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The Inner Voice
A weekly newsletter from Debbie Jensen-Grubb, RYT500
March 25, 2013 - Issue 29
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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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To access past issues click here:
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****Announcement****
Beginning in April
(due to popular demand ~ yea and thank you!)
I will be adding a new class to my schedule: Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m.
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| Greetings! |
 Did you miss me? I didn't post a newsletter last week because I was in Mississippi to meet my new granddaughter, Mia, who is one month old. She is, of course, perfect!
To me family is the most important thing in the world. They help define you, share your history, and teach you many lessons to help you become the person you need to be to fulfill your life's purpose.
Yoga philosophy believes that you choose your family before you come into the world. When I first heard this I had to mull the concept over in my mind for awhile. I chose my parents? As many do, I came from a dysfunctional family and it was hard to believe that I would choose this for myself.
Yet I soon realized that if I had not had those experiences, I would not be who I am today. I became grateful for my family, which erased a lot of hurt that I still held in my heart.
I also felt honored to have been chosen by my amazing children because I held the qualities that they needed to guide them to be who they are today.
As you mull over this concept, does it change your perspective of family? Does it revise the way you perceive your life's circumstances? Perhaps put it in a more favorable viewpoint (that is if you had a negative one)? Perchance heal heartache too? I certainly hope so, for all the world will benefit from it. |
| Rib-Tickler of the Week - hee hee | |
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Strengthening Outer Hip Muscles
|  The outer hip muscles include the gluteus medius, tensor fasciae latae, and the IT band, with the external rotators in close proximity and therefore also being worked and strengthened during these poses.
The reason it is so important to strengthen these muscles is because the help to keep the hips lifted up and outward so that the two sides of hips don't collapse inwards compressing the SI (sacral-iliac) joint and lumbar discs. These muscles will also help in the alignment of the legs, knees, and feet too.
As you give these poses a try, do so with mindfulness and go slowly. As soon as you start to feel tension or a burn in the muscles, stop and go on to the next pose. Over working the muscle will not help to strengthen it, instead it will fatigue it and other muscles will have to pitch in and compensate for the tired muscle(s).
Watch the video through once and then try the poses along with me, pausing the video when you want to work more thoroughly in a particular pose, then proceeding when you are ready to continue.
Enjoy this sequence of outer hip strengthening poses, they will help bring balance, ease, and grace to your movements and support to your back and hips.
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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 (from Louise Hay's 'Heal Your Body'). Just repeat it whenever you need a lift.
Others mirror the love and self-approval
I have for myself.
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Nutrition Prescription - Potatoes
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 One of the comfort foods that I associate with family gatherings is mashed potatoes with gravy. The potato is one of the foods that is invited to a majority of the meals served by many families. It's versatility is remarkable and can take many forms from french fries to au gratin potatoes to potato chips. Potatoes are filling, low in calories, and are nutrient-dense (meaning you get more nutrition-to-calorie ratio). It contains just about every vitamin and mineral. It is fibrous so it helps in slowing down digestion. It's good for just about every part of your body! I even found a suggestion to help with wrinkles and age spots by using crushed raw potatoes mixed with honey and applied as a poultice. It's worth a try! Additionally, the juice of the potato is beneficial to use on burns, sprains, and bruises. Cautions to heed: green potatoes and it's leaves and fruits are poisonous due to the arsenic, solanine, and chaconine found in them. They are also high in sugar limiting the amount to eat for diabetics and those wanting to lose weight. Since the potato is one of the foods that is most highly sprayed with pesticides it is essential that you purchase organic potatoes. The potato is included in the category of being one of the foods that can be regrown from kitchen scraps. It's easy to start growing potatoes in your garden, every 'eye' on the potato can be sown to start a new plant. When the plant turns yellow and wilts, the potatoes in the ground are ready for harvesting. Easy, peasy! Ultimately it's not the potato itself that is bad to eat but all of the stuff we put on them that add the calories to our meals. Keeping to baked potatoes, not fried, and staying away from the fat-soaked, salty french fries and potato chips is best. Just keep it simple with a little organic butter from pasture-fed cows, Himalayan salt, and pepper keeps our spuds tasty and healthy for everyone to eat. The World's Healthiest FoodsPotato Facts: click on the question to see the answers
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Ponderings - Family
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 This picture says it all. There is nothing that defines what a family really is because each person has their own definition of it, though each happy family carries in them the primary ingredients of respect, trust, encouragement, and love. No matter how eccentric a family is though, in the end it is in their differences and conflicts, in their endless multiplicities and inherent imperfection that all families have a strange and mysterious dynamic that prepares and supports us through all of life and allows us to be indubitably our own authentic selves. With such backing it makes going out into a world so diverse and wonderful a much easier undertaking to do. From that base camp we can bring the very best of who we are into the world.
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All families are different, and all families have their own issues. It is a matter of the heart. A connection that we will always have in spirit, even if there is no other. In some way, where we begin makes us who we evolve to become to the very end. Family is important. To begin seeing the beauty in the lessons they have taught us, opens our eyes, hearts, and lives in ways that we could never have imagined.
Thank you and Namaste,
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The two workshops for April are:
Yoga Nidra
Sunday, April 7th
1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
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Healthy Joints Workshop:Shoulders
Saturday, April 13th
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
You can register at 410-720-4340 or online at www.columbiayoga.com
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