Boosting Immunity this Winter With Yoga!

With cold and flu season fast approaching it seems like many of us want to hide indoors until springtime. And while that might be tempting, especially as winter approaches, I have a better and more practical solution for you. That’s right, you guessed it…. YOGA! Many of us might want to consider stepping on to our mat more often this winter to help boost our immune systems. Yoga, and more specifically, inverted and supported poses can help move lymph (a clear watery fluid that circulates through the body picking up bacteria and viruses) to lymph nodes in the body where the toxins can be filtered out.

Lymph is different than blood (which moves and is circulated by the heart pumping). Instead, lymph is moved by muscular contractions. That is why physical exercise such as yoga can be so beneficial. Gravity also affects the movement of lymph, hence why inversion poses can be great for helping fight off sickness.

Here are a few poses that are great for boosting yoru immunity this cold and flue season!

-       Downward facing dog

-       Childs Pose

-       Standing forward bend

-       Headstand

-       Plow pose

-       Sholder Stand

-       Bridge Pose

Stay healthy this winter!

-Namaste

www.gobodhiyoga.com

Yoga: A Catalyst to A Better You

Everybody has heard me talk about the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of yoga. By this point, we all know that yoga is good for us….I think I have driven that point home pretty well.  What I want to talk about in this post is the indirect effect yoga has on your health and how yoga can help you improve your overall well being and improve other aspects of your self-health. Yoga in general makes individuals more aware of their health and well-being. Being more in tune with what your body needs makes you more able to make healthy lifestyle decisions. In short, yoga can be a catalyst causing you to continue to make healthy decisions throughout the day. For example, starting your day off with a yoga practice and or meditation can lead you to make a healthier choices for food throughout the day, be better at managing stress levels, and be more mindful of being active.  A consistent yoga practice can help individuals struggling with addiction or other habits that they wish to break. Incorporating this single practice into your daily life can indirectly help you with many other aspects or goals. So go give it a try. Everybody has room for improvement!

-Namaste

www.gobodhiyoga.com

The Yoga Community

I have been practicing yoga for nearly 10 years now and have been to countless yoga classes during this time. I’ve been privileged enough to be taught by many different instructors, and to experience yoga from many different approaches. But while teacher, style, and environment can vary, I have found one underlying commonality to each class that I have attended and that is the sense of community that it creates.  Yoga brings people together. Regardless of age, ethnicity, or background, in the classroom we are all the same. We have all taken on the role of “student” and have come to learn from our practice. What also amazes me is the sense of friendship and love that you feel for others around you during yoga. Not only are we more connected to ourselves during our practice, but also I personally feel that we become more connected with others around us. We become more aware of their feelings, their needs, and are more conscious of our similarities rather than our differences.  Yoga practice creates a sense of community and peace that is difficult to find elsewhere. Just this week I attended a new class and afterwards each person introduced themselves and I felt like I had made new friends, even though we had only spoken one or two words to each other. It is especially fun to see the friendships that are formed in my prenatal yoga class. All the women enjoy meeting and seeing each other progress in their pregnancy and some of them even keeping in touch long after the birth of their babies.

 So if any of you are looking for a place to “belong” or to form a few new friendships, come join the yoga community!

Namaste

www.gobodhiyoga.com

Letting Your Body Move You

In my opinion, one of the most crucial aspects of yoga is to listen to your body. Let your body be the teacher.  The instructor is merely a facilitator, one who gives instruction, but ultimately it is you to you to decide what you and your body need during each practice. One of my favorite classes that I ever attended was one in which the instructor spent a few minutes teaching us a basic vinyasa routine and then allowed us to branch out on our own. She told us to use the routine that she taught us but to add whatever we felt we needed at the time. We were able to go at our own pace, adding asanas as they seemed appropriate. It allowed us to really explore ourselves, and find what was right for us. At the end of this class I remember feeling more in tune with myself and my body than I had during a long time. This particular practice was able to really serve me as an individual. As I reflected back on this class I wrote down a few things that made it different and came up with a few suggestions as to how you can learn to listen to your body can really make your practice your own.

First, I suggest that you start your practice off with meditation. Often in yoga, we traditionally end with savasana and or a meditative session. However, I suggest starting your practice off this way as well. This way you are really able to focus in on your individual needs that day and quiet your mind in order to get the most out of your practice.

Second, I suggest using your breath as a tool and with purpose. As you start each practice, use your ujjayi breath to sense any tense or tight areas in your body. Send your breath directly to those areas and take a mental note as to what poses might be beneficial to help alleviate any tension.

Third, go with the flow. Once you get going on your practice, let your body be the guide. If something feels right, do it; and if it doesn’t, don’t. I like to remind myself that my body is the teacher and I am merely the student. When I go into my practice with this mindset I often feel as if I find a deeper appreciation for my body.

My last piece of advice is to honor yourself.  Honor your body, its capabilities, and all that it does for you. Focus on gratitude and respect to yourself and as a result you will find that your practice will be transformed into something greater than merely a workout.

-Namaste

www.gobodhiyoga.com

Life and Death in Yoga

In one of my yoga practices this last week I found myself contemplating deeply about life and death and all that encompasses these topics. I came to the realization that yoga, in an abstract way, can be very symbolic of both life and death. Prana, is an ancient Sanskrit word meaning “life force.” It refers to a cosmic energy that connects all aspects of the universe. During a yoga practice, you use breath and movement to create prana. In essence, you are creating life, creating energy within your body. At the same time however, yoga can be very symbolic of death. With your yoga practice, you are taught to let go of what doesn’t serve you. You release negativity, pain, anxiety, guilt, emotions, and anything else that may no longer have a place within yourself.  Yoga is about a balance of these two elements. We even see this symbolism with particular asanas and vinyasas. For example, during your traditional sun salutation or any vinyasa series, we are creating energy. At the end of our practice we typically end with savasana in corpse pose, (dealth).  We become grounded and physically and mentally let go of tension, heartache, pain etc. After savasana, I typically have my students roll to one side, hugging their knees into their chest, much like you would in the fetal position (birth).  We finish by coming to seated and using our breath to center ourselves, creating new prana, new energy, and new life.

Sometimes in your practice emotions or feelings that may be repressed or hidden can come to light (birth) and then just as easily they are acknowledged and released (death). Yoga is about finding the delicate equilibrium of these two principles; creation and elimination. It is finding a healthy balance and using the two to best serve you at that moment in time. In my opinion, yoga makes you “whole.” If used correctly, it can help you feel more peace, and many would point out that one common definition of peace is “to make whole.” It is no wonder that people feel so revitalized and at peace after a yoga practice; it essentially represents the natural life cycle that we all do, and continue to pass through. Your personal practice is tailored to you, it helps you make use of what will benefit you and let go of that which doesn’t. So next time you step on your mat, honor this process, honor not only the birth, but also the death. Let yoga serve you, accepting what it brings to light, and finding the ability to let go of things that no longer serve you.

Namaste

www.gobodhiyoga.com

The Bodhi Flow

 A lot of people ask me how my class differs from other types of yoga. I tell them that I have been certified to teach all types of yoga but that I specialize in a flow series called the Bodhi Flow, which was created by the founder of Bodhi Yoga, Syl Carson. The philosophy behind Bodhi Yoga is basically a yoga practice that honors the three primary ways that Mother Nature manifests herself into the physical world (Rajas, Sattva and Tamas).  Rajas, or Rajasic energy is a forward-backward movement. Its movement is dynamic, insistent and passionate. 

Sattvic energy is a side-to-side movement. It is light, delicate, clear and graceful. It is steady and balanced. 

Finally, Tamasic energy is an upward-downward movement that is strong, deep and internally focused.

The specific vinyasa series that I mainly teach (the Bodhi Flow) honors Sattva with a movement of yoga poses that flow together in an inspired way.  It moves more slowly than a traditional vinyasa series. Its primary focus is releasing the core tightness of the body, which is achieved by focusing on slow, steady movements in which individual postures cease to be one, but rather mold into each other.  This slower pace allows us to achieve our desired goal with fewer repetitions than your traditional faster paced vinyasas.  Not only are we are able to experience the realities of our mind, body, and spirit connection more deeply, but we are also able to more fully breathe with each movement when we don’t have to shorten our breath to keep up with the faster paced and more repetitious vinyasas.

I teach elements of the Bodhi Flow in all of my classes, however I modify it slightly to make each class unique.  For example, in prenatal yoga we generally modify some of the more difficult poses, cut out some of the deeper twists, and then finish with some more restorative poses that help to address many of the negative side effects of pregnancy. The great thing about this flow series is that it can be modified to fit any class level.  It can easily be made more or less intense, depending on the energy of the specific class or individual.  So come on out to one of my classes and experience Bodhi Yoga for yourself!

Namaste

www.gobodhiyoga.com

A Personal Post: Learning to Experience Rather Than Merely Recite

As I was progressing in this journey of becoming a yoga instructor, I started to notice that my personal practice was getting neglected. I was used to practicing yoga daily, including a much-needed meditation at the end of each practice. This practice kept me balanced and started my day of right. However, the more classes I started to teach the more I felt slightly “burnt out” and started to replace my personal practice with my classes. I soon realized what a destructive mistake this was.  I didn’t have that collectiveness that I used to have and my days seemed more stressful. But to me, I was the only one that was suffering from my lack of personal practice, or so I thought…

I have learned that as a teacher, keeping a regular personal practice on the side is vital not only for yourself, but for your students.  In the end, your success as a teacher comes down to your personal practice. It starts on your own mat.

Once I realized this, I started to feel like a failure as a teacher. How could I preach to others the importance of personal practice, when I myself wasn’t doing so?  It wasn’t until I started to be more diligent about stepping on to my own mat that my opportunities as a teacher skyrocketed. I was able to experiment with different asanas that I could use later in my classes. I was learning to experience both the physical and emotional reactions that many of my students were experiencing.  I transformed from merely reciting a routine, to living the practice with my students.

One of my most rewarding classes was when I started to mold my classes around my students. One individual came to me with questions about a sore lower back. That night I came home and experimented with poses to help ease her pain and strengthen the muscles at hand. The next class I was able to teach a vinyasa series that was tailored to her needs.  I was able to give her what she needed through experimenting first on my own mat.

Needless to say, once learned this “secret” to teaching yoga, my classes were transformed. It helped me to have a new vision and appreciation for yoga and for my students.  It also helped me to have more compassion for my students as I was experiencing it with them rather than merely instructing them. Finally, I feel as if it has helped me to establish my own unique style of teaching. To me this is one of the most valuable gifts I could have received during this process. It has planted a seed of confidence in myself; confidence that I hope can keep me going in this journey, long after my certification is complete.

-Namaste

www.gobodhiyoga.com