- sattva (”being”, “entity”) - lucidity, purity, balance, light, consciousness. Dominance of this guna usually means that individual is optimistic, kind, compassionate and thoughtful. Think: do you know any people of this kind? How often do you experience this state of mind? What is it connected to?

- rajas (”air”, “atmosphere”) - force, activity. Rajas guna creates our desires, aspiration to own something. It also brings us fears for losing things we have and people we love. Individual with rajas dominance loses tranquility; if rajas force gets very strong, person becomes a hostage of own desires. Look around. Isn’t rajas the type of most people we meet nowadays?

- tamas (”darkness”, “obscurity”) - negative, lethargic, dull, sleepy. Tamas guna brings person into passive state of mind, when desires and aspirations become misty and distant. Person may gain a self-destructive mood following ruinous ideas and actions (smoking is a tamas action in long time perspective). Everyone has experienced tamas increase after a heavy meal, when the only thing you want is a short nap. Try to remember: do you know someone with a permanent tamas dominance?

Try to recollect, what food and activity brings you to the state of sattva? rajas? tamas? How did you feel yourself after the last meal, - can you pick one guna to describe the state or was it a combination of gunas?

The easiest way to balance gunas is by proper cooking and diet.

Sattva foods

- juicy, fresh, tasty, naturally (!) sweet, easy to digest and light

- will feed conscious states of mind, not producing toxins

Examples: fruits and fresh vegetables which are easy to digest for your stomach; beans, grains and nuts, dairy foods, some oils (unrefined olive, sunflower, linseed, coconut, sesame oils), some spice (ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, fennel, coriander). Sattvic state may be changed by rajasic or even tamasic if one eats too much.

Rajas foods

- salty, hot, dry, bitter, sour (strong taste)

- will rise your activity and excitement, feed desires and fears

Examples: overeating any foods creates pressure and heaviness; overroasted foods cause same effect and are hard to digest. Misuse of spices and salt will also rise our emotions. People who is not used to pure sattva diet will consider it plain and tasteless (although it creates best conditions for healthy digestion), - try adding some spices to grains and veg. It will make your meal balanced and tasty.

Tamas foods

- old, tasting bad, rotten, too dry

- will take much energy to digest (and stay healthy, heh), will rise state of indifference, stupidity, pessimism

Examples: incompatible foods (I will list them in later posts); foods containing variety of toxins, alcohol, old foods, heavy foods like meat; foods with too much oil.

In the same way we can categorize our activities basing on the state of mind we observe. Watching TV all day long will make your mind rajasic or tamasic (depending on movies); going in for sports will probably cause rajasic effect; meditation, a yoga class or a long walk may give you a sattvic state.

With this knowledge you are able to watch yourself more consciously, notice state and mood you gain, compare it with activities done and foods eaten. It is very challenging

Yoga is learning to control all aspects of your being. Try to categorize foods you eat and activities you do day to day. Are you happy with the state of our mind and body?

Have a great day and I hope you found it useful..

First photo displays Indian ceremonial dance Odissi taken by Flickr user 18655811@N00; other photos by wordridden, jessicafm, benny_lin

More to read:

Wiki about Gunas

Principles of Ayurveda

12 healthy eating rules from Yoga teachers

Overeating may destroy Yoga practice

Gunas in personality

I’m back from 2 weeks Universal Yoga Certification Program run by Andrey Lappa in Ukraine. Intensive practice, wonderful people and tender Black Sea washed all the stress away and filled my soul with peace and enthusiasm. 3-4 hours of yoga, pranayama and energy work; 5 hours of theory and dynamic Shiva Dance practice made my days.

Now it’s time to think everything over and start implementing new principles and methods. We have only 2 months left till our long India/Nepal trip in October-December (more news on it soon).

I’m replacing several teachers in KievYogaStudio now and the schedule is a little bit tough, but it brings unbelievable easiness to my mind. What can be more delightful then seeing students’ bright eyes after the class?

As for blogging, my further topics will be:

* Food and healthy eating rules

* Ayurveda principles of healthy life and nutrition

* Yoga for teachers: what to pay attention to; how not to lose own practice and continue personal growth

* Reaching balance during the class

* Pranayama: types, methods, what to start with

* Kundalini Yoga: what’s the idea?

If my dear readers have some topics in mind, - please let me know, I want to be useful

May you all find real freedom..

Photo by mike9alive

You’ve probably noticed that a short rest from any intensive activity clears your mind and gives a different perspective of the same situation, whether it is a work problem or a personal question. Depending on your involvement and the depth of emotions, you may need just a few minutes.. or several days to calm down and reach deeper relaxation. In our daily routine we often need to “reset” our mind, become fresh and more active. Diversify our doings.

Depending on the way you perceive the world, you will find music or visual relaxation fitting you better. I am suggesting several methods to let everything be for a moment. To realize the value of every second; to realize what is really important for you. Don’t miss a chance, this life is so short.. Small daily meditation may become your refuge and change your life for better.

Web relaxation tools

Tools available online are amazing - you can simply sit back and relax a little, letting your mind travel somewhere else and meditate, concentrating on a beautiful video or sound.

Here are my favorite relax-videos from different sources. They are short and light. Don’t forget to turn on the music or wear headphones. I wish you all could leave problems and hard situations aside and simply relax. Let it all go. Just be present for a moment.

Flower meditation

Tender flowers, smell of spring and great sounds.

Water meditation

Water drops and sound of the ocean.

Zen meditation

Zen symbols, Buddha statue, simplicity of a flower, - accompanied by theme music. My favorite.

Forest meditation

Murmur of the forest. Green grass and spikelets, ancient trees.. You are almost standing there.

Space meditation

Galaxies and planet pictures with beautiful ambient music.

Winter meditation

Amazing piano music, cold and bright winter pictures. Remember your cozy winter evenings?

Music compositions

Sounds may be very touching. Most religions use specific sounds during ceremonies to set our mind to a proper state. The impact of nowadays music is a personal experience, but there are some compositions and technologies that can touch anyone.

Have you heard about binaural recordings? Here’s what Wikipedia says about it:

Binaural tones are apparent sounds, the perception of which arises in the brain independent of physical stimuli. Two tones at a slightly different frequencies are presented separately, one to each of a your ears, using stereo headphones. The brain produces a phenomenon resulting in a deep relaxation and health benefits.

This is interesting. I first met binaural tones on Holotropic Breathwork seminar where we used tones for meditation experience. I remember growing awareness and a crystal state of mind. I tried to gather several albums you could listen to try this sound technology. Please use headphones when listening.

Brainwave Suite by Jeffrey Thompson.

Dr. Thompson managed to create amazing tracks combining Tibetan bells, guitar and flute with nature and space sounds. Here are several albums.

Hemi-Sync by Robert Monroe Institute.

This sound technology is believed to synchronize activity of two hemispheres, resulting in a deep relaxation and altered states of mind.

I recommend to try a short track called Spirit’s Journey first. Hemi-Sync has many projects enhancing quality of your concentration, relaxation and sleep. Some more tracks available here.

Mantras are primarily used as spiritual conduits, words or vibrations that instill one-pointed concentration. They say that mantra works even in the case you don’t know the meaning, or don’t believe in it. Mantras are believed to come from ancient Indian practitioners who discovered them during meditations.

I stopped listening to regular and pop music quite a while ago. Indian, Nepali and Tibetan chanting now form my playlists One reason is my devotion to Eastern culture and music, and the other is the state of mind I get listening to mantras. You too can use these melodies for relaxation, yoga, concentration. I have posted my favorite mantra list in one of previous posts.

Nature noise and sounds can be a great way to relax. During shavasana, the relaxation posture in Yoga, I often use ocean and rain sounds to help people reach deep quiescent body state.

Here are several links with nature sounds. I enjoy falling asleep with these

Some people also enjoy classical music as a relaxation technique.

Meditation

I’m reading a book called “Living Dharma” by Yeshe Losal Rinpoche. Lama Yeshe calls meditation a healing pill, Lama - a doctor and all the students - sick patients. He asks us to take meditation daily as a healing medicine, in accordance to our Teacher recommendations. 15 minutes a day can bring great change to your mind, and to whole your life as a result. It’s so disappointing that most people say they don’t have these 15 minutes.. and continue complaining about life, work, other people.

I always recommend to start with a simple breath meditation. Try to sit down with a straight back, relax your body and mind, and watch your breath flow with the inner smile. Your mind will continuously run away, and you should remind yourself about meditation again and again. You can select one of three arias to focus on: your chest, throat or nostrils. Watch them move slightly with every breath. Try to notice when and where inhalation ends and exhalation starts. Turn all your mind to the flow of natural breath. Relax.

In next posts I will try to collect unusual movies leading to meditation and growing awareness. Hope this post was useful : ) What methods do you use to relax?

If you found this post useful.. I would be grateful for adding it to Stumble or Digg. The more people start working on own personality and awareness.. the faster we will change this world =]

More to read:

The art of turning difficulties into practice

Inspiring Yoga videos

Yoga reading: 5 books that work

How to start Yoga healing

Pictures from Flickr creative common galleries: gnaharro, cata13-es, aussiegall, nattu, matalyn, joka2000 and darkpatator

Usually I am continuously thinking on open questions I get from books or people and on the flow of situations in my life, turning them around in my head, looking at them from different angles. I live with them, trying to come to some final idea or understanding. These thoughts pull up another books, people and other connected situations that give some answers (you probably noticed it in your experience, - when you think about something, - alike things start happening).

Whether you think of something good or bad, - you make it more real, more probable to happen or somehow come to your life (that is why many fears come true when we actually *do* fear and don’t want them to happen).

What ideas am I thinking on these days? I decided to record a few.

1. Hard work and productivity in a global sense

I must confess to myself and other beings that my office work is truly useless. It doesn’t bring any joy to me or thousands of people visiting sites my company develops. And it will not get any better, as the company is money-oriented only. Sometimes I prefer not to think about it, as I’m leaving this place soon. But is it really fair, am I really seeing things the way they are? What if I die in 3 month, still working in a dull office and promising myself to start a new life tomorrow.. This is a hard question. Usually people ask to stop talking about it and make death a taboo topic. But this is silly, - we can’t run away from it.

Imagine what your life could be if you set a single motivation - reach enlightenment and help others no-matter-what? Life would simplify a lot. It would become beautiful, full of hard work and very realistic. Lama Ole Nyidahl said that those people who work more, - reach more on the way of Dharma, get more blessings and results. They live a full, complete life. We all talk about ego we want to get rid of, but are we really honest with ourselves about it? Are we doing everything we could do today? You can let everything be, thinking that “I have much time. I will do it later. I am tired. I am not in the mood right now”. But the truth is.. we never know how much time we have.

2. Finding my own path and practice

This is a second big thought flying around me for quite a while. I have had a hard week with 2 yoga classes daily at 9am and 7pm and office work in between. By my Saturday’s “2 hours weekend yoga” I got so tired that I felt energetically overworked. I did my personal meditation practice in a public transport through the week and dedicated only 5-10 minutes in the mornings and evenings. This did upset me much (as I started feeling I don’t move anywhere in it, my mind got less meditative and more chaotic). Teaching yoga in this state is difficult because you have to continuously give-give-give, help and coach. Synchronize with others. “No ego”-state. Otherwise the practice becomes empty.

In any case I’m very grateful for this tough experience. I hope I started understanding the point of giving and finding happiness in it. And.. I can’t combine office with such an intensive practice, - it will simply burn me out. I can switch my priorities to own practice and coaching.

Life brings so many challenges and every situation is a key to a deeper understanding.. : )

Lama Ole says: “Sometimes you have to go away from meditation in order to get back to it in a while with a new look”. I agree, I’m starting my meditation with so much aspiration now. I find a saving refuge in it, realizing it’s impact on my mind and the way I treat others.

This is what I’ve been on recently. I always wonder what others think of. Anyone with alike thoughts? : )

Wonderful picture by Gnaharro Flickr free pics

More to read:

The art of turning difficulties into practice

Why are you doing Yoga?

6 perfections that bring light and meaning to your practice

I will briefly describe the first two rules I wrote about:

1. Eat to live; don’t live to eat

Do you often eat favorite cookies/sweets/chocolate blaming yourself and promising to stop “after this last one”? Do you eat much when you are stressed? Do you automatically eat in front of computer or TV? Do you eat before going to sleep? If you do, this article will help you slightly change the way you eat to become healthier and happier. Food is an instrument, a fuel for your body. Using this or that fuel, your body will feel better or worse. Everyone wants to live a longer, healthier, happier life, - and that is why we should choose good fuel that will not harm our body. It’s very simple in theory Try to treat the food in this way.

2. Hunger is truth, appetite is a lie

Whenever you want to eat and hold out your hand for something tasty, try to think and analyze - “Am I feeling hungry? Is it a real hunger? Or am I bored, stressed, used to eat more then I need?”. Be honest with yourself and try to become aware of every little thing you eat.

Next step is to experience a real hunger. Dedicate your day (why not Friday or weekend?) to explore a real feeling of hunger. Eat less for breakfast and take a long walk during lunch. Don’t eat anything before next meal. Watch how your hunger appears and grows, let it fill your thoughts and body. Remember this feeling. During next few days try to work out a new habit - to eat when you feel hungry, not when you see something tasty.

3. You live as you drink

Human body mostly consists of water. Our metabolism depends on quality and quantity of body liquids. You can influence inner rhymes and body condition by controlling amount of water you drink.

Many people think that drinking much water leads to gaining weight and thus try to drink as less as possible. Yoga teachers and some doctors claim that gaining weight is not related to the quantity of water, but instead to the quantity of salt we eat with food. This salt is said to keep water in the body. In addition to this, people gain weight as a result of imbalance in energies consumption and usage, - when amount of energy received with food is not used for physical or mental activity.

Water is a juice of life and we all know that plans die without needed amount of water and bloom otherwise. Human is not a plant, but nevertheless our health condition depends on water greatly.

In countries with moderate climate human needs around 1,5-2 liters of water in winter and 2-3 liters in summer. The hotter climate is, the more water body needs to consume.

You can influence your hunger with specific drinking regime: in order to get hungry faster, start drinking a half of glass of water every 15-20 minutes. You will feel a real hunger sooner. You can use this technique if you planned a meal for defined time frame, but don’t feel hungry yet. In the other case, if you are hungry already but have no possibility to eat, drink as little as possible. You can also prepare herbs tea, - it will calm down the feeling of hunger.

In any case, it is better to drink a half of glass of water 30 minutes before your meal. You should limit drinking after the meal to let digestion fire work better. This last advice is really important, - stop drinking after meal and you will soon notice that the state of body and mind is different.

4. Drink solid food and eat liquid food

During digestion, the interaction of food and saliva has great importance. Saliva is an active biochemical substance which is absolutely needed for effective digestion. In order to get more saliva (and as a result, - a healthier digestion), you should chew all the food eaten to get a liquid mix with saliva in your mouth. In addition to this, don’t immediately swallow up the liquid when drinking water, milk, soups or tea. To make your drink more regenerating and healthy, do several tasting movements with your tongue and jaws, mixing the drink with saliva.

5. Enjoy an empty stomach

Life gets so different when filled with awareness! When you eat, don’t try to take all at once or eat as fast as possible, even when your food is very special. Try to chew more and keep the food in your mouth until you stop feeling its taste. This technique lets you get most gustatory senses from very small amount of food. If you try using this technique, you will notice that you start feeling full with only a half of usual meal. Feeling of satiation is tightly connected with the amount of gustatory signals our receptors send to the brain. This method, when applied consciously, lets you avoid overeating and overweight.

Some time ago I tried to eat all my rice meals with chopsticks (did you know that it develops hands mobility?) and got very surprised. It appeared that I need much less rice to stop being hungry when eating slowly and chewing more. You should try it too : )

Another interesting thing is a feel of an empty stomach. If you are attentive to your feelings, you will notice that empty stomach (4-5 hours after the meal, you are not very hungry yet, but most food has already started to digest) means clear thoughts, lightness of body, easier physical and mental practices, healthier vision of food you need to eat next.

6. Don’t try to do two things at once

Doing things with full concentration appears to be much more effective then doing several things at once.

You shouldn’t mix food with something else what takes your attention away. Most of nowadays families watch TV, read newspapers or actively think about something while eating. When your switch your attention to something else, your brain doesn’t get enough signals about quality and quantity of food you eat. This leads to insatiability, improper chewing, bad products mix and overeating.

When you eat, try to think about food, its great qualities, the benefit and joy it brings. Turn off TV and put away the newspaper. Feel the taste of food and be happy eating your meal, adding some new healthy substance to your body. This will really change the effect!

Next 6 rules are coming soon

Many thanks to Andrey Lappa for his awesome book and Pancakejess for the picture.

More to read:

Eat to live, don’t live to eat

Hunger is truth, appetite is a lie

How to deal with overeating

I have had a chance to visit Lama Ole Nydahl lecture yesterday. Lama came to our city with the topic “Meditation in Buddhism”. I don’t have enough words to express light, happiness and aspiration of hundreds of people who came. I bought several books and carried them home as the most precious treasure I could buy.

Lama Ole is unbelievably open, real, compassionate and loving.

If you don’t know who Lama Ole Nydahl is, here’s a small introduction: he and his wife, Hannah Nydahl became the first Western devotees of 16th Karmapa, a leader of Karma Kagyu linage of Tibetan Buddhism. They have studied meditation and other Buddhist practices for several years under Karmapa’s personal guidance. After serious experience and transmissions, they got Karmapa’s blessing for teaching Buddhism in Western countries. Since then, Lama Ole travels around the world establishing new centers and spreading true values among people who is ready to accept them. There are over 450 centers established by Lama Ole and Hannah all over the world where any human being can find peace, meditate and fill life with meaning.

I had a feeling yesterday that I have found a close friend. We’ve talked about Buddhism essentials – morality, meditation and wisdom. We have discovered obstacles on the way to being happy and complete foolishness of these negative thoughts. Lama Ole gave us a possibility to accept refuge and get a blessing of Karma Kagyu linage. We have meditated together and got explanations of Medicine Buddha healing meditation. We have chanted few mantras during meditation, and the voice of several hundreds of people entered my heart and vibrated there long after the lecture was over.

Me and my significant one started doing Ngondro (preliminary practices in Vajrayana Buddhism) 2 weeks ago after getting a lung (oral practice transmission) from Lama Sonam Dorje, who is known to be the first Russian practitioner getting Lama status. We are so novice that I’m scared to write anything about Buddhism ☺ But I believe many novices are around and sharing experience is very important as we don’t live in Tibet/Nepal/India and our motivation should be supported every day and every minute.

I will write more on Lama Ole’s lecture later when I get home to see transcripts. I suddenly noticed how deeply Buddhism settled in my heart during last several months.

May all be happy, may all be free..

More to read:

Lama Ole Nydahl 2008 travel plan - check if you can meet Lama soon : )

Diamond Way Buddhism - informational site with teachings, press-releases, news and other useful things

More about Lama Ole Nydahl and Hannah Nydahl