Negative thoughts: Now What?

Controlling those thoughts!

Monday, we looked at how to recognize automatic negative thoughts when they come to mind.  But now what?
Unfortunately, through depression, I have lots of experience with this!  When I first started becoming aware of my automatic negative thoughts, I was overwhelmed with their constant presence.  But over time, I've been able to quiet my mind, and to recognize "true" thoughts vs those automatic bad ones.
Step 1:  Acknowledge the thought as negative and/or destructive.
Step 2:  Examine the thought:  Is it true, or is that just your monkey mind working overtime?
Step 3:  If it's true, but a negative thought, what can you do right now to change the situation?
             If it's untrue, remind yourself strongly that "THAT'S NOT SO!"  Follow up with encouraging words to yourself!
Step 4:  Take action:  If you thought of a way to change the situation, do that immediately!  If it was untrue, or there's nothing to do about it, this is when the yoga & meditation come in.  Notice your body.  Notice your breath.  Count your breaths, or otherwise shift your focus away from the negative thought.  If it's convenient, practice a yoga pose or two, to get you out of your head and into your body.
This seem simple, but it's a powerful practice to change your thoughts today.
How have you dealt with negative thoughts in the past?
Have you been able to change your life by changing your thoughts?
I'd love to hear your story!

Recognizing Automatic Negative Thoughts

Do you suffer from negative thought patterns?  (samskaras)
In The Mindful Way Through Depression,  by Williams, Teasdale, Segal and Kabat-Zinn, the authors offer the following practice:

"The following is the same list of automatic thoughts reported by people who were currently depressed that we saw in Chapter 1.
1-I feel like I'm up against the world
2-I'm no good
3-Why can't I ever succeed?
4-No one understands me.
5-I've let people down
6-I don't think I can go on
7-I wish I were a better person
8-I'm so weak
9-My life's not going the way I want to.
10-I'm so disappointed in myself
11-Nothing feels good anymore.
12-I can't stand this anymore
13-I can't get started
14-What's wrong with me?
15-I wish I were somewhere else
16-I can't get things together
17-I hate myself
18-I'm worthless
19-I wish I could just disappear
20-What's the matter with me
21-I'm a loser
22-My life is a mess
23-I'm a failure
24-I'll never make it.
25-I feel so helpless
26-Something has to change
27-There must be something wrong with me.
28-My future is bleak
29-It's just not worth it.
30-I can't finish anything
As you look at the thoughts on the list, think about how strongly, if at all, you would believe each of the thoughts if it popped into your head RIGHT NOW.
When you have finished, think back to a time when you were at your most depressed and then return once more to the list.  Think now about how strongly you would have believed each of those thoughts had they occurred AT THAT TIME"

If you've ever struggled with depression, or if you know someone who has, I recommend you read The Mindful Way Through Depression.  It might just change your life.

Child's pose

Ahhh....child's pose...
When all else fails, this beautiful, restorative pose can help heal the soul.  When the world is just too much to bear, kneel, sit back on your heels, and place your forehead on the floor.  Grounding.  Settling.  Letting the chaos swirl around you, but not in you.
This pose is a beautiful stretch for the low back, the quadriceps, the ankles, and even the shoulders, if you stretch your arms out like the woman in the photo.  But to me, its real benefits are emotional.
This winter come inside your self, inside your body, and breathe in child's pose.

Strength training & mental health

Mental health concerns affect us all. If you don’t have a mental health problem, you at least know someone who does. But what works? What kind of exercise helps? In 2010, the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine included an article entitled, Mental Health Benefits of Strength Training in Adults (O’Connor, Herring, & Caravalho, 4 (5), 377-96.) Following are just a few highlights from that article:

According to the article, 15% of the US population reports frequent anxiety symptoms, lasting 15-30 days a month. That’s a lot of anxiety! It’s normal to experience occasional anxiety, but this type of prolonged anxiety can interrupt sleep, cause mental distress, body pain, poor health and limitations on what a person can accomplish, physically. The authors looked at seven different studies with resistance training, and found that strength training can be a meaningful intervention for those with anxiety.

They also studied depression, with 18 studies, with the conclusion that resistance training is linked to large reductions in depression.

25% of the US population experiences persistent fatigue symptoms. Chronic fatigue is a debilitating illness. But O’Connor & colleagues found that 94% of studies found that exercise is significantly beneficial…even more so than drug or cognitive-behavioral interventions.

This same article also addressed positive results of resistance training on cognition, self-esteem, and sleep. Resistance training may also improve central nervous system functioning, which can affect mental health.

What does this have to do with yoga? An active yoga practice isn’t just stretching and breathing (although those are definitely a big part). In yoga, we use the weight of the body as resistance for our strength training. I was a personal trainer before I became a yoga teacher, and I find that my core strength is even greater now than it was then. Your practice should include a good dose of resistance training, which will help your mind be healthy, too!

www.mountainyogatn.com

Anxiety & Depression & Yoga

We had an awesome class today with Brooke Sullivan, RYT-500, from Asheville.  She is a ParaYoga instructor, and offered a workshop about Yoga for Anxiety & Depression.  I LOVED Brooke's class, and thought I'd share just a few of my notes with you, just in case you missed it.
Anxiety & Depression both have so many causes.  Nervous system imbalances, imbalances in the digestive system, respiratory ailments, and past trauma are just a few of the root causes that Brooke mentioned.
But one of the ways to combat both anxiety & depression is through a yoga practice.  Yoga can show us how to listen to "what's up with me".  It can help us identify specific causes of the way we feel, so that we can acknowledge and heal.  Also, by forming our bodies into the asanas, or poses, we can release & re-open portions of our bodies that have been shut down.  This allows the stories, or emotions to come to the surface, so we can effectively cope. 
A big key is the breath.  By breathing all the way down into the belly, we can free up stuck energy, and really notice how our bodies & minds feel.  A large portion of our workshop today focused on lying still while focusing intently on the breath.
If you'd like to experience more of Brooke's teachings, check out her website:  www.vitalyogi.com to see where and when she's teaching next.

Learning from animals-the "Guardians of Being"

Every year, about this time, I get a serious case of Spring Fever.  Who wants to be inside when it's warm & sunshine-y and things are blooming?  Even though I've spent today, knocking items off the to-do list, my heart just really wants to sit outside and breathe in the warm air.  I want to roll out my mat and practice yoga in the grass.
What's kind of fun is that our dog seems to have Spring Fever, too!  (Yep-that's her in the picture...with mud on her nose from burying a bone)  Saturday morning, when we were trying to sleep in, she was WIDE AWAKE.  She bounded into the bedroom, walked over to the bed and licked my nose!  That got me up, to let her out at 6:30 am.  But then she barked, so I let her back in.  But then she bothered me, so I put her back out.  Then she barked.  This went on for hours.  She was so excited, and it must've just been Spring in the air.
A few months ago, one of my sweet yoga students, Sharon, gave me a book by Eckhart Tolle and Patrick McDonald, entitled, Guardians of Being:  Spiritual teachings from our dogs and cats.  That book makes me smile each time I look at it, so I wanted to share an excerpt with you:
"It's wonderful to watch an animal, because an animal has no opinion of itself.  It is.  That's why the dog is so joyful and why the cat purrs.  When you pet a dog or listen to a cat purring, thinking may subside for a moment and a space of stillness arises within you, a doorway into Being.  The vital function that pets fulfill in this world hasn't been fully recognized.  They keep millions of people sane."
If you have an animal that's driving you crazy with Spring Fever, don't get angry.  Breathe.  And enjoy them.  You've been blessed with a true friend, who can show you how to live in the moment.

Life without TV

About 6 months ago, Scott & I finally decided to remove the television from our home.  We had been tossing around the idea for quite some time, but kept coming up with excuses.  "But what about FOOTBALL?" was probably the most compelling one.  But July 4th, we declared our independence from "the tube".  We'd had enough.  We actually took the set to the studio, and rearranged furniture to cover the gaping hole it seemed to leave.
At first, it was SO QUIET all the time, and even seemed a little lonely.  But now, I see that silence as such a blessing.  My life is so calm and peaceful.
Some of the other amazing blessings from our tv-free life:
-We communicate so much better.  There are few distractions, so we talk more often.  We're also more present when we communicate.  We're actually THERE for the conversation, not wandering off to whatever's on.
-We spend more time with family.  This is a solution to the football question earlier.  All of our parents live in town, and they are happy to see us when football is on.  We also watch with friends.  Someone always has the game on.
-We read all the time.  Scott has read more books than I think I've ever seen him read.  And I seem to be devouring books.  I always have one fiction and one non-fiction book going.  I'm getting around to all those yoga teacher training books I wanted to read, but never seemed to have time.
-Only good things come to our home.  As someone once said, tv is inviting people into your home, who you would never invite if they were actually standing there.  We have no foul language, no obnoxiousness, and no commercialism.
I could go on and on about how wonderful my life is.  And getting rid of TV has only helped.  I'm not saying this is for everyone, but see what happens if you get rid of it for a week.  Open up your time and your life, and see what else is waiting for you.

New daily meditation practice

So, lately, I've really made an effort to focus & meditate more.  And all this work, while sometimes annoying has only led me to a deeper appreciation of yoga.  I'm here to tell you:  It really DOES work.  So, each day, I've done two solid practices:  1-I meditate for 10 minutes (I know, for some of you, this is child's play, but I'm a secret type-A personality and for me, this is a big deal!), 2-I chant mantra.  Yes.  108, with mala beads & everything.  It's been amazing!  The mantra is my favorite.  At the beginning, I look at all of those beads & think, "oh, boy, 108 is a lot!".  But by about halfway through, I don't want it to end.  Sure, I get some strange looks from my husband & animals, when I happen to be chanting around them.  But it's worth it.  And the meditation is getting easier.  I'm actually thinking of moving up to 15 minutes....big time!

So, what's your practice?  Do you meditate?  Use mala?  Do a walking meditation?  What brings you to calm?

Fresh Starts

Let me begin today by saying "I LOVE A NEW YEAR!"
It's such a fresh start.  Yogis believe that we can be fresh & new each moment of each day.  That by being present in each moment, we wipe away the past & the future, and all we have is right now.  So, to me, the New Year is very yogic.
Take a breath, right now, and think about inhaling purity, then exhaling anything from 2010 (or before) that you no longer need.  What repetitive thoughts do you have that no longer serve you?  What habits do you have that are destructive to your health and the well-being of others?  What would you like to change about the way you interact with the world?  Anything is possible.  At this moment, you are not your past, or even your future.  All of these exist only in the mind.  Clear them out to make room for the 'you' that you want to be.  Inhale cleanliness, exhale your mental baggage. 
Begin to notice your 'self-talk'.  What kind of things do you say in your own mind when confronted with a challenge?  Are you plagued by "I'm not good enough", held back by "That will never happen", or weighed down by how you think others view you?  Exhale & see if you can let go of some of this chatter.  You don't need that in your life.  Start today with affirmations.  Remind yourself that you have an eternal Soul, or a Witness, that is more than this life.  And you're not only good enough, but you are to be cherished.   Make a resolution to start positive self-talk today.
And finally, release previous failures, to make room for future successes.  Yoga can make great changes in your life.  If you've tried before to get consistent with your yoga practice, but have fallen off the wagon, dust yourself off and try again.  The past is gone.  All you have is right now.  So, clear some room, light a candle, and get out your mat!
Happy New Year & Namaste
Jennifer


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A center of calm in the chaos.

Happy Holidays!

In the next couple days, the traffic will be crazy, parking will be near-impossible, and the lines in the stores will be long.  Family members will be coming & going, children will be screaming, people who love each other will respond sharply, and the greatest frenzy of the year will only increase.  But in the middle of this, the yogi.
Take a minute each day to step back & find the silence within yourself.  Turn off the television, the phones, and even the beautiful Christmas music.  Listen to your breath.  Remember that you are not this chaos.  That the eternal portion of you (your soul) can be quiet, like the eye of the storm.  And when you're in line, or stuck in traffic, remember that the person across from you is also a Soul.  Take a deep breath, and offer up a blessing, because they are stuck in that chaos, too.  I like this one,
May you be filled with loving-kindness,
May you be well,
May you be peaceful & at ease,
May you happy.
See if it changes your attitude, and then, just maybe, your world.

Jennifer
http://www.mountainyogatn.com/

Shopper's Recovery

Shopper's Recovery

Viparita Karani

If you went shopping this morning, you probably need a little recovery time.  I've got the perfect pose for you:  Legs-Up-the-Wall!  This is a wonderful, restorative pose for any time you need a little recovery.  This pose is called Viparita Karani in Sanscrit, roughly, "reversed action".  Sounds good, doesn't it?
Legs-Up-the-Wall relieves your legs, povides a gentle stretch to your legs, low back and neck, and even calms the mind.  This is a great pose to practice during menstruation, as it seems to ease cramping.  Please avoid this pose if you have serious eye problems, such as glaucoma.

To begin, find a section of wall at your house that you can scoot up close to.  Sit very close to the wall, with your left hip touching the baseboard.  Gently swing both legs up, while lying your toso down on the floor.  If you're like me, you slid away from the wall already.  So just use your arms to help you scoot a little closer, until your backside is on the baseboard, or until your legs are as stretched as you like.  If your feet start to tingle, just hug your knees into your chest for a few breaths, and try again.  When you're ready to come out of this pose, just roll slowly to your right side, and rest there for a minute before using your arms to press your way back up to sitting.

Use the time in this pose to breathe deeply into your belly and to meditate.  Allow your stress to melt away...

full-body relaxation technique

Welcome to our new blog!

Today, we'll cover a full-body relaxation technique that we experienced in class this morning.

-Begin by lying on your back. If the room is cool, cover with a blanket. If you have low-back stuff going on today, place a bolster or large pillow under your knees. Take a few deep, cleansing breaths and relax your mind.

-Bring all of your attention into your toes. Curl them and squeeze. With a giant exhale, relax your toes, feeling the stress melt from them.

-Next is your feet. Tighten all the muscles in your feet. Notice how uncomfortable this is. Your feet are true workhorses, often referred to as "dogs". Needless to say, we abuse our feet. We stuff them into shoes and walk on them all day. With a giant exhale, relax your feet and wiggle them around.

-Bring your focus to your calves. Point your toes and tighten your calf muscles. These are the most underappreciated muscles in the body. They carry us around all day, and receive very little care. Exhale & release tension from them.

-Next, your shins. Pull your toes up, toward your knees and notice the muscles on the front of your lower legs. Exhale and relax them so much that they seem to "melt" off your bones.

-Now your quadriceps, the large muscle group on the front of your upper thighs. Engage these muscles and pull your kneecaps slightly up. Your quadriceps get very tight when sitting too long. Exhale again, and allow any tension to release from the muscles.

-Move your thoughts to your hamstrings (the large muscle group on the backs of your thighs) and your buttocks. Tighten all these muscles. An imbalance of the back of the leg and hips, compared to the front of the leg and abdominals often causes severe back pain. Notice the strength of these muscles. With a giant exhale, release and melt into your mat.

-Now the low and mid-back. See if you can isolate these muscles as you tense them. Exhale, release, and feel your low back melt.

-Bring your attention into your belly. Tighten your abdominal muscles, and notice how tightness here affects your entire body. This area is closely associated with your emotions. As you carry tension through this area, it can change the way you digest food, the way you feel, and even the way you breathe. Relax through your belly and allow the breath to flow in and out in a comfortable fashion.

-Close your hands into fists. Tighten all the muscles through your arms and shoulders. See if you can feel each individual muscle. Notice, and determine if this is a familiar feeling. Do you carry stress in your hands & shoulders while driving? Exhale and allow all that tension to slide out the tips of your fingers.

-Finally, engage the muscles in your neck, your jaw, and your face. Make a face like you do when you're angry. Notice how this angry expression affects your entire body, and even has an impact on your emotions. Exhale and allow your expression to return to normal.

-Tighten all the muscles in your body at once. Really squeeze here and notice how uncomfortable you are. Exhale fully and release down into your mat.

-Lie still for another 10 minutes here, paying close attention to your breath. When it's time to get up, move slowly and intentionally. Notice the feeling of calm you have and try to carry some of that throughout your day.