Hi there! It's beetee. I'd like to take a moment here to thank you, my friend, for your support during this year of 2021. For listening and reading. For replying and calling. For practicing yoga. For sharing your wisdom. For sending love. For just being you. In many ways you have helped me get through this year safe, sound & sane.
This week's quick dive will be the last of 2021: Ashtanga Namaskara, The 4 Pillars of A Healthy Mind and 2021's First Times.
Yoga Pose of The Week: Ashtanga Namaskara
In Sanskrit, Ashtanga means "eight parts". Ashtanga Namaskara represents 8 points of contact between the body and the ground: chin, chest, 2 hands, 2 knees and 2 feet.
The yoga style Ashtanga Vinyasa may have honourably derived its name from this pose, which is one of the original postures in the Ashtanga sequence. In English, we usually simplify and call this pose "Knees Chest Chin".
Typically preceded by Chaturanga Dandasana and succeeded by Cobra or Upward Facing Dog, this pose is great for strengthening your biceps and back muscles (rhomboids and trapezius) and increase range of motion for your spine (back bend). Remember to keep the elbows hugged into the rib cage, just like in Chaturanga.
Coming in 2022. This last yoga pose of 2021 completes a series of poses I have thus far mentioned, which will form a very popular flow I will start 2022 talking about. Any guess?
The 4 Pillars of A Healthy Mind
In the Mind section this week I'd like to share with you a talk by Richard J. Davidson, a psychologist and neuroscientist, on how mindfulness changes the emotional life of our brains. At a TEDx event, Dr. Davidson pointed out the 4 failures in well-being as demonstrated by research: Distractability, Loneliness, Negative self-talk & depression, and Loss of meaning & purpose in life. These challenges exact a toll on our health and mental well-being in very important ways.
He and his team then went on with their research to develop a framework covering the 4 pillars of a healthy mind: Awareness (being present), Connection (experiencing kindness and compassion), Insights (into who we are, by unlearning the negative beliefs about ourselves) and Purpose (the direction we are heading towards). It doesn't take much to start activating these qualities. As you can guess, yoga & meditation are my tools to switch on the first 3 pillars. As for the last, for me in all honesty, it's something we continuously search, without ever being able to feel like we have achieved it. I'd be curious to know how important these qualities are for you, in your life, and how you cultivate them. Let me know!
A very good friend of mine replied to my Yoga Quick Dive last week. She said she can't meditate. In fact, we don't have to. We don't have to sit down and try to bully our mind into not thinking anything. Meditation is actually not an action. It's a state of being. As long as you are present in everything you do at the present moment, as long as you are aware and mindful, you are already in the state of meditation.
Anything above the Earth and below the Sun is Life. Hopefully something useful to you, or at least something that will bring a smile to your face. 😊
2021's First Times
As we're approaching that thin line between 2021 and 2022, let's take a look back at a few extraordinary things what happened during this year for the first time in history:
A purely digital artwork (NFT) sells at auction for an 8-figure number. "Everydays: The First 5,000 Days" by Mike Winkelmann a.k.a. Beeple
A human brain wirelessly connects to a computer. Scientists at Brown University gave hope to spinal cord injuries patients by enabling them to move robotic limbs by simply imagining their movements.
The world's first 3D-printed school opened in Malawi. The walls were printed in just 18 hours. A lot more children will be able to go to school thanks to this project led by a British development firm and a Swiss company that specialises in building materials.
El Salvador becomes the first country to make Bitcoin a national currency. And yet this happened in a country where 70% of the workforce operates in a cash-based economy and Internet penetration is just over 50%. Who do you think will be next?
A Filipino woman is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in a first for her country. This was about her work reporting on President Rodrigo Duterte's controversial strongman tactics in the war on drugs.
Last but not least, beetee started for the first time her Yoga Quick Dive and finished Season 1 with 8 episodes. I'm sure this was life-changing for a lot of people!
What a wonderful year it was, despite everything else!
And with that, I wish you & your family a fantastic holiday season! See you again in 2022.
Thanks for reading! But don't leave just yet!
Ask me TWO questions or leave me TWO comments below. I'd love to hear from you.
Until then, take a deep breath and keep your worries away!
Love,
beetee
Yoga Quick Dive is a series of weekly newsletters that should take no more than 5 minutes of your reading time. Let's deep dive quickly into 3 topics: Body, Mind and Life.
You can also listen to the Yoga Quick Dive on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.