KonaYoga.com

Barbara Uechi — 2009-12-01T13:52:57-10:00

We may pass violets looking for roses. We may pass contentment looking for victory.-Anonymous

Sunlight falling onto the studio floor this time of the year creates big, broad rectangles of warmth. This past Saturday, when I looked out over the bodies at rest in Savasana, these three hands appeared to be reaching for the light. I reached for my iPhone to capture the scene.

As I was cropping the photo and noticed the different hand positions, I recalled how happy I felt as I noticed the sense of calm and release in each person. There was no need for me to adjust arms and flatten out hands that day because, although the poses weren't all physically perfect, the energy in the room was clear and apparent. My job was done and I was content. I'm going to print this photo as a reminder to allow for more contentment along the way.

I think it's programmed in our cellular structure, the fact that we are goal-seeking, action-oriented physical beings. We have a limited number of days to go from point A to Z, from birth to death. We have to get There, that's our trip. But the never-ending part of us, our Spirit, keeps urging us to pause, to rest, reflect and enjoy.

The physical part of us thinks we have to get There in order to be content, while the spiritual part of us is content, no matter what we do.

Now for the question: Which part of me has the leading role?

"Thank You", from my Heart.

Barbara Uechi — 2009-11-22T18:19:12-10:00

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder

Thanksgiving is almost here and I'm anticipating the smell of poultry seasoning and the warmth radiating from my oven. The scent of Thanksgiving is an annual sense of pleasure for me, and a quick survey of friends affirms that this is THE holiday of the year for most of us. It warms our bellies and our hearts.

In the next few days, as you sit back and think about all that you have to be grateful for, you may want to consider writing Thank You notes. It could lower your cholesterol. Two separate studies examined the difference between those who wrote down affectionate thoughts about friends and family against those who just described their daily activities. Results showed significant lowering of cholesterol levels for the first group after only 25 days.

So why am I suggesting that you write Thank You notes? Because those who wrote their words of affection directly to someone, showed greater reductions in cholesterol than those who just wrote about someone.

One of the strengths of this study was that it specifically examined the benefits of expressing affection. Other studies have found evidence for the benefits of expressing affection but have had difficulties separating the expressing from the receiving. This is because when you express affection towards someone else, they are likely to reciprocate. Expressing is, therefore, tightly bound up with receiving.(1)

I have your attention, I can tell. But you're probably having second thoughts about handwritten notes in this day of cell phones, e-mail and text messages. Let's see if I can guess what you're thinking and offer more suggestions:

1. Can I just buy some pre-printed Thank You cards and sign my name? Nyet. I think it should come from the heart if you want your heart to benefit, right? Read The Simple Dollar's "How To Write an Effective Thank You Note for Any Occasion".

2. No one can read my handwriting! The importance of legible handwriting is perhaps underrated but some have found ways around it, such as writing all in caps: "How to Write Legibly..."

3. Write a letter to my boss, are you serious? Remember, it's good for your health! How-to do just that and more, from Buzzle.com.

4. Pfft, I can turn my handwriting into my own font, I don't have time to write on paper note cards! Ah, well, some very busy people do and recommend it too.

Ready to give it a try? If you'd like some practice, go ahead and write me a note. I'll send you a note back since I need a little practice too. It's good for our health!

Barbara Uechi

77-6425 Kuakini Hwy., C2, PMB#121

Kailua-Kona, HI 96740

Source: (1) Affectionate Writing Can Reduce Cholesterol, Psyblog

(2) Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)

Photo: delongrj

Submitted to: Prevention Not Prescriptions for Tuesday, November 24, 2009.

A Natural Tooth Powder

Barbara Uechi — 2009-11-08T14:45:28-10:00

Turmeric has been piquing a lot of interest lately as a pain reliever (Read one doctor's opinion), weight suppressant, anti-inflammatory,Alzheimer preventive supplement, and the list goes on. (See this collection of articles.) So far, I haven't read anything about the way I use it as a tooth powder!

My yoga teacher, Jehangir Palkhivala told me about it a couple of years ago. These are the ingredients:

Turmeric and sea salt. Salt for cleansing and turmeric to strengthen the gums. Buy the best quality ingredients you can find,

mix equal parts in a glass container or jar (keep it airtight),

blend it well and dip a slightly damp toothbrush to coat. Then, brush away.

I'll spare you the sight of me brushing my teeth but I will warn you that your toothbrush will turn yellow after the first use. I even fill my wash basin with a little water to keep it clean, although any discoloration cleans up right away with a little cleanser. At first I was a bit concerned about the porcelain crowns I have, but they haven't yellowed.

So what's the benefit? I've had some challenges with my gums because I'm a mouth breather when I sleep (another photo I'll spare you). Everytime I got my teeth cleaned, my gums bled, a lot. Well, after a few months of brushing with this mixture, there was hardly a speck of blood during my last cleaning.

Aside from stronger gums, as I keep reading about all the positive nutritional benefits of turmeric, I think the anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin are doing wonders for my body. True, I'm ingesting very small amounts through this tooth powder but I'm definitely not swallowing all of the additives found in most toothpastes. Are you?

This post has been submitted to : Prevention Not Prescription.

5 Points for Good Memories

Barbara Uechi — 2009-10-19T07:52:38-10:00

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.-Deepak Chopra

Michael Gelb wrote an interesting piece about memory and how to powerfully make it work for you in creating and sustaining relationships. All you need to know are how five basic principles of memory function:

Primacy. Our brains remember what happens first.
Repetition. We remember what's been said or done, over and over.
Outstanding. Novel experiences standout from the routine.
Personal Association. Be fully present and really listen, at least once a day.
Recency. We tend to remember what happened most recently.

Gelb's article goes on to offer ways to incorporate these 5 principles in relationships, particularly with a partner. As I began to search for an appropriate photo that illustrated memory, I thought about the story of Hansel and Gretel and the way that Hansel dropped bread crumbs behind him to remember the way home. It's somehow always served as an illustration of how my memory works.

When I came across this book cover, all of Gelb's five principles made sense again, but in a different context. My mom read to us from a Little Golden Book just like that one. It's one of the first stories I remember (primacy) and we asked to hear it over and over again (repetition).

What made it outstanding is that my mom changed her voice for each character and my favorite was her rendition of the wicked old witch, scary and so real. What also made it special was that my brother and I (the other two came much later) got to spend time sitting still and quiet, not vying for attention but somehow sharing it (personal association).

The only principle that differs here is the last, recency. Memories of a time when I wasn't able to read go back a long, long time. Then again, I recently spent a few days together with my entire family and I feel as though I dropped a few more breadcrumbs along the way. Today, the Little Golden Book has been replaced by photos, videos and text messages but my mom is still there, changing her voice for each character. I was never afraid of the wicked witch because ingrained in my memory was the fact that Hansel and Gretel lived happily ever after.

Take the time to read Gelb's "The Things We Remember" and start making good memories of your own and for those around you. :D

Moving to the State of Balance

Barbara Uechi — 2009-10-05T09:53:34-10:00

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.- Thomas Merton

This is what balance actually feels like to me: all of my physical, mental and emotional pieces are vying for order and stability. After years of teaching and practicing the most fundamental pose in yoga, Tadasana, I can accept the dynamic physical actions that are necessary to simply stand upright and balance. In other areas, I for one, spend more time moving toward the state of balance than residing in any particular territory. But with practice, it gets easier.

Lessons just seem to present themselves, like this past Saturday. I declined an invitation to spend the entire day lounging at the beautiful Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, where I'd be with friends, develop a darker shade of tan, read a book, laugh, eat and be merry. But, I also wanted to go to the Farmers Market in Keauhou, I had a class to teach and blog posts I wanted to write before my upcoming family vacation this week. So I leaned a little to the left.

Then as it happens once every three hundred and forty-five days or so, no one showed up for my 10am yoga class. I took it as an invitation to get a two hour head start on my writing so I leaned the other way and felt as though more time poured back into my side of the hourglass. At least, that was until I realized that my blogging service was not fully functioning. I couldn't write any blog posts. My ankles quivered as I abruptly stopped moving forward.

Thank goodness I have things to fall back on. I've got a hard head and a chest full of wants and wishes. I stubbornly refer to roadblocks as simple detours and when refused one menu, pull out a cookbook. Those are not the traits of a more intelligent or developed soul, no. Just the reflexes of someone who insists on moving to the state of balance.

I ended up learning how to create and install widgets on my blogs and at the end of the day, I was grateful for all of the detours. You know, I don't think I'm ready to live in the State of Balance, yet. At least not full-time. I'm beginning to enjoy the challenge of leaning from side to side, going forward and falling back because I can create my own landing space. As one of my yoga teachers used to say whenever we struggled to stand on our hands or heads, "Don't worry, the floor is always there!"

Original Photo: Heidi Vickery-Uechi

Another Reason to Go Forward with Yoga

Barbara Uechi — 2009-09-24T15:11:58-10:00

A study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has determined that people who eat mindfully tend to weigh less than those who eat mindlessly (eat when not hungry and/or in response to anxiety or depression). They also found a regular yoga practice to be highly associated with mindful eating (1) because of an increased sense of body awareness.

True, even someone new to the discipline might find themselves quickly aware of how they smell, digest, sound or move, as my old "How to Prepare for Class" suggestions cover:

The ideal way to prepare for a yoga class would be to shower and dress in tights or bike shorts and a t-shirt. Your teacher should be able to see the position of your knees, so no baggy pants. You may be bending forward, raising your arms over head and twisting, so wear something that will stretch along with you.

Conscious breathing through the nose is always encouraged in class, so please refrain from using perfumes or after shaves. Heavy or clanging jewelry may inhibit your joint movements so use your best judgment.

If you're hungry, eat something light and easily digestible. Remember, you'll be bending forward, raising your arms, etc. Always let your instructor know if you're experiencing any back, neck or knee problems or if you're recovering from an illness. There may be alternate poses to help your condition.

Most of us come to class after a full day at work and so it's important to spend the first part of class with a routine sequence of sitting, connecting with the breath, closing your eyes and releasing the sounds of the outside. If you are late, please know that you are still welcome but try your best not to disturb the quiet and calm of the rest of the class. Please wait at the door until the instructor waves you in. Generally, it is okay to enter after everyone has opened their eyes and arms are stretched overhead. While you're waiting, take a few deep breaths, forget the fact that you are late and leave your cares under your shoes, at the door.

We learn to be self-referential yet respectful of group energy. In time, the non-competitive nature of yoga must send a message throughout our bodies, "take what you need, and leave the rest". If there's no need to hoard, then, why weight?

Sources:

(1) Regular Yoga Practice is Associated with Mindful Eating. Science Daily (8-16-09).

(2) Regular Yoga Practice May Help Prevent Middle-age Spread. Science Daily (7-21-05).

Let Children Teach

Barbara Uechi — 2009-09-14T23:43:00-10:00

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.

-Angela Schwindt

A friend of mine who works at a child day care center mentioned that their enrollment for this time of the year, is much lower than usual and that those who do attend, are there for shorter days. Yet another sign of our sagging economy. "But," she said, "I notice that the kids are much happier!" They're spending more time with their families and when in school, the teachers can spend more time with them.

One of my favorite memories involves my mom packing up our dinner: the rice pot, a pot of stew, a jar of kim chee and paper plates and napkins, into a cardboard box. As soon as my dad got home from work she'd hijack him and we'd head to the beach for dinner. This may have happened two or three times but in my mind, we always did it. I wonder how many of the kids at that day care will look back and remember always being happy.

In the busy-ness of trying to give someone what we think they want or need, we forget that the greatest gift is often our time and attention, a kind word, or a gentle touch. We also forget the goodness of simple things when money flows and buying more time is foremost. As my friend also observed, "Their lunches are healthier too. Less bags of chips and cookies and more stuff like celery and peanut butter."

I don't know if this is going on anywhere else, but it should.

Original Photo: Geno Ortiz

You Are the View Master

Barbara Uechi — 2009-09-07T18:45:26-10:00

You must watch the pictures that you paint with your imagination. ... If you would have good health then you must imagine this as vividly as you fearfully imagine ill health.

- Seth

Some of you may have heard me say this before but when I first decided to take up yoga, I saw myself as an eighty-year-old woman, doing a headstand in the middle of a room. Well, I've been standing on my head for a number of years now and I have a few more birthdays left before I turn eighty. I think it's time to put some new pictures into the old Viewmaster.

What about you?

Photo: All About 3D

...And May We All Attain Perfect Peace

Barbara Uechi — 2009-08-31T23:49:00-10:00

I am a link in Lord Buddha's golden chain of love that stretches around the world.
I must keep my link bright and strong.
I will try to be kind and gentle to every living thing and protect all who are weaker than myself.
I will try to think pure and beautiful thoughts, to say pure and beautiful words,
and do pure and beautiful deeds.
May every link in Lord Buddha's golden chain of love become bright and strong,
and may we all attain perfect peace.

-The Golden Chain of Love

There's something to be said about recitation. I repeated the words to the Golden Chain of Love, over and over when I was very young. I think we recited it nightly, as a dinner prayer and weekly, in Sunday School. I believe it to be the extent of my religious training, all eighty-six words of it.

But here's how it works in my life today: every time I think of something pure and beautiful, other pure and beautiful things follow, like beads on a string. My thoughts are echoed by what people say around me, I'll see it in print or on the screen. Sometimes within minutes, often within twenty-four hours.

Here's an example. A couple of days ago I read an excerpt from a soon to be released book, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide" by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The stories told, read like fictional accounts of people living on another planet because it's hard to fathom that women just a few time zones away, are living within such severe and confining traditions. It's easy to place blame on the men in those societies but then I remembered saying, over and over when I was very young, "May every link in Lord Buddha's golden chain of love, become bright and strong".

I also remembered watching Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women, explain to a talk show audience how important it was to raise the status of women by not degrading or neglecting their oppressors, male or female. I decided to read "Half the Sky" when it's published but I already know how I want to respond to it. I want to encourage every person I come into contact with to be bright and strong. Man, woman and child. Maybe it will catch on and we can all encourage each other.

The very next day at the end of yoga class, a young man from Greece named Martin said, "Women need to take over the world. Men aren't doing a very good job and I think women could do it better." That evening my son sent me a headlining text message to go with a video of his wife, starting a fire without a match or lighter: "Woman make fire. No need man." His caveman-style statement, oozed with pride. Then on Saturday, a new mother came to my yoga class. Her infant son was at home with her very supportive partner and when I mentioned how lucky they all were she agreed and said, "We're raising a gentleman."

I live in perfect peace.

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Kiva, telling me that the man in Tajikistan that I loaned $75 to expand his fruit orchard, had repaid a portion of his loan. I now have $25 to loan to someone else! Wouldn't you know it? A few days earlier, when I got to the end of the book excerpt I mentioned, my eyes went straight to the link for "Do-It-Yourself Foreign Aid" where the second paragraph read:

Choose a woman to lend to on kiva.org. The minimum amount is $25, and you can choose from people all over the world.

I'll say it again, as I did over and over when I was very young: may we all attain perfect peace.

Photo: "Prayer Beads" by James Nachtwey VII. First Place Winner, Pictures of the Year International.

Review: "Mama Knows Breast"

Barbara Uechi — 2009-08-20T13:50:48-10:00

In the early 80's when I was pregnant, my role models were the women I saw in Ina May Gaskin's book about midwifery at The Farm, a now world famous commune in Summertown, Tennessee. In those days, home births and breastfeeding were considered to be the radical options chosen by hippies living in tents and buses, so breast pumps and cover-ups weren't even a consideration during the two and half years I spent breastfeeding my son.

That could be the reason why many of the tips and insights mentioned in Andi Silverman's beginner's guide to breastfeeding, "Mama Knows Breast", were an education for me. Especially, Chapter 5: Breast feeding Etiquette. Silverman offers suggestions on "how to handle the need to feed" in airplanes, bookstores, buses, cars, movies, museums, the doctor's office and more, even the bathtub! When did breastfeeding in public fall from social grace?

These days, many of the women who come through my Prenatal Yoga classes, opt for home births and nearly all of them expect to breastfeed their babies so breast pumps and cover-ups have become the norm. I'm going to recommend this book because it's comprehensive and up-to-date:

Chapter 1: The Pros & Cons of Breastfeeding
Chapter 2: Operating Instructions
Chapter 3: Answering Your Questions
Chapter 4: Tricks of the Trade
Chapter 5: Breastfeeding Etiquette
Chapter 6: How Your Spouse Can Help
Chapter 7: Sex and Relaxation
Chapter 8: Weaning Your Baby...and Yourself

Lists of reference books and websites are also provided along with comments by lots of other new mothers. The book is small enough to hold in one hand, as the cover picture shows, and the pages sturdy enough to withstand the clutching reflex of any hungry baby.

What I particularly like is her optimistic and easy-going attitude: try it and see what works best for you. It goes along with my major emphasis in Prenatal Yoga,"Relax and accept all advice graciously. Then do what feels right for you. We've been doing all of this for thousands of years!"

What I would have liked better is for the type to have been a little darker. But if it came down to light hearted versus dark ink, I'd choose the former.

"Mama Knows Breast" is illustrated by Cindy Luu and published by Quirk Books.

Note: This is not a paid review.