Yoga at Home with Laura, Self-taught Yogi!

Yoga at Home for Beginners: Nude Yoga Ads Don't Inspire Me- They Irk Me!

Now, although I have been practicing yoga for DECADES, I have never practiced yoga "unclothed."  It just doesn't appeal to me and I don't see what advantages I could gain from it.  I have heard there are groups of yogis out there who enjoy practicing yoga in the "raw." Just don't expect me to follow their lead and execute my daily regime in my birthday suit anytime soon or ever!   

And, it's not because I am a super prude or anything - although maybe I AM a tad inhibited.  But, while I admit that I appreciate the artistic beauty of a toned, ethestically pleasing physique, I have to say that those nude "Toesox" yoga ads that appear far too often in the monthly publication, Yoga Journal,  do NOT inspire me. They irk me!

I am all about presenting the benefits of yoga to the average "real, regular person" and motivating them to practice daily.  Yoga is not just for movie celebrities, athletes, and singers like Madonna and Sting.  For this reason, the Toesox ads that feature an always nude and super-toned, super athletic-appearing and comely yoga instructor Kathryn Budg (with NOT ONE centimeter of excess flesh on her frame!) are off-putting.  They present an instructor doing a complex, advanced pose, that real, regular, klutzy people like me, could never hope to master.  And to add insult to injury, the poses are done nude.

Yes, the ads have an artistic appeal and panache that grab your attention...BUT, if I were a beginner yogi and thumbing through the Yoga Journal for the first time, I would feel that I had an impossible standard to live up to - a perfect body in an pretzel pose.  Really!  I don't believe these ads inspire people to learn - they're just they're for shock value and to take advantage of the cliche that "sex sells."  It just would not sell me on yoga....I would believe that yoga was beyond reach!

And the idea of practicing yoga "sans vetements" (that's French for without clothes) except for socks that grip the floor is absurdity to the max!  I would have included one of the ads here in this blog, but didn't want to risk infringing a copyright.  You can easily find scores of them (I see it now already - the male readers of this blog haven't even finished reading this post because they are already typing these keywords into Google) by typing in "Toesox Kathryn Budig nude ad."  Tell me what you think!  Do they inspire you or anger you?  Or neither?  And, no, I don't want to hear from men telling me how tantalizing they find such ads!  I am addressing solely the perspective of their value as an inspirational and instructional tool.

Yours for practicing gentle yoga with clothes ON,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the Beginners' Yoga at Home Coach

Yoga at Home for Beginners: Musing on Yoga Mats - $870 Gucci Mat for Real?

In the above photo I am doing the tailor pose on my "non-Gucci" yoga mat.  Actually, it's a Gaiam mat I bought several years ago for around $30 - no more than that.  And, it has served me well.  I like the hint of Asian decor it gives my yoga practice.  In my yoga book, Yoga at Home:  Gain Energy, Flexibility, & Serenity in 20-30 Minutes a Day, I discuss the various items you need to equip your home yoga "studio." The mat of course is a central piece.  However, it doesn't mean you need to spend $870 on one!

That, fellow yogi, is the price of a Gucci designer yoga mat!  This afternoon I was on a public speaking skills webinar for work.  The main presenter introduced her theme, "authenticity", by pointing out how commercial yoga has become which belies its very essence and purpose.  One unbelievable (at least for me) example she gave was the recent entry of expensive designer yoga mats by Gucci and Marc Jacobs into the yoga marketplace.

Stunned, I did a quick Google search and quickly found information about the Gucci yoga mat that retails for $870.  Except for celebrities and the super wealthy, who  can possibly plunk down such a chunk of change (can you really call that sum, change?) for such an elite mat?  Worse still, however, is the marketing approach that Gucci takes to sell its $870 mat.

Here is the marketing language verbatim, 

"This ultra-cool mat consists of a big candy bar in the middle and some Hershey kiss looking things around it.  It is very cute and masculine at he same time.  It can be used either by a male or female.  The next time you are going to yoga class, think about purchasing a wonderful mat from G, and make all those around you crave for a candy bar while being completely jealous of your fashion style."

I believe that t is important to invest in a good quality yoga mat to enhance and make the most of your practice, that's certain. However, to promote a designer yoga mat because it will make others jealous of your fashion style is laughable and contradicts the entire purpose of a true yoga practice!

Yoga is not mean to "impress" others but rather to "express" oneness of mind, body, and spirit. This whole concept of a $870 designer yoga mat to make others jealous reflects how commercial and too trendy yoga has gotten in some circles! How sad!  Of course, in your home yoga studio, as long as your mat cushions your body, is visually appealing to you, and lasts several years, that's all that counts!

Yours for buying non-designer reasonably priced yoga mats, 

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

Beginners Yoga: DC Yoga Week & Yoga at Home Book is Now Available!!!!!

May 15-21 is official Yoga week in Washington, DC- when yoga studios and teachers in the area offer yoga classes for free or low cost to encourage more people to get out there and do yoga.   And, it's also the week I officially launch my new book, Yoga at Home: Gain Energy, Flexibility, and Serenity in 20-30 Minutes a Day!

From conception to birth, this book took me four years to research, write, and edit in my spare time.  A long gestation time but, it's been a labor of love (mostly) and, I admit, frustration at times (computer glitches), and challenges (photo shoots and re-takes, re-takes, re-takes).  I did everything except the art work, cover design, and layout.  So, if you catch a couple of mistakes in the text, I apologize!  I tried to avoid glaring errors.  And, I am sincere when I saw, I poured my love and energy into it.

Anyway, here's why I think you could benefit from reading this book:

Yoga at Home:  Gain Energy, Flexibility, and Serenity is an inspirational, motivational beginner's guide to becoming slim, supple, and serene with gentle yoga. Feel 25 even if you're 35, 45, 55 or more and look your personal best by studying the ancient, powerful practice of gentle yoga at home. Learn how to create a customized, self-paced 20-30 minute daily yoga regime. Discover creative ways to stay motivated and to keep your practice fresh and fun.

The book is designed for: 1) people who feel intimidated by the pretzel-like yoga poses splashed in yoga magazines and books; 2) individuals who have tried a class and couldn’t keep up with the instructor’s explanations because they require slower paced or more personalized instruction; 3) consummate non-athletes and klutzes like Laura who feel inadequate and embarrassed in classes filled with athletic yogis on either side of their mat who seem to execute the poses with such ease, 4) busy people who don’t have time to commute back and forth to take an hour-long class at the local yoga studio or gym; and 5) individuals who don't have access to yoga classes close to their home.

Yoga is not just for the super flexible, super models, athletes, actresses, or elite.  It's also for YOU!

You can buy it for $12.95 through Amazon.com or  https://www.createspace.com/3493692.

Yours for learning about yoga and starting it right away!

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

The Self-Taught Yogi Klutz

 

 

 

 

Yoga at Home: Book Coming Very soon!

Here are the front and back covers of my soon-to-be self-published yoga book!

Yours for encouraging more people to take up yoga!

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

Yoga at Home: "Beginner (??!)" Yoga video by Master Yoga Teacher Shiva Rea

I started yoga as a teenager because I was getting little exercise as a non-athlete, non-team player at my high school. Consummate klutz you might have called me. I learned yoga from books and this suited me just fine because I could read one instruction, do it, and then read another instruction, and do it, and eventually I mastered an entire pose this way - at my pace.  My teenhood was in the pre-video/DVD era. The only visual instruction I came across was a PBS program by yoga instructor Lilias which I did watch from time to time.

Of course these days, yoga DVDs and instructional youtube yoga videos abound.  Recently, I decided to put myself back in the shoes of a total beginner to see if am more skilled and less klutzy in learning a physical regime than I was decades (and decades...) ago.  I own one beginners yoga DVD (by Deepak Chopra and company) that is quite good and useful for the beginner because of its slow pace and fairly thorough instructions.  However, I don't have any others and started to look onto youtube.  I was once advised by an internet marketing expert to check out the most popular youtube videos in your field to study what makes them so popular.  I decided to check out beginners yoga videos on youtube and selected one that was described as a beginners yoga video by well-known master teacher Shiva Rea because it had about 204,000 hits, the most I had seen during my quick survey of yoga videos.

Shiva Rea is a highly skilled, fit yogi with a beautiful, streamlined physique, no doubt the result of hours of devotion to yoga.  She is amazing to watch as she flows from one pose to the next on a beautiful spot by the ocean. However, there is no way that as a beginner, I could learn yoga from this video.  The swift pace and instructions peppered with Sanskrit terms would have discouraged me right off the bat.  I cannot keep up with them, even right now.  I don't know what the program was labelled as a beginners yoga video.

I still do not grasp how one can watch a yoga video and do a set of poses simultaneously without stopping and starting the film. I get out of sync within the first 10 seconds.  The value of such videos, as an introduction for the beginner, in my opinion, is solely to demonstrate the beauty and sequence of how the poses should be done at their ultimate level.  As a teaching tool for beginners, however, despite the instructor's yoga credentials and physical prowess, such videos miss the mark for me and I would not recommend them as an introduction to yoga.  If you can suggest any easy-to-follow yoga videos/dvds for the beginner, please let me know!

Yours for easy-to-follow yoga instructions,

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 

Yoga at Home: My Yoga at Home Book will be Released Soon!

Above is the cover of the "baby" I have been gestating over the past 3 1/2 years.  It has been a labor of love and work! I am aiming for a February 2011 publication date.  The book is an introduction to yoga practice.  It's a personal account of my experiences with learning yoga as a consummate non-athlete, double-jointed klutz who has enjoyed tremendous results with this 4,000-5,000 year old practice.

I explain in step-by-step detail how to do over 20 poses and show you how to create a head-to-toe workout in the privacy and convenience of your home.  Know anyone who wants to become slender, supple, and serene, and enjoy a boost in energy? Have them check out the book. I have designed it to be a comprehensive and quick read. I share my perspective on the essence of yoga.

Stay posted to learn when it is available on Amazon.com. It's almost party time!

Yours for learning yoga,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

Yoga for beginners: Video on Hip Opening Poses - too Fast for the Beginner!

The other day I talked about the importance of hip opening poses, the subject of an article in the June 2010 issue of the Yoga Journal.  Tonight I decided to watch the video training provided online for the hip opening sequence discussed in that article.  You can check out the 21-minute video for yourself at yogajournal.com/livemag.

Here's my take on the video. The instructional is professionally done by an experienced yoga instructor with a clear voice.  However, she likely assumes that the viewer has been doing some yoga for a while because she doles out the instructions and Sanskrit terms at such a rapid clip that I could barely process them and follow along before she went into the following position. Maybe I am slow or maybe it's just my lack of athleticism, but I couldn't keep up!  The instructor did include a few pauses between the poses - but only a few...  I did like her demonstration of the downward facing dog - I could follow alone there. In summary, however, I feel the only way a beginner could learn the hip opening sequence by watching this video is to put it into slow motion and/or watch it repeatedly and then memorize the moves before doing them on his or her own.

Yours for learning yoga,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 

Yoga for Beginners: "Walking Yoga": Excellent book for beginners

I have been dog sitting the past month which requires me to take daily morning walks in beautiful Sligo Creek Park, about a hundred feet or so from my house in Silver Spring, MD.  Yesterday morning was refreshingly cool and I drank in the peaceful, quiet, lush green ambiance of the park.  I reveled in listening to the bubbling creek as Luna (the dog I am taking care of) and I walked through the park. I was aware of all my footsteps and of my inhalations and exhalations.  Because all my senses were heightened and I was just being in the moment, I realized that I was taking my yoga practice off the mat and into my life.  And few books better teach the beginner yogi (or even the most experienced yogi) on how to do this than Walking Yoga:  Incorporate Yoga Principles into Dynamic Walking Routines for Physical Health, Mental Peace and Spiritual Enrichment by husband and wife Ila Sarley and Garrett Sarley.

This book is a treasure for the yoga student, in my opinion, because it teaches you how to create a nurturing, enjoyable, and consistent yoga practice that you can't help but want to continue for the rest of your life. The couple offers numerous tips for sustaining your practice, the most important of which are "experiencing" yoga, listening to your body, being in the moment, and connecting with your inner self, others, life, and Spirit.  What I also appreciate about this book is that it teaches you how to combine the benefits of yoga (increasing your flexibility, conditioning, expanding your range of motion, enhancing your awareness and oneness of mind, body, and spirit) with walking- the authors offer creative, soothing ways to fuse both.

What stands out the most for me about this book is the emphasis on creating a physical practice that is nurturing and uplifting rather than whipping or coercing yourself into shape. I love their philosophy about gentling coaxing and inspiring yourself to better health and vitality through yoga and walking. I think inspiration and joy encourage you to sustain a practice forever. Such practice becomes your oasis for relaxation and conditioning and  your life can become more like a love affair.  Check out this book!

Yours for an inspiring and uplifting yoga practice,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 

Yoga for Beginners: Yoga on TV - from Wai Lana

At 6 am a few days ago, I decided to flip channels on the TV to see if I could find something interesting to watch as I jumped on my mini-trampoline. I found a yoga program I had heard about, but not seen before. Yoga instructor, Wai Lana, who has born in Hong Kong, has had a regular yoga program on the public broadcasting station for a number of years.

Her show can be inspiring for the beginner.  As I said in one of my posts a year or so ago, I recommend that you view your yoga practice as a mini-vacation.  Wai Lana's show can help you with that as she does the poses with beautiful vistas in the background. In the one I watched the other day, she was doing her poses on an Oriental rug laid out on a cliff near the ocean - maybe it was the Pacific southwest coast somewhere. I am not certain.  

Wai lana has a soft, gentle voice and the background music is soothing. She is a lovely woman who wears beautiful clothes - not sure if I would wear the same clothes for yoga because he pants seemed to balloon out too much.  And, although her crown of flowers and leis are gorgeous, I would find them distracting while doing poses. She did, though, take off the lei when she entered the shoulder stand which she did against a wall. She explained the purpose of some of the poses which I believe is important for the beginner, but she didn't explain them all.  I found the program soothing to watch, but would have to review it several times if I were a beginner trying to learn the poses.

Wai lana has a website (www.wailana.com) and offers DVDs and many other resources.  She's worth checking out.

Soothingly yours,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 

 

Yoga for the Non-Athlete: Rodney Yee Book Recommendation

Rodney Yee, author of Moving Toward Balance is a renowned yoga instructor with at least 20 years of experience. Once a ballet dancer, Yee attended his first yoga class back in 1980 and fell in love with this ancient practice.  He eventually moved from full-time ballet to full-time yoga teaching. You can find his DVDs everywhere and now he and his wife, Colleen Saidman, teach online yoga classes. You can check them out at:  http://www.gaiamyogaclub.com/.

I took out Yee's book, Moving Toward Balance from the library a couple of years ago and found it most valuable for keeping me motivated to do a daily yoga practice at home.  Even though Yee teaches classes, he says in his book that true power and knowledge of yoga's potential comes from a consistent home practice.  This book gives you many pointers on how to create a home practice that will give you maximum benefits.  I especially liked the ones about how to create an inviting space in your home to do your yoga practice.  He also explains in detail the many benefits - physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional that you gain from a consistent home yoga practice.  The book definitely motivates you to make yoga an every day part of your life.  Check it out.  And, right now, go roll our your mat and stretch into bliss! 

Flexibly yours,

Laura Venecia Rodriguez