Flow to Tune in with your Inner Guidence

This fast-paced Vinyasa Flow Yoga routine is designed to strengthen and nourish the body and mind and to balance the third eye chakra connected with intuition. 

Take this time for yourself to open up the energy channel of your inner guidance and tune in with your deepest wisdom. All the answers you seak lie within, trust your gut and enjoy the flow of energy you create as you release any blockages and tensions that no longer serve you!

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Filmed and edited by Saara Oinonen

Yoga for Stress-Relief and Anxiety

Stress, anxiety and depression can cause an imbalance in our nervous system but thankfully practicing yoga can help re-program and re-balance the system. These Yin Yoga poses can help you let go of stress and anxiety by releasing negativity from the body and mind as well as tapping into the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for relaxation, digestion and healing. 

Often when experiencing anxiety or being under stress our breath becomes shallow, which triggers the mind and body to tense up even more. By deepening your breath you can lower the stress hormones in the body and calm an anxious mind. 

Before you begin find a calm space where you can relax, also find a timer to have by your side as the poses are held for three minutes. Allow yourself to give your mind a break from thoughts and from worrying, practicing acceptance of whatever arises. 

Full Yogic Breath

Begin by taking a few deep breaths. First filling the belly like a balloon, then breathing into the ribcage, all the way up to the collarbones. Exhale to empty the lungs from the top down, lastly slightly sucking in the belly. If your mind is restless or anxious you can use the simple, yet effective technique of counting at the same time you breathe, to anchor yourself. Inhaling to count 1-2-3-4, exhaling 1-2-3-4.

1. Dragon pose. Begin on all four, hands under shoulders and knees under hips, step the right foot forwards between the hands. Option to move the foot to the outside of the right hand. Keep the foot beneath the knee and if you wish to deepen from here you can begin to move the back knee backwards. If the back knee is bothering you, place a blanket or pillow under the knee. You can remain here on the palms or lower down onto the forearms. Find your edge, the variation of dragon where you can remain for as long possible, 3 minutes recommended. However, if your body tells you to move out of the pose sooner, please listen to those signals. Breathe deeply. 

2. Swan pose. From dragon pose, move slowly to lower down the right knee towards the ground. If the right hip is lifted you can place a pillow or blanket underneath the right sit bone. Either remain here with the hands on the ground or option to begin to lower down onto the forearms, maybe resting the forehead on the hands. After 3 minutes, slowly switch sides and step the left foot forwards for dragon.

3. Sfinx/Seal. Lower down to lie on the belly, place the elbows beneath the shoulders with the forearms resting on the ground, palms down. In this pose the muscles in the legs and buttox naturally tighten up and the more you relax them the deeper the sensations of this pose. This might not feel much in the beginning, but remain in the pose as relaxed as possible and experience the effect time has. If the sensations become too strong before your timer goes off you can walk the elbows further away from you. If you want to deepen the pose after 2 minutes, widen the distance between the hands and press the ground away with the palms, keeping a slight bend in the elbows to avoid hyper extension. Lower the shoulders away from the ears and breathe into the space you are creating along the spine.

4. Twist. Slowly lower down to lie on the belly and extend the arms out into a T shape. Lift the left leg of the ground, bend the knee and begin to roll over to lower down the left foot towards the ground on your right side. Remain in the twist 1-3 minutes before switching sides.

5. Childspose/Frog pose. From lying on the belly, place the hands under the shoulders, and press the ground away with the palms, sending the hips back towards the heels coming through childspose. Either remain here or begin to widen the distance between the knees to target the inner thighs. Either keep the feet together or bend the knees in a 90 degree angle (as shown in photo). Remain in your variation here for 3 minutes. If you've widened the distance between the knees, when your timer goes off begin to move your way gently back through a childspose. 

6. Savasana. Find your way to lying on the back in Savasana, final relaxaion pose, allowing the legs to be apart and the feet to flop open to the sides. The arms are away from the body facing the palms up towards the sky in a state of receiving, total surrender and acceptance. Accepting whatever is present right now in this very moment, any sensations in the body or the mind, for in acceptance there is peace.

You are not alone - your breath is always with you. 

Namaste

Meditation to Turn on Your GPS

"INTUITION... 
is the gps of the soul... 

.. is yours turned on??"

• Set a timer for how long you wish to meditate, from three minutes up to a recommended time of 10-20 minutes. Remember that a little meditation is way better than no meditation at all!

• Find a comfortable seat to begin with. Place the palms together in front of the heart with the fingertips touching. Lower the thumbs pointing down and widen the distance between the palms bending the index fingers. 

• Close the eyes and bring your awareness to the point between the eyebrows, the location for the third eye chakra, the seat for our intuition.

• Begin to visualize an indigo or purple spinning wheel of energy at the forehead as you chant the mantra OM silently to yourself to center your awareness.

• Whenever you notice your awareness being elsewhere, be gentle and as non-judgmental as possible towards yourself and bring the awareness back to the spinning wheel of purple color and chanting the mantra. 

• When the timer goes of, bring the palms together and notice what the energies in the body feel like at the moment. To complete the meditation you can end with inhaling deeply and as you exhale chant the mantra OM out loud.

Thank yourself for taking the time to turn on your inner GPS and dare to trust it. 

Namaste!

Candle Gazing Meditation

Candle gazing meditation, also known as Trataka has many benefits including improving eye sight, vision and concentration. Therapeutic benefits include reducing headaches, migraines and insomnia. 

All you need is to find a calm space where you can relax, maybe a pillow or two for seated support, a candle and matches. Before you begin place the candle in front of you so that you can sit in a comfortable position with your chin slightly lowered as you gaze at the flame. Make sure you don't have to turn your neck to keep your focus on the candle. 

Photo taken by Saara Oinonen, at Wasa Yoga Center

• Begin with the eyes closed and take a few deep breaths to find your focus and to calm the mind. If your mind is restless you can count down from 21 as you breathe to steady the mind. Once you reach zero, slightly open the eyes. 

• Allow the breath to become natural as you keep a soft yet steady gaze on the candle flame. 

• Whenever you notice the mind wandering, gently bring your awareness back to the present moment, to observing the flame. 

• Once your eyes start to water or it becomes uncomfortable to keep them open, close the eyes but try to keep the image of the burning flame. Bring the image of the flame to the point between the eye brows, the location for the third eye, burning away any impurities blocking your vision and true potential. 

• When the image of the flame naturally fades away, begin to bring your awareness back to your breath. 

• Slowly open the eyes when you are ready, optional to begin the process once again with gazing at the flame, or to end the meditation bring the palms together in front of the heart center.

• Thank yourself for taking the time to deepen your connection with your inner guidance, opening the third eye, burning through impurities to develop inner peace. 

Namaste

                                                                          

Natural Headache Solution

Whether a headache occurs because of stress, neck and shoulder tension or a hangover, yoga can be a great alternative to popping a pill! Especially stress-relieving yoga poses are a natural way to ease headaches as well as migranes. Next time you begin to experience the first signs of a headache or a migraine, take a break from whatever you are doing and try some of these gentle poses. 

If you suffer from migraines on a regular basis, try adding these poses to a daily or weekly routine to prevent and ease migraine attacks. 

Remain in the poses for 5-10 breaths. Breathe deeply to calm the nervous system and to increase oxygen flow to the brain as you allow stress and tension to melt away.

Photos by Saara Oinonen

1. Standing forward fold variation. Begin standing and interlace the fingers behind the back. Fold forwards from the hips and allow the arms to become heavy. Bend the knees as much as you need to and slightly shake the head side to side to release tension from the neck and shoulders. If any thoughts in particular are bothering you at the moment, let go of them as you visualize shaking them out. 

2. Eagle arms. Come into a seated position and reach out the arms in front of you, cross the left arm over the right, bend the elbows and thread the arms together. Lower the shoulders away from the ears and send the elbows away from yourself. Take a couple of deep breaths as you create space in the upper back in between the shoulder blades. Release and cross the right arm over the left coming into eagle arms on the other side. 

3. Cow face arms. Raise the left arm, bend the elbow and lower down the palm in between the shoulder blades, place the opposite hand on the elbow to deepen the pose. 

4. Cow face variation. If possible interlace the fingers behind the back. To deepen even further, option to lower the right ear towards the right shoulder to target the neck. Release and repeat cow face pose on the other arm. 

5. Reverse tabletop. From seated, lower the souls of the feet on the floor and place the palms behind your back with the fingertips pointing towards the feet. On an inhale press the floor away with the feet and the hands and lift the hips towards the ceiling. If it feels okay you can allow the head to fall back. 

Slowly lower down from the pose and either take a couple of deep breaths seated or lie down in Savasana, final relaxation pose to deepen the body's ability to soak in the benefits of your practice. If you feel like you need a bigger dose of yoga, try Legs up the wall, which also is an amazing headache reducer among many other benefits!

Listen to the signals of your body. Breathe, allow yourself to take it slow, rest and remember; 

nothing is permanent.

Take care yogis! Namaste

I am Spiritually Awake

This is a powerful affirmation to open the third eye, to connect to your higher self and your intuition for spiritual awakening. Repeat the affiramtion as a mantra to yourself silently or out loud as you concentrate on the area between eyebrows where the third eye is located. 

Trust your gut, 

Namaste!

Yoga Teacher of the Week!

Check out the amazing site alltomyoga.se for some sunday inspirational reading, where I am excited to be featured as yoga teacher of the week!

Click on photo to read the interview.

Chakra of the Month: Thrid eye chakra

The third eye, or in Sanskrit called the Ajna chakra, is located in the brain, at the level between the eyebrows. The element of this chakra is light, a combination of all the elements in its purest form and the color is indigo or purple. The third eye is strongly connected to our intuition, awareness and the ability to see and understand what can not be seen with our eyes.

Balanced Third Eye:

Connected to intuition and open to receive universal knowledge. Wild imagination, powerful dreams, open minded and able to see meaning in situations and circumstances. Connected to both inner and universal wisdom and having a good sense of judgment, good concentration, easy to learn new things and strong memory. Empathy and high emotional intelligence. 

Imbalanced Third Eye:

May occur as stress, fatigue, depression, panic and mood disorders. Headaches, migraines, dizziness, nausea, insomnia, strokes and tumors. Ear aches, eye problems, blindness, lack of clarity, in spiritual denial and judgmental of other people and situations. Over intellectual and lacking of empathy. Disconnected to intuition, easily worried, suspicious, un willing to see the truth and  easily lost in day dreaming. Memory and learning disabilities, poor concentration. 

How to balance Ajna Chakra: 

- Meditate!

- Be present in conversations, practice listening and not just hearing, seeing and not just looking

- Journaling, especially dream journals

- Try to feel energy and vibrations from other people, situations and places

- Wear indigo or purple clothing

- Walk in moonlight 

- Star gazing

- Vitamin E, alfa alfa and chamomille

Stay hydrated: water water water!

- Rosemary and patchouli essential oils

Yoga sequences, meditations, affirmations and more practical tips to strengthen the third eye chakra coming up this month :) Namaste!