The First Spiritual Law of Yoga Pure Potentiality

At the core of your being you are pure awareness. This realm of pure awareness is the domain of all possibilities and underlies creativity in all its forms. Pure consciousness is your spiritual essence and the source of your joy in life. The realm of pure potentiality is the home of knowledge, intuition, balance, harmony, and bliss.

The silent ever-present witness is your true Self. The experience of the Self, or self-referral, means that your internal reference point is your soul rather than the objects of your experience. The opposite of self-referral is object-referral. In object-referral, you are influenced by what is happening outside the Self, which includes situations, circumstances, people, and things. In object-referral, you need and therefore are constantly seeking the approval of others in order to feel comfortable and worthy. Because in object-referral your thoughts and behavior are always in anticipation of a response, it is a fear-based state of being.

The ego is your internal reference in the state of object-referral. The ego, is not who you really are. Rather it is your social mask, the role you are playing. At one moment you play the role of a friend, in the next the antagonist. You play the role of child in the presence of your parents and the role of the parent when you are with your children. You play one role when speaking with you supervisor and another with those you supervise.

Your social mask thrives on approval, strives to control, and is sustained by power.

But you true Self, your soul, is completely free of the things your mind is telling you. It is immune to criticism, fears no challenge, and feels neither beneath nor above anyone.

During the practice of yoga, the Law of Pure Potentiality reminds us that every movement emerges from the silent field of infinite possibility, the more powerful the silence, the more effective the movement. Every movement is a vibration, a wave on the ocean of life. The deeper the connection to the depths of the ocean, the more powerful is the wave that arises.

                                   Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                               And Ayurveda Consultant

Reminding you how to Balance the Kapha

Kapha people tend to be loyal, grounded, and patient. Their inner sense of stability and contentment shows up as compassion and warmth toward others. In a state of imbalance,   kapha’s becomes stubborn, lethargic, and possessive. A kapha person likes to go slow and steady, and prefers any life changes to happen slowly as well.

Those with a kapha imbalance need to be careful to monitor their quantity of food. Stress is a vibration. Kaphas try to deal with this vibration by adding volume—essentially gaining weight to handle stress. It’s an intuitively wise approach, but it gets them into trouble. Light, slightly heating, spicy, and astringent foods will help balance kapha, as these add the elements of heat and mobility to this dosha. Pungent and bitter vegetables (artichokes, eggplant, broccoli) will invite movement. In general, kaphas should avoid nuts, which add heaviness, and sweets.

Kaphas need exercise that is both strenuous and heat producing. The kapha-imbalnced person often finds vigorous physical activity challenging and unpleasant, despite the fact that it will actually reduce stress in the long run.

Whether we have a vata, pitta, or kapha imbalance greatly influences the course we take to address overall stress. Adjustments that work for one dosha, might leave the others more aggravated than before. Harmony and balance aren’t fixed ideas; our achievement of these often lasts only but a moment. The good news is that guided by Ayurveda, we can choose to meet life’s challenges consciously and from on place or strength, rather than being at the mercy of our weaknesses. 

Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                           And Ayurveda Consultant

Reminding you how to Balance the Pitta

For those with a pitta imbalance, stress tends to appear as shades of anger. Extremely focused, driven, and goal-orientated, pitta types become easily stressed in situations they can’t control. Their natural alertness, intelligence, and perseverance that they use to achieve their ambitions can turn caustic when pitas become imbalanced or under stress, resulting in sharp words and health problems such as ulcers, and inflamed skin. Their fiery natures make them prone to outbursts and criticism, as well as migraines to burning hands and feet.

To address this eat a pitta-pacifying diet that favors cooling foods, such as cucumbers and watermelon, rather than spicy, salty foods that will only fan the fire. Melons, dates, and other fresh, sweet, juicy fruits will balance pitta. Cranberries, grapefruit, and tart fruits in general will aggravate it. Pitas benefit from eating most vegetables as long as they avoid pungent or acidic foods, like tomatoes, chili peppers, and radishes.

Pitas should try not to create more heat in the body when they exercise. And avoid exerting themselves at the peak-heat time of midday.

Pitta-imbalanced people can sustain longer sessions of meditation, provided they don’t get overheated in the process. Cool down with alternate nasal breathing by closing your right nostril and inhaling and exhaling through the left, switch side closing your left nostril and inhaling and exhaling through the right. Repeat this 6 to 8 times.

Make sure to meditate daily, do your daily self-oil massage, and yoga along with the dosha pacifying diet. This can help to bring balance to any or all of the dosha’s.

See my earlier posts on balancing each of the dosha’s for more information.

Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                             And Ayurveda Consultant

Reminding you how to Balance the Vata

So how do we know when we have an imbalance? It’s good to find an Ayurvedic consultant some times if you try to reduce stress using an incorrect diagnosis you could make matters worse. But, doshic imbalances do have certain general mental and physical symptoms, which we often can recognize in ourselves. Under stress, those with a vata imbalance tend to be climbing the walls and making imappropriate comments, speaking without thinking. Those with a pitta imbalance exhibit excessive acidity, anger, skin conditions, and high blood pressure. Those with a kapha imbalance will eat until they become rotund.

I’m going to give you some common stress reactions—and solutions—for each doshic imbalance. Starting with the vata.

Vata’s who are highly creative, quick thinkers at their best, when imbalanced can have difficulty settling down long enough to actualize their visions. They’re prone to distractions, free-floating fear, and worry this state of mental agitation leads to a variety of physical symptoms, including weight loss, teeth grinding, insomnia, and constipation. Vata-imbalanced people can actually find their stress subdued by calm, quiet, grounded activity.

If you have a vata imbalance, you need to be eating food that are grounding, warm, and soothing, and avoiding cold, raw foods like salads. Dry, light food like popcorn aggravate the vata. Heavy, high-quality milk products, rice, nuts, and warming herbs, like ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom, will help calm vata’s nature.

As much as vatas like movement, they should be mindful of their exercise choices. Vatas need to calm down, slow down. They are usually just stuck in the mind. They need to take the body along, doing exercise that brings them inward. A slower more restorative yoga class is best for them. This helps ground this dosha and alleviates stress.

Meditation provides immense benefit for calming vata, though sitting presents a challenge to those constantly in motion. Adding elements such as soft music or a guided meditation CD will help get a vata to that quiet place.

Remember to do a self massage with sesame oil before showering and on the soles of your feet before bed, this also helps bring excess vata into balance.

                                              Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                            And Ayurveda Consultant

Late fall and early winter aggravate Vata

I know it seems early to be talking about fall but it will be here before we know it. And with the weather so messed up, sometimes we get chilly winds and cold weather early in the year. We live in a vata-infested world; we are over worked, move to quickly, are Erratic/compulsive, to intense, and are living in our head. Any or all of these things will cause an imbalance in the system, mostly to the Vata. But that is not all; change in the season or in the weather can also cause an imbalance in the vata. 

          

As the cool chill of winter descends, do you find yourself more anxious, flighty, or forgetful than usual? It could be that your vata dosha is out of balance. The most likely of the doshas to slip out of balance in any season, vata is especially prone to aggravation during fall and early winter, when nature delivers an abundance of vatalike qualities in the form of blustery winds, cool temperatures, and dry air.

Composed of the elements air and space, vata is the subtlest of the three doshas. Travel, weather changes, insufficient sleep, fragmented schedules, and excessive mental or sensory stimulation of any kind can all challenge vata’s stability.

Vata is in charge of all movement in the body and mind. It enables our fluids to flow, our nerve impulses to fire, our thoughts to process, and our wastes to pass. Vata keeps all of our systems going and contributes to great vitality.

Because of the vata’s association with the nervous system, its state is often reflected in our mental health. When vata is in balance, we tend to be enthusiastic, imaginative, funny, quick to learn, and spiritually minded. But the excess vata of late fall and early winter can leave us susceptible to feeling more fearful, scattered, or worried than usual. Physically, pain is the most obvious indication of excess vata; other common signs are variable appetite, insomnia, dry skin, and constipation.

Keep a nurturing lifestyle, stick to a daily routine, scheduling in more down time than usual. Aim for lights out by 10 and get a full eight hours sleep.

Prepare warm, moist foods and sit sown to eat at regular times. Sweet, sour, and salty tastes calm vata. Cooked whole grains, root veggies, and savory soups are good dietary mainstays.

A few times a week, perform a full-body massage with warm oil, to nourish and protect the skin, a highly vata-sensitive organ.

Moderate, consistent exercise regulates vata’s mobile nature. In your yoga practice, include simple seated forward bends, and some supported back bends. If you’re feeling over stimulated or fatigued, do restorative posed to encourage deep relaxation.

                                    Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                And Ayurveda Consultant