Laura Erdman-Luntz, MA, E-RYT(500) | Yoga | Yoga Teacher Training | Minnesota | Costa Rica | Life Coaching

Get out of the Box

 

I have been studying the brain lately in reading a book called The Answer by John Assaraf and Murray Smith. Basically the book discusses how our unconscious mind keeps us stuck in our current (usually limiting) way of thinking, stuck in a box. Sometimes the box is pleasant ("My marriage box is lovely!") and sometimes it is mediocre or even very uncomfortable ("My current job is terrible but...I am stuck, I can't leave, I need the money..." -- you know the thoughts!). But it is what we know and there is security in what we know. A step away from the known is scary and we unconsciously (and sometimes consciously) avoid taking the next step. Often we can't even see the next step.

Ready to use your yoga to expand your consciousness? Remember what you do on the mat transfer off the mat and vice versa. Ready to expand out of your box in your job? Marriage? Friendships? You can do it on the mat first. How? Do you always do the same practice or same type of practice? Do you love forward folds and avoid backbends? Do you always want to feel like you’ve worked hard so that your practice “counts”? Do you sit on your mat with no energy and just sit there? Have you done the same 10 poses in the same order for years? Use your practice to break out of the box. Change it up. Do something different! Find a pose you always avoid or one you have never done. Begin to experiment. If you always feel you need a workout, do a restorative practice. If you always do restorative, do something vigorous and get your heart pumping!

Okay, now, does the mere thought of doing something different even for one day bring fear to your heart? That is the sign that you definitely need to do something different!

Ready to Rock Your New Year?:  I have just released my "New Year's Resolutions From the Heart" home study course.  Includes a 40 min podcast with workbook to take you through the three steps for setting Goals from Your Soul:  Letting go of what no longer servies you, Feeling big enough for your dream, and Surrendering with grace and gratitude to the present.  You can also take each step to your yoga mat and add the accompanying podcasts.  Each step has breathing, visualizations and series of asanas to help you.  Ready to rock your new year and let your yoga mat help you?  More information and to order.

Ready to start living your Extraordinary Life...Starting tomorrow?

Where are you in your life?  Is it where you thought you would be by this age?  Have you ever thought about what you really want and then felt the courage to go for it?  Ready to make SURE your life isn't the same in Five Years?

I want to invite all of you to join me beginning next week for the full course of The Art of Manifesting Your Dreams!  We will spend 6 inspiring weeks together as I guide you toward the life you have only dreamed of living.

Register now!

Teleclass

In-Person (in the Twin Cities)

I know this course will make a difference in your life.  You will definitely more toward more joy and contentment, feeling a sense of vibrancy you have only dreamed of experiencing.  I am so sure of it, I want to offer you a discount if you register today (10/5/11)!  This discount will last until midnight tonight so be sure to get yourself registered!  (If you want to pay by check -- just email me by midnight to let me know and I will honor the discount!)

Both the LIVE and teleclass course start tomorrow!  Come on, join me!  You know you want to.   

Want to know the most common reason people give me for not taking the course, "Now is just not the time."  I hear all about how the kids keep you busy, work is stressful, you have too much on your plate already, you want to declutter your junk drawer before you come.  (Yes, I have heard that one!)  Okay, so when will be the right time?  Think about it, we are always putting off the good stuff.  Come on, this class will HELP you do all the things you want to do!  It will enhance your life in ways you cannot even imagine....yet!

Register now:  

Teleclass

In-Person

When you register, add the code: iamready to receive a $50 discount!

What makes this series special is yoga!  For each of the 6 sessions, you will receive yoga podcasts (asanas, visualizations, or breathing) to help you incorporate the concepts.  Have you "tried" to be strong enough to do something?  Yoga can help!  Have you "tried" to let go of an old behavior?  Yoga can help!  Yoga is a powerful addition to this process.  

 
Read what popular blogger and founder of FinanciallySmitten.com, Lora Sasiela had to say:  "Laura has been an incredible guide as I manage a huge life transition. Her insights, support, and six-step program have helped me gain clarity and direction on next steps. Her unique and brilliant blending of life coaching and yoga is incredibly synergistic and I love having her yoga podcasts and visualizations to deepen the work in between our appointments. Laura is a gifted healer and you will  feel wonderfully blessed and grateful to be coached by her."

The course is offered both in-person (if you are in the Twin Cities) and by teleclass if you are anywhere else.  Here are the links for more info and to register:

Teleclass

In-Person

Still hesitating?  Have you taken a moment to watch this video yet?  Take 2 minutes and 36 seconds to watch this powerful video and then follow your heart... 

Ready to make SURE your life isn't the same in Five Years? (And listen to this visualization to further inspire you...my gift to you:  In five years....)

Curious, but still not sure?  Here is my new e-book to get you started on the six steps.  Please enjoy it as my gift to you:

The Art of Manifesting Your Dreams

 
Here is to living YOUR Extraordinary Life!

Using Yoga to Create Balance in our Lives

Life is alot like waves on a beach, we surge into action then recede back, cycling between action and rest and restoring.  At least that is the balanced way.  What does your life look like?  Are you taking too much action?  Surging and surging again or have you been receding for some time now, sitting back and letting life happen to you?  Use your yoga practice to create more balance, more moderation.  Here are some ideas to get you started:

• If you have been surging for some time, it is time to rest.  Let your practice be more restorative, doing daily Savasana and forward fold as well as supported, relaxing posture.
• If you have been sitting back and resting, you need the energy to surge.  Let your practice be more power poses such as Tadasana and back bends.  The Warrior poses will also give you the energy to move out of your comfort zone and do something new!

LIVE and Online Restorative Yoga: Letting Go to Receive

Join me tonight

Sunday, May 22 | 7:30pm CDT  

Letting Go to Receive

Register Now!

Over the past few years, I have been experimenting with teaching what I call "Manifesting on the Mat" yoga, taking the concepts I teach in the Ignite Your Life courses to the yoga mat.  Through breathing, visualization, and, of course, yoga, I am teaching: building personal strength (so you can finally say yes to that new challenge or no to something you need to let go of!), letting go, receiving, surrender, and so much more!  (Those of you who have experienced the New Year's Day workshops have experienced a taste of this.)  I have found the work to be nothing short of profound in my own practice and with the few people I have taught it to. 

I am ready to release Manifesting on the Mat to a broader audience.  This Sunday will be the first of a series of classes I want to "play" in through my online yoga site: www.Physiic.com.  I intend to do a few more throughout this summer and fall.  This Sunday's class is:  Restorative Yoga:  Letting Go to Receive.

The more I work with people on manifesting, the more I am realizing that this is the piece most of us is missing in order to finally step into our dream.  This powerful class will help you open your open your energy field to receive, even if your subconscious brain is still telling you "no".

What to expect: If you aren't familiar with what to expect in a Restorative Yoga Class, you can read more about it here.  It is so easy to join me...really. Just a computer and internet access!  PLUS, you get a $10 credit toward your first class simply by registering!  (and recommend a class to a friend and, if she registers, you receive $5 toward your next class!)   Still nervous? Here are directions for you. 

Love to have you!

LIVE, Online, Interactive Yoga Classes with Me on Building Personal Strength!

Continuing Hatha Yoga   |  Friday, 2/11  |  10-11:15am Central

Do you need to say, "no" to something in your life but just can't seem to...

or

Do you need to give a resounding "yes" to something new and challenging
but feel a bit fearful...

Join me this Friday for my Continuing Hatha Yoga online class and
learn how to use yoga to build your personal strength! 

You will feel much stronger to do what you need to do right after class!

Go to Physiic.com right now and get started!
Here is my Physiic.com page with my schedule.
(Here is an easy "how to" sheet for you to follow.)

Class is live and interactive -- you can actually talk to me! 
All you need is a computer and the internet.

HOW: Go to www.Physiic.com  to get registered (you just need name and email -- so easy!)  Registration with Physiic.com is free and you receive 10 FREE class credits just for joining!  Once you are registered, go to my page and click on the classes you want to attend.  When it is time for class, you find it on your profile page, click on "join" and a screen will open up with...me!  I am still amazed at how well this page was put together. (Oh, and when you register for a class, you can recommend it to a friend.  If the friend then registers, you get a $5 class credit for your next class!!)

Go to Physiic.com right now and get started!

WHEN:  Here is my schedule  (Join me on Thursdays, too!)

• Thursdays:  Lunchtime Stretch (11:45-12:30pm Central) -  Come to let go of the stresses of your day and week.  Enter your afternoon with more vibrant energy!
• Fridays:  Continuing Hatha Yoga (10:00-11:15am Central) -  For a student who wants a more intermediate experience.  We will do a complete practice with a focus for the class such as back bends, forward folds, surrendering, or a particular pose.
• I am thinking of adding a Beginning Yoga class to Fridays.  Email me if you are interested and she will keep you posted!

I will be adding workshops and other special classes in the future.  Stay up-to-date with my schedule through my monday morning musing eNewsletter.

Go to Physiic.com right now and get started!
(Here is an easy "how to" sheet for you to follow.)

Bringing the Dream In: Part III

Are you afraid of your dream?

Did you know, deep down, your dream, whatever it is, scares you?  Fascinating isn’t it?  Our deepest dreams represent our true self, our authentic, genuine place and that place scares us.  That place is where our power is, our strength.  It is just like Marianne Williamson says, it is our light that most frightens us not our darkness.  We have a deep fear of feeling our power.  We are comfortable with our status quo, even if it isn’t comfortable.  (Quite a paradox we have to work with!)

What do backbends have to do with achieving your dream?

Luckily we have yoga that can change our energy.  So, what can you do to open yourself up to more wonderful?  The first step I covered in my last post, feeling strong on your feet and engaging the legs.  The next step is backbends!  Backbends give us energy, they open our hearts to the world (countering that slump, with its lazy energy and tendency toward the status quo, we discussed in the last post.)

Ustrasana – feeling your power

Now, while all backbends open us up to more wonderful in our lives, it is Ustrasana (Camel Pose) that is the most powerful.  Ustrasana puts us directly into a fear place.  To understand this concept, we have to remember that we are animals and as such have primal issues.  The main primal issue is survival.  To feel safe, we need to protect our front side.  The “kill” zone in the wild is the throat and the soft tissue of the belly.  For this reason, Balasana (Child’s Pose) is one of the most relaxing poses.  You feel very secure and protected in this pose.

Now take Ustrasana…it takes great courage to expose your kill zone to the world.  Yes, I know you are in a yoga class or in the privacy of your own home not in the Serengeti, but you get the idea.  Not only does it take courage to do the pose, doing it gives you more courage. Plus, you are literally opening your heart to more goodness; in particular goodness that will come to you when you feel the courage to go after it.
One of the ways I practice this pose with my classes is to have the students hold the pose at the point just before taking the hands to the feet.  Often we sink into the pose when we take the final step with the hands to the feet, losing many of the energetic, power and strength building benefits of this pose.

Opening to your dream in camel pose (Ustrasana)

How to:  Get on your knees to prepare for the pose.  Feel long through the body and draw the tailbone down, keeping the buttocks broad.  Open the eyes of the heart.  Breathe.  Take your arms by your side and externally rotate them strongly to open your heart more and begin the back bend.  Lift your heart to the ceiling.  Breathe.  Begin to bend back slowly and with complete control.  Experience your power deeply.  Keep lifting your back ribs out of your lower back, further opening your heart.  Stay activated without rigidity.  As soon as you grip or slump, you will lose the “opening to the dream” benefits of the pose.

Breathe in and feel the power and excitement you receive!

Next up in the series: Surrendering to the present moment

We have now felt our personal strength and opened to our dream.  What is the final step to this process?  To surrender with grace to the present moment.  I will discuss that one in the next post…

Related Posts:

• Part I: You can live your dream life
• Part II: Manifesting: Its all in the feet

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ready to Ignite Your Life and utilize the Law of Attraction well?  Join me this spring as I release another series of Ignite Your Life telecourses, including:

• FREE From Motivation to Inspiration Teleclass
• FREE Live Your Extraordinary Life Teleclass
• The Art of Manifesting Your Dreams: to really take manifesting to the successful level!  Use YOGA to help you with everything I discussed in this post. (LIVE in the Twin Cities area and by teleclass.)

Manifesting-Personal Strength: It is all in the feet: Part II

 

Okay, maybe not just the feet, but the feet are a powerful step toward finding the personal strength to overcome the status quo I mentioned in my last post!  Standing tall and firmly on the feet is not simply a metaphor.  When we work our feet, open them up to more energy, use them more efficiently, we can stand taller and in doing so, feel stronger.

Here’s an experiment for you.  Right now, slump in your seat (or continue slumping if you already are! ☺)  Take a breath.  Think about something you want to do in your life that might take some work.  How do you feel about it?  Are you ready to leap up and take even one action step?  Now, sit up tall.  Feel the length in the spine, the openness in your heart.  Take a deep breath and again think about what you want?  More ready, aren’t you?  It might be subtle in this small example.  Think of the profound effects your posture would have if you stood tall all day, day after day.  Your feet are the basis of that strong alignment.  As I already mentioned, when we use our feet well, we stand taller and stronger.

To start the process, let’s just do a very easy exercise.  First, let’s get a “before feeling”.  Stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose).   Take a breath and again feel how you feel about whatever you want in your life.  Done?  Remember that feeling.

Now sit back down and we are going to do a quick massage for the feet.  Hold your right foot.  Lace the fingers of your left hand through your toes.  If your toes are very tight, you might just get your fingertips through.  If you are more flexible, take your fingers to the root.  This exercise can be intense so be sure you are breathing!  Now hold the right foot firmly with your right hand at the arch to keep from moving at the ankle.  Slowly rotate your toes around without moving the ankle.  Breathe.  Do a few circles and then go the other way.  When you are done, stroke down the sole of your foot with your thumbs a few times.  Move from the heal to the toes.  When you are done, feel the difference between your feet.  It can be dramatic.  Now switch feet and repeat the series on your other foot.

Now let’s redo Tadasana (Mountain Pose).  This time we will also activate the feet.  Stand with your feet parallel.  Lift your toes up and ever so slightly, walk the balls of your feet away from your heals.  You might move a millimeter.  It isn’t meant to be a big movement.  With your toes still lifted, find the inner edge of the ball of your big toe and “stick” it to your mat.  Broaden across the balls of your feet to widen your feet.  Now set the toes down, lengthening them out.

Do your feet feel different than in your “before” pose?  Let’s make it even stronger.  From the feet, “lift” the muscles in the legs.  (If this action challenges you, use a block between your upper inner thighs and hold it firmly without gripping.)  Keep drawing up through the core so the heart opens more effortlessly.  Now what do you think about what you want in your life?

The gift of yoga is we can manipulate our energy so we can create the type of energy we need or want in our life.  With this series, we created energy for personal strength.  We can then use that energy to forge forward to the life of our dreams…Next post I will talk about creating energy for opening ourselves up to even more wonderful!

Here is a podcast in which I talk you through this process.  Enjoy!

Related Posts:

• Part I: You can live your dream life
  

Ready to Ignite Your Life and utilize the Law of Attraction well?  Join me this spring as I release another series of Ignite Your Life telecourses, including:

• FREE From Motivation to Inspiration Teleclass
• FREE Live Your Extraordinary Life Teleclass
• The Art of Manifesting Your Dreams: to really take manifesting to the successful level!  Use YOGA to help you with everything I discussed in this post. (LIVE in the Twin Cities area and by teleclass.)

Receiving on the Yoga Mat

 

When I talk about receiving, I am referring to how well you accept anything from outside of yourself.  Do you accept help when offered?  Do you accept a compliment or appreciation graciously or just brush it off?  How do you feel when someone gives you a gift from their heart, just because, but you haven't given them anything?  Do you enjoy it or simply feel awkward because you have nothing for them?

Awhile ago I began to muse about how well I receive.  I realized, very well and I know I am not alone.   

I continue my studies into receiving and learning how to do it better.  As an avid student of manifesting, I know if I am unable to receive something as simple as an act of kindness, there is no way I can begin to receive the enormous gifts the universe has in store for me.  So, as I so often do, I took my thoughts to the yoga mat.  If I could learn more about receiving on my yoga mat, that would translate then into my life.  Here is what I have found:

• Receiving on  your yoga mat means not imposing the pose on your body:  How many times do you push yourself into a pose, take yourself to the maximum of your body's ability?  Or think about the pose (and what it is suppose to look like) rather than your body in the pose.  I had a teacher once say, "Gently invite your body into the pose."  What lovely words!  The kindness resonated with me and I have used them ever since.
• Pay attention to where you "impose" the most.  (In other words, force your body or feel irritated and annoyed if it isn't going well.)  Is it in backbends?  Forward folds?  Strength poses?  Restorative?  (Yes, you can force a restorative pose...just ask me...a recovering stressaholic!)  My biggest area of forcing, however, was forward folds. That taught me alot about myself but I will leave that for another post.  Where you are forcing will teach you alot about you, as well.
• It is intriguing to "play the edge" of a pose in a state of reception.  It is more about being open to what happens, to feeling the pose and being aware of the body.  Ironically, without forcing, most people go more deeply into the pose.

Soften, receiving, and enjoy a richer yoga practice.  You will find you receive in your life more graciously as well.

Related Posts:

• Do You Receive on Your Yoga Mat?
• Receiving

Do You Know What You Want?

Do you know what you really want?  Really?  Think about it.  Can you create such a clear vision in your mind that you can outline three very distinct goals (or intentions as I prefer to call them)?  Do you know one of the most common reasons people do not achieve their goals is they are not clear enough on what they want?  After years of coaching and teaching about manifesting and the Law of Attraction (and, frankly, in my own experience as well), I see it all the time.  We are either:

1. Focused on what we don't want:  "I don't want to be out of shape."  "I don't want this job."  "I don't want this relationship."  "I don't want to be happy."  Or
2. Feel too sheepish about asking for more to send out a clear message at all:  Do you feel you should be grateful for what you have and shouldn't be asking for more?  If so, you are sending out the equivalent of nothing.  Even though your Soul is yearning for more, you won't allow a message to be sent out.  Or
3. You aren't sure what you really want so you are sending out many different messages.  "I want this."  "Wait, no, this looks good."

In order to achieve a goal (and enlist the Universe for help), you need to be ultra-clear on what you want.  My husband shared a fabulous analogy with me.  Think of the Universe as an echo.  You get back what you send out.  If you send out what you don't want, guess what?  You get that back.  Number two is like trying to get an echo back if you whisper.  Not much, if anything at all, comes back.  Number three is sending out so many messages, the return echo is confusing.

If you want a clear response from the Universe, send out a clear message.  If you want to achieve an intention, send out a clear message to your mind.  "This is what is happening now."  Set distinct goals that are easily measurable.  The power is amazing!

Announcement:  Guess What?  I am releasing a new edition to the Ignite Your Life Program and I am so excited!  I have reworked the "Manifesting the Life of Your Dreams" series to make it even more powerful and life changing and I am releasing is in April!  Are you ready to live the life of your dreams?  To no longer be at the whim of the life you have been tolerating?  Join me either live (in the Twin Cities area) OR by teleclass...begins April 2010.  More information coming next week.

Photo By:
Nilgiri Mountain View
Originally uploaded by akshath

Yielding: Part II

   

In my last post, I discussed Donna Farhi’s concept of yielding as it relates to daily living. Now let’s bring it to the mat. It is particularly useful to learn how to do it on the mat since what we do there is reflected in our daily lives. If you find your energy is either collapsed or propped in your life, practice yielding on the mat t bring balance into your life.

The concept of yielding refers to being able to use gravity to ground yourself and still lengthen your physical body without losing the groundedness of your energy. If you are a teacher, play with these exercises with beginners. I am amazed at how often they get this and it is rewarding for them to realize they are beginning to connect with their energy.

First let’s do it sitting. You can do this sitting on the floor or on a chair. Begin by slumping. Yes, you heard me correctly. I know it isn’t aligned, but it can dramatically connect you to your grounding ability. Go ahead and slump. Did you notice that you felt heavier as you slumped? You aren’t actually heavier, you are just grounding your energy or letting it drop. Now, the goal is to begin to align your body and lengthen without losing the weight in your sitbones.

I find I need to align from the bottom up. If I bring my attention to my upper back prematurely, I lose the connection in the grounding. First, tip your pelvis upright, then align your lower back, then open the back of your heart, feel it fan open and bring your head into alignment. Do all of this without losing the weight in your sit bones.

Now let’s do it standing in Tadasana (Mountain Pose). Be sure you take your shoes off first, grounding is much more effective without shoes. Come to standing and find your Tadasana. Balance your weight between the four corners of your feet to align yourself over your feet. The standing equivalent of the slumping to ground your energy is bending your knees. Just bend your knees and feel the weight in your feet. Now align just as we did sitting, from the bottom up. Straighten the legs, draw the tailbone toward your heals, open the back of your heart. Are you still grounded in your feet?

Now practice this concept in all the poses you do. How does it change in other seated or standing poses? What about in inversions?