Polly’s Portal

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

This beautiful meditation comes to us from the Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice of Tonglen (the taking and giving on the medium of the breath). The imagery is powerful and beautiful and speaks to the Authentic Self.

Your meditation time is a beautiful opportunity for you to take that inward journey to come to know the deepest aspect of your being. I’ve prepared this Audio Recording of an inward exploration into the Nature of Your Inner World (Meditation on Your Essential Self and Love). Please enjoy!

To Dye or not to Dye – Buddha’s Lesson on Hair Dye.

The second Yama is translated as Truthfulness, and it encourages us to look deeply inward to see if we are being truthful with ourselves before anything else.

This practice can change your life and the lives of those around you. We need this practice now more than ever. I hope this video encourages you to practice Ahimsa towards yourself and others.

Polly’s Pearl #12 – Science has proven there are benefits from practicing yoga and deep breathing. From stress relief, balance building, increased flexibility, and an exercise that is easy on the joints, yoga is a great physical activity which is accessible to everyone. Did you know that even a short sequence of yoga postures with conscious breathing can improve the quality of your sleep?

Polly’s Pearl #11 – This is a beautiful practice of gentle Yoga Stretches to elongate the spine and is essential for your daily Basic Back Care Practice!

Polly’s Pearl #10 – We neglect our feet and they work sooooo hard for us! Be kind to yourself and your feet and check out this video on loving your feet!

Polly’s Pearl #9 – Good morning! Here’s a short, quick video to help you wake up with style – slapping, tapping, and clapping!!!!

Polly’s Pearl #8 – Here’s a DaoYin practice of slapping, tapping, and pounding to wake you up and get you charged up for your day!!!!

Polly’s Pearl #7 – In this video I demonstrate a practice to release tension in the diaphragm muscle, which allows for deeper, fuller breathing. Enjoy!

Polly’s Pearl #6 – Most of us are stuck in habitual movement patterns in our daily lives. Habitual, repetitive movement creates stagnation of blood, lymph, mucous, tissues, and muscles and results in muscle tension, and reduced ROM (Range of Motion).

Polly’s Pearl #5 – Rollers are your best friend if you’ve got sore muscles! And it doesn’t take long to do the job, either. Here’s a short video to get you started on the rolling remedy for sore muscles (or “What to do when there’s no massage therapist at hand!”)

Polly’s Pearl #4 – Self-Abdominal Massage stimulates the digestive fire (Agni, in Sanskrit), increases the peristaltic action of the stomach and intestines, and releases tension in the viscera and abdominal muscles, which enables deeper breathing and improved metabolism. I encourage you to do this first thing in the morning (lying in bed), and last thing at night (lying in bed).

Polly’s Pearl #3 – Legs Against the Wall Pose is a calming pose that fights fatigue, restores your energy, and alleviates low back pain and tight hamstrings. In Chinese Medicine we call this the “Kidney Repose”, because when you stay in the pose for 5 – 20 minutes, it allows the blood to drain out of the legs and pool in the kidney area, restoring the kidneys with fresh blood and oxygen.

Polly’s Pearl #2 – 1:2 Breathing automatically slows down the heart rate, lowers the blood pressure, and induces a deep relaxation response in the nervous system. This breathing literally takes the body out of the “fight or flight” stress response, and brings a feeling of being centered, grounded, and peaceful.

Polly’s Pearl #1 – Buddha Belly Breathing is the act of deep diaphragmatic breathing and automatically begins to calm the nervous system. Deep diaphragmatic breathing is the foundation for a calm mind and the beginning of meditation!

There is a practice in the yoga tradition of waking up each morning and asking ourselves,

“What can I die to today?”

So what does that mean?

It means, what can I release, what can I detach from, what can I let go of in my life, whether that be particular thoughts, certain behaviors, physical possessions, expectations in relationships, expectations in any area of our lives, specific plans, 5 year plans, 10 year plans, grudges, sorrow, pity, anger, sadness, happiness, etc.

I love burritos. Everything you want in the meal in one complete package.

And it just wouldn’t be the same if you left out the Guacamole, or the Salsa, or the Black Beans, or the Carnitas, or the fresh Lettuce and diced Veggies, or the Mozzarella Cheese. If you left out any one ingredient, it just wouldn’t be the same.

And if I understand the Buddha correctly, this is a perfect analogy for our lives.

Most of my life I have waited much too long to make the necessary changes that would have made my life better in a timely fashion.

Too long I’ve not heeded the following piece of wisdom from the Taoist philosophers.

There is a Chinese proverb – “Fish cannot see water, human beings cannot see Chi.”

I had the great privilege of studying with Sensei Wataru Ohashi (the founder of the Ohashiatsu Institute and Method of Shiatsu) from 1997 – 2005, and he was one of the most influential people in my life, and one of my greatest mentors.

A LESSON ON GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT!

Swami Rama once said that the body will only open up as much as the mind will open up.

Interesting thought.

Yes, our attachment, even to our thoughts, can translate into rigidity in the body. There’s even some data to suggest that one of the things that prevents people from losing excess weight is because they are holding onto difficult emotions, painful memories, rigid ideas, old, even ancestral thought patterns.

There is a practice in the yoga tradition of waking up each morning and asking ourselves,

“What can I die to today?”

So what does that mean?

It means, what can I release, what can I detach from, what can I let go of in my life, whether that be particular thoughts, certain behaviors, physical possessions, expectations in relationships, expectations in any area of our lives, specific plans, 5 year plans, 10 year plans, grudges, sorrow, pity, anger, sadness, happiness, etc.

We all want it.

We all run towards it.

We all run away from it.

We all need it to flourish.

What is it?

Connection.

Mother Earth is awakening from the depths of her winter hibernation with nutrients stirring as she massages and softens the shells of seeds beginning their journey toward the surface. Life-giving compost covering the ground and sap stored in the trunks of trees are beginning to thaw and slowly transition the natural world from the slumber of winter to the first awakenings of spring. This eternal process can provide a roadmap to follow so that we may also awake, flourish and blossom like our surroundings. Chinese medicine philosophy provides some lessons.

Chinese medicine philosophy has a concept called “living according to our nature”, which encourages us to observe the intelligence in the natural world (Mother Earth, Father Sky, the five seasons in nature) and live accordingly. We can derive clues for nourishing our own health by following the rhythms of the Earth and the daily cycle of energy.

It’s a simple question: how do I want to dispose of my body when I die?

A simple question with no easy answer.