Spiritual Yoga

Melissa's Blog Posts, Yoga Questions and Yoga Answers

Today’s question comes from Maya Tiegrah for research she is doing for graduate school.

What does yoga mean to me spiritually?

Yoga is a practice that allows me to come home to my True Self, my True Nature. In yoga we have a practice called pratyahara which means withdrawal of the senses. By bringing our attention back from all the external noise of the outside world – media, advertising, propoganda, we can turn inwards and listen to that still, quiet voice within and know a deeper, truer voice of wisdom that is our own. To me this is what yoga is about spiritually. Clearing away all the noise so that we can hear the pure voice within.

Here are some Namaste Yoga classes that embody this theme beautifully. (Just click on the picture)

Namaste Yoga 165: Your Unique Inner Wisdom

Namaste Yoga 76 True Self with Dr. Melissa West

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What does yoga mean to me physically

Melissa's Blog Posts, Yoga Questions and Yoga Answers

Today’s question comes from Maya Tiegrah for research she is doing for graduate school. What does yoga mean to me physically?

Physically – physically yoga allows me to move my body and again this is another way that I start to clear out (saucha) the debris so that I can access the deepest part of myself. In yoga when you move your densest layer of your body, your physical body, you are affecting all the other layers of your being.
When you move your body you impact all levels of your being, in yoga this is called the koshas.

Physical – Annamaya kosha
Energy – Pranamaya kosha
Mental – Manamaya kosha
Wisdom – Vijnanamaya kosha
Bliss – Anandamaya kosha
Self – Atman

So as I move my physical body I am affecting my energy, my breathing, my mind, my emotions and my spirit. All these aspects of myself are being cleansed and purified so that I can come to know my True Self.

On the membership site we have a series on the Five Koshas.

We also have a class on the niyama of saucha

Here’s a blog post that I wrote on sauca

In March of 2013 we are doing a Cleansing retreat on the membership site.

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How to move towards a more authentic self

Melissa's Blog Posts, Yoga Questions and Yoga Answers

What is unique about how you help others move towards a more authentic self?

Today’s question comes from Melissa from Fox and Owl Metaphysical Manifestations.

I think what is unique about how I help others move towards a more authentic self is my blend of yoga, psychology and cultural studies. I have a background in yoga therapy with my over 1500 hour training with Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy which has deeply embedded in me that to find lasting change looking for outside sources to guide us will not work. For deeper transformation and lasting change we must slow down, reconnect with ourselves and listen to our own inner voice. Also, because of my Ph.D. in cultural studies and communication I know how influenced we are by the cultural machine and how important it is to pull away from that cultural machine!

How to inspire others to tell the truth

Melissa's Blog Posts, Yoga Questions and Yoga Answers

Today’s question comes from Melissa from Fox and Owl Metaphysical Manifestations
How do you inspire others to speak their truth, and get to know themselves better?

In each yoga class I teach I encourage my yoga students to reflect on what stands out about their class. From there I ask them to dig deeper and find out, what’s the life connection? How does the thing that stands out from your yoga practice connect to the rest of your life? Then I encourage my students to find a small way that they can take what they have discovered with them out into their lives in some small way. Not in a dramatic change your whole life kind of way, but some small change that they could make in the next 24 hours that would put what they just did on the yoga mat into practice in their lives.

With the 40 day sadhanas/personal practices that I create for people it is a much more intimate practice where I tune into people’s energy centers and find out which chakras are blocked, closed or excessive. People fill out incredibly detailed intake forms and tell me a lot about their bodies, energy, work, relationships, thoughts, relationship to spirit and what they would most like to transform in their lives at this time. From there I am able to see how the energy blocks or excesses in their bodies are showing up in their lives and create yoga programs and make suggestions about how they can speak their truths in their lives. Even filling out the intake forms to the 40 day sadhanas I think people really get to know themselves better. When they get their practices back, along with my report, I think I mirror a lot back to them and they see themselves through another’s eyes and come to know themselves even more deeply.

On my membership site we have something called the weekly challenge. Each week I put together a three practices along with a reflection and a list of questions. People then respond to these questions on the membership forum in a way that allows them to speak their truth and get to know themselves better. For example, last week we had a challenge on cleansing toxic relationships in your life from the perspective of the niyama of saucha in yoga which means to cleanse. I then included yoga practices on cleansing for the week. There are a lot of rich discussions that come out of these weekly challenges.

In the continuing education course for teachers, Open Your Heart to Yoga Pedagogy, it is all about truth telling! Each week the teachers come to class having done their homework outside of class. Each class is a virtual circle where the teachers have the opportunity to talk about their experience of working through the themes of intention, loving kindness, acceptance and acknowledgment. The virtual circle is a place where they have a unique experience to speak about their own experience and have it witnessed by others. The intention is to create a safe and welcoming environment for their own inner teacher to make an appearance.

What are Mala Beads?

Melissa's Blog Posts, Yoga Questions and Yoga Answers

Meditating with Mala Beads

Today I wanted to share with you a sacred meditation tool : mala beads. Most mala beads have 108 beads. 108 is a very sacred number. There are said to be a total of 108 energy lines converging to form the heart chakra. There 108 Upanishads. It is said if one is able to be so calm in meditation as to have only 108 breaths in a day, enlightenment will come. 108 is also known as the natural division of the circle – a circle of course having no beginning and no end.

A mala allows you to focus your mind in meditation as you repeat your mantra. You start at the guru bead and then you move the bead between your thumb and index finger as you repeat your mantra. Your index finger is known as your jupiter finger symbolizing wisdom, knowledge and prosperity. Once you come back to the guru bead you say a prayer of gratitude to your teacher.

There are different kinds of mala beads made from different materials. For example the amethyst beads I show in this video promote spiritual calm and healing. In this video I share with you some of my mala beads including the oneness beads made by Kayla Yetmen from Indigo Insights www.indigoinsights.ca.

I shared with you Trinity’s Angelic Guardian Oneness Beads ~

These Oneness beads are infused with the energies of Archangel Michael and the Galactic realms. Aiding you in confidence, courage, deepening meditation, speaking your truth with divine awareness, protection from negative energies, people and situations, accepting, clearing your divine gifts and accessing them openly with trust while in a safe space so that
you may clearly and accurately be aware of your divine guidance. With Archangel Michael watching over you through these beads he offers protection from low vibration energies, clearing blocks from your aura and chakra, calms your mind, brings mental focus and clarity, aids in decisiveness and shining your divine power with courage and trust in yourself and universe. Also connecting you to the galactic realms and your guides from this realm such as Arcturians, Venusians, Sirians, Hathors etc, for higher awareness and knowledge, universal energy and healing, clears past life blocks and connects you to the stars above. Brings awareness to personal gifts in healing and psychic communication, strengthens your connection to the galactic realms for a deeper understanding of self and your lightworker gifts. Brings your throat, third eye and crown chakras into alignment.

Sodalite ~ Clears third eye stimulates the pineal gland, deepens meditation, encourages truth and seeing beyond illusion, clears electromagnetic pollution, stimulates trust and companionship between those in your life, encourages independence, quiets the mind, encourages rational thought and perception, allows new information to be received, emotional balance, calms the mind, body and emotions, and helps release fears, phobias, guilt and self limiting patterns that hold you back from your divine truth, enhances self-esteem, self-acceptance and self-trust.

This Oneness Bead set has been charged and activated for users highest good and healing on all levels with the aid of Archangel Michael and the Galactics. It has been programmed to be self clearing, which allows these gemstones to transmute negative into positive energy as it absorbs it.

How to Use ~ Use in meditation, set an affirmation for the beads and repeat your affirmation as you move from bead to bead using the hand that feels most comfortable to you. Hold while focusing on The Wise Owl Totem and Archangel Michael and give permission to receive energy healing from them through the beads. Hold in hands or on affected area; this can be a physical pain, a blocked chakra; Crown, Third Eye, Throat and Root. Place on night stand while resting or carry on your person to access the energies. Give gratitude to the owl totem and Archangel Michael and your beads as you feel called to.

And my The Mother’s Cloak Oneness Beads ~

These Oneness beads are infused with the energies of Ascended Master Mother Mary and all divine Ascended Masters of mother figures. Connected to the unconditional love, support and nurture of the divine mother, this oneness bead set works to create a cloak of energy around your essence to surround you in pure love, healing and all the energies of a
nurturing mother. Working with The Mother’s Cloak these energies will work on all levels of your being for healing connected to your parents and to your masculine and feminine energies within to bring balance, nurtures your inner child and encourages you to unconditional love and accept yourself for all that you are. Aids you in lovingly speaking your truth, communicating your emotions and needs with ease, aids you to clearly see beyond illusion and cut your cords to negative relationships, encourages you to shine your divine and beautiful self, to honour who you are and nurture yourself as though you were your own child. Aiding you to balance your emotions, align with your higher self and attract new love into your life through healing and loving yourself. Brings serenity, peace and calms the mind for meditation, releases stress, aids in decision making. Oneness Bead with you will create a beautiful energy around your aura that shines radiantly with unconditional love and work at the root causes of pain for healing on a deep level.

Wear the bracelet (which is a mini oneness bead) and earrings throughout your day to hold these energies within your entire being throughout your day. Creates a shield of energy around your aura that is protective and healing allowing you to stay consciously aware of your spiritual growth while still working in your day to day life.

Rose Quartz ~ Stone of unconditional love and infinite peace, most important stone for the heart chakras, teaches the true essence of love, purifies ad opens the heart at all levels, brings deeper inner healing and self-love, calming, reassuring, excellent for healing trauma or crisis, attracts love, attracts positive relationships, restores love and harmony to existing relationships, clears negative energy and replaces it with unconditional love, aids acceptance of necessary change, excellent stone for mid-life crisis, releases unexpressed emotions and heartache and transmuting emotional conditioning that no longer serves you purpose, sooths internalized pain, opens your heart to giving and receiving love freely and in balance, invokes self-trust, self-worth and self-forgiveness.

This Oneness Bead set has been charged and activated for users highest good and healing on all levels with the aid of Ascended Master Mother Mary. It has been programmed to be self clearing, which allows these gemstones to transmute negative into positive energy as it absorbs it.

How to Use ~ Use in meditation, set an affirmation for the beads and repeat your affirmation as you move from bead to bead using the hand that feels most comfortable to you. Hold while focusing on Ascended Master Mother Mary and give permission to receive energy healing from them through the beads. Hold in hands or on affected area; this can be a physical pain, a blocked chakra: Throat and high Heart. Place on night stand while resting or carry on your person to access the energies. Give gratitude to Ascended Master Mother Mary and your beads as you feel called to.

Kayla Yetman
www.indigoinsights.ca

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What does yoga mean to me spiritually?

What is unique about how you help others move towards a more authentic self?

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