Tune-in to yourself to tune-up your nutritional health!
As practicing yogis, nutrition goes hand in hand with asanas, breathwork, meditation and kind and gentle yogic attitudes…
The art of living life in the slow lane
As the summer energies rise, you can feel the energy in Ibiza bubbling up and down your spine. It is so exciting, inviting to dash around from one glorious party to another. Familiar faces, wonderful cocktails, bouncy sounds and good vibes. Yet balancing social and work time in Ibiza’s summer-whirlwind is vital if you are going to happily last the rest of the season!
Energise your life
Do you ever wonder why you feel energetically different at different times? If you are a practicing yogi, meditate regularly or have come in to contact with energy healing techniques like Reiki, you may already have experienced some of the sensory awareness that arises when you learn how to sense and feel your ever-vibrating system of energy.
In Chinese Medicine there are energy lines or pathways, that look like veins and travel throughout our body from the spine out to the tips of our fingers and toes. In Hinduism, Ayurveda and the yogic traditions we call these energy channels or ‘Nadis’ which branch outward from our central energy channel of the Susumna Nadi (pronounced ‘Sushumna’) which can be visualised as a bamboo pole, travelling the length of our spine, around our spine and our nervous system.
Along this Susumna Nadi, are our Chakras. These spinning vortexes of energies are complex and beautiful wheels of light, each one, when open, allowing us to experience different positive emotional and physical qualities.
The first, the root chakra, (Muladhara chakra in the ancient language of Sanskrit) is red and spirals downwards, connecting us to the earth. This is located in the space at the base of our pelvis, between our sit bones and out public bone, and when open enables us to feel connected to the earth, grounded and secure, that our survival needs are being met.
The second, the sexual chakra, Swadhistana Chakra in Sanskrit, is orange and spirals from the front to the back of our womb space as women and the same space between the navel and the pubic bone in men. When this chakra is open, your creativity flows, you are emotionally healthy and able to connect with others emotionally. This chakra is connected to your sensuality and your ability to feel your way through life.
The third, located in our solar plexus (the soft space between the bottom of our front ribs) is called the Manipura Chakra, yellow like the sunshine – this chakra is all about being able to radiate your light, your willpower, having clarity about your life path and purpose. For many people this is one of the two key places where your inner-compass lies.
The fourth, beneath our sternum, is the Anahata, or heart chakra, and its colours are green and rose quartz pink. This is all about self-love, growth and healing. When this chakra is open you are able to give and receive in balance and to be able to live life from a place of trust, in a more relaxed way.
The fifth, our throat chakra or Vishuddha chakra, is the colour blue and when open, allows you to speak your truth and communicate with ease. When blocked you may experience a sore throat and problems of the upper chest.
The sixth, the third eye chakra, or Ajna Chakra, when open, enables consciousness, insight and intuitive awareness.
The seventh, the crown chakra or Sahasrara Chakra, is the ‘one thousand petal lotus flower’, coloured white and violet. It connects us with the universe, to our infinite potential and to our highest purpose in life.
So how can these chakras empower you in daily life? Well, everything is energy. At a sub-atomic level we are all made up of vibrating particles of energy. Hence, it is vital to have a regular practice like yoga or meditation, as a daily ritual, using breath (which carries energy – we call it ‘prana’ in yoga, vital life force energy), that can enable you, with opening movements and conscious stretching to open your energy channels, unblock and move your energy. When your chakras are open and your energy is flowing you can enjoy living life in flow too!
Meditation: It’s all about headspace
Do you often feel exhausted or overwhelmed by the many stipulations of modern life? How often do you connect with your self… or is your iPhone where you find yourself spending most time connecting?
Creating headspace through meditation enables you to reconnect with your inner, more peaceful sentient self. Scientifically proven to reduce mental and physical stress symptoms (from tight shoulders to migraines), meditation boasts powerful positive healing benefits for those suffering from depression.
There are many people out there who feel they are too impatient to meditate. But why not at least give it a try? Just seven days can create a change so beautiful and beneficial that you will be compelled to explore further…
1. Keep it simple! Begin with 10-minute meditations and avoid placing and pressure in yourself to ‘do it right’. The ultimate goals of meditation may be to experience a welcome space of silence from the chattering monkey mind, to allow deeper insights to arise and to reestablish a deeper sense of connection, yet to meditate with a focus on achievement places an unnecessary mental pressure on the process. Since mental pressure is what you want to decrease, why not embrace the yogic recognition that there are many stages and types of meditation, all of which are valid when done consciously and can bring many health-enhancing, inner-peace promoting benefits?
2. Set a clear intention and just brrrreaaathe. Set your space up the night before. If possible, create a dedicated space to sit at each time you meditate, this helps create a healthy habit within your unconscious mind. Buy a candle, mat or cushion and light a candle to set a Sankalpa (soul felt intention) for your morning meditation. Then set your alarm for 10 minutes from now, so you can trust and let go. Every time the mind wanders, gently bring it back to focus on your breathing. Avoid judging yourself and simply observe thoughts and feelings as they arise without getting attached to them.
3. Create mini headspace breaks throughout your day. Business leaders are recognising the value in this. Take five minutes away from the screen, sitting calmly with your hands on your belly, focusing on your breath to massively increase your clarity and efficiency. For headspace on public transport or when driving a car, download this superb app: https://www.headspace.com/headspace-meditation-app
And to end your day? Brush your emotional teeth and release the mental charge that can get trapped in your nervous system by taking five minutes to exhale the stresses and any anxieties and repeat the morning practice of lighting a candle and focusing on your breathing. The trust in life begins to open up as your mind has less hold over you, worries and anxieties diminish and you begin to feel more inner peace as you become more centered and present!
Join Larah to explore meditation, mindfulness and visualisations on the Get Glowing, Just Stop! and Pure Yoga retreats.
Spiritual Warriors
Do you feel you are on a spiritual path? Are you a dedicated yogi? Are you practicing meditation regularly? Or are you choosing to create a life with positive intentions and a higher purpose in mind?
Since 2012, here in Ibiza, we have all felt a definite ‘awareness upgrade’ in the way we create our lives and our livelihoods. It goes beyond work-life balance, it is like we are being asked to stop compromising; to make new commitments to live our lives on purpose, with a higher life purpose, and to live consciously and compassionately, in ways that serves the greater good of mankind.
For our world to survive, now is the time, to stand up and live with integrity. Yet to be a true spiritual warrior is not about pushing your enlightened philosophies on the next man in the street, it means choosing to live the change that both your soul, and the world around you, needs you to be.
Author Paulo Coelho’s book ‘The Warrior of Light’ offers a wonderful set of guiding principles for bravely choosing a higher path that is more conscious, more peaceful, that sees you living with a holistic life ethos, yet is ultimately more powerful, as you stand up for what you know is right, cultivate the qualities of kindness (in yogic wisdom ‘ahimsa’ or non-violence is the first of the Yamas or ways of living), choose higher, kinder and more community oriented ways of thinking and acting. Think global, act local – for example invest in the work of local cottage industries, buy local honey, employ locally based therapists, eat ecologically yet locally and seasonally.
Live with positive intention! In our world and specifically here at Ibiza Retreats, as individuals, with our retreats and as an organisation, we begin every retreat, or idea in development with a ‘Sankalpa (Sanskrit) or heart-felt intention to clearly focus our thoughts, words and energies.
Where attention goes – energy flows – everything is energy. Hawaiian Huna
We are acting as warriors by facing our fears and learning how to release them by strengthening our connection with our souls. And perhaps most importantly of all, each and every one of the Ibiza Retreats team are practicing the art of being kind to ourselves, honouring our physical temples and our emotional and spiritual needs. Every day, in some way, we are personally honing techniques, yoga, meditation, breathwork, walking in nature. We each have our own ways to reconnect with the voice of spirit that resides inside each and every one of us.
This is the voice that deeply knows, the voice of your internal-guidance system. For the spiritual warrior, this connection with your inner-compass is vital for guiding your way through life. This is also the secret to living in ‘flow’ and to enable you to live truly and freely, with an open-heart, full of trust. For this is the greatest gift of spiritual warrior-hood – moving beyond ‘caring what others think of me. Imagine this: if you stopped caring about what the rest of the world thought of you, how free would you feel? What else would this enable you to dream, to do, to create, to be?
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