Spring Ayurveda

Within the art of Ayurveda, there will never be one remedy or one sequence that brings everyone or their dosha back into alignment. The response to every inquiry about your health should be “It depends,” as my teacher, Dr. Robert Svoboda, was so fond of saying. The mantra of “It depends” teaches you to see the interconnectedness between you and your lifestyle, how changing one facet of your routine will affect another. It’s a friendly reminder that humans in general are complex, and it’s wise to look at or diagnose the body/mind/soul from many angles.

To start early spring cleaning, consider adding the following pranayama practices from Art of Sequencing – Volume Two, to your daily routine:

· Kapala bhati—also known as “skull shining”—to reduce weight gain, bring heat to the chest, and to promote strong agni and mental alertness. (Do not do this if you are menstruating. Menstruation is considered a natural cleanse for women.)

· Agni sara, to prevent stagnation in the organs and promote blood circulation. From a standing position, separate your feet hip-distance apart, and bend your knees while resting your hands on the lower part of your thighs. Exhale completely to create Mula bandha (root lock) and Uddiyana bandha (upward flying, diaphragmic lift). After your exhale, quickly pull your pelvic floor muscles inward and upward towards your diaphragm until you feel your deep core muscles. Keep holding your breath while your diaphragm, abdominal organs, and pelvic floor pulse quickly back and forth away from your spine. Relax all of your muscles before you take your next breath.

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Kriya Yoga in Action

Incorporating Kriya Yoga into your New Year’s resolutions, seasonal practices, or lifestyle goals:

1. Tapas: Decide what you want to change. Set an intention, one that will create a positive change in your life. Create a plan for action.

2. Svadhyaya: Discover who you are moment-by-moment, in the midst of change. How do you respond to change, cravings, old patterns?

3. Isvara-pranidhana: Let go of your attachments and expectations, be present to “what is”. Seek the place where your heart-mind is at peace, in that place you will find your inner teacher.

Kriya Yoga Practice in Action
Example: New Year’s Resolutions
Each new calendar year inspires new possibilities. It’s never too late to improve your health.
1. One habit I wish to break is______________________________________________________.
2. I notice I respond this way when I crave the object I am eliminating_________________________________________________________________________.
3. When I leave room to let go of my old habits, I can see the new opportunities and experiences such as___________________________________________________________.

Example: Seasonal Experiments
Try making seasonal adjustments to align with nature and the five elements.
1. During the winter season, I am going eliminate__________________________________.
2. I feel or notice more/less________________________________________without__________________________.
3. Now that I know how_____________________affects my body, I will/will not include this back into life once the season is over.

Example: 2-Week Habit Check
Is the habit driving me? Or am I driving the habit?
1. I am letting go of________________________________for 2-weeks.
2. I crave? My energy level is more/less stable? I am more/less emotional without__________________________________ in my life?
3. On the 15th day when I tried__________________________ I felt better/worse? Now that I know____________________helps me maintain my health, I will keep doing it! Now that I know___________________made me feel less healthy, I may keep going with the experiment!

Art of Sequencing - Volume Two Seasonal Vinyasa

"At some point, one reaches a personal tipping point and begins making new resolutions, maybe just once a year, to break out of the old habits and try to reclaim their personal power. If your pattern is to make annual New Year’s resolutions (and then promptly forget about them), I suggest you try a year of seasonal resolutions—biweekly or bimonthly experiments that will give you a reasonable window of time to witness the subtle and gross effects of your labor, as well as more than one chance every 365 days to initiate change."

To read more about making seasonal changes, pre-order your copy of my upcoming book, Art of Sequencing - Volume Two Seasonal Vinyasa, today and receive free shipping!
www.melinameza.com

Summer Yin Practice with Melina Meza

Dropping into the restorative aspect of a yoga practice during the summertime is one way to encourage you to let go of “trying” to do the pose a certain way, and simply let yourself be guided intuitively into the right shape or position, in order to relax and breathe.

In the summer, which is a Yang time of year from the Taoist perspective, we fill up on solar energy and recharge our internal batteries, while giving a little extra care to specific organs that may be working overtime. In the summer, we guide attention to the heart, small intestines, stomach, and spleen, which work together in many ways to promote efficient blood circulation, temperature regulation, digestion, and hormone secretion; they also function symbiotically to absorb nutrients through what we bring into our body through food and the senses.

Find a comfortable place to rest on your back before drawing your knees close to your belly. Take a few moments to close your eyes, relax and unwind, before starting the summer yin/restorative practice.

This sequence I am suggesting is yin, in that it promote easy, slow, quiet, movement that allows you to visualize and feel where your qi/prana or attention are at all times. With practice, your mind and breath together to move qi/prana into specific places deep in your body such as the ligaments, connective issue, or organs.

With the extra heat and longer days, it is easy to dry up, get angry, irritated, or exhausted, if work and play are not in balance. So, why not take time to complement what’s going on outside in nature by partaking in relaxed, slow, cooling movement and maintaining a playful attitude. Consider closing your eyes during the practice to avoid being competitive with others or yourself, and instead move from your intuition; allow yourself to listen from within, to grow and mature during this season of abundance.

Asana Sequence
•Savasana with a bolster under your spine: pause and relax after each exhale
•Supine twist with bent knees
•Balasana (Child’s pose) with forehead resting on hands
•“Reaching under the bed” pose
•Mandukasana (wide knee child’s pose with chest on the floor or bolster)
•Sphinx
•Virasana
•Ardha Matsyendrasana (mellow version)
•Sukhasana (meditation seat)

You can download this practice or Summer Seasonal Vinyasa Flow at My Yoga Online!

Top 10 Winter Vinyasa Tips

Top 10 Winter Vinyasa Tips
1. Adjust your day-to-day choices to align with what is occurring outside in nature.
2. Figure out your dosha to increase your awareness of physical and mental strengths/challenges during this season.
3. Daily ritual begins with getting up early and looking in the mirror to monitor your health.
4. Adjust daily routine based on how your skin, tongue, and eyes appear in the morning!
5. Eat your big meal in the middle of day (healthy high fat and oily foods).
6. Take a hot bath or shower to unwind and decrease stress vs. drinking wine or eating sugar.
7. Keep strong "jatharagni" by eating only when you are hungry.
8. Keep stong "pranagni" by doing yoga asanas and deep breathing.
9. Keep strong "managni" by meditating and spending time in nature away from artificial stimulation.
10. Awaken your "hridaya", spiritual heart with fire ceremonies and chanting or singing.

Namaste,
Melina Meza

Seasonal Vinyasa - Winter and New Year

Happy Holidays!
If your life got thrown off balance during the holidays with social events, late nights, extreme weather conditions, or work commitments, its best to jump back into your normal routine as quickly as possible, before the new year! I'll be teaching my regular Monday-Wednesday schedule in Seattle, I hope to see you in class.

To help promote cleansing post-new year, here are a few ideas to get started:

1. Eat Kichadi (mung bean and rice dish) for a one to three days to give your digestive track a rest and strengthen your inner "agni" or digestive potential.

2. Take Triphala for six weeks, twice a day. Triphala is designed to promote your body's natural cleansing process. It's made up of three Indian herbal fruits: harada, amla, and behada.

3. Register for one of my winter sequencing classes at 8 Limbs Yoga Centers 206-325-8221 (January 23) or Twist Vinyasa in Edmonds 425-778-YOGA (January 24)

For more asana inspiration check out my Art of Sequencing book or Yoga for the Seasons DVD:
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