Tag Archives: yoga

yoga and pain management

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yoga and pain management: “A lot of the pain that we are dealing with are really only thoughts” hmmm….

There is a growing body of evidence that yoga can help with chronic pain. Now, if you are actually in pain then hearing that your thoughts are causing it will probably frustrate you. However, you will be among an estimated 50 to 75 million Americans who are living with chronic pain, and to know that your mind is involved, may actually help move you to a better place. This does not mean that your experience of pain is not real, but, what it does involve is that the source of pain is not limited to where you think it starts from or where you are feeling it.

Chronic pain is a complex issue. Fortunately, when you think of it as a mind,body,spirit ‘issue’, then you can treat it from the toolbox of the yoga system, which will include restorative yoga, breathing practices, relaxation, and meditation.

The body basically detects pain through a sensing of incoming threat- which then stimulates and stresses certain nerves in the spinal column and then travels to the brain and becomes a message of suffering/anger/fear/ and other reactions. When pain becomes chronic, our nervous system has been taught already what will trigger pain, and it may be so sensitized and protective that it is like dialing 911 all the time. It can be exhausting on all levels.

There is more to it, but certainly, since our brains can learn, yoga does steer us to train the brain to turn on healing responses – for example, slowing down the exhale, watching thoughts, being poses that offer a chance for the nervous system to recuperate..

pain-thoughts

Depression and yoga

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Depression and yoga, some thoughts today on how to move into a state of possibility…

yoga and depression: an alternative

Possibility

I am not going to tackle this head on because it is a big subject, rather let you read the following description and see if it is you, or someone you know. Despair or the feeling that there is no hope or possibility is rampant in our culture, and hits people along all socio-economic lines. Doctors consider it biochemical; and there are people who can and do need medication whether long or short term. I have worked with people who want to be strong enough to go off meds, and look to yoga as alternative medicine because it gives you tools to alleviate stress, make different choices, alters brain chemistry in a positive way…and so much more including changing postural habits (like sunken chest), replacing depressive thought patterns with more optimistic ones, accessing your inner peace and strength. This affirmation is a good antidote so word of the day is “possibility”….

For clinical depression, you must have five or more of the following symptoms over a two-week period, most of the day, nearly every day. At least one of the symptoms must be either a depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure. Signs and symptoms may include:

  • Depressed mood, such as feeling sad, empty or tearful (in children and teens, depressed mood can appear as constant irritability)
  • Significantly reduced interest or feeling no pleasure in all or most activities
  • Significant weight loss when not dieting, weight gain, or decrease or increase in appetite (in children, failure to gain weight as expected)
  • Insomnia or increased desire to sleep
  • Either restlessness or slowed behavior that can be observed by others
  • Fatigue or loss of energy
  • Feelings of worthlessness, or excessive or inappropriate guilt
  • Trouble making decisions, or trouble thinking or concentrating
  • Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, or a suicide attempt

 

mindfulness quotes

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mindfulness quotes

This is a fantastic quote. “Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.” ~ Pema Chodron

I think people tend to come to their yoga practice with expectation, maybe you don’t feel so great in your posture, you have low energy, you feel so stiff that you can’t do simple things around the house, your nerves are frayed, whatever the case. Then you show up for practice and want all that to change. My teacher always said, “you are perfect as you are”. It’s a pretty powerful concept, but I think when you befriend yourself, aches and pains included, it softens your perspective and your grasping for change. No chase is needed. Practice will transform you over the course of your practice.

I believe when the mind is relaxed, all necessary transformation can take shape. Starting from compassion and loving kindness (maitreya) is a good beginning for anyone’s yoga practice; the word “Maitreya” means : ” (Metteyya in Pāli) is derived from the Sanskrit word maitrī (Pāli: mettā) meaning “loving-kindness”, which is in turn derived from the noun mitra (Pāli: mitta) in the sense of “friend”

mindfulness quotes

who are you?

The wisdom of yoga sutra 1.2

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yoga sutra 1.2

“yoga is the stilling of the changing states of mind”

We tend to associate the mind with its mindstuff, or thoughts. We even think about our thinking. Sometimes this gets a little compulsive. We even think about postures.
So what is Patanjali referring to in yoga sutra 1.2

Yoga is a practice that balances and consists of maintaining a balance between a quiet mind that is ‘still’, meaning the thought waves are calmed, and the awake and present state where we are able to notice and observe what we are doing. In that balance, the chaos and drama of thoughts rushing around on so many levels about so many things is controlled and directed (one-pointednes).

the word ‘mind’ here is composed of the psyche, the intelligence, thoughts, sentiments, emotions, so it is a broad term here, and can be both subconscious and conscious. When your mind is in the yoga state (yoga mind, I like to say) all the disharmony and disturbance that the mind was previously engaged in is replaced by a harmonious state that is purified and not distracted or subject to the sufferings of the monkey mind.

Does your yoga practice change the way your ‘mind’ feels, and do you take this transformation into your daily life ? #liveyouryoga

yoga sutra 1.2

yoga sutra 1.2

proper breathing

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proper breathing: “without proper breathing the yoga postures are nothing more than calisthenics” R. Schaeffer

Asana is a great forum to discover who you are as a breather. You know from past posts of mine that breathing is a vast topic, with many therapeutic uses and applications. I often work with private clients to dive into their breathing persona and uncover the areas that could benefit from specific asana to help them move toward “proper breathing”.

proper breathing

For some, and I think this is what the above quote refers to, the tendency is to hold the breath or use stressed out breathing (short and shallow) while holding a posture, especially in a challenging pose. This creates more stress and tension in the body. In yoga, we want to create a calm and relaxed body, breath and mind through the conscious use of the breath in asana.

In asana, the break is the link between the mind and body, so that as you learn the  coordination of breath and movement, your practice becomes harmonious, and your breath deepens of its own accord, therefore increasing circulation and stimulating metabolism … Also since there is a huge correlation between emotions, thoughts and breathing practices, one can direct the breath to enhance muscle relaxation by concentrating on tense areas of the body and consciously relaxing those parts with each exhalation.

 

proper breathing

proper breathing

stillness and the calming of the mind

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stillness and the calming of the mind

stillness and the calming of the mind

stillness and the calming of the mind

Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How stil they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness. ~ Eckhart tolle

Seasons are changing, as we feel the colder temperatures, part of us wants to keep moving to stay warm, the other part feels more tired, and wants to rest.

There is definitely a shift, and this should as well, be reflected in your practice, and in your diet. According to yoga’s sister science, Ayurveda, each of us, and as well, each season, is dominated by one of the three doshas (vata, pitta, kapha).

In Fall, vata is more dominant (notice the wind blowing the leaves off the trees?). Vata also governs movement in the body, such as activating the nervous system and the processes of elimination. Its qualities of vata are, not surprisingly, cold, dry, rough, light, changeable, irregular and moving. Vata is composed of the elements of air and space, and since it is associated with the nervous system, it can be reflected in our mental state. As you can imagine, if this element becomes so dominant in our psyche, we can become overwhelmed and out of balance. Are you may feeling unsettled, ungrounded ? We cannot ask Fall to settle down but we can make adjustments to maintain internal balance.

From salad, sometimes moving to root veggies. Remember to warm up for your poses, and choose a balance between boosting your energy, and restoring your energy. Relaxation is ever important, and an attitude that embraces the season – including some of its more hibernation based accents will get you far 🙂

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.

surrender yoga and meditation

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surrender yoga and meditation

Our word of the day and cause for reflection is the sanskrit wrd, “ishvara pranidhana” which means surrendering to the Supreme. While this may be somewhat too mystical for the average stressful day, I get that, but there are some pretty practical connotations that you can derive. First of all, I say it pretty often, but, we need some kind of balance between doing and being, or letting go. I am all for being tenacious but at the same time, some patience, and some allowing of things to unfold is also necessary. Do your best, let G-d do the rest.

This is a great quote on this theme: “Meditation is a surrender, It is not a demand. It is not forcing existence your way. It is relaxing into the way existence wants you to be. It is a let-go” ~ Osho

I think asana is a good mirror for us. This is one reason I like to use props. We can find just the right amount of effort and ease when we know how to support ourselves in yoga poses, rather than being only effort, so that the overworked areas can release and the under worked areas can develop. In addition, the restoratives are great teachers for surrender, because they reinforce the relax and digest mechanisms rather than recruit only strength and effort. Learning to do just the right amount, and let-go just the right amount, we start to feel, I think, more balanced. When all we do is push, when we don’t get what we are pushing for, the two things that happen are, unhappiness for not ‘getting’ it, and a closed door to what we aren’t pushing for but could potentially be even better. Yes, this requires trust. More on that another time. meanwhile, check out my meditations.

surrender and yoga

surrender and yoga

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