LYT

Category: Monthly Motivation

  • 126 | How To Lighten Up

    126 | How To Lighten Up

    Today’s podcast is about lightening up. We can tend to get stuck in the things that bog us down. So how can we lighten up emotionally, mentally, physically and in response to situations? By connecting to and strengthening our core center, our physical and spiritual self, we can get that feeling of lightness and that belief that we can handle anything, even when things don’t go our way.

     

    I start all of my classes with that engagement of the core, finding and maintaining a neutral pelvis, integrating all of the muscles that surround your skeleton and getting them firing so that you can feel lightness in your movement. If you’re not moving well and your joints aren’t supported, you won’t feel light.

     

    One way to discharge heavy emotions is to scream out loud. Don’t scream at anyone, go into the woods or something! When you grind your teeth or grip your jaw, it’s because you’re holding onto negative emotions. Letting vibration and noise out will help you release them. After you scream, breathe and see if you notice the difference.

     

    Another way of discharging negative emotions is by jumping. You can do little jumps, shake out your hands, shake out your feet and jump up and down on your toes. 

     

    Playing is also a great way of lightening up. Take an invitation to go and do something really fun and playful. Jump around, skip, hop, crawl, put on music and dance. You can play with kids or with adults.

     

    Mahatma Gandhi said, be the change you want to see. You will feel lighter when you are acting in alignment with your core values and doing the things that resonate with that. So be the change you want to see. Be friendly. No matter what. Be compassionate and loving. Be light.

     

    Henry Ford said, whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right. The power of your thoughts are that great. So if you want to be lighter, know that you can be.

     

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  • 125 | Stop The Snowball Effect

    125 | Stop The Snowball Effect

    Today’s podcast is about the snowball effect. A snowball that rolls down a hill, gathering more and more snow can have a massive impact when it gets to the bottom, kind of like a runaway train. So what happens when we let our thoughts or suboptimal movement patterns snowball? In terms of our mental state, we get more and more overwhelmed. With movement, one thing compounds another and we can end up with a repetitive strain injury or movement dysfunction that’s difficult to correct. 

    I’ve developed an acronym to help you become aware of problems before they snowball. The acronym is STOP. 

     

    S stands for survey the situation. If you wake up in the middle of the night worrying about all the things you have to do, you can stop going down a path of negative thoughts by doing something simple like writing the things you have to do down. With movement it’s about focusing on how you move or stand so that you notice when you’re putting your body under any strain.

     

    T stands for tune into the feelings. The more we tune in, the more we’re going to be present in that moment to moment awareness. For example, how does it feel to hold your head up when it’s not in proper alignment?

     

    O stands for objectively respond. That means respond without personalizing it or without vilifying yourself. Instead of looking at yourself and saying, I slouch or, look at my poor posture, think, my head needs to be put back in this position. And then I’m going to hold it there.

     

    P stands for plan another route.So instead of going down the path with the snowball, work out what you can do when you start to feel overwhelmed or notice your posture or movement patterns are suboptimal. For example, when you wake up worried in the middle of the night, plan to have a drink of water, take 10 breaths then go back to sleep.

     

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  • 120 | What We Can Learn From Athletes | with Lara Heimann

    Today’s podcast is about what we can learn from professional athletes. Athletes are so fascinating to observe because of the discipline involved when working to be one of the best or the most elite in your sport. They can also teach us a lot about the power of drive and determination and inspire us to think about the potential of our own bodies. For instance, what would happen if we put a little bit more effort and energy into our own movement and aspirations of being more physically fit? Another thing we can learn from athletes is more of a what not to do. Many athletic endeavors are just too demanding to do long term, and there’s such a big difference from that high level of performance to being retired. Whatever we’re doing, we want it to be sustainable so that we don’t injure ourselves or experience burnout.

     

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  • 119 | What Causes Stress | with Lara Heimann

    119 | What Causes Stress | with Lara Heimann

     

    Today’s podcast is all about stress. Whether it’s physical, mental or emotional, stress is not a bad thing per se. It helps us to be motivated and get things done. If we didn’t put any stress on our bodies or our minds, we wouldn’t grow stronger or improve. But it’s also easy to get too stressed, and sometimes that point of overwhelm can come on quite quickly. Too much stress can lead to injury, illness or fatigue. In this episode I cover how to manage stress so that it doesn’t become overwhelming or cause health problems. 

     

    In terms of physical goals, my tip is to be patient. We need to stress the body, but often we don’t need to do it as fast as we think we do. We’re sold this consumer nonsense that we can get a six-pack or whatever in five weeks. But whether you want to be able to go and run 10 miles or do a handstand, ramp up whatever you’re doing gradually and come from a place of patience. If you want to run a marathon for the first time, don’t rush, give yourself nine months and really plan out how you’re going to prepare for it. Yes, you could probably do it faster, but giving yourself extra time will allow you to run and recover well. People can also push themselves too hard with yoga. But yoga is a lifelong journey and there’s no point rushing to “accomplish” a fancy pose or something without taking the time to lay down all the building blocks.

     

    There’s many things we can’t control or predict in our lives. For example, if we suddenly lose our job or a loved one gets sick, we can get hit hard by mental or emotional stress. I think the best thing we can do is to prepare for these big stressors is to learn how to manage the smaller crises. When I start to feel stressed, I know that I have to put everything in focus and be very decisive about how I’m spending my energy and time. I think about how I can practice self-care and look after the things that are important to me, like my family. Then, once I’ve made some progress towards recovery, I start to think, what can I do to not come to this state of stress again? To avoid the kind of stress that overwhelms us, we should be very clear on the things that take energy away and even clearer about the things that fill us up.

     

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  • 111 | How Movement Can Help With Procrastination with Lara Heimann

    111 | How Movement Can Help With Procrastination with Lara Heimann

    The brain is capable of collecting so much information. We’re constantly collecting, and sorting and organizing information to either be stored or not stored. But because the brain is so powerful, it has the propensity or tendency to go into what’s called wayward thinking, where we would just float into this state of different emotions. And this is where we have a lot of strange impulses that work for us, like fight or flight or freeze. 

     

    This probably worked for us from an evolutionary standpoint, but the more advanced and evolved part of the brain is capable of overriding these impulses. And so we need to train that part of the brain to help us when we tend to do things like procrastinate. A lot of the reasons we procrastinate is boredom, but also an underlying fear of or frustration of all the things we have to do. We get really bogged down in the to do list. Our brain especially doesn’t do well with multitasking because there’s too many parts of it that are being stimulated.

     

    Strategies for dealing with procrastination include:

    • organizing the brain, for example by keeping written lists of what needs to be done
    • disconnecting from technology so we’re not taking in a constant stream of information

     

    Movement can also help overcome procrastination because exercise has such a positive effect on your brain. When you raise your heart rate even a little bit, you’re going to pump more oxygen to the brain, making the brain happier and more able to focus. You’re also releasing hormones, which are giving an environment and ecosystem for growth. You’re stimulating the connections between the cells to grow so you’re literally growing the brain, making it more robust and more capable of handling information. That makes us feel better and more capable, and all of those feelings are the perfect remedy for procrastination.

     

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  • 110 | How to build new neural pathways | with Lara Heimann

    110 | How to build new neural pathways | with Lara Heimann

    Today’s episode covers what you can do to build new neural pathways. The brain is like a muscle, it can grow and change. Fifty years ago, scientists believed the brain was rigid and wouldn’t grow after a certain age. Now we recognise the neuroplasticity of the brain; the ability to reorganize neural pathways. 

     

    There are a number of ways to grow these pathways in your own brain. For example, be curious. Be like Leonardo Da Vinci, take a detailed interest in the world around you. Curious people are less likely to be stuck in the same routine. Every time you have a new experience, pathways are lit up and may develop. Every time you learn something, this creates more passages. Movement is also a great way to develop these pathways.

     

     Here are my tips on what you can do to grow these neural pathways. 

     

    • Get on your hands. Try crawling around the house. It works both hemispheres of the brain and acts like a jet fuel for the brain. Try hand stands. Practice weight bearing on your hands.
    • Change over your dominant hand/foot. Use your other hand and foot to fire up neural pathways.
    • Sensorial restriction. Stimulate the brain in a different way such as closing your eyes when doing yoga. Doing everyday tasks with fewer senses involved promotes neural pathways as the other senses take hold.
    • Meditation. This helps you “pull in” your senses. For the purpose of boosting neural pathways, close your eyes during a meditation session. Harnessing the control of your senses during meditation and journeying into the brain creates stronger pathways.
    • Change your routine. Doing so, even a little bit, will boost neural pathways. New experiences create new pathways. Notice how your brain reacts with the new routine.

     

    The overarching part of all these techniques is an increase in curiosity. Getting the brain to work in different ways. Always write things down with a pen as this stimulates the brain as well. The physical act of writing improves retention.

     

    Create and think and grow and expand!

     

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  • 109 | Taking advantage of summer to look after yourself | with Lara Heimann

    109 | Taking advantage of summer to look after yourself | with Lara Heimann

    Today’s episode is about summer self-care tips. Summer is such a great time for looking after ourselves. It’s a time of freedom and enjoyment — we’re hard-wired to believe that as kids— and we carry that into adulthood. However, looking after yourself in the warm weather is very important and here are some summer self-care tips that I use to take advantage of this time of year. 

     

    1. Make time for the things you love to do. You have more time, more light during summer. Use this to do things you want to do. Plan to have a little “staycation” at home.
    2. Enjoy movement. The longer hours means we have the opportunity to rediscover movement more. Outdoors yoga, bushwalking, playing frisbee. This is an opportunity to reconnect with the movement of our body.
    3. Enjoy the amount of added daylight. Get out in the sun and take advantage of the added light (in this part of the world). Protect your skin but get that natural source of Vitamin D. Getting outside more will also make your sleep better.
    4. Take a break from technology. There is something rejuvenating about giving yourself a break from technology. This time of year gives you that opportunity to give yourself that extended time away from screens, social media, emails etc. Giving yourself this break is like a reset button for your brain and body.
    5. Eat well and enjoy fresh food. We can move more and eat better in summer. How we eat is a form of energy. Fresh produce abounds in summer! Go to a farmers’ market or farm and pick the freshest. Try something new!

     

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  • 107 | Leave Your Problems At The Door | with Lara Heimann

    107 | Leave Your Problems At The Door | with Lara Heimann

    This episode is titled “How To Leave Your Problems At The Door” and I use the example of my yoga teacher training classes to show how important it is to put space between the various parts of our lives. However, the episode is aimed at anyone who needs to put boundaries between work, home and social life.

     

    How do we create “safety zones” in our lives between those various parts of our day-to-day existence? I see this a great deal in my yoga teacher training and I say to my students that, whatever is going on in their personal lives, they will need to be careful not to bring them to class as teachers. As yoga educators, you’re of service to others. I tell them they should guide and support the experience of students. That’s difficult to do if you bring in outside problems.

     

    This applies to anyone who comes home after work with related stress. It’s so important to leave these problems, worries and stresses that happened during the workday, at the door. Leave whatever is happening in your work life there, like a coat. It’ll still be there tomorrow but may well feel lighter after being given some space.

     

    The yoga mat gives us an opportunity to practise this. Through movement, we can shed some of this. There’s a different energy about you when you go to work and vice versa. If there are problems, practise not taking them into the separate spaces. Use your movement exercises on the mat to change your mood.

     

    This will enable you to keep your feelings apart.

     

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