Yoga at Home for Absolute Beginners!

Yoga at Home for Beginners: "Some Days My Practice is Below Par But It's Okay"

The ankle to forehead stretch shown above is a staple of my daily practice.  I have done it for years and 95% of the time if feels really good.  It's great for opening the hips and hip joints, enhancing the flexibility of the thighs and strengthening and firming your arms.  After I first learned this pose, it did not take me more than a few weeks to be able to touch my forehead with either foot.

As I have said in the past, however, it's important to always take your yoga practice one day at a time and not compete even with yourself or "worry" if you seem to have a setback in your progress.  Well, this morning, I don't know if I slept in an awkward position but boy, was I so much stiffer!  I could not touch my forehead on either side of my body because my thighs protested! Since yoga has made me attuned to my body, I went only as far as I could without pain.  I did not push myself to go as far as I usually do.  I respected my body's warning signal that proclaimed "GO SLOW and NOT FAR TODAY."  I obeyed.

Now, I could have been upset about my inability to move and stretch to my usual ability, but I chose to "cultivate acceptance" as famous yoga instructor Rodney Yee advises in his book, Moving Toward Balance. He says, "One of the main things that can kill your motivation to practice is worrying about whether or not you are doing the poses or the practice 'correctly'...instead, can you observe and respond without judgment.  Yoga is meditation in movement, not a competitive sport or an elitist art form." I followed Yee's advice and stayed attuned to my body even though I could not stretch as far as usual.  The result?  I felt wonderful after my practice.

Yours for cultivating acceptance during your practice no matter what!

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 

Yoga for at Home for Beginners: Yoga Plus Aerobics is My Regime

A friend's sister-in-law who reads my blog recently asked if gentle hatha yoga is the only daily exercise I do. As I mentioned in a post several years ago (I have been writing this blog for almost 3 1/2 years) and off an on since then, gentle hatha yoga is one of the 3 principal pillars of my efforts to lead a healthy life style. The other two are 1) jumping on a mini-trampoline (6 times a week) for aerobic benefits and the myriad benefits it gives your immune system because of the specific dynamics of that particular exercise, and 2) eating as healthfully as I can by eating primarily whole grains, veggies, some seafood, fruit, and avoiding or minimizing eating sugar-laden foods, dairy foods, red meat, and poultry. I also meditate/pray daily - spent time in the silence. If I happen to oversleep or have a late night I will combine my meditation with the yoga practice.

If you practice the more intense forms of yoga like power yoga of more rapidly moving vinyasa yoga, you may not need to add aerobics. However, I am too much of a klutz to do those forms of yoga so I balance my slow gentle yoga workout with a fast-pacing dancing routine on the trampoline. By so doing, I figure I cover all my bases. For me, both are essential. And, know, I am exercising 3 hours a day - just 50 minutes during the week and 60 or a bit more on weekends.

Yoga plus aerobics plus healthy eating helps you feel and look your best.

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 

Yoga at Home for Beginners: Sounds of Silence and "Slo' Mo" is the Way to Go

Today, I feel PERFECT!  Fantastic in my mind, body, spirit.  Getting 9 full hours of peaceful sleep last night no doubt explains part of this. I caught up on at least some of my sleep deficit. And, I had no appointments or activities to rush off to this morning. I could indulge in time just for ME at a relaxed pace all morning - so I did.  I listened to all my inner promptings - one of which was to practice yoga in silence, move in extra slow motion, and to use a particular prayer mantra.

Practicing in silence (almost complete silence except for the delightful chirping of birds outside) allows you to focus on how every part of your body feels you feel as you move from one pose to the next. And, this morning I remembered that moving and stretching in super slow motion as if I were in a dream, enhances the enjoyment and benefits of each pose. In addition, it's easier to notice where I might have gotten slightly off track and make adjustments to my poses. Also, moving in slow motion, as a person pointed out in a introductory class I gave at a conference a few months ago (note:  I am not a yoga instructor - I was just sharing what I do), adds a soothing, sensual touch to your practice. Selecting your own mantra to focus on as you stretch further energizes your practice.  Try it- you will enjoy it!

Yours for practicing yoga in soothing silence and in slo' mo' for maximum enjoyment,

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 

 

Yoga at Home for Beginners: Practice with an Injury?

"Many people give up their yoga practice entirely when they are injured.  However, in my mind, this is not the most effective way to work with an injury.  When an injury is not severe, you can find a range of motion within the yoga poses that can help you heal from your injury and rebuild your practice.  Even if an injury prevents you from doing the full pose, this does not matter.  Minimizing yoga poses while still understanding their general direction of movement is a significant practice..." Rodney Yee (the famous yoga instructor) in his book Moving Toward Balance:  8 Weeks of Yoga with Rodney Yee.

I could not agree more! And, this is what I intuitively did when I fractured my left foot 3 years ago!
A few days ago I received an email from, Annette, a woman in Australia (aah - I so want to travel there) who, like me, had broken the 5th metatarsal bone in her foot and was missing her yoga practice.  She had read one of my blog postings from a while back which explained that I continued doing some yoga poses while my fractured left foot was healing in its space-age looking boot.  That old cliche, "where there's a will there's a way," however trite it may seem and however jaded we may be in hearing it, is true.

When I broke my foot (jumping barefoot on my mini-trampoline - something I never do anymore!  I always wear athletic shoes now!), my first concern was how was I going to avoid turning into a couch potato. I had read Rodney Yee's book the year before, but I didn't consciously remember his statement above. But,  I thought about it and realized I could make some adjustments and continue to practice some yoga (of course, not the standing pose you see above), and I could do a sitting bounce on my trampoline to keep me in shape aerobically.  So - I did.  Recognizing my foot's need to heal, I continued to allocate daily time to yoga, practicing with great care and caution.  And, I felt so happy being able to do that!

Of course, some injuries may preclude doing any yoga practice.  One piece of advice that Rodney Yee gives if you have to give up yoga completely for a given time that I absolutely love is the following:  "In these times, practicing through visualization, working with your breath, practicing restorative poses, and meditation are all very beneficial."

That's right!  It reminds me a the story of a U.S. soldier who was a prisoner during the Vietnam War. Alone in his cell, he practiced playing golf over and over in his mind.  He played out every detail of his swing repeatedly.  Guess what? When he was released and returned home and took up golf again, to his friends' shock, he played like a master.

So, no matter what your constraint you may have because of an injury, you CAN maintain some form of yoga practice.

Yours for practicing yoga regularly and safely, no matter what,

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

Yoga at Home for Beginners: Tap the Power of Joy in Your Practice

I love the theme of a little article by Charity Ferreira, in the Yoga Journal that came out two years ago, "your mat is a great place to connect with your inner joy."  So true!  Now, do I start my daily practice always feeling jazzed and blissful?  Aaah, no...Last week, I had one major dark night of the soul. I felt so angry, so frustrated, so sad, and frankly, so defeated about several major areas of my life. Fortunately, those negative feelings dissipated once I remembered to tap into joy when I got up out of bed after several hours of insomnia, and did my yoga practice at 2 am. 

I focused on relaxing and surrendering the negativity and tapping into joy while I was on the mat.  I became present in the moment and focused on engaging my heart as I moved from one pose to the next. Sure enough, my spirits lifted. After I got back into bed, slept a few hours, woke up, showered and went to work later that morning,  my anger, frustration, and sadness had dissipated, replaced by joy and pure bliss. As I said in an email to a friend that following day, I felt spectacular and so upbeat even though nothing had yet changed in the areas of my life that had been gnawing at me.  And, in the past few days I have many breakthroughs and solutions to my challenges.

Daily yoga practice doesn't mean you will never have a bad day or not get down in the dumps because of less than ideal situations in your life.  However, even if you begin your practice feeling down, if you set an intention to tap the power of joy as you stretch, your spirits will lift and you will regain the well-being you need to embrace whatever you need to do to move forward in your life.  

Yours for joyful yoga to empower your life,

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 
 

 

 

Yoga at Home for Beginners: Surrender into Your Poses- Food for Thought

 

 
This past Sunday, one of my church friends, Terri, gave an excellent talk about surrendering our problems to the Divine within us.  Surrendering can be so difficult because we want to "control" things and take charge of every aspect of our lives.  Controlling situations and taking intense action to solve problems seems an innate part of the American culture.  But, if you don't relinquish this attitude when you begin learning yoga, you are not going to reap as many benefits as you would if you embraced  "surrendering" to the poses.  Instead, you will likely experience much frustration.

If you have been sedentary for years, learning even the simplest poses that I present in my soon-to-be released introductory yoga book (Yoga at Home:  Gain Energy, Flexibility, and Serenity in 20-30 Minutes a Day), will be a challenge.  Believe me, you will likely be stiff and think you will never be able to reach as far as is suggested for a given pose.  You may feel like you're 80 years old even if you're only 40 because of your tight muscles and ligaments and possibly rigid, inflexible limbs.  Don't get discouraged! Trust in the process!  Yoga is a scientifically designed physical regime that works you from the inside out.  Every baby step along the way benefits you in ways you cannot imagine. And, as my friend, Terri, said, handling life's major often requires you to let go and call upon your Inner Wisdom. Likewise, learning and practicing yoga requires listening to your body and surrendering into the poses.  Go only as far as is comfortable and trust that over time, gravity and consistent practice will do their job.  Don't fret because you can barely move your legs and feet over your head in the plough.  Do what you can and surrender your expectations.  Do NOT measure your progress day by day.  Just enjoy what you can do right now and the quiet and peace that comes from your practice.  As you surrender, you WILL progress!

Yours for surrendering into the peace, joy, and myriad benefits of yoga,

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez

 

 

 

Yoga at Home for Beginners: Got Knee Trouble? Yoga Helps!

Our knees are a vital part of our anatomy. As the largest and most complicated of our joints, they carry the weight of our body, day in and day out. Strong, flexible knees enable us to be move fully and easily. If our knees become stiff or painful, our mobility and well-being is greatly impaired. As the years go by, the knees are often one of the first parts of the body to have problems.  Degenerative arthritis is a common affliction. However, yoga poses that stretch the legs and target the tendons and muscles around the knees can provide relief in many cases.  (Always first check with your medical adviser first...).

Just the other day while driving to a PTA meeting, my neighbor (and mother of one of my son's best friends) said that she had started having knee problems recently which her husband attributed to her passing the half-century mark. (Bah humbug, I say...!) However, on Sundays she hosts a yoga instructor at her home and started learning poses that helped the knees and in her words, it was a "miracle" what resulted from those yoga poses! Relief from her knee pain!

I have had a similar recent experience with my knees because (hold your breath - I am revealing a deep dark secret!..), at the moment I have some fairly advanced bunions (and ugly as all get-out, sheesh!) resulting from my flat feet pronating over the years.  If I don't wear those annoying orthotics (which means I can wear very few cute shoes and definitely not heels!), the bunions  throw my ankles and knees out of alignment causing discomfort. I too, have relied on yoga to give my knees and ankles relief! The hero pose (aka Japanese sitting position), the plough, and the backward bend on the knees have helped me enormously when I have neglected to wear those orthotics. (Tsk, tsk...) As Dr. Timothy McCall says in his wonderful book, Yoga as Medicine, "Yoga is well particularly well suited to help prevent or minimize the erosion of cartilage that causes the join pain of osteoarthritis, and to create greater ease of movement and decrease pain within joints that have already sustained such damage...Misalignment of bones, dysfunctional movement patterns, lack of body awareness, poor posture...all of them are problems that yoga can help correct."  So do you have knee problems?  Go roll out that yoga mat and get started with yoga right now!

Yours for strong, flexible knees with yoga,

 

Laura Venecia Rodriguez