Living the Wisdom of Yoga in Modern Times

Dealing w/ Dehydration in Hot Yoga

You don't want any of this to happen do you?

 

 

From Black Vegans on Facebook

 

Fortunately, most dehydrated Hot Yoga students only experience the first column.

Prevention

• Focus on hydration before you come to class. Drink at least 24-32 oz of water before you even get there
• Electrolytes really make a difference. You can buy them at any health food store, organic market or at many yoga studios. My favorite is Ultima.  Carry them with you and put them in the water you drink prior to, during and after practice.
• Sip water during practice. 
• Many yogi's drink coffee prior to practice but do know that caffeine can dehydrate the cells. If you drink coffee, you need even more water.
• If you start to get overheated, don't keep pushing. Take rest, modify the practice, move your mat, ask for fans...whatever you have to do to get cooler
• Eat foods with higher water content like fruits and vegetables. The water keeps you hydrated and you feel lighter when you practice.

If you feel moderately dehydrated when you leave

• Drink 24-36 oz of electrolytes and water
• Rest
• Get into a cool area
• Dehydration headaches are often accompanied by nausea. If you feel a headache coming on, take your over the counter pain med of choice before it gets bad
• Add more water to your diet. You obviously didn't get in enough before coming.

 

I am not a doctor. This is just what works for me. Take this advice at your own risk.

If you love hot yoga, what are your favorite dehydration tools? (if you don't love hot yoga, please don't respond with your treatise against the practice)

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Ahimsa: Healthy Aging Through Kindness To Animals

 

 

Jim Morris 75 Years Old

Mimi Kirk Age 73 Years Old

 

One of the yamas, which is part of the 8 limbs of yoga, is Ahimsa. Ahimsa is non violence towards yourself, the earth and other living beings. There are many debates on  rather serious devotees to the path of yoga should be vegetarian or vegan because, obviously, you have to kill animals to eat them. 

My decision to eat a primarily vegan diet is a result of many different factors. One of those was that I wanted to lesson my impact on the suffering of animals in our modern day factory farming system and another one was for health.

I, like many others, have watched my loved ones go from vibrant to bed ridden in a matter of years due to bad health habits that caught up with them when they aged. We now live in a society where being old means being sick, popping pills and slowly losing mobility until your kids throw you in a nursing home.

We can't stay young forever, but if we take care of our bodies, we can stay independent and vibrant into our twilight years. My grandmother, who lived well into her nineties, is a testament to that . She was mobile and independent all the way up until she died.  Literally, in about the span of a few weeks, she went from being alive and vibrant to passing away. She did not go through the slow drop from youth to sickness, to disease to death that many people find themselves in.

Anette Larkins Age 72

 

My grandmother and grandfather, who is still alive,  lived on farms all their lives. So their food was accidentally organic and they lived simple lives. So by being kind to animals and limiting the intake of factory farmed meat, you are also being kind to yourself.

These videos below show the amazing benefits of a plant based diet on aging. Mimi Kirk, Jim Morris and Annette Larkins are all over 70 years old and are raw and or vegan.

  

 

 

 

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Kumare-How image and a good story can get you to guru status

The Kino Macgregor Experience Pt 2: Some Notes From the Workshop

My friend Rebecca, Kino & me

Notes From Charlotte Carolina Kino Macgregor workshop June 2012

• Yoga helps us to get rid of samskaras. Here she was referring to the negative imprints left on the subconscious mind.
• 3 Main Philosophical Schools of Ashtanga Yoga- Yoga Sutras, Pradapika, Vedas-Devotional Tradtion
• Do Mula bandha all the time except when sleep, in svasanana, in using the bathroom. Do a little Mula bandha throughout the day. Just a small percentage. Do Mula Bandha 100% while practicing.
• Guruji said that, during pranayama, they should be able to inhale or exhale long enough to say the Gayatri Mantra in their head. She had us  do a slow 10 second inhale and a slow 10 second exhale.
• Pranayama is the quickest way to burn samskaras
• The hamstring attachment injury that is so common in yoga today is caused by stretching the hamstring without using bandhas.
• 3 months to heal ligaments. Every time you cause pain at the sight of the injury, it takes another 3 months to heal it.
• Headstands require solid structural foundation in shoulders. Protract shoulders to access strength in the shoulder girdle
• Flex spine in to control and bring you out of headstands
• Arm balances require flexion in the back

 

Video of the Day

 

Happy Memorial Day: How To Find Freedom in Your Yoga Poses

Merriam Webster Dictionary Definition on Freedom: The absence of constraint in action;being released from something onerous;ease;boldness of conception or execution;unrestricted

To have freedom in your yoga practice means that you feel unconstrained,at ease & unrestricted. This allows you to be your boldest, brightest and best self on the mat and in the world. Below are tips on how to do this.

Learn Proper Alignment Then Play With Its Boundaries- When the body is in good alignment, it is safe for you to express your poses fully. When the bones are stacked & you are using the leverage and support of firmly engaged muscles, poses become available to you with very little effort.  The basics of alignment apply to all poses. When you know them, you can look at a pose in any book, magazine or yoga class and be able to figure out how to execute it. This gives you more options on the mat.

Muscle Engagement-Not engaging the muscles is like trying to make a wet noodle stand up. When there is no support in the poses your body looses its ability be stable. Without stability, many poses are not accessible and injuries frequently occur.

Practice 4-6 Days per week-"Doing something 3 days a week = maintenance, 5-6 days a week = transformation." Antonella. Think of your muscles like your favorite pair of jeans. The more you wear (use)them the softer & more pliable they get.  When you throw them in the washing machine, they tighten up and you have to start the process all over again.  The washing machine is equivalent to inconsistent and infrequent practice. The muscles tighten back up. When the muscles are tight, your movements are constricted which takes away from your freedom

Be in Good Health

• Eat healthy
• Stay Hydrated
• Keep Stress Low

When the body feels good & is in good health, it works more efficiently and you have more energy for your practice.

Body Weight-the lighter the body, the easier it is on your joints & the easier it is to get in an out of your yoga poses.  When the body is at a good weight, binds, floating, jump throughs, jump backs, and arm balances become more accessible. I have seen students practices transform by losing as little as 5 pounds. They can immediately do the deep binds in Ashtanga, their chest comes closer to their thighs in forward folds & their sun salutes have more of a floating quality. They have the freedom to move.

Deep Breathing-Your breath supports your practice and the poses in many ways

• Increased Stamina-many studies done on this
• Calm Mind-you don't battle your thoughts so you can be free to.....
• Focus- on your practice
• Supports movement in and out of poses-Many arm balances, floats, forward folds and twists are made accessible through proper breathing. Inhalation and exhalation have energetic and physical effects on the body. For example, if you exhale before forward folding, your belly pulls up and in created an inch or so or more space for you fold. 

Bandhas-engaging the muscles below the bellow button through the pelvic floor creates stability & strength in poses allowing you to move freely.

Consistency in Style-You don't necessarily have to practice only one style, but try not to chose too many and to consistently practice the styles you choose several times a week. Even though Ballet and Hip Hop are both styles of dance and there are transferable skills in both, they are so drastically different that in order to master them you have to practice each one with devotion. The same goes with many yoga styles.  For instance,  Power Yoga, &  Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga both use  similar poses, however they are drastically different in execution and many poses that are in one are not covered in the other. They are different enough that in order to feel freedom in both methods, they both would have to be practiced consistently. It is the only way for the body and mind to get used to the practice so that soreness and difficulty go away.

Consistency in Poses-I have students ask me how to do complex poses all the time and I always ask them, "how often do you practice them?" One of the negatives of Vinyasa's every changing sequences is that there is no consistency in poses. A teacher may work on handstand today and may not include it in the class for another 3 months which makes it incredibly hard to perfect it and find freedom in it. If there is a pose that you really wish to master and feel open in, I recommend practicing it every time you get on your mat. Many teachers are okay with you adding it somewhere in their sequence or you can stay after class and practice it. You can also adopt a home practice which insures that you work on everything you want.

 

Video of the Day: Here is a pose you would want to feel free in!

 

Its Not The Yoga Pose That Is The Problem, Its You

This is a response to, When Stretching Is Not the Answer which is an article by Yoga Journal. The article is about handling yoga injuries. I saw some flaws in it. I address them below.

 

Please stop blaming your injuries on yoga poses. It is you doing yoga poses wrong or doing poses that you have no business doing that is the problem.  The statement is not, "Chatarunga hurt my shoulder" or "I hurt myself doing Lotus, Power Yoga, Ashtanga etc".  The statement is, "I was doing chatarunga wrong, so I hurt myself". "My body was not open enough for Lotus, so I hurt myself". Lets stop demonizing yoga poses and styles.

Yoga is Therapy. There are absolutely injuries that call for abstinence from practice to heal properly.  However, that is not the case for everything. Doctors often assign physical therapy for their patients. Yoga is a form of physical therapy. Talk to your yoga teacher about what is going on. No, we are not doctors and you take the advice at your own risk(I have to legally say this. However, Doctors know alot about diagnosis, symptom management and surgery but little about true healing. Just my opinion).

Let Your Frick'n Ego Go and Modify Your Practice.  People really hate to modify their practice. Most would rather stop practicing all together then to not be able to do everything. That is all ego. I know this personally. As a long time practitioner, I struggle with having to pull back sometimes when I have tweaked something. I feel that I have to be an example or that people will think that I don't practice. I feel that others may think that I can't take the heat because I have to stop or that I really cannot do the pose. And you know what, everyone may be thinking these things, but it is not my problem. None of them will pay my medical bills or take care of me if my body breaks down completely. I have a bigger picture that I am working toward and the set back is temporary. I remind myself of that and I keep practicing.

 Video of the Day: More Iyengar(name spelled wrong on video)

 

 

Are You On the Way To Yoga Burnout or Yoga Enlightenment?

The popularity of  Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Power Yoga, and  Hot Yoga are at an all time high.  These styles use vigorous and powerful  sequences to impart health to the body as well as the mind. They bring peace and well being to practitioners helping them to be a better person and live a more fulfilled life.   Because they provide such a great physical workout, many people approach them like a gym aerobics class and rely on brut strength and will power to move them through the practice resulting in an overly aggressive yoga practice that looses steam really fast and is not sustainable.  Practicing without incorporating the more subtle concepts of yoga such  as breath,non-harming, focus and non attachment, opens the door for stress, injury, ill health and an uneasy mind. Essentially you cultivate all the traits that you were trying to use yoga to cure.

 Look at the list below and see where you fit in. Are you on the road to burn out or enlightenment?

 Gym Mentality                                             Yoga Mentality

Barely Breathe                                                                  Deeply Breathe        

In the mind throughout practice                              Practice takes you out of the mind

Obsessed with attaining poses                                    Enjoys learning new poses

Labels practices "bad" or "good"                               Sees all practices as good

Compares themselves to others                                Focused on themselves

Always seeking more intensity                                   Time & place for everything

Sweat is generated from external heat                   Sweat is generated from internal heat

Snaps into poses                                                              Moves with breath into poses

Only uses mirror for alignment                                 Knows how poses feel in the body

Stares at themselves in mirror                                   Uses Dristhi(gaze points)

Mat has to be in same place or miffed                    Cool with whatever spot they can get        

Does advanced poses to show off                            Poses for their benefits and fun

Judges others practices                                                Non judgemental

Has to be in the studio in crowd                               Has friends but not about popularity

Compares current practice to previous               Practices from the present moment

Pushes through pain                                                     Pays attention to pain  

Breaks are a sign of weakness                                    Breaks when needed

Constantly seeking short cuts                                    Slow and steady wins the race

Worships those with "advanced" practices          Every body's human

Searching for Yoga body  for vanity                       Understands the effect of weight on health

Expects teachers to look a certain way                 Value teacher for what they teach    

Sequencing should be for intensity                         Sequence focused on well being

Leave class feeling broke down                                 Leave class feeling energized

Has a post yoga recovery ritual                                Feel good when you leave

Has to dress a certain way                                          May like clothes but not there to be seen

Hates anything spiritual                                             Open to other aspects of yoga

Depends on their teacher                                           Understand their own body

Can't stand silence                                                        Loves it

Can't be still                                                                     Strives to be still

Wants something for free                                         Understands the value of yoga

Pushes into poses                                                         Breathes into poses

 Only sees yoga as a workout                                   Total Body wellness system

Chooses studios based on popularity                   Chooses based on what they have to offer

Pushes through poses  using muscles                    Moves from the core and breath

 

 Video of the day: Yoga as a spiritual practice

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hot Yoga: How Hot is Too Hot?

I have been practicing yoga for about 10 years now and I notice that what was hot then is not hot now. 85 degrees was hot. Then it moved up to 90. Then to 95 degrees.  Now there are studios that have temperatures between 105-110.  People are getting used to the heat and are requesting even higher temperatures.  So even if the room is heated to 99 degrees,heaters are being brought in to get it even hotter.   How Hot is too Hot?

The two innovators in Hot Yoga are Bikram Chodhury and Baron Baptiste. Both claim that Hot Yoga flushes out toxins and warms up the muscles so that injury is prevented. Bikram rooms are heated to 105 degrees and the poses are fairly simple and repeated twice. In Journey Into Power, written by Baron Baptiste, he recommends that the room be heated to 90 degrees and many of the Baptiste affiliate studios are heated to 95 degrees. Though his sequence is  more complicated then Bikram's, it is still accessible to all levels and allows for more innovation.

Some people try to use Ashtanga as  a model for hot yoga. They say that Mysore India is hot so this justifies that yoga should be done in warmer temperatures. The reality is that in Mysore, practicing in the hottest parts of the day are avoided.  Sessions are conducted  early in the morning and late in the afternoon when the sun is at its coolest.  To the Ashtanga research institute, there is definitely an understanding of when hot is to hot. 

Is their a point where it has gone beyond therapeutic and into extremism? Is this based on the individual? How Hot is Too Hot? I would love to hear from you!

 

 

Video of the Day:  Self & Mind 

 

 

World Water Day + CSN Gift Certificate Winner

Today is World Water Day! Water is something we take for granted in America because we have a continuous stream of it coming out of our faucets. I recently watched an eye opening documentary, Blue Gold, that made me think differently about my relationship with water.  Could something that seems so infinite actually be a finite resource?

Blue Gold Website:

In every corner of the globe, we are polluting, diverting, pumping, and wasting our limited supply of fresh water at an expediential level as population and technology grows. The rampant overdevelopment of agriculture, housing and industry increase the demands for fresh water well beyond the finite supply, resulting in the desertification of the earth.

 
Corporate giants force developing countries to privatize their water supply for profit. Wall Street investors target desalination and mass bulk water export schemes. Corrupt governments use water for economic and political gain. Military control of water emerges and a new geo-political map and power structure forms, setting the stage for world water wars.

 
We follow numerous worldwide examples of people fighting for their basic right to water, from court cases to violent revolutions to U.N. conventions to revised constitutions to local protests at grade schools. As Maude Barlow proclaims, “This is our revolution, this is our war”. A line is crossed as water becomes a commodity. Will we survive?

You can watch this eye opening documentary on Netflix, You Tube or below.

Winner of $35 Gift Certificate to CSN stores is NYRA 17. Please Check your E-mail.

Videos of the Day: World Water Wars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is There a Specific Diet For Yogis?

Everywhere you look, there are articles on how to loose weight fast and buzz on the internet about celebrities like Lady GaGa and Madonna who stay fit through yoga. Celebrity yoga articles usually focus on the toning, strengthening and waist whittling effects of doing yoga poses but what about diet?Is their some great yoga treatise that specifically states what a yogi should be eating?

 The three major text  on yoga are The Bhgavad Gita, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Hatha Yoga Pradapika. Just like the Bible, these books have been translated by many different people who all have many different opinions.  Neither the Hatha Yoga Pradapika or the Gita have much to say that applies. If you think differently, please leave a comment.  The Yoga Sutras on the other hand is full of text that gives yogi's guidance for life. The Yamas and the Niyamas of the Yoga Sutras directly relate to universal morals  and personal observances that can be applied to diet and they will be discussed below. After looking at these philosophies, it will be up to you to decide what they mean to you.

 Ahimsa/Non Harming

Ahimsa would suggest that the foods that you ingest should cause no harm to you are anyone else. Questions that surface when contemplating Ahimsa and diet:

• Is the food I am eating causing damage to my body?
• Was anyone or anything harmed unnecessarily in the creation or processing of this food?

Aparigraha/Non Hoarding

Aparigraha deals with taking only what is necessary and letting go of attachments. Questions that surface when contemplating Aparigraha and diet:

• Is there more food on my plate that what my body needs to be healthy?
• Am I wasteful with food?
• Are my eating habits taking food away from others?
• Am I attached to certain foods in a way that is harmful to me, the environment or to others?

Sauca/Purity

Sauca deals with purity and cleanliness.  Questions that surface when contemplating Sauca and diet:

• Is my food clean and free of all impurities?
• Does this food contain toxins?
• Is this food toxic to me, other living beings or the environment?
• Does this food disrupt the purity of my mind and emotions?(Maybe think about alcohol,sugar, caffeine and its effects on mood and behavior) 

 Santosha/Contentment

Santosha deals with being satisfied and content.  Questions to contemplate:

• Do I feel satiated when I am done eating or am I too full or underfed? 
• Does this food turn off my hunger signals or make me crave more? (sugar, high fructose corn syrup)
• Are my cravings disruptive to my feeling of satisfaction?
• Am I making a decision to be  happy about the food that I have to eat?

Tapas/Disciplined Use of Energy

Tapas deals with the heated energy it takes to stay disciplined. Questions for diet and Tapas:

• Am I eating more calories then I can burn off?
• Am I disciplined about my food intake?
• Am I disciplined about my yoga practices and exercise that helps my body stay balanced?
• Are my thoughts on food steady and balanced?

Svadhyaya/Self Study

Svadhyaya deals with self inquiry and studying things that will promote self improvement. Questions for diet and Svadhyaya:

• How do I feel when I eat this food?
• How do I feel when I eat at this time?
• Have I done research on the proper diet for my body?
• Do I understand the long term effects of this diet?

 Video of the Day-Ashtanga Yoga Surya Namaskara B

 

Yoga As a Preventative & Cure for Age Related Aches and Pains

Many of the aches and pains we experience as we age are a result of limited use or overuse of muscles during our youth.  Repetitive actions like the way we sit in our favorite chair, how we grip the steering wheel or the way we stand with more weight on our left leg causes tightness that manifests as aches and pains later in life. Limited use from sedentary lifestyles results in weakness in key muscles that support the body. As we move through daily life putting more and more strain on already compromised areas, the body eventually breaks down resulting in pain.

Though we  cannot stop aging, a balanced yoga practice moves the body through a full range of motion lubricating the joints, stretching out tight spaces and strengthening weak areas.  Areas that are overused should be stretched to remove tightness and the muscles around them strengthened to support the overworked areas. Weak areas should be slowly strengthened through weight bearing postures and repetitive motion.

As a preventive, yoga enables you to live a full active life in the twilight years by allowing you to  maintain a good range of motion and  strength thereby staving off many age related muscle pains. As a cure after age related pains have set in, a steady yoga practice will help  to regain lost range of motion and strength which results in less pain, more independence and a better quality of life.

 

Video of the Day:  Real Men Do Yoga