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Three levels of stress according to Sivananda yoga
1. Physical If you are stressed, your muscles shorten. To relax them, they need to be stretched in asana for at least a minute: the length it takes for the muscle to relax. The sympathetic nervous system causes tension; the parasympathetic system relaxes. Any...
Sivananda Tips on Positive Thinking
How we think affects our body. Thoughts are vibrations, and the mind is housed in subtle or energy body. Energy from the subtle body can affect the physical body, pervading and damaging the cells, if negative. So, we must be aware that the emotions we feel, for...
Mantra & stress reduction
Our minds are unstable because they are affected by emotion. In daily life we vacillate between like and dislike, moving from one extreme to another.Sound has a strong power to control the mind. As a vibration, it goes directly to our nervous system. Sound also...
Peak Practice: Sivananda Yoga at Mittersill
Mountains & spiritual practice In the taxi to Mittersill, where I was going on a week's yoga retreat, my fellow passenger, an elderly Austrian woman, related the weather lore of the Ice Saints. She said not until the day of the last Ice Saint, Cold Sophia on May...
Chateau Spirituel: Sivananda Ashram Orleans
I returned to Sivananda Chateau at Orleans in winter for a two-week break. It’s the second time I’ve been there since I did the Teacher Training Cert in 2008. Sivananda ashrams are a refuge for me. Whichever one you go to, you know what you are going to get – the...
Yoga Lesson Plans: Sivananda anti-anxiety
Sivananda anti-anxiety lesson plan