Chiara Capello

mai 23, 2018
de Chiara Capello
Commentaires fermés sur Checklist to start meditating today!

Checklist to start meditating today!

Today, I would like to give you my checklist to start meditating. To be fully effective in your daily meditation, follow it step by step:

Commit to the meditation practice and fit it into your daily schedule. Decide if you want to do it in the morning after waking up or in the evening before going to bed.
Find a quiet, peaceful spot in your house, where to sit, without being disturbed. No electronics around (no computers, phones etc). Always sit there, to create a habit. It will be your “sacred spot”, just waiting for you each day.
Switch off all your devices (telephone and other disturbing sounds).
Use a timer. Set 10 to 15 minutes to start.
Sit up either on a chair, with your back straight and hands on your lap, or cross-legged on the floor (better on a yoga mat or a carpet). In this position, you can sit on a cushion to have your hips elevated compared to the knees, so your back is straight. Remember: you should be comfortable, as you will stay around 15 minutes immobile, without pain in the body (otherwise you will be distracted and it will be impossible to meditate).
Warning: never meditate lying on the bed or on the floor, as it will be easy to drift into sleep.
Close your eyes, focus and breath.

For the meditation technique, go to my Tapas for life course:

https://tapasforlife.teachable.com/p/meditation-a-practical-guide

mai 17, 2018
de Chiara Capello
Un commentaire

New yoga events in June!

Hello dear Yogic Community!

I am here to announce two great yoga events in the month of June:

on 17 June at 10.30 to 12 in Autoworld, Parc Cinquantenaire, the Brussels Yoga Mala will take place. 108 Sun salutations for charity.

Since 2010, a bunch of very motivated yogins in Brussels organize the Yoga Mala around the Summer Solstice. All participants donate some money and all the proceeds go to a charity.

Please join us on Sunday morning, 17 June 2018, as the Yoga community comes together for the eighth time in a celebration of the unity of Yoga to raise money charity.

As we welcome the Summer Solstice let us offer our gratitude to life by saluting and honouring the Sun. We will practice a Yoga Mala, a prayer in motion of 108 rounds of Surya Namaskara (Sun Salutations).

The practice will be a meditative flow, and whether we as individuals are able to do 1 or 108 rounds, the importance lies in our participation and intention – as a collective we will complete the Mala. There will be different teachers leading the rounds of Surya Namaskar, the practice is the Sivananda Hatha Yoga tradition.

Being there together in a spirit of loving-kindness, peace and joy is what it’s all about. And who knows what wonders will come from that…

The event is family-friendly, so children, partners and grandparents are warmly welcome. There will be Yoga for kids in parallel with the Mala, and other fun activities. Tea and biscuits for after!

Cost: EUR 2 Museum entrance fee, plus a donation for charity. The suggested donation is at least EUR 10, but we appeal to everyone to give what they can.

On 24 June, there will be the Brussels yoga day to practice together in Bois de la Cambre. A very nice event! see more infos on http://brusselsyogaday.be/

mai 2, 2018
de Chiara Capello
2 commentaires

The Yoga Nidra practice

Today, I would like to talk about Yoga nidra: it is also called » yogic sleep » and it is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping, like the “going-to-sleep” stage.

It is a state in which the body is completely relaxed, and the practitioner becomes systematically and increasingly aware of the inner world by following a set of instructions. This state of consciousness is different to meditation in which concentration on a single focus is required. In yoga nidra the practitioner remains in a state with his senses internalised, that is, withdrawn, and only the hearing and feeling still connect to the instructions.

Yoga nidra is among the deepest possible states of relaxation while still maintaining full consciousness. In dreaming one is only, or mainly, cognizant of the dream environment, and has little or no awareness of one’s actual environment.

The practice of yoga relaxation has been found to reduce tension and anxiety. The autonomic symptoms of high anxiety such as headache, giddiness, chest pain, palpitations, sweating and abdominal pain respond well.

It is a yoga routine that provides deep restoration to body and mind. To make the practice more effective, it’s ideal to end the yoga sequence with yoga nidra or to practice yoga nidra alone, when one feel tired during the day or to fall asleep easily.

Yoga nidra helps conserve and consolidate the energy from the yoga poses. It relaxes the entire system, also preparing it for meditation.

In yoga nidra, the attention is consciously taken to different parts of the body, to activate the nerves in those areas and helps to integrate the impact of the asanas (yoga postures) into the system. When we practice yoga nidra in Savasana (lying down) on the mat, it is a good idea to cover the body with a blanket to keep the body warm and relaxed.

Yoga nidra brings an incredible calmness, quietness and clarity. It is one of the deepest of all meditations, leading awareness through many levels of mental process to a state of supreme stillness and insight.

Yoga nidra means Yogic Sleep. It is a state of conscious Deep Sleep. In meditation, you remain in the waking state of consciousness, and gently focus the mind, while allowing thought patterns, emotions, sensations, and images to arise and go on. However, in yoga nidra, you leave the waking state, go past the dreaming state, and go to deep Sleep, yet remain awake.

You will find this amazing practice in my meditation course: go to meditation-a-practical-guide

Start today!

Meditation

mars 24, 2018
de Chiara Capello
Commentaires fermés sur Launch of my Tapas course on Meditation tomorrow!

Launch of my Tapas course on Meditation tomorrow!

Hello,

just a quick post to announce the launch of my new course on Meditation tomorrow 25 March on the Tapas for life platform! Check it out! I am so excited 🙂

Let me know what you think about it.

For more information go to: https://tapasforlife.teachable.com/

Enjoy!

Namaste,

Chiara

mars 21, 2018
de Chiara Capello
10 commentaires

3 ways meditation impacts our daily life

Meditation is making a buzz those days. There is a lot going on, many techniques, advices on how to meditate. We have to find our way in this jungle of information. I tested some techniques, but in the end I found the best one for me. It comes from the ancient Indian tradition. I started meditating every day for 15 minutes and already got amazing results.

There are also scientific studies that prove the impact of meditation on our brain: meditation can really change our lives and especially the way we respond to negative emotions.

1. Meditation impacts the way we react to unpleasant situations.

When I started meditating every day, I noticed a major shift in my reactions to situations that in the past could trigger a negative emotion from me. I was more detached, centred, calm. Moreover, I was a non judgemental observer of my thoughts, during meditation, but this attitude continued during the day. Of course, I was surprised how less I was prone to stress, anxiety, anger, fear.

I also become more aware on the “triggers”: the situations that were likely to cause that negative emotion to raise in me. Therefore, I got to know myself better, bringing more self awareness in my life. From there, it starts a fascinating journey to self discovery, exploring the inner core motives that bring us reacting in a way or another, depending on the external situation.

2. Meditation impacts creativity.

The fact that we connect in meditation with our own intuition, beyond the chattering of the mind, brings us straight to the centre of our creativity. We can be creative only from silence and space in our mind. A very busy mind, full of “spam” thoughts, will never be able to be creative. It is impossible. I experience that when I am painting. I meditate before starting, and I also paint what I see in meditation (colours, patterns that are the expression of my subconscious mind). My artworks stem directly from there. Without meditation, I could not go so deep in myself and certainly my art would be less original. Creativity is not only about art. We can be creative in our daily life, when we take an important decision or we find a solution to a problem.

3. Meditation impacts efficiency

I experienced that, when I have a very busy day in front of me, I am better able to deal with those tasks when I have meditated than when I have not. We all have the temptation to skip the 15 minutes meditation, with the excuse that “we do not have time today”. I noticed that if I skip it, I am much less efficient in dealing with the challenges of the day. I have the feeling of being pulled in different directions…wasting my time and experiencing more stress.

When, on the contrary, I meditate, I am more efficient, because I am centred and much more focused. So, I can deal with one task at the time, without dispersion of energy. Everything becomes easy and effortless.

I encourage you to explore those benefits, by starting the meditation practice on my Tapas for life course, starting on 25 March.

Meditation