I love my yoga practice
Laughter is the breath medicine 🙂
The best thing about private yoga classes, as my students tell me, is that they get to ask questions. Maybe you don’t feel your third eye (yet) or have awareness of your thighs (yet) or are less fearful (yet) … but … every time you practice you can enjoy some aspect and self-reflect, learn about yourself, and ultimately transform/organize/balance out in a new way. Enjoy the day on and off the yoga mat
I think this is partly true in that if an asana feels too challenging we may avoid it rather than break it down into steps or modify it to suit our present needs…for me as a teacher, the importance thing is to learn the skill and people often find my classes challenge them in entirely unexpected ways.
On the other hand, we have to learn what would just definitely not suit us and omit it if possible so as not to provoke injury, dis-harmony or imbalance…
The nice thing about using yoga as therapy is that you get a chance to understand why you might avoid a pose. Perhaps there is a lot of tightness around a certain area that you are unsure how to work into. That is the beauty of private yoga lessons, you get to ask lots of questions, have undivided attention and get into a practice that is not superficial at all.
Yogatherapy for the Subscapularis:
Yoga Therapy for the Subscapularis: In case you here the cue “open the heart” – I find the cue not as informative as seeing anatomically how the chest and arms work together here are some tips and a great infograph to put join yoga mind body and spirit. This infographic is cool – it shows muscles, has some mind/body self-reflections/spirit and also gets into the meridians. Yoga Therapy for the Subscapularis ! If you are someone whose shoulder blades ‘wing’, or, you have tight pectorals, and can never understand the cue ‘ keep your shoulder blades seated on your back’ this is a muscle group you can investigate and look towards strengthening.
Too much tightness in one area can simultaneously create tightness (and pinching) in another. There are a few ways that yoga, used therapeutically can address this. A restorative backbend can nicely open the front lines of the body while allowing the back body to re-pattern, plus you get to facilitate breathing.
Muscle metaphor questions to answer:
-What are you hiding or keeping private?
-Is there something that you need to reveal?
-What do you feel in your heart as opposed to your head?
-How are you receiving and sending messages about your life to yourself and others?
-ow is your communication and circulation within your soul, or in your daily activities, literally or figuratively?
Pause
This is perfect for a Saturday post ~ enjoy the day!
Pause, linger, enjoy. Take a few more breaths in a pose. Try a relaxation exercise before dinner or a walk through the park. Life really is fast, so if you don’t stop yourself, you could be missing out!
Yoga practice is a holistic way to learn how to mindfully enjoy life
Word of the day: Satya = truthfulness
the respect for truth encompasses different forms of communication (words, gestures, writing); “to thine own self be true”
and is defined in the Mahabharata (according to Bernard Bouanchaud in The Essence of Yoga) as “Truth should be told when agreeable, should be said agreeably, and truth should not be said that does harm; however, never lie to give pleasure”
I think taking some of the speed out of some aspect of your yoga practice and (in general) the day, keeps us honest, less impatient, less inclined to hurt ourselves or others.. Above all else, living mindfully keep us living in truthfulness as we cultivate a symbiosis between thoughts and actions.
To practice this, you may enjoy: 5 Minute Mindfulness Retreat and join me on Facebook and Twitter with #liveyouryoga
Feet First: Yoga Therapy Tip Basic
Let’s face it – our feet take a beating in daily life, whether it is the shoes we wear, the activities we do, or the way we stand, the feet are our foundations. If you already have a pre-existing condition, then you can use Yoga Therapy to strengthen and even prevent further damage to your feet as well as learn to stand using better posture. It is always good to know, who you are and what you bring to asana. Sometimes cues are for the general public. I have found, through years of practice, that my bunions have gone from pain level 10+ to almost no pain ever (with the exception of walking in some shoes for prolonged periods). However, I have to do a lot of work in my feet especially in standing poses. Great read on bunions by one of my teachers, Doug Keller
Tips
Yesterday at a client’s house, we didn’t have a tennis ball but they had some small 3 pound weights which we used to
-roll the feet over as a little preliminary massage before
-some ankle rolls
– toe tractions.
Don’t wait for your next pedicure to take care of your feet from the inside out. Try to distribute your weight on your feet (not so easy). And don’t forget, the feet communicate with your calves so don’t expect to get tension out of the calves without working the tootsies…For more tips contact me
Why Using a Wall is a Useful Yoga Prop
As a yoga therapist, I have never seen anyone not benefit from the use of a strategically placed yoga prop. Apart from a sticky and reliable yoga mat, the wall itself is a fantastic yoga prop and one of your best teachers for a few reasons:
-it does not lie; when you press into it you feel direct postural feedback of where you are in time and space
-it helps you maintain balance which can deliver you into more self-confidence, and strength
-it helps you maintain alignment and so conserve energy and keeps you safer (because there are healthy ways to stretch and ways that create injury)
-you can stack things against it like yoga blocks, bolsters, yoga chair
-it reminds us to ground, lengthen, align the spine and helps deepen awareness
Sounds pretty great right? right now, while I get to know the ropes here in Jersey City, I am available for private yoga classes
The belief that using props is cheating or makes things ‘easy’ is ridiculous. Believe me.
Try this variation of a lunge: Come into downward facing dog with your heels up the baseboard of the wall. Step your right foot forward between your hands (you can use blocks). Keep pressing the back heel into the wall, draw your top thighs into the body so your hips are steady, as you lengthen through the spine. 60-90 seconds each side, steady breathing steady alignment
Join me for restorative yoga whether in private or in Jersey City to explore some calming options
wall as yoga prop
Breathe, Stretch, Relax !
I am teaching a free yoga class on the Pier at Exchange Place tomorrow, Saturday June 7 2014.
You need to RSVP and bring a mat and 2 towels
If you cannot make it, you can always book a private yoga class with me 🙂
The Breath…Ahhh…
“The purpose of pranayama is to make the respiratory system functin at its best. This automatically improves the circulatory system, without which the processes of digestion and elimination would suffer. Toxins would accumulate, diseases spread through the body and ill-health becomes habitual” ~ B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Pranayama
Do you have tension in the neck, shoulders and lower back? Do you complain about headaches, poor sleeping habits, fatigue, stomach aches and high levels of stress ?
Maybe you do not breathe well. Part of a balanced yoga practice frees muscular restrictions which impede healthy breathing. I have some basic breathing practices on my Yoga Mind Cd and am available for private yoga classes to address your particular needs. There are also a few articles I have written online with practices you can check out.
