Doing Yoga And Practicing A Yogic Way Of Life
I implement yogic principles into my natural medicine appointments
because I use medicine that works. Medicine in the traditional sense, is
something that has power. The aim of yoga is to reach high states of
meditation. Meditation and laughter I believe are THE best forms of
medicine. Coincidentally they go hand in hand, the more you meditate the
more you laugh! Yoga is another tool to take control of your health to
transform your life. Many people begin “doing yoga” – when I say doing
yoga I mean going though the motions in yoga classes, getting bored with
how slow-paced it is and trying to meditate when you remember. Which is
probably after a period of debauchery on a ‘fix me quick’ detox break.
Right?
Practicing yoga takes time, perseverance and commitment. I flexed in and
out of ‘doing yoga’ for 10 years before I truly committed to practicing.
The penny dropped six years ago after a bout of obsessive compulsive
Bikram and a standard yogi’s trip to Ubud, Bali. I began to see life
differently; I began to start treasuring life. At first I was scared that
I was going to lose my personality, overuse words like journey and
synchronicities and chuck my leather cowgirl boots for jandals (Jesus
sandals). That didn’t happen but I do give uncomfortably long hugs, I’m
wild without alcohol and I laugh without restraint. Each day I give less
of a flying fox what others think and I float in and out of different
styles adjusting my practice to suit me personally as I grow. I still, on
occasion, magnificently lose my cool, drink too much and forget my
practice. But by some superhero chord of discipline, meditation is my
revitalising plunge pool that brings me back to the present moment, making
each day fresh and exciting. It doesn’t matter whether you do yoga or you
practice yoga, if you can meditate in lotus for three days or barely reach
down past your knees. Yoga is showing up each day with the intention of
kindness. Kindness to yourself, to others and to the planet.
Yoga is movement, meditation, breath work and study, which leads to a
blissful state of meditation. Yoga equips you with life skills,
fundamental skills that are weaving their way into mainstream schooling.
With regular meditation practice not only can you abandon all unnecessary
thoughts (the monkey mind) but you can achieve many insights and high
states of bliss. It is a gateway to life’s magic. Part of this is having a
well-developed bullshit radar – very important if you live in Ibiza. A
place of pirates, larger than life egos and cons but also home to the most
magnificent of minds and magically alive souls. The bullshit radar is
birthed through a developed intuition and ‘gut feeling’. It’s a sixth
sense associated with healthily balanced chakras (energetic centers in the
body). These chakras become balanced naturally with a regular yoga
practice. Many other practices that overlap with yoga also work on
developing intuition. For example Daoist practices such as Qiqong and Tai
chi.
Yoga isn’t just moving through different postures, (asanas) in a
class…
Yoga is the study of ancient Sanskrit texts:
The most beautifully enunciated tongue of the heart and soul.
Yoga is deep meditation:
Devoted time each day to enliven your soul and connect with divinity
through stillness.
Yoga is movement with breath awareness:
Connecting the breath to each movement. This can be during sex, guiding
the body through yoga postures, or simply dancing.
Yoga is a way of pure living:
Eating a balanced diet of fresh food, eating a healthy vegetarian diet,
aiming to be impeccable with your word, integral and kind with your
actions.
Yoga is pranayama:
A way of breathing vital energy that increases health and longevity
through many different breathing techniques.
Yoga is kharma:
Passing forward acts of love, making all of your actions about love,
conscious relating, actions from the heart and not the ego.There’s a nice
saying in yoga, ‘you’re as young as your spine is flexible.’ A devotional
yoga practice is relative to heath and longevity. Random fact: The more
you meditate the less sleep you need.
Why Do Yoga?
Happiness: Aside from a toned body, flexible mind and a positive glow,
yoga impacts on personal awareness by uniting the mind, body and spirit or
soul. If consciousness is a woolen blanket, each of us is a thread, and
each personal state of consciousness affects the condition of the whole
blanket. Once this unity is felt, life becomes simplified with freedom and
innate happiness. A happiness that sports cars and handbags can’t buy. A
joyous bliss! Deep states of meditation induce feelings of ecstasy, much
like when on the drug ecstasy! It’s no wonder that so many party animals
turn to yoga. They have already had a glimpse of the magic.
Freedom: Yoga is a devotion to your own bliss. Through gaining a
heightened sense of awareness you can create healthy boundaries that give
grounding and structure allowing you to spontaneously create your own
reality. One based on love, truth, and kindness.
True Beauty: Yoga makes you sexy from the inside out. Illuminated radiance
that shines out of bright eyes. Have you ever met a sadhu who is not
laughing or at least smiling the majority of the time. Yoga is a devotion
to the divine in everything, through a life of bliss.
So this January, enhance your life and get your yoga on. Be it through
random acts of kindness, a yoga class, picking up a book or meditating.
Look out for my ‘Meditation For Health And Healing’ course at Galleria
Elefante, Santa Gertrudis, Ibiza starting in February 2016. Details coming
soon on my
Facebook page – ‘Chloe Silverman – Naturopath’. If you’re in London January 20/ 21swing by and say hello. I will be at
the London Health Show in Olympia to answer all questions on health and
natural medicine. Don’t miss out on a chance to win a place on my luxury
yoga and natural medicine retreat worth up to £4000. Alternatively drop me
a line at chloe@realnaturo.com to book into my London
clinic on January 18, mention this blog and you will receive a 50%
discount on online and face to face consultations.
