The Quality of your Life Depends on the Quality of your Breath 

Greetings Compadres!
Fall has finally arrived here in Gozo with cooler temperatures and rain (yay) turning our landscape from shades of brown to green.

Fall has always been my favourite season. In the Yoga Tradition it’s believed that this is the Spiritual New Year. Fall’s theme is RELEASE and BALANCE of mind, body & soul.
What better way to do that than through your BREATH!

Ah the beloved breath! We wouldn’t be here without it – how much importance do you give it considering it’s keeping you alive?

Breath Check Practice:
* What is the quality, quantity and shape of each breath you take?
* Do you naturally breathe in and out from the nose or from the mouth?
* If you feel anxious, stressed, facing a challenge and/or conflict what happens to your breath?
* Can you feel that each inhale offers stimulation and each exhale relaxation?

I recently read a book I highly recommend called
Breath: New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
He uses a practice called Sudarshan Kriya which is a breath exercise from the Kundalini Tradition hailed as THEE breath practice to bring your body, mind and soul in balance.

Research has proved that this breath exercise has helped people with mental disorders come off their medications, helped asthma sufferers to no longer rely on inhalers, cured depression, ptsd, anxiety etc. It’s powerful and simple.

The eyes remain closed the entire practice
We use a breath called Ujjai pranayama where you restrict the breath coming in and out from the nose from the back of the throat. Kind of like fogging up a mirror but with your mouth closed and on both the inhale and the exhale.

Then it’s as simple as:
Inhale from the nose and count to 4
Hold the breath in and count to 4
Exhale from the nose and count to 6
Hold the exhale out and count to 2
REPEAT for 20-30mins for full benefit then rest in meditation

Here is a link to follow so you can focus on breath and not on counting, this is from the Art of Living

If you do practice this I’d love to hear your progress and experiences.

Finding Meaning

Good morning, good afternoon or maybe good evening to all of ye – September has arrived and here in Gozo we’re hoping the cooler temperatures will start soon as it’s been one HOT summer!
We did manage to jet set off the isla for a month to France, Switzerland & the Azores and I’ll never underestimate the inspiring power that travelling provides. Looking around with a new set of eyes as we set sights on natures magnificence, getting lost through streets we’ve never walked, sitting in cafes and watching all the lovely peoples, bathing in waterfalls, hots springs and the sea. Back home now refreshed and waiting for the weather to match. 🙂

The search for meaning becomes predominant for me when I travel.
Have you ever wondered about life’s meaning?
Do you ever find meaning through your challenges and/or conflicts?
Do you have a habit of giving everything you go through a meaning?
Do you ever make a situation into a story that means more than it really did?

Finding Meaning….

My niece recently recommended a great book called ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ written by Vicktor E Frankl. This man survived 3 concentration camps and as a psychiatrist he had a very interesting perspective as he watched how everyone dealt with the situation they were in. His conclusion is that those who made it through were the ones who could find MEANING through what they were experiencing. The ones who couldn’t, didn’t make it, they couldn’t see the point in going any further.

I like that kind of meaning machine. It leads us to growth and an eloquent way of seeing our challenging situations.
If LIFE were to ask you “What is the meaning of your LIFE?” would you have an answer?
If you don’t here is a breath practice to connect you deeper IN

A breath practice to bring you closer to you:
* In a comfortable seated position begin to notice your natural breath cycle
* Now begin to inhale and count to 5-6 the exhale to a count of 6-10
* Do this for a few minutes
* Once you’re comfortable with that begin to inhale and exhale for 5-6 seconds and hold the inhale in for 3-6 seconds and then hold the exhale out for 3-6 seconds.
* Do this for a few minutes
Then release, come back to your natural breath and notice how everything feels.
The slower our breath the more in tune we become.
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Here’s a talk I found informative, inspiring and forward thinking from one of my favourite doctors who is also an environmentalist – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOmPHFiOMxI

Wishing you all a lens that allows you to see the bigger picture
SatNamNamaste & thanks for reading!

For one thing, our initial response is not always what’s best for us, or for the other people involved. Reacting to childish rage with childish rage will only escalate the negativity in a situation, further ensnaring us in an undesirable dynamic. Similarly, when we react defensively, or simply thoughtlessly, we often end up feeling regret over our words or actions. In the end, we save ourselves a lot of pain when we take a deep breath and really tune in to ourselves, and the other person, before we respond. This doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t say anything, although in some cases, that may be the best option.

Some situations require a fairly immediate response, but even just a moment of grounding ourselves before we do so can help enormously. The next time you find yourself wanting to react, try to pause, and in that pause, take a deep breath. Feel your feet on the floor, the air on your skin, and listen for a response to arise within you, rather than just going with the first thing that pops into your head. You may find that in that moment, there is the potential to move beyond reaction and into the more subtle and creative realm of response, where something new can happen.

Awakening the Ten Bodies:

Hola compadres!
I hope this newsletter finds you in a good inner space while the world navigates it’s way around viruses, vaccinations and freedom of choice.

It’s been a hot sweaty start to the summer here in Gozo.
We kicked off Summer with 108 Sun Salutations with a group of 6 of us, done in just 1 hour, the energy was amazing as you can see from our faces 🙂

How’s summer starting for you all?

This month I’m  working with the Ten Bodies as we study in the Kundalini Tradition
In the west we are fixated on the physical body and most familiar with it – but could you imagine that your physical body is like the suitcase for a few other bodies too?

The Ten Bodies Are:
The Soul Body, the Positive, Negative & Neutral Mind, the Physical Body, the Pranic Body, the ArcLine, the Auric Body, the Subtle Body & the Radiant Body

Here are some questions to ignite the Ten Bodies:
* What part of your mind do you listen to most? The Positive, Negative or        Neutral?
* Do you feel connected to the voice of your soul? If so, write down how…
* Do you feel physically balanced? If not, why?
* Do you trust and listen to your intuition?
* Do you find it hard or easy to trust in general?
* Do you find you have an excess of energy, a stable amount of energy or         do you often feel low in energy?
* Do you practice seeing beyond what is right in front of you?

As yoga practitioners we learn that in addition to the Western way of looking at anatomy, there is also a more subtle energetic anatomy to awaken to. One of the ways we can understand our existence and enhance our potential is to learn about and work with our Ten Bodies .

The work is to keep these Ten Bodies in a state of balance. The middle way. As with most things in life if we can just find that centre line we remain in harmony, in balance with the universe.

Here is a 30 minute FREE practice to Awaken the Ten Bodies which can all be done seated. There are a few FREE practices on my YouTube Channel so please do subscribe and enjoy the practices & the FREE soundbath meditations as much as you like!

I appreciate your readership very much and it’s always a pleasure to hear from those of you who get some insights through these newsletters and/or those of you willing to share some of yours…

MBY 2021 Offerings:

KriyaAsana Live on ZOOM | Tuesdays
18.30 – 19.45 CET
(email info@michellebartoloyoga.com to book in)

Kundalini Workshop – Detoxing the Mind
Saturday September 25th | GOZO
11.00 – 15.30
60 euros

MBY KriyaAsana Week Long Retreat
October 10 – 17th | GOZO

MBY KriyaAsana 200 hr YTT 
October 20 – December 14th | GOZO

Hope you are enjoying a level of freedom again as restrictions lift and we can all breathe easier again. I find it incredibly beautiful to notice how many of us are so happy to be doing the things we always took for granted before this pandemic hit.

I remind myself and my students regularly that there is always two sides to everything. The positives and the not so much so…I find it a much easier way to navigate life and at the end of the day we will all believe what works for us and from our level of perception.

There is no right or wrong. Just different lenses.

If we live from the truth of our heart we will always be filled with love.
I came across this bit of writing last week which I found inspiring

‘I think we became too rational of a society. At some point we starting ‘trusting science’ more than our intuition. Don’t get me wrong, I’m big on reading and educating ourselves, learning from others with insight. But anytime I’ve gotten myself into a big mess in life was because I wasn’t living inside out – from guts to heart – people can bash people who feel alot , but I promise you, those people are the ones living that dream life you can’t seem to figure out.’ – Michaela Reneej

May we all listen to our hearts more.
May we all feel more.
Use the heart as your charger – plug in to your LOVE charger
Cheesy as it may sound – it works 😉

Some more great news….
If you want more kriya practices subscribe to my YOUTUBE channel. There are plenty of 30 minute practices which you can do from a chair. These practices were all created for We Connect Malta, a holistic wellbeing project by the FIDEM Charity Organisation

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA3aAZfCCrRNpkYSxa-d2VQ

SatNamNamaste

Michelle x