Source: Beliefnet

Yoga is not only good for the body, spirit, and mind, but the practice could help people deal with grief.

Researchers found that those who completed a four to six week class of yoga therapy noticed a significant improvement in their mood, energy, and dealing harmful emotions.

Grief can put the body out of whack, it increase tension in muscles, people notice more lower back pain, and tightness in their chest, loss of sleep, and the deterioration of mental health.

For example locus pose helps clear blocked emotions, and child’s pose calms the nervous system.

Practicing asana yoga, using backbends, and twists have showed to improve people’s backs, as a lot of pain is stored there and in the spine, hence a release of any emotional pain.

Additionally, yoga help the body open up by incorporation stretches like child’s pose, cobra, and downward dog. Grief yoga is a combination of different practices like Hatha, Vinyassa Flow and breath work.

The truth is everyone deals with grief differently, and there is no right or wrong way to grieve, and experts are seeing body and mind connection.

Paul Denniston teaches grief yoga in Los Angeles and works with those in hospice, he writes that yoga connects us to the present moment, which also allows us onto a path to acceptance.

“Yoga’s healing power and wisdom can help you embrace the grief that resides within your mind and body and help open your heart.”

How do you start? Try researching grief yoga instructors in your area. If not, you can do it at home, since there are many free videos to help you get started.

YouTube has some great videos to help get you started, if you are a beginnner.

If you choose move forward with yoga to help you during this season of your life, try it for 15 minutes a day in the morning and night. If you are new to yoga all together, try a beginner’s class for basic poses and to ease into to it slowly.

There is no reason to pressure yourself, the entire point of grief or mourning yoga is to release pain physically and emotionally at your pace.

By: Lindsay Vanlaningham / Source: Social Moms Network

New Years Resolutions are often filled with superficial wants to be skinnier, look younger, make more money, etc.  Those are things that change your outward appearance, but won’t truly make you a happier person.

They fill a void and only address the end result of how you are feeling.  Instead focus on making some resolutions that really benefit your body and soul for decades, and don’t fizzle out in the coming months.

One could call these life choices, instead of the more short-term resolutions.

• Take your healthy seriously: Use the New Year to make all those checkups you’ve put off. Visit the dentist. Our mouths often act as the canary in the mine and can tell us a lot about our general health. Schedule your annual pap smear and breast exam. While you are at it, visit the dermatologist and do a body scan of those moles you have often wondered about.
• Get your finances in order: Hey it’s tax season, perfect time to take a look at your finances and set goals. Contribute more to savings or to a 401k? Go for it. You may even consider starting a college fund for your kids. Use coupons or money savings apps to help you save in one area to afford in another. Set up a budget to help you stick to your plan and track it on Mint.com.
• Protect your family: While you are looking at finances, consider your will and trust, your life insurance. Make some smart moves this year to protect the ones you really love. Term life insurance can cost very little and make a world of difference to your family.
• Get personal: Make it a point to reduce your FB, Instagram, Twitter and texting communications, and instead reach out in person to those you really care about. You’ll find it more fulfilling.
• Check your credit: Make sure that it’s accurate and that there are no red flags. Settle unpaid debts and have them cleared from your report.
• Organize your life: This one is ongoing, but if done correctly can save you time and money. Resolve to stay organized and clear the clutter. Start small and you’ll find as you get going, it gets easier to let things go.
• Focus on internal health: Instead of focusing on outward appearances, focus instead of what it takes to get there. For example, instead of saying you will start a new diet, resolve to eat healthier foods. Instead of losing weight, how about making the goal to get outside more often. These new goals will add activities that make you healthy and happy.
• Prioritize and make time for what really matters: These are the things in life that fill our bucket with joy and peace. When you really look at life, we are pulled in so many different directions, when in reality what truly matters is our health and the time with our loved ones. Neglecting either of those will be the biggest regret of your life.
• Feed your soul: It may be a cup of coffee in the early morning, or a sunrise yoga session. It could be good book by the fire. Whatever it is, find something you love and do it for no one else but you.

Happy New Year!

Source: Conscious Life News

The Venerable Losang Samten, a renowned Tibetan scholar and a former Buddhist monk, stresses the virtues of being mindful, kind, and patient.

Losang Samten: When we are more mindful we get a joy. In a way, the seed of the mindfulness, we all have that. We don’t have to buy that from somewhere else.

Not necessarily finding for the enlightenment or [a] spiritual reason, in a sense, but whether we [are] a believer or non-believer, we all need a peace of mind.

So the peace of mind comes from the mindfulness. Through that, we understand how important kindness and compassion [are]. One mental good quality leads into the next and the next and the next.

The fundamental [one that] we’re talking [about] here is mindfulness.

All the Holy Beings, each religious leader, the first thing definitely they will say to us – be kind, be kind. Be kind to yourself. Be kind, be kind. And be kind to the other. To be kind is the Jesus, [to] be kind is the God, [to] be kind is the Buddha.

Another thing [that] is very important to us to practice is be patient, be patient, be patient. Working with somebody or [on] the relationship – husband and wife, girlfriend and boyfriend, any relationship – life’s not perfect.

Life [will] never be perfect. [No matter] how much we put into effort to be perfect, there’s no perfect everything. We are human. Patience is wonderful to have.

So if that day somebody in your life, if he or she is so stressful and at that time – sometimes not necessarily, there’s not much room for communica[tion] – just be patient. Just be [breathes in deeply].

Truly these are not religious training[s], but more as a human being we all need that kind of quality. But yet, again, the seeds – we all have them. We all have patience.

How much we call an impatient person, he or she has the seeds of patience and the kindness and the compassion. All of these seeds we don’t have to buy anywhere – we have them.

We all have room to grow, but we all have the seeds of beautiful kindness and patience.

The Venerable Losang Samten, a renowned Tibetan scholar and a former Buddhist monk, was born in Chung Ribuce, of central Tibet. In 1959, he and his family fled to Nepal and later moved to Dharamsala, India.

His education includes studies at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts and the Namgyal Monastery which is the monastery of the 14th Dalai Lama.

In 1985, he earned a Master’s Degree in Buddhist Philosophy, Sutra, and Tantra, from the Namgyal Monastery, which is equivalent to a Ph.D. In 1994, Losang received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

He was granted an Honorary Doctorate of Art from the Maine College of Art in 1995. He taught Tibetan Language at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia from 1994 – 1997 and was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2002.

In 2004, he was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts.

By: Joe Wilner / Source: Psych Central

Throughout my twenties I tended to make choices based on what I was supposed to do.

I didn’t always conform to what was expected (I broke a few rules here and there), but overall the direction of my life was completely dictated by social norms.

I thought I was supposed to settle down, buy a home, and start a family. I tried this and it didn’t go so well.

Let’s just say I’m still part owner of a home I don’t live in.

It wasn’t that this life plan was inherently flawed or wrong by any means, but it just wasn’t for me.

I wasn’t listening to my heart’s desires. I wasn’t asking, “What do I really really want?”

“What am I really being called to do?”

I was doing what my background taught me I was “supposed” to do.

Do you ever find that words like “should” “must” or “ought to” are dictating your life?

How many people out there are living a life that isn’t their own?

Many people are walking this path. It is the life society or their families tell them to live.

I certainly still do from time to time. I have responsibilities and certain standards of living I want to maintain.

I value stability and security along with adventure and excitement.

So instead of doing something because it’s supposed to be that way, I now am clear of the bigger picture. What I do is for a greater goal.

The greater goal is to create a life filled with fulfillment, passion, and peace of mind.

The greater goal is to do what I am meant to do, to follow the calling in my heart and soul.

We are all alive for a reason. We have gifts, talents, and creative expression we are meant to share with the world.

Maybe you have a dream to write a book, or to serve your community through a homeless shelter, or to sing and play music.

I implore you to do more of this – to be willing to follow the artistic and creative vision in your heart.

Why? Because if you do you will be a better person in the end. You will be happier and more engaged in life. You will feel completely alive, instead of the shell of a spirit that has been beaten down and told to be a good boy or girl.

This isn’t a diatribe encouraging you to do something reckless and irresponsible. It is a message of encouragement for you to live more fully and expressively.

It is just a simple reminder that you have something you want in life, and that you have a choice to incorporate more of this joyful expression into your day to day experience.

I think the best question to ask is from Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art.

If you were the only person left on the planet, with no one to impress or answer to, what would you want to do?

Whatever it is, assuming it advances your best self and supports life, do more of it.