5 Cures For Your Wandering Mind

By Matt Cooke  of My Yoga Online

The mind states or hindrances are a set of Buddhist concepts that deal with what our minds are doing when we aren’t showing up in the moment. These mind states are what pull us from our present experience, and create suffering. Luckily for us, early Buddhists were also brilliant in coming up with a cure for each of the fluctuations of the mind.

Desire
Want, lust, greed, clinging, attachment, addiction, neediness or lack, pleasure sense experiences, or daydreaming about a friend or colleague. Desire can occur anytime we start to envision a “better” future, which is great for goal-setting, but maybe not right when it detracts from our moment-to-moment experience.
Cure: Commitment and holding to what is presently there. Recommitting to it with affirmations, or a personal creed you read daily to remind you of your value system.

Aversion
Anger, boredom, negativity, judgment, fear, repulsion, hatred, ill-will, wanting it to be different, planning-mind. Byron Katie says, “When I argue with reality, I lose - but only 100% of the time.”
Cure: Generate loving thoughts for what you find an aversion for. It will feel phony at first, because it is! But continue to breath, relax, feel, watch, and allow.
Cure 2: Look at how you can “co-create” with the moment, taking what you are given. Make the moment saucy, given the cards you are dealt.

Sloth/Torpor
Sloth is probably one of the more common mind states in a society where we are constantly inundated with flashing pictures, voices, smells, and action all around. It zaps energy, and leaves us tired, mentally scattered, and usually feeling like a blob on the couch with a favorite sweet or salty snack.
Cure: One-pointed concentration. By concentrating, you are shoring up your scattered resources of energy to focus on your moment-to-moment experience and all the wonderful things happening around you.

Restlessness
When we can’t sit still, worry, get anxious, make something out of nothing, fret, regret, grieve or ruminate. Depressants and alcohol only mask these symptoms, and throw ice cubes in the boiling water, rather than turning off the burner.
Cure: Instead, find determination by lengthening the inhale and exhale, and softening the jaw. As Dale Carnegie says, “Relax in odd moments. Let your body go limp like an old sock.” Is now a good time for a savasana break?

Doubt
Creating the most suffering of the mind states is doubt. This is also the hardest mind state to notice, because it can be easy to believe, and the hardest to move out of. Doubt can range from our insecurities, regrets, making ourselves or our experience wrong.

Cure: Sustain your attention in the heat of the moment, cultivate confidence and take massive action when you are struck with inspiration.

The Limbic System
Researchers from the University of Toronto, Zindel Segal and Adam Anderson, are finding that internal awareness such as tuning into the breath, turns off the frontal cortex, or the mental chatter part of the brain where the mind states fester, and moves to our more ancient brain, the limbic system, where we feel emotion and physical awareness.
Yoga and other contemplative practices move us towards slowing down the fluctuations of the mind. These cures also give us greater reward by challenging the nervous system and brain to grow, by mentally doing what might not be the easiest or most convenient shift of thinking in that moment.

Action
Maybe one or all of these resonate for you. Over the next 24 hours, see which mind state your mind floats to most. Do this by noticing the thoughts that come up by labeling the mind state, and let the thought float on past the screen of your consciousness. Journal about why you tend to shift towards a particular mind state more than others or the moment you’re in. Then focus on one way you can fit its cure into your lifestyle, leading to more productivity and moment-to-moment happiness.

Chickpea Pasta

Simple to make and nourishing for mind and body.

from Yoga Journal           

Ingredients

Makes 4 to 6 servings
1 can (30 ounces) chickpeas
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves of sliced or chopped garlic?(optional)
Salt and black pepper
1 pound small pasta, such as orecchiette, penne, or elbow macaroni

Directions

1. Drain the chickpeas in a colander and rinse them for a minute. Heat a small, deep-sided pot over low heat and add the olive oil. If using garlic, add it when the oil begins to shimmer and cook it over very low heat until it can be easily broken apart with a wooden spoon.

2. Add chickpeas, a pinch of salt, and water to cover by 1 inch.3. Cook the beans for 30 to 45 minutes, adding small pours of water as the liquid cooks away. Taste 5 beans when you think they're done. If any bean is not totally velvety, let them go on cooking. When 5 taste completely creamy, bring the heat down to the lowest possible setting and top the beans with a good amount of freshly ground black pepper.

4. Cook pasta in well-salted boiling water. Just before you drain it, remove a small glass of pasta water and stir a quarter of it into your pot of chickpeas. The liquid should become integrated fairly quickly. Combine the pasta and chickpea sauce in a big bowl and mix well. If the mixture seems dry, or as though the chickpeas are separate from the pasta instead of completely devoted to it, add a little more of the starchy pasta water to the bowl and mix well.

Feed a Cold

By Matthew Kadey of Yoga Journal

You probably aren't thinking about colds and flu when you're packing your lunch, cooking dinner, or gulping a quick smoothie before yoga class. But the foods you eat can have a powerful effect on your body's ability to ward off everyday bugs, whether it's the office cold everyone's passing around, or germs from the person coughing on the mat next to you in class. "The right foods have the ability to support our immune system by providing the nutrients it needs to thrive," says registered dietitian Beth Reardon, director of integrative nutrition at Duke Integrative Medicine in North Carolina. What's more, a healthy immune system isn't important just in cold season; evidence suggests that it can help protect you from a host of chronic diseases as well.
The following 10 foods are must-haves in an immunity-boosting diet. They all contain key nutrients that have a demonstrable effect on the body's ability to stay healthy, and they're delicious and convenient besides. In fact, you probably have some of them in your kitchen already. Add them to your weekly menu and be well.

Strawberries

Why: Among commonly consumed berries, strawberries have the most vitamin C: A one-cup serving provides 50 percent more than the U.S. recommended daily quota, which can help you ward off illness. "The immune system relies on a number of mechanisms to help protect the body from infection, including the production of white blood cells," Reardon says. "And vitamin C is especially important for the proper functioning of these immune components."
Reardon adds that vitamin C has been shown to reduce the severity and duration of symptoms associated with colds and flu. Vitamin C is also involved in making the collagen necessary for maintaining healthy skin, which is a frontline defender against viruses.
Good to Know: When frozen, strawberries retain most of their vitamin C, so you can enjoy them all year.
Use: Strawberries are equally at home in your favorite breakfast bowl, in a spinach salad with sliced almonds, in fruit salsas, or in fresh fruit smoothies.

Kefir

Why: Full of live probiotic bacteria, this tangy dairy product is made by inoculating milk with a mixture of yeasts and bacteria. These beneficial critters take up residence in the intestines, where they alter the pH of the intestinal environment to a level that is unfavorable to harmful microbes. Probiotics are also thought to play a direct role in immune cell function and may even reduce the incidence, severity, and duration of symptoms associated with the common cold.
Good to Know: Kefir and yogurt are both cultured dairy products; the difference is that yogurt is made by inoculating milk with bacteria, while kefir is inoculated with a blend of yeasts and bacteria and has more beneficial probiotics that can colonize the intestinal tract.
Use: Buy plain kefir and layer it with strawberries and nuts; blend it into smoothies; or whisk it with olive oil, lemon juice, and minced garlic to make a creamy salad dressing.

Kale

Why: You might be surprised to know that, ounce for ounce, kale is a richer source of beta carotene than carrots or sweet potatoes, which makes it a top choice for fighting off colds and the flu. "In the body, the liver converts beta carotene into vitamin A, which amps up the immune system by increasing the production of white blood cells, including ones that seek out and destroy foreign bacteria and viruses," says Reardon. She adds that vitamin A also helps maintain the lining of your respiratory and digestive tracts, which are your first lines of defense against pathogens. This robust leafy green also has high levels of vitamin C, an antioxidant that's important for immune function.
Good to Know: Conventionally grown kale can contain high levels of pesticide residues, so choose organic kale whenever possible.
Use: Fat-soluble beta carotene is better absorbed when it's in the presence of dietary fat, so try gently sauteing kale in oil, incorporating it raw into salads with diced avocado, or making crispy kale chips.

Oats

Why: Start your day with a comforting bowl of oatmeal and build immunity from the get-go. Whole grain oats contain beta-glucan, a compound shown to activate immune cells that fight infectious microorganisms. Oats are also a source of immunity-building zinc. For the most benefit, choose steel-cut or old-fashioned rolled oats rather than sugary instant varieties.
Good to Know: No time to make steel-cut oats in the morning? You can soak them overnight by boiling water, adding the oats, and removing pan from from the heat. In the morning, they'll cook in about 10 minutes.
Use: Grind rolled oats in a food processor and substitute it for part of the flour in muffins, pancakes, and scones, or mix rolled oats with dried fruit, nuts, and pumpkin seeds for an immunity-building muesli to eat with yogurt or kefir.

Almond Butter

Why: Rich, velvety almond butter contains three times as much vitamin E as peanut butter. When it comes to immunity, vitamin E often takes a back seat to the more commonly discussed vitamin C, "but this fat-soluble antioxidant is necessary for normal functioning of white blood cells, particularly the ones which respond to cells that have been infected by viruses," says Miranda Marti, a naturopathic doctor at the Bastyr Center for Natural Health in Seattle.
Good to Know: Increasingly available in supermarkets, almond butter is also a good source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.
Use: Make an almond butter sandwich with apple slices and honey; mix a dollop with coconut milk and red curry paste to make a dipping sauce for grilled veggies; or blend a spoonful into a smoothie.

Beans

Why: One of nature's most perfect foods, this staple protein is high in soluble fiber, which has been found by University of Illinois scientists to increase the production of an anti-inflammatory protein that strengthens the immune system. Beans also have an abundance of immunity-boosting anti-oxidants and folate, a B vitamin required for the production of new immune cells.
Good to Know: All beans are good sources of soluble fiber, but lima beans and kidney beans contain the most.
Use: Beans are as versatile as they are nutritious, starring in soups, stews, dips, and salads. For a nearly instant lunch, fold cooked beans, chopped tomato, arugula, and a squeeze of lime juice into a whole grain tortilla.

Matcha

Why: This ceremonial Japanese tea is produced when young green tea leaves are steamed and then ground into a fine bright-green powder. Scientists at the University of Colorado discovered that, because the whole leaf is consumed in the tea, matcha provides sky-high levels of a class of antioxidants called catechins, which studies suggest can help halt the replication of the influenza virus and stimulate immune cells. Matcha has a lush vegetal flavor with a lingering sweetness.
Good to Know: Besides mixing powdered matcha with hot water, you can add it to smoothies, steamed milk, or soy milk, and even incorporate it into baked goods.
Use: Place a teaspoon in a small bowl or mug and add a few inches of simmering water. Whisk briskly and top with additional hot water to desired taste.

Black Rice

Why: Lauded for its nutty taste and chewy texture, this heirloom rice was called "forbidden rice" in ancient China because it was reserved for royalty and nobility. Recently, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center scientists working in the food science department discovered that black rice contains especially high levels of antioxidants (including the same anthocyanins as blueberries), which protect immune cells from oxidative damage.
Good to Know: An increasing number of health food stores and supermarkets now carry this once-rare rice variety.
Use: For a tasty main-dish salad, toss cooked black rice with dried cherries, pecans, chopped red pepper, baby spinach, and olive oil.

Pumpkin Seeds

Why: Pumpkin seeds, which you can buy hulled in many supermarkets, are brimming with the mineral zinc, which can help you fight colds and flu. "Zinc plays a central role in immune function by increasing the production of various immune cells that are involved in the body's response to viruses," says Reardon.
Good to Know: Store pumpkin seeds, also known as pepitas, in the freezer to keep them fresh.
Use: Add to granola and top with yogurt or kefir; use in pesto instead of pine nuts; or toast in a dry skillet with sea salt and sprinkle over soups, salads, and roasted root vegetables.

Milk

Why: Fortified with vitamin D, milk is one of the few reliable dietary sources of the sunshine vitamin. T cells, the immune system's virus-killing cells, rely on vitamin D in order to become active when viral threats abound. According to a study involving nearly 19,000 subjects in the Archives of Internal Medicine, people with the lowest average levels of vitamin D were 36 percent more likely to develop an upper-respiratory infection than those with higher blood levels of the vitamin.
Good to Know: A study in the Journal of Nutrition discovered that whey, a protein in dairy products, can propel immune cells into action.
Use: Stir into oatmeal or granola, add to smoothies, or drink warm with a dash of cinnamon.

From Flow to Slow

By Jessica Abelson of Yoga Journal
I remember my first experience in Pigeon Pose. The yoga teacher at my local YMCA instructed us on how to come into the pose, and I followed as best I could. One leg out in front, chest coming to the ground. Is this right? I thought. I attempted to mask my confusion. Can my body move like this? Am I being hurt or repaired right now? I had no idea.
I had never put my body in any position like this before and I was wary of the teacher’s instructions. I remember finally melting into the ground. The muscles in and around my hips and my mind begged me to just STOP. It felt so wrong.
I could hear the tick of the on the wall clock, each second feeling like an eternity. I couldn’t understand why we were staying like this, and for so long!
As a beginning yoga student, I was attracted to vinyasa yoga. It seemed the closest to every other form of exercise I’d done. Growing up playing sports, swimming, and running, my entire conception of “workout” was something that makes you sweat and your heart race.
Getting more into yoga, I loved the feeling of stretching and the calm it brought to my mind, but I felt guilty about not getting an “intense” workout. I figured with vinyasa yoga, I could incorporate the stretching and meditation with a least some cardio. I figured with enough movement, I would inevitably be fit.
But on this day, as we stayed there in Pigeon, I didn’t understand why class had slowed down—and right when it was the hardest. This pose was pushing me to a new place, and it felt … uncomfortable. Something was happening. But my breath and heart rate were steady and no sweat dripped down my face. Was this a workout?
As the seconds turned into minutes, I realized this was not a single-breath type of yoga pose. Soon my discomfort floated away and my mind danced with other thoughts, like the sun coming through the window onto my face and the sound of soothing breaths from my yogi neighbors around me. With this release, my body was able to sink further to the ground and my muscles began to relax. Soon, what I was before experiencing as “pain” became nourishment. Discomfort had opened me up to an entirely different feeling.
My hips had never been stretched like that, and frankly, neither had my mind. I had always been the athlete that would push through. There was no “surrender.” But Pigeon Pose had challenged me in an entirely different way. Instead of going going going, I had to stay stay stay. I had to be OK with the stillness and the odd feeling in my body.
Almost two years later, Pigeon is my favorite yoga pose. When a teacher announces the pose, a smile paints my face and I thankfully fall into the posture, and almost always wish for more time. In the pose, I make subtle changes, bringing the stretch into different parts of my hip. I am not sweating nor falling over with exhaustion. Instead, I exit the pose refreshed and tingling with a feeling of openness.
My idea of “workout” has shifted. What I know now is that a healthy body is not necessarily one pushed to a brink of exhaustion, but one that is open to new movement and challenges. One that is calm and ready for all obstacles.
Pigeon Pose once felt so strange and wrong, slow, and confusing. Now, as I settle into what I know will be a lifetime of yoga practice, Pigeon just feels so right.

Change Your Diet With Yoga

by Baxter Bell From Yoga Journal
I recently asked a group of students to identify motivating reasons to improve their eating habits. I love the collective wisdom of a group, and this lively gathering was no exception. Obviously, a desire for weight loss was near the top of the list, but also its opposite, the need for weight gain was suggested (a common complaint for those with chronic illness or undergoing cancer treatment). Other reasons included healthy eating to deal with food allergies, gluten sensitivity or intolerance, specific conditions of the digestive system like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as Crohn’s disease. Also, noticing that your usual diet leaves you feeling poorly after eating. Or noticing that an adopted diet, like Atkin’s, causes unwanted and worrisome symptoms. Another personal motivation might include discovering you have early stage diabetes or high cholesterol, and hope that a change of diet could help.
Identifying a reason to develop healthier eating patterns could be considered setting your intention, or as we say in yogaspeak, your sankalpa. This can be a pivotal moment and a touchstone that you return to as you work to change your habits. In some ways this is the easy part. It’s the instituting and maintaining of the new habits that is always a challenge. Some of the key skills that doing yoga regularly develops include learning to recognize which foods are good for you and which are not; when you’re satisfied, which is different than feeling overly “full”; when you are experiencing thirst, not hunger; and when you may be eating due to stress. All of these insights are revealed via the cultivation of moment-by-moment awareness that happens during the hatha yoga practices of asana, breathwork, and meditation.
Meditation, in particular, seems to be quite effective in helping us maintain the healthy changes we might make to our eating. In her recent book Willpower, and in the program Boost Your Willpower that she created for Yoga Journal, yoga teacher and psychologist Kelly McGonigal explains about how mindfulness practices like meditation, and potentially yoga asana practices done with mindfulness as a main focus, do just that. For example, studies indicate that ongoing meditation practice increases blood flow to the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the area associated with impulse control. And just like you’d do curls at the gym to make your biceps stronger, meditation is the exercise that makes your impulse control, and therefore your willpower, stronger.
Another interesting finding from modern science that helps us understand how we get tripped up so easily when we are under stress is that our brains have a hard time distinguishing between real danger and our modern forms of stress. Our background operating systems react similarly to a life-threatening situation and say, an argument with a co-worker: the body releases chemicals that liberate fuel into our bloodstream so we can get away from danger quickly, and later releases cortisol, which stimulates hunger, so we can replenish the fuel we just used up. The problem is that after the argument with our co-worker, we rarely immediately go on a fast run, so when the second phase of the body’s autoresponse kicks in, cortisol release, and we get hungry, we end up eating even though we don’t need the fuel. This is one way stress can lead to unwanted weight gain.
The initial stress response also lowers impulse control (the very thing meditation improves). We need to be a bit impulsive and spontaneous when confronted with real danger. Not so much so with most of our modern stressors. So these stress episodes tend to be the times we are most likely to revert back to our unhealthy habits, and in this case, unhealthy patterns of eating.
Fortunately, yoga has been noted in many studies to have a positive effect on lowering the stress reaction. When we are less reactive in stressful situations, we can make better choices in the moment. And, finally, the physical practices of get you moving and using up some of your fuel stores (as if you really were running from a bear).
And what do you do when, while meditating, you notice unhelpful thoughts arising? Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 2.33, vitarkabadhane pratipaksabhavanam, translated by Edwin Bryant as “When disturbed by negative thoughts or events, cultivatation of opposite thoughts or events” (tr. Nicolai Bachman) provides useful advice about what to do when it becomes obvious that your thoughts are pulling you back into old, unhealthy patterns of eating. As modern spiritual teacher Byron Katie suggests, flip that negative thought around and if it’s positive opposite isn’t as or more true than the original.
Armed with modern science and ancient advice, your healthy eating intentions for the New Year can become a reality!