thefutureisred

How To Clean & Organize Your Mind With A Breath Of Fire

There's too much going on. Work. Home. Friends. Family. Sometimes it feels like I can barely fit everything I need and want to do on the list in my head, let alone in my life. This is how I cope.

I’ve been far too caught up in things lately.  Everything feels way too serious.

From cruise ships destroying the planet to Native Americans massacred, my poor brain is overwhelmed. It’s been weeks since I joked around about joining the gym here in Salta, and my life feels very much all business.

This has lead me to one very important conclusion.

Honey, It's Time To Lighten Up

This is what I do when it’s time to relax but my brain is having a hard letting go. I take a deep breath. Not just any breath. Yogic breath. It's said to heal everything from asthma to anxiety to depression. Yep, just a breath.

The basics of yogic breathing, also called pranayama, are relatively simple. You bring in fresh, oxygenated air, breath out old, flat air. Every organ benefits. Deep breathing also helps you relax, reduce stress and even helps you live longer.

This video shows a qigong pranayama method for reducing allergies and asthma with, you guessed it, breathing.

Two Breaths To Ease the Mind

While I myself haven't tried the qigong breath above, I have incorporated many types of breathing into my daily yoga and meditation practice. The two I'm about to describe are my favorite for clearing the mind and learning how to relax again.

I learned these years ago from Jerry Scarnato, one of my favorite yoga teachers from the now no-longer-extant Energy Center in Brooklyn. Jerry is an amazing man. He’s a firefighter and one of the first on the scene during 9/11. He taught yoga and relaxation techniques to other firefighters, including these two types of breath.

Breath of Fire Or Kapalabati Breathing

Another name for this is bellows breath, because, well,  try it once and you’ll immediately understand. This breath warms you and has been known to give an intense  abdominal workout, particularly if you’re not used to it.

You begin by breathing in and out, slowly and deeply. Filling your lungs with new air and expelling as much of the old as you can. Then when you’re ready, begin rapidly exhaling through the nose. Focus on contracting your abdomen with your out-breath.  The in-breath will happen naturally.

After a set of about 50 breaths – you decide how many based on your comfort level – slow the breath down like a train coming into the station. Clean out your lungs again with a few full deep slow breaths until you finally hold gently at the top of the breath. Hold for 30 seconds to begin then work up to see if you can hold for two minutes or longer.

Repeat the succession of rapid breathing, then holding three times altogether.

Alternate Nostril Breathing or Anuloma Viloma

Breath of Fire is intended to break up all the dirt in your body – metaphorically speaking. For this reason, kapalabati is also called skull shining breath. The force and fire of the breath burns through all the little bits of grime that get in your way, then you simply breathe them out your body.

Alternate Nostril breath restores order, rebalances everything after being shaken by fire.

Sit comfortably cross legged wherever you want to sit. Now take your right hand and take the two fingers directly beside the thumb and fold them inward. Place your pinky and ring finger by your left nostril, closing off the air passage. Your thumb goes to your right, but don’t close that side yet.

Breathe gently into your right nostril for a count of five, close it off with your thumb. Hold to a count of ten. Release your pinky and ring fingers on the left side and breathe out gently for a count of 5.  Then breathe in the left for a count of five. Hold for ten. Breathe out the right for a count of five.

Repeat this 10-20 times.

The key here is that your breath move easily and quietly. If you find yourself struggling to finish the count or running out of breath, take a shorter count. The only rhythm you want to maintain is to hold the breath twice the count of your in and out.

All the numbers I mention here are entirely negotiable.

You decide how long you want to hold your breath, how long to draw it in and how many repetitions. You'll decide based on your own comfort and ability. Literally, your body and breath will tell you if you want more or less.

Another Reason Why This Works

As you practice this breathing, you’ll notice something. It’s almost impossible to think of anything other than the breath.  You can’t really worry about what’s to come or what was. You don’t plan ahead and you don’t fall behind. You just sit there, focusing on your breath.

Afterward, just imagine you return to your life with a shiny, clean head – metaphorically speaking, of course.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS: Check out another description of how to perform these two breaths along with more information about yogic breathing. It's also important to keep in mind that kapalabati is contraindicated with certain conditions such as pregnancy, menstruation, high blood pressure and any abdominal surgery. Remember, you're working your abdomen strongly. If you have any doubt, check with your doctor or a local yogi you trust.

Photos courtesy of compasspoint and xanetia.

How Do You Maintain the Blog Life vs Real Life Balance?

We´re finally coming out of 2 weeks of being sick, and life has been something of a triage. The things that need to be done are done first: doctor visits, Lila´s needs and food.  Everything else waits.

And since we´ve been sick, my blogging has most definitely suffered. I haven´t had much time at all to write, compose notes or follow up on comments and e-mail.  Every time I leave the house, I see and experience things that make me think, ¨Wow, that would be great for a blog entry!¨

But for now, they must wait.

It highlights for me something I´ve often wondered. How do you live in the moment when you´re thinking about blogging it? When you turn a life event into a blog entry, you think about your life from an outside perspective. How will others see this? How can I recreate this, my own life experience, so that someone else can read and relate? Even stopping to take pictures becomes an action of ending your own moment in order to capture it.

It´s the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle applied to your life. You cannot both do what you are doing and plan where you are going at the very same time without the experience of one or the other drastically changing.

So how do I seek balance?

I keep a list of Future Blog Posts. When I have an idea, I immediately write it down and then forget about it until I´m ready to sit and write it. I do the same with the Things I Need To Do. It is surprising how well this works. Somehow, the simple act of writing down removes the nagging action from my head.

I force myself to take full days during which I entirely put aside my computer, Blackberry, To-Do-Lists, journal and camera and just live the day. It´s really hard! Too often I think how much I´d like to Twitter something, and my mind is too often on more than one thing at once. Even as I write this post, I´m thinking how I´d like to post a picture I saw of Noel Gallagher and make some sort of witty comment about Cigarettes and Alcohol.

Meditation & Yoga. I often talk about yoga, but meditation is something I don´t think about nearly enough. My favorite place for meditation is somewhere completely alone in a darkened room with a lit candle. I focus on the flame while I clear my mind. Focus on my breathing and one by one remove the thoughts from my head, because they are not important.

Oh, I need to reply to @blumimsy about writing. Set that aside for now.

I want to order a nightlight from @fogandthistle for Lila. Our friend Jen is coming to visit and I want it sent to her in time for her to bring it. Oh, yes!! Jen is coming to visit. She´ll be here in less than two weeks. I can´t wait to see her. What time do I have to pick her up from the airport, again?

Stop! Set aside each of these thoughts one by one, because again, the list is endless. I repeat. It is endless. Were I to start working now, contacting, writing and posting, I would never, ever finish. So the quest to finish is futile, is it not?

Of course, it is far easier to write about these things than to actually implement them, so I´m curious to know what others do in order to find their balance

A Total Newbie Answers the Question: What Good Is Twitter?

 If you aren't already, please follow me on Twitter!

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I joined Twitter almost two years ago. I remember exactly where I was too. In an Etap hotel just outside of Marseilles. I was introduced to it by @arincrumley, one of the creators of Four Eyed Monsters. That was the same day I started my blog. But at that point, it was so slow and painful to twitter from a Blackberry, I didn't bother.

Since then, I've been so busy with moving, traveling and the like, that it only barely hit my radar. I figured when I was more settled and finally thought of good use for Twitter, I'd wait to get involved. Then I started receiving notices that people were following me on Twitter.

"Following what?" I wondered. Still more followed, and finally, my curiosity got the best of me. I logged onto my account.

That was about ten days ago, and now I am hooked. So what good is twitter? I'll tell you!

1. Work and Personal Benefits

It's like a huge online cocktail party with tens of thousands of people chatting 24 hours a day. You are always connected to people with similar interests, both work and personal, all over the world. I'm in touch with others interested in yoga, gardening, sustainable development, art and teaching.

So far I have learned endless amounts about the technical side of building a better blog, how to use Twitter, Wordpress and how to work public relations and social media outlets. Thanks @DaivRawks. This man, Daiv Russell-Ninja Nerd has almost 20K followers and somehow manages to keep up with them all. He offers sound advice on anything technical. I sent him a question once and was amazed to see his response within a few minutes.

There are others too: @mashable @mayhemstudios @PRsarahevans and @skydiver.

@skydiver, by the way, is Peter Shankman, founder of Help A Reporter. If you are a writer of any type, business owner, website analyst, really anything, you need to check out his site. I'd also like to mention that I met him twice. First, at the 1996 Democratic convention in Chicago. The second time, I was struggling to carry my child and her stroller down the subway stairs at the Columbus Circle station in NYC just before we left to travel. He stopped to ask if I needed help.

I've met other travelers. @collazoprojects. Julie Shwietert, a writer and traveler from NYC and Puerto Rico writes wonderfully on her blog about all topics ranging from travel to politics and more.

I met Julie through the Twitter posts of @umarket of Uncornered Market fame. Their website follows their absolutely amazing travels through tens of countries. Their thoughtful articles and striking imagery make you want to visit. If you can't, though, you have this sneaking feeling that you've been with them through China, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Latvia and so many other places I simply cannot list them here.

There's also @ARoadRetraveled. @tripwolf. @travelojos. I've chatted and compared travel notes with all these people. In addition, each has a website where you can learn more about their experiences traveling and perhaps one day, I will write for some of them or they will guest blog for me.

Sometimes, you find inspiration. @kendrathornbury, for example, is a Life Coach, Spiritual Guide, Manifest Mastermind Guide, Law of Attraction Guru, SpiritAlive Creator, Joyous Being, Free Spirit, Humanitarian, Alive Enthusiast (as her profile says). Each day, she posts wonderful statements about how to move yourself more freely through life and reach your goals.

"When you are aware and awake in the moment, you have the leverage to create whatever you want. U are not a slave to circumstances," she posted last night. And there is such a lovely picture of her smiling on the beach on her website.

I've met other parents. @fogandthistle Another NYC mom. She has a blog and Etsy shop where she sells original papercut designs. I plan to buy one of her gorgeous nightlights. Lila has been asking for one for quite a while and her room here in Salta is so unbelievably dark at night.

And finally, it's a great source of news. I'm following all sorts of news outlets such as @nytimes, @suntimes, @guardiannews. And BOOM, all headlines with links are sent directly to me.

"But why do I need all this information?" I'm sure many of you are still asking yourselves. I've already seen more visitors to my blog. And, well, I guess I may as well tell you. I have a new project brewing. It involves an expansion of the What Lila Sees section of this website. I'm aiming to launch in June.

There are other less obvious benefits to Twitter as well.

1. Improved Memory

Imagine. You are following the information threads of anywhere from 10 to 10,000 people. It's a constant stream of information. Then one day, you see a reply from someone line @CouchsurfingOri saying "Could've been that stalker! :)"

What? I had no idea what he meant. Was that message intended for someone else? I had to think back to all my interactions with him and all the things I posted in the past day or so. Then I got it! I posted something about that horrible yowling outside our casita last night. "What the hell was it?" I wondered.

2. Teaches Patience

You can't ask everything at once. And when you do make contact with some, you can't just blurt out right from the beginning: "I have the great idea. You really should help me." No, you have to start chatting, understand who the person is, what they do. You have to get to know them as you would in real life, but on Twitter, you rarely receive the immediate response you would at a real cocktail party. You have to wait for your answer.

3. Encourages Positive Thinking

There is a real culture of Pay It Forward. I've noticed the things that attract the most interest, tend to benefit as many people as possible. @twitchhiker, for example. He's a reporter for the Guardian who intends to travel for a month soley with the help of Twitter tips. All money he raises goes to charity.

People credit each other for posting solid articles and thoughts by this funny little thing called retweeting. By retweeting, you also help yourself. The person you credit is thankful and passes along your name. The people who appreciate what you've passed along thank you as well.

And since this is a site so often used for marketing, almost everyone I've encountered presents a positive, helpful face. You have to be open to people and you never know from where a good idea will arise, so most people are willing to have conversations and help. In ten days, I have yet to see anyone be anything but decent and constructive. A far cry from You Be Mom, where people remain anonymous and tend to tear each other apart.

4. It Is the DOS Version of the Future
Best yet! Twitter is it's own world with it's own rules. In it, you open yourself to a constant stream of information from so many disparate sources. It's absolutely dizzying. Hot dang if I don't feel like Johnny Mnemonic, only the yakuza aren't chasing me and presumedly my head won't explode if I don't find the key to the data stored in my head.

One day, I'm betting we'll receive this feed directly into our brains. There, we'll meet our Twitterverse Tweeples wearing brilliant 3D avatars lounging on sumptuous digital couches and sipping martinis while sorting through the latest information about some big business mogul releasing a horde of insects into a crowd or accept a request to speak to a classroom of children in the South of France or Guam. I imagine my eyelids will be quickly fluttering as I receive the information.

Yeah, Twitter. I drank the Kool Aid. I'm a true believer now.

Art and Couchsurfing In Baires

How are things going here in general? Well, I think.

After so many times picking up, moving and resettling, we've become masters. I no longer feel the intense shock I felt when we first visited another country. I don't even feel the complete denial I had when we first left NY.

I do find myself constantly comparing parts of Buenos Aires to places and things I know, especially in NY. But then, Buenos Aires is very much like any other big city I've seen. Only they speak Spanish. Navigating the place is mostly the same. Although, I will admit, I find the bus system to be particularly daunting, the trains and walking is a pleasure. Easy to find your way around, and if you become completely lost or too exhausted to walk any further, there's always a cab nearby to whisk you home.

With the exchange rate between peso and dollar, cabs are remarkably cheap. Still, I prefer not to cab. You don't see the city by cab.

In our week and a half here, we've seen quite a bit. The feria in San Telmo. It's amazing. Perhaps one of my favorite things about this city. It begins as an antique market in Plaza Dorrego and spills out for blocks and blocks, filling the streets with people, performers, and people selling everything from jewelry to mirrors and toys.

I love how Buenos Aires supports artists like this. . More artists line the streets of Palermo on weekends as well. Painters, sculptors, jewelry makers, pottery, clothing and more than I can even remember. And there's an artesan craft fair every weekend on Avenida del Liberatador across from the Museo de Bellas Artes.

Suddenly, it makes perfect sense why so many of the people you meet selling things in Bocas are from Argentina.

This area around Bellas Artes has become our "go to" place when we want to have a mellow day. In Panama City, that was the Multiplaza Mall. In Bocas, the beach. Here, it's an area filled with children's parks, museums, and open air parks where you can walk, run, bike and play in the enormous trees. It's quite something. Yesterday, we visited Bellas Artes for the second time and happened to visit at the exact time of a choral concert in the lobby.

Couchsurfing here has been interesting. I've been in touch with a lot of people, but the distance between words and doing have a very different pace here. Things are postponed. Events change time and place. But the people are really lovely, open and warm.

They also tend to be a good ten years younger than we are and don't have children. At least, that is the demographic for the daily Couchsurfing event. Picnics in the park. Late night Chanukah parties. Tango in the square. All things I feel we are more than welcome to join, but not exactly the sort of thing Lila would enjoy, at least not on a regular basis.

Then again, it's only been one week.

I May Be Flexible, But....

We're back in Atlanta and I'm in search of a good yoga studio. My requirements?

It must be nearby. It must have drop in classes. And it must be real yoga, not the kind of power yoga that turns a relaxing, challenge for your mind and body into the equivalent of a stretching on a treadmill.

It's not too much to ask. I know this. There have been studios that fill these three requirements in every single place we've traveled. Be that a small yoga class on the dock in Bocas or the three excellent studios within ten minutes of my bed in Buffalo, they're easy to find.

Usually.

Not here. I'm having the damndest time.

Ok, well, there is one place, called Sattva Yoga & Healing within walking distance. It does fill all my requirements. The philosophy and the classes look solid. The studio is pleasant and comfortable.There's just this one, well, there's just this thing that makes me a bit hinky. You see, this place is not only a yoga studio, but doubles -- should you require it -- as a colonic irrigation center. As the sign says, Yoga and Healing (wink wink).

At first, this was a source of much jokery. Yeah, let's go to the yoga place for a root and toot.  Or Noah's favorite, "Hey, we could go on a date." Can they do two at the same time? But now that I'm actually here and ready to attend classes, I'm finding it difficult to be quite so flippant. I checked the website and what I saw truly traumatized me.

Basically, you lie on your back on machine that looks like a pinball game. This contraption is called the, ahem, Colenz. Next, you insert the nozzle and lay a drape sheet over your lower half. There's a sign clearly stating, though, that the FDA requires everyone insert his or her own nozzle. For whatever reason -- a reason I am only mildy curious to know -- the technician can't do it for you. My guess: this reduces the number of fetishists coming in their door. (Or perhaps that's just an insight into my thinking I didn't need to share?) I'll stop right there with this description, but I will say the rest involves low pressure warm water, a scoop and handi-wipes. 

For those of you who care to know more, you can see and read all about the ins and outs of colonic irrigation in full diagramatic detail right here. All I can say is that I've been somewhat traumatised by the whole thing since I read it late, late one night last week. And I am not generally faint at heart when it comes to discussing body functions. I mean, I have an ongoing discussion about bedsores with a nurse friend of mine, and after spending more than one night covered in my sick shivering child's vomit, well, you see what I'm saying.

Otherwise, I have found no other yoga studios within a 20 minute drive. They may be closer mile-wise, but Atlanta traffic could use a bit of time on the Colenz too. So I may have to bite the bullet and just partake of these classes even with the Colenz in such close proximity.

Hey, you never know. Maybe I'll get used to being around them. And then, who knows where things can lead. They do, after all, have TWO machines.

Slowly Learning How To Let Go

This morning I got up early and went out to do yoga on one of the enormous rocks that make up the beach in Riomaggiore. It was beautiful, amazing. Just me, the rocks and sound of the waves.

That's when it hit me. I didn't want to leave. I wanted more yoga mornings alone on the beach. More time to explore the area. More evenings walks by the water with my husband and child. More.

Then I pulled out of this swirl of thought and back into my yoga. That's the thing about practicing yoga. It is all about experiencing the moment and letting go of past and future.

Allan Watts, reknown Taoist scholar says that it is the person who lives for the future who is truly lost. The past is gone, but at least it once existed. The present is ours. It is all we really have. There is nothing in the future but what could be. While there can be great hope for the future, it is not real. To count on it is to chase shadows.

As I sat there in lotus, I pulled myself back from worrying about whether it is a mistake to go back to France instead of remaining in this place I love so much. Pulled myself back from wishing we had come here earlier so we could have had more time.

The sea spread out all around me and aside from the waves and early morning sun burning the previous night's fog, all was quiet and airy.

So I am thankful that we are lucky enough to have had our days in this place, for my two hours of the most perfect yoga ever. Thankful that we have found a place to which we want to return, maybe for a while, maybe forever. Who knows? It doesn't really matter anyway. That is for the future and wasn't this trip always supposed to be about traveling the world one day at a time?

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