Yoga Is About Taking Care of Ourselves

I recently had a conversation with a friend about her attending one of my Yoga classes.   She had a number of reasons not to come.  Most of her reasons centered on the fact that she had too much going on with her children and thus she could not take the time away from their activities to come to class.   I did not argue with her,  but I felt that she would be doing herself a great favor is she took a few hours a week for herself to practice Yoga.  

When you take an hour or so to practice Yoga,  you are taking that time away from everyone and everything else to do something good for yourself.     That hour on the mat is all yours.  The benefits are yours,  the sweat you give is yours,  the pleasure you receive,  and the calmness you get is all yours.     Taking that time for yourself may appear to be selfish but we often worry too much about others at the expense of ourselves.   For our own physical and mental well being,  taking time to exercise is a key element of future good health. 

To quote the Declaration of Independence "We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness".    We are also endowed with just this single life and if we do not take time for us to take care of ourselves, then as we age,  we will age less gracefully than we could be able.    Yoga, if practiced regularly,  gives us the strength, flexibility, and balance that will be beneficial as we advance through our lives.    Yoga  also has the added benefit of being adaptable to the needs of the person practicing.  With a myriad of poses available and so many different styles of Yoga,  it is easy to build a practice that works for anyone.  

In my short time teaching,  I have taught students from age 8 to age 65.   Even those starting at 65 years of age are helping themselves.  It is never too late to begin taking care of oneself and to practice Yoga,  but the earlier you start,  the better the benefits.

Namaste

 

I’m not flexible enough. The physical benefits of a Yoga practice practice.

I’m not flexible enough to do Yoga.   I've heard this more times than I can count.   Yoga makes you more flexible.    But there is much more. 

There are many physical benefits from a regular Yoga practice.    I personally like to categorize them in four ways.   These benefits are strength, flexibility, balance, and endurance.     While many non-practitioners of Yoga may think it is all about flexibility, the other benefits of Yoga are also important.      While there is no doubt that you gain an increased range of motion in your hamstrings, shoulders, lower back, quadriceps, and other muscle groups,   the other three benefit areas also make life more livable and enjoyable.     Yoga is not just about pretzel poses but is rather a form of exercise with numerous benefits.    

The ability of a Yoga practice to increase core (abdominal and lower back muscles) strength, along with the awareness of how to use those muscles in day to day activities,  means that your chances for back injury decreases and your ability to do core based activities increase.      Many Yoga poses are specifically designed to work on core strength.    For many (if not most) people, these poses are the most difficult to endure and require the most effort in a Yoga practice.    Because we generally live a chair based, sedentary life style, our core muscles weaken over time.   Getting them back to a level where they should be takes effort.      Many people have told me that Locust pose may be their least favorite.    This is not because it is a challenging pose to get into, but rather because it works directly on the part of their body where they are weakest.     There is no doubt that working on your core is not easy, but the benefits are worth it.    In addition to your core, Yoga strengthens your legs, shoulders, and other important muscle groups.   This increased strength allows a practitioner to more readily engage in other physical activities such as hiking as well as being physically better able to perform day to day activities that require strength. 

From the perspective of balance, Yoga helps us keep our balance as we age.    Yoga has both arm and leg balances.     These balances require mental focus, strength (core, arms, shoulders, and legs), and of course balance.     As people age, the chances of having injuries from falling increase due to lack of balance and strength.    Poor balance can lead to falls and fractured bones or hips.    Yoga poses where we work on core and leg strength for balancing (along with the mental focus on balance), make balancing as we age a brighter prospect.     Standing in Tree Pose, where my standing leg has to be strong and engaged, my core muscles active, my pelvis neutral, and my focus involved in keeping me standing balance provide numerous benefits.   

When I stand in Warrior II in a hot Yoga practice, holding the pose after moving without stop for 30 or 40 minutes, I often think about what I am feeling in the practice.    My body is hot and tired and I can feel the effort that I am putting forth.    I sometimes have to use my mouth to breath instead of the traditional breathing through my nose.  In a physical moving Yoga class or home practice, we are working our muscles, working our breath, and challenging our bodies.    This practice builds up our physical  endurance.     Even an ambient, slow flow class requires a level of effort and endurance to hold poses for an extended time.   This increase endurance has benefits for other physical activities. 

   

When I first started practicing Yoga, my flexibility was sub-optimal.   My toe touching ended at my ankles, my shoulders were hunched and my back was very tight.   There is no doubt that my flexibility has progressed enormously over my years of practice.    Poses that I never thought possible are now a simple stretch, but there is more to go.    Touching my toes is a common activity.    This increased flexibility reduces my chance for injury from inadvertent movements and such common things as sneezing.     This flexibility improvement would not have happened if I said to myself “I’m not flexible enough to do Yoga” and not started down the path of Yoga.   So if you say to yourself that you are not flexible enough to practice Yoga,  you are doing yourself a disservice.   You practice Yoga to make yourself more flexible.  

Namaste…

How about a December Resolution Instead

On January 2,  the owners of Yoga studios,  fitness studios,   cross fit studio and assorted other sources of outside exercise wring their hands with glee as the masses join their emporiums to fulfill their New Year's exercise  resolution.   It's black Friday for these owners.      What they are banking on is that by February,  80% to 90% of those who signed up in January have already abandoned their fitness goal and they can just bank on the long term contracts that were so eagerly signed in January.

I am a firm believer in incrementalism.   What I mean by this is that small steps taken lead to bigger and bigger steps as time goes on.    A small success today leads to a bigger success tomorrow.    When many of us throw ourselves wholeheartedly into an exercise routine,  go to crowded classes or gyms,  see temptations of life around us, and do not get the big goals we set for ourselves quickly,  we quickly lose impetus and fall back to our old ways.   Would it not be better to make a small resolution now and build upon that? This type of goal is more obtainable than the big "This year I get into shape" goal that we put forth for ourselves.  We get small satisfactions that leads to bigger ones.  

The holidays are almost upon us.   We are now entering the time of food,  drink, more food,  more drink,  dessert, more food, and even more drink.   Would it better  cut back a little on the excess of the season?  Try not to have two desserts or that piece of candy (or two) in the break room at work.  It would be good to a long walk around your park or your neighborhood.    A winter walk is a beauty all of its own and not many take advantage of it.    A few walks may lead to a regular walking routine,  and walking sure is nicer and a lot less money than a gym membership.   You can build a lot from just walking.    The time to start is today, not on January 2.

For those of us whose resolution is to start a Yoga practice,  I suggest just going to one class each week between today and the New Years and then perhaps adding a class or two each month after that.   Yoga is challenging and your body needs time to work into it.  Your muscles will be doing things that they have not done for a long time or maybe have never done.    A six month or one year membership may be too much to start.    Perhaps just buying a 10 pack of classes would be a great start and incentive enough to practice.     Just starting is the key, and making it to class is the goal. 

Ho Ho Ho and Namaste.

Easy 20 Minute Flexibility Focused Yoga Flow

After a long hike or walk,  I usually do not have the energy nor the need to do a full Yoga flow practice.  I often just practice with a simple, easy and effective approximately 20 minute flow series.    All of the  poses are accessible to the average person and I generally hold them for 10 slow breaths or about 1 minute. 

Enjoy and Namaste.

Knee to Chest: Both Sides

Half Pigeon.  Both Sides

Supine Twist.  Both Sides

Side Stretch.  Both Sides

Wide Legged Forward Fold

Wide Legged Shoulder Stretch.

Cows / Cats   10 Times

Calf Stretch. Both Sides

Down Dog.  5 Breaths

Do this with Half Split  and Lunge Twist on One Side then the Other Side.

Do this with Low Lunge and Lunge Twist on One Side then the Other Side.

Do this with Low Lunge and Half Split on One Side then the Other Side.

Do on Both Sides.

You Earned Your Savasana

Yoga Teacher Training Is Over

Yoga class training is now over.   18 weekends of training is completed.  180 hours of learning and practicing.   Many hours of reading, studying, and preparing.

It seems like yesterday, on a somewhat cold February morning,  that I first met with 15 other strangers nervous about what we were getting ourselves into.    Its has been a challenging road,  filled with many stops of learning along the way.    I learned that I love anatomy but, for some reason, that I struggle to remember Latin names for muscles.  I have learned  that we become better Yoga teachers every time we get in front of a class, that our voice and style carries a lot of weight when we are leading a class, and that I have just scratched the surface of what I can learn about myself,  the human body, movement,  exercise,  breathing, and  teaching Yoga.    I am more than glad to have the experience and I am sad that it has ended.   I really enjoyed the company of my classmates. 

I still have a final exam to complete,  along with some other incidentals, but I now have every other weekend back.    I will miss the camaraderie of my fellow students and the great pleasure it is to sit and and learn  (with lots of Yoga breaks) .  I forgot how wonderful it is to learn in a class setting.  This, however,  will not be the end of my Yoga education.

The last four weekends,  our class has gone through several rounds of practicums where we teach each other in 20 minute blocks and are evaluated and receive constructive criticism.    It was stressful  (most of us taught four times) and necessary.   What was taught ranged from a quiet meditative  to a fast flow to holding hard poses for several minutes in a strength focused practice.   Each student brought their own imprint into what they taught.  It was beautiful to see and wonderful to be part of.  

Now comes the hard part.  I have to take what I learned and try to see if I can teach.   I would like to be able to volunteer my time to bring Yoga to those who may not have access to it and I for certain want to share the benefits of a Yoga practice with those in their middle age years and beyond.  I am volunteer teaching one time a week now but I would like to add to that and make it something more permanent.    I could always try to teach in a studio,  but I am not certain I want to go that route.    I do not look at Yoga as a way to earn money,  but rather as a way to help people get healthy.  

So the future holds a good amount of what ifs.   That, however, is the nature of life.   As the teacher who worked with us on meditation asked "Whose life has unfolded to be exactly they planned it to be".     As I have said in earlier posts,  I will practice Yoga until I cannot breath.   The same will go with teaching.

Namaste.

Yoga and my darn knee.

When there is enough light in the evening,   I like to walk a 4.5 mile loop  (7.2 km) loop in a park near my house.   During the summer,  I sometimes walk the loop four or five times a week and it feels great for both the exercise and to enjoy the warmth, breeze and being out in the world.     A few days ago,  I got caught in a sudden cold and windy rainfall and the temperature dropped about ten degrees (from 70 F to 60 F) very quickly.   I was about two miles from my car,  dressed for nice weather,  and pretty wet so I decided to run back to my car instead of walking.   It felt good to run but as a result of this escapade,  I now have a recurrence of my Runner's Knee (pain on the outside of the knee).  Runner's Knee was one of the reasons I started practicing Yoga as I was looking for an alternative form of exercise that had less impact on my body.

I am now nursing knee pain for the past few days (including two days of Yoga instructor training) and somewhat regretting that I ran.    Life, however,  can only be lived forwards.  I  cannot take back those two miles and the joy and pain they brought me. 

This recent knee pain has made me think about how great Yoga is for an aging body.  Because a practice is best built around the needs of the individual, we can adjust our practice to how our body is working and changing.    For myself,   the beginning of my Yoga practice was all about headstands, working to get into challenging arm balances, and going to hot classes and sweating and moving.   As I age,  my practice has become slower,  I am more focused on holding poses for longer,  I devote less time to "Instagram" poses, and I am more mindful about the form of the poses I hold and my breath while holding them.    I have adapted Yoga to my needs.

I was able to work around my knee pain by practicing a Yoga series focused on long restorative holds.   While I did not sweat  nor had any aerobic impact,  the practice worked to release tension in my lower back, hips,  abductors, shoulders and upper back.    It was also quiet and restful and I felt great and peaceful afterwards.    If Yoga was not in my life and my exercise was limited only to running or walking,  then I would have no activity for three or four days and I would have been tempted to run or walk because of inactivity.

As we get older,  our exercise needs to reflect that fact that our body needs more time to heal,  cannot absorb impacts like running as easily as it once did, and needs to become more flexible.    Yoga, because of its myriad of styles and thousands of poses, can be modified to the individual needs of each of us.   While I personally think that Yoga needs to be combined with an aerobic activity like walking or hiking,  it is the keystone for my exercise life.    I will be practicing Yoga until my next rebirth. 

Namaste

Advice for New Yoga Students.

Thinking of Trying Yoga? Here are some tips for you. 

Don't worry if you think you are not flexible enough. Yoga will help you with flexibility.

You get the same benefit out of Yoga as your super bendy friend. Its a personal practice.

Don't compare yourself to the person on the mat next to you. Your Yoga practice is the few square feet of your mat. You are there for the benefits to yourself.

Remember to breathe.

Honor your body.

Be present on the mat.   Leave the past and the future off the mat. 

Basic Yoga poses give you the best benefits. The hard Yoga poses are only useful on Instagram.
Get some basic pose knowledge before you venture into a public Yoga class. Look for beginner classes. There are also multitudes of beginner yoga videos on YouTube.

Pride will get you hurt. Humility will get you healthy. Practice Yoga within your comfortable and safe range of motion. The mentality of pushing it can cause injury.

You can achieve more than you think.  


 Namaste...