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Cobra Pose
Yoga Therapy moment
BHUJANGASANA (cobra pose)
Yoga Therapy For The Solar Plexus
Using time on the mat to open to who you actually are gives great feedback to your mind, body, spirit. This shift in perception will transform your practice into a truly therapeutic one which is ultimately healing for you.
I taught this asana to someone today who came in after a week of feeling “tied up in knots”. She acknowledged that there was a particularly large accumulation of stored tension in what felt like a knot at “the solar plexus. This person’s week was wrought with job related anger, frustration, plus the daily routine of home and family. She is also someone who does little backbending, as many of us, being seated all day and since she is also rather new to Yoga I reached out to one of the classic poses, cobra – Bhujangasana.
Simple, yet complex, this mild to strong backbend has many benefits including:
- Strengthens the spinal column
- Stretches chest and lungs
- Stretches the abdomen and stimulates the organs in the abdominal cavity
- Stabilizes the shoulders, and abdomen
- Firms the buttocks
- Helps relieve stress especially emotional/digestion issues and fatigue
- ‘Opens’ the heart by energizing the area
- Soothes sciatica (if done with this in mind, such as with the strap around lower limbs)
- Therapeutic for asthma
- Traditional texts say that this posture increases body heat, destroys disease, and awakens kundalini.
Shown here, this posture could certainly stabilize the SI and shoulder joints. The belt is looped around the lower legs so that the heels and sitting bones are in alignment. The blocks under the hands are used to ‘seat’ the shoulder blades on the back, thus providing much freedom for the neck, and release for tight upper trapezius. The blanket helps cushion the hips and gives just the right amount of lift to maintain the frontal spinal alignment and a backbend that is distributed equally through all segments.
Sometimes trying a pose that you do regularly with a few well-placed props gives you such great feedback that you may do it differently from there on out; even the most well intentioned of us can overdo with ego driven “I can do it” mentality. Not worth it. You have a lifetime to practice in, so use time on the mat to open to who you actually are. This honesty and acceptance is transformational. This shift in perception will transform a posture done with an exercise orientation into a trully therapeutic and healing one. You can do my Chakra Balancing Meditation at the end of your session to refresh your entire system. Note that you need to warm up and do counterposes to stay safe.
How to move into the pose:
- If you are using a strap, it is easiest to stand on your knees, reach back and slide the belt up to the shins, then stretch out on tummy.
- Press the tops of the feet and thighs and the pubis firmly into the floor, a blanket under the hips helps establish symmetry.
- If you are using the blocks, they should be positioned such that the shoulders seat on the back. On an inhalation, begin to press the hands into the blocks so that the shoulders are stable, then visualize a zipper running from the front of the spine all the way up the and another one running from the crown of the head down the spine. Only lift the chest off the floor to the height at which you can maintain a lengthening. Avoid the tendency to push the front ribs forward, but do allow the sternum to stretch up. Firm but don’t harden the buttocks.
- Distribute the backbend evenly throughout the entire spine.
- Hold the pose anywhere from 15 to 90 seconds, breathing easily. Release back to the floor with an exhalation.
Next Exit: A Healthy Life
Wellness at Work
I have always chosen to stay healthy. Yoga has played a huge role for me in this process. More than an exercise routine for the body, Yoga is alternative medicine, and in my mind, its value as a system of preventative health care is beyond belief.
Often, our busy lives lead to feelings of stress and burnout. Perhaps one of the best ways Yoga, used therapeutically, can benefit this state is in teaching us to relax during challenges. Side benefits also include improving our energy, our breathing capacity, our immune system, our ability to focus, sleep, think clearly. Better posture means better joint stability and function, flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular conditioning. Not only that, but a meditative mind is able to be happier and feel empowered, connected, and enriched. It is, above all else, a practical methodology for living life well.
This being said, there are other things we need to do to maintain our health. I advocate regular visits to your health and dental professionals. I have lived most of my life in Canada, where there is Medicare, and many things are covered. However, I also had private health care coverage which was one of the benefits of working for a family owned company at one point.
Now I am looking into establishing residency in the United States, and am trying to familiarize myself with health care in a new system. I know that when I am ready, I am going to have to investigate private health care, and navigate the best plan for myself. It looks like a lot to research, so I am breaking it down, and sharing a few simple tips.
- Research in your area to see which companies offer what.
- Ask yourself what your priorities are.
- Find out what the range of products and coverage is.
- Check out the websites and use their contact form to ask questions; you can then get a glimpse into how they process clients.
For example, if we choose a company for fun such as Aviva , we can see what area this company covers, what their products are and how this fits in with our vision of what we are looking for. We can also use their contact form, ask questions, get a quote. From there, maybe there is another company to compare it with, we can make a spread sheet to compare, take ten breaths to focus and we are good to go.
A YOGA MIND plus good health care coverage seems smart and prepared; you want healthy practices and support for these practices in order to feel like you are doing your best
Peaceful Warrior
My latest post on MindBodyGreen
For many of us, the end of summer can mean an end of a relaxed pace of life. Whether we are going back to work or back to school or simply returning to busier routines, there can be an underlying sense of worry due to these new pressures.
Unfortunately, worry is often accompanied by anxiety, fear, and stress. These emotions trigger out flight-or-flight response, so that we sleep less, take shallow breaths, digest poorly, and react from an overall cranky place.
Over on the opposite side of the nervous system is the parasympathetic system, which likes prayer, and trust, and prefers peace and relaxation.
Ease or disease; we’re equipped to handle both. The one we give more attention to will get stronger, like a muscle…
I am not going to tell you that there is a magic wand to make worry go away, but you can adopt strategies to bring your mind under control, which is what the entire system of yoga is about. This should not be underestimated since the mind is responsible for conjuring the worry up in the first place.
Here are 7 ways you can cultivate yoga mind and become a peaceful warrior instead of a nervous worrier:
1. Try putting first things first rather than attacking everything at once.
2. Practice patience and LETTING GO and LETTING GOD with one thing.
3. Try to balance out the go go go with a bit of go with the flow. A restorative yoga pose is a great beginning.
4. Visualize your worries as hecklers at the comedy show, and try to use their lines to improve your material 🙂
5. Practice yoga not to escape, but to help illuminate the way.
6. Meet yourself where you are on your mat by adding a yoga prop so there is a sense of honoring yourself.
7. We neutralize stress as it comes up…this does not mean sweeping things under the rug, perhaps by learning to use the breath as a tool for managing the emotions.
Why not take a moment now to bring your palms together in front of the heart, into Atmanjali Mudra (gesture of prayer)? Affirm that you are grateful for this moment and connect with your heartbeat and the rhythm of your relaxed breathing.
Feel it as a moment of peace, harmony, balance, repose, and the heart’s desire. As a result, you may feel more clear and rested so you may want to do it more often…
Let me know how it goes.
South Bay Yoga Conference – Review
My after buzz from the South Bay Yoga Conference is still going strong
As an east coast Yapana yogini I was pretty honored to be invited as a presenter along with my California friends from Leeann Carey Yoga.
I was welcomed, not only by a wonderful team of fellow teachers, but also impressed by an extremely well run event, thanks to Jules Mitchell and her great staff. Josepf and I kicked off the weekend with Partner Yoga taught by Ansley Herndon which was the best choice for us! There was an array of free offerings: great music, free and purchasable eats (seriously yummy stuff) as well as a great marketplace where you could shop til you dropped. I did, but luckily there were body workers with affordable options for quick massage. The weather was lovely, the students were open, inquisitive, interested and interesting. Plenty to see and do in this scenic area too. I cannot wait to go back next year, not sure just yet what my workshops will be about, so keep in touch and hope to see you there in 2014. If you missed it, check out this calming video clip:
To Prop or Not To Prop?
My latest post on MindBodyGreen: 7 Reasons to Modify Your Yoga Practice With Props
Some of the yoga classes I attended 20 years ago were very minimalist in terms of yoga props. The yoga mat industry was much younger as well, and the choices of mats was limited to thin and thicker. At the studio where I taught we did have straps and cylindrical bolsters, but they felt hard to use, and didn’t really improve my practice or lend too much therapeutic tone to the class. In fact, some teachers felt that using props was both forceful and made it seem like the yoga equivalent of cheating at Scrabble.
Fast forward to an era where there are different kinds of mats, from eco friendly to exra absorbant. Yoga walls are popping up and the prop business has really taken off at the speed of OM. So why is it that some people scrunch up their faces and turn a cold upper trapezius when they hear the phrase “modify the practice to suit your needs?”
This is actually the key to understanding yoga therapy, as we teach that yoga isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” practice even though it’s accessible to everyone. I believe finding your modifications instead of tying yourself up in knots trying on poses the way everyone else is doing them is both positive and empowering.
Using a strategically placed prop can open your body, increasing range of motion, flexibility, and strength. Sometimes one muscle group becomes dominant because it overworks, which leaves other areas weak and underdeveloped. Using support doesn’t mean collapsing into it. On the contrary, using the prop as feedback provides valuable information, especially about what your unique yoga needs are.
Here are seven reasons to turn your physical practice of YOGA into YOGAtherapy. A well-placed prop can:
1. Help you learn the skill involved in sustaining alignment.
2. Take unnecessary struggle out so you cultivate more of a relaxed mind.
3. Make a pose more accessible.
4. Prevent injuries and help old injuries to heal.
5. Create space in the spine and joint stability.
6. Achieve a deeper release of tension as you learn to be in a pose for longer with greater comfort.
7. Promote balance by encouraging weak parts to strengthen and less flexible areas to lengthen.
Why not try bringing a challenging pose closer to you rather than chasing after it? No doubt different doorways will open up in your experience of your mind, your body, and your breath!
Have fun with it!
on contentment
Latest blogpost on MindBodyGreen
Every time I think of the word “happiness,” I recall one of my favorite poems by Ven. Lama Gendun Rinpoche: “Happiness cannot be found through great effort or willpower, but is already present in open relaxation and letting go,” he writes.
Wow! Powerful, right? It is certainly easier to connect to a feeling of happiness when you’re not being tested, but is this your default setting? If pressure builds up, do you breathe and release, reboot and move forward with peaceful gratitude, or do you store it, build steam and explode? When things aren’t so easy, what are your attitudes, perceptions, and coping strategies? Is it still contentment, or is this reserved for the one day all the bills are paid, you’ve slept and have eaten well? In other words, are you content regardless of your situation?
Contentment, Patanjali says in Sutra 11.42 is dynamic, as opposed to complacency, which is stagnant. We should be able to look at our life, weed out the toxic relationships and situations to then rebalance on all levels. This requires changing what isn’t working. It also asks us to want what we have, be grateful and see a crisis as a crossroads.Contentment brings us to a new perception of how things are, which calms the mind. It is an attitude that’s independent of outside influences. What you have or don’t have does not change the essence of who you are.
Here’s what you need to do to turn your frown upside down, view adversity as opportunity and connect with the contented you:
1. Stop comparing yourself and your life to others; we all have gifts.
2. Give away something you don’t need; there’s always someone who could use it.
3. When you find yourself complaining, listen to yourself and write down two options for bringing change.
4. Repeat the mantra, “Thank you” more often; it cleans up taking things for granted.
5. Sit, breathe, relax and reboot.
6. Practice (safely) an energizing backbend, to open the body and allow new energy to flow to you.
7. Write down one thing today that makes you smile, and let that energy permeate your core.
Tough times provide opportunity for great inner strength and to connect deeply with what’s important to us. Allow this sustaining virtue of grateful contentment to take root in your life so that your default setting is now rewired for peace and positivity.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com
7 Reminders To Keep Your Yoga Practice Pure
7 Reminders To Keep Your Yoga Practice Pure
Featured on MindBodyGreen By Rana Waxman
Around this time of year, you seem to begin to hear more about “spring detoxes,” “spring cleaning,” and, “cleansing.” Even non-yogis are hailing kale and dropping the “cleanse” buzzword. So what does it all mean? Where does the special focus come from and why this time of year?
Cleanliness, or purity, is an ongoing part of the yoga system. Patanjali calls our attention to it in sutra 11.40: “Purity protects one’s body and brings nonphysical relationships with others.” According to T.K.V. Desicachar, the word tapas in the yogic system means, “Something we do in order to keep us physically and mentally healthy; a process of inner cleansing. We remove things we do not need.”
For those of us who had a cold winter, spring is when Mother Nature’s sunny smile makes things defrost and blossom; the maple syrup runs, we shed boots, scarves, hats and sweaters. We reorganize our closets to find our lighter clothing. We often have runny noses, allergies are irritated with all the pollen in the air, and the body tries to decongest itself of excess mucous.
Some students and friends have been telling me they’re exhausted, their joints hurt, and they’re feeling completely lazy. You don’t have to call it “cleansing” or feel like a hot toxic mess, but you may want to change up a few things to keep that spring in your step and the purity in your yoga practice. Here are seven things to be mindful of as we transition from one season to the next.
1. Food
Add more greens and fresh food to your menu (pizza is not your boyfriend, so just date it once a week).
2. Movement
Twists and forward bends tone the liver; walking outside to get some fresh air, listening to the birds and watching the new budding flora tone the spirit.
3. Rest
Go to sleep a little earlier in order to wake up rejuvenated.
4. Breathe
Make friends with a Neti-pot.
5. Write
Journal to get all these lurking negative emotions OUT.
6. Clean
Spruce up your closet and give what you don’t need to charity.
7. Shhh
The meditative state of silence and deep relaxation cleanses the mind!
Giving yourself a little extra support during any transition is a positive act. Just keep in mind that beyond all the recipes for detoxing is the system of yoga itself, which supports maintaining nourishing habits and self-reflection throughout the year. No matter how green you eat, if you’re not in touch with yourself emotionally, you won’t be able to rest and digest.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com
Published April 1, 2013 at 7:24 AM
Happy Passover
Happy Passover!
Use Mantras to Focus Your Mind and Change Your Life
Use Mantras to Focus Your Mind and Change Your Life
published on MindBodyGreen
By Rana Waxman
We are all leaders of our own lives and we need all the focus we can muster in order to do the mundane and the miraculous. It can be a full-time job in itself, but discipline and consistency pay off.
Even if you are “not interested in yoga,” you can be interested in the power of sound. You know some sounds resonate as peaceful, some can be abrasive, some energizing.
There are many mantras to choose from, either from your favorite CD, a resource book or you may seek the traditional approach for guidance from your yoga teacher. Focus on one mantra during your practice. Through repetition, the mantra will rest in your heart and repeat itself even when you are not formally in your practice time.
Tips to try this out:
Begin by stating to yourself your intention – your starting point problem, question, or desire.
You may initiate a new journal and either write it or sketch it in a way that is clear to you or fold it up and put it in a special place where it will remain for the duration of your discipline. Perhaps you will create a special healing space such as an altar with your favorite incense, a lovely candle, an inspiring picture or figurine or crystal. This will also be the place where you come to practice your discipline each day, your sanctuary. The painting in this photo is by one of my students, Julia Sheppard.
She painted it for me and it is a most special touchstone on my desk.
Now that you have prepared the foundation for your discipline choose the approach that appeals to you:
Repeat the mantra as often as possible over a 21-day period.
This means using the windows of time during your day to chant your mantra. It might also mean a regular interval in your day where you are conscious of your mantra practice during more formal sessions.
Intention, Attention.
Use the classical 40-day discipline, and set your practice at the same time, upon rising in the morning and before going to bed in the evening.
This is your sacred time to practice without interruption. In the classical sense, a 40-day discipline is one in which you repeat the same mantra every day for those 40 days. As with everything else, the more attention you apply to your intention, the more dramatic the results. This is one reason for the classical twice a day ritual.
Determine for yourself in a spacious and focused way how much time you will devote to your practice. And hey, if for you, the modern yogi(ni) this is when you are on a walk, sitting at your desk, in the car at a red light, and you only get in 5 repetitions, that are always better than 5 negative or worrisome thoughts.
Don’t judge, practice!
If you wish, set aside a special mala or rosary that you will use for this specific practice until you have completed your discipline. Either place it in your sacred space or wear it. Most malas have 108 beads, as the Vedic teachings state there are 108 principal astral channels leading from the heart in the subtle body out to the rest of the subtle body. Saying your mantra 108 times sends energy into each of these channels. Using a mala keeps your energy focused on your meditation.
Once you have started on this silent journey, there will be consequences from your effort. Tensions may ease or arise, obstacles or irritations may come up as you clear through resistance and negative energy patterns, and doorways may open.
You will be faced with the choice always to move through, open up, recreate new internal energy patterns or give into those parts of the self that do not seem to want to change and grow. Knowing that this is a natural part of the voyage, relax into your practice.
Engage your peaceful warrior spirit and if it is within you.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com
Published December 9, 2012 at 7:51 AM
