If you can't afford to take a class, what is the best path to take in beginning a practice at home? —Janet from Lawrence, Kansas
Read Natasha's reply:
Establishing a home practice is a wonderful way to create a very direct and personal connection to your yoga. The downside is that, without a teacher who can make hands-on adjustments, you are in danger of developing habits that may not be beneficial. This is why I think it is crucial to find a tape, DVD, or CD that provides a wealth of information, and to be sure that the information is delivered in a variety of forms that complement each other.
The good news is that there is a wealth of fine products to choose from when developing a home practice. Go to your local library or video store and check out a handful of videos by different instructors. Shop around until you find someone with whom you connect, the way you would if you were trying to find the teachers that you liked at a new studio. As you try different tapes or DVDs, try to find a teacher who instructs in a way that makes sense to you. This may sound self-evident, but what I mean is that he or she communicates information in a way that helps you understand the form, structure, and spirit of the practice, and that provides additional material to support your understanding of his or her explanations and directions. Sometimes we can hear an instruction over and over again and it doesn't register, but if we see a picture or read something that emphasizes the same instruction, it suddenly clicks.
Finally, I recommend that you do periodically try to take a class, just because it is always useful to be around a live person who can give feedback about alignment and make specific suggestions about ways to enhance your practice.
Monday, January 12, 2009
How to Deal With Soreness
I practice the Ashtanga primary series regularly. Lately, I've been ending up with sore and tender hamstrings afterward, making it impossible for me to practice six days a week. Should I practice through the pain or rest until the soreness subsides?
By Maty Ezraty
In the classical eightfold path of yoga, it is no accident that ahimsa (nonviolence) is the first yama (restraint) to observe—ahimsa is the heart and essence of yoga. When we sustain an injury, we have distanced ourselves from this concept. However, an injury offers a chance to return to the place of compassion, sweetness, and patience that ahimsa encourages. It is crucial to avoid reinjuring yourself. This does not mean you must stop practicing, but you should modify your practice.
Try to assess the origin of your injury—maybe your hamstrings are weak and your quadriceps are not working to support them. Or maybe your knees hyperextend or you've been lifting and spreading the sitting bones too much. Hamstring pulls respond well to strengthening work, so you might want to work with bent-leg standing poses, like Utkatasana (Chair Pose) and Virabhadrasana I and II (Warrior Pose I and II); increase the amount of time you normally hold them for. Also do backbending poses, like Salabhasana (Locust Pose) and Dhanurasana (Bow Pose), which more specifically teach you how to contract and lift the hamstrings. If your knees hyperextend (or to find out if they do), come into Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) with your heels and the backs of your legs against a wall. Press down through the four corners of the feet evenly and lift the inner and outer ankles.
Work to lift and engage both the fronts and the backs of your legs. If your calves touch the wall first, learn to move the tops of the thighs to the wall faster then the calves. This will teach you to correctly stack the upper and lower legs. If the pain is close to where the hamstring attaches to the sitting bone, you may be lifting or spreading your sitting bones too far apart. Tie a belt around the injured area.
In Uttanasana, keep the hips directly over your heels and firm the sides of your thighs toward the centerline of your body. Avoid overextending the muscle by drawing the fronts and backs of the thighs up evenly. In seated asanas, place a folded sticky mat under your knee. This will alleviate the pain and prevent reinjury. Spread your calves to widen the backs of the knees and learn to ground your femurs.
And remember: Injuries are best healed under the guidance of a qualified teacher.
By Maty Ezraty
In the classical eightfold path of yoga, it is no accident that ahimsa (nonviolence) is the first yama (restraint) to observe—ahimsa is the heart and essence of yoga. When we sustain an injury, we have distanced ourselves from this concept. However, an injury offers a chance to return to the place of compassion, sweetness, and patience that ahimsa encourages. It is crucial to avoid reinjuring yourself. This does not mean you must stop practicing, but you should modify your practice.
Try to assess the origin of your injury—maybe your hamstrings are weak and your quadriceps are not working to support them. Or maybe your knees hyperextend or you've been lifting and spreading the sitting bones too much. Hamstring pulls respond well to strengthening work, so you might want to work with bent-leg standing poses, like Utkatasana (Chair Pose) and Virabhadrasana I and II (Warrior Pose I and II); increase the amount of time you normally hold them for. Also do backbending poses, like Salabhasana (Locust Pose) and Dhanurasana (Bow Pose), which more specifically teach you how to contract and lift the hamstrings. If your knees hyperextend (or to find out if they do), come into Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) with your heels and the backs of your legs against a wall. Press down through the four corners of the feet evenly and lift the inner and outer ankles.
Work to lift and engage both the fronts and the backs of your legs. If your calves touch the wall first, learn to move the tops of the thighs to the wall faster then the calves. This will teach you to correctly stack the upper and lower legs. If the pain is close to where the hamstring attaches to the sitting bone, you may be lifting or spreading your sitting bones too far apart. Tie a belt around the injured area.
In Uttanasana, keep the hips directly over your heels and firm the sides of your thighs toward the centerline of your body. Avoid overextending the muscle by drawing the fronts and backs of the thighs up evenly. In seated asanas, place a folded sticky mat under your knee. This will alleviate the pain and prevent reinjury. Spread your calves to widen the backs of the knees and learn to ground your femurs.
And remember: Injuries are best healed under the guidance of a qualified teacher.
Build a home practice so you can do it yourself
By Claudia Cummins
Less is more. In the beginning, a little yoga every day is likely to be more manageable than trying to squeeze in a longer session a few times a week. Try setting aside just 10 or 15 minutes in your day for some quiet exploration—perhaps when you first wake up, when you return home from work, or just before you sink into bed at night.
Focus on a single pose. Each week, pick one pose you'd like to explore more deeply and commit to practicing it at least once a day. Consider choosing an asana your teacher has recently focused on in class, or flip through the pages of an introductory yoga book until you find a pose that speaks to your imagination. Stick with your exploration until you feel as comfortable in your chosen pose as you do in your favorite pair of jeans.
Round Out Your Practice with variety. Focus on a particular group of postures each day. Let your mood and energy level dictate which ones you do and when. On Mondays, for example, you might choose to focus on standing poses; on Tuesdays, you might tackle a few backbends. Wednesdays might be suited for concentrating on twists, Thursdays on forward bends. And Fridays,for many of us, are the perfect day to practice restorative postures.
Slip short yoga breaks into your day. Just a few moments of mindfulness sprinkled throughout the day can go a long way toward helping create a more balanced and joyful life. This is easy to do: Focus on your breath while waiting at a stoplight. Practice Tadasana (Mountain Pose) while standing in line at the grocery store. Rise up into Vrksasana (Tree Pose) while brushing your teeth. With a bit of ingenuity, you’ll find plenty of opportunities to work a little yoga into your daily routine.
Follow along. Base your practice on an established sequence of postures shown in your favorite book or video. This can be a source of inspiration as well as an excellent way to learn the fundamentals of sequencing and to develop a well-rounded daily practice.
Practice with a friend. Roll up your sticky mat and head over to a friend's house. Explore a few asanas together that you've learned in class or from a video, or take turns suggesting poses. As you move through the postures, share your questions, observations, and insights. You may find yourselves inspiring each other in ways you hadn't expected.
Look inward. At the beginning of each session, sit quietly for a few moments and observe your state of being. Ask yourself what sort of practice will bring you into a deeper state of balance. Are you in need of a little heat and invigoration? Include a few Sun Salutations or standing postures in your practice. Looking for a little relaxation? Try some seated postures and restorative poses. Tailor your yoga to the poses and practices that move you in the direction of balance, wisdom, and ease.
Less is more. In the beginning, a little yoga every day is likely to be more manageable than trying to squeeze in a longer session a few times a week. Try setting aside just 10 or 15 minutes in your day for some quiet exploration—perhaps when you first wake up, when you return home from work, or just before you sink into bed at night.
Focus on a single pose. Each week, pick one pose you'd like to explore more deeply and commit to practicing it at least once a day. Consider choosing an asana your teacher has recently focused on in class, or flip through the pages of an introductory yoga book until you find a pose that speaks to your imagination. Stick with your exploration until you feel as comfortable in your chosen pose as you do in your favorite pair of jeans.
Round Out Your Practice with variety. Focus on a particular group of postures each day. Let your mood and energy level dictate which ones you do and when. On Mondays, for example, you might choose to focus on standing poses; on Tuesdays, you might tackle a few backbends. Wednesdays might be suited for concentrating on twists, Thursdays on forward bends. And Fridays,for many of us, are the perfect day to practice restorative postures.
Slip short yoga breaks into your day. Just a few moments of mindfulness sprinkled throughout the day can go a long way toward helping create a more balanced and joyful life. This is easy to do: Focus on your breath while waiting at a stoplight. Practice Tadasana (Mountain Pose) while standing in line at the grocery store. Rise up into Vrksasana (Tree Pose) while brushing your teeth. With a bit of ingenuity, you’ll find plenty of opportunities to work a little yoga into your daily routine.
Follow along. Base your practice on an established sequence of postures shown in your favorite book or video. This can be a source of inspiration as well as an excellent way to learn the fundamentals of sequencing and to develop a well-rounded daily practice.
Practice with a friend. Roll up your sticky mat and head over to a friend's house. Explore a few asanas together that you've learned in class or from a video, or take turns suggesting poses. As you move through the postures, share your questions, observations, and insights. You may find yourselves inspiring each other in ways you hadn't expected.
Look inward. At the beginning of each session, sit quietly for a few moments and observe your state of being. Ask yourself what sort of practice will bring you into a deeper state of balance. Are you in need of a little heat and invigoration? Include a few Sun Salutations or standing postures in your practice. Looking for a little relaxation? Try some seated postures and restorative poses. Tailor your yoga to the poses and practices that move you in the direction of balance, wisdom, and ease.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Finding Comfort in Supta Baddha Konasana
As I yield to the pose Supta Baddha Konasana, I feel a wonderful release in my inner thighs and my legs want to sink into the floor. But as they do, my outer hip joints scream out and I have to raise my legs. It almost feels as if my thighbones are not lined up in my hip sockets and bone is pushing against bone. What causes this and what can I do so my hips will feel more comfortable?
—Leigh Scott
Lisa Walford's reply:
You are very astute Leigh! While this pose can feel delicious and is a panacea for many problems, when the body is not properly supported it can be distasteful. If your hips are tight or very loose, the head of the femur (greater trochanter), will press toward either the back or the front of the pelvis, respectively. In addition, if your hips are tight, the outer shinbones may bow toward the floor and distort the alignment of the knee. The good news is that with a few more blankets, the wonderful release you relish can be yours every day.
Supported Supta Baddha Konasana frees congested energy in the abdominal organs and thus encourages good pranic flow, health, and vitality to the digestive tract and the organs of elimination. By elevating the spine with blankets or bolsters, the rib cage gently expands. This encourages a restful state for the lungs and heart. It can be a wonderful cocktail for pregnant women or for anyone honoring that quiet transition from day to dusk, a time to let go of the day's events and settle inward.
Because we often stay in this pose for an extended amount of time, any contortion in the joints will flag the connective tissue with undue pressure. First perform the pose without props for support. If your knees are much higher than your hips, then your hips are tight and you should support both the thigh and shinbones. Blocks are inappropriate aids in this instance because they immobilize the legs. However, blankets allow the weight of the bones to gradually release toward the floor as tendons and ligaments soften.
Place a smoothly folded blanket perpendicular to your thighbone high enough underneath the leg to fully support the outer thigh and the shin. Support both legs, even if your discomfort is only on one side-if you only support one side you may torque the body and disturb the sacroiliac joint or lower back. This set up works if your hips are hyper-mobile as well; that is, if your knees touch the floor and you experience pain in the hip sockets.
If it's the knees that trouble you, often the outer shin weighs heavily toward the floor and sinks the inner knee toward the outer knee. In this case, support the shin with a rolled blanket to lift the sagging weight off the knee.
Once the legs are properly supported, the inner groins will soften and widen while the inner thighs lengthen toward the knees. Relax deeply and completely. Soften the eyes in toward the sockets, the cheeks in toward the hollow of the mouth, the hollow of the throat in toward the heart. Rest assured that with the proper support, your body will naturally migrate toward health, composure, and vitality.
Reclining Bound Angle Pose - Supta Baddha Konasana
by Yoga Journal1. Perform Baddha Konasana. Exhale and lower your back torso toward the floor, first leaning on your hands. Once you are leaning back on your forearms, use your hands to spread the back of your pelvis and release your lower back and upper buttocks through your tailbone. Bring your torso all the way to the floor, supporting your head and neck on a blanket roll or bolster if needed.
2. With your hands grip your topmost thighs and rotate your inner thighs externally, pressing your outer thighs away from the sides of your torso. Next slide your hands along your outer thighs from the hips toward the knees and widen your outer knees away from your hips. Then slide your hands down along your inner thighs, from the knees to the groins. Imagine that your inner groins are sinking into your pelvis. Push your hip points together, so that while the back pelvis widens, the front pelvis narrows. Lay your arms on the floor, angled at about 45 degrees from the sides of your torso, palms up.
3. The natural tendency in this pose is to push the knees toward the floor in the belief that this will increase the stretch of the inner thighs and groins. But especially if your groins are tight, pushing the knees down will have just the opposite of the intended effect: The groins will harden, as will your belly and lower back. Instead, imagine that your knees are floating up toward the ceiling and continue settling your groins deep into your pelvis. As your groins drop toward the floor, so will your knees.
4. To start, stay in this pose for one minute. Gradually extend your stay anywhere from five to 10 minutes. To come out, use your hands to press your thighs together, then roll over onto one side and push yourself away from the floor, head trailing the torso.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Tadasana - Mountain Pose
by Yoga Journal
Stand with the bases of your big toes touching, heels slightly apart (so that your second toes are parallel). Lift and spread your toes and the balls of your feet, then lay them softly down on the floor. Rock back and forth and side to side. Gradually reduce this swaying to a standstill, with your weight balanced evenly on the feet.
Firm your thigh muscles and lift the knee caps, without hardening your lower belly. Lift the inner ankles to strengthen the inner arches, then imagine a line of energy all the way up along your inner thighs to your groins, and from there through the core of your torso, neck, and head, and out through the crown of your head. Turn the upper thighs slightly inward. Lengthen your tailbone toward the floor and lift the pubis toward the navel.
Press your shoulder blades into your back, then widen them across and release them down your back. Without pushing your lower front ribs forward, lift the top of your sternum straight toward the ceiling. Widen your collarbones. Hang your arms beside the torso.
Balance the crown of your head directly over the center of your pelvis, with the underside of your chin parallel to the floor, throat soft, and the tongue wide and flat on the floor of your mouth. Soften your eyes.
Tadasana is usually the starting position for all the standing poses. But it's useful to practice Tadasana as a pose in itself. Stay in the pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute, breathing easily.
Monday, December 29, 2008
A new look for your eyes
Often the first part of the body to show signs of aging, the skin around the eyes has few sebaceous glands to produce oil and keep the skin supple. But with a little Ayurvedic knowledge, you can fend off some unsightly problems.
Dark circles. Ayurvedic practitioners believe that poor eating habits are reflected in the face, especially in the undereye area. Mary Jo Cravatta, an Ayurvedic practitioner in San Rafael, California, says eating too quickly, consuming a lot of caffeine and cold drinks, and skipping breakfast can stress the digestive system, making it difficult for the body to absorb nutrients. Dark circles can also be caused by anemia and lack of sleep, says Monisha Bharadwaj, author of Beauty Secrets of India (Ulysses Press, 2000).
Internal solution: Consume warm foods and beverages, and eat at least one tablespoon of ghee or olive oil every day to aid digestion, Cravatta says. Eating, exercising, and going to sleep at the same time each day will help regulate bodily functions and improve general health. Cravatta also recommends sleeping or meditating with a hot-water bottle on the abdomen to soothe the digestive organs.
External solution: Bharadwaj recommends putting slices of raw potatoes or apples on the area for 15 minutes every other day. She says the starch in potatoes and the potassium, B and C vitamins, and tannin in apples all help fade dark circles.
Puffiness. "Puffiness around the eyes occurs when the process of digestion is disturbed," Cravatta says. If you regularly eat in front of the television or computer, chances are that you aren't chewing and digesting food properly. Puffiness can also be caused by allergies, fluid retention, and the accumulation of overly emollient night creams, Bharadwaj says.
Internal solution: Chew your food thoroughly. To reduce fluid retention, limit your salt intake. Bharadwaj also recommends drinking a glass of hot water in the morning to kick-start the kidneys and draw retained water from the tissues.
External solution: Stimulate the tissues around your eyes with this self-massage recommended by Cravatta: With your ring finger, apply light pressure on the inside corner of your eye socket. Move your finger in a circular motion up to the area below the brow, then around and down below the eye, staying on the bone of the eye socket. Make five rotations.
Crow's feet. Squinting, dry skin, and sun damage can cause the fine lines at the corners of the eyes known as crow's feet.
Internal solution: Avoid excessive alcohol consumption, which is dehydrating.
External solution: Wear sunglasses to avoid squinting and to protect the delicate skin around the eyes from harmful UV and UVA rays. Also, you can try dabbing almond oil gently on the skin at the corners of your eyes.
Dark circles. Ayurvedic practitioners believe that poor eating habits are reflected in the face, especially in the undereye area. Mary Jo Cravatta, an Ayurvedic practitioner in San Rafael, California, says eating too quickly, consuming a lot of caffeine and cold drinks, and skipping breakfast can stress the digestive system, making it difficult for the body to absorb nutrients. Dark circles can also be caused by anemia and lack of sleep, says Monisha Bharadwaj, author of Beauty Secrets of India (Ulysses Press, 2000).
Internal solution: Consume warm foods and beverages, and eat at least one tablespoon of ghee or olive oil every day to aid digestion, Cravatta says. Eating, exercising, and going to sleep at the same time each day will help regulate bodily functions and improve general health. Cravatta also recommends sleeping or meditating with a hot-water bottle on the abdomen to soothe the digestive organs.
External solution: Bharadwaj recommends putting slices of raw potatoes or apples on the area for 15 minutes every other day. She says the starch in potatoes and the potassium, B and C vitamins, and tannin in apples all help fade dark circles.
Puffiness. "Puffiness around the eyes occurs when the process of digestion is disturbed," Cravatta says. If you regularly eat in front of the television or computer, chances are that you aren't chewing and digesting food properly. Puffiness can also be caused by allergies, fluid retention, and the accumulation of overly emollient night creams, Bharadwaj says.
Internal solution: Chew your food thoroughly. To reduce fluid retention, limit your salt intake. Bharadwaj also recommends drinking a glass of hot water in the morning to kick-start the kidneys and draw retained water from the tissues.
External solution: Stimulate the tissues around your eyes with this self-massage recommended by Cravatta: With your ring finger, apply light pressure on the inside corner of your eye socket. Move your finger in a circular motion up to the area below the brow, then around and down below the eye, staying on the bone of the eye socket. Make five rotations.
Crow's feet. Squinting, dry skin, and sun damage can cause the fine lines at the corners of the eyes known as crow's feet.
Internal solution: Avoid excessive alcohol consumption, which is dehydrating.
External solution: Wear sunglasses to avoid squinting and to protect the delicate skin around the eyes from harmful UV and UVA rays. Also, you can try dabbing almond oil gently on the skin at the corners of your eyes.
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