Marya Mann : Blog : Can Quarantine Be A Yoga Sanctuary?

Can Quarantine be a Yoga Sanctuary?

There’s a lot going on. Which is why I’m giving you a gift, a free online Yoga class to soothe your nerves and boost your immune system. Find the link below…

So much of human life on Earth – from how we work, love, eat, commune, and shop, to how we think, emote, and manage time — has changed in just the last six months, that many feel a kind of delayed whiplash from our collision with the novel coronavirus. It has exposed buried scars and traumas in our society that cause us to question the very validity of our choices and a government that is not so firmly established in the ideals of truth, justice, and the American way.

While so much has happened, and there’s still so much to be done – reversing climate change, ending racism, feeding children, health care for all, economic empowerment, environmental protection — it is crucial that we keep the peace within. Our fearlessness, hope, and resilience will carve the quickest path to the health and prosperity we desire.

These qualities are all built on the flexibility of spirit and body we gain through Yoga and Meditation. Using these times of slowing down, lockdown, and quarantine wisely, we steer our lives into the direction we choose, into this new time, this new dimension, with stability and grace.

“Isolation makes any problem bigger,” says Leslie Wilkin, a yoga teacher and clinical social worker. She says a yoga home practice is one of the best ways to support physical and mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic. We can take extra care to become intimate with all the sensations, emotions, and thoughts that might be triggered by fear, frustration, and loneliness. Awareness changes your relationship to yourself, the most fulfilling relationship you will ever have.

And also the most important relationship. “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” wrote Blaise Pascal. Contemplation would be far easier if there were someone else to blame things on. So it can be a challenge, but the most rewarding one.

How can we gain a more intimate experience of ourselves while coping with COVID-19 restrictions and managing the fears and economic anxiety caused by the pandemics, all the while participating in racial justice, climate health, and other significant movements that move us?

Here are three ways:

1. Be creative.

Yoga and pranayama increase the energy flow in the body and quiet the thinking mind. They also give us access to the felt senses. Since the universe expresses itself as movement, vibration, and spontaneous creative energy, when we feel the tightening or loosening of our inner being, we can just notice, allow, and often, just get out of the way. Creative streams move us. The job of a creative person, an artist, a yogi, a devoted healer, and an influencer is to harmonize with the flowing, and then later, to collaborate with it, to aim the flow of divine current conscious, and accept when a deeper place of seeing is flowing.

Practicing yoga unblocks the energy channels in the body so the body’s soul can speak, which leads to greater freedom. Increased circulation of blood and prana has a zesty but calming effect on the brain and heart. Regular yoga practice balances the hormones, tones your organs, and cleanses the chakra system, energy rivers running around and through your spine.

Be creative by choosing what kind of yoga practice you want. Depending on how you want to shift your energy, you can choose a Gentle, Restorative Yoga, or Vigorous Yoga sequence. “When folks are feeling a lot of anxiety and activation, we traditionally recommend practices that are still, quiet, and restorative,” says Wilkin. “Shapes that literally bring your body close to the ground.”

Yet some people find it difficult to slow down, and stillness makes them anxious. Doing a rejuvenating practice first, to discharge some of the activated energy, can work, or put on some music and dance! That disperses the extra energy before shifting into slower, grounding practices — unless you’re trying to go to sleep, in which case a Yoga for Bedtime sequence would be better.

If your hands, shoulders, hips, or knees are hurting, you can choose a brief Medicine Movement or tutorial. If your energy is low, you might want to do a quick sequence to REJUVENATE yourself.

The important point is to alternate moving with keeping still. Stay creative. A common reaction to stress can be depression, with feelings of lethargy and low motivation dragging you down. Resist the urge to shut down, draw the blinds, and stay home. A person who is in this pattern might find a strengthening yoga practice will amp up their energy, but remember to have regular social connections and check-in with friends and groups you like.

Get outside. Go to a safe yoga class or for a walk outdoors. Do the things you can. Don’t dwell on what you can’t do. Be particular about choosing to do things you enjoy. Garden. Paint. Throw an online party.

2. Check-in with yourself frequently throughout the day

Tuning into your body is the most helpful practice that anyone can do anytime. This could mean pausing as I just did to notice if my hands or shoulders are tense while tapping on the keyboard. How are your shoulders as you read? Sitting in meditation, reclining in Savasana (Corpse or Relaxation Pose), or even paying attention while you’re washing dishes or waiting for an appointment are all great ways to stay present with yourself.

Get curious about what your body might be needing. Scanning for physical sensations, notice if tension is related to a thought or memory. Keep going back to the breath, not letting the mind get carried away, staying in open attention to feel what’s next? How’s this? How do your jaws feel? Your feet? Or you might investigate a tight or loose area, a feeling, an emotion. What does wonder feel like in my body? Does it feel better than worry? Where in my body do I notice sensation the most, when I feel sad, or joyful, or tense.

Tuning in to how you feel can provide clues to what your body needs to stay well, whole, and balanced.

3. Take Online Yoga Classes

I am among the many yoga teachers who have moved at least some classes online. Being able to practice at home with a teacher you are familiar with can be incredibly nourishing. Please join me on YouTube at Evolutionary Yoga Flow with Marya.

We have learned a lot about recording these classed. I listened when you told me you wanted the TALK STORY and YOGA POSE partS in separate videos. So that’s how we’ll be doing them from now on. In the interim, we’re adding timestamps so you can easily find favorite sections.

In the Yoga Video gift I offer here, LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS, you’ll hear me TALK about how yoga rejuvenates the nervous system at (:30), how to find balance, courage, and stability at (:46), how a brief practice I’ll show you done in bed in the morning can energize you for the entire day (1:04), and the purpose of Yoga (1:28).

Or jump right to the GENTLE POSES you can do in a bed or on a floor (4:27), leading into up to more vigorous standing movements.

Please know that you do not have to do the entire 56-minute practice at once. Do 10 minutes in the morning, another 20 minutes in the afternoon, and 10 minutes before bed. An hour-long practice, including all the asana or physical practices, plus meditation and mindful breathing, is something you work up to by starting with a few minutes at a time, several times a day. Spreading the practice out several periods may make it better on your body. You are offering your body what it needs at the moment rather than trying to fit it all in at once, which can add to more stress!

When you go to watch this Yoga class, please watch, take the time to click LIKE and SUBSCRIBE, and COMMENT. That helps us in the search engines. I sure do appreciate it!

Here’s your video gift! LOVE IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS

There is a tendency to be less outgoing, so be sure to convene, meet, and learn with smaller groups with kindred spirits who you like and enjoy. Moving away from the news or social media feed can work wonders for your perspective.

Most of all, give yourself patience, compassion, and lots of love.

Remember, there’s a lot going on!

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“Pilgrimage to the place of the wise is to find escape from the flame of separateness.” – Rumi
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EVOLUTIONARY YOGA FLOW CLASSES

Gently, dynamic, delicious movement @ The New Thought Center, 5 pm on Mondays

Yoga is of course more than exercise. Yoga stabilizes the soul in the body. This engages an inner coherence that feels buoyant, bubbly. While the asana, breathwork, and visualization processes strengthen your core, tone the muscles, and massage the organs, your mind is also changed.

Clear movement reveals how you may be repeating unconscious patterns that sabotage your deepest desires. You can change the movement, and that altars the mind. Or change the mind, and that altars the movement.
You discover how to discern, adapt, and listen to your true inner wisdom.

Engage in the ancient spiritual practices on a beautiful OPEN-AIR lanai, SAFE, plenty of fresh air and space, PHYSICALLY DISTANCED, and invigorated by a relaxing view of Kealakekua Bay. Friendly, Centering, Nurturing, Rejuvenating.

WHEN: Mondays, 5 pm – 6:30 PM
WHERE: The New Thought Center of Hawaii
81-6587 Mamalahoa Hwy, C302
Kealakekua, HI 96750
DIRECTIONS: www.newthoughtcenterofhawaii.com

DETAILS: www.maryamann.com/calendar/month-view/

QUANTUM HEALING & PSYCH-K

Whatever you wish to materialize into physical reality, whether that is world peace, awakening to your true embodied nature, or more friends, wealth, health, creativity, and/or the ideal relationship, knowing your innermost essence is the first key to accomplishment.

The problem arises when we are traumatized. Trauma touches all of our lives, and right now we’re collectively experiencing the effects of traumatic events with global impacts. The challenges of trauma are real – but there is hope.

During these transformative sessions, you’ll:

-Understand how to stop perceiving the world based on past trauma.
-Transform old reactions into wise actions based on your soul’s wisdom.
-Learn to identify unconscious patterns and know how they are being triggered.
-Discover how to make your innate power and intuition more accessible.
-Explore and align your body wisdom, your heart’s wisdom, and your cosmic wisdom.
-Shift stressful signals into healing vibrations.
-Explore the art and science of Muscle Energy Testing

To learn more, please go here https://www.maryamann.com/what-is-quantum-healing/

All you have to lose is your suffering. All you have to gain is your soul.
Call Kona Coast Yoga and Wellness Now @ #808.345-0050 In-Office, via ZOOM, Facetime, Phone or in outdoor sacred sites.
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“As we explore the soul, it is important to remember that this exploration will take place within nature (the body), for that is where and what we are.”
― B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Life
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