Benefits:

Here we are at the first of 3 separate leg, stretching poses. After completing the balancing series, we have effectively and efficiently warmed the muscles of the legs for a deeper, more therapeutic approach in this series. While this pose does continue to stretch and tone the greater muscles of the legs, we also start to enter into mild hip and back stretching. Primed, warmed leg muscles allow us the entry.

Technique:

Begin by standing with your feet together. Breathe your arms overhead, allowing your hands/palms to touch in an overhead prayer position. Stretch up to the ceiling with a full inhale and take a big step out, simultaneously bringing your arm out to either side of your body like wings. Keep your arms straight, strong, and at shoulder height. Your step should almost be as wide as your wingspan to start (you can always adjust it later on in the pose).

Take another deep breath and begin to hinge forward from your hip joint. Feel free to soften your knees as you fold, and as needed throughout the pose. Once down, place your hands/fingers to the floor in front of you and give your body a few extra breaths to get used to the deep hamstring stretch.

Grab on to your heels with all 5 fingers. Take a nice hold on your heels and use your arm strength to help fold your body in towards your legs. Eventually your head and heart will drop in a direct line under your hips, leaving your arms holding this position with elbows at a 90-degree angle.

Once your body is sandwiched in as close to your legs as possible, it’s time to start straightening the legs to access the deepest and safest stretch for our hamstrings, hips and low back.

When attempting to straighten the legs, keep your body sandwiched in tight, neck neutral, chest open. Use your arms to hold this position, while you press your feet down and lift your hips high. The opposing movement from feet vs. hips IS what straightens the legs (eventually). Keep your thigh muscles engaged and only straighten as much as you can keep an even, smooth breath. Remember no pose is worth anything is you lose the breathing.

Slowly release the heels, reaching your arms back out like wings. Soften your knees, engage your abdomen and return to a standing position.

The Goods:

Standing Separate Leg Forward Stretching can help alleviate backaches, respiratory challenges, and even depression. Whenever we place our head and hearts below our pelvis, we start redirecting blood flow through the circulatory system. This allows gravitational pull and pressure to be lifted off the low back so the energy from the hips, pelvis, and back can begin to flow effortlessly. This effortless flow helps to rejuvenate intervertebral discs while reducing pelvic inflammation and hip pain. Ironically, opening up the hamstrings in a deep forward fold, actually funnels most of it’s benefits toward low back and hip health. Flushing the body’s blood in an “upside down” posture can also stimulate the brain stem, which helps to release “happy hormones.” So, those of you with lower back pain…focus on opening up your hamstrings! And those of you who may experience “the blues” every now and again, get into going upside down! There’s a reason we did these things naturally as happy, young children.

Benefits:

Here we are at the final balancing posture of our balancing series. Balancing Stick pose is a one legged balance held for 10 seconds only. Because the posture itself is held for such a short amount of time, it is important to give your “all” from the start – and hold on until you hear the “change” command from your teacher. This posture is meant to be a cardiovascular challenge, as the body is positioned to stretch all four chambers of the heart. All 4 limbs pull away from center, as the body maintains its intrinsic core strength to get all benefits from this power-packed posture.

Technique:

Stand with your feet together. Breathe your arms over head and interlace all ten fingers, crossing your thumbs and releasing your index fingers. Stretch up to the ceiling, making your body as tall as possible. Draw your abdomen in and engage your core muscles.

Step forward with your right foot, shifting your body weight in your step. Charge your body forward, simultaneously lifting your back leg (in this case, your left leg) up behind you. Your body eventually makes a capital “T” shape.

Continue to squeeze your arms into your ears, palms pressed firmly, and stretch your arms forward. At the same time, point your back foot, firming the leg muscles, and reaching your back, lifted leg, behind you. Pretend you are the rope in a “human tug-of-war.”

Stretching forward and back, maintain your core muscles to engage and balance around your center. Strive to keep both hips in one line from the side, so that one hip does not lift higher than the other. This will guarantee a beautiful hamstring stretch on the standing leg. Keep your standing leg straight and hold this energy for 10 full seconds.

Step back, bring your body upright, and begin the other side.

The Goods:

As mentioned above, this pose is meant to be a cardiovascular challenge. It’s intense, but lasts only 10 seconds on each side. The standing leg continues to build strength as it balances the weight of a moving body. Your arms reaching forward from center and your free leg kicking back from center, both help to move energy from the waistline. Make sure you keep drawing your core energy in… don’t let your belly hang! This action will help to keep the hips parallel to the floor in the full expression of this posture, guaranteeing a hamstring/hip stretch for the standing, balancing leg.

Be sure to focus your gaze in this posture to help keep your balance for the full 10 seconds!

Benefits:

Here we are at the balancing series! After an intensely focused warm-up series, we arrive at our one-legged balancing series. This is where the mind and body really come together in an effort to strengthen the spirit. Once the body is properly warmed, the challenges of class become a way that we strengthen our spirit, our determination, and our willpower. A true yoga practice nourishes far beyond the physical feats.

Technique:

Stand with your feet touching side by side. Shift your body weight to your left leg and lift your right leg so that your thigh is parallel to the floor and your heel is directly under your knee, forming a perfect 90-degree angle. Slowly curly your body forward to grab a hold of your lifted foot, all ten fingers interlocked tightly to the webbing. Be sure to keep your belly muscles engaged, supporting the deep stretch of your spine. If your lower back hurts at all, stand upright and interlace your fingers around your knee. With either method, be sure to keep your belly muscles hugging the spine.

Your standing leg should be absolutely straight, with the kneecap supported and lifted by its surrounding muscles. From the side, your hip is over your knee is over your heel. Be careful to hold the knee (with muscle) in the center of your standing leg. With too much muscle, it will bend forward. With too little muscle support, it will jam back into hyperextension.

The challenge of this posture is to find that balance point, on one leg. Hold for 60 seconds, and then slowly release the grip, placing both feet on the ground. Stand tall and breathe deeply before beginning the second side.

The Goods:

Standing head-to-knee pose is really one of the quintessential postures of our hot yoga sequence. It marks the beginning of one of our more challenging series. The balancing series, in general, calls upon our physical strength as we seek to steady ourselves on one leg (1/2 the support we are used to having). In this struggle,we are often triggered on a mental and emotional level. Our patience, endurance, stamina, willpower, and determination are all recruited in order to sustain the 60-second balance. A yoga pose, done in perfect form, will always challenge the body and the mind, thus giving rise to the spirit of the practitioner.

Wheatgrass is a nutrient rich type of grass in the wheat family.  It is sold in a variety of forms including dietary supplements such as tablets, capsules, and liquid extracts.  It has been said that wheatgrass has many health benefits, however there are no significant studies to support these health claims.  I’ve decided to break down the facts for you.

Wheatgrass does provide a concentrated amount of nutrients including iron, magnesium, calcium, amino acids as well as vitamins A, C and E.  It contains chemicals in which may have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.  Wheatgrass has been used to increase production of hemoglobin which is responsible for carrying oxygen throughout the body.  It is also used to improve blood sugar levels, preventing tooth decay, improving wound healing and preventing bacterial infections.  There are also reports of people using wheatgrass to remove deposits of drugs, cancer causing agents from the body and removing toxins from the liver and blood.

Other claims include preventing gray hair, reducing high blood pressure, improving digestion, lowers cholesterol, treat bladder infections, kidney stones, common colds, ulcerative colitis, arthritis as well as gout.

It is suggested to take on an empty stomach immediately after extraction.  It should be known that wheatgrass can cause nausea, appetite loss and/or constipation.  It is also important to note the distinct “grassy” taste which makes it difficult to tolerate at times.  The Mayo Clinic states that wheatgrass isn’t a miracle or cure all and should not replace regular medical care, but used in moderation- wheatgrass may add interest to your diet.  So if you’re feeling adventurous and are interested to see the benefits you may experience then wheatgrass may be the trick!

Laurie Taunton MS RD

Spinach Burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 bag thawed and drained chopped spinach
• 2 egg whites
• 1 whole egg
• ¼ cup diced onion
• ½ cup shredded cheese
• ½ cup bread crumbs
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp garlic powder

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl
2. Shape into patties and cook over medium high heat in a non stick skillet with a small amount of cooking spray
3. Patties are done when they are golden and firm (about 4-6 minutes)

Benefits:

The benefits of Awkward Pose are many. Mainly we aim, when properly aligned, to stimulate circulation to the lower limbs of the body. The legs are considered the roots of the nervous system and are stabilized from the ground through the feet. The feet are the epicenters of nerve endings and can dictate a tremendous amount of pleasure and/or tension throughout the body. Proper foot, leg joint, and pelvic alignment can give incredible amounts of flexibility and strength to the spine, which can access the main nerve centers in the body, allowing for increased health and vitality. So although this pose may focus on lower body strength, it’s done in an effort to access full body awareness.

Technique:

Step your right foot 6 inches to the right. Your feet should look like the number 11 throughout all three parts of this pose. Plant your feet firmly into the ground until you feel your leg muscles engage. Bring your arms up parallel to the floor, reaching out at the level of your shoulders directly in front of you. Squeeze all five fingers and straighten your arms, helping to engage your arm muscles.

Part One:

Take a full breath and sit back and down onto an invisible chair. Eventually, your hips will be hidden at the same level behind your knees. Make sure your feet are strongly planted and that they have stayed on the number 11. Keep them parallel! Your knees stay 6 inches apart as well, keeping the structure and energy of the legs. This will help to align your pelvis and hip joints. Pull in your belly and arch your upper body back, maintaining a deep seat with your hips. Stretch your spine up, as you sit down. Don’t forget to keep stretching your arms forward!

Part Two:

From a standing position, rise up onto your tiptoes like a ballerina. Get as high up on your toes as you can. Keeping your arms straight and strong in front of you, parallel to the floor, pull in your abdominal wall to engage your core muscles. Begin to slowly bend your knees. Eventually, your thighs will be parallel to the floor and your heels lifted 6-8 inches off the floor with your whole body’s weight balanced on your tippy toes! Keep your back straight, your abs engaged, and your arms stretching forward. Never stop lifting your heels!

Part Three:

From a standing position, hug your knees and thighs together like they were tied with rope. Keep your feet on the number 11, but if you need to lift the heels slightly off the floor to rotate your thighs together, that’s ok. They should adjust naturally. Keep a straight spine, your abs engaged and arms stretching (they should be BURNING by now J) and slowly start to bend your knees (keeping them together) to slide your spine down an invisible wall. Go slow like you’re riding an elevator down. Stop and few inches above your heels to be sure you’re not resting on your calf muscles or resting in your joints. Keep squeezing your thighs together with your knees touching. Your arms stretched from the shoulders, parallel to your thighs, your thighs parallel to the floor, and your spine is stick straight. Hold it and breathe. Slowly come up the way you came down. The strength of this pose is built through the entrance and exit.

The Goods:

As stated earlier, yoga is all about increasing awareness. The nervous system is like “awareness headquarters.” All roads lead to Rome, and all yoga postures lead to stimulating the nervous system in one way or another. In all 3 parts of Awkward Pose, it is our goal to heat up and stimulate the feet and legs (the roots of the nervous system) and to help free up and debris blocking communication from the legs to the hips, which is the seat of the spine.  In all 3 parts, we work to hold the spine in traction, always lengthening up, in hopes of pulling the strength of the legs upward toward the base of the spine. Thinking of the legs like roots can really help one understand the meaning of growing from the ground up. This will and can counteract the weight of gravity and help you maintain an upright posture throughout life.

Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. We get stuck on one thought and can’t rid ourselves of it. And that’s just plain not healthy. The good news is that there is a way to overcome that, or at least minimize it.

Crowd it out…sort of.

When we crowd out food, we talk about putting the healthy choices in front of the not-so-healthy choices in an effort to eat less of the later and essentially eliminate it. When it comes to feelings of sadness or anger – or really anything that isn’t positive – we aren’t suggesting burying them, because that’s not healthy either. We just mean limit the time you spend dwelling on them. It’s really just a variation on crowding it out.

So…when you’re overwhelmed by an emotion for an extended period of time, embrace it as you would your favorite treat. BUT, after 15 or 30 minutes or so, put those not-so-great thoughts into its own little box, and leave it there for the rest of the day.  If those thoughts creep back into your mind, push them out and tell yourself that tomorrow you’ll open that box of thoughts for another 30 minutes or so. You’ll soon see that when you can master this technique, you’ll feel better because you acknowledge the not-so-great thoughts, but don’t dwell on them.

Diana Bisso, founder of The Cleansing Project, is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Senior Bikram Yoga teacher and Certified Pilates instructor. Having spent nearly 15 years focusing on health and wellness, Diana is passionate about helping others align themselves to receive the fullest possible experience of life. Keep in touch with The Cleansing Project on Facebook, Twitter, Blog and monthly newsletter.

Benefits:

The benefits of back-bending with correct form are infinite. Opening the front of the spinal column can provide access to spaces between the vertebral discs that are otherwise closed off from poor postural habits. Back-bending with proper alignment can help to strengthen the vertebral column, stimulate the central nervous system, and nourish the soft cushions between the vertebrae that act as shock absorbers for our system.

Forward folding in Padahastasana (Hands to Feet pose) has similar effects for the back-side vertebral column. Plus, there’s the added compression to the vital organs against the thighs, when we are folded to maximum shape.

Technique:

Standing with your feet together, your arms overhead in grip-lock position, stretch up to the ceiling as high as you can. Create the longest body possible. Feel and imagine all the bones of your spine slightly separating as you stretch higher and higher up. Slowly release your head back without losing your vertical lift. With a big, deep breath, start to draw a line on the ceiling towards the back wall with your fingertips. Remember that as you start to reach back, you must give proper attention to keeping the lift of your spine. Back-bending is not meant to compress the back of the spine, it’s meant to stretch the front of the spine. That being said, as your back-bends develop, it’s important you keep prioritizing the initial stretch of the spinal chord and column. Always lift, hold the lift, and challenge the bend.  Keep your legs strong and your abdominal wall pulled in.  Keep your breath high in the chest and keep stretching up and back. Eventually, you will push your hips and thighs slightly forward to counteract the balance, but never so much that you pinch the lower back. Remember, stretch up, up, up as you lean back!

Slowly come out of the backbend to an upright position.

To forward fold, lengthen out of your lower back with a deep breath and continue the movement forward into a fold. Bend your knees if you need to.

Separate your hands and walk them around the back of your feet to grab onto your heels. Very naturally, your arms will wrap around your legs, hands will tuck under feet, leaving your belly on your thighs, chest on your knees, and your face will tuck in close to your legs below your knees.  With the body in this position, tight and compact, begin to stretch the back of your legs by pushing your feet down and lifting your hips up. Make sure to keep your elbows bending, and your arm and grip muscles engaged to keep the form of the body against the thighs as you start to straighten your legs.

The Goods:

Back-bending and Forward-folding both provide massive amounts of energetic release. Back-bending can be used to stimulate, or awaken energy from the base of the spine and from the spinal chord.  Forward-folding does just the opposite, as it promotes a calming sensation through the central nervous system from the closing in, and quieting alignment of folding into ourselves. Each can be used to balance the energy of the body, and can provide incredible healing opportunities for the anatomy of the spine.

The food industry is insanely clever when it comes to marketing. These days, it seems that if we just slap the world ‘healthy’ or ‘low fat’ on a bag of something, shoppers will automatically believe it’s good for them. Little do they realize there are consequences: by taking the fat out, something else has to be added in. And guess what? Quite often that something could be just as bad, if not worse, than the fat originally in that item.

But perhaps the smartest marketing tactic we’ve seen recently, comes from a manufacturer of a popular junk food that markets itself as nutritious. We won’t disclose what this item actually was, but we will share some of the details, as well as the truths:

– This item has as much Vitamin C as a cup of blueberries, but blueberries are relatively low in Vitamin C
– This item has as much iron as a cup of spinach, but spinach doesn’t have a lot of iron
– This item has as much fiber as a bowl of oatmeal, but oatmeal often isn’t very high in fiber

When things sound too good to be true, they almost always are but even so, we can’t stress enough how important it is to look beyond the brilliant marketing and really examine what it is we’re eating. Make small changes. Read nutrition labels. Talk to a Health Coach. There’s really no right or wrong answer here, because at the end of the day what matters is that you try, and try your best.

Eat healthy, be happy.

Diana Bisso, founder of The Cleansing Project, is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Senior Bikram Yoga teacher and Certified Pilates instructor. Having spent nearly 15 years focusing on health and wellness, Diana is passionate about helping others align themselves to receive the fullest possible experience of life. Keep in touch with The Cleansing Project on Facebook, Twitter, Blog and monthly newsletter.

As Health Coaches, one of the most important topics that we stress is the concept of life food. That’s the type of food that nourishes your soul. You can’t see it, touch it or taste it, but you can feel it. And that’s where self love comes into the picture.

In order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it is so important to make taking care of yourself a priority and give yourself some well-deserved love. If you’re unsure where to start, we’ve come up with a few ideas:

• Incorporate movement into your life: whether it’s yoga or pilates, running or weight lifting, movement releases endorphins and gives you energy
• Find a hobby that you like and make sure to set aside time on a regular basis to dedicate to it
• Eat high quality foods that make you feel good. Yes, organic produce is more expensive but you’re worth it!
• Don’t be hard on yourself if and when things go wrong. We’re only human.
• Create a relaxing living space for yourself. Light candles or paint rooms in cool, soothing colors. Take a bubble bath! Whatever it takes to help you unwind.
• Have fun! We’re programmed to work work work. Make sure to take a break! Life is meant to be enjoyed.

We can’t emphasize this enough: create an action plan and make sure to follow it through. Because happiness radiates…and that’s priceless.

Eat healthy. Be happy.

Diana Bisso, founder of The Cleansing Project, is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Senior Bikram Yoga teacher and Certified Pilates instructor. Having spent nearly 15 years focusing on health and wellness, Diana is passionate about helping others align themselves to receive the fullest possible experience of life. Keep in touch with The Cleansing Project on Facebook, Twitter, Blog and  monthly newsletter.

Pre-registration required. $30/person.
6507 Woodhaven Blvd., Rego Park, NY 11374
718-275-2100

Sat. May 18th
Rego Park Studio

60-Minute Class
12:00pm-1:00pm

15 minute break

90-Minute Q&A
1:15pm-2:45pm

Moving forward with our new, extended offerings, please join Hot Yoga 4 You’s FIRST EVER Hot Yoga Q&A!

The day will start with a 60-minute class led by 60-minute class creator, Diana Bisso. Following a brief 15 minute break, we will regroup to discuss your questions on the 90 minute and/or 60 minute sequence. Bring questions personal to your practice and/or those that your fellow practitioners can benefit from!

This is a great opportunity to dive deeper into the nuances of a yoga sequence we love. Diana will answer as many questions as time (and her knowledge!) permits.

To help us organize this forum, please submit your questions when you register for the Q&A. Come one, come all!

Questions on sequence, alignment, and philosophy (even diet & nutrition for the yoga practitioner) are all welcome.

Pre-registration required. $30/person.
6507 Woodhaven Blvd., Rego Park, NY 11374
718-275-2100