Ananda Kennard

SmartFlow® Yoga

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Finding Your Way Back To The Light

I would like to share a tip that has helped me in my own life. Recently, I found myself moving in a downward spiral, as I became flooded with negative thoughts about many situations, which lead to a depression. The content of my inner dialogue was consistently one of negativity. My attention was being pulled to everything that was wrong or “not good enough”. As a teacher of yoga, I was aware that where I placed the attention is where our power lies. In this moment, I was not the mover but the moved, and I realized I was not in control.

This simple reflection, or re-cognition, brought me back to myself. I was the able to turn my attention to another type of positive thinking within my experience, to supplement the automatic thoughts. I recognized my true desire, and used mantra to help me turn a radical corner. From my experiences, I invite you to develop a phrase that is personally inspiring and helps shift your perspective. The mantra that I am currently using is: my life is a work in progress, I am happy and I am free.

I invite you to reflect on your current styles of thinking, to see if you think you could benefit from a change in perspective when approaching certain situations. I use mantra to continually turn my attention to the thoughts that shape my life. When I find them moving in a trajectory that isn’t helpful, or I find myself overwhelmed, through this awareness I can pull myself out for a moment. When saying a few important words to myself in such a moment, another option emerges.

Some mantras that may be of service, and help switch the content on your thoughts include:

I am my own authority.
My life is a work in progress.
Things are as they’re meant to be.
I am what I have been seeking.
Life is my practice; Practice is my life.
I am committed to living my life fully.

Choose a mantra that resonates with your life and recite this positive message as part of your practice. You are enough within yourself.  You can pull yourself out of problematic situation with the attitude you use to approach it.  By reciting the right words, you can move your thoughts in the direction you desire.

* man·tra  /ˈmantrə/

Noun

  1. (originally in Hinduism and Buddhism) A word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation.
  2. A statement that is frequently repeated; a characteristic formula or refrain. Via Your Zen Life.

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Dairy Free and Egg Free Crème Brulee

We stumbled across a great and healthy recipe for Crème Brulee on Your Zen Life. Ananda is excited to contributing to Your Zen Life so watch this space!

creme brulee

Ingredients: 

2 cups of raw cashew
4 tbs maple syrup or agave nectar
2 cups of water
6 tbs vanilla custard powder (gluten free variety)
½ tsp sea salt
Coconut sugar

Instructions: 

Put all the ingredients minus the sugar in a blender, and blend until smooth.
Transfer to a saucepan and over low heat, whisk while the mix thickens.
Put the custard mixture back in the blender and blend very well.
Place ramekins in a baking tray.
Fill up the ramekins with the custard to ¾ full.
Sprinkle the sugar over evenly.
Place under a hot grill for 5-7 minutes or until browned a little (ie brulee, to burn).

Berry Compote:

450 g frozen mixed berries
water

In a saucepan bring the frozen berries to the boil with enough water to cover. Allow the berries to bubble and liquid to evaporate, stirring occasionally. The berries are 65 calories per serve (hello – easy weight loss) and keeps in the fridge for a good week. Continue to use the rest with yoghurt, Bircher muesli, or porridge. It helps with organization if you prepare food in bulk, that way there is always something to nibble that is diet plan friendly. Serve the Crème Brulee with the berries on top or to the side.

Enjoy!

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Food For The Soul With Breakfast With Audrey

For her second contribution with Breakfast With Audrey, AnandaI pulls from some of the ancient texts of yoga. Ananda’s next few contributions will be based around the texts of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

In today’s fast moving world, where the majority of our attention is moved by the latest and greatest quick fixes, trends, events, and devices- the yoga practice continues, and these ancient texts offer relevant advice on how to live a life of fulfilment today.

The Yoga Sutras were written in approximately 200 BC. The author of these texts, Patanjali, is thought to have been a physician, sanskrit scholar and yogi. Each scripture is an aphorism coming from an oral tradition, perfect for memorizing and repeating the teachings, so you can access them anywhere, embedded ‘in the cloud’ within. These phrases and sutras are guidelines and disciplines that welcome the benefits of health and self-awareness that come from the practice of yoga. In the second chapter, he provides the ethical guidelines of practicing yoga- the Yamas. Very roughly translated, this means the practice of restraint. This practice gives us the fundamental skill in leading a fulfilling life.

There are 8 limbs of Yoga, and the first is the Yamas. Yama comes to mean how we interact relate with the external world, this may surprise some, as many of us think of yoga as the physical practice. This highlights that yoga is about the whole experience of our living. I think it is important to say that the teachings of the sutras are in not intended to simply control our behavior.  Instead, they suggest that through the choices we make within our efforts, we are rewarded with the fruits of those actions and behaviors. It is a principle of universal morality.

Beginning with the first limb, Yama, we will talk about Ahimsa. Ahimsa is translated as ‘non-violence’.
Many of you will be familiar with this idea from the teachings of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, and in those examples you can clearly see what a powerful theory this is, when put into practice. The theory and practice are intricately bound.

Ahimsa is a very practical way of bringing our attention to our thoughts, words, and actions. These three levels of being are a manifestation of the world we live in and create, every time we awake and go about our day. When we bring our attention to our thoughts, look to see if any are negative or harmful.  These thoughts lead to how we feel; those feelings predispose us to communicate and receive words in a certain way, which effect how we make sense of our life. In turn, we live out our lives and make decisions according to the way in which we make sense of our relationships.

Read the full post here.

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Using Yoga As A Method Of Self Reflection

Ananda chats with Dr Joe about the power of yoga as a tool for self reflection.

yoga self reflection

Self Reflection Through Yoga.

Usually, one will first come to yoga for the physical benefits of the practice. In itself that is a good enough reason, yet there is also a more enduring purpose. Hatha yoga can become a moving meditation practice by bringing the attention inward and moving awareness through the breath and body.

In this space we can process information with renewed clarity and it becomes the means by which we can find a more grounded sense of being in the world. This has a similar effect to the methods used in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to bring awareness back into the moment.

When I come to yoga, I sometimes wonder why I’m there and the practice of forming these shapes can seem a little weird. At a point during class however, something crystallizes and I feel at home. This is when I have dropped back into my body, breath, and the moment. With this, I can interrupt the stream of thoughts that connect my normal concerns, and begin to feel less constrained and more at peace with myself.

Read more here.

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Food For The Soul With Breakfast With Audrey

Our director Ananda speaks with Breakfast With Audrey about the power of letting go.

food for soul

Letting Go

When I talk about letting go, I am not talking about withdrawing or disengaging from life’s challenges. In fact, I am asking you to face up to life and acknowledge your reality. The reality of ‘self’, or soul, is that of perspective.

In this process of letting go, we must consider what exactly it is we have to let go. Really, the only thing we can let go of is the attachment to ideas: preconceived notions of what life should look like. This notion could be something we were taught growing up or it could be something we take on through culture. In wanting to be accepted and valuing relationships, we accept these preconceived ideas. In many ways, they help us to structure reality and allow us to fit in and feel protected by culture. These concepts of how one should behave are useful for a developing personality up to a point. They stop being helpful however, when we can no longer see beyond them and get stuck in a pattern of being conditioned by them.

Check out the complete post here.

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Monday Motivator: Ananda Trettin

ananda profile

We were honoured to be a part of a new segment for My Health My Happiness entitled ‘Monday Motivators’. With this segment, Kasey hopes to offer you information which can further your personal health journey and help you gain emotional contentment, achieve physical acceptance, reach your maximum fitness potential and welcome feelings of relaxation and positive energy flow.

We love Kasey’s work!

Introducing Ananda Trettin:

I completely adore and resonate with what Ananda Trettin is offering.

After being faced with her own health challenges, Ananda found a path of mental, physical and spiritual healing through regular yoga practise. By personally experiencing the incredible power yoga had to offer, she worked towards and accomplished her goal of owning and running Preshana Yoga, based in Sydney.

Through Preshana Yoga, Ananda aims to connect others to this practice so that they may have the same opportunity to see that they are in fact enough, in themselves. The space houses a nourishing practice and supportive community, free of dogmatic approached and rigid systems.

Q & A time:

Have you always been healthy and happy? Share your journey, which has landed you in the health industry.

Having worked as an international model from the age of sixteen through to twenty-four, I faced some very challenging times. Despite experiencing great success with this career, I lost complete faith in myself and turned to substances. It was not until I felt an urge from deep within myself- calling me back to the yoga mat that I was able to regain a sense of commitment to my growth and development.
Click here to read more…