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3 Ways Yoga Changes Your Life for the Better, by Ally Hamilton

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

I'd been practicing yoga for fifteen years, and teaching for about twelve, when I found out I was pregnant with my first, my son. His conception was not without its efforts, some of which included acupuncture for a year with the requisite nasty-smelling tea, temperature charts and peeing on sticks, a trip to the Maori healers where my uterus was essentially rolfed by a friendly giant named Papa Joe, and finally, a visit to a fertility doctor who concluded quickly that my estrogen levels were a little low. The first time I went to my mat after my positive pregnancy test, I stood in tadasana, connected to my breath, and thought, "Okay, I have to be gentle, there's someone in here counting on me."

It was as if the sky parted and the gods of compassion, or all that is right with the world, yelled down, "Are you f&%*ing kidding us???!" I was well-versed in the eight limbs of yoga, had been trying in earnest to live in line with the moral and ethical foundation of the practice for well over a decade, had completed a dozen different trainings with well-respected teachers, and attended four different 10-day silent meditation retreats, along with my own daily practice. The idea that it took my pregnancy to wake me up and make me realize I needed to apply these principles of kindness, awareness, and honesty to my own practice was alarming to say the least. I thought, "Wait a minute. What am I saying? Why do I need to remind myself to be gentle when I get on my mat? There's always someone in here counting on me. Me!"

That moment changed the way I practice and the way I teach, and, I think, the way I move through the world. The wonderful meditation teacher Jack Kornfield has a quote: "If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete." I understood that until I learned how to be kind to myself for my own sake, I really wasn't going to "get it."

That moment began the second phase of my own practice, and shifted everything for me. The moral and ethical foundation of the yoga practice is known as the Yama and Niyama. They make up the first of the eight limbs of the practice, and they are known as the "shalls" and "shall nots;" they're like yoga's Golden Rules. The very first one is "ahimsa," or non-harming. I'd been vegetarian for years at this point in an effort to live in line with that idea, and made a daily practice of examining my thoughts, words, and actions, but the quality of my internal dialogue was still brutal. My loud inner critic hadn't quieted down much, and that is where I began. Below are three ways I've noticed that yoga changes your life for the better.

1. Yoga gives you the tools and the power to starve a loud inner critic and develop an inner cheerleader instead.
   When I'd get on my mat and find it was a day when I was low on energy, or feeling tight, or when the balance wasn't there, I would starve the voice that said, "You suck! Get it together! Work!," and replace that nastiness with a loving voice, one that rooted me on and reminded me that I'm human, and therefore sometimes tired. I was shocked at how often I had to do that, and realized it was an all-day undertaking. If I took a left when I should have taken a right, that unrelenting voice would pipe up and say, "You're such an idiot! You have no sense of direction! How many years are you going to live in LA before you get it together?!" Then I'd shake my head and replace that with, "You grew up in New York City. You never drove regularly until you moved to LA at the age of twenty-nine. Give yourself a break, breathe, and turn around, Chief!" For whatever reason, my loving voice calls me "Chief," "Tiger," or "Sport." These are names I would not like if someone else was addressing me, but they never fail to make me take myself less seriously when I say them inside my own head. You are free to try them out for yourself if you, too, have a loud inner critic, or come up with your own, but I think nicknames help.
2. Breathe (Yes, it's that simple!)
   There are all kinds of tools we use in the physical practice, and they all relate directly to our lives off the mat if we take them there. For example, the breath is the foundation of the physical practice. "Pranayama" means breath control; we slow down and deepen our inhales and exhales, but in order to do that, we have to pay attention to our breath. The beauty there is that our breathing is always occurring in the present, so if you're noticing your inhales and exhales, you are in the now of your experience. Also, breathing deeply calms the nervous system. The act of becoming aware of your breath and then taking control of it makes you present and calm, and that's something you can do anytime. You can do that while driving, or talking to your partner, children, and friends. You can do that while walking, or sitting in front of your computer. Awareness of breath is like a superpower we just don't use.
3. Focus
   Additionally, each pose has a focal point, or "drishti," a place where we direct our gaze. There's a saying: "Where the awareness goes, the energy flows." When you train your eyes on one point, you also focus your mind and your attention. We live in such a fast-paced, crazy world where people try to multi-task all day, but then nothing gets done particularly well. We want connection, but then we show up for lunch with a friend and find we can't focus. Or we set aside two hours for our children, or for our partner, or our passion project, and then find we're checking our Facebook account, or answering texts that really aren't pressing.Left to its own devices, the mind loves to time travel. It will pull us into our past, often with feelings of longing or regret, or drag us into our futures, frequently with anxiety or fear about events that may never come to pass. We really don't want to live in a constant state of anxiety or depression, but unless you train the mind, it's hard to avoid that. We're also wired to worry. "Negativity bias" is something we've carried forward from those days when we had to be on constant alert so we wouldn't be eaten for lunch by a saber-toothed tiger. We can handle short bursts of stress, like the kind we'd experience if we had to run from said tiger, but we don't do well with prolonged stress. However, we still seem set on focusing on all the things we don't have, and all the things that could go wrong, and now instead of tigers, we worry about money, or our relationships, or all the things we don't have yet that other people do. Stress creates dis-ease in the body. You can raise your blood pressure just by thinking about terrible things that may never happen. Your nervous system does not differentiate between an event that's happening or one that you're creating in your mind. Being able to "pick the mind up" and choose one thought over another is one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself. Picking thoughts that are going to strengthen you rather than weaken you is a skill well worth honing.

It can be confusing when you see yoga represented through pictures. It's very hard to photograph a person's process, so you might look on Instagram, and see someone in a bikini on a yacht in Bali with her ankle behind her head and say, "What?!? If that's what yoga is, it doesn't apply to me!" But, yoga is about so much more than the poses. It's about tuning in and facing those places within you where you still have healing to do. It's about developing a breathing practice so you can lean into difficult emotions when they arise, and therefore know yourself. It's about strengthening your intuition, which makes decision-making so much easier. It's about witnessing your reaction to confrontation, and practicing self-compassion, so you can offer compassion to others. Yoga is a way home to yourself, so you can offer up your gifts, and create a life that feels meaningful and fulfilling. There's not a "happiness formula" that works for everyone, but yoga offers each person the ability to find her or his own way, and ultimately, if we want life to feel good, that's a journey we each must take.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2016. All rights reserved.

Hi you two! I've been reading about how there are some places (like hospitals and cemetaries) where people tend to pick up earthbound entities. Do you have any advice for how we can protect ourselves from something like this happening if we have to go to a cemetary for a funeral, or to a hospital for some reason? Blessings!

- Shawna

Dreamchaser:

Here is my famous disclaimer - are you ready? The answer I am about to give you is MY opinion only. That doesn't mean I am right and you are wrong; it's merely my opinion based on what I have seen, heard, experienced and gathered as I have lived this journey called life.

I live down the road from a cemetery, and the fastest way to the main road is for me to drive through that cemetery. I do that every time I head into town. If I could be picking up earthbound spirits, I would have every soul in that cemetery attached to me by now.

One of my very good friends is a nurse. If she could pick up earthbound spirits every time she went into the hospital, she would be covered in them as well.

Let's use voodoo as an example. Voodoo works if one believe it works. A middle class office worker from Montana would probably not believe in voodoo, whereas a fieldworker from Haiti may be a firm believer. If you threw a headless chicken into the office worker's yard in Montana, he may just wonder where on Earth it came from, but if you threw it into the Haitian's yard, the people in the house would probably pack up and move, for they would be terrified!

This is all about belief systems, and the power is in the belief. The chicken is the same in either yard - it's the belief systems of the people involved that are different.

If you believe you can pick up earthbound spirits, then they will have a much better chance of attaching to you. I personally won't let anything near me that is in any way not from Love and Light. Any entity that might want to attach to my aura is not allowed near me. That's my own belief system.

Of course, when I wake up in the morning, I ask for protection and guidance throughout the day, and if I get the feeling that there is some form of unfamiliar energy around me, I stop and say (out loud when possible), If you are not here from Love and Light, I command you to leave this place immediately in the name of the One God.

According to cosmic law, any being must then leave if it is not from Love and Light. Since anything from Love and Light would not attach to you without your permission anyway, I suggest you try this method.

When you are going into a hospital or through a cemetery, just stop before going in and ask for protection. Picture yourself wrapped up in sheets of light or a bubble or whatever you want to use as a visual symbol that you are protected. The Universe will protect you when you ask every time.

I wish you faith in divine protection.

*****

Astrea:

Throughout history, people have made and carried talismans against bad luck and evil entities. Talismans can be as simple as a rock or a shell, or as complicated as a day-long cleansing ritual. There are specific charms for specific situations. Every person I know who carries psychic protection against negative entities has a different idea about what is best for this sort of thing.

I have an ugly plastic turquoise and yellow rosary in my glove box that was given to me by someone at a wake. I also keep a rock from the Forum and one from the Island of Delos in Greece there. I have talismans that have come from every member of my family, every student and every corner of the globe. I have some that were just shiny things this old crow spied and collected because they had a feeling of power to them.

People wear crosses to protect themselves from vampires. With a list of Catholic saints at your fingertips, you can find protection from every kind of bad energy. I keep St. Michael the Archangel over every door in my home and studio, and a St. Michael card in my purse.

I would love to see people shift from carrying things for protection to carrying things to draw positive energies their way. Rose quartz is said to draw love, garnet to enhance brain power, and clear quartz to facilitate mental clarity. Lapis lazuli placed under a pillow will help a person dream of past lives.

There's a poem that lucky little children from psychic lineages learn to remember how to protect themselves, with verses about various spiritual remedies. While you might find the same information at a number of websites, this poem is not something you'll find on the internet.

The first twelve verses talk about the Catholic Saints: When ghosts you fear, St. Michael's near, When folks are cross, Ariel is boss, St. Francis cures the critter dear, Bad dreams? Invite Fatima here.

There are ten verses about charms to cure common human complaints: Rose quartz for love, tied to a tree, Green ribbons, money then you'll see, Cat whiskers cut to break a tie, Carnelian ferrets out a lie.

There are nine verses about rocks and gemstones, seven verses about common medicinal plants, and five verses on the power of precious metals and stones. There are three verses that deal with death and doctors, but those are secret.

You can come up with your own objects by researching your needs online and investing your talismans with protective energy. Remember to always take your time in any ritual that deals with mysterious or supernatural power. Transferring energy to an inanimate object of any kind can be tricky, so go through every step slowly and carefully.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.