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The Inner Voice
A weekly newsletter from Debbie Jensen-Grubb, RYT500
September 17, 2012 - Issue 6
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New Item! Free!!
The Daily Yoga Poses Poster |  FREE!!! For all who receive this newsletter my first ever poster to download and print out! Thank you for joining The Inner Voice newsletter! (You need to open it in another window and print it from there.) |
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Quick Links
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This weeks reading can be seen here at The Daily OM:
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| Greetings! |  Aaahhhh! Fall! There is something refreshing and invigorating about the crisp fall air! The longer shadows and low sunlight foretells the coming of winter; a time to relax, turn within, and slow down for awhile. This time is busy with preparation of last minute outside activities before we must close our doors to keep the warmth inside. It's a beautiful season full of rich colors (including my favorite - orange!) Get outside to savor this season: take a walk, do a yoga pose in the park, or attend a fall festival! Make your mind up to take advantage of being alive and to enjoying every moment of it! |
| Kinetic Chain of the Leg in Standing Poses | |
This is a review for many of you from class last week. I believe it is such an important point to understand that I wish to review it with you again this week. Standing poses are the mainstay of yoga. They strengthen legs, open hips, and improve balance, among a myriad of other blessings that they can bring. The points that I make here are how the kinetic chain from the foot to the hip works in standing poses and how we can keep these joints safe when doing them.
Primarily we have to remember that our society and lifestyle leads us to tight hips and that yoga poses were composed by yogins that lived in different times, squatted, roamed the countryside, ate a limited diet, and lived a more devotional life than many of us.
Therefore, we need to move through our poses to respect ourselves and our limitations that we currently are improving so that we can enjoy our yoga.
Please click on the picture above to enjoy the video.
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| Mantra | |
A mantra is a sound or phrase that aids in the concentration of meditation. It is a Sanskrit term and literally means 'instrument of thought'. Here you will find a suggested mantra to use during the week. Just repeat it whenever you need a lift.
It is safe for me to create all the love I want! |
| Rib-Tickler of the Week - hee hee | |
Q: What invention made it possible for humans to walk through walls?
(see answer at end of newsletter)
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| Nutrition Prescription - Magnesium |  Magnesium is crucial to good health. It is found in the living tissues of the body, not in the blood stream, so it is hard for a blood test to show if you are deficient in this essential mineral. It has been estimated that 75 - 90% of Americans are deficient in magnesium.
One of the reasons we don't get enough magnesium is because of how depleted the soil that we grow our food in is of all minerals. Agriculture has become highly mechanized and dominated by corporations, with profit becoming more important than nurturing the land. This means that, even though you might be eating the 'right' foods they may not be as nutritious as you think. Purchase your food from local farmer's markets and natural health food stores, grow your own vegetable garden, or purchase directly from the farmer who grows organically to get healthier food.
We are incredibly lucky to have so many of these available to us in this area. Check out David's Natural Food Market in Long Reach, My Organic Market (MOMs) in Jessup, and Roots in Riverhill. Two local farms are Clark's Farm near Centennial on Rt. 108 ( Clark's Elioak Farm) that offers free-range chicken, pork, lamb, and beef and Breezy Willow on Rt. 32 just off of Rt. 70 ( Breezy Willow Farm) that is also a CSA - Community Supported Agriculture. If you know of others please share them with me, I would love to know about them.
Eating magnesium-rich foods is the best way to load yourself up on such an important mineral. Nuts, especially Brazil nut and almonds, green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale, seeds such as quinoa and pumpkin (it's in season!) and blue green algae aka seaweed (put some kombu in your bean soups this winter to help reduce it's gaseous effects).
The benefits of having enough magnesium are that it gives us strong bones, prevents cramping, provides more beautiful skin, aids in keeping our hearts healthy, enables the nerves to send messages to the brain, relieves migraines, cures constipation, and relaxes our muscles so that we can sleep better. The list goes on and on because it co-works with other minerals regulating more functions that any other mineral. More on Magnesium
That is why I don't recommend single supplements for the most part. You cannot isolate nutrients from each other, therefore most single supplements are synthetic. Your body doesn't recognize them and passes them right through or, worse, sticks them some place in your body where they have no right to be and causes mischief to your health. Your doctor would never suspect that your supplement is the cause of your problem.
Begin to avail yourself to all the wonderful farmsteads and markets that offer their nutrient- dense, organic food to the public for sale, eat a varied diet of fresh food everyday and you will begin to heal your body as it finally gets all of the sustenance it needs to work well. |
| Ponderings - Unconditional Love |
Many years ago a friend lent me a CD of Greg Tamblyn's: Listen to some of his songs here. On that CD was a song that would change the way I looked at life forever. The song is called Unconditional Love.
It is a story about Evy McDonald who had ALS, or Lou Gerhig's Disease (which is incurable), and how she healed herself from it. Check out this link to read the whole story and, especially the seven points she mentions towards the end that enabled her to heal herself: Evy's Point of View.
It was because she thought she was near the end of her life that she decided to take the time to find out what life was really all about. It was through that process that she realized that she didn't really love herself. When she began the journey of loving herself, forgiving herself, and allowing herself to be just who she was that she began to heal. She is one of the only people to survive the diagnosis of ALS, primarily because of this journey.
What really embedded itself in my brain is the lyrics that Greg Tamblyn wrote about Evy (go to the bottom of this blog to read the lyrics: Unconditional Love Lyrics). To hear part of the song go to iTunes: listen to Unconditional Love. It's the chorus that really sticks in my mind:
'She said it's something called unconditional love,
Supposed to be really wonderful stuff,
And if you can get enough, you can find peace,
So in the time that I've got left,
I've got to find some for myself,
I believe unconditional love is what I need.'
The story and song were so inspirational and struck such a chord within me that I sat and cried. It went straight to my heart and I knew that I needed to start giving myself unconditional love too.
Yoga helped me immensely with the process. The more I stretched / the more I released / the calmer I became / the more accepting I was / the more I found peace / the more I loved myself and others. It was a slow process with many setbacks but slowly and surely I began to change. You can too.
Try this: Your spiritual heart center lies in your chest. Sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed, turn your eyes down towards the heart. Let your awareness drop into your heart-space and breathe gently into it. Rest easily there. As you do this ask your heart to speak to you ~ stay here for awhile and notice your thoughts. Notice if they are positive or negative about yourself, life, or others. Begin to send love to these thoughts and their subjects. Continue this for as long as you like.
It takes practice, commitment, devotion to yourself. I call these L'Oreal moments because you are SO worth it. If you want your life to change it must come from within you. Begin to truly love yourself...unconditionally.
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Even the word Namaste connects us with the spiritual center within ourselves and with others. 'Nama' = bow, 'as' = I, 'te' = you, I bow to you. When doing this we bring our hands together in Anjali Mudra (prayer position) in front of the heart chakra, close our eyes, and bow our head towards our heart. In this way we honor the divinity of ourselves and of the other(s). This is why we end the class in this way, thereby acknowledging that we are all one when we live from the heart.
Namaste, |
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The next TWO workshops are:
Healthy Joints Workshop:
Feet and Knees
Saturday, October 13th
10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
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Yoga Nidra
Sunday, October 14th
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
You can register at 410-720-4340 or online at www.columbiayoga.com
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| Answer to the Rib Tickler | |
A: The door.
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