Kareen's Yoga by Kareen Zebroff

Papa, a doctor, was always saying things like, "don’t take medicines if you’ve got something chronic, because if they worked it wouldn’t be chronic", or "many transitory little aches and pains are just Mother Nature’s way of adjusting something, so don’t panic take a nice, long walk instead".

Walking is one of the great joys of my life. It is by far the best way of keeping in touch with the mysterious restorative powers, energies and vibrations of Mother Earth something that all gardeners, barefoot children, and beach-combers know to their joy. When combined with meditative prana-breathing, walking produces a miraculous marriage of uplifted spirits and healthy bodies. How?

Basically, we are just a mass of atoms consisting of neutrons, protons and electrons. In fact, our body is much like any other electrical unit, in that we have six micro-circuits, called meridians, in our ‘body-house’. In a hectic life, it is quite possible to be walking about with a blown circuit or two and not know it. One can only imagine how that must impact on energy. This is where walking comes in, because our circuit-breakers, called clearing-houses, are located in the transverse arch of the foot, the knees, the sacrum or lower back, the occiput or back of the skull, and the respiratory or breathing centres of the body. The mere act of bending and moving the legs virtually pushes two of the more important blown circuits back in.

Walking while breathing gently in and out is one of nature’s excellent ways, Papa said, of benefiting the body in multitudinous ways: by activating the cross-crawl reflex, which has a calming and integrative effect on the body-mind connection; by providing fresh air for oxygenation of the blood-stream, and sunshine for vitamin D synthesis; by feeling ‘refreshed’ through beneficial negative ions being discharged near a sunny beach, beside a running brook, or in a piny, wooded glen; as a form of weight-control through activating the thyroid-gland and keeping the apostat (appetite) down; by storing kinetic energy in muscles, ligaments and tendons during the day and filtering it back in during the night; by burning up stress-chemicals for greater relaxation and health; by preventing osteoporosis through weight-bearing; by improving blood-circulation; by burning fat through exercising the largest muscles of the body; and, last but not least, by improving relationships!

When my husband decided to join me in my early-morning walks several years ago so that he could talk to me without worldly interruption, it was fantastic for our long-lived marriage. Issues got a much-needed ‘airing’ (even if the communication occasionally took place with slightly raised voices). Best of all, however, was that we finally received forty-five minutes of undiluted attention from each other.

The mere thought of walking outdoors on a brilliant golden-blue day causes fire-works of delight to go off in most people’s psyche. It gives one an instant feeling of happiness and that is meditation! We are not only in touch, at that moment, with the physical splendour of nature, but also with the beauty of merging our own spiritual nature with it. I’ve been boogieing five kilometers a day on roads, sea-walls and country-lanes ever since the eminent Yogini Marcia Moore first introduced me to this most beneficial habit of mental and physical hygiene, twenty-five years ago. I feel cleansed afterwards as though I have had a healing.

Since there is a pulse to all nature, one is wise to breathe rhythmically while walking. Match your breath to your steps with a beat of 4(in):4(hold):8(out), without forcing anything (and never hold your breath if you have a history of high blood-pressure or heart-disease). Concentrate on nothing but the relaxed in and out-flow of your breath over a period of several weeks. Breath is the closest to spirit we humans can get, and this simple meditation is an access-route to inner awareness and wisdom even for beginners. Once you are in the habit of thus concentrating on stilling your restless mind, start consciously to breathe in the mysterious life-force that is all around us and which, along with oxygen, keeps us going with its all-encompassing loving energy.

Allow this prana, through the messenger of breath, to pervade your whole being and neutralize the mind, the better to achieve super-awareness in the end. "That is the very best of all medicines", Papa said.

For more about ‘Kareen’s Yoga’ and her books / videos, see her website kareenzebroff.com




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