My dear Global Yoga Community,
The proverb “The eye is the window to the soul” always resonated with me. Which brings me to my main subject for this blog.
What does it mean to have a resilient soul?
A resilient soul typically refers to an individual who possesses the ability to bounce back, adapt, and overcome challenges, hardships, or adversities in life. Resilience is the capacity to face difficulties, trauma, or stress, and then recover from them with strength and grace.
A resilient soul is often characterized by a positive mindset, the ability to learn from experiences, and a determination to persevere in the face of difficulties. Resilience doesn’t mean avoiding or denying pain; instead, it involves coping with and growing from life’s inevitable setbacks.
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When the soul’s immune system runs wild
Amygdala, hippocampus and somatic markers are helpful systems that work for us – or under certain circumstances against us. Because our soul is a developed system of conscious and, above all, unconscious programs. Just like our body, it must be fed with good food that the mental immune system can fend off the attacks of so-called psychological viruses. Experts such as the specialist psychologist for psychotherapy Dr. Hans Menning understand it as “penetrating harmful thoughts and feelings that have become lodged in us and cause us to ponder and make us unable to act.
Furthermore, Dr. Menning explains, “These are very powerful, often self-damaging programs; we often don’t even notice their intrusion, but once they are inside, they develop and control us. They often start with ‘you are…’ followed by a negative adjective and a reinforcement of what was said. ‘You’re chaotic, you always misplace everything!’ This seemingly harmless sentence has it all, it’s a classic psychological virus that can unfold and become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Of course, there are much more complex and subtle psychoviruses. We are exposed to attacks from a variety of viruses and are surrounded by ‘You must…’, ‘You shall…’ and ‘You must not…’. Ideally, we quickly leave these determinations behind us, but sometimes a virus takes hold and we ‘internalize’ it.”
Research shows, there are ways to stimulate the soul’s immune system, like the color blue. A blue sky has a particularly stimulating effect on our self-healing powers. This is because blue is the color of calm and serenity, embodied by water and sea, sky and horizon.
Brain researchers have discovered that the color blue has a particularly positive effect on the pituitary gland which regulates the entire human hormonal system. But blue is much more than that – it is one of the colors that particularly symbolize nature and is associated with a happy childhood. The fewer beautiful “blue” moments and the more dark experiences someone has had in childhood, the higher their risk of developing heart disease.
~ The immune system of the soul (Happi-Health 2/2019)
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I think most of us are striving to be resilient. All forms of stress – physical, emotional or environmental, has an impact on our well-being. It’s a reminder that physical and emotional well-being are interconnected and intertwined, and the conclusion is taking care of both aspects contributes to a holistic sense of health, vitality and overall resilience. I am a strong believer that we always have the ability to change and reverse things in our life and in our body!
Let’s start with taking one positive action: Wear at least one blue item in class for the next two weeks 🙂
Monday 08.01.
Free your mind
Flow
Wednesday 10.01.
Happy Body – Blossoming Soul
Flow
Thursday 11.01.
Open Theme
Yogis Choice
Friday 12.01.
Through Resistance to Resilience
Elasti-Band Slow Flow
Monday 15.01.
Where do you feel stress
Flow
Wednesday 17.01.
Looking Inward
Blind Flow
Thursday 18.01.
Open Theme
Yogis Choice
Friday 19.01.
Embrace the Pain
Flow
I am looking forward to exploring the different aspects of resilience with you!
Love,
Nicole