Living Yoga

Running or biking got your legs feeling tight?  Stretch out those legs with the classic, Hero’s Pose!

Back pain is probably the most common complaint I hear from my clients and they always feel better after yoga, but unfortunately it returns by the time we have another yoga session the following week. Stress, sitting in chairs for extended periods of time, or pushing too hard when exercising (yes, in yoga class too) are all common contributors to back pain.

Of course, stress and sitting at a desk may be unavoidable, after all we have to pay the bills before we rush off to that yoga express class, but we can certainly cut down on the drastic negative effect life has on our bodies.

I highly recommend a meditation practice to help calm the mind, even if it’s only for five minutes a day. You’ll notice a difference in your body when your level of stress is down.

Also, when practicing yoga with back pain, don’t go all out with the backbends. For example, instead of going fully into upward dog, stay in a low cobra to strengthen the muscles (see photo below). I don’t care what everyone else in class is doing, trying to emulate their practice may put you out of practice for a long time. Practicing the low cobra and locust back bends are great for building lower back and core strength while nursing a sore back.

Check out this article for more on yoga and back pain.

Many people have asked me if it’s required to be a vegetarian to be really into yoga.  First, I don’t know at what point a person could consider herself really into yoga.  I practice every day but I know there are hardcore people out there who practice two hours a day and probably someone else practices even more than that.  I say, you’re either a yoga practitioner or not.

Second, no, vegetarianism isn’t required to be into yoga.  Last week I had dinner with a friend, who practices yoga, and he ordered fish.  We were both surprised to see a fully fried fish (head and all) being served to him thirty minutes later.  I was glad to see him enjoying his meal and it didn’t stop me from enjoying my tofu and vegetables.

One of the philosophical aspects of yoga is to practice Ahimsa, which means reverence, love & compassion for all beings by not causing any harm to other creatures.  Hey, I’m a vegetarian now but ate meat for most of my life and I occasionally swat at an annoying fly or flush a spider down the drain without much thought.  In those moments I’m not a perfect yogini according to the yoga sutras but that doesn’t mean I don’t practice Ahimsa in other areas of my life.

We all have reverence, love & compassion and do what we can to practice Ahimsa in our daily lives.  Think about the many ways you practice Ahimsa, from donating to a charity to bringing your own shopping bag to Whole Foods.  These actions are all examples of practicing Ahimsa and already make you a yogini.

Lastly, if I judge another person’s actions and choices in life, it wouldn’t be very yoga-like of me.

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of participating in the Self Magazine Workout in the Park event. It is a yearly celebration of fitness with group classes for everyone including dance, cardio, yoga & pilates, and many freebies to boot! I was brushing up on my dance moves and cardio kickboxing on the stage with Crunch Fitness, and had a blast doing it. As much as I love yoga, it felt great to do something outside of my territory.

The best part about it was seeing thousands of people of all shapes and sizes having fun while sweatin’ it up and doing something healthy for their body. What anybody looked like, how perfect their steps were, or how they looked in their outfit didn’t matter because everyone was there just to have fun.

So maybe you have read this blog and thought yoga isn’t your cup of tea. That’s fine. Find your cup of tea and do it. Not to burn calories or fit into size 2 jeans, but to have fun and feel confident. That’s really what yoga is about to me anyway (whether I’m doing yoga or not).

The Self Workout in the Park still has one more date in Chicago on May 17th. If you’re in the area, check it out!

Mother’s Day is just a few weeks after my mom’s birthday and every year I get hit with the double whammy of buying her two gifts on the same credit card statement.  Thankfully, she’s easy to shop for; gift cards for the movie theater.  So this year she got the birthday/mother’s day gift card combo and she was thrilled.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I’m reading The Secret Power of Yoga by Nischala Joy Devi, a feminine, positive interpretation of the Yoga Sutras.  There is a passage where Nischala states that all women, being natural caregivers and nurturers, have two hearts.  A beating heart and our “womb” heart that gives us our intuition and feelings.  Whether we choose to really believe that or not (and most of the time I’ve tried not to), there is no denying that there is an inborn compassionate, feeling nature in women.  Nischala goes on to explain:

“When it comes to love and devotion, motherhood holds the secret.  Even those of us who have never physically given birth have within us the capacity and intuitive preparation for nurturing.  All too often, in place of our heart’s song, we listen to the intellectual values of our society cloaking our intuitive power.  With grace, we can embrace both aspects, allowing the love and devotion to be channeled into the foundation of our lives.”

Whether you have children or not, embrace your two hearts and have a Happy Mother’s Day!  Enjoy the movies, Mom.

It still scares me a little to go up into headstand, but that doesn’t stop me from practicing.  Work on these steps to come into headstand.

Yesterday I was teaching a yoga class that had students with varied levels of flexibility, as most classes do, and I told them not to look at the other practitioners and to only focus on their own practice.  A woman jokingly quipped, “Why not?  This is a yoga competition.”  It was meant to be a joke because the idea of being competitive goes against the basic yogic philosophy of letting go of the ego.

However, her remark brought to mind the fact that there really are international yoga competitions.  So I did some research (which means Google) and I found an article addressing the differing viewpoints and the different yoga championships out there.  There’s even a push to make it an Olympic sport and Ashtanga yoga has been chosen as the demonstration sport at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (hmm…hopefully to encourage a peaceful resolution over Tibet).

Olympics and world competitions aside, I recommend leaving the competition out of the yoga studio and at the Olympics.  I think you’ll have a much more enjoyable practice that way.

Photo courtesy of efluxmedia.com 

Last week I got an email asking if it’s okay do yoga every day, or if the muscles need time to recover like in weight lifting.  Yes and no.  The short answer is absolutely do yoga every day but I wouldn’t practice the same type or intensity of yoga all the time, especially if any muscles are sore.

Yoga is the perfect cross training and aids in muscle recovery for any other sport.  Progressive Power Yoga has some great articles on this.  But like I’ve said before, you must listen to your body.  If your arms are sore from doing 138 chaturangas in a vinyasa class last night, then work on shoulder stretches and spinal twists today.  If you’re feeling a little burned out today, then stick to some gentle, restorative postures like legs up the wall pose.

If you have a muscle pull of any kind, try not to do anything with that area and let it rest until you’ve recovered.  You can always practice Savasana, corpse pose and meditation instead.

So yes, yoga can be practiced every day.  Enjoy.  Recover.  Get stronger.

As if hot yoga isn’t enough, now there’s hot, nude yoga. Somebody mentioned hot, nude yoga in a class I took last Monday and thought it should be addressed in Living Yoga. Okay, so I expect the word “nude” to generate a lot of hits, so what?

Upon googling “hot nude yoga” I find out that, thankfully, this is only offered for gay men, no women allowed. There is a studio in New York City offering classes for gay men to explore partner yoga postures in their birthday suits. To me this just sounds like foreplay, not yoga. And grosses me out as much as the idea of going to a Cuddle Party. Ew.

So ladies it’s been thousands of years since yoga began and women weren’t allowed to practice with men, now we finally have good reason to be thankful for that!

Image courtesy of Hotnudeyoga.com

You may have heard of Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture already, but I just heard about it for the first time from a friend yesterday.  It is the last lecture given by computer science professor, Randy Pausch, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given only a few months to live.  The lecture has become a huge internet sensation and a companion book has just been released as well.

Below is an abbreviated preview of the full lecture, which is also available on You Tube for viewing.  The theme of his lecture is “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”  Seizing the moment, getting past brick walls, and overcoming obstacles are just some of the things he talks about.

Randy’s lecture made me think of how practicing yoga got me in touch with my true nature and that the from the very first time I watched a yoga VHS tape, though I didn’t know how yet, I knew I was going to be an instructor that made yoga videos.  It did happen and I can’t imagine ever not teaching yoga or not having it in my life.

Thank you, Randy, for reminding all of us of the importance of following dreams and passions.  Here is the short clip and I hope you, too, will be inspired.