Pranayama
and
Meditation (Centering)
….and Canadian programs!
Introduction
The 8-Limb Path
1&2: Yamas and Niyamas How to live in society
3: Asana Maintaining the physical body
4: Pranayama Regulating the breath
5: Pratyahara Subjugating external senses
6: Dharana Single pointed concentration
7: Dhyana Prolonged concentration of the mind
8: Samadhi Total absorption
The 8-Limb Path
1&2: Yamas and Niyamas How to live in society
3: Asana Maintaining the physical body
4: Pranayama Regulating the breath
5: Pratyahara Subjugating external senses
6: Dharana Single pointed concentration
7: Dhyana Prolonged concentration of the mind
8: Samadhi Total absorption
Yoga As a Practice :
An applied science of the body and mind to ease suffering and find contentment
Whether prompted by a crisis or a profound curiosity to discover that which is hidden within, the path of awareness arouses a heartfelt dedication to uncover insights into both our human potential to open, and our human predicament to struggle.
We all experience stress and suffering…but also that miserable conditions need not become misery; that there is a genuine path to meet and transform our relationship to all of our challenges in life.
~ Sarah and Ty Powers
What is Attachment?
The Importance of Discharging
Our Physiology
Autonomic nervous system:
A control system that acts largely unconsciously and regulates heart rate, digestion, evacuation, respiratory rate, pupillary response, and sexual response
Our Physiology
Sympathetic nervous system:
Activates the physiological changes that occur during the fight-flight-or-freeze response.
Parasympathetic nervous system:
Activates the "rest and digest" response and return the body to homeostasis after the fight-flight-or-freeze response.
(The Body Keeps The Score)
Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Measures the relative balance between the SNS and PNS
When we inhale we stimulate the SNS (increases HR), when we exhale we stimulate PNS (decreases HR)
A threatened human (or impala) must discharge all the energy mobilized to negotiate a threat or it will become a victim of trauma.
The residual energy does not simply go away. It persists in the body, and often forces the formation of a wide variety of symptoms e.g., anxiety, depression, and psychosomatic and behavioural problems.
~ Dr. Peter Levine, Waking the Tiger
Discharging: Practices
What is Pranayama?
Prana = Life Force
Ayama = Extension, expansion
Pranayama: Practices
What is Meditation (Centering)?
The integration of the body, breath, mind, senses, and ego with the universal consciousness
Meditation: Practices
Resources
The Body Keeps the Score, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk
A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing in this New York Times best-seller.
Waking the Tiger, Dr. Peter Levine
Dr. Peter Levine asks and answers an intriguing question: why are animals in the wild, though threatened routinely, rarely traumatized? By understanding the dynamics that make wild animals virtually immune to traumatic symptoms, the mystery of human trauma is revealed.
Whole Brain Living, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
The New York Times best-selling author of My Stroke of Insight blends neuroanatomy with psychology to show how we can short-circuit emotional reactivity and find our way to peace.
Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, Dr. Daniel J. Siegal
Between the ages of twelve and twenty-four, the brain changes in important and, at times, challenging ways. In Brainstorm, Dr. Daniel Siegel busts a number of commonly held myths about adolescence--for example, that it is merely a stage of "immaturity" filled with often "crazy" behavior. An exploration into how the brain develops during this critical period, to better understand yourself, or the adolescents in your life.
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, James Nestor
Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head.
Namaste