|
Not long ago, I realized my vocabulary for feelings was inadequate. I took a workshop on Tibetan Yoga, and during one of the sessions, the teacher said that by naming an emotion, we can ease our suffering. Then, I started searching for resources that could help me learn more about my feelings. In the system of Yoga, there are ethical guidelines to help us in our relationships with ourselves, others, and the Divine. If you read my last post this will be a review but, the yamas help us relate to the world, including non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, non-excess, and non-possessiveness. The niyamas are practices that help us learn about ourselves and connect with the Divine, which includes purity, contentment, self-discipline, and surrender.
Let’s discuss self-discipline and how learning about emotions can help. When emotions bubble up to the surface of our hearts and minds, it’s easy to confuse anger with frustration or restlessness with dissatisfaction. When we journal about how we’re feeling, we learn more about ourselves and the source of the emotion. For example, if I am stressed about my work on the farm, I could get frustrated with my Labrador Retriever puppy for disrupting my schedule. If I stop and realize I’m overwhelmed with the task on the to-do list, I can have more empathy and kindness towards my dogs. So, part of my Yoga practice includes checking in with my emotions regularly. At least 4 times during the day, I spend a few moments asking myself how I am feeling and why. Those check-ins always help me to know myself better and develop self-discipline. The more I know myself, the more I can connect with the Divine presence and develop healthy relationships with others. In one of his podcast episodes, Dr. Andrew Huberman mentions an app developed at Yale University called How We Feel. The app can help you learn more about your feelings. It's a digital journal of how you're feeling, who you're with, and what you're doing at the time. I use the app and find it's an easy way to keep track of my emotions. You can download it from the link below and let me know your thoughts. https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/the-how-we-feel-app-helping-emotions-work-for-us-not-against-us/
0 Comments
Are you working on transformation? I feel like I am. Each morning, during my meditation, I consider my actions and thoughts. My focus is on becoming kinder and more loving to myself and those around me. Transformation can be spontaneous or happen over a longer period. Most of my transformation has happened during difficult times and through my consistent Yoga practice. Have you ever heard of a mantra? A mantra is a slogan or statement that you can use to remind you of what’s important to you or maybe what you want to achieve. When I went through my year in review of my life choices, I realized my mantra was, “I make Shit happen”. I say it with a chuckle because that can be a good or bad thing. The basic premise is that when I get an idea of something I want to achieve, I do what needs to be done to accomplish the goal. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid. What helps me to make shit happen is that I’m not a perfectionist. Accomplishment doesn’t mean perfection to me. Because of that mindset, I do not let setbacks stop me. But if a goal isn’t aligned with who we are or what we believe, it can lead to a dead end. I have reached several “end-of-the-journey” moments in my life.
Ancient Yoga gives us guidelines for a path to what we want, ending suffering and experiencing love and joy. The yamas and niyamas are the yoga guidelines for thoughts and actions. The yamas include non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, self-restraint, and non-grasping (Yoga International, 2025). The niyamas include cleanliness, contentment, accepting intensity as purification, self-study, and surrender to a higher power (Yoga International, 2025). The topic of the yamas and niyamas takes more in-depth discussion, but briefly, you can see that Yoga could align with most religious ideals. We can use the guidelines to examine our goals and decide if what we think we want is what we want. The guidelines also promote compassion, something we could all have more of today. While our world is in turmoil, we can be at peace with more compassion for ourselves and others. Let us start with non-violence. I like to think of the basics, so let’s use self-talk as the topic. Self-talk is that continuous inner discussion we have silently. If you think of a picture of a person with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other shoulder whispering in each ear, that could describe self-talk. Or maybe self-talk happens when you look in the mirror, make a mistake, or at the beginning of a project. If we apply the yama of non-violence, we must turn negative talk into positive. I like Mel Robbins’ Five technique to start the day off right. Every morning, when you first look at yourself in the mirror, notice that you are your greatest fan and give yourself a high five. This action helps to rewire your brain and promote self-love. Mel has a podcast episode on her discovery. Listen to it and let me know what you think! It’s the journey and destination you need to know when seeking Spiritual Wealth. Because our world is diverse and the divine shows up differently, we should contemplate our path to spiritual wealth. The starting point could be found with a few simple questions.
1. Do I believe in an afterlife? Yes
i. Air ii. Earth iii. Water iv. Fire v. Aether If this inquiry is intriguing, you can learn more in my course on Spiritual Wealth. You’ll continue through the questions to discover your beliefs and why. You may connect with certain aspects of the religion you were raised in and have questions about other aspects. By searching for what you believe in and would like to learn about, you begin your journey in the right direction. “Stop doing Yoga, follow Jesus.” That was the message I received from a man on Facebook. I chuckled at first but then realized that most people have no clue what Yoga is. Because some religions have embraced Yoga, others think it’s a religious practice. But Yoga is a system of breath practice, meditation, guidelines for behaviors and thoughts, and, in some cases, movements that improve our physical condition. Yoga is a way of connecting us to our thoughts, actions, beliefs, and physical health. But can you achieve similar benefits from other systems of well-being? I think the answer is yes. If you follow a system of practices that brings you closer to who you are and more connected to the world around you, Kudos! Keep up the good work. But if you feel disconnected from the world around you, stressed out, unsure of what your beliefs have to do with your health, and uncertain about what to do next, Yoga can help you.
A simple place to start is your breath. I’ve put several links below where you can learn easy breath practices that can be an excellent addition to daily life. If movement is where you want to begin, I suggest Genius Breaks. When I wanted to teach Yoga to my colleagues and students, I knew I needed to get my Yoga Teacher Certificate. As I was learning how to teach Yoga, I realized I needed an easy way to reach people without the barriers of beliefs. Because many people think Yoga is a religion, they say, “I can’t do it,” and I needed a way of changing that can’t into can. Then, I discovered the book Genius Breaks by Dr. Suzie Carmack, a high school classmate of mine. I connected with her through a Facebook post and found that she wrote the book I had searched for. In Genius Breaks, Dr. Carmack makes learning Yoga easy, safe, and effective. Let’s learn what a Genius Break is and how to create one that works for you. Check out Dr. Suzie Carmack’s YouTube Series on Genius Breaks Genius Breaks: Taking Care of You During Your Workday What’s a genius break 1. Created by Dr. Suzie Carmack, a genius break is a 2–10-minute break in your day when you consider your mind, body, and heart while moving your joints through the proper range of motion. Why should I do them? 1. Waiting until we have the time to connect with our mind, body, breath, and heart usually means we don’t 2. Sometimes, we plan to take care of everything and everyone else but ourselves 3. Scientifically, movement and breath are medicine The 2/4/6/8/10 Method with Chakras (energy centers) 1. The knee and elbow Joints move in 2 directions (feet & legs: 1st chakra- respect) 2. The spine moves in 4 directions (back & abs: 3rd chakra- commitment) 3. The hips move in 6 directions (hips: 2nd chakra- gratitude) 4. The shoulders move in 8 directions (upper back & heart: 4th chakra-courage) More Chakras • Mouth, ears, arms: 5th chakra- kindness) • Forehead: 6th chakra- insight) • Crown/top of head: 7th chakra- community • Archetypes/aura: 8th chakra- consciousness) Move all 10 fingers and toes and do 10 minutes of Genius Breaks daily! Designing a Genius Break with ABCE Step 1. Assess the time you have now (2-10 minutes), set your intention, and assess how your body feels. Step 2. Breath and Bones (move with the 2/4/6/8/10 method) Step 3. Centering communication (Self-Talk Themes) Step 4. Experience (engage, embrace, embody, and evaluate) This post is a portion of an interview I did in 2019 with Kari Koch, a colleague from public education. Kari recently earned a Ph.D. in Earth and Space Science at Johns Hopkins University. She currently teaches ISI at Esperanza Middle School and owns two businesses, Windward Music Lessons of Southern Maryland and The Gothic Pirate on Etsy.
Dr. Lisa: So, when did you start doing yoga? Dr. Kari: I started doing yoga probably in my mid-20s. I just started experimenting with it during my first teaching job. I’ve been doing Yoga since then through online versions or if I can take it at parks and recs. Dr. Lisa: Were there any barriers to you continuing to do yoga? Dr. Kari: Sometimes, the availability wasn’t as great because I started in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a big city center. But I taught at a school south of Milwaukee, which was more rural, so availability wasn’t as great. However, the online availability was good, so I started taking online courses. Dr. Lisa: What was your first experience bringing yoga into your classroom? Dr. Kari: Well, that was with the Yoga 4 Classrooms Cards, and I learned it from you during the Genius Breaks book study. I was teaching chorus at the time. The class sizes were large, and there were various behavior issues. The first time I added Yoga to my lesson, the kids looked at me like, “Wow, this is weird,” but not too weird because I was already doing some of those elements without knowing it was Yoga. Dr. Lisa: Why did you continue using yoga in the classroom? Dr. Kari: When my students first saw the different color cards and things for the method, they said, “Ooh.” Anything new to a kid is the most exciting thing in the world. Even in middle school, you wouldn’t think so, but they said, “What’s that?” So, I would start with the breathing piece, or if they were wild for some reason, maybe something happened in the hallway, or just something set them off, I would use one of the purple cards to calm them down. At first, I thought, “Okay, well, these are middle school kids, six through eighth grade; they’re going to think this is silly,” But no! I remember there was one that’s about a star that you envision in the sky, they instantly chilled out, and it helped them to calm down. They got used to the different cards for different things, whether breathing, envisioning things, sitting down and stretching, or standing stretches, and it became just like methodology for them. They understood it and knew that it was time for Yoga. I didn’t always start class with it; I used it when needed. It became second nature and familiar to them. Dr. Lisa Clow: That’s awesome! I remember talking to you this past year (2019), and you are now teaching science. You said that one of your students did yoga with me in PE. Do you remember that story? Kari Koch: Some students saw continuity and learning across the curriculum. They said, “I learned this stretch from Ms. Clow.” I said, “I learned this stretch from Ms. Clow.” Then someone said, “So, what I learned in PE, I can use in science.” Dr. Lisa Clow: That’s so cool. Kari Koch: Without knowing the teacher’s terminology “across curricula,” they just said it in their own words. And I said, “Well yeah, that’s the key.” Dr. Lisa Clow: You also told me that the students advocated for themselves, asking, “When will we do our Yoga break?” Kari Koch: Yes, I probably got that five or six times a week. If we were going on to start an extensive lab and after writing a claim, evidence, and reasoning, they were like, “When are we going to do our Yoga? I need the yoga. I need a break on this.” Sometimes, it would be just a quick little break, or sometimes, I knew they needed more, and you can always gauge that. And we would do more stretching because a 90-minute block for our sixth graders is a long time. Dr. Lisa Clow: Would you ever stop doing yoga in the classroom? Kari Koch: That’s a hard no. Students say, “I wish we could do this in all the classrooms. And just have a quick break, whether breathing or a sit-stretch.” My classes go better when I include relationship-building skills and yoga. Dr. Lisa Clow: That’s amazing because we have students of all levels and ages in the class, a mixture of everybody. Kari Koch: Yes. The class that benefited the most from Yoga was my inclusion class, hands down. All my classes loved Yoga. But, in my inclusion classes, where you have a higher incidence of emotional problems or stress or freaking out about that hard lab, Yoga helped them to calm down. One of my teaching aides said that Yoga was the key. Dr. Lisa Clow: Do you feel like you get an added benefit from the Yoga breaks? Kari Koch: Yes, there are personal benefits; if you’re doing yoga all day, even in small increments, at the end of the day, you’re not as exhausted or angry about something that happened. The stress doesn’t build up because, during each class, I can also take a break. I don’t feel like I’m teaching, and it’s hard; I feel like I’m teaching, and it’s enjoyable. So, I’d think, “Wow, what’s happening here?” And that was beyond my Yoga practice, but I felt like there was a huge weight lifted off each day. Dr. Lisa Clow: My idea for writing this book came from my experience with Yoga at school. When I experienced the benefits of yoga, I recognized the suffering of my colleagues and students more. Because I had worked through my suffering through yoga, I knew that Yoga could be helpful to others. Let’s try one of the Yoga 4 Classroom activities Kari mentioned in the interview: Big Bright Star. Listen below https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mccAaABczj0 About a year after publishing my dissertation on Yoga as a Women’s Population Health Intervention, I was getting Achilles Tendon surgery from a chronic injury sustained during westernized Yoga. In July 2019, I attended a yoga class at the local studio. The teacher was a young woman who just started working there. She began the class by having us get into a downward dog pose. I hesitated because I knew I needed to warm up first, but I did the pose anyway. I felt a burning sensation in both Achilles tendons and knew something was wrong. As I lay on the gurney waiting for surgery, I thought about all the alternative methods of healing I had tried up to that point. I was in so much pain and hoped the surgery would bring relief. How could yoga bring healing and pain? My search for answers continued.
I had some experience with Shamanism and wondered if it connected to Ancient Yoga. I took several online workshops with Dana and Shana Robinson through The Foundation for Shamanic Studies. You can listen to my podcast episode Shamanism: A Journey of a Seeker to Discover More with Dana and Shana Robinson. for more information. Shamanic Journeying is a personal experience, and each is different. I learned that while Shamanism and Yoga are different, they help people connect with the Divine to find healing and joy. Through journeying, I found answers to my pain and started healing again. I also learned more about Tara, the first female Buddha. This is where the story crosses over to different modalities of connecting to our spiritual self. Religious theology runs deep, and most believers are loyal to their beliefs. I’ve found God in every church and spiritual place I’ve been. How can that be if there is only one way to know the Divine? As a spiritual being, you must seek your path to connect with God, The Divine, a Higher Power, or the Universe. Your journey to discovering the love and positive light of the spiritual realm is YOUR search. And, if you talk to someone who’s been around for a while, you’ll find out that if you know that you don’t know, you’re on the right track. The search itself may hold the power to heal your pain and find your joy. Why not start now? |
AuthorDr. Lisa Clow Archives
April 2025
Categories
|
RSS Feed