Yoga at Home with Laura, Self-taught Yogi!

Yoga at Home for Beginners: Yoga On Travel -First Airport Yoga Room!

Why does it seem that so many innovations come from California?  Well, this past week, the San Francisco Airport opened what is reportedly the first airport yoga room!  What a wonderful concept - especially for people who need a break to unwind and unkink their bodies on long multi-leg flights. Even if you fly first class and have wider seats and more legroom, being seated hours in the air can lead to stiffness in your limbs, shoulders and neck.

I have given suggestions in past posts about how to sneak in some yoga stretches while in transit - but having an actual room in an aiport dedicated to yoga shows forward thinking of the best kind, in my view! Apparently, the airport director, a yogi himself who has practiced for 18 years and recognized yoga's benefits, responded to a recommendation by a traveler.  The yoga room official opened two days ago but has been available to travelers for several weeks.

Will other airports follow suit?  Well, it required a significant financial investment and airports in other parts of the country where yoga is less popular may not see the value.  But, I say kudos to this move! What a wonderful way to recognize the need to offer people a place to destress after or between long flights and to take their yoga practice with them!  If I ever get out to San Francisco again (I have been there only once), I will certainly check it out!

Yours for taking your yoga practice with you as you travel!

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, The Beginners' Home Yoga Coach

 

 

 

 

Yoga at Home of Beginners: Amateur or a Professional Yoga Student?

 

I received the following quotation in my in-box this morning from yoga expert and instructor, Lucas Rockwood, who is based in Barcelona, Spain. 

“An amateur yoga student is someone who practices when she feels like it, practice whatever she wants or whenever she wants. A professional student practices on purpose, even
with a headache, even when no one is watching, even when it’s dark and cold outside.”

As I replied to Lucas, I could not agree more!  Doing yoga every so often is okay- better than not doing it at all...but not much!  You reap yoga's myriad rewards and can gain ongoing energy, flexibility, and serenity when you practice consistently!  For me that means at least 5-6 times a week.  Yoga must be part of your lifestyle or you are just an "amateur yoga student," a mere dilettante, in my perhaps not so humble opinion.

Sure it can be hard to rise and shine to do your yoga practice on dark, dreary winter mornings when it seems that everyone else is luxuriating and snoozing in their warm, cozy beds. But, when the alarm sounds, don't allow yourself to think about your warm bed. Instead, ease out and focus on all you will gain from your yoga practice. Create and add fun, inviting rituals to your yoga practice so that you relish and look forward to it.  For examples see the ones that I have written about in this blog - check the archives or read chapter 12 of my book, Yoga at Home:  Gain Energy, Flexibility, and Serenity in 20-30 Minutes a Day, in which I present numerous techniques to enhance your practice and stay motivated.

Are you an "amateur or professional yoga student?"  It's your choice.

Yours for practicing yoga as a professional student,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 

Yoga at Home for Beginners: A Song that Reflects Yoga's Benefits

 

Why have I included a music video by John Tesh in today's post and what does it have to do with yoga?

Well, I have a wonderful DVD of a spiritual concert that John Test performed with his band about 8 years ago at the Red Rocks music "hall" in Colorado that prompted me to do further searching of his music on youtube.  I came across this video about a year ago and was enthralled!  The music is both passionate and inspiring- qualities that I seek so deeply in every aspect of my life.  Plus, I enjoy doing my yoga practice with this song in the background every so often.

Also, for me, the song points out that just being alive is a phenomenal gift!  And, despite life's pains and challenges, as long as we have faith, hope, and love and live from our heart, each day we wake up is a gift to embrace fully. 

And, that is also how I view a daily yoga practice - it's as a gift to yourself.  Because of its ability to enable you to gain energy, flexibility, and serenity, yoga enables you to "learn how to live" more fully.  And the music and the lyrics of the song, "This is Your Gift" beautifully remind me of that!

Yours for recognizing the gift of life through yoga,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginners' Home Yoga Coach 

This Is Your Gift by John Tesh - Lyrics

"If a star can be a sign that the light is breaking through,
and the child in your arms makes the whole world seem brand new. 
We can embrace all the grace we've been given, 
stand in the light of the wonder we live in.

This is your gift, this brand new day. 
So take it to heart, take it on faith. 
Open your eyes, don't be afraid to learn how to live. 
This is your gift. This brand new day. This is your gift.

When it's hard to say a prayer, when you're overcome by fear, 
and you see each day through a thousand fallen tears, 
Hope takes your hand and it picks up the pieces. 
Love comes to life as we live and believe it.

This is our new beginning. This is where we start. 
We'll take what God has given and we'll live it from the heart.

This is your gift, this brand new day. 
So take it to heart, take it on faith. 
Open your eyes, don't be afraid to learn how to live. 
This is your gift. This brand new day. This is your gift."

Yoga at Home for Beginners: "Yoga is strong medicine but slow medicine"

Stated by Dr. Timothy McCall in his book Yoga as Medicine:  The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing," the title of this blog means that yoga is not a quick fix.  However, (and this is a big however), yoga practiced consistently (daily in my view) over a long period of time creates tremendous healing benefits that deepen and accrue like "compound interest."

In Western culture, we tend to be impatient and look for instant results.  While it's wonderful to notice immediate benefits from taking a particular action such as beginning a yoga practice, it's best to trust and have faith in the results that the process will bring over time  Just as the jaded but nonetheless accurate analogy of planting a seed, watering it, and having faith it will blossom into a plant or flower over time without digging it up to check on it, I agree with McCall that yoga's benefits should be evaluated over the long term.

Recently the press has reported the results of a 12-week study concerning people with back pain and the experiments conducted to compare a control group who did nothing with two other groups one of which did "regular" stretching and the other which did yoga stretching.  Apparently, little difference was found in the benefits gained in alleviating back pain between the group doing regular stretch and the group doing yoga stretches.

I suspect that more meaningful results would be noted if the results were compared over a six-month or better yet a 1-year or 2-year period.  Also, it wasn't clear if the study compared changes beyond the alleviated back pain between the two groups that did stretching.

Because I have practiced yoga at home virtually daily over an extended time, I have noticed that the energy, flexibility, and serenity I experience exceeds that of friends and colleagues who attend yoga classes once or twice a week and cease practicing when there is a break in the class schedule between sessions. I am not sharing this to brag, but to impress upon the significance of consistent practice.

To gain maximum benefits from a yoga regime, commit yourself to making it a daily, permanent part of your life.  It may be slow medicine, but it truly is powerful medicine.

Yours for reaping fabulous results from yoga over time,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, The Beginners' Yoga at Home Coach for "Real, Regular People"

Yoga at Home: Podcast Interview: Beginners' Yoga Book-How and Why I Wrote It

About 10 days before Christmas 2011, I had a podcast interview with Australian author Ruth Barringham. She interviewed me to learn about what I experienced and how I handled the creation and production of my first book, Yoga at Home:  Gain Energy, Flexibility, and Serenity in 20-30 Minutes a Day. Except for the artwork, cover design, and layout of the book, I did everything myself - writing, editing (I found 3 little typos right before printing - had to let them go!) and photo shooting (no photoshopping-I don't know how to do that).

In the 85-minute interview, Ruth and I talk about the writing process and where to get affordable help for elements I could not do on my own.

You can find and download the interview from Ruth's website by copying and pasting the following link:

http://cheritonhousepublishing.com/podcast/2011/2011podcasts.html#laura.

Yours for gentle yoga at home,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, The Gentle Home Yoga Coach for Beginners

 

 

 

 

Yoga at Home: Missing Points from Controversy over Yoga's Safety

Once again the controversy over the safety of yoga rears its head.  Yoga expert Glenn Black reportedly recommends that many people should give up yoga because of the large numbers of injuries he has witnessed.  He says that some people are reluctant to admit to their yoga instructors that they suffered an injury in class.

The above video presents the controversy and also includes an interview with a yoga instructor who says that she is not surprised by Black's viewpoint but that she believes that the yoga can benefit virtually everyone. To avoid injury she advises people to do their research to determine the best type of class of style of yoga for themselves.  And, she states that in her yoga studio instructors offered time before and after classes to meet with students to discuss their individual needs and concerns. 

What I felt was missing in the discussion was the following advice:

1) assess where you are physically before starting a yoga class or practice - how active have you been over the past year or two (or even decade).  If you have been quite sedentary - begin with EXTRA caution

2) start out SLOWLY - with baby steps and notice how your muscles, limbs, and overall body FEEL in every phase of a pose- if your muscles feel tight - be patient - let them unwind over time

3) go only as far as you are reasonably comfortable - if you experience pain - back up!

4) alwys listen to your body first and the instructor (or instructions) second and realize that how limber you may feel can fluctuate daily

5) compete only with yourself- don't do more than what is comfortable for you because other people can do a certain pose with ease.

Yours for practicing yoga with wisdom (aka common sense - too often overlooked!),

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginners Home Yoga Coach

Yoga at Home: Clarification! I am NOT Against Yoga Classes!!!

The other day, in response to my post about how I believe you can learn yoga from a book, I received a comment from a reader expressing concern.  She stated that she had considered replacing her yoga classes by using a book to do yoga, BUT that she wasn't convinced she wanted to do this.  She enjoyed attending her yoga classes and was not ready to give them up.  I assured her that my intent has NEVER been to discourage anyone from attending yoga classes!

No!  The purpose of this blog and my book, Yoga at Home:  Gain Energy, Flexibility, and Serenity in 20-30 Minutes a Day, is solely to give yoga newbies who are timid or shy about attending a class, don't have time to attend a class, have no classes nearby, or simply want to go at their own pace, an alternative to the yoga classroom.  That old cliche, "different strokes for different folks" applies to yoga.

I believe it's superb that people have SO MANY yoga classes to choose from these days and so many venues in which they can learn yoga!  But, for somewhat klutzy me, my home yoga studio beckons to me much more that the two beautiful, spacious yoga studios close to my home. I just enjoy waking up in the morning and taking the 15 second stroll downstairs to my family room where I can roll out my yoga mat and do yoga poses at my own pace.  And, I know there is a group of people out there like me - who are homebodies when it comes to their exercise regime.  

So - do you LOVE yoga classes?  More power to you - keep them up!  For those of you who are homebodies like me, just keep up your practice in the privacy, comfort, and convenience of your home!

Yours for practicing yoga in classes or at home,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez,The Beginners' Yoga at Home Coach

Yoga at Home for Beginners: More about adding a touch of the sacred to "massage your soul"

It has been so many years - at least 21- since I last visited Notre Dame, the awe-invoking cathedral in Paris, Notre Dame. Although I am not Catholic, I always feel a sense of the sacred when strolling through ancient, large domed cathedrals with with vaulted ceilings and huge, beautiful stain glass windows through which sunlight streams.  I know that I can connect with the sacred part of life anywhere, not just in a church, but the architectural beauty of and ambiance within large cathedrals stir my soul.

Now what do cathdrals have to do with yoga, a 5000-year or more old practice that originated in India and has Hindu roots ???! Well,I recently read that some yoga classes are being held in a gothic San Francisco cathedral accompanied by the live, meditative sounds of piano, bamboo flute, ad harp to help yoga students connect with the Divine. The headline for the article I came across said, "A music-filled yoga class in a cathedral is a sweet invitation to the temple within."  One of the yoga class students remarked, "there's a spiritual connection that we all share while we're practicing here."  

It's been even longer since I visited San Francisco, but I would love to return and check out that yoga class in a cathedral even though I am not a class person.  However, I found that you can create the ambiance of a yoga class in a cathedral right in your own home yoga studio. Yesterday and today, as usual,  I lit my special (battery operated) candles and rolled out my yoga mat. Then, instead of turning on a light classical or smooth jazz station, I inserted my "Ave Maria" abum that features renowned opera stars from the present and past, Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras, Leontyne Price, and Joan Sutherland who sing sacred selections of Mozart, Handel, and others.

I closed my eyes and with the music playing softly in the background, I stretched and held my usual poses to the stirring music, all the while, being able to easily imagine I was practicing in the middle of a cathedral to live music.  And, yes, it did help me me feel a wonderful spiritual connection to the Divine!

Regardless of your particular denomination whether you are Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, or belong to no religion, adding a creative sacred touch reminscent of a beautful church or temple to your yoga practice will enhance your enjoyment and uplift your spirit!

Yours for including a touch of the sacred in your yoga practice,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, The Beginners' Yoga at Home Coach (for real, regular people)

 

Yoga at Home: You Really Can Learn Yoga from a Book or Article!

I often hear yoga experts and instructors caution that the best and only safe way to learn yoga is in a class. I don't question the value of a savvy yoga instructor who knows how to demonstrate and teach all the essentials of how to do yoga poses.  

However, my general lack of coordination and ability to keep up with an instructor unless they go super slowly, prevents me from learning effectively in a class.  Maybe I just haven't gone to enough classes or sampled enough teachers to find a good match.  However, I have preferred learning yoga from detailed, step-by-step writtten instructions and photos. I learned most of the yoga poses I do in my daily regime from books and articles. And, I have not injured myself in over 40 years of yoga practice.

The other day as I was catching up on back issues of Yoga Journal, I read a letter to the editor that supported my position about the value of learning from written instructions.  A man wrote that he felt a particular yoga pose, the Hanumanasana, (one that I don't do - at least not yet) shown below seemed beyond reach when he tried to do it in a yoga class.  He said in a class he could not get his pelvis closer than 8 inches from the floor.  Yet, after he read an article in the September 2011 issue Yoga Journal on how to do it, he said he was able to successfully execute the pose two attempts later.  That's impressive, I'd say!  

He was able to master the above challenging yoga pose after reading details in an article.  So, yes, yoga newbie, you CAN learn yoga from a book or article.  And, that's why I wrote my book, Yoga at Home: Gain Energy, Flexibility, and Serenity in 20-30 Minutes a Day, to enable people who don't like classes or can't get to a class, to learn at home.  You CAN do it!

 

Yours for learning yoga from books and articles,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, The Beginners Yoga at Home Coach

 

 

Yoga at Home: Ease into 2012 to Keep Your Health Commitment!

January 2, 2012 - The Key to Instilling New Good Habits

This is the second day of 2012 and like many people, perhaps you wrote down your New Year's resolutions yesterday or you're finishing them today. And, you feel determined to achieve them!  Yesterday I heard a radio news story that reported, not surprisingly, that the top New Year's resolutions include getting more exercise, losing weight, and developing overall healthier habits.

That's all fine - but, don't you sometimes feel that every New Year people are living out Bill Murray's character in the movie Ground Hog Day?  Remember how every morning he wakes up ready to embrace the new day only to discover he is re-living the exact same previous difficult day?

How many times/years/Januarys have you made New Year's resolutions to get healthier, eat better, lose weight, and get fit?  Did you start out the New Year all jazzed to finally achieve all those laudable goals once and for all?  In my Toastmaster club I recall people giving speeches in January about their commitment to follow through on their goals this year once and for all.  Yet sadly, a month or two later, they slid back into their old patterns and by year's end, they returned to square one.

It's commonly known that fitness centers, gyms, and exercise classes of all sorts are jammed in January. By February, the crowds start to thin and people are no longer vying for a parking space at the gym or in the class.  By March or April, sadly, some exercise venues become ghost towns!

Why is it so difficult to eliminate old negative, limiting habits and instill new empowering ones?  In my experience, it's because people try to make too radical a change too soon. If you haven't run in years and make a goal to run a marathon this year- what do you do?  Do you jump out of bed at 5 am, don your running clothes and run 10, 15, or 26 miles the next day?   Aah....no.  Or I hope not. Your body would protest a few minutes after you started to run and it would scream soreness the following morning if you could move out of bed at all.

This seems like common sense and is hardly brain science.  But, I am amazed by how many people overlook this strategy!  They operate like a drill seargeant whipping themelves into shape.  That may work for a few individuals, but, I believe that most people would stick with their commitments throughout the year if they eased into their new positive habits.  As I advise in my book, Yoga at Home: Gain Energy, Flexibility, & Serenity in 20-30 Minutes Day, start a yoga practice by doing 5 minutes a day and add only a few minutes a week until you're up to 20-30 minutes a day.  Instilling the yoga habit will be so much easier and you'll be at least ten times more likely to maintain it!

Are you sincere about keeping your New Year's commitment to a healthier lifestyle (which I hope includes daily yoga!)?  Then ease into 2012.  Take one healthy baby step at a time.

Yours for a healthy 2012 with gentle yoga,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, The Beginners Yoga at Home Coach