Larissa Haramis - Personalised Yoga & Meditation

25/11/2021

25/11/2021

07/08/2019

PERMISSION TO REST

Rest... sweet, soft and dreamy, replenishing rest.

Why do we so often resist what our bodies and mind's yearn for?

Are there messages you grew up with, that keep you running on the hamster wheel of busyness and simply 'managing your life'?

I was handed down the message that I can only rest, once everything is done.

Now, you can see the flaw in this. When is 'everything' ever 'done'?

It's been a work in progess to come to a place where I can now discern my body and mind's call to slow down, to release the relentless demands of the outer world, and the incessant doing.

More importantly, I now know that I am in fact worthy of heeding my inner call to stop, and give myself over to rest.

I have found the quickest, and easiest way to cleanse and clear the debris of my internal landscape, and dissolve into the bliss of my own Being, is through a guided Yoga Nidra practice.

Yoga Nidra is a form of meditation that's done lying down. It's brilliant in that it utilises the stages of sleep, to go beyond 'deep sleep' into a highly regenerative state, that is not only profoundly healing, but can transform long-held harmful and tenacious habits. All this, while simply resting. That's my kind of meditation!

If you are exhausted, overwhelmed, or just want to learn how to PRIORITISE YOU, I will be offering a series of opportunites to come alive again with Yoga Nidra in the coming months. Watch this space.


For now, you may find solace in the words of Yogini and Poet Dana Faulds.

"Settle in the here and now. Reach down into the center, where the world is not spinning and drink this holy peace.

Feel relief flood into every cell. Nothing to do. Nothing to be but what you are already. Nothing to receive but what flows effortlessly from the mystery into form.

Nothing to run from or toward. Just this breath. Awareness knowing itself as embodiment. Just this breath. Awareness waking up to truth".

24/01/2017

NOURISHING IREST MEDITATION:

What is Integrative Restoration – iRest ?

iRest is a transformative practice derived from the ancient teachings of ta***ic yoga that leads to psychological, physical, and spiritual health and well-being. iRest is integrative, in that it heals the various unresolved issues, traumas, and wounds that are present in the body and mind. It is restorative in that it aids its practitioners in recognizing their underlying peace of mind that is always present amidst all changing circumstances of life. iRest® Yoga Nidra Meditation is a research-based meditation, relaxation and healing protocol. The practice of iRest enables you to deeply calm your nervous system, integrate difficult emotions and thoughts, and offers you a portal for awakening to your essential nature, timeless Being. iRest meditation is both an excellent personal practice, as well as an adjunctive practice for healthcare and healing professionals.

I will be offering iRest as part of a monthly mini-retreat from March.

20/12/2016

GREETING THE SUN:
For thousands of years, yogis have ritualised their relationship with the sun; taking it's light, warmth, and clarity into their lives.

Create an intention, as to what quality of the sun you'd most like to have radiating within and around you.
Or perhaps you simply want to be grateful for another day.

As you open your arms up to the morning sun, imagine gathering that quality into your arms, then guide your hands to a central place on your body (between your eyebrows, your sternum, or your belly) drawing it deep within.
Try repeating this movement rhythmically several times with your breath; inhaling as you sweep your arms towards the sun, and exhaling as you bring your hands back to your body, to focus and deepen your attention, and increase the energetic effect.

You may like to end your ritual by opening your hands out, visualising the sun's rays spreading out to all beings. Remembering that the sun shines it's light upon us all.

May all beings receive the many blessings of this light.

19/10/2016

DEEPENING YOUR ROOTS TO BLOSSOM

With all the wild winds we've had in Melbourne recently, there have been so many enormously tall trees that have fallen, with their far too short roots exposed and upended.
It keeps making me reflect on how personally, as I (like many people I know) take on more within my work, relationships, stretching my capacities, I feel the need to dig deeper down with my roots (that which nourishes my body, mind and soul).
I'm having to prioritise yoga, meditation, walks in the bush, dance, time with friends, and rest, in order to live into the potential I am unfolding into.
I am curious if any of you have feel this same need, as I know how many of you are contributing in so many ways in your families, work, etc. I'd love to know what you do to grow your roots deeper, to stay grounded, to be soulfully fed, in order to reach out and blossom.

As promised in class this week, the poem from Danna Faulds.

JUST FOR NOW
Just for Now, without
asking how, let yourself
sink into stillness. Just
for now, lay down the
weight you so patiently
bear upon your shoulders.
Feel the earth receive
you, and the infinite
expanse of the sky grow even
wider as your awareness
reaches up to meet it.

Just for now, allow a wave
of breath to enliven your
experience. Breathe out
whatever blocks you from
the truth. Just for now, be
boundless, free, awakened
energy tingling in your
hands and feet. Drink in
the possibility of being
who and what you really are -
so fully alive that when you
open your eyes the world
looks different, newly born
and vibrant, just for now.

-- Danna Faulds

15/09/2016

FINDING PERSPECTIVE

Last weekend I attended an arts therapy workshop, and one of the themes that arose within the group was about gaining perspective.

I had created an installation that had a lot going on within it, and as I became enmeshed in describing it to a fellow participant I could feel my emotions stirring, my mind caught in the mire of my creation (which was just a representation of a particular experience that I was reflecting upon). My partner asked me what would happen if I looked at the creation from above?

In yoga we have a similar process. It's called de-fusing, and is a moment of stepping back from a thought/belief, emotion, sensation, to know ourselves as more than that. When we can step back, and gain perspective, there is more space for new insights to arise, for a fresh, creative response.

16/08/2016

WHAT DOES YOUR BODY/MIND NEED TO THRIVE?

As women, we can find ourselves caught up in taking care of everyone else, sometimes being outside of our own experience and cut off from the needs and desires of our bodies and minds.

If you slow down...way down, and tune in, ask within what it is you need not only to survive, but to thrive.

How do you long to be nourished in the areas of rest and sleep, movement and exercise, stillness and silence, connection and intimacy, what food would really enliven you, etc...?

As you hear the inner call, the voice that urges you to pay attention, perhaps you can find a way to let it call you forward into action, not from guilt, but to build love and trust with yourself, and to receive the kind of care that only you can give to yourself.

(photo of me being nourished from time spent with my precious mom)

09/08/2016

BREAKDOWN TO BREAKTHROUGH

Over twenty years ago I went through a crisis that broke me open in a way that I couldn't find my way out of, or fix using the means I had been taught (mostly reason and analytical thinking).

This excruciating experience pushed me to seek other ways to make sense of what I was going through, and how I might emerge perhaps wiser or stronger, so that in the future I could weather life's inevitable uncertainty and difficulties with more grace.

A Zen Monastery in Korea became the first cocoon that would create the conditions where I could fall apart and find myself anew.
All these years later, I am eternally grateful for all the transformational spaces I have been held in, and now have the honour of holding for others.

Life was never meant to be perfect, easy, or stable all the time, and if held with a growth mindset, our breakdowns can be the doorways to our greatest breakthroughs.

26/07/2016

RECLAIMING YOUR BODY FROM THE INSIDE OUT.

Societal messages bombard us from all directions, not so subtly reminding us that our bodies need to look a certain way for us to be loved and accepted by ourselves or others.

I've become passionate about an inner revolution, where our yoga practice isn't yet another way of trying to perfect our bodies. Instead it's an opportunity for us to journey within, inviting us into an intimate conversation with our own wants and needs. Here is where we can learn to listen to the wisdom of our bodies, where we learn what our needs are for eating, sleeping, exercise, play, and rest.

The inner messages are always there, we just need to turn in, listen with curiosity and kindness, follow the call, and the loving relationship comes all by itself.

19/07/2016

YOGA HOLIDAY.

One of my yoga teachers used to question why so many of us spend all year pushing ourselves relentlessly in our work and daily tasks, so that we can take a vacation for a week or two to slow down, rest, unwind, and replenish ourselves. He wondered, why don't people make some time every day to take a yoga holiday?

Whether it be a luscious full hour of moving sensuously, breathing slowly, and letting our thoughts fall away, or simply taking mindful moments of pausing to really become absorbed by the setting sun, or to savour the warmth of a loved one's embrace; these moments of intimacy with ourselves and with life are what most of us are really searching for.

How might you live your holiday right now?

10/05/2016

HOW DO YOU ATTEND TO YOURSELF?

Poet and Sufi Mystic Rumi implores us to
"Listen. Make a way for yourSELF inside yourself."

This busy world will pull us this way and that.
How do you find your way back to your deeper self?

If it's been a while since you've drunk from your own wellspring, Yoga may be the doorway in, or some creative expression, or perhaps even in the midst of a conversation where attending, listening and presence are the container.

Make your visits frequent, weaving moments of being in amongst your doing.

08/03/2016

DE-COMPRESS AND FEEL THE VAST SPACIOUSNESS THAT YOU ARE.

Do you ever feel that there are too many to-do's filling up your mind, and want to find that 'holiday you'?

Take some moments to try feeling the sensations on each side of your body, then gradually imagine the spaciousness around your body. Imagine that your sensations can expand out into that space.
Bliss!

01/03/2016

ARE YOU JUST THE WAVES OF YOUR THOUGHTS AND YOUR BODY?

"Consider all the pain and all the pleasure you have ever experienced, as waves on a very deep ocean which you are.
From the depths, witness those waves, rolling along so bravely, always changing, beautiful in their self-sustaining power.

Marvel that once, you identified with only the surface of this ocean. Now embrace the waves, depths, undersea mountains, out to the farthest shore." ~From the Radiance Sutras

23/02/2016

HOW WOULD IT FEEL TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE ENOUGH?

Within many of us there's a feeling that we need to keep pushing on to become more or different, for ourselves, our families, or the world we'd like to live in.

What if, deep within you could experience your 'enough-ness' as you already are, right now?

The practice of iRest Yoga Nidra/meditation, gives us a map to find our way back to our essential nature of BEING.

When you are 'just being', ask yourself "do I feel spacious, beyond the confines and stresses of time, perfect, connected, and whole as I am?"

Let yourself become more skilled at discovering this aspect of who you are and have always been, it will offer you a reliable centre to find sanctuary within.