Tag: yoga

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Are You Moving Enough?

Well folks, we’ve been participating in the national hermitage movement for a while now (has it been 4 weeks already?). I feel like so far it’s been one of those, this is only temporary kinds of things.  But now that hermitage has been extended until mid-May, we may need to start thinking about how to adopt a more sustainable routine. No matter what, I find that everything is better if I’m moving my body. How about you, are you moving enough?

One thing that has been cramping my style here is that it has been raining.  That makes it very easy for me to blow off any notion that I may have about going outside for a walk.  But regardless of whether I’m out there getting my steps, I still feel like I need a bit more movement in my days and I’ve come to terms with the fact that I need to workout at home.

There are so many options for home workouts these days. I bet we all still have a few workout DVDs laying around (I even found my old favorite, Callanetics on VHS in the garage a while ago – too bad we don’t have a VHS player anymore). I’ve seen a lot of paid content on offer – zoom yoga classes and stuff, but there is also so much free stuff out there, it seems crazy not to take advantage of some of it.

I started just doing yoga on my own a few weeks ago. It’s been good. I have a little routine that I put together for myself. I get to spend more time on poses that focus on my problem areas, I get to move at my own pace, and I get to include poses that aren’t that fashionable these days (like plow and fish). The little series that I have been practicing takes me between 30-40 minutes and afterwards I feel great – taller and aligned and ready for my day.

Not my current yoga situation

But the other morning I just WAS NOT IN THE MOOD. I knew that I need to move but I wasn’t feeling the yoga vibe. So, I dug out my Pilates notebook from college and had my own little mat Pilates session. About 15 minutes later, I was a new woman.

Then I was feeling motivated, so I did something that I have been contemplating for quite a while: I took a ballet class! I searched on YouTube and there were a bunch of options. Sure, my barre was my dining table, but it was a real ballet class with an accompanist, and I wore ballet slippers, so it totally counts.

  • My home ballet studio, complete with feline supervision
  • I can still manage first position

Ever since San Francisco Ballet had to cancel their season, I’ve been seeing their clips of the dancers taking company class at home. If they can do it, I probably can too.

I was so delighted to find this ballet barre class from the Dutch National Ballet that was classic and straightforward enough that I could attempt to replicate the combinations.

My goodness, it sure was fun!  Ernst (the instructor) would demonstrate and then do the first side with you.  For the second side, you were all alone with Rex (the accompanist).  My brain thought that I totally got it, but my body was not so sure (especially my feet).

Somehow, I survived.  And somewhere deep, down, that little ballerina who lives inside of me woke up a little bit. She is excited at the prospect of inhabiting this body of mine again (I am too). Fortunately, there are no mirrors in my dining room to make either of us aware of how far away we are from the body that she used to inhabit.  It’ll be ok, we will just continue to show up for class with Ernst and Rex every other day or so and maybe eventually we will get my feet to start working again.

So that is my story about finding ways to move more at home.  How about you?  What are you doing?  Are you trying something new?  Something old?

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An Intro to Chakras – Anahata

Above that, in the heart, is the charming lotus of the shining color of the bandhuka flower…It is known by its name of anahata, and is like the celestial wishing-tree, bestowing even more than what one desires…

Description of the Six Centres, Verse 22

Anahata – the heart chakra

When we want to demonstrate that something is meaningful or personal to us, we tend to spontaneously gesture to the center of our chest. Our atma (the essence of our true self) resides here in the anahata chakra, the heart center, much in the same way that the essence of an entire tree resides within one seed.

Anahata in Sanskrit means unhurt, unstruck, or unbeaten. The word is a “sound produced without touching two parts.” This refers to the concept of the sound of the celestial realm described in Vedic texts, the oldest known Hindu scriptures. Rather than two forces coming together in opposition, they co-exist without conflict, there is synergy and cooperation. We are able to experience things with a detached perspective, to “follow our heart,” to make decisions based on our higher self, not karma or emotions.

The location of anahata means that it affects not only the heart but the lungs, chest, arms, and hands. Having a blockage or imbalance in this chakra can manifest itself physically in respiratory or circulatory issues. Mental/behavioral symptoms may include co-dependence, manipulative behaviors, feeling unworthy, people pleasing, and/or antisocial behavior.

When anahata is activated and open, it is associated with love and compassion, charity to others and psychic healing. The more that the heart center opens, the more strongly and deeply we feel. This may reveal some past hurts, but by working through these feelings, we are able to let them go. Then we can access feelings of balance, calmness, and serenity and free ourselves from being bound to our emotions.

Although anahata is commonly represented by the color green these days, it has also been described as light blue, representing spirituality and unity, and symbolizing the purification resulting from the fire of manipura (think the blue center of a flame). The mandala for anahata is said to be surrounded by twelve red lotus petals.

In the middle of the mandala is a six-pointed star, formed by two intersecting triangles, highlighting the inner battle between spirituality and emotion. The center of the star is described as having a smoky color and containing a representation of a new moon, which relates to changeability we experience in this chakra.

The element for anahata is air. Think about how the heart is located within the region of the lungs and how closely the activities of the two organs are associated (for example, you might focus on breathing more slowly to calm your heart rate). Air symbolizes our connection to everything we encounter. It is also a force that has the ability to destroy (like a tornado) or can be utilized in a productive manner (like how the Bernoulli effect enables airplanes to fly).

Relating to the idea of air is the animal symbol for anahata, the black antelope. An antelope is fleet, shy, elusive, and graceful. For Jung the antelope symbolizes the efficiency and the lightness of our thoughts and feelings in the anahata chakra.

The seed syllable of anahata is “yam” which means to let go, to liberate, to give.

Jung describes anahata as the point that we become conscious of something which is not personal. We are able to separate ourselves from our emotions. Anahata serves as a bridge between lower and upper chakras, integrating the manifest with the spiritual. The first step in self-realization, recognizing one’s self in every living being – accessing the atma – happens in anahata.

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An Intro to Chakras – Manipura

Above it, and at the root of the navel, is the shining lotus of ten petals of the color of heavy-laden rainclouds…Meditate there on the region of fire, triangular in form and shining like the rising sun…

Description of the Six Centres – Verse 19

Manipura – the solar plexus chakra

We have now arrived at the third chakra, manipura.  This chakra is located in the area between the navel and the diaphragm (the solar plexus) and is considered the center of emotions.  Manipura translates to “lustrous gem” or “many precious jewels.”  The “jewels” found when this chakra is aligned include qualities such as clarity, self-confidence, bliss, self-assurance, knowledge, wisdom, and wellbeing.

Think about terms like “go with your gut,” or “having a gut feeling.” These are examples of the intuition and wisdom that can be found within manipura.  But if this chakra is not activated, we may not feel comfortable trusting out gut, or we may react to things emotionally or irrationally.  When manipura is blocked, symptoms can manifest in digestion issues as well as low self-esteem, difficulty making decisions, neediness, or aggressive, rigid, and controlling behavior.

The mandala of manipura is surrounded by ten petals that represent the ten pranas which control the supply of energy to the body.  Prana describes the concept of a universal energy that runs through all things (I guess we could call it “the force”). It also describes the way that energy is received and utilized in the body.

Within the mandala is the shape of an inverted triangle representing energy, growth, and development. The triangle is also the symbol for fire, the element of manipura. Fire has many interesting applications in this context.  In one sense, the fire of manipura is the digestive fire (agni) which acts as the furnace powering the body.  When the energy of this chakra is blocked, the fire causes aggression, passion, and restlessness. When it is activated the fire means purification and refinement, offering us the opportunity to free ourselves from bad qualities and habits.

The syllable associated with manipura is “ram” which also represents fire and purification by burning.  And then, the ram is the animal represented within the mandala (I just love when things are matchy-matchy).  For Jung, the significance of the ram is that it is a sacrificial animal. You have already overcome the worst danger, the danger of being drowned in unconsciousness by the makara of svadhisthana, you don’t need to fear the ram. Sacrificing the ram by activating this chakra is to sacrifice your passions and take control of your inner power.

The thing that I found most interesting about Jung’s interpretation of manipura was the was that he explained it as the rebirth following the symbolic death of svadhisthana.  He linked this chakra, the fire center, to the rebirth of the initiation rites of the ancient Egyptian sun cult, the Greek myth of Apollo, and Christian baptism. So manipura is where one becomes part of the divine substance, having an immortal soul.

Activating manipura only bring Kundalini to the mid-point of her journey to connecting with the universe, but it gives us access to a tremendous amount of personal power.  I’m looking forward to considering what the remaining chakras have in store for us.  I have a gut feeling that it is going to be something good.

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An Intro to Chakras – Preface

I had this idea that I would do a whole Health & Wellness Monday series on the chakras.  The chakras are a concept from Kundalini yoga that pertain to a series of energy centers within the body.  My intention was to introduce the concept one week, then elucidate a different chakra every week. I liked the idea so much that I decided to use the same topic as the subject of a speech for my Toastmasters club.  That is how I went down the rabbit hole of chakra/Kundalini yoga research which has been fascinating and has also put me way behind on my writing schedule.  At some point, its time to stop researching and just get down to it, so here we go!

The first thing that I found was that there was a great deal of interest in this subject among all sorts of different people who I know.  One friend mentioned that he thought that there was something in the air that made this idea have a lot of resonance with people at this time (hold that thought, we’ll be coming back to it in a bit).

As I mentioned, the term chakra describes a series of energy centers within the Kundalini yoga paradigm.  Kundalini yoga is a branch of yoga that comes out of Tantric philosophy.  In some usages, Tantra and Kundalini are used interchangeably to describe the style of yoga practice; however, Tantra refers to an entire subset of the Hindu/Buddhist cannon.

It is a rich tradition, full of iconography and symbolism.  It is also complicated, and the classical Tantric texts are intentionally opaque.  I’m going to try to strip things down as much as possible without simplifying the concepts too far.  You’ll have to let me know how I do.

Kundalini an aspect of the goddess.  She exists within everyone in the form of a serpent that is coiled three and a half times at the base of the tailbone, asleep.  The object of Kundalini yoga is to “activate” the various energy centers (chakras), waking Kundalini and allowing her to rise through the body, ultimately connecting an individual’s consciousness to the universe.

In the course of conducting research for my speech, I re-read a book called The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga by C.G. Jung.  This book contains the transcription of a series of seminars that Jung gave on the subject of Kundalini yoga in 1932.  Jung had already established his ideas on the collective unconscious and archetypes and reading the ways that Jung relates the concepts and symbols of the chakras to universal themes gets really interesting and overwhelming.  One point though did feel like a sort of life-line, when the way that Jung was explaining the chakras related directly to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (even though Maslow was much later).  I’m really interested in exploring this idea more after laying the groundwork by spending some time considering each chakra, I hope you’ll bear with me.

I’m listing the sources from my research so far here, but I will also tag references in future posts.

Sources:

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New Moon Sound Bath

My first experience with a sound bath was at a yoga class in downtown LA years ago.  During shavasana at the end of class, suddenly there was this incredible, roaring hum.  It pushed all of the random thoughts out of my mind and filled the now hollow cavity at the top of my neck.  It was amazing.

After class, I learned that the big gong in the corner wasn’t just for show, it was the source of this wonderful, mind-clearing noise.  I would make a point of going to that class even when I really wasn’t in the mood just to experience the gong at the end.

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.  – Nikola Tesla

Last month I joined my dear bar (method) friends for a new moon sound bath event.  The organizers schedule these events to coincide with the moon cycles – either the new or the full moon.  I made sure to get myself on their email list so that I would always know when the next one is coming up and was so thrilled when they did it again last week.

The organizers are these really lovely women, Consuelo and Arvindjeet.  Consuelo leads us through the yoga postures at the beginning with her sweet, smiling voice.  When she speaks, she sounds like she is just so full of love and happiness for her fellow human beings that it can’t help but pour out of her.

Arvindjeet is very soft-spoken, but in a very grounded way.  She leads us through three oms with power and confidence and is responsible for all the sounds in the sound bath.

Side note: the practice of chanting om in yoga class has fallen out of fashion in recent years and I wish that it would come back into style, it really is centering and helps to focus the energy of the group.

The workshop begins with a bit of restorative yoga – just a few gentle postures held for a while, yin style.  Interesting things happen when you hold an easy, comfortable yoga posture like child’s pose for two minutes or longer.  The poses help work out some kinks, relax the body, and quiet the mind.  Then into shavasana for the sound bath.

Arvindjeet has these beautiful singing bowls, different chimes, this wonderful drum that sounds like rain, and an amazing gong that she will use to make different sounds.  It’s called a sound bath because the sound feels like it washes over you.  You don’t just hear the sounds, you feel vibrations all throughout your body.  Consuelo and Arvindjeet refer to the sound bath as, “giving sound healing.”  If you go back to what Tesla said about frequency, vibration, and energy, these sounds could be the keys to the secrets of the universe.

I know that I always feel different/better after one of these experiences.  Keep your eyes open for an opportunity near you and don’t be shy to check it out!

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Restorative Yoga

As I get older, I gain more and more appreciation for restorative yoga.

When I was younger it felt like a waste of time.  Why would I want to spend time relaxing in comfortable postures when I could be sweating?  I usually found myself spending those last few moments of class in shavasana (corpse pose, the traditional last posture of yoga class) thinking about what I was going to eat after I left.

In my previous post about yoga, I mentioned that I am more interested in doing less strenuous yoga these days.  I still like my regular yoga practice to include a good sweat and at least a few moments of “yikes!”  But I also have an appreciation for the occasional restorative yoga class.

My neighbor around the corner goes to the same gym as I do and one day we were chatting about our various workouts and the different yoga classes that our gym offers.  He mentioned that sometimes he likes to take this one restorative yoga class that uses lots of bolsters and blankets – it was like having nap time.  I admitted that I have fallen asleep in restorative yoga classes before.  One time I am pretty sure that I was snoring!

Usually restorative yoga classes will move through a few postures in a slow and gentle manner, then transition into an extended shavasana (or, as I seem to think of it, nap time).   Substituting a quick nap for your workout is not the point though.  The ultimate purpose of any style of yoga is to prepare you for meditation.  Restorative yoga just chooses to go about this in a different way than more active, physically strenuous styles.

Props

A restorative yoga class will tend to make extensive use of props such as blocks, bolsters and straps.  As someone who was once young, aggressive and extremely flexible in yoga class, I have only recently developed an appreciation for using these kinds of props.  Using props in various postures as a sort-of bridge to connect your body and to the ground isn’t about making something “easier.”  The connection enables the body to release tension and you can experience a posture more fully, if not more deeply. 

Yin Yoga

One restorative yoga class that I would take from time to time was a yin yoga class.  In yin yoga, you hold each posture for at least two minutes.  Fortunately, the postures are not balances or inversions, but mostly seated and laying-down positions.  It is a really interesting practice because you when you spend so much time in a posture, you really have the opportunity to look into all the dark corners that are easy to ignore when you aren’t holding the position for as long.  I discovered things that I didn’t like about postures that had been my favorites like baddha konasana (aka bound angle pose, or butterfly stretch).  Even holding child’s pose for two minutes can be intense.

When I don’t fall asleep in shavasana, I do still find my mind wandering.  But another advantage to restorative yoga for me is that it doesn’t have to be done on an empty stomach, so I can often coax myself out of obsessing about food for at least a few minutes.

Wisdom, kindness, and love. Namaste.

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Wisdom, Kindness, and Love

My journey with yoga began twenty years ago.  Yoga is ubiquitous these days, but in 1998, it was just starting to become widely accessible.

I haven’t maintained a regular yoga practice but every so often, I find my way back to my mat for a period of time. I’m sure I would be much closer to inner peace and never having back pain if I could maintain a regular, daily practice indefinitely. That’s ok though, yoga welcomes me back every time and seems to give me what I need at that time.

I started taking yoga at the Bally Total Fitness in Huntington Beach.  The Sunday morning step instructor started offering yoga immediately after step class (yes, I was a step aficionado and I had the cankles to prove it). Gosh, I wish I could remember his name!  He was a very sunny and bright spirit who was in the process of yoga training and wanted to share his journey with us.

I loved the opportunity to stretch and move in different ways.  I studied Pilates in college as part of my dance studies so for me, my first exposure to yoga was evocative of that discipline (the intent and breathing is different but I’m sure that old Joe was influenced by ancient India somehow). For me, it was a non-threatening way to work on strength while retaining the flexibility and balance that I had developed through dance.

A few years later, my friend at work invited me to join her for a yoga class after work.  We headed WAY into downtown Los Angeles (this was in the days that no one lived downtown).  The class was a revelation, it was fast moving and energetic and transformational.  I felt like I was attacking my practice with a sense of fearlessness.  There wasn’t time for fear, you just kept moving and when you were finished, you realized that you had done things that you never would have thought you could.  The owner/instructor always closes her lessons with, “wisdom, kindness, and love. Namaste.” Wherever I find myself, I still like to always close my practice with, “wisdom, kindness, and love.”

About two years ago, I was procrastinating with making a decision, nothing life-changing, just a little thing that was important to me.  One day I decided to go to a random yoga class.  Somewhere in the middle of class, that anxious feeling in my chest that had been hanging around for months went away and I knew that it was time and that I was making the right decision.  How does yoga do that?

Currently, I do yoga at my gym. Usually but not always twice a week.  The class is billed  as “ yoga for athletes,” which is not a how I would describe myself these days and I was nervous to try it. But it was on the right day at the right time, and turns out is just right for me right now. The instructor is very straightforward and the class is only 50 minutes, which is long enough for me anymore. We don’t do inversions or crazy back bends or arm balances and I don’t need those things right now.  It is challenging and strenuous, but energizing.