When Not To Do Yoga

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personal development, yoga healing, yoga mental health, yoga mindfulness, yoga positivity, yoga well-being, Yoga With Paul

Yoga is amazing so, the more the better, right?

Yes. Except when it’s not. Sometimes, we don’t need to do yoga. Sometimes, we need to do something different entirely, or need to do a different kind of yoga.

I got to thinking about this reading a post called “Yoga poses I simply can’t do, and what I do instead“. The point of the article is simple: not everyone has the same body so we can’t all do the same yoga poses in the same way.

Photo by Ümit Bulut on Unsplash

Some of us need to modify postures a little, or a lot. Or substitute for another pose. Or just park on the mat and take a breather in child’s pose. None of us should ever feel bad about this, or like we’re doing it wrong.

This applies beyond the studio, too.

There are times when, for our own well-being, we shouldn’t do yoga. The whole point of yoga is to learn to flow with our bodies, ourselves, and our circumstances. If we do it in the wrong situations, or use it to mask feelings that need to be addressed, we muddy its purpose and create an unhealthy energy in our practice.

When should we not do yoga?

• When we are under-nourished.
• When we are exhausted.
• When we have an urgent responsibility.
• If we are using it to block or avoid painful emotions.
• If we are using it to feel superior or powerful.
• If we are using it to punish ourselves.
• If we are chasing an unrealistic body image.

In these emotional states, we need to be honest with ourselves and brave enough to address the real issues. Yoga is a beautiful, healing, energising tool to help us through life. If we try to make it a shield or a weapon against the things we find difficult or scary, we distort its meaning and our relationship to it.

The ethos of yoga is unity and compassion, with starts with ourselves. We should always practice in a spirit of wellness and harmony, not anxiety or evasion.

Share you thoughts on when not to do yoga, in the comments.

 

4 Hydrating Autumn Infusions

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autumn recipes, autumn yoga, Ayurveda tea, healing teas, herbal teas, hydration yoga, natural immune boost, yoga immune system, Yoga With Paul

Autumn is on its way! Preparing your body for the change of seasons is critical to maintaining your health, energy and positivity as the days get shorter and colder.

Staying hydrated is key to health year-round, but it can get more challenging as the weather cools and you are less inclined to reach for a cold bottle of water. While regular tea and coffee are appealing, they also have a diuretic effect and excessive intake can jangle your nerves.

Instead, embrace the calming, healing properties of infusions based on herbs and spices, which offer a warming, flavourful way to get your liquids.

If you want to get all fancy you can seek out special herbal blends, or make your own. Personally, I find good-quality boxed teas hit the spot, and are less fussy than attempting to do it yourself. However, here are a couple of easy DIY infusions to try too!

Four Hydrating Autumn Infusions

Photo by Mike Kenneally on Unsplash

Thyme, rosemary and mint

These three herbs are all wonderful for digestion, and quite a tasty blend. To make this infusion, I use store-bought mint tea bags and add a generous pinch of each dried thyme and dried rosemary, then let infuse for several minutes.

Lemon, ginger and cinnamon

This is a classic that will invigorate your body from the inside out. Lemon and ginger offer antioxidants and stimulate digestion, while cinnamon is reported to balance blood sugar. If you’re suffering a cold or ‘flu, add raw honey for extra soothing.

Heartwarming Yogi Tea

This Ayurveda-based Yogi Tea blend is packed with warming ingredients like ginger, chilli, cloves and black pepper. Delicious on its own or with a splash of non-diary milk.

Elderberry & Echinacea Pukka Tea

This is a great autumnal blend that combines the tartness of elderberry with the immune defending powers of echninacea. Great to see you through the inevitable onslaughts of cold-weather germs!

What’s your favourite autumn infusion? Share in the comments!

4 Steps to More Respectful Relationships

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daily yoga practice, positive habits, positive yoga, respect, respectful relationships, Yoga With Paul

I read an article recently about food allergy sufferers who struggle to get chefs, or even their own families, to acknowledge their allergies. As a result, some have gotten ill from deliberately being fed ingredients they couldn’t eat, while those with severe allergies literally risk their lives if someone ignores their dietary needs.

This struck me as not just a food issue but a respect issue. When someone denies or refuses to acknowledge someone else’s need, it is saying, “you don’t matter.” Unfortunately, as the story demonstrated, people often have difficulties respecting each other’s needs and boundaries. Whether out of carelessness or ignorance, we damage relationships by failing to treat the other person with the care they deserve.

Photo by Tiago Felipe Ferreira on Unsplash

We all need to cultivate respect and these four steps are a great way to start…

Listen

The basis of all healthy relationships is communication, and that means listening. We need to practice really paying attention to what other people are trying to tell us — not just verbally, but physically and emotionally. The yoga studio is a good place to begin: focus on listening with real attention to the instructor, not just letting the words slide past you. When you’re talking to a friend, loved one or colleague, stay present.

Accept

Other people will experience, feel, say, and do things you can’t get your head round. They will staunchly believe things that seem totally inexplicable to you. No matter how strange, it isn’t your place to decide whether or not their feeling, ideas or experience are valid; you must accept their version of their life. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with someone whose beliefs you find objectionable, for example, but it means you have to accept they hold them, and have a reason — whether or not it seems right to you.

Support

To be a respectful person, you have to support others as they move through life, especially if their experience is different from yours. It isn’t enough to be an ally to the people who are like you. Practicing compassion and openness means being willing and able to care for those around you, whatever your similarities or differences.

Affirm

The big leap in respect is to not just accept but affirm other people, even when they are coming from a place — or going through an experience — that is foreign to you. Again, affirmation does not mean supporting beliefs that are contrary to yours, but it does mean respecting the inherent human value of everyone you meet, and affirming that everyone deserves to be treated with care and dignity.

Read more: Four practices to speak with kindness, Three practices to cultivate patience

Yoga for Recovering from Illness

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stress, yoga anxiety, yoga cancer, yoga chemo, yoga healing, yoga immunity, yoga wellness, Yoga With Paul

Yoga is a practice that strengthens our bodies and minds when they need it most. Acute illness, like cancer, is a physical and emotional trauma that calls for attentive self-care — and science is finding that yoga can be an important tool.

Photo by Natalie Grainger on Unsplash

A recent study investigated whether yoga could help with eight common side effects of chemotherapy: pain, tiredness, drowsiness, nausea, lack of appetite, shortness of breath, depression, and anxiety.

The researchers assessed the participants over an eight-week structured yoga course and found improvements in many of the symptoms. What’s most important is that, “participants’ self-report of overall well-being demonstrated a positive improvement.”

In other words, people who do yoga feel better, even when they have a severe illness.

If you are recovering from a serious health issue and want to practice yoga, the focus should be on having a gentle, restorative and meditative practice. Try these posts to get started:

1. Restorative yoga
2. Balasana – child’s pose
3. 3 grounding yoga poses

Has yoga helped you overcome illness? Share in the comments!

Cyprus Retreat Readiness!

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summer yoga holiday, yoga abroad, yoga cyprus, yoga holiday, Yoga Holiday With Paul, Yoga Holiday With Paul Cyprus, yoga intention, yoga retreat, Yoga With Paul

Can you believe it is September? I hardly can…

Yoga Holiday With Paul in Cyprus from 13-21 September is just around the corner.

Whether you’re about to join us in Cyprus, or will be pursuing your usual practice during that week, here are some classic Yoga With Paul tips for getting the most out of the week.

Yoga Holiday With Paul style

Study your practice

Investing your time,  money and energy in a yoga holiday is a chance to push the boundaries of your practice. But to do this most effectively, you have to know where those boundaries are! Over the next few weeks be especially mindful and observant in the studio. Take note of what you struggle with, any questions you have, any areas you want to explore. Then, on the retreat, you are ready to dive right in and learn!

Set an intention for the retreat

Spend some time thinking about why you’re going on the retreat, and what you hope to gain from it. Are you looking to push your practice to the next level with challenging classes? Are you hoping to try new kinds of yoga? Are you eager to relax in the sun and make new friends? Setting an intention will help you be focused right from the start, helping you receive the maximum benefits.

Increase the ZZZZs

Resist the temptation to run around frantically to “get it all done”. The world will not end in the week you take for holiday. Work will be there when you get back. Cleaning the house will be there. Getting your dog to the groomer will be there. Whatever it is, it will be there. Part of the gift and challenge of a yoga holiday is it can help us break out of our habitual behaviours. Get a head start on this practice — and arrive rested and ready for yoga — by making sleep a priority before the holiday.

Clean your plate

What you eat profoundly affects your body. Eating clean for the three weeks before your holiday will ensure you arrive with a clear head and healthy body. Focus on eating lots of whole foods, especially seasonal fruits and vegetables. Scroll through the Yoga With Paul recipe archive for delicious inspiration for smoothies, soups, salads and more!

 

3 Steps to Yoga as a Mental Discipline

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changing habits, concentration, daily yoga, healing yoga, mental discipline, yoga intention, yoga mindfulness, yoga unity, Yoga With Paul

Yoga is very much a physical practice. It is also an exercise of the mind. Sometimes, it is easy to get caught up in perfecting the body and then we unintentionally neglect the mind. Though any yoga is better than no yoga, we only get half the benefit if we are not actively cultivating our mental powers along with bodily movements.

To achieve the true unity of yoga we need to bring our brain to the studio — wide awake. Here are three steps to yoga as a mental discipline.

Photo by JD Mason on Unsplash

Intention

When you go to the studio, or set out your mat for home practice, set an intention. Not just “get through it” but something specific and meaningful that relates to your thoughts or mental processes. Are you frustrated? Bored? Struggling in a relationship? Coping with grief, or conflict? Whatever state your mind is in, acknowledge and accept this — and set one small intention for how you are going to shift this energy.

Concentration

One way to quickly build your mental discipline is to concentrate on your physical practice. It is so easy to switch into auto-pilot, especially if it is a familiar class or sequence. Resist this temptation. There is always something to learn if you are alert and focused. Stay present in your body, notice your breath, listen to what the teacher actually says (instead of letting the words drift in one ear and out). This is a form of meditation. Not only will it calm your mind, it will enhance your powers to focus outside the studio.

Interaction

Yoga shouldn’t stop when you step off your mat. It is easy to feel positive and generous in the comfortable confines of the studio. Then you head back into the hustle and bustle and face all sorts of distractions and irritations. It is no good being all peace and light in yoga class then going out and snapping at your colleagues and family. When you can bring the same intention and concentration to your daily interactions that you do to yoga, you have achieved real unity and power.

Read more: 3 practices to cultivate patience, 3 ways to free yourself from frustration

 

Give Yourself Permission To Be

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habit change, happy yoga, inspiration, mindfulness, positive yoga, self-awareness, yoga goals, Yoga With Paul

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how our minds guide us, and the ways they can open new vistas, or get us stuck in a rut.

We are, after all, creatures of habit — both physical and mental. We are brought up with certain values and beliefs and, unless we are conscious of them, we can go through our whole life without ever checking whether they are helpful or harmful.

Photo by Alex Block on Unsplash

The path to true happiness?

One incredibly common belief is that we have to earn the right To Be… to be happy, to be loved, to be successful, to be content, to be satisfied with our lives.

Our culture is predicated on always needing more. This can be material, but it can also be mental and spiritual. We fall into the rut of thinking, “once I have the perfect relationship, I can be happy,” or “once I get this promotion, I will have achieved something,” or “once I really learn to meditate, I’ll be at peace.”

Unfortunately, there is always another there to reach. We can spend our whole life setting up goals then discovering, when we reach them, that there is still one more thing… and trust me, there is ALWAYS one more thing.

It’s not a destination

So we can spend our whole life, running along this road, not feeling prepared or confident or at peace. Or, we can slow down and reconsider our relationship to this never-ending journey.

Sure, there are always going to be goals, but should we allow them to dictate our state of well-being and personal satisfaction? No.

Life is short. We will never achieve it all. What we can do, is learn to appreciate the things we have right now. In the moment.

Take stock, then… relax

Next time you catch yourself getting into this hurry-ahead mindset, pause and take stock. Your goal is important, sure. But so is right now.

• You are already a valuable human being.
• You already deserve mental, physical and spiritual wellness.
• You already have the tools you need to achieve your objectives.
• You already have the capacity to learn and grow. 

Give yourself permission to be yourself, here and now, and pursue your dreams with joy, instead of self-judgment.

Read more: A Short Guide to Mindfulness, Mental and Emotional Harmony

4 Yoga Poses to Unlock your Shoulders

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bow pose, child's pose, dhanurasana, healing yoga, Revolved side angle pose, uttanasana, yoga flexibility, yoga forward bend, yoga postures, yoga shoulders, yoga stress, Yoga With Paul

Our shoulders carry a lot of weight, physically and emotionally. When we are tense or stressed, we tighten our shoulders. This can lead to short-term discomfort and long-term pain, stiffness and imbalance.

Regular yoga is an antidote to stress and its physical expression in our bodies. Before doing these poses, warm up with Pranayama breathing. The deep breaths open your lungs and rib cage, and the rhythmic arm movements gently warm and open your shoulders. When you’re ready, here are four great poses to unlock your shoulders.

Standing forward bend (Uttanasana)

We usually think of the forward bend as a hamstring stretch, but it is also a wonderful, gravity-fuelled stretch for the shoulders. The key is to let your whole upper body hang loose and heavy. This will relax the muscles and give you a light warm-up for the more active poses.

Bow pose (Dhanurasana)

This is a challenging pose that strengthens your back and creates a strong shoulder stretch. It is important to maintain good form: keep your knees and feet six inches apart, and perform the pose slowly, being mindful of the pressure you are putting into your shoulders. Work gently to the point you can maintain the posture and hold it.

Revolved side angle pose. Photo: Urban Decay Visuals

Revolved side angle pose (Parivrtta Parsvakonasana)

This posture is an incredible stretch that opens your upper body, creating space and clarity. Your shoulders lead the way as you turn the upper body in one direction and the lower body in the other, giving a strong, detoxifying massage to your organs and connective tissues. To deepen the rotation and increase the stretch across the back of your shoulder, press elbow against the knee.

Child’s pose (Balasana)

Round out your shoulder session with a long, meditative rest in child’s pose. It is an incredible stretch for your spine and shoulders, opening your upper body and inciting natural relaxation. You can vary it by alternating between arms-forward and arms back. Mentally, it is also a soothing pose, helping relieve the stress and distractions that cause your shoulders to lock up in the first place.

Questions? Comments? Tweet me @YogaWithPaul or write in the comments!

Practice Realistic Positive Thinking

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lifestyle change, mindfulness, positive habits, realistic positive thinking, self-awareness, self-improvement, Yoga With Paul

We hear a lot about positive thinking but what does it mean? Are we supposed to close our eyes and stuff our fingers in our ears when we encounter anything unpleasant?

Photo by Reza Heydar on Unsplash

See no evil?

Some people take a see no evil-hear no evil approach to positive thinking and refuse to engage with anything that they find uncomfortable, awkward, or painful. Instead of facing problems, they look the other way and call it “positive thinking”.

An example

A see-no-evil positive thinker runs into difficulties in a relationship. He or she chooses to ignore them, pretending to not notice the other person’s moods or the strained interaction. If the other person tries to raise the issue they brush it off, refusing to acknowledge anything “negative.” Ultimately, the avoidance causes a rupture.

Realism with a positive twist

Simply avoiding difficult realities doesn’t make them go away — or make for long-term happiness. This brings us to another definition of positive thinking: realistic consideration of the circumstances that chooses to see them in the best possible light. 

An example

A realistic positive thinker encounters the same relationship problem. Instead of ignoring them, s/he spends time in self-reflection, trying to identify the source of the problem. Then s/he talks about it with the partner, being honest about uncomfortable feelings, but with emphasising the love and value they place on the relationship. This leads to a conversation where they are able to address the issue in a way that strengthens rather than harms their bond.

Keeping it real — and positive

You could easily come up with examples from work, family life, yoga practice — any area of our daily lives and experience are ripe with opportunities for either ignoring problems, or addressing them with realistic positive thinking.

When we choose realistic positive thinking, we actually empower ourselves far more than if we try to pretend problems don’t exist. If something doesn’t exist, we cannot do anything to improve it. Reality, though, we can influence with our actions and attitude.

Ultimately, accepting and facing the hard things in life is a victory, not a defeat. The world is never going to be perfect and flawless, nor are we. By embracing this truth and working to grow within it, through yoga, mindfulness, self-care and meaningful relationships, we actually have a chance to make a difference.

Read more: Making Positive Mistakes, Mindfulness for the Greater Good

 

 

 

Should Yoga be Competitive?

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competitive yoga, philosophy yoga, positive yoga, yoga competition, yoga habit change, yoga mindfulness, Yoga With Paul

I read an interesting blog the other day about competitive yoga: “Oxymoron, abomination, or just a thing?” it asked.

Strive for unity, not competion

The competitive side of yoga

It got me thinking about what yoga means, what competition means and whether the two are compatible.

Yoga, literally, means unity — which doesn’t sound very competitive. In fact, it sounds like the opposite of competition, which is a struggle between two opposites.

On the other hand, when two contrasting things meet and engage — or compete — there is an opportunity for them to influence each other. Perhaps, in the end, for unity.

Without getting too philosophical, I think there is a way in which yoga guides, or encourages us to compete with certain aspects of ourselves. If our natural inclination is to sleep in till the last minute, then rush frantically to work, without breakfast, yoga encourages us to challenge that behaviour with a more positive set of actions.

When negative thought patterns or habits emerge, yoga is a tool to compete with those impulses, to help us get back on track.

When not to compete

However, there are definitely areas in which yoga should not be a competition.

First, it should not be a competition about looks, flexibility, or how long you’ve been practicing. Everyone’s journey is unique, and comparison or competition in this respect is counter to the true spirit of yoga.

Second, yoga should not be used as a tool for self-judgement or deprecation. We often compete internally, constantly measuring ourselves in terms of outside markers. This is not the purpose of yoga. It should open us to greater awareness and self-compassion, not an attitude of impatience or pressure.

There are no winners or losers in yoga. The achievement is the practice.