At Home Yoga with Laura

Simple Savvy Steps to Yoga Success: Review the Poses Periodically

One of the disadvantages of teaching yourself yoga or anything else is that it's harder to evaluate exactly how you are doing.  Perhaps you are not keeping  your back straight as you do the arm and leg stretch or maybe you are moving your shoulders without realizing it when you do a segment of the neck rolls.  Or, it's possible that your feet may be too close together or too far apart when holding the downward dog pose.

I recently decided to review the DVD I have of the Five Tibetan Rites - hatha yoga poses and movements that differ a bit from the other hatha yoga poses I do because you do 21 repetitions of each fairly rapidly with rest periods in between each pose.  When I reviewed the DVD, I immediately realized that I had been keeping my feet and toes too close together in the downward dog pose.  I made the adjustment and boy, do I feel even more of a stretch in my calves when I do that exercise!So, to maximize the benefits from your home hatha yoga practice, periodically review your DVDs or books or podcasts to ensure that you are still doing the poses accurately. 

Wisdom of the Day:  “The only thing worse than going the wrong direction, is going the wrong direction enthusiastically!” ~Business proverb quoted by Alex Mandossian, entrepreneur.

Simple Savvy Steps to Yoga Success: Can ANYone do Yoga?

 A few months ago I mentioned that if you are quite overweight, you might need to lose weight first before trying to learn at learn certain yoga asanas for which excess flesh might interfere.  I was wrong!  The March 2009 issue of Yoga Journal has a small article featuring a man who only two years ago weighed FIVE HUNDRED and thirty-eight pounds.

Depressed by his physical state which made breathing difficult, he went to a health center and asked a yoga instructor if he could do yoga at his size.  She told him yes.  Wow.  That surprised me. He started taking yoga classes twice weekly and it turns out his progress was assisted by other yoga students in the class who would stand around him and lift parts of his body to help him into the poses.  He now weights 190 pounds, does yoga almost daily, and recently completed a teacher training course.

Just as I say in the first chapter of my yoga book that I am currently drafting, if I can do it (non-athlete) that I am, you can do it.  Certainly, if this man, Larry Sherman can do it, you can definitely do it.  Granted, he was not able to teach himself.  But this story demonstrates the power of intention and commitment regardless of the seeming obstacles...

Wisdom of the Day: "Anyone, regardless of his or her restrictions can do yoga. All you need is a willingness to do just what you are capable of doing at the time and be open to possibilities and miracles as they come."  ~Larry Sherman, "Lifted Weight," Yoga Journal, March 2009.  

Simple Savvy Steps to Yoga Success: Paul McCartney and Eye Yoga?!

  I recently came across an article about Paul McCartney and eye yoga. The spread of yoga's popularity in the West, in part, according to some sources, dates back to the Beatles' travels to India in the 1960s when they were introduced to yoga and meditation.  Exposed to eye yoga about a year or so, you can now find Paul on youtube.com demonstrating some yoga eye exercises - a moment of which is captured in the photo above.

It's kind of interesting to see and listen to Paul McCartney in a different vein and of course celebrities touting or promoting yoga perhaps can help generate more interest in it.  Unfortunately, although McCartney says eye yoga is "good" for you, he doesn't explain why.  

Although I have not regularly included eye yoga in my daily hatha regime, today I decided that I would make a one-year commitment to daily eye yoga and see if I notice any improvements in my eyesight next year.  I am woefully nearsighted and have worn contacts for decades.  I have seen some articles and information about exercises designed to improve one's vision and thereby obviating the need to wear glasses or contacts.  Intriguing concept - although some eye doctors assert that such claims are totally unfounded and without merit since, if I recall correctly, near-sightedness for example, results from the shape of the eye, not the eye muscles.  

However, even if eye yoga can't improve your vision, it definitely can help relax and sooth your eyes. And, just as the eyes are considered the "windows of the soul," they are also the director of the nervous system. Relaxing the eyes can calm and sooth your nerves.  Given how much time many of us spend in front of computer monitors these days, surely eye yoga has its place in helping to alleviate the eye fatigue and tension that can result. Today, about once an hour, I did the yoga eye clock exercise in which you visualize a clock in front of you and pause at each number first clockwise and then counter clockwise with eyes wide open as shown in the graphic below. Alternatively, can do the exercise with your eyes closed.  It's an easy exercise that you can readily fit into your work schedule throughout the day.  Want to join me in the eye yoga experiment?

Wisdom of the Day:  Always remember to keep your [eye] attention [focus] moving in a relaxed leisurely manner over the objects in the world around you.  This applies to reading as well as to general use.  Eugene Rawls and Eve Diskin, Yoga for Beauty and Health. 

  

Simple Savvy Steps to Yoga Success: Sudden Leaps Forward...

A while back I mentioned that you cannot expect your progress in hatha yoga to be linear.  Not at all.  Initially you may feel your body creaking like the tin man in the Wizard of Oz.  You can barely move  A few days or a few weeks later though, you've become more limber than ever before. You revel in stretching more fluidly...maybe you can reconsider that career as a ballet dancer!

Then - you hit a plateau. Sometimes weeks, months, maybe even years go by - no more progress with that certain pose. Perhaps you even regress...  One day, though, - like last Wednesday for me, you experience a sudden leap forward!  The Bow has always been a challenge for me.  Very strenuous and I was not able to invert myself too far or for too long. Yet, last week, after a couple of years of focused practice and out of the blue, I was able to stretch farther and for longer than I have ever done before.  And, I have retained that ability in the days since.  It's quite satisfying and was unexpected.  Your hatha yoga practice can be full of surprises!  Never give up.

Wisdom of the Day:  Be patient and have faith in practicing consistently as you never know when you'll experience a sudden leap forward!~Laura V. Rodriguez

Simple Savvy Steps to Yoga Success: Creating a Beautiful Day

  Just a few days ago, I was in Clearwater, Florida at a beach like the one shown here and it was indeed a beautiful day - sunny and warm - in the mid-seventies.  Today it's cold and sunny, but still beautiful here in Washington, DC.  This morning I listened to  U2's classic (oldie but a goldie!) "It's a Beautiful Day" song, one of my favorite energizing tunes, on my metro commute to my office.  Suddenly, the song reminded me that my daily home yoga practice makes it much easier for me to have more "beautiful days," especially if I do my yoga in the morning.

When I first started yoga ("about 999 years ago!"), I practiced before I went to sleep.  Back then, in high school, I had a dinner early enough in the evening to allow me to digest my food the requisite 2-3 hours or so before my yoga practice.  I chose evenings because I thought I was just not a morning person.  I felt too groggy to think about anything or move around.  In my early 20s I also started my jogging regime by exercising after work or in the early evening.  Eventually, I realized though, that consistency was important and that exercising in the afternoon or evening was too often pre-empted by evening activities or social engagements.  So, I shifted everything to the morning and 90 percent of the time I do yoga and rebounding in the morning.

If afternoons or evenings are the only time you can do yoga consistently, experiment with what works for you and make the most of that time.  I can only say from my experience that I believe morning yoga has a slight edge over yoga done later in the day.  Are you one of those people who wakes up crabby if they haven't had their morning caffeine?  I am also never grouchy (unless I have been sleep deprived) which I attribute to my morning yoga and aerobics exercise regime.  Morning yoga really does help get the kinks out of my body - although I must admit -you do tend to be more flexible in the afternoon or evenings- the only drawback of morning practice is that you can't always stretch as far.

This morning I felt so joyful and increasingly energized as I moved through my poses. I still feel fabulous as I write this during my lunch hour. Some exercise experts say that morning exercise boosts your metabolism and keeps it elevated throughout the day - another perk of morning practice.  .  Yoga morning practice for me, however, sets an energizing tone for me which can lead to many more 'beautiful days"...

Wisdom of the Day:  "You can create a beautiful day with a morning hatha yoga practice."~Laura V. Rodriguez