Tuesday 17 December 2013

The Gift of Giving






My life’s journey is a calling. A gift. I ponder over the meaning of that word. 

Gift.

The way it feels in my mouth, my mind, my heart. For me it is a deep journey – I can feel the sensation deep within my soul.

I know my calling is to be of service to others. Of that I have no doubt. I have always been drawn towards marginalised groups in society, in particular, those people who have special needs, with no voice to speak up for themselves. Even as a teenager, my bookshelf was stocked with life stories about people with a range of needs… autism, schizophrenia, depression, down syndrome…

In response to this calling, I have spent the last 18 years teaching and have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunities it has offered.  However, is teaching a gift I share with others when there is an expectation of payment at the end of each fortnight? I can put my heart and soul into my teaching, but would I do it without financial reward? How could I?

In my ongoing pursuit of happiness, I recently started my own business with the intent of sharing yoga with people with special needs. This is something I absolutely believe in and am very passionate about. The benefits of yoga for everyone are scientifically proven, and this is so much the case for those with special needs. However, I find myself in a quandary. As I rely upon income to maintain qualify of life for myself and our family, I am once again left wondering:

How can my yoga be a gift?

Since moving into this field, I have become more aware how truly difficult it is for families of children with special needs. This is a highly underfunded part of society. I find myself feeling stuck. My desire to give is being compromised.

I realise that in order to be able to give, I need to receive consistent income. This seems like a contradiction. Am I ever truly giving if I need to receive first? I find myself thinking of a quote I once heard about filling your own cup before being able to fill the cups of others. I realise that in order to share my yoga with marginalised groups in society, I need to earn a consistent income first.  I don’t want to charge for my yoga. I want to share it … as a gift.

So I now find myself in new territory. In an ideal world, our economy would not rely so heavily on material wealth. It would be a culture of peer support, giving back and paying forward.  I believe this movement is starting to happen. Consciousness is rising. But for me, personally, I need to be able to give – free of expectation or financial reward. For the reward is in the giving itself.

And so my journey continues.


xx Tracey xx



Monday 18 November 2013

Yoga - What do kids really learn?



Today’s society seems to grow faster, and crazier, by the minute. Exposure to an ongoing barrage of images, sounds and movement can leave the body, and mind, feeling over-stimulated and exhausted.  And that’s on a good day!

Today’s kids are no exception to this sensory overload, especially when the pressures of family and schooling are added into the mix. There is no doubt that stress and anxiety are on the rise, particularly so for our young people.  Additionally, many children are now living a lifestyle that is highly sedentary in nature, contributing to health issues, poor self-concept and anti-social behaviours. Yoga provides an opportunity to bring kids back into their bodies and minds.

How can yoga help?

Yoga has a major impact upon kids’ bodies, physically, mentally and emotionally. It has been shown to improve many aspects of health and well-being, including:

  •         Oxygen flow (assisting concentration and learning)
  •         Strength and flexibility
  •         Fine and gross motor skills
  •         Muscle tone and length
  •         Balance and co-ordination
  •         Social confidence and awareness
  •         Self-regulation through breathing, relaxation and self-calming techniques
  •         Self-belief and assertiveness
  •         Sleep patterns
  •         General confidence and positive state of mind


A kids’ yoga class looks very different to an adults’ class. If you looked inside the door, you would see a whole range of things going on:
 
·      Physical postures (asanas)
·      Breath awareness
·      Storytelling
·      Games 
·      Music
·     
Colouring and drawing
·      Circle time
·      Yoga dance sequences
·      Visualisation
·      Partner poses

       You might also see a variety of props, including feathers, drums, bells and mandalas, to
    name just a few.


As you peer inside that doorway, you might wonder to yourself, “What are the children really learning?” The depth of  the response may well surprise you.

What do kids really learn in a yoga class?

When children share yoga:

They learn how to feel inside their bodies, what parts tighten and what parts release;

They learn how to use their bodies to self-calm and regulate their emotions, and how to use their breath to complement this process;

They learn how to stay healthy as their muscles lengthen and tone, their bones grow strong and they develop their sense of balance and co-ordination;

They learn important social skills, how to interact with others in a way that is positive and affirming;

They learn how to listen, both to instructions and to each other, before taking action;

They learn to motor plan and problem-solve as they think about how they are going to move their bodies into the next physical posture;

They learn to take risks and have a go, knowing that it is safe to do so;

They learn to believe in themselves and to know that they are worthwhile;

Finally, they learn that they are just one piece in a massive puzzle of human connection, and that when they unite together with another human being they feel a sense of solidarity and begin to feel compassion.

Ultimately, when children share yoga, they learn about life.


xx Tracey xx






Saturday 2 November 2013

Falling into Trust


“None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.”

As my young niece prepares to launch herself from the bench, she is brimming with excitement. The anticipation builds. We count “One, two, three!” And she throws herself off, giggling with delight. In absolute joy. In absolute trust. She knows I will catch her. She does not know ‘doubt’.

I find myself wondering at what point in our lives do we start to doubt? For some of us, perhaps we are born skeptical, carrying on the imprints of generations past. For others, perhaps it is early conditioning and life experiences that teach us to trust means to be vulnerable, not an easy place to be.

Throughout my life, I have been a seeker of knowledge, always looking for more information to justify the choices I have made. I was not aware of my motive. I simply described myself as having a thirst for knowledge, believing it was part of my make-up. Before taking the recent step to start my own business, I found myself, once again, searching for a training course that would give me the next piece of knowledge I needed before embarking on my new journey.

At the time, my husband told me that I needed to stop looking outward. He told me I possessed enough knowledge and skills to support myself in taking the next step. He has often referred to my ongoing pursuit of knowledge in this way; he has been observant of my patterning. However, it has taken me awhile to assimilate this observation. After all, it was just my thirst for knowledge that was making me seek. What I now realise, is that the real reason I was holding back was due to a lack of trust in myself. I can now acknowledge that by constantly studying under the guidance of others, it gave me reassurance. It kept me safe, and allowed me to avoid vulnerability. I am not saying that we should not pursue knowledge, I am simply saying that we should not allow its pursuit to stop us from believing in ourselves.

How many times do you second-guess yourself, or procrastinate over your life choices? How many times do you look for reassurance from others, rather than seeking within yourself? How many times do you feel like you don’t have enough, or that you are simply not enough?

Our base chakra, the home of trust:


http://www.chakras.org.uk/chakra_yoga_health_
holistic_base_symbolism.htm
Our ability to trust is housed in our base chakra, the muladhara (root), located in the base of our spine. The body parts associated with this chakra include our tailbone, coccyx, back, legs, feet, bones, anus, large intestine and adrenal glands. Our muladhara chakra is connected to our feelings of stability, grounding, family, security, boundaries and new beginnings. If our base chakra is imbalanced, we can feel anxious, indecisive, helpless, angry or fearful.Physically, the body manifests this imbalance through lower back issues, gut problems, obesity, anemia, fatigue, blood disorders, impotency and low blood pressure.



How can yoga help to restore balance?

Yoga can help to restore balance in the base chakra, both through physical asanas and meditation. Within physical asanas, it is beneficial to focus on those postures that work through the feet and legs, such as:
When meditating, it helps to focus upon a mantra that associates with the feelings housed in the base chakra. Some examples could be:
  •        I am enough
  •        I have enough
  •         I am fully grounded and comfortable being me
  •        I am safe inside my body
  •        My base chakra is open and balanced
  •        I need not fear
  •        I am all that I can be
  •        Life supports me
  •        All that I have is all that I need

While meditating, it is also helpful to focus upon the colour red and visualize this colour flooding through all of the body housed within this chakra. It even helps to wear the colour red close to your base, thereby affirming confidence.

Through inviting balance into our lower body, we offer ourselves the gifts of grounding and stability. We find that in anchoring down to the earth, we are more confident in our own ability to make decisions. We find that we no longer need reassurance from others. We find that we can now fall into a position of trust within ourselves.

Suddenly, we realise, after all of this time preparing to launch, we can now take off and soar.

xxTraceyxx




Tuesday 15 October 2013

The Journey within my Scoliotic Terrain



Growing up I was not the girl who did handstands and cartwheels. I was scared to hang upside down. It made me feel sick and disorientated. As an adult, I can look back and realise I was bound up in fear. I did not trust my body to support me.

When I was twelve years old, I was diagnosed with scoliosis. From what I remember, it was considered to be quite mild and I really didn’t think much of it. However, I now realise that my scoliotic body has had a greater impact on me than I first thought. This is the story of my journey within my scoliotic terrain.

I have always been aware that my body is not symmetrical. One side is shorter and more compressed than the other. At times, my right shoulder feels tight and rigid. My right foot naturally turns outward. I have a slight tilt in my neck. As a teenage girl, I was very self-conscious, particularly in the summer time when swimming togs were common attire. Thinking back, I don’t remember ever relating my physical asymmetry to my scoliosis. Maybe, I was too young to make the connection.

During my twenties and thirties, I had lower back problems, which were exacerbated by pregnancy. The only relief I found was in a regular yoga practice. Yoga has been my mainstay – the one thing to which I have always returned. When I practice consistently, I am a different person: physically, mentally and emotionally. With that in mind, I finally undertook my yoga teacher training with Carrie-Anne Fields at My Health Yoga in Brisbane. That decision has changed the way I experience life within my body.



As part of my teacher training, I was practicing yoga almost every day. I had this mental mindset, as many new teachers can probably attest to, that I had to perform every pose perfectly. “How else could I possibly teach others if I could not do the poses myself?” Consequently, I pushed my body to make it conform, not really knowing that I was doing more harm than good. The first indication was pain through my right hip and gluteal. This pain would return after every yoga class, at times being so intense I could barely walk out of the room. Still, I said nothing, thinking that I would just have to be better. As I progressed through my training, my ego started to dissipate and I tuned in to one of the key principles of yoga – non-violence to self and others (ahimsa). One of my wonderful My Health teachers, who is also a physiotherapist, explained that not every body is designed to do every posture. It took me a while to assimilate this piece of information. I had just assumed that one practices yoga, becomes more strong and flexible and performs the pose. End of story.

Then I started to take more care with my body. I pulled out the old x-rays of my spine and I researched. I decided that the reason my hip was giving me so much grief was due to a tight psoas muscle on my right side. I worked on lengthening through this area and I started to find a small amount of relief. I also worked at a metaphysical level, trying to let go of my ‘baggage’ and giving more to myself. It was during this time, I came across the website of Narelle Carter-Quinlan, a yoga teacher who delves specifically into the realm of scoliosis, spinal health and back-care. The next step in the developing awareness of my body was about to begin.

After completing my teacher training with My Health Yoga, for which I will be forever grateful, I enrolled in a teacher-training course with Narelle. Together, these two courses have transformed my life.

What is Scoliosis?

Quite simply, scoliosis refers to a curvature of the spine. In reality, scoliosis is anything but simple. It is a complex, three-dimensional shift in the axial path of the spine. There are two main types of scoliosis. Structural scoliosis is a permanent condition, mostly idiopathic in nature, developing during an adolescent growth spurt. In contrast, functional scoliosis develops as a result of an underlying condition and is not necessarily permanent.

Approximately 80% of structural scoliosis is idiopathic. In order to receive a formal diagnosis, the curve needs to be greater than 10° from midline. More females than males are diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis. This type of scoliosis results in a change of spinal structure. Functional scoliosis mostly impacts at the level of connective tissues and muscles. It develops as a result of an underlying condition, such as inflammation or poor postural habits. A functional scoliosis responds much more rapidly to corrective treatment than a structural scoliosis.

Curve patterns in scoliosis are either a ‘C’ or ‘S’ shape and are named according to the location of the curve within the spine: cervical, thoracic or lumbar. The curve can be contained within one region, or can impact across regions, e.g. thoracolumbar scoliosis. When describing scoliosis, reference is made to the ‘convexities’ and ‘concavities’ of the curve. On the convex side of the curve, the muscle mass is often overstretched, and the bony structure can feel quite rigid, while the bone density is lower. A thoracic convexity is often most noticeable as a ‘rib hump’ in a forward bend. Scoliosis is named according to the direction of the convexity, e.g. ‘right thoracic scoliosis’. On the concave side of the curve, muscles, tendons and ligaments are tight and retracted. Yoga works to lengthen through the concavity, creating strength, length and space.

sourced from Gary Leung

Scoliosis is different for every individual, as people all experience their bodies in different ways. Some of the impacts of scoliosis include:
  • ·       back, neck and/or shoulder pain
  • ·       instability of the spinal joints
  • ·       imbalance in the muscles
  • ·       poor limb integration
  • ·       asymmetry of the body
  • ·       respiratory difficulties and decreased lung volume
  • ·       weaker muscle strength, particularly in upper body and quadriceps
  • ·       vestibular imbalances (e.g. spatial awareness, sensory integration)
  • ·       low bone mineral density
  • ·       anxiety, caused by the over-facilitation of the sympathetic nervous system
  • ·       decreased tonicity in organs
  • ·       poor body awareness
  • ·       feelings of emotional imbalance and restriction


What does yoga have to offer the scoliotic body?


Personally, I have found this journey amazing. For the first time in my life, I feel like I inhabit my body. I no longer have the hip pain I was experiencing. I have an increased awareness of my physical self and I know what postures are beneficial for me. There is more strength in my spine and it feels as though a sense of calm has spread throughout my entire back body.  My nervous system has settled and I feel freedom within. The creation of physical space within my body has been emotional. During my practice, I had a moment in which I suddenly realised I have spent my whole life feeling restricted: physically, mentally and emotionally. In that moment of realisation, I also felt extreme release. It’s hard to explain, but in that moment, I felt free. Even as I write, my emotions are rising once more.

I am no longer that girl who is scared to hang upside down, in fact I relish in the opportunity to do so. I recently took myself into my first headstand, with feelings of great elation. When I practice inversions, my brain begins to re-pattern as it adjusts to the new orientation. I no longer feel anxiety. I don’t move into panic. Instead, I make sure I have done my research so I know where my weight should be placed. I know which parts of my body to align. I know which muscles to engage. This has helped me tremendously. It has given me confidence in my body and in its ability to support me.

I now trust myself more.

This experience has changed my teaching. I help others to explore the landscape of their body, rather than working solely from my own. I breathe with them and tune in to their experience so that I have a better idea of what to offer. Ultimately, through yoga, I want to invite spaces into their body. Not just physical spaces, but emotional spaces as well, so that they too can learn to trust and let go.



References

Miller, E.B. Yoga for Scoliosis (Therapeutic Back Care). Elise Browning Miller, California, 2003.
Monroe, M. Yoga and Scoliosis: A journey to health and healing. Demos Medical Publishing, New York, 2012.
Four Common Curve Patterns Illustrations by Gary Leung