Category Archives: Yoga as Therapy

simple restorative yoga postures

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simple restorative yoga postures

viparita karani

viparita karani is one of the more simple restorative yoga postures:

Some of the benefits of this restorative posture include:

  1. regulation of blood flow,
  2. alleviation of menstrual cramps,
  3. relieves swollen ankles
  4. relieves varicose veins
  5. helps the reproductive organs in both males and females (increase of circulation in pelvic floor)
  6. improves digestion
  7. relieves tired legs and feet
  8. stretches the back of the neck, the front torso, and the back legs
  9. relieves problems in the eyes and ears
  10. relieves mild backache
  11. provides migraine and headache relief
  12. helps keep you young and vital
  13. calms anxiety
  14. relieves symptoms of mild depression and insomnia

In a past post, I included a short video using the 3 Minute eggs, as I had them with me when I was traveling and I always include restorative yoga postures in my yoga life. This is a really go-to one cause it can be spruced up or simplified… Depending on who you are in your body structure, and what you have as props, there are many ways to set up for this. In looking at the above list, the thing is, if you are menstruating, better not use a bolster, just lay flat, if you have serious restrictions in your hamstrings, be cautious. Be your own GPS. This is a really great pose if you have only 10 minutes. To make it really restful, cover your eyes.

Owning peace

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peace: this poem makes me reflect that yoga helps us uncover and own our inner peace :

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The souls that rises with us, our life’s star,

hath had elsewhere its setting. and cometh from afar.

Not in entire forgetfulness, and not in utter nakedness, but trailing clouds of glory

do we come from God,

who is our home” ~ William Wordsworth

The pose pictured below, ananda balasana, or, happy baby pose reminds us that we come from a carefree state, where stretching is pleasant and explorative. Try to form the intention to practice it with the same freshness of a baby, and breathe peacefully Pronounced:(AH-nahn-dah-BAHL-ahs-ahna)
Ananda = blissful
Bala = baby

The how to’s:

1. Lie on your back with your knees drawn in towards your chest.
2. Take hold of your feet with your hands. Place your arms in front of your shins, and hold on to the outside edges of your feet.
3. Draw your shoulders on to your back, tone your arms and flex your feet as you pull down on your feet, pressing through the mound of the big toes.
4. Draw your knees wide and toward your armpits and try to stack your ankles above your knees.
5. Lengthen your lower back down to the ground.
6. Stay here for 1 minute, and then release and draw your knees in to your chest.

Here are some benefits of the posture:

  • Opens and stretches the hips
  • Stretches the inner groins
  • Lengthens and helps to realign the spine
  • Calms the mind and relieves stress
  • Strengthens the arms and shoulders
peace

Happy baby pose

morning yoga sequence

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morning yoga sequence -cute cartoon showing how natural your morning yoga sequence can be if you set an intention, or sankalpa

So many of you want to ‘do’ yoga but can’t ‘find time’. There is a word in yoga – “sankalpa” which means intention. Setting your mind on something, intending towards it, will increase the probability that it will happen. Common sense, right? There is a difference between the intention and the goal of what your intention is set on. We have more influence on what we do than what we hope will happen. Nature is a pretty big force here! Sankalpa has to do with planning, setting a course of action, such as “I am going to wake up 15 minutes early and get a little morning yoga in and begin my day with a positive and focused tone”. Once you set that intention, then you have to take a step, such as actually setting the alarm or going to sleep a little earlier.

I love this cartoon for the simple reason that it shows how natural your own practice can feel like, even if it is a few minutes, current studies are showing that frequent intermittent stretching (not forceful) can provide release an ease. There is also more to restorative yoga than you think. We actually get a healthier stretch when we are relaxed.

What to do? Well, seriously folks, even if you take one private yoga lesson to get you going, it is a great way to not only set your intention to feel better, but also to actually reach that goal. Or find me – I teach here in Jersey City

morning yoga

morning yoga

Healing With Yoga

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“Healing is not just a physical process, but a process of consciousness” ~ Doug Keller

The body knows how to heal itself. I gashed my thumb the other day and am just amazed at how in just two days, the skin is growing back. We tend to think of using yoga for healing in terms of the injured or sick but that is not always the case. I think an important understanding is that we can have general good health but still merit from a yoga practice that strengthens and supports the immune system, the rest and digest mechanisms, and recognize that managing stress plays a huge part in keeping our minds and bodies fit, resilient and efficient.

Taking our body for granted is a big mistake. Too much activity and not enough rest can interrupt the proper functioning of our inner body/mind and overload it so that it may impede recovery time. If you start to consider balancing out your practice so that there are different components – strength, flexibility and stillness, you are helping to prevent illness, helping to facilitate the miraculous movements that our bodies do silently in 24 hours.

Join me for class to explore a balanced practice, try my breathing for balance exercise or see me for a personalized exploration of healing body, mind, spirit

healing

healing

Stillness and Yoga

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Stillness: there is a relationship between stillness and the practice of yoga

be still

be still

Sometimes we think of stillness as lack of movement, but stillness can be a very quiet place, while nonetheless, hosting a lot of healing activity. For yogis, the first pose for ‘stillness’ is corpse pose, which is a wonderfully restful pose for the sympathetic nervous system. It also relieves fatigue and restores balance. Yes, it is also used to manage anxiety, but for some people, unaccustomed to practice, you may find it easier to fidget than lay still. Many insist it is the hardest pose to master. It is also the most important.

Savasana is not the same as napping or lying on the sofa, which tend to distract or dull the mind and senses. If you are watching a scary movie, it may even cause your blood pressure to rise, so not a great remedy if you are already super stressed out. Savasana is more like tuning in. It provides the brain, which communicates nonverbally to all the systems of the body, a chance to hear itself, which in turn, promotes healing. So the next time you think of skipping this crucial part of yoga practice, be still, close your eyes, let everything relax, and just let your mind stand off to the side, as you watch your breath for a few moments then just let go. Try it out. You may learn, or un learn something. Check out my Yoga Mind cd for some guided practices and set up tips or learn how to customize your session

 

meditation for beginners

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meditation for beginners:

If you are just starting out on a yoga-meditation-stress relief plan, this quote may be informative to your practice: “Meditation is not to escape from society, but to go back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting.  With mindfulness we know what to do and what not to do to help.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Contrary to some belief, stress relief via mindfulness practices does not mean that you get to hide from stress or necessarily avoid it altogether. Yoga is actually a system designed to help cultivate the inner witness, that place beyond the noise of the busy mind. Just focusing on the present moment and its wholeness, gives us this gift of returning to our inner peaceful core. This in turn gives us the ability to breathe and calm ourselves during stressful times, get objective, or just respond from a better place, even make healthier choices in the beginning.

If you are struggling with the postures in yoga, you can check out a short but sweet practice on my YOGA MIND cd, called “5 minute mindfulness retreat” which will help you learn how to focus. Awareness really is the building block for the deeper states of meditation; it tends to evolve with patience and practice, not by chasing it or trying to push aside reality. the important thing is not to be the drama you are watching, but rather, associate with the peaceful witness.

meditation for beginners

meditation for beginners

yoga backbends

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Yoga backbends: the cobra, or bhujangasana, is one of the basic prone backbends in yoga. The spine extends in its entirety, from base of spine to base of neck. As well, there is a strong working action of the serratus posterior superior (under the armpits) which helps the chest expand, and works synergistically with the erector spinae group. The front core of the body has to help, providing support for the lumbar area. Additionally although you don’t want to push too much with the arms, any tightness in the biceps and triceps will affect the height the pose. The fingers, when used with interest, can also help access additional information in the shoulders, neck, chest and mid back.

The legs are far but passive in this pose, even though many students leave them behind in order to force height in the pose. This also leads, can lead, to disc compression which is not good. The legs should really be kept in alignment, especially for the SI joints. The glutes and hamstrings are working in this pose, especially to maintain adduction and internal rotation. If your legs externally rotate, you may have weakness in the medial hamstrings, which can cause the gluteus maximus to harden and overwork.

The baby below, makes the pose look simple and supple, which is what we hope for in this backbend, that there is a sense of extension throughout the entire spine. One tip is to move into it on the exhale rather than the inhale. I have tried this and it gives the pose lightness. Never throw your head back. 🙂

yoga backbends

yoga backbends

yoga breathing

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yoga breathing:

yoga breathing

yoga breathing: try my YOGA MIND cd

“Breathing, the process of taking air into and expelling it from the lungs, is caused by a three-dimensional changing of shape in the thoracic and abdominal cavities” ~ Leslie Kaminoff, Yoga Anatomy

Yoga breathing is three dimensional. Does this sound like you or does your breath feel stuck, shallow, short, or are you not even aware of your breathing at all? I created the YOGA MIND cd with all of you in mind (no pun intended). You are busy, have limited time, you may get to a yoga class but not really get in depth instruction. You want to practice though, and find it easier with guidance. The cd is available for you on ITUNES so that you can put it directly on your ipod or phone. Perfect calming for those moments in the dentist office, before a meeting, after your home yoga practice, or with your significant other.

If you think all breathing practices are the same, click here and stay tuned for my workshops in 2014. You can also take private yoga lessons with me

creating your own rope wall

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creating your own rope wall:

below is an awesome rope wall – not all studios have them, not all studios want them. When you understand the traction you get, not to mention the assistance with alignment…sigh…

rope wall

I live in an apartment and as you can see (and imagine) I have an extensive yoga prop collection. I do not over decorate, preferring to have wall space for practice. I would love to have a yoga rope wall set up, however, it is not feasible.

rope wall

Creating your own rope wall can be done using a door knob. You first have to get it out of your head that it isn’t perfect, but it is totally awesome as a simulation. The next thing you need to get is a 10 foot yoga strap with a D-ring buckle.

Check out my yogatherapyproplove store on Amazon for all the utensils of the trade. Before you tie the belt fold it in half. Then cover the door jam with the belt and take each long end around each of the door knobs and underneath. After that, you can fasten the ends. It may slip but that is ok, just fiddle with it. In this photo I left about a two foot loop. I then lay on my back and crossed my ankles, resting them in the loop for about two minutes per side – you switch the cross of the ankles mid way. There are a number of poses that can be done with this set-up. If you are in Jersey City or Hoboken, you can contact me for a private yoga lesson and we will set you up. Enjoy!

yoga for beginners

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YOGA For beginners

yoga for beginners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This comic reminds me of the expression beginners mind which differs from yoga for beginners. I love to walk into a yoga class as a student, and start from a place called the beginner’s mind. If you Wikepedia the expression, you find it means ‘Shoshin’ : ” a concept in Zen Buddhism meaning “beginner’s mind“. It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would” . This doesn’t mean I forget to navigate according to who I am (slightly protective of my SI joints etc) but I put aside feeling full of knowing in order to receive the information with openness. You learn so much this way!

What I will say if you are looking for yoga for beginners is that soon I will be teaching a FUNdamentals Yapana® yoga series which is a great place for you to start learning yoga (or just show up with that beginners mind). I would also say that one of my skill sets as a yoga therapist is that I can help you modify your practice to meet your needs whether you are an athlete or a weekend warrior, nursing an injury or just have a busy or inquisitive mind. This happens in a private yoga lesson so book that soon or check out my updated yoga class schedule here in Jersey City.

Here are some of the potential benefits:

-Facilitate active recovery

-Improve musculo-skeletal alignment

-Increase your awareness to dramatically transform your posture

-Cultivate mental focus for work, play and performance

-Successfully breathe in and out of challenges

-Work with your aches and pains to reduce fatigue

-Improve energy level and stamina

-Get better range of motion and flexibility

-Turn joint inflammation into joint  strength and stability

-Reduce the stress and anxiety of fast paced commuter/computer lifestyle

-Improve health and habits that keep your immune system fully charged

-Balance out your life with rest and digest

-Take your yoga practice to a new level by bringing a skillful quality to your asana

-Breathe better