Winter Wonder Yin

I'm taking a little break from writing about the inner core to bring you a bit of info about keeping healthy and stress-free over the winter and the holidays. The following article from Yoga Journal explains the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) perspective on winter, the holidays, and learning to keep rhythm with our body's natural cycle.

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. By Laurel Kallenbach

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.

"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."

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.

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 shen (or spiritual) disharmony.

"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."

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."

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.

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.

My Story Part IV: Restoring my Inner Core

Restoring my inner core has been my mission ever since teacher training. My exploration of the inner core and learning to deepen my awareness began in TT. I continued this learning-path with extended studies specializing in the inner core with my teachers, Ann Maxwell and Susi Hately Aldous, and I dedicated two 40-day practices to the inner core.

I had two signs that there was some change happening in my pelvis, sacroiliac joints and inner core: 1) my left SI joint moved for the first time ever. Now this didn't feel good, but I still took it as a good sign because at least both of my SI joints were moving instead of one stuck and one hyper-mobile. And 2) my outside-to-inside kick in Tang Soo Do (a Korean martial art) became so much stronger that I was able to kick the training pad out of my teacher's hands. Sounds like a funny way to measure change but I knew my body and I knew that I was making a difference by practicing deep inner core work.

Image from Wikipedia

This work is quiet, mindful and can make me want to scream. I had to learn how to find, use and move my pelvic floor, transverse abdominus, multifidi, adductors, and abductors, and I had to breathe while I did all this concentrating.

All this work has not eliminated my SI joint instability but it has become manageable. When I keep up on my work (as little as 5-15 minutes a day of inner core work) I can manage my pain. When I get lazy and don't do my work, instability comes sneaking back into my body. But now, after 3-4 years of work I can bring back stability in a short time. And at least I know I have the option of helping myself get out of pain.

Previously: My Story Part III: Teacher Training and More
Next up: I will detail some of the exercises I did that helped me strengthen my inner core and regain some control over my life by reducing my pain.

My Story Part III: Teacher Training and More

I signed up for teacher training in 2007 through Yoga North, the studio where I was starting to learn about the inner core, good alignment, and not pushing too far. I wanted to learn to use yoga to help my pain and to strengthen my body the way I needed. The 200 hour teacher training met one weekend per month for 6 months. The weekends were quite rigorous. The hours were something like this: 1pm-9pm on Friday, 7am-9pm on Saturday and 7am-6pm on Sunday. In addition to the weekend trainings, we had homework: studying philosophy, writing papers, doing a 40-day practice and journaling our experience, completing take-home tests, and teaching practice classes to a willing participant or two (read: family, friends or co-workers) so we could hone our new skills.

When I went through teacher training, Yoga North was in process of becoming more therapeutically focused, expanding on the Inner Core and Anatomy and Movement Principles from Susi Hately Aldous: move in a pure range of motion; move with the spine in mind; move from the larger joints first; when you are on your mat don't move into pain and if you are already in pain don't move into more pain; less is more. These were exactly the things I needed to learn in my body and in my practice.

Some of the inner core exercises we did seemed so simple I didn't believe they could help. We did things like laying on the floor with bent knees and squeezing a block between the thighs, tightening a belt/strap around the thighs and pressing out into it, and practicing pelvic floor lifts. We did awareness practices too like closing our eyes and barely moving into a pose using all of our awareness to focus inside. This is how I found out that Triangle was hurting me. I felt the tiniest of twinges at my right SI joint and realized, "Oh my gosh, that twinge was in the exact spot where I get the stabbing pain when I walk! I think Triangle is hurting me!"

This is about as far as I can safely go
in Triangle. Yeah, it's tiny but
I'm not in pain later.

This was revolutionary. Now that I knew what was hurting me I could avoid it. I was regaining control over my pain. OK sure, doing Triangle in such a tiny fashion that I barely moved was a bit of an ego-buster but I would do about anything to avoid the a-knife-is-stabbing-me-in-the-butt-pain I had been experiencing for at least 5 years during every walk I went on.

Of course the down side to this awareness is that now that I knew what tiny twinge to look for (future pain indicator) I found it in places I didn't want it to be: pigeon, extended side-angle, revolved head to knee pose, revolved seated wide angle, any and every forward fold, any and every back bend. Yeah, that's right, everything hurt.

So basically I had to go backward to go forward in my practice. I had to relearn the basics: core strength (block and belt work, pelvic floor work, transverse abdominus work), alignment principles (move in a pure range of motion; move with the spine in mind; move from the largest joints first), and less is more (when you are on your mat don't move into pain and if you are already in pain don't move into more pain).

Working with these tiny movements and this deep awareness made me feel like I was in "pre-yoga" class. For a long time I felt like I wasn't doing enough, I couldn't feel enough in my postures, I wasn't getting a good enough stretch. But these devious ideas lead us to do more than we should, push too hard, deplete ourselves with no cause, and quite possibly, cause ourselves pain.

Previously: My Story Part II: Yoga's Dirty Little Secret
Next up: Restoring my inner core and building stability.

My Story Part II: Yoga's Dirty Little Secret

When I found yoga I started to feel much better. My back and neck did not hurt so much, my mind felt brighter and I felt more in control of my emotions. I didn't have near as many monthly ups and downs.

But what was this new pain? What was this horrible, stabbing pain at the base of my spine that plagued me when I walked? Why did it hurt so much after shoveling snow or vacuuming the house? I was just done with a 4 year stint of working in Antarctica and traveling the world (where I shoveled and walked plenty). How could shoveling, vacuuming or walking be hurting me now? I didn't have this particular problem before. (Just all the other ones - ha ha.)

I continued practicing yoga. I even found a real, live class - not just yoga to a TV show. I got a lot of compliments on how flexible I was. My ego liked this so I pushed harder, stretched further, went deeper. And, no surprise, continued to have pain. I could not figure it out. I did not hurt while doing yoga; only while walking. I was pretty sure I was going to end up hunched before my time.

Fortunately, we moved and I had to switch studios. My new teacher, Ann Maxwell at Yoga North, was into teaching about the inner core, moving in a pain free range of motion, building awareness, and retraining forgotten muscle groups. She had been studying with Julie Gudmestad and Susi Hately Aldous and she shared what she learned with her students.

I learned that I did not have sciatica, I had SI joint dysfunction. I started to notice that the asymmetrical, hip-opening poses that I loved - triangle,  pigeon, easy seated forward fold - were not the best poses for my body. I was instinctively stretching the part that hurt (my hips and SI joints) but by stretching, I was pulling myself more and more out of whack.

I was starting to take pre-walk ibuprofen to mitigate the feeling of stabbing pain in my behind. Nothing ruins a walk more than feeling like you have a knife in your back. Finally, I saw a chiropractor. Even though yoga had been helping with my back and neck pain, I still had tons of misaligned bones. My neck curved the wrong way, my occiput was jammed, and my hips were uneven. I had good results with Chiropractic. I had fewer headaches and less pain walking. But my bones slid back out of alignment so quickly it was like they were greased.

I knew yoga was both helping and hurting me but I loved yoga. I didn't want to give it up. As a matter of fact, I wanted to learn more. I signed up for teacher training and started to learn how to strengthen my inner core from the arches up.

Previously: My Story Part I: 10 Years of Pain
Next up: Teacher Training, the Inner Core, Therapeutic Yoga and the concept of Less is More

My Story Part I: 10 Years of Pain

Some of you may know that I had multiple car accidents as a teenager, including a roll-over. I totaled 3 cars in 3 years and had a number of other fender bender type accidents as well. I don't know why. I don't feel like I was overly reckless (although I may have been), but certainly I was an inexperienced and unlucky driver.

After my 3rd car total (the roll-over), the insurance company put its foot down and said, "We will no longer insure you." This turned out to be ok. I grew up in the country but had just started college and wanted to live in town anyway. So, a friend of my mom's helped us find a rental room in another friend's house which was close to school and I moved right away.

Now in those days, I had never heard of yoga, chiropractic, acupuncture or really any kind of preventative medicine. So after each of my accidents (whiplash and all) I did nothing. I saw no doctor and did not receive any kind of treatment.

By the time I was 20 I was in chronic pain. I cracked my back and neck constantly which only brought momentary relief. I got massages but the muscle knots would return within a day. I didn't know what to do. I just figured that I would be in pain for the rest of my life. In addition to back and neck pain, my feet, knees and hips ached constantly. Often I had to take ibuprofen just to fall asleep at night.

In 1999 I found Yoga. By this time I had been in pain for 10 years. I was amazingly weak to start. I couldn't do down dog or plank. I could hardly hold my arms out for Warrior II for more than a few breaths. But I continued. I practiced yoga every morning with Yoga Zone.

This 1/2 hour show was a life saver for me. The stretches and the strengthening were amazing. But the real lifesaver was the subtle stuff: breath work, mindfulness practice, building awareness, learning the philosophy that nothing is permanent, learning to notice what I am clinging to.

Yoga did not "cure" my aches and pains, but it was a first step of taking control of my pain, my body, my mind, my thoughts, and my breath. But it also caused a few problems which I'll share in my next post.

Yang-Yin Class Re-cap

Yang-Yin class was another great time. Kristin and I co-teach this class about twice a year at Yoga North. It's one hour of Vinyasa followed by one hour of Yin. Folks seem to really enjoy the combination and the double-length class.

I've put up some pictures below and there are more from class on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DoRestorativeYoga.

We plan to offer this class again in February. Watch Yoga North's website for details.

Benefits of Prenatal Yoga

The below article was written by guest blogger, Allison Gamble. She says,

Prenatal yoga is the relatively new concept of practicing yoga to benefit the health of a pregnant mother and her in-utero child. While many women practice yoga to reduce stress, stay active, or practice religion, the first studies on the effectiveness of prenatal yoga have just begun to emerge. Current research from medical and psychology degree programs suggests prenatal yoga may be beneficial in reducing depression, improving sleep, reducing pain, and lessening birth complications.

Prenatal depression is a common condition associated with a number of negative symptoms and outcomes for mothers and infants. While treatment of prenatal depression is critical, many mothers-to-be avoid antidepressants, naturally concerned about taking drugs during pregnancy.

Prenatal yoga offers a drug-free alternative therapy. Yoga improves physical, mental, and spiritual health through controlled breathing, meditation, and specific posturing of the body. Because of its lower risks and natural basis, many pregnant women may prefer prenatal yoga to synthetic interventions for depression.

A study in the journal Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care suggests prenatal yoga could be a promising option for treating mild to moderate feelings of depression during pregnancy. According to the study's characterization, prenatal yoga is "particularly gentle in nature and emphasizes techniques to help women ease their labor and birth experience, build comfort with their changing body, and develop a strong bond with the infant."

The researchers also note yoga has an inherent positive force in that it simply seeks to enhance well-being, rather than treat a disorder, by emphasizing a whole body approach. Because prenatal yoga is nonverbal, and requires no therapist, yoga may better suit women who are uncomfortable openly discussing emotional or health problems.

Prenatal yoga also has the benefit of being relatively inexpensive, especially compared to drug treatments for depression. Yoga is already widely practiced around the world, and specialized prenatal programs have followed as its popularity has grown. You can also find plenty of prenatal yoga videos.

A study in Biological Research For Nursing Pregnancy also suggested parental yoga may help improve sleep in some pregnant women. Pregnancy invokes vast hormonal and biological changes, combined with the profound emotional adjustments that occur in anticipation of childbirth and parenthood. Among other resulting symptoms, many women experience sleep disturbance, which can also contribute to unstable mood and other issues.

The findings from the study are the first to suggest prenatal yoga in the second trimester can improve sleep as pregnancy progresses. Overall the study found that healthy women in the second trimester experienced better sleep with fewer awakenings and less wake time after going to sleep. These results are significant because doctors typically expect sleep will worsen as a pregnancy advances. Sleep during pregnancy is valuable as it may indirectly contribute to labor outcomes. Reduced time in bed and increased wake time during the night have been associated with longer labor and increased risk of cesarean birth in first-time mothers.

Various suggestions have been made as to why yoga helps reduce depression. The simplest may be that yoga helps to increase physical activity level and promotes mindfulness. Physical activity has been shown to improve sleep, and exercise might also be an effective preventive treatment strategy for back pain related to pregnancy.

Pregnancy is a stressful and taxing period of time for most women. Mothers want to ensure they're doing all they can to keep themselves and their babies healthy. Prenatal yoga is a great natural way to maintain health and well-being during pregnancy without recourse to drugs. Current research promisingly suggests prenatal yoga may help with prenatal depression, improve sleep, reduce pains and aches, and promote a healthy birth when the time comes.

Allison Gamble has been a curious student of psychology and its intersection with yoga since high school. She brings her understanding of the mind to work in the weird world of internet marketing with psychologydegree.net.