Category Archives: Yoga

Pose Of The Week

Got plank?

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This evening Kathy was up for a challenge to test her strength and stamina and also to explore plank deeply to find her best plank.  Here is what she found:

“When I pressed back into my heels and down on my fingers it eased some of the strain in my arms.   It also helped if I kept my elbows from locking.  Pressing back in the heels made it easier to keep my core muscles engaged.”

Plank
Plank

TIPS: Hips staying in line helps keep the core muscles firing too. Soften the elbows if your elbow joints feel strain and press into the fingers and thumbs.

She held that plank for two full minutes!

How about you?  Got plank?

Resources, Yoga

Essential Prenatal Asanas

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Here are a few of the greatest hits of prenatal asanas.  Try to do this series once or twice a day  to keep the body supple.  Doing these poses mindfully and with breath will help you to remain connected to your body as your baby grows.  Moving is essential no matter what you do.  Taking a walk on a warmer day, using a treadmill inside, swimming or even dancing in your living room are all great ways to improve circulation, increase oxygen uptake, lower blood pressure and create a little endorphin flow!  During all exercise, remember to breathe for your baby and stop whenever you feel breathless, overheated, or experience pain beyond the sensation of normal stretching.  Enjoy yourself and celebrate every day of your pregnancy!

Exhale and impulse from the navel
Exhale and impulse from the navel
Inhale, gently release the lower back (keep belly firm) look up and stretch the upper back and shoulders.
Inhale, gently release the lower back (keep belly firm) look up and stretch the upper back and shoulders.
In bound angle breath forward with a long back to stretch the hips and inner thighs. You can also do isometric stretches like we do in class.
In bound angle breathe forward with a long back to stretch the hips and inner thighs. You can also do the isometric stretches we do in class.
Exhale into your body's natural twist and breath in the belly. Exhale firmly from the navel.
Exhale into your body’s natural twist and breath in the belly. Exhale firmly from the navel.

Sit to rest and breathe.

 

Yoga

Update and Seva

DSCN8587Dear Yoga buddies,

In January of this year, 2017, Harry Dyer of Kenya,  Africa was scouting for game and poaching activity near the Mara river.  His plane’s wing clipped the trees and sent the plane crashing to the ground.  It burst into flames upon impact and in the few seconds before Harry could release himself from the cockpit he suffered burns on 40% of his body.  He managed to walk to help, fording the Mara river and found his way home.  Harry was admitted to a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya but it had inadequate burn treatment facilities. Once he was somewhat stable he was airlifted to Johannesburg to the one and only Class 1 burn center in all of Africa.

After several weeks in South Africa, Harry’s friends here in Indy had him flown here for treatment at the Eskenazi Burn Center.  Here he attended daily therapy sessions for months.  Richard was tasked with feeding Harry to help him regain the 40 pounds he had lost while immobilized in hospital.

Harry has survived his wounds and will be working for his whole life to maintain full range of motion in his arms and legs and keep his lungs healthy.  Burns are one of the primary injuries suffered by Africans who cook , sterilize their water, and heat their homes with open flame.  Especially for children, the scars left by untreated burns can lead to life-long disfigurement, and a lack of social inclusion and employment.

Our newest studio Seva (service) is to raise funds towards the $2,000,000 needed to build a state-of-the-art Burn Center in El Doret, Kenya which is the home of Dr. Joe Mamlin’s IU-affiliated teaching hospital, orphanage and the Umoja project.   We will hold a fund-raiser in late August.  Meanwhile, if you like you can pay a bit more for class the amount will be earmarked for Harry’s Burn Center.  You can also make a donation by cash check or charge anytime. The size is not important.  Every penny counts when lives are at stake.  Together we can work to help build the Harry Dyer Burn Center in El Doret, Kenya.                                                                                                   

Namaste, jean

 

Wellness

Practicing Gratitude

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Ananda Spa Contemplation Space

Be sure to take time to be still, breathe and be grateful for everything passing through your lives even in the hectic pace of Holy Days. Traffic drama? “I am grateful to be in my car with someplace to go.” Let breath and music create an oasis inside your car! Long lines at the stores? “Thank you for this opportunity to share a laugh with the strangers around me.” Smile! OR carry a book with you wherever you go – it’s a great way to shut out chaos and take a mini break. Remember to practice equilibrium and non-attachment.  In other words, keep your emotions out of problems as they arise – it’s not easy and can be our life-long practice. The more we avoid our knee-jerk negative reactions to events and people, the more our minds become fertile ground for peace! Then, as you prepare and shop for these Holy-days and you will find yourself fully charged and ready for all the joy heading your way. Namaste

Diet and Nutrition

Tips for Weight Loss

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Once upon a time I had created a list of hints for losing weight – my students have added to the list and so now is the time for an update!  Please leave your comments here as well.

  • Use small plates to control portion – even at a buffet or dinner time using a salad plate instead of a dinner sized plate will automatically lead to portion control.
  • No eating after 7pm – your digestive fire or Agni is strongest at noon so that is the best time for a large meal.  Also, a fully digested meal won’t interfere with your sleep!
  • Always use a plate or bowl – never, ever, ever eat out of a bag or box.  If you see how much you eat, you will eat less!
  • Avoid distracted eating – like in the car, watching tv, at the computer or even (Nancy broke my heart with this one) while reading.  Sigh…my favorite lunchtime activity…
  • Cut out soda – even diet.  Sorry folks, you can enjoy an occasional soda but the sugar content is incredibly harmful and the artificial sweeteners are neurotoxins.  Ever get a headache after drinking a diet soda or soft drink?  Not only that but the acid content literally melts our bones like chalk in vinegar.
  • And finally – CHEW.  Swami Veda told us always to “Chew your liquids and drink your solids.”  This makes for slower eating, digestion is allowed to begin in the mouth – as it should – and you will feel full without overeating.  Try 27 times a bite.  It’s not easy but if you love your body, its health and want to have more energy this is key.

I wish you wellness!

Wellness

Physiology of Breath and Health

DSCN1625As I prepare for a performance or audition my body ramps up with adrenaline, which elevates blood pressure, shortens my breathing and in general creates unease here in my body. Today, I am consciously deepening my breath and finding places where the body just doesn’t want to expand – tense maybe?

The yogis tell us that shallow breathing creates a state where we are more vulnerable to disease.  In biological terms, we know that deeper breaths draw the diaphragm down and expand the openings in the diaphragm through which the major blood vessels in the body pass.  This allows for optimal flow of oxygen and waste gasses.  So, breathing to stay healthy makes perfect sense!

Laughing has the same effect!  So, as a gift to your body, try expanding your breath – give up that ideal flat belly for big deep inhalations, then draw in the navel as you exhale. Try it all day today and see how you feel!  Who knows, you might just reach enlightenment.

 

Resources, Yoga

Prenatal Resources – good books

I wanted to share with you a few my favorite books for expectant and new mothers. We all know that knowledge is power and theses books offer wisdom responsibly.

When looking for resources it is always good to be wary of any books that make claims for making your baby’s schedule “conform” to yours especially when it comes to feeding. Newborns come ferociously hardwired with three basic needs: to be near you, to be fed and to suckle. These needs will shift with each growth spurt, on days when your schedule or outings shifts nap time – or whatever! There will be a “new normal” every week or so and adjusting to your baby will require time, skin-to-skin contact and yes, sometimes interrupted sleep ;-). Remember, in all the good and the tough times – “This too shall pass” so even at its most intense you will find resources deep within yourself to get up one more time, change one more diaper, burp one more burp before you, your baby and your partner can rest. They are little for precious little time! You will never regret those minutes in the still of the night nursing or rocking your little one back to sleep.

Here are some nice books for you to explore:

The Kind Mother, Alicia Silverstone
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, La Leche League publication
The Nature of Birth and Breastfeeding, Michel Odent, M.D.
Rediscovering Birth (or anything else) by Sheila Kitzinger
Mind Over Labor, by Carl Jones
The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth, Henci Goer
Creating a Joyful Birth Experience, by Bardsley & Cappachione

Not all of these will be at regular bookstores so try Half Price, Indy Reads, or other used store inventories too. See you soon!

Yours in service, Jean

Meditation

Meditation for slowing down during hurried days:

DSCN2272Meditation for slowing down during hurried days:

(HINT:

Set a meditation timer so that you can luxuriate in this meditation without checking the clock for the end time.  I use iQi for all of my classes. )

Sit quietly with legs relaxed and back comfortable or supported.

Watch the movement of breath in and out of your nose.

Consciously relax your face, jaw, shoulders, arms, hands, belly, low back, hips, legs and feet.

Feel the cool touch of air on each in breath and the warmth of each out breath.

Notice how  your heart rate slows to a quiet resting rhythm and allow space to move in between each thought.

Expand that space as far as possible and if thoughts intrude or speed up, simply bringing your awareness back to the breath.

At the sound of the bell or chime slowly move and stretch the body.  Maintain your meditative state of mind as you come back into activity.

Prayer to finish:

“I am grateful for this time of stillness.  I ask you to expand the sense of peace I have created within my own heart and mind and body and share it with all in my community who are in the greatest need of peace.”

 

 

Yoga

Affirmation from Mel Campbell’s, The Yoga of Pregnancy

For pregnant women and to invite all people to create space for stillness and silence at some point each day.

“I will be totally relaxed and at ease when I give birth to my baby.  In full appreciation of all the changes taking place inside my body. I will take time this week to be with you in stillness.”

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“Pressing the pause button in my daily life,

I will rest my body and mind.  

I will invite silence between my words,

space between my thoughts

and stillness between my actions.”

In my practice I found peace in my body and mind, uniting with you in stillness. ~Mel Campbell

namaste, Jean and panda buddy