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The neuroscience behind why some people get on their mats daily, while others quit.

December 28, 2020

I don’t know if you know but I’m a real geek when it comes to the nature of how our bodies work and why. Some of the new research in fields like neuroscience and quantum physics are just now starting to explain how some of the ancient practices from different cultures have an effect on us. Wether it’s on a molecular level or quantum level some weird things are constantly happening in our inner worlds. The more we learn about these processes the easier it can become to live a happier and healthier life, instead of having a “oh woe is me” victim mentality. I just listened to this podcast with Dr. Andrew Huberman ( Neuroscientist & Professor at Stanford University, Instagram Hubermanlabs https://www.instagram.com/hubermanlab/?hl=en )where he was explaining the neuroscience behind why some people achieve their goals and others end up quitting. Dopamine (often called “the feel good hormone”) is released when we finally get that something we were craving/wanting ( like that first meal of the dat or that new pair of leggings we’ve been wanting )making us feel good or even euphoria at times. This then helps to mobilize us for action, if we can just learn to use this reward system in a constructive way, rewarding ourselves internally when reaching little milestones it’ll give us more drive and motivation to keep going forward. So having a goal like learning how to handstand or competing in the Arctic Ultra race is great and all but can also be quite scary, overwhelming and frustrating to even start thinking about. In these stressful situations our bodies release epinephrin (adrenaline) which dilates our pupils turning our vision into something like“portrait mode”,racing pulse, sweaty palms, shallow breathing toward hyperventilation, sweaty underarms, weak in the knees, random thoughts, and inability to concentrate, as well as all the other “fun” involuntary effects of the “flight, fight or freeze” response. This fear factor at the beginning of new skills/situations is where many people decide to quit, at the first sign of difficulty or if they don’t start seeing immediate progress. The way the adrenaline makes them feel internally doesn’t help to motivate us in this process UNLESS we learn to overcome the fear and anxiety. This however is not something that can be learned overnight but ask any professional athlete or performer and they will tell you, that the more we put ourselves out there and grab that fear by it’s horns, the less scary it becomes. The same thing happens when we get on our mats each day and face those hard poses we’d rather skip, we teach our bodies not to react to stressful situations(on and off the mat). When our breath is calm we quiet the body and when the body is quiet our minds are calm. For me learning how to enjoy the whole the process, filled with all the ups and downs keeps me going daily. Each time I learn how to be in a yoga pose more comfortably or hod that handstand a second longer, each new shape or press I learn is a small victory in and of itself. This is dopamine in full effect, when released it helps to suppress the feeling of agitation and anxiety letting us actually ENJOY the effort process. Not to mention this process of duration, path and outcome eventually leads to neural plasticity. Meaning that with time things become reflexive and our brain learns these movements/thought patterns or whatever “by heart” . Then we no longer need to think while doing them(like driving a car or walking).!! WIth time, during all those crappy(trust me there were and are still MANY) practices and training sessions I started to learn how to NOT be down on myself, unlike before constantly criticising. We can stop the negative thoughts fro coming in, but what we CAN DO is introduce new positive ones. Ok, so maybe I didn’t reach my “goal” but hey I showed up. I gave it my all. I got stronger in the process. I didn’t quit. I’m on the right path. I didn’t decide to eat a pint of ice cream instead. Each time new neural pathways were formed and I taught myself that I CAN still feel good about myself even if I don’t “WIN” every time . Which wasn’t an easy process with my history of of childhood trauma, depression, low self esteem and addiction. Luckily the chemicals in our body don’t discriminate. These systems are generic and once you learn how to release dopamine into your system, during lets say yoga or handstands, this important skill can also be transferred into all other areas of our lives. So I guess it really is true what they say, what doesn’t kill us literally makes us stronger and with this mindful approach to life we can make all those fails count as wins propelling ourselves forward, living a happier more fulfilled life.

Be your own light

November 2, 2020

They say when the student is ready the master will come but what are we to do when that master turns out to be just a mere mortal like the rest of us? What happens when we find out that he/she is only an imperfect “human” and not an omniscient and omnipresent being? Guru under a blanket In his book “A MIracle of Love” Ram Dass, the late former Harvard proffessor, yogi and spiritual teacher, wrote about life with his Guru Neem Karoli Baba, his students called him Majarajii. Meeting him in 1967 changed his whole life, said Ram DAss. It was only their first time meeting and it was as if he had read his mind when he asked him if he had been thinking of his mother the night prior. Ram Dass answered that he has been, Maharajii just nodded his head saying that he knew this and that his mother had died 6 months ago because of “Spleen”. Thats when something burst inside of him and his heart started to open like a flower. He cried for two days nonstop, asking himself how on Earth could this man have known this? Besides reading minds Majarajii was said to have many other “siddis”, or supernatural powers, but at the same time he claimed to be NOBODY. He was a small toothless man, who could often be found sitting under his favourite blanket, not really your visually picture perfect Guru. Nether the less everything he did and siad acted as a reflection, which showed Ram Dass how much more work he had to do on himself on his spiritual journey. This is the role of the guru, to be the mirror reflection which helps us to realise the answers are already inside us, that the real guru is us and we are looking at ourselves in the mirror. Meditation Master accused of sexual abuse After returning from India he started travelling across the U.S.A giving lectures about his experiences and learned teachings from the East, and in 1974 he joined a team of professors at the newly founded Naropa Institute(the first Buddhist-Inspired university) ran by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Who would think that a couple years after his death, his son Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche would be asked to step down from his ruling position in Shambhala International, the worlds largest Buddhist network of meditation centers, retreats, universeties and monesteries,because of sexual misconduct allegations dating back to the 90s. The law firm handling the investigation has also received numerous reports of sexual misconduct( including underage children) by other leaders and new victims continue to make themselves heard and police are investigating. All of this has left the people in the community feeling confused, hurt, sad and angry. Afterall, do the teachings that Sakyong was teaching and all that he represented still have any validity after all this has come to the surface? This is a question the Shambhala community is faced with today. Hot Yoga heats up In the 70s Bikram Choudhury and his 26 hot yoga poses swept the nation and at one point there were over 650 studios in the US with teachers repeating his words, in what is called “The Dialogue”. In 2017 the court awarded his former lawyer Minakshi Jafa-Bodden 7 million dollars and she later took control of his business after he had fled the country facing several accounts of alleged sexual assault and discrimination against racial and sexual minorities. Today you can find him in Acapulco in his speedos and gold Rolex, still teaching and training teachers for up to 17,000 dollars each who don’t seem to mind all of the allegations being made against their guru, but then again should they stop doing a practice they have grown to love because of one mans mistakes? Abuse can wear many masks Is It possible to be so blinded by faith or love to not see what is right in front of your eyes? I speak from experience when I say yes. I was in an abusive relationship for 3 years back when I was a teenager. It started out as a big love like in a Hollywood movie, but gradually it all changed. He started becoming more controlling, he turned me against all my friends and before I knew it I was alone and couldn’t even leave the house without his permission. The mental and physical abuse got stronger until finally he punched me in the face breaking my nose. I was so “in love” with him I would have taken him back if he hadn’t have gone to prison, for gun posession. Abusers are master manipulators and have the power to convince you that you are wrong, crazy and that you simply deserve all the abuse. Uneven power dynamics In a healthy relationship the “power dyanmics” should be somewhat evenly balanced and in a perfect world the people with more power (including the authority figures, politicians, armies, police as well as all the teachers and Gurus) should be responsible to SERVE the rest. Unfortunatly not everyone can resist the temptation of over using their power and keep their ethics and morality in tact. Especially if they have undiagnosed and untreated trauma. Respecting authority is something we are taught early on in life and all is fine and well until it turns out they were flawed or mentally ill, that’s when the abuse begins. Should you forgive sexual abuse? Anneke Lukas was sold as a child sex slave to a pedophile network at the age of 6 by her mother.The network was ran by high ranking political aristocrats. After 5 years of regular rape, she was rescued by someone on the inside. Her long healing journey has lasted over 30 years and consisted of writing, physco-therapy, yoga, meditation and service to other sex trafficking and satanic ritual victims inside and outside of prisons through her non-profit organisation Liberation Prison Yoga. She first met K. Pattabhi Jois, the father of Ashtanga Yoga, in 2001 during…
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Uncertain Times

July 1, 2020

In these uncertain times one thing is certain, that nothing is permanent. This pandemic swept across our planet like a tsunami. At times I really felt like I was living in some sort of Hollywood blockbuster movies, totally surreal. At first I thought it was all some sort of elaborate hoax, propagated by the media and governments. I laughed at all the people panicking. I had stopped watching TV a couple of years back so there was no way I was about to turn on the news, but then one day the severity of the situation just hit me like a running train. I couldn’t live in denial anymore, social media were filled with news of all the people dying in China and now Italy. The fear and panic of others started to attach itself to me the more I read about it. I had only healed from cancer 2 years ago, am I in the high risk group? Am I going to die? Are my friends and loved ones going to die? Yes, eventually everyone will die, even me, but that wasn’t the point. The fear kept getting bigger and my anxiety worse. Still, each morning I got on my mat. Inhale. Exhale. I don’t practice yoga to master the poses, although progress in them is nice I won’t deny that, I practice because it teaches me to live in the present moment. It teaches me to respond rather than react. It teaches me to connect to my body and it shows me that I’m so much more than that. The slow deep steady breath sends a message to the parasympathetic nervous system that it’s ok, you can relax It’s especially important in difficult poses(like Kapotasana for example =P) my body learns it can overcome difficult situations and that all is well, this later reflects in my daily life. When yoga is practiced this way it becomes a moving meditation, this is why I love Ashtanga Yoga because it later reflects in my daily life. A moving meditation is great but sometimes we need to just sit still and feel grounded. Noting has helped me more in these chaotic times of the pandemic than my meditation practice. It’s not aways pleasant, the body hurts, the mind wanders.. but with each itch you don’t scratch, you get stronger. You slowly start to realise that you’re not this body afterall, or the heart and its emotions or the mind with it’s endless thoughts, plans and doomsday premonitions. You start to awaken to the fact that you are the observer behind it all, the loving awareness, the one who knows. On some days during this #lockdown2020 I woke up feeling hopeful, high on energy and the creative juices flowed like a waterfall. I finally finished my website, started a YouTube channel, created lots of content and so on. I actually feel great! Happy I don’t have to go anywhere and that I could just concentrate on creating and growing. On other days I would wake up with a black cloud over my head. Feeling heavy, sad, paranoid and like someone sucked all the life out of me. My mind took me on wild fearful rides like magic mountain in Disney World. I started thinking of the worst possible scenarios, believing they would all come true. I didn’t see any silver linings or happy endings, on those days my spiritual practice was especially important. You see it’s easy to practice when all is well, but the real work and growth starts to happen when times get tough. Sitting in meditation has showed me how wild my mind actually is(it’s not just mine, it’s yours too buddy!). Our mind secretes thoughts like the tongue secretes saliva. The thoughts come and go, and none of them are necessarily a reflection of reality. Learning to notice them, accept & honor them and not react to them is a life long process, but one worth embarking upon. Through the daily practice of living mindfully and non- attachment we will gradually suffer less. Instead of constant desire, wanting and grasping or constant aversion and pushing away of life.. we will accept life more gracefully following the path of the middle way, with our hearts wide open.