On a Lifelong Yoga Bender

May the farce be with you

2012-02-28T07:12:00.002-06:00

There's also this (not a farce) and this, which definitely is. I have no dog in the yoga fight related to the latter link there, but it does seem ridiculous to assert that misbehavior or misconduct is more likely in yoga than in any other activity. You could substitute just about any other occupation for the word 'yoga' in that article and it would be true. Lust is ubiquitous and not specific to yoga.

Do this and get fit. No kidding. The vinyasa flow is great for flexibendy people.

Don't hate on other people's dreams, even if they involve the ukulele

2012-02-27T14:58:00.003-06:00

Give your blesslings and support to people's dreams. Because when you do, you realize that ukuleles are portable and things like this can happen:

Trying to practice some yoga today as well. Like, as in all aspects of yoga. Like, be the yoga, dude. True I did some backbends and some vinyasa (and went for a run) but mostly I'm trying to practice karma yoga. It's tough to be patient with people who do stupid things, but I suppose what would we learn if everyone were perfect...right? People do stupid things so we can learn compassion.

So I am grateful for the opportunity to learn compassion today (that sounds so self-righteous...). Ho hum.

Love-it list, February 23

2012-02-23T07:55:00.004-06:00

I am grateful for (and loooove) backbends, especially because I have been in the car a LOT lately and sitting over the steering wheel shortens your/my spine like really nothing else can.

I am grateful for friends who share their wisdom. It's all good and well to read books (fiction and nonfiction) about wisdom, but hearing it from another person just makes it more digestible. Books are like vitamins, but friends are like awesome nutritious foods.

Scenery. I am grateful for beauty and adventures to find it.

This is not me but I kinda wish it was. These guys are paddleboarding - PADDLEBOARDING - down the Mississippi River. Just wow.

I am grateful for good yoga teachers who don't take themselves or the yoga too seriously. I am slowly untraining myself from the idea that yoga only happens in the yoga classroom when really it can happen anywhere in the world. While I love taking yoga classes and being led through sequences of poses, especially vinyasa, I am - you are - the maker of yoga anywhere. No need to feel guilty about not getting to class; just do yoga where you are.

Finally I am grateful for words - the good words that my favorite authors and bloggers write, and the words that I string together here and in other places. These words have been on my mind lately. Even though there are two "n't"s in the phrase, it's still a message of encouragement. Maybe in some other language there's a way to express it without "n't"s...

Just because I haven't, doesn't mean I can't.

Have an awesome day wherever you are.

Just what I needed

2012-02-22T20:35:00.001-06:00

Even just a few years ago I could see myself being totally bored, fidgety or curmudgeonly even if I had to take a class like I had tonight. This perfect, awesome and gentle class. Best thing about the class, no second-guessing, hands-down: SAVASANA. It was one of thooooooose kinds of savasanas where all was right with the world. Deep. Still. Quiet. Ommmmmygoodness.

Funny how perspective changes over time. Don't get me wrong, I still prefer a class that kills me and lays me out flat on the floor. But in a way this class killed me too. With kindness.

Namaste.

Get the funk out of here

2012-02-20T14:01:00.000-06:00

If you're in a funk, whether because of the winter and lack of sunlight, or because of life events, or just because, then this post is for you:

There are three types of literary conflicts: man vs. self; man vs. others; and man vs. nature. People generally have too much of the first two types of conflict in their lives. Either we're fighting with other people, or we're fighting with ourselves. Sometimes we fight with other people because it's a distraction from fighting with ourselves, or because we've gotten so much practice fighting with ourselves that we have to try out our mad skillz on others. What you have to do is to get more conflict with nature. I'm not talking about wrestling bears or wrangling alligators. I mean take a hike. Or a walk. Or (gasp!) do some yoga. You have to get out in the world. At least half an hour. An hour is better. Every day. Either without music, or with an awesome feel-good mix. The endorphin rush of being active will help your mood. Alternately (or additionally), go to the local humane society and visit the animals there. That's nature too, and you will be doing both the dogs and cats and yourself some good. The moral of the story is that you have to balance out the types of conflicts you have in your life. More nature.
Sometimes you have to trick yourself into feeling better. Cheap laughter often does the trick. Favorite funny movie? Watch it. Favorite comedy routine? Watch it again. Favorite humorous blog? Read it. (I suggest Damnyouautocorrect.com. That keeps me in stitches. NSFW, however.) Laughter is a mood lifter. Even cheap laughter. A little laughter leads to a lot more laughter. Alternately, do something that you know will make you feel better, like a massage or pedicure. Or a bubble bath. Or put candles on the dinner table and light them while you eat.
Wear yourself out. If you're in a funk you're probably not sleeping well. Too much time in your head and too little time in your body. Wear yourself the F out. Take three yoga classes. Go to a kickboxing or Krav Maga class or four. In one day. Run five miles. Or one mile. Hard. Work your body and your mind will shut itself off. And you can't believe how good a super night's sleep will make you feel and how it will change your perspective. If meditation or prayer is part of your routine, or if you would like it to be, try doing that after working out. The best feeling in the world is the savasana after a vigorous yoga class. You know what I mean, the kind of savasana where if someone offered you a million dollars to get up and walk out of class, you'd still lay there on the floor. Bliss. Ahhhhh...
Go be inspired. If you're able to travel, even for a little daytrip or overnight, get out of town. If you're near super-cool wonders of nature, like the mountains, canyons, forests, rivers, oceans - you get the point - go appreciate them. A staycation is also good, like visiting an art museum, an independent bookstore, an aesthetically pleasing religious institution like an old cathedral.
Do something service-oriented (like the humane society!). This is a win-win option. It makes you less fixated on your own funk and helps someone else simultaneously.
Deliberately eat better. Find a delicious recipe with fresh ingredients, especially citrus, and cook it. There are lots of food blogs with awesome kitchen ideas. Stay away from cheap sugar highs though. Those can make your mood crash. (And don't forget the candles on the table!)
Be explicitly positive. A few years ago, Oprah had a gratitude journal project. It's a brilliant idea. Corny, yes. But if you have to find five things to be appreciate every day, you reorient your thinking and reorganize your frame of mind.
If you're a yoga type, learn an inversion pose, like a headstand or handstand. If you already know those poses, do them! They're good for a change of perspective (think: Dead Poets Society, you know that scene where they stand on the desk).

So go forth and get de-funked. Phatasana is cheering you on. And let me know how it goes.

Zazen

2012-02-20T12:54:00.001-06:00

Tr: If by the practice of sitting, one becomes a Buddha.....

Challenge and reward

2012-02-18T09:06:00.004-06:00

The New York Times has a super-interesting article today about habit formation and the data-mining that it makes possible. I couldn't help but think about the effort so many people take to get to yoga classes. Do you all do this anticipation + reward thing? Lay out your yoga clothes and then reward yourself with something afterward? Here's an excerpt from the article (well worth the read):

Luckily, simply understanding how habits work makes them easier to control. Take, for instance, a series of studies conducted a few years ago at Columbia University and the University of Alberta. Researchers wanted to understand how exercise habits emerge. In one project, 256 members of a health-insurance plan were invited to classes stressing the importance of exercise. Half the participants received an extra lesson on the theories of habit formation (the structure of the habit loop) and were asked to identify cues and rewards that might help them develop exercise routines.

The results were dramatic. Over the next four months, those participants who deliberately identified cues and rewards spent twice as much time exercising as their peers. Other studies have yielded similar results. According to another recent paper, if you want to start running in the morning, it’s essential that you choose a simple cue (like always putting on your sneakers before breakfast or leaving your running clothes next to your bed) and a clear reward (like a midday treat or even the sense of accomplishment that comes from ritually recording your miles in a log book). After a while, your brain will start anticipating that reward — craving the treat or the feeling of accomplishment — and there will be a measurable neurological impulse to lace up your jogging shoes each morning.

Painless hot buttered pigeon (from YJ)

2012-02-15T13:11:00.003-06:00

Pigeon is pretty fun for me, but I look around the room sometimes and I see people who seem really uncomfortable in it and I always wondered about a variation for them. Yoga Journal describes something they call 'painless pigeon' and I love it. This seems very kind on the knees and hips.

Isaac Hayes' painless hot buttered pigeon

They do a nice step-by-step description of getting into the pose.

How's your yoga today? I'm fixin to do some pranayama and backbends to warm up in this icebox I call an office. It's not as cold as northern Europe right now, but nearly. Brrrr.

Namaste warm y'all.

Good class

2012-02-14T16:40:00.004-06:00

You know it's a good class when you're already sore in strange places just an hour after class. Maybe I'm weird but I totally love the feeling of having sore muscles. A few years ago I climbed a 14er out West and the day after I could feel every painful little muscle in my body. Even my ear muscles hurt.

And it was total bliss.

Look who does Bikram yoga!

2012-02-14T10:36:00.001-06:00

A friend convinced Romijn to try Bikram yoga, which she credits with helping her shed more than 60 pounds. "At first the idea of doing a 90-minute workout in a 105-degree room sounded like torture," Romijn admits. "But the sweating is exactly what I became addicted to. My body changed dramatically almost immediately. I'm stronger, I have more energy and I feel better, too. I was proud to get back into a bikini!"

Do yoga! I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it!

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana

2012-02-13T14:21:00.000-06:00

There's nothing like doing Isaac Hayes' hot buttered pigeon on a cold and blustery day like today. If you have tight, inflexible hips or just general malaise, then imagine a nice gooey piping hot buttery pigeon and voila. See, it's working already.

Isaac Hayes' hot buttered pigeon

One more thing. In the spirit of Maximum Enthusiasm 2012, i.e., trying new things and sticking to the new year's resolutions (mine was to have more fun + play and so far so good!), I had realization in a fleeting moment of enlightenment the other day:

Just because I haven't yet, doesn't mean I can't.

So there. It's shorthand for the Bikramism "never too late, never too old, never too bad to start over and begin again from scratch." I have also been thinking about all the times in class when students would say to me and the other teachers that they can't do certain things. They might have been right some of the time, but can't always seemed like code for "I don't want to" do certain things, certain poses. It's possible that people say can't so they don't have to try, or because they don't want to try. Or they're afraid of failing.

Seriously folks. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can fail harder at today!

Relentless positivity + unreasonable loyalty

2012-02-11T13:34:00.000-06:00

Is it time for early spring cleaning? Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch onto the affirmative. If you're in need of a little inspiration, create yourself an enthusiastic feel-good playlist. My yoga mix today: All I want is You (U2); We're Going to be Friends (The White Stripes); Take it Easy; (The Eagles - very un-Dude, I know. But I like The Eagles.); Under African Skies (Paul Simon); Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads).

And if that's not enough for you, here's some unapologetic advice:

I seek, and spend time with, people that are relentlessly positive and unreasonably loyal.

Go forth and yoga.

Like everyone else

2012-02-06T13:43:00.000-06:00

I had a hydraulic yoga mat installed in my office. Didn't you? (What is a hydraulic yoga mat anyway?)

Kardashian Karma Kwote

2012-02-05T18:46:00.000-06:00

This bit of yogic wisdom from class yesterday:

If Paris Hilton thinks my butt looks gross I really don't care. At least I have a butt.

-Kim Kardashian

namaste

Maximum Enthusiasm 2012: Have you done one thing yet today that scares you?

2012-02-01T15:01:00.002-06:00

Day ain't over yet. Hop to it. Don't be afraid to try. Or to fail. Try harder, and FAIL HARDER.

10 backbends

2012-01-30T15:08:00.002-06:00

Back to basics. Ten done.

And the debate continues...

2012-01-29T08:43:00.000-06:00

This would be helpful everywhere

2012-01-28T20:19:00.000-06:00

I do yoga in most airports. No qualms about finding a quiet spot to do some backbends or downdogs. Right after teacher training, my very wonderful lovely amazing dear friend and I taught our first "mock" Bikram classes in an airport lounge (right next to the smoking room, of all places). But this is quite spectacular: an airport with a dedicated yoga room.

Lost in translation

2012-01-25T12:49:00.002-06:00

I learned in class on Monday that what we usually call "happy baby" pose is actually called 'dead bug.'

I like the Sanskrit version better.

2012-01-25T12:10:00.001-06:00

What's cool is that I can play all the songs here on the ukulele. <3

We are all unique individuals.

2012-01-20T10:44:00.002-06:00

All of us who commented on the NYT yoga article, anyway.

Too good is no good

2012-01-20T10:18:00.003-06:00

Everybody needs a little structure and a little struggle in their lives. You gotta stay on your toes. Too good of a life is no good. Too much freedom and too many choices are actually limiting.

Structure creates freedom.

It's everywhere.

2012-01-18T15:01:00.000-06:00


Put your exactly forehead on your exactly knee.

Everything wrecks your body

2012-01-18T13:12:00.003-06:00

God, Krishna and everybody has been responding to the NYT story about How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body. How can I not add to the cacophony of retorts and rejoinders? (Among the best, Spaweek's commentary.) This one by Paul Raeburn isn't bad either:

The Times could run a similar headline on almost any form of physical activity. It might commission a piece called “How Running Can Wreck Your Knees,” or “How Tennis Can Wreck Your Elbow,” or “How Moving A Refrigerator Can Crush Your Toes, Break Your Back, and Rip Your Rotator Cuff.” But the story it did was on yoga.

On a metaphysical level, we're all on a collision course with death marked by injury potholes. Sometimes injuries are foisted upon us, as in random accidents (human vs. car, human vs. curb, etc.), and sometimes we elect into situations that might put us at risk. I think the difference between tennis wrecking your elbows, running wrecking knees, biking wrecking backs and hips and moving fridges wrecking toes, backs and rotator cuffs is that people don't expect most of those activities to have the unqualified positive health impacts that yoga does. Of course people break bones while skateboarding, skiing, or doing gymnastics. People break bones by falling off of curbs, too. But people aren't supposed to get hurt doing yoga. It's supposed to fix their injuries. And it does, but it can also cause them.

There's an unfounded and false expectation for yoga that all it does is heal. Superyoga, the cure-all.

I have had yoga injuries. Lots of them. Fortunately none of them have been permanently debilitating. Plenty of overstretched muscles. A seriously injured knee (fixed, ironically, by laying off the yoga for a bit)... I have also seen lots of yoga injuries. People passing out and faceplanting in class. Someone dislocated a shoulder in class once. That was gross.

People faceplant outside of yoga class all the time, and they also dislocate their shoulders doing non-yoga activities. The point is that like everything else, like life, yoga is not safe. Nothing is. However, if done well and thoughfully, yoga can bring lots of health and joy to people's lives. Like just about every other physical activity.

The difference for me between yoga and just about every other physical activity, except running, is that with yoga, you just need yourself. No props, no machines, no equipment, no partner, no special court or activity space. It's just you and the yoga. It's portable. It's minimalist. (Running is minimalist as well. All you need are shoes, and these days even that's debatable.) And it does heal and help. I have seen some pretty miraculous things happen because of a student's yoga practice, and that is totally cool. Knees fixed, movement restored, flexibility gained, weight lost.

But it's not overnight. It's not a traveling salvation show where people fling their crutches, canes, inhalers and medications into the trash cans. It takes work. It takes time. It takes practice and care.

The subtext of the NYT article is really an indictment of yoga teachers and their egos. It's not really about yoga injuries, it's about the danger posed by teachers who lack training, lack moderation, or lack respect for their bodies and others'. Yoga schools are filled with instructors of the "wounded healer" variety, who deliberately or unconsciously believe that by fixing others they fix themselves. Or by punishing themselves or their students, they achieve purification and atonement. Bad yoga teachers wreck yoga. And if you want an unbiased assessment of a teacher or studio, as yet there are no report cards. No industry-wide standard of evaluation. Only online reviews which can be both informative and patently misleading.

There's also some selection problems with yoga. You're unlikely to join a bicycle racing team if you're 300lbs with asthma, junk knees and if you can't begin to think about touching your toes, much less see them. Therefore, cycling injuries amongst this group are probably few and far between. Yet this person is the ideal candidate for a beginner yoga practice. However, yoga classes, especially the beginner or all-levels classes, have at least two identifiable problems: 1. multi-level classes mean that either you teach to the lowest common denominator and the more advanced students get bored, or you teach to the mid-range or advanced level and the beginners get injured; or 2. new yoga students probably don't know their limits or just in what shape their body really is, so they try to emulate the teacher or the more advanced students.

Yoga attracts all types, including the woundedest of the wounded who have been cradling their injuries and comforting themselves with the labels of their diagnoses for a long time. Yoga students also lie about their conditions, omit important information about their health, selectively remember doctors' instructions, and forge their own interpretations about their health. Sometimes yoga teachers are put in really bad situations beyond their control. We can't select our students; we teach the people who show up. And sometimes people are just looking for someone or something to blame for their problems and yoga is a convenient target. Of everything described, this is the most unfortunate problem because yoga has the potential to do so much good.

For all its faults, one of the most admirable tenets of Bikram yoga is that you never touch your students. It protects both the students and the teachers. If the students can't do with their bodies what you describe with your words, then that pose is not available for them. Today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe after a year of practice. But you never touch your students. Maneuvering advanced students into poses can be really tempting as well, especially the flexybendy ones (ahem). If the strength isn't there to get you into the pose, don't force it.

My final comment about the article is that many of the people who achieved the injuries described really had to work hard to get them. Most people are not going to sit in vajrasana for hours on end, and this is not even the prescribed execution of the posture. No duh his knees went kaput. The injuries described in the article are not the average, run-of-the-mill yoga injuries that teachers see on a regular basis. It's much more likely that we hear students say, "I had a facelift two days ago and my doctor says I'm cleared to practice but I can't do any inversions." Well okay then. Fair enough.

It's more likely we hear, "I have carpal tunnel syndrome." Or, I have a torn hamstring. Or I twisted my ankle. Or I was in a car accident. Or I have fused vertebrae. Or I have vertigo. Or I have a headache. Or I just finished chemo. Or I am overworked and underpaid. Or I am constipated (dear god please let the constipated people spare us the details). These are more common problems.

The moral of the story? Do yoga, with care.

Fun and challenging yoga poses

2012-01-18T12:11:00.004-06:00

Let's play.

Eight crooked limbs? Not as hard as it looks after all.

I did this one - firefly - for the first time this past fall. Glee. Bliss.