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"Flexibility is a sign of
youthfulness
while rigidity that of
old age."
- Yogacharya S. Nimbalkar
youthfulness
while rigidity that of
old age."
- Yogacharya S. Nimbalkar
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It is easy to find a scapegoat for our problems. ‘If my mother had really loved me or if everyone around me had been truly wise, and fully dedicated towards providing a perfect environment for me, then I would not have the emotional problems I have now.’ This is really silly! - Ajahn Sumedho
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Flexibilty is a signof youthfulness while rigidity that of old age. - Sadeshiv Nimbalkar
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The picture of this seal doing a magnificent and natural backbend was taken by my friend and amazing photographer, Vicki Vaniman, while on a recent trip to Antarctica.
Unlike humans, animal beings generally maintain a highly flexible back throughout their lives. Intuitively, they seem to know this is very, very important. Observe your cat or dog and see how many times a day they will stretch out in ways that include a back bend.
We humans tend to be negligent about our back. In so doing we develop back issues of all kinds and become highly vulnerable to back injuries. This results in medical expenses for costly drugs and surgeries, neither of which provide much value to the body.
Here are some benefits of doing backbends regularly, and by regularly, I mean on a daily basis. If you can't discipline yourself to do them at home, then get to a yoga class on a daily basis.
- relieves spinal stiffness
- releases back muscles
- rejuvenates the spine
- brings alertness to body and mind
- reduces risk for back injury
- creates tremendous flexibility of the spine
- makes the entire body agile
- creates spinal length making you taller (not shorter as you age)
- enhances the reflexes
- boosts mental and emotional confidence
- downsizes anxiety and stress
- increases stamina and endurance
- removes chest congestion
- overcomes respiratory issues
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No matter what age we are, we can always let go
of baggage and break through a new barrier.
- Louise Hay
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Harriet Brown is a professor of magazine journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and the author of “Shadow Daughter: A Memoir of Estrangement.”
She's researched, written and "practiced" family estrangement. Ten years ago she cut off all contact with her mother and Brown's life improved significantly.
Writing in the Washington Post, Brown explains that "after decades of bitter fights and lukewarm reconciliations, I finally got the courage to cut off my mother completely. Our relationship brought me nothing but nuclear-level angst. After even the smallest interaction — an email or text message — I’d have panic attacks that lasted weeks. I’d stop sleeping, eat too much, fall through a wormhole into utter self-loathing."
Of course, other friends and family members put pressure on Brown to reconcile saying things like: " “You only get one mother,” they said. “What if she dies and you’re still estranged? How will you feel?” Brown writes out her response: "My mother died three years after our official estrangement, and my only regret is that I didn’t do it earlier. Much, much earlier."
As a result of disconnecting from her toxic mother, Brown says that holidays moved from being tolerable to pleasant. "no one stalked from the table in a huff or went home crying. My husband and I, my 86-year-old father, our younger daughter, home from grad school, and another couple shared a lovely and low-key dinner. And we have family estrangement to thank for that."
Read her story at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/i-cut-off-all-contact-with-my-mother-it-made-my-life-much-better/2019/01/18/cc454e9e-1529-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html?utm_term=.e7287d99c434
She's researched, written and "practiced" family estrangement. Ten years ago she cut off all contact with her mother and Brown's life improved significantly.
Writing in the Washington Post, Brown explains that "after decades of bitter fights and lukewarm reconciliations, I finally got the courage to cut off my mother completely. Our relationship brought me nothing but nuclear-level angst. After even the smallest interaction — an email or text message — I’d have panic attacks that lasted weeks. I’d stop sleeping, eat too much, fall through a wormhole into utter self-loathing."
Of course, other friends and family members put pressure on Brown to reconcile saying things like: " “You only get one mother,” they said. “What if she dies and you’re still estranged? How will you feel?” Brown writes out her response: "My mother died three years after our official estrangement, and my only regret is that I didn’t do it earlier. Much, much earlier."
As a result of disconnecting from her toxic mother, Brown says that holidays moved from being tolerable to pleasant. "no one stalked from the table in a huff or went home crying. My husband and I, my 86-year-old father, our younger daughter, home from grad school, and another couple shared a lovely and low-key dinner. And we have family estrangement to thank for that."
Read her story at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/i-cut-off-all-contact-with-my-mother-it-made-my-life-much-better/2019/01/18/cc454e9e-1529-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html?utm_term=.e7287d99c434
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Yoga is a spiritual tradition which seeks to bestow happiness and inner freedom rather than merely physical fitness and health. - Georg Feuerstein
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Effective relationships are coordinated at the heart level.
In all situations learn to adapt and adjust to bring out
the good in you as well as in others. Be graceful, positive, inspiring in your dealings and exercise patience and
endurance. - Swami Jyotirmayananda
In all situations learn to adapt and adjust to bring out
the good in you as well as in others. Be graceful, positive, inspiring in your dealings and exercise patience and
endurance. - Swami Jyotirmayananda
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Recently I've read a few news stories indicating that people who attended meditation retreats experienced severe emotional problems. In one case, a woman ended her life by suicide and in another, the man had to be removed from the retreat by police and placed in a psychiatric institution.
Most of these kinds of cases come out of the ten day Vipasanna meditation style where people sign up for ten day silent retreats which are intense beginning at 4 or 5 am and continuing until ights out at 10 pm.
So, the question is raised: "Can meditation be dangerous?" Here's a good answer to that question from Thubten Chodron in his book Buddhism For Beginners:
"If we learn to meditate from an experienced teacher who instructs us in a reliable method, and if we follow these instructions correctly, there is no danger at all. Meditation is simply building up good habits of the mind. We do this in a gradual fashion. Thus, doing advanced practices without proper instruction is unwise. If we build up our capabilities gradually, we will be able to progress to more advanced practices without difficulty, and one day will become a Buddha."
Most of these kinds of cases come out of the ten day Vipasanna meditation style where people sign up for ten day silent retreats which are intense beginning at 4 or 5 am and continuing until ights out at 10 pm.
So, the question is raised: "Can meditation be dangerous?" Here's a good answer to that question from Thubten Chodron in his book Buddhism For Beginners:
"If we learn to meditate from an experienced teacher who instructs us in a reliable method, and if we follow these instructions correctly, there is no danger at all. Meditation is simply building up good habits of the mind. We do this in a gradual fashion. Thus, doing advanced practices without proper instruction is unwise. If we build up our capabilities gradually, we will be able to progress to more advanced practices without difficulty, and one day will become a Buddha."
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(public domain image www.pixabay.com)
A 67-year-old Canadian Buddhist and skilled poker player Scott Wellenbach recently walking away from the table with US$671,240 after finishing in third place at a poker championship in the Bahamas.
Unlike other poker winners, Wellenbach doesn't keep the money, he donates it to Buddhist charities.
Wellenbach, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, works as translator of Buddhist texts in Tibetan and Sanskrit when he’s not doubling down at the poker table, as a member of the Nalanda Translation Committee, founded by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Most of his poker winnings have been directed toward Buddhist charities, in particular those that support women’s education. According to media reports at the time, Wellenbach was still deciding on a worthy cause for his latest windfall.
“I made the decision last time actually a week after I did well in Barcelona,” Wellenbach said of his previous success some 18 months earlier, when he finished 17th in a poker contest, walking away with US$92,000. “At the time it went to support Buddhist nuns in Nepal. . . . I’m very interested in Buddhism myself, but also women's education is what this was about. I think they're both very important factors and causes in the world.”
(sources: Poker News and Buddhist Door)