All posts by Yoga with Kyle

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5 Yoga Poses to Help Fight Fatigue!

Happy Chinese New Years!

After attending a workshop by spiritual leader Todd Savvas I learned that this Chinese new year (although has many promising blessings) happens to also mean I will be visited by the Energy Reducing Star.  After sleeping an unusual amount last week  I already  feel it’s affects taking hold. What’s a gal like me to do?

Yoga of course!

Do you feel low energy? (I usually feel a lull in the late afternoon).  But have no fear, instead of reaching for a cup of coffee, there are great yoga poses that bring an uplifting energetic effect!

Side Body Stretches

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Here with the arms raised over head and gently leaning to one side,  begin to open the ribs. Lengthening and creating space here opens up the intercostals along the side body and can create an uplifting effect.   Be mindful that your shoulders don’t tilt down towards the floor, keep the side body long and open. Be gentle with the stretch do not over do it.  I like to take deep breathes to help open up my lungs, deeper breaths = more oxygen = more energy!

Spinal Rolls

After lengthening and breathing into each side I continue until I  feel open and elongated (usally 2-3x).  I like to follow this side stretch with spinal rolls. This helps tension melt away from the body because the body needs to fully relax in order to roll up and down.

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Easy Pose

 After this pose you can gently come into Sukasana, easy pose.  Sit with your legs crossed and spine lengthens through the crown of your head.  Inhale one arm up and over as the other supports you on the ground.  Gently repeat a few times on each side.

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From here,  gently come onto you hands and knees into a table top position. Inhale the hips up to the sky and end with  Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward dog). Try to stay in this pose for at least three long smooth slow inhales and three long smooth and slow exhales. Here the blood and the lymph nodes will be affected by the reverse of gravity.  It benefits the heart by easing blood flow to the brain. It also can change your perspective and lift your mood.

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Side body stretches and Down Dog are great preparatory poses for our final asana, which is Handstand. (If you are a beginner then I recommend staying in down dog). Hand stands are a wonderful way to change your mood and energy! I’ve never seen someone come out of their handstand without a smile! And remember you can always do this next to a wall for support.

Body as Temple
Body as Temple

This 10-15 minute mid afternoon routine is a sure way to help increase energy and vitality in the mind body and spirit. Of course you can also do it at any time and be sure to finish with a nice peaceful meditation (even if it is a short one). It will help you focus on what you really need to achieve!

Namaste!

Kyle Elizabeth

Why I love yoga

Beginner Obstacles and A Way Around Them

 

There are immediate obstacles when one begins yoga.  This causes many people to give up and quit. From physical discomfort to the lack of ability to focus it begins to hold up an uncomfortable mirror to our actual mental physical and spiritual shape.

Beginner obstacles and a way around them:

Chaotic mind: Focus on the breath, it immediately will drop you into the mind. Visualize your thoughts like a ping pong ball. Is it rapidly going back and forth and all around? Use your breath and slow it down mentally. Eventually it becomes a slow game of ping pong and one day, the ball will go completely still.  The mind chatter will be silent. Experiencing a silent mind is the holy grail of a yogic experience. And it is very possible!

Stiff body: Surrender in the warm up, re connect with yourself and be kind. No need to criticize yourself. Speak kindly and lovingly to your body, nuture it and stay present. Rememeber your body is in a constant state of change. There will be things you can do one day and not achieve the next. Go with the flow and meet yourself where you are.

Weak body: Yoga is a very different kind of physical demand on the body. For starters, sitting down at a computer or driving in a car or flying for long hours takes a toll on our posture and deep muscle strength. Know that over time your body will become stronger and stronger from the inside out. Go at your own pace and rest as many times as you need.

Inability to focus: Stay with the breathing and focus on the alignment of your body, listen to your teacher they will be very specific about what to move and where. When you really begin to listen they will guide you in and out of the pose and time will float on by.

Distracted in the practice due to others in the room: Eventually in yoga, you detach from your senses and are so immersed in your body and silent mind, no one exists in the room. It is easy to be intimidated or self conscious but focus on your breathing and your body and how you feel that day. That’s all that matters. Over time you will notice less and less and grow ever more confident in your own practice.

Entering yoga practice armed with the knowledge of these obstacles one can EASILY surpass them.  It’s knowing how to guide your mind through it effectively that will lead you immediately to a much more profound practice. The goal is to move beyond things in yoga that cause you pain and even things in yoga that cause you pleasure. It is about becoming the master of your “self” and remaining unattached to your mental and emotional fluctuations. Invite a sense of playfulness and joy into the practice, it does  not have to be serious work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class Breakdown, standing poses

Learning Basic Standing Poses

Before I go further into the breakdown of a practice let’s talk about poses. This week I would like to share with you basic standing positions and their benefits.

All standing poses help bring balance back into the body.

Tadasana- Standing mountain pose

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This pose is basically standing savasana (you know the final laying down position everyone covets) focusing on the subtle alignment in this pose helps correct posture over time.

Ukatasana -Chair Pose

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This pose is a lot harder than it looks. I often tell students to pretend they are sitting on the edge of a chair but still remind them to reach up to the sky like they’re trying to hold on to the sun. It is excellent for strengthening the back arms and legs. It also helps protect the lower back if you inhale the navel towards the back of the spine (not shown in this diagram.)

Uttanasana

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This is a standing forward fold. It is perfectly ok to have your knees slightly bent in the back. This helps lengthen and stretch tight hamstrings as well as reverse blood flow towards the head.

Ardha Uttanasana

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It is the same position as Uttanasana except on the inhale we place our hands on the shins, open the chest as if we are offering our heart to the earth,  simultaneously  lengthening through the crown of the head creates more space in the spine.  As we exhale and lower into Uttanasana we can then surrender more deeply into the pose.

If you begin with these poses, you will have achieved 1/2 of Surya Namaskara. The sun salutations.

Class Breakdown

The Breakdown of a Warm Up

Each practice begins with a warm up.  If your body is a vehicle the goal is not to rev your engine, but to slip it smoothly, silently and warmly into gear.

It should be so subtle and gentle by the time you’re deeper in the practice your energy raises to match your effort as you begin to flow.
The world is in a constant state of change doing yoga helps you ride your energy waves through it, calmly and wisely.  As if you were a surfer of your own energy.  The ocean is always  in motion. We must keep our bodies moving. When we do, we reset our vibrations and encourage balance and harmony. Your body is an instrument of peace.
So the most important thing to do when warming up is connect to your breath and drop in to the body. By that you send your awareness to the lungs, belly and heart beat. You do so by directing the breath to these places, down the spine over the belly and out through the feet.  Check in with your “self”, your pulse,  your vital energy.
Once you’ve dropped in (become aware of your body) beginner practices start gently working and area of the body. For example, the spine. An simple gentle way to wake up the back is by laying down and rocking your knees side to side.  These slow yet guided movements begin sending energy to and from this area.

Top yoga books, teachings and yoga instructors commonly recommend to start the practice with Surya Namaskar A (the sun salutation)

sun sal·u·ta·tion
noun
plural noun: sun salutations
  1. a series of yoga poses performed in a continuous flowing sequence and intended to improve the strength and flexibility of the muscles.

It is a series of poses designed to warm up the body and prepare it for yoga practice.  Some people like to do just 10 minutes of sun salutations in the morning it is a brilliant way to start the day!

Go ahead and give it a try, how may rounds can you do?
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Spiritually, teacher Christopher Chapple says: Surya Namaskar is nothing less than the embodiment of the Gayatri mantra, a sacred prayer to the sun. “As we sweep our arms up and bow forward, we honor the earth, the heavens, and all of life in between that is nourished by the breath cycle,” he says. “As we lower our bodies, we connect with the earth. As we rise up from the earth, we stretch through the atmosphere once more, reaching for the sky. As we bring our hands together in Namaste, we gather the space of the heavens back into our heart and breath, acknowledging that our body forms the center point between heaven and earth.”
Class Breakdown

The Breakdown of a Practice- Breathing

For many years when I practiced yoga, I did not think there was any rhyme or reason to the series of poses the teacher instructed.

I naively almost offered to teach one day in a gym when an instructor didn’t show up- I am so happy someone else stood up and started the class because it would have been hilarious. I honestly had no clue what actually went on!  I thought I could lead others- a yoga teacher must’ve always dwelled deep inside me.

Now, after hundreds of hours of certification… so much thought and sequencing goes into a class!  Over these next series of blogs, I am going to break down for you, pose by pose a beginning yoga class. There are some basic principles that apply to the most general basic yoga class, and like I said, when I started I had no idea what was happening around me and even less understanding of what was happening inside me.

Breath.

I will start this blog series with a few common breathing techniques. This is usually how classes begin.  In yoga there are many types of breathing techniques  with many awesome benefits! I am going to pick a few of the most common just to get you familiarized.

pran·a·ya·ma
ˌpränəˈyämə/
noun
(in Hindu yoga) the regulation of the breath through certain techniques and exercises.
At the beginning of yoga class it is important to always start deepening and drawing awareness to the breath. It sends more oxygen to the brain and signals the body to operate out of the parasympathetic nervous system.
Viloma 1- Prepares the lungs and expands the intra-costal muscles of the rib cage.
 

“‘Vi’ means against, Loma means hair, viloma means against the natural flow.
Viloma is an interrupted breathing technique where you pause briefly during your breath. This pranayama gently introduces the concept of expanding the breath and lung capacity through controlling your breath.”- http://www.ekhartyoga.com/blog/viloma-pranayama

One begins this practice by laying down, I recommend placing your hands on your lower abdomen.  Direct the air below the navel, feel it rise and swell and pause. Hold for one or two beats, inhale again into the upper lungs and filling the side of the body, pause again. Hold for two beats. Sip in a little more air past the throat, hold at the top of this full inhalation for another two or three beats, and exhale fully out.  Allow a natural round of breath to occur.  And then repeat.

There are variations of this technique but Viloma 1 is very common in a beginner practice.

Ujjayi Breathing: “There is a magnet in your throat that draws the energy up from deep within the well of the lower abdomen.”- Geetaji

This can be done seated as well as implemented in many yoga poses. In english it is called “Victorious Breath”

Inhale through the nose, creating an ocean like sound as it glides past the throat. Upon exhalation ( which is not silent) one makes a sound as if they were trying to fog up a mirror.  This is an excellent way to drop into the body and exhale out any frustrations that you have endured through the day. As well as mentally start to focus on deeper breathing which greatly assists you in the poses.

Breath of Fire- Is a more sophisticated yet commonly used pranayama technique.
This breath is a series of rapid inhales and exhales. This technique may be uncomfortable at first, but is excellent for purifying the blood and helping the nervous system.

 How to do it

Breathe in and out through the nose (or mouth). Pull the abdomen in towards the diaphragm during the exhalation and out during inhalation. This is very fast, as fast as 2 or 3 times per second, and also very loud. The people next to you should be able to hear you. When perfected, the rate should be 120 to 180 times per minute!- http://www.thesecretsofyoga.com/breathing/breath-of-fire.html

mantra

Mantra

Mantra-Yoga

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Mantra (a very powerful form of yoga) is still something relatively new to me. Even as a singer, I was shy to say “OM” out loud in a group at class. It seemed so embarrassing. Funnily enough, as a singer, the power of meditation has always come to me when I play the piano. I experienced exquisite visions. Perhaps that is why I naturally took to yoga, it grounded my heavenly head yet still allowed me to soar high and free and as far as the wind of my thoughts would take me.  When I play piano I paint the visions I experience sonically as a way to energetically bring more people. I want them to feel and see what I see.

To break down what is mantra I happened to open to the exact page about it in the book: The Deeper Dimension of Yoga. Please read below!

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“Sound is a form of vibration, and it was known as such to the yogis of ancient and medieval India. According to the dominate theory of the science of sacred sound- known as mantra-vidya or mantra-shastra– the universe is in a state of vibration (spanda or spandana). A mantra is sacred utterance, numinous sound, or sound that is charged with psychospiritual power. A mantra is a sound that empowers the mind, or that is empowered by the mind. It is a vehicle of meditative transformation of the human body-mind and is thought to have magical potency.

The most widely employed and recognized mantric sound is the sacred syllable OM, which symbolizes the ultimate Reality. It is found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. But, traditionally, a mantra is only a mantra when it is imparted by a teacher or disciple during an initiatory ritual. Thus, the sacred syllable om is not a mantra when used by an uninitiated person. It acquires its mantric power only through initiation.

Mantras, which may consist of single sounds or a whole string of sounds, can be employed for many different purposes. Originally mantras were used to ward off undesirable powers or events and attract those that were deemed desirable, and this is their predominant application. In other words, mantras are used as magical tools. But they are also employed in spiritual contexts as instruments of empowerment, where they aid the aspirant’s search for identification with the transcendental Reality.

The Deeper Dimension of Yoga: Theory and Practice

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My advice, at your next yoga practice (or even at your desk at work) close your eyes and began to use your voice and your vibrations. Take a deep breath and say out loud “OOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM”

tips from top teachers

Tips from the Top: David Lynch (Part I)

I’ve been really excited to write this particular article featuring David Lynch. His classes are popular because his method works. He immediately takes one into the present moment. Few people possess such divine humility. Although he has ethereal abilities it’s his moments of reality and referencing pop culture that adds a perfect comedic release during the apex of the practice. He has an exceptional play list and command of the room.  As well as angelic presence. He is a very special kind of  teacher. A spirit guide.

I was so happy when he responded to my weekly column with not only enthusiasm but a books worth of guidance.  So much so I had to I’ve decided to break his answers in to parts.  (I know readers are short on time). He is such a vast source of knowledge and depth it is incredible.  All of these teachers are and it has been so humbling having them open up and respond to the weekly question:

What is your advice for beginning Yogis?

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Be strong enough to shed your preconceptions and step onto your mat each day, out into this world and into your own head with a nakedness born of mature innocence, a willingness to be present to the true nature of the immediacy of the moment and if you can, freed from the fetters of your past triumphs and traumas and unburdened by the unknowable unknown you will live in fluctuating moments of serenity that one day will bloom into tranquil permanent impermanence.
– David Lynch
 http://www.davidlynchyoga.com
 
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Yoga and Listening to Your “self”

Listening to your “self” may be the hardest and the scariest thing we ever do. Our whole lives we are taught to listen to others and conform to their idea of what we are and should be. You’ve had moments when the “self” spoke up, but if you weren’t ready to listen you pushed it away.

This voice tells you how you look every day. How to dress. What to worry about, it compares you constantly to anything and everything “better than you” this voice keeps you paralyzed by fear, doubt and drama. This voice is so busy occupying your mind, that  your wisest part of your being your higher concsciouncess is often never heard.

Do you want to go through your whole life bombarded by your ego voice, or silence it and let the real you shine through? The one that knows you are unlimitedly blessed and talented and can help you focus on  the gifts which contributes to you achieving your dreams. The direct line to your higher power and being. Your guide inside. Listen to that voice.

“But I’ve never heard it.”

That’s because you never mastered quieting down your ego. We live in an egoitiscitcal society. Look at  social media, everything is an “enhanced, perfected and un true” super state of reality we want the world to believe we exist in.  These images can can crush our inner true voice.  The part of our being that rings out with hope and purpose.  We need to hear that part of ourselves in this noisy outside and inner world.

Since we were little we were conditioned by our parents, siblings, peers and teachers at school, programs, expectations, commercials, television all telling us how we should think, feel, look, act and “be.”

Silence. Is. Golden.

Have you ever stilled your thoughts so deeply you heard true silence of the mind? I have. I was floating under water with sunlight pouring all around me, surrounded by leaves that fell from a tree.  Time did not exist. I was never the same after that deep meditation. To experience true silence from the inside was such a mind altering experience.

Go to yoga and connect to your breath, calm your mind, quiet the frantic voice of the ego and listen to your “self.” That is the most powerful essence of your being.  The world is excited to meet the true you! Let the light shine from behind your eyes, glowing with inner wisdom and confidence, beauty and strength. Namaste.