December involves shopping, decorating, traveling, and other high-energy activity. Yet instead of having fun, we often end up feeling ill or even anxious. The reason, according to Taoist philosophy and traditional Chinese medicine, is that the action-packed schedules we keep at this time of year fall out of sync with the earth’s natural cycles.

We naturally have less energy to burn during the winter. So when we engage in behaviors more appropriate for summer—staying up late and dashing around town—it’s no wonder that the forced cheer of the holiday season can wear a bit thin.

Taoist philosophy conceptualizes universal balance in terms of yin and yang, complementary forces that govern the universe. Yin characteristics are cool, wet, slow, feminine, and quiet, whereas yang is the opposite: warm, dry, fast, masculine, extroverted. Winter, the yin season, is a time for storing and conserving energy in the way a bear retains fat by hibernating, or a farmer stores food for the cold months ahead.

In agrarian cultures, people spend the shortest, darkest days indoors by the fire, eating warm, slow-cooked, nourishing food and sharing stories with their families. The incongruity between winter’s restful, introspective, yin nature and the frenetic way many people spend their Christmas can contribute to seasonal affective disorder.

To stay balanced during winter be good to yourself. Try some restorative yoga, meditation and walking are best suited for yin season, as they safeguard your energy reserves.

Eating cooked, spicy yang foods provides another good way to replenish energy. Prepare yang-strengthening soups, slow-simmered stews, beans, roasted root vegetables, and warm drinks. Add yang spices such as garlic, ginger, black pepper, cloves, and basil to increase the warming effect.

Bring balance and you will have more energy to spend with close friends and family. The important part of Christmas.

Harvard University study has shown that most people spend 46.9% of their wakinghours in a state of distraction. The study found that people were thinking of anything other than what was happening around them for nearly half their time awake.

The study utilised the technology of an iPhone web app to collect data from volunteers as they spent their days. The 250,000 points of data covered feelings, thoughts and actions of the participants. The app randomly contacted the 2,250 participants to ask what they were currently doing and how happy they were. They were also asked if they were actually thinking about the activity they were engaged in.

This fascinating study was created by Daniel T. Gilbert and Matthew A. Killingsworth both of whom are psychologists at Harvard University. In their paper which was published in the Science journal, they wrote that “A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind,” adding that “The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost.”

They also found that people’s brains seem to have a default pattern of mind wandering spending time thinking about past events, possible future events and total imaginations, all of which is unique to humans; animals only think about what is happening around them. Killingsworth explained that “Mind-wandering appears ubiquitous across all activities,” and that “This study shows that our mental lives are pervaded, to a remarkable degree, by the non-present.”

An interesting statistic emerged revealing that only 4.6% of someone’s happiness was due to their current activity, whereas 10.8% of their happiness was due to mind wandering.

To sum up, Killingsworth said, “Mind-wandering is an excellent predictor of people’s happiness,” adding that “In fact, how often our minds leave the present and where they tend to go is a better predictor of our happiness than the activities in which we are engaged.”

Yoga Wellbeing classes are filling up with yogis who are using their regular yoga practice to work against all the colds and flus going around. You can’t always keep the colds of winter from stuffing up your head and slowing down your body. Before you know it, you may be wondering if you should attempt your yoga practice or retreat to bed. Here’s a little bit of  Yoga Wellbeing inspiration;

TREAT YOURSELF If you feel you need to take something for your symptoms, try to avoid antibiotics, and even over-the-counter cold remedies aren’t very practical, since many contain five drugs when all you need is one or two. Perhaps you could try individual remedies, like lozenges for a sore throat. For nasal congestion, add a few drops of eucalyptus oil to boiling water and inhale the vapors. Although it’s still not clear how effective echinacea, zinc lozenges, vitamin C, and homeopathic preparations can be, you can still try them, since they are all generally very safe and could be the remedy you need.

LISTEN CLOSE Check in with your body before practice. If you’re wiped out, you could make things worse by pushing through your normal routine, so try a gentle or restorative practice instead and skip strong breathing techniques. Once your energy improves, you can gradually return to a more vigorous practice even if you still have a cough or your nose is stuffy. If you feel worse after practicing, it’s a sign that you’ve probably done too much. Take it easy and be kind to yourself.

TRY OUT SOME POSITIVE VIBRATIONS Vibrations from humming have been shown to open the sinuses and help get rid of phelgm, which can relieve pressure and may even help stave off a bacterial infection of the sinuses. Try chanting Om, or, for nasal congestion, experiment with the pranayama practice of Bhramari: Press your lips together and make the sound of a buzzing bee.

STAY UPRIGHT If your head is stuffed up or you’re feeling tired, avoid inversions like Headstand and Handstand. Even Shoulderstand can worsen nasal congestion and head pressure.

SUPPORT YOURSELF Even restful poses like Savasana (Corpse Pose) aren’t easy when you’re congested, so instead of lying flat, support your back on a bolster running lengthwise from your lower spine to your head, with a folded blanket under the head and neck if needed. This makes breathing easier, and it’s more energizing.

Yoga has even been known to cure various serious ailments and diseases including heart disease, muscle and joint debilitation, depression and many, many more ailments. We have found more and more clients are being faced with diabetes. It has been seen to be resolved with a regular yoga practice. Diabetes or Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic polygenic disease where the glucose level in the blood is abnormally high. It is a type of metabolic disorder characterized by the body’s inability regulate and produce insulin. The main function of insulin is converting sugar, starches or other food items into energy. When the body stops producing insulin, the sugar circulation in blood increases unchecked, which leads to serious disorders of the nervous system, the vascular system, the circulatory system, obesity, even loss of limbs. Diabetes is a growing world-wide epidemic that even the most advanced medical doctors are continuously losing the battle against. Yoga and a balanced diet paired together have been seen to show marked steps towards curing diabetes and balancing blood sugar. Regular practice of yoga also reduces the chances of the onset of diabetes and keeps it in control by changing lifestyle patterns.

There are various yoga poses which can be effective in warding off diabetes. Sun salutation or Surya Namaskar is a very powerful and helpful yoga exercise for people suffering from diabetes. This exercise tends to improve the blood circulation throughout the body and hence a better level of insulin administration throughout the body. After becoming more familiar with Sun Salutations, one can practice other yoga asanas. Pranayama or the breathing techniques are also very good for controlling and purifying the blood. In addition, practicing meditation can also be helpful in the treatment of diabetes. Regular meditation has actually been known to have a regulative effect on sugar levels.

Yoga Wellbeing has been working with OM Magazine and The Yoga Show. We have 15 FREE tickets to give away. If you would like to know more just click here to visit Yoga Wellbeing’s Facebook page.

Here’s a little bit more information on The Yoga Show 2010. It’s being held at The London’s Olympia, now in its seventh year, is a total Yoga experience under one roof. The show is on for three days and offers endless yoga fun for everyone.

The Yoga Show also features:

Free open classes

Sample a wide range of yoga and pilates. Open sessions are for all levels of experience including beginners, and are the ideal way to try something new. Sessions are held with some of the country’s leading teachers and professional organisations.

Workshops

Take a longer class and experience the teaching styles of talented inspirational teachers. A chance to .try a different style of yoga including popular fusions influenced by yoga, pilates, dance and music.

Exhibition

Visit over 200 exhibition stands covering all aspects of Yoga, Pilates, Ayurveda and naturally healthy products. From mats to bolsters, bags & belts to holidays, teacher training and clothing.

Children’s yoga

Let the kids have some fun in the Lion pose, all sessions are free of charge.

Yoga in Prisons workshops throw up the philosophical questions such as Who am I? Am I separate from what I do? They investigate basic goodness, identity, and forgiveness as well as develop listening and empathy skills. Leaders also introduce simple meditations to help prisoners learn how to calmly be with whatever emotions arise in the present moment. The boys count their breaths and do body scans to get into their bodies, relax, and find freedom from reactivity.

The idea of spending less time in solitary may lure the prisoners but once he started attending the yoga meetings they start to see the benefits. Each session offered a brief respite from isolation, a glimpse of self-awareness, and a chance to connect to others who had similar lives filled with drugs and gangs.

Thinking it over and talking with others, I was able to sort out my ideas. Using a breathing technique, which he learned in group sessions, to control his temper. My anger and other people just don’t mix. Yoga breathing techniques have helped me cope with everyday life.

Art of Meditation

Meditation is like the art of the musician
and the science of sound vibration.

Meditation deals with Senses, Body, Breath, and Mind. There is an art in the process of observing, accepting, understanding, and training each of these various aspects of our being.

In observing the senses, one becomes increasingly mindful of the way the mind is drawn here and there by smell, taste, touch, sight and hearing. One comes to see the many ways in which the body cleanses and eliminates, the elegant force of  our sensual drive on actions and artistic expression, the beautiful varieties of motion and dexterity of holding objects, and the awesome process of speech. To observe, accept, understand, and train these faculties is most definitely an art form.

In doing yoga postures, one learns with heightened awareness and concentration to let the body flow into the postures. This is an art.

With breathing practices, one may spend many minutes seeing how very smooth and slow one can make the breath, while eliminating jerkiness and pauses. This can bring calmness to the physical body and stillness to the mind. This too is an art.

Once one gets past the initial frustration with quieting the conscious mind, the mind is seen to be an awesome instrument, with many currents and cross-currents. Yet, the meditator comes to see that “who we are” is beyond this mind, and that the gentle examination of thoughts and emotions is an intriguing and joyful part of the journey to the center of consciousness. This exploration too is an art.

Science of Meditation

Yoga meditation science is complete in itself. It deals with all levels of ones being, and provides a vast array of detailed explanations and practices to go along with those concepts. Yoga meditation is a science, providing a blueprint for the architecture of consciousness, and a roadmap to the center of consciousness.

Highly useful among the texts on yoga science are the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, and the Upanishads, which are said to be the distillation, the “juice” of the Vedas, among the oldest teachings known to humanity. Seen through the eye of the yogi or the mystic, many of the books of the worlds religions are also guides in the science of yoga, of the wholeness of the inner journey.

The science of yoga meditation is taught in oral tradition by thousands of people around the world, as they have for thousands of years. Among those are a handful of enlightened ones, called by such names as saint, sage, seer, yogi, or master (of themselves). Preeminent among them are the sages of the Himalayas.

Does yoga help breath cancer patients?

University of Alberta research fellow Amy Speed-Andrews has examined how a specialized Iyengar yoga program for women currently in the treatment for breast for breast cancer, and who have completed treatment, makes a difference in their recovery.

For two years groups of study participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their physical and mental health at the beginning of a 10-week session of Iyengar yoga and again at the end. After analyzing the data that was collected, Speed-Andrews, from the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, found that after yoga 94 percent said they had improvements in their quality of life; 88 percent felt better physically; 87 percent reported being happier and 80 percent were less tired. Other improvements were reported in body image and in decreased levels of stress, anxiety and depression. This is significant, considering breast cancer treatments often leave women in pain, immobilized, tired and depressed.

Yoga Wellbeing teachers create a range of restorative practices that help clients deal with insomnia. Insomnia—the inability to get to sleep or to sleep soundly—can be either temporary or chronic, lasting a few days to weeks. It affects a whopping 54 percent of adults in the United States at one time or another, and insomnia that lasts more than six weeks may affect from 10 to 15 percent of adults at some point during their lives. To get a decent night’s sleep, many people are turning to pills.

“Sleeping pills are not always a cure; they treat the symptom but not the underlying problem,” explains Sat Bir Khalsa, a Kundalini Yoga teacher. Beneath the symptoms of insomnia are the anxiety, fatigue, and stress that our increasingly fast-paced world seems to be creating. These days, who hasn’t worked long hours without taking a break?

You may feel that you’ve adapted to the intense rhythm that modern life requires, but if you’re experiencing sleepless nights, your nervous system is probably rebelling. It may be stuck in a state known as arousal, where your sympathetic nervous system is triggered. In this state your mind will race or your palms might sweat. Your body will secrete more stress hormones, and your temperature and metabolic rates will rise, as will your heart rate. “There is very good evidence that people with chronic insomnia have elevated levels of arousal in general,” Khalsa says. “And some insomniacs have higher levels right before they go to sleep.” By creating a routine of soothing rituals, you can bring your nervous system back into balance and transform your sleep patterns for good.

Rituals for Relaxing

Whether it’s yoga to reduce muscle tension, breathing to slow the heart rate, or an herbal massage to calm a racing mind, a simple routine can be the most effective and safest road to a better night’s sleep. There is growing evidence that small behavioral changes can make a big difference in getting some good shuteye. A 2006 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that participants who made modifications like reducing stimuli in the bedroom and learning relaxation techniques improved their sleep more than those who took drugs.

Know Your Timing

The first step to feeling well rested is to institute a regular bedtime. Maintaining consistency will help keep your circadian rhythms—the biological changes that happen every 24 hours—steady. Eventually, your body will naturally understand and crave sleep during these hours.

Tuck in Early

Although eight hours has long been considered the ideal length for a night’s sleep, Douillard says that it’s not just the number of hours you sleep that matters, but the time of day you go to sleep as well. He insists that our bodies naturally want to arise around 5 a.m., since humans started their day around daybreak before the advent of modern technology.

These are just a couple of ideas to get you started.

Anthony Paul Moo-Young, known as Mooji, is a direct disciple of Sri Harilal Poonja, the renowned advaita master. In 1987, a chance meeting with a Christian mystic was to be a life-changing encounter for Mooji.

In late 1993, Mooji travelled to India. He had a desire to visit Dakshineswar in Calcutta where Sri Ramakrishna, the great Bengali Saint, had lived and taught. The words and life of Ramakrishna were a source of inspiration and encouragement to Mooji in the early years of his spiritual development. While in Rishikesh, a holy place at the foothills of the Himalayas, he was to have another chance encounter; this time with three devotees of the great advaita Master Sri Harilal Poonja, known to his many devotees as Papaji.

Mooji has been sharing satsang in the form of spontaneous encounters, retreats, satsang intensives and one-to-one meetings with the many seekers who visit him, from all parts of the world. Few amongst the modern teachers of the advaita tradition expound the ‘knowledge of Self’, and the method of self-enquiry, with such dazzling clarity, love and authority. There is an energy that radiates from Mooji’s presence, a kind of impersonal intimacy, full of love, joy and a curious mix of playfulness and authority. His style is direct, clear, compassionate and often humorous.

Currently Mooji shares satsang in Brixton, London, where he lives. He also travels regularly to Ireland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brasil, North America and India where he conducts satsang meetings, intensives and retreats.Yoga Wellbeing is really excited to go along to his next meeting and learn more from the Brixton guru.