Benefits of Backbends: · Backbends stretches the front of the abdomen, hips, thighs, shoulders and chest · By activating the abdomen, they stimulate the kidneys, reproductive, and digestive system. · The backward bending postures energize, refresh and invigorate the body- opening the chest, and encouraging proper breathing · On an anatomical level, this action stretches and releases the muscles of the chest allowing circulation to flow freely to the heart and lungs. · During the back-bend the thymus is pressured, and then released, this stimulation can aid immune function. The nervous system is stimulated, building heat and stimulating metabolism · The abdominal muscles receive a stretch, as does the digestive system · Backbends bring heat and energy to the spine. The Nervous system benefits, as Cerebral-Spinal fluids are pumped (since the body is usually in a forward bend) · Backbends realign the spine, counteracting and re-teaching the body’s poor habits and making daily movement more comfortable, lending poise and grace · Integrity of the spine creates integrity of the mind, combating depression and lethargy · By opening the chest, backbends also work with the heart center, encouraging complete expansion of the lungs. This brings vitality. More Physical Benefits:
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Every day I see (with a little bit of envy I have to confess!!) how Mindfulness is becoming more and more popular. Everyone you know is talking about mindfulness and probably practising right now. And it is great. No complains! We need more of that! But (always a but, isn’t it?) I can’t understand how Yoga have lost it space as THE mindful practice of all times. Because Yoga is mindfulness!! So, how it is possible that a person that practice yoga is talking too about mindfulness as something completely different from Yoga, as something that they have to add in order to be complete, to have a better life? Yoga for the body, mindfulness for the mind and spirit What???? You can have both in the same class. Yoga and Mindfulness Yoga is Mindfulness!! Since yoga become a trend in our modern world, we (teachers, studio owners, magazines and publications, social media) have allowed the physical, the external part of the yoga take over our yoga practice. Every day we are told the physical benefits of the yoga practice or how to perform this or that pose and that is ok, nothing wrong with that. We have allowed people to believe that achieving that pose is the only thing that matter. And that is wrong! And it is driving me crazy! Focusing only on the external (the shape of the poses against the person who perform it) we are missing the very base of the yoga practice that is the connection, the union between body, mind and spirit… Pretty basic (it is the definition of Yoga for Christ sake!) and yet, we have forgotten it. Yes, there are teachers (bless them!!) out there trying to keep the real yoga flame alive, but, let’s be honest, is a minority… People is prepare to hear “mindfulness talk” in a mindfulness practice, but when you talk “mindfulness” in a yoga class people looks at you as: Ok, what is this? I came here for the stretch!! As a teacher I am falling in the same trap every day, limiting myself to focus more on the physical part, but enough is enough!! I want to do the “mindfulness talk” in my yoga classes. I am ready to talk mindfulness all the time in my classes! I invite you to do the same! Yoga deserve it! And people deserve it too! A yoga class is a treat to yourself. Few moments in life allows us to step out of the stress of the normal life and return back home, to our body, feelings and emotions in a safe place and just be… Acceptance is key! · Acceptance of the current state of strength and flexibility of your body. Some days we feel great and we are capable to do amazing things, to hold almost every pose with ease and even try those challenging ones. Other days, well… It seems that even sitting with the legs crossed is something destined only for yogis heroes… In those days, be kind and gentle with yourself and your body. If you need to be all the class in shavasana or in a restorative pose go for it!! It exactly what you need! Have always close by a bolster in case you need to rest and give to yourself a big dose of TLC! It’s ok!! Rest and relax. You will be rocking again in not time! · Acceptance of your body as it is. Shape, size, flexible or stiff, strong or weak, however you perceive it, let I be, own it with grace. You and your body are unique. No need to wish to be different. Honour it with all the flaws that you see (as only you think there are flaws!!). You are beautiful and perfect the way you are! · Acceptance of your present situation and this moment in particular. Again, own the moment you are living right now and accept whatever it brings to you. Yoga helps to see it as ok (even if you think there are so many things to change!) Not now, not in this moment. Just allow yourself and your body to be. Get lost in the sensations and feelings. You are in the right place doing exactly what it is supposed to be. · Avoid competition and comparison! Everybody is different and it meant to be that way! (Imagine a world where everybody is the same – pretty boring!!). So, when you are in your poses, don’t look to how the other person besides you performs. Focus in yourself and your experience. We all have different body shapes and abilities. Maybe you feel bad because you can touch your toes and the other person can, but, in the next pose, probably you can do “better” than him or her, so, what is the point to compare? The way that you are now is the way that has to be. The place where you arrive in that pose, is the right for you at this moment in time. No worries attached! Again accept where you are right now and your conditions and everything will fall into place. When working in the poses: Always build the pose from the floor, from your grounding. Every part of your body that is in contact with the floor become your foundation. And from there is like building a castle, so, going from bottom to top expanding and growing without lose the connection with the floor. The more rooted you are, the more you can grow J (Imagine yourself as big tree) With the same idea, work from the centre of your body to expand and grow toward your limbs. (starfish) Maintain the flow of your breathing. Don’t block it. Allow your body to be open and moved naturally by your breath. Agitated breathing means you went too far! Come back to a place where you can maintain a comfortable rhythm. Don’t push so much! Go to a place where you feel the stretch but not pain. Pain means you went too far again! Always be kind and gentle with your body and yourself! When competition and pride kick in, just breath and remember that you don’t need it, you are perfectly ok as you are!! Allow yourself and your body to enjoy the different poses: Let go completely in the relaxed poses (sweet and trusting surrender) and enjoy the feeling of power and strength in the standing and balancing poses. Humour in essential!! Don’t get caught in your need to be perfect. When learning new and challenging poses approach it with curiosity and a good sense of humour and bring out the child in you and have fun! Practicing Yoga in this modern world (better say in the human world?) is really challenging. We are so use to compete, to achieve, to arrive, to win… So, when we decide to take the yoga journey we take it with the same attitude of: bring it on!! Almost everybody fall in the trap of the outside shape of the yoga poses. We believe that if we reach the toes or we get that difficult posture we will arrive… (to Samadhi, to peace, to total achievement, to enlightenment, to final destination… ) So, despite all the signs that your body send to you in an attempt to protect itself (and you!!!) we keep going, we keep pushing, forcing, tearing apart our muscles, joints, soul… Ohhh, believe me! I know it, I was there! (Still am! Some days I can see myself pushing more than I should just to feel more adequate, more in tune with the general idea of what a yoga teacher should look in a pose!). I was an active gymnast for many years (competitions included) and I worked for many, many years as a fitness instructor (even now) so push myself to the limits was (sometimes still is L) my way of living. I know what is to have your hands bleeding and still jump to the uneven bars to keep practising, to don’t lose a single moment. Or have your body plenty of bruises and your joints and muscles destroyed and still training hard. Resilience was at the order of the day. So, after a few years break of doing nothing (when I just arrived to Ireland, 7 years ago; no exercises at all, when I used to do at least 5 classes a day) and, when I decided that I wanted to teach again, I took my yoga practice with the same attitude (I should say that before I decided to teach again, my relationship with yoga was a peaceful and extraordinary one – deserve another blog J ): Lot of classes a day, shoulder stand to the limit even if my neck was screaming for help, ploughs were practised and I was determined to touch the floor with my toes even if my back wasn’t ready. Seated for hours every day with the sand bag in my knees to open my inner tights, forward and back bends were practised as crazy. Chaduranga and arm balances oh yes! Give me more!! (Gymnasts are afraid of nothing!) I did it all without paying attention to the signs of my body. I didn’t care about my body, about myself! I only wanted to achieve those beautiful poses that I could do before at ease. No awareness at all, not kindness or caring for myself at all (Awareness? Mind, body and soul connection? What is that?). As a result, after a year of intense torture what I got, obviously, was a great injury in my elbow (I have an extra bone to probe it!), the muscles of the back of my legs are still recovering for those bad stretchings (I am even more stiff than before I started to practice again!), my back still cannot afford to do a normal shoulder stand without props, ploughs? Not for me right now! and my knees are still in the same place (really close to my ears when I crossed it in a seated position! J So, slowly I start to realise that pushing hard, to the limits, leaving my body and myself out of the equation wasn’t the way. It wasn’t all at once, it wasn’t suddenly, but slow and gradually the whole idea of bring awareness to my body as I practice fell in place. I can proudly say now that the previous reading of Yamas (series of "right living" or ethical rules within Yoga) has a whole different meaning for me than before. I am now a believer! And I would love to convince you too! These rules are meant to be applied in others and (more important?) in yourself: - Ahimsa: non-violence - Satya: benevolent truth, absence of falsehood - Asteya : non-stealing - Brahmacharya: spiritual advancement by education and training - Aparigraha: non-appropriation, absence of avarice As you read and explore their meaning you can find a reason within yourself of why we need to achieve so badly (envy, pride, vanity, need to show our strenght, our determination?) Why we cannot feel the beauty of contentment in our present situation, in our body as it is in any given moment? We have so indelible marked in our mind the belief that contentment is synonymous of average. The word surrender (to the present moment, to the breath, to the higher self) sounds as a defeat instead as a courageous act of living. So, I invite you to apply it, in your own way, in your practice today. Use your will power to restrain yourself to force your body to the limits. Allow the contentment, the acceptance of your own body and situation to flow in your consciousness and awareness. Enjoy the process of self-discovery of your body and soul as you move in the mat without expectations, without pressure, knowing that everything is ok as it is… Claudia Gutierrez You can read more about Yamas and Niyamas here: http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/2565 Yoga and Flexibility: According to Michael Alter, author of Science of Flexibility (Human Kinetics, 1998), current research demonstrates that individual muscle fibers can be stretched to approximately 150 percent of their resting length before tearing. This extendibility enables muscles to move through a wide range of motion, sufficient for most stretches—even the most difficult asanas. If your muscle fibers don't limit your ability to stretch, what does? There are two major schools of scientific thought on what actually most limits flexibility and what should be done to improve it. The first school focuses not on stretching muscle fiber itself but on increasing the elasticity of connective tissues, the cells that bind muscle fibers together, encapsulate them, and network them with other organs; the second addresses the "stretch reflex" and other functions of the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system. (Yoga works on both. That's why it's such an effective method for increasing flexibility)!!! Why is not recommended to bounce while we work in flexibility: The Stretch Reflex According to physiologists who view the nervous system as the major obstacle to increased flexibility, the key to overcoming one's limitations lies in another built-in feature of our neurology: the stretch reflex. Scientists who study flexibility think that the small, progressive steps that allow us to go a little deeper during the course of one session—and that dramatically improve our flexibility over a life of yoga practice—are in large part the result of retraining this reflex. To get an understanding of the stretch reflex, picture yourself walking in a winter landscape. Suddenly you step on a patch of ice, and your feet start to splay apart. Immediately your muscles fire into action, tensing to draw your legs back together and regain control. What just happened in your nerves and muscles? Every muscle fiber has a network of sensors called muscle spindles. They run perpendicular to the muscle fibers, sensing how far and fast the fibers are elongating. As muscle fibers extend, stress on these muscle spindles increases. When this stress comes too fast, or goes too far, muscle spindles fire an urgent neurological "SOS," activating a reflex loop that triggers an immediate, protective contraction. That's what happens when the doctor thumps with a small rubber mallet on the tendon just below your kneecap, stretching your quadriceps abruptly. This rapid stretch stimulates the muscle spindles in your quadriceps, signaling the spinal cord. An instant later the neurological loop ends with a brief contraction of your quadriceps, producing the well known "knee jerk reaction." That's how the stretch reflex protects your muscles. And that's why most experts caution against bouncing while stretching. Bouncing in and out of a stretch causes the rapid stimulation of muscle spindles that triggers reflexive tightening, and can increase your chances of injury. What Yoga Can Do For You It seems that you can’t go anywhere these days without seeing people carrying yoga mats under their arm or sticking out of their bags. Although the Indian art of yoga is thousands of years old and has been practised in Europe since the eighteenth century, it has seen a massive growth in popularity in the past decade, with most modern gyms and fitness centres offering yoga classes of different levels, as well as the plethora of yoga DVDs available. So what’s so special about yoga? Here are a few of the benefits of practising yoga regularly. Flexibility, Strength and Balance As yoga involves a lot of stretching, as well as slow movements from one posture to the next, which require strength and balance, attending a yoga class or practising yoga at home will improve your levels of flexibility, strength and balance. You’ll be surprised by how quickly you’ll feel the difference, even as you go about your daily life. For those looking to tone up, the build-up of strength will tone your muscles, leaving you with a more toned body. Stress and Breathing Many people practise yoga in order to reduce stress levels. As yoga requires intense concentration on body movements, to the exclusion of all else, worries and stress melt away, leaving you feeling calm and at peace with the world (ideally!) Reduced stress levels can improve your skin, your happiness levels and reduce the likelihood of a heart attack. In addition to that, certain types of yoga places a great emphasis on breathing, encouraging you to breathe deeply and regularly, which can have both physical and mental benefits. Health Benefits Yoga has also been shown to slow the signs of ageing, such as loss of bone density and stiffness. There is also evidence that yoga can help people with high blood pressure, depression, back pain and even heart disease. Plus, many people claim that they became more conscious of their diet and their body after taking up yoga, becoming more conscious of how much junk food they consumed. Yoga is for Everyone! You can probably think of at least one reason why yoga wouldn’t suit you; you think you’re not flexible enough, too old or too unfit… None of these are valid excuses! There is a yoga class for everyone, with different styles of yoga being more or less physically demanding. Beginners’ yoga classes will build up your fitness and flexibility over time, allowing you to progress slowly towards more complex or demanding postures. So grab yourself a yoga mat and get your Zen on! This article was written by William Montcalm, a yoga fitness instructor. What is the Menopause?
Being female means that hormone fluctuations are a part of our life. From acne and mood swings at puberty, morning sickness in pregnancy, post-natal depression and the emotional and physical roller coaster that is the menopause. Menopause literally mans the cessation of menses. It marks a physiological milestone in a woman’s life when her ovaries produce significantly less hormones and stop producing eggs. Gradually over a number of years, periods end and ovulation no longer occurs. It marks the middle of a woman’s natural life span. It is not a health condition or an illness, but a natural stage in every woman’s life, therefore does not require a cure. No need to medicate with a “pill for every ill”. It can occur anywhere from your late 30’s (although this would be considered an early menopause) to your mid 50’s. There is no universal menopause experience. It is highly individual. Symptoms can fluctuate wildly from having almost no effect on daily life to being severe and debilitating. It is part of the normal cycle of life and the more we approach it as such and accept it with grace, the better we can cope with whatever symptoms it throws up. Women are described as post-menopausal when they have gone one year without a menstrual period. What is happening to our bodies? The symptoms are normally very gradual and are triggered by a reduction of the amount of oestrogen produced by our bodies. As our ovaries are slowing down and producing less hormones, the pituitary gland tries to make up for this by sending more follicle stimulating hormone to the ovaries to encourage the production of oestrogen and progesterone. This slowing down of the ovaries and speeding up of the pituitary is responsible for a lot of the symptoms of menopause. Our hormones are in flux. These fluctuating hormones can leave women feeling unbalanced and victims of their changing bodies. It takes our bodies a little time to adjust to these changes, but once they do, balance is restored, symptoms disappear and we move on with the rest of our lives. Menopause does not last forever! There can be an increased risk of some health conditions after menopause. This is no cause for alarm, but just something to be aware of. For example, one of the functions of oestrogen is to prevent fat deposits building up in the arteries and this provides protection against coronary heart disease. When the production of oestrogen decreases there is a possibility of the development of heart disease. Oestrogen is also involved in the process of calcium absorption into the bones, therefore as oestrogen levels drop there will be an acceleration of bone density reduction, which can lead to osteoporosis. Oestrogen is like an oil that lubricates the body. The elixir of life! It is responsible for our femininity, our youthful glow, our thick, healthy hair. When we begin to lose it, we can experience stiff, aching joints and muscles, hair loss and dry skin. So where is the good news? Do we just turn into doubled up old crones and bemoan the fact that the best part of our life is over? Is it the end of something or could it possibly be the beginning of something wonderful? Yes, it is the end of our fertile life, but it is most certainly not the end of our creativity and productivity. Can we see it as a time of freedom, of new challenges, a time when our duties are lightened? We have less responsibility for childcare, care of elderly relatives, domestic duties and perhaps reduced work commitments. Is there something we can actively do to improve the quality of life? Can we become the wise women nature intends us to be? The resounding answer is yes. With a few simple dietary and lifestyle changes and of course, yoga, the menopause storm can be weathered. I am right in the middle of the menopause and I feel that I am dealing with the symptoms very well thanks to my yoga practice. My friends and family remark that I don’t seem menopausal at all. At a time when typically women can become unreasonable, moody and exhausted, this is refreshing. There is life before, during and after menopause and I know I am preaching to the converted here. We know from our knowledge of yoga that the practice is a two way street between the actions of the body affecting the mind and emotions and a positive mental attitude affecting the health and flexibility of our bodies. There is no more important time in a woman’s life to benefit from this knowledge. Yoga supports not just our bodies but our minds and emotions as we work through the biological changes taking place. The benefits of yoga during this time are substantial and regular practice helps to maintain physical, mental and emotional health. For my thesis I decided to look at some of the common symptoms of menopause and explore how a yoga practice involving asana, pranayama, meditation and relaxation can help alleviate those symptoms. It is my theory that a practice which includes all four yoga elements can tone the body, soothe the mind, alleviate anxiety and ease us through this natural transition with grace and confidence. More in Yoga and Menopause in our workshop Sunday 26th at 2.30 at Yoga Fitness Dun Laoghaire www.yogafitness.ie |
Claudia Gutierrez
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Yoga Fitness BlogI am Claudia Gutierrez, owner of Yoga Fitness, originally from Argentina and proudly Irish Citizen since 2012. Archives
November 2021
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