tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36494916945722313752024-03-13T10:40:23.579-05:00Do Restorative YogaRenew your mind, body and soul with restorative yoga. Learn the benefits of restorative yoga, teaching techniques, class planning, and see images of restorative yoga poses.Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comBlogger375125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-44643222331949818342016-08-21T09:33:00.000-05:002016-08-21T09:33:08.241-05:00A Week of Lasts and GoodbyesOn Friday, I taught my final class at <a href="http://www.yoganorthduluth.com/" target="_blank">Yoga North</a>. Dave and I are leaving for France on Tuesday to lead canal boat tours again, and in addition, we have decided to pursue our dream of traveling more (after France), and as such, I cannot commit to a weekly schedule. I'm not really feeling the reality of the situation yet I don't think. I just feel like I am about to go on a trip and when I come back everything will be as it was. But really, it won't be. And my students recognize the truth of the situation even if I do not fully admit it to myself.<br />
<br />
In each of my classes last week (final Minnesota Power class; final Maurices class; final iRest class; final Yin class) I heard from so many of my students who wanted to express how much my classes have meant to them and how much yoga has helped them. I also received and gave tons of hugs! The outpouring of heartfelt goodbyes and the thoughtful gifts mean so much to me. I plan to carry all of my students, my co-teachers, and the Yoga North community in my heart as I make way on a new path.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Iju1C5eN6GI/V7m3cpDOt6I/AAAAAAAABNM/T-vsJBDKyA47BKDJado3TYKOHVxN-1diACLcB/s1600/2016GoodbyeCardsGifts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Iju1C5eN6GI/V7m3cpDOt6I/AAAAAAAABNM/T-vsJBDKyA47BKDJado3TYKOHVxN-1diACLcB/s320/2016GoodbyeCardsGifts.jpg" width="245" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goodbye cards & gifts. :)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As I've been saying my goodbyes, I've been giving (and taking) solace in two mantras:<br />
1) Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo ~ I bow to the teacher within; and 2) <a href="http://www.sarathomsen.com/music.html" target="_blank">Sara Thomsen</a>'s song, "By Breath": By breath, by blood, by body, by spirit, we are all one.<br />
<br />
I know my students will continue to grow and enjoy yoga and life because we are each our own best teacher. We just have to train ourselves to look inside and listen. And, as "By Breath" says, we are all one. We are still connected by shared experience and mutual admiration even we are not physically in the same place.<br />
<br />
May we all find peace and ease, and bring it out with us into the world. Namaste, Sara<br />
<br />
<br />Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-8884660507441217862016-06-20T15:46:00.000-05:002016-06-21T14:13:36.808-05:00Letting go of what no longer servesFor the past three years I have been both contemplating this idea and living this practice: letting go of what no longer serves. Ever since we moved from our duplex (occupied both units) to our condo (1/2 the livable space, limited garage storage, and no basement) I have been in the practice of letting things go.<br />
<br />
The hardest of course was realizing that our beloved dog was in too much pain and just too sick to make the move with us. Having to let go of her was the most emotionally traumatizing. Of course it's a no-brainer that having her put to sleep was horrible and hard. But it's surprising that what shouldn't be hard to let go often can be.<br />
<ul>
<li>The pull-out couch: No, it doesn't fit in our new space but what will we do if we have company?</li>
<li>Tools: No, I don't need a table saw, extension ladder, snow blower, etc. anymore. But what if I need them in the future?</li>
<li>My yoga room: I don't have my private space any more. Where will I practice? And where will I put all my props?</li>
<li>The yard and garden: What will I do if I can't garden? What will I do if I can't spend lots of time outside?</li>
</ul>
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Thinking about all these things that I have let go, I am reminded of Deborah Adele's book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0974470643/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0974470643&linkCode={{linkCode}}&tag=onworbouboo-20&linkId={{link_id}}">The Yamas and Niyamas: Exploring Yoga's Ethical Practice</a>. In particular, the message on Aparigraha (non-possessiveness): what you posses, possesses you. I do not want to end up as a little old lady who keeps all the things that ever meant something, piled up and tucked away, creating clutter and the feeling of grasping the past, or maybe being buried by the past as things pile up around me. I want to keep fresh in my life, my ideas, my practice.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZTHsH4A83Jw/V2mOBRn7pyI/AAAAAAAABMI/l__Kko7YyhsY_yExk6ST5moN0IOYM0tcwCLcB/s1600/the_life_changing_magic_of_tidying_up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZTHsH4A83Jw/V2mOBRn7pyI/AAAAAAAABMI/l__Kko7YyhsY_yExk6ST5moN0IOYM0tcwCLcB/s320/the_life_changing_magic_of_tidying_up.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
I recently read Marie Kondo's books, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607747308/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1607747308&linkCode=as2&tag=onworbouboo-20&linkId=e9adf6844f6f1ad32f9f4da91c66b57d">The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onworbouboo-20&l=am2&o=1&a=1607747308" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> and her follow up book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607749726/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1607749726&linkCode={{linkCode}}&tag=onworbouboo-20&linkId={{link_id}}">Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up.</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onworbouboo-20&l=am2&o=1&a=1607749726" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> I was amazed at her methodology. The practice of tidying up and decluttering for her means the practice of letting go of what no longer serves. She does this by holding each item to see if it still sparks joy. If it does, keep it; if it doesn't, let it go with thanks and gratitude.<br />
<br />
Although I have already let go of so many things these past three years, after reading her books I was inspired to renew my efforts. There were some things I always skipped over when reducing: old ballet outfits, old swing dancing clothes, my stash of fabric, family mementos and hand-me-downs that had no use to me but which had a guilty hold over me, etc.<br />
<br />
When I took the time to honestly look at these things, to hold them, remember the memories, realize this was no longer relevant to me any more, and give thanks to these items for the part they played in my life at the time I used them, I found a joy in remembering and in letting go. I was able to set aside the things that no longer served and I was able to reappreciate the things that still did spark joy.<br />
<br />
Even though I have made an effort to have a gratitude practice in my yoga practice, it had not carried over into my decluttering practice. Reduce-and-reuse efforts in the past held more of a "Oh gosh, I really don't want to let this go" feeling, versus a "Thank you for being part of my life and providing joy and meaning" feeling. This change of attitude in decluttering really felt good. It feels so good to lighten my load and to do it with gratitude for the things that served me in the past.<br />
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In Marie Kondo's second book she says, "Tiding is the act of confronting yourself; cleaning is the act of confronting nature." Ms. Kondo only refers to yoga and meditation in passing but I am strongly reminded of Aparigraha by this practice of tidying. Especially since she insists that you must hold each thing to learn to hone your skill at what sparks joy for you. What this means is that you are honing your skill in what is true and relevant for you now. This enable us to let go of what no longer serves. If that's not yoga, I don't know what is.<br />
<br />
Interested in lightening your load? I invite you to ask yourself, "What am I holding onto that no longer serves?"<br />
<br />
Here's a few of my favorite quotes from the Aparigraha chapter in Ms. Adele's book, The Yamas and Niyamas, to help you along:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Like the breath when it is held too long, the things that nourish us can become toxic.<br />
<br />
Anything we cling to creates a maintenance problem for us.<br />
<br />
Our expectations keep us captive and often disgruntled, and yet we choose our attachments rather than our freedoms.</blockquote>
<br />
Best wishes to you in your practice of developing your "letting go" muscle and lightening your load.<br />
Namaste ~ Sara<br />
<br />Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-60418933773186999062016-03-17T19:09:00.000-05:002016-03-17T19:09:57.430-05:00Happy Anniversary (and St. Patrick's Day) to MeSt. Patrick's Day is my teaching anniversary. Thank goodness for that. I doubt I would remember such a thing if it weren't for the predesignated holiday.<br />
<br />
I started teacher training in fall of 2007, graduated Sunday, March 16th, 2008, and started teaching the very next day at the Duluth YMCA. I took on two classes right away. Monday and Tuesday nights. Isn't it funny how some things are so clear in your memory?<br />
<br />
I was such a dreamer. I wanted to tell everything I knew, to impart all the knowledge of yoga to each one of my students, in every class. And to have every class be the most perfect yoga class ever. What high expectations!<br />
<br />
In June of 2008 my teacher asked me to long-term sub one of her classes at Yoga North. I was so honored and so terrified. How do you take over your teacher's class??? Well, you just show up and let the teachings flow through you. It worked out.<br />
<br />
While in teacher training I found that Restorative Yoga is what I really loved (hence this blog). I began my own Restorative practice at home, learning all the poses and trying props every which way. Restorative Yoga led me down the rabbit hole of relaxation. I learned Yin, Yoga Nidra/iRest, Therapeutic techniques, and finally Somatics & Soma Yoga in my 500 hour teacher training.<br />
<br />
I am blessed to be able to teach these techniques to my students and to teachers in training. My hope is that more and more people will carry these teachings forward. I figure the more relaxation and ease we have in this world, the better.<br />
<br />
May we all be filled with peace and ease and take these feelings with us into the world. Namaste. ~SaraSarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-43628109869710030982015-12-31T17:10:00.000-06:002016-02-19T16:08:42.730-06:00Peace Studies InterviewA few months ago a friend of mine who teaches at the University (UM-Duluth) asked if I would agree to be interviewed by a couple of her students from her Peace Studies class, as they were really curious about yoga. I agreed, and here is what came out of the interview.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kD0qOGD8bTo/VseRl8SBMII/AAAAAAAABL0/1stdA0fGuno/s1600/Peace-zentangle-2015-sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kD0qOGD8bTo/VseRl8SBMII/AAAAAAAABL0/1stdA0fGuno/s320/Peace-zentangle-2015-sm.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In honor of the new year, and to complement this post, I drew this peace zentangle.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Peace studies interview questions:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>1. How did you initially get
involved in peacework?</b></div>
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I have no formal training in peacework.
However, I believe there are many similar beliefs in yoga as in
peacework.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>2. Who/what influenced you to start
teaching yoga?</b></div>
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I started to practice yoga in the late
1990's to see if I could get out of pain. I had had many car
accidents as a teenager and had chronic neck and back pain. I found a
yoga program on TV and did the lessons every day for about 3 years
before I finally worked up the courage to take a real-live class here
in Duluth.
</div>
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I loved the meditative aspect of yoga,
the way my mind was becoming calmer and more peaceful. I took more
and more classes, signing up for in-depth studies and philosophy
classes. Finally, there were no more in-depth studies offered except
for teacher training. I decided to take the leap and apply for the
training even though it seemed terrifying. I think it was so scary
because it was something that I really wanted to learn and do. But I
was afraid that I would change so much as a person that perhaps the
rest of my life would be left behind.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Thankfully, that is not what happened.
What happened is that I found a greater acceptance of myself. I found
peace in my mind and in my body. I found a practice that supported me
where I was at. And a topic that I was passionate about sharing and
good at teaching.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>3. What styles of yoga do you teach?
Explain what each of them entails.</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I teach mostly relaxation and guided
meditation. I can teach Hatha and flowing yoga (Vinyasa style) but
what calls to me and what I teach best is Therapeutic yoga in these
styles: Restorative Yoga, Yin Yoga, and iRest Yoga Nidra.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Restorative Yoga:
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Restorative Yoga is a therapeutic style
of yoga which utilizes multiple props to make it easier for the body
to get into certain poses, and thus, surrender to the pose.
Practicing poses using props provides a completely supportive
environment for total relaxation. The more your body is supported in
the poses the deeper the sense of relaxation. Relaxation is a state
in which there is no movement, no effort, and the brain is quiet.
Typically, Restorative poses are sustained for ten minutes or for as
long as you are comfortable.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Yin Yoga</div>
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Yin Yoga uses traditional Hatha
poses<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">—</span>mostly seated or
reclining postures<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">—</span>which
allow a deep stretch, combined with Restorative style poses, which
use multiple props to support the body. Together, these allow a deep
opening in the body. All poses are held longer than in a regular
Hatha class: around 5 minutes per pose. Yin yoga poses apply moderate
stress to the connective tissues of the body—the tendons, fascia,
and ligaments—with the aim of increasing circulation in the joints
and improving flexibility. The dynamic of the class is meditative,
focusing on the breath and using the breath to find opening and ease
in the body.</div>
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<br /></div>
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iRest Yoga Nidra</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yoga Nidra means “yogic sleep” and
is one of the deepest states of awareness and relaxation we can
experience while being awake. Class consists of a variety of
relaxation techniques including guided meditation & imagery,
breathwork, and sense withdrawal (bringing awareness deeper and
deeper until only the sense of hearing is outwardly focused). In the
state of deep relaxation, tension is released from the body on a
physical level, and the mind completely switches off, allowing us to
settle into pure awareness. The relaxation response brings your
system into balance. When practiced regularly, you will reduce your
everyday stress levels and boost your feelings of wellbeing. You will
also build deeper awareness and bolster your health with deep
relaxation.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>4. What benefits do you think yoga
has on the body and mind/ benefits in general?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yoga benefits include maintaining or
increasing range of motion, flexibility, and strength, building
stronger inner core muscles, finding more peace of mind, finding your
calm center, building awareness of self, increasing self-acceptance
and self-love, letting go of negative thought patterns, recognizing
your mistakes as “human” instead of “stupid,” recognizing
your own “faults” and liking yourself anyway, letting go of
trying to change people, decrease in stress and the “stress
hormone” cortisol, increase in “bonding and love” hormones
oxytocin and serotonin, better sleeping, heart health, and in
general, regular yoga practice produces an overall feeling of better
health and more contentment.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>5. How do you think yoga helps with
peace in the community?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I used to wonder how yoga helped
promote peace or women's rights or issues around poverty, education,
discrimination, and so on. I wondered if practicing yoga was selfish
because I was focusing my attention on myself and looking inward
instead of being out there on the streets with a protest sign. But
now I see a place for both of these things. And what I have really
come to see is that through my yoga practice I have trained my mind
to be less angry, less judgmental, less reactive. I still have
compassion and strong beliefs, but I do not have the same amount of
emotional attachment to an outcome. This gives me peace of mind and
lessens the overall amount of anger and violence in the world. There
is an idea in yoga that the more peace we have in ourselves, the more
the ripples of peace will extend outward to our community.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>6. What do you think it is about
yoga that draws in and interests others?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I think people are attracted to yoga
first for the idea that they could get in shape or start a healthy
habit such as meditation. As people continue with yoga I think it is
the richness of the history, the philosophical knowledge, the ethical
guidelines, the community, and learning and accepting of the self
that keeps them interested.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>7. How has yoga changed your life
since you first started?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
On a physical level, I am stronger and
more flexible. On an emotional level, I am much steadier – not
nearly so many ups and downs. And on a life level, I am now a yoga
teacher, involved in a yoga community, teaching students, and
teaching others to be teachers too.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>8. Other than yoga, what things can
people do to create peace within the mind and body? </b>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The most important thing to remember is
to breathe. If we can breathe calm and steady we will be calm and
steady. If we can train our minds to be kind and engaged in the
present moment, we will find contentment. People find this kind of
training through mindfulness based practices such as meditation,
yoga, and prayer. We can also join peace communities such as Peace
Choir or Peace Church.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>9. What recommendations do you have,
such as books, articles, film, or website, that would enhance our
understanding of yoga?</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
To enhance understanding you must
immerse yourself. Take classes in yoga postures, meditation,
philosophy and ethics. Sign up for yoga newsletters such as the free
mailing lists that Yoga Journal has:
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://media.aimmedia.com/healthyliving/yogajournal/newslettersignup.html">http://media.aimmedia.com/healthyliving/yogajournal/newslettersignup.html</a></u></span></span>.
I recommend the “Wisdom” newsletter.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>10. Would we benefit from attending
a group, participating in an activity, taking a tour, or observing
any particular setting (experiential learning). </b>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
1) There is a Meditation 101 class
starting at Yoga North on Wednesday Nov 18. It's a 5 week series.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
2) There is a book of yoga ethics I
strongly recommend. And it's best if you have a book group to discuss
it with. I would read and discuss one chapter a month: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Yamas-Niyamas-Exploring-Ethical-Practice/dp/0974470643/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447714309&sr=1-1&keywords=yamas+and+niyamas" target="_blank">The Yamas & Niyamas</a> by Deborah Adele.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>11. List your favorite quote:</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
"Go so deep into yourself you speak
for everyone."</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
~ quote is from Ed Ochester who is
quoting Galway Kinnell</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This came up for me when my yoga
teacher training (YTT) group was assigned to do an individual art
project for our final project. I had lots of fear surrounding this
assignment because I do not consider myself artistic/creative. I know
I am good with words so I decided to write a spoken word poem for my
art project. As I was writing I recognized that the rant running in
my head about how awful it was to be assigned to create an art
project was all about my own fears, feeling inadequate, and imagining
that I was no good. I know that these feelings are universal. Then I
came across this poem with the final line "go so deep into
yourself you speak for everyone" and I knew I was on the right
path.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I was able to present my art project
and I could see that my poem did mean something to my fellow YTT's,
that they understood my fears, that my pain and uncertainty was also
their pain and uncertainty. These feelings of recognition made me
realize that yes, I was able to go so deep into myself that what came
out was universal. And perhaps this is what art is about. It is
rendering something that speaks to people on a deeper level. In that
sense, I was able to let go of my preconceived notion that I cannot
"do" art and I was able to come to peace with my own fears.</div>
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-58096785987559587902015-11-21T12:36:00.000-06:002015-11-21T12:36:15.856-06:00Book Review: Dancing in the Bamboo Forest<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="color: #38761d;">Dancing in the Bamboo Forest ~ a travel
memoir by Djahariah Mitra</span></i></b></div>
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I was excited to receive this book with
a request to review it. I seek out memoirs and especially memoirs
written by women about their travels and personal journeys. And
certainly this book falls into exactly these categories, with the
added bonus that the travel and journey are yoga specific.</div>
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We start out with the author in an
emotionally dark place in her life. She decides to go to India to
study, travel and find herself. I think many of us who study yoga
have that same urge; the urge to go to the birthplace of yoga, to
immerse ourselves in the culture and philosophy. Mitra does this with
a teacher training followed by travel, yoga teaching, dance training,
and building relationships with fellow travelers and native Indians
alike.</div>
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She shares her inner thoughts, her
attempts to find happiness, her everyday ups and downs with living in
uncertainty. She doesn't know how long she will stay in India, she
doesn't know if she will be able to get a job that will support her
to stay in India, she doesn't know if her health will hold out.
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She struggles with finding contentment
in the uncertainty. This is what I recognized the most in my own life
journey: the practice of finding contentment in my discontentment.
Quite the kōan. I learned more about this in my teacher training
too. There it was defined as “limbic space” by one of my
professors. It's the idea that we need to become comfortable in our
discomfort, comfortable with not knowing, comfortable in the waiting.
In the book, Mitra has a very hard time with this and I think, so do
we all. It was hard for me to read, hard to stick with her
discomfort, but I thank her for being so candid and for sharing her
struggle.</div>
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Interspersed with her personal journey,
she shared some of her yoga understanding. I enjoyed her discussion
of yoga philosophy, especially the part about being called to a
spiritual life while still being a “regular” person, or as I've
sometimes heard it called, a householder. Again, this is a struggle I
understand. The essential question is, how do we give up everything
and remain in this life? There's no right answer but I wonder if part
of the struggle is in the phrasing “give up everything”? Perhaps
if we thought we were gaining, not giving up, there wouldn't be a
question.</div>
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And finally, as in other books I've
read where an American woman goes to India, there is the culture
shock to contend with. Women are 2<sup>nd</sup> class citizens, do
not have rights the way men do, are not allowed to go out by
themselves, travel by themselves, or wear less than 3 layers of
clothing on all parts of their body. The author did find places where
India is more modern, places where she could go out to coffee and
even meet with male friends but it was not encouraged by society. She
got questioned and shamed by her landlords for doing things like
having male guests for dinner. It just seems so archaic and unfair to
me. It's so hard to reconcile this part of Indian culture with the
mindful practices of yoga that also came out of this culture.</div>
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The dichotomy of Indian culture, the
blow-by-blow account of daily ups and downs, and the topic driven
writing style (vs. linear) sometimes made this book difficult for me
to read. When I could let go of my desire to know exactly where and
when the author was, and when I could let go of wanting India to be
as holy as I imagine it, the book was much more enjoyable to me. This
book is worth reading if you want to know more about yoga, Indian
culture, and if you want your own beliefs challenged as you read
about someone else's personal growth.</div>
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-35999221254587626612015-02-02T12:25:00.000-06:002015-02-02T12:29:57.849-06:00The Remarkable Role of Fascia The more I learn about fascia, the more complex and interesting it becomes. I have heard that the nadis are on the fascial plane as well as many acupuncture points. The point of Yin Yoga is to work with the connective tissue: tendons, ligaments, and fascia. Recently I have been studying, practicing, and teaching <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/search/label/Somatics" target="_blank">Somatics</a> (brain-body re-education / neural re-education). So the second paragraph of the Yoga International quote below, stressing that the better we are with our proprioception the less pain we will have, makes perfect sense to me:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h4>
A Dynamic Organ of Communication</h4>
In addition to creating our literal interconnectedness, fascia also plays the remarkable role of helping the body to sense itself without using the eyes to see itself from the outside. Fascia is full of innumerable sensory nerve endings that are in constant communication with the brain about the body’s position in space. This ability for the body to use “inner vision” to sense itself is called proprioception, which is sometimes referred to as our "true sixth sense." In fact, you are actually using proprioception right now as you read this article. That's because if we didn’t have the ability to sense the body with our “inner vision," we wouldn’t be able to move through life in a controlled way. Without our proprioception we would all probably be lying in helpless, uncoordinated heaps on the floor—it’s really that important of a sense!
<br />
<br />
<i>Because our fascial system is a major organ of proprioception, the health of our fascia is directly connected to how developed our “inner vision” is.</i>
<br />
<br />
We all possess an acceptable level of proprioception that allows the body to move through life, but we’re now learning that high-quality proprioception can be an extremely important key to healthy aging. Researchers have recently uncovered a link between increased levels of proprioception and decreased levels of pain in the body. In other words, the more that your brain can sense your body accurately, the less pain you tend to experience. In addition, the more developed your proprioception is, the more skillful your daily movements will naturally become, reducing your chances of injury in the first place (and this becomes increasingly important as we grow older).
<br />
<br />
~ from <b>Yoga Anatomy: What Every Teacher (and Practitioner) Should Know About Fascia</b> <i>by Jenni Rawlings</i>, posted on <a href="https://yogainternational.com//article/view/yoga-anatomy-what-every-teacher-and-practitioner-should-know-about-fascia" target="_blank">Yoga International</a> on February 2, 2015.</blockquote>
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<br />
ps - if you do a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&tbs=rimg%3ACUFEo0KtEf7tIjhjn1cuDKkgnGOwP6-kC8ScaGf0JAu-fLhp1Kf8jxV0prskPZC8cWw8l54cFP74HffJEt_1jjeOTACoSCWOfVy4MqSCcEV9SzX1l4yZmKhIJY7A_1r6QLxJwR6rVZ2qO9TXwqEgloZ_1QkC758uBFPzAc_1jzMr6CoSCWnUp_1yPFXSmERJzN0tWcEhzKhIJuyQ9kLxxbDwRq4EimSzl2OgqEgmXnhwU_1vgd9xFS7hD4JWEVEyoSCckS3-ON45MAEbvjth6aIvAQ&q=fascia&ei=sb_PVNWOAoubyASrqYCQCg&ved=0CAkQ9C8wAA" target="_blank">Google search on fascia</a> and look at the images you will get an idea of just how much fascia we have in our bodies. And thank goodness - it's what holds us together!Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-39732049847500851672014-11-26T14:10:00.001-06:002015-11-17T10:40:35.212-06:00Final Video from my Teacher Training 500I wrote about weekends 1-5 in a <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/2014/08/what-my-desk-looks-like-while-i-am-in.html" target="_blank">previous post</a> so here's a follow up for the rest of my training.<br />
<br />
Weekend 6 was heavy on philosophy and history of yoga. It's so hard for me to keep that knowledge in my brain. Postures are no problem. I can learn them in my body. But so many historical belief systems (including some of Yoga's) just don't resonate with me and it's tough to remember if I can't feel it.<br />
<br />
I missed our 7th weekend and will have to make it up later but I was in France leading Canal boat cruises. Here's the link to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.698971393522712.1073741828.170707783015745&type=3" target="_blank">pictures from the trip</a>. Great times but I am very sad to have missed the cadaver lab on shoulders.<br />
<br />
Weekend 8 was all about the shoulders / shoulder girdle. We did lots of shoulder practices from Somatics to inversions. Also, had a super evening of Ayurveda lecture.<br />
<br />
Our final weekend, our 9th time meeting, was a four day retreat in Ely, MN at Yoga North, way up north. Over the last few months we created an art project to represent our change and learning both as a person and as a teacher while learning the therapeutic practice of SomaYoga. We all presented these projects this weekend. We also did 36 hours of silence and it was not what I expected. It was filled with connection. We have been together for 9 months now. We are not afraid to make eye contact, smile, or even laugh into the silence. We shared meals, hikes, yoga practice and a campfire by the lake, listening to the sound of ice forming. We broke silence intentionally on Sunday morning after our yoga practice, each of us sharing our feelings of being in silence. Although our group will probably not be together again in this configuration, I know we will hold each other in our hearts.<br />
<br />
I highly recommend the teacher training program at Yoga North if you want to learn how to help people get out of pain, if you want to dive deep into yourself, and if you want to be part of a community of healing. Namaste.
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7ToKpj-uypg" width="480"></iframe>Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-88433514457307539682014-09-04T01:00:00.000-05:002014-09-04T01:00:00.400-05:00France, here I come!Getting ready to head to France for a month of Yoga + Wine Country + Canal boating on the Canal du Midi. If you are interested in following our progress via pictures, you can like our travel site: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SavvyNomad" target="_blank">Savvy Nomad on Facebook</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lc8PhJdhTIw/VAd8581zLxI/AAAAAAAABJU/gFa6VdSG7XQ/s1600/Travel-packet-envelopes-France-2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lc8PhJdhTIw/VAd8581zLxI/AAAAAAAABJU/gFa6VdSG7XQ/s1600/Travel-packet-envelopes-France-2014.jpg" height="400" width="298" /> </a></div>
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Look at the cutest travel itinerary envelopes ever!</div>
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Yay! France, here I come! </div>
<br />Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-85909300856275658062014-08-12T09:18:00.001-05:002014-08-12T09:18:34.796-05:00What my desk looks like while I am in TT500I know I'm not posting much but it's been a hectic time for me. I am in the Advanced Teacher Training Program (TT500) with Yoga North through November 2014. Plus, before I ever signed up for that, I signed up for Relax & Renew training with Judith Hanson Lasater because last year I enjoyed my iRest Yoga Nidra training with Richard Miller so much that I thought, "Why not do some more training?" Anyway, I am over-run with studying yoga but enjoying it thoroughly. This is what my desk looks like most of the time now:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bWOLXRReqgI/U-oedJIFq-I/AAAAAAAABJE/1GG-MkfY5Ig/s1600/MyDeskDuringTT500.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bWOLXRReqgI/U-oedJIFq-I/AAAAAAAABJE/1GG-MkfY5Ig/s1600/MyDeskDuringTT500.jpeg" height="297" width="400" /></a></div>
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Mostly, I'm sharing pictures on Facebook here: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.646946778688380.1073741827.195023843880678&type=1" target="_blank">TT500 on FB</a>. (I think this is a public album so even if you are not on FB you can have a look-see.)<br />
And here is a brief write up of the past 5 months of training:<br />
<br />
Our first weekend was in March - a
whole weekend of Somatics and Therapeutic Yoga which was lovely! I felt
soooo spacious after this training.<br />
<br />
Our 2nd long weekend of
this nine month training included Kirtan, postural analysis, history of
yoga, the mind study, and a deeper look into forward bends and twists.<br />
<br />
Our 3rd weekend included anatomy lab, back bends, studying the mind,
the Yoga Sutra, ayurveda, prepping for spinal clinic and more. This is
good stuff.<br />
<br />
Between months 3 and 4, I went to the Minneapolis Yoga Center for my week of Relax & Renew Restorative yoga training.<br />
<br />
On our 4th weekend we studied Adaptive Yoga,
Ayurveda (even got to eat lunch), the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads,
Agni Sara, Business of Yoga & Code of Ethics, plus we offered a
public clinic on SomaYoga for the spine.<br />
<br />
During our 5th weekend we headed back to UMD, this time to both study the mind with Bud
McClure, and to study the body in the anatomy lab with Terri Ach. We
also focused on the hips & pelvis as a big part of our weekend. We
developed a Yoga Nidra class and then broke up into dyads to give and
received it. For our final bit of Mind Study, we rated our "Confusion
Strategies" as most to least like us and then got the news that whatever
we picked last is actually where our work is - apparently we are blind
to it if we think it is not a problem. Ha ha - so true.Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-18328747319056631842014-03-12T09:27:00.001-05:002014-03-12T09:27:18.210-05:00Examining Power, Privilege and Oppression in Yoga ServiceMy sister recently shared the below article with me. I enjoyed it so much I decided to re-post it here.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Examining Power,
Privilege and Oppression in Yoga Service</b> </span><br />
<i>~ by Jacoby Ballard</i><br />
<br />
Yoga and service is a big topic in the western yoga world right now. It
comes out of a lineage of karma yoga, of seva, that has roots in India.
What is implied but less explored within this is that ‘service’ within
yoga almost always involves a teacher offering yoga to a group of people
that they are not a part of, and that the yoga teacher is in a
privileged position in society. Usually these service projects are
designed to be taught by a volunteer teacher; the teacher does not
receive monetary payment. What the teacher does receive is the profound
cultural exchange and awareness of what a community of people very
unlike them (in socio-economic factors) goes through in the world, and
how that shows up in their mental, emotional, and physical health. Now,
just sharing these profound teachings is a gift, and we exist in a
capitalist world where yoga teachers need to be paid; thus service
projects are largely available to people who rely on other sources of
income.<br />
<br />
I have attended trainings by some of the leading organizations in
yoga service in the US-Off the Mat Into the World, Street Yoga, and the
Lineage Project. In these trainings, the participants and facilitators
have been overwhelmingly white, able-bodied, middle-class, and straight,
and we are talking about teaching yoga to low-income or homeless people
of color in prisons, domestic violence shelters, veteran hospitals,
queer youth projects, schools, etc. I personally come from a
working-class background, and am white, able-bodied, queer, and
transgendered. However, there is not a thorough discussion within any of
these models about privilege and oppression, which inevitably is part
of our experience in teaching yoga to ‘underserved’ populations. Within
social justice and healing justice organizations that I am part of,
members, staff, and others are regularly given anti-oppression
trainings, as a ‘practice’. These trainings are an opportunity to
reflect and digest the ways in which oppression and privilege affect all
of our communities, and to hear and hold each others’ pain, and also to
understand it in a systemic, institutional sense.<br />
<br />
For me, as a working class, white, queer, transgendered person, I
want to bring yoga back to my own community. I think this is the case
for many people of color, queer, and low-income people that attend these
service yoga trainings. For us, we are looking to return to our
community with the skills of yoga and service, which is very different
than offering it up to communities that we are not a part of. So then,
the cultural exchange that is expected to be part of the compensation
for teaching yoga, is not present. Of course we always have more to
learn within our own communities, but the familiarity and the acceptance
mean that the dynamic and exchange is different. In most models of
service yoga we are expected to do this work for free, yet don’t upper
class white women get paid well for teaching to their own communities?<br />
<br />
Part of my interest in attending these trainings is that they are
among the only organizations within the yoga world that begin to talk
about dynamics of power and social justice, both in the world and in the
yoga classroom. Given who I am in the world, the concerns within my
community, and what yoga has meant to me (as a method of individual and
collective liberation), I find conversations about privilege and
oppression sorely lacking within yoga. Thus, without our awareness, the
social realities of racism, homophobia, sexism, and classism that we are
all steeped in roar their heads in the yoga classroom, teacher
trainings, yoga ‘community’, and workshops. Because of who is largely in
the room, who can afford access, and who feels welcome, these dynamics
of power go largely unnoticed.<br />
<br />
Being
aware of these dynamics of power and actively working on them in my own
life (though I am far from finished!), I notice that something ableist,
homophobic, sexist, transphobic, or racist is said by the teacher or by
other students responding to the teacher in nearly every yoga class I
attend. I have seen a male teacher say something sexually inappropriate
to a woman he is adjusting in a heart opener; teachers repeatedly talk
about ten fingers and toes or having a straight spine (which not all
yogis do, or can!); to describe a pose, a teacher has talked about
holding your foot behind your hip so you ‘look like a peg leg’
(referring to a dis/abled person); teachers talk about Indian gods and
goddesses but yet know nothing about British colonization and the effect
that that had on Ayurveda and Yoga; and many teachers like to make
jokes, while we are in poses that are useful in pregnancy, about how men
don’t know what it’s like to be pregnant (when men around me in my
community are indeed becoming pregnant and have even been on Oprah), and
the whole classroom laughs at them (and, at me).<br />
<br />
I see this as a lack of awareness by the teacher of their own
prejudices and ignorance (which are, indeed, samskaras, the imprint of
past experiences and behavior on who you are now, and what you have to
work on; perhaps this prejudice and ignorance is a cultural samskara)
and hindrances to their loving everyone, which is ultimately a goal of
yoga, to see no separation. We cannot bypass the important work of
decolonizing our minds from systems of power, privilege, and oppression
on the way to loving everyone. The fact that we are racist, sexist,
homophobic, ableist is not our fault, and shame and guilt are not
helpful paths to tread. But we must take responsibility for the world
that our ancestors have created, and continue to transform it into one
that celebrates all people, all bodies, all experiences in the world. In
order to really love, we need to know how to be an ally to people in
oppressed positions, how to work through internalized oppression, and
how to ask for allies for ourselves when people have privilege over us.
This includes our practice of yoga. As teachers, there are always people
in the room, visible or not, who have struggled against oppression
their entire lives, and this is a trauma that lives in the body, and so
we must know how to hold space for them, and hold them well when we are
asking them to open their hearts.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-asFS0_w1psA/UyBtzfUbB1I/AAAAAAAABHE/LpKGKmEdHuQ/s1600/queer-and-trans-yoga-300x199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-asFS0_w1psA/UyBtzfUbB1I/AAAAAAAABHE/LpKGKmEdHuQ/s1600/queer-and-trans-yoga-300x199.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from decolonizingyoga.com.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I have been teaching Queer and Trans Yoga and Yoga for All Genders for
the past 6 years-the first class at my cooperative health center, Third
Root Community Health Center, and the second at the NYC LGBT Center. I
have also taught Queer and Trans Yoga in Atlanta, Detroit, Denver,
Vermont, Oakland, and Philadelphia, and last year taught at a queer
youth foster home in my neighborhood. I treasure these classes, and the
community built within them, through embodiment, through heart-opening,
through holding space for all that we are as individuals and as a
community. Part of how I want to see these classes for specific
communities is to have a teacher from within their community teach,
because the trust and empowerment is incredible. I have seen for myself
the ways in which my community brings all of their joy and excitement
into the room: through the chatter before class begins or the dates made
after class, through the amazing colorful spandex, the queer political
t-shirts, and as they bring more friends into the classroom. I also have
the honor of holding space for an assault on the train based on
someone’s gender presentation, the fear and sadness around holidays as
we approach blood family and chosen family, the breakups within a small
queer community, and the trauma of homophobia, racism, and transphobia
that we sweat, stretch, and exhale out. <br />
<br />
Service yoga has a lot of potential to develop this conversation from
an embodied and heart-felt space, which is much different than most of
the social justice work done around privilege and oppression that tends
to be mostly in the mind (though some innovative work is being done
around embodiment, somatics, and healing). Feeling the trauma of
privilege and oppression in our bodies as well as talking about it is
difficult and necessary. It demands our attention if we truly want to
love everyone through each word we speak, each time we lay down our
mats, blocks, and blankets, each class we teach, each adjustment we
give.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Jacoby Ballard has practiced yoga for 14 years and has taught for 12 years. He
has been involved in social justice work for 15 years, and is the
founder of Third Root Community Health Center in Brooklyn. He received
his 200-hour certification from Kashi Ashram in Atlanta, his 500-hour
Advanced Yoga Teacher Training at Kripalu in Massachussetts. He has
received additional training from Street Yoga, the Lineage Project, Off
the Mat Into the World, the Interdependence Project, Dinacharya
Institute for Ayurveda, and Insight Meditation. Jacoby loves working
with students of all bodies, genders, and experiences, and offers his
students precise alignment, the lessons of yogic scriptures suited to
daily life in the West, and physical challenge with playfulness and
compassion.</i> - See more at: <a href="http://www.decolonizingyoga.com/examining-power-privilege-and-oppression-in-yoga-service/" target="_blank">http://www.decolonizingyoga.com/examining-power-privilege-and-oppression-in-yoga-service/</a></span>Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-40145838136087026972014-03-03T01:00:00.000-06:002015-11-17T10:44:06.428-06:00To Sleep or Not to Sleep I enjoyed this article in the October issue of <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2889" target="_blank">Yoga Journal</a> and thought I would share it here:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sweet Surrender</span></span><br />
<div class="teaser">
<span style="color: #666666;"><b><i>
When you can't sleep, yoga's deeper teachings can help you let go and find rest.
</i></b></span></div>
<div class="author">
By Hillari Dowdle, sequence by Kelly Golden</div>
<br />
If you're thinking about it when you'd rather be dreaming, there's a
good chance you don't. You're suffering from insomnia, and peace of mind
is beyond your grasp—and so, at least for the moment, are all of the
mind-body-spirit benefits that sleep confers.<br />
<br />
If you've struggled with sleeplessness, you're in good company. Some
50 to 70 million Americans suffer from insomnia, according to the latest
count by the Centers for Disease Control, and the prevalence of sleep
medication bears them out: Last year, about 60 million prescriptions
were written for sleep aids. These medications can have side effects,
like any drug, and their effectiveness is questionable at best, but
we're willing to stomach them because not sleeping is more harmful than
simply feeling lousy the next day. Regular sleep deficits have been
associated with high blood pressure, type II diabetes, heart disease,
depression, cancer, obesity, and even increased risk of death. It's
enough to keep you up at night! I know because I've been there—for like,
the last 30 years.<br />
<br />
Wakefulness has been knocking on my door since my early teens,
usually during times of stress and strain. I always treated it like an
unwanted houseguest, greeting it with anxiety and open hostility. I was
warlike in my efforts to win the battle. I even brought that attitude to
my yoga practice, expecting it to work like a magic weapon to knock me
unconscious. That's hardly the sort of peaceful attitude that promotes
sleep, which is probably why, in spite of all of the medications, herbal
remedies, sleep-hygiene tips, and aromatherapy I tried, I never found a
strategy that really worked.<br />
<br />
Recently, after three especially difficult sleepless nights, I
realized that I couldn't overpower my hyperalert and anxious state, or
pound my mind into sleep through force of will. I could push away
sleeplessness all I wanted, but here it still would be. I needed to look
deeper into yoga's teachings, beyond relaxation practices, and find
help facing this crazy insomnia monster instead of running away from it.
And so I reached out to teachers and sleep experts who could offer
insights, tools, and practices to help me get to the source of my
problems, and, hopefully, to find a solution.<br />
<h5>
Embracing Twilight</h5>
My first lesson was about the nature of sleep. Like most Westerners, I
tend to think of "awake" and "asleep" as polar opposites, and that you
can have one only at the expense of the other. Black and white.
Conscious and unconscious. Perhaps this perception explains why so many
of us are willing to reach for a sleeping pill. We think our job at
night is to black out.<br />
<br />
But in fact, this is a relatively new way of thinking about sleep.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, night waking was considered normal,
explains Rubin Naiman, PhD, a clinical psychologist and sleep therapist
who draws on spiritual teachings from yoga and other traditions in his
sleep retreats and audio programs including The Yoga of Sleep. "If you
look at all of the documentation on sleep recorded from 1500 to 1830,
you find that people typically did wake in the middle of the night—they
had a little 'night watch' and used that time to pray, or meditate, or
talk quietly, and then they went back to sleep," Naiman says.
"Conversely, people also regularly napped in the middle of the day. I
think of the yin-yang symbol: There was a little bit of light in the
dark, and dark in the light."<br />
<br />
So what happened? "The Industrial Revolution changed everything," he
explains. "Suddenly, people were working 12- or 14-hour days, and
machines were the new model. We started treating our bodies like
machines."<br />
<br />
That is, as something you could turn on and off with the flick of a
switch. Add a couple of hundred years, a lot of electricity, artificial
light, and technology, and here we are: overstimulated, overworked, and
vastly underslept.<br />
<br />
When you're struggling with insomnia, Naiman says, it's important to
understand something that the spiritual traditions teach—that waking and
sleeping (as well as dreaming) are natural states of consciousness that
coexist in the mind at all times. "Though science has been slow to
acknowledge it, humans are always to some degree both awake and asleep,"
he says. "We have the misconception that if we aren't dead to the
world, we aren't sleeping. We want to go to battle when we realize we're
awake, but it's perfectly normal to have periods of wakefulness at
night."<br />
<br />
According to Richard Miller, psychologist and noted teacher of yoga
nidra, a relaxation technique and meditation practice, it's natural to
cycle in and out of sleeping and waking states. Miller explains that the
mind skirts the edge of consciousness during sleep, and likewise skirts
the edge of sleep—at moments when we space out and lose track of our
surroundings—during waking hours. In other words, the states of being
asleep and awake are not as black-and-white as you might think. "Our
consciousness is coming and going all day and night," he says. When you
accept this process, suggests Miller, you're better able to let periods
of nighttime wakefulness arise and fall away without resistance.<br />
<h5>
Enlightened Rest</h5>
In fact, says Naiman, sleep is a state of consciousness similar to
what yogis seek through contemplative practices: a profound serenity
that exists underneath the turmoil of the mind. When you're suffering
from insomnia, he says, it helps to know that this state of
consciousness is always available to you. Even when you can't sleep,
there is a deeper part of you that's in a restful state. "The notion of
'going to sleep' doesn't really make sense," Naiman says. "It's a place
of peaceful awareness that we all search for, that's already within us."<br />
<br />
As much as we want to let go and access that serene place of rest,
something keeps us alert and tense. And that something, says Naiman, is
ego. The ego is the part of you that notices and judges that you're
awake when you shouldn't be and unleashes all the drama that comes with
unwelcome wakefulness. Sleep becomes available, says Naiman, when you
stop listening to the ego.<br />
<br />
That's a tall order, especially when it's 3 a.m. and you're in thrall
to a nattering, chattering brain. This is when, Miller says, it's
helpful to get in touch with one of yoga's most powerful teachings:
Within the mind exists not only the clamoring ego, but also the calm
witness that observes without judgment. That witness part of us remains
conscious as the waves of sleep and wakefulness come and go. The witness
can watch the ego mind-controlling, freaking out, calming down. If you
can stop, take a breath, and step away from your panic about being
awake, you can become the witness.<br />
<br />
When the hold of the ego-mind feels like a death grip, yoga nidra,
often translated as "yogic sleep," can help. Yoga nidra is a practice of
gradual relaxation, scanning the body and mind for sensations and
emotions, recognizing and releasing those feelings one by one, and
slowly dropping into a resting state (see sidebar above for a simple
practice). Practiced lying down, it offers a nonthreatening way of
stepping back from the mind's chatter and reconnecting with the witness.
And by creating that space apart from your ego, you may loosen
insomnia's hold.<br />
<h5>
Wake-up Call</h5>
When you can move from worry to witness, suddenly you have a choice.
What will you do with this time? In our always-on culture, moments of
quiet are rare, but they can serve a purpose. You can use this time as
an opportunity to gain some insight into why you can't sleep, suggests
Miller. "If your sleep is being interrupted regularly, it may be trying
to convey a message," he says. "And it could be physical, psychological,
or spiritual in nature. Your body is calling for you to address
something that hasn't been addressed during the day."<br />
<br />
The physical messages are perhaps the easiest to interpret. If your
bladder is full, you can get up and pee. If your back is aching, you can
shift positions and make a note to do a back-pain-relieving practice
the next day. Psychological and spiritual issues are thornier,
especially if you're going out of your way to not deal with them during
the day. In that case, insomnia may be a signal that you need to make
time to process your feelings and experiences. "So many of us get so
busy during the day that we can't or won't deal with the real issues in
our lives," says Kelly Golden, a yoga teacher in Northern California who
developed the sequence for this story. "As soon as we settle down and
the unconscious mind can finally begin to deal with it all, there's so
much going on that it rattles the conscious mind awake again."<br />
<br />
All this stuff we don't have time, energy, or willingness to grapple
with affects us on every level: physically, mentally, emotionally,
psychologically, and spiritually. Ultimately, Golden says, it all plays
out on an energetic level, and that is where asana can help.<br />
<br />
In the yoga tradition, every posture is said to have an effect on the
body's system of energies, known as the vayus, or vital forces
(sometimes called winds). There are five primary vayus. Apana vayu is
the downward-moving force associated with grounding and elimination.
Samana vayu moves in a circular pattern through the belly and is thought
to regulate digestion and assimilation, both physical and metaphorical.
Prana vayu is centered in the chest and heart and is associated with
breath and vitality. Udana vayu moves upward from the throat and is
associated with speech, expression, and spiritual growth. And vyana vayu
circulates around the body, integrating the system.<br />
<br />
When working with insomnia, you might be tempted to go straight for
static grounding postures that stimulate apana, such as the relaxing <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/690" target="_blank">Legs-up-the-Wall Pose</a>.
But a better approach is to first practice poses that stimulate samana,
Golden says. Gentle movement, such as Cat-Cow Series and Dynamic
Forward-Fold Sequence, leads the way to deeper release. "You need
practices that can help you digest your mental and emotional experiences
so that you can get grounded enough to release them," she explains.
"With asana, you can let your body lead where you desire the mind to
be."<br />
<br />
Golden's seven-pose samana-apana series is designed for when you are
really struggling with sleep. It can be done when sleep just won't come
or when you find yourself awake in the middle of the night. In my
experience, it's just enough to begin to digest what's on your mind and
ease toward peaceful sleep.<br />
<br />
Knowing that I have choices has taken the edge off sleepless nights.
Rather than getting caught up in the same old stories, I remind myself
that I can choose to engage with anxious thoughts or let them pass. And
while I can't will myself to sleep, I can invite a sense of serenity by
knowing that there is some part of me that is resting peacefully. I've
learned to take a nonviolent approach, both toward sleep and toward my
sleepless self. And so I say to my insomnia, and also to my wakefulness:
I surrender.<br />
<h5>
Yoga Practice: Relax and Release</h5>
Next time you can't fall asleep, try this sequence by Kelly Golden, a
ParaYoga teacher. It is designed to help balance the vayus, or winds, a
concept in yoga used to describe the different types of energy that
govern physical and mental health. The practice features poses that
nurture samana and apana vayus—which respectively help you digest and
release what's keeping you awake.<br />
<br />
If your thoughts are creating tension in the breath and body, repeat the affirmations offered with each pose.<br />
<br />
Try to breathe in a 1:2 pattern. Breathe in for 3 counts and out for
6, or whatever feels natural. As you relax, try extending the breath. If
breathing becomes labored, return to an easy pattern. You can stay in
an extended state of deep relaxation at the end of the sequence, moving
into <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/482" target="_blank">Savasana</a> and doing yoga nidra. Or get into bed, allowing your breath to return to its natural pattern.<br />
<h5>
Dynamic Forward-Fold Sequence (Ardha Uttanasana to Uttanasana)</h5>
<img align="right" src="http://www.yogajournal.com/images/article/SLEEP_259_02_fnl.jpg" hspace="5" vspace="5" />
<img align="right" src="http://www.yogajournal.com/images/article/SLEEP_259_03_fnl.jpg" hspace="5" vspace="5" />
Begin in <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/492" target="_blank">Tadasana</a>
(Mountain Pose). Exhale as you fold forward with a long spine, sliding
your hands down and around the backs of your legs. With each inhalation,
rise up to extend your back, sliding your hands up to the backs of the
knees and drawing the chest through the upper arms. On each exhalation,
slide the hands down the backs of your knees as you fold forward. After
six repetitions, remain folded in Uttanasana, keeping the knees slightly
bent to support the lower back. Allow the spine to lengthen and the
head to drop easily to the floor. Rest your hands on the ankles or the
floor. Hold the forward bend for 10 breaths.<br />
<b>Inhale:</b> I accept
<br />
<b>Exhale:</b> I allow<br />
<br />
<h5>
Ragdoll (Ardha Utkatasana), variation</h5>
<img align="right" src="http://www.yogajournal.com/images/article/SLEEP_259_04_fnl.jpg" hspace="5" />
From Tadasana, bend the knees and drop the hips, drawing the sitting
bones back and the tailbone slightly down as you fold the upper body
forward over the thighs. Let your abdomen rest on your upper thighs.
Adjust your body so that you feel stable. Interlace the fingers behind
the back, then straighten the elbows and let your head drop toward the
floor. Anchor into your feet and feel completely supported by your upper
thighs. Hold the pose for 10 breaths.<br />
<b>Inhale:</b> I am aware
<br />
<b>Exhale:</b> I anchor<br />
<h5>
Downward-Facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana)</h5>
<img align="right" src="http://www.yogajournal.com/images/article/SLEEP_259_05_fnl.jpg" hspace="5" />
Bring your hands to the floor about shoulder-distance apart, fingers
facing forward; step your feet back into Adho Mukha Svanasana. Keep
lifting your hips, moving your shoulders down the back, and lengthening
your spine. Once you have the actions of the pose in place, release your
efforts. Think of this as a resting pose. Hold the pose for 10 deep
breaths.<br />
<b>Inhale:</b> I lengthen
<br />
<b>Exhale:</b> I let go<br />
<br />
<h5>
Cat-Cow Series<img align="right" src="http://www.yogajournal.com/images/article/SLEEP_259_06_fnl.jpg" hspace="5" vspace="5" /></h5>
<img align="right" src="http://www.yogajournal.com/images/article/SLEEP_259_07_fnl.jpg" hspace="5" vspace="5" />
<img align="right" src="http://www.yogajournal.com/images/article/SLEEP_259_08_fnl.jpg" hspace="5" vspace="5" />
From Downward-Facing Dog Pose, lower your knees to come onto all
fours with wrists beneath the shoulders and knees beneath the hips. To
start the series, inhale and extend the spine, gently drawing the chest
through the upper arms and the tailbone back, creating the tiniest of
backbends. Then, begin to exhale as you round the spine. Complete the
exhalation as you lower into an easy <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/475" target="_blank">Balasana</a>
(Child's Pose) with the hips on the heels and the belly on the thighs.
Let the exhalation stretch twice as long as the inhalation.
Then repeat: As you inhale, rise back up and again extend the spine,
moving fluidly between the three phases of the pose. Repeat 10 times.<br />
<b>Inhale:</b> I watch
<br />
<b>Exhale:</b>I witness<br />
<br />
<br />
<h5>
Hypnotic Sphinx (Sphinx Pose), variation</h5>
<img align="right" src="http://www.yogajournal.com/images/article/SLEEP_259_09_fnl.jpg" hspace="5" vspace="5" />
<img align="right" src="http://www.yogajournal.com/images/article/SLEEP_259_10_fnl.jpg" hspace="5" vspace="5" />
Lie down on your belly with your legs extended. Place the elbows to
the sides of the chest, forearms parallel to one another. Gently lift
the chest, dropping the weight into the elbows. Allow the neck and head
to soften. As you inhale, slowly turn the face and chin toward the right
shoulder, moving as if you were pouring sand from the center of the
brain into the left side of the skull; as you exhale, turn the chin and
face back to center. Repeat this movement on the other side. Allow the
movement to be intentionally slow and soft, taking time to explore the
tender spaces of the neck and base of the skull. Repeat 5 times on each
side.<br />
<b>Inhale:</b> I relax
<br />
<b>Exhale:</b>I release<br />
<br />
<h5>
Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottonasana)</h5>
<img align="right" src="http://www.yogajournal.com/images/article/SLEEP_259_11_fnl.jpg" hspace="5" />
Come to a seated position and extend the legs, keeping them
hip-distance apart and parallel to one another. Ground the sitting
bones and sit straight and tall. As you inhale, reach the arms overhead;
as you exhale lengthen the spine and fold forward from the hips. Settle
the arms on the floor by your sides or take hold of the toes. Relax.
With each inhalation invite length into your spine, and with each
exhalation release into the fold. Hold for 10 breaths.<br />
<b>Inhale:</b> I lengthen
<br />
<b>Exhale:</b>I let go<br />
<h5>
Legs-up-the-Wall Pose (Viparita Karani)</h5>
<img align="right" src="http://www.yogajournal.com/images/article/SLEEP_259_12_fnl.jpg" hspace="5" />
Sit with one side of your body next to a wall, with your hips as
close to the wall as possible and a cushion nearby. Roll onto your back
so that your hips come onto the cushion and your legs rotate directly
over the hips and up the wall. The feet can be together or hip-distance
apart, whichever feels more comfortable to you. Keep your arms by your
sides, palms turned up; relax your arms and shoulders. Feel the leg
bones anchoring into the hip sockets as you release effort. Feel the
spine lengthening and resting on the surface beneath you.<br />
<h5>
Finish With Three-Part Breath (Dirga Pranayama)</h5>
Release the 1:2 breath and the affirmation, and instead focus on
Dirga Pranayama (Three-Part Breath): Inhale first into the belly, then
the rib cage, then the collarbones, and then exhale from the
collarbones, then the rib cage, then the belly. Do this for 10 to 20
breaths, then allow all effort to fade way. Feel the core of the body
release as the body and the mind enter into deep relaxation and rest.<br />
<h5>
Cultivate Consciousness</h5>
When insomnia seems insurmountable, yoga nidra is a way to cultivate
much-needed deep rest for the body. "Yoga nidra means 'to sleep on the
cloud of yoga,'" says ParaYoga creator Rod Stryker. "When we practice
yoga nidra we step into the rhythm of deep sleep—a kind of rest that is
even more healing and reparative than ordinary sleep because there is an
element of effortless consciousness abiding there."<br />
<br />
Stryker suggests this simple version of yoga nidra, called 61 Points
Yoga Nidra, which can be done in bed or on a yoga mat with a folded
blanket under your head. Use it as a precursor to sleep, as a practice
during the day, or as a practice on nights when sleep won't come.<br />
<br />
If your goal is to fall asleep, Stryker recommends beginning with 5
minutes of 1:2 breathing (breathe gently, making your exhale twice as
long as your inhale), then another 5 to 10 minutes writing in a journal.
Then turn out the light, get comfortable, and do the following
practice. Let your awareness rest on each point for 5 to 10 seconds—no
longer—before moving on to the next one. If you have finished the entire
cycle and are still awake, start over from the beginning and do it
again.<br />
<br />
<b>Start:</b> Bring your awareness to the center of your forehead, then move it to the center of your throat.<br />
<b>Right Arm:</b> Move awareness to the right shoulder, down to the
elbow, wrist, tip of thumb, tip of index finger, tip of middle finger,
tip of ring finger, tip of little finger, back to wrist, elbow, and
shoulder. Return awareness to the throat.<br />
<b>Left Arm:</b> Now move awareness to the left shoulder, down to the
elbow, wrist, tip of thumb, tip of index finger, tip of middle finger,
tip of ring finger, tip of little finger, back to wrist, elbow, and
shoulder. Return awareness to the throat.<br />
<b>Chest and Torso:</b> Move awareness to the heart center between
the breasts, right breast, space between the breasts, left breast, space
between the breasts, to the navel, and down to the pubic bone.<br />
<b>Right Leg:</b> Now move your awareness to the right hip, knee,
ankle, tip of the big toe, tip of the second toe, tip of the middle toe,
tip of the fourth toe, tip of the little toe, back to ankle, knee, and
hip. Return to the pubic bone.<br />
<b>Left Leg:</b> Move your awareness to the left hip, knee, ankle,
tip of the big toe, tip of the second toe, tip of the middle toe, tip of
the fourth toe, tip of the little toe, back to ankle, knee, and hip.
Return to the pubic bone.<br />
<b>Finish:</b> Bring awareness to the navel, space between the breasts, throat, and to the center of the forehead.<br />
<h5>
Set Yourself Up for Sleep Success</h5>
Practice smart strategies to improve your chances of getting to sleep
and staying asleep, says Woodson Merrell, MD, executive director of the
<a href="http://healthandhealingny.org/" target="_blank">Continuum Center for Health and Healing</a>
at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. And if insomnia
persists, be sure to look into physical problems that might impair sleep
quality. Hormone imbalances, restless leg syndrome, and sleep apnea are
common culprits.<br />
<br />
<b>Develop a Routine:</b> Choose a relaxing activity and do it every
night. Listening to soothing music, reading a book, taking a bath,
meditating, and doing yoga are all good choices.<br />
<b>Go Easy on Caffeine and Alcohol:</b> Even one morning cup of
coffee can be a problem for some people, Merrell says. Alcohol can cause
nighttime wakefulness, so limit your consumption to one drink a day,
and don't have it after 7 p.m.<br />
<b>Keep a To-Do List:</b> Keep a nighttime journal to write down all
of your concerns about the things you have to take care of tomorrow.
Knowing you don't have to keep everything in your head will help you
relax.<br />
<b>Eat Light:</b> Carbs are easier on the digestion, whereas a dinner
that's heavy on protein can keep the digestion working overtime just
when you're trying to rest.<br />
<b>Power Down at Least an Hour Before Bed:</b> Any device with a
screen (TVs, computers, phones, iPads) emits blue-spectrum light that
can inhibit the brain's production of melatonin, the sleep hormone.<br />
<b>If You Get Up, Don't Get Worked Up:</b> If you're wide awake, get
out of bed and do some restful activity. If you feel sleepy later, and
have time, return to bed. If not, move into your day with a calm
commitment to try again the coming night.<br />
<b>Exercise Early:</b> Vigorous exercise in the morning can help you
sleep well at night. Aim for 30 minutes of cardiovascular activity at
least five days a week.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #666666;">
~ Article re-posted from <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2889" target="_blank">Yoga Journal</a> October 2013 issue.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-11326501103589402102014-02-03T18:32:00.000-06:002014-02-03T18:32:49.516-06:00Family Restorative YogaI found a lovely blog which features family restorative poses along with lots of other good info. I wanted to feature some of the pics here. The below are my favs from the blog <a href="http://www.familyrestore.com/" target="_blank">Family Restorative Yoga</a>...<br />
<br />
From the post <a href="http://www.familyrestore.com/2013/12/how-i-beat-my-addiction-to-adrenaline.html" target="_blank">How I beat my addiction to adrenaline</a>. <br />
<h4>
Restorative Stretch supported with pillows</h4>
<div>
<i>This is as easy as it looks. Stack pillows higher for tighter
hamstrings and lower for more flexible and open legs. Rest head on top
of hands to allow space for breathing (as shown), or turn head to one
side.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aoqk3Lgroag/UrEYcIPKMWI/AAAAAAAAAN0/ZRiVDY4JwYk/s1600/photo+%289%29.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aoqk3Lgroag/UrEYcIPKMWI/AAAAAAAAAN0/ZRiVDY4JwYk/s400/photo+%289%29.JPG" height="308" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
From the post <a href="http://www.familyrestore.com/2013/10/running-on-empty.html" target="_blank">Running on Empty</a> <br />
<h4>
"Restorative Bridge Pose" - Septhu Bandasana</h4>
<i>This brings the tank up to half full. We stacked pillows under our
tushies, bent our knees, and let our upper bodies relax on the floor.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mS3CJnBxTxo/UlV20Me8ZGI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/2GUUtMe6Kfg/s1600/photo+%2814%29.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mS3CJnBxTxo/UlV20Me8ZGI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/2GUUtMe6Kfg/s400/photo+%2814%29.JPG" height="333" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
From the post <a href="http://www.familyrestore.com/2014/01/your-moments-of-zen.html" target="_blank">Your Moments of Zen</a><br />
<h4>
Yaara's Improvised Legs up the Wall pose...up a comfy chair (<i>Viparitta Korani</i>) </h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uT1U5tvdsOM/UsXUdpIkMUI/AAAAAAAAAO8/yvdC34PJ-NQ/s1600/photo+%282%29.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uT1U5tvdsOM/UsXUdpIkMUI/AAAAAAAAAO8/yvdC34PJ-NQ/s400/photo+%282%29.JPG" height="400" width="318" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
From the post <a href="http://www.familyrestore.com/2013/11/life-pie.html" target="_blank">Life Pie</a><br />
<h4>
(Supported) Supta Badha Konasana</h4>
<div>
<i>In this pose, we make our legs into a diamond pose. You may find
that it is easy to do this pose without adding support under the knees,
however, I encourage you to add the support because it feels really nice
to have your knees "held" in this pose. We put our heads next to each
other so we can listen to each other breathing. This is a very special
action - most likely there aren't many other people in your life besides
your family whose breath you listen to.</i></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oj30lh_PSmU/UpQag6oc77I/AAAAAAAAAMM/1wyzqjxASVI/s1600/photo+%286%29.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oj30lh_PSmU/UpQag6oc77I/AAAAAAAAAMM/1wyzqjxASVI/s400/photo+%286%29.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="color: #666666;"><b>Contributing author, Ellie Klein says:</b><i> I'm so happy to be able to contribute to <a href="http://www.dorestorativeyoga.com/">www.dorestorativeyoga.com</a>. You can
find out more about me by reading my blog at <a href="http://www.familyrestore.com/">www.familyrestore.com</a>. My blog teaches
families how to do restorative yoga together! I am a 200-hour certified
Iyengar-style yoga teacher with six years of studio and university teaching
experience. In 2012, I completed an extra certification in restorative yoga and
have been teaching in this capacity, as well. The focus of my yoga educating
centers on families, calm, and interpersonal health. I am available for
consultation and yoga education (individuals and groups) in the bay area. To
contact me, email <a href="mailto:klein.elinor@gmail.com">klein.elinor@gmail.com</a>.</i></span>Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-76582417559966355922013-12-19T01:00:00.000-06:002013-12-19T01:00:00.769-06:00Winter Yin Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fw5fmv8sElo/UrHYGfckfTI/AAAAAAAABG0/MbJV_uePGFg/s1600/WinterYin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fw5fmv8sElo/UrHYGfckfTI/AAAAAAAABG0/MbJV_uePGFg/s1600/WinterYin.jpg" /></a></div>
I've been feeling a bit out of sorts (as I know many of us do in the winter and around the holidays). All I want to do is snuggle up in my blankets and read, read, read. Or maybe watch some movies. But for some reason, I feel like this "introversion thing" is somehow wrong so I schedule up my time by signing up for classes, teaching more, and having or going to parties. None of these things are wrong, but I am definitely forcing myself to get out of the house.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, I came across this article in Yoga Journal which makes me feel a little better about my hibernation tendencies. Maybe it is ok to slow down after all. Enjoy.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Winter Wonder Yin</span></h3>
<i><span style="color: #666666;"><b>An acupuncturist explains why the final month of the year, an
inherently yin season, is not the time to indulge in yang activities
like shopping, partying, and staying up late.
</b></span></i>
<i>~ By Laurel Kallenbach</i><br />
<br />
The final few months of the year often find us in a frantic state of
shopping, decorating, traveling, and other high-energy activity. Yet
instead of having fun, we often end up feeling ill, anxious, or
depressed. The reason, according to Taoist philosophy and traditional
Chinese medicine, is that the action-packed schedules we keep at this
time of year fall out of sync with the earth's natural cycles.
<br />
<br />
"We naturally have less energy to burn during the winter," explains
acupuncturist Carolyn Cohen, L.Ac., who teaches at Yo San University, a
college of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Santa Monica,
California. "So when we engage in behaviors more appropriate for
summer—staying up late and dashing around town—it's no wonder that the
forced cheer of the holiday season can wear a bit thin."<br />
<br />
Taoist philosophy conceptualizes universal balance in terms of yin
and yang, complementary forces that govern the universe. Yin
characteristics are cool, wet, slow, feminine, and quiet, whereas yang
is the opposite: warm, dry, fast, masculine, extroverted. Winter, the
yin season, is a time for storing and conserving energy in the way a
bear retains fat by hibernating, or a farmer stores food for the cold
months ahead. <br />
<br />
In agrarian cultures, people spend the shortest, darkest days indoors
by the fire, eating warm, slow-cooked, nourishing food and sharing
stories with their families. The incongruity between winter's restful,
introspective, yin nature and the frenetic way many Americans spend
their holidays can contribute to seasonal affective disorder,
depression, exhaustion, and other manifestations of what is known in TCM
as <i>shen</i> (or spiritual) disharmony. <br />
<br />
"Winter solstice, just three or four days before Christmas, is the
darkest, most yin day of the year," says Cohen. "Instead of turning
inward, we're celebrating with excess and yang activity. This
artificiality creates stress, and many people dread the season as a
result." <br />
<br />
To stay balanced during winter, suggests Cohen, conserve your yang
energy. Restorative yoga, tai chi, qigong, and walking are best suited
for yin season, as they safeguard your energy reserves. "Think of these
practices as an investment of your 'energy paycheck,'" says Cohen.
"Don't use up what little winter energy you have with overactivity and
added stress."<br />
<br />
Eating cooked, spicy yang foods provides another good way to
replenish energy. Prepare yang-strengthening soups, slow-simmered stews,
beans, roasted root vegetables, and warm drinks. Add yang spices such
as garlic, ginger, black pepper, cloves, and basil to increase the
warming effect. Minimize your intake of yin foods such as raw
vegetables, salad greens, and cold drinks. <br />
<br />
If you find quiet, more modest ways to celebrate the holidays, you'll
stay in tune with the season and feel less need to release tension by
overeating or rampant spending. You'll also have more time and energy to
connect with close friends and family. If you're out of sync with the
mall mobs with maxed-out credit cards, chances are you'll find yourself
in step with the quiet, nurturing yin nature of winter.</blockquote>
<br />
Article found here: <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/health/101">http://www.yogajournal.com/health/101</a>.<br />
<br />
And to help us on our inward journey, a link to free guided meditations with Tara Brach: <a href="http://www.tarabrach.com/audioarchives-guided-meditations.html" target="_blank">www.tarabrach.com</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-40600602585199709232013-12-04T01:00:00.000-06:002015-11-17T10:45:04.572-06:00Yoga Nidra for AnxietyI came across this Yoga Journal article about Yoga Nidra and thought it would be worth sharing. Enjoy!
<br />
<div class="image_left" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
</div>
<br />
<h2 class="teaser">
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Reflections of Peace</span></h2>
<div class="teaser">
<b><span style="color: #666666;">A proven antidote to anxiety and restlessness, the ancient practice
of yoga nidra has been adopted by veterans, recovering addicts, and
run-of-the-mill stressed out people.
</span></b></div>
<div class="author">
<br /></div>
<div class="author">
<span style="color: #666666;"><i>By Katherine Griffin, yoga nidra meditation by Richard Miller.</i></span></div>
<div class="author">
<br /></div>
One cool evening in a high-ceilinged dining hall in Novato,
California, an unlikely yoga class is getting under way. Fourteen men
wearing blue jeans, work boots or running shoes roll out yoga mats and
get settled on sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows.<br />
<br />
The instructor, Kelly Boys, smiles as she surveys her students,
residents at Henry Ohlhoff North, a substance abuse recovery center. She
asks if anyone wants to discuss their experiences in the previous
week's session. A trim 52-year-old named Charles volunteers that he
struggles with feelings of loneliness.<br />
<br />
"How does your body feel when it hits you?" Boys asks. "Tense,"
Charles says. "And where do you feel the tension?" she asks. "In my
shoulders," he says.<br />
<br />
"Just ask it, 'What do you need? What do you want?'" Boys says.
"We're just bringing curiosity to it. When you really meet it, it does
drop away." Charles nods, satisfied for now.<br />
<br />
As the men settle into relaxed positions, Boys begins to talk them
through a detailed tour of their own bodies on this day and at this
moment—the first step in the practice of <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/health/1372/" target="_blank">yoga nidra</a>.
Gradually the room quiets, until the only sounds are the hum of the
ventilation system and Boys' voice: "Can you feel the inside of your
mouth? Now bring your attention to your left ear. Feel the inside of
your left ear. Feel your right ear. Can you feel both ears
simultaneously?" Around the room, faces relax, jaws soften, and soon
snores start to rumble as the men drop deeper into relaxation.<br />
<h5>
Profound Rest</h5>
Yoga nidra is an ancient but little-known yogic practice that's becoming increasingly popular as both a form of <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/meditation/" target="_blank">meditation</a> and a mind-body therapy. It is a systematic form of guided relaxation that typically is done for 35 to 40 minutes at a time.<br />
<br />
Practitioners say that it often brings immediate physical benefits,
such as reduced stress and better sleep, and that it has the potential
to heal psychological wounds. As a meditation practice, it can engender a
profound sense of joy and well-being.<br />
<br />
"In yoga nidra, we restore our body, senses, and mind to their
natural function and awaken a seventh sense that allows us to feel no
separation, that only sees wholeness, tranquility, and well-being," says
Richard Miller, a San Francisco Bay Area yoga teacher and clinical
psychologist who is at the forefront of the movement to teach yoga nidra
and to bring it to a wider audience.<br />
<br />
While many prominent teachers offer classes, CDs, and books on yoga
nidra, Miller is responsible for bringing the practice to a remarkable
variety of nontraditional settings. He's helped introduce it on military
bases and in veterans' clinics, homeless shelters, Montessori schools,
Head Start programs, hospitals, hospices, chemical dependency centers,
and jails. What's more, thanks to Miller, it's beginning to get serious
scientific attention. Researchers are examining the practice's potential
to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder; addicts
struggling to get clean; people with depression, cancer, and MS; health
care workers; and married couples coping with stress and insomnia.<br />
<br />
More than 40 years ago, in 1970, Miller attended his first yoga class
at the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco. "At the end of that
class, they taught a modified yoga nidra—deep Savasana," he says. "I had
the most profound experience; there was this sense of my
inter-relatedness with the entire universe. And a vow arose in me to
really investigate this practice."<br />
<br />
Over years of studying and teaching yoga nidra, Miller has developed
his own approach, finding ways to make the practice accessible to a
broad range of people, even those with little or no education in yoga.
In 2005, he published a book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Nidra-Meditative-Practice-Relaxation/dp/1591797586" target="_blank">Yoga Nidra: A Meditative Practice for Deep Relaxation and Healing</a>,
and he's released several audio guides as well. He currently leads the
nonprofit Integrative Restoration Institute, an organization dedicated
to the research, teaching, and practice of yoga nidra and <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/philosophy/" target="_blank">yoga philosophy</a>.<br />
<br />
"Most people are trying to change themselves," Miller says. "Yoga
nidra asks them to welcome themselves. That moment of true welcoming is
where the profound transformation takes place."<br />
<h5>
Simple Steps</h5>
It's a deceptively simple practice. Because yoga nidra is most often
taught lying down—initially guided by a teacher—it's appealing to people
who might feel intimidated by yoga postures or traditional seated
meditation. A short version of yoga nidra can be introduced and
practiced in less than 10 minutes. Yet its various elements, taken
together and practiced regularly, make up a sophisticated set of
mind-body tools that can help practitioners navigate some of life's
harshest moments. Yoga nidra can also be practiced as an accessible form
of meditation for those seeking everyday well-being.<br />
<br />
In a typical yoga nidra session, a teacher guides practitioners
through several stages. You start by developing an intention for your
life and for the practice. Then you learn to focus your awareness on
your breath, bodily sensations, emotions, and thoughts. Throughout, you
are encouraged to tap into an underlying sense of peace that is always
present and to cultivate "witness consciousness," observing and
welcoming whatever is present without getting caught up in it.<br />
<br />
"Yoga nidra allows us to reach the most profound level of relaxation
possible," says Rod Stryker, the founder of Para-Yoga, who has been
teaching yoga nidra since the mid-1990s and who writes about it in his
book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Four-Desires-Creating-Happiness-Prosperity/dp/0553803980" target="_blank">The Four Desires</a>. "It opens a doorway to a place where we can see ourselves and our lives in the most positive light."<br />
<br />
Unlike other forms of meditation, in which you focus on a mantra or
on your breath, yoga nidra asks you simply to let go. "The practice
forces us to engage the muscle of surrender," Stryker says.<br />
<h5>
Relief for the Restless</h5>
The path to bringing yoga nidra to the attention of a wider audience
led, oddly enough, through the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a
military treatment facility based, at the time, in Washington, DC. In
2004, Christine Goertz, an academic researcher at the Samueli Institute,
a nonprofit research institute, teamed up with Robin Carnes, a yoga
teacher who had taught yoga nidra as part of a cardiac care program at
Walter Reed. Carnes had learned yoga nidra from Stryker and from
Miller's book.<br />
<br />
She and Goertz used Miller's approach as the basis for a
pilot study investigating whether the practice could help soldiers
suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The results of that
initial small study, conducted with active-duty service members,
suggested that yoga nidra may be helpful for managing PTSD in veterans.
(Along the way, someone at Walter Reed suggested renaming the practice
to something more accessible, and Miller coined "iRest," short for
"Integrative Restoration.") As a follow-up, a randomized, controlled
trial involving 150 participants was conducted over 18 months at the
Veterans Affairs (VA) facility in Miami from 2009 to 2010. And another
study is beginning this winter at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal
Health Care Center in Chicago.<br />
<br />
On the basis of the pilot study results, the military is now offering
Miller's iRest yoga nidra practice to wounded warriors at Walter Reed;
Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas; Camp Lejeune, a large
Marine Corps base in North Carolina; and VA facilities in Miami,
Chicago, and Washington, DC. In these ongoing classes, soldiers have
reported that some of their most troubling PTSD symptoms, including
hyperalertness, anxiety, and sleep disturbances, have diminished.<br />
<br />
Tools like yoga nidra can be crucial resources for soldiers adjusting
to life after war, says Mona Bingham, a retired colonel who's
researching the practice at Brooke Army Medical Center. "A lot of
soldiers are coming back [from combat] with physical, psychological, and
moral wounds," she says. "It's not something we can just give them a
medication for." She's studying iRest's effect on military couples
coping with the stress that often arises after a deployment ends.<br />
<br />
Cheryl LeClair teaches the iRest practice to marines with PTSD and
traumatic brain injuries at Camp Lejeune. "Most of the guys don't
sleep," she says. "Some have told me they take two Ambien a night, and
they still can't sleep. But many of them fall sleep in the very first
iRest session. To see them relax and let go is just amazing."<br />
<br />
Like the marines in LeClair's classes, new practitioners often go to
sleep during their first few yoga nidra sessions. That's not surprising,
says Stryker, since these days many people are sleep deprived. Yoga
nidra literally means "yogic sleep," but that is a bit of a misnomer.
It's not a special kind of sleep, but a state between sleeping and
waking. With more experience, Stryker says, practitioners can experience
deep rest while maintaining what he calls "just a trace of awareness."<br />
<br />
For LeClair, whose husband returned from Iraq in 2003 with a brain
injury, PTSD, and a crushed vertebra in his neck, yoga nidra has become
an essential part of getting through what are often very trying days.
(She handles the family finances and much of the responsibility for
raising a nine-year-old grandson.) She first experienced the practice at
a weekend workshop. "After I woke up, I said, 'Whatever that is, I want
more,' " she says. Now, when she gets overwhelmed, she recalls the
lessons of yoga nidra: "If you can step back and witness the thoughts
without reaction, it gives you some space. You learn to have
equanimity."<br />
<h5>
Emotional Healing</h5>
The roots of yoga nidra are thought to go back thousands of years.
When Miller adapted the teachings to make them more accessible to
Westerners, he wanted to address emotional wellness. "The Eastern yoga
principles took it for granted that you were at a certain state of
health and well-being," he says. "What I saw was that this was not true
of most students. So I added the element of the Inner Resource."<br />
<br />
Early on in Miller's yoga nidra instruction, as you begin to relax,
you are asked to conjure up your own personal Inner Resource, a vision
of and feeling about a place where you feel safe and secure. If intense
emotions surface during yoga nidra—or, for that matter, at any time—you
can return to your Inner Resource to take a break.<br />
<br />
Charles, one of the men at Henry Ohlhoff North, turns to the practice
often. A former executive chef, he retired after a back injury left him
in constant pain. He became addicted to alcohol and painkillers and,
after three arrests on drug charges, chose rehab instead of jail.<br />
<br />
Yoga nidra has helped him find his way back to a part of himself
untouched by addiction and chronic pain. His Inner Resource is the
bakery his parents ran. "I go back to my childhood," he says, "doing
chores in my parents' bakery. I think about my dad and how good it felt
to have his arms around me."<br />
Earlier this year, when Charles was granted his first overnight pass
two months into his six-month rehabilitation stay, a friend surprised
him with a birthday party that included alcohol. Charles started to
panic.<br />
<br />
"I went out to my car, put my head back on the headrest, and went
into [the practice]," he says. "My breathing came down, and I could
focus better." After about half an hour, he chose to leave the party and
return to the rehab center.<br />
<br />
Early research supports the idea that yoga nidra can help people like
Charles who are in recovery from addiction. In a study of 93 people at a
chemical dependency treatment center, Leslie Temme, a professor in the
social work department of Western Carolina University, found that
participants who practiced yoga nidra had fewer negative moods and a
reduced risk of relapsing into substance abuse.<br />
With its emphasis on
self-awareness, yoga nidra seems to help recovering addicts feel more
comfortable in their own skin, cope better with difficult emotions, and
make better choices, Temme says. What's more, she adds, "The clients
loved it. They were lining up at the door to get to it."<br />
<h5>
Inner Discoveries</h5>
If you've ever tried to sit in meditation for 30 minutes, you know
that you don't need to be recovering from trauma to be uncomfortable in
your own mind. As a meditation technique, yoga nidra offers a gentle
approach, starting with body awareness, then working compassionately
with thoughts and emotions as they arise, and gradually leading the
meditator to access a greater field of awareness. In fact, in some of
the oldest written references to the term yoga nidra, it is synonymous
with <i><a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/461/" target="_blank">samadhi</a></i>, or union, the ultimate goal of the eightfold path.<br />
<br />
This aspect of yoga nidra is perhaps the most difficult to put into
words, but, for Miller, it's the core of the practice. Learning to
observe and welcome all of the sensations, emotions, and thoughts that
arise in deep rest can lead a person to become less identified with the
individual self—what Miller calls the "I-thought." Through this
experience, he says, it's possible to lose the sense that one is
separate from others and to tap into an unshakable sense of
interconnectedness to all of life.<br />
<br />
And when that happens, Miller says, "There's a deep pool of
well-being. It's what I discovered in that first yoga nidra session in
1970. That's what I try to share."<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">
Explore the 10 Steps of Yoga Nidra ~ <span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>by Richard Miller</i></span></span></h4>
<b>Getting Started:</b> Set up your practice space by placing a
bolster lengthwise on your mat and slipping a block under the top end,
so that the bolster slants gently. Lie down with your sitting bones on
the mat and with the bolster supporting you from the low back to the
head. Place a folded blanket under your head for a pillow. Notice and
welcome sounds, smells, and taste as well as color and light. Release
excess tension throughout your body and feel a sense of relaxation
spreading throughout your entire body and mind.<br />
<br />
<b>Listen:</b> To be guided into yoga nidra by Richard Miller, listen to the audio at <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/livemag/lmcontent/74" target="_blank">yogajournal.com/livemag</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>1. Connect to Your Heartfelt Desire.</b> Bring to mind your
heart's deepest desire—something that you want more than anything else
in life. Perhaps it is a desire for health, well-being, or awakening.
Feel this heartfelt desire with your entire body while imagining and
experiencing it in this moment as if it were true.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Set an Intention.</b> Reflect on your intention for your
practice today. It might be to relax and rest, or to inquire into a
particular sensation, emotion, or belief. Whatever your intention,
welcome and affirm it with your entire body and mind.<br />
<br />
<b>3. Find Your Inner Resource.</b> Bring attention to your Inner
Resource, a safe haven within your body where you experience feelings of
security, well-being, and calm. You may imagine a place, person, or
experience that helps you feel secure and at ease and that helps you
feel within your body the sense of well-being. Re-experience your Inner
Resource at any time during your practice or in daily life when you feel
overwhelmed by an emotion, thought, or life circumstance and wish to
feel secure and at ease.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Scan Your Body.</b> Gradually move your awareness through your
body. Sense your jaw, mouth, ears, nose, and eyes. Sense your forehead,
scalp, neck, and the inside of your throat. Scan your attention through
your left arm and left palm, your right arm and right palm, and then
both arms and hands simultaneously. Sense your torso, pelvis, and
sacrum. Experience sensation in your left hip, leg, and foot, and then
in your right hip, leg, and foot. Sense your entire body as a field of
radiant sensation.<br />
<br />
<b>5. Become Aware of Your Breath.</b> Sense the body breathing by
itself. Observe the natural flow of air in the nostrils, throat, and rib
cage as well as the rise and fall of the abdomen with each breath. Feel
each breath as flowing energy coursing throughout your entire body.<br />
<br />
<b>6. Welcome Your Feelings.</b> Without judging or trying to change
anything, welcome the sensations (such as heaviness, tension, or warmth)
and emotions (such as sadness, anger, or worry) that are present in
your body and mind. Also notice opposite sensations and emotions: If you
feel worry, call up feelings of serenity; if you feel tense, experience
ease. Sense each feeling and its opposite within your body.<br />
<br />
<b>7. Witness Your Thoughts.</b> Notice and welcome the thoughts,
memories, and images that are present in your mind. Observe your
thoughts without judging them or trying to change them. As you come upon
beliefs that you hold about yourself, also bring to mind and experience
their opposites, welcoming your experience just as it is.<br />
<br />
<b>8. Experience Joy.</b> Welcome sensations of joy, well-being, or
bliss emanating from your heart or belly and spreading throughout your
body and into the space around you. With every exhalation, experience
sensations of warmth, joy, and well-being radiating throughout your
body.<br />
<br />
<b>9. Observe Your Self.</b> Be aware of your sense of "I-ness," or
personality. Notice this sense of identity when you say "I'm hungry,"
"I'm angry," or "I'm happy." Then, experience yourself as an observing
witness or Awareness that is cognizant of these feelings. Set aside
thinking and dissolve into Awareness, awake and conscious of the self.<br />
<br />
<b>10. Reflect on Your Practice.</b> As you complete your practice,
reflect on the journey you've just taken. Affirm how the feeling of pure
Being, or pure Awareness, is always present as a deep, unchanging peace
that underlies every changing circumstance. Imagine integrating that
feeling into your everyday life, in both pleasant and difficult moments,
and always reconnecting to that sense of equanimity.<br />
<br />
<b>To Finish:</b> At your own pace, transition back to your waking
life, reorienting to your surroundings. Come back slowly, and pause for a
moment to feel grateful for taking this time for yourself.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #666666;">
This was published in <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2814" target="_blank">Yoga Journal</a> in November 2011.
</div>
Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-9024712115652220252013-11-21T08:50:00.000-06:002013-11-21T08:50:07.866-06:00International Restorative Yoga Day Photos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For more photos, visit my public album on Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.586586914724367.1073741826.195023843880678&type=1" target="_blank">Click Here</a>.<br />
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<br />Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-51238021055014608202013-11-17T00:00:00.000-06:002013-11-17T08:52:12.668-06:0030 Days of Relaxation Follow UpI hope you have enjoyed taking a bit of time out for yourself each day.
This challenge has reinvigorated my practice and has given me many great
ideas for future posts. I have a list of about 20 new poses/variations
of poses which I hope to share over the coming months. If you have
enjoyed this challenge please sign up to "follow by email" on my <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blog</a>'s
sidebar. Don't worry, I do not collect your email addresses; Google
facilitates sending these blog posts by email. Just be sure to check
your inbox for an email from "Feedburner" and authorize/confirm your
desire to follow by email.<br />
<br />
It's been nice practicing with you! <br />
<br />
<br />Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-70667599673146612992013-11-16T00:00:00.000-06:002013-11-16T00:00:00.843-06:0030 Days of Relaxation - Day 30Today is International Restorative Yoga Day (see this website for more info: <a href="http://www.restorativeyogaday.org/">www.restorativeyogaday.org</a>). I hope you can find a local Restorative Yoga class to attend. If you are in Duluth, MN, please join me at <a href="http://www.yoganorthduluth.com/" target="_blank">Yoga North</a> this morning, 8:00-9:15 am for Restorative Yoga. If you are doing a home practice, here is a final sequence to enjoy.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Legs on a Chair</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SuH5fF_13aI/AAAAAAAAATg/GqHD83KtTGM/s1600-h/legs_on_a_chair.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395868141147774370" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SuH5fF_13aI/AAAAAAAAATg/GqHD83KtTGM/s400/legs_on_a_chair.jpg" style="display: block; height: 233px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>For details on how to do this pose click <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/2013/10/30-days-of-relaxation-day-1.html">here</a>.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Supported Reclining Twist</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SwgfJHvtoUI/AAAAAAAAAVo/lyelI09mumg/s1600/supported_reclining_twist1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SwgfJHvtoUI/AAAAAAAAAVo/lyelI09mumg/s400/supported_reclining_twist1.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
For details on how to do this pose click <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/2013/11/30-days-of-relaxation-day-21.html">here</a>.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Enjoy Supported Child’s Pose</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/Sa_VMzm7m-I/AAAAAAAAAEs/SwSMCxDJgok/s1600-h/supported_childs1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309696901681748962" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/Sa_VMzm7m-I/AAAAAAAAAEs/SwSMCxDJgok/s400/supported_childs1.jpg" style="display: block; height: 244px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 360px;" /></a>For details on how to do this pose click <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/2013/10/30-days-of-relaxation-day-5.html">here</a>. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Supported Savasana</b> + listen to a free relaxation practice from Dr. Baxter Bell (link below).</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-URqSoUHTiyE/SwgZweBFu0I/AAAAAAAAAVg/sWB9MrueHPQ/s1600/supported_savasana1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-URqSoUHTiyE/SwgZweBFu0I/AAAAAAAAAVg/sWB9MrueHPQ/s1600/supported_savasana1.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://yogaforhealthyaging.blogspot.com/p/audio-tracks.html" target="_blank">Click here</a> for 4 free guided relaxation practices.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Enjoy your day and your new habit of relaxation. Nicely done!</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-85938806542902783292013-11-15T00:00:00.000-06:002013-11-15T00:00:01.013-06:0030 Days of Relaxation - Day 29We are coming up on the home stretch of our challenge. I thought I would post a couple of my favorite short home sequences for these last two days.<br />
<br />
Also, FYI, tomorrow is International Restorative Yoga Day. I will be teaching Restorative Yoga at <a href="http://www.yoganorthduluth.com/" target="_blank">Yoga North</a> in Duluth, MN, Saturday morning, 8:00-9:15
am. Please join me for a live class.<br />
<br />
For today... <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Supported Reclining Bound Angle</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SdATcsRxpnI/AAAAAAAAAFs/mhftUoqx-rU/s1600-h/supported_reclining_bound_angle2.jpg"><img alt=" Supported Reclining Bound Angle" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318772543567537778" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SdATcsRxpnI/AAAAAAAAAFs/mhftUoqx-rU/s400/supported_reclining_bound_angle2.jpg" style="display: block; height: 230px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 350px;" /></a> Details on how to do this pose <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/2013/10/30-days-of-relaxation-day-13.html">here</a>.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Supported Child's Pose</b></span></div>
<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-4673048083371886463" itemprop="description articleBody">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/Sa_VMzm7m-I/AAAAAAAAAEs/SwSMCxDJgok/s1600-h/supported_childs1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309696901681748962" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/Sa_VMzm7m-I/AAAAAAAAAEs/SwSMCxDJgok/s400/supported_childs1.jpg" style="display: block; height: 244px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 360px;" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Details on how to do this pose <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/2013/10/30-days-of-relaxation-day-5.html">here</a>.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Supported Reclining Side-Seated Twist.</b></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SuC8_0tknkI/AAAAAAAAATA/28W9QURacqw/s1600-h/supported_side_twist1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395520158257421890" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SuC8_0tknkI/AAAAAAAAATA/28W9QURacqw/s400/supported_side_twist1.jpg" style="display: block; height: 201px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 360px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Make sure to take the twist in both directions.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Details on how to do this pose <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/2013/10/30-days-of-relaxation-day-6.html">here</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Feel free to keep on going and take more poses or finish up here. </div>
<br />
<br />Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-82898212797783184122013-11-14T00:00:00.000-06:002013-11-14T00:00:00.788-06:0030 Days of Relaxation - Day 28If yesterday's pose did not give you enough sensation, today's pose might be more to your liking. For today, let's try<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Supported Wide-Angle Forward Fold</span></span></div>
<br />
Wide
leg forward fold can be done from a standing position or seated.
Generally for my Restorative class we are seated and have multiple props
to support this sometimes difficult opening.<br />
<br />
<b>Setting up for the pose:</b><br />
Gather
a number of different props: a chair, or a couple of blocks, or a few
pillows/bolsters, also, either a blanket for sitting on or else a wedge.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SuiHGLxs7uI/AAAAAAAAAUo/qc28uC_gkOA/s1600-h/supported_wide_angle_fold1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397712693713759970" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SuiHGLxs7uI/AAAAAAAAAUo/qc28uC_gkOA/s400/supported_wide_angle_fold1.jpg" style="display: block; height: 360px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 270px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tight hamstrings? No problem. Just use more props.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Coming into the pose:</b><br />
Sit
in front of a chair, block, or bolsters with your legs open wide (about
90 degrees). Support your low back by sitting on a wedge or a folded
blanket. Toes draw back toward the body and knee caps point toward the
ceiling. Reach out through your heels. Hinge forward at the hip crease,
walking your hands out and resting your forehead on the block, bolster
or chair. If you are using a chair or bolster you can rest your
head on your forearms, keeping length in your spine.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SuiHGdQM0NI/AAAAAAAAAUw/3vbzPAHpb7c/s1600-h/supported_wide_angle_fold2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397712698405081298" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SuiHGdQM0NI/AAAAAAAAAUw/3vbzPAHpb7c/s400/supported_wide_angle_fold2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 284px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 288px;" /></a><b>While in the pose:</b><br />
Keep
breathing, keep observing the pose in your body, allow the body to open
at its own rate. Commit to the stillness but do allow yourself to
adjust your props and your body as you settle in.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Coming out of the pose:</b><br />
To
come up, bring the hands to the floor to support the torso, inhale and
hinge or roll back up from the hips, protecting the spine. Help your legs back together and move into a shape that is supportive to you: maybe Child's Pose, maybe Legs-on-a-Chair Pose, or maybe something else entirely.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!
Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-88449219498113107282013-11-13T00:00:00.000-06:002013-11-13T00:00:02.044-06:0030 Days of Relaxation - day 27Alright, we've made through our back bending series. Now I have a few
more forward folds before we have our final practice on Saturday.
Saturday, by the way, is International Restorative Yoga Day so I hope
you can find a live class to attend. If not, I'll set us up in a nice
series so don't worry. For today, enjoy<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Supported 1/2 Wide-Angle Forward Fold</span></span></div>
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/S_MIQmUb2_I/AAAAAAAAAks/cru4zq89xb8/s1600/JanuSirsasana_248.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/S_MIQmUb2_I/AAAAAAAAAks/cru4zq89xb8/s200/JanuSirsasana_248.jpg" width="150" /></a><span style="color: #006600; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
1/2 Wide-Angle Pose looks very similar in set up to Head-to-Knee pose (<a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/476" target="_blank">Janu Sirsasana</a>)
as shown in the Yoga Journal image on the right, but instead of turning
the torso to fold out over the leg, the body folds directly forward,
hinging from the hips, as seen below. 1/2 Wide-Angle is easier on the
inner thighs than the full version and can be used as a pose in its own
right or as a warm up for <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/2009/11/supported-wide-angle-fold-upavistha.html">Wide-Angle Pose</a> (which we will practice tomorrow).<br />
<br />
<b>Setting up for the pose:</b><br />
Gather a number of different props: a chair, or a couple of blocks, or a
few pillows/bolster, also, either a blanket or a wedge for sitting on.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/S_MIqlbyHXI/AAAAAAAAAk0/Hp6_LIUbV5A/s1600/halfwideangle1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/S_MIqlbyHXI/AAAAAAAAAk0/Hp6_LIUbV5A/s320/halfwideangle1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Instead of a block, you could use a chair <br />
so your fold is not too deep.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Coming into the pose:</b><br />
Sit in front of your chair, block or bolster with your legs open wide
(about 90 degrees). Support your low back by sitting on a wedge or a
folded blanket. Fold one leg in to the body so the soul rests on the
inner thigh of the other leg and heel is drawing towards the perineum.
Toes of the straight leg draw back toward the body and knee cap points
toward the ceiling. Reach out through your heel. Hinge forward at the
hip crease, walking your hands out and resting your forehead on the
block, bolster or chair. If you are using a chair or bolster pile you
can place your arms on the chair’s seat, hinge forward at the hip
crease and rest your head on your forearms, keeping length in your
spine.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/S_MIymaBkrI/AAAAAAAAAk8/-F_phwIMRE8/s1600/halfwideangle2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/S_MIymaBkrI/AAAAAAAAAk8/-F_phwIMRE8/s320/halfwideangle2.jpg" /></a></div>
<b>While in the pose:</b><br />
Keep breathing, keep observing the pose in your body, and allow the
body to open at its own rate. Commit to the stillness but do allow
yourself to adjust your props and your body as you settle deeper in.
Watch the sit bones. They will want to creep up and often your body
tries to tip more towards the folded leg. Don't let these two things
happen.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Coming out of the pose:</b><br />
To come up, support the torso with the hands on the floor, inhale and
hinge or roll back up from the hips, protecting the spine. Take the 2nd
side. After the second side you can be done or you could try a nice follow-up pose such as <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/2013/11/30-days-of-relaxation-day-21.html">Supported Reclining Twist</a>.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!
Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-1021109054648643812013-11-12T00:00:00.000-06:002013-11-12T00:00:01.443-06:0030 Days of Relaxation - Day 26Here's our final backbend. This one is a little bigger and includes a quad stretch. Today we will practice <b>Supported Reclining Hero's Pose</b>. If you feel like this is too much for you, then take <b>Supported Reclining Bound Angle</b> instead. The set up is the same.<br />
<br />
Hero's Pose can be a very tricky posture to come into for anyone with
knee issues, tight quads or low back/SI joint problems. Luckily, with
props, this posture can be made available to most
people--comfortably--not just to "get through it."<br />
<br />
<b>Setting up for the pose:</b><br />
Gather a number of different props: a few pillows/bolsters, a few
blankets, and a couple of blocks. Test your ability to sit on your shins
with your bum on the floor between your feet. If this does not happen
for you in an upright, seated position, it is not going to happen in the
reclining version either. You need support.<br />
<br />
Set up a bolster or a thickly-rolled blanket behind you lengthwise.
Place a block, bolster, or additional pillows under the end of the
bolster where your head is going to lay to create a ramp set-up. Like
so:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_LSo6mXTdKo/TePvVrbD2zI/AAAAAAAAAu8/wXDoH1lSFQ8/s1600/supported_heros.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="194" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_LSo6mXTdKo/TePvVrbD2zI/AAAAAAAAAu8/wXDoH1lSFQ8/s320/supported_heros.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This bolster set-up is good for Reclining Hero's Pose or for Reclining Bound Angle.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Coming into the pose:</b><br />
Sit in Dandasana (sit on your bum with legs straight) in front of your
bolster ramp. Get very close to your props - let your back body touch
the bolster. Bend one leg and tuck your foot by your outer hip.
Carefully lower your body toward your bolster ramp, coming into
Supported Reclining Half Hero's Pose.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hmv1RtdRPiE/TePv6kVUN1I/AAAAAAAAAvA/6Nmp0jhBMfA/s1600/supported_heros_half.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hmv1RtdRPiE/TePv6kVUN1I/AAAAAAAAAvA/6Nmp0jhBMfA/s320/supported_heros_half.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
If this feels ok and you want to go for full Supported Reclining Hero's
Pose, come back to seated and tuck your other foot next to your other
hip and repeat the careful laying down process.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UEZQ21UWZu4/TePxR1HxgoI/AAAAAAAAAvE/mt-pdwEWEM8/s1600/supported_heros_whole.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UEZQ21UWZu4/TePxR1HxgoI/AAAAAAAAAvE/mt-pdwEWEM8/s320/supported_heros_whole.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
If your knees are saying "NO WAY" then you need more propping. Give
yourself something to sit on - like a folded blanket or a small bolster
and make your bolster ramp higher. With these modifications, most folks
should be able to do this pose. But if it isn't working for you, be kind to your body and settle into Reclining Bound Angle instead:<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SdATcsRxpnI/AAAAAAAAAFs/mhftUoqx-rU/s1600-h/supported_reclining_bound_angle2.jpg"><img alt=" Supported Reclining Bound Angle" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318772543567537778" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SdATcsRxpnI/AAAAAAAAAFs/mhftUoqx-rU/s400/supported_reclining_bound_angle2.jpg" style="display: block; height: 230px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 350px;" /></a><br />
<b>While in the pose:</b><br />
Keep breathing, keep observing the pose in your body, and allow the
body to open at its own rate. Commit to the stillness but do allow
yourself to adjust your props and your body as you settle deeper in.
Notice if you are gripping the knees, quads, hips or back (or of course
the usual places like the jaw, forehead or shoulders). Try to let these
parts soften. Stay as long as you are comfortable.<br />
<br />
<b>Coming out of the pose:</b><br />
To come up, support the torso with the hands on the floor, and either
push yourself to a seated Hero's Pose or roll to one side slightly and
untuck your feet, one at a time. If you were practicing 1/2 Hero's take
the 2nd side. After the second side you can be done or you could try
the full version of the pose.<br />
<br />
This posture is great for creating length in the quads. There may be
discomfort in the knees to start but by lengthening the quads this
problem can go away - at least for me it did. However, if the knee
discomfort is sharp, stabbing or causes you to hold your breath, I would
recommend doing this pose only with supervision.<br />
<br />
Happy Exploring!<br />
<br />Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-47021124148327921962013-11-11T00:00:00.000-06:002013-11-11T00:00:00.969-06:0030 Days of Relaxation - Day 25<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Using the Therapeutic Spinal Strip for Shoulder Release + Thoracic Spine Backbend</b></span></div>
<br />
Many of my classes begin with "Laying on the Spinal Strip." This is based on the therapeutic work of Susi Hately Aldous.
We have firm foam strips at the studio but you can make do with a
rolled up mat, a tightly rolled towel, or even a swim noodle.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Setting up</b>:
Fold your strip in half (or roll up your mat/towel tightly), place it lengthwise
on the floor behind you, and then lay down on it. Once you lay down, the
bottom edge of the strip should be at about T7 or T8 on your back.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SejW8JWhh2I/AAAAAAAAAGc/WYaTr1uYxqk/s1600/black_strip1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325742888156497762" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SejW8JWhh2I/AAAAAAAAAGc/WYaTr1uYxqk/s400/black_strip1.jpg" style="display: block; height: 105px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 288px;" /></a></div>
<div>
<b>Settling in:</b> If you don’t know what I mean by that here is how to tell: place your
finger tips on your breast bone then slide them down to the soft spot just below the breast bone. The spinal strip should be just
opposite that soft spot where your finger tips are resting. Run one hand behind you to feel
for the spinal strip.</div>
<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325745410720648546" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SejZO-orzWI/AAAAAAAAAGk/ODSM4R4oCww/s400/black_strip2.jpg" style="display: block; height: 200px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 288px;" /><br />
<br />
Now notice if you have any discomfort in the
low back or if your lower ribs are flaring up. If you notice either of these things, try lifting your hips,
elongating your tailbone and laying your hips back down again, keeping the knees bent.<br />
<br />
If this does not really help,
then you need to lift your hips up again and place a folded blanket
under your hips/sacrum area. Keep your knees bent. Notice if this has lessened your discomfort and/or your flaring
ribs.<br />
<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325747437597786082" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SejbE9V2f-I/AAAAAAAAAGs/R0lf_Sw547k/s400/black_strip3.jpg" style="display: block; height: 166px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 288px;" /><br />
<br />
If you still have discomfort or flared ribs, unfold your strip and
lay on it in a single layer. Or if you are using a rolled towel or rolled mat, just unroll it a little to make your spinal strip a bit smaller. If you feel like your head is tilting back place a small pillow or thinly folded blanket under your head.<br />
<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325748740096002978" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/SejcQxhoC6I/AAAAAAAAAG0/1K1Ygab7cUQ/s400/black_strip4.jpg" style="display: block; height: 157px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 288px;" /><br />
<br />
Allow yourself to settle here for at least 5-10 minutes, letting the shoulders
settle in around the spinal strip. Focus on your breathing. You might play around with rolling the shoulders or floating the arms overhead (never moving into clicks, cracks, or discomfort).<br />
<br />
<b>Coming out of the pose:</b> To come out
of the pose, or if at any point laying on the strip becomes
uncomfortable, push the blanket out from under you, roll gently to one
side, push the strip out of the way and then lay on your back
in Savasana. <br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
<br />Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-10540367340498530542013-11-10T00:00:00.000-06:002013-11-10T00:00:00.937-06:0030 Days of Relaxation - Day 24<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Supported Lumbar Stretch</b></span></div>
<br />
I learned this lumbar stretch from my teacher Susi Hately Aldous during
one of the Therapeutic Yoga Trainings I have taken from her. I'm a bit
of a hyper-extender so I was surprised that this pose would be good for
me. What it does is lengthen your lumbar vs. kink it - which is a
typical move for me in any kind of backbending posture. Here's how it
works:
<br />
<br />
Step 1. Get yourself a felted pad or a firm blanket or even a big towel
(like a beach towel) and make a roll that is about a handful for you.
Sit on the tail of the blanket if you have extra.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Step 2. Lay down over the roll, supporting yourself on your elbows to ease your body down.<br />
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<br />
Step 3. As you lay down, lift your seat up so you are in a tiny bridge
pose. Adjust your roll so it is at your waist - not your sacrum). You
know if it is in the right place if it is centered behind your
bellybutton.<br />
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<br />
Step 4. Now start to lower your seat towards the floor, arching your
spine over the roll. When you settle your seat your back should feel
like "Ahhhh" not "Ow, ow, ow." You should not look over arched. Your
belly is not raised by the roll under your back. If you are not
comfortable, lift your seat (into little bridge again) and make your
roll smaller until your back is happy. Conversely, if you feel nothing,
you will need to lift your seat into little bridge and make your roll a
little bigger.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/TKESG0ZiY6I/AAAAAAAAAq0/cVcm0kBfl6I/s1600/lumbar_stretch_step4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/TKESG0ZiY6I/AAAAAAAAAq0/cVcm0kBfl6I/s320/lumbar_stretch_step4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Step 5. Lay here for 5-10 minutes or until you are feeling done.<br />
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<br />
A nice follow-up pose
is a <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/2013/11/30-days-of-relaxation-day-21.html">Supported Reclining Twist</a>.<br />
<br />
Enjoy! <br />
<br />
<br />Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-27205777097195427032013-11-09T00:00:00.000-06:002013-11-09T00:00:01.293-06:0030 Days of Relaxation - Day 23<div>
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>This gentle heart-center opener will help you get rid of that hunched feeling you get after sitting all day.</b></span></div>
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<br />
<b>Setting up for the pose:</b><br />
The main prop for this pose is a therapeutic spinal strip. If
you don't have one of these, you can use a swim noodle, a tightly rolled
thin mat, or a tightly rolled towel. You might also need a thin, folded blanket and, if your roll is on the large side, a thick folded blanket.<br />
<br />
<b>Coming into the pose:</b><br />
Sit in front of your therapeutic spinal strip (swim noodle/rolled
mat/rolled towel) and then lay down on it at about the bottom of the
shoulder blades. Your spinal strip should extend out from under your armpits - you should not be resting your shoulders on your prop. You can experiment with what feels the best to you. If
your head is tipped way back or you feel unsupported in the neck, place a thin,
folded blanket under the head and neck - not so thick that your head
tips forward. Your head should be level with the body or slightly tipped
back. If you feel like you are in too big of a back bend, place the thicker folded blanket under your bum.<br />
<br />
<b>While in the pose:</b><br />
Send your arms out to the sides, palms up to encourage the heart center
to open. Keep breathing, keep observing the pose in your body, and
allow the body to open at its own rate. Commit to the stillness but do
allow yourself to adjust your props and your body as you settle
deeper in. I like to lay with my knees bent but some of my students
prefer to have their legs straight. See what feels right in your body.<br />
<br />
<b>Coming out of the pose:</b><br />
Option 1) Bend the knees, roll to one side, pull the spinal strip and other props out
from underneath you, and then lay back down on your back.<br />
Option 2) Bend the knees, press the feet into the floor, lift up
the hips to bridge pose, and pull the spinal strip and other props out from under you.<br />
Either way, hug the knees in and take a few sacrum circles or extend out to a full body stretch. A nice follow-up pose
is a <a href="http://dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com/2013/11/30-days-of-relaxation-day-21.html">Supported Reclining Twist</a>. <br />
<br />
Enjoy!
Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3649491694572231375.post-35895561691476623082013-11-08T01:00:00.000-06:002013-11-08T01:00:01.811-06:0030 Days of Relaxation - Day 22I'm going to start us on a back bending series. These will be gentle, but never the less, if you notice any pain please back off and take the pose in a smaller way. Less propping or even choose a different pose for the day. For today, we will try Supported Bridge Pose. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Note: </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>NEVER sit on your block and lay back. </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>ALWAYS lay down first, then slide the block under you.</b></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Supported Bridge ~ Salamba Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
</b></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/Sl8w2x4JTvI/AAAAAAAAAKY/jw7izEgO5d8/s1600-h/supported_bridge_block1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359055799254077170" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jB5EJkDaC7Q/Sl8w2x4JTvI/AAAAAAAAAKY/jw7izEgO5d8/s400/supported_bridge_block1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 236px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 360px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>Getting into the pose:</b><br />
Sit
on the floor with knees bent. If you have a belt put it on around your
upper thighs. Tighten it to where your legs can still open to hip width
apart. Lower yourself down to the floor and lay on your back with your
knees bent. Lift your hips in the air and place a block under your
sacrum. For Restorative I like to have the block on the lowest side but
if you want to try it on the medium height or on the highest height
that's ok too. Just make sure you are comfortable and nothing is feeling
pinched in your low back or neck. Lengthen the back of your neck. Resist looking side to side. Rest your hands by your side.<br />
<br />
<b>Settling into the pose:</b><br />
First,
make sure that the block is under the sacrum (the big triangle shaped
bone at the base of the spine), not the low back (lumbar spine). If you
have a pinched feeling in the SI joints (low back or sacrum area) try
lengthening your tailbone toward the backs of your knees so your body is in one long
line from shoulders (on the ground) to knees (in the air). You also
might need to lower your block height. Let the hands rest by your sides,
close the eyes, and give your mind the job of watching the breath. Stay
for a few minutes or as long as you are comfortable.<br />
<br />
<b>For a more dynamic pose:</b><br />
If you want to add movement and/or more sensation to this posture here is a way to go a bit deeper:<br />
walk your shoulders under you and clasp your hands together
behind your back to open the chest. Stay for a few breaths and then
slowly release.<br />
<br />
<b>Getting out of the pose:</b><br />
To
come out, lift the hips up, slide the block out from underneath you,
drop the hips back down to the floor, rest here for a few breaths then
take what ever movement would serve your body: hug the knees to the
chest, take a twist, full-body stretch, etc. When you feel ready, roll
to one side then gently push yourself up on one side back to an easy
seated pose.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br /></div>
Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05922116308319001543noreply@blogger.com