Everyday it seems we are reading about some news or study presenting evidence that our mind is connected to our health. Our thoughts effect how we feel, and how healthy we are. Do you dwell on negative thoughts or do have a positive outlook?
Just like electricity, our thoughts have a positive (+) and negative (-) energy. Both effect our health and the people around us. Changing how you think may seem like an impossible task, but all it requires is some dedication. A regular routine of meditation can in fact, grow new neural pathways in the brain, and even change our DNA.
Uncluttering the mind is essential for realizing stress and good health.
The Stram Center offers free guided meditation every Wednesday evening at 7:30 PM.
Drop in, maybe you will begin to change your Mind.

Allow Change

Ever try to capture a moment and put it in a bottle, or try to stop the seasons from changing? It just can’t be done. The simple truth is that everything of this world is subject to change. Change is the only constant. You are subject to change. Your body changes, your circumstances change. You are quite literally not the same person you were a year ago, physically, emotionally or in your life circumstances. With all this change we have the choice of moving with the flow of change or resisting it.

Letting attachment go

To allow change requires letting go. Letting go of our attachments of wanting things to stay the same. Letting go of our mental constructs of how we believe things should be. Our homes, automobiles, lifestyles, even our loved ones. We want them to stay the same. We create memories, positive impressions of events in space and time. We personalize them and identify ourselves with these past impressions. We come to believe that these past impressions are somehow better than whatever is happening now.

Learn to Trust

Change can be scary and the uncertainty of unknown outcomes in our life can be frightening. Now imagine letting go of the fear of the unknown. Letting the change flow, letting life become a joyous celebration of change. No fear, no attachment to a past that is gone forever. Honor the moment, the memory of it, by letting it go. Think of how much energy it takes to hold up all these attachments, beliefs. Imagine having all that energy at your disposal. Imagine letting things be as they are and letting the change just flow. Imagine then becoming the change that moves through your life. Consider your relationships, do you put those closest to you in a holding pattern, not wanting them to change? Imagine all the energy you would have to place somewhere creative, somewhere loving. Imagine how would it change your life, change the world, by becoming the change.

Maybe all it really takes is letting go.

The holiday season has become synonymous with abundance, starting with the festive meal of Thanksgiving, the many gifts of Christmas, and the lavish celebration of New Year Eve. All of these are certainly forms of abundance. But, without the abundance that resides within, all material forms that we manifest in our lives are meaningless.
During these festive seasons, take a moment to look within and ask yourself; what does abundance mean to me? Is it in the form of family, relationships, in the form of love, or does it simply reside in how much we possess? Material abundance can mask a deeper feeling of scarcity, that without material wealth we are venerable and weak. We need to gather things around us to make us feel complete, to show others we are as good, or better. Once we have gathered what we want, we need to protect it, keep it safe. We buy into the belief of ownership and become attached.

Abundance is a form of energy and like all energy must move or it will create sickness in mind or body. When we become attached, we try to ignore it, or deny that this law applies. One way to keep abundance in your life and allow it to move at the same time is the act of charity, to give. Give some of that abundance you’ve stored up away and create room for more. The more you are attached to it, the more energy you will move, the bigger the space you create for more in your life. As children we concern ourselves with what we will get. As adults we grow into the realization, it’s really about what we give. That is the spirit of the season, the lesson of Karma, and the law of abundance.

Have a happy and  healthy  holiday season!

The seasons are shifting and more change is on the horizon. To resist change is to invite suffering, to surrender to change is to open ourselves to endless possibility.
Change comes from within and the ground has been worked, and the seeds are always being harvested in the now. Our yoga mats are out and the meditation is moving into deep silence. The forward motion of our internal change continues, just as the summer becomes the fall.
   See you on the mat.
             Jai,
   Jim Whiting

While vigorous yoga is great for stretching the muscles, it doesn’t do much for engaging the parasympathetic nervous system. Holding postures longer, slow focused breaths, breathing into stretches and making breathing as important apart of your yoga practice as the movement, will ensure you activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

All of the Kripalu yoga classes offered here at the Stram Center for Integrative Medicine focus on breathing and breathing techniques to engage the parasympathetic nervous system and bring us into a deeper place of healing.

So, the next time you leave a yoga class feeling so much better, thank your parasympathetic nervous system.

Namaste.