Negativity - Don't rent it space in your head!

This came my way from someone who read my blog. Thanks. I think it makes so much sense. I have added my own thoughts to it.

There are only a dozen negative people in the world but the problem is that they move around a lot. Negative people are stress carriers but the only way they can pass on their stress is if you rent them space in your head.

If you want to allocate neural real estate to the comments of other people then keep a good memory store of all the positive feedback you have received from friends and contacts.The best way to defuse a negative comment is to transpose it on to a mental picture of your tombstone and to see if it still carries any sting.

If you view things in a whole-of-life way then what seems big at the time will shrink to appropriate insignificance. Try it ... it works.


I feel strongly that Negative Emotions carry with you to your next life. If you believe in reincarnation - then put your focus on positive emotions and do everything in your life that puts the positive emotions over the negative emotions. Be indifferent to negativity and negative carriers around you. Don't give it the space in your mind or life. With yoga you can balance your emotions and intelligence i.e. your head with your heart. The balance allows you to think more clearly, be more neutral, so you can create the space in your mind to bring calm positive feelings which helps to over power the stress that comes from negativity that may surround you.

May you bring more positive thoughts to your mind by not allowing negativity space in your mind and life. Just be indifferent to them. That's the best way. According to Nina that is what sage Patanjali says in the sutras and that is what Gehlek Rimpoche says in his book Good Life Good Death.

Namaste

The Yogi

How to manage your stress with Yoga?

For the last many months I have been dealing with very stressful situations in life. Stress has so many manifestations and effects on your mental, physical and emotional state. Irritability, sadness, depression, aches, pains, low self esteem, anger, defeat, over eating, weight gain or loss all are can be traced to stress. I have talked so much about managing physical in life with yoga therapy - but there is a silent 900 pound gorilla pain called STRESS.

We all deal with stress every day. How many of us really truly deal with it or manage it? With the plethora of drugs being bombarded at us for depression, it has become a fashion to be prescribed with an anti-depressant medicine. No one yet knows about all of the side effects of such medication. All I can say from experience is that it is no panacea for stress. Stress in my opinion is the root cause of many depression related and psychosomatic problems. I have been anti-depressant medication free since I started doing yoga two years ago. I am proud to say that today despite being under tremendous stress, I have not succumbed to anti-depressants again. As a matter of fact my physician is militant about me not going back on these medications. Yoga has saved me from medication hell. Combine it with some behavior changes and you have a new way to deal with stress.

Here some yoga poses and behavioral techniques that I use to deal with Stress:

1. Uttanasana
2. Salama Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand)
3. Salamba Sirsana (Head Stand)
4. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
5. Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Forward Bend)
6. Adho mukha Vriksanasana
7. Shavasana

The best sequence would be : 1, 5, 6, 4, 2, 3, 7

Most days when I feel really stressed or depressed I try some of these poses, maybe even one. Its an instant relief, but a continuous regular practice including one or two classes a week at a yoga studio like Sunset Yoga will help you manage stress and depression in the long term. I have also incorporated some behavior changes to deal with stress, most recent :

1. Drop your sail down: Acquiesce to the stressful situation or stress's in your life. Don't fight it - accept it.
2. Don't show up for war: Dont make your presence in situations that cause stress. Avoid them. If someone starts a fight - don't show up to the fight to react.

Such techniques require mental strength and courage, most of which I attribute to my continued practice of Iyengar yoga.

Namaste

The Yogi