Should Trump Meditate?

I’m very concerned about the lack of peace in our country and in our world, and I’m surely not alone. So I started to write an article about how our country’s political climate might change if Hillary, Bernie, Donald and Ted would begin to meditate. But then I had a change of heart.

I realized that was the wrong approach for several reasons. First, for all I know, these candidates may have a more solid meditation practice than I do. (Okay, that's unlikely - but possible!) And second, I could spend far more time in meditation than I already do, so perhaps I ought to focus on "trumping up" (no pun intended) my own practice. How might that add more peace into our world?

Telling our presidential candidates to meditate more and campaign less would be throwing the blame on other people and taking it off myself. Expressing my anger at a particular candidate and getting into lengthy rants with others to trash them is only contributing to the chaos.

The more time I spend watching debates and town halls, the angrier I get and that creates more internal chaos. This not only takes time away from meditation, it makes it harder to connect to stillness when my system is still reeling from rage. Sometimes I’ve even skipped meditation to watch another debate.

When it comes right down to it, it’s none of my business whether presidential candidates meditate or not. It’s not within my control. What is within my control is cultivating my own sense of inner peace, which I find most readily on the yoga mat or meditation cushion.

Since I don’t have plans to run for office, organize a rally or even attend one, what can I do beyond complain and create more war within myself and around me? I can hold my own rallies for peace every week in my yoga classes. I can help one body at a time experience more peace on the mat.

I see many people helping others to experience more peace in their own unique ways, ways that our culture may not honor or consider to be a political movement, but they really are.

Like the grandparents that provide a calm port in the sea of activities that their grandkids’ lives are made of, there are many, many ways to help our world experience more peace. The responsibility is on every one of us, not just those running for president.

Debunking the Myths About Falling as You Age

Before beginning yoga, I should have been a stockholder in ankle sprain product companies. I had several pairs of crutches, a variety of braces, homeopathic creams, and a ton of ice packs. My ankle turned all sorts of amazing colors on a regular basis. I began to EXPECT to fall, and this was before even reaching 40.

When I started yoga and tried my first few balance poses, I lacked confidence, feeling like the worst in the class. I felt terrified and extremely vulnerable when balancing on one foot.

Through the consistent practice that strengthened my ankles, feet, and hips, while increasing my core strength, a new sense of confidence returned. I also learned how to be mindful when walking, and aware of my body in relationship to the space around me.

After six months of attending yoga class regularly, I was pumping gas into my car. While the tank was filling, I went inside to grab a tea. On the way back, my foot somehow got caught on the gas hose. I was able to re-right myself, almost gracefully, and untangle without any injury. This may not seem significant, but it was the first time I had ever avoided a fall. That is the power of yoga.

I have seen just as miraculous results in my yoga students, achieved within a few short months or less. Two things in particular seem to surprise and delight them – being able to stand on one foot without tipping over, and getting closer and closer to the mat or the toes in forward folds.

Yoga cultivates balance and can prevent falls. I’ve experienced this in my own life and studies confirm it. In my classes, I reinforce the mindset that we can decrease the correlation between aging and falls.

Yes, it’s a fact that everyone ages, and that falls increase with age. Research cited in a ler (lower Extremity Review) article states:

“Falls are the leading cause of injurious death for those over the age of 65 in the United States. At least 30% of those over 65 and residing in the community fall annually; 10% to 20% fall two or more times. After age 80, annual fall rates increase to 50%.”

The good news is that many studies, such as this one summarized at Yoga U, have shown that yoga reduces falling, improves balance, and reduces the fear of falling. This will come as no surprise to anyone who has witnessed their own balance improve on the yoga mat.

There are three major reasons yoga helps us be more stable:

1. Attention is focused. During yoga class, the mind is directed to focus on what is happening in the body. Off the mat, our minds lead the way, and that’s when accidents happen. Yoga teaches us to be aware of where our body is in space, a state called proprioception, and helps us truly be in our bodies.

2. Fear is diffused. Many have lost faith in their body’s ability to stand on one foot. Once poses like Tree or Dancer are mastered, a sense of physical confidence is achieved and taken out into the world.

3.  The body is strengthened. Ankles, hips, toes and the core are strengthened in yoga – all of which are needed to navigate an uneven pavement or an unexpected step.

Yoga cultivates balance, on and off the mat, and helps us to move gracefully as we age.  It's one of the best fall prevention methods available.

Top 9 Questions I Get Asked About Yoga

1. I’m not flexible – can I still practice yoga?

Of course! The practice of yoga will open your hamstrings slowly over time. Think of it this way: If you are not flexible now, where will you be next year without yoga?

“Yoga is not about touching your toes, it is what you learn about yourself on the way down.”

 – Jigor Gor

2. Is yoga a religion?

No. Yoga is a philosophy that began in India about 5,000 years ago. Yes, yoga sometimes interweaves other philosophies like Hinduism and Buddhism, but it’s not expected that anyone align with these, it’s just part of the yoga education.

All religious beliefs are welcome on the mat. In fact, you may find that as your mind becomes quieter, your connection to your faith deepens.

3. How often should I practice yoga?

If you are attending one 75-minute class a week (like the ones offered at More Peace Yoga), that’s a fantastic start and you will experience many benefits from just that one class. You may find that’s just right.

Adding another class, or a home practice, will likely organically evolve as your body and mind begin to crave the gifts of feeling more open and relaxed.

4. I have ugly feet! Do I have to be barefoot?

This is one of the most common things I hear – it seems no one likes their feet! But after a short time on the mat in mountain pose, really honoring the gifts of our feet from a place of gratitude rather than critique, we find what was once considered ugly is now beautiful.

After all, how would we get around without feet? :)

If your feelings about your feet don’t transform this way, there are always yoga toe socks that allow you to feel almost as connected to the mat as bare feet.

“Change the way you look at things,
 and the things you look at change.” 
– Wayne Dyer

5. What does namaste mean?

Nama means bow, as means I, and te means you. Therefore, namaste literally means “bow me you” or “I bow to you.”

As a way to honor the light within one another, I like to use this phrase at the end of class as a ritualistic and positive conclusion to a lovely experience.

6. What is Hatha yoga?

Hatha is also translated as ha meaning “sun” and tha meaning “moon.” This refers to the balance of masculine aspects—active, hot, sun—and feminine aspects—receptive, cool, moon—within all of us.

Hatha yoga is a path toward creating balance and uniting opposites. In our physical bodies we develop a balance of strength and flexibility. We also learn to balance our effort and surrender in each pose.

Hatha yoga is a powerful tool for self-transformation. It asks us to bring our attention to our breath, which helps us to still the fluctuations of the mind and be more present in the unfolding of each moment.

7. What should I wear to class?

You don’t need to dress like the women on the cover of Yoga Journal in order to practice yoga, and that can get very expensive.

In the More Peace Yoga studio, we dress casually. Just be comfortable and consider making sure that your shirt doesn’t slip over your head when you’re in an inverted pose (head beneath your heart). 

8. What if I can’t do some of the poses?

There is only one pose you must learn and that is a pose where you are comfortably able to breathe and relax if another pose isn’t working for you. That might be child’s pose, puppy pose or on your back in Shavasana.

You’ll learn the poses when the time is right, and until then, I’ll show you modifications that will get you close.

9. What Is yoga?

The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj, meaning to yoke or bind, and is often interpreted as “union” or a method of discipline. A male who practices yoga is called a yogi, a female practitioner, a yogini.

There are 8 limbs or asanas (the poses and the physical practice) of yoga in total. The asana were created in order to provide comfort, physical strength and stamina that is needed during long periods of meditation. We practice the 3rd limb (asana) most often in our classes.

Burning the Myths of Meditation

While I'm not the one in our home to turn on the news, I do try to stay fairly current, especially when the subjects covered align with my interests.

A few Sundays ago, CBS Sunday Morning was on in the living room while I was cleaning up the kitchen.  When I heard the next two stories that were coming up were two of my favorite topics – meditation and cats – I nearly ran into the room, green tea in hand.

The Cat Island Story was adorable and made my day, but I had a mixed reaction to the meditation portion of the program.

Part of me is absolutely thrilled that meditation is so mainstream that it’s highlighted on such a popular and long-standing show.

But part of me was saddened, because I know of few people who are able to stick to a twice-daily practice for any length of time, let alone 20 years like the man featured in the story.

In typical American news fashion, we were told how Allan Lokos had survived a fiery plane crash – literally engulfed in flames and told he had no chance to live.

“He says had he not been calm, ‘I would be pretty certain that I would have died in the plane. The person right behind me did,’ Lokos said.”

I’m awed, inspired and motivated by his story. He’s a true inspiration for us all. Not only did he make it through alive and recover more quickly than any doctor predicted, he was teaching meditation classes just four short months after the crash. How amazing is that?

Yet even though I only personally know one person with a twice-daily meditation practice, I know that those of us with a more casual meditation practice still experience innumerable benefits from better sleep, to learning to PAUSE before reacting, to simply being a kinder person.

Am I more likely to survive fires as a result of my almost daily meditation practice? Yes. The fires of life, that is. Meditation has helped me to weather through intense challenges in ways that I could never have before I began meditating. It works. It’s life changing. It can save your life – literally and figuratively.

But it doesn’t have to be done every single day, two times a day, for decades, in order for it to work.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for that ideal – we should. But I worry that those who watch the CBS story will make up that meditation isn’t available to them, because their own dedication will never match that of Allan Lokos.

Enormous benefits can be realized with just ONE minute of meditation – or even five mindful breaths – once a day. It’s that easy. Start there and I bet that you will naturally begin to increase the time you devote.

Top 5 things you will NOT experience in my meditation workshops

1)   Receiving a mantra that you can not share and that you must keep using.

A mantra is a word or phrase that we repeat to focus the mind during meditation. It can also act as an affirmation for a concept or way of being we'd like to embrace. Some monks give secret mantras to yoga students, but I believe in each of us creating our own mantra that is uniquely ours. I also believe that mantras very often change, according to the circumstance.

2)   Describing HOW LONG my practice is, nor will I ask anyone else in the room to share how long theirs is.

Meditation is a personal practice (not perfect), and if you feel the need to compare or live up to what I do as an instructor, or anyone else in the room, then I have failed to teach that point.

3)   Calling myself a meditation expert.

Like you, I’m just doing the best I can to try to quiet my busy mind. While I have had yoga and meditation training, and have a practice (not perfect) of my own, I have aspirations to be even more dedicated.  I will always yearn to embrace stillness even more than I do today, and my guess is that we are all learning.  In the practice of meditation, I don't know any true "experts." As Ram Dass shares, "We're all just walking each other home."

4)   Giving you only one style of meditation to try.

In my early days as a yoga instructor, I had just one meditation technique to offer my clients – a twice a day, 20-minute practice. It’s no surprise that most of them failed, and that I couldn’t hang through it either.

Today I understand that there are many ways to experience stillness and mindfulness. I hope that one of the many ideas presented in the workshop will be a fit for you, and that you’ll notice your life changing as a result. (Mine has...)

5)   Claiming that meditation is the answer to all of life’s challenges.

It’s not. There are times when you should purposefully occupy your mind with things like light movies and fiction, because what you are going through is too scary to sit with.  This may be the death of a loved one, the sudden loss of a job, or an unexpected diagnosis. During challenging times like these, there are safe ways to practice mindfulness, and you'll learn these.

My goal for the workshop is simple - that you walk out with a solid understanding of the benefits of meditation and are inspired to create your own unique practice.  

Cardio Burns Calories, Yoga Creates Time

Most of us hold the illusion that there is not enough time, and the recommendation to get 30 minutes of exercise five times a week just adds to our pressure. Yet I’m troubled when someone says they don’t want to add a yoga class to their week because it won’t burn enough calories to be counted as exercise.

I understand this perspective all too well. For years I would only attend a yoga class that could burn significant calories and increase my heart rate, just like if I had been to the gym. Even now I sometimes slip into this mentality, like last month when I missed my cardio workout and tried to replace it with a very vigorous heated yoga class – so vigorous and so hot that I left class with a blister on my palm.

For the most part, today I view my yoga time as entirely separate from my workout time. It’s an addition to my body movement for the week; it’s time for my nervous system to receive a well-deserved pause. And when I give myself that pause, it’s amazing how much MORE time seems to appear in my schedule because I'm able to focus more and work more efficiently.

It reminds me of this Zen proverb:

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.”

I wonder what would happen if we viewed our yoga practice as wholly separate from what we call exercise. What if we could give ourselves permission to spend at least one hour a week on gentle yoga movements that are not designed to burn calories, but to create more space in our heart, mind, joints and even our calendar?

Perhaps our 2016 intentions would be more easily realized with the addition of gentle yoga?