Tag Archives: yoga

yoga helps detox the body

Yoga Helps Detox the Body

IMG_20140507_135109[1]Toxins get a bad rep.

We all know that in order to be healthy we should do things to Detox the body.

Detoxes come in all shapes and forms with some being as extreme as week long juice cleanses to things as simple as making sure to drink 8 glasses of water a day.

By definition a toxin is, “ is a poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms,” (Wikipedia) which means that our own bodies are actually what produce toxins.

We produce toxins when our cells break down unnatural or unhealthy substances we put into our body.–Meaning it isn’t the toxin that is bad, but rather it’s precursor.

Therefore, the best way to detox is to refrain from putting unhealthy substances into our own bodies.

That being said, even the healthiest food has waste product associated with it as our bodies break it down to absorb the food’s nutrients.

Therefore, rather than do an extreme form of detox; I’m a fan of doing the daily things I can do to detox the body, like spinning classes, they really help because you sweat a lot and your body gets detoxed fast, in stretch-studio.com you can find the best classes and routines, that you definitely need to try.

That’s where water, exercise, and yoga come in.

Drinking water increases the effectiveness of our kidneys.

When the extracellular matrix is well hydrated, cells, nutrients, and other components of the matrix can move freely.  Toxins and waste products can migrate out of the matrix into the blood or lymphatic system to be removed from the body.” -The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga

Here’s an oversimplification of this process:

  • Making sure to stay hydrated makes the toxins in the blood stream less concentrated so as blood pumps throughout our system, toxins and waste products filter out of our muscles and cells into the bloodstream
  • They are then transported to the kidneys and disposed of through our urine.

This is the first step you can take daily to detox the body.

The next step would be to sweat.  As we sweat, we release fluid through the pores in our skin to help cool the body.  This releases of fluid also cleanses our skin, the more we sweat, the more water flushes through our pores flushing away toxins and waste products stored.

Many say hot yoga is a great detox and in part that is because it encourages us to drink more water and if you’ve ever taken a hot yoga class you know you walk out of class drenched from head to toe.

Similar effects can come from running and strength training assuming you push yourself hard enough to work up a good sweat, but there is one more avenue in which yoga helps detox the body daily that running and strength training don’t.

Yoga helps rid the body of toxins stored in your joints.

Immobility of a joint causes stiffness and therefore storage of toxins in 2 major ways.

  1. Decreased functionality of Fibroblasts.
  2. Thickening of Synovial fluid

Yoga postures on the other hand compress, stretch, and twist joints in a safe way increasing the production of functionality of fibroblasts as well as transforming your synovial fluid from a gel to a more fluid material.

Here’s a little more detail on these 2 effects of yoga on our joints.

1.  Yoga helps decrease the toxins stored in the joint by making the joint less cluttered and dense, thus healthier.

Joints just like muscles and bones break down and rebuild themselves in response to stress.

Whereas bones have osteoblasts to rebuild stressed bone stronger, joints have cells called fibroblasts.

In active states, fibroblasts produce collagen and elastic fibers that align locally usually in parallel clusters increasing joint functionality as well as allowing room for for fluid to flow through cleansing the joint.

In inactive or damaged states, fibroblasts become their inactive state, fibrocytes, as well as begin mitosis (the division of 1 cell into 2 cells).

Fibrocytes are smaller and spindle shaped.  As they form and divide, the parallel structure of the cell breaks down leaving less room for the flow of liquid material through the joint, therefore toxins stay trapped in the joint.

Yoga stresses the joint allowing for proper stimulation of fibroblasts to keep them functioning properly and from becoming their inactive form, fibrocytes.

2.  Yoga Makes your Synovial Fluid more like a liquid rather than a Gel

The 2nd way Yoga aids in the detoxification of joints is by making the fluid capsule inside the joint more liquid.

In an unstressed state, the fluid capsule between 2 bones is more like a gel.

As the capsule is compressed this synovial fluid begins to transform from a gel like substance to a liquid like substance to lubricate the joint to aid in movement.

You may feel this effect in the morning as knees and ankles can often be stiff until you’ve had the time to walk around properly allow the joint to warm up, you don’t want to have to wear a Zenith ankle brace around.

Imagine you’ve poured out bacon grease into your sink.  It’s cooled and solidified forming a gel like substance over the drain.  If you pour cold water, some might trickle through, but you’ll have a blockage.

Now think about what happens as you pour hot water on the cooled grease.  It turns to liquid allowing water to flow through.  As long as you keep the hot water flowing it will all eventually wash down the drain.  (Hopefully not to only solify and create a bloackage futher down….why it’s best to just not pour bacon grease down the drain!)

This is similar to the movement of fluid through a joint.  When synovial fluid is in it’s gel-like state plasma is unable to flow through the joint to cleanse it of toxins, however a stressed joint will have liquified this synovial fluid allowing movement through the joint.

Obviously, running and other forms of exercise like strength training work the larger joints such as the knees and ankles, but very few movements work the smaller, less used joints such as the hips and spinal column.

The hips and lower back particularly are areas where most people are stiff and therefore are storing the most toxins.

The harder a posture is for you, the more you need it.

If you’re not drawn to yoga, I’m not saying you need to give up your favorite form of exercise because as I said before sweating is one way to detox the body.  However, yoga detoxes areas of the body other exercise can’t so it’s important to include yoga in addition to anything else you are doing, we also recommend to check out the products from https://www.stockybodies.com/id/detoxic-ulasan/ that will help your body cleanse a lot faster.

Here are some postures you could add to your daily routine to help open up and detox your joints.

These are yin postures as yin yoga works deep into the joint rather than just stretching the muscle.

Work to hold these postures for 1-2 minutes building up to 5+ minutes.

Focus on your breathing.

With every inhale envision energy rising through the spine helping you create space.  Try to elongate your inhalations for at least a count of 4.

With that extra space you’ve created with your inhale, your exhalations should feel relaxing allowing you to move deeper into the posture.  Make your exhales just as long as your inhales if not longer making sure to completely inflate the lungs with every inhale and completely deflate the lungs with every exhale.

These postures are best done in the morning before your muscles have warmed up so that you can actually work deep into the joint, but if you only have time at night while watching TV that is better than nothing!

Just because you teach at a school or studio that has liability insurance, check for the life insurance wa has to offer to see if you can work with it, you can’t assume you are protected as well. Not all school or studio insurance plans extend coverage to their teachers but with this one is possible as it is really flexible.

yoga helps detox the body

Spinx pose works deep into the lumbar spine

yoga helps detox the body

Seal is a deeper version of Spinx

yoga helps detox the body

Saddle is a great hip flexor stretch as well as lumbar spine opener.

Shoelace with a twist works both the hips joint and spinal column. Make sure to do both sides!

Shoelace with a twist works both the hips joint and spinal column. Make sure to do both sides!

Caterpillar stressed spinal ligaments as well as stimulates the kidneys.

Caterpillar stressed spinal ligaments as well as stimulates the kidneys.

Frog opens up the adductors, deep muscles of the groin as well as stimulates the lower and upper back.

Frog opens up the adductors, deep muscles of the groin as well as stimulates the lower and upper back.

Swan (The yin name for pigeon) is a deep external rotator of the hip, as well as a good quad stretch.

Swan (The yin name for pigeon) is a deep external rotator of the hip, as well as a good quad stretch.

Sleeping Swan (Swan is the yin name, similar to Pigeon) is a deeper version of Swan.

Sleeping Swan (Swan is the yin name, similar to Pigeon) is a deeper version of Swan.

 

Comment below, I’d love to hear from you!

What’s your favorite posture?

If you don’t do yoga, what’s keeping you from trying?

 

 

Word count: 607 Draft saved at 11:09:05 am.
headstands for beginners

Śīrṣāsana or Headstand for Beginners

Headstand pose or Śīrṣāsana has some of the greatest benefits of any yoga asana.

Headstands energize the body sending blood and nutrients to the brain, improve digestion aiding in the movement of food through the ileocecal valve (ascending colon), and  stimulate lymphatic cleansing and drainage.   All these benefits come from the effects of gravity acting in the opposite way it normally does against the body.

Mastering a headstand increases body awareness and should be a confidence boost and adrenaline rush as it is a major physical accomplishment!  Headstands are very non-intuitive.  We spend out entire lives walking on our feet so half the battle with a headstand is mental, but once you get over that mental battle, there is a simple step by step process to doing a headstand.

Here are a couple Headstand for beginners tips to make this posture a little more manageable.

There are 2 main ways to do a headstand.

fixmyasana headstandd head cradleHead Cradle – Pike Up

Arguably the harder of the two as it’s harder to press through ones elbows than hands, this option is also easier on the head because you can use your hands for support.

  1. Cradle hands together on the ground and place your head into your palms so that your hairline is in the center of your hands.
  2. Keeping your legs as straight as possible, walk on your toes towards your face as far as possible.
  3. When you can’t walk and further, suck your stomach in tightening the core as your press your elbows into the floor.  You should feel toes begin to rise off the floor.  (This would be the point where you can kick up to the wall if you would like, but always go through the first couple steps to build core strength so you can progress to piking up!)
  4. Floint (to floint means to flex your foot as you point your toes…we don’t want pointed toes in yoga) your toes to keep energy driving up and to keep your legs fully contracted so they don’t become dead weight.
  5. Once you reach headstand position, the work isn’t over.  Go back to your breath.  With every exhale suck your stomach in even more and with every inhale feel your body lengthening up towards the sky.  Keep flointing your toes, pressing your elbows into the floor, and core nice and contracted throughout the posture.

If you’ve tried kicking up a couple times and are having success, but still can’t pike up, work to tuck up.

  1. Still walk your feet into your head as close as possible.
  2. Bend your knees and tuck them into your stomach, keeping them as close to your body as possible.
  3. Straighten one leg at a time moving slowly and staying with your breath.

fixmyasana tripodTripod Headstand – Straddle Up

Tripod headstand was the first headstand I did and arguably easier because you can straddle up which requires less core strength.

It is much easier in Tripod headstand to hurt your head or neck though so make sure you are absorbing as much weight as possible in your hands by pressing firmly into the floor.

  1. Legs about 4-5 feet apart, swan dive forward leading with your chest so you elongate your spine, place your head between your feet and your hands about 6 inches in front of your face, shoulder width apart.
  2. Rock up onto your tippy toes as much as possible, flointing your toes to drive energy up.
  3. Bring your legs together and then continue to grow stronger in your posture with each breath.  With every exhale suck your stomach in even more and with every inhale feel your body lengthening up towards the sky.  Keep flointing your toes, pressing your elbows into the floor, and core nice and contracted throughout the posture.

In tripod headstand it’s important to keep pressing your elbows in toward each other to better engage your shoulder girdle and build should strength so you can progress to handstand!

Things to Think About

  • Know what your legs are doing.  A major factor for stability comes from the legs.  If your legs are loosey goosey, it will be much harder to stay balanced.
  • Keep your core engaged.  All inversions involve core strength.  Don’t be surprised if it takes a couple times to find your balance.  There is a whole new form of body awareness that is required to being upside down.
  • Your head shouldn’t be absorbing the bulk of your weight.  If you head is hurting you need to press harder through your elbows in head cradle or hands in tripod.  The more you press through your hands or elbows, the more shoulder strength you build which will help you progress to handstand!
  • Have fun.  Part of the FUN and learning is falling down.  Enjoy the process of learning a new skill and listen to how your body reacts to it each step of the way and you always have that behavioral health tub chairs to go back to when youre done with the session.

If you ever have any questions on a posture, feel free to message me at cjdought@gmail.com, or post your asana to instagram and tag @Courtn3yjulia #fixmyasana for corrections from a yoga instructor.

 

Yoga for athletes

Yoga For Athletes: 6 Reasons Why You Should Do Yoga to Enhance your Athletic Preformance


Yoga for athletes

One of my favorite viral images was this one to the right that started getting passed around about a year ago.

“I can’t do yoga because I’m not flexible enough.”-The Many Athletes out there not doing yoga.

Athletes can do amazing physical feats but it’s so funny how often they shy away from the things that don’t come easy to them.

Many athletes snub their nose at yoga before they even try saying it’s too easy and not a good enough workout.

Sam says, that the irony in that is the ones who do try a class don’t continue because they can’t twist into a pretzel like the girl in the front row.

Most athletes are used to being naturally good at something.  Yes an athlete then works very hard to improve those natural skills, but it’s funny how quickly they quit something that doesn’t come naturally easy.

Very quickly major professional athletes are beginning to catch on yoga for athletes.

As an athlete if you can let go of your ego, you too will find that yoga can do amazing things to improve your athletic performance.

6 Reasons Why Yoga Will Improve Your Athletic Performance:

yoga for athletes

Evan Longoria

1: Flexibility

Most athletes have tight hips, shoulders, hamstrings, calves, feet the list goes on and on.  Some athletes take the time after a workout to do a regeneration session using foam rollers and/or trigger point massage therapy, but these sessions are usually hurried through so one can get home and get a good meal.

A yoga class sets aside time specifically to stretch.  A hot yoga class provides the heat necessary to prime your muscles for stretching helping increase flexibility even more.

As athletes know flexibility is important for proper range of motion, increased muscle recovery time, and injury prevention.  At least one yoga class a week provides time specifically for these benefits.

yoga for athletes

Pada Hastasana

2:  Isometric Strength Training without Breaking Down the Body

In order to actually improve your ability to do many yoga postures, you are  actually preforming an isomeric muscle contraction.

Take Pada Hastasana (Hands to feet Pose) for example you use your biceps, quadriceps,  latissimus dorsi, and abdominal strength to open up tight hamstrings.

While doing this posture, not only do you strengthen the muscles you are using, open up and stretch your tight hamstrings, but you also train the body to be able to use multiple muscle groups at once while relaxing other muscles groups gaining more body awareness a very important aspect of elite athletic performance.

Yoga not only increases your muscular strength and awareness, but it does it in a low impact way.  Many athletes don’t actually hurt themselves on the field, but rather in their training.  Yoga provides a low-impact cross training that will help an athlete get stronger without further breaking their body down.

Yoga for athletes

Standing Bow combines Balance with using your strong glutes and quads to open up hamstrings. A posture an athlete can quickly become better in when they focus their energy correctly.

3: Balance

Many yoga postures incorporate balance, improving ones ability to be stable on one leg.

The more stable you are on 1 leg, the better you will be on 2.

All sports involve balance in some way, yet many take the time in practice to improve it.

Working on your balance in a yoga class will give you an upper edge on the sports field. Here are some other practices that may help you work on your mental and physical balance.

4: Injury Prevention

We’ve already mentioned that yoga is good for increasing flexibility which also leads to decreased probability of tearing muscles.

Yoga can also help prevent common sports injuries such as torn ACLs, Minicuses, Rotator Cuffs, ankle strains and sprains.

When you do yoga, you learn to recruit the smaller supportive muscles that you don’t activate when doing tradition strength training.  These supportive muscles not only make you stronger, but also are the ones that will help protect your joints while your power muscles are performing athletic movements.

Russell Wilson

If it’s good enough for the 8-1 Seakhawks it might be good for you!

5: Focus and Concentration

It isn’t any secret that the more you focus on any particular task, the better the performance.

When you take a test, the teacher provides a quiet environment.  This isn’t the case when you’re on the field.  There are fans, coaches, and opponents creating constant distraction, yet few sports team take the time to train their athletes to focus.

Focus is a key component to yoga.  Not only will the focus learned in yoga help you have more body awareness and control improving balance and injury prevention, but it will also make your reflexes quicker allowing you to be one step a head of your opponent.

yoga for athletes

Most athletes quickly transition to shallow breathing as soon as their heart rate increases. Yoga trains you to use your full lung!

6: Breath

The first step of any yoga posture is breath.  A good instructor will tell you if you can not maintain normal breathing (long slow inhales and long slow exhales) you aren’t actually getting the benefit of the posture.

Controlled breathing reassures the brain that you are in control.  It also decreases circulating carbon dioxide a trigger that causes your heart rate to increase.  Controlled breathing naturally allows your heart rate  to decrease allowing you to actually work harder.

Yoga trains you to be comfortable maintaining normal breathing.

When you take longer inhales, you actually breathe into the deeper bronchial branches of the lung allow more surface area for your blood stream to take up oxygen (fuel for your muscles).  Your working muscles then utilize that fuel turning it into carbon dioxide.  When you take a longer slower exhale you are able to get all the metabolic waste out allowing a larger percentage of oxygenated air to get in with your next breath.

The physical presence of more oxygen to fuel your muscles with the mental perception that you aren’t working as hard when you heart rate decreases allows you to have a larger work output than you would otherwise.

Over time as you develop this skill in the yoga room, it transfers over to any other endeavors that increase your heart rate making you much more efficient at breathing and providing the oxygen your muscles need to function. If you are planning to workout at home with a recumbent bike, these are the things to consider when choosing a recumbent bike.

Now that I’ve convinced you need yoga as an Athlete, here are some important things to keep in mind:

  • Go in with an open mind.  If you think yoga is a waste of time, it will be for you.
  • Breath.  The first step of every posture is normal breathing.  If you can’t maintain long slow inhalations and long slow exhalations your body isn’t relaxed and you won’t be able to get the full benefits of the posture.
  • Take it easy, Leave the win or lose mentality at the door.  As long as you are trying your best and breathing you will get benefits.  The first law of yoga is non-violence and that starts with yourself.  If you are forcing yourself into a posture you are liking to tear a muscle causing injury…the exact opposite of what you’re looking to achieve.
  • Enjoy the relaxation.  Don’t fight it.  Relaxation is built into yoga to help clear and focus the mind.
  • Make yoga a regular routine.  Treat your yoga practice the way you would treat any other aspect of your training.  If you don’t do it regularly you won’t get the benefits.
  • Listen.  Don’t take corrections from a teacher negatively.  Teachers are meant to help you.  If a teacher tells you to relax you probably aren’t following the first 2 bullet points.  This is often the case when athletes first start yoga.
  • Smile as you practice.  It makes the experience better.
summer for your health benefit

8 Ways to Get Outside and Use Summer for Your Health Benefit

summer for your health benefitSummer has arrived.  Here in Tennessee, the heat is in full swing and I’ve noticed all my friends around the country have begun posting pictures of their adventures in the sun.

Hop on the summer train and join in the fun with these 8 ways  to get outside and use summer for your health benefit!

1.  Walk:  

The weather is gorgeous, why sit in your car.  Where can you walk to that you normally drive to?

Can you walk to ___________?  

Fill in the blank, maybe it’s work, the grocery store, around the block after dinner, during your lunch break.

Maybe it’s all the above!  Whatever works for you, incorporate more walking into your day.  In fact, even make it a competition!   Get a Fitbit!  Compete with your family and friends.  Be my friend.  Having a Fitbit is like playing a video game that improves your health and the only way to win is to get outside and get walking!

2. Run:

After you try that walking thing, start running.

You don’t have to go far, just go around the block.

Maybe the next time try running a mile.

You don’t have to go far, but give it a try.  It in’t so bad.  Try doing it first thing in the morning!  Getting your heart rate up can wake you up better than drinking a cup of coffee.

Many people talk about running one day.  Make this summer the time that you start.  The hardest part is putting your shoes on and stepping outside!

3.  Yardwork:

IMG_20130610_121513The number one excuse I get as a personal trainer is not having enough time to exercise.

During the summer you can kill 2 birds with one stone.  Household chores like washing the car and mowing the lawn burn calories!  Spend an afternoon in the yard and you can burn over 500 calories while getting a tan at the same time!

Raking: 225 calories/ 30 min

Mowing the Lawn: 173 calories/ 30 min

Washing the Car: 150 calories/ 30 min

Weeding:  115 calories/ 30 min (add some squats into this one and the calorie burn goes up!)

4. Work

summer for your health benefit
Take your work outside!

Answer emails with your mobile.

Write that presentation on your laptop.

Head to a local park, find a quiet spot in the shade.  Get some work done outside.  Get some fresh air.

It’s good for your brain.  It will help you think clearer and more efficiently.

5. Swimming

Swimming is great exercise!

Find a pool and start doing laps!

If you’ve never really learned how to swim, take a swimming lesson!

Swimming is a great way to burn some killer calories, without pounding your joints.

Find an outdoor pool and you can burn fat, tone your muscles, and get a great tan all at once!

6. Yoga

summer for your health benefitIf you live in most areas of the country, being outside is like stepping into a hot yoga studio.

Take advantage of one of your local parks.

Set up your Yoga Mat.

Play around with the yoga postures you know.

If you do Bikram you know what you need to do.

If you practice vinyasa or power yoga, play around with whatever feels good to your body.

Every yoga teacher says, “you are your own best teacher.”  Give this a try.  Your body will steer you into the postures you need to do.

If you aren’t familar with yoga just sit down and focus on breathing deeply.

Listen to the world around you.  Listen to your breath.  Feel your lungs expanding and contracting

Even 15-30 min clearing your mind can make the rest of your day better!

7. Read

Find a book that will help you improve your fitness.

Then read it this summer.

In fact take it outside, lay in the sun for 15 min once a day and work your way through your book.

There are all kinds of books on fitness.

If you never tried yoga pick up Women’s Health Big Book of Yoga.  It has some great step by step tips to develop a beginning yoga practice and understanding.

Get motivated for your run with I run, Therefore I am–NUTS!

Learn more about the food you put in your mouth with the Smarter Science of Slim.

Get motivated to deepen your yoga practice with Hell Bent  Benjamin Lorr’s personal account through Jedi Fight Club and Bikram Yoga Teacher Training.

Take some time each sunny day to learn how to keep yourself healthier year round!

Reading about fitness makes your more motivated to make fit decisions and be active!

8. Go to a Farmer’s Market

Venture outside of your normal grocery store and visit your city’s local farmer market.

You can’t get produce any more fresh than what’s found at Farmer’s Markets.

You will see produce you don’t normally see.

Pick a veggie you’ve never eaten before and experiment with a new recipe.

Just like it’s important to vary your physical activity, mixing up the food you eat keeps your body burning fuel more efficiently.  Different veggies pack different nutrient loads.  If you always stick to the same ones, you may be missing out on some important vitamins and minerals!

Being healthy starts with spending more time outside.  Take advantage of the sun and warm weather.  Try to get outside and use the summer for your health benefit in one way or another each day!

 

savory green

Savory Green

This Savory Green smoothie is a bomb treat on a rainy day. image

Add a little more lemon juice though and it is perfect treat any day!

Ingredients:

  • 4 ounces Aloe Vera Water
  • 6 baby carrots
  • 1 persian cucumber
  • 2 stalks celery
  • 10 cilantro leaves
  • 1/4 cup pineapple chunks
  • 6 chunks frozen mango
  • 1 handful of kale
  • 1 scoop Met-Rx Protein Vanilla
  • 1 tbsp almond butter
  • 1 tsp. cloves

Combine all Ingredients in a blender.  I have a ninja blender and love it!!   Juicers are bomb, but so is all the good fiber you get from the pulp!

Calories: 330 Carbs: 35g Fiber: 7.1g Protein 39g Fat 9g

 

If you save old kombucha containers, you have a nice glass jar to drink your smoothie from!!

sitting in bikram yoga

To Sit or Not to Sit? What Sitting in Bikram Yoga Says About You

sitting in bikram yoga

Every day your practice is different.

Ok, you are no longer a beginner to this yoga thing.

Or, maybe you are, but you struggle every day to continue pushing through every posture.  

My question to you is, “Why are you struggling?”

The second you begin to struggle, you are forgetting the first step of every posture, which is normal breathing.  Yes, this breathing rate might be faster, but you should never feel like you can’t breathe.

Sitting in Bikram Yoga can actually deepen your practice.

“Bikram says to to ‘kill you self”” 

  • Killing your “self” means to kill the ego telling you to have the best posture.
  • Killing your “self” means you don’t care if you are the only one sitting.  Your body needs the break today.
  • Killing your “self” means to avoid reaching for the security blanket of your water.  Do you really need it?  (If you do, you should have drank more water before you came.  I know–it’s not always easy.  I reach for my water bottle too, but it’s always my goal not to!)
  • Killing your “self” means accepting the body you brought today.  You may be getting sick. You may not have drank enough water.  You may have drunk too much wine the night before.  Whatever the reason, listen to your body.
  • Killing your “self” means you can look into your own eyes for 90 minutes.  You spend the rest of your life trying to live up to the expectations and demands of others.  Take the time in yoga to see what you need.

Part of learning to kill the self is learning to focus only on yourself.

I realize it can be tempting to sneak a peak at the girl in front’s standing bow, to grab some water, to make faces to your friend.  (And there are days where this is part of my practice, but it isn’t what my practice should be.)

This is not being present.  There is so much going on within your own body that you are missing when you focus on anything other than yourself in the mirror.  In fact, you may be struggling because of your lack of focus.  Days when I am actually able to stay fully present I find that I work harder than I have ever worked, have a larger pool of sweat on my mat than normal, and yet I find I was able to keep my heart rate lower and a smile on my face.  

I am relaxed while also killing myself and my self!

 

Next time you start to feel uncomfortable in class, don’t reach for water.  Don’t wipe your sweat.  Don’t look to your feet.  Don’t make a face to friend asking if it’s hotter than normal.  If fact, don’t even ask yourself that question.  It doesn’t matter.  What you should do instead is look to yourself for answers.

sitting in bikram yoga

  • Stare into your own eyes.
  • Take a long slow inhale.
  • Take a longer slower exhale.
  • Give yourself a smile.  It’s hard to have negative or anxious thoughts with a smile on your face.
  • Repeat this process as much as you need.

Some days you may have to take it to the floor from here, but still work to look into your own eyes.

Part of the practice and part of the yoga is getting in touch and accepting yourself.  Your body.  Your thoughts.  Your actions.  Your Present.

Today’s present and practice might be harder than yesterdays   You don’t know what tomorrows will bring, but today you will get more out of your practice remaining calm.

 

eagle pose garurasana

4 Tips to Improving Your Eagle Pose Garurasana

eagle pose garurasana

Eagle Pose Garurasana is the first twist in the bikram yoga series.

By the time you get to this pose, you should be sweating!

In Eagle Pose Garurasana you cut off blood flow to the right side of the body and then the left.  It is the first time in class that you begin to to transfer, move, and use the oxygenated blood that you have been working so hard to create.

For most, the first couple times you try this posture it often feels impossible.

Here are 4 tips to twisting yourself into a knot and making yourself the shortest person in the room:

  1. Step One in this pose is to twist your arms.  Once you bring your right arm under the left, focus on getting your hands together next.  I know it might feel like it might never happen, but the more you visualize it happening the sooner it will!
  2. Then work for the foot wrap.  Focus on pointing your toe back towards the calf you want it to tuck under.  The twist initiates at the toe.  Once you get the tuck, however, work to relax your foot as much as possible.
  3. Breath!  Once again the posture starts with your breath.  Maintain normal breathing as you set the posture up.  Normal breathing means to take long slow inhales and long slow exhales.  Once you get into the posture, work on sitting down more with your exhales  and arching your upper body back more with your inhales.
  4. Make sure you sit down as low as possible to start the posture.  Arch back as much as possible.  Then work to keep the body weight in your heel.  

Muscles Contracting:

  • Hamstrings
  • latissimus dorsi
  • abdominals
  • rhomboids
  • Ankle Stabilizers

Stretches: 

  • Opens up the 12 major joints of the body: heels, ankles, hips, shoulders, elbows, and wrists.
  • Lengthens and stretches the leg muscles, most specifically the glutes and IT band.
  • The posterior muscles of the rotator cuff specifically the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and teres minor muscles.

Compresses:

  • Ankle Joint, Knee Joint, Hip Joint, Elbow Joint, and Wrist joint breaking down scar tissue.  

Stimulates:

  • Reproductive system and sex organs.
  • Kidneys
  • Lymphatic System
  • Central Nervous system
  • Immune System

Bikram says Eagle Pose Garurasana Benefits us by:

  • Improves flexibilities in the hips, knees, ankles, shoulders, elbows, wrists.
  • Eagle Pose supplies fresh blood to the reproductive system and sex organs, plus the kidneys, which increases sexual vitality and helps clear up reproductive problems.
  • Improves the function of the lymphatic system
  • Improves concentration and balance
  • Energizes the entire body completing the Bikram warm up by flushing blood from one side of the body to the other.
  • Stimulates better immune system function
  • Improves mobility of hip joints and balance
  • Strengthens the legs and calves
  • Good for improving varicose veins
  • Flushes out the kidneys improving the filtration of minerals such as calcium and sodium.
  • Good for Stress Reduction
padahastasana or hands to feet pose

4 Tips to Improving your Padahastasana or Hands to Feet Pose

padahastasana or hands to feet pose

Padahastasana or Hands to Feet pose is one of my favorite postures!

It is the first time in class your shoulders get a break, if you don’t have proper posture, we suggest to check this review!

By the time I am coming up arms and head together from Hands to Feet pose, I feel like I have finally awakened for my day.  My muscles feel exponentially looser and I feel as if my spine has lengthened a foot!

I was going through the posture correctors 2018 and came to a conclusion that Padahastasana had helped me unlock the secret to yoga:  Use your own strength to stretch your body.  It’s really no secret my instructors said it and now I say it all the time, “Pulling is the object of stretching!”  This posture, however, was the first posture where I actually found this to be true.

I used to and still have very tight hamstrings, but I do have to say that the muscle enhancement pills also helped out.  Every class that I am able to lock my knees makes me so happy.

Here are 4 tips to lock you knees, Lock Your Knees, LOCK YOUR KNEES!:

  1. Make sure to glue your body to your legs and get your elbows as close as possible to each other behind the calf muscles.  After you can grab your heels, your next goal is to touch your face to your shins–not to lock your knees
  2. Use your Breath:  Like every yoga pose, you want to maintain normal breathing in this posture.  With your inhales, pull harder on your heels.  With your exhales, roll forward weight in your heels and lift your hips up to the ceiling.
  3. Use your Quadriceps muscles:  The quadriceps is the hamstrings’ antagonistic muscle.  Your hamstrings bend your knee and your quadriceps extend the knee.  If you want to “Lock your knee” (or extend it)   You have to use your quadriceps.  The more you work to constantly and consistently contract your quadriceps, the more your hamstrings will be forced to slowly open up and stretch.  ****Using on your strength won’t pull muscles.  Make sure to never bounce into a posture.  Then you are using strength and momentum.  This combo can pull muscles.
  4. Imagine your Head Moving Down your Shins:  Once you can lock your knees, the goal then becomes to lengthen your spine.  Imagine your head sliding down towards your toes.  To do this, you will need to continue pulling with your biceps.  Then try to depress and retract your shoulder blades so you can use your back strength to open up your upper spine.

Muscles Contracting:

  • Biceps
  • Quadriceps
  • latissimus dorsi
  • rhomboids

Stretches: 

  • Spine
  • hamstrings
  • hips
  • glutes
  • Erector Spinae
  • trapezius

Compresses:

  • Large intestine
  • Small intestine
  • Abdomen

Stimulates:

  • Digestive System
  • Heart
  • Nervous System
  • Brain

Bikram says Padahastasana or Hands to Feet Pose Benefits us by:

  • Improves digestion
  • Stretches out the the wrists.  Helping with Carpel tunnel and arthritis, using Kidney Atlas.
  • Opens and Stretches the Hamstrings
  • Stretches the spine.
  • Improves Sciatica
  • Awakens you, sending blood to the brain.
  • Stimulates the nervous system
  • Tones the abdomen
why try yoga

Why Try Yoga? Yoga Can Challenge and Benefit Anyone!

Most people equate yoga with a stretching class.why try yoga

Seeing the stereotypical tall and slender woman walking with her yoga mat might not necessarily get your butt to a yoga class.

Seeing a husband and wife come to class with their high school football star son on Saturday might stir some curiosity.

Seeing the neighbor down the street lose 20lbs might get you to walk through the door and try it at least once!

why try yoga

On Monday I wrote about Yoga being good for athletes.  While all this is true, think about how those same benefits could affect you in your normal life.  Maybe you don’t make quick change of directions on a soccer field, but you still carry your lunch, labtop, to-go coffee mug, and briefcase to the car every morning while talking on your cell phone.  Some mornings it might even be rainy or even worse icy.  As we age situations like this begin to get worse and worse.  Strengthening your body through yoga, will give you the strength and balance to better handle these situations that are part of normal living.

Why Try Yoga you ask.  You should try Yoga to tackle and conquer your daily tasks!

If you have been hesitant to give yoga a try, check out the video below for reasons why yoga might be a better workout than you think:

 

So give it a try.  I recommend Bikram.  I challenge you to make it through a class and still tell me yoga isn’t a good enough workout.  For those who fear the hot room, remember it’s also not as scary as you think.  If an 80 year old woman can take class you can too!  It might just be the yoga that keeps those 80 year olds going!

 

What’s yoga posture challenges you the most?  It is probably the one you need.  Tell me which one you hate below and why.  I’ll let you know why you might need it!

half moon pose

6 Tips to Improving your Half Moon Pose

Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose)

A major component to yoga is opening up the body.  Half Moon Pose Begins this process.

Half Moon Pose uses opposing muscle groups to open up and stretch the front, back, right side, and left side of the body.

Half Moon Pose is an energizing pose that prepares you for class!  It uses almost every muscle in your body continuing to warm up the body stimulating the sweat you started to form in Breathing to continue!  Here are some keys to improving your Half Moon so you can begin “natural human traction” sooner rather than later!

  1. half moon pose

    This is an old picture. I’ve since learned if I squeeze my feet together my knees stay in one line

    Squeeze Your Feet Together:  Right from the beginning think of squeezing your feet together and keeping your body weight in your heels.  This will help you tone your inner thighs.

  2. Breathe:  As always, the number one focus in every pose in normal breathing.  Think about slowly inflating your lungs like a balloon, lifting your rib cage up towards the ceiling as you keep your body in one line.
  3. Smile:  Set your intention for a relaxed class.  If you can maintain a smile you will be more likely to maintain normal breathing.  When you maintain normal breathing your body will open up more than if you are tense, forcing yourself to push further.
  4. Use your grip:  When you first start, the hardest part will be holding your hands over your head.  Focus on SQUEEZING your hands together like you are juicing a lemon on top of your head.  It will help your strength improve sooner.  It will also help you lengthen and open up.
  5. Use Your Right Hand to Pull the Left:  When you bend to the right side, think about pulling the left arm further to right using the right hand.  Then think about pointing to the back right hand corner of the room as you come down further to push, push, and push.
  6. Focus on Your Hips:  Once you reach alignment, only focus on moving your hips further out past your toes.  If you think about bending more at the waist you will hunch, round, or bend.  By focusing on moving your hips further out past your feet, you continue to lengthen and open up the body.  This will make the opposite side compress more.

Opens:

  • Shoulders
  • Hips
  • Chest

half moon poseStretches:

  • Obliques
  • Outer Thighs Specically the IT Band
  • Latissimus Dorsi
  • Rectus Abdominis
  • Deltoid
  • Trapezius

 

Muscles Contracting:

  • Improves and strengthens every muscle in the central part of the body.
  • Especially the Abdomen.

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 Bikram says Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose) Benefits us by:

  • Preventing, reducing, and/or eliminating back pain and with the help of a KratomCountry Pain Relief Center.
  • Energizes you for class!
  • Helps rid the body of abdominal fat, toning your abs and obliques.
  • Tones your waistline, hips, abdomen, booty, and thighs (even those inner thighs!)
  • Stretches spinal nerves and abdominal organs improving the working of the bowels
  • Increases the flexibility of the spine
  • Alleviating anxiety and helping reduce stress
  • Works all the major muscles groups including the Quads, Glutes, Hamstrings, Calves, Biceps, Triceps, and lats!
  • Exercising the colon, pancreas, kidneys, muscular, skeletal, respiratory and glandular systems
  • Firming and trimming waistline, hips, abdomen, buttocks and thighs.
  • Increases flexibility of the spine; correcting bad posture, promoting proper kidney function, improving the health liver and spleen, reducing dyspepsia and constipation.