Over the last week I have taken some time to do some yin yoga in my studio. I found a yin yoga routine in an old Yoga Journal magazine. This was perfect for me. I lit some candles turned up the heating, and with mat, block and bolster I was ready. My back and hips have been aching from the household and garden chores I've been catching up on for the last two weeks. I haven't done much physical yoga except for a few stretches and twists.
Yin yoga is just a softer way of doing yoga. We perform the same poses as we normally do. In this case not the standing poses or flowing poses, but poses/asanas like forward bend in cobblers pose, Bhujangasana - cobra and the sphinx, Janu Sirsasana - head to knee pose and Upavista Konasana - wide legged forward stretch. Sometimes it is really enjoyable to take time in poses and just let go of the tenseness that the body automatically holds. The mind and the body work together. It finds the tension, you let it go, and then the body finds another area and you let that go and so on. And after a while you begin to relax and breathe and it feels so good.
Even if you do not practise yoga you can apply the same principles. For example when you are in the garden digging or bending over and you feel the tension building up in your shoulders, let the shoulders release away from the ears and take a moment to breathe, soften then admire what you have done, smile and continue when you are ready.
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Pied Piper
I have had a couple of weeks off, giving me time to do cleaning, clear my filing, do masses of very satisfying cutting back in the garden and finally sort out the garage. It all takes time and it is very cleansing.
I went up to the Barbican in London with my son and I have to tell you about it. Street dancing - you've probably seen the odd lad do it (and dance lovers will have seen the film 'Step Up'). I did not really know what to expect but it was the most amazing dance to see on stage. The scene was an urban setting and they tell a gritty version of the Pied Piper. The dance is superbly choreographed Hip Hop and it was absolutely fantastic. The music was bassy and emotional, and the dancing was so brilliant. These dancers from Stratford are so fit and energetic and they danced with precision, in groups and singularly. The interpretation of movement to the music was astounding and we loved the use of other media to cleverly tell the story. The feel good factor was just huge. Everyone was elated. See it if you can and try and get central seats. It's only on until the 14th March.
I went up to the Barbican in London with my son and I have to tell you about it. Street dancing - you've probably seen the odd lad do it (and dance lovers will have seen the film 'Step Up'). I did not really know what to expect but it was the most amazing dance to see on stage. The scene was an urban setting and they tell a gritty version of the Pied Piper. The dance is superbly choreographed Hip Hop and it was absolutely fantastic. The music was bassy and emotional, and the dancing was so brilliant. These dancers from Stratford are so fit and energetic and they danced with precision, in groups and singularly. The interpretation of movement to the music was astounding and we loved the use of other media to cleverly tell the story. The feel good factor was just huge. Everyone was elated. See it if you can and try and get central seats. It's only on until the 14th March.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Stimulate Your Immune System
After John had his cold I thought how could I prevent myself and my students from catching the bug. I decided to focus the lesson on poses that help stimulate the immune system. Back bends are heart opening and invigorating and as you breathe deeply in the poses you can almost feel your body becoming stronger. The three poses we are focusing on are Bhujangasana – the cobra, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana – the bridge, and Matsyasana – the fish.
We warmed up with stretches, neck warm ups and standing poses Trikonasana and the dancing Warrior I (see Jan blog). These heart openers stimulate blood flow and the immune system and therefore practicing these three poses once a day can help prevent colds and flu.
If you are a beginner each of these poses can be lightened. After preparing for the cobra by lifting, lengthening and releasing each leg 3 times, place finger-tips in line with the eyes rather than level with the shoulders. This gives a more gradual curve in the spine. Always remember your pelvic tilt and take long breaths in the pose.
Take nice long breaths visualise the energy travelling from your feet, up along your legs and up through your spine to your heart centre.
Draw back into Virasana Forward Stretch or child pose to release tension in your lower back.
The bridge can be lightened by lifting the hips to create a line from the shoulders, hips and to the knees. Start with the back of your neck long and feet close to your hips. Work your gentle pelvic tilt as you keep the hips lifted so keeping tension out of your lower back. As we’ve been thinking about protecting knees work to keep the knees facing up and not falling in to each other or out.
Take nice long breaths visualise the energy travelling over the front of your body all the way to your knees and down to your feet.
After releasing from the bridge bring your knees to your chest and hug them to you.
In the fish pose the chest lifts and there is no tension in the back of the neck.
We warmed up with stretches, neck warm ups and standing poses Trikonasana and the dancing Warrior I (see Jan blog). These heart openers stimulate blood flow and the immune system and therefore practicing these three poses once a day can help prevent colds and flu.
If you are a beginner each of these poses can be lightened. After preparing for the cobra by lifting, lengthening and releasing each leg 3 times, place finger-tips in line with the eyes rather than level with the shoulders. This gives a more gradual curve in the spine. Always remember your pelvic tilt and take long breaths in the pose.
Take nice long breaths visualise the energy travelling from your feet, up along your legs and up through your spine to your heart centre.
Draw back into Virasana Forward Stretch or child pose to release tension in your lower back.
The bridge can be lightened by lifting the hips to create a line from the shoulders, hips and to the knees. Start with the back of your neck long and feet close to your hips. Work your gentle pelvic tilt as you keep the hips lifted so keeping tension out of your lower back. As we’ve been thinking about protecting knees work to keep the knees facing up and not falling in to each other or out.
Take nice long breaths visualise the energy travelling over the front of your body all the way to your knees and down to your feet.
After releasing from the bridge bring your knees to your chest and hug them to you.
In the fish pose the chest lifts and there is no tension in the back of the neck.
Bend your knees, place your hands palms down under your buttocks, elbows tucked in. Don’t think about this next movement too much. Think light thoughts and lift your chest, arching the upper back and rest on your forearms.
Then energize your heart centre with nice long breaths.
Afterwards bring your knees to your chest or the Garland adaptation we did in class to lengthen the spine.
Enjoy!
Sunday, 1 February 2009
A View From The Bridge
My step son Peter has made his debut in the West End at the Duke of York’s Theatre. On Friday we went to London to see ‘A View from the Bridge’, a play by Arthur Miller. Pete plays a small (but, of course, important) part at the end of the play and is also understudying. It was an excellent play. The audience was spellbound and nobody dared to cough while anyone was talking on stage. The actors got us really hooked especially Ken Stott who you see pictured below. This photo so reflects the intenseness of the play and the emotion of Eddie (the main character). Every character was interesting and engaging. It is a great play and it deserves to have a great run over the next 6 months.
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Willesborough Ladies
I am so pleased that Wendy asked me to take her classes while she was on holiday. I have really been enjoying my experience of teaching at Willesborough. If any of you ladies are reading this blog can you bring a small towel (like a hand towel) with you to the next lesson. I forgot to ask you on Tuesday. If you could pass on this message it will be helpful.
I look forward to seeing you all next week.
I look forward to seeing you all next week.
Monday, 26 January 2009
Knee awareness
Hyperextension
In case you’ve ever wondered why I’ve said to be careful not to over extend at the back of the knee I thought it would be interesting to understand what hyperextension of the knee is. In the lesson we found out if anyone in the class had this tendency and if so what to do about it. The week before we had drawn our awareness to our feet and so it seemed appropriate to think about protecting our knees next.
I had a wonderful trip to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden to see the classical ballet La Bayadère. It was very beautiful, both the dancing and the costumes. I found myself studying their posture. Some dancers do have a tendency to over extend at the back of the knee. Many dancers are prone to this and it may be because they are naturally flexible. It can be genetic or it may caused be bad practice.
Anatomy
The knee should be in alignment with the thigh bone and the shin bone. These bones are held together by ligaments and tendons attached to the quadriceps muscle and hamstrings in the thigh and the calf muscle in the lower leg. If these are stretched then this leads to hyperextension and the knee will not be in alignment. Unfortunately ligaments can not be shortened so one has to just have an awareness or the problem will be exacerbated.
Strengthen the thighs
In the following exercise you will be aware if you do have a tendency to over extend and begin to train the quadriceps to achieve alignment.
Exercise to train the quads:
Sit in Dandasana (the staff pose) on a block with your legs extended out in front of you and your feet in a neutral position
Lengthen through your spine to sit upright
Press your thigh bones to the floor
If your heals lift away from the floor then you are hyper extending
Keep your heals down
You will learn to contract your quadriceps without any hyperextension if you keep your heals down while pressing your thigh bones to the floor.
Notice the action of the upper shin bones when your heals come off the ground they drop toward the floor but they won’t when the heal is down and the thighs are working.
And keep breathing!
It can be strong but just a little practice even a couple of times a week will help. Then take this awareness into your standing poses.
In case you’ve ever wondered why I’ve said to be careful not to over extend at the back of the knee I thought it would be interesting to understand what hyperextension of the knee is. In the lesson we found out if anyone in the class had this tendency and if so what to do about it. The week before we had drawn our awareness to our feet and so it seemed appropriate to think about protecting our knees next.
I had a wonderful trip to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden to see the classical ballet La Bayadère. It was very beautiful, both the dancing and the costumes. I found myself studying their posture. Some dancers do have a tendency to over extend at the back of the knee. Many dancers are prone to this and it may be because they are naturally flexible. It can be genetic or it may caused be bad practice.
Anatomy
The knee should be in alignment with the thigh bone and the shin bone. These bones are held together by ligaments and tendons attached to the quadriceps muscle and hamstrings in the thigh and the calf muscle in the lower leg. If these are stretched then this leads to hyperextension and the knee will not be in alignment. Unfortunately ligaments can not be shortened so one has to just have an awareness or the problem will be exacerbated.
Strengthen the thighs
In the following exercise you will be aware if you do have a tendency to over extend and begin to train the quadriceps to achieve alignment.
Exercise to train the quads:
Sit in Dandasana (the staff pose) on a block with your legs extended out in front of you and your feet in a neutral position
Lengthen through your spine to sit upright
Press your thigh bones to the floor
If your heals lift away from the floor then you are hyper extending
Keep your heals down
You will learn to contract your quadriceps without any hyperextension if you keep your heals down while pressing your thigh bones to the floor.
Notice the action of the upper shin bones when your heals come off the ground they drop toward the floor but they won’t when the heal is down and the thighs are working.
And keep breathing!
It can be strong but just a little practice even a couple of times a week will help. Then take this awareness into your standing poses.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Further thoughts
OK, so I am a little worried that some of you may think that my last statement seemed a little simplistic, so I thought I’d qualify my words briefly!
We all know that we feel better when we eat a healthy balanced diet. None of us like it when we eat too much and end up feel bloated. And even my son noticed the difference when he began to eat a healthy sandwich for lunch instead of a McDonalds burger. He said he felt he had more energy. Healthy eating does involve some planning but this can make life easier on the day with less last minute panics.
Exercise…well this could be anything from taking a walk, swimming, doing yoga (of course) or climbing stairs. These are just my personal favourites. I believe we should do a little exercise everyday rather than just leave it all to one day. Again if we think about it we benefit from exercise that gets the heart pumping and also from stretching and building strength in our muscles.
And finally I recommended laughing. Even when we are feeling low or cross, if you make the effort to smile this sends messages around the body and you’ll feel better. It really works. Feel the muscles in your forehead begin to relax. Laughing is hard for some people. There are special laughter therapy classes and I have been told they really work. At home we all love ‘the big bang theory’ a comic sitcom on TV. I can let you know when it’s on again. But watch kids, they’re funny and so are animals and don’t worry if you laugh out loud on the tube when you read something funny in a book. Just enjoy it.
We all know that we feel better when we eat a healthy balanced diet. None of us like it when we eat too much and end up feel bloated. And even my son noticed the difference when he began to eat a healthy sandwich for lunch instead of a McDonalds burger. He said he felt he had more energy. Healthy eating does involve some planning but this can make life easier on the day with less last minute panics.
Exercise…well this could be anything from taking a walk, swimming, doing yoga (of course) or climbing stairs. These are just my personal favourites. I believe we should do a little exercise everyday rather than just leave it all to one day. Again if we think about it we benefit from exercise that gets the heart pumping and also from stretching and building strength in our muscles.
And finally I recommended laughing. Even when we are feeling low or cross, if you make the effort to smile this sends messages around the body and you’ll feel better. It really works. Feel the muscles in your forehead begin to relax. Laughing is hard for some people. There are special laughter therapy classes and I have been told they really work. At home we all love ‘the big bang theory’ a comic sitcom on TV. I can let you know when it’s on again. But watch kids, they’re funny and so are animals and don’t worry if you laugh out loud on the tube when you read something funny in a book. Just enjoy it.
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