My Blog

Playlist 5/7/12

05/09/2012 16:19:00

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Bubble Club - The Goddess (music video)

BUBBLE CLUB ( www.bubbleclubmusic.com/ ) Bubble Club is the music project of West London based producer, DJ and record collector Dan Keeling. Having previously been behind electronic label New Reli...

The Goddess - Bubble Club

The Buddha Bar - Blue Tribe

Anagram - Dousk

Violet Morning Moon - Bubble Club

City Lights from a Train - Vector Lovers

Bustelo - Ratatat

Love of Strings - Moby

Dawn Appears - Buckethead

Kamala - DJ Lakshmi

Blueshift - Jens Gad

Pronoia - Adham Shaikh

Dakini - Prem Joshua

Andrew Henry's Meadow - Buckethead

The Scientist - Vitamin String Quartet

Don't Forget to Breathe - David Buckley

Make the Yoga Fit Your Body

05/01/2012 12:01:00

I get a lot of brand new students to yoga in my current location. I know that people can get frustrated with any new type of exercise or activity, especially something that takes patience, courage, and discipline. I think that for some reason, we have these expectations of ourselves that make us think that if we don't fit the mold that something is amiss. Maybe it stems from our culture and the madness in our marketing, but regardless - yoga will test you in many ways. The physical practice is just one.

Many are afraid to even try a class because they are not flexible. I guess this would be like saying, "I'm not going swimming because I don't look good in a swim suit". Well, I've got news for you - most people don't look like cover models in a swim suit. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be enjoying their life and having fun on a hot summer day. Those cover models that burn images into our subconscious mind only make up a tiny percentage of the population, and yet we think that we are inferior for some reason. Did I mention they are airbrushed and photo shopped? Anyway, you get my point. It's not real, it's an illusion - and our egos see it as a concept of perfection.

The yoga poses may look simple enough. Hold it for 30 seconds and you will find that they are not easy. (Incidentally, my count of 5 breaths is just about 30-40 seconds.) Add in your own mental chatter and the pose seems like eternity and failure.

My motto is to make the yoga fit your body, not your body to fit the yoga. In other words, modify the pose so you can do some variation of it. The truth of the matter is that you will be reaping the physical, mental, and spiritual benefits of yoga regardless of how perfect your imperfect your pose is. This excludes, of course, the basic tenets of alignment - because that is just for the safety of your body (joints, tendons, ligaments, etc.)

Yoga is slow medicine. It will take years, possibly decades to get into some of the advanced poses or to achieve Gumby-like flexiblity. Most people aren't even interested in that, and don't have time for it. You have to remember what your goals are. If you are just looking to get some kinks out, reduce the affects of stress, sleep better at night, or just do a workout that doesn't leave you pooped at the end, then you need not worry if you are "doing it right". Trust me, I will fix your alignment if it looks damaging and I will correct you if you are on the wrong side. Other than that, keep your eyes focused on yourself, not the mirror or your neighbor. Feel your way through the pose and breathe. Nothing more, nothing less.

Sometimes the class can get tough. If it is so challenging that you forget to breathe, then maybe your body is asking for a break. Take a child's pose and come back when you regain control over your breath. It is more important to breathe than it is to do the pose. Any time you start a new practice, whether it's golf, chess, martial arts, or push-ups, there will be a period of challenge and adjustment. It's a natural part of being human. Allow yourself the freedom to just be good enough, no matter what your practice leve is. The hardest part of yoga is getting yourself on the mat. Leave the rest to me and listen to your body.

And one last thing: don't take yourself too seriously...it's just yoga!

April 16-22 Playlist

04/20/2012 14:11:00

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Anagram - Dousk

Greek music, Nordic surroundings

Dictaphone's Lament - Tycho

Anagram - Dousk

Track 13 - Julio Andular

Elephant (Dub Mix) - Spiral System & Lottie Child

Space Lullaby - New York Style Yoga

Such a Tease - Junkie XL

Sundial - Buckethead

Shut Your Eyes - Snow Patrol

Cloud Generator - Tycho

As If You've Never Been Away - Ulrich Schnauss

In a Sense - Eastern Sun

The Monks of Lindisfarne - Achillea

Big D's Touch - Buckethead

Opening - Wah!

How Often Should You Practice?

04/04/2012 21:26:00

I hear this question alot. In general my opinion and my answer is "as often as possible, but a little is better than none". It's like any other form of exercise or sport...the more you do it, the better you get or the more progress you will see. But for some reason people want to hear a number, a target, or some sort of formula that will lead to yoga bliss. If genie's granted wishes...

Bare minimum: 1 day per week. Once a week is a good way to offset or cross train for whatever else you do for fitness or sports. It's a good way to unlock those hamstrings and pecs from running, biking, lifting weights, etc. Coming once a week is a good place to start. Although I am a firm believer in a little bit of yoga is better than none, as an instructor I am always concerned about safety during practice and avoiding injury. Someone told me a long time ago that it is easier to just be an “A” student than a “C” student. The “C” student has to work harder because they slack off for a period of time, then torture themselves playing catch up and cramming versus the student that just does their work all semester long and doesn’t need to pull all-nighters because they’ve followed the syllabus.

Twice per week. You like yoga a lot and you feel really good after class, but can barely squeeze in time to get yourself there. I get it. I really do. Start coming twice a week for 6 weeks and feel a huge difference in your body. You will see an improvement in range of motion, minor aches and pains go away, your strength will increase, and you might even shed a pound or two.

Three days per week. You did the twice a week thing for a while and you are really hooked because you noticed improvement in strength, flexibility, mental clarity, quality of sleep, and you even lost a couple pounds. Three days a week will be better. As far as yoga goes, I am a believer that more is better. After over a decade of consistent practice, I can say with confidence that I have gone through phases (like anyone else) of practice. When I practice 3 times a week, I feel awesome, but I still feel like I'm struggling in class.

Four to six days per week. You come to class three or four times a week, and practice at home with a video or something on the off days. Talk about feeling awesome. This is when you will see your body, mind, and practice just explode into goodness. It's a major commitment, but the reward is health and feeling great - naturally.

Practice, practice, practice. You will get better, and the minor aches and pains from starting a new fitness regime will subside and you will feel great! Remember: practice, practice, practice...and drink lots of water after class.

Playlist from Tuesday 2/7/12

02/08/2012 13:54:00

1. Anagram - Dousk.

2. Electric Gypsy - Govinda

3. Breathe - Telepopmusik

4. One - Ohm G & Bruno

5. Cameldriver - Bahramji

6. Porcelain - Moby

7. The Seeress Prophecy (Daydreaming)

8. Pilots - The Collectors

9. Fellini's Roma - Bent

10. Lord of Silk - Cell

11. Turn On Me - The Shins

12. The Monks of Lindisfarne - Achillea

13. Shape of My Heart - Sting

14. Opening - Wah!

15. Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu - Chandra Om

This Past Week's Playlist - 1/24 - 1/28

01/28/2012 15:17:00

1. Nobody's Home - Ulrich Schnauss

2. Track 13 - DJ Lakshmi

3. Balearic Incarnation - Dolle Jolle

4. Souvenir (Moby Remix) - Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark

5. Yesterdays - Junkie XL

6. Take Me Into Your Skin - Trentmoller

7. Across the Universe - Morpho Eugenia/ John Selway

8. Everest - Ratatat

9. Angelica - Lamb

10. Crazy Heart - Bahramji & Manessh De Moor

11. Divinire - Ludovico Einaudi

Push-ups...Yoga Style

01/18/2012 16:33:00

Chaturanga Dandasana. Otherwise known as the yogi push-up. We (yoga nerds) always talk about proper alignment and using the muscles in your back to support the posture instead of using your shoulders and chest muscles. Well...the question is: How the hell do you do that, it's a push-up right?

This pose is a challenge for nearly every practitioner at some point in their practice, so if you are new, don't get discouraged. And if you have been practicing for a while and still don't have it figured out...well, it's time to bunk up and get it right, or you're going to be in pain soon if you aren't already.

The Challenge. Half of the problem is that the posture isn't held for very long. It is typically part of a vinyasa sequence in a sun salutation, so it's easy to miss the technique and it's easy to fudge your way through and skip it all together if you are in a big class. True beginners have a tough time lowering down keeping the elbows close to the body, which is rule #1. Those with a little experience have a tough time keeping their head in line with the spine (sinking forehead syndrome), which is rule #2. Those with a little more experience than that, have a tough time engaging the muscles between the shoulder blades and not rounding the shoulders downward, rule #3. Actually, engaging the back muscles is a challenge for many that have been practicing for a while (years). Rule #4, to keep the shoulders broad and do not pinch the shoulder blades together.

Getting engaged. Have someone watch the muscles in your back between your shoulder blades to see if they are firing when you queue up a chaturanga.

If they are, and your shoulders continue to round as you lower, move to a 1/2 chaturanga until you build up the strength. Yes, use your knees and look like a sissy. It's a good practice in humility. [A good way to develop strength in the upper back while supporting proper alignment is to use a strap just below the elbows and practice moving through the vinyasa without jumping or stepping forward and back....just up dog, down dog, plank, chaturanga.]
If they are not engaged, have your partner touch the space between your shoulder blades with their thumb and forefinger. Mentally note what that feels like and try to flex those muscles. You can do this with knees bent or straight, or with a strap or any combination of modifications. If it just isn't happening, come out of the pose and sit on your knees. Part two:sitting on your knees, have your partner stand in front of you. Hold out your arm, fingers forward, thumb pointing up. Partner locks fingers with you and begins to pull. Practitioner offers resistance pulling back using the back muscles between the shoulder blades. Once the practitioner activates those muscles, the partner and practitioner switch forces. The partner now pushes, and the practitioner now tries to push forward while engaging the muscles in the back. Do this a couple of times, pushing and pulling. Once the connection (brain to muscle) is made between the two movements, go back to your chaturanga practice and see if you can get those muscles to engage during the posture. Keep trying this until the connection happens. It might not happen in one practice.

Elevated Scapula. The rhomboids (major and minor, located beneath the trapezius) are supposed to retract the scapula when the trapezius contracts (they are antagonist). Often, students/practitioners have elevated scapulae along with the sinking forehead as they move through the push-up. This tells you that the rhomboids are not firing when called upon.

Strengthen muscles that move the shoulder blades. Practice moving the body up and down with straight arms in plank pose. Yes, just move in and out of the shoulders. Be careful not to sink too far into the lowest part of the movement, further encouraging the elevated shoulder blades. Practice keeping them firm to the back of the rib cage throughout the movement.
Stand against the wall, pressing the shoulder blades flat against the wall. Bend your elbows to 90 degrees. Practice moving the hands backward to the wall (in a windshield wiper movement), keeping that 90 degree angle, and keeping the shoulder blades firm to the wall. Do these movements several times, then go back and try that chaturanga again to see if there are any changes. If it doesn't happen right away, try it another day, but keep practicing. It will eventually happen.

Doing these simple exercises and being mindful of your own abilities will keep your shoulders safe and strong throughout your practice. Most people make the connection after one or all of these practices in a single session. For others who have been practicing it the wrong way for years, they might need more practice. Those patterns of movement are well established and may take a little more time to correct.

I hope you find these practices helpful...but more importantly... have fun doing them! If you are a yoga nerd, I know you will.

So You're Not Flexible Enough for Yoga?

11/09/2011 08:43:00

If you think that you shouldn't set foot in a yoga class because you aren't flexible, then yoga is exactly what you should be doing. Yoga is strengthening and stretching at the same time. Each pose is an isometric exercise, and flexibility is simply one of the many positive by-products of the practice. In other words, you don't have to be flexible before you start practicing yoga. You just need an open mind and a yoga mat.

It may seem at first glance that yoga is about flexibility, because of all the 'show-off' pictures that you see. Yoga is about exploring your limits and not striving to achieve some pretzel-like perfection (even though it looks really cool). However, yoga is really about exploring your personal strengths, limits, imbalances and learning to work with things as they currently exist. The flexibility that occurs as a result of the practice is merely a by-product. As you become more familiar with yoga and the breathing that goes with it, the nervous system will naturally move into a more relaxed state of being. Your brain becomes more balanced as a result. Another by-product of the practice. When this starts to happen, corrosive hormones that are produced by stress will lower and the whole body will feel more energetic and healthy. Not only will you feel better, but you will sleep better too. One of the main causes of restlessness and inability to fall asleep are stress hormones which were very helpful thousands of years ago when we were being chased by animals with large teeth. Turns out these hormones that were intended to help us escape from immediate harm also kick in when we get annoyed with the cost of gas prices, when your toddler poops their underwear in Office Max while you are waiting for your copies, and when you pick up a birthday cake 3 hours before the party and it looks like a 10 year old decorated it. Just practice the poses and breathe...balance your body and mind, and reduce your stress. It's worth every penny and every minute.

Yoga may not be the highest in terms of calorie burning, BUT ~ stretching your muscles as your exert them causes fat to be eliminated around the cells, thus eliminating cellulite. Additionally, as the nervous system moves out of a chronic state of stress the levels of cortisol begin to lower. Cortisol is a known contributor to belly fat. I know dozens and dozens of people that have lost significant amounts of weight (20+) by practicing yoga alone. It has a more of a holistic role in weight loss and fitness.

There are dozens of yoga poses that stimulate various nerve centers, flush toxins from organs, and promote a stable metabolism. For example, twisting poses not only stretch spinal muscles, but they also compress the liver and other organs flushing the tissues out. When the twist is released, fresh blood rushes in. Think of this like cleaning out a sponge. This squeeze and soak process also happens to the thyroid gland during shoulderstand and most twists. The thyroid gland is primarily responsible for producing the hormones that regulate metabolism.

Yoga will help you achieve your fitness goals by building strength, improving flexibility, and balancing the nervous system. Yoga is extremely beneficial for balancing out the right/left, front/back, and top/bottom sides of the body. You'll be quick to notice which side is tighter or weaker right away. Each pose is performed for the same amount of time on each side (we count the breath). These natural imbalances play an important role in contributing to injury and pain. Bring balance to your body and reduce and eliminate pain. Bring strength to the minor muscle groups (as well as major) and you will have balanced strength. Practice regularly and feel and watch your body transform.

So You're New to Yoga?

10/14/2011 08:20:00

You've never set foot in a yoga class...and you aren't sure what to expect? Well, I thought I'd give you the low-down before you get there. Here are the bare essentials that you need to know:

1. Try not to eat within 2 hrs of class. I seriously hear a lot of people worried about embarrassing bodily functions. If you don't eat before class you'll be fine.

2. Yoga is done barefoot on a yoga mat. (see my post about my own embarrassment of my first yoga class)

My favorite mats are: Jade Harmony mats made out of natural rubber. Absolutely no slippage. If you get sweaty (I do...) ...Trust me, it's worth the extra beans if you are going to make this a part of your life. Manduka makes a nice rubber mat (the eKO series) that runs a close second. The Manduka is pricey in my opinion, and it's not totally slip proof like the Jade mat. I have a Manduka eKO Super Lite travel mat that is awesome because it folds up nicely to put in a suitcase and only weighs 2lbs. Expect these mats to be heavier and last a lot longer. They also provide more cushion on your joints.
You can buy a cheap yoga mat at Wal-Mart for $10 and something similar at Target for about $15. Be sure to wipe it down with soap and water and get all of the soap off...at least a whole 24 hrs before you are going to use it. If you don't...you will be slipping and sliding all over the place if your hands and feet even think about sweating. Some of them even have a slimy oil on them from the manufacturing process.

3. You need not wear expensive high-tech spandex. Wear something that you are comfortable in and something that will cover you in all directions. Don't wear a loose fitting T-shirt that will end up over your head in down dog. That can be a nuisance.

4. Listen to the instructions given on how to move into the positions. It's a lot like "Simon Says". So, you don't need to know the names of the poses or what they are supposed to look like. It's that easy.

5. Don't worry about what you look like. It's more important to know how you feel and how the poses feel. Yoga enhances proprioception (spatial body awareness), so if you are thinking about the external appearance, you are missing out on one of the many benefits of yoga.

6. Keep an open mind. You are probably capable of more than you know.

7. Fake it 'til you make it. Some of the breathing practices take a little time to figure out and may not come that easily. Some of the poses may seem inaccessible, but you have to try them in order to really find out. Not only that, but you will have to work at some poses before they actually happen for you. This is a normal fact of life, and of yoga.

8. Your connection to your breath throughout the practice is more important that achieving the pose.

9. Enjoy your savasana (corpse pose) ...the final relaxation is key. Oddly enough, just laying there in stillness is one of the most challenging poses in yoga for many people. (Not me....I am a natural at that one! ...so is my husband, he is usually the guy on the left snoring.)

10. Drink plenty of water after class. You may have just finished a class that didn't seem that challenging...but you could be really sore the next day. Yoga is funny like that. It can sneak up on you when you least expect it.

11. Regular practice is the only way to improve. It's like any other physical exercise...the more you do it, the easier it gets!

Why Chant Om?

10/07/2011 08:43:00

I taught my first two yoga classes here in Batavia this week, and I really enjoyed it. Actually I had fun. At the beginning of class, we chanted Om three times. I know that that the Monday night class had a few people in there that had never attended a yoga class or chanted Om, so it was a new thing to try. Before we started, I talked a little bit about why it was an important practice, but I felt like getting a little more technical for this blog post. Not only that, but I serendipitously came across an article that sparked a little curiosity...and I thought I would write about it.

Chanting Om at the beginning of class is a great way to unite the group, relax the mind and switch gears so to speak. It's a way to mark the transition from the day to day activities to your yoga practice. For new students it may take some getting used to, but you should feel free to just sit and take it all in at first. When you are comfortable join in. It's totally up to you.

"Research has found that chanting in general (and singing certain sounds) stimulates the vagus nerve which is the most important nerve in the body. It passes through the throat and services the heart, lungs, intestines, and back muscles. This vibration directly affects the nervous system. The deep prolonged breathing that accompanies the chant helps oxygenate the body, relaxes the mind, and lowers blood pressure." -International Journal of Yoga

Wow, all that happens just from vocalizing the sounds A-U-M. Makes me want to go hang out and chant with some monks in the Himalayas for a few weeks.

FMRI's have shown that chanting Om is associated with limbic system deactivation which is a fancy way of saying a relaxed state of being. The limbic system is the same system that can fire rapidly and cause states of anxiety and depression. We also know that the brain is known to have a certain amount of plasticity - it is changeable. That is to say, that our neural pathways can change. Neural pathways are a series of connections between synapses in the brain. These pathways are the way that our brain makes sense of things. These connections help us associate things with other things, for example thoughts linked to emotions. The concept of neural pathways are sort of like when people continue to take a shortcut in the grass...the grass stops growing there and creates a dirt path. The same concept works in your brain. You associate the things with the same things...over and over. That is why habits are hard to break. However, we know the brain has plasticity and we can create new pathways and change old ones. It just takes some repetition. Whenever the new pathway is used, the connection gets stronger...the dirt path becomes a little more worn in.

So, chanting Om helps to create a relaxed state of being. Practicing often will create stronger connections in your brain and eventually that relaxed state of being will carry over into our daily routines. Who couldn't use a little more of that