I’d like to announce a wonderful workshop I will be teaching in Asheville, N.C. on April 14th & 15th, 2012. It’s called Promoting Female Reproductive Health and Fertility with Oriental Medicine and I am so happy to be able to bring this knowledge to the women of Western North Carolina.

Last year I taught a similar workshop in Wilmington, N.C. and thanks to Kingoff Acupuncture I am able to appear for an “encore” in Asheville!

All of the information about the workshop is listed below ~ hope to see you there

Namaste,

Dr. Robin Saraswati Markus

I am delighted to announce the release of a book that is very dear to my heart - Remarkable Encounters with Ram Dass is an enhanced ebook that traces back through more than four decades of people’s meetings with Ram Dass. It is a journey through their stories- how their lives were changed, sometimes instantly and sometimes over many years. And included in this beautifully enhanced digital book are archival videos of Ram Dass that reflect his own transformational arc.

Devotional Yoga (Bhakti Yoga) is the true means to reach contentment – the Gita says:

I was lucky enough to be a part of this project, which in my mind represents a form of Bhakti – here is an excerpt from my Ram Dass story:

“…It was 2001, five years later, when I found myself driving home from a hatha yoga class listening to National Public Radio, that something finally spoke to my heart. I weep as I write this, as I know now that very first moment when by chance I heard Krishna Das chanting, that Maharajji’s grace first came into my life. At the time it felt, as if for a moment, all of my sense organs and the portals of my heart were cleared and opened. And I received the Mahamantra into the depths of my being, like finally hearing something true for the first time. Not truth of the mind, but from the heart.

 I was so drawn to these chants that I bought the CD that day, back when you still had to drive to the record store. I listened to it in my home, in my car, and in my clinic. Everywhere, all of the time. I surrounded myself with these chants. In the few years that followed, I went to sing with Krishna Das and then spent time with him in retreat, deepening inside, ripening. I was pulled toward something he had—his practices, his Guru, his authenticity. Whatever it was, I wanted it for myself.

 Singing with him, I just felt home—connected to myself and to everyone around me—to the whole universal stream. I felt so much love for KD, I couldn’t explain it. Through him, I was softening into feeling my true essence and the grace of Maharajji. It was so energizing, essence-y and authentic all at once, and that kept me going back to be with him again and again, to submerge into it. I know now I was falling in love with myself. And this is how I came to know of Ram Dass, who was a continuation of that same heart, one that I was soaking up like a sponge…”

Below is more information about where to find Remarkable Encounters with Ram Dass – it’s available on Kindle, Nook and iBooks.

Remarkable Encounters with Ram Dass Enhanced Ebook available NOW on iBooks! The Remarkable Encounters with Ram Dass Enhanced Ebook is now available on iBooks. Simply download the iBooks application on your iPhone or iPad and search for “Remarkable Encounters with Ram Dass” to download the ebook. Ebook also available on Kindle and Nook Namaste Dr. Robin Saraswati Markus

Dr. Markus uses techniques for fertility enhancement and the treatment of infertility by using Chinese medicine and alternative medicine methods and practices. Dr. Markus has had unusual success helping women and couples to conceive and give birth. The Nourishing Life method integrates Chinese medicine, Yoga, and meditation to enhance fertility and to overcome other health challenges.

~Namaste~

During my creation of the Nourishing Life Fertility Yoga program I developed 11 yogic keys to fertility enhancement, which I believe clearly demonstrate how yoga can actually enhance fertility. These keys underlie the whole program, and once you understand how they work you can then take them to any yoga practice. Over the next several weeks I will explain each of these keys and suggest techniques you can try at home in order to activate them.

The First Key: Activates Endocrine Function

The whole Nourishing Life Fertility Yoga practice is geared to optimize the female hormonal tides that orchestrate the fluctuations and movements of the menstrual moon cycle.

Our endocrine system is composed of glands that produce chemical messengers known as hormones and are responsible for an optimal reproductive system. Each chakra corresponds to a different gland and by opening the chakra the gland is reactivated.

Chakras, a part of the yogic system, are energy centers that receive, absorb, store and distribute energy to other parts of the body. They overlap with the endocrine glands of western medicine. To work with the chakras is to heal ourselves of old constricting patterns lodged in the body, mind, or as habitual behavior.

Below is a graphic, which shows the relationship of each chakra to corresponding parts of the endocrine system, along with their symbolic meaning.

Selected techniques, with audio, to activate the chakras and endocrine system:

• Breath of Fire-Kapalbhati Pranayam: abdominal pumping with breath activates the uterus and the ovaries

• Abdmonial Suction Cleanse-Uddyana Bandha Kriya: internally massages and stimulates reproductive organs and glands

• Energy Activation- breathe in through the 3^rd eye, absorb prana, exhale and direct the prana into your ovaries

Start with downward dog.

Here we’re focusing on replenishing the kidney energies. So feel that spreading of your low back. This allows qi and blood to flush through your pelvic tissues, freeing up blood flow. Press your thumb and forefinger into the mat as you then roll out your shoulders. Yes. Flesh out your low back, lengthen the spine, and support beneath your underarm. Knees lifted. Heels sink. Feel one line of energy from crown to tailbone. Find one still point and keep your gaze there. Still mind, still body. Because your head is lower than the rest of your body, this is a very calming pose. And allow your kidneys – which includes your uterus- and your low back to flush and refill and be supported.

Float your right leg up into the air and brush the sky.

Now bring it between your hands. Left knee to the floor. Interlace your hands behind you and lengthen your spine here.

Climb up all sides of your spine, and coil up through your belly. Heart leads. This is a deep lunge and sometimes the hips need more time to open. So let’s pulse here and let them open. See what it feels like to go a little deeper into this lunge while lifting up through your center. Hip opening pulsation activates the liver meridian to gently vitalize qi and blood and encourage the menstruation to flow.

Bring both hands to the mat, inside your front foot.

Knee falls open, foot rolls to the outer edge.

Make sure your back leg is straight out behind you, and not sneaking into the midline. Right arm snakes up to the sky and you rotate into a gentle twist. Come to your fingertips or onto your fists if you need to. This is not your maximum twist here. Gently twist, nudging on the contents of the womb.

And now frame the front foot and lift the hips to downward facing dog. Fingers spread evenly into the mat, spine lengthens. Drop the head. Release the pelvic floor and exhale  “ahhh.”

Float your left foot up. Reach through your toes and stretch.

Now bring it through and place between your hands.

Interlace your fingers, rise up through the spine and pulse. Offer your heart into a gentle backbend here. And turn to your breath. Your Ujjayi breath is the fuel for your practice.

Going a little deeper into this pose your hands come to the inside of your front leg. Back leg and front knee reach away.

Front knee and foot drop open.

Now reach up with your left arm, gently twisting up and to your left.

Open circulation through the lower abdomen to allow the complete release of its contents. Twists unravel our layers that keep us blocked from the present moment. Open all of that up.

Now lift your hips and return to downward dog.

It is not outer information, but our inner vision, that guides us into what our next steps are. Sometimes the road of healing can be confusing, and it is often hard to know what to do in each moment. We can feel lost. But actually, how we begin to see is not by looking out into the future, but by finding inner stillness and calmness to connect with that inner vision which grounds us. That’s what this audio piece is about.

This pose is a wonderful one to practice during the follicular phase of your cycle. During this time yin and blood are gathering and refilling. Ultimately, a peak will be reached and the ovulatory process is triggered.

Begin by laying flat on your belly. Bend your knees. Reach your arms back and grasp the outside of your ankles or feet. If this is tight or uncomfortable in any way, you can go into a modified pose: Provide support by moving your elbow and forearm under your chest, and then grasp a single leg at a time. I started to practice this way, holding just one leg, releasing, and then the other. Over time my body opened and I was able to take the full pose.

From here, inhale and lift your chest, exhale press your feet back against your hands, and on your next inhale lift your thighs. Big toes and knees hug the midline. Relax your glutes here; they often like to take over the whole pose. This is important as it lets qi and blood flush into your kidneys, creating a great internal massage of your own kidney system. Feel your womb press into the floor and allow your energy to concentrate there. Hold this for two more breaths. And slowly release, cheek to the floor. Come all the way down and take rest. Release.

Now do one more round. Grasp your ankles or feet. Remember, it’s okay to take one at a time. Inhale and lift your chest, exhale kick your feet back against your hands, inhale lift your thighs. Now let’s arch a little more deeply. The backbends get better the more you do them. This time let’s gently rock forward and back onto your womb and ovaries, bringing good circulation there. Bring your attention there, activating your pelvic energy. Our energy is moving toward the midline, so our knees and feet are moving together. Continue to rock and gently vitalize the womb, where the endometrium is thickening and follicles are maturing. Soften the glutes, concentrate on the womb, and bring your knees down. Lower your feet and release, resting your opposite cheek to the mat.

Feel the surrender, the nourishment of yin energy as you are held by the earth. Tune into the quiet power. Soak it in.

The backbends we just did can be very vitalizing so take this restful pose to deepen your breath and turn inward. It’s easy to see how back bending activates yang qi. It’s both heating and stimulating, which is so necessary when we’re gathering yin in the follicular phase. We do need to circulate the yin qi and that’s exactly what we are doing in this pose of Danurasana.

As you sit down to begin your yoga, consider your Sankalpa and return to it throughout your practice.

You might choose something like one of the following:

“I will open my body and mind to bring life through me.”

“To stay in the present moment and with my breath.”

“To soften my body mind and release into the universal flow.”

Breathe and enjoy.