New Year's Resolutions: A Yogic Approach

As we move into the new year, many of us find ourselves feeling reflective, analyzing the successes and failures of the last year and focusing on what we may like to do differently in the upcoming year. New Year’s Resolutions – and breaking them – are an age-old tradition. The problem is, many of us get caught up in the cycle of feeling excited about our new goals, and then depressed shortly afterwards when we don’t stick to our plans. Or even worse, we set impossible goals and then feel despondent when they seem out of reach.

We all want more happiness in our life – and the main goal of yoga is to help us achieve that. But how? One of the ways to create a lovable future is to set goals that are positive, concrete and specific. However, so many of our New Year’s goals tend to be vague or framed in a negative way:

I want to date a guy/girl that’s not a jerk.

I need to lose 15 pounds.

I want to be balanced.

I need to quit (insert your poison here).

Hmmm. Do you feel better? I don’t. How does one achieve these goals? Rather than asking for what you don’t want, try defining what you do want.

If you’re looking for a great partner, try defining what it is you actually want in a relationship. Ask yourself a few questions:

What will this person do (i.e. what is their behavior)?

What will they say?

What will you do together?

When you refine your value system you are much more likely to recognize that great person when you meet them… or at least not waste too much time with that hot, uninspiring stranger that you met at your local bar.

If you want to lose weight, instead of focusing on how many pounds you want to lose, try visualizing how you would feel and look as the healthiest possible version of you. What are the kinds of things you would do? What are the steps you might take to get there? Be specific and realistic. Dropping 15 pounds in a month is a stretch. But taking two yoga classes a week, drinking more water, and eating slowly and mindfully – these are all concrete steps you can take. And they help you lose that weight.

“I want to be balanced.” We hear a lot (and say a lot) of vague new-age catchphrases as yoga teachers. We all want to be “balanced”, “present” and “grounded”, but we haven’t defined what that means to us. What does being balanced entail? A meaningful job? A healthy relationship? Better communication with your family? Svadhyaya, or self-study, is one of the primary tools of yoga. First define what makes you happy and what you are working towards. Then within that structure, you can begin to refine and become more specific.

Yoga is often defined as the ability to do something tomorrow that you can’t do today.  This particularly applies when one is trying to quit coffee, cigarettes, procrastination, eating an entire bag of Doritos… whatever your vice may be. Fortunately, yoga’s model of abhyasa and vairagya can help.

Here’s how it breaks down:

Abhyasa -  linking with something positive, adding a positive new habit

Vairagya - de-linking with something that doesn’t work

Anyone who has ever been around a child knows that it’s much easier to take something away from them if you give them something new and shiny to look at first. We can train our minds and bodies in the same way.

Here’s an example from my personal life -

I needed to quit drinking coffee because it gave me terrible stomach pains. As far as I was concerned, this was a total disaster. I had been drinking coffee since high school! I desperately needed the caffeine burst, I loved the taste, and I especially loved the ritual of waking up and smelling brewing coffee in the early hours.

So… rather than quitting cold turkey, I started making a cup of black tea and a cup of coffee in the morning. I’d drink my coffee and then some tea. Eventually, I started to cut down the amount of coffee, while still drinking tea. Within a couple of months, I was down to one cup of black tea and no coffee. Now I can even switch it to green tea… or not have any tea at all. My nervous and digestive systems are happier -- and now that I’m not so addicted to caffeine, I find it easier to wake up in the morning. Yoga is the original replacement therapy – if you want to let go of something old, link first with something new and positive.

People often say to me – I can’t do yoga because I smoke, I’m overweight, I’m not flexible, etc. It doesn’t matter. If you add that healthy habit of a breath or exercise practice, you may find that you want to smoke less or eat more mindfully. Healthy habits beget other healthy habits. Yoga’s not rocket science – it’s actually a just a refreshingly simple way to take care of yourself. 

Simple Yoga for Breast Cancer Patients and Survivors

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, which provides for a wonderful opportunity to review practices that can help breast cancer patients and survivors. Please pass this info on to anyone who needs it! 

Yoga is a tool that helps relax and calm a person’s mind and body. It can be helpful to cancer patients and survivors in innumerable ways. Those who are currently undergoing treatment are familiar with many of the unpleasant side effects of radiation and chemotherapy, which can range from nausea to fatigue to insomnia. With its vast array of physical postures, breathing and meditation techniques, yoga can soften some of these difficult symptoms. Additionally, gentle yoga has been shown to slow down the sympathetic nervous system, which helps to alleviate stress and anxiety.

Post treatment, many women may be dealing with limited mobility due to scar tissue and other factors. Simple yoga stretches can help one regain strength, flexibility and stamina.

Try these simple yoga postures and breathing techniques at home:

To open the chest and release tension in the back:

Cat/Cow:

Start on all fours, with the wrists directly underneath the shoulders, and the knees hip-distance apart. Inhale and release the heart and belly towards the floor. Let the head follow with the spine as you draw your gaze upwards. Exhale and round the back up towards the ceiling, drawing the belly into the spine and the chin towards the chest. Continue 1-3 minutes.

Spinal Flexes:

Sit cross-legged on the floor, or in a chair. Inhale as you lift the heart forwards and gently draw the shoulders back. Widen across your collarbone and chest. Exhale, release and round your back, slightly tilting your pelvis underneath you. Continue 1-3 minutes.

To calm the nerves:

Anti-anxiety breathing:

Inhale through the nose. Exhale through a rounded mouth. Inhale through a rounded mouth (as though you are sipping through a straw). Exhale through the nose. Continue this cycle for 3 minutes.

Alternate Nostril Breathing:

1.     Draw your right hand up, keeping your shoulders relaxed.

2.     Block off your right nostril with your right thumb and inhale through your left nostril.

3.     Block off your left nostril with your little finger and exhale through the right nostril.

4.     Keeping the left nostril closed, inhale through the right nostril.

5.     Block off the right nostril and exhale through the left nostril.

Continue this cycle for 3 minutes.

To re-energize and recharge:

Right nostril breathing:

Block off your left nostril with your left thumb. Breathe long and deep through your right nostril. Continue 1-3 minutes.

Heart center meditation:

Sit on the floor or in a chair. Cross your hands over your heart center. Breathe long and deep, visualizing a bright white or golden ball of light at your heart center. Visualize this light filling up your entire body, spreading light to any part that needs healing. Imagine that this light can burn up any old fatigue, illness or negativity, and replace it with light.

To relieve insomnia:

Vipariti Karani (legs-up-the-wall pose):

Lie on your side next to the wall with your knees towards your chest, as though you are in the fetal position. Bring your buttocks close to the wall and walk your legs up the wall. Rest on your back with your legs up against the wall. Release your hands by your sides, with the palms up. Rest for 3-5 minutes.

Resources for cancer patients:

The Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center 

www.triumphovercancer.org

WeSpark Cancer Support Center:

www.wespark.org

The Wellness Community

www.thewellnesscommunity.org

Tower Cancer Research Foundation

www.towercancerfoundation.org

Yoga for Cancer Patients

Why Yoga?

As a yoga instructor and yoga therapist, I have long been strong believer and proponent of the healing aspects of yoga. Whether it be a new lightness in expression, transformed posture, or a newfound physical strength, time and time again I have watched yoga transform my students.  However, it has been the experience of teaching yoga at WeSpark Cancer Support Center that has solidified my faith in yoga’s incredible ability to heal, uplift and transform.

There is no question that facing down a cancer diagnosis and its ensuing treatment is one of life’s greatest challenges. Most everyone at We Spark is familiar with the staggering variety of physical, mental and even spiritual ailments and imbalances that can accompany cancer. Though yoga may not be a cure for this, its holistic approach to health can help to soften the edges of the disease and its treatment, providing one with a greater sense of physical and mental well being.

           

The philosophy and practice of yoga is holistic -- in that it takes into account the health of the entire person - body, mind and spirit. Yoga treats a person as a whole, rather than a collection of problems and ailments. Indeed, Yoga takes the view that we are essentially whole and perfect, even if we are having an experience of disease or pain. Yogis believe that underneath all of our pain and suffering, there is a radiant light of health, wholeness and truth. Like the sun, it is always shining – even if it is sometimes covered by the clouds.

On a physical level, yoga incorporates stretching, bending, twisting and balancing movements. These postures help to stretch and strengthen the body and increase stamina, flexibility and circulation. A skilled yoga therapist is well versed in anatomy and physiology and will understand which postures can help a student. Utilizing that base of knowledge along with a healthy dose of intuition, a yoga therapist can design a simple series of postures and breathing techniques specific to their students’ needs.

Yoga provides a tool-kit for all kinds of situations. Someone who is recovering from a mastectomy may need gentle heart openers, or to simply lie supported on a bolster to open the heart, break up scar tissue and increase lung capacity. Meanwhile, someone who is struggling from chemotherapy fatigue might benefit from energizing right nostril breathing or a mild inversion.  A person with digestive troubles may benefit from a simple knee-to-chest stretch.  However, some students may need to simply lie down and rest, feeling nurtured and cared for by their yoga instructor. The psycho-physiological value in feeling relaxed and cared for cannot be underestimated. As the physician Francis Peabody once remarked, “The secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient”. 

These days, the detrimental effects of stress on the nervous system and immune system are well known. It is evident that we all must practice self-care and self-love. In many ways, yoga can be an antidote the continual stress and strain that occurs while experiencing cancer. Yoga’s holistic approach engages the practitioner on a physical, emotional and spiritual level and helps to facilitate deep rest and relaxation, providing opportunities for greater health and healing.  

Bleeding Beauty

A friend of mine once said to me, “Peter Gabriel believes in a world of hope and beauty far beyond what I ever could… the man bleeds beauty.” 

This song "Father and Son" - which includes Gabriel's experience practicing yoga with his elderly father - certainly seems to prove that point. 

 

What a beautiful reminder to express our feelings to our loved ones... 

Airplane Yoga: The Antidote to Stressful Travel

Do you long for the days of Mad Men style travel, when flying was a little more dignified? Long gone are the days of donning your best suit to board a plane – today’s travel is more of a hassle than an exciting voyage.

The stress associated with air travel seems to be reaching epic proportions today. Long, winding security lines, cramped planes, screaming children and rude passengers have already caused one infamous flight attendant to flee an aircraft via inflatable slide. For the rest of us without emergency slide access, what is there to do?

Yoga provides a toolkit for dealing with stress on both the body and mind. You don’t need a mat and a peaceful room to practice – you simply need yourself and your breath.

Ideally, your yogic stress relief techniques should start before you reach your 30” airplane seat. As you drive to the airport, start to become aware of your breath. Try lengthening your exhales to become a little bit longer than your inhales. This helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, or the relaxation response, in the body.

Next - take a look at your shoulders. Chances are, they may be scrunched up by your ears as your body anticipates and braces against potential airport annoyances. Roll your shoulders up and back a few times, and let your shoulders sink down away from your ears.

When you arrive at the airport, keep up with your long, deep breathing. Reach your arms above your head and stretch from side to side. Roll down and hang over your legs for a few breaths, feeling your weight in the balls of your feet.

Throughout your flight, continue to be aware of finding a long, deep breath. Rock the head from side to side, working out kinks in the neck. Massage out your temples and the hinge of your jaw. Extend one leg out in front of you, point and flex your foot several times, and then rotate your foot in circles. Switch sides.

Now that you’ve warmed up a little bit, scoot up next to the edge of your seat. Place your hands on your thighs, and inhale as you lift up through your chest and draw your shoulders back. Exhale as you round your spine back towards your seat. Repeat several times.

For those who experience anxiety while flying, breathing techniques can help. If you feel your pulse racing and your breath quickening at the first sign of turbulence, try these breathing techniques:

Anti-anxiety breathing

Slowly inhale through your nose, then exhale through a rounded mouth. Inhale through a rounded mouth (as though sipping through a straw), then exhale through the nose. Continue for 3 minutes.

Left nostril breathing

Draw your right hand up to your face and block off your right nostril with your thumb. Inhale through the left nostril. Block off your left nostril with your little finger, and exhale through the right nostril. Continue for 3 minutes.

Traveling can knock down even the most balanced person – simple yoga techniques can help alleviate stress and strain. And when all else fails, simply breathe long and deep.

Catching Your Breath: Yoga in Italy

The Yoga Borgo, or Borgo Rurale di Passano, located six kilometers up a gravel road in the foothills of the Apennine mountains in Umbria, Italy, is a perfect place to get off the grid and commit to a yoga practice. Simply driving the road there requires an act of faith, but the payoff is sweeping views of the Upper Tiber Valley of Tuscany, hectares of untouched land, and a stillness that is all but impossible to find in urban life.

Sada Sat Singh and Sada Sat Kaur are beloved Kundalini Yoga teachers who have taught for over 35 years in Los Angeles and around the globe. After falling in love with Italy, they took the plunge and relocated from Los Angeles to Passano… population 4.  Hard work and a lot of love transformed the 4^th century hamlet of Passano into an ideal retreat for self-study and reflection.

The Yoga Borgo has a flexible, Italian spirit. One can stay for a night or two, a week, or even months. A person can attend one class a day, or choose from various immersion courses. Yummy vegetarian meals are served with fresh vegetables and herbs plucked straight from the garden. Retreat participants practice yoga in a vaulted room with stone floors, while watching the sun slowly rise out of the mist in the hills. Days can be spent relaxing and reading in nearby hammocks, hiking or venturing to the nearby towns of Sansepolcro, Arezzo and Monterchi – three towns that contain astoundingly beautiful frescoes by Piero della Francesca. For those feeling homesick for their pets, an adorable dog and cat on site attend to your furry nuzzling needs.

Sada Sat Kaur is well-known across the global yoga community for her gorgeous mantra recordings. During their “Sacred Sounds Retreat”, Sada Sat Singh and Sada Sat Kaur invite their students to experience the power of chanting, mantras and kirtan.

Overlooking the hills in Umbria

The Yoga Borgo can house up to 16 participants in its rustic stone farmhouse and tower, which dates back to the 7th^th century.  In addition to yoga, treatments in reflexology, homeopathy, nutrition, and tantric numerology are offered. For more information on experiencing la dolce vita at the Yoga Borgo, please visit www.yogaborgo.com. 

The Injured Yogi

There are few things in life that irritate me more than being the injured yoga teacher. Throughout my graceful yoga career, I’ve thrown my back and hip out, sneezed so hard I once pulled a rib out of place, had whiplash from a car accident, tripped over my own two feet, and banged into every piece of furniture within a two foot radius of me. Most recently, I’ve had a body that feels like it’s made out of twigs due to an allergic reaction to a medication. What gives?

Yoga has a funny way of teaching us what we need to learn… even if it means sometimes backing off from our yoga practice. Recently I practiced handstands and arm balances when my body was not quite healed enough to accommodate them. I knew this, yet my ego got the best of me and I tried to muscle through it. The next day I was rewarded with stiffness and pain, and I sheepishly realized that I too am guilty of the same issues I try to steer my students away from.

Yoga is many things – not just asanas (physical postures). A yoga practice can be finding awareness while peeling an orange, listening to your breath as you walk, chanting mantras or simply turning inwards and tuning into yourself. Part of your practice is learning and accepting what is appropriate for you in each and every moment, knowing that your reality shifts from day to day.

As with many things in life, your greatest challenges become your greatest assets. An injured body teaches us to slow down and find a practice that is strong yet soft, sustainable and joyful… and isn’t that the real point of yoga?