Does Reclining Suppress Our Body's Sense of Fullness?

So. I've noticed a funny thing. First, some back ground. One of my favorite things to do is read in bed. Bed is one of the warmest places in the house (especially with an electric blanket) and of course, it's super comfy. I generally sit in a semi-seated, semi-reclined position, but I'm fairly well propped up so my arms don't get too tired from holding my book for hours on end.

Now, here's the funny thing: whenever I lay/sit in this position I feel hungry. Not stomach-growling kind of hungry, just not-full. And I think to myself, "Hmmm, I might be a little peckish. Maybe I better get up and get a snack." However, as soon as I get up my hunger disappears. Sometimes I think, "Oh well, I'll just have a snack anyway" and other times I think, "Well, guess I'm not hungry. I"ll just go lay back down." Regardless of which route I choose - snacking or not snacking - as soon as I lay back down in my semi-reclined position my stomach thinks it's empty again.

And one more thing: when I lay all the way down to go to sleep I can sense fullness again. So, standing, sitting all the way upright, or laying down I can sense fullness. But if I am semi-reclined I always feel somewhat empty.

This is too weird! Why is this happening? And it makes me wonder, "Do Lazy Boy recliners (and the like) cause people to overeat by somehow suppressing our ability to feel full?" I have no science to back this up. I'm just noticing this phenomena in my own body. Anyone else?

With an Eye on Nature

This guest post reminds me to be aware of everyday miracles.

Eye on Nature December 2012

On this winter day I find myself transfixed by a tree. Its leaves are gone, cut off by stem, shed by wind to the ground. Its bare branches are stark against the December gray as they reach toward a sun obscured by cloud.

The surface of this tree is rough and furrowed; it presses back against the flesh of my finger--solid. Yet the source of this rigid column, the weight of this tree, its very substance, comes magically out of thin air. Indeed, it is almost entirely made of carbon pulled from the byproducts of animal respiration and the release of gases from ancient plants burned as fuel.

The enormity of this idea stuns me, stops my forward progress, as I contemplate the reality that, through this tree, I can touch the breath of the past. It is alchemy—that this tree, through the process of photosynthesis, has taken something invisible, ethereal, and rearranged its chemistry to make solid form. Lead to Gold.

And this tree, standing silently before me, has done even more. It has gathered light and tied this energy to the molecular matrix of its cells. A branch of this tree sits in my fireplace at home. And when I place match to bark I will witness a miraculous transformation. From this tree I will feel, on a dark December night, the light and heat of a nearby star. Sequestered beneath layers of bark, contained within rings of growth, released as fire in my living room, the sun will shine again.

With an eye on nature,
Wally

Wally Shriner is an MHCC biology instructor and the Natural Resources Technology program faculty adviser. Eye on Nature is his monthly column. http://www.advocate-online.net/columnists/wallyshriner/ 

Happy New Year. May we all bring peace to ourselves and each other. Namaste, Sara

Lovely Day

Ahhhh, what a lovely day. Oh sure, the van broke down yesterday and we are stuck in the Route 66 Motel outside of Fairland, OK waiting for a part to be shipped in, but so what? The sun was shining all day and I was soaking it up.

Apparently, practicing restorative yoga has served me well. I had no problem settling in and letting relaxation take over even though we are going to be late for the family reunion, the van is going to be expensive to fix and we are in a tiny spot on the planet that only has pre-packaged and/or fried foods.

Ah yoga - thanks for the good life practice.

For a more detailed version of our travels visit SavvyNomad.com. Dave has written up a good story and included lots of pictures.

Enjoy life - what ever comes your way.

How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body

I have been writing about how I came to have chronic SI joint pain - I believe it is because of yoga. Recently I received a newsletter from Susi Hately Aldous with a link to an article called How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body. This is some scary stuff. Young people causing brain damage and strokes from doing too much, too fast; dedicated yogis literally wearing out their joints; still more succumbing to "Yoga Foot Drop" - a problem with deadening the nerves that run down the back of the leg which then causes difficulty walking. Check the link to the article (above) and read what Susi has to say below.

Yoga is amazing. All of us yoga teachers have been awed by watching what can happen with yoga. And, when not done appropriately, major problems can occur. You would be shocked with how many emails I receive each week from yoga teachers - from the "rock star" yoga teachers, as well as from teachers who are "less known". They ask questions with a similar theme . . . "why is my back sore, I do yoga!" As I share the mechanics of what is happening, I also add...."it is because you do yoga that your back is sore".

Y'see the trouble is two fold. First, we have to remember that we are westerners pursuing an eastern philosophical movement program that has important tenets (yamas and niyamas) as the foundation. If we follow those tenets, we'll progress in our practice - in all its forms - physically, mentally, and spiritually. Second, we need to consider the term "Asana" which, when loosely translated means, "sitting comfortably and still". This means, that no matter the asana you are practicing, are you "sitting comfortably and still" or are you in "tension"?

Consider your practice - when you are in Warrior 1, Warrior 3, Triangle, Headstand, Downward Dog, or any other myriad of asanas, are you in tension? If you are. . . you aren't practicing yoga . . you are "doing fitness".

It sets up an interesting predicament, doesn't it? A predicament which has me understand and have compassion for why it is so difficult for yoga practitioners in the West "to get it".

1. As a culture, there is a preference for the "end", not the "journey" or the "process".
2. Many trainings are about "going deeper" since there is some apparent belief that "going deeper" is "better". (I recall a teacher who came to a training of mine who was utterly shocked that my training was the first she had been to that wasn't about depth of asana and she was so "wow'd" that she felt so good).
3. There is a focus on not paying attention to the pain, to move through it as opposed to listen to it.

I am all for a physical challenge, and for the mental and spiritual stretch required to see my "blind spots" so that those things that restrict or limit me can be resolved; just as I enjoy practicing with energy and prana and transcending the physical plane. But truth be told, the physical plane is where we live, and Newton's laws still reign true. Biomechanics and Kinesiology are facts of life on this earthly plane, and we need to honour their principles. If you don't honour them, you will suffer the consequences.

Does this mean that "some people should give up yoga all together" as written about in the article? Well, that assumes that yoga consists only the physical postures in their classic form. Perhaps in those times of injury, it is actually time to read up and embody the yamas and niyamas so the journey back to the mat, the journey back to living the life you want to live, through great yoga therapy and then modified asanas, is one of exploration, curiosity and awe.

If you think someone would benefit from this information, please pass it along.
Best,  Susi
www.functionalsynergy.com
Susi's Facebook Page

After reading the article and reading what Susi had to say I checked in with Kristin from Namaste from Duluth. We work together but teach different styles of yoga so I always like to get her opinion. Besides, her reasoning is generally well thought out and well articulated. Here's what she says:

NY Times article - interesting. Not surprising, but interesting. My thoughts: on one hand, the article is true. Yoga can cause injuries. Long term debilitating ones. Painful injuries that take forever to heal or never heal.

On the other hand, find me an activity that isn't riddled with injury:

• Soccer - long term head injuries, knee issues, sprains, etc
• Hockey - just read about the player(s) who've been paralyzed recently
• Running - knee, hip, ankles, lower back
• Swimming - probably the most gentle of all, yet aerobic, but hell, you could drown!
• Martial arts - you could list these better than I
• Road cycling - impotence, lower back, knees, shoulders, decreased bone density
• Baseball - rotator cuff, oblique sprains, blown out knees, broken bones
• Hiking - blown out knees, hip problems, spinal problems (from carrying a pack), etc.

The other thing I questioned in the article was somewhere it stated - in an informal study - that OMG! 42 people ended up in the emergency room in a given year for injuries sustained doing yoga. Really? 42? I can guarantee more runners end up in the emergency room than yogis. That would be ONE class in NYC - the rest of the nation is fine.

The business with strokes is a bit odd. Given the number of activities in which younger people are participating in (yoga, gymnastics, dance lines) that involve back bending, I would think you would have to be predisposed to stroke to begin with. That to me is two unusual and very extreme situations - not a trend.

So yes, yoga can cause injuries or even inflame existing injuries. I don't dispute that. And as in any activity, the responsibility is up to the individual to practice safely. Therein lies the problem IMO. Getting the practitioner to practice safely no matter the style of yoga they do.

I sent this off to my Saturday yoga peeps and one of them replied back that they'd rather risk injury and to have fun than remaining sedentary and afraid of moving.

~ Kristin, Namaste from Duluth

My teacher, Deborah Adele, has also weighed in on the topic in her blog post, "Sculpted or Free" which I have pasted in below:

A recent New York Times article discussing the harm yoga can cause, has created quite a stir. It has also created an opportunity for us yoga practitioners to re-look at our yoga practice, an opportunity that I am grateful for.

I find it so easy to seek change while unconsciously holding the very patterns I am seeking to change. It is so easy to “sculpt” myself into the person and the pose I am desiring. It is this sculpting that tempts injury and harm.

The purpose of yoga is to free our bodies and our minds. The only way this can happen is through our own surrender. To the degree that we surrender to the pose, is the degree to which the pose can begin to show us where our unsupportive habits lie. To the degree that we are willing to be the recipient of the pose rather than the designer, is the degree to which the real change we are seeking can happen. This is true on and off the mat.

It takes real courage, I think, to surrender to a pose rather than sculpt ourselves into it. But the results are very different; one leads to continuity and harm, the other to real freedom.

~ Deborah Adele, author of The Yamas & Niyamas: Exploring Yoga's Ethical Practice

I'm curious to hear what you think. Please do share and please be careful in your practice. Mindful, kind yoga is the way. ~Sara

40 Days of Relaxation - Day 19

Wednesday, Feb 16, 2011 - Day 19
I've hit the doldrums of the 40 day practice. I know I'll get through it because I have done multiple 40 day practice's in the past 3 years and I always get through. I'm very disciplined and determined. Probably why I need to relax in the first place. I mean honestly, who needs to give themselves a time-out to relax? Well I do and I guess I know lots of other people who would benefit too. I guess I am feeling grumpy about it though. I think it's because I don't want to take time out of my day to relax but I can't do it at night because I have so dang many activities every stupid night of the week. Hmmm. Maybe I need to cut back a bit.

Well, grumpiness aside, I did have a very nice relaxation today. I listened to Richard Miller's yoga nidra practice again -the one that comes with his book, The Meditative Heart of Yoga. For some reason it is doubled up on my ipod so I listened to track 1 and 2 twice and track 3 once. That was about 40 minutes. Which was about 20 minutes longer than I meant to lay down so now I have to skip my shower before my class tonight. Oh well. There's always tomorrow for a shower. It sure did feel good to relax though. What am I so grumpy about?

BTW, I did not puff up from my acupuncture treatment and I also did not catch a cold after waking up with a sore throat yesterday. Petra (my dog) skipped relaxation today. She wanted to watch Jeopardy instead. It was an historic match between 2 of the smartest men to ever play Jeopardy and a robot named Watson. Watson won.

Relaxation for Tooth Pain

I have developed some serious tooth pain this week after a few weekends of lots of activity. (Bear with me while I set the scene.) Two weekends ago Dave and I took a trip to visit friends (Jan 15-17) and last weekend (Jan 21-22) I co-led the annual Winter Reflection Retreat at Camp Amnicon with Molly from Yoga North. This was our second year in a row being the facilitators and we had a great group.

Being the teacher of relaxation and reflection is a funny place to be though. I am not "zen" enough to be totally relaxed while I am teaching relaxation, which I think is a bit funny. But teaching is not the same as receiving. So while the weekend was lovely, it was not 100% relaxing for me.

Molly and I each had our own little hermitage cabin, which are the cutest little dwellings you ever did see. Cabins: about 12 x 16 with a gas "fireplace" furnace, well appointed double bed, glide rocker, writing table, eating table, a lamp for each sitting place, mini-fridge, microwave, bread-maker, water jug, tiny sink (with a bucket for plumbing) and heated out-house. Lovely space. I didn't do much sleeping in it though. My mind wouldn't turn off and neither would the lovely, warm and flickery fireplace (it was very cold out side and the furnace had to keep up).

The second day of the retreat, my partner, Dave (who also brought our dog), and Molly's partner, Jason, joined us. We had decided to try to stay a second night this year so we could get some relaxation post teaching. We had a great time, snacking by the lodge's huge hearth, having a glass of wine, and hiking in the morning. Again though, deep sleep eluded me. We left on Sunday and I was somewhat exhausted.

Monday morning I took the dog out, took a deep breath of cold fresh air and had a searing pain in my upper right jaw/teeth. OK, my teeth are sensitive anyway so I thought, "Wow, must be really cold out." But then I went in, made myself a big cup of hot tea (generally not a problem for me to eat or drink hot things), took one sip and BANG! another huge searing tooth pain. Not good! I determined that I could only eat mouth-temperature food. Nothing hot, nothing cold.

I've had some tooth pain trouble before so I knew that I should try a few days on ibuprofen to see if I had any inflammation that would go down. Two days later, still have the tooth pain and now I have a stomach ache from all the ibuprofen too. Great. So I finally make a dentist appointment and I am able to get in on Thursday - 4 days now of tooth pain whenever I eat anything warmer or cooler than the inside of my mouth.

I was sure all my teeth would have to be pulled and I'd have to get dentures (maybe a bit dramatic but that's how much it hurt). The dentist performed some kind of ice-cold, metal rod, tooth sensitivity test. Guess what? My teeth are off the charts sensitive. But the good news is that I don't have to have any teeth pulled nor do I need a root canal (my nerves are very much alive, thank you). I might be a night-time jaw clencher or grinder, which can cause inflammation and sensitivity, and would require a mouth guard to break the habit and reduce sensitivity.

But here's the kicker: my dentist told me that I needed to relax. How do you like that? A restorative yoga teacher who is prescribed relaxation. It's a bit ironic but it makes sense. I've had two very busy weekends in a row with not so great sleep. Good sleep and relaxation help reduce stress which helps the body to fight inflammation. Inflammation can irritate the nerves in the mouth and cause tooth pain. So, I am back on ibuprofen, I have a special paste I have to put on my teeth before bed, and I have to relax more if I want to avoid the mouth guard and further pain.

Yoga teacher, heal thyself.

The Good News by Sara Thomsen

This video isn't usually the type of thing I post for Do Restorative Yoga but this is an artist whose music speaks deeply to me and I want to share it.

The Good News
Words and Music by Sara Thomsen
Written in response to the church shooting in Knoxville, TN (in 2008) and in response to a news editorial in Duluth, MN (2010) titled "The Gospel can transform the lives of homosexuals."

Sara says:

As I learned more in depth about what happened at the UU (Unitarian Church) in Knoxville,-- it made me realize that such rhetoric (as espoused by the editorial) was in fact a killing rhetoric, regardless of whether the person writing the editorial was aware of this. The use of the Bible in such a way may or may not provide an actual shotgun, but it arms people with a prejudice that induces and perpetuates fear, hatred and violence. I was struck by the title of the editorial. I grew up immersed with the stories of the gospel. They are very familiar to me. The chorus of the song is a reclamation of the "change" of lifestyle I feel the teachings of Jesus are talking about.
 



© 2010 Sara Thomsen
www.sarathomsen.com

To see the words to this song visit Sara's YouTube page.
Other links:
Unitarian Universalists Respond to Tragedy in Knoxville
Duluth Editorial "Local View: Gospel can bring change into homosexuals' lives"

Musings on Relaxation

Recently my partner and I took a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and while we were on vacation I caught a cold (go figure). But it didn't really matter to me since most of the trip consisted of either sitting in the car or sitting on the beach. Easy enough to do when you are sick. We rented a cottage in Avon right by the beach. The cottage we rented had sliding glass doors (facing the water) which I left open to feel the ocean breeze. The living room was on the 2nd story of the cottage and the cottage was up on stilts so the view was great. Plus, the height had the added benefit of being out of the bug zone. While we were there, I had the lovely experience of laying on a couch which was facing the ocean. My view was just over the top of the dunes so I could clearly see the waves crashing.

As I was laying there on the couch, in the breeze, watching the waves, I felt so happy and so at peace. I napped a bit, I zoned out a bit, and I was perfectly content to be where I was, when I was, how I was. How often does that happen? OK, I know it's easier to feel content when we are somewhere awesome but it made me think about how to settle into contentment at home too.

When I got home, I was walking to work and listening to a Yoga Peeps podcast featuring Eoin Finn, who was talking about Blissology, connecting with nature and finding enlightenment by laying in a hammock. It reminded me of my couch-beach experience. I was so relaxed, so at ease. My mind was quiet, mesmerized by the waves and the feeling of the breeze I guess. My hope is to remember that feeling of living in the moment, settling into relaxation and feeling content in the moment. I find myself drawn more and more towards, Yoga Nidra, Deep Relaxation and Restorative Yoga to feed my need to soften into life.

Yoga Journal Magazine available free on line

I just found out from Daily Cup of Yoga that you can read every single Yoga Journal Magazine from #1 to January 2009 online on Google Books. So, for example, if you want to look at the tension melting restorative poses in the December 2008 issue, simply follow the Google Books link above, click on the December 2008 issue, scroll down to the table of contents on page 5 and click on the title link "Free from Worry" to view the featured article. Or you can scroll through the whole issue at your leisure.

Cool!

BTW: There are tons of other books and magazines archived on Google Books too.

When do I Rest?

The month of January is turning into a marathon of teaching and traveling. I know I need to take time out for myself to just catch up with slowing down but I'm so busy.

The first weekend of January Dave and I went to CA for a wedding which was awesome! The wedding was fun, seeing all the family was great, and being in warm weather on the beach was a much needed battery recharger.

The second weekend of January we took care of my mom's dog which wasn't really that stressful but it was something that tied us to the house. Emma (the dog) is too nervous to be left alone in the house so we were stuck at home.

The third weekend of January Dave and I went to visit friends in Rochester. We had a great time. We laughed a ton and did fun things like skating, and playing ping-pong and air-hockey. But it was so active that I was quite wiped out when we got home. I think I was dehydrated too. I drank 3 huge cups of tea before bed and didn't have to get up in the night.

The fourth weekend is the Winter Reflection Retreat. I'll be co-teaching with Molly for a 24-hour retreat. We're doing lots of restorative, yin and therapeutic yoga but I know I will be wiped out by the time it is over.

The fifth weekend is the beginning of Sadhana: an intensive study at Yoga North. We will meet 4 times in the next year for a full weekend of study and reflection. I know it's going to be great but I also know my brain will be on overload by the time the weekend is over. Naturally I teach 2 extra classes the week before the study begins.

I know I need to slow down but at the same time I like being busy so winter passes more quickly. I'm not a fan of being cold. I don't really participate in cold weather activities so keeping myself busy is my way of coping. Luckily, I have found something that is very helpful (in addition to restorative yoga): Yoga Nidra. I downloaded a few CD's from Amazon and listened to about 1.5 hours the first night. I felt so refreshed! I was relaxed, yet alert. The CD's I bought were Yoga Nidra by Robin Carnes and Yoga Nidra with James Jewell. If you are going to choose one over the other I would recommend the one by Robin Carnes. She gives a little more background and instruction. There's lots of other CD's out there too.

Namaste ~ Sara

A-Z New Year's Resolutions

I received this A to Z list in a holiday letter. I don't know who wrote it - if anyone knows please let me know so I can give credit.

Accept differences
Be kind
Count your blessings
Dream
Express thanks
Forgive
Give freely
Harm no one
Imagine more
Jettison anger
Keep confidences
Love truly
Master something
Nurture hope
Open your mind
Pack lightly
Quell rumors
Reciprocate
Seek wisdom
Touch hearts
Understand
Value truth
Win graciously
Xeniscape
Yearn for peace
Zealously support a worthy cause

Sara's note: I'm sure we can all think of many things we want to do differently in the new year. As we embark on this yearly adventure of change let's remember to be kind to ourselves, to forgive ourselves for our slip-ups, and to work steadily towards our goal.

Happy New Year ~ Peace to All