I really enjoyed this breathing exercise Amy Elers led at the beginning of her Slow Flow Vinyasa class last Thursday at PURE. It's also great for calming an overactive brain before bed.
Whilst in your favorite seated position (or lying down in savasana), eyes closed, and arms relaxed. Breathe deeply. On an exhale, begin counting down from 50. Inhale 49, exhale 48, inhale 47, etc. This will focus your mind on your breath. If you should loose count, simply start over, on an exhale, from 50.
Once you reach 20, only count the exhales or complete breaths. Exhale 20, inhale, exhale 19, inhale, exhale 18, etc.. Continue until you reach 0 (or you fall asleep). Once you have focused your mind through this exercise, you may begin you practice by identifying the purpose or goal for your practice - why are you sitting on your mat today? Seal it by chanting one Om to the universe.
October came around bringing with it not only a change in temperature but also a change in schedule. For the past two months I had stayed in the neighborhood not venturing far from the new flat. Practicing yoga with the Wii and a DVD from the library. September was yoga month and I barely took advantage of it, I did how ever sign up at Pure West, an amazing yoga studio on 77th and Amsterdam in NYC. This yoga palace offers many styles of yoga in a beautiful setting. It may cost a pretty penny (especially on a student budget) but the perks are great. Clean yoga mats, subscription to Healthy Living, great changing rooms with mouthwash, cotton swaps, razors, cotton balls, body cream, hair dryers, hair spray and hair gel . Huge clean showers with shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream and body wash. Oh and a steam room. (Although I'm not quite sure what to do with it.)
Now that I have sufficiently advertised the place, here is the first of many accounts of the classes I try at Pure.
Mysore yoga is a breath-led individual Ashtanga Yoga practice originating from Mysore, India and popularised by Shri K. Pattabhi Jois. As opposed to other yoga practices, Mysore teachers do not call out the poses (asanas), each student is taught the sequence individually or in a small group. Once learnt, the student practices at his or her own rhythm. The teacher walks around the room adjusting and encouraging students one on one. Mysore is a series of sequences that you unlock with practice. Each new sequence is more challenging than the last. The postures are linked together in the dance of breath, inhaling and exhaling through the asanas, this movement-breathing technique is called vinyasa.
At first I was a bit unnerved by the chaos going on around me. Everybody doing something different, but most of all everybody already moving. You see, as a beginner student you arrive for the last hour of the class because your practice is shorter (and you are thankful for it). So after being reassured several times that it was okay to walk in to an ongoing class an hour after it has started, I picked up my mat and tentatively made my way to an empty spot in the room. I unrolled my mat and stood in Tadasana and waited. I didn't wait long, the teacher, John Campbell, came around and introduced himself and the general concept of Mysore yoga. We then went through each sequence together once and he made me repeat them on my own 4 times with the occasional "Breath in" and "Breath out" prompted from afar.
The beginning sequences are easy enough, sun salutation A and B, followed by standing poses, and others that I can't recall right now. (It's a lot to learn in one practice.) The challenge at this point is remembering to breathe while you struggle to remember the next pose. "It becomes easier with consistent practice" John told me at the end of my practice as I sat panting on the front of my mat. The girl beside me was relaxing in Turtle pose (kurmasana) with her ankles crossed around her neck. Incredible. Ideally you practice Mysore Yoga 6 mornings a week (Saturday being a day of rest) and you don't practice during the 3 days of the full moon or the first 36hrs of your period. It is a commitment, but a commitment well worth your efforts.
I really enjoyed the autonomy of this practice and seeing all the different levels of what I will be doing one day, if I keep at it that is. I'm heading back tonight.
This month's issue of Vogue offers amazing incite into sports injuries. I've always thought it bizarre that top athletes (such as my adorable sister) can get injured while doing mundane activities - pull a hamstring whilst shopping, tear a wrist ligament hitting a ball, etc.. These injuries then stop them from playing their sport. Shouldn't the hours of weekly training stop this from happening? No, and here's why:
We work our big muscles too much - quads, hamstrings and biceps - and forget about what holds us together, stabilizer muscles.
This quote illustrates the issue very nicely : "A body with strong movers and weak, imbalanced stabilizers is like that beautiful purse that does not last."
Thankfully there is something we can do, and no surprise, yoga comes into play. Here is a list of exercises proposed by the author to re-balance our workouts and reduce the risk of injuries.
1- Roll-over Superman
A modified version of Locust Pose (Salambhasana). Lie on your belly with your arms extended in front of you and your legs straight. Exhale and lift your head, upper torso, arms, and legs away from the floor. Maintaining the contraction, roll over onto your back and then roll back onto your belly. Repeat multiple times alternating which way you roll (one may be harder than the other, that's normal, but shouldn't stop you from doing it anyway).
2- Walking Down Dog
Walk from Plank Pose to Downward-facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) keeping your hips level and transferring your weight from one hand to the other.
3- Hip, knee and ankle circles
With your feet hip width apart, trace circles with your hips like if you were standing in a barrel and trying to touch the entire rim with your hips. Rotate clockwise and counterclockwise.
With your feet together, bend your knees and place your hands on your thighs. Make little circles with your knees, both ways. Martial Art students should recognize this basic warm up exercise. You can watch this instructional video for help with this exercise: http://www.ehow.com/video_4958081_kung-fu-warm-ups-knee.html
Ankle circles are easy. Pretend you are crushing a cigarette butt (I do not suggest you smoke or throw your butts on the ground, that is littering.
4- Walking lunge
Basic exercise that will strengthen your Gluteus Medius - a stabilizer muscle in the hip.
Here's how to video :
5- Turkish Get Ups
This is a great full body exercise, start with a weight that both sides of your body can lift and make the same amount of repetitions. Start small and work your way up.
6- Feet exercises
Last but not least, these exercises will help with lower back problems and relax your feet after a day of wearing shoes. My teachers at Oceanfront yoga taught me loads of wonderful feet stretching exercises that you can practice while watching TV. They are to explain without visual aids so I'll work on a post just about this in the upcoming days.
In the meantime, here is a video, with a lot of talking but a couple of good exercises :
These are only a few of the exercises you can do to help your body maintain a good balance. Ask your personal trainer or your yoga teacher, they can help you find the right exercises for you.
I have just been informed that September is now Yoga Month. When or where this initiative started I do not know but check out their website yogamonth.org. There are yoga events, free yoga classes and even free weekly memberships being given away. Take advantages of this wonderful freebies in your area.
So I've decided to put Iyengar's asana sequences aside for the moment. Instead, I'm following the Yogamazing podcasts in the mornings (click here), going to the gym twice a week for their BodyFlow class (see previous post), and I'll be starting a yoga class at my community center next week. That should keep me busy and should give me lots of things to talk about.
Every week I'll be working on a different asana, slowly working my way through them all. I'll be basing my information out of Light on Yoga and what I remember from my classes.
This week I'll be working on standing splits a.k.a.Urdhva Prasarita Ekapadasana.
Iyengar suggests to hold the pose for 20seconds. This pose is meant to tone the leg muscles and reduce fat around the hips - sounds great!
How to get into the pose:
From Mountain Pose (Tadasana), exhale and bend forward hinging from the hips. Place both hands on the floor slightly in front of you and transfer your weight onto one foot, I always start with my right foot. Lift your left leg as high as you can without opening your hips to the side.
You can stay here or try for the full expression of the pose. With your left hand, take hold of your right ankle and try to connect your chest to your thigh and rest your forehead or chin on your right knee.
In the picture, the girl is holding her left ankle with her left hand so I guess you ca go with what ever feels best for you.
For more information about this pose, ask your teacher or visit Yoga Journal.com by clicking here.
You can practice Standing Splits using a wall. I'll be doing this all week. It's practically the same procedure as the regular pose except you get to rest your leg on the wall. By slowly moving your foot up the wall you get a great stretch. This also helps with regular splits. I was told that if I practiced this pose everyday for two weeks I'd be able to do a split. I'm up for the challenge, I'll keep you posted on my improvements.
As an answer to my frequent complaints of not being active enough and yoga studios being to expensive and too far away, I recently received a membership for my local gym. I had a couple years ago now started my yoga journey through a gym. The teacher was an older man with a body of steel and a funny little accent. He was brilliant, I found out later that he gave a basic Anusara class. He definetly spiked my interest in yoga. This however was in Montreal.
I'm in the suburbs now and well, the classes are very different. My local gym offers Bodyflow, a fitness class described as follows :
''BODYFLOW™ is the Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates workout that builds flexibility and strength and leaves you feeling centered and calm. Controlled breathing, concentration and a carefully structured series of stretches, moves and poses to music create a holistic workout that brings the body into a state of harmony and balance.''
The class starts out with a fastforwarded Tai Chi inspired workout, followed by sun salutations, standing poses, balacing poses, hip openers, throws in some pilates to work the core, adds a few twists, and ends with savasana. It's quite a workout but I didn't leave me with the peaceful feeling I get after a REAL yoga class. It might be because it was my first time so I'm going again tomorrow morning and Thursday night to try out their different teachers.
Another thing that sort of bugged me was, if I understood correctly, each Bodyflow session - which consists of a couple months, has it's own defined routine created by Jackie Mills. Meaning that if I were to take another class this week, it would be the same sequence repeated along with the same music. Bikram yoga also uses predetermined sequences which, I guess, allows you to really master every pose. I'm just used to having different classes, each time focusing on a different part of the body.
Overall not too bad but nothing compared to the classes I used to take at Oceanfront Yoga in Virginia Beach, now those were the days.
My Mother found this wonderful children's page in The Montreal Gazette all about yoga. You learn about yoga, some poses you can work on and they even encluded likke yoga themed games. I thought it was so wonderful I had to share.
How fun. This same week I read a post on Yoga Journal about Yoga being recognized as a valid physical activity in British-Columbian schools.
Hi all,
I've been feeling a little under the weather these past few days so I haven't started or even given much thought to the third sequence proposed by Iyengar. Instead, I've been looking into other sources for yoga practices. This week, I'll be trying out various podcasts available for free on iTunes.
This morning I tired Yogamazing with Chaz. I selected a random episode based on time restraints and it ended up being yoga for the hangover-interesting concept.
The video quality was good, the sound and the insructions were clear. The sequence was very soothing and perfect for the morning. Chaz, as a teacher, is laid back and positive. He has a nice voice and tries a couple of jokes during the practice. He seems to have a good relationship with his viewers addressing many comments within this episode.
In yoga for the hangover, Chaz concentrated on twists to cleanse your inner organs of toxins and gentle stretches to waken your body. What I particularly enjoyed was the breathing exercise he started the practice with to help you with a hypothetical headache.
Overall it was a nice experience and I'll be trying out his other videos. You can find this video on iTunes or on Yogamazing's website by clicking here.
Depending on my schedule, I will try to post the third Iyengar sequence this week. I'll also try to take a moment to tell you about the Restorative Yoga class I took last week.
“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.” -Audrey Hepburn-
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