Maybe. We know it’s unwise for anyone with glaucoma to perform sirsasana. We also strongly suspect that anyone with uncontrolled high blood pressure may be at serious risk of damage to the brain with this posture.

Photo credit:  Irma Photography

I’ve written about the good and the bad of headstands before in this 3-part series:

Sirsasana – Benefits of the Headstand - Part 1

Benefits of the Headstand - Part 2

Injury From a Headstand - Part 3

But today a news report caught my eye. Unfortunately, I only have access to the title – not the paper or even an abstract. The JAMA Neurology headline is scary.

“Sirsasana (headstand) pose causing compressive myelopathy with myelomalacia.”

“Myelo” means spinal cord and “malacia” technically means softening. So myelomalacia translates as a softening of the spinal cord. It’s often caused by an intervertebral disc being forced out of place. Apparently, in this published case report, the authors believe the patient’s injury was do to sirsasana.

Wish I had the whole story. If it’s true, it just goes to show you that our spine doesn’t do well when all the weight of our bodies is on tiny bones and discs not meant to take the pressure the way the lower lumbar ones are designed to do.

When myelomalacia occurs, it can result in anything from minimal to major damage to the nervous system. And that damage is essentially irreversible (although some gradual improvement over the first few months may happen as we see in traumatic spinal cord injury from falls).

At its worst, the disorder causes weakness in the extremities and wasting of the muscles, a total loss of normal reflexes below the injury, and a loss of deep pain perception. Myelomalacia in the neck region can cause difficulty breathing and even paralysis of the diaphragm.

It’s another reason to approach headstands with caution. I generally stay away from them altogether.

Ferreira MA, Galvez-Jimenez N. Sirsasana (headstand) pose causing compressive myelopathy with myelomalacia. JAMA Neurol. 2013 Feb;70(2):268. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2013.589.

The post Sirsasana – Is the Headstand a Dangerous Yoga Pose to Avoid? appeared first on theYogaDr..

I’ve taken some serious flack from a few yogi friends about my vamana dhauti posts. They love it and don’t understand why I don’t.

While they think throwing up every morning can only help and not harm, I disagree. To my medical mind, one that understands the human body and its physiology, making yourself vomit (at least on a daily basis anyway) isn’t such a good idea.

Photo credit: dentaldynamicsonline.com

I get it that my stance is in direct discordance with traditional yogic advice. The swamis I spent time with earlier this year in India were promoting it just like other swamis and teachers I’ve encountered. It’s standard practice – although the frequency with which it is advised differs. Some teachers say daily, others occasionally (or at least not more than once each week.)

An occasional forced vomit might be okay. It might even be therapeutic in a few instances. But daily vomiting can lead to problems as a scientific article out of southern India points out. Dentists there reported injury in a 38-year old male who was practicing vamana dhauti (often called kunjal kriya) as a part of his daily Yoga routine. For 12 years he had been throwing up every morning when his stomach was empty. First he would drink salty water, and then he would force vomiting by triggering his gag reflex, presumably with a finger in his throat.

Photo credit:
leeannbrady.com

The dentists noted significant damage to his teeth with severe dental erosions. Stomach contents are acidic, and acid irreparably harms the tooth enamel. Contrary to what my yogic friends adamantly claim, the vomited contents are acidic even early in the morning when the stomach is empty and even after swallowing salt water.

Stay healthy by practicing Yoga – just not it’s questionable technique of vamana dhauti.

The post Vamana Dhauti and Your Teeth – Avoid Dental Erosions appeared first on theYogaDr..

I’d like to share with you a personal triumph story that came to me this week. It’s about the power of Yoga to change your life. After the latest news report on the dangers of secondhand smoke, I had asked for any tips ex-smokers might be able to share in order to help others ditch the habit. This gentleman was kind enough to send me his story (along with permission to post it), and I’m so glad he did. It brought tears to my eyes. Enjoy the inspiration…

“I had been smoking since around 14 years old. We got suckered in back then, as kids do I suppose. I had tried the regular cigs and could not for the life of me see what the attraction was, they tasted horrible. One day a friend passed me a pack that he assured me tasted like chewing gum, these were menthol cigarettes. He was right, it reminded me of mint or mint flavored gum, what harm could a pack or two or ten of these do me.

This was the beginning of a three decade’s plus long addiction, and to paraphrase Oscar Wilde; Such an unsatisfying addiction, there never was.

I was fifty years old when I finally quit. I was lucky, the time and place was right and this is the most important thing I feel. A few factors and circumstances came together to bring this about, without these it would not have happened.

It was late 2008. I was in India, something of a lost soul after a very bad divorce that had turned a drink habit into a drinking problem. After around two months in that country I had massive a spiritual awakening, a real cliché I know, but that’s why they are clichés after all. I guess you know the one – guy thinks he has it all, family, career, the house, the car, the whole thing – is that all there is, loses it all in the blink of a tear filled eye, drifts around lost for a few years and turns increasingly to that great pain killer booze and seeing as this is essential a story about nicotine, also leans increasingly heavily on cigarettes, lot of them, like a couple before he gets out of bed in the morning and then throughout the day, including in bed in the night time, falling asleep boozed up, cigarette in hand. Slow suicide.

So there I am in India minding my own business and someone offers me a blessing one day and would you believe it, it turns out it’s my time for this and I promptly leave my body, yes I do and return instantly to Source become all things. I find out it was all an illusion after all, Maya, and before you can say Jesus Christ Superstar, I’ve merged with the universe, in fact I discover, I am the universe and guess what, it’s all Love and its infinite and eternal and seeing as there is no time or space, because it turns out this is also an illusion, eternities not so bad after all and its about as blissful and good as you might imagine, actually its far more than you might imagine , the mind being fairly limited when it comes to these things Well that’s what happened and that’s the truth, now back to the cigarettes.

Not long after this somewhat life changing experience, I headed to the north of the country on the advice of a friend to take a yoga course; you and I know this as Trika yoga or Agama. I signed for the first level, one month intensive yoga. I was still smoking at this point because even finding out you are the universe isn’t enough to break that addiction.

So here’s the factors which came together to separate me from the old tyrant cigarettes. There was only one other smoker on that first level class , so naturally we formed a band of brothers, us against them . You notice how addicts of whatever persuasion stick together but this was short lived ,as after a few days he quit smoking, obviously not a serious smoker thought I. So I was on my own.

Not only was I now on my own, which is a great help not being in a peer group of smokers but I was in a country that was down on smokers in general. In many public areas smoking was not allowed and drew the attention of the police, the criminal cigarette smoker, what a concept.

So already the chips are being stacked against smoking but had not yet reached a critical mass. Now I was doing the yoga and lighting up as soon as I left the hall at the end of the session and having a last puff before the session began in the mornings.

Then one day a technique was introduced, you will know it, Udyhana Banda, basically expelling all the air from the long suffering lungs and holding a void retention, or holding as long as you can with no air, as opposed to holding the breath, this was holding no breath. I managed to maintain this unenviable position for around 2 seconds, before collapsing into hacking, choking, coughing fits, and this really began to tell me something, and on top of this coughing a foul taste was brought up into the mouth akin to licking a used ashtray, Yuk!

So this was a defining moment I feel looking back. This moment had been reached before numerous times throughout my life but had only lasted days before falling back into the trap, usually after taking one drink too many and seeing the will fold and collapse under the cosh of the stupefying drink.

So here was another supporting factor about where I was. I was in a dry town, Rishkesh, North India. I had already gone many days without a drop of booze and I could not remember when the last time in my life this had happened. So one day I decided to cold turkey.

I had a slight help, my previous smoking comrade who had quit the days before me had some nicotine gum with him. This gave me something of an aid in my quitting, even if on the level of a placebo. I realized quickly, all the things that I had previously associated with cigarettes had to also go. So that was goodbye coffee, goodbye booze and goodness knows what else. I quit so many things in those early days I will never really know stopping taking which one made me begin to feel good. Maybe it was all of them, because I had gone a few days, or maybe a couple of weeks without a drink before stopped smoking, I had already begun to feel more alive without the drink.

I had also stopped eating meat. Again this was something to do with the location, Rishikesh being a Holy Hindu town, so it was not easy to get hold of, but after a few days of not having meat, and heaven forbid, looking back to my previous life, that heart attack on a plate, The Full English Breakfast, I began to feel more alive, less lethargic and more active in general.

So it was difficult for me to pin point the precise thing that made me feel this way, this healthier, more alive me. Would I have still felt this way if I had carried on eating meat, or taking the booze or not started the yoga, maybe quitting one but not the other, I don’t know but what was for sure was my body was now getting all its Christmases at once and had never felt better. I had drank and smoked and eaten meat since early teen years, so I had to conclude, I had never known another way and had therefore perhaps never known what it was like to be truly alive.

I very quickly noticed a beautiful benefit of not smoking. As my lungs shook off the years of abuse they had been subjected to, I began noticing and feeling air in parts of my chest area I had never felt before. I should explain, my lung capacity had obviously been reduced over the years and little by little I had begun to survive on shallow breathing, that’s not filling the lungs.

Within days of stopping smoking and certainly within weeks, I began to feel the air reaching right down to the bottom of my lungs and in particular at the lower sides of my back, it was like, “Hello it’s been a long time since we saw you down here fresh air, but welcome home.”

I still marvel at this feeling of air actually filling the lungs, we get so used to things and accept them as the norm, perhaps compensating in other ways, but this feeling of an easy, natural inhalation feels about as sweet as it gets. I wonder as I write, has there been any research into the obvious consequence of a nation of smokers and the affect this shallow breathing might be having on them as regard, Shallow breathing would be associated also with the fight or flight response, i.e. Fear, so are smokers in a state of constant fear be this not on a conscious level, and the damage on top of the smoking damage this level of toxic release from fear would be having to the person would be considerable .

I personally got the added bonus of also saying goodbye to that other incapacitating substance, alcohol. I feel certain if I hadn’t stopped drinking, I would have fallen back to the smoking on the first inebriated chance. Even something as seemingly inoffensive as a cup of coffee, screamed in my head cigarette, so this also had to go, on reflection I don’t miss any of it.

It’s been four years now and I am well out of the woods. I do feel for smokers though, I know it carries with it a form of self loathing and is certainly the strongest addiction I encountered. We have to take care though that we do not replace one addiction with another and while we are patting ourselves on the back in congratulatations over the defeat of this or that substance, another one is sneaking in the back door in disguise. In my case I developed a raging sweet tooth, candy bars and biscuits by the packet,which I have only recently address and controlled .

We excuse ourselves as we always do with habits, with words like, well I deserve it I don’t drink , smoke etc anymore, so I deserve some of the “good” things of life, not realising that we are slowly drawn back into some of the symptoms from the previous discarded addictions, mood swings, fatigue to name but two.

Moderation in all things might be the word but abstinence in something’s would definitely apply.

I would say looking back to those smoking days, and particularly when the smoking became intense and assumed the role of a psychological crutch, that no amount of horror stories about its bad effect, or photographs on packets of cancerous tumours and the like, would have mattered in the slightest to me.

I feel in fact the reverse is true and they could have something of an perverse encouraging affect to the smoker, he is after all the “outside” ,”the outlaw’ or has been increasingly cast in this role, and so probably immune to this form of fear tactic.

Smoking is also another form of suicide, be that a slow one, so there’s also a sort of bravado, ”Hey bring it on”, feel about it all, and “who‘re you trying to scare with this shit, you wanna hear some really scary stories, let me tell you about my life, etc, etc.”

So there are many conflicting factors for sure but it does boiled down to an almighty strong addiction and this there is no denying.

I doubt if you would ever find someone who has stopped, that does not bless the day they finally said goodbye to cigarettes. The time has to be right for the person to stop and the support has to be there and also lifestyle changes will have to be considered. It is not easy to stop, it is though brilliant and perfect to be free, and that’s exactly what it is, freedom.

I could go on and on, as could one who has discovered a new life, a life free of illness, and incapacity, and this is no exaggeration, I have had nothing more than the odd slight cold these last few years since stopping smoking, and where as a cold would have lingered weeks in my smoking days, and I would have had to carry on smoking through the sore throat and tortured lungs and chocking cough, now that rare cold, is if anything, little more than a 24/48 hour wonder.

That’s my Story Kathleen, far from unique I am sure. Oh I also might add, when I left the UK those years ago before India I was on the strongest prescription for a very high blood pressure rate, when I asked how long I would need to take these pills for I was informed, for life. I asked how I might break free of this need, I was told you would have to quit, smoking, drinking and meat eating, I remember at the time responding with words of the, And pigs might fly variety, well pigs it turned out did fly, so I discarded those pills along with the packs of tobacco I had in far way India those years back.”

The post The Power of Yoga to Change a Life appeared first on theYogaDr..

Patanjali said 2000 years ago in the first chapter of his Yoga Sutras, “Yogas chittavritti nirodhah.” Yoga is the cessation of fluctuations of the mind. Yoga is meditation. While many of us focus on the important precursors of yamas, niyamas, asanas, and pranayama, the latter four stages of the Ashtanga Yoga system he described involve progressive stages of a quieting of the thought waves.

For more than 45 years now, scientists have been looking to see if something is really going on when we tame discursive thoughts, visualize, focus our attention on one point, concentrate on an abstraction, or empty the mind to make way for the inner light.

The results of their experiments are astounding. Meditation helps us to reduce the ravages of stress and makes us happier and less depressed. It decreases physical pain as well as emotional pain, and it mitigates anger.

Here’s a list of some of the healing effects of meditation as documented in hundreds of research trials over time:

Decreases the risk of a heart attack

Decreases the risk of having a stroke

Reduces atherosclerotic buildup in the carotid arteries supplying the brain

Improves functional capacity and quality of life for people with heart failure

Treats hypertension

Treats diabetes by improving blood glucose (reducing HgA1c)

Improves insulin resistance (a precursor to diabetes type 2)

Helps people stop smoking

Reduces alcohol abuse

Decreases binge eating

Lessens headache pain

Lessens chronic back pain

Lessens abdominal pain

Decreases pain medicine utilization

Reduces symptoms of fibromyalgia

Helps patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Facilitates faster healing of psoriasis

Reduces stress

Reduces anxiety

Reduces panic sensations

Improves mood and leads to positive states of mind

Lessens emotional distress

Lessens feelings of anger and worry

Prevents relapse into clinical depression

Improves Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Increases self-compassion

Improves overall quality of life

Reduces all cause mortality

These fabulous results have been seen in studies employing one of three commonly encountered meditation techniques – the Transcendental Meditation (TM) of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Loving-Kindness Meditation/Compassion Meditation of Buddhism, or the completely secular Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn.

If you have not yet begun a daily meditation practice, please consider adopting this valuable tool as a part of your life. It will make you happier and healthier.

References:  Send me a note through the contacts form if you would like me to email a list of scientific references for the healing effects of meditation.

The post Meditation for Healing: What Science Says appeared first on theYogaDr..

“Lock your knees!” was the firm directive from my Yoga teacher. I’d decided to attend class in a new style, to try something different from the smorgasbord of modern brands.

I enjoy keeping an open mind, knowing that various styles can do the same asanas in just a little different way. There’s usually no real “right” or “wrong.” What works for some body types and Yoga traditions doesn’t work for others.

Staying open to the newness and variety of modern Yoga can invigorate a practice that may feel stale, but it’s important to retain awareness of proper biomechanical technique within each exploration – even if that means not following the advice of a new teacher.

Locking the knee is unnecessary and potentially leads to injury in the long run.

What does it mean to lock your knees?

Locking the knee maximally extends and fixes it, transforming it into a mechanically rigid structure that maintains a straight leg. At maximal knee extension, there’s a medial rotation of the femur (the big thigh bone) on the tibia (the larger of the two lower leg bones). It’s the inherent features of the tibia that lead to the “locked” feeling. A concave up-slope on the anterior portion of the medial condyle brings the rolling medial femoral condyle to a skidding halt while at the same time the convex down-slope on the anterior part of the lateral tibial condyle allows the rolling of the lateral femoral condyle to continue further forwards, thus bringing about the medial rotation that “locks” the knee into a groove.

Some people fully extend their knees whenever they stand still – at least one leg or the other – to improve stability and take the work off of the major muscles.

What’s the danger if you lock your knees?

Locking the knee places one’s body weight onto the joint in such a way that it forces the joint slightly out of place. That puts damaging mechanical forces onto the joint cartilage – both the cartilage covering the ends of the long bones and that of the menisci. The long-term result is cartilage degeneration and arthritis.

The effect is magnified by placing the entire weight of the body onto one leg as in some Yoga asanas like Vrksasana, the tree pose.

Locking the knees while standing can also cause the pelvis to tilt forward which can stress the hip joints and disturb posture throughout the spine.

Is there a test for those at greatest risk?

Yes. Some of us (and that includes me) have a greater tendency towards a hyperextendable knee joint with subsequent development of the cascade of degeneration, pain, and arthritis with knee locking in standing positions. Hyperextension of the knee occurs when the tibia glides on the femur excessively so that the joint moves past 180 degrees of openness – past a straight line.

Test: Sit up straight in Dandasana. The knees should not be externally rotated and the feet should be relaxed with no flexion at the ankle joint. Contract the quadriceps muscles. If the heels rise up off the floor, then it’s likely you have hyperextending knee joints.

What can you do to keep from locking your knees?

Maintain awareness – all the time. That means when standing in line at the grocery store and stirring the soup on the stove as well as when on the mat. For some, locking the knees into hyperextension is a firmly ingrained habit, one that can be conquered with attention. I always try to do my best with this throughout the day, which is why I found it disconcerting that during class, when my mind is most aware of my posture, I was told to do what I know is not best for  me.

When instructed to “lock the knee” during Yoga sessions, extend the knee but don’t push it into a locked position. Then contract the quadriceps, the thigh muscles. Contracting the intrinsic muscles of the foot can help a little, too. Some people may benefit from wearing a knee brace.

Over the long-term, work on strengthening the quadriceps with utkatasana, keeping the thighs parallel to the floor for as long as possible with each attempt. This will help to stabilize the knee and to prevent long-term damage.

Bottom Line: It’s unwise to “lock” your knees when standing, especially when all the weight is upon one leg. While it may be particularly damaging for those of us with a tendency to hyperextend, locking the knee joint is not good for anyone, and it’s unnecessary in Yoga.

The post “Lock Your Knees!” – What NOT to do During Your Yoga Class appeared first on theYogaDr..

One of my Australian friends in the YTTC-500 course, the one who is casually studying ayurveda, asked why her joints pop and crack. They had progressively been making more noise, and the ayurvedic practitioner she went to see in southern India said it was because her “fire” was high and out of balance. His advice was to fast.

Just about all of us in the course had noted an increase in joint popping and cracking over the past couple of weeks, especially about the knees. We were spending at least 3-4 hours in asana practice every day, and most of the other hours were spent cross-legged on the floor for meditation, satsung, lectures, and meals. For me in particular, my right knee was noisy. That’s the one I injured four years ago spending 20 minutes a day in suptavirasana as a part of my meditative practice. (That was too much strain on a medial meniscus, one that was over 40 years old.)

While my friend was considering making an effort to fast for one day each week (and which I encourage for general health promotion), I was surprised that this was ayurveda’s way to “decrease fire” and to quiet her joints. In Yoga (a sister system of ayurveda), fasting is a tapas, a promise to maintain or to refrain from an activity, a promise that requires energy and attention while encouraging spiritual growth. In Sanskrit, the word tapas means “heat.” By going against our general tendencies towards “likes and dislikes” we create friction in the mind and body, generating heat as a byproduct. Fasting is a prototypical form of tapas. When examined through a Yoga lens (not an ayurvedic one), fasting increases fire rather than reduces it. We build heat by going against our love of food and refraining from the constant consumption of it.

“Fire” in the body is eastern medicine terminology. From a Western medical perspective along these same lines, you could say it has more to do with “Air” – another of the five classic elements of creation mentioned in the Upanishads. Most popping noises in normal joints, those without previous damage, are believed to come from the formation and destruction of air bubbles.

What makes joints pop?

There are several theories about what happens when joints make noise, but not a lot of scientific evidence exists. While many of my joints were singing a little more than usual by the end of the course, I believe they were doing so for different reasons.

The popping in my right knee was due to the previous damage. A torn meniscus can have rough ends that rub up against each other. Sometimes when they do, they make a sound – the clicking of one hard surface against another.

Joints pop when their capsules are stretched, and we stretched a lot in our Yoga asana classes. The stretching movements increase the volume of the joint capsule. When the volume of a space is increased, it leads to a decrease in the existent pressure. The lowered pressure within the joint capsule pulls in air bubbles – or makes dissolved gases within the synovial fluid (carbon dioxide and nitrogen) come out of solution. That can make a popping sound as the bubbles get sucked into and appear within the joint space. These tiny air pockets of gas can also make a popping or cracking sound when squeezed back out of a joint space or when they are dissolved into synovial fluid.

Sometimes when we stretch and move, we can pull elastic tendons and ligaments around bones in a way that causes them to “snap” like a rubber band. As we stretch and limber up, there’s more room for movement and an increased tendency to pop the loosened connective tissue around a bony prominence

From a Western medical perspective, the noise our healthy joints and connective tissue makes is harmless. It’s nothing to be concerned about. The worry that it leads to arthritis or knobby joints is unfounded. Instead of looking at it in a negative fashion, consider it a sign of healthy activity – bending and stretching, flexing and extending, moving the body in ways that lead to the best of health and long-term mobility.

The post Why Do Joints Pop? appeared first on theYogaDr..

I’m happy to announce the successful completion of our 500-hour Yoga Teacher Training Certificates at Sivananda Yoga Vidya Peetham in southern India. It’s been a long four weeks for me and my husband – intense but well worth the effort.

For anyone considering it, here’s a peek at the schedule:

3:45 am – Wake up and do kriyas and 6 rounds of sun salutations

4:30 am – Pranayama for an hour

5:30 am – Meditation for 30 minutes*

6:00 am – Devotional singing and paying respect to the gurus

7:00 am – Tea break

7:30 am – Asana practice for 1 hour

8:30 am – Raja Yoga – an in-depth look at Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras

10:00 am – brunch followed by a Karma Yoga duty

11:30 am – Anatomy class for an hour

1:30 pm – 3:00 Vedanta – an in-depth study of the teachings of the Upanishads

3:30 pm – Asana practice for 2-3 hours

6:00 pm – Dinner

7:30 pm – Meditation for 30 minutes*

8:00 pm – Devotional singing and paying respect to the gurus

9:30 pm – Lights out

*A few mornings or evenings the meditations were silent walks to a beautiful spot on the beach for quiet reflection, japa meditation, or static Tai Chi (if you’re my husband). We also took some time out of the schedule once to visit a local Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu.

We kept this up for 6 days of every week. On Saturdays, we had 6 or 7 hours free between brunch and dinner.

I don’t know of anyone in our group who walked away unhappy. While it can be a trying experience (which means it isn’t easy for everyone), it’s a wonderful chance to dive deeper into the practice and theory of Yoga. The lectures with Swami Tattvarupananda were amazing. He’s a gifted teacher. The area has much natural beauty – both the kindness of the locals and the sights of the sea and the palm trees. The supportive staff was super attentive and so sweet.

I highly recommend the experience. For one more year, the three Swamis running the program are operating out of a small hotel in Varkala, Kerala, but they’ve just acquired land to begin to build an ashram. The new place is farther north in Karnataka state. They hope to be set up there by mid-2014.

If anyone is considering taking this course next year when it’s offered again (or any other course through Sivananda Yoga Vidya Peetham), please contact me. I’m happy to share my experience and my thoughts.

Learning Yoga is a life’s journey to a deeper and truer Self. We feel blessed that our paths led us to Sivananda Yoga Vidya Peetham, and we hope you all find the many blessings on yours as you move towards Grace.

The post Sivananda Yoga Vidya Peetham appeared first on theYogaDr..

If you stick with the exact same Yoga routine over a long period, boredom may creep in. It can be hard to stay motivated over years of practice.

But Yoga is vast and deep. There are several main paths of Yoga, and like they say in Buddhism, “There are as many paths as there are monks.” We all have to find what works for us.

Yoga isn’t simply about asanas, breathing, and meditation. If you have the chance, join a  puja ceremony or kirtan session (devotional singing) to tap into Bhakti Yoga. You can find non-denominational chanting if you desire – or make a joyful session of your own. Volunteer with a local charity as a form of Seva, or Karma Yoga. Dive into the spiritual scriptures you enjoy to elevate the mind and practice Jnana Yoga.

Here are a few other things you can do to stay motivated and on the path. They will bring new life to your practice.

• Adopt variety – go outside, try different rooms, practice with a friend, try a new style, etc.
• Pay attention to your vessel – some days it can be hard to practice so take it easy and just do the  minimum.
• Keep a spiritual diary.
• Stay connected to your yoga community – make friends with students in your classes as well as with the teachers, attend extra workshops and seminars, etc
• Go on a yoga retreat or yoga vacation – experience India or any one of a number of idyllic locations.
• Spend some time at an ashram for an immersion experience.

The post Yoga Practice – How to Stay Motivated appeared first on theYogaDr..

Jnana Yoga:

“A Jnana yogi sees Atman everywhere through his eye of wisdom. There is absolutely no personal element in him. There is no thought of the self. He has not a bit of selfish interest. The lower self is  completely annihilated. He lives for serving all. He feels the world as his own self. He actually feels that all is himself only. There is not a single thought or feeling for a personal little self. He has cosmic vision and cosmic feeling. Just as the river has joined the ocean, he has joined the ocean of bliss, knowledge, and consciousness. He thinks and feels and works for others.”

Swami Sivananda from Vedanta in Daily Life

Jnana Yoga (pronounced nyee-ah-na) is one of the four main paths of Yoga. Jnana means wisdom, and this path of Yoga is an intellectual approach to spiritual growth and evolution. The mind inquires and analyzes, examining its own nature.

To properly practice Jnana Yoga it is said that one must be firmly grounded in the other three paths – Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Raja Yoga. It is the latter which contains Hatha Yoga, the  physical Yoga we know as asanas, pranayamas, and purification exercises. Mantra Yoga, Hatha Yoga, and Kundalini Yoga are all progressive steps on the path to complete Raja Yoga – control of the mind.

The breadth and depth of Yoga practice is immense. All facets lead to greater health, more happiness, and ultimately to freedom.

 I love all the paths of Yoga and try to incorporate each one into my day as I can. Do you have a favorite Yoga path and if so why does that one appeal to you? Share with us in the comments below.

The post Jnana Yoga – the Wisdom of Swami Sivananda appeared first on theYogaDr..

There’s a doc at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota who studies how movement affects bones. She wants to heal weakened bones naturally with exercise instead of drugs. Cool, right?

Dr. Sinaki promotes weight-bearing movements of the body. Working against gravity induces bones to thicken and become stronger. She also emphasizes exercises that extend the back (back bends) to build bone strength in the spine. These exercises are most helpful for those who suffer from osteoporosis, a disorder of gradually thinning bones that leads to an increased risk of painful fractures.

Recently, Dr. Sinaki published a concerning report about Yoga. She described three people who were healthy except for some mild thinning of the bones in the spine, a condition called osteopenia. It’s a precursor to osteoporosis that is a more mild loss of bone density.

The three people in her report had started a Yoga practice to improve their condition. Instead, they got worse. Rather than build bone strength and reduce their risk of fractures, they developed new compression fractures which caused neck and back pain. Compression fractures are collapsed vertebrae, the bones of the spine.

Strenuous spinal flexion exercises were determined to be the cause of the new compression fractures. Pushing to bend too far forward in pascimottonasana or padahastasana, for example, can place too much stress on the vertebrae. The added stress contributes to their collapse.

Dr. Sinaki’s latest publication backs up data she originally reported in 1984. She had found that increased torque pressure from forward bending can worsen osteoporotic disease rather than fix it.

Her previous publication focused on those diagnosed with osteoporosis. The latest one extends the concern to those with osteopenia, weakened bones that aren’t yet brittle enough to be called osteoporosis.

In the 1984 research, 50 women with osteoporosis of the spine were randomized to protocols of spinal extension (back bends), spinal flexion (forward bends), combined extension and flexion, or no therapeutic exercise. After one to six years, x-rays were repeated and compared to pre-treatment films. New fractures occurred in all groups.

In the control group, two out of three (67%) of the patients developed new wedging or compression fractures. This indicates that the natural history of the disease is for it to worsen. If you do nothing to correct the problem, the bones will continue to deteriorate.

Exercise helps, particularly backward bends that are common in Yoga practice such as bhujangasana (cobra) and shalabhasana (locust). In the extension exercise treatment group, only 16% of the women developed worsening disease, a big improvement over the “do nothing” group. Back extension exercises are protective against worsening osteoporosis of the spine and new compression fractures.

But in the group practicing only flexion exercises of the back (forward bends), almost nine out of 10 of the women (89%) were worse off than the control group. They had MORE compression fractures than the people doing nothing to try to improve their condition. They were worse off for their effort.

The combined treatment group, those practicing both flexion and extension back exercises, didn’t fare much different from controls. They potentially had a small improvement as 53% developed new wedging or compression on their spinal x-rays compared to 67% of the “do nothing” group, but the result wasn’t statistically significant. Essentially, the protective effects of back extension exercises were counteracted by the damaging effects of forward bends so that overall there was no improvement or detriment by practicing forward bending and backward bending exercises during the study period.

It’s limited research, but there is cause for caution when it comes to forward bending asanas for anyone with osteoporosis or osteopenia.

Since many people are unaware they have thinning bones, it’s wise for us all to be careful. A new fracture is how many people learn that their bones have become brittle. It’s important to practice with awareness and to be mindful of proper technique at all times.

The way pascimottonasana and other forward bends are performed is important. Severe rounding of the back is the likely culprit when it comes to the potential detrimental effects of forward bending asanas. Bend from the hips and keep the back fairly straight. Don’t worry if the head doesn’t reach the knees. It may make the difference between a healthier back and a damaged one. (Unfortunately, Dr. Sinaki’s papers didn’t look at technique.)

Bottom line: An increasing number of middle-aged and older Americans are practicing Yoga, and many have thinning bones. Yoga is great for them as a properly designed practice can strengthen the skeleton, decrease the risk of falls by improving balance, and improve posture and rounding of the back. But caution is indicated when practicing forward bends like pascimottonasana and padahastasana. For those with osteoporosis or osteopenia, it may be best avoid them altogether. For all other practitioners, it’s important to practice proper technique. Bend from the hips and keep the back straight without rounding.

The post Caution With Forward Bends – Protect Your Back Bones appeared first on theYogaDr..