All posts by Michael

Metaphysical/Spiritual, Yoga

Healing

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This is an email I sent to my yoga clients and others:
If you are getting this email then you are on my “yoga” list or I, have or am working with you on a related subject.  I came across this video and I would like to share it with you.  The link is pasted toward the end. Allow me to create some context.
Yoga, from the Sanskrit root “Yuj” gives us our word “union.”  Returning to wholeness, therefore, is the essential meaning of Yoga.  The heart of Yoga lives in realizing the path by which we unite our finite self with Infinite Being.  The vision of Yoga is an unbroken (unceasing) awareness of our oneness with Spirit.  This new level of consciousness evolves through yogic practices aimed at developing an ever-increasing awareness of the various levels of our experience : physical, energetic, emotional, spiritual, and so forth.
Keeping us from experiencing ourselves as truth, bliss and consciousness are obstructions, both obvious and subtle.  These obstructions create disharmony within us and is considered the root cause of our dis-eases.    In response to this alienation from Self, the practice of Yoga assists us in holding these unconscious patterns of obstruction and disturbance up to the light of our awareness.  This is the healing journey; the path to wholeness.
Swami Kripalu described it this way………
“The purpose of Yoga is the attainment of happiness, peace and bliss.  The meaning of
Yoga is the union of individual consciousness with Shiva consciousness; with
God (Source, Creator).  Yoga is the meeting of the drop and the ocean.
The ultimate result of all Yoga is purity of mind and body.”
Ok, with that said, most of you know that I acquired Type 1 Diabetes at age 14.  This dis-ease has been my “cross to bear.”  My deepest desire is to heal it.  It is a very challenging and uncomfortable obstruction to deal with albeit all the medical advancements.  Prior to the invention of injectable insulin in 1922 a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes ended quickly (not quickly enough).  Without insulin the body is not capable of metabolizing food.  Without insulin the body starves and is drained of all water.  My awareness that this life was a path of healing hit my square between the eyes in November of 1976.
I teach Yoga in the context of understanding that we are inquiring into how to become whole; how to heal.  This attitude is the foundation of my passion.  Yoga is but one map that I have studied and engaged in.  Some of the other maps are Vipassana Meditation, Kabbalah, Mystical Christianity, Spiral Dynamics, Integral Theory, Cranio – Sacral Therapy, Light Therapy, Bio-feedback, Acupuncture, Chakra balancing and others similar.  I love having Yoga as the backbone because it is such a dynamic map.
This video is one of the most comprehensive processes I have experienced.  It is 24 minutes. When you have a 1/2 hour find a comfortable place to be. lower the lights, maybe light a candle, wear comfortable clothes. make a cup of tea, put your headphones on, click play and enlarge the screen so you are in full screen mode.  One of my facebook friends posted this and then I checked it out.  The internet and advancements in technology are both mirroring and making possible the evolution in human consciousness that all of us can tap into now.
I teach the yoga classes not so much to teach yoga but rather to find and walk the path of healing.  I think we are about ready to quicken the pace.  As one of my personal mentors often said…..”Let’s gitty up.  Feel free to forward this email to any friends or family that are in need of healing energy.
Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7iLX14ua6k
Michael Mahanger
Coach, Trainer, Meditation Guide & Certified Yoga Teacher
www.choicetimes.com
Diabetes, Yoga

Type 1 Diabetes. “Now that’s a yoga pose.”

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I have been living with Type 1 diabetes since 1976.  I was 14 when diagnosed.

I will spare you the whole story for now.

About five years ago I completed my initial yoga teacher training at Kripalu Yoga Center in the Berkshire Mountains.  After a very profound session with one of the senior yoga teachers, I had the opportunity to speak with her.   I told her I had Type 1 diabetes since I was a kid.  Her verbal response was….”Now that’s a yoga pose.”  Her emotional response was dripping with compassion.  I was immersed in one of the most profound training experiences of my life and being introduced to the deeper aspects of yoga.  I had been practicing yoga for six years prior to going to Kripalu for the month long teacher training course.  My yoga practice had transformed my body and mind.  I saw yoga as a metaphor for what I am tasked to do as a Type 1 Diabetic.  Both yoga and living with diabetes involves issues of restriction, alignment, balance, attention, focus, letting be and manifestation of life force energy (prana).  I did not want so much to be a yoga teacher, instead, I was seeking to deepen my understanding and practice.

Now that’s a yoga pose.

 

Diabetes

Port/Infusion Set Malfunction

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I had an interesting day yesterday.  I had a 10am meeting.  It was a 90 minute drive to get to the meeting.  I changed my infusion set at 7am.  It went in kind of weak.  I assessed it and thought it was ok.  My blood sugar was 114 when I changed the infusion set.  Took a shower and began my drive to the meeting at 8:15am.  On the way I stopped at a rest area and checked my blood sugar.  It was 185.  I found this to be a curious number because I had not eaten anything.  I did have a cup of coffee but I had covered it.  I attributed it to the stress of the drive and gave myself a correction bolus of 2 units.  After my meeting I checked again – it was 185.  Now, I was becoming suspicious of my site.  I checked and and smelled for insulin.  It looked OK.  Took another 2 units.  Had lunch and on my drive back home I felt I needed to check again.  475!  NO!  This is not a reading I get.  I was driving so I gave myself some more insulin and planned on stopping to get gas in 45 minutes so I would check again.  When I stopped it was 500.  That’s it.  I decided I needed to change my site.  I also decided to take an injection of insulin to insure I was getting some in there.  I took 6 units by injection.  Put another port in and took another 5 units.  I got back home in about an hour and I had come down to 185.  Drank a lot of water to cleanse my body from the highs.  Now, I had another concern.  I had 6 units On Board from the pump and the injection I had taken was another 3 units at least.   I began checking every 15 minutes.  Next reading was 122.  Then 96.  I decided to take off the pump and drink 6 oz of juice.  61.  Ok I was feeling low.  I was crashing.  More juice and a pretzel.  63.  65.  Now I had balanced it out but I needed to get higher.  I was getting hungry so I ate some.  I knew I was going to go high but I wanted to get out of the tailspin.  I was feeling better.  185.  Ok.  I was back.  Now I bolused 2 units to get level again.

What are the lessons:

1.  If you feel an infusion set does not go in correctly then maybe it is best to put a new one in right away.  Putting in infusion sets is a ritual for me most of the time.  I take great care in putting them in and caring for the site when I take them out.  Perhaps I was in too much of a hurry in the morning to take the care I usually do.

2.  If you are going on a trip make sure you have insulin, syringes and extra infusion sets.  You never know what will happen.  Because I have made this a practice I was able to do something about it.

3.  Going high is a problem.  We need to be “on it” when it happens.  When I took out the old infusion set I bled a lot.  It got all over the place.  That was confirmation that it was a site issue.  But going low is the real problem in this lesson.  I obviously over corrected.  I knew enough to check every 15 minutes while I was “crashing.”

4.  Drink Water!

Yoga

Attention All Yoga Teachers

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Yoga is exploding in our country.  Yoga studios are popping up everywhere.  I have been “practicing” yoga for 15 years now.  It is a powerful “map” of the human experience.   I have attained a 200 hour certification to teach yoga and have completed an additional 150 hours towards my 500 hour certification.  In addition to that, I have attended a 10 day Vipassana Meditation Training.  In my opinion, this was the most profound of all the trainings I have attended.  Google Vipassana and check it out.  It is 10 days of no talking, no outside contact, just sitting in meditation with some profound instruction and guidance.  It is the Buddha’s minimum training requirement for enlightenment.  I consider meditation to be the seed level of yoga.  If you begin to inquire into yoga you will understand what I mean.  If you are a yoga teacher or practitioner you probably know what I mean.

My biggest life challenge has been living with Type 1 diabetes.  I was diagnosed at age 14 in 1976.  Type 1 diabetes is a tough one.  I know there are tougher challenges out there but this one is a 24/7 kind of thing with short and long term effects happening all the time.  It was when I began to practice yoga that I stepped on a path of healing, transformation and liberation that, I now, wish to share with others dealing with diabetes.  Yoga is, what I call, a map of the territory.  Understanding and following the map will help deliver you from the unreal to the real.  It will provide you with a starting point.  It will give you direction.  It can serve as a companion on your journey.  It can show where you want to go.

I offer yoga instruction in the form of a series of classes or a workshop for people who have diabetes, family and friends who support those with the condition and health care professionals who desire a deeper dive into what diabetes is and how to approach it with their clients.  In the U.S. there are 26 million people who have diabetes.  There are another 79 million people who are undiagnosed or who have what is called pre-diabetes.  They will get it eventually.

The workshop is a three step process:

Step 1:  Alignment

Step 2:  Discovering Your Edge

Step 3:  Exploring Beyond Your Edge

Contact me at 954-254-8871 to discuss doing something in your area.

Diabetes, Metaphysical/Spiritual, Yoga

Less is More

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This is a concept in yoga.   Yoga is not about stretching or struggling past your edge. Proper yoga means, first, proper alignment.  Then, finding your edge with the attitude of inquiry and compassion. A perfect example of this in dealing with diabetes is the amount of food we eat in any given sitting. I have found that less food means more control. I try to restrict my food intake to less than 40 grams of carbohydrates in one sitting. When I do this I achieve more control of my blood sugars. When I go beyond 40 grams, control becomes more uncertain.