The arm balances of third series really take all I have in terms of upper body strength – and all I have is often, still not enough. Jen René asked her teacher, Tim Miller, for advice last week.”Use your head,” he told her. When she relayed his message, I giggled at the irony of a teacher finally telling me to use my head instead of get out of it!
If you’re trying to determine what’s causing you to feel a bit ‘off’ and suspect food intolerances, then a simple elimination diet can do the trick. For severe symptoms a food allergy test is recommended. But for milder symptoms like fatigue, low immune system, headaches, skin issues, constipation or bloating then the elimination diet is one effective and easy method for finding out if they are food related.
Funny isn’t it, that when you go to the doctor you’re putting your body, that YOU feed, water and take care of day in, day out, into the hands of a stranger who, over the course of 15 minutes, diagnoses a few symptoms, runs a few tests, tells you what is wrong, and then prescribes medicine to fix it? Who is the expert here?
Giving adjustments is the main thing I love about teaching. It’s amazing how so much communication can take place in relative silence. I see adjustments as a way to help and support people during their yoga practice. I see adjustments as a dialogue, with my hands and intention I ask the student ‘do you want to go this way?’.
Back bending with ease and grace requires that the Hip flexors (front of the hips), shoulders, and the whole of the front of the body are flexible and strong. Yin yoga is a way of opening the body with passive stretches held for a prolonged period of time. If practiced correctly it is a very sure and safe way to work on increased flexibility.
Padmasana or Lotus can be one of the most challenging and frustrating poses for a yoga practitioner. The ankles, knees and hip joints all have to be mobile and the muscles in the legs and the hip girdle have to be flexible. It is all too common for the knee to be injured trying to put the body in lotus before it is ready, so first a word of caution: take your time. There is no rush and it really doesn’t matter if you never ‘get’ Padmasana.
This is not an anti-raw food rant – just to clarify! I simply want to look at the big picture when it comes to raw vs. cooked food. The way I see it is that many of us grew up eating mostly cooked food and I know I will probably continue to eat cooked for the rest of my life, not because raw is ‘just a craze’ but because it feels natural for me.
If there’s a holy grail in the Ashtanga yoga practice, it must a long central axis (or spine, for reference) and rooted pelvis, for within the two lie the keys to heaven – or as we say, bandhas. And so it seems logical we do all we can to protect and keep these lines sacred. The primary series offers us the perfect place to practice this alignment with shapes that logically lead us towards that promised land.
This was my deal breaker. Everyone has one, and this was mine. I knew this one posture would demand from me more commitment, patience, tenacity and loving kindness than any other I’d ever encountered. It requires me to be fully present, super aware – and willing.
I don’t know if you know this about Ashtanga – but backbends are a pretty big damn deal. When I started, no one cared that I could stand on my hands. No one wanted to see me float or jump or balance on my arms. No, they wanted to see my backbend.
Only, I didn’t have a backbend. I had more of a coffee table.