am recruiting Rick...anyone else??)
Step 5 Get the house ready...I am eating all junk food, drinking all my open bottles of wine...I will be ready.
Step 6  plan for success.  (yes, we will)
Step 7  toss the scale.  (that one is easy, I have no scale)
Step 8  do the Whole30  (starting ......October 1 for 30 days!!

Okay...here I go

Yoga Means

Yoga means....
Yoga translates "to yoke or unite"

What exactly are you yoking?
You join or yoke your breath with movement.  When you move from pose to pose with your breath you bring a meditation in motion to the practice of yoga.
You join your breath and movement together....lots of Yoga teachers talk about this...

But what else can you yoke or join together in yoga?
poses (asana) with alignment and balance
breath that heals and keeps you healthy
withdrawing the focus from the outward to the inward
meditation
purification
rejection of violence, greed and jealousy

Let's begin to join our energies together as we explore the possibilities of yoga...to unite
___________________________________________________________________________________

Janine is a Yoga Instructor and Ayurveda Wellness Counselor, practicing from her home studio in Massachusetts and Ogunquit, Maine. Janine's work includes recovery from illness, trauma and stresses (physical and emotional) caused by everyday living.   She teaches and coaches a style of yoga called integral or classical yoga, which uses the four paths of yoga to reach full awareness and complete balance of mind, body and spirit.
 Janine's yoga practice has tremendous therapeutic effect on your body. Not only does it work your physical body, it works on better breathing, vitality, concentration, healing and relaxation.   As an Ayurveda and Yoga Wellness Counselor, she will provide guidance on ayurvedic and yogic lifestyle change to bring about greater health and harmony.          

Call for more information   207-251-9577

Janine Robichaud

 

Yoga and Ayurveda

Let’s Spring out of Winter!

We are all anxious to leave winter behind.  Well, most of us.  My son, Nathan who is a snowboarder says that this year’s snowboarding has been one of the best years he has had in a long time. 

For the rest of us, let’s begin to leave winter and enter spring.  It is the end of March officially past the March 20^th spring date and nearing Earth day in April.  Yes, spring is here. 

If we look at our bodies as a garden we must prepare, plant, nourish and harvest.  So, let’s prepare.

Our bodies take on a dormant state in the winter.  It is cold, wet, heavy and less mobile.  So what do we do in the winter, we tend to stay in more, withdraw, eat and sleep more.  We put on more layers.  In the spring we must shed those layers. 

Spring is a time to lighten up.  If, in fact, we do not begin to shed and lighten we will cause havoc within our lives.

Here is what I suggest.

1.     Begin by looking at your diet.  Eat lighter foods, such as salads adding fresh peas as soon as they begin to harvest.  Less meats and more vegetables.  Less can and frozen and more fresh.

2.    Bring awareness to your breath-work when practicing yoga.  Add sequences that flow, using your breath to make your practice a meditation in motion. (sun salutations work great)

3.    Full inhales and full exhales to get rid of any extra mucus, phlegm and open those lungs to the fresh air that spring brings to us.  This type of breathing creates an inner heat.  It is different than the outer heat (sweat).  Inner heat will create warm, calmness and actually a feeling of lightness.  This type of tapas (inner heat) will detox your inner body as well.  Breath long and slow…and full. 

4.    Come out of hibernation (you bear) and emerge as a butterfly.  Get rid of the heaviness feeling and feel light, clean, and full of energy.

5.    Time to stop snacking.  You just don’t need it anymore.  Winter is over.

6.    Get creative.  Go and have some fun.  Spend time for renewal and growth.  Turn off your electronics/technologies for a time during the day and find peace.

Transforming from Winter to Spring is not easy for many of us.  I hope this guided awareness can help with the change and move you forward into our spring season.

Namaste

,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Janine is a Yoga Instructor and Ayurveda Wellness Counselor, practicing from her home studio in Massachusetts and Ogunquit, Maine. Janine's work includes recovery from illness, trauma and stresses caused by everyday living.   She teaches and coaches from her home studio (the yoga room), Groton Wellness spa in Groton, MA, Cancer Care Center of York County, Compass Rose Yoga and York Hospital's Wellness Center as well as your own home environment.
 Janine's yoga practice has tremendous therapeutic effect on your body. Not only does it work your physical body, it works on better breathing, vitality, concentration, healing and relaxation.   As an Ayurveda and Yoga Wellness Counselor, she will provide guidance on ayurvedic and yogic lifestyle change to bring about greater health and harmony.            Call for more information   207-251-9577

Janine Robichaud