At Home Yoga with Laura

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: Improving Posture Boosts Confidence & Energy

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal weekly podcast featured a story on the importance of listening to mom's advice about why you should focus on good posture and standing tall.  This is hardly rocket science but a recent study documented the impact of "standing and sitting tall" for job interviews. Experiments suggested that job candidates who made a point of standing and sitting tall significantly increased their confidence and effectiveness during job interviews.

I was puzzled that this common sense finding was featured on the Wall Street Journal podcast - I guess it's something I have taken for granted for years - especially since doing yoga.  It occurred to me, however, why standing tall is important (even for shorties like me!) and how it boosts confidence and energy.  When you stand or sit up straight keeping your spine erect but not rigid, you allow your energy to flow fully through your body.  More energy leads to more confidence....If you slouch, however, you are compressing your spine and it's like stepping on a water hose - you block the flow.  Some water or energy may get through - but not the full flow.  Lower energy leads to dragging around and to lower confidence.  I am always amazed at the number of people I see daily on the metro who slouch over and walk with their heads and eyes fixed on the ground.  What do they find so fascinating about the sidewalk or floor of the train?

Of course, hatha yoga poses are invaluable for elongating your spine and improving your posture leading to more energy and confidence. A regular home practice of hatha yoga poses such as the backward hand clasp and arm and leg stretch can help broaden your shoulders and strengthen the carriage of your body.  The result?  You will feel more energized and look your personal best!

Wisdom of the Day:  ~"Yoga teaches you to stand and sit tall for maximum energy and confidence." Laura Venecia Rodriguez

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: "Youthing" with Yoga

One day I realized that the "Y" in yoga can stand for the "youthing" effects that yoga can bring.  Hatha yoga's scientific stretches and holds help us maintain or regain the natural flexibility and pliability of our bodies that is our birthright.  I agree with certain yogis who assert that years of focused practice can keep your mind and body youthful.  And this can steer our minds away from our chronological age and the limitations often associated with passing years.

Two or three years ago the Style section of the Washington Post featured an 87-year old yoga practitioner who had yet to skip a beat or cut back on any of her poses.  She could lift her entire body in ways I doubt I could ever achieve even with the most skilled and patient yoga trainer.  Granted, she may be exceptional. However, the point is that her advanced age (according to societal standards) was not hampering her practice - at all.  I have found over the past couple years that with more focused and consistent practice, that I am able to stretch farther in some poses than I could decades ago.  I believe that we can be like wine, getting better with time, if we maintain a consistent, focused hatha yoga practice.

Renowned Yoga teacher Patricia Walden (with a chronological age of 62) said that her poses are "better, more integrated" now - than when she was younger and that her "flexibility and strength are more balanced."  A flexible body through yoga can also lead to a more flexible mind - arguably a trait often associated with youth.  Remember that cliche - "he or she is set in his ways" because of their advanced years?  Yoga is a practice that help us stay open-minded and engage in "youthing" rather than "aging."

Wisdom of the Day:  "We can be like wine, getting better with time, if we maintain a consistent, focused hatha yoga practice."~Laura Venecia Rodriguez

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: For Me, the Non-Athlete, I Focus Best Alone

An article in the September 2009 issue of Yoga Journal more than convinced me that my hatha yoga practice will no doubt remain private - forever.  Well, maybe I should not be that definitive, but, I can't help but feel the truth of that statement.  The article, Come to Your Senses,  discusses how to achieve true tranquility by drawing your senses inward when you practice yoga.

The author, Jennifer Rodrigue (hey - she's almost got the same last name!) discusses her experiences one day in an Ashtanga Yoga class when she noticed a new class participant practicing advanced, complex techniques with total composure, focus, and deep breathing.   As the author stated, "He was truly in his practice.  Even more than that, he was in himself."  Ms. Rodrigue then went on to discuss her growing self-consciousness about doing poses that were challenging and at times a struggle for her while the "mystery man" just glided through his poses, oblivious to his surroundings.

After a few months of practice dedicated to withdrawing her senses from distractions and turning her focus inward, Ms. Rodrigue achieved her aim of being able to emulate the mystery man's skill in staying focused, composed, and moving smoothly. I bet it would take me a few YEARS to achieve this result if I practiced yoga in a class.  I don't mean to knock classes - but, I agree in many ways with my friend who considers yoga a practice as sacred and private as sex.  Especially if you are a non-athlete like me - aka total klutz...it is so much easier for me to focus inward and stay composed if I am not in a class with athletic mystery men or women in front, behind or on either side of me who will make feel like I am a kindergarten student plopped in the middle of a high school calculus class.

In my private home yoga practice I don't compete with or feel dwarfed by anyone else's achievements.  It's much easier to stay focused inward when it's only me, myself, and I in my home yoga studio....

Wisdom of the Day:  "I can best focus inward during my yoga regime when I practice at home alone."~Laura Venecia Rdoriguez 

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: Hatha Yoga Poses: How Much Time and How Many Repetitions?

The first yoga books I used to teach myself prescribed 2-3 repetitions for each pose.  If I followed that suggestion, it would take at least 60 to 90 minutes to complete my daily regime.  While such a regime would benefit me, I would not be able to carve out that much time daily for yoga practice.  What is important is that I put everything I got into the stretch or hold.  When I do, I feel I can benefit from doing the pose once as much or almost as much as repeating twice or three times.

In general, let your personal fitness and body needs as well as time constraints dictate how many repetitions you choose to  do of a particular hatha yoga pose.  Most days, I do a pose once.  Other days, I repeat certain poses twice or three times if my body guides me to do that. For example, one afternoon I was not paying attention and I sat in an awkward position at my office desk for hours.  Boy did my lower back become sore and stiff!  Luckily, I remembered that hatha yoga could resolve the situation!  The next morning I repeated the cobra and the bow twice each to work out the kinks. Voila - problem fixed! Some days, though,  I choose to repeat certain poses just for the joy of it! Everyone has different bodies, issues, and preferences.  

Concerning the time you hold the poses, I have been surprised that many books neglect to tell you!  However, I hold most poses for the time recommended by my first yoga books.  Of course, when you begin, you will be holding the poses for a few seconds maximum.  Thus, initially your daily practice may take only 10 minutes or so.  That's ideal.  You want to adopt the yoga habit gradually.  Starting out with 5 or 10 minutes a day is an excellent strategy for creating the discipline of a daily practice.  Experimenting and working your way up gradually is the key to long-term success with your at home yoga practice.

Wisdom of the Day:  "Put everything you've got into a hatha yoga pose."  Laura V. Rodriguez

Beginners' Hatha Yoga: Always Pause Between Poses

Pausing between yoga poses is vital for optimizing the results from your practice. The first yoga books that I ever read, Yoga for Beauty and Health and Yoga, Youth, and Reincarnation repeatedly stressed the importance of pausing between poses.  Pausing helps you assimilate the energy that has been released.  Also, pausing between poses cultivates serenity and a wonderful relaxed pace to offset the hustle and bustle that many of us have in our daily life.  I believe we need to practice flowing and transitioning slowly between activities rather than rushing to and fro. Rushing often wreaks havoc, leading to mishaps that could have been avoided.  

I pause for 5 to 10 seconds between most poses.  But, play it by ear and listen to your body. You may need more time to catch your breath between strenuous poses such as the bow and the locust that require you to lift your body weight.  I do!  When you schedule your yoga practice, allocate sufficient time in your daily yoga regime to pause between poses.

 

Wisdom of the Day:  "Composer Claude Debussy said that music is the space between the notes.  Likewise, much power comes from the pauses between hatha yoga poses."~Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: How to do the Yoga Side Bends

Here are instructions for how to do a variation of yoga side bends.

Type of yoga pose:  Standing

Body parts targeted:  Waist (you will definitely feel the toning action here!), thighs, and spine. 

How to do the pose:

1.    Stand tall, straight, and relaxed with your hands and arms at your sides. Your feet should be apart about shoulder width and facing forward.

2.    Gently and slowly raise your arms out from your sides until they are  extended sideways, elbows straight at shoulder level and palms facing down.

3.    Inhale and bend in slow motion (as if in a dream…) to your left, taking at least 5-10 seconds to reach your farthest position (and it may not be too far when you start out with this pose!). 

4.    When you have reached as far as you comfortably can, hold the pose motionless for 10 seconds and exhale and inhale as needed. Keep your knees straight during your hold. Feel the s – t – r – e – t – c – h.  Also, tighten your buttock muscles as you hold the pose to enhance its firming benefits.

5.    After your set holding time has elapsed, again in slow motion, straighten out of the pose and move back into a upright, standing position with arms extended sideways with elbows straight at shoulder level and palms facing down.  Allow your hands to drop slowly to your side.

6.    Breathe in and out slowly and relax for a few seconds.

7.    Repeat the pose on your right side and remember to move gracefully!

 

Practice time: Hold the pose 10 seconds on each side.  Add a few seconds a week until you are comfortable holding the pose for 25-30 seconds on each side.

Number of repetitions:  1-2

Key benefits from this pose: 

 

1.    Firms and strengthens the waist muscles and help reduce weight in the waist.

2.    Tones and firms seldom used muscles in the thighs.

3.    Strengthens and stretches side muscles and eliminates tension in them.

4.    Gives the spine a beneficial sideways stretch.

 

Special hints and Laura’s experience with this pose:

 

This stretch is an easier one for most starting yogis. However, if you have been inactive for a long time and rarely move much from side to side, you will  feel the stretch in your waist and side.

As stated above, try to keep your knees straight.  If you find this difficult, just don’t bend down as far to each side when you start out.  Also, when you move into your stretch toward your side, let your head hang down with your neck limp. Be certain to lean to your side and not toward your front or back (I have been guilty of this...!)

As with other hatha yoga poses, gravity will do its work over time. You should notice you can bend farther and more comfortably to each side as you do this pose regularly.  And, as you increase your time holding the pose, you will feel energized and more flexible after doing the pose!

 

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: Yoga Side Bends - Perfect for an Office Break!

I have an sedentary day job.  I research and write - ALL day.  I just can't sit still for 8 hours.  I have to get up and move about every 15 minutes.  My office mate probably wonders why she hears a timer go off periodically in my cubicle.  Well, it's because I like to work in 15 minute increments - especially when I am on a writing project.  Fifteen minutes of writing and reading is all I can do before I need to move around. I probably have ADD - that condition that seems rampant in the United States. However, no medication for me!  

Instead, every 15 minutes I get up and stretch at my desk for at least a moment or two. About once or twice an hour I will slip into the ladies room (look - I drink a lot of water at my desk, too!) and do some yoga stretches.  One of the easiest yoga stretches you can do in the office are the side bends.  You don't have to change out of your business clothes (unless you are wearing a tight belt or some other form fitting clothes that don't allow free moment) to do this pose.

The photo above shows a popular form of yoga side bends.  I sometimes do this one and it can be intense - you really feel your sides stretching and firming up!  I more frequently do another type of side bends that I learned years ago which involves standing straight, stretching both arms out to the side parallel to the floor, and then stretching over to the side so your arms form a vertical line and are parallel to your body. This pose is a bit easier to do than the one shown above but also tones and stretches your waist.  

I especially like doing the side bends as a break at the office because our body doesn't get stretched often in this direction!  Unless you are a ballet or jazz dancer, I think it's unlikely that you're giving your waist the type of stretch that the side bends provide. So, add yoga side bends to your daily regime.  It's an easy pose to slip into your schedule at the office!

Thought for the Day: "Slimming and firming your waist with hatha yoga side bends helps you look and feel your personal best."~Laura Venecia Rodriguez

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: How to do the Shoulder Stand - An Excerpt from the Book

 The following instructions are the ones I learned when I was 15.  As long as you enter and exit the pose slowly and carefully - never allowing yourself to jerk suddenly or collapse in a heap - you should do fine. Again, though, if you have had neck or shoulder injuries, please check with your medical advisor or doctor first.  

How to do the pose:

 

1.    Lie down on your mat and relax with your arms and hands at your side.

2.    Face your palms downward.

3.    Inhale distending your abdomen and then hold your breath while tightening your abdominal muscles and stiffening your legs.

4.    Press downward against the floor with the palms of your hands, using them as a lever, and slowly lift your legs off the floor while exhaling.  Keep your knees straight. 

5.    Take at least 5 seconds and smoothly raise your legs straight up in the air until they are perpendicular with the floor.  The more slowly you raise your legs, the firmer your abdomen will become.  If needed, you may rock you knees and forelegs back and forth a bit to gain the necessary momentum to lift your lower back and buttocks off the floor.

6.    Place your right hand against the kidney region of your back and brace yourself with it.  Place your left hand also against your back for additional support.

7.    Raise both legs together until your entire body is vertical with your elbows resting on the floor and both hands supporting your back.

8.    Keep your legs and body as straight as possible with your chin nestled into the space in front of your collar bone – i.e., the jugular notch.

9.    Hold the pose motionless for 30 seconds.

10.     Slowly bend your legs at the knees and gently lower your legs until your knees are about one or two inches from your face.

11.    Place your right hand on the floor and brace yourself with it.  Follow by placing your left hand on the floor and also brace yourself with it.

12.    Slowly straighten your legs until they are again vertical in the air.

13.     Keeping your knees straight, slowly lower your legs until they are resting on the floor.  You may wish to enhance the abdominal firming effect of this pose by holding your legs taut for a few seconds when they are one to two inches away from the floor.

 

Practice time: Hold the pose for 30 seconds during your first week of practice.  Add 10 seconds a week until you can hold the pose for 2-3 minutes.

Number of repetitions:  1

Key benefits from this pose: 

1.    Benefits and energizes the entire body.

2.    Massages and stimulates the spinal column.

3.    Increases blood supply to brain to increase energy, tones the nervous system, and can improve certain mental faculties such as the memory.

4.    Stimulates the thyroid and parathyroid glands, and enriches the pituitary gland.

5.    This inversion repositions organs and glands into their proper place by offsetting the downward pull that gravity naturally has on the body.

6.    Enhances circulation and helps to relieve strain placed on blood vessels when body stays in its customary upright position.  Can help alleviate varicose veins.

7.    Can help regulate weight because of the therapeutic, stimulation of the thyroid gland.

8.    Strengthens back and can build up chest.

9.    Can eliminate headaches.

10.   Stretches and strengthens shoulder and back muscles.

11.    Stretches muscles and ligaments of the cervical region (the top part of the spine that consists of the seven vertebrae of the neck and the disks that separate them).

12.     Strengthens entire nervous system.

13.     Stimulates sexual glands and organs and boosts the libido (sex becomes sexier!).

Special hints and Laura’s experience with this pose:

If you have had neck injury or problems or have high blood pressure, check with your physician before trying this pose.

This pose reportedly gives you virtually all the benefits of the headstand, but is easier for non-athlete like me!  (I still have not yet been able to do the headstand!)

Women should avoid doing this pose during menstruation.

Go up into the shoulder stand only as far as you comfortably can.  People who find the pose difficult at first are often advised to use a wall to help get them into the position or at least to acclimate themselves to getting their legs vertically into the air.  I never found this necessary.  I simply raised my legs as far up into a vertical position as was feasible for me in the beginning and over a few weeks was able to achieve the hold in a totally vertical position. 

Always move out of the shoulder stand very carefully and slowly to avoid hurting your spine.  The shoulder stand is especially beneficial when it follows the plough.  They are a dynamic yoga duo!

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: Why do the Shoulder Stand?

The above pose, the shoulder stand, is one that I have enjoyed doing for years. Granted, it can be challenging for the beginner, especially if you have been inactive for years.  And, if you have had any neck or shoulder injuries, be certain to check with your physician or medical ad visor before you learn and enter this pose.  However, my philosophy about starting with baby steps and proceeding gradually and cautiously will minimize the risk of injury. Remember that "slo mo" is the rule for entering and exiting this pose for maximum safety.

I do this pose daily because of its myriad benefits.  In my first yoga primer, the shoulder stand is called the "supreme" exercise, especially for women.  For one, it's an inversion pose held usually for 2-3 minutes or more.  It's  excellent for the circulation because "it's easier for the heart to pump blood through the blood vessels of the legs enabling the veins in the legs to relax." The shoulder stand helps to offset the effects that gravity has on our bodies when we are upright all day.  When we invert the body in the shoulder stand, the organs and glands of our bodies can also fall back into place, for example.  Another touted benefit is that the shoulder stand helps stimulate the sex glands.  You will likely notice (as I have) that your libido is revved up after descending out of the pose - no doubt a result of the increased circulation and falling back into place of the glands.  This can be distracting but it definitely can enhance a romantic relationship!

Because the pose squeezes and increases circulation in the the thyroid gland, it's considered excellent for helping to regulate body weight.  The pose also helps to improve the complexion because of the increased flow of blood to the face while the body is inverted.  The pose is excellent as well for inducing overall relaxation and clearing the mind.

Thought for the Day:  ~In yoga, you are helping your body bring forth qualities that are innately and intrinsically yours already." Yoga for Beauty and Health.

Hatha Yoga for Beginners: A Home Practice Meets YOUR Needs

Yesterday morning I remembered why I love doing yoga at home!  Shortly after I woke up and emerged from my bed I noticed odd sensations in my hips, especially my left hip.  It wasn't pain- maybe it was just slight stiffness.  Something was off kilter -  I had probably slept in an odd position. Who knows?  Since it lasted the next hour or so before I did my yoga practice, I figured I would zap the quirky feeling in my hips with yoga.

After a warm shower I rolled out my yoga mat and began my morning practice. However, I changed my routine.  I added repetitions of hip-opening poses such as the ankle to forehead stretch, the backward bend, and the knee and thigh stretch (the latter to relax muscles in my thighs leading to my hips). And, I held each of these poses longer than I usually do.

Guess what?  Yoga worked!  Whatever kinks or stiffness had been in my hips not so mysteriously disappeared and I was back on track.  Now, I have participated in only a few yoga classes.  But, my experience has been that the yoga instructor develops the routine that everyone follows.  There are few or no opportunities to tailor the sequences to your own needs of the day.  That's why I believe that home yoga practice has such an advantage over a class session.  You can customize it to fit YOU.

Thought for the Day: "Practicing yoga at home allows you to tailor make a regime to fit your personal needs."  Laura Venecia Rodriguez