Week 4

Speaking of routines. The easiest way to add a habit is to attach it to something that is already a habit.
I have challenged my students to find 15 minutes daily to practise some simple stretching and strengthening poses, including practising the pose of the week. I believe that you will find that the rewards will reinforce the habit. Attach it to something that is already a habit. Do your poses immediately before getting dressed or after brushing your teeth. Or during your evening news program. Just do something every day and then tell me how it affects you.

This week do
1. some simple shoulder stretches: arm circles with a tie, clock on the wall, reverse prayer, and that eagle one (with one hand holding the tie, the bent elbow pointing up and the other arm reaching behind to grab the tie.)
2.Continue to do cat and dog tail pose (on all fours, exhaling as you drop the head and tail and lift the back, drawing the navel to the spine; inhale as you look forward, lift the head and drop the shoulders down the back.)
3. Do two standing poses: Trikonasana/triangle pose, and Utthita parsvokonasana/ extended side angle pose
4. Do half locust: lying on your stomach on the floor, lift one arm and the opposite leg as you lift the chest and lengthen through the crown of the head. repeat three times on each side.
5. Do the pose of the week.

The pose of the week for this week is a combination of three poses: plank, push-up pose, and cobra.
This sequence is the middle part of the Suryanamaskar/ Sun Salutation. It requires shoulder strength and flexibility in the spine. Build up your shoulder strength gradually, beginning on all fours and rocking forward and back (I learned this one from my baby). Next lower yourself down onto your forearms. Drawing your elbows in, lower your upper body down to the floor.
As you inhale, lift the chest and look forward, broadening the collarbones and drawing the shoulders down and back. Move the hands back under the shoulders. Exhale and press into the hands to push back into an all-fours position. If this is too difficult, keep the forearms on the floor and practise lifting the body a few inches off the floor, hips high, and then dropping back down. With practise the shoulders will be strengthened.
If your shoulders are strong, you may move into plank pose from downward facing dog with the body forming a long plank from the turned under toes to the crown of the head. Keep the elbows drawing in as you bend the arms and lower down. Push up into cobra and then lift the hips back into downward-facing dog.

Pose of the Week 3

I missed blogging this week and now we have moved on. But the pose of week 3 was Virabhadrasana -- Warrior 1 pose.
This pose lengthens the front body and hip flexors, providing a bit of back bending extension. It strengthens the hip and pelvic stabilizers. It is one of the poses in the sun salutations.

Try performing this pose with the foot of the front/bent leg up on a chair. This allows for experiencing the full range of the pose while taking the strain off the low back. Be sure to keep the coccyx tucked in and the low belly lifting in order to avoid crunching in the lumbar spine.

See the pose at:
www.yogajournal.com/poses/1708

another day another day another day another day

Ahhh parenting.
In our family we work a lot on routines. Routines keep us doing the things that we know we should without the fight. Theoretically speaking. In the morning, I am not supposed to have to nag everyone to get dressed, make their beds, brush their teeth, and so on. We have discussed and taught the morning routine many times because it seems the most involved and the most important. We have practised it hundreds of times. Many parts of the routines are established and automatic. Mostly those are the things that we began years ago.

Before the institution of the morning routine, every day was a new fight. Number One child hated clothes and socks and had an especially tender head. Getting dresssed was a battle every day. We began practising a formal routine with charts, stickers and rewards at the start of kindergarten. Number One was five and The Little Mother was four. We were homeschooling. Much of the curriculum was personal grooming, chores and routines. Every year we have added things to the routine and it is more the preparation for the day than the day itself. Getting dressed now is easy.

Now the big girls have this routine before they leave for school at 8:10-ish:
Get dressed, make bed, say prayers, eat, brush teeth and hair, tidy their own room and the zone that they have for that week, family devotional. Musical instrument practise seems a little much but some days someone makes a brief attempt.
Big Brother who just turned three follows the leader and has adopted the idea of a morning routine quite naturally. His routine is get dressed and put pajamas away (I introduced the idea last week that three year olds have the special ability to put their own clothes away), brush teeth and make bed with help, and do one chore. (He gets to choose between options such as empty half the dishwasher, tidy the shoes, help sort socks or fold dishtowels.) He doesn't like stickers but sometimes gets gum or stories when he finishes.

One of the valuable offshoots of establishing morning routines for the children is that is has made me more aware of them for myself. I need routines to keep me on track. It is tempting as a stay-at-home mother to start working as soon as I get up: feeding people, tidying up the dishes, helping people with their routine. Shouting "get dressed," while I am still in my pajamas and with bed-head. Now I try to lead by example, tidying up my room and getting dressed even as they are. I suppose that ideally I would dress and shower and exercise before they get up. Perhaps when the Baby starts sleeping.

week 2

This week's pose is Utthita Parsvakonasana --Extended side angle pose
Utthita means "intense", parsva (pronounced "parshva") means "side" and kona "angle," and asana "pose."

Standing poses like this one are fundamental to a beginner (and beyond) yoga practise. They inspire confidence, strength, and balance. They lengthen the spine safely.
This pose, as it is named, opens the hips and sides of the body, as well as shoulders.

For instructions, visit yoga journal's link:
www.yogajournal.com/poses/749
(if the link doesn't work, just try later)

Week one for beginners

For this fall's yoga classes, I will be posting simple weekly practises and a pose of the week. This week's pose is Utthita Trikonasana --Extended triangle pose.
It is my personal favourite. Triangle pose is a standing pose so it lengthens the spine and strengthens legs and core. I love the opposing movement of reaching up and down simultaneously. I love the hip and shoulder stretch I get; unlike many yoga poses, I can enjoy it without too much strain on my tight hamstrings.
click on this link to yogajournal.com to get the full instructions:
www.yogajournal.com/poses/494

Remember that lengthening the spine is more important than getting your hand down to the floor. For most beginners, placing your hand on a chair, a block, or on your shin is better.

This week's 15 minute morning yoga practise has 5 simple exercises. Make a space for 15 minutes of simple yoga this week and begin to notice the benefits:
1. Cat and dog tail pose: Begin on all fours. As you exhale, drop your head and tailbone. Lift yourself out of your shoulders and draw your navel back to the spine. Arch your spine up like a cat. As you exhale, look up, lift your tailbone up and let your back arch down, beginning from your shoulders. Repeat with several cycles of breath. If your wrists are sore, do with bent elbows.
2. Triangle pose
3. Downward-Facing Dog pose: From all fours, extend the arms in front, palms flat and fingers extended. Tuck toes under and lift hips. Point tailbone up and keep knees bent at first. Then slowly begin to straighten legs and drop heels down. If hamstrings are tight, keep knees bent. Keep arms extending and draw chest back toward upper legs.
4. Half locust: lie on stomach on a blanket. Inhale and Lift R arm and L leg as you lift head and chest. Release with exhale. Then lift L arm and R leg with head and chest. Repeat several times on each side.
5. Good Morning Salute: This is a precursor to sun salutations. Begin with hands at namaste position. Inhale and draw arms up. Exhale release arms out to sides as you fold forward, hinging from the hips. Bend the knees. Inhale and lift the front body up halfway until your back is flat. Then exhale and release down again. Inhale and roll the body up as you take the arms out to the sides and up. Then exhale and release the hands back to heart centre.

The gifts of yoga

A friend who had attended one of my classes recently asked my husband, "Why do yoga?"

For him and for all of those who wonder why they should carve out a space in their busy schedules for a personal yoga practise, here are my reasons:

1. The gift of proprioception:
Proprioception is an awareness of our place in space. Children have a sense of how to sit, bend and move as their bodies were designed to. Because of stress and too much time in a chair, among other factors, most of us have lost that sense of balance and posture. Yoga stimulates the brain centers (proprioceptors) that keep us in proper alignment. The breathing and body awareness that we develop and use in yoga class can remain with us outside of class. We find that we stand and sit and breathe taller and straighter in all of our activities.

2. The gift of a healthy back:
According to Vijay Vad, M.D., 4 out of 5 people in North America will suffer an episode of serious low back pain in their lives. In his book, Back Rx, (Gotham Books, 2004), he tells that of those, 80% will have a recurrence within one year. Yoga emphasizes proper alignment of the spine. The postures encourage back suppleness and flexibility, including extension, flexion and rotation. These movements improve the health of discs by massaging them and bringing nourishing oxygen. Yoga also encourages hip flexibility. In his research, Vad found that limited hip flexibility is a commonality among elite tennis players and golfers who suffer low back pain.

3. The gift of youthful confidence:
As we age we tend to lose muscle tone, coordination, balance and flexibility. But these diminishing faculties can be recovered and strengthened by yoga. Many exercise regimes focus solely on cardiovascular fitness and muscular development, neglecting the other areas of health that keep one youthful and confident into old age.

4.The gift of relaxation:
I think I only learned to relax during yoga class. Before that I would sleep, of course, but still not relax. Yoga can teach you how to relax at will and not just fall into bed tense and exhausted from stress and overwork. Leaving a yoga class feeling relaxed and warm and happy must be experienced to be understood.


5. The gift of the present moment:
Yoga is a form of moving meditation. When we do the poses we maintain continual awareness of our breathing and our body. We let outside worries and distractions go. By focussing on the breath during meditation and relaxation, we can learn the art of mindfulness. Staying present is a gift because it allows us to enjoy the reality that is occurring all around us and stop living in our heads.

6. The gift of energy:
Yoga wakes you up and releases tension through movement and stretching. Breathing with an open chest makes you more alert. Deepak Chopra has pointed out that energy is everywhere in nature. (Have you ever seen a tired squirrel?) When we are in harmony with nature, we have energy.
Much has been written about how the stress response affects our bodies over the long term. Yoga counteracts the "fight/flight" chemicals that raise blood pressure, slow digestion, and weaken the immune system. Exercise, Breathing, relaxation and restorative postures combine to bring the body into balance.

Some is better than None

I have been teaching beginner yoga classes two times a week since the beginning of April. But I have struggled with inconsistency in my personal practise. I know that I am a better teacher when I practise on my own. At first I was very committed to waking up early and practising for a few minutes before the gang woke up.

Lately other things have gotten in the way. Sleep seems to be more important at 6:30 in the morning than yoga. I have also been running two times a week during that time in order to prepare for a 5K race on June 30 and a 10K at the end of September. And the yard and garden have seemed urgent and important.

For this time, I am giving myself permission to eat yoga in little bites. A couple of sun salutations in the morning or legs up the wall in the afternoon. I find that I come to yoga because I need it and want it-- the solace and stretching and energizing powers-- rather than because of an external goal.