How the Eight Limbs Support our Practice

Yoga is not simply the posture work that we are so obsessed with in the West: the postures (asanas) are one component of a system that comprises eight branches (or limbs). Those eight limbs, rather than being a hierarchical sequence, work like the spokes of a wheel all supporting and interacting with each other.

The full set of eight methods are designed to lead us towards self awakening and liberation. The eight limbs are yamas (behaviours and ways of being in the world, socially, with others), niyamas (personal codes of conduct), asana, pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses from the distractions of the external to the inner), pranayama (breathing practices), dharana (concentration), dihyana (meditation), and samadhi (awakening, liberation).

It has parallels with the Buddhist 'Noble Eight Fold Path', and of course Buddhism and Yoga have the same origins; as a complete system the whole thing is designed to reduce the kleshas (things that poison our minds) so that we can achieve self-realisation (or enlightenment). It moves us from Avidya (not seeing) to Vidya (seeing).

An important aspect of this is Ahimsa: sometimes referred to as non-harm, but having deeper connotations of compassion, kindliness and thoughtful consideration towards ourselves and others. Ahimsa (compassion) is a central concept in both buddhism and yoga. Ahimsa comes from a well-developed anahata chakra (heart chakra) and whilst some people are born with a deep sense of compassion and the concept of Ahimsa seems to find itself naturally with them, others have to work hard at this. On the path of yoga all eight aspects develop concurrently and in an interrelated way: the asana work or meditation, for example, can both help develop anahata chakra and our sense of Ahimsa.

"When an individual has achieved complete understanding of his true self, he will no longer be disturbed by the distracting influences within and around him." (Yoga Sutra 1.16)

Hyped Up and Shattered?

Have you ever found that at the end of a long day most of which has likely been spent sitting at a desk, you feel too shattered to do anything with your evening but too hyped up and buzzing to really relax?

This sense of feeling both tired and hyped up is common and it can be difficult to know how to deal with this state. But yoga is the ideal way to re balance.

In this hyped up state our mind and body are out of balance, the mind is over active and the body is depleted of energy. This is why we can't relax. Yoga brings the body and mind into balance.

In this hyped up state our mind is active and busy yet our body is tired. How come? Well mental activity uses a lot of energy and this consumes glucose. This is what leaves us feeling depleted. Our bodies are tired through use of this energy. So the first thing we have to do is rest the body.

Yin Yoga is a great way to do this: its restorative postures work on the deeper fascia of the body, encourage breath and energy through the system and are deeply renewing. A short series of Yin postures could include the pigeon posture (raja kapotanasana) shown above, the seated forward bend (paschimottanasana) shown left. Forward bends help to calm the nervous system and simple lying and seated twists revitalise the body, energise the nervous system and move stagnant energy to re balance your body. In Yin yoga the postures are held for anywhere between five breaths and 10 minutes.

Once your body starts to relax, you can bring your mind into balance and harmony with the body through doing a simple breath awareness practice. Start by breathing deeply and focus on releasing tension on the out breath, breathing in and out through the nostrils. On each out breath, let go a little more. Then focus your awareness on the movement of breath between the throat and navel, breathing in the breath rises from navel to throat and breathing out the breath moves from throat to navel. Simply follow the movement of breath with awareness.

Finally, be aware of your 'default relaxation' habits. Many of us think that by watching TV or browsing the internet before we go to bed, we are relaxing. But beware of how much you actually reactivate the mind with these activities! Then, if your mind isn't relaxed, you sink into sleep with the brain active (beta waves dominant) instead of relaxed (alpha waves) and you don't get enough restful sleep. This is why we often wake up feeling drained and depleted, despite having 'slept well'.

To unwind a little before going to bed and help the mind get into a state of relaxation you can practice nadi shodana (alternate nostril breathing).

If you practice yoga you will have more energy to do your other tasks throughout the day. Time will expand to accommodate the practice and your life!

Thinking is the stuff of experience

"Attitude is very consequential stuff. It determines everything one does, from falling in love to voting for one candidate rather than another" Anthony Grayling, philosoper

Many of us realise how important attitude is in determining our success and happiness in life. But when we say 'he or she has a great attitiude', what do we mean? What is our evidence of this 'attitude'? Attitude comprises three components (or the TEA model of existence):

1. thoughts (T) - what we think or believe about things
2. emotions (E) - the feelings or emotions we experience (most often in our body)
3. actions (A) - our behaviour and how we act

Thoughts, emotions and behaviour do influence each other in an interchangable, mutually dependable relationship: if I am nervous and anxious about an exam tomorrow, and stay up all night worrying about it, this is unlikely to change my view that 'I always do crap at exams'.

However, it is Thoughts which are the master regulator of this interdependent system. When it comes to attitude the emphasis is on thinking as thinking powerfully influences how we feel and behave.

And what we think and how we think can be changed; we can learn new strategies to literally 'change our minds'!

I had an interesting coaching session on this the other day that reminded me of the relationship between thoughts, emotions and behaviour and how, sometimes, people can find it almost impossible to separate them out. It is only when you can see them as separate components within a system that you can start to take control of them to work to your advantage.

My coachee had a particular issue with clients who were disatisfied and called her to make last minute changes to deadlines or tasks. She told me it made her feel anxious and agitated. In this particular context, like any situation of 'adversity', it is the meaning that put on the event that is the route cause of any problem!

We 'stalked' the issue (the negative feeling) and got her to connect to that and fully realise what that meant in her body (tight stomach, raised temperature, busy head). And then we worked on what she wanted instead (to feel calm, relaxed).

Then we went through the TEA model, looking at the adverse event (phone call from a disatisifed client) and the thoughts and beliefs, and emotions she experienced. It took a couple of attempts to successfully separate the thoughts from the feelings; but when we did it was a real 'ah ah' moment for her. It was like she had been blinded by being so associated into the emotional experience that she could see the real culprits: her thoughts!

Then we worked on the thoughts. What would be alternative ways to think about that? What would so-and-so think in this situation? etc. She needed a lot of help with this: not surprising, when someone is learning something about their map of the world that they didn't know existed!

Then, I got her to read these alternative thought streams out and 'voila'. She told me 'now all I feel is calm and relaxed, but with a sense of challenge', 'I can rise to this'. And we had it!

How to develop mental toughness

Mental toughness, or resilience, is the key to peformance, behaviour and wellbeing. It is defined as a state (which can be learnt), rather than a trait (inherent in personality) and is embodied by people who seek challenges,create change, dislike routine, and like problem solving.

Mental sensitivity is the opposite of mental toughness: it means you let things get to you. Mentally tough people DON'T, adversity happens and they remain calm: instead of getting stirred up they are inspired to achieve despite setbacks.

When it comes to mental toughness, men and women are equally tough. And it can be learnt. You can develop mental toughness: NLP is a powerful tool, as is YogaNidra.

Mental toughness when combined with emotional intelligence leads to wise resilience - which i think is essential for every leader. If you want to get to the top, get mentally tough: one common thing is top people are all mentally tough. The higher position they hold the more mentally tough they are.

The components of mental toughness are commitment, control, challenge, confidence.

Commitment refers to being energised by goals and challenges and ’staying power’.

Then there is control over one’s emotions and one’s life (self efficacy).

People who seek challenges create change, dislike routine, and like problem solving. They actually seek out difficult challenges because it energises them.

Finally confidence has an external and internsl dimension: self belief and interpersonal confidence.

Mental toughness can be developed through the following six aspects

1. Thinking skills
2. Visualisation and mental rehearsal
3. Control of anxiety – fretting can tax the body and promote cardiovascular problems.worry elevates heart rate and lowers HRV. Learn to let go
4. Attention control – my friends tell me that my 30 min YogaNidra sessions give them-stamina, energy and focused performance.
6. Biofeedback – for example, heart waves entrain brain waves; physiologically the heart is a regulator of the ‘bodymind’ system, it entrains the system to coherence.

Opening the doors of perception with Yoga nidra

Have you ever fancied achieving a blissful state of altered consciousness without having to rely on a trip of the chemical kind? Do you want to expand the capacity of your mind? Learn without effort? Reduce your inhibitions and improve your memory? Did you know that you can reach this altered state of consciousness and achieve all this by simply lying down for 20 mins?


The literal translation of Yoga nidra is 'yogic sleep'. Yoga Nidra is an ancient tantric method which can open new capacities of mind. It relates to a deep sleep state where the mind is deeply relaxed but with a wide open awareness and it is one of the deepest of all meditations, and brings an incredible calmness, quietness and clarity.

Yoga Nidra is a practice which leads awareness through many levels of mental process to a state of supreme stillness, receptivity and insight. Like all yoga practices it is the persistant practise that brings about real transformation and joy. It can be considered a form of meditation. However, in meditation you remain in the waking state of consciousness and gently focus the mind whilst allowing thought patterns, emotions and sensations to come and go. In comparison, in Yoga Nidra you leave the waking state, go beyond the dreaming state into a state similar to deep sleep, whilst remaining awake. It is a very powerful state for your brain to be in!

Yoga nidra is typically led by a qualified and trained teacher and lasts 15 mins to half an hour. You lie on the floor your back or, for some practices, sit in a meditation posture. And mentally follow the instructions that you teacher talks you through.

The practice induces brain waves that are predominantly delta (0.5 to 3.5 cycles per sec): the state of deep stillness and profound openess. When you first try yoga nidra you will experience the profound relaxation that the practice brings about. And you will almost certainly fall asleep! In fact, if you suffer from disturbed sleep patterns yoga nidra is a great way to balance and restore sleep patterns. However, at some point your practice will deepen and you will experience a moment, like a flash, where you experience the breathtaking depths of yoga nidra.

As in many yoga practices, you need to be patient. There is no right or wrong. If you fall asleep that is fine: and probably what you need at that time! Whilst this is not the ultimate state that yoga nidra aims for, it is certainly of benefit to mental and physical health and encourages the brain to slow down from its active aroused beta state (14 to 30 cycles per sec) to a calmer alpha wave range (8 to 13 cps).

The methods that take you up the ultimate yoga nidra state are, in themselves, very relaxing and help to train the mind. Common methods include:

1. progressive relaxation
2. body awareness
3. rotation of consciousness
4. summoning of emotions and states
5. control of physical states
6. visualisation
7. chakra work
8. breath awareness
9. sankalpas (affirmations) - a powerful method of reshaping your personality and experience of the world for the better

The term 'yoga nidra' actually refers to the state of consciousness that is achieved in the ultimate practice of the technique but it is often used erroneously to refer to the various methods listed above. It is the end state not the method that is eponymous.

The overall benefits of yoga nidra include:

• total relaxation of all systems of the body
• nervous and hormonal system efficiency
• enhanced health
• the ultimate way to de-stress (yoga nidra is HUGELY beneficial for the alleviation of stress)
• elminate insomnia
• mental and emotional relaxation

Educational innovators such as Dr Georgi Lozanov, a Bulgarian psychologist and the founder-director of the institute of Suggestopedy in Sofia, are now utilizing yoga nidra to create an atmosphere in which knowledge is gained without effort. Dr Georgi Lozanov, recognizing that the state of active and relaxed awareness in students awakens the desire to learn, improves memory and reduces inhibition, has devised methods for teaching/learning of foreign languages that are three to five times faster, with the use of relaxation and music. As the class proceeds, the students effortlessly assimilate an enormous amount of knowledge, which, under conventional classroom conditions, would surely precipitate strain, tiredness and loss of concentration.

Yoga nidra is being tapped internationally as a means of improving conscious recall thereby increasing memory function. Yoga nidra is a promising technique that will revolutionize the teaching procedures in the future by enabling students to assimilate knowledge without much effort. There are students who want to learn, but their conscious mind is weak or unreceptive. Such children with learning disabilities can benefit from yoga nidra by absorbing knowledge through the subconscious mind. Such children can be taught by transmitting symbolic forms directly into his subconscious.

Yoga Nidra has also been scientifically proven to reduce the 'psychosomatic' illnesses caused by the general under currents of tension that we live with:

• diabetes
• migraines
• asthma
• ulcers
• digestive problems

Yoga nidra will help you reach a deep state of releasing, relaxing and letting go: but really its bigger benefit is an emptying of oneself into wonder.

Sue Tupling of Embodied Living is qualified to teach and practice yoga nidra and is currently in training to teach the full practice.

More reading on Yoga Nidra

1. Yoga nidra on Wikipedia

Decisions that are truly exhausting

Have you ever realised what a rabid monkey your brain is? Running amok wild and crazy through the branches of the trees in your mind. Have you ever been still enough to realise what tricks it gets up to and what considerable energy it uses. Constantly commenting on this or that. Putting interpretations on things, making judgements - good or bad, right or wrong, like or dislike, nice or nasty, etc etc.

This constant need to comment, to judge is the default operation of our minds. It gives us a way to make sense of the world, gives us an illusion of control. However, when the mind has become still; when its fluctations and disturbances have ceased and the waves of activity have become still like a windless still sea, its natural tendency is to observe. To remain a dispassionate observer - a witness consciousness. This is a mind that, when something happens externally that might provoke a reaction of extreme pleasure or displeasure in someone else, says "We'll wait and see". It is a state of mind that is simply not interested in deciding 'this or that' but is content to 'be'.

Far from being a way to disconnect from the world, or dissociate ourselves from feelings; it is a way of living deeper , more embodied with our whole self and with far more energy and health. There is a lovely zen story to illustrate this:

There once was an old farmer, who lived in a remote region of the mainland, where the terrain is rough and the villagers manage to eek out a meager existence only through hard work and the grace of God. One day someone left the gate open on the farmer's pasture, and his only horse ran away. Now this was a very grave situation, indeed, as in these parts it is said that one horse is worth ten sons or the earnings of a lifetime. The villagers, hearing of this great loss, came to console the farmer. With pity in their eyes of those who are glad it did not happen to them, the villagers shook their heads and moaned in unison that the running off of a horse is a terrible thing. The farmer, who was very wise, accepted their consolations, and shaking his head, muttered calmly, "We'll just wait and see."

Within a week the horse had returned, bringing with it three wild ponies of such magnificence only heard of in the ancient fables. The villagers all came to witness and marvel at these wondrous creatures, and some brought gifts in the hope of incurring favor as now the farmer was a very rich man. With envy in their eyes, the villagers applauded the farmer for his good fortune. But the farmer appeared unmoved, and showing neither pride nor excitement, accepted their blessings, stating calmly, "We'll just wait and see."

Three days later, after the villagers had gone home, the farmer's only son was out breaking in the new ponies. But their magnificence was matched by an unexpected strength, and the second pony threw and trampled the farmer's son, leaving him near dead with two broken legs. There were tears in the old peasant's eyes as he carried his child off the field. The son survived the critical period, and his bones were set, but as the villagers gathered to hear the news and lend support, the doctor could not pronounce if the son would ever walk again. With eyes like smug rodents whose faith in themselves is confirmed when ill fortune attends to a lucky man, the villagers shook their heads, lamenting what a tragedy had occurred for the farmer, who now had a cripple for a son. The old farmer thanked them for their concern and condolences, calmly saying, "We'll just wait and see."

The farmer's son did begin to recuperate, but it took a long time. The farmer was now poorer than ever, as he had no son to accompany him in the fields, and no one wanted to buy the ponies because they were afraid. Yet, by the help of occasional gifts and his own labor, he managed to gather just enough to feed his family, always giving the best of whatever he had to his son to encourage his recuperation. During this time the other villagers flourished as much as poor villagers can, and as those who are better off are wont to do, they were generous with their sympathy for the farmer for having a crippled child.

For no reason that had anything to do with the village, the king from his palace far off in the capital city declared war on a neighboring country. That was how it came to be that in the spring, just as the old farmer's son was taking his first steps, the government officials appeared with orders to conscript all the able-bodied young men into the army. The only son in the entire village who was not drafted was the old farmer's.

"How lucky you are, old man! We are sending our children, our very seed off to war, probably to die," one or another of the villagers yelled out as they bade farewell to their departing sons. Full of tears, their eyes showed no particular emotion toward the farmer, so overcome were they with their own grief.
The farmer watched the leave-taking, and his heart went out to the villagers as he was a kind and compassionate man. So, he answered softly, "We'll just wait and see."

One of the main ways in which we can start to regain some order and peace over the crazy monkey of the mind is through meditation. However even simple sitting is hard for many beginners as the mind is so busy. So a though record diary can be a real help to at least make you aware of what the mind is up to. This simple daily chart will allow you to monitor and track your 'ticker-tape' thoughts and is the first step in regaining control of the mind (the final aim being that you can 'let go' and let the 'embodied mind' just 'be' - but there is some work to be done before that can happen. It's a lovely process though!

Next post will be on the subject of Yoga Nidra - another way to still and deepen the mind's peace.

Related posts:

• Let go and Improve your Relationships
• Be Less Attached

Relax and You'll Perform Better

I recently did an analytical modeling project on a friend of mine who is an international speaker /trainer with a talent for running successful seminars. The technique that I use in my modeling of human 'excellence' elicits the person's experience, behaviour, beliefs, strategies and emotions as they do the exemplary behaviour.


In this high performance state, my friend has a clear 'sustaining emotion' without which he cannot do the ability. He called this state 'enlivened relaxation'. A state in which he feels vibrant, alive, vital yet very relaxed. He is focused on being in the moment and on the others in the class, rather than being 'self' conscious. In fact this state is similar to the underlying state in a study that I did on high performing aerospace engineers - they had a sense of challenge, the rush of adrenaline and feeling energised, coupled with a sense of relaxed awareness.

Physiologically, this state brings numerous benefits in high performance situations. The sympathetic (active) and parasympathetic (passive) nervous systems are in balance. So our heart rate is coherent , our brain waves are predominantly alpha (creative, clear thinking state) and our breathing is smooth and rhythmic. We have abundant energy that is optimised and conserved by the system and we are in peak performance (or flow) state.


Well known by sports people, creatives and performers, the balance of activity and passivity that is achieved in this state ensures that mind and body are in union and 'interference' is minimal. The Refocuser blog has a great article on flow state. According to Refocuser, Bruce Lee was an ardent believer in the flow state (he referred to it as wu-hsin, flow’s Cantonese counterpart) and stated, "The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action" (Tao of Jeet Kune Do, p7). He believed that "physical stoppage", or the opposite of wu-hsin, could create many problems for a martial artist, as it would almost always result in hesitation and self-doubt.

Here are some tips for getting to the peak state:

1. Release the breath. Free your diaphragm by breathing deep, smooth even breaths in and out, extending your lungs. Inhalation is tension and exhalation is freedom, the body and mind let go. On each exhale the mind becomes quieter, and the work can begin.




2. Focus on relaxing. This applies particularly to the areas of the body where we clench, stiffen and resist. By relaxing the body, we relax the brain. Relax your jaw, notice how this helps to relax your neck. Feel the face relax and space being created around the temples. Let your tongue release from its position pinned against the roof of the mouth, and lie in the lower palet. Feel your brain relax!




3. Notice your eyes. Tenseness of the eyes affects the brain. We are usually left brain driven, the logical, controlling brain is always trying to do, achieve, stay busy. Our eyes become narrow, screwed and our brow furrows in this 'trying' and striving. Relax your eye muscles and let your eyes become wide and open; soft and almost sinking back into your skull. Use your foveal vision rather than the focused lens-like vision - so that your awareness is wide angled. Be spreading our occular awareness from the back of your temples the back brain is more active. This is the synthesising, holistic brain (rather than the analytical and mechanical brain) - and when you take action with this part of the brain active it is luminous, filled with sensitivity and electric energy.

This is 'effortless effort' where lightness , wide open awareness and peak state prevails.

Related posts:

1. Extend to Freedom


2. Tapping into your Body Intelligence