JOYFUL MIND WORKSHOP
Do you crave meditation the same way you crave an intense yoga asana practice? If not, why? In a time where yoga practices seem to focus heavily on asana practice it can be easy to get out of “balance”. Many people seem addicted to intense physical yoga practice and feel they were somehow cheated if they don’t leave class exhausted or covered in sweat. Why aren’t we just as addicted to stillness, shavasana or meditation? Why don’t we feel we have been cheated if the class has little or no final relaxation? In this session we are going to explore the questions above. We will be introduced to the two aspects of the central nervous system, the sympathetic and parasympathetic which are directly related to the two nadis (energy channels), Ida and Pingala and explore how finding balance between the two can bring us into a state of Sushumna (Joyful Mind). This session we will cover a few poses, some pranyama practices and some techniques, such as Yoga Nidra, that will change the way you feel about mediation. When these two systems of the body are balanced your body is relaxed the doorway of your intuition and higher self is opened and you become more receptive. Self care and compassion become a priority, your inner critic quiets and you move out of your head space. From this place of joy or what some call Sushumna Awakening you will find yourself craving meditation. By the end of this session you will have a few subtle tools to prepare yourself for shavasana and begin to get more out of your gentle poses, stillness and meditation than ever before. According to Patanjali this contentment is prerequisite for deep meditation and samadhi.