Angel Lucia YOGA

  • ABOUT
  • RETREATS
    • SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & ISLE OF SKYE RETREAT
    • WELLNESS RETREAT! Oaxaca, Mexico Feb. 2026
    • REST IN BEING NATURE & YOGA RETREATS
    • PORTUGAL, SEPT. 2024
    • SACRED VALLEY, PERU APRIL 2023
    • MARRAKECH, MOROCCO NOVEMBER 2022
  • CLASSES / WORKSHOPS
  • PRACTICE
  • WORK WITH ME
  • FREE
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
    • SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & ISLE OF SKYE RETREAT
    • WELLNESS RETREAT! Oaxaca, Mexico Feb. 2026
    • REST IN BEING NATURE & YOGA RETREATS
    • PORTUGAL, SEPT. 2024
    • SACRED VALLEY, PERU APRIL 2023
    • MARRAKECH, MOROCCO NOVEMBER 2022
  • CLASSES / WORKSHOPS
  • PRACTICE
  • WORK WITH ME
  • FREE
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT

BLOG

  • All
  • meditation
  • rhythms of life
  • Yin
  • yoga
  • Yoga Retreat
you_already_know_2048x2048.jpg

Mediation - It's already happening so dive in!

Angel Lucia Yoga October 5, 2014

What do you love so much in this life that you want to meditate on it, the things that tickle your soul.

To meditate, we sit and pay loving attention to the rhythm and pulsation of life renewing itself. 

How does life renew itself? Life is always in motion, rhythmically pulsating as it heals and evolves itself. 

The breath, for example. Breath is one rhythm we can pay attention to. Just for a few seconds, notice the way the breath is flowing into and out of your body. There are many little things to love about the way breath feels, and if you start paying attention in a loving way, you will settle into meditation. There are innumerable other rhythms, such as the heartbeat, or the rhythm of thoughts and silence. 

Meditation allows us to access a naturally occurring rest state; it is resting in yourself while remaining awake and alert. It is different from sleep, in that the rest is much deeper and happens quickly, and you become more aware than usual. Meditation happens spontaneously for a few seconds or minutes when we gaze at the horizon, a sunset, a river, the ocean, or lie on our backs and gaze upward at the night sky.

We can cultivate meditation intentionally, we can set aside a time each day to meditate, and this has great benefits. Even a few minutes of meditation here and there can help your day to be more full of grace and good humor.

There are at least three ways that meditation helps with healing on a physical and emotional level.

– Meditation lets the body rest more deeply than sleep, even though you are sitting up and are awake.

– During meditation your body-mind system lets go of the past, and of the hurts of the past. As if a lot of time has passed.

– After meditation, you are less likely to get stressed over little things, so you will tend to have less stress-related illness.

Rest is one of the most profound human needs. We all need to sleep and dream. We all know how rejuvenating sleep is. Meditation gives us access to that kind of renewal, only on a deeper level.

Life organizes itself in a rhythm of action and rest, action and rest. And if we do not get rejuvenating rest, our performance degrades. Meditation gives the body a chance to reset its clocks and enter action and sleep in a more harmonious manner.

When we rest, the body (including the nervous system and brain) tunes itself up, repairs damage, gathers energy, and gets ready to go.

Think of the deepest rest you have ever had in your life. You woke up and you could hardly move. That correlates to about an 8 percent reduction in oxygen consumption. Oxygen consumption is an indicator of how much work the body is doing.

During sleep, oxygen consumption gradually declines over a period of four or five hours, to eventually reach this 8 percent reduction. During meditation, oxygen consumption decreases by 10 to 17 percent within the first 3 to 5 minutes. This is a spontaneous side effect of paying attention in a meditative way, and is felt as a powerful sense of physical relaxation and ease. In other words, the body spontaneously goes into this state when you practice a meditation technique that suits you.

Meditation is innate, and your body already knows how to do it. The human body has an instinctive ability to shift into profound rest states in order to heal, energize, integrate, tune itself up and assimilate learning. It is almost a sure bet that you have already experienced this many times in your life. Meditation can happen spontaneously, as when you are sitting on a hill looking at a sunrise or sunset, or when listening to music. Most people I work with remember meditating many times in the past - only they did not call it meditation. It was just a personal time, a special time they had with themselves or with nature.

Meditation is paradoxical in that you are resting more deeply than sleep, yet you are wide awake inside. It is similar in some ways to taking a nap but you don’t fall asleep, you fall awake. You can induce it by attentively doing anything simple and repetitive. We breathe all the time, and breathing is rhythmic, so you could pay attention to your breathing. There are so many ways in.

Meditation promotes a heightened awareness of the details of everyday life. Even a few minutes of meditation will help you move through the world with more relaxation and alertness.

Meditation is giving attention a chance to explore its full range, both inward and outward. It is a conversation between your inner and your outer life. This sounds simple, and it is. But there is no end to the delights of attention; there is always more to learn, more to explore, more to awaken to.

What's needed to meditate
- all of the senses
- movement / mudra
- dark or light 
- smell and taste / rasa
- balance / 

come out of meditation slowly - take a few breaths

An example of a "nutritional" meditation Buddha gave can be found in the Anapanasati Sutra, 

"He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to rapture, and to breathe out sensitive to rapture. 
He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to pleasure, and to breathe out sensitive to pleasure.
He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to mental processes, and to breathe out sensitive to mental processes."

Here the tone of attention is nutritious, nurturing. These teachings direct attention to be sensitive to rapture and pleasure. You are taking delight in simply existing. Your body, nervous system, and your senses can set their own parameters.

Meditation is selecting some aspect of life’s rhythms of self-renewal, and then riding that inward to touch your essence, rest in essence.

Life renews itself through rhythm: the flowing breath, the pulsing heart, cycles of activity and restfulness, flows of energy and passion in the body, all the subtle nerves (nadis) flowing with prana, the prana humming and singing mantras to itself as it flows through the bodies, rhythms of brightness and darkness, wakefulness and sleep and dreaming. These are just some of the rhythms of life.

The rhythm of life renewing itself feels like love.
Feels like falling, floating, melting, opening.
Love brings up our fears to be healed.

The physical body and the prana body love each other and love to play together, coordinate, in the way that your different muscles love to coordinate and synchronize. It’s a deep joy to flow together. Meditation is a way to let body and soul come closer, inter-permeate each other, care for each other. 

Select aspects of life’s rhythm that appeal to you - use the same hunting instinct you use when finding music you love.

a whole meditation practice can be in movement, and at some point when the energy settles you will want to close your eyes and let yourself linger in the shimmer of sensation!

Now go meditate, delight in life renewing itself!

“Whenever the attention rests on anything -
on the emptiness of space, looking at a vast blue sky,
when looking on a wall or some wonderful person,
let that attention gradually be absorbed into itself,
so that the one who is paying attention be known.”
— The Radiance Sutras
In meditation, yoga, rhythms of life Tags meditation, yoga, yoga retreats, life, savor every experience, live in the moment
Comment
This image showed up in my stream via The Travel Yogi just as I was writing my blog post! How perfect! Thanks Travel Yogi, seems were in sync with one another!

This image showed up in my stream via The Travel Yogi just as I was writing my blog post! How perfect! Thanks Travel Yogi, seems were in sync with one another!

Patience, flexibility, and the yoga of life while traveling!

Angel Lucia Yoga June 24, 2014

Hi friends! 

I've recently returned from leading yet another amazing yoga retreat in Europe! Its oh so sweet to be home, getting back on my mat in my little yoga room, back in the studio with my sangha, snuggling my fur babies, and sleeping in my own bed....heavenly! Yet, I am in love with the excitement I feel every time I have the opportunity to travel and see a new land with a group of people who are equally as excited as I am to be there. The challenge however, lies in the journey to the chosen location. We can never be fully prepared for what we may encounter along the way when traveling by planes, trains, and automobiles. Sometimes the journey is super sweet and smooth, and other times we encounter a whole heap of issues that delay our arrival or simply make the journey very challenging both physically, mentally and emotionally. So what can we do when traveling to keep ourselves in check? Our patience gets tried on every turn, people are often cranky around us, one may be sitting for hours in an uncomfortable seat, and let's not forget about the unhealthy food choices surrounding travel. Never fear my nomadic traveling friends! Keep reading on as I share tips with you on how I survive what may be perceived as obstacles while traveling about this big beautiful planet!

Tip numero uno! One must learn to flow like water over, around and through any circumstance, follow the current, and soften the hold! In other words, let go of a tight agenda and allow the journey to be what it is...an adventure! Traveling is not for the weak or weary, it poses so many challenges along the way. But its how we face these challenges and how we have packed our bag of tricks to allow us to not get overwhelmed, stressed, or cranky. Now, don't get me wrong. I can certainly attest to having gone thru every one of those feelings. Yet can you learn to recognize and change how you're reacting when it arises? YES, you can!

How to prep for the journey....

Before I travel I'm sure to do a pre travel yoga practice and pranayama/breathing practice. Sometimes short and sweet to allow my body to open before sitting for an extended period, and sometimes longer if time permits.

Hip openers, forward bends, a couple of mild backbends and twists are my go to before flying. Kappalabhati, sun moon, and sama vritti with retentions on inhale and exhale are the breathing practices that allow my mind to become balanced and calm. I notice a distinct difference if I don't do my pranayama practice beforehand. Freak outs and anxiety are kept far far away! I also prep with a variety of herbs, oils, and acupuncture several days before departure. I drink a ridiculous amount of organic cold pressed juice of every variety so I'm hydrated and cleansed. And the use of Ayurvedic herbs are extremely helpful, like Triphala, Travel Well, Nasya oil to name a few. 

And then we have the on flight travel essentials. Peppermint oil for nausea, Lavender oil blend as a hand sanitizer, SPZM chinese herbs to keep the neck and shoulders relaxed, Curing which is another Chinese herb I keep on hand for upset tummy or motion sickness. Scarf or wrap with some thieves oil on it which helps keep the neck warm and face covered warding off evil germs in case there are people coughing and sneezing around me. Nasya oil to help keep the sinuses from drying out and to trick the brain to think I'm still on the ground (a trick I learned from an Ayurvedic friend and can be done with sesame oil as well). Always have some C packs for extra electrolytes and hydration as well as a reusable water bottle. Socks to keep the feet toasty warm, an eye mask for rest and to block out any light, noise cancellation headphones, and of course some snack foods. Bags of raw nuts, dried figs, energy bars, some cut up veggies and hummus, or anything you know will hold you over. Airport and airplane food just plain suck! 

During flight practices...

Meditation and mantra have become an essential while speeding through the air in these giant metal tubes with wings. I don't have a fear of flying as I grew up in small planes with my brother and father being a pilot. However large planes full of people tend to make me a little uncomfortable at times. And that's when I turn to horizon gazing meditation or mantra repetition until I drift into a deep state of being blissfully unaware that I'm on a plane. Taking intervals to walk and stretch are extremely helpful on long hauls and often the galley will have space for a few moves like a simple squat or forward bend. If not, yoga in your seat works beautifully! Shoulder stretches and more hip openers are a must while seated. Try garudasana arms, gomukhasana arms, or hands clasp behind back while lifting them away from lumbar spine. And then a few minutes of thread the needle for the hips or even a hamstring stretch if you have enough space to bring the leg up without offending the person in front of you. I actually took to lying on my seat with my head hanging towards the floor and my legs up the back rest for an inversion to help my leg circulation on a 9 hour flight. People may look at you funny, but really I think they are envious and wish they had the courage to do it to! 

Post flight, settled in and grounding....

Once I arrive at my destination I'll typically wander around in nature to get my feet connected to the earth and breathe in some fresh air. I continue my hydration, and will do a mini flow practice to get my circulation going and reboot my energy. Standing balances help ground me, shoulder openers, sun salutes, twists, backbends to open up from all the forward slumping in bad seats, simple inversions and a mini meditation to get a new vibe and clear the channels. Pre bedtime routine consists of applying sesame or coconut oil on the soles of the feet, and some restorative poses with pranayama or sutra readings to wind me down for a restful nights sleep. And of course some really sweet tunes to lull me off into dream land!

Different beds, different pillows, foreign environment, and being out of your usual eating routine can really throw one for a loop. So be prepared for anything, take a deep breath, and let go into the flow however it may be revealed. Soften your gaze when you feel yourself hardening around a difficult situation as it arises, and find the strength to know that you are a part of something beautiful! Patience and grace allow us to find goodness in everything, and grace finds beauty in everything. When we flow with grace and ease, allow a smile to appear on our face, soften the gaze, the universe gets us to where we need to be! And you might even be surprised that those once cranky people encountered along the way are suddenly showing kindness and grace too!

What do you do to keep yourself happy and comfortable while traveling?

 

Love all ways!

xx a

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson


Tags travel, yoga retreats, meditation, yoga, pranayama, essential oils, ayurveda
Comment
youtube email facebook-unauth instagram-unauth url

Angel Lucia YOGA

youtube email facebook-unauth instagram-unauth url