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Yoga & Meditation

YOGA: Learning to relax through Yoga

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By Geeta Maraj
August 14th, 2013 Edition

We are very aware of the importance of relaxation to the body. “Relax” is now a part of our daily lingo: we are told by our family and friends to relax; our physicians advise that we relax; we tell ourselves that we need to relax; but what is it that we need to do to relax? Where should we really begin?

We know the benefits to our health when we avoid the general stressors of life. We, however, struggle to keep this concept at the forefront of our daily activities, especially when leading very busy lives. Signs that we need to relax and take a moment for ourselves include feeling irritable, getting short-tempered at the simplest of situations, a general feeling of disappointment in ourselves and others, not being able to focus or retain important information, poor eating habits and a lack of proper sleep.

The first step in learning to relax is to let go of the guilt you feel when you know you need to relax. You will make a better friend, relative and worker with proper rest and knowing when to take a moment for yourself. The old adage “taking care of yourself so that you can better take care of others” holds true when it comes to our ability to know when to care for ourselves. Start by allotting a special time each day for yourself. Either set your alarm or block out a specific time in your agenda as your “me time”. Finding that moment first thing in the morning is best at preparing you for your day. Use this moment to do something which benefits you personally.

Practice of proper breathing techniques so as to calm your body and relax your mind is an important and crucial step in learning to relax. We hardly realize that our breathing pattern affects our health and causes tension to be built in our body. However, there is a correct way of breathing, as there is an incorrect way of breathing. The correct way to breathe is to ensure when you inhale that your chest rises, and your abdomen extends. When you exhale, your chest should collapse as your abdomen contracts – pushing all the stale air out of your lungs. By paying attention to this correct way of breathing during the day, we can help to decrease the stress we feel in our body as the day progresses.

The incorrect way of breathing would be that when we breathe in our abdomen contracts at the same time. This is common at various times in the day when our body begins to feel stressed. Therefore, it is always important to check your breathing pattern. The way in which you correct your breathing is to exhale all your breath till your abdomen contracts tightly. Upon inhaling your next breath, your breathing rhythm will automatically be corrected.

Our diet is equally important in keeping our body relaxed. Avoid high fat and excessive sugar in your diet. Carbohydrates equally convert to sugar when broken down in the body and affects our blood sugar level, causing us to become irritable based on the fluctuations of our glucose level. Eating fresh foods and a diet rich in fruits and vegetables help to decrease stress in our body. Avoiding excess caffeine, but drinking at least 8 cups of liquid daily, also helps to keep our body cleansed and decreases stress.

Though daily exercise is beneficial in relaxing the body, if this is not practical, try to exercise at least 3 to 4 times weekly. Whether it is just a half an hour walk, swim, bike, or yoga – these all will help to overcome aches and pains caused by a build up of stress in the body.

Meditation is also vital in making us relax and learn to let go of our general stressors. Finding a time and place to meditate can be as easy as sitting in a chair or at the end of your bed when you awake in the morning. Just take a moment to breathe deeply to cleanse your lungs, and begin to focus your thoughts through a silent chant, so as to calm your mind. In time, meditation can be practiced in a special corner of your home, on a meditation mat at a particular time each day. Meditation is known to keep our blood pressure more stable, prevents cardiac issues, depression and even slows the aging process.

Getting a massage is an additional great way to relax. If you cannot afford a massage at a local spa, ask a relative or loved one you are comfortable with for a massage. Massages help to undo knots in the muscles built up as a result of stress. Most importantly, we can relax through the best medicine of all – laughter. When we laugh, endorphins are released into the blood stream causing us to feel happy and relaxed.
Our body is a gift; it is the vehicle through which we travel this sojourn. We carry in it the key necessary to keep ourselves happy, relaxed and healthy. All that is required is for us to tap into this ability. So conquer your stress and anxiety by learning to breathe, laugh, love and relax!

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Yoga & Meditation

From the mat to life

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BY: TRISHA CURLING 

You might hear a lot of people say “yoga changed my life”.  If you aren’t a regular practitioner, this may sound questionable. How can a series of poses “change your life”? It sounds a little dramatic. It’s important to start from a place however, where you understand that yoga is more than a series poses. Within the journey of physical practice, there are many lessons that are waiting to be learned. It really does have this ability to make this change in your life, but you must first be open to it.

Let’s say your desire to start comes from a place in you that is purely physical, this is great because there are many benefits to receive like weight management, relief from pain, and increased mobility (just to name a few).

Let’s examine some of the ways your physical (asana) practice can have an impact in other ways:

Patience

Your asana practice calls for you to detach from your ego. Yes, the practice is in many ways goal oriented, but staying in the present and feeling the pose for what it is in the moment has its’ own way of taking you where you need to be.  It’s nice to set goals of achieving particular poses and it is very rewarding to see how your body’s ability can change, but it’s the patience to get there that may be challenging or even frustrating sometimes. It’s putting the time and consistency into performing foundational poses that will help you to build the necessary skills, and/or prepare your body for what’s to come next. If you come back to what the practice is asking you, to detach, to exercise patience, then what you desire will come to you. We can take this lesson off of the mat.  If you are working towards a career, or some type of financial goal, being present and taking time to take the necessary steps will only help you to build the proper foundation in order for you to have lasting results.

Reduce worry

For that hour you may spend doing an online or in person yoga class, it truly feels like meditation. You are so focused on your breath, the transitions, and the poses, that you have no time to focus on past or future events. You are totally engrossed in the moment. It feels great, there is no room for worry. A beautiful shift happens once you realize that it does not have to end when the class is over. This deep work that you are doing on the mat creates new patterns in the brain and nervous system. You are effectively teaching yourself how to do this more often. It becomes more natural in other life situations to bring your focus into the present. It does feel difficult sometimes, but just the mere awareness and then attempt to do so will help you to gain perspective in certain situations. Instead of worrying about what may happen, you learn to relinquish some control of the outcome.

Both of these things barely skim the surface of the benefits you take with you off of the mat, but I’m sure you can imagine the spillover into multiple areas of life.

Go to the mat for one reason and walk away feeling the benefit of many.

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Yoga & Meditation

Your Psoas and Your Yoga

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BY: TRISHA CURLING 

You have this nagging pain in your back, that seems to flare up just a little bit more after sitting for long periods of time. You find yourself having to get up from your desk at work to stretch and move around, just enough to find that wonky position that will help to relieve you from pain, even if it’s for just a moment. There can be a number of reasons that are contributing to it, but let’s have a look at your psoas.

This muscle is a primary hip flexor and is sometimes referred to as your Iliopsoas due to the way in which the Iliacus and psoas major are “joined” together.  It’s also the only muscle in the body that connects the spine to the lower limbs.

This muscle can often become tight and weak. A couple of the reasons this may happen is because there is a consistent level of inactivity. If you are sitting for lengthy amounts of time and/or you are not giving your body the opportunity to move in a variety of angles to both strengthen and lengthen this muscle, it can contribute to this tightness and weakness.

You can also consider whether or not significant lordosis of the spine is an issue for you. This tightness and weakness can cause a “pulling” of the spine forward, therefore “tipping” the pelvis forward causing an excessive anterior pelvic tilt that causes compression in the lumbar spine that contributes to your back pain.

Here is a yoga pose that may help to offset the positioning of the pelvis and contribute to the lengthening and strengthening of the psoas.

Crescent Lunge (Anjenyasana)

From a standing position, step one foot back far enough down your mat in order to maintain lots of length in the back leg. Keep a nice bend in the front knee, all while maintaining alignment of the knee straight above the ankle or just behind it. Feet should be on parallel lines (about a hip’s distance apart so that your front hip bones are looking straight forward). Next, float your arms straight up by your ears with your palms facing one another. Keep your shoulders and hands relaxed. Also, begin to lengthen down through your tailbone while pulling your front ribs towards your back ribs. Stay there for a few breaths. This will help you to feel that length in the front of the hip in your back leg.

To increase some of the benefits, you may also vary your positioning in the pose. If you have the right leg forward, you can drop your right hand down beside you and stretch your left arm towards your right shoulder. You can take this one step further by reaching that same left arm diagonally towards the right corner of your mat.  Be sure to hold these for a few breaths and repeat on each side.

It doesn’t mean that this will “fix” your pain, but practicing yoga consistently, varying your movements, and paying attention to posture throughout your day will all contribute to putting you on a path that will help to minimize. Consulting with your physician is always #1 on the list but finding yoga postures that feel helpful for YOUR BODY and practicing them consistently will help you to find ease and less pain.

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Health & Wellness

Splits for Life

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BY: TRISHA CURLING 

Splits or Hanumanasana carries a beautiful story and was told to me for the first time by a brilliant yoga teacher and friend from Sweden, by the name of Ingrid Andrén (Owner of Studio Move It). I won’t get into the whole story, but she took us on a journey through her entire class.

By way of the story, she helped us to understand that “This pose asks you not merely to stretch your legs but also to bring true devotion into your practice. Hanumanasana expresses the expansiveness possible…the sense that you can overcome any obstacle when your yearning to help is combined with reverence and respect…In Hanumanasana you strive to reach much further than seems humanly possible.” (Aadil Palkhivala, Yoga Column: Hanumanasana, Yoga Journal, Aug 28, 2007).

When you hear “splits” you might think, forget it, that’s not possible. You might be right, but you also might be wrong.  It’s true that not every pose is for everyone and there are a number of reasons why this could be, but the journey and process arguably outweighs the end result.

There are a number of poses that will help to prepare you for Hanumanasana.  Keep in mind, however, that if splits are not the pose for you, along the way you will gain benefits like increased flexibility, strength and confidence.

Here are two poses that are essential to incorporate in your regular practice.

  1. Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana): In a seated position on your mat, extend both legs out in front of you. If the legs cannot be completely straight, take them out as long as your body will allow. Next, on an inhale, lengthen through the spine by sitting up tall. On your exhale, lean your chest forward while keeping the shoulder blades slightly drawn in towards one another. Your chest should feel as though it is reaching to touch the tips of your toes. Take your arms forward to grasp your feet. You may want to place a yoga strap around your feet if you cannot reach them. This will allow you to grab each side of the strap with your hands to walk yourself forward with more support. Stay in the pose for a few breaths and enjoy the gentle lengthening of your hamstrings and calf muscles.
  1. Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana): From Downward Facing Dog, shift your weight forward while stepping the right foot in front between your hands. At the same time, lower the back knee down, uncurl the toes and place the top of your foot on your mat.  Brace your waist (feel as though you are lifting your pubic bone towards your chest), lengthen your tailbone down, and inhale as you lift your arms up. Stay for a few breaths to feel the lengthening of your hip flexors and repeat on the other side.

All while practicing the physicality of the postures, it is impossible to leave behind the confidence and conquering that become part of your mindset. The sense of power and accomplishment accompany these preparation poses as much as Hanumanasana itself.

The most important takeaway that Andrén left us with at the end of her class was, “Don’t tell Hanuman how big your problems are, tell your problems how big your Hanuman is..”  I hope this serves you in both your journey to splits and in life.

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