Yoga Head To Toe

I was just plain tired this weekend. I’m not sure what caused it but it hit me in the face during my Friday run when I started getting a bad side ache while jogging at a pace I could have actually walked. I felt heavy, uncoordinated and just plain tired. Having learned through yoga to listen to my body when it is trying to tell me something I decided to cut the run short and made the decision to take weekend off from exercise and really relax. But, as these things happen, my plans changed as Saturday morning rolled around and I felt the need to do some yoga.

For me practicing yoga asana is usually a good physical and mental workout. I tend toward those postures that require strength and flexibility and usually push myself towards perfecting them. I concentrate on my body posture and breathing, really trying to stay focused and in the moment – this does not come easy to me. (I’m a “type A” personality and it reflects in my practice – but that is a subject for another day!!). After a practice I usually feel great but I have definitely exerted some energy. So what to do with this strong pull toward my yoga mat on Saturday morning. The answer of course was restorative yoga.

I had been reading quite a bit about restorative yoga the last few weeks. My eyes and attention had seemed to gravitate towards the subject lately as I was beginning to look deeper into how yoga poses affect the body, mind and spirit. This past weekend i t seemed to me that I need the deep rest, peace and quiet I would experience with a restorative yoga practice as it calmed my mind and rested my body. Also, many of the recent books I had read on yoga and menopause emphasized how very important restorative poses were and since I was feeling a bit unnecessarily agitated that last week (probably wacky hormones) I thought now was a time to pick a few to practice.

Thinking back to what I had read and what my teachers had said about restorative yoga I decided first not to be in a hurry during the practice and only picked a few poses that I could do in a peaceful, leisurely way. There were three asanas that seem to come up time and again as excellent for restorative yoga not only during perimenopause and menopause but in general and these were the three I decided to practice.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Supported Bridge Pose) Benefits: This pose opens the chest and heart area. It is restful for the heart, helping to balance blood pressure and hormonal secretions. It has a calming effect on the mind and nervous system and helps to prevent and relieve headaches. Placing the head lower than the rest of your body with the chest open is soothing and refreshing, and removes lethargy and depression. It also helps drain fluid from the legs after long periods of standing. This pose relieves mood swings and hot flashes.
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Supta Baddha Konasana (Supported Lying Down Bound Angle Pose) Benefits: This poses opens the chest, abdomen and pelvis and allows the body to relax deeply. Blood flow is directed into the pelvis, bathing the reproductive organs and glands and helping to balance hormone functions. The centering, balancing effect of this pose helps reduce mood swings and depression. This pose is also beneficial to those with high blood pressure, headaches and breathing problems.

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Virarita Karani (Supported Legs Up The Wall Pose) Benefits: This is an excellent inverted pose that most can do for long periods without any effort or stain on the neck. It allows blood and lymph fluids to pool in the belly, soaking the organs in oxygen. It refreshes the heart and lungs, works to restore depleted energy and rebuild energy reserves. It is deeply relaxing during times of stress and tension and has a beneficial effect on the immune system. The pose also reduces blood pressure. Supported Legs Up The Wall is considered the most healing of the yoga restorative poses.

It felt wonderful to just relax and stay in each of the poses as long as I needed to. After each of the practices I definitely felt rested in a complete way both in my mind and body . Maybe a little more restorative yoga throughout the week is just what is needed right now.

“Yoga is not about the body or about the mind. It is about the synthesis of body and mind, and the transformed self that is the result. It is an adventure in human potential, in going beyond the spirit identity that either body or mind alone provides, in discovering a new kind of energy and life”. Dana Holleman, Orit Sen-Gupta, Dancing the Body Of Light: The Future of Yoga.

Credits

B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health
Geeta S. Iyengar: Yoga – A Gem for Women
Suza Francina: Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause: A Guide to Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Health at Midlife and Beyond

A few days ago during yoga class, for the first time, I found myself really focusing on what was happening to my physical body beyond the bones and muscles. Usually, as I work to align my body correctly in a particular posture, I am thinking about where to exactly put my hands, or how am I going to get my foot there, or rotating that thigh muscle, that doesn’t seem to want to move, inward or outward. However, yesterday I was able to rise above those thoughts (and OK the other occasional thoughts like my legs are buurrrrnnnning and holding for two more breaths is going to kill me) and was focused on what was happening to my internal organs and in particular my hormonal/endocrine system. I had just read B.K.S. Iyengar’s three cardinal principles of therapeutic yoga which were still fresh in my mind. Briefly his principles are:

• Spreading – creating space for fresh blood to enter the organ
• Soaking – providing time and space for fresh blood to bathe and nourish the organ
• Squeezing – removing used blood and fluid by pressure

So, as we were doing the hip opener, my legs were feeling it but instead of focusing on my breathing as I should have been…oops…, I was thinking that I was creating this wonderful space in and around my reproductive organs allowing for an increase in the flow of oxygen and blood to the area. And by holding the posture I was giving my body the time to allow the blood to really soak in and do its work. For some reason during this yoga class these ideas really synced with me. Interestingly while these thoughts were going through my mind holding the pose a little longer didn’t seem so hard. We did a great seated twist during class where I think I twisted my body more than it had ever been. Mentally I could feel my organs being squeezed removing all the used fluids and I knew once I released the twist a fresh supply of blood would flow in and nourish it.

On the physical level, when I start to think beyond what yoga practice does for bones and muscles, a place I tend to focus on because it is the most felt during asana, a wonderful new prospective comes to light. I feel as if I’ve taken a baby step forward in my yoga practice this week. I’ve begun to glimpse beyond what’s tangible to my body, what I physically feel during asana practice and have moved a little bit into the realm of the mind. And today I’m thinking – wow -the more I live yoga, the more I appreciate its tremendous power.

In B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health he gives the benefits of each of the poses presented in the book. For example for shoulder stand, Salamba Sarvangasana, a yoga pose often done in classes, not only does it strengthen your leg, abdominal, shoulder and arm muscles, according to B.K.S. Iyengar it’s other benefits are:

• Alleviates hypertension
• Relieves insomnia and soothes the nerves
• Improves the functioning of the thyroid and parathyroid glands
• Alleviates asthma, bronchitis, and throat ailments
• Relieves breathlessness and palpitations
• Helps treat colds and sinus blockage
• Improves bowel movements and relieves colitis
• Helps treat hemorrhoids
• Alleviates urinary disorders
• Helps treat a prolapsed uterus and reduces uterine fibroids
• Relieves congestion and heaviness in the ovaries, and helps treat ovarian cysts
• Reduces menstrual cramps and helps regulate menstrual flow, if dome regularly between two menstrual periods

I was so sore on Monday – but it felt oh so good! Both the first and second weekend in May I had the chance to attend two Iyengar yoga seminars given here on the Big Island (Hawaii). My original intention was to attend just the first weekend seminar here on my side of the island but after classes ended I knew I had to take advantage of this visiting yogi’s experience and knowledge again. So off I went to the Kona side of the island for another weekend of yoga. I couldn’t have asked for two better yoga weekends – they were just perfect.

Many times we go into activities with expectations and if they don’t live up to what we thought they would be or what we want them to be we consider them somehow a failure. Over the years I have tried to curb this “expectations” habit and just be open to whatever happens. So what happened on these two weekends that made me say they were perfect yoga weekends?

• An excellent yogi/teacher (Janet MacLeod) gave the seminars. She had wisdom, skill and strength, gentleness and a great sense of humor. What an amazing gift to be taught by a truly experienced teacher who lives yoga daily. Every class she was happy which was infectious making the whole class happy!

• There was amazing positive energy during every class. A year ago that statement would have sounded a bit hooky to me but, I can honestly say I could really feel peace, calmness, acceptance and this sense of forgiveness (which is hard to explain) surrounding every class. Maybe I was the only one feeling this, but I’m thinking not – regardless it added something quite positively spiritual to the seminars.

• Meeting other yogis is always fun and for me, a real novice at yoga, meeting people who have been seriously practicing yoga for many years is always enlightening. I find that long time yoga practitioners seem to be more content with their lives. Whether it is actual yoga practice, wisdom with age, or just plain old life experience that causes this contentment I am not sure but I love basking in their energy, learning from them and listening to their life stories.

• The classes were definitely demanding physically. I said it at the beginning – I was sore but it felt so good. During each class we did a series of asanas that lead toward a final advanced pose. Through these small steps I stretched, straighten and aligned my body like never before. My final poses may not have been pretty but I got further into them more than I ever imaged I could.

On the personal side I really enjoyed being able to practice side by side and share the experience with my yoga teacher. She really encouraged me to attend both seminars feeling I would not only benefit from the physical side of it but would also enjoy meeting others doing serious Iyengar yoga practice. She was definitely right. The afternoon before the Kona weekend seminar we drove up from Hilo and spent a few hours at Kealakekua Bay and had the awesome experience of swimming with wild dolphins. We were out in the bay surrounded by at least 20 dolphins spinning, jumping and swimming all around us. It was incredible. To add the final topper to the Kona weekend I stayed down at Kealakekua Bay at a holistic retreat center for the two nights I was there. It was like luxury camping on the Kona coast. This was my Friday May 7th: drove to Kona with my teacher and friend, swam with dolphins, checked into holistic retreat center and had 40 minute wet sauna followed by an awesome vegetarian meal all in the company of great people, exhausted I laid down on my comfortable bed open to the world around me, listened to the soft sounds of the ocean waves and feel asleep to the sweet sounds of Hawaiian music being played on the ukulele. The next morning – yoga – Perfect!!

Every time I am in a yoga class the teacher will in one way or another mention the importance of inversions. It was no exception that during this last weekend’s Iyengar yoga seminar I attended the teacher spent a good deal of time explaining the value of and the proper way to do inversions so we could all enjoy their rejuvenating benefits. The following day as I was getting ready to do my home practice I reviewed the usual routine I did and thought a new inversion would be a nice addition.

For the month of May I am going to add supported headstand to my home practice. First things first – I needed to learn to say the Sanskrit word properly. I believe the actual Sanskrit name is Salamba Sirsasana (Supported Headstand) but usually I hear the pose said only using the second word, Sirsasana. I have also seen it often spelt as we would phonetically say it –Shirshasana – which is pronounced – sher-SHAH-sahn-ah.

Inversions, which of course include Shirshasana (the “king” of Hatha Yoga poses while Shoulderstand is the queen), are amazing postures that neutralize the effects of gravity on the body. When you turn yourself upside down, the “sediments” that have collected in your lower limbs – mostly blood and lymph – during a long day of uprightness sink toward your head and revitalize your entire body and mind. According to B.K.S. Iyengar, “The inversion in the final pose brings a rejuvenating supply of blood to the brain cells. Regular practice of this asana widens your spiritual horizons. It enhances clarity of thought, increases your concentration span, and sharpens memory. The asana also helps those who get mentally exhausted easily.”

I am a novice at this pose. With the help of my teachers I have done it a few times against the wall during class and a few times in the middle of the room during my tries at home. I can get up but sway a bit and sometimes fall backwards if my balance is not correct (a good reason to work on the pose at the wall for a while). I have noticed that your arm strength has to be strong for this pose since most of your weight should be there and not on your head. The other important thing is arm position. I have been told by the teachers that I have a tendency to put my elbows out wider than they should be which only makes balancing more difficult. I’ve scammed a good few books to read up on headstand and will work with my teacher this week on it – and we will see what happens.

Here is a link to Yoga Journal’s website page for instructions on how to do Supported Headstand. There are also many other great websites with detailed instructions for this pose. The books I used are listed at the end of this article. But your best source of instruction and help is from your yoga teacher.

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Really good book on yoga poses Hatha Yoga Illustrated
Excellent explanation of the pose – very precise B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health
Good general information The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Yoga Illustrated, 4th Edition
Good general information Yoga for Dummies

I am trying to figure out how to remind myself to practice daily some of the other “limbs” of yoga besides the physical side, the Asanas. I have always been very disciplined when it came to exercise so adding a daily yoga practice to my routine in the morning was easy. It is such a perfect start to the day, I get stretched out and my mind becomes calm and clear. I can’t image not having this beginning to each day. But now I think I am ready to take the step towards making a conscious effort to practicing the Yamas and Niyamas.

One thing I know, I have to start with baby steps. I tend to make grand plans in my mind with good intentions but often can’t fully follow through because it was just too much of a change or too much to do. With that said I know the best step would be to start with something small. Something I can repeatedly focus my mind on with little effort and let it slowly seep into my consciousness so it becomes a part of me. So I’ll start with one of the Eight Limbs of Yoga, the Yamas (The Five Moral Restraints) and I’ll start with Ahimsa or nonviolence.

How am I going to incorporate the study, contemplation and practice of Ahimsa into my daily life? I thought this through a bit and have decided that I would take a full month to focus on it. First I’m going to learn how to say it in Sanskrit (uh-HIM-sah). Then I’m going to write the word down on a piece of paper and focus on it every morning before I begin yoga practice. I’m going to post it on my refrigerator, on my desk and make it my desk-top background on my computer. I’m going to read what others have to say about it. Gandhi is such an excellent example of someone who practiced Ahimsa that I think I will look into some of his writings. Finally I will try every day to be conscious of my thoughts and actions in relation to practicing nonviolence.

And, if I get a bit distracted I’ll follow the advice of my yoga teacher who is fond of saying “the mind tends to wander…..but that’s OK, its human nature……. just go back to where you left off and begin again”.