Poses in our least favorite category...

At a Sunday morning class a few weeks ago,   we had to do a series of three Locust poses.   Locust requires you to lie on your stomach and to lift your legs and chest off of the ground.     It can be intense to hold because it really stresses your lower back muscles.

Locust

Our instructor had us hold the pose for 5 longish breaths each time.   For each pose,  she had us change our arm positions.      When we were done,  my neighbor said to me "I hate this pose".   My feelings are a bit less hateful,  but I cannot say that it is a pleasant pose to hold. 

This got me to thinking about poses that we like more than others and those that we do not like as much as others.     Locust is never a pleasant pose because, for most of us,  we have weak lower backs and the pose focuses on those muscles along with other core muscles.   What I believe , however,  is that many of our "least favorite" poses are the ones that we do not do as well as others and many of our "favorite poses" are the ones that we do well. 

My thougths on this subject is that if you struggle with a pose,  then that pose needs more focus.   The reason we struggle with poses are mostly lack of strength,  lack of flexibility,  or lack of balance.  By working on those poses where we have issues,  we work on those weaknesses that are the basic cause of the dislike.

For myself,  I really had issues with Seated Wide Legged Forward Fold during the early part of my practice.    This pose requires you to sit with your legs wide and fold forward. 

Seated Wide Angle Forward Fold

It was very frustrating to find myself barely being able to fold at all.    I dreaded when an instructor had us do this pose because I felt  I was getting nothing out of it.    It took a ton of effort  (doing a wide fold with my legs on the wall for example) to be able to start being able fold forward.    Now I am able to move forward enough to put my elbows on the ground with a goal of eventually having my whole upper body on the floor  (with about 1% change of success for that) .   It will never be in the favorite pose category,  but at least it is out of the least favorite pose category.

Lately , one of my instructors has had us do a core exercise where we lie on our backs with our legs pointing up and then having us drop one leg down about 30 degrees toward the ground (with the other leg pointing up to the ceiling).  It is most challenging and I just do not like doing it as the pose really stresses my lower back muscles.    Instead of just dreading the pose, however,   I have incorporated it into my general core routine.   It may never move out of the least favorite pose category,  but at least I am trying..

Namaste..

108 Sun Salutations Yesterday

A little more than a year ago,  I wrote about my upcoming first attempt at 108 Sun Salutations with a group of people to celebrate the Winter Solstice.      It was my first time and I was unsure what the experience would be like.   It was actually pretty much a non-event struggle wise and I, along with everyone else in the group,  finished up in about 1.5 hours.

Last Years Post..... Click Here...

Yesterday was my second attempt at the  108.    This year,  the person who lead us (and who counted for us) suggested that we should do a Chaturanga and an Upward sog  (or Cobra) without using our knees.   This basically meant 108 slow  push ups  in addition to the 108 down dogs,  216 forward folds,  216 lunges  (I did 108 low and 108 high ) and 108 prayer positions.    This added an extra level of challenge to the day.     Despite this challenge,  I,  along with everyone else,  finished in 1.5 hours.      I was so focused on the count and the flow  (every 12 we stopped for a rest breath) that I was not even aware of how everyone else was doing.    The hard part was more mental,  as doing something that many times  and knowing how many were left was more of a challenge than actually doing the flows.    The count down of the last ten was quite intereting..

Today, my hamstrings are pretty sore and I skipped a morning class but did a long Yin sequence at home to stretch my hamstrings,  hips and back.    You cannot rest on your laurels.

Thanks to Take Yoga Studios for doing the every year..   Take Yoga

Namaste and Happy Winter..

Lots of work stress lately.

I am in the middle of one of the most difficult and time consuming work projects I have ever been on.   I have basically been working 12 hours days and many weekends since the middle of September.   As a result,  my ability to make 6:15 PM classes is quite limited.   It is at these times I am happy that I have developed a home practice and that I have a dedicated room in my house where I can go away and practice in.    I sure do miss going to class  (especially hot ones) but I am trying hard not to let it interfere too much with my practice. 

Coming home late and hungry makes it an extra effort to heat up my Yoga room and get my mind ready for my practice.   Having a dog who demands attention and likes long walks when I come home make this doubly hard.    Once I am on my mat, however, I can feel the stress leaving my mind and body on my first Mountain Pose.   For that alone making the effort is worth it.    What I have realized is that a full practice may not be possible and that even a partial one is better than none.    What I cannot do is say I am too tired and too hungry to practice.   Yoga is too important to my mind and body not to practice..




Namaste. 

99% Practice....

On Sunday,  I did a bonehead move and left my mat in the studio.  I was not sure if I left it in the parking lot so I drove back and, sure enough,  there it was in the closed studio by the sign-in desk.   It was soon relegated to the corner of shame with the other items left behind by fellow Yogis.

I practiced for  two nights with my original cheap mat that I paid probably $15 dollars for (I spent  about $90 for my Manduka mat) before I could get it back.    During those two two sessions.  I really did not see any real difference in my practice with the exception of the fact the mat moved a bit more than my newer one  (which weights 7 pound vs. the 1 or 2 pound the old mat weighs) and balancing was harder due to my carpet and the lightness of the old mat.  Both practices were fine and enjoyable.

What this tells me is that it is not the equipment but rather the Practice that is important.  As  Sri K. Pattabhi Jois says  "99 percent practice 1 percent theory".  

Namaste and a Happy turkey free Thanksgiving..

Sun Salutation B (Surya Namaskara)

During the beginning of many flow classes and as part of the "warm up" of an Ashtanga practice, two types of  Asana  sequences called Sun Salutation A and Sun Salutation B (Surya Namaskara A & B) are practiced after initial stretching.

Sun Salutation A is a series of nine movements that  I generally practice slowly and deliberately in order to further stretch out my muscles and to prepare my body for the practice that is going to follow.    It is standard to do five sequences and I really like the gentleness and quietness of this flow as I  feel my body beginning to warm up.   As in all flow practices,  it is very important to breath properly and each movement (with the exception of Down Dog which gets five breaths) is done with a single designated inhale or exhale.

Sun Salutation B extends the flow of the first series and incorporates 17 separate movements.    Like Sun Salutation A,  one generally does five sequences.     With Sun Salutation B,   the pace moves more quickly and it takes concentration to acclimate the breath to the movements.   Two single breath (one on each side ) Warrior One poses are done and, additionally, the series also includes three Chaturanga and three Upward Dog Asanas.   The movement  from Down Dog to Warrior One to Chaturanga then Upward dog and then back to Downward Dog are all done with one breath per pose and this is where the beauty of the Sun Salutation B lies.

The core of Surya Namaskara B requires three Chaturanga Asanas (Astau) and two Warrior One  (Ekdasa) Asanas

With the concentration on  the flow (and there are no breaks between each sequence) and the breath,  once can feel like you are floating from pose to pose.   It is a great way to warm up and the sequence develops strength, endurance and flexibility.   The five breaths taken during Downward Dog after both Warrior One poses are really needed to get ready for the next sequence..

When I first started practicing and followed a class where the B series was done in a quick deliberate pace,  I really struggled.   I knew when I did the full five series I was getting a physical workout from the flow and a mental workout by having to concentrate on my breathing.     As I have progressed in my practice,  the challenge to the B series makes it my favorite "Asana"  even though it is 17 separate ones.  I will never be perfect,  I struggle to move in and out of Warrior One with the breath and have a hard time smoothly moving to the pose on my right side with regularity.  I try, and that is what is important.

Five Sun Salutation A and B poses really get the body moving.   If you do Chaturanga properly,  the combined series gives you 20 slow pushups.     When I am done with both series,  I know I am warm and ready for the challenges of the core of my practice. 

Namaste.  

Flexibility Improvements with regular Yoga practice.

Flexibility does not come easy,  but with hard work and persistence, Yoga can slowly but steadily build up the flexibility needed as one ages.    No one is "not flexible enough"  to practice Yoga  (something that  has been said to me more than once)  but rather we need the practice to get the flexibility.   It is a proverbial conundrum.   If think you are not flexible enough to practice Yoga, then you will never increase your flexibility because you do not practice. 

When I first started practicing my flexibility was pretty dismal.    Touching my ankles was a stretch  (no pun intended) but, even more so, my lower back, shoulders, hips etc.  were very tight.  This made me a prime candidate for muscle strains in my upper and lower back especially.      As I advanced in age,  I was even more of a candidate for injury.  The fact that I started practicing Yoga has no doubt made me much more flexible but it took  a lot of hours on the mat to get to the point where I can feel flexibility in my daily life.   It took at least six months of almost daily practice just to get to the point where I could touch my toes  when I was warmed up.    It was not easy and it took dedication.   It was not a once a week going to the Yoga studio practice. 

Over time, I could see improvement in areas where I had issues.  My shoulders are much more flexible  (not something I ever thought about before starting to practice) and I  am more upright and flexible on my upper and lower back.  (touching your toes is pretty much all in your hamstrings) .  I still have a ways to go in every area but I look back even six months ago and see the improvement.

One of my goals in Yoga was to flatten my hands on the floor during a forward fold.   It took over three years of hundreds of hours on the mat and thousands of Sun Salutations, Intense Stretches to the West etc. to get there but if I am warm enough and after a deep practice session,   that goal has been achieved.

Namaste...

Inactivity and Processed Foods.

I recently read a book called " The Story of the Human Body: Evolution Health and Disease" by Daniel E. Lieberman.   There were some very interesting thoughts from the author about how we, as humans, have  evolved to be active, long distance walking hunter/gatherers who have high levels of exercise and whom eat a variety of foods that are low in sweetness.  He theorized  how, because of the nature of our existence,  (where the next meal was coming from was uncertain),  we have evolved to have a higher fat content in our bodies as a way of storing up energy for times when they are needed.  He also said that we are evolutionarily inclined to crave sweet food for the energy content that they contain.  He pointed out that as hunter gatherers,  the primary source of any sugar would come from honey, which is not easily found and difficult and potentially dangerous to gather.  As a result, we  have not evolved to be the consumers of sugars that we are today.  

Our modern society, however,  has imposed challenges on our bodies due to modern food and conveniences that go against the nature of  our human evolution and as a result are causing  unnecessary health issues.   We can live a life with little exercise and can have as much sweet foods as possible (and crave those sweets).   It does not bode well for our health,  and as a result,  we are succumbing to diseases caused both by inactivity and the increased consumption of sugars  such as Diabetes 2.

Basically,  we live in a society where we wake up tired on a warm bed,  take a shower,  eat processed foods for breakfast, go into the garage,  use the automatic garage door opener, drive to work, eat processed foods for lunch,  take the elevator to our desk and sit down for eight or nine hours, have a big lunch in between,  drive home,  automatically open our garage door, eat processed foods and factory processed meats for dinner, then sit in our easy chair to watch TV (and maybe have an ice cream while doing so) and finally retire to our nice warm beds for six or seven hours of not enough sleep to start the process all over again.   If this sounds familiar it once was for me too.    My only exercise was mowing the lawn, shoveling the snow and shopping.

It is relatively easy to start adding some walks,  taking the stairs and other activities that will put some exercise into one's life.  For myself,  the struggle is to look at all the processed foods that I eat such as pasta, bread and cereals and to decide if the consumption of these is detrimental to my long term health.    The biggest thing that I have done  (and can easily be done by anyone) is to reduce the number of foods that we eat that contains sweeteners.  (I think elimination is quite extreme) The number of foods on our shelves that contain sugars in various forms are staggering.   Many of the "healthy" cereals and breads we eat  contain either high fructose corn syrup,  cane sugar,  brown rice sugar, maltose, molasses, honey, agave syrup and maple syrup among others.    I have always been an ingredient reader,  mostly looking at fat and sodium content but I now mostly put down the package if it contains some form of sweetener and I now put down a good amount of packages.

Take a look at what is in your pantry.   Pull 10 items randomly and check the ingredients.     You may  be surprised to find sugars in each of the following.

Vinegar Based Salad Dressings
Bread  (especially Whole Wheat breads)
Soy and Almond Milks
Jarred Spaghetti Sauce
Ketchup
Dried Fruits
Cereals  - Even ones touted as healthy
Many Peanut Butters like Jiff.  Choosy mothers should not choose it..


Taking the time to reduce the unnecessary sugar in your life means a better you.   It also means less guilt for that dark chocolate bar..




Namaste.