Changing the Habits of a Yogi

Do you ever get evenly slightly discouraged even after a really great yoga session? Has there ever been a time where you lie in savasana and after some time realize that your body is slightly out of alignment? Do you feel that all of that hard work during your class has left you feeling a "new normal" but as soon as you get back into your car or wake up the next morning, you are back to your habits whether it be clenching your teeth, having negative thoughts instead of positive thoughts or allowing some of your frustrations fester in your body instead of expressing them. Well, this is me sometimes. There have been the moments where I may be lying in savasana and realize that my head is actually at an angle or feel that I am still tensing my muscles instead of relaxing them. I may have a really great yoga home practice and then something that my boyfriend says to me or does not do will have my psoas clenched so tight that it will take a long time for my body to be relaxed again.

I claim to be a yogi and really try to work on a daily basis of not so much "fixing" my problems, but I guess really changing my habits. I have gained so much awareness both in mind and my body over the last several years about who I am and what I resort to doing when I am upset or just not feeling right. I feel that I am so attune to what my mind or body will do and have been really working on taking much of my yoga practice off the mat and correcting some of my habits of behavior. But it is hard. Even if you have a habit of walking or sitting a certain way and are now aware that by changing your posture will enable you to gain more flexibility in your legs or be pain free, it is really hard for some people to change those small habits. Why is that? Is it simply because we forget? Do we feel that we have been born with this behavior and it is too late to change?

This is something that I will be exploring some more over the next couple of months. I would love to hear your feedback around this and maybe even some of your solutions. More to come soon...

Your Core is Totally Tubular!

This week I have been completely and absolutely immersed in my core. No, seriously. I just finished a core immersion with Jill Miller of Yoga Tune Up®, she is absolutely one of my favorite teachers and I have been learning so much. Most people may think of their core as consisting of just their abs and the only way to work out their core are through sit-ups and crunches. Or, maybe you may be of the kind who do pilates and work your core through certain core-strengthening exercises. However, the core consists so much more than the rectus abdominus muscles, these are the muscles that many of us strive to work on when we are the gym trying to attain a six pack. The core makes up some of the muscles in the abdomen such as the transverse abdominus, the external and internal obliques, the and even some of the back muscles such as the erector spinae, even the spine makes up the core! So, your initial idea of the core is not totally wrong, but it compromises so much more. Jill Miller has a term that she uses called the "tubular core". It is almost like seeing your core as a big cylinder, it encompasses muscles, connective tissue, and bones that pretty much wrap around your whole midsection and protect and support your internal organs.

Just think of this...when you are suffering through a cold and you have a bout of coughs for several days and you notice that your abs hurt, those are your transverse abdominus muscles working. Not really sure where your oblique muscles are? Try this...a simple way to find them is to stand up and without flexing any of your stomach muscles, place your fingers on either side of your navel and pick up one leg at a time and kick it upwards in front of you and to the side, you should feel a slight contraction. The obliques pretty much crisscross the body and wrap around your midsection, almost creating a girdle. Anytime you make a movement where you are bending or twisting to a side, you are engaging those muscles. They also happen to be weak muscles on a lot of people, me included. So you may be thinking what can I do besides situps or crunches and how do I know if I have weak obliques or what can I do to strengthen those muscles? Well, I can invite you to visit Jill Miller's website, www.yogatuneup.com. She offers some really great exercises that you can do at home. I also teach Yoga Tune Up® in the Bay Area and what I teach features many movements for the core.

I think that the biggest take away for me during the training is that your core needs to be strengthened as well as stretched...they were just so many facets to this weeklong training as well as to your core and the health of your core, that I can go on, but I feel that here is a start.

Is Yoga Really Mainstream?

So, last week on Friday, Martha Stewart had her 2010 Yoga Show. I don't have cable, but watched a couple of clips from her show online last night and it pretty much discussed how yoga is becoming much more mainstream, how it is much more available to people and how accessible it is. By accessible, I mean that that there are so many styles of yoga that you can practice, anywhere from just meditation to some hardcore stuff like Bikram or even Ashtanga. However, next week is National Yoga Day on January 23rd and Yoga Alliance, the organization in the United States that pretty much sets the standards for yoga schools and instructors, conducted a survey about why more Americans aren't doing yoga. So, even though it may seem like yoga is everywhere and you see it in the magazines and on TV and maybe on every street corner, there is still a portion of America that it is not yet convinced of yoga's effects on the body, let alone the mind or spirit.

According to Yoga Alliance's survey, the three misconceptions that were mentioned is that yoga is religious, only those who are flexible can practice yoga and lastly, that yoga is not really exercise. I wonder if a survey was done in California only whether you would get those same responses, I highly doubt that. One of the things that the survey mentions, which I highly agree is that it is up to yoga practitioners to really get the message out there about what yoga has done for them and how it can benefit others. I think it is important for yogis and yoginis to tell their story of how they got into this practice so that for those who may be considering it can truly feel that it can be a practice that they can relate to. Do you have a particularly interesting story you would like to share about your first experience with yoga?

There were many other interesting facets to the survey and I encourage you to read it, here is the link: http://www.yogadayusa.org/pdf/YogaInsightSurvey2010.pdf

Something to consider for this week or whenever you choose to possibly do this; if you are a regular practitioner, consider taking a friend of yours who has never tried it or maybe who has their doubts and expose them to the wonderful journey that will unfold for them on their mat.

Happy Thursday :)

The Will to Live...

I had an interesting conversation with a client today about the will to live and it really had me thinking about this particular concept. We discussed how some people have that consciousness about having the will to live, whether just living your day to day life and making sure that everyday is worth living or when in a dangerous situation, you try with all of your might to make sure that you can get out of it alive because you want to live and fulfill those goals.

Can you believe that there are people who don't have this at all? There are those who just kinda sail through each day with no real purpose or goal in their life. It is almost like the saying that you are just "living to work".

I bring this up because it is Wednesday, hump day, and we are already half way through the first week of the new new year, in a new decade. Have you fallen off the wagon on your resolutions or your goals for this year? Are you staying on top of it? Do you have someone to help motivate or keep you on track?

As we continue in to 2010, two points to keep in mind that may be of some benefit to you:

1. I know that many of you have written down your resolutions or your gaols for this year. But do you have it in a prominent place to remind you every day? For me, I have a visioning board and that has been pretty successful so far. In addition, I write in my calendar all of the the goals I intend to meet for that day, so that is another reminder for me. No, not your list of tasks or appointments, but your actual goals. When you write your goals down, you allow it to manifest, but I think also having it visible for you to see every day is an added bonus.

2. Do one thing everyday that will lead you to your goal. Many of us, including me can become stressed or overwhelmed with the amount of things we want to do or complete in the year. I worked on this with my boyfriend before the new year of writing down the few things I wanted to accomplish for each month. You can even break it down by week, but this makes things so much more manageable as well as stress free. You can also see your progress month by month when you see what you have completed.

So, hope those two points helped. Again, you should always be asking yourself, "Am I doing this for the sake of doing it, or is it bringing me true satisfaction and leading me to my purpose. Have a great Wednesday!

Starting off the New Year...with a cold :(

One of my many goals for this year was for me to start a blog documenting my continued journey into wellness. For those of you who have not met me yet, I am currently studying to get my Masters in Holistic Nutrition. In addition, I teach yoga and do bodywork and am still in the stage of being super eager to learn all I can about yoga and the integration of mind and body. As I get revved up to start off my new year, I come into 2010 with some challenges. It may not seem so much of a challenge and maybe more of a bothersome thing. Coming down with a semi-cold (sore throat and slight coughing) has put my energy level on low when my mind is ready to kick into high gear and get my body back into shape from the holiday coma of overindulgence.

However, this morning, I have managed to get up this morning at dawn and get myself on track to get back into shape again. I am one who has slacked a bit in my yoga practice and I am slowly getting back into it again. One of the things that has been lacking is more strength training and cardio. During the winter, my practice tends to be a lot slower and more about holding poses and slower vinyasas, so that has not helped very much with me putting on some pounds from the holidays. I have started doing a P90X program that lasts about three months to get back into my optimal fitness. I will be tracking how I am doing and even offering up some tips for you out there who are looking to get back into shape but need to have that motivation to keep going. I welcome 2010 and look forward to be it being my best year ever !