Ananda Within You - Blog

What is Chandra Namaskar?

11/28/2019

You have probably heard or are familiar with Surya Namaskar (= Sun Salutation), but did you know that it has a sister, which is more soothing sequence called Chandra Namaskar
(= Moon Salutation). As already mentioned it is more soothing and quieting sequence and it’s intention is to cultivate moon’s energy.

Why Chandra namaskar?
If you are under any kind of stress you will definitely benefit from the sequence of Moon Salutation. It balances energies and its really quieting practice.

Whenever you have the opportunity, I suggest you practice Chandra Namaskar in the evening when the moon is out. It offers you a beautiful way to prepare yourself for sleep. An important thing to remember when practicing moon salutations is to move slowly. If you are familiar with Sun Salutation where you move from asana to the next listening to your breath, moon salutation offers you the possibility not to sync with your breath each move.

Benefits of practicing Chandra Namaskar:
• Helps you channel the cool, relaxing, and creative moon energy
• Stretches the spine, hamstrings, strengthens legs, arms, back, and stomach muscles.

You can practice the sequence with me by watching the video. Please do note that the speed has been reduced for this video.

Namaste.

Crystals, what are they and how do they work?

8/20/2019

I stand slightly confused and amused at the security check at Srinagar Airport in Kashmir. I watch as a female clerk goes through the stuff in my backpack. She grabs a small turquoise bag, opens it and startles. Judging by her reaction, one might think there was at least a collection of really ugly spiders. She releases the grip on the bag and gestures at the male officer. He peers into the bag and looks at me asking: ”What are these?” The bag is filled with my treasures, all my crystals/stones. I look at the officer smiling: “They're my stones. They bring me good luck.” The officer smiles back at me and says: “Well, if they bring you good luck, then you must keep them.”

Over thousands of years, shamen and medicine people around the world have worked with crystals. Records of their usage go way back over 5000 years in Chinese medicine text, Ayurvedic texts from India, and the Bible, where you can find over 200 references to crystals and their powers.

Crystals, what are they and how they work?
Stones/crystals are natural solids made from minerals that have formed on the surface of the earth. Their shapes, colors, and sizes vary, and they are believed to carry a million years old energy. There are many explanations for the healing effects of crystals. They heal by working through the energy system, not the physical body. By influencing the energy system, crystals can have healing effects within the physical body.

What is crystal healing?
Crystals channel energy. They can, for example, store and transmit the energy. Crystal healing is about change. Working with crystals can improve your physical and mental health, your emotional well-being, and spiritual growth. They will not do anything that your body wouldn't, but they can speed up the process which would happen anyway. For example, carnelian works well for common colds by easing the symptoms faster, and jade might ease period pains.

The benefits of crystals
Crystals improve the state of well-being, and reduce or even remove symptoms of disease. They also help to speed up changes in life, and ease healthy lifestyle choices.

When you begin to work with crystals, you’ll need to choose the one(s) that are right for you. In my experience, you’ll be drawn to the right one. It is the one you are attracted to. It might be the one you see as the pretties one, or interesting somehow, or one that you keep going back to. After selecting crystals, you may discover that they were the most fitting choice, in terms of how they can help you, or someone close to you.

Sometimes crystals may be predictive in a way that they can help you with some future problem or issue. And whatever the purpose of the crystals you have chosen, it will be revealed to you, when the time is right.

One of my latest discoveries drew me like a magnet. Later, I checked what the healing power of that crystal is. It was Mangano Calcite:

The crystal combines gentle love and joy. It also soothes.
It activates the same properties in its user.
It brings positivity, tolerance, and gentleness towards oneself, like a good friend.
Mangano calcite is for forgiveness, and it releases fear and sorrow.

It brings love.

There might also be crystals you aren't at all drawn to, crystals that you don’t like. These crystals might be very helpful too. The reason you don’t like them might be, that they are touching something very deep and uncomfortable inside you, it might be something that you have pushed away for a long time. When you decide to work with crystals you don’t like, they help to lift buried things or feelings to the surface. This can be quite rough, but afterwards, you’ll feel better, or even transformed.

Are you familiar with crystals? And, do you believe in their powers?

Stone on a stone ❤️ Rose quartz which I always wear

Courage is not about not being scared

8/12/2019

“What's preventing you to do something?” I still hear this question from the NLP trainer, when agonizing over my present and future in our training years ago. The question woke me up a bit, but I already had my excuses ready. You maybe know what I'm talking about: as soon as xxx, if only xxx and after xxx.

It's good that there are people around you, who can make you jump when the only thing you want to do is to stay still. But, if you are not sure where to jump or where you want to aim with your jump, it is also good to dare not to jump. At that time, years ago, I was in a situation where I wasn't quite sure where that jump would lead, or where I wanted it to go. So, I didn't jump, and in a way, I stayed still for many years. Listening to oneself can sometimes be quite challenging. It is not always that clear whose wish or dream you are living into reality. Before jumping into the unknown, it's good to ask yourself if this is my real desire, or is it about pleasing someone else that makes me jump?

Photo by Austin Schmid on Unsplash

And when that is clear, it is good to take a friend (the self-confidence) by the hand and rely on that friend. Why? Because this is the point when advice and horror begin to rain on how crazy that planned jump actually is.

“I have to trust and let go
I have to trust that these wings carry ”

The courage to act and do things that feel right in your heart can be challenging. Why? Because we're affected by constant background noise, and its echo, all the time. Insecurity in you can start to grow with one innocent word or phrase you read or hear. Then the flow of your thoughts runs completely automatically, and unfortunately, it often causes your uncertainty to grow bigger and bigger.

Negative thoughts filled with insecurity are "easier" for oneself to adopt and believe, than positive and confident ones. Insecurity makes you stay in a familiar and safe life. After all, it's very easy to get stuck in that life. It doesn't take as much energy as that jump, the jump into the new and the unknown.

“Courage is not about not being scared
But you dare to jump even if you don't know if you can survive alive"

However, if you are attracted, like a magnet, by the jump into the unknown, you can be sure that that jump is something that you really want to do. That being the case, I urge you not to think about what all that could go wrong in that jump, and focus on all, that could all go right!

Dare to live a life you are excited about! ❤️

I have translated the quotations from a song called Äärirajoille by Finnish rapper Cheek

Fear is a reaction.
Courage is a decision.
•Sir Winston Churchill•

I have to live because I didn't die

8/7/2019

One year has gone by from the earthquake, and Indonesia and Gili Air have been on my mind many times in recent weeks. Those thoughts startle me a little. They took me into a placed of little darker thoughts, a place that is kind of unfamiliar to me nowadays. It's a place, where I haven't been for a while. The first thing that hit me was the fact that I could have died. Realization of this struck my mind with immense power a few weeks ago. Why didn't I die? Why did I survive? It has some significance why I survived, with many dying.

When the earthquake started, I was in a shop. I realized immediately, what was happening, as the building began to shake. It was no small gentle quake like the one that woke me up a week earlier in the early hours of Sunday morning. When I was standing on the road outside the shop, it was like being on a surfboard. With the difference that underneath me wasn't the board, nor the water, but hard tarmac. The hardness I could feel a moment later under my knees when the last force of the quake threw me to the ground. Fortunately, I had time to send a message to Finland that I was okay. Fortunately for my loved ones.

Last sunset on Gili Air

When you live in the middle of a catastrophe, you don't all the time think about, what is going on in the rest of the world. How life appears, when you are waiting for the news, whatever it may be. How do your loved ones feel when they can't contact you? A year after the earthquake, I'm suddenly waiting to hear news from the other side of the world. News from my friend and his family. Background to this is the events in Kashmir. And the story behind these events is very long and political, so I will not go into it in more detail. Now, I haven't been able to contact him for more than two days. My friend, his family, and all of Kashmir have been isolated from the rest of the world by blacking them out. When the setup changes, from the catastrophe, where I was myself a year ago, to the safety of my home, I'm in a situation where I am forced to go through those feelings of the people standing on the other side, waiting for news. And, I have to say, there on the side of catastrophe, it's easier to live and breathe.

Here, on the other side of the world, thoughts are crisscrossing as follows: What if that talk on Sunday was the last one that we ever had? What if this message was the last message from him? What if he's dead? Where and how would I even find out about it? On this side of the world, I color this story to be more horrible than it hopefully really is.

Srinagar, Kashmir

So, now I use all my strength, trying to put myself in my friend's shoes, or actually, trying to think what he would say right now. What would he say if he saw me now browsing the news with concern? Me, the person, who doesn't even follow the news? He would say, relax, in really bad Finnish, in a way that only I can understand what he is saying.😉Everything is going to be fine. He would say: I'm not dying, and I'm not going anywhere, relax and continue with whatever you were doing. You worry way too much.

Everything happens for a reason. Did I stay and lay on the ground on that dark Indonesian night after the earthquake ended? No, I continued my journey. That's something that I have to do now also, a year later. It's just more challenging than you would think, but my friend would like me to do so. And, whatever happens; I have to live because I didn't die.

Dal Lake, Srinagar, Kashmir

Everything is energy and energy is everything

7/30/2019

Everything (and I mean everything) is energy: the environment, the body, the mind, the emotions, the sounds and things around us. These energies vibrate at a certain frequency and not only affect us, but also everything around us. The vibration of the energy is something that everyone can feel, although it cannot always be explained. Energy is not only vibrating but also constantly changing.

Beautiful music, nice sounds, like birds singing, and a hug from a friend, creates positive feelings in us. These feelings are contagious, and they spread good feelings, or should I say good vibes. On the other hand, negative feelings are born just as easily, from loud noises, arguments or big-city bustle. Both, positive and negative vibrations have impacts that affect us, more strongly than we often realize. Whether we like or not, our environment affects us all the time, in good and in a bad way.

We are more than just our physical bodies, we all have our energy bodies as well. It's the energy field that surrounds our physical bodies. This energy field vibrates from our consciousness. The frequency at which our energy vibrates is determined by our thoughts, words, and actions. These are the means of how we send the energy out to our environment. As an example, you maybe have someone in your life, with whom you feel comfortable. Someone who gives you energy and makes you smile. This is how the energy from another person is effecting on us, on our feelings and mind.

One thing is good to remember. The energy we send out, is the energy, that comes back to us. Negative emotions such as hate or bitterness come back to us as the same. Think carefully, what kind of energy it is that you want to live your life in, and what kind of vibes you send out today. I encourage you here by saying: ”Be the energy you want to attract."

Everything is possible

7/21/2019

You might have heard the following sentence on a yoga class: This moment is the only moment that exists and matters. It doesn’t matter, what you did on your practice last week or what you are going to do tomorrow, every one of your yoga practices is unique, and every practice dies in Savasana (=final relaxation) to be reborn at that moment when we step onto our mats again.

If you think about this more, in the context of life, the situation is the same every day in our daily lives. We wake up in the morning to the new day, which is never exactly the same as the day before, and the day ends (=dies) when we close our eyes in the evening.

The other day, I was on my way to see my friend when one thought hit me really hard. How incredibly wonderful it is to wake up to a new day, not knowing what it might bring to you? And above all, to realize that it is indeed a new day, and everything is possible. When I understood this fully, my first thought was: Wow! I must say, realizing this got me really excited.

Now, of course, things that life brings in front of us, aren’t always positive or roseate, but even during those times, the same magic is still present. Everything is possible. The job you applied to, the one you didn’t get, might open you the possibility to get an even better job. Setbacks might help you find new ways to deal with things, fix problems, or they just make you stronger.

We cannot change the past or predict the future exactly, but we can be sure that at this moment here and now, everything is possible. If your day has a negative tone, which you can’t shake off, know that when you close your eyes in the evening, that is your possibility to be reborn. Reborn to a new day, where everything is possible.

What hides behind a smile?

7/19/2019

It's said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. This saying became substantial to me a day ago, when I saw a selfie, I’ve taken in late 2018. I stared my eyes in that picture in shock. My gaze was so sad that I almost broke into tears. It was so obvious that the person in that picture wasn't happy. My life in India was a dream come true in so many ways , but I would be lying if I told it was perfect.

I always wondered, how every Indian can be so sharp-sighted. Almost everyone I met was always asking if I was alright. One person even told me that it always looks like I was about to burst into tears at any time. Many times I heard that I don’t look happy. These conversations always got me confused. My solution was to give everyone my best smile, and assure that I was ok, everything is fine. Now that I think about it more closely, I think I only managed to fool myself.

"The eyes tell more,
than words could ever say."

What is happiness, and how to find it?
How to find happiness? The truth is that happiness is within us, and the question is how to get it out. Firstly, it's about loving and accepting yourself. Self-acceptance and acceptance, in general, plays an important role in finding happiness. On the path to happiness, behind us is the past, and its weight is often heavier than we believe or understand. Regardless of our past and its weight, forgiveness is a way to lighten the burden. It's easy to forgive other people's mistakes, but how about you? Do you remember to forgive yourself? As crazy as this may sound, it makes you feel better immediately.

What else should be considered when it comes to self-acceptance? Stop and think about your thoughts today, and all the times you've criticized yourself during the day? We all do it, it's our nature. But, if we are constantly criticizing ourselves, how it would be possible to accept ourselves and be happy at the same time. What if, the next time you find yourself criticizing yourself, you think about one positive thing about yourself rather than criticizing, actually think about two things. These are simple, small steps to finding happiness within yourself.

We often look for happiness outside of ourselves, from other people and material things. The truth is, however, that if happiness and joy of life are not found inside, neither will it be found outside. These outside things can offer momentary and seeming happiness, but unfortunately, that is never permanent. It is only an escape from the present, not so pleasant, situation and only temporary.

Everyone has a story
Many stories, some smaller and some bigger, can be found behind a smile. It can be a way to keep a certain distance and avoid unnecessary questions until enough strength has been gathered; strength to face oneself and one's story. Everyone has their story. Only you know what this story is. Only you know what's behind your smile. And only you can face yourself, accept yourself and this way find the way to the happiness that is within you.

This is me now

What is Reiki?

7/13/2019

Reiki came into my life out of the blue almost three years ago when I saw a Reiki course ad on Facebook. I didn’t have any idea, what Reiki was all about. The word Reiki was familiar to me though still, I signed up to the course without any doubt on mind whether or not I should go there. So, what Reiki is all about?

Reiki is an ancient energy healing method, which tradition was revived by Japanese Mikao Usui. Reiki is not dependent on any system or ideology and is characterized by acceptance and freedom.

The word Reiki comes from the Japanese, and it consists of two syllables: “rei” and “ki”. “Rei””has versatile meanings and it can, for example, mean mind, soul, light, gratefulness or love. “Ki” is more familiar and can be found from a name of martial arts ( such as Aikido). “Ki” states universal life force energy which is present everywhere. In Chinese the synonym of “ki” is “chi” and Indians talk about “prana”.

Photo by Javardh on Unsplash

How Reiki can be used?
The body and mind can be brought back to balance using Reiki. With Reiki, the bodies, the mind, and the energy channels, can be purified. It balances the energy levels and helps achieve mental and physical wellbeing. Reiki can be used as a tool in spiritual growth, but also to lessen and heal ailments and illnesses.

How does Reiki work?
The empty energy storage within the body can be filled up again with life force energy and achieve optimal health. Reiki energy works according to the laws of physics. The sign of a healthy body is balance and balance leads to optimal health. The balance is something really rare these days since we tend to be stressed and restless. The past physical and mental traumas affect us still today, and this is also one thing that causes blocks to energy channels. Reiki treats one thoroughly. It balances the body and mind. The energy is transmitted through the practitioner's hands and nurtures the person who is treated.

Reiki might cause feelings to arise, that hasn't been noted before. It can be something from the past that isn't yet forgiven, might be something that is not even evident, something forgotten. But it can rise into awareness because of the Reiki.

Reiki is about positive force, and it offers us a possibility to grow to be a more balanced human being. And at the end it is only the question of allowing, allowing to use this possibility of receiving the positive energy.

The power of Mind

7/9/2019

Have you ever thought about the power of your mind? Have you paid attention to how much and what kind of an internal talk can fit into just one of your day? Have you noticed that the conversion in your head starts immediately when you wake up in the morning? And above all, how your thoughts are continuously one step ahead from the task that you are doing right now? Which means that you aren't present in your day-to-day life.

The power of thoughts and internal talk has been present in my day-to-day life really strongly during the past month. There are probably many reasons for this, but I'm now telling you one angle. I'm also going to share with you my ways to face the moments as they are right now.

You are probably familiar with a situation, where you wake up in the morning on the wrong side of the bed. You might not be aware, why your day got such a bad start, but still, that feeling follows you all day long and at some point, you might wish that the day would just end and you would be able to start a new day with new fresh energy.

For me, the past year has been filled with days, when I have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Soonest I wake up and open my eyes, I realize that I just feel bad. My mornings aren't busy, I don't need to rush into my work at a certain time, which makes me wonder why the first moments of my days are so unpleasant for me. I think the reason might be the fact that I have just seen some nasty dream, which I don't remember, but which effects my mood immediately first thing in the morning. Luckily, I have found my ways to get rid of those feelings, and my days are really rarely thoroughly miserable. 😉

Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash

How exactly I manage to shake off those nasty feelings? After my morning routines, I go to the balcony and just embrace the Finnish summer, the scents, freshness, and quietness. At first, I usually wake up my spine and do some twists, feeling how my body feels. After this, I start Nadi Shodhana (= alternate nostril breath) breathing exercise. Nadi Shodhana reduces stress, balances the function of both sides of the brains and brings equal amounts of oxygen to both sides of the brain for improved brain function and purifies the energy channels. The breathing exercise lasts as long as I feel like doing it. After that, I return to my normal breath and feel how it feels to breathe. Once I'm ready to continue, I'll start my morning meditation. My meditation consists of thankfulness, forgiveness and "painting" of the future, I also set an intention for the day. After this, I'm ready for breakfast. These simple steps are my way to switch my mood and most of the days my nasty feelings are gone by the time of the breakfast. The first hour of my day is mobile phone free and I'm also avoiding all outside influences during that time, which helps me to be present in this moment, and I'm not rushing through my day already in my mind.

When we are present at this moment, we are able to build a wall between negative mood and negative thoughts, and it helps us stop the mind's harmful thoughts and thinking. When we are one step ahead of this moment, we are unbalanced, which can affect the internal talk negatively and our general feelings in our daily lives. If we are not present and aware of our internal talk, we most likely are in the swirl of negativity. Negative thoughts can easily expand way too big, without us even realizing it, leading us being trapped in the chains of negativity.

When I moved to India less than a year ago, I was pretty broken. For those who do not know, I returned to Finland just two months earlier from Indonesia because the place where I lived was badly affected by the earthquake and was destroyed. However, Finland no longer felt at home. Two months I went through my stuff and sold my belongings. The new beginning in India was not easy. There were times when I didn't know how to think, and the times I just wanted to escape my thoughts because I just didn't know how to deal with them. At times it felt like my thoughts were just "all over the place" and it was very difficult to gather them. I think it is safe to say that my presence in my daily life was somewhat difficult.

At that time, my savior was Mandalas. I drew them every day for 2 months. I don't know how long it took to draw one mandala, but drawing them kept me present in this moment. When I drew, it was the only thing I did, and my mind was totally free from thoughts. If you want to learn to calm your mind, this is a simple and effective way to do it. And, if you are unsure about how to proceed, stay tuned because I will soon add Mandala course to the online store.

Yamas and Niyamas: Yoga philosophy explained

7/1/2019

On my last blog post, I briefly explained the concepts of yoga philosophy. And now I'm going to take this just a little bit further.

Yama
Yama is about ethical behavior. It introduces principles that we should follow in our everyday life. This means our relationships with other people as well as the relationship with ourselves. Yama is further subcategorized as follows:

1. Ahimsa: non-hurting, non-violence
Practicing ahimsa starts with ourselves and respecting our own bodies, and this respect should be extended to all other beings around us. Not only during yoga practice but also in our day-to-day life, where it can be considered as compassion and understanding. Not hurting anyone physically or emotionally. It might be that hurting by words we are speaking is the most common and difficult thing nowadays and it really needs to be taken into consideration more carefully.

2. Satya: being honest
I trust that everybody can really understand the concept of honesty. But this principle might cause conflicts in situations when the truth would hurt. I think that if that is the case it is something we know in our hearts. It is important to know when to be silent if our words offend someone. If we hear some unfortunate rumor/gossip about someone, we don't need to pass it forward.

3. Asteya: not stealing
This is in a way really self-explanatory. Not only this means that one shouldn’t desire something that one hasn’t earned or paid for, but in a yoga practice, this could be considered as not expecting fruits of the practice without showing up on the mat regularly. In that sence important to understand that yoga is a journey.

4. Brahmacharya: honoring yourself and others in intimate relationships
It can be considered as not letting our desires and emotions to control how we behave. This is a good way to restore our energy which is one thing that brahmacharya is all about. We have the ability to choose not to waste our energy into something that we can't control which makes a life a lot easier.

5. Aparigraha: not being greedy
It is about being free from desire, about giving without expecting something in return. In general, especially in the Western world we have so much, in many cases, too much stuff, so next time, before we want to buy something new, we can think again, do we really need that thing. Yoga is not about having clothes according to the latest fashion trends, it is about showing up on your mat regularly.

Niyama
Principles of wellbeing that brings our awareness to relationships with others and to the intimacy of our relationships with ourselves. Niyama is also further subcategorized as follows:

1. Saucha: treating the body like a temple
By asana practice, we can detoxify our bodies. It removes impurities caused by environment and diet. It is important to eat fresh and healthy food to keep our bodies clean inside. Internal cleansing shows as radiance and joy. It is not only about cleansing ourselves inside and out but also about having things in order in our day-to-day life.

2. Santosa: becoming humble and content in the modesty of how things are
It opens us to happiness with who we are and what we presently have. When it is recognized that life is an ongoing process what comes to learning, growing and evolving, then one is inclined to self-acceptance. This is a state where there is not lack of anything.

3. Tapas: being as present as we can to our contentment
This can be considered as a burning fire and passion of daily practice. Tapas helps us direct our energy toward our innermost truth and intentions. It is about being attentive to how we are in our body, breath, heart, and mind. It opens us to our true nature. Without tapas, life is like a heart without love.

4. Svadhyaya: self-awareness in all that we do
Understanding that happiness cannot be found outside, it is in every one of us. The only way to find happiness is to learn more about who we really are.

5. Ishvara pranidhana: Letting go off the ego
It is about trusting that life exactly as it should.
I think, that one doesn't have to be yogi to follow these principles int he sense that brings more goodness and happiness to everyone's life.

Is the yoga philosophy present in your life in some way? ❤️