The Sutras and the Gita talk about withdrawal of the senses from their sense objects as part of the process of yoga and meditation. In Elemental Yoga, we spend a few minutes at the beginning of every class closing our eyes and turning our outer gaze inward and turning our outer hearing into a deep, internal listening. This is a great way to begin a class, to "drop in" to oneself and to have a truly meditative practice.
These days I'm thinking about a different kind of withdrawal, as I've tapered down to a minuscule fraction of a fraction of my anxiety meds. This last round of withdrawal was nothing like what I went through last spring when I came off of Zoloft and Xanax - a potent cocktail a terrible drug-pushing psychiatrist had put me on. It was so bad that I went cold-turkey and went through the "zaps" of withdrawing from Zoloft and the increased anxiety of being off the Xanax. Ironically, when you go off your anxiety meds, anxiety is one of the withdrawal symptoms.
Now I'm coming off the of the benzodiazepine that my new, not so drug-pushing psychiatrist put me on when she found out I went cold turkey off of the others. This is a replacement drug that is easier to titrate down off of, so I was cutting pills in half, then in half again, until I basically was swallowing some pill dust each night before bed. I did have increased anxiety, again, with each titration, but it was nothing like the cold turkey craziness of the Zoloft/Xanax.
I have found that restorative yoga takes the place of these meds. If I take one hour of restorative everyday, it has the same effects as popping a benzodiazepine. Of course, it's much easier to find the time to pop a pill than it is to find an hour to lie on a bolster and a couple of blankets with an eye pillow on my forehead (restorative has been shown to be much more relaxing for people with the addition of weight on the forehead in the postures). But then restorative doesn't have any negative side effects. Though I think it can be addictive.
The last stage of this withdrawal from the meds seems to be a general foggy mind. I forgot my son's backpack this morning - had to drop him off then run back home to pick it up and take it back to school. I got our schedule mixed up and showed up to a Tae Kwon Do class 45 minutes early. I can't seem to find the energy to cook supper beyond heating up frozen vegetarian chicken nuggets. But this will pass, and I'll be myself again. A self without psychotropic medicine, a self that still has panic attacks at times, and still has anxiety, but who is capable of viewing those things as passing emotional and nervous system states that can be watched with a compassionate, meditative eye, knowing that they will pass within ten minutes (usually) or faster if I'm in a place where I can watch my breathing, do a restorative pose, or practice some other intervention (engaging uddiyana bandha works wonders here, too).
Showing posts with label Elemental Yoga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elemental Yoga. Show all posts
Friday, December 2, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Pranayama
Pranayama can be translated as control or regulation of the breath or life force. It is one of the eight limbs of yoga mentioned in the Yoga Sutras. Patanjali describes pranayama as an exercise that prepares one for the concentration of meditation.
In Elemental Yoga, we practice pranayama at the beginning of each class. For beginners, a good first step is just being aware of the breath - this is an inhale, this is an exhale. Then begin to control the length of each - inhale to the count of one, two, three, exhale to the count of one, two, three. One can play with lengthening both inhale and exhale as a next step, then experiment with making the exhale longer than the inhale, particularly if one's mind tends toward agitation (not to rat myself out or anything, but this is my go to pranayama - the 1:2 breathing I mentioned in an earlier entry, where the exhale is twice as long as the inhale).
I just read this passage in the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna is describing all of the various ways that yogis can come to know him. Just by being aware of your breath, you can come closer to a relationship with the Divine.
Still others offer
The incoming breath
Into the outgoing breath,
Likewise, the outgoing breath
Into the incoming breath.
Having restrained
The movements of incoming
And outgoing breaths,
They are wholly focused upon
Control of the life-breath.
In Elemental Yoga, we also practice a type of pranayama called Climbing Breath, where you increase lung capacity on each inhale, expanding the rib cage, feeling the fullness of the lungs in all directions. Since I have been more dedicated to a daily practice, over the past two years, my primary care physician has noticed a change in my lung capacity. None of my doctors have figured out why, but I have the lung capacity of a ten year old child all the time, and I tend towards asthma whenever I do any rigorous physical activity. But lately, my lung capacity has been registering at low normal for my height and age. My doctor was amazed the last time she checked. She asked what I had been doing differently, and she was surprised that the answer was just yoga. Low normal may not seem that great to a normal human, but for me, this is an incredibly big deal.
In Elemental Yoga, we practice pranayama at the beginning of each class. For beginners, a good first step is just being aware of the breath - this is an inhale, this is an exhale. Then begin to control the length of each - inhale to the count of one, two, three, exhale to the count of one, two, three. One can play with lengthening both inhale and exhale as a next step, then experiment with making the exhale longer than the inhale, particularly if one's mind tends toward agitation (not to rat myself out or anything, but this is my go to pranayama - the 1:2 breathing I mentioned in an earlier entry, where the exhale is twice as long as the inhale).
I just read this passage in the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna is describing all of the various ways that yogis can come to know him. Just by being aware of your breath, you can come closer to a relationship with the Divine.
Still others offer
The incoming breath
Into the outgoing breath,
Likewise, the outgoing breath
Into the incoming breath.
Having restrained
The movements of incoming
And outgoing breaths,
They are wholly focused upon
Control of the life-breath.
In Elemental Yoga, we also practice a type of pranayama called Climbing Breath, where you increase lung capacity on each inhale, expanding the rib cage, feeling the fullness of the lungs in all directions. Since I have been more dedicated to a daily practice, over the past two years, my primary care physician has noticed a change in my lung capacity. None of my doctors have figured out why, but I have the lung capacity of a ten year old child all the time, and I tend towards asthma whenever I do any rigorous physical activity. But lately, my lung capacity has been registering at low normal for my height and age. My doctor was amazed the last time she checked. She asked what I had been doing differently, and she was surprised that the answer was just yoga. Low normal may not seem that great to a normal human, but for me, this is an incredibly big deal.
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