DP Health And Wellness – The Art Of Listening

A DelhiPlanet Health And Wellness Exclusive, In Association With Queen Yogini Kristin McGee

In daily life there are many occasions where people just don’t know what to do in spite of receiving clear instructions. This happens because many a times we aren’t just listening and are occupied with other thoughts or are doing something else. Just like writing and speaking, listening is also a very essential component of effective communication. People can avoid many problems and communicate very effectively if they just listen well. In today’s article Kristin will share her knowledge on how important it is to listen effectively and how yoga can help enhance that.

Sometime back when I was teaching my 12:30 yoga class at Clay and I gave the instruction “step your left foot forward and drop your right heel to the ground, lift up to warrior 1“, many students looked around for someone to make the first move so they could follow. Some of the students stepped their right foot forward instead and the rest of them were still in dog pose daydreaming! It made me realize just how much we’ve lost the art of listening.

We’ve become such a visual society and become lazy as far as how we learn. I remember taking a trapeze class down on the West Side Highway with my niece when she came to visit from Idaho. I learned very quickly that if you don’t listen and do exactly what they tell you to do when they tell you to do it, you’re screwed! My 12-year-old niece was a pro at it — she just listened and followed instructions. I wonder if we start to doubt ourselves as we age or if we get complacent and believe that hearing things is enough to get by instead of listening closely and absorbing things with our whole being. I think a lot of miscommunication in relationships could be solved if people truly listened to each other.

Yoga once again to the rescue. It is one of the few places where the teacher doesn’t do any demonstrating, but instead speaks the class through the poses and allows the students to experience the process. It is a wonderful way to redevelop all of our senses, especially our ears and truly listen. Once we give into listening we automatically are present and can no longer predict what will come next or get lost in what already happened. That is why music can make us feel so good — it puts us immediately in the moment and allows us to listen and experience things on a whole new level.

Note: The above has been published by DelhiPlanet in association with and with explicit permission from Kristin Mcgee and originally published by Kristin on findyourdetour.com. Any reproduction without proper approval and acknowledgment is prohibited.

DP Health And Wellness : The Power Of Meditation, Part 2

A DelhiPlanet Health And Wellness Exclusive, In Association With Queen Yogini

Following up on the first part of this series(read here) we are back with the last part, where Kristin will share a really simple and effective method on how to practice meditation, which is one of the best ways to achieve a balanced mind.

Here is a how-to guide to meditation that I read recently in Positive Thinking magazine (a little-known but great publication!). I like to breathe in and out through my nose only when I meditate but do what works best for you.

Meditation 101

1. Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Wear loose-fitting clothing and sit cross-legged on a chair or cushion, or on the floor. If you have time constraints, set an alarm to ring softly.
2. Keep your back, neck and head straight. Leave your eyes unfocused and half open (I like to close mine completely). Get comfortable and relaxed and minimize movement.
3. Breathe from your belly, not your chest. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Try to become aware of your breathing, fixing your attention on the inhalation and exhalation, how the air feels entering and exiting your body.
4. The goal of meditation is to become fully aware of the present moment. As you breathe, watch your thoughts come and go. Don’t fixate on any idea, thought or memory. Simply take note of them and let them fade. If you get distracted, retrain your focus on your breathing.
5. Keep breathing and refocusing for as long as you need. Gradually open your eyes, look around you and slowly stand up — refreshed!

I’ve learned that I don’t have to get up at 5 a.m. to mediate; I can meditate any time, any place and it’s truly making a difference in my life. I hope you give it a try.

Note: The above has been published by DelhiPlanet in association with and with explicit permission from Kristin Mcgee and originally published by Kristin on findyourdetour.com. Any reproduction without proper approval and acknowledgment is prohibited.

DP Health And Wellness: The Power Of Meditation, Part 1

A DelhiPlanet Health And Wellness Exclusive, In Association With Queen Yogini Kristin McGee

“I Don’t need to meditate, I have a good life.“, “Nah, Meditation is for losers. I like to pump it up“. Try talking to a teenager or a young adult in his 20′s about the benefits of meditation and it’s wondrous effects and you’ll probably end up hearing a response like that. Well, the whole purpose of doing meditation is to become more aware and alert, so that one can always live in the moment. Kids and teenagers are already like that and so they see no reason to learn this art. However as we progress in life, it becomes increasingly difficult to stay focused and that’s where the power of meditation comes into the picture.

Let’s hear more about the the Power of Meditation from Queen Yogini Kristin McGee who has mastered this art over many years.

Every night I go to bed with the thought that I’ll walk up at the crack of dawn and meditate for 30 minutes to start off my day. Why haven’t I made this a reality yet? Well, for one thing, I’m already up at 5:30 most mornings. But I really, really, really want to have a consistent meditation practice.

There are so many benefits to having a meditation practice. Especially now in our over-stimulated society, where crackberries and instant messaging is the norm, it is even more important to rein in the senses and quiet the mind. The physical asana practice of yoga is only one step in getting to a state of real genuine internal peace and happiness. Physical asana practice actually falls right before meditation in Patanjali’s eightfold path to enlightenment, making meditation even more important than the physical postures. Physical yoga as we know it is really just a way to open the body enough so we can sit still comfortably and focus on the breath and bring ourselves into a state of meditative awareness.

Meditation isn’t about zoning out or getting rid of all of our thoughts, it is actually being completely awake and aware to the present moment. We sit and witness our thoughts, then let them go and come back to our breath, which is happening in the here and now. It is what happens when you are completely involved in something and you lose track of time. Most children are moving meditations, i.e., they do what they feel like in the immediate moment. As adults we are constantly monitoring ourselves and thinking about the past or the future. Meditation teaches us to be still and be in the present, which is the greatest gift we can give ourselves.

No wonder meditation is said to help people perform better on tests of alertness and reaction time or lower blood pressure and increase life span. Who doesn’t want to live longer when they are truly enjoying each moment of their life!

Next week, we’ll be back with Part 2 of this series where Kristin will share her knowledge on how one should practice meditation. So stay tuned to this space.

Note: The above has been published by DelhiPlanet in association with and with explicit permission from Kristin Mcgee and originally published by Kristin on findyourdetour.com. Any reproduction without proper approval and acknowledgment is prohibited.