Do Yoga at Work

How to Dress for Yoga at Work

2012-02-20T03:17:00.001-08:00

The Un Hoodie

Yoga people know that yoga is more than exercise, or a series of poses.
It’s a philosophy and a lifestyle, as well.

“Enjoy today, cause tomorrow never comes.”

“Live in the now.”

“Enjoy the Journey.”

These yoga ideas are key to the school of yoga, and, of course, much easier said than done.

Yoginis lead busy, hectic lives in the real world. They care for families and houses, shop, work and try to squeeze in the yoga.

Difficult enough; but add a new wardrobe into the mix? I don’t think it’s necessary. Instead, we can wear yoga clothing all the time.

Here are some tips for keeping yoga in your life.

Stay Appropriate

Work is work. You can’t show up in a tutu.

Jackets and skirts, suits and dresses may be found in materials that allow the body movement and comfort.

Cottons and especially organic cottons allow the skin to breathe and soak up moisture.

Green is the mantra of the 2010s, and rightly so. Manmade fabrics are polluting and uncomfortable.

A little bit of lycra or spandex holds the look together. 5% is generally enough.

Elasticity – Yes, by all means. An elastic band choking your chakras – No way! We want to let the Prana flow.

Some poses (inversions) are up-side down. The point being to increase blood flow to the head and heart; not to increase the amount of skin on display.

Sometimes you need skin. In class, we roll up our pant legs for a better grip when standing in “tree,” position. The foot grasps the inner thigh for a more stable pose. This is also possible on a cotton, matte material.

· A firm grasp on the upper back is required for shoulder stand. Here is where the billowy shirt will end up down around your head, cutting off your air supply and leaving your upper body exposed. A simple cotton shirt, loose enough to get your hands under; but snug enough to provide body cover is preferable.

Highly recommended – Layers

· Some Asanas make you hot

· Some cool you down

· At the end of our practice, when we go into Savasana and meditation pose, we need to maintain our body temperature. Jackets and socks go back on and sometimes and additional yoga blanket, as well.

Shoes

· Should be closed in the back – flip flops and sandals that require the wearer to grip from the toes, decrease stability and wear out the knees

· Should kick off easily – Yoga is a barefoot endeavor.

Scarves

· Dress up an outfit

· Can be knotted and used as yoga props

Be comfortable, appropriate, as stylish as you like. Live Yoga and fill the world with Good Karma.

For more ideas, please see:

www.DoYogaatWork.net

Desk Yoga with Rodney Yee

2012-02-20T02:56:00.003-08:00

Desk Yoga with Rodney Yee

http://youtu.be/BBh7NQwlFIA

This is a nice 5 minute yoga series that can be performed at one's desk. Not only is it effective for releasing the kinks that build up from working on the computer; but it is quite acceptable to do at the desk, without drawing attention to yourself. Maximum, people will join in and stretch their stiff necks, and shoulders as well.

Rodney Yee is a wonderful yoga celeb. I have his, Morning Yoga DVD, and it is about worn out. He's one of those teachers that make it look easy; even though its not.

I wish I could afford to have him advertise my site: www.DoYogaatWork.net. But, then, I would have to raise my prices and working women in my economic bracket would be priced out of my market. But ther is plent of free Rodney on YouTube. Find him and enjoy.

Thank, Rodney!

How to Meditate at Work

2012-02-19T04:55:00.001-08:00

How to Meditate at Work

Sit on the front edge of your chair.

Feet close together, outer edges of feet parallel to walls.

Sit up straight.

Imagine a puppeteer holding your head straight by a hair in the middle of your head.

Place your hands, palms up on your knees.

Focus your eyes on a point just beyond the tip of your nose.

Breathe in. Feel the breathe flow up your nostrils and down your spine, and then, on to your feet.

Breathe out and notice the path of your breathe.

Breathe in and visualize the vertebrae in your spine stretching farther apart.

Breathe out, maintaining the stretch in your back.

Visualize the night sky, filled with stars, meteorites and planets.

Each in breathe propels you through the cosmos, flitting between the flying meteors.

Each out breathe affects the path you fly upon.

Control your flight with your in breath and your out breath.

You have left your body; your spirit is zipping through the Heavens. Steer with your breathe.

Left nostril breathing steers you left.

Right nostril breathing steers you left.

Fold your hands in front of your sternum in prayer position and push gently to relax the shoulders.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Namaste

Flex the Mind

2012-02-19T04:07:00.001-08:00

Flex the Mind

The actual goal of yoga poses, physical yoga practice, is to teach the mind to focus.

While most people begin yoga for the physical benefits. which are many, the purpose of asana is actually to help us enter a state of concentration or meditation, and then, to go beyond.

This is a state that one needs to experience. It can't be adequately explained. Devout followers of any religion attempt to immerse themselves into this state when they pray to their Deity. Yoga simply offers a tool to enter into this focus.

Meditation is not a sleep. It is a concentration, a focus. The mind sharpens and hones in during meditation.

Each yoga pose requires intense mental concentration. Placement of the body, along with control of the breathe forces the mind to stick to the subject at hand.

Yoga poses aid us to control our thought processes. They train us to concentrate. The yoga teachers know that our mind will wander. That's okay, they tell us to acknowledge that our thoughts have strayed, but to come back to the pose.

Iyengar encourages practitioners to use props such as blocks, ropes or chairs to practice the yoga poses. The actual stance itself is not the goal. The point of the pose is to straighten the spine, loosen the kinks, and control the breathe until the practitioner feels the Prana flow from the heels of the feet through the top of the head.

What does that mean, "Let the Prana Flow."? Is it mere yoga chatter? No, it is an actual feeling that can be attained, even by a new practitioner with a skillful instructor. Again, it is something that must be felt. The best I can describe it is a feeling of lightness, or relief that moves up the spine. It takes place in a nano second and the first few times, you don't know if you've actually experienced it or if the yoga teacher has convinced you that you have felt the Prana flow.

Its a feeling of magic. It is a fleeting feeling of release: from your body, from the mundane world around you. It is a feeling that we are joined to the universe and that the universe is us. It is feeling that you want to catch and hold onto; but you can't. It disappears faster than the speed of light.

The first time you feel it, you think that you imagined it. After many tries, if it happens again, you are still not sure. After more and more practice and successes, you actually learn to succeed in this feeling on your own. Then, you begin to work on it. To call on it at will.

During meditation, we call on this feeling and we try to maintain it for a longer duration.

Yogi: heal thyself

2012-01-26T04:24:00.001-08:00

I have been neglecting my practice. I am obsessed with my work. I skipped class last night as well.

I went to bed with a stiff neck. It was worse in the morning, which I spent at my desk, working. Finally, a migraine took over. I rose to get a pill, but couldnt strsighten my back.

Decided to practice what I preach and painfully rolled out my yoga mat. I summoned Dr. Mellissa West via my Galaxy Tab and YouTube. I let her guide me through a lesson on self. We began with legs up the wall pose.

I dedicated my practise to a woman who I have hurt very badly. I never meant to harm her bit I did. I tried to send her psychic messages to tell her how sorry I am.

My pain has passed. What about hers?

What good is wealth, while others go hungry?

2012-01-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

I read the Bhagavadgita , Gandi's version, about three times. Then, I loaned the book out; that Karma hasn't come back to me yet. Maybe I am making up for not returning someone else's book.

Anyway, the point is, I don't have the book to check the story, but I remember a tale about an avatar who finds 2 believers in the forest. The first believer, a pious man, is shattered when the avatar tell him he must die and be reborn 3 more times before reaching enlightenment. The second believer is told that he has as many cycles of death and rebirth in his future as there are leaves on the trees.

Oddly, the second man rejoices in the news. He is the true believer.

Many saints return to earth to help others reach enlightenment. This makes sense for 2 reasons.

First, why would someone leave their son, or daughter, or spouse behind if he had the possibility of saving them.
Second, if one knows how to reach enlightenment once, then it would be possible to do it again.

Whenever I am feeling truly miserable, I find that the best thing for my spirits is to find someone even worse off and help them. Their gratitude builds me back up. Is that selfish of me? Maybe, but it does put out good Karma anyway, so I think it is acceptable.

I hope I don't sound religious. I'm not. I just like the story.

Here is a great video clip, reggae music and Karma. Watch it. You will definitely share it.

Watch this - You will definitely share this.

Reincarnation

2012-01-04T12:42:00.001-08:00

I had a realization this evening.
I took a yoga class with Yogayak on my Galaxy Tab.
She did a guided savasana meditation. This pose makes me nervous, I itch, I twitch.
Half way through, I sit up and transition into sitting meditation.
I closed my eyes and drifted out of my body and flitted between the stars through the universe. This is how I imagine bliss. I know how to go to this place. I like it there. I am weightless. I have a tiny upturned smile and I navigate by alternating the air in my nostrils.
I have learned how to go to this place.
I can't stay long. Never long enough.
But this time I was able to maintain the feeling. I remembered that I had dedicated my practise to someone that I cared about, who was suffering.
I called myself back. What good is Heaven without my loved ones. I want them to follow me into the blissfull space flight.

Job Hunting

2011-12-30T04:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, how many of you out there, "between jobs," (like me).

I have joined the ranks of the unemployed. At this point in my life, I am considering this as an opportunity to reinvent myself. Long past, the days that I was merely trying to find myself. I found myself. Now I would like to take myself somewhere else.

Here is my road map:

Do yoga.

Wear and sell yoga clothes.

Create a website, and a blog about yoga, work, life, from a working woman point of view.

Help WOMEN around me. I want to employ women from Israel and Palestine.

Collect a line of yoga clothes that women can wear to the office, school, business meetings, the PTA and even to yoga class.

There are a lot of people out there selling yoga clothing. But, Wow! Look at the prices on those Capri pants! Why are they so high? Most of us are not millionaires.

First step - optimize my website. I am learning Photoshop at home, Thanks to YouTube tutorials.

Step two - SEO. This is the new buzzword of the year, deal with it.

Step three - Open a sewing factory right here in my own neighborhood. Plenty of women here could use a job and would prefer to work near home.

Step four - Found a TV channel for Yogis. One hour sessions, lots of teachers, many different styles and philosophies of yoga.

Step five - Open a yoga room in the center of an office district. Members can stop in at any time and join a class in session for as long or as short a time as they can squeeze into their schedule. No dressing rooms, just a floor, mats, props and Yoga TV.

Other projects:

Do Yoga in the Kitchen: a new video clip blog featuring good food made by good friends wearing yoga attire. See how its made, get the recipes. Good yogis making their most successful recipes and living yoga in the moment.

The benefits of working in the corporate environment too often include frustration, humiliation, under-compensation, and soul selling. O Krishna! Save me! (feel free to substitute the Deity of your choice.) I've been reading the Bhaga Vad Gita, and I like to say, "O Krishna!"

Please join me on my journey and write to me about yours. Feel free to vent about work. www.DoYogaatWork.net is about work, and yoga and life. Let's keep it real and funny.

Submissions
Should relate to yoga or work. But we are yogis, we strive for flexibility. Funny is good.

Talk about yoga

or work

Yoga at Work

Working at Yoga

Send a clip

My favorite section: Rant and Rage - vent about "what happened at work." Warning: don't sign your real name. Just vent, then throw it away. The bad thoughts will only hurt you.

Yoga TV

2011-08-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

I got to work early today and wanted to get all the women into a 10 minute yoga session. Someday, this will become the norm. Yoga is growing into the universal consciousness. Even football players are doing yoga. I want to start a yoga TV station. Does anyone want to finance it? I have plenty of DVDs. My kids keep unplugging the DVD player and taking it to their room. I have no idea how to replace the wires. I want to turn on the TV, roll out the mat and do yoga with all the talented teachers. Each has his or her own shtick and it won't get boring. A new media. We can advertise only green products and vegetable paint.

The Office Stretch

2011-08-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

I need to stretch at work. Why don't the people that run the world realize that stretching in the workplace is healthy and prevents sickness, stiffness, boredom, and fat tushes? We should have a mandatory stretch before lunch. Yoga at Work. That is my sloga. We could bring our mats to work. Downward Dog in the Office. Office yoga brings good karma for the boss and the employees.

Yoga in the Office

2011-06-27T14:25:00.001-07:00

No way I could do yoga at my office. The management thrives on stress. I would love to roll out my mat and do 8 Surinamaskarias before eating my sandwich; but I’m sure the staff would call the men in white suits to come and take me away. I do wear my yoga clothes to work though.

Social Web Pages

2011-06-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

I have two Facebook accounts and two Linkedin accounts. One of each is for my job and the other of each is for yoga and me. I think its giving me a split personality. I can't keep straight who I actually am. Not that it matters. We are all just dust in the wind and we shouldn't take ourselves so seriously. Especially me. I know what I'm supposed to think. I just don't succeed too often.

Yoga TV Channel

2011-06-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

I wish someone would open a 24 hour yoga TV channel. Then I could do yoga whenever I wanted, to music, with the right atmosphere. I have many yoga CDs and DVDs and I enjoy them. But I have technical difficulties, or my kids unplug the DVD player and take it to their room. I love to watch You Tube clips on, "How to Do Yoga." But I again experience technical difficulties. I'd just like to switch on TV and have a yoga class. I'd still go to my teacher.

I could open a little yoga studio on a low rent floor in a busy office building, install a large screen TV on each wall, throw down some mats and let the members come in on their breaks and do a little yogo on their break. It would be awesome.

Could someone out there read my blog and open up a yoga TV channel?

The Stick

2011-06-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

Big Surprise at yoga class last night. My yoga teacher gave me a compliment. I have been there for 6 years and he doesn't give out praise very often, if at all. He says that in India, the teacher hits them with a stick, and never gives praise, because there is always room for improvement.

I believe in positive reinforcement. It would be great to get a nice work once in a while at work. I don't understand why many employers feel that they have to carry a big stick. I, myself, respond nicely to praise. Actually, when the boss yells at me, I go into a paralysis mode.

Even if I make a big sale, he has something nasty to say.

According to the Dalai Lama, I should thank him for all the lessons I am learning from his meanness.
It will make me stronger.

I have to lose my ego.

I still have a long way to go.

Should I Stay?

2011-06-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

Should I stay or should I go? Remember that song?

I am miserable in this job. Should I stay?

I feel like zero; but I need a pay check. Should I go?

I have a feeling they are going to let me go anyway?

But they are mean to everyone else, too.

When the bosses are mean, it trickles down.

The whole atmosphere is poisonous.

I can stand hard times; but this is feeling like discrimination.

That's a real bad feeling.

I'm not worried about the, "fruits," of my labor. I am working the way I must work.

I know that Karma works the way that Karma wants to work.

But if I stay in this atmosphere, I am ruining their Karma by letting them treat me so badly.

I think I'll go.

Subtle Discrimination

2011-06-17T01:27:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been passed up for a promotion by a man, just because he is a man?

Hard to prove, right? Maybe he was just smarter, or more qualified. OR, maybe the big boss would rather hang out with one of the guys.

This recently happened to me and I am breathing and calming myself and trying to put it all into perspective.

Did this happen to you? Please comment with your advise.

My Yoga Teacher

2011-06-15T23:59:00.000-07:00

I have the best yoga teacher. His name is Andy and he is from the UK; but he spends a lot of time in India. I went to my first class because I wanted to get in shape. He makes us hold the poses way past our comfort zone and he almost never has a nice word to say. But there is something so honest about him. I trust him more than anybody. He has no TV, and eats, sleeps and drinks yoga. He explains the philosophy while we struggle with our poses. Everything is explained logically: a goes to b goes to c.

I forget myself while I listen.
Class is hard. It runs almost 3 hours.

Then I go home and practise by myself. This is when I appreciate all I've learned. I hold the poses as long as I like and feel like a rebel. But actually, I am slowly trying to become more like Andy.

I try to remember what he says about Karma and Emptiness.

He lives his life according to his values.

Yoga at Home

2011-06-15T03:07:00.000-07:00

The truth is, I don't do yoga at work. The company I work for doesn't have a yoga room.
As soon as I get home, though, I rush to my room, fling out the mat, and start to stretch. I watch TV and do yoga. I time my meals so that I can do yoga. I'm a yoga-holic. I don't want to get better.

Isn't there some smart woman out there who can get work places to support a yoga room? 10 minutes in the middle of the day, before lunch. That's all we need. We'll eat less, be more awake and our bodies will feel better.

www.DoYogaatWork.net

Is Your Boss Annoying?

2011-06-13T03:01:00.000-07:00

I need to close my eyes and breathe and remember to stay calm. Anger is the enemy.

Doing yoga at work is not only the physical asana portion. It is also using what I've learned from my teacher about, "understanding emptyness."

And not saying bad things.

Everytime I don't lose my temper and throw my stapler at that empty head, I am doing yoga at work.

Send me Clips

2011-06-12T01:27:00.001-07:00

Please send me You Tube Clips, or other clips showing yoga at work.
I am sponsoring a contest on my site. If I publish your clip, I send you a pair of yoga pants for free.

See more at www.DoYogaatWork.net

Desk Job

2011-06-12T01:18:00.000-07:00

I do have a desk job. The work is interesting and challenging; but 9 hours at the desk and I can feel the spaces between my discs compressing. My knees start to ache, worse than walking. And my right shoulder gets a tooth ache from maintaining mouse action.

I need to get up and roll out the mat and do a few sun salutations.

That would straighten out my spine, relax my knee bones and get the blood rushing to my brain again. 8 Surinamiskarias would take me about 3 minutes.

I'd be a better, happier, more productive, healthier worker.

Can someone explain this to the management for me?