blog

Is health something we’re born with like resilient genes, strong digestion, well formed bones? …or it is something we create?

We all have certain weakness and strengths, be they genetic, environmental or learnt. Your genes may predispose you towards heart disease, your environment may have given you leaded water, or you may learn unhelpful body posture from your parents. Obviously to some extent both are true. When we look at a new born baby  it is easier to see what they have been born with. What when we look at the 50 year old?

According to Sir Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland ‘Health is not something we’re born with, but something we have to create’.

This sits perfectly with physical yoga and yoga philosophy. When we do good yoga we strengthen our entire system: muscles, bones, nerves, brain, lungs, feelings and more. Whilst this philosophy puts a lot of responsibility on our own door step it is also freeing.

‘We need appropriate conditions to allow us to create a sense of well-being and health. And if those necessary conditions aren’t there… it becomes hard to create either physical or mental health’

What can you do to create your health in 2013?

• Do you need to do more yoga, walk outdoors or dance with abandon? Get creative… What is it you need for your physical body?
• Do you need to experience more peace of mind, more work satisfaction or more childlike joy? Think outside the box… What is it you need for your emotional health?
• Do you need more meaning in your life, more deep connection with the world or a sense of wonder? Challenge yourself… What is it you need for your spiritual health?
• Do you need to ask for help from a counselor, acupuncturist or a friend? Trust… What is it you are needing from your relationships with others?

Creating health is an exciting task, and can cover all areas of your life. Imagine your life after 5 years of creating health – what does it look like? how does it feel? what changes have you made? Make it real in your mind so it can become a clear path.

And when you’re done why not venture a little further and think of the needs around you – we are all interconnected. When we love and help those around us, when we come from a balanced place, we can create a better world together. What could be better for starting 2013

Image courtesy of “dream designs” / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 Last week I offered a free class on visualisation and meditation. It was a lovely candle lit affair. We did a festive visualisation, followed by sitting watching the candle flame. I can thoroughly recommend some peace amidst the lovely chaos.

This time of year is renowned for bringing up excitement, old issues and stress as we renew traditions, see family and dream of how we’d like it to be.

Christmas is such a traditional time, when we remember how it was as a child, and adapt it to suit our present. Only sometimes these get mixed up – we hear in our heads that ‘the decorations should go up on…’, ‘we always have x with our y’ and for a ‘proper christmas….’. This is the time you need to take some time out, do some yoga, take a walk and give yourself time to listen to what’s going on inside. Once you’ve heard the conflicting opinions a strong dose of self empathy and then a bit of creative dreaming should do the trick.

The big day. I used to get very stressed about Christmas as I planned for that one big ‘perfect’ day. Now Christmas runs for the whole of December, just one day where there is a bigger celebration. This helps me enjoy each moment and stay with the here and now.

Doing what you can with calm, and then allowing the rest to happen – whether the trifle is gloopy, the present a double or the day a sea of chaos- is the key to finding your inner yogic calm. Once you’ve accepted an inability to control absolutely everything life becomes a lot more manageable!

Maybe its OK if everyone else has x, and you have y, or that you give socks to everyone? Your christmas spirit is more important than the food on the table, the decs on the tree or the well wrapped presents. You give a paultry offering when you get the ‘right’ present and give it without heart. Your love is worth more than any present you can give.

This year the yogic challenge is to prepare, and let go of the outcome so we can open our hearts and allow that real ‘festive spirit’ to flow.

This article was written for OM magazine (www.ommagazine.com), and was featured Autumn 2012. OM magazine is one of the leading national yoga magazines and can be bought in Tescos. Susannah also has a regular feature in OM called  ‘Spot the Difference’.

Breathing for a Better Pregnancy and Birth

Breathing well is especially important during pregnancy when you are breathing for your unborn baby as well as yourself. Each breath nourishes your baby with new oxygenated blood and takes waste products away. Your breathing also gently rocks your baby with the ebb and flow of your breath.

 Higher & Lower

When we breathe fully and smoothly we feel relaxed and free. This usually involves breathing low into your belly. During activity and when experiencing stress our breathing moves higher up in the chest. Breathing higher up in daily life will increase feelings of anxiety. The converse is also true. If you become conscious of your breathing, and allow it to settle lower into your belly you will feel more relaxed. In pregnancy as your baby grows you may experience as sense of ‘less space to breath’ and of your breath being higher and faster. This can be misunderstood as anxiety, in pregnancy this lighter higher breathing is perfectly healthy.

Reduce Anxiety & Feel Good

During pregnancy it is normal to experience some anxiety as you grow into becoming a mother. Normal levels do not harm your baby but knowing how to breathe well will help you feel good. This can be especially useful during procedures that you are not looking forward to, for instance giving blood or internal examinations. You can help yourself enjoy pregnancy by focusing on a steady relaxed out breath.

Look, Listen & Feel

Watching and listening to your breath can help increase positive emotions and bring you back to yourself. This process of noticing the breath and focusing on it is called breath awareness. You can listen to the noise of your breathing, see your body rise and fall with each breath, and feel the expansion in your lungs. You may even feel movements in your spine and pelvic floor as you breathe. Breath awareness will help you gently settle your mind and emotions throughout your pregnancy.

Yogic Breathing

Traditional yogic breathing practices cleanse, balance, heat and cool the body. Nadi shodhana (alternate nostril breathing) is good for balancing the body by stimulating the left and right sides. This is good for pregnancy as it can gently energise, or relax, depending on what you need most at that time. Many yoga breathing practices are too strong for pregnancy so there are breathing practices have been developed which have been specifically devised for pregnancy.

Conscious Breathing for Birth

Using breath awareness during labour will help you work with your body and become more intuitive. Consciously watching your out breath will focus your mind, which allows your body’s natural intelligence to get on with the job it needs to do, unhampered by your thoughts. Conscious breathing will help you feel steady, and trust your body to ‘go with’ the experience. Imagine you are blowing away any discomfort or anxiety to help you stay in the moment.

Birth-Day Breathing

Specialised breathing practices act as a natural form of ‘pain relief’. These practises focus on a long exhalation and soft mouth. Birth-Day breathing and Dandelion breathing adapt to your needs during each contraction. Each contraction increases to a peak, and then decreases again – in these Birth-Day breathing techniques your breathing does the same. Many women come back to YogaBirth class full of amazement about how these breathing techniques have worked so well for them.

‘It made a HUGE HUGE difference – the breathing works wonders!’ Leeza Minns

Your Birth, Breath & Baby

Your breathing connects you with your baby throughout pregnancy, labour and birth. Bringing your baby into the world is one of the most important things you will ever do, and breathing your baby into the world is a beautiful, satisfying way to do it.

Susannah has written and illustrated ‘Yoga & breathing for pregnancy & birth’. This covers  yoga, specialised breathing techniques and active birth positions and is available from www.amazon.co.uk and www.theyoga.co.uk/yoga-shop/

Here is the most beautiful description of why people shout when angry and whisper when loving.Its based on a story shared by Malladi Venkata Krishna Murthy.

A wise woman was watching a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He turned to his friends smiled and asked.

‘Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?’

They thought for a while ‘Because we lose our calm?’

‘But, why shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say quitetly’ said the wise woman.

‘When two people are angry with each other, there is a lot of distance between their hearts. To cover that distance they must shout to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will shout to hear to cover that great distance.

What happens when two people are in love? They don’t shout but talk softly, as their hearts are very close. The distance between them is so small. When they love each other even more, what happens? They only whisper and finally they only look at each other. That is how close two people are when they love each other.’

Shared by Malladi Venkata Krishna Murthy

Image courtesy of ImageryMajestic at www.freedigitalphotos.net