A Short Yin Practice for Heart and Lungs by Terri Montgomery

Guidelines for a Yin Yoga Practice

Hold each pose for 2-5mins (use props: cushions, blankets, bolster to support your body if needed). Relax the muscle tension to go deeper into the connective tissue, fascia and joints. The three most important parts of the practice are:

  • Stillness
  • Appropriate depth: it’s ok to feel discomfort, but don’t build tension by going too far – it’s a non-harming, gentle practice – ahimsa
  • Time: 2-5 minutes of holding the poses

Heart/Lung Small and Large Intestines poses:

Butterfly pose – soles of the feet together, feet in close or feet further away your choice feel the difference, start seated upright and bowing forward when you’re ready

Wide knee child’s pose – buttock towards your heels, let your heart melt to the ground

Sphinx pose – (place a blank under your pelvis to release pressure on your lower back, particularly your SI joint)

Seal pose – (stronger back bend – come up onto your palms, lengthen your arms, open your shoulders, release tension by pulling down slightly)

Counter pose – Laying prone (facing down sliding knee up to hip height, your gaze the same way, repeat other side)

Caterpillar – Full Forward Bend (bend knees and sit on a prop to help the pelvis to rotate forward and release hamstring tension) A calming and cooling pose, let your exhale breath be long

Supine Twist – laying down take both knees to one side, gaze opposite Savasana 5-10 mins (right hand on the heart, left on the hara – belly)

What makes your heart shine?

Creating healthy boundaries protecting your heart so that you can focus on self love. Only allow people in to your heart that deserve your love and attention. Ensuring your shine doesn’t get dimmed, be who you are…

Satya – truthfulness…shine…bright…

CLICK HERE to find out more and book Terri’s next retreat
– you must book and pay in full by 17-Jan-2019 to receive your IYTA $50 discount

In Tune with our Chakras – Glynis Whitfield

Discover why and how the Chakras are the databanks of our lives in this wonderful workshop led by Glynis Whitfield. Here Glynis gives us an insight into tuning into our chakras…

Q: What do you mean when you say the Chakras are the databanks of our lives?

A: One thing I have learned through my practise of yoga is that we are all blessed to be more than our physical bodies. And we are greater than most of us know. All of our experience is mediated through our energy system, chakras, koshas and nadis.

I see the chakras as being the keepers of our relationships with the outside world. Each chakra with a different aspect of these relationships to manage. When we experience hurts which cause us pain and suffering, the effects are “stored” within our chakras and koshas. It is possible for us all to tune in and soon you will see the patterns and the connections. Our energy bodies are the reflections of ourselves.

Q: How does this work?

A: How this works in actuality I have no idea. We do know that the chakras can become damaged through some interactions as can the koshas, and like any (I hesitate to use the word) machinery, when one part isn’t working properly, things don’t run smoothly. This can cause us to view the world and ourselves in a way which causes more confusion and pain. For example, do we see ourselves as victims in a hostile environment, or are we participants in an exciting journey?

Q: And why is this?

A: Becoming conscious requires that we take notice. Become aware. One form of prodding is pain and pain usually manages to get our attention, helps focus the mind, if you like.

Q: What has been your personal experience with the energy systems?

A: When I started meditation, I found the mind wanted to jump all over the place, as we all experience no doubt. I found that giving my mind something to concentrate on helped keep it quiet, so practising Chakra Dharanam (focus) became my way in.

Q: How can we all be more in tune with the Chakras?

A: Take notice of where we feel pain, not just physical pain, but emotional pain. What things in your life are causing you issues? When you understand which chakra deals with the issue at hand, you may find the explanation of why you are feeling pain in a particular place. For instance, do you have pain across the back of the pelvis/low back? Are you experiencing stress in your relationship with money or power?

Q: And how can we clear the Chakras?

A: Visualise clearing each chakra of its stored hurts. To visualise each chakra spinning freely, with no hindrances. Also Prana Vidya, visualising energy moving freely through the nadis in conjunction with the movement of the breath, is another great way to clear out the plumbing.

Q: How do the chakras tie in with the other yogic energy systems?

A: When you learn the aspects of our being which the chakras deal with, and then learn the aspects the koshas deal with, you will see the correspondences between them. As we raise our awareness upwards from the base chakra to the higher levels of consciousness, so we move our awareness to ever finer layers in the koshas.

Learning to Love Yourself

Yoga teacher and mother Terri Montgomery has been pondering this dilemma and has created a retreat designed to nurture, nourish and encourage us to restore and rejuvenate in order to reach our full potential.

For most of her life Terri says she took on the roles of caretaker, fixer and empath which she says created a lot of stress, responsibility and lack of self-care. Over time she felt that unless she was doing things for others and taking on the carer role, she felt she wasn’t worthy of receiving love.

She says: “I found myself looking outside for love and appreciation only to be disappointed and hurt when my expectations weren’t met.”

She found it was an endless cycle of exhausting herself and then getting frustrated, angry, feeling unloved and unappreciated!

She adds: “You’re the one choosing to put yourself last, not anyone else!”

Terri says she’s learned: It’s Ok to say No!

“It’s so exhausting when you’re living this way, running on adrenaline like a mouse on a wheel – finally stopping when you fall apart.”

“I’ve learnt that I am important and that my needs matter and to give to myself first in order to give to others. I’ve learnt to Love me for me.”

Terri went on a week-long retreat, which changed her life. She discovered that many of us follow negative patterns which we adopt from our parents or rebel against – and when we understand those patterns, we can learn how to communicate clear boundaries with what’s okay and what is not.

“To communicate your needs and have the courage to honour your values, not only helps you but also improves your relationships with those you love,” she says.

“When your needs aren’t met it can spiral into other patterns we’ve learnt when we’re hurting – such as vindictive behaviours of withdrawal, stone walling, frustration, anger, jealousy and loneliness.”

Terri now makes caring for herself a priority and always takes time for a daily yoga practice, such as the heart/lung Yin yoga flow she created – you can practise it too.

» Click here to see this short yin routine

With her experience in meditation and yoga, Terri is holding a yoga retreat in March next year called: Arise to come into Being, aimed at helping you find a deeper understanding of yourself and setting achievable goals.

IYTA DISCOUNT! Terri is offering IYTA members $50 off if you pay in full and book by 17-Jan-2019

The retreat runs from Friday 22 March – Monday 25 March, 2019 at the Gymea Eco and Spa Retreat in Uki, Northern NSW. The retreat will include amazing fresh vegetarian organic food, features a magnesium swimming pool, spa facilities and daily yoga energising and calming suitable for all levels, drawing, dance, meditation, and walks in nature.

To book on or find out more go to Terri’s website: www.yogafit.com.au or call her on 0423 138738

CLICK HERE to find out more and book Terri’s next retreat

– you must book and pay in full by 17-Jan-2019 to receive your IYTA $50 discount