MarilynYoga Newsletter No.3 March 2008
Hi and welcome to the third newsletter from marilynyoga.com.
Thank you for subscribing and I hope you really enjoy it.
If you have subscribed only recently (after the January issue was sent out) you will
not have received our first and second issues, we are working on being able to send out
the most recent when someone first registers. At the moment we can't quite do that but
you may read November '07 by clicking here, and January '08 by clicking here.
I am hoping the 'techies' can fix it in the next few months.

Meanwhile, read on and enjoy this one...

In this month's Newsletter:
Stepping Forward into Spring – Brighter feelings all round.
Top Drawer Tools – Every-day Yoga for every-day things.
Surya Namaskara – Very little to do with eye make-up!
Getting in the Mudra – Magical hand gestures.
More than just another Yoga Book – Nancy Gerstein’s Yoga Light Shines Bright.
The Pudding is only Part of It – Yoga cooking...all sweetness and light?
Sun, Drums and Pairs – Two workshops to add extra fun to your Yoga.
Sounding out Meditation – One-off meditation class with a difference.

Step into Spring
Daffodils, putting the clocks forward, lighter nights, sunshine... Wow.! It’s all happening and I feel quite giddy with it. All the resting, hibernating, and grounding we have done through the winter, is now starting to move, to grow, to manifest. Our unconscious energy is emerging from deep down to find regeneration. Our unconscious and conscious merge to bring about growth, fertility and change.
For anything to change, or to grow, we have to know what it is we want.
What do you want more of in your life? What do you want from your yoga practise?
Ponder this for a moment, maybe even write it down. Are they the same? So many of us, me included, came to yoga for the physical aspect. To keep us strong and flexible. Little did we know what else there was to discover. The physical side, while important, is not the only part of yoga. As well as keeping us fit and healthy, addressing our on going health issues and giving them some real attention [digestive problems, weak backs, arthritis.. it goes on]. The practise of yoga and meditation can help to relieve all sorts of other problems too. Anxiety, lowering blood pressure, lifting self esteem, boosting our confidence and increasing our compassion are just some of the ways in which yoga works to help.
How does it do this? Because yoga is multi layered, it works on the body/mind connection, stretching your body out of it’s familiar patterns to reach new and better states. Your body and your mind are the same thing.
We use the postures and the breathing exercises of yoga to open up restricted, cramped and tight areas in our bodies and our psyche. We want to undo the knots we have put in and gently start to uncurl, undo and let go of tension. It is by undoing, as opposed to doing, that we start to become our real self, free from restrictions and limitations. How good does that feel? As we begin to let go of tension in our body, our mind also begins to become calm and less busy. Then negative feelings such as anxiety, low self esteem, fear, anger, and frustration all will start to melt away. We begin to open up to other feelings, such as love, compassion and acceptance.
Yoga is a healing process. We don’t actually need, or maybe even want to get the poses picture perfect. We aren’t all built for that anyway. The practise of yoga, on and off your mat, is about acceptance of who you are and what you are, being quiet enough to listen and hear your own intuition, your own voice.
Wise Words from Nancy Gerstein’s book:
“Be kind and loving to yourself by accepting yourself just as you are”
Why do we not always do this? We accept other people as they are, so why not ourselves? Do you remember the line from Bridgit Jones’ Diary. He said to her “I love you just the way you are”... not a dry eye in the house.
There are all sorts of remedies in a yoga practise, for all sorts of troubles that go on with us. Think of yoga as your tool box. One of those big ones with parts that swing out to reveal the underneath layers and drawers. There are things in there that you keep always towards the top for easy access, and things that you don’t use very much, but would not like to be without. There are small, but powerful tools, and there are intricate and involved tools. There are tools that have been used once and not liked, but put away “for another time”. Build your tool box over time. Use it regularly and cherish it. You never know when one of them will come in handy.
It may be just what you needed.

The Yoga Toolbox
As I mentioned above there some elements of Yoga that can very quickly become a part of our everyday life, all we need to do is be aware, to allow ourselves to practise them and to keep them in the top drawer.
Breathing out to relieve stress and lower blood pressure... candle breathing.
Standing tall and firm in Tadasana, letting your shoulders simply move back and down and feel your breathing and your heart open.
Relaxation... learning to let go of tension all the time, release your jaw, particularly where your jaw meets your skull in front of your ears. Do it now. Feel yourself let go there... around your mouth, loosen your tongue from your top palate. drop your shoulders.
Take time for yourself.
Other things you learn along the way and put them in other drawers, for when you need them.
When your digestive system is upset, cleansing and de-toxing practices, breathing to relieve stress, anxiety, panic attacks.
When you feel life is too much and you need a bit of extra energy shake yourself, get moving, shake yourself, move your stale energy around and refresh it. Take off your clothes and dance in the sun! Surprise the neighbours. Do Sun Salutations, or use the Shakti Bandha exercises.
If you need to address the balance in your life, practice balances and feel what they feel like to you.
Use standing poses for inner as well as outer strength, forward bends for calming, quietening and to help you get to sleep and use back bends for energy. Mudras/chanting.
Meditation for going deeper and finding out more about yourself.
Gandhi said “We often know more about what is happening on the other side of the world, than what is happening in our own mind”
Are there any more tools? Is there something you may need a tool for which is not here? Maybe more interesting to everyone, is there a Yoga tool that you have used with particular success? I would very much like to pursue this as yoga therapy is one of the specialist areas that I have trained in and believe is truly beneficial. With the miracle of the internet discussion is simple and quick, so get those emails rolling in.

Surya Namaskara
The Surya Namaskaras (or Namaskars) were practised in India thousands of years ago. They began as salutations to the rising and setting of the sun and provided a way to visibly communicate with and maybe show respect to the supporter of life on Earth.
The Surya Namaskars were introduced to the west in a slightly reduced form by Raja Pant in the 1920’s. Since the 1940s they became widely popular at first in India and then in the west, along with the other popular Yoga asanas.
In mythology and all over the world we see the sun revered as a symbol of health and immortal life. It is seen as a representation of the Divine Being that gives life. If we had no light or sun, there would be no life as we know it.
The sun represents the light of your spirit that brings love and compassion, It helps us to see when all appears to be darkness.
Traditionally the Sun Prayers were performed at dawn facing the rising sun and outside if at all possible. It’s really nice to practise outside.
It is a series of 12 postures alternating backwards and forwards. It gives such a profound stretch to the whole body that little else can be compared to it. It helps to keep our hormones balanced and will lift depression, or at the very leastkeep it at bay. Regular practise is one of the quickest ways of obtaining a supple body.
First of all it is good to become familiar with the postures individually.
(Click here to open an illustrated Sun Salutation leaflet that you can save to your computer and print out if you like).
Stiffness, lack of coordination and the tendency to strain can all be overcome when you practise very slowly. There is no rush. Enjoy the learning.
Get used to the breathing, although this comes fairly naturally once you know where you are going. The basic principal is that you breathe in as you go backwards and open yourself up, and breathe out coming forwards, as you close down.
It isn’t always easy to plan your practise, but you can always slide into the sun salutations, without thinking and just by being aware of the flow of the movement.
Then there are all sorts of variations to do these movements. You can go slowly, to warm yourself up, or very slowly, like a meditation. You can go very quickly and dynamically, to get your heart going and help your body to handle toxins. You can do the sequence on one breath, or two breaths... [Often tricky and best practised with a teacher first]. Sometimes it’s really nice to set yourself a goal of doing, say six rounds, and then when you just think you have had enough, do one more round. This can sometimes be magical. It’s good to practise also sometimes with mantras. You can either chant them yourself or put on a CD with the chants and that keeps a rhythm going for you.
Sometimes movement is exactly what we need as an ideal antidote to stress. The Sun Salutations will provide this and practising them regularly is a powerful therapy for mental and physical diseases.
Performing the sun prayers in a steady rhythmic sequence reflects the rhythm of the universe, 24 hours in a day, 12 months in a year and our own biorhythms following the 12 zodiac phases of the year.
Before you start close your eyes and develop an awareness of your whole body, like you do when practising yoga nidra.
This is important. Don’t rush.
Ask yourself “how do I feel in relationship to my body? Am I relaxed? Am I comfortable? Do I want to be somewhere else?” Then adjust yourself so that you do feel comfortable.
If you start the day like this, with a dance, with a prayer, and then you sit or lie and breathe afterwards, you will have already touched the ground and expanded into space, so you will all ready be in touch with the elements around you.
Try it for yourself and see how you feel. It is different each time you do it. With practise the whole of you will be brought into balance giving you a feeling of well being and strength.
Don’t forget that the counter pose to the Sun Saluations is savasana. Lying down. This is delicious. Don’t miss it out. It’s where you reap the benefits of the practise and you can feel your whole body pulsing and alive.
Enjoy this part.

So... then you will be ready for the 108 SUN SALUTATIONS that we are doing on March 29th. (see below or email for more information) Let me just say that in this case, half a round is going to be one round. So two sides will be two rounds. (well I know what I mean)
See it’s getting easier all ready!

Let’s Have a Big Hand for Mudras
We have been looking at mudras in our general classes. One of the many and more gentle tools of yoga. and they work, if you use them. Don’t leave them to go rusty. They are a combination of subtle physical movements which can alter your mood, attitude and perception and which will deepen your awareness an concentration over time Each area of the hand reflexes to a certain area of the body or brain and each area also represents different emotion or behaviour. Each mudra is a technique for giving clear messages to the mind/body energy system. I will give you one each time for you to work with if you wish. If it feels it is right for you. Use a mudra when you start your yoga practise or sit down for meditation. It is immediately telling your brain that you have “put on your uniform” or you are getting ready for your practise.
The root of the word “mud” means ‘delight or pleasure’ and ‘dravay’ which means to ‘draw forth’. Mudra can also be defined as a ‘seal’ or ‘short cut’. Mudras are found in many differing cultures throughout the world. They are used in religious practises and dance in India, in the gestures in a Catholic Mass and in the martial arts.
We use them, unconsciously every day. Things like blowing a kiss or shaking hands to greet someone or to seal an agreement, they each send out a very definite signal. By raising our hand, palm forward, everyone the world over knows we are making a ‘stop’ gesture.
So powerful is “Stop” sign that many animals can learn it very quickly.
Hridaya mudra
This mudra diverts the flow of prana from your hand to your heart area, improving the vitality of your physical heart. The middle fingers and ring fingers relate directly with nadis [energy circuits] connected with the heart, while the thumb closes the the circuit and acts as an energiser. It is therefore very beneficial for heart ailments. It is so simple and non invasive,and can be used in acute situations. It helps to release pent up emotions and can unburden your heart. It can be practised during emotional conflict and crisis. If there are any heart issues, angina, recovering from heart operations, or emotions that are feeling a bit ragged or torn. Try this mudra for a period of time. It’s a great thing for older people to do as well, who may not want to practse what they think is ‘Yoga’ but this is connecting deep into themselves.
Sit down quietly and allow everything to relax, facial muscles, tongue shoulders, belly. Go round and scan your body and then do it again. Can you find another little bit of tension to let go of? Observe your breathing pattern. What is it doing? Where is it going? Spend a few minutes here.
Then engage your mudra. Scan for any tension, and observe your breathing to see if anything has changed. If it feels different.
Get used to your mudra. Make friends with and and let it be your friend too. Use it any time. If you feel stressed or anxious, bring out your mudra. You don’t always have to ‘make time” for it. You can do it while in bed, to help you to sleep, whilst in a queue, even when the T.V is on.
mudra

Curl your index finger down into the base of your thumb.
Rest the tips of your middle and ring fingers on the tip of your thumb. Your little finger is left alone. Relax your arms and let your hands, with their mudra, rest palms uppermost on your lap.
Specific Books that deal with mudras
Kundalini Yoga by Shakta Kaur Kalsa
Asana Mudra and Bandha by the Bihar School of Yoga
Healing Mudras by Sabrina Mesko

A Yoga Book to Treasure
“Guiding Yoga’s Light” by Nancy Gerstein.
I love this book. I have had it for years. I use it then put it away and then revisit it. Always there is something new and fresh and inspiring to find. But more than that. I have used the book so much that some of it has become part of me, and I quote from it without realising that I am doing so.
and this wonderful thing happened.
I had an email from Nancy herself. And she said... wait for this one, “Thank you for using a quote from my book.” I was stunned. Not only did I not know that I had, I was thrilled to find someone who said such a thing. She had not called to scream ”Copyright” at me but to enjoy the sharing of yoga. A truly yogic person. No wonder I love the book. She walks her talk and lives her yoga, and you can tell from her writing.
The book is written by a yoga teacher, for yoga teachers and students of yoga. Topics include yoga philosophy, breathing lessons, asanas for deepening, chakras, advice for practise off the mat and ‘Wise Words.’ It is a delightful wealth of inspiring information.
From the chapter on “Asana and Peace” the wise words are;
“Forcing your body past the point of resistance is an act of self aggression and works counter to peace practise”
The Himalayan Institute Midwest had this to say about the book:
“Today’s yoga students and teachers need a guiding light to illuminate and support their practise...`Nancy Gerstein’s writings offer a shining example of Yoga’s vast tradition in an easy to understand format which will ground and inspire us all”.

The Special Ingredients in Yoga Cooking
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine said
“Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.”
There are few things better in the world than enjoying delicious food with people we love, and when food is prepared lovingly and joyously, the food is transformed into nourishing and healing chemicals that go to every cell of our bodies.
And don’t we just know it when we are not paying attention in the kitchen. It is a place that makes sure we are fully present. If we are not, the soup burns, the dishes slip out of our hands, the cakes don’t rise, we cut ourselves with the knife. When we are fully present and giving our joy and blessings to the food as it is prepared, the smells are sharper, we taste with more awareness and we relish the flavour of the food.
Be joyous when you are cooking. Sing or chant over your food,dance around the kitchen. Put on your pinny and do a little shimmy. If you’re cooking mexican food, put on a sombrero [my son always does]. If it’s Indian, maybe Ravi Shankar on the ipod, English food, chef’s hat, or even a top pert. Throw a string of onions around your neck when cooking french recipes...and taste, taste, taste it along the way. How’s it doing now? You can tell when someone has chanted over your food, just like you can tell when they have made it when in a bad temper.
The following recipe is a favourite of mine. It’s a pudding and it uses up left overs. It requires love and attention and a few oms chanted over it.
Don’t get hung up about exact quantities. If you haven’t got something in your store cupboard, use something else.. it makes it your own. Smell, taste, savour, feel and it will be gorgeous.
Use up any slightly stale bread you have, or panettone when you have had seven or eight of them given to you at Christmas. It won’t be ‘bad’ in March even, just a bit dry, which is better for the recipe.
Use up any pears you were going to juice and they have gone too ripe [you can change this for apples or soaked dried apricots perhaps... make this your own recipe.
Whisk 2 pints of low fat milk or soya milk with 4 eggs, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, 5 floz dark or light rum, calvados [for apples] or brandy, with 8 fl oz pure maple syrup. Drop in the bread or cake and let it soak for ten minutes or so.
Meanwhile peel and core apples or pears and cut into small pieces.
Butter a 2 pint casserole dish. Stir the fruit plus a handful of raisins and some chopped walnuts into the bread mix and pour into the dish
Bake for one hour in an oven that has been heated to 350 degrees. Keep looking though. When it is brown on top, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm... feel the vibrations!
...Eat the pudding!

“Laughter and play are life’s fountains of youth.”
When it comes to fun we have some lined up.
All we need is you to come and join in.

Salute The Sun and Drum Out the Winter
The first is our free workshop.. the much heralded 108 SUN SALUTATIONS celebrating and welcoming the Spring Equinox. New beginnings,new life, new joy.
(As I said above they are half rounds so not too demanding)
This will be fun... trust me.
It’s not an endurance test.
And then Dave is going to come along about noon with his friends and his drums and giving us a drumming workshop, to really drum out the winter. You don’t have to be able to drum, or even have much musical skill. There will be rhythm in there somewhere and Dave will find it for you. He’s brill... he has drumming and rhythm in his soul, and he’s a thoroughly fine chap to boot.
The Spring Equinox is a festival of balance, equal days and nights, light and dark. As we move into the active phase of the year, we need to remember to balance our rational logical mind with instinct and intuition. We have put such importance on our logical minds, that sometimes we have become used to ignoring our instincts and intuition. So let’s learn to trust and to act on our own inner wisdom and bring things back into balance.
Saturday March 29th 10 a.m at Denshaw Village Hall.
Denshaw, Saddleworth (Near Oldham - very easy from M62)
There will be no charge.
This is my gift to you so please come along and enjoy the fun.

Yoga Pairs – Saturday Morning Workshop in April
Fab. If you didn’t make it to last year’s, make sure you do to this one. It’s great to work with someone else. The stretch is fantastic. Working in twos, or sometimes threes or fours, puts a new perspective on your poses,and draws you out of your familiar patterns. Pairs Yoga gives you a great sense of energy, connection and peace. Communication between partners improves the experience and understanding of the postures and increases the benefits of the pose.
Yoga in pairs is meant to be fun and playful. we are going to approach it all with a sense of humour and creativity. When we notice we aren’t having fun any more, we will take a moment to breathe and lighten up, and ask? Why am I taking this so seriously? Am I trying too hard to get the pose just right? Am I trying to impress my partner? Am I worried about being good enough? We are thinking about not how perfect it looks, but how beautiful it feels.
If you have a friend,bring them along [they don’t need to have done any yoga before]. If you are coming on your own, that’s all right. There will be someone to pair up with.
Remember the date:
Saturday April 26th 10am till 12. 30pm at Denshaw Village Hall.
Denshaw, Saddleworth (Near Oldham - very easy from M62)
£10 per person

Sounds, Silence and Meditation
A one-off evening exploring the effects of sound and vibration on both our body and our mind, maybe an Omm or two you never know!
We will explore ways to unwind through a slightly different spectrum and open up pathways to our inner feelings.
Please contact me to register your interest as numbers for this session will be limited.
Friday 23rd May (at Denshaw)

For more details about any of the above
Telephone: 01457 870453
or Email: enquiries@marilynyoga.com

With Love