Month: March 2015

Categories
Yoga

Salamba Sarvangasana @ Richard Rosen’s workshop

Known as The Mother of all yoga asanas:)

(Photo here – request it please.)

Insertion of that rolled mat – never thought of it – NICE – No detail seems to escape him – Thank you Richard Rosen for that idea – really prevents the slippage. Also this Iyengar-studioesque blankets are nice – so NOT-sliding and rolling out from under you, solid feel.

I love shoulder stands – Salamba Sarvāngāsana – but going into counter-pose, Matsyasana (fish), I had this odd pain which I carried all day… cause for concern? No blankets, no props, just threw myself into it by flipping up into it to save “time”…and actually from “ego” – hey, I’m an advanced student – I don’t need any props – just do it – reverting back to that immature mentality still. & learned a lesson. It’s YOUR cervical spine with that spinal cord (connects your brain to rest of the body) , it’s YOUR throat that houses your thyroid gland …and review – why is thyroid gland important?

The thyroid gland covers the windpipe from three sides. The hormones of the Thyroid gland, T3 & T4, help the body to produce & regulate adrenaline, ephinephrine, and dopamine; all three of which are active in brain chemistry. Other hormones from this gland also help regulate metabolism. Without a functional thyroid, the body would not be able to break down proteins, and it would not be able to process carbohydrates and vitamins. For this reason, glandular problems can lead to uncontrollable weight gain. (sourced from http://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/thyroid-gland)

& the throat houses your Vishuddha chakra:

Vishuddha chakra is known as the purification center, where the nectar amrita drips down from the Bindu chakra and is split into a pure form and a poison. In its most abstract form, it is associated with higher discrimination, and is associated with creativity and self-expression. It is believed that when Vishuddha is closed, we undergo decay and death. When it is open, negative experiences are transformed into wisdom and learning. The success and failure in one’s life depend upon the state of this chakra (whether it is polluted or clean). Guilty feeling is the most prominent reason for this chakra to block the Kundalini energy moving upwards.It is associated with the element Akasha, or Æther, and the sense of hearing, as well as the action of speaking. Meditation upon this chakra is said to bring about the following siddhis or occult powers: vision of the three periods, past, present and future; freedom from disease and old age; destruction of dangers; and the ability to move the three worlds.(source from Varenne, Jean (1989). Yoga and the Hindu Tradition )

Here’s an excerpt from Marcus Julian Felicetti’s article in Elephant Journal on 10 specific benefits of practicing this particular pose every day:

1. It bathes the lymph nodes in fresh lymph by increasing the circulation around the lymphatic system. This nourishes the whole body.

2. Inverting the body from the neck up means that gravity increases the venous blood flow to the heart, brain and eyes. This relaxes the heart and decreases the heart rate, and it brings clarity to the mind and sight.

3. It lengthens the spinal nerves, which relieves tension in the head, neck and shoulders.

4. According to the authoritative text, Light on Yoga, B.K.S. Iygenar states, “persons suffering from breathlessness, palpitation, asthma, bronchitis and throat ailments get relief from this posture.”

5. It is excellent for those suffering from thyroid disorders. Shoulder stand brings balance and regulates the hormone secretion of both the thyroid and parathyroid glands in the neck. This indirectly is very good for flexibility.

6. It soothes the nervous system. This is an excellent posture for those who suffer from stress, tension, anxiety (high blood pressure, only if it is taught by an expert yoga teacher) and shortness of temper.

7. It is excellent for sleep. Shoulder stand helps those who are suffering from insomnia.

8. It increases energy when practiced in the mornings. It lifts and sustains one’s energy levels dramatically when practiced every day. Therefore, it is especially good for those suffering from a fatigued body and mind.

9. It is excellent for fat loss. It increases the metabolism. It strengthens digestion by returning “agni” (fire) to the abdominal organs—liver, spleen, pancreas and stomach.

10. When done correctly shoulder stand tones the muscles of the gluteus, back, thighs and abdominals. This will benefit your balance and stability.

There are many other benefits of shoulder stand. These are just a few of the main ones.

Women should not practice shoulder stand during menstruation. There are also contraindications for shoulder stands if you have neck pain or injury, so shoulder stand should only be practiced under the guidance of a good yoga teacher.

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So… wonder why I love this pose ? But evolved to doing it with TLC of this body temple that houses the divine truth:) Take loving care and have a lovely day filled with dance, laughter and joy:)

Sat Nam !

Categories
Beautiful People Yoga

Richard Rosen Yoga

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Shoulder stand can pose a risk so feel and measure how much of a padding you need … 2, 3, 4 even 5 blankets… use whatever your body needs.
Just a neck – it’s actually a very delicate and vital part of our spine – so if needed customize:)

sm_IMG_1627 Richard Rosen, the master. To learn from someone so knowledgeable is an honor. What draws me to him is his unique depth of knowledge he shares with modesty and light-heartedness… still you have “AH-Ha”moments with his very detailed explanations and insights. Shocked when he stated nonchalantly … that he has suffered from Parkinson’s Disease for last 15 years – so can’t do some stuff – he says and shrugs. Still teaching. Still doing yoga. Still practicing. So what if he cannot do some asanas anymore – he can certainly explain it to such fine logical detail and students are all so willing to be a model for the demos – There’s so much to learn from him as he carries with him a treasure trove – that is a wealth of knowledge he accumulated over decades of teaching. Basically, a walking yoga philosophy and Sanskrit scholar and yoga historian. Maybe because he’s from Berkeley, he reminds me of a Cal Professor. I wish I were able to take his class on a more regular basis …

Thought the following describes him well – some beauty is skin deep and fleeting with age; the kind of beauty I am in awe of is …the kind that transcends the superficial – it’s like an aura. A very quiet, unassuming … and modest presence that exudes fatherly warmth and intellect. It’s subtle…

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”

― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Categories
Beautiful People Beautiful Places Uncategorized Yoga

A small loss…

Glasses are clinking and so many selection at Y’s…but
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I am sticking to water …
sm_IMG_5953Kathleen Holm of Yoga Flow SF introducing Wah!

sm_IMG_5956“Wah’s music allows us to get to that place, we, through our demanding physical practice, with hard work try to get to – she gets us there without that hard work.” – K.H.

sm_IMG_5959Yes, it’s just sublime:) Tranquility – Peace – harmony – it’s all there.

sm_IMG_5966There’s nothing like a LIVE experience…”ichigo-ichie” time, a treat to conclude a stressful week.

************************* what’s a “small” loss *****************************
Having preached about how we need to have a full range of feelings, the whole spectrum, I must say I hate feeling badly. I have been feeling awful all week to be honest; but been busy so distracted myself from feeling truly awful… We have to be brave to allow ourselves to feel lousy. So many wonderful things are happening in my life but I actually have been feeling badly because… I lost my i-pod. Doesn’t that seem very silly? So shallow even ? It’s just a material object…it’s just a little “thing” – keep telling myself that – It’s just an i-pod. Hard to imagine that I actually think about it at night re-tracing my steps to figure out how I could have lost it…no clue.

Why let something so little ruin your day despite the distractions and make you sit up at night wondering and wondering ? It’s been almost a week of looking and looking to no avail. Well… if you think that each song in there was maybe $1-$2 from i-tunes… I have lost couple of hundred dollars of music in my playlist plus the hardware itself… To think that some unknown person may have my i-pod and a chunk of my musical library is a bit… disconcerting to me because in a way, it’s a personal belonging. To me, that i-pod was my personal library that I can draw from to calibrate my own mood… so… I feel a great loss. Now that I reminisce about it, it had dvd’s & my daily flow yoga practice as well… Sayonara, Baron Baptise flow sequence … big heavy sigh of loss.

Embarrassed to admit I actually panicked realizing that I don’t have my playlist for my Thursday morning class but… luckily I have my i-phone with my own mishmash of music… which ended up being used. Can you imagine, I am grieving so much over this little nothing of a thing, in the scheme of things. So if I am so sad over this, what it’s like for me when it’s something even more valuable? More tangible, more costly… It’s not pleasant.

This loss has brought about a re-visit in my thinking about the playlist and the place of music in yoga classes in general. Musical taste is personal. I had started as a sub for a community center class few years ago and when I walked in, I was determined to change the Hatha class (thought boring back then) into a Flow class (hypnotic fun !) so I had rather upbeat music in my track… uhhm, well, apparently the teacher who I was subbing for used nature sounds and very relaxing atmospheric music and can you imagine? I walk in and play tunes I selfishly think is “cool” – soooo not so cool as this couple approaches me after class and the wife said – ah, we worked all day and come to yoga really tired in hopes of de-stressing and relaxing for the evening before winding down and turning in so maybe …a bit? (change the music is the message). I was like … oh… I’m so sorry. I did not know – I thought you’d enjoy the get-happy selection and you wanted to be “energized” from a tiring work day. Wrong.

On the other hand, I was subbing for a vinyasa class at a sports gym whereby I brought in everything I loved at Wanderlust, latest in yoga music and … while some students loved it; others who were used to the regular teacher’s electronic music found it to be way too upbeat – looking back, I admit perhaps 2-3 songs were not really suitable. I made a mistake – I was merely playing music I WANTED to listen to.

SO… a playlist for different styles of yoga class requires some careful considerations. I also once got a complaint that the student wanted silence – absolutely no music- which is really the way taught by the gurus or in a classical setting – as I have been to many stern, strict, quite serious classes – of course, there is no music. I could even say that in a serious yoga class, there’s no music. Thus, it’s a totally valid request. Silence is golden, no? Well, to some, silence is excruciatingly uncomfortable and for regular yoga classes (there’s no music in Bikram hot yoga studios…), students are there to bring yoga into their everyday life, not to check into an ashram for a silent retreat. And so …at that point, a statement by one of my favorite teachers came to bear…which is, “You can’t please everyone.” You cannot please everyone and you can get very very drained if you try (which is what I used to do). Hate to say this but “it is what it is.” I am sorry. While it really depends, I happen to think beautiful sounds are integral part of that joy and liberation you feel in some yoga practices. If it’s just a BGM, I don’t need to play it.

I sometimes think I am creating more work as no music class will save me so much time and effort – as I no longer have to think about its affects and could just concentrate on the sequence or the cues or my readings or assists or … so many other things I could be doing to focus – I am perfectly fine with no music and serving as a guide without any music but it’s more about sharing I think. Sort of like opening the window into your taste or your world… As long as the music is not a distraction, I think the vibration of sounds mesh well with our practice. If not, I would turn it off. But really… I love sounds; I love the vibrations of human voice …it reverberates and harmonizes the nervous system.

Anyway, since I don’t have my i-pod, all this talk may be a moot point as there’s no choice to have or have not music anyway. I do, however, feel for my students if they have to bear through my chanting or singing (joking … pray I will find my i-pod by the next time…). Losing something, losing anything that’s dear to you is always so so SO difficult. Any loss makes you feel awful and very difficult to just shrug and move on. If I am having a tough time just getting over losing a mere little i-phone, imagine how hard it would be dealing with a loss of greater nature such as …. fill in the blank. It can be debilitating, devastating. So … practice of yoga helps in making you more resilient emotionally without turning you into a hard unfeeling cookie…

At Y’s Birthday Party, a comment is made – I would do yoga if there was a class called “yoga for inflexible guys”…everybody laughs – Really? Did you know it’s better to be inflexible than flexible? Why? Being inflexible, you are less likely to hurt yourself by over-stretching. Also, as your senses are on high-alert, you have the ability to “feel” so much more. The inflexible ones are more aware with the tiniest slightest millimeter of a movement…You possess the precious gift of heightened awareness – more sensitive than someone really flexible – you can be like a gumby doll doing a pretzel pose but … you may not feel much of a sensation… and that’s not so great in yoga. Is it?

Besides, eventually you will get there:) A little more Flexible AND Supple … with bounce in your steps:)
gumby