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The Inner Voice
A weekly newsletter from Debbie Jensen-Grubb, RYT500
December 16, 2013 - Issue 60
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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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Peace comes when we become quiet. It tiptoes in  while we allow ourselves to focus on the moment. It is always there around us, even when we frustrated and demanding "I just want some peace!". It never forces its way in.
Perhaps that is why it is sometimes so difficult to attain. We must become still, open, and receptive to it. Peace is one of the keys to enlightenment, so don't give up finding it for yourself. It's in taking the personal responsibility to set time aside for yourself each and every day for just 5 minutes that will begin to help you attain the serenity you want in your life.
Yoga can help you to do this by asking you to sit and center yourself before and after your practice. By focusing on the breath for just a few moments you will find yourself relaxed and calm. You can then connect with your center of peace that is always within you.
Yoga can also help in doing the poses. As the mind and the body are connected you will notice that as the asanas open your body it will lead to opening your mind. A relaxed body = a relaxed mind.
Yoga can help by learning to perceive the breath. Being with the movement of the breath and actually feeling where the breath goes in the body...or where it doesn't go. Wherever your breath moves the body it is relaxed, supple, and soft. Wherever the breath cannot touch the body it is hard, stiff, and numb. By just thinking of a place in your body where there is injury, surgery, stiffness, or neuropathy and sending the breath there, over time it will begin to soften, hurt less, and move more freely. In doing so your body finds peace.
Peace is there for everyone but we must choose it. It is that quiet place within where we come closest to where God touches our heart.
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| Joke of the Week - hee hee | |
Pease, give pease a chance!
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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.
I am calm and peaceful in the midst of turmoil.
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Meditations Four Steps
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 Finding peace through yoga is about coming into stillness, even when doing the poses. Moving form that place of stillness centered within each of us. It is why we don't have mirrors in a yoga studio, they would only draw us outside of ourselves.
It is also why we sit and center ourselves at the beginning of yoga class. Often we rush in from an all ready hectic day to sit on our mat with our minds in a jumble! We need to first release all the tensions we have carried in with us so that we might experience the place we are in and the space we inhabit.
It is when we have achieved peace in our minds and our bodies that we are ready for our practice. Utilizing our breath as a tool to connect the outside universe with the inside one is a most effective way to do this.
Here is an instant meditation that can be done anywhere: Bring awareness to your breath and ask yourself these questions: How does it move my body? Where do I feel it in the body? How long, slow, and deep is my breath? Am I pausing after the inhale? ...the exhale? Am I expanding my ribs in every direction? Once you have become aware of your breath, notice your body. Feel its weight. Let it be heavy on the chair, on the floor. Feel the life force in your hands, feet, hips, and face. Relax and release the tension you are using to hold yourself up. Open your throat. Soften your jaw and eyes. Notice where you are...the pictures on the wall, your computer, your desk, who you are with. Notice the temperature of your skin. Notice the sounds that you are hearing. Notice the quietness between the sounds. Now notice your thoughts. Are they positive or negative? Are they in the present, past, or future? Are they focused on a problem or the solution? If there is no solution yet, focus on the question of how to solve the problem. Then release the question and come back to the present moment. Notice how peace, calm, and centered you are. Tuck that feeling-sensation into your heart and hold onto it so that you can bring it out whenever you need it. As you practice this more often you will begin to acquire the skill to do it instantly. You will find it helps you to be more peaceful and emanates throughout your life.
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Nutrition Prescription - Pear
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 There is a reason the partridge was in the pear tree. It's because it was so good for her! From the outside to the inside pears are beneficial to our health.
The skin of pears vary from yellows to greens to royal reds - yet whatever the color, pears load up lots of sweet taste just for 100 calories for each midsize fruit. The skin of the pear is especially shown to be healthy. Of course the fiber it provides is good for digestion but did you also know that it contains at least three to four times as many phenolic phyto-nutrients as the flesh? These phytonutrients include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory flavonoids, and potentially anti-cancer phytonutrients like cinnamic acids.
Pears are also known as the hypoallergenic fruit, being less likely to create an adverse allergic reaction than other fruits. Therefore, pear juice is recommended as safe enough to be given to babies.
Pears are also an excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin E, both powerful antioxidants and essential nutrients. If you warm pear juice with raw honey it can soothe your vocal cords and clear phlegm. Drinking a big glass of pear juice has been to also bring a fever down.
Pears are actually higher in pectin than apples. This makes them effective in helping to lower cholesterol levels and in toning the intestines.
Diabetics can include this awesome fruit in their diet because of its low glycemic index. The carbohydrates in pears are slow to convert to sugar and enter the bloodstream.
Fresh pears are a good source for Vitamin C. One fresh pear contains 10% of the RDA for Vitamin C which is an essential antioxidant for normal metabolism and tissue repair, and helps prevent free radical damage. Vitamin C promotes healing of cuts and bruises and helps guard against a number of infectious diseases.
Pears contain Arabinogalatan that is extremely helpful in improving your immunity. It boosts the manufacture of small chain essential fatty acids, which plays a role in making the digestive system healthy and balanced. It is a food to friendly bacteria, therefore improving the population of good bacteria, while removing poor quality ones. It improves the action of natural killer cells along with other immune elements to deal with infection. It helps with the common flu and ear infections, and it may be used to combat H1N1, HIV, and liver cancer. Arabinogalatan obstructs the expansion of tumor cells, promotes killer cells and stimulates macrophages (helpful in battling liver cancer). It really is outstanding to inhibit sickness and significant illness. You can eat pears in salads, on sandwiches, as a dessert, or even for breakfast. Of course eating it just plain is the bestest (is that a word?) way to eat your pears.
Known for their soft skins and sweet taste, pears are delicious fall fruits that you can add to your diet. Next time you take a bite into a juicy pear, realize that you're not just satisfying your hunger, you are also taking advantage of the many health benefits of pears, which can improve your overall health.
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Finding Peace
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Life is truly wonderful! There is no denying that we live in a pretty marvelous age. With so many amazing things to do, see, and savor that it is impossible to do them all! We have seen unprecedented change and technological developments that past generations couldn't even conceive of. Yet sometimes we get so stressed out that we lose sight of all the pleasures that surrounds us. We have never felt so busy, frantic, or short-changed than we have in recent years.
Finding peace takes a lot of intentional focus and redirection to retain connection with that part of us that resides within our hearts. Once you have it you don't want to lose it. And I have learned that if I am intentional the peace is there. One way I do this is to shift my thoughts to what I am grateful for. As I ruminate over all of the generosity that life has sent my way, I am humbled. When I look at the broad picture of my life I can see how I was guided. I can see how the hurtful things in one part of my life allowed me to change and grow and become the good things in another part of my life. I can see how I was loved through the process of living by something that is greater than myself. And this brings me peace.
I'm encouraged that more people are actively seeking peace. I love that people are creating a peace from within themselves in this world of chaos, and I believe God will willingly give it if we stay connected, open, and allow goodness to flow through us.
Peace is ultimately a gift you give to yourself. It is can only be found in this day. In this day we can forgive ourselves of the past. In this day we create our future. In this day, in every moment that we are aware of, we can find our peace. It is there just waiting for us, we need only to become still, to stand in wonder and gratitude connected to the peaceful silence within our hearts .
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This is the last newsletter for 2013. It has been quite a year with many challenges. Through it all one lesson that I have learned more than ever this year is how to better maintain my peacefulness. It's not perfect, but I am getting better at it. And it is in finding more peace that I am finding even more peace in my life. Funny how that works.
I wish you much peace in your life. Create memories. Love the ones you are with and send your love to those whom you're not with. Allow yourself to be loved too. In all of this stay close to your heart and the peace that resides within.
Thank you!
Hugs and Namaste,
Debbie
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Please join me in my next workshop...
Yoga Nidra
New Year's Eve
December 31, 2013
1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Come with your Sankalpa for 2014 and let's begin to make your dreams come true!
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