Focus on the Core

Yoga is a balance of strength and flexibility.  We need to be strong but not rigid.  Being strong gives us a firm foundation and clear boundaries.  Being rigid keeps us stuck, frozen in one place, unable to change and grow.  In being flexible, we need to be resilient, able to go with the flow, but not so flexible that we can be pushed over.  This is as true in our yoga postures as it is in life.We will begin this year developing our strength by working our core.  Our core connects our upper body and lower body together.  This is so important in keeping our spine healthy and strong especially as we reach and stretch our extremities in different directions.

A strong core is helpful when you are reaching in the back seat of your car to pick something up, or if you are practicing arm balances in your yoga class.

Psychologically our core represents our sense of self esteem and integrity.  This is the home of the third chakra.  Tapping into our core means tapping into our internal guidance system.  Can you remain true to yourself as you weigh outside influences?

There are specific exercises that work on the core such as Boat Pose, Plank or Intense Stomach Churning Posture.  But, every pose that we do has some aspect of core engagement.  Your abdominal muscles should be engaged to integrate the actions of the upper body and lower body in poses like Warrior II, Tree or Half Moon.

In any yoga pose there are any number of points you could focus on: the feet, your gaze or drishti, the breath or even the sensations in your skin.  But this month we will focus on the core.  Be prepared to get stronger, but also be prepared to be challenged!

Tips for Yoga Teachers

The Art & Craft of Teaching - The Basics

Finding a yoga studio to practice in while on vacation is hit or miss, unless you have a recommendation from a friend.  Every year when I visit my brother in Florida, I always look for a new studio/teacher.  So far, I haven’t found one that I like.  I know that I am a bit of a yoga snob, but there are certain things that can ruin the experience for me.  Because I train people to become yoga teachers, these are skills that I think are essential for every new teacher to know.  These are some of the basic elements I instruct my students in when I teach The Art & Craft of Teaching.

Intelligent sequencing:  You should have a class plan and know when to follow it and when to change course.  If your plan was to teach arm balances, but you have a room full of new students, it may be necessary to alter your plan.  Make sure you properly warm your students up to do poses.  This should go without saying. Doing advanced poses requires time and awakening of the various body parts to ensure safety and success.  You should have an idea of benchmark or gateway poses for any of your peak poses.  If students cannot do the gateway posture, then they certainly won’t be able to do the peak pose.

Enthusiasm: Even if you are a newer teacher, your enthusiasm will help your students get into the sequence you have chosen.  As an advanced practitioner, I can work hard even on basic poses if the instructions are good.  Encourage your students to be interested in the foundation and general form of the poses.

Self-study:  Take pictures of yourself in poses or practice in front of a mirror.  Sometimes the things we think we are doing, we are not.   Develop and maintain a home practice.  Teach from what you know and experience to be true.  Don’t just parrot back the last class you took.  Own the material you are teaching.  Digging into a single pose on your mat could fuel a month’s worth of classes.

Mirroring:  Unless you are showing something that is happening behind your back, don’t turn your back on your class.  If you are doing the poses, face them.  Mirroring is a skill that every yoga teacher should have.  It isn’t hard to do, but it does take concentration and practice.

Teach the class, don’t lead it:  Sure there are times when you can lead a practice, but most of the time, you should be teaching and learning about your students.  Notice when you give an instruction, were they able to follow it?  If not, why?  You might not be able to do anything about it in that moment, but it can help you learn more about how to teach poses.  You can certainly learn much more than if you are simply on your mat doing your own practice.

Put in the time:  To become a really good yoga teacher you need to put in the time.  Author Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert.  But meanwhile, there are skills to practice that make the difference between being a mediocre yoga teacher and becoming a really good one.  Strive for excellence!If these concepts intrigue you and you want to perfect your yoga teaching skills and up your game, e-mail me for more information.  I am offering a mentorship program for a small number of yoga teachers in 2018.

Contentment - As a Practice

I have been reading the following passage in class during the last couple of days.  It's a great reminder to practice the second niyama of santosha or contentment.

From  the book How Yoga Works
The second commitment is to be contented with whatever you have. Y.S. II.32

"It is a commitment to be content with what we have, although never with what we could become. Because no one has all the circumstances they need to practice yoga and all its ideas. Things are never perfect. It is always too hot or too cold. The body is always hurting somewhere; the mind is always tired or sad. And there is always someone nearby who disturbs us. Time itself is always short and we must always make do with what we have. None of the great ones who followed this path before us, none of them over the centuries, possessed perfect circumstances either. And so they just worked hard with what they had available to them and they achieved their ultimate goals. Thus one who follows this way commits to be contented; contented with the food, contented with the place, contented with the weather, contented with the current condition of the body and mind, contented with the company. And they do not sacrifice a single moment of their short, precious lives to the poison of complaining, out loud or in their thoughts, about anything."

Restorative Poses – Cobbler’s Pose

Supta Baddha Konasana

Supported Cobbler’s Pose is one of the most important restorative poses. Physically it opens the chest, abdomen and pelvis. These areas are often restricted by how we sit and stand, the shape of our chairs, the fit of our clothes and how much time we spend looking down into our hand-held electronic devices. Psychologically, this pose allows for deep opening with safety and support. In the Yoga Sutras Patanjali writes about hiranyagarbha, the great golden womb of the universe. Patanjali teaches that the entire universe is held within this golden womb.  As you practice Supported Cobbler’s Pose allow yourself to enter into this primordial space of complete rest and ultimate protection.

There are many versions of Reclined Cobbler’s Pose. In the picture, I am demonstrating the simplest. I have used a long rolled blanket folded in a “U” shape around my feet and hips to help draw my legs towards my torso and cradle them there. In this version, I am lying flat on the floor. This is nice to do lying on a carpeted floor with a blanket over you to keep warm. Use an eye-pillow if you have one. Put on some soothing music, if you like and set a timer for anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. I have been playing a choir singing the mantra So-Hum. You can find it here on youtube.

Restorative Poses

For the month of December we will focus on restorative poses.

That doesn’t mean that we will turn our vinyasa classes into restorative classes. It just means that we will include a restorative posture during every class.

Some students have a hard time with restorative postures. They might not see their value. After all, you are not really “doing” anything in a restorative pose. But, restorative poses are deceptively effective if you give them a chance.

Take Reclining Hero Pose, for example:

Some students can lie down in this pose fairly easily, but can’t hold it for 2 minutes. That is an example of what I would call deceptive flexibility.  This is when you can force your body into a position but you cannot maintain it because it is not comfortable. You are not really that flexible. That is an example of “doing the pose”. If you can cultivate a sense that you could be in a posture forever, then the pose can do you. Your body can reap the benefits of the pose and you can reset your resting muscle length.

If you are willing to experiment with props and support your body in a pose, you can cultivate a sense of serenity and equipoise in a pose and you might feel that you could stay forever, or at least 2 to 3 minutes with ease. In modern exercise physiology we have learned that you need to hold a stretch for between 30 and 120 seconds in order to change the resting length of your muscles.

Restorative postures are the perfect balance to busyness; the perfect antidote for this holiday season. Give them a try this month.

So Hum – The Mantra of the Breath

The ancient yogis thought the breath was the most important thing that you had.  Obviously, without the breath you would cease to exist.  As modern people we often feel that life is fast paced and because we are so rushed, we often forget things.  But perhaps the seers of old often felt the same way.  They taught that the breath was the one thing you always had with you.  You don’t need any other things, just find a spot to sit and feel your breath.

We often take the breath for granted, but I encourage you to pause for a moment and think about it.  Breath is a most intricate dance of give and take.  When we are born Shakti, that great feminine principle of the energy of action, is said to exhale into us.  As we exhale our last breath she is there to breathe us in.

Breathing is our primary method of exchange with the universe.  When we inhale, it is an act of receiving.  How do we receive things: money, food, goods, compliments, criticisms?  Do we receive consciously and with gratitude?  Or, are we takers, gulping things down greedily?  Is our breath restricted?  Do we barely breathe, afraid of taking in new things?   Are we afraid of change?  When we exhale, it is indicative of how we give.  Do we do so generously?  Do we give out more compliments or more criticisms?  Do we give with strings attached, restricting the breath by gripping?

The ancient yogis knew about the benefits of slow, deep breathing; they passed down practices of pranayama, or breathing exercises, to us.  Most of these practices were aimed at making our breath longer, slower, deeper and more refined.  These wise practitioners cautioned us that we were born with a specific number of breaths and that when we used them up, we would die.

The ancient yogis knew what they were talking about because modern science tells us that our breath is intricately tied in with our health.  When we are stressed, we breathe shallowly and rapidly, barely ever taking in a full tankful of air. This means that the blood is never fully oxygenated and carbon dioxide is never fully released;  nutrients aren’t being delivered properly and wastes are not being removed fully.  This makes the blood more acidic.  We have all heard that if our systems are too acidic, it is not beneficial.  Increasing the acidity of the blood is one of the ways that stress is injurious to our bodies.  While we cannot control the stressors in our environment, we can do things to lessen the effects of stress on our bodies like pausing to take a few minutes to breathe fully and deeply. By fully oxygenating the blood it is restored to its normal ph level.

Since it only takes the blood about 1 minute to make a round trip to the heart, you can quickly make a difference in the effect stress has on your body.  While it would be ideal to keep up breathing slowly in a full and deep way, you won’t be able to maintain it.  But, the benefits of pausing occasionally during your day and slowing down the breath has enough benefit to make it a practice that is worthwhile.

Our bodies are regulated and controlled by our nervous system which can be further divided into what falls under our voluntary or involuntary control.  As an example, our muscles are under our voluntary control and our digestion happens involuntarily.  Most systems in the body are regulated by one or the other, but the breath falls under both.  Most of the time we breathe unconsciously.  But we can also control our breath voluntarily.

I’m sure you’ve had the experience where someone has told you to calm down and take a deep breath when you have been very excited or agitated.  When we get stressed, we breathe rapidly and shallowly.  Our involuntary nervous system kicks in taking us into ’fight or flight’ mode and shutting down things like digestion.  But we can take some slow deep breaths to calm ourselves.    This brings us out of ‘fight or flight’ and into ‘rest and digest’

The practice of the mantra So-Hum can help with this.  It is a beautiful practice that ties breath with mantra to help bring you into a quiet and calm state.

Find a comfortable seat.  This can be on the floor in a cross-legged position, or it can be done in a chair.    Close your eyes and get in tune with your breath.

As you feel the breath coming in through the nostrils, feel that it makes a subtle “So” sound, and on the exhale feel that it makes a “Hum” sound.

Sit with the breath for a few moments and feel “So” as you inhale and “Hum” as you exhale.  Allow the rhythm of the breath to establish itself.  Be consistent with the “So- Hum” sound.  Let it lull you into a meditative state.

As you feel the breath come in, begin to repeat “I am” with the inhalation and “That” with the exhalation.  With each breath feel each one of your identities that arise with the thought, “I am”.  I am a mother, a teacher, a woman, a friend, a worrier (yes, those things, too!).  You may be surprised at how many things you can identify with.  But, realize that you are more than just “that”.  Stay with this mantra and the meditation of “I am that” for anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes. Set a timer if you wish.     Allow yourself to run out of identities and come to the realization that you are all of those things and more.  You could be any of those things, or none.  You could be anything you want to be.  Stay with this contemplation until you come to a state of unified consciousness.  Your breathing has become slow and deep and just for a few moments, you have entered into a state of deep meditation.  Your mind is quiet.  Your breath is slow and deep and full.  Your body and your brain will thank you for this.

All Dharma Teachings agree on one point – lessening one’s self-absorption.

It is the perfect time of year to be reading The Book of Joy about the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, written by Douglas Abrams.
The topic sentence that heads this blog post comes from The Book of Joy, where the Buddhist method of Lojong teachings is mentioned. (Lojong is a mind training practice based on a set of aphorisms that are designed as an antidote to undesired mental habits that cause suffering.)

The text clarifies that when we focus only on ourselves, we are destined to be unhappy: “Contemplate that, as long as you are too focused on your self-importance and too caught up in how you are good or bad, you will experience suffering. Obsessing about getting what you want and avoiding what you don’t want does not result in happiness. Included in this text is the admonition: “Always maintain a joyful mind.”
This ties in with the yogic teaching on the five kleshas being the main obstacles on our path to Samadhi, which translates as meditative absorption, freedom and joy.

The five kleshas are:
Avidya, or seeing things incorrectly. (Looking for happiness in all the wrong places)
Asmita, or ego. (Focusing too much on ourselves)
Raga, or attachment (Focusing on getting what we want)
Dvesha, or aversion (Trying to avoid what we don’t want)
Abhinivesha, or fear, specifically fear of death (Fear of change of any sort, but specifically the ultimate change of dying.)

So, what is a joyful mind?

Buddhists believe that joy is our natural state, but the ability to experience joy can be cultivated as a skill. So much depends on where we put our attention: on our own suffering or that of others, on our own perceived separation or on our indivisible connection.

Everybody wants to be happy, but the challenge is that a lot of people don’t know how. I was surprised to read in this book a statistic about a psychological study done in 1978 that found that lottery winners were not significantly happier than those who had been paralyzed in an accident! The study was perhaps the first that put forth the idea that we all have a default state of happiness; that after the initial reaction wears off, we return to a “set point”.

Further psychological studies suggest that certain immutable factors such as our genes and our temperament make up this idea of a set point which constitutes about 50% of our happiness. The other half is determined by a combination of our circumstances, over which we may have limited control, and our attitudes and our actions, over which we have a great deal of control.

Three practices that have the greatest influence on increasing our happiness are:
Our ability to reframe our situation more positively. (Learn to see the lesson or blessing in every situation.)
Our ability to experience gratitude. (Cultivate a gratitude practice.)
Our choice to be kind and generous. (Always be mindful of the needs of others.)
These three practices create the attitudes and actions help us cultivate a more joyful life.

There is a wonderful Buddhist parable about suffering and the end of suffering. This story is known as the Parable of the Mustard Seed.
A young mother’s only son dies. She is heartbroken and stricken with grief. She carries his body from neighbor to neighbor asking each one if they have any medicine or can do anything to revive him, but no one can. One neighbor suggests that she take her son to Buddha and ask him to bring her son back to life. The Buddha agrees to revive her son, but he tells the woman that she needs to gather mustard seeds from households that have never been touched by death. From these special mustard seeds he will create a medicine that will revive her son. All of her neighbors are willing to give her mustard seeds, but they all told her that none of them have been untouched by death.

Through this process the woman becomes enlightened. She is able to step out of her own grief and experience the grief of others. She becomes less focused on herself and finds friends and community.

As you gather around the Thanksgiving table this year, be grateful for the many blessings in your life, for the food you have to eat, for all of those who contributed to that food being on your table, for your family and friends and finally, may you not be too self-absorbed, may you always be mindful of the needs of others.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” - Melody Beattie

Moving and Flowing

In last week’s post I commented on the difference between holding poses for a long time and moving and flowing from one pose to the next.  Both are challenging in different ways.  As I observe students move through these flowing sequences this month, I can see where they can hold the poses together and where they can’t and the poses fall apart.   Moving and flowing requires more than strength and coordination, you also need a clear path and a plan to get there.  The path and the plan come from knowledge and repetition; of both the poses and of the sequences.

A clear path comes from knowing the poses: Where are your feet?  Your hands? Which way is the torso facing?  Are the legs bent or straight?  And from knowing what is important in each pose.  Students often mistake what is important in a pose.  In Side Angle students often think it is more important that the hand is on the floor.  The hand should only be placed on the floor if the alignment of the rest of the body can be optimized and maintained.

Let’s take a look at Side Angle Pose, for an example:

In this pose, my front foot is pointing straight ahead and is perpendicular to the arch of my back foot, with my back foot turned in slightly.
My front knee is over its ankle and my back foot is far enough away so that my front thigh is parallel to the floor.  If I could not bend my front thigh to 90 degrees then I would have to move my back foot closer.  But then, my front hand would have to be on a block.    My right forearm is practically hidden from view by my right shin.  They should be lined up, with my right knee pressing against my right arm.

My body is a straight line from the outer edge of my left foot up through my left finger tips.  My left arm is very close to my face, in a straight line. (I call this “handstand arm”.  The arm is in the same position it would be if you were in a handstand.)  My neck is in a straight line with my body and just my gaze is turned up.

My torso is facing the camera, not the floor.  If you have your hand on the floor and your torso is facing downwards, then your hand is too low and you need to raise it on a block. It is more important that the body is turned sideways than it is that the hand is on the floor.

Make the transition in as few moves as possible

Do you remember that show, “Name That Tune”?  It was a game where contestants tried to name a song in as few notes as possible to beat their opponent and win prizes.  Think about making the transition from Side Angle to Half Moon with the fewest steps possible.

In order to make the transition form Side Angle to Half Moon Pose, it is important that I not turn my torso to face the floor.  It is already facing sideways in Side Angle and it should still be facing sideways in Half Moon.  Learn to keep the torso sideways as you make the transition.  Learn to stay in alignment.  Take a look at this picture of Mr. Iyengar.  In this photo, he is taking the intermediate step from Side Angle as he prepares to move into Half Moon.  Notice his body position.  He lunges deeper into his front knee, reaches his bottom hand forward as he steps his back leg in.  The top arm rests along the side of his body as he prepares to step up.  Notice how he does not turn his torso to the floor!

Develop the strength in the front leg to drive down through your standing heel and straighten your standing leg as you come into half moon.  This is all about quadriceps strength.  Notice, in the superimposed picture, that my front foot does not move at all.

Once you come onto your standing leg, expand out through all of your extremities equally.

The alignment of the standing leg is not any different from the shin in Side Angle Pose, it is still vertical.  The straight line of the body shifts as the torso moves more horizontal to the floor.  The arms, well, they are supposed to be vertical and the upper arm is over the lower arm.  As you can see, I need to work on that!  But, that is the idea.

To come out of the pose, you reverse the steps and be as mindful as you were when you came into it.  People often get hurt in transitions when they let go.  Stay engaged until you are back in Tadasana.  Think about it this way, rather than engage, let go and then re-engage, stay engaged as you move from one pose to the next.

This is just one of the transitions that I will be working on in class this month, but this is a big one and a fun one to play with.  See how smoothly you can shift from Side Angle to Half Moon and back again.  Have fun with it.  Notice your improvement and celebrate your accomplishments.  I’ll see you in class!

Vinyasa Pose of the Month – Dancing Warrior Series, or going with the flow.

The weather feels as if it is finally changing to fall. What better way to help our bodies through this transition than to focus on transitions from one yoga pose to the next. We can use the flow of yoga poses to help keep us warm as our bodies adapt to the change from the unseasonal warm temperatures we had been experiencing to the more seasonal temperatures of November.

Instead of focusing on a single pose for the month of November, we are going to with the flow. Our focus will be on Vinyasa Flow. Expect to see Sun Salutes, Moon Salutes, Dancing Warrior Series and other transitions linking poses together.

In general, yoga practice builds strength and flexibility. But you can shift the focus of your practice by doing static poses for long holds or by constantly moving and flowing from one pose to the next. Long holds of single poses builds patience, stamina, endurance, perseverance and awareness of the body in space. This is a great practice for times when you feel scattered and need to get grounded. Flowing sequences build trust, confidence and coordination. A practice that focuses more on movement can energize you when you are feeling stuck or sluggish, or it can let off steam when you feel ready to burst from excitement or tension.

Just because we will be flowing more this month, please don’t throw your alignment to the wind! The word vinyasa means to place or step carefully, so as we move from one pose to the next, let your movements be thoughtful and considered. Sun Salutations are said to be a body mantra. Think of this type of a practice as a physical prayer and move through your practice as if it is an offering from your heart.

While I never think of yoga as a weight loss program, I did schedule this practice for now when there are many temptations to over-eat, or to eat less healthy. I love the way this type of practice makes me feel afterwards. I often feel clean and detoxified which makes me want to be careful about what I eat after.

I saw a sign outside of a gym the other day that said: “The average person gains 5 pounds between November 1 and January 1.” Yikes! A little scare tactic to get you into their program. However, if we are not mindful about what we eat, we could easily fulfill this statistic. Remember that yoga should be done on an empty stomach. And after your workout, when you are ready to eat, make sure you replenish your muscles with some protein. Avoid the temptation to go for empty calories that only leave you craving more later. Eating mindfully and healthfully is an important part of my yogic lifestyle.