It's easy to make New Year's resolutions, but following up on them isn't always a simple matter, especially when the commitment involves dropping a few pounds and toning up.
This may help: O.C. residents interested in getting in shape in 2009 have a chance to limber up during Yoga Day, a series of complimentary half hour classes run by instructors at Lotus 7 Yoga and Pilates, located in Rancho Santa Margarita.
A disciplined that has been practiced for thousands of years, yoga is known to increase flexibility in the muscles, joints and connective tissue while promoting blood flow to a variety of internal organs, which, say many practitioners, serves to detoxify the body. In addition muscles become stronger and more toned.
Virtually all yoga enthusiasts claim that the practice helps relax and settle the mind, increases the ability to focus, serves as gentle but powerful form of meditation and teaches balance, both physical and mental.
A portion of any yoga merchandise purchased during Yoga Day will be donated to Yoga Bear, a San Francisco based nonprofit that matches cancer patients and survivors throughout the U.S. with classes in their local area.
Yoga Day's classes will take place on Saturday, Jan. 24. Visit Lotus 7's Web site to see the event's class schedule.
By Larry Urish
THE LATEST YOGA CLASS NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Monday, 29 December 2008
YOGA AND TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
The ancient practice of yoga is increasingly finding a new following, among doctors and medical researchers who are working to prove its benefits for a variety of illnesses.
Researchers at University of North Carolina Hospitals are studying yoga's benefits for people with irritable bowel syndrome. Doctors at Duke University recently completed a study showing that yoga provided significant improvements with hot flashes, sleep and energy levels for postmenopausal women with early breast cancer.
And in eastern North Carolina, an oncologist in Beaufort County sees improvement in his patients who take yoga classes. He has written a book about the importance of mindfulness.
'There's been an explosion of data using yoga as a treatment option,' said Dr. Shelley Wroth, an obstetrician at Duke Integrative Medicine and a yoga teacher. She said studies have found that yoga helps people suffering diseases such as hypertension, anxiety, arthritis, chronic back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, stress, depression, diabetes and epilepsy, among others.
'It shows so much promise,' Dr. Wroth said.
A recent study at Duke involved breast cancer patients who were experiencing severe hot flashes and other menopause symptoms. Because of their illness, they were prohibited from taking hormone replacement therapy, so yoga was proposed as an alternative. The study found significant improvement among the women in the study who took yoga classes, compared to another group of women who did not.
'There's a lot of reactions to stress that exacerbate the menopausal symptoms,' said Laura Porter, co author of the Duke study. 'Yoga, the physical poses and the more cognitive aspects of it, dampens the stress reactivity.'
But even as the science establishes yoga's benefits, less is known about why it's helpful. Ms. Porter and others postulate that the practice reduces stress through stretching poses, practiced breathing and meditation. For people battling illness, stress reduction may pack extra potency.
'A lot of our diseases have some sort of origins in stress, and the stress reaction,' said William Frey, who is leading a yoga class at Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, N.C., as part of a UNC Chapel Hill study among patients with irritable bowel syndrome. 'By taking care of stress, you're starting to eliminate some of the diseases that are caused by it.'
Mr. Frey said he began offering yoga eight years ago through UNC CH's Program on Integrative Medicine.
'There was some concern we might be bringing spiritual elements into a very clinical setting,' Mr. Frey said. 'Getting the word out was difficult, so much else was going on that was scientifically based, this was pushed off. But as people have seen its staying power, and see the results and research, there's beginning to be more respectability.'
Yoga's legitimacy has increased with interest by the National Institutes of Health, which now funds studies on yoga and its affect on diseases. But some skepticism remains, in the medical profession and among patients.
Gioia O'Connell, a 54 year-old breast cancer survivor from Apex, N.C., said she wasn't sure that yoga would help her. Her main hesitation was that yoga stemmed from Eastern roots, and she worried it was incompatible with her Christian faith. Still, she signed up this summer as part of the study at Duke.
'I have to tell you, it was energizing,' Ms. O'Connell said. After being diagnosed with cancer in 1994 and undergoing a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and rounds of daily drugs, she felt wrung out. 'It helped with stiffness, aches and pains. And the breathing really did help my energy level. That's what I deal with, being a cancer survivor, the fatigue.'
Dr. John Inzerillo, an oncologist in Washington, N.C., said he has seen that benefit time and again for his patients. He began teaching yoga about five years ago as part of a busy practice in Goldsboro, N.C.
'We had breast cancer survivors, lymphoma survivors. Over the course of time, three or four months, I could see a lot more flexibility,' he said, noting that patients also said they felt less stressed.
About three years ago, Dr. Inzerillo began practicing what he had been teaching and scaled back. He quit the Goldsboro practice, set up shop in Washington and wrote a book, 'Passion Beyond Pain,' about the importance of striking a thoughtful balance in life to overcome pain.
'I made life changes to allow me to get more enjoyment out of life and be more effective at work,' he said. 'People get disconnected from the things that really mean something in life.'
By SARAH AVERY
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Researchers at University of North Carolina Hospitals are studying yoga's benefits for people with irritable bowel syndrome. Doctors at Duke University recently completed a study showing that yoga provided significant improvements with hot flashes, sleep and energy levels for postmenopausal women with early breast cancer.
And in eastern North Carolina, an oncologist in Beaufort County sees improvement in his patients who take yoga classes. He has written a book about the importance of mindfulness.
'There's been an explosion of data using yoga as a treatment option,' said Dr. Shelley Wroth, an obstetrician at Duke Integrative Medicine and a yoga teacher. She said studies have found that yoga helps people suffering diseases such as hypertension, anxiety, arthritis, chronic back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, stress, depression, diabetes and epilepsy, among others.
'It shows so much promise,' Dr. Wroth said.
A recent study at Duke involved breast cancer patients who were experiencing severe hot flashes and other menopause symptoms. Because of their illness, they were prohibited from taking hormone replacement therapy, so yoga was proposed as an alternative. The study found significant improvement among the women in the study who took yoga classes, compared to another group of women who did not.
'There's a lot of reactions to stress that exacerbate the menopausal symptoms,' said Laura Porter, co author of the Duke study. 'Yoga, the physical poses and the more cognitive aspects of it, dampens the stress reactivity.'
But even as the science establishes yoga's benefits, less is known about why it's helpful. Ms. Porter and others postulate that the practice reduces stress through stretching poses, practiced breathing and meditation. For people battling illness, stress reduction may pack extra potency.
'A lot of our diseases have some sort of origins in stress, and the stress reaction,' said William Frey, who is leading a yoga class at Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, N.C., as part of a UNC Chapel Hill study among patients with irritable bowel syndrome. 'By taking care of stress, you're starting to eliminate some of the diseases that are caused by it.'
Mr. Frey said he began offering yoga eight years ago through UNC CH's Program on Integrative Medicine.
'There was some concern we might be bringing spiritual elements into a very clinical setting,' Mr. Frey said. 'Getting the word out was difficult, so much else was going on that was scientifically based, this was pushed off. But as people have seen its staying power, and see the results and research, there's beginning to be more respectability.'
Yoga's legitimacy has increased with interest by the National Institutes of Health, which now funds studies on yoga and its affect on diseases. But some skepticism remains, in the medical profession and among patients.
Gioia O'Connell, a 54 year-old breast cancer survivor from Apex, N.C., said she wasn't sure that yoga would help her. Her main hesitation was that yoga stemmed from Eastern roots, and she worried it was incompatible with her Christian faith. Still, she signed up this summer as part of the study at Duke.
'I have to tell you, it was energizing,' Ms. O'Connell said. After being diagnosed with cancer in 1994 and undergoing a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and rounds of daily drugs, she felt wrung out. 'It helped with stiffness, aches and pains. And the breathing really did help my energy level. That's what I deal with, being a cancer survivor, the fatigue.'
Dr. John Inzerillo, an oncologist in Washington, N.C., said he has seen that benefit time and again for his patients. He began teaching yoga about five years ago as part of a busy practice in Goldsboro, N.C.
'We had breast cancer survivors, lymphoma survivors. Over the course of time, three or four months, I could see a lot more flexibility,' he said, noting that patients also said they felt less stressed.
About three years ago, Dr. Inzerillo began practicing what he had been teaching and scaled back. He quit the Goldsboro practice, set up shop in Washington and wrote a book, 'Passion Beyond Pain,' about the importance of striking a thoughtful balance in life to overcome pain.
'I made life changes to allow me to get more enjoyment out of life and be more effective at work,' he said. 'People get disconnected from the things that really mean something in life.'
By SARAH AVERY
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
COIL YOGA
'As 2009 rests upon the horizon many of us begin to think about the past year that we've experienced, at the same time as preparing for the year to come. While the economy has been experiencing a downturn and our society has been feeling the effects, many people are losing their homes, jobs, retirement savings, etc. It has become so easy to focus on and take notice of what we don't HAVE. In fact, this is a great time in everyone's life to slow down and take a moment to reflect on what you want to CHANGE in your life. Yoga is definitely comprised of physical movements and postures, but it also involves the practice of MINDFULNESS, noticing where you are holding your attention and focus. So before 2009 is here take a moment for your SELF. First, just STOP, physically sit or lie still and allow yourself to breathe slowly to begin with! Second, when thinking about your 'New Years Resolution,' it is a great idea to take inventory of your Self and your LIFE. Notice what you inner desires are, they are often fitness oriented or career driven. This intentional slowing down to take some time for yourself can offer some insight into where you are holding your attention in you life and where you would like to hold you attention. It seems that we often lose sight of what we actually DO HAVE around us. Next, when you go to set your goals for the new year, keep your AWARENESS on the areas of your SELF and your LIFE where you'd like to make the most CHANGE or IMPROVEMENT. Write down your intentions so that you can see them regularly and have something to reference each day to keep you in line with the direction that you want to go. Keep in mind as the New Year arrives and the days begin to flow by that each day is a NEW day and if you should falter against your goals you can always choose to start anew. Hopefully these techniques can help you to stay focused on your Goals and New Years Resolutions as we celebrate this year and transition into 2009. Peace to all of you this Holiday Season and HAPPY NEW YEAR from all of us at COIL Yoga!'
By Marie DiBona
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
By Marie DiBona
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Monday, 22 December 2008
YOGA AT WORK
Strained economy? Tight budgets? Not sure if wellness can fit into your routine at work? Read on to find out how worksite wellness programs can save your company money and help you improve the health of your employees. Regardless of company size and budget, there are benefits to be had and a wide array of programs you can do to promote a healthier workforce in the New Year.
Three of the major benefits of worksite wellness are:
1. Substantial cost savings. Worksite wellness can lead to a better bottom line. The return on investment has been well documented thru decades of research in this area and ranges from <1:1 to 1:6.5. From negotiating better insured premium rates to identifying cost avoidance by moderating your medical trend, companies can experience savings in a variety of ways.
2. Fewer missed work days. The seven most common chronic diseases cancer, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease, pulmonary conditions, and mental illness are all caused or worsened by obesity and are costing employers $1.1 trillion in lost productivity. Most importantly, research shows that much of this cost can be avoided.
3. Happier employees. Happy and healthy employees feel better about work and are less likely to look for a job elsewhere. Having a worksite wellness program sends a strong signal to employees that the organization’s concerns extend beyond the financial bottom line.
So, how can you get on the wellness trail in 2009? Try any of the following tips and ideas.
Ask employees what they want
A simple survey, asking employees about their interest, their time limits and their goals will go a long way in helping you design a program that is well utilized. Design your own survey using Constant Contact, Zoomerang, or Survey Monkey, or contact your healthcare vendor or wellness company for assistance.
Find the resources within
Why reinvent the wheel and why spend more money than you need to? Contact the resources which are already available to you, such as your EAP, healthcare provider and cafeteria and ask them if they can provide any wellness activities or services for you. For another layer, requiring a bit more work, you can contact local businesses or professionals (yoga instructors, massage therapists, fitness centers, etc,) and national health organizations (American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association and the National Cancer Institute) for materials and possible on site visits for a health fair or lecture.
Provide monthly newsletter or recipe.
Purchase a newsletter or tap your employees for interesting recipes or health tips.
Create a monthly theme
Access the yearly calendar at www.healthfinder.gov, from the US Dep’t of Health and Human Services. Conduct monthly seminars with guest speakers related to that theme.
Start a walking group
This could be as easy as coordinating a day(s) of the week and time and mapping out a few loops. Go to www.mapmyruns.com for help.
Introduce a 12 week challenge
Switch from lunch and learn seminars to a longer lasting behavioral approach. Twelve weeks is the right amount of time for employees to adopt a new lifestyle and make it a permanent habit. A team approach can motivate employees and provide the necessary support for employees to follow through on these activities. Think beyond The Biggest Loser which simply focuses on losing the most amount of weight and focus on having employees adopt healthy behaviors. Scientifically, that's a better and smarter approach which will more likely promote significant lifestyle changes.
Bring fitness to them
Bring in a yoga instructor or personal trainer to teach a 4 week seminar on fitness where employees can actually practice the body weight exercises provided by the trainer. Look for a personal trainer with specific credentials from the NSCA (National Strength & Conditioning Association), ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) or NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine). For yoga instructors, look for someone who has a certification and a substantial amount of experience working with a population similar to your employees.
Be creative
Create a game show ... Nutrition Jeopardy, The Price Is Right for Fitness, etc. Creative, fun programs are a surefire way to attract employees. Fun prizes and incentives work well, too. Check out the web for free, downloadable templates for these games.
Help employees save money on fitness
Contact your health care provider and local fitness centers to see if they are able to provide discounts or reimbursements for weight loss programs or fitness center memberships.
Don't go it alone
Use a company with fresh ideas and to help you develop a comprehensive approach. While wellness may be a passion or an important focus for you and your company, no one knows about the updates, possibilities and strategies for a successful wellness program better than a wellness professional.
The bottom line is that if you can inspire your employees to be healthy and help them appreciate that the organization genuinely cares about their well being, then your company can realize healthy savings. Be well!
By Debra Wein, MS, RD, LDN, CWPC
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Three of the major benefits of worksite wellness are:
1. Substantial cost savings. Worksite wellness can lead to a better bottom line. The return on investment has been well documented thru decades of research in this area and ranges from <1:1 to 1:6.5. From negotiating better insured premium rates to identifying cost avoidance by moderating your medical trend, companies can experience savings in a variety of ways.
2. Fewer missed work days. The seven most common chronic diseases cancer, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease, pulmonary conditions, and mental illness are all caused or worsened by obesity and are costing employers $1.1 trillion in lost productivity. Most importantly, research shows that much of this cost can be avoided.
3. Happier employees. Happy and healthy employees feel better about work and are less likely to look for a job elsewhere. Having a worksite wellness program sends a strong signal to employees that the organization’s concerns extend beyond the financial bottom line.
So, how can you get on the wellness trail in 2009? Try any of the following tips and ideas.
Ask employees what they want
A simple survey, asking employees about their interest, their time limits and their goals will go a long way in helping you design a program that is well utilized. Design your own survey using Constant Contact, Zoomerang, or Survey Monkey, or contact your healthcare vendor or wellness company for assistance.
Find the resources within
Why reinvent the wheel and why spend more money than you need to? Contact the resources which are already available to you, such as your EAP, healthcare provider and cafeteria and ask them if they can provide any wellness activities or services for you. For another layer, requiring a bit more work, you can contact local businesses or professionals (yoga instructors, massage therapists, fitness centers, etc,) and national health organizations (American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association and the National Cancer Institute) for materials and possible on site visits for a health fair or lecture.
Provide monthly newsletter or recipe.
Purchase a newsletter or tap your employees for interesting recipes or health tips.
Create a monthly theme
Access the yearly calendar at www.healthfinder.gov, from the US Dep’t of Health and Human Services. Conduct monthly seminars with guest speakers related to that theme.
Start a walking group
This could be as easy as coordinating a day(s) of the week and time and mapping out a few loops. Go to www.mapmyruns.com for help.
Introduce a 12 week challenge
Switch from lunch and learn seminars to a longer lasting behavioral approach. Twelve weeks is the right amount of time for employees to adopt a new lifestyle and make it a permanent habit. A team approach can motivate employees and provide the necessary support for employees to follow through on these activities. Think beyond The Biggest Loser which simply focuses on losing the most amount of weight and focus on having employees adopt healthy behaviors. Scientifically, that's a better and smarter approach which will more likely promote significant lifestyle changes.
Bring fitness to them
Bring in a yoga instructor or personal trainer to teach a 4 week seminar on fitness where employees can actually practice the body weight exercises provided by the trainer. Look for a personal trainer with specific credentials from the NSCA (National Strength & Conditioning Association), ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) or NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine). For yoga instructors, look for someone who has a certification and a substantial amount of experience working with a population similar to your employees.
Be creative
Create a game show ... Nutrition Jeopardy, The Price Is Right for Fitness, etc. Creative, fun programs are a surefire way to attract employees. Fun prizes and incentives work well, too. Check out the web for free, downloadable templates for these games.
Help employees save money on fitness
Contact your health care provider and local fitness centers to see if they are able to provide discounts or reimbursements for weight loss programs or fitness center memberships.
Don't go it alone
Use a company with fresh ideas and to help you develop a comprehensive approach. While wellness may be a passion or an important focus for you and your company, no one knows about the updates, possibilities and strategies for a successful wellness program better than a wellness professional.
The bottom line is that if you can inspire your employees to be healthy and help them appreciate that the organization genuinely cares about their well being, then your company can realize healthy savings. Be well!
By Debra Wein, MS, RD, LDN, CWPC
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Thursday, 18 December 2008
YOGA AND BREAST CANCER
I have been very fortunate to be a participant in an exercise study for breast cancer survivors for the last 23 months. The study just ended and the preliminary results are significant. The studies looked at bone density and the impact of exercise. The study was funded by the American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org and the Komen foundation. www.komen.org.
Two groups were randomized, one attending a stretching yoga class and the other a strength training class. The exercise results from both groups show very positive health improvements, total body mass reduction, flexibility increases, less falls and bone density level gains.
Besides all the numerical health benefits, the emotional and personal gains are outstanding. To be a part of a land mark study that is pro active for your own health, and help other women going through breast cancer in the future is an honor. I was able to exercise with a good friend and become friends with other who also happen to be breast cancer survivors. I am stronger than I was 2 years ago in many ways.
To become a part of a study near you look at www.armyofwomen.org. Dr. Susan Love and Avon are looking for women to join their army who are healthy as well as those with health issues.
By Haralee Weintraub
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Two groups were randomized, one attending a stretching yoga class and the other a strength training class. The exercise results from both groups show very positive health improvements, total body mass reduction, flexibility increases, less falls and bone density level gains.
Besides all the numerical health benefits, the emotional and personal gains are outstanding. To be a part of a land mark study that is pro active for your own health, and help other women going through breast cancer in the future is an honor. I was able to exercise with a good friend and become friends with other who also happen to be breast cancer survivors. I am stronger than I was 2 years ago in many ways.
To become a part of a study near you look at www.armyofwomen.org. Dr. Susan Love and Avon are looking for women to join their army who are healthy as well as those with health issues.
By Haralee Weintraub
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
YOGA FOR THE NEW YEAR
HOW would you like to feel stretched, toned, relaxed and calmer in 2009? If the answer is 'yes', join one of GetCalmers' six week yoga courses starting in January.
Rebecca of GetCalmer will be returning to yoga teaching after the birth of her daughter and will be offering two yoga courses, one for the complete beginner and one specifically for pregnancy.
The complete beginner's six week course will commence on Thursday, January 22 at 7.30pm, and is aimed at people with no prior experience of yoga and will incorporate breathing techniques, gentle poses and relaxation.
Pregnant? Rebecca's Birthlight pre natal yoga classes adapt classic yoga poses and incorporate gentle stretches, effective breathing techniques to aid relaxation and ease labour pains, along with guided relaxation.
The six week pre natal yoga course will begin on Tuesday, January 20 at 7pm. Classes can be taken from 15 weeks right up to when you give birth. Spaces are limited, so make sure you book soon!
Classes are held at the Friends Meeting House in Henley. To book a course, or to find out more, contact Rebecca Dobson on 0781 561 5803, email rebecca@getcalmer.com or visit www.getcalmer.com
Bywww.henleystandard.co.uk
THE LATEST TOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Rebecca of GetCalmer will be returning to yoga teaching after the birth of her daughter and will be offering two yoga courses, one for the complete beginner and one specifically for pregnancy.
The complete beginner's six week course will commence on Thursday, January 22 at 7.30pm, and is aimed at people with no prior experience of yoga and will incorporate breathing techniques, gentle poses and relaxation.
Pregnant? Rebecca's Birthlight pre natal yoga classes adapt classic yoga poses and incorporate gentle stretches, effective breathing techniques to aid relaxation and ease labour pains, along with guided relaxation.
The six week pre natal yoga course will begin on Tuesday, January 20 at 7pm. Classes can be taken from 15 weeks right up to when you give birth. Spaces are limited, so make sure you book soon!
Classes are held at the Friends Meeting House in Henley. To book a course, or to find out more, contact Rebecca Dobson on 0781 561 5803, email rebecca@getcalmer.com or visit www.getcalmer.com
Bywww.henleystandard.co.uk
THE LATEST TOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Saturday, 13 December 2008
THE BENEFITS OF YOGA
Tucked away among the Catskills, ashrams and monasteries promise to recharge the mind and spirit with a combination of simplicity and meditation, served up on a tight schedule.
At Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch, a picturesque 77 acre spot surrounded by woods in Woodbourne, days begin at 6 a.m. with meditation and chanting, a two hour yoga class and an hour of chores around the property.
By www.nytimes.com
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
At Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch, a picturesque 77 acre spot surrounded by woods in Woodbourne, days begin at 6 a.m. with meditation and chanting, a two hour yoga class and an hour of chores around the property.
By www.nytimes.com
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Thursday, 11 December 2008
PILATES DVD
The holidays are such a busy crazy time that I recently decided to 'unplug' a little and get some exercise/meditation, to appreciate those gifts of the season that money cannot buy. A few days ago I said to my husband, who was working in his home office, 'I think I need to slow down and expand my consciousness a little. My yin needs to align with my yang, my Kama has lost its Sutra, my Barney needs some Rubble. All this online shopping is exhausting, I'm just tired thinking about all the packing, shipping and mailing people are having to do to send out my orders.' My husband just stared at me from behind a mound of paperwork (I am pretty sure there are many times he would love to have to punch in somewhere, anywhere, instead of working at home).
'You seem pretty relaxed,' he responded, reaching for another pile of papers, some falling to the floor. 'Every time I look out there, you and James are baking something, or playing something, or coloring something for the holidays. That doesn't seem too tough.' I rolled my eyes. My third son James's two older brothers are 22 and 19, and not really into coloring. Unless it is coloring with beer. 'Like I've explained,' I said patiently, 'At times I am James' sibling. It's not like I always want to be building snowmen or licking candy canes or playing hide and seek, it's just part of my dual role as both mother and buddy. Now I'm exhausted; and I am going to go do my new Pilates DVD and try to connect with my inner me.' (Usually all I get is a dial tone when I do this.) I turned on my heel, annoyed, and stalked away from him, it's kind of hard to stalk in baggy flannel pajama bottoms with reindeer all over them and a Notre Dame sweatshirt, but I did my best.
'OK,' I yawned, popping my new Pilates DVD in the DVD player, 'let's just see what's what here.' I took a sip of coffee and stood, waiting, I have never actually done Pilates, but I figured it wasn't anything too hard, like Yoga, only more celebrity like, I figured. A few poses with a few chants of 'my moons are in the houses of my fathers' and I'd be good to go, more relaxed than ever. A very toned woman about my age came on the screen and smiled at me. I smiled back. She was on a beautiful green lawn at the edge of an ocean, people in exercise DVDs are always working out on mansion lawns and not in gyms, where they belong. 'I knew Joe Pilates personally,' she intoned gently to the camera, her ponytail flicking in the ocean breeze, and I felt encouraged, there was actually a person who developed Pilates, it was not just named after a Greek god whose name was available. 'Now please, get onto your mat, and stretch your legs in front of you.' She breathed in deeply, sucking up all the peace in the universe, apparently, from the beatific smile on her toned face.
I looked around doubtfully; several half finished projects were scattered on the floor because of my traditional holiday ADD. I shrugged and put my coffee down, and sat on the floor, hitching up my sweatpants. I breathed deeply and it actually felt weird; was I some robotic loser just living on the tense, shallow edges of life, not even breathing deeply? Very sad. I started trying to pretend I was with the teacher on that green lawn. Next, my Pilates hostess wanted me to lie down, for 'extreme leg kicks.' I was already pretty tired from all the deep breathing and all the attempts at imagining things, and I was beginning to sweat in my Notre Dame sweatshirt. But I gamely lay down, pushing rolls of wrapping paper, dog toys, scissors and a pile of clean clothes out of my way. I noticed that every time I breathed in deeply while kicking, I was attracting baseball sized dust bunnies from under the couch, dust bunnies comprised of dog fur, ornament hangers, candy and other couch minutia. With each inhale, they were moving closer, like villainous characters in a Pixar production. As I avoided the dust bunnies moving toward me, my Pilates teacher was speeding up, before long, I was doing knee bends, arm windmills and every once in awhile, just, as my teacher put it, 'giving my legs a hug.' How come I was feeling sweaty, hot, and completely unrelaxed?
By the end of the 40 minute DVD, I was snarling at my relaxed, toned teacher and fighting the multiplying dust bunnies with a giant candy cane I was able to reach during a 'downward thrust.' I was sweating in my flannel while fighting off my dogs (who apparently think arm windmills and graduated leg lifts are the universal signal for 'play'). I am back to coloring, baking and waiting for snow, and appreciate it all the more now that I have sweated to Pilates and avoided giant dust balls. Play is relaxing if you just let it be play, and nothing more. Still, just for the heck of it, about once a day I stop and give my legs a hug!
By Deirdre Reilly
THE LATEST PILATES NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
'You seem pretty relaxed,' he responded, reaching for another pile of papers, some falling to the floor. 'Every time I look out there, you and James are baking something, or playing something, or coloring something for the holidays. That doesn't seem too tough.' I rolled my eyes. My third son James's two older brothers are 22 and 19, and not really into coloring. Unless it is coloring with beer. 'Like I've explained,' I said patiently, 'At times I am James' sibling. It's not like I always want to be building snowmen or licking candy canes or playing hide and seek, it's just part of my dual role as both mother and buddy. Now I'm exhausted; and I am going to go do my new Pilates DVD and try to connect with my inner me.' (Usually all I get is a dial tone when I do this.) I turned on my heel, annoyed, and stalked away from him, it's kind of hard to stalk in baggy flannel pajama bottoms with reindeer all over them and a Notre Dame sweatshirt, but I did my best.
'OK,' I yawned, popping my new Pilates DVD in the DVD player, 'let's just see what's what here.' I took a sip of coffee and stood, waiting, I have never actually done Pilates, but I figured it wasn't anything too hard, like Yoga, only more celebrity like, I figured. A few poses with a few chants of 'my moons are in the houses of my fathers' and I'd be good to go, more relaxed than ever. A very toned woman about my age came on the screen and smiled at me. I smiled back. She was on a beautiful green lawn at the edge of an ocean, people in exercise DVDs are always working out on mansion lawns and not in gyms, where they belong. 'I knew Joe Pilates personally,' she intoned gently to the camera, her ponytail flicking in the ocean breeze, and I felt encouraged, there was actually a person who developed Pilates, it was not just named after a Greek god whose name was available. 'Now please, get onto your mat, and stretch your legs in front of you.' She breathed in deeply, sucking up all the peace in the universe, apparently, from the beatific smile on her toned face.
I looked around doubtfully; several half finished projects were scattered on the floor because of my traditional holiday ADD. I shrugged and put my coffee down, and sat on the floor, hitching up my sweatpants. I breathed deeply and it actually felt weird; was I some robotic loser just living on the tense, shallow edges of life, not even breathing deeply? Very sad. I started trying to pretend I was with the teacher on that green lawn. Next, my Pilates hostess wanted me to lie down, for 'extreme leg kicks.' I was already pretty tired from all the deep breathing and all the attempts at imagining things, and I was beginning to sweat in my Notre Dame sweatshirt. But I gamely lay down, pushing rolls of wrapping paper, dog toys, scissors and a pile of clean clothes out of my way. I noticed that every time I breathed in deeply while kicking, I was attracting baseball sized dust bunnies from under the couch, dust bunnies comprised of dog fur, ornament hangers, candy and other couch minutia. With each inhale, they were moving closer, like villainous characters in a Pixar production. As I avoided the dust bunnies moving toward me, my Pilates teacher was speeding up, before long, I was doing knee bends, arm windmills and every once in awhile, just, as my teacher put it, 'giving my legs a hug.' How come I was feeling sweaty, hot, and completely unrelaxed?
By the end of the 40 minute DVD, I was snarling at my relaxed, toned teacher and fighting the multiplying dust bunnies with a giant candy cane I was able to reach during a 'downward thrust.' I was sweating in my flannel while fighting off my dogs (who apparently think arm windmills and graduated leg lifts are the universal signal for 'play'). I am back to coloring, baking and waiting for snow, and appreciate it all the more now that I have sweated to Pilates and avoided giant dust balls. Play is relaxing if you just let it be play, and nothing more. Still, just for the heck of it, about once a day I stop and give my legs a hug!
By Deirdre Reilly
THE LATEST PILATES NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Monday, 8 December 2008
AFTERNOON YOGA CLASS
Saturday afternoon you can join 8 Limbs Yoga Centers and Maygen McGrew for a donation based yoga class at the Northwest Film Forum. This is a great chance to take a yoga class from Maygen outside the usual studio setting, as well as support a local non profit!
8 Limbs Yoga Centers and Maygen McGrew continue their Karma Yoga Series, bringing yoga to alternative urban spaces to benefit local non profits. This installment: Maygen will lead a by donation only flow class in Northwest Film Forum's very own Lobby. Maygen's relaxed approach is suitable for all levels and all ages. 100% of proceeds will benefit Northwest Film Forum.
Sliding Scale Donation: cash or checks made payable to NWFF.
Located in the heart of Capitol Hill, Northwest Film Forum is Seattle's only true cinematheque embracing the full range of film arts from exhibition to production to education. For more information visit: http://www.nwfilmforum.org
Karma Yoga, the Yoga of selfless service, is action without attachment. This duty of service is an integral part of the spiritual discipline of yoga. It opens our hearts, teaches us compassion and humility, and aligns us with our duty to serve one another as creation itself.
By blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com
THE LATEST YOGA CLASS NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
8 Limbs Yoga Centers and Maygen McGrew continue their Karma Yoga Series, bringing yoga to alternative urban spaces to benefit local non profits. This installment: Maygen will lead a by donation only flow class in Northwest Film Forum's very own Lobby. Maygen's relaxed approach is suitable for all levels and all ages. 100% of proceeds will benefit Northwest Film Forum.
Sliding Scale Donation: cash or checks made payable to NWFF.
Located in the heart of Capitol Hill, Northwest Film Forum is Seattle's only true cinematheque embracing the full range of film arts from exhibition to production to education. For more information visit: http://www.nwfilmforum.org
Karma Yoga, the Yoga of selfless service, is action without attachment. This duty of service is an integral part of the spiritual discipline of yoga. It opens our hearts, teaches us compassion and humility, and aligns us with our duty to serve one another as creation itself.
By blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com
THE LATEST YOGA CLASS NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Thursday, 4 December 2008
YOGA FOR THE SOUL
I have returned to my yoga classes. After a couple of years away, I finally got back to the serene, quiet studio where my favorite yoga teacher guides us through stretches and poses that make up the ancient practice.
Try to imagine this. I finish a long day at work. I drive to get to my yoga class like I'm the conductor of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride Through London at Disney. I arrive, typically nearly late, and a little bit wild-eyed from the traffic. I walk into a darkened room filled with ladies of all ages and an occasional open minded man who are quietly doing stretches to the sound of ocean waves embedded in some gentle music. There are candles flickering. I find a spot, unroll my mat, sit down and begin to do some gentle stretches.
In the process my breathing slows, my blood pressure drops, and I begin to feel the sense of peace that my teacher has created in the room.
And that's just the start of it. After about an hour of stretching and holding different positions, the class ends in a ten minute relaxation exercise where she guides us towards absolute and complete relaxation.
I had pretty much forgotten how great that feels.
And it really isn't the yoga class itself that impacts my life. It's how I feel on the days between classes.
In this round of classes my teacher, Christine, is really emphasizing the relaxation part. Sometimes, we'll hold a posture for a little longer than what feels comfortable, but after we release the hold, she encourages us to relax and really feel the impact of that posture on our bodies.
This stuff works great for me. And I'm going to be using it this holiday season as I try to check off all the things on my 'To Do List.'
Heading in the heart of the holiday season I am more determined than ever to use what I am learning in the class to keep myself calm and peaceful during traffic jams, gift shopping, party planning, and the other duties where I am acting as a fill in for Santa Claus.
In fact, Santa, himself, would have made a great yogi. Always relaxed, unfazed by the stress of delivering all those presents all over the world. And surely yoga would help him jimmy down all those chimneys.
The rest of us, and me especially, can surely benefit from what my yoga teacher calls 'yoga off the mat.'
It involves, mostly, the idea of remembering to breathe. Consciously breathing. Full rich breaths from the belly, not from the lungs.
So, when I am feeling stress creep up on me, when I late, or working on a deadline, or not meeting someone else's unreasonable expectations, I am now remembering some of the lessons I learned in yoga class.
If you see me in the supermarket checkout line, five carts back, you might notice I am standing taller than usual. Actually, I just might be in a yoga pose, with my shoulders back and relaxed, my spine straight, my chin lifted. Trying to remember to breath slowly and consciously from my diaphragm. And hopefully, smiling, peaceful, calm and content. With plenty of reserves to enjoy the real reason for the season, and hope in my heart for peace on earth and good will towards all men.
Pipe dream? Maybe. But, it's really all I want for Christmas.
Contact reporter Michele DeLuca
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Try to imagine this. I finish a long day at work. I drive to get to my yoga class like I'm the conductor of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride Through London at Disney. I arrive, typically nearly late, and a little bit wild-eyed from the traffic. I walk into a darkened room filled with ladies of all ages and an occasional open minded man who are quietly doing stretches to the sound of ocean waves embedded in some gentle music. There are candles flickering. I find a spot, unroll my mat, sit down and begin to do some gentle stretches.
In the process my breathing slows, my blood pressure drops, and I begin to feel the sense of peace that my teacher has created in the room.
And that's just the start of it. After about an hour of stretching and holding different positions, the class ends in a ten minute relaxation exercise where she guides us towards absolute and complete relaxation.
I had pretty much forgotten how great that feels.
And it really isn't the yoga class itself that impacts my life. It's how I feel on the days between classes.
In this round of classes my teacher, Christine, is really emphasizing the relaxation part. Sometimes, we'll hold a posture for a little longer than what feels comfortable, but after we release the hold, she encourages us to relax and really feel the impact of that posture on our bodies.
This stuff works great for me. And I'm going to be using it this holiday season as I try to check off all the things on my 'To Do List.'
Heading in the heart of the holiday season I am more determined than ever to use what I am learning in the class to keep myself calm and peaceful during traffic jams, gift shopping, party planning, and the other duties where I am acting as a fill in for Santa Claus.
In fact, Santa, himself, would have made a great yogi. Always relaxed, unfazed by the stress of delivering all those presents all over the world. And surely yoga would help him jimmy down all those chimneys.
The rest of us, and me especially, can surely benefit from what my yoga teacher calls 'yoga off the mat.'
It involves, mostly, the idea of remembering to breathe. Consciously breathing. Full rich breaths from the belly, not from the lungs.
So, when I am feeling stress creep up on me, when I late, or working on a deadline, or not meeting someone else's unreasonable expectations, I am now remembering some of the lessons I learned in yoga class.
If you see me in the supermarket checkout line, five carts back, you might notice I am standing taller than usual. Actually, I just might be in a yoga pose, with my shoulders back and relaxed, my spine straight, my chin lifted. Trying to remember to breath slowly and consciously from my diaphragm. And hopefully, smiling, peaceful, calm and content. With plenty of reserves to enjoy the real reason for the season, and hope in my heart for peace on earth and good will towards all men.
Pipe dream? Maybe. But, it's really all I want for Christmas.
Contact reporter Michele DeLuca
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
PRICING A YOGA STUDIO
The Gold Line extension from downtown to East L.A. has long been hailed as a turning point for the predominantly Latino areas, 'transit equity' for residents who heavily use mass transit but until now have had only one option: the bus.
But as the opening of the line draws closer, there is growing angst about how it will change development patterns in Boyle Heights and East L.A.
The construction of rail across Los Angeles over the last three decades has helped transform some neighborhoods. The area around the Red Line subway terminus in North Hollywood has become a hip arts and theater district with a growing skyline of loft and condo projects. The Red Line has also helped fuel the revival of Hollywood, with dense mixed use developments popping up next to subway stations. The Blue Line helped foster downtown Long Beach's resurgence.
But the Eastside is different. Residents there have much more ambivalent feelings about gentrification than the neighborhoods to the west and north. Some have high hopes for the Gold Line, expecting it to bring some of the better chain shops, Borders, Trader Joe's, that have avoided the Eastside. Others are more suspicious, fearing that an influx of money and outsiders will change the area's character and push out the poor.
'I would love to have a yoga studio that's affordable,' resident Sandra Martinez, 40, said with a half guilty laugh. 'The problem with a yoga studio is when that moves in, that's the end, that's the definition of gentrification.'
Even before the Gold Line started nearing completion, there were growing signs of change.
By Hector Becerra
THE LATEST YOGA STUDIO NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
But as the opening of the line draws closer, there is growing angst about how it will change development patterns in Boyle Heights and East L.A.
The construction of rail across Los Angeles over the last three decades has helped transform some neighborhoods. The area around the Red Line subway terminus in North Hollywood has become a hip arts and theater district with a growing skyline of loft and condo projects. The Red Line has also helped fuel the revival of Hollywood, with dense mixed use developments popping up next to subway stations. The Blue Line helped foster downtown Long Beach's resurgence.
But the Eastside is different. Residents there have much more ambivalent feelings about gentrification than the neighborhoods to the west and north. Some have high hopes for the Gold Line, expecting it to bring some of the better chain shops, Borders, Trader Joe's, that have avoided the Eastside. Others are more suspicious, fearing that an influx of money and outsiders will change the area's character and push out the poor.
'I would love to have a yoga studio that's affordable,' resident Sandra Martinez, 40, said with a half guilty laugh. 'The problem with a yoga studio is when that moves in, that's the end, that's the definition of gentrification.'
Even before the Gold Line started nearing completion, there were growing signs of change.
By Hector Becerra
THE LATEST YOGA STUDIO NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Monday, 1 December 2008
YOGA AND SURFING
Fueled by a passion for community, Dan Mori, a competitive surfer, had a progressive vision of what a training center for surfers can be. Soon the dream became reality. Fulcrum Surf Studio, located in Solana Beach, CA was born in June 2003, offering surf lessons with a commitment to professionalism, a quality product and steadfast work ethic. Just as important is Mori's manner of conducting business from the heart. When he began the studio, his intention was to create a professional, high quality service that dispelled the typical bad reputation of surfers who show up late with a lackadaisical attitude. At the same time, he wanted to balance it with the good side of the surf culture: creating positive vibes and having fun.
Fulcrum Surf Studio began with six young students and has grown to become a sizeable group of surfers of all ages and goals, whether grooming for professional surfing, or just learning the basics. Mori found a niche for Fulcrum Surf by creating specific programs depending on levels, needs, and goals while keeping it personal and family oriented for his students. Mori says if you really pay attention to what's going on with the students, you can hear what they need and from there, encourage and teach them in the most appropriate way.
Throughout the school year, Mori and Fulcrum Surf can be found out in the community coaching the competitive surf teams within the school systems of San Diego, including Torrey Pines High School, Canyon Crest Academy, Carmel Valley Middle School, Earl Warren Middle School and Cathedral Catholic High School.
Mori’s motivation and inspiration to work hard comes from his mother, who was the most supportive person in his life. She left this earthly life just last year, but not before empowering him to work hard to build his business, take care of his employees, and contribute to the North County San Diego community that he loves so dearly.
We've all heard the advice, 'Don't follow the money, follow the passion and the money will show up.' Dan is a staunch believer in this idea. When asked about the future of Fulcrum he responded, 'I feel it in my bones that it will be successful.' He is willing to work hard to build upon the success he’s already experiencing and eventually sees the business franchising. He’s not afraid to spend some money to do what needs to be done. His instructors and employers are paid better than most industry standards and his coaches follow his philosophy to go the extra mile when needed. If a student doesn't have a ride because his/her mom has to work, a Fulcrum instructor or Mori himself will pick the student up. The employees of Fulcrum Surf may not be blood related, but it is truly a family business.
So where does yoga fit in with Fulcrum Surf Studio? While I was in Costa Rica and Mori was in San Diego, we both had a simultaneous idea to bring yoga and surfing together as a business. Together we worked to create the yoga program at Fulcrum Surf in June 2008 and it is now in full operation.
The concept has taken off outside of the U.S. as well, becoming popular in exotic surf destinations for retreats combining the two activities. However, here in San Diego, Fulcrum Surf and Yoga Studio is one of a kind.
Most of the surfing community knows both the physical and mental benefits of yoga. Surfing and yoga have many similar qualities. People who regularly surf and/or do yoga generally have a better outlook on life and feel energized and happy. This could be attributed to the fact that both are 'moving meditations,' giving people a chance to be present and not engaged in the continuous chatter of the mind (the “monkey mind” as we say in yoga). The body on a physical level reacts positively when the mind is given a chance to rest each day.
Fulcrum Surf has now implemented yoga in its surf trainings and camps that are designed to groom young surfers for professional and competitive surfing. In addition to providing surf instruction from qualified competitive coaches, the training camps include video analysis and physical fitness training. Young surfers, especially the 'grommets' (young male surfers between the ages of ten and 14) love the yoga!
Mori's philosophy of keeping it personal now extends into the yoga part of the business. He had once been hurt in a yoga class because it was too large for the teacher to help him or notice that he was doing one of the postures incorrectly. Because of this experience, Fulcrum offers yoga classes to the public by reservation only to keep classes small in order to give individual attention. Fulcrum is also offering 'on call' classes where you can make reservations for yoga outside the designated class times according to the availability of the teacher and client.
The energy at Fulcrum Surf and Yoga studio is about creating those 'good vibrations' while offering something professional, refreshing and exciting. In yoga and surfing, we create peace and self awareness during our practice or session; we take that out into the world and make it a better place.
By Fiona Gale
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Fulcrum Surf Studio began with six young students and has grown to become a sizeable group of surfers of all ages and goals, whether grooming for professional surfing, or just learning the basics. Mori found a niche for Fulcrum Surf by creating specific programs depending on levels, needs, and goals while keeping it personal and family oriented for his students. Mori says if you really pay attention to what's going on with the students, you can hear what they need and from there, encourage and teach them in the most appropriate way.
Throughout the school year, Mori and Fulcrum Surf can be found out in the community coaching the competitive surf teams within the school systems of San Diego, including Torrey Pines High School, Canyon Crest Academy, Carmel Valley Middle School, Earl Warren Middle School and Cathedral Catholic High School.
Mori’s motivation and inspiration to work hard comes from his mother, who was the most supportive person in his life. She left this earthly life just last year, but not before empowering him to work hard to build his business, take care of his employees, and contribute to the North County San Diego community that he loves so dearly.
We've all heard the advice, 'Don't follow the money, follow the passion and the money will show up.' Dan is a staunch believer in this idea. When asked about the future of Fulcrum he responded, 'I feel it in my bones that it will be successful.' He is willing to work hard to build upon the success he’s already experiencing and eventually sees the business franchising. He’s not afraid to spend some money to do what needs to be done. His instructors and employers are paid better than most industry standards and his coaches follow his philosophy to go the extra mile when needed. If a student doesn't have a ride because his/her mom has to work, a Fulcrum instructor or Mori himself will pick the student up. The employees of Fulcrum Surf may not be blood related, but it is truly a family business.
So where does yoga fit in with Fulcrum Surf Studio? While I was in Costa Rica and Mori was in San Diego, we both had a simultaneous idea to bring yoga and surfing together as a business. Together we worked to create the yoga program at Fulcrum Surf in June 2008 and it is now in full operation.
The concept has taken off outside of the U.S. as well, becoming popular in exotic surf destinations for retreats combining the two activities. However, here in San Diego, Fulcrum Surf and Yoga Studio is one of a kind.
Most of the surfing community knows both the physical and mental benefits of yoga. Surfing and yoga have many similar qualities. People who regularly surf and/or do yoga generally have a better outlook on life and feel energized and happy. This could be attributed to the fact that both are 'moving meditations,' giving people a chance to be present and not engaged in the continuous chatter of the mind (the “monkey mind” as we say in yoga). The body on a physical level reacts positively when the mind is given a chance to rest each day.
Fulcrum Surf has now implemented yoga in its surf trainings and camps that are designed to groom young surfers for professional and competitive surfing. In addition to providing surf instruction from qualified competitive coaches, the training camps include video analysis and physical fitness training. Young surfers, especially the 'grommets' (young male surfers between the ages of ten and 14) love the yoga!
Mori's philosophy of keeping it personal now extends into the yoga part of the business. He had once been hurt in a yoga class because it was too large for the teacher to help him or notice that he was doing one of the postures incorrectly. Because of this experience, Fulcrum offers yoga classes to the public by reservation only to keep classes small in order to give individual attention. Fulcrum is also offering 'on call' classes where you can make reservations for yoga outside the designated class times according to the availability of the teacher and client.
The energy at Fulcrum Surf and Yoga studio is about creating those 'good vibrations' while offering something professional, refreshing and exciting. In yoga and surfing, we create peace and self awareness during our practice or session; we take that out into the world and make it a better place.
By Fiona Gale
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Saturday, 29 November 2008
FULL MOON YOGA
The sun was long gone, leaving, in its absence, a warm glow that blanketed Lanikai Beach.
The air was still and warm. Couples walked their dogs along the shoreline. Families turned out to watch the rise of the full moon, scheduled to occur in less than an hour.
And a group of pony tailed, comfortably dressed women, and one guy, trekked across the beach, carrying yoga mats and water bottles.
Yes, yoga. On the beach. At night.
Yoga instructor Jennifer Perell started teaching an hour long yoga class beneath the full moon about a year ago, first in the backyard of her parents' Lanikai home. She moved the class to the beach a few months ago.
Practicing yoga outdoors just seemed like a natural fit, Perell said.
'The connection to nature, the big sky, the big ocean, a beautiful view, the smell of salt air, the sound of the waves, it's all good,' said Perell, 29, who's been teaching yoga for about a year and a half.
The class, which typically boasts about a dozen participants, started at 6 p.m. on the beach fronting Mokumanu Street. As the sky darkened, the yogis relaxed their minds and started with basic balance poses facing the Mokulua Islands.
'Let your breath echo the rhythm of the waves,' Perell instructed the students. 'Let your breath lead you.'
Halfway through the class, the yogis moved into strong Warrior poses, the full moon starting to peek out through the dense clouds, burning like an orange orb in the sky. But as the clouds moved, the moon, so full and bright, cast its mystical light on the yoga class.
'It was something special and spiritual,' said Maki Vernon, 28, a model and surfer from McCully who attended the full moon yoga class for the first time. 'It felt like the full moon was opening my body and mind more.'
Vernon has been practicing yoga for about four years, mostly at Kapi'olani Park. She heard about this class from Perell, who led a private yoga class at a birthday party Vernon attended.
This class wasn't as vigorous as the one she regularly attends. But the setting made it unique enough that Vernon said she'd come back again.
'I just wish I knew about the mosquitoes,' she said. 'I got so many bites on my feet.'
Stephanie Karle, a 33 year old real estate agent from Kailua, found out about the class online. Though she didn't know what to expect from the class, Karle said she would recommend it to other yogis interested in trying something new.
'Full moon, Lanikai, yoga, how can you go wrong?' she said.
There are no muscle heads walking around the class, no sound of free weights dropping to the floor. There's no techno music or PA announcements, no smell of cleaning chemicals.
It's just you, nature and the occasional conversation of people strolling by.
Oh, and maybe the rain.
'The weather doesn't always coordinate with my yoga schedule,' Perell said. 'We have held class right through a rainstorm before. I told people they were welcome to leave, but they asked me to just keep going. They braved the storm and loved every minute of it ... They felt beautiful with the rain streaming over them as they held their poses. I was impressed.'
By Catherine E. Toth
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
The air was still and warm. Couples walked their dogs along the shoreline. Families turned out to watch the rise of the full moon, scheduled to occur in less than an hour.
And a group of pony tailed, comfortably dressed women, and one guy, trekked across the beach, carrying yoga mats and water bottles.
Yes, yoga. On the beach. At night.
Yoga instructor Jennifer Perell started teaching an hour long yoga class beneath the full moon about a year ago, first in the backyard of her parents' Lanikai home. She moved the class to the beach a few months ago.
Practicing yoga outdoors just seemed like a natural fit, Perell said.
'The connection to nature, the big sky, the big ocean, a beautiful view, the smell of salt air, the sound of the waves, it's all good,' said Perell, 29, who's been teaching yoga for about a year and a half.
The class, which typically boasts about a dozen participants, started at 6 p.m. on the beach fronting Mokumanu Street. As the sky darkened, the yogis relaxed their minds and started with basic balance poses facing the Mokulua Islands.
'Let your breath echo the rhythm of the waves,' Perell instructed the students. 'Let your breath lead you.'
Halfway through the class, the yogis moved into strong Warrior poses, the full moon starting to peek out through the dense clouds, burning like an orange orb in the sky. But as the clouds moved, the moon, so full and bright, cast its mystical light on the yoga class.
'It was something special and spiritual,' said Maki Vernon, 28, a model and surfer from McCully who attended the full moon yoga class for the first time. 'It felt like the full moon was opening my body and mind more.'
Vernon has been practicing yoga for about four years, mostly at Kapi'olani Park. She heard about this class from Perell, who led a private yoga class at a birthday party Vernon attended.
This class wasn't as vigorous as the one she regularly attends. But the setting made it unique enough that Vernon said she'd come back again.
'I just wish I knew about the mosquitoes,' she said. 'I got so many bites on my feet.'
Stephanie Karle, a 33 year old real estate agent from Kailua, found out about the class online. Though she didn't know what to expect from the class, Karle said she would recommend it to other yogis interested in trying something new.
'Full moon, Lanikai, yoga, how can you go wrong?' she said.
There are no muscle heads walking around the class, no sound of free weights dropping to the floor. There's no techno music or PA announcements, no smell of cleaning chemicals.
It's just you, nature and the occasional conversation of people strolling by.
Oh, and maybe the rain.
'The weather doesn't always coordinate with my yoga schedule,' Perell said. 'We have held class right through a rainstorm before. I told people they were welcome to leave, but they asked me to just keep going. They braved the storm and loved every minute of it ... They felt beautiful with the rain streaming over them as they held their poses. I was impressed.'
By Catherine E. Toth
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Friday, 28 November 2008
YOGA COMPETITION WINNERS
A Filipino American and an Israeli were proclaimed the winners of the first ever yoga competition in the Philippines held last Monday in Makati City.
Aljarreau Galang finished first in the men's division of the Philippine Yoga Asana Championship (PYAC) 2008, beating Anton Shokhrin (2nd) and Arthur Cabantog (3rd).
There were only three contenders in the men's division, which, technically, made Galang, Shokhrin and Cabantog all winners.
'It's such a relief, I've been training not just for the last months. I've been training for years for this. So, to say that I'm happy is not even enough to describe the feeling I have right now. There were only a few guys this year but I know next year, there will be much more so we're going to work hard to prepare,' Galang said in an interview after the competition.
The Filipino American first placer said after the Philippine national competition he would again start his training, this time, for an international contest in Los Angeles in February of next year.
Also changed mentally
Twenty five year old Galang, who used to work as a radio deejay, now owns a yoga studio in Greenhills.
He said he is hoping that, through the competition, the yoga industry in the country would further expand.
'[I hope it would get] to that point where yoga doesn't become an alternative. It becomes the first thing that people will go think [about] when getting healthy,' Galang said.
For the women's division, on the other hand, Israeli Lital Isaacs, 32, was declared the winner, beating 22 other contestants.
'I feel great. I'm surprised because I was so nervous but when I went on stage I just tried to enjoy the whole experience,' Isaacs said, adding:
'It was nice because everyone is so supportive and really everyone is a winner. It's not important who won because everyone is so supportive.'
Isaacs has been practicing yoga for two years now. She started the practice in Israel last year. When she and her husband moved in the Philippines, she continued her yoga exercise here.
'It (yoga) works on your whole body and you feel great,' she said.
She added that she is looking forward to joining next year’s yoga competition.
Other winners in the women's division were Rieko Umemura (2nd), Chrissy Tuason (3rd), Kay Villarica (4th), and Regina Guanco (5th).
Each contestant was required to do five asanas (postures), standing head to knee, standing bow pose, bow pose, rabbit pose and stretching pose, and two optional postures.
The compulsory postures plus the two optional postures must be completed within three minutes.
Five postures
The posture was judged on a scale of 0 to 10 points. The contestants were judged on the following criteria: walk, movement, general appearance, gracefulness and performance of postures.
For this year's competition, Tristan Choa, studio director of Bikram Yoga Manila and PYAC chairman, said there was only the adult division. Choa said he hopes to expand the contest by next year if there are enough participants.
Choa said the competition mainly aimed to raise awareness among Filipinos about the benefits of practicing yoga including the discovering of oneself.
'One way of thinking is that yoga is non competitive… but what if I use my yoga to help others discover yoga? Isn't that powerful as well? So, in that way I'm not competing with the next competitor. I'm just trying to compete with myself; understand myself better. That is part of yoga, to discover myself, that is the journey,' Choa said.
He said currently nine out 10 who practice yoga are women. He said he also hopes to attract more men into the practice.
By TRINA A. LAGURA
THE LATEST YOGA COMPETITION NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Aljarreau Galang finished first in the men's division of the Philippine Yoga Asana Championship (PYAC) 2008, beating Anton Shokhrin (2nd) and Arthur Cabantog (3rd).
There were only three contenders in the men's division, which, technically, made Galang, Shokhrin and Cabantog all winners.
'It's such a relief, I've been training not just for the last months. I've been training for years for this. So, to say that I'm happy is not even enough to describe the feeling I have right now. There were only a few guys this year but I know next year, there will be much more so we're going to work hard to prepare,' Galang said in an interview after the competition.
The Filipino American first placer said after the Philippine national competition he would again start his training, this time, for an international contest in Los Angeles in February of next year.
Also changed mentally
Twenty five year old Galang, who used to work as a radio deejay, now owns a yoga studio in Greenhills.
He said he is hoping that, through the competition, the yoga industry in the country would further expand.
'[I hope it would get] to that point where yoga doesn't become an alternative. It becomes the first thing that people will go think [about] when getting healthy,' Galang said.
For the women's division, on the other hand, Israeli Lital Isaacs, 32, was declared the winner, beating 22 other contestants.
'I feel great. I'm surprised because I was so nervous but when I went on stage I just tried to enjoy the whole experience,' Isaacs said, adding:
'It was nice because everyone is so supportive and really everyone is a winner. It's not important who won because everyone is so supportive.'
Isaacs has been practicing yoga for two years now. She started the practice in Israel last year. When she and her husband moved in the Philippines, she continued her yoga exercise here.
'It (yoga) works on your whole body and you feel great,' she said.
She added that she is looking forward to joining next year’s yoga competition.
Other winners in the women's division were Rieko Umemura (2nd), Chrissy Tuason (3rd), Kay Villarica (4th), and Regina Guanco (5th).
Each contestant was required to do five asanas (postures), standing head to knee, standing bow pose, bow pose, rabbit pose and stretching pose, and two optional postures.
The compulsory postures plus the two optional postures must be completed within three minutes.
Five postures
The posture was judged on a scale of 0 to 10 points. The contestants were judged on the following criteria: walk, movement, general appearance, gracefulness and performance of postures.
For this year's competition, Tristan Choa, studio director of Bikram Yoga Manila and PYAC chairman, said there was only the adult division. Choa said he hopes to expand the contest by next year if there are enough participants.
Choa said the competition mainly aimed to raise awareness among Filipinos about the benefits of practicing yoga including the discovering of oneself.
'One way of thinking is that yoga is non competitive… but what if I use my yoga to help others discover yoga? Isn't that powerful as well? So, in that way I'm not competing with the next competitor. I'm just trying to compete with myself; understand myself better. That is part of yoga, to discover myself, that is the journey,' Choa said.
He said currently nine out 10 who practice yoga are women. He said he also hopes to attract more men into the practice.
By TRINA A. LAGURA
THE LATEST YOGA COMPETITION NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Thursday, 27 November 2008
YOGA AND AIR TRAVEL
The Polk family heaved themselves onto the airport shuttle yesterday morning and, sandwiched there thigh to thigh, on the way from Baltimore to Thanksgiving in South Carolina, they heard the voice of an angel, the angel of airport serenity.
'Roll your heads in a circle,' the angel soothingly instructed. 'Pretend there's an imaginary pencil on your head drawing big circles on the ceiling.'
Airport Fast Park hired Jean Jacques Gabriel, who isn't exactly an angel, though he does have heavenly posture, to lead yoga classes on its shuttles from long term parking lots yesterday and again this morning. They charged Gabriel and a colleague, instructors at Baltimore Yoga Village, with soothing harried holiday travelers with as much deep breathing, limb stretching and spiritual rejuvenation as they can fit into the minutes long trip from lot to concourse.
The Polk girls, young teens in tie dye, didn't exactly throw themselves into the yoga. But their mother did. Ingrid Polk was all over the breathing exercises, having seen them, she said, on Oprah.
'I hate travel and this was so terrific,' Ingrid Polk gushed as she stepped off the bus. 'More people should be doing this stuff than taking pills.'
If there's serenity to be found on the busiest travel days of the year, the airport would normally be the last place to look.
Though millions of people will fly this Thanksgiving, and most of them burdened by travel stress and general holiday anxiety, Airport Fast Park doesn't believe 'travel' and 'tranquillity' must be mutually exclusive. The company figures a little downward dog could go a long way.
Generally, air travelers around Thanksgiving have grounds to be thankful if they make it out without sweating for hours in a grumpy security line, getting mysteriously delayed on the runway, losing their luggage, missing a transfer, suffering through an indigestible meal, or any of the scores of ways flying can try the patience of the Dalai Lama himself.
'We find they're really tense going out,' Jim McCleaf, who manages the company's lot on West Nursery Road in Linthicum says of his clients. 'They've got the whole holiday ahead of them.'
McCleaf's operation near Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport is just one of a number of Airport Fast Park sites around the country introducing yoga this holiday season.
Though it seems reasonable that not every traveler laden down with luggage, sleepy, and bracing for hours on a crowded flight would be game for a surprise ashtunga attack, Gabriel and his colleague Sara Sheikh, long trained in the blissful arts, disagree.
'I think that most people can relate to needing to loosen up a little,' Sheikh says. 'Or at least that's my positive attitude.'
Remarkably, she was right. Whether it's the recent surge of yoga's popularity or the persuasive charms of these two teachers, all morning long scarcely a soul declined to breathe and stretch, at least a little. And the few that refused certainly seemed to have fun watching.
At one point yesterday, the bus was stuffed. On the right sat Lois and Don Derham, a senior couple from Chestertown. Across from the Derhams was the Polk family, Tim, Ingrid and daughters Kristin and Natalie. Patrick Small, a big man with a buzz cut hauling camouflage duffel, settled into the back seat.
Hearing that some yoga was in store, Lois Derham, a snowy haired grandma with pearl button earrings, said, 'Wonderful! I'll put my ticket away and maybe I can relax.'
Gabriel, who wore earthy silver jewelry studded with turquoise, asked the packed shuttle bus to breathe so much air deep into their tummies that it spilled over into their lungs.
He encouraged everyone to straighten their spines and push them back against the gray, synthetic shuttle cushions.
No one was listening more attentively than Small, the big guy in the work boots.
With his eyes closed, he stretched his ear to his shoulder, dropped his chin to his chest, thrust his chin unselfconsciously toward the ceiling, looking less paramilitary and more Zen with each calming exhale.
When the bus emptied between runs, the lithe Gabriel swung from the overhead bars like a gymnast and twisted himself into shapes pretzels would envy.
He paid no mind to the sign near the windshield: Remain seated until bus stops. In fact, he joked that he might try some handstands.
When bus driver John Harris, quite fit at 75, heard the part about handstands, he joked: 'Watch him! If you see him on his hands back there, let me know and I'll slam on the breaks, see how far he goes.'
After Orean D. Chatman maneuvered his Lexus into a long term spot and pulled his suitcase from the trunk, he slid into a seat in back of the shuttle, talking on his cell phone all the while.
Gabriel stared at him until Chatman, putting his hand over the receiver, asked, 'Yes?'
The yogi explained his mission. He hoped Chatman would hang up the phone, put his hands on his knees and drink in a cup of deliciously restful parking shuttle air.
'Ah, I'm already relaxed,' says Chatman, who happens to have written a novel about a man on his way home for the holidays who witnesses a murder. 'But I appreciate it though.'
Seconds later, determined yogi Jean Jacques Gabriel, the sort of guy that forsakes a traditional handshake for a two handed number that's more caress than pump, has Chatman rotating his tight wrists and inhaling deep, rhythmic breaths.
At the Southwest terminal, Chatman's stop, he thanks Gabriel profusely.
By Jill Rosen
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
'Roll your heads in a circle,' the angel soothingly instructed. 'Pretend there's an imaginary pencil on your head drawing big circles on the ceiling.'
Airport Fast Park hired Jean Jacques Gabriel, who isn't exactly an angel, though he does have heavenly posture, to lead yoga classes on its shuttles from long term parking lots yesterday and again this morning. They charged Gabriel and a colleague, instructors at Baltimore Yoga Village, with soothing harried holiday travelers with as much deep breathing, limb stretching and spiritual rejuvenation as they can fit into the minutes long trip from lot to concourse.
The Polk girls, young teens in tie dye, didn't exactly throw themselves into the yoga. But their mother did. Ingrid Polk was all over the breathing exercises, having seen them, she said, on Oprah.
'I hate travel and this was so terrific,' Ingrid Polk gushed as she stepped off the bus. 'More people should be doing this stuff than taking pills.'
If there's serenity to be found on the busiest travel days of the year, the airport would normally be the last place to look.
Though millions of people will fly this Thanksgiving, and most of them burdened by travel stress and general holiday anxiety, Airport Fast Park doesn't believe 'travel' and 'tranquillity' must be mutually exclusive. The company figures a little downward dog could go a long way.
Generally, air travelers around Thanksgiving have grounds to be thankful if they make it out without sweating for hours in a grumpy security line, getting mysteriously delayed on the runway, losing their luggage, missing a transfer, suffering through an indigestible meal, or any of the scores of ways flying can try the patience of the Dalai Lama himself.
'We find they're really tense going out,' Jim McCleaf, who manages the company's lot on West Nursery Road in Linthicum says of his clients. 'They've got the whole holiday ahead of them.'
McCleaf's operation near Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport is just one of a number of Airport Fast Park sites around the country introducing yoga this holiday season.
Though it seems reasonable that not every traveler laden down with luggage, sleepy, and bracing for hours on a crowded flight would be game for a surprise ashtunga attack, Gabriel and his colleague Sara Sheikh, long trained in the blissful arts, disagree.
'I think that most people can relate to needing to loosen up a little,' Sheikh says. 'Or at least that's my positive attitude.'
Remarkably, she was right. Whether it's the recent surge of yoga's popularity or the persuasive charms of these two teachers, all morning long scarcely a soul declined to breathe and stretch, at least a little. And the few that refused certainly seemed to have fun watching.
At one point yesterday, the bus was stuffed. On the right sat Lois and Don Derham, a senior couple from Chestertown. Across from the Derhams was the Polk family, Tim, Ingrid and daughters Kristin and Natalie. Patrick Small, a big man with a buzz cut hauling camouflage duffel, settled into the back seat.
Hearing that some yoga was in store, Lois Derham, a snowy haired grandma with pearl button earrings, said, 'Wonderful! I'll put my ticket away and maybe I can relax.'
Gabriel, who wore earthy silver jewelry studded with turquoise, asked the packed shuttle bus to breathe so much air deep into their tummies that it spilled over into their lungs.
He encouraged everyone to straighten their spines and push them back against the gray, synthetic shuttle cushions.
No one was listening more attentively than Small, the big guy in the work boots.
With his eyes closed, he stretched his ear to his shoulder, dropped his chin to his chest, thrust his chin unselfconsciously toward the ceiling, looking less paramilitary and more Zen with each calming exhale.
When the bus emptied between runs, the lithe Gabriel swung from the overhead bars like a gymnast and twisted himself into shapes pretzels would envy.
He paid no mind to the sign near the windshield: Remain seated until bus stops. In fact, he joked that he might try some handstands.
When bus driver John Harris, quite fit at 75, heard the part about handstands, he joked: 'Watch him! If you see him on his hands back there, let me know and I'll slam on the breaks, see how far he goes.'
After Orean D. Chatman maneuvered his Lexus into a long term spot and pulled his suitcase from the trunk, he slid into a seat in back of the shuttle, talking on his cell phone all the while.
Gabriel stared at him until Chatman, putting his hand over the receiver, asked, 'Yes?'
The yogi explained his mission. He hoped Chatman would hang up the phone, put his hands on his knees and drink in a cup of deliciously restful parking shuttle air.
'Ah, I'm already relaxed,' says Chatman, who happens to have written a novel about a man on his way home for the holidays who witnesses a murder. 'But I appreciate it though.'
Seconds later, determined yogi Jean Jacques Gabriel, the sort of guy that forsakes a traditional handshake for a two handed number that's more caress than pump, has Chatman rotating his tight wrists and inhaling deep, rhythmic breaths.
At the Southwest terminal, Chatman's stop, he thanks Gabriel profusely.
By Jill Rosen
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
SOME YOGA CONTRADICTIONS
This is about Yoga and why Muslims in Malaysia are being banned from engaging in it. Some Yoga practitioners have expressed their displeasure in the action taken by the religious body.
Is the practice of Yoga bad for your health? If you are a practicing Muslim it may be bad for you.
In Malaysia, Muslims have been banned from practicing Yoga by the National Fatwa Council. They claimed that the Indian inspired mental and physical exercise contains elements of Hinduism that could corrupt the Muslims.
'It is inappropriate. It can destroy the faith of the Muslim' said Abdul Shukor Husin, Chairman of the National Fatwa Council in and interview with reporters, adding that clerics in Egypt also issued similar edicts in 2004 that says 'the practice of Yoga is an aberration'.'
Abdul was quoted to have said that: 'many Muslims who practice the globally popular Yoga failed to understand that its ultimate aim was to be one with a god of a different religion. We are of the view that Yoga, which originates from Hinduism, combines physical exercise, religious elements, chanting, and worshipping for the purpose of achieving inner peace and ultimately to be with god.'
Only recently, girls behaving like boys or tomboys have been banned by the same body in Malaysia saying that girls, who act like boys, violate the tenets of Islam.
Malaysia has a population of about 27 million people and approximately two thirds of them are Muslims. Although the edicts are not legally binding unless they are enshrined in the national or Shariah laws, Muslims abide by the edicts out of deference.
In India, where Yoga originated, it is mostly regarded as a medium for cure of common illnesses. To most practitioners, Yoga is a form of therapy that claims to enhance one's physical and emotional well being. They claim that Yoga, when practiced with therapeutic intention, can help prevent and aid in recovery from physical and mental ailment.
Art Browenstein, a Medical Doctor, defines Yoga therapy as the use of the techniques of Yoga to create, stimulate and maintain an optimum state of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. In this definition, one would find it hard to associate yoga with religion or a practice of certain religious beliefs.
By Leo Reyes
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Is the practice of Yoga bad for your health? If you are a practicing Muslim it may be bad for you.
In Malaysia, Muslims have been banned from practicing Yoga by the National Fatwa Council. They claimed that the Indian inspired mental and physical exercise contains elements of Hinduism that could corrupt the Muslims.
'It is inappropriate. It can destroy the faith of the Muslim' said Abdul Shukor Husin, Chairman of the National Fatwa Council in and interview with reporters, adding that clerics in Egypt also issued similar edicts in 2004 that says 'the practice of Yoga is an aberration'.'
Abdul was quoted to have said that: 'many Muslims who practice the globally popular Yoga failed to understand that its ultimate aim was to be one with a god of a different religion. We are of the view that Yoga, which originates from Hinduism, combines physical exercise, religious elements, chanting, and worshipping for the purpose of achieving inner peace and ultimately to be with god.'
Only recently, girls behaving like boys or tomboys have been banned by the same body in Malaysia saying that girls, who act like boys, violate the tenets of Islam.
Malaysia has a population of about 27 million people and approximately two thirds of them are Muslims. Although the edicts are not legally binding unless they are enshrined in the national or Shariah laws, Muslims abide by the edicts out of deference.
In India, where Yoga originated, it is mostly regarded as a medium for cure of common illnesses. To most practitioners, Yoga is a form of therapy that claims to enhance one's physical and emotional well being. They claim that Yoga, when practiced with therapeutic intention, can help prevent and aid in recovery from physical and mental ailment.
Art Browenstein, a Medical Doctor, defines Yoga therapy as the use of the techniques of Yoga to create, stimulate and maintain an optimum state of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. In this definition, one would find it hard to associate yoga with religion or a practice of certain religious beliefs.
By Leo Reyes
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Monday, 24 November 2008
YOGA AND FAITH
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) said Sunday it would not follow its Malaysian counterpart in banning yoga, if only because it did not know how widely yoga was practiced here.
MUI deputy chairman Umar Shihab said the board of clerics would have to conduct a study before issuing an edict to ban it.
'It's OK if it's for sport. I guess we can allow it here. But I don't know if it is proved it can destroy our beliefs as Muslims or contains ideas of polytheism,' he said.
Umar said the MUI had never conducted a study on yoga because there had been no public complaints.
Malaysia's National Fatwa Council, which has the authority to rule over how Muslims practice their faith, took the international community by surprise Saturday when it issued a fatwa or edict banning Muslims from practicing yoga, saying the Indian physical exercise contains elements of Hinduism and could corrupt Muslims.
The council said yoga involved not just physical exercise but also Hindu spiritual elements, chanting and worship.
A fatwa is not legally binding on Muslims, who comprise nearly two thirds of Malaysia's 27 million people, unless it is enshrined in national or sharia laws. However, many Muslims abide by the edicts out of deference, and the council does have the authority to ostracize an offending Muslim from society.
Many analysts have said the fatwa reflects the growing strain of conservatism in Malaysia, which has always taken pride in its multiethnicity. About 25 percent of Malaysians are ethnic Chinese and 8 percent ethnic Indians, mostly Hindus.
Creeping conservatism has also been observed in Indonesia, as evident in the recent passage of the controversial pornography bill and enforcement of sharia based ordinances in regions.
Deputy chairman of the MUI edict commission Ali Mustafa Yakub said Muslims here were allowed to practice yoga as it was not clear how popular it was.
'I've rarely heard of Muslims here practicing yoga. We don't need to ban it because we haven't found Muslims practicing it here. If they do, they are not publicly visible, so there will be no problems,' he said.
Yakub said he was sure the Indian influence in Indonesia was not as strong as in Malaysia, arguing the influence was limited to dangdut music.
Hundreds of yoga classes with thousands of participants throughout the country have emerged since the 1998 financial crisis, with many adherents regarding yoga as a way of relieving stress and frustration.
'All of a sudden, the classes are full,' Janet Wijaya, a senior yoga instructor, was quoted as saying by Tempo magazine recently.
With a financial crisis looming over the country, more people, regardless of their religion, may take up yoga.
By Abdul Khalik
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
MUI deputy chairman Umar Shihab said the board of clerics would have to conduct a study before issuing an edict to ban it.
'It's OK if it's for sport. I guess we can allow it here. But I don't know if it is proved it can destroy our beliefs as Muslims or contains ideas of polytheism,' he said.
Umar said the MUI had never conducted a study on yoga because there had been no public complaints.
Malaysia's National Fatwa Council, which has the authority to rule over how Muslims practice their faith, took the international community by surprise Saturday when it issued a fatwa or edict banning Muslims from practicing yoga, saying the Indian physical exercise contains elements of Hinduism and could corrupt Muslims.
The council said yoga involved not just physical exercise but also Hindu spiritual elements, chanting and worship.
A fatwa is not legally binding on Muslims, who comprise nearly two thirds of Malaysia's 27 million people, unless it is enshrined in national or sharia laws. However, many Muslims abide by the edicts out of deference, and the council does have the authority to ostracize an offending Muslim from society.
Many analysts have said the fatwa reflects the growing strain of conservatism in Malaysia, which has always taken pride in its multiethnicity. About 25 percent of Malaysians are ethnic Chinese and 8 percent ethnic Indians, mostly Hindus.
Creeping conservatism has also been observed in Indonesia, as evident in the recent passage of the controversial pornography bill and enforcement of sharia based ordinances in regions.
Deputy chairman of the MUI edict commission Ali Mustafa Yakub said Muslims here were allowed to practice yoga as it was not clear how popular it was.
'I've rarely heard of Muslims here practicing yoga. We don't need to ban it because we haven't found Muslims practicing it here. If they do, they are not publicly visible, so there will be no problems,' he said.
Yakub said he was sure the Indian influence in Indonesia was not as strong as in Malaysia, arguing the influence was limited to dangdut music.
Hundreds of yoga classes with thousands of participants throughout the country have emerged since the 1998 financial crisis, with many adherents regarding yoga as a way of relieving stress and frustration.
'All of a sudden, the classes are full,' Janet Wijaya, a senior yoga instructor, was quoted as saying by Tempo magazine recently.
With a financial crisis looming over the country, more people, regardless of their religion, may take up yoga.
By Abdul Khalik
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Friday, 21 November 2008
THE POWER OF YOGA
In The Yoga Journal, Fernando Pages Ruis narrates fascinating nuggets from the biography of the renowned 'father of modern yoga', Sri Thirumala
Krishnamacharya, who used to teach in the Mysore Palace before Independence and then in Chennai.
But Krishnamacharya's own son, T K V Desikachar, now a world renowned yogi himself, initially had no interest whatsoever in the ancient art. He used to run away when his celebrated father called him for a session of asanas and pranayama.
After graduating from college with an engineering degree, Desikachar once came home for a short visit on his way to Delhi, where he had a job offer from reputed European firm. One morning, as Desikachar sat on the front step reading a newspaper, he saw a huge American gas guzzler sweeping up into the narrow street in front of his father's home.
Just then, Krishnamacharya stepped out of the house, wearing only a dhoti and the sacred markings that signified his lifelong devotion to the god Vishnu. The car stopped and a middle aged, European-looking woman sprang from the backseat, shouting 'Professor, Professor!' She dashed up to Krishnamacharya, threw her arms around him, and hugged him.
'The blood must have drained from Desikachar's face as his father hugged her right back,' Ruiz writes. 'In those days, western ladies and Brahmins just did not hug, especially not in the middle of the street, and especially not a Brahmin as observant as Krishnamacharya. When the woman left, 'Why?!?' was all Desikachar could stammer. Krishnamacharya explained that the woman had been studying yoga with him.
Thanks to Krishnamacharya's help, she had managed to fall asleep the previous evening without drugs for the first time in 20 years. Perhaps Desikachar's reaction to this revelation was providence or karma; certainly, this evidence of the power of yoga provided a curious epiphany that changed his life forever. In an instant, he resolved to learn what his father knew.
Krishnamacharya went on to live up to 100, as did his first woman disciple, Indra Devi, the daughter of Russian nobility, a teacher to stars like Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo and Gloria Swanson and a national treasure of Argentina. Thanks to their effort, yoga became a global brand. In the process, the male bias got from its land of origin was also changed forever: today, three fourths of yoga buffs in the US are women. Hail Ma Shakti!
By Vithal C Nadkarni
THE LATEST YOGA POWER NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Krishnamacharya, who used to teach in the Mysore Palace before Independence and then in Chennai.
But Krishnamacharya's own son, T K V Desikachar, now a world renowned yogi himself, initially had no interest whatsoever in the ancient art. He used to run away when his celebrated father called him for a session of asanas and pranayama.
After graduating from college with an engineering degree, Desikachar once came home for a short visit on his way to Delhi, where he had a job offer from reputed European firm. One morning, as Desikachar sat on the front step reading a newspaper, he saw a huge American gas guzzler sweeping up into the narrow street in front of his father's home.
Just then, Krishnamacharya stepped out of the house, wearing only a dhoti and the sacred markings that signified his lifelong devotion to the god Vishnu. The car stopped and a middle aged, European-looking woman sprang from the backseat, shouting 'Professor, Professor!' She dashed up to Krishnamacharya, threw her arms around him, and hugged him.
'The blood must have drained from Desikachar's face as his father hugged her right back,' Ruiz writes. 'In those days, western ladies and Brahmins just did not hug, especially not in the middle of the street, and especially not a Brahmin as observant as Krishnamacharya. When the woman left, 'Why?!?' was all Desikachar could stammer. Krishnamacharya explained that the woman had been studying yoga with him.
Thanks to Krishnamacharya's help, she had managed to fall asleep the previous evening without drugs for the first time in 20 years. Perhaps Desikachar's reaction to this revelation was providence or karma; certainly, this evidence of the power of yoga provided a curious epiphany that changed his life forever. In an instant, he resolved to learn what his father knew.
Krishnamacharya went on to live up to 100, as did his first woman disciple, Indra Devi, the daughter of Russian nobility, a teacher to stars like Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo and Gloria Swanson and a national treasure of Argentina. Thanks to their effort, yoga became a global brand. In the process, the male bias got from its land of origin was also changed forever: today, three fourths of yoga buffs in the US are women. Hail Ma Shakti!
By Vithal C Nadkarni
THE LATEST YOGA POWER NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Thursday, 20 November 2008
VINYASA YOGA TEACHER TRAINING
Phoenix Yoga Studio in Mullingar will host its first teacher training programme from March 2009.
Based out of Dublin, Vinyasa Flow Yoga's foundation course is recognised by the Yoga Alliance and known as an intense transformative process. This 200 hour course offers seasoned practitioners an in depth exploration of the primary techniques and principles of hatha yoga.
This knowledge has passed through generations of renowned teachers and leads the trainee to a self sufficient practice of integrity and intelligence.
An introduction to this programme is being held on Saturday November 29 from 11am to 2pm at Phoenix Yoga Studio, Medical Park, Mullingar. Visit www.phoenixyogastudio.net for location and further information.
For those interested in the teacher training programme or curious about Vinyasa yoga this will help provide an understanding of what to expect from combining intensity and integrity in your practice. This also brings an opportunity to meet the faculty/director of the training and ask any relevant questions.
The induction will explore what it takes to contain the body and breathe with integrity; learn to keep bodies safe and open the channels to yoga sequentially and patiently; work from the safest and most effective principles of awareness and alignment establishing the mind, body and breath in union (yoga); and learn that to flourish in yoga and find freedom we must integrate yoga philosophy with a dynamic practice.
This workshop is not suitable for beginners and welcomes serious practitioners who wish to deepen their practice and understanding of yoga. For more information visit www.vinyasaflowyoga.ie or call (01) 2053935.
By Galway Advertiser
THE LATEST ASHTANGA YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Based out of Dublin, Vinyasa Flow Yoga's foundation course is recognised by the Yoga Alliance and known as an intense transformative process. This 200 hour course offers seasoned practitioners an in depth exploration of the primary techniques and principles of hatha yoga.
This knowledge has passed through generations of renowned teachers and leads the trainee to a self sufficient practice of integrity and intelligence.
An introduction to this programme is being held on Saturday November 29 from 11am to 2pm at Phoenix Yoga Studio, Medical Park, Mullingar. Visit www.phoenixyogastudio.net for location and further information.
For those interested in the teacher training programme or curious about Vinyasa yoga this will help provide an understanding of what to expect from combining intensity and integrity in your practice. This also brings an opportunity to meet the faculty/director of the training and ask any relevant questions.
The induction will explore what it takes to contain the body and breathe with integrity; learn to keep bodies safe and open the channels to yoga sequentially and patiently; work from the safest and most effective principles of awareness and alignment establishing the mind, body and breath in union (yoga); and learn that to flourish in yoga and find freedom we must integrate yoga philosophy with a dynamic practice.
This workshop is not suitable for beginners and welcomes serious practitioners who wish to deepen their practice and understanding of yoga. For more information visit www.vinyasaflowyoga.ie or call (01) 2053935.
By Galway Advertiser
THE LATEST ASHTANGA YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
THE CAPITAL OF YOGA
To bring down high stress levels in teachers and parents, schools in the city have devised novel ways to help them cope with the pressure. From yoga classes to regular counselling sessions, teachers are being treated to a host of activities to soothe their nerves. As teachers bask in their new found importance, the school authorities feel destressing is essential for optimum performance.
Dr Rakesh Sachdeva, principal of DAV Model School, Sector 15, said: 'We conduct regular yoga classes for our teachers as it helps in calming the mind. It is important to provide them a break from the routine so that they are able to rejuvenate themselves.'
The school also organises a havan on the premises every month. 'Students, teachers as well as parents participate in the prayers. Even the Vedas talk of its calming effects on the mind,' adds Sachdeva.
Workshops on time management, stress management and parenting by psychologists have also become the norm in schools.
'Teaching is not as easy as it appears to be. We are under tremendous pressure to perform and when one has to look after students of different levels from varied backgrounds, anxiety levels are bound to rise,' said Sanjay Sardana, director of Manav Mangal Smart School.
The school also organises special basketball and handball tournaments for teachers to help them unwind. 'We also screen movies for teachers and students in the school auditorium and hold meditat ion camps,' he added.
'It is no child's play to bring up a child. And in the current times, when expectations from both the sides are high, it has become a stressful job. We invite psychologists to guide parents on the finer nuances of parenting. The workshops are beneficial for both parents and children,' said Punita Singh of Carmel Convent School.
Anu Chaudhary of Vivek High School agrees. 'Counselling sessions help parents and children emerge from their cocoons to address a problem clearly. It also helps in bettering strained ties.'
By CHHAVI BHATIA
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Dr Rakesh Sachdeva, principal of DAV Model School, Sector 15, said: 'We conduct regular yoga classes for our teachers as it helps in calming the mind. It is important to provide them a break from the routine so that they are able to rejuvenate themselves.'
The school also organises a havan on the premises every month. 'Students, teachers as well as parents participate in the prayers. Even the Vedas talk of its calming effects on the mind,' adds Sachdeva.
Workshops on time management, stress management and parenting by psychologists have also become the norm in schools.
'Teaching is not as easy as it appears to be. We are under tremendous pressure to perform and when one has to look after students of different levels from varied backgrounds, anxiety levels are bound to rise,' said Sanjay Sardana, director of Manav Mangal Smart School.
The school also organises special basketball and handball tournaments for teachers to help them unwind. 'We also screen movies for teachers and students in the school auditorium and hold meditat ion camps,' he added.
'It is no child's play to bring up a child. And in the current times, when expectations from both the sides are high, it has become a stressful job. We invite psychologists to guide parents on the finer nuances of parenting. The workshops are beneficial for both parents and children,' said Punita Singh of Carmel Convent School.
Anu Chaudhary of Vivek High School agrees. 'Counselling sessions help parents and children emerge from their cocoons to address a problem clearly. It also helps in bettering strained ties.'
By CHHAVI BHATIA
THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Monday, 17 November 2008
TEACHING A HATHA YOGA CLASS
Mary Frankos will teach a hatha yoga class from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at Amherst House, 7251 Eden Brook Drive, in the Kings Contrivance Village Center.
The three week session starts Dec. 3. The cost is $36 for Columbia Association lien payers; $39 for others.
Information: 410 381 9600.
around town
Help needed A OK (Assist Our Kids) Mentoring/Tutoring Program is recruiting volunteers to work with Howard County elementary and middle schools. Volunteers are needed during school hours and after school until 6 p.m. Volunteers are needed at Phelps Luck Elementary, Oakland Mills Middle and Longfellow Elementary schools. Information: Chaya Kaplan, 410 730 6030, or Joe Willmott, 410 730 0229.
Dancing Long Reach Community Association is offering fall dance classes for those ages 3 to adult. The 12 week sessions include classes in first steps, preballet, combinations, classical ballet, jazz, tap, pointe, hip-hop and modern. The classes, taught by staff members from Ballet with Cindee Velle, are held weekday afternoons and evenings and Tuesday and Saturday mornings at Stonehouse in Long Reach Village Center. 410 730 8113, or cindeevelleballet.com.
Single again 'Changing Focus/Single Again,' a nonprofit program for adults who are separated, widowed or in the process of divorce, provides weekly presentations and small group discussions in a confidential, comfortable atmosphere. The group meets at 7:30 p.m. Mondays at First Presbyterian Church, 9325 Presbyterian Circle. Information: 410 721 0992, or changingfocus.org.
By www.baltimoresun.com
THE LATEST HATHA YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
The three week session starts Dec. 3. The cost is $36 for Columbia Association lien payers; $39 for others.
Information: 410 381 9600.
around town
Help needed A OK (Assist Our Kids) Mentoring/Tutoring Program is recruiting volunteers to work with Howard County elementary and middle schools. Volunteers are needed during school hours and after school until 6 p.m. Volunteers are needed at Phelps Luck Elementary, Oakland Mills Middle and Longfellow Elementary schools. Information: Chaya Kaplan, 410 730 6030, or Joe Willmott, 410 730 0229.
Dancing Long Reach Community Association is offering fall dance classes for those ages 3 to adult. The 12 week sessions include classes in first steps, preballet, combinations, classical ballet, jazz, tap, pointe, hip-hop and modern. The classes, taught by staff members from Ballet with Cindee Velle, are held weekday afternoons and evenings and Tuesday and Saturday mornings at Stonehouse in Long Reach Village Center. 410 730 8113, or cindeevelleballet.com.
Single again 'Changing Focus/Single Again,' a nonprofit program for adults who are separated, widowed or in the process of divorce, provides weekly presentations and small group discussions in a confidential, comfortable atmosphere. The group meets at 7:30 p.m. Mondays at First Presbyterian Church, 9325 Presbyterian Circle. Information: 410 721 0992, or changingfocus.org.
By www.baltimoresun.com
THE LATEST HATHA YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Friday, 14 November 2008
ANUSARA YOGA WORKSHOPS
Mountain Lotus at the Vail Athletic Club, the vinyasa yoga studio located within the Vail Mountain Lodge & Spa, will offer a two day workshop with top Anusara yoga teacher, Jeanie Manchester.
'In this workshop, Hanuman, the great mythic character from the Ramayana, will teach us,' Manchester said. 'Through story and asana, we'll weave our way into the depths of our hearts and learn what it means to access core through poses that take this ancient lore into our lives. Come join us to play with the midline!'
Jeanie Manchester, a certified Anusara instructor, has studied yoga for 20 years with many teachers, including Richard Freeman, John Friend and Douglas Brooks. She lives in Boulder with her husband and two children and teaches nationally and around the globe.
To pre register for the workshop, call 970 476 7960. Rates for the workshop are $165 for the entire weekend or $60 per class drop in.
For questions or more information, contact Kelly Major Heath, Mountain Lotus director, at 970 445 7825 or kelly@mountainlotus.com.
Workshop schedule
Session 1. Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon, Hanumanasana in all its forms
Session 2. Saturday, 2 to 5 p.m., inversions and pranayama
Session 1. Sunday, 9 a.m. to noon, arm balancing and backbends
By www.vaildaily.com
THE LATEST ANUSARA YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
'In this workshop, Hanuman, the great mythic character from the Ramayana, will teach us,' Manchester said. 'Through story and asana, we'll weave our way into the depths of our hearts and learn what it means to access core through poses that take this ancient lore into our lives. Come join us to play with the midline!'
Jeanie Manchester, a certified Anusara instructor, has studied yoga for 20 years with many teachers, including Richard Freeman, John Friend and Douglas Brooks. She lives in Boulder with her husband and two children and teaches nationally and around the globe.
To pre register for the workshop, call 970 476 7960. Rates for the workshop are $165 for the entire weekend or $60 per class drop in.
For questions or more information, contact Kelly Major Heath, Mountain Lotus director, at 970 445 7825 or kelly@mountainlotus.com.
Workshop schedule
Session 1. Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon, Hanumanasana in all its forms
Session 2. Saturday, 2 to 5 p.m., inversions and pranayama
Session 1. Sunday, 9 a.m. to noon, arm balancing and backbends
By www.vaildaily.com
THE LATEST ANUSARA YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Thursday, 13 November 2008
YOGA CLASSES IN WATERFORD
The Wellbeing Centre on Philip Street is the location for Waterford's newest Yoga classes with a schedule to meet the demands of modern living.
Heta Hautamaki, who teaches Yoga for just ten euro per class every weekday, told Waterford Today that the classes are for everyone from the old and the young and all shapes and sizes.
Originally from Finland, Heta says that entry into the classes can come at either a class by class basis or by booking a number of classes, ensuring that people in the city can fit it into their tight schedules.
She said there can be some who think that they are not 'flexible' enough for Yoga but dismissed that saying that 'everyone' can do Yoga.
Heta's class sizes have no more than ten people per lesson and the reason for this she says is so people can be comfortable and safe while also getting the attention they need.
Heta is just 25 herself had already worked in Martial Arts before completing her teacher training in Yoga.
One aspect of Yoga is the amazing strength practitioners can exhibit without seemingly having the 'muscles' to do it but Heta maintains that this is perfectly natural, saying: 'When you go to the gym and you start working out, you are working all the muscles on the surface like your bicep and abs which are in charge of big movements. But in Yoga, when you are holding yourself up on your hands and you are holding it for long periods of time, you are conditioning those core muscles under those big muscles. These are the ones that allow our posture to be straight. So, it's that inner strength'.
In fact, Heta questions beliefs that modern living has led people to wrongly believe that they cannot do what she can but reassured those who take up classes, commenting: 'I feel like its not so much unnatural. Its unnatural for society nowadays because we drive cars, we don't walk and we don't use our bodies the way we could.A lot of people I see coming in with their shoulders completely locked from any kind of movement because of typing, driving the car or the stress of carrying bags on one side of their shoulder and not on the other. If, by stretching out on the mat, enjoying that stretch and giving it time, we'd be able to gain that flexibility that the foot would go over the shoulder, then it is natural, it's just forgotten'.
To add to her already in demand class schedule, Heta also has a Philosophy class at the Well Being Centre on Friday evenings and instead of charging for the class, participants donate to a chosen charity with the proceeds of last Friday's class going to the Irish Cancer Society.
In addition to her already busy routine, Heta will be giving a seminar for deep stretching for Martial Artists to give practitioners a wider range of movements. Bookings for the classes can be taken by calling Heta at 086 841 80 80 but people are asked to come early to avoid disappointment.
By www.waterford-today.ie
THE LATEST YOGA CLASSES NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Heta Hautamaki, who teaches Yoga for just ten euro per class every weekday, told Waterford Today that the classes are for everyone from the old and the young and all shapes and sizes.
Originally from Finland, Heta says that entry into the classes can come at either a class by class basis or by booking a number of classes, ensuring that people in the city can fit it into their tight schedules.
She said there can be some who think that they are not 'flexible' enough for Yoga but dismissed that saying that 'everyone' can do Yoga.
Heta's class sizes have no more than ten people per lesson and the reason for this she says is so people can be comfortable and safe while also getting the attention they need.
Heta is just 25 herself had already worked in Martial Arts before completing her teacher training in Yoga.
One aspect of Yoga is the amazing strength practitioners can exhibit without seemingly having the 'muscles' to do it but Heta maintains that this is perfectly natural, saying: 'When you go to the gym and you start working out, you are working all the muscles on the surface like your bicep and abs which are in charge of big movements. But in Yoga, when you are holding yourself up on your hands and you are holding it for long periods of time, you are conditioning those core muscles under those big muscles. These are the ones that allow our posture to be straight. So, it's that inner strength'.
In fact, Heta questions beliefs that modern living has led people to wrongly believe that they cannot do what she can but reassured those who take up classes, commenting: 'I feel like its not so much unnatural. Its unnatural for society nowadays because we drive cars, we don't walk and we don't use our bodies the way we could.A lot of people I see coming in with their shoulders completely locked from any kind of movement because of typing, driving the car or the stress of carrying bags on one side of their shoulder and not on the other. If, by stretching out on the mat, enjoying that stretch and giving it time, we'd be able to gain that flexibility that the foot would go over the shoulder, then it is natural, it's just forgotten'.
To add to her already in demand class schedule, Heta also has a Philosophy class at the Well Being Centre on Friday evenings and instead of charging for the class, participants donate to a chosen charity with the proceeds of last Friday's class going to the Irish Cancer Society.
In addition to her already busy routine, Heta will be giving a seminar for deep stretching for Martial Artists to give practitioners a wider range of movements. Bookings for the classes can be taken by calling Heta at 086 841 80 80 but people are asked to come early to avoid disappointment.
By www.waterford-today.ie
THE LATEST YOGA CLASSES NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
COMPETITIVE YOGA
ON Nov. 24, the first yoga competition in the country will be held. It is a landmark event for the country on many fronts.
Yoga is still in its infancy here and a competition gives yoga a more visible stage to highlight its virtues. Second, given the good that yoga represents, there is a global initiative to petition the International Olympic Committee to include yoga as a demonstration sport in the Olympic games, a step toward eventually turning it into a medal sport. Third, this competition invites a healthy discussion among those who believe that this event will be for the growth of yoga here, and those who believe that a journey toward inner peace, which yoga is, should not be competitive.
Competition history
Yoga competition is part of India's rich history. It is said that the yoga asana (i.e. posture) practice originated over 5,000 years ago. Competitions have been taking place for 2,000 years now, albeit in a more philosophical form. Today, it is estimated that the yoga pose competition in its current form began about 100 years ago. At least one yoga competition takes place daily in India.
In asana competition, yogis (male yoga practitioners) and yoginis (female practitioners) inspire others in the community to learn more about yoga. Their representation also lets others learn about how a regular hatha yoga practice influences a healthier, happier lifestyle.
Historians point to the work of Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj, founding father of the Yoga Sport concept that was introduced in India in the 1970s. In 1975, Gitananda founded the Pondicherry Yoga Asana Association in southeastern India, which became the leading organization for yoga asana championships.
The aim of Yoga Sport, as the concept of competing in asanas is called, was to introduce young people to the art and science of yoga through competitions. At the time, Yoga Sport was considered an ideal sport for India as no infrastructure or costly equipment was required, and people from all walks of life could achieve so much from it.
For three decades now, the Indian Yoga Federation and the Yoga Federation of India have been conducting yoga asana competitions in various age groups throughout India.
The First International Yoga Championship was held in 1989 in Pondicherry under the guidance of Swami Gitananda. Today, The International Council for Yoga Sport of the International Yoga Federation is the international governing body of Yoga Sport and is based in South America, Asia and Europe.
In Europe, there is the annual European Yoga Championships organized by the European Yoga Alliance. In the US, there are regional competitions leading to the International Yoga Asana Championship (IYAC) Bishnu Charan Ghosh Cup in Los Angeles every February since 2003. It is at the invitation of IYAC that the first Philippine Yoga Asana Championship (PYAC) will be held.
Structure of PYAC
Due to its links to IYAC, the Philippine Yoga Asana Championship follows its format. There are usually two divisions: adult (18 years old and above) and youth (11 to 17). Each division is divided into two categories: female and male. Practitioners of all styles of hatha yoga are welcome to join. Email info@philippineyogachampionship.com.
This first local championship only has the adult division.
Participants are required to perform five compulsory postures and two optional postures chosen from the 84 asanas compiled by Patanjali (a revered name in yoga tradition and acknowledged compiler of the Yoga Sutras). The participant must complete these seven postures in three minutes.
The compulsory adult postures are: standing head to knee pose, standing bow pulling pose, bow pose, rabbit pose and stretching pose.
The first PYAC, sponsored by Pru Life UK (www.prulifeuk.com.ph), will be held at Francisco Santiago Hall, BDO South Tower, Makati Ave. cor. HV de la Costa St. on Nov. 24, 7 p.m. Visit www.philippineyogachampionship.com
Yoga at the Olympics?
In a world beset by war and strife, what better way to bring peace and well being to entire societies than to elevate yoga to the global spotlight and encourage its practice?
If rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, wushu and archery are in the Olympics, why not yoga which has a far greater following worldwide?
But giving medals offends many practitioners. As a growing number rediscover the ancient practice, some would rather have it as a personal and spiritual tool.
The more traditional followers aren't comfortable with the idea of yoga competitions. People watching yoga for the first time could be misled into thinking that yoga is focused only on the physical, instead of it being a holistic discipline that engages the body, mind and spirit.
I believe that all who practice yoga acknowledge it to be a positive force in their lives.
I would be most surprised if I met a practitioner who did not want to share their yoga with a loved one or friend.
As for the debate that will likely go on, perhaps Yogacharya BKS Iyengar, one of the foremost teachers of yoga in the world, said it best: 'How can I say what is good and bad? People will find what they are looking for.'
By Tristan Choa
THE LATEST YOGA COMPETITION NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Yoga is still in its infancy here and a competition gives yoga a more visible stage to highlight its virtues. Second, given the good that yoga represents, there is a global initiative to petition the International Olympic Committee to include yoga as a demonstration sport in the Olympic games, a step toward eventually turning it into a medal sport. Third, this competition invites a healthy discussion among those who believe that this event will be for the growth of yoga here, and those who believe that a journey toward inner peace, which yoga is, should not be competitive.
Competition history
Yoga competition is part of India's rich history. It is said that the yoga asana (i.e. posture) practice originated over 5,000 years ago. Competitions have been taking place for 2,000 years now, albeit in a more philosophical form. Today, it is estimated that the yoga pose competition in its current form began about 100 years ago. At least one yoga competition takes place daily in India.
In asana competition, yogis (male yoga practitioners) and yoginis (female practitioners) inspire others in the community to learn more about yoga. Their representation also lets others learn about how a regular hatha yoga practice influences a healthier, happier lifestyle.
Historians point to the work of Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj, founding father of the Yoga Sport concept that was introduced in India in the 1970s. In 1975, Gitananda founded the Pondicherry Yoga Asana Association in southeastern India, which became the leading organization for yoga asana championships.
The aim of Yoga Sport, as the concept of competing in asanas is called, was to introduce young people to the art and science of yoga through competitions. At the time, Yoga Sport was considered an ideal sport for India as no infrastructure or costly equipment was required, and people from all walks of life could achieve so much from it.
For three decades now, the Indian Yoga Federation and the Yoga Federation of India have been conducting yoga asana competitions in various age groups throughout India.
The First International Yoga Championship was held in 1989 in Pondicherry under the guidance of Swami Gitananda. Today, The International Council for Yoga Sport of the International Yoga Federation is the international governing body of Yoga Sport and is based in South America, Asia and Europe.
In Europe, there is the annual European Yoga Championships organized by the European Yoga Alliance. In the US, there are regional competitions leading to the International Yoga Asana Championship (IYAC) Bishnu Charan Ghosh Cup in Los Angeles every February since 2003. It is at the invitation of IYAC that the first Philippine Yoga Asana Championship (PYAC) will be held.
Structure of PYAC
Due to its links to IYAC, the Philippine Yoga Asana Championship follows its format. There are usually two divisions: adult (18 years old and above) and youth (11 to 17). Each division is divided into two categories: female and male. Practitioners of all styles of hatha yoga are welcome to join. Email info@philippineyogachampionship.com.
This first local championship only has the adult division.
Participants are required to perform five compulsory postures and two optional postures chosen from the 84 asanas compiled by Patanjali (a revered name in yoga tradition and acknowledged compiler of the Yoga Sutras). The participant must complete these seven postures in three minutes.
The compulsory adult postures are: standing head to knee pose, standing bow pulling pose, bow pose, rabbit pose and stretching pose.
The first PYAC, sponsored by Pru Life UK (www.prulifeuk.com.ph), will be held at Francisco Santiago Hall, BDO South Tower, Makati Ave. cor. HV de la Costa St. on Nov. 24, 7 p.m. Visit www.philippineyogachampionship.com
Yoga at the Olympics?
In a world beset by war and strife, what better way to bring peace and well being to entire societies than to elevate yoga to the global spotlight and encourage its practice?
If rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, wushu and archery are in the Olympics, why not yoga which has a far greater following worldwide?
But giving medals offends many practitioners. As a growing number rediscover the ancient practice, some would rather have it as a personal and spiritual tool.
The more traditional followers aren't comfortable with the idea of yoga competitions. People watching yoga for the first time could be misled into thinking that yoga is focused only on the physical, instead of it being a holistic discipline that engages the body, mind and spirit.
I believe that all who practice yoga acknowledge it to be a positive force in their lives.
I would be most surprised if I met a practitioner who did not want to share their yoga with a loved one or friend.
As for the debate that will likely go on, perhaps Yogacharya BKS Iyengar, one of the foremost teachers of yoga in the world, said it best: 'How can I say what is good and bad? People will find what they are looking for.'
By Tristan Choa
THE LATEST YOGA COMPETITION NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Monday, 10 November 2008
NEW ONLINE YOGA CLASSES
This year, nearly 16 million people will hit the yoga mat.
Some will strike a pose in a yoga studio. Others in front of their very own computer.
That's because yoga instructional videos are popping up all over the Internet.
Some say the how to's strike the perfect balance between calm and convenience. Others say you should 'exercise' caution.
When Sherri Holman hits the yoga mat she stretches her body and her soul.
Sherri heads to the studio weekly. But now, she also lets go by logging on to a virtual yoga class.
She said, 'It's convenient because I can actually tune into a specific yoga class at any given time.'
A quick web search turns up thousands of videos. You'll find them on places like YouTube, as well as many yoga and exercise web sites.
Some are posted by apparent 'do it yourselfers,' others by experienced yogis.
Some show basic breathing and meditation. Others show more advanced positions.
But now, doctors and yoga experts say injuries are on the rise. And they're concerned about some of the clips.
Dr. Bill Stetson is a yoga expert with the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
He said, 'I would say some of the most common injuries that we're seeing, secondary to yoga, include wrist injuries, shoulder injuries and also lower back injuries.'
You could also strain muscles trying a back bend at home, or worse, suffer a herniated disk.
Terri Kennedy is chair of the board of the Yoga Alliance, which sets voluntary standards for the industry.
She also posts her own videos on the web. But she does warn, unless you're advanced in your practice, you should never try more difficult positions unsupervised.
She said, 'So if you're doing something slightly off, the teacher can adjust you. And your alignment that might be off just a bit if you're watching an online video can cause an injury.'
No certification or specific training is required to teach yoga.
Although the Alliance strongly advocates training and registers instructors after a minimum of 200 hours of approved schooling, Kennedy added, 'Before practicing with a video, find out about the teacher's background and where they trained.'
You can find the Yoga Alliance registry at: www.yogaalliance.org.
We spoke with three popular web sites that post yoga videos online.
All three say that safety is a top priority and that background info for each of its yoga instructors is posted clearly on the web.
By www.kypost.com
THE LATEST ONLINE YOGA CLASS NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Some will strike a pose in a yoga studio. Others in front of their very own computer.
That's because yoga instructional videos are popping up all over the Internet.
Some say the how to's strike the perfect balance between calm and convenience. Others say you should 'exercise' caution.
When Sherri Holman hits the yoga mat she stretches her body and her soul.
Sherri heads to the studio weekly. But now, she also lets go by logging on to a virtual yoga class.
She said, 'It's convenient because I can actually tune into a specific yoga class at any given time.'
A quick web search turns up thousands of videos. You'll find them on places like YouTube, as well as many yoga and exercise web sites.
Some are posted by apparent 'do it yourselfers,' others by experienced yogis.
Some show basic breathing and meditation. Others show more advanced positions.
But now, doctors and yoga experts say injuries are on the rise. And they're concerned about some of the clips.
Dr. Bill Stetson is a yoga expert with the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
He said, 'I would say some of the most common injuries that we're seeing, secondary to yoga, include wrist injuries, shoulder injuries and also lower back injuries.'
You could also strain muscles trying a back bend at home, or worse, suffer a herniated disk.
Terri Kennedy is chair of the board of the Yoga Alliance, which sets voluntary standards for the industry.
She also posts her own videos on the web. But she does warn, unless you're advanced in your practice, you should never try more difficult positions unsupervised.
She said, 'So if you're doing something slightly off, the teacher can adjust you. And your alignment that might be off just a bit if you're watching an online video can cause an injury.'
No certification or specific training is required to teach yoga.
Although the Alliance strongly advocates training and registers instructors after a minimum of 200 hours of approved schooling, Kennedy added, 'Before practicing with a video, find out about the teacher's background and where they trained.'
You can find the Yoga Alliance registry at: www.yogaalliance.org.
We spoke with three popular web sites that post yoga videos online.
All three say that safety is a top priority and that background info for each of its yoga instructors is posted clearly on the web.
By www.kypost.com
THE LATEST ONLINE YOGA CLASS NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Friday, 7 November 2008
BIKRAM YOGA - GETTING HOTTER
'Put your hands behind your back, head to knees, lift up legs, now, push, push, harder, harder. Change! Lie down on your back. Three, two, one, dead body pose.'
Flipping onto my back, my sweat soaked clothes sink into the floor. My heart: palpitating. My body: perspiring.
Fresh, oxygenated blood is pulsating, rushing through every organ, fiber, joint, muscle and ligament, coursing through my veins, leaving me in a pure state of total mind body ecstasy.
Finally: transcendence.
All I hear are shallow, deep breaths: breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.
This is Bikram hatha yoga.
Yogiraj Bikram Choudhury is the founder of the worldwide Yoga College of India. He created this 90 minute session of 26 postures repeated twice, with a savasana (lying flat and not moving aka the 'dead body pose') between transitions, and two breathing exercises that are held in a room with a minimum of 105 degree temperature with about 40 percent humidity.
Exercising the endocrine systems and cleansing the body by flushing toxins, hatha yoga energizes, revitalizes and reorganizes the body to increase concentration, mood and mind body integrity while reducing stress.
Colleen Bourgeois, La Jolla studio owner and teacher, has been doing Bikram yoga for more than 10 years for about five to six times a week. She started Bikram yoga to control the effects of stress after she had finished cancer treatment.
'I am a cancer survivor and realized that stress contributes to the cause of most every disease,' Bourgeois said. 'After I began Bikram yoga, I began to notice changes mentally and physically. Immediately, I began to be a much happier person due to the elimination of stress and anxiety from practicing yoga.'
This 'blissful' feeling of happiness after every session is a common response to Bikram yoga.
'I felt like I had just had the hardest and most fulfilling workout of my life. It's not just a physical workout; it's mental and spiritual too,' English student at Cal State Fullerton, Nicole Mcfeely said, after her first practice. 'After one time I felt like a new person, lighter, more complete and tuned into the energy around me.'
Tuned in, hmm, no wonder yoga means 'union.' One of its goals is to aid in the junction of the body, mind and spirit to enter a state of oneness. This preventative medicine increases the mind body integrity as a ticket to positive change and increased connectivity. To connect with others, one must first learn how to connect with themselves.
Every class has the same set of postures in the same order and time period so beginners and advanced students of all ages and sizes practice together.
Prices range according to studio, but for students younger than 25, it is $10 a session or $100 a month, and classes run at various times throughout the day.
'As a first timer, have an open mind. You cannot master yoga in one or two practices. The more you do it the more you learn and, truly, the learning is infinite,' Bourgeois said. 'The gifts of physical and mental well being are the most important aspects of your life. If you ignore them, they will go away. Embrace, learn and practice yoga to have a healthier, happier, more balanced life.'
So why do people pay for torture? Sometimes a little pain is well worth the pleasure.
For more information, visit www.bikramyoga.com. For details on two local studios, visit www.bikramyogalajolla.com or www.bikramyogasandiego.com.
By Amy Ebersole
THE LATEST BIKRAM YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Flipping onto my back, my sweat soaked clothes sink into the floor. My heart: palpitating. My body: perspiring.
Fresh, oxygenated blood is pulsating, rushing through every organ, fiber, joint, muscle and ligament, coursing through my veins, leaving me in a pure state of total mind body ecstasy.
Finally: transcendence.
All I hear are shallow, deep breaths: breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.
This is Bikram hatha yoga.
Yogiraj Bikram Choudhury is the founder of the worldwide Yoga College of India. He created this 90 minute session of 26 postures repeated twice, with a savasana (lying flat and not moving aka the 'dead body pose') between transitions, and two breathing exercises that are held in a room with a minimum of 105 degree temperature with about 40 percent humidity.
Exercising the endocrine systems and cleansing the body by flushing toxins, hatha yoga energizes, revitalizes and reorganizes the body to increase concentration, mood and mind body integrity while reducing stress.
Colleen Bourgeois, La Jolla studio owner and teacher, has been doing Bikram yoga for more than 10 years for about five to six times a week. She started Bikram yoga to control the effects of stress after she had finished cancer treatment.
'I am a cancer survivor and realized that stress contributes to the cause of most every disease,' Bourgeois said. 'After I began Bikram yoga, I began to notice changes mentally and physically. Immediately, I began to be a much happier person due to the elimination of stress and anxiety from practicing yoga.'
This 'blissful' feeling of happiness after every session is a common response to Bikram yoga.
'I felt like I had just had the hardest and most fulfilling workout of my life. It's not just a physical workout; it's mental and spiritual too,' English student at Cal State Fullerton, Nicole Mcfeely said, after her first practice. 'After one time I felt like a new person, lighter, more complete and tuned into the energy around me.'
Tuned in, hmm, no wonder yoga means 'union.' One of its goals is to aid in the junction of the body, mind and spirit to enter a state of oneness. This preventative medicine increases the mind body integrity as a ticket to positive change and increased connectivity. To connect with others, one must first learn how to connect with themselves.
Every class has the same set of postures in the same order and time period so beginners and advanced students of all ages and sizes practice together.
Prices range according to studio, but for students younger than 25, it is $10 a session or $100 a month, and classes run at various times throughout the day.
'As a first timer, have an open mind. You cannot master yoga in one or two practices. The more you do it the more you learn and, truly, the learning is infinite,' Bourgeois said. 'The gifts of physical and mental well being are the most important aspects of your life. If you ignore them, they will go away. Embrace, learn and practice yoga to have a healthier, happier, more balanced life.'
So why do people pay for torture? Sometimes a little pain is well worth the pleasure.
For more information, visit www.bikramyoga.com. For details on two local studios, visit www.bikramyogalajolla.com or www.bikramyogasandiego.com.
By Amy Ebersole
THE LATEST BIKRAM YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Thursday, 6 November 2008
THE YOGA HEALTH FOUNDATION
The Yoga Health Foundation, a nonprofit 501 c(3) organization based in Los Angeles, CA, was founded by Johannes Fisslinger who had the sole intent of delivering yoga and other preventive health care practices to underserved communities. To achieve this goal, Fisslinger created National Yoga Month, a national awareness campaign to inspire an informed and healthy lifestyle. In honor of Fisslinger's efforts, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion deemed September National Yoga Month and listed it as an official health observance at www.healthfinder.gov.
To extend the reach and impact of National Yoga Month, a 10 City Yoga Health Festival Tour was implemented across the US and Canada. Kicking off in Denver on August 24, 2008, the tour traveled to Miami, Boston, Chicago, New York, Austin, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco before concluding in Vancouver on October 5.
The festival tour offered yoga and other preventive health care classes, a health policy forum led by Arianna Huffington, holistic spa treatments, natural and organic foods, lectures and demonstrations by leading medical practitioners, eco friendly products and services, and musical performances by national recording artists. Russell Simmons, Mariel Hemingway, Sheila E, and other celebrities lent their support and voices to National Yoga Month and the 10 City Yoga Health Festival Tour. Sponsors of the festival tour included SOYJOY, Toyota, Yoga Journal, Luna, Yoga Mates and Acacia. All proceeds from National Yoga Month activities benefit Youth Health Alliance, the educational arm of the Yoga Health Foundation.
In addition to the 10 City Yoga Health Festival Tour, global grassroots events were held in honor of Yoga Month. Local Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCA chapters across the US partnered with Youth Health Alliance to offer at risk youth free yoga classes and information sessions on preventive health care. Yoga studios participated in the awareness campaign by either hosting free yoga classes or donating proceeds from paid classes to Youth Health Alliance. Health conscious individuals in Germany, Italy, Australia, Nigeria, Japan and other countries celebrated Yoga Month by hosting local yoga events in their communities.
The Yoga Health Foundation reached millions through the national awareness campaign, the 10 City Yoga Health Festival Tour, local events, and national media coverage. 'Overall, we are quite pleased with the number of people affected by National Yoga Month, the tour, and Youth Health Alliance,' stated Fisslinger. 'We look forward to working with our sponsors in 2009 to further extend the presence and impact of preventive health care in underserved communities.'
For more information on the Yoga Health Foundation, please contact Vera Alexander at vera@yogamonth.org or 818 762 4767.
By www.pr.com
THE LATEST YOGA FOUNDATION NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
To extend the reach and impact of National Yoga Month, a 10 City Yoga Health Festival Tour was implemented across the US and Canada. Kicking off in Denver on August 24, 2008, the tour traveled to Miami, Boston, Chicago, New York, Austin, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco before concluding in Vancouver on October 5.
The festival tour offered yoga and other preventive health care classes, a health policy forum led by Arianna Huffington, holistic spa treatments, natural and organic foods, lectures and demonstrations by leading medical practitioners, eco friendly products and services, and musical performances by national recording artists. Russell Simmons, Mariel Hemingway, Sheila E, and other celebrities lent their support and voices to National Yoga Month and the 10 City Yoga Health Festival Tour. Sponsors of the festival tour included SOYJOY, Toyota, Yoga Journal, Luna, Yoga Mates and Acacia. All proceeds from National Yoga Month activities benefit Youth Health Alliance, the educational arm of the Yoga Health Foundation.
In addition to the 10 City Yoga Health Festival Tour, global grassroots events were held in honor of Yoga Month. Local Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCA chapters across the US partnered with Youth Health Alliance to offer at risk youth free yoga classes and information sessions on preventive health care. Yoga studios participated in the awareness campaign by either hosting free yoga classes or donating proceeds from paid classes to Youth Health Alliance. Health conscious individuals in Germany, Italy, Australia, Nigeria, Japan and other countries celebrated Yoga Month by hosting local yoga events in their communities.
The Yoga Health Foundation reached millions through the national awareness campaign, the 10 City Yoga Health Festival Tour, local events, and national media coverage. 'Overall, we are quite pleased with the number of people affected by National Yoga Month, the tour, and Youth Health Alliance,' stated Fisslinger. 'We look forward to working with our sponsors in 2009 to further extend the presence and impact of preventive health care in underserved communities.'
For more information on the Yoga Health Foundation, please contact Vera Alexander at vera@yogamonth.org or 818 762 4767.
By www.pr.com
THE LATEST YOGA FOUNDATION NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
YOGA AND DIABETES
Though Diabetes is a very vast topic, I have tried to give only relevant and important information in this Article. Diabetes mellitus is a condition in which the pancreas no longer produces enough insulin or when cells stop responding to the insulin that is produced as a result glucose in the blood cannot be absorbed into the cells of the body. It is the most common endocrine disorder. Causes are heredity, pancreatic disease, alcoholism, malnutrition, food, obesity and stress. Symptoms include frequent urination, lethargy, excessive thirst and hunger. The treatment includes changes in diet, oral medications and in some cases daily injections of insulin.
OUR PANCREAS
Our pancreas is composed of two major types of tissues; 1. Exocrine tissue (acini), which secretes digestive enzymes via the pancreatic duct into the intestines to help digest (break down) the food we eat.
2. Endocrine tissue (islets of Langerhans), which produces and secretes the hormones insulin and glucagon directly into the blood.
INSULIN & PANCREAS
Endocrine tissue contains alpha, beta and delta cells. Beta cells produce insulin & allow body cells to use and store carbohydrate, fat and protein. Alpha cells produce glucagon & have anti insulin action. Both in unison keep a constant glucose level in the blood.
INSULIN, FOOD & ENERGY
As vehicle works on petrol and diesel, our body functions best at a certain level of sugar in the bloodstream. Digestive process converts carbohydrates from our food into glucose. As the proportion of glucose in the blood increases, immediately pancreas gland situated behind the stomach releases hormones known as insulin. It converts glucose in the form of power and stores the extra glucose in the cells of liver and muscles.
Thus the quantum of glucose in the blood remains balanced.
DISEASE STATE OF PANCREAS
The cells of the body are unable to take glucose out of the bloodstream when needed because they resist the insulin that you need to allow glucose to enter cells.
On top of that, the liver continues to send a lot of glucose into the bloodstream even when it isn't needed because the signals telling the liver to shut off aren't working and leads to high blood sugar. The kidneys cannot bear too much sugar (glucose) in the blood and as a result it is filtered out with the urine. Body, therefore, utilizes fat instead of glucose. When glucose is converted to strength, the fuel is fully utilized but when fat is utilized as a fuel, poisonous gases like acetone are produced. A diabetic patient becomes comatose called as diabetic coma.
TWO MAJOR TYPES OF DIABETES ARE
Type I (Juvenile Diabetes)/insulin dependant diabetes mellitus (IDDM) Type II (Maturity onset Diabetes)/non insulin dependant diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) GESTATIONAL DIABETES (GDM) It can develop during pregnancy and generally resolves after the baby is delivered.
TREATMENT FREELY CONSUMABLE DIET
First thing in the morning Take one to two teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methidana) with a glass of luke warm water. Before breakfast, Take raw vegetable juices (karela/ amla) Breakfast Dalia with vegetables/finger millet (ragi)/two numbers of Khakhara.
Before Lunch Salad in any quantity (Onion, cucumber, tomatoes, sprouts, carrots, radish, cabbage) + Buttermilk. Lunch Chapattis of Black Channa Flour 80% + Wheat flour 20 % ) + seasonal vegetables (green leafy, methi, karalla, palak, cauliflower, carrot, cabbage, gourds of various varieties etc) + curd or buttermilk of skimmed milk. Evening Take fruits/fruit juice Dinner Khichadi/vegetables soups/steamed vegetables.
Before going to bed Take half a glass of warm water.
Avoid Fried, fatty spices, starchy & sugar containing food, jackfruits, mangoes, bananas, sapotas, custard apples, tea, coffee, cocoa, alcohol, white flour, tinned fruit and refined cereals.
YOGA ROUTINE
Asanas such as flexibility exercises, Trikonasana, Suryanamaskara, Sarvanga, Matsya, Hala, Paschimothana, Bhujang, Shalbha, Dhanur, Ardha matsyendrasana, Yogmudra, Pranayama Bhramari, Shitali, Shitkari, Agnisaar, Kapalbhati, Nadi shodhan, Meditation, Walking, Yogic kriyas Uddiyana banda, Shat kriyas Neti, Kunjal, Enema will help balance the endocrine system, tone the abdominal organs, stimulate both the nervous & circulatory systems & reduce stress. Learn these from some qualified Yoga instructor.
IMPLEMENT THE FOLLOWING SUGGESTIONS
Take 4 to 5 small meals a day rather than three large ones.
The evening meals should be taken at least two hours before going to bed. Light evening meals are recommended.
Avoid the temptation of a second helping.
Take medicine in fixed quantity and at fixed time.
Be regular in exercise/Yoga abhyasa.
Do not make any change in the medicine unless proper advice is taken.
Even though you notice no trouble, get your physical examination carried out periodically. In the beginning let this examination be monthly When you get a control over quantity of glucose in the blood you should get it done every three months.
Get blood examined for glucose as advised by your physician.
Get the examination carried out for glycosylated hemoglobin (Hb Aic). One can find out by this test whether diabetes was under control all throughout the past three months.
Get your blood pressure and blood lipids tested regularly.
Get the blood and urine examined annually to establish that there is no defect in the kidney.
Get fundoscopy of the eyes carried out annually and get teeth cleaned and examined annually.
Daily examine your feet and skin. If you have got hurt and if it has got septic, contact the doctor immediately.
Think positive & try to be cheerful always.
By Rita Khanna
THE LATEST YOGA AND DIABETES NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
OUR PANCREAS
Our pancreas is composed of two major types of tissues; 1. Exocrine tissue (acini), which secretes digestive enzymes via the pancreatic duct into the intestines to help digest (break down) the food we eat.
2. Endocrine tissue (islets of Langerhans), which produces and secretes the hormones insulin and glucagon directly into the blood.
INSULIN & PANCREAS
Endocrine tissue contains alpha, beta and delta cells. Beta cells produce insulin & allow body cells to use and store carbohydrate, fat and protein. Alpha cells produce glucagon & have anti insulin action. Both in unison keep a constant glucose level in the blood.
INSULIN, FOOD & ENERGY
As vehicle works on petrol and diesel, our body functions best at a certain level of sugar in the bloodstream. Digestive process converts carbohydrates from our food into glucose. As the proportion of glucose in the blood increases, immediately pancreas gland situated behind the stomach releases hormones known as insulin. It converts glucose in the form of power and stores the extra glucose in the cells of liver and muscles.
Thus the quantum of glucose in the blood remains balanced.
DISEASE STATE OF PANCREAS
The cells of the body are unable to take glucose out of the bloodstream when needed because they resist the insulin that you need to allow glucose to enter cells.
On top of that, the liver continues to send a lot of glucose into the bloodstream even when it isn't needed because the signals telling the liver to shut off aren't working and leads to high blood sugar. The kidneys cannot bear too much sugar (glucose) in the blood and as a result it is filtered out with the urine. Body, therefore, utilizes fat instead of glucose. When glucose is converted to strength, the fuel is fully utilized but when fat is utilized as a fuel, poisonous gases like acetone are produced. A diabetic patient becomes comatose called as diabetic coma.
TWO MAJOR TYPES OF DIABETES ARE
Type I (Juvenile Diabetes)/insulin dependant diabetes mellitus (IDDM) Type II (Maturity onset Diabetes)/non insulin dependant diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) GESTATIONAL DIABETES (GDM) It can develop during pregnancy and generally resolves after the baby is delivered.
TREATMENT FREELY CONSUMABLE DIET
First thing in the morning Take one to two teaspoon fenugreek seeds (methidana) with a glass of luke warm water. Before breakfast, Take raw vegetable juices (karela/ amla) Breakfast Dalia with vegetables/finger millet (ragi)/two numbers of Khakhara.
Before Lunch Salad in any quantity (Onion, cucumber, tomatoes, sprouts, carrots, radish, cabbage) + Buttermilk. Lunch Chapattis of Black Channa Flour 80% + Wheat flour 20 % ) + seasonal vegetables (green leafy, methi, karalla, palak, cauliflower, carrot, cabbage, gourds of various varieties etc) + curd or buttermilk of skimmed milk. Evening Take fruits/fruit juice Dinner Khichadi/vegetables soups/steamed vegetables.
Before going to bed Take half a glass of warm water.
Avoid Fried, fatty spices, starchy & sugar containing food, jackfruits, mangoes, bananas, sapotas, custard apples, tea, coffee, cocoa, alcohol, white flour, tinned fruit and refined cereals.
YOGA ROUTINE
Asanas such as flexibility exercises, Trikonasana, Suryanamaskara, Sarvanga, Matsya, Hala, Paschimothana, Bhujang, Shalbha, Dhanur, Ardha matsyendrasana, Yogmudra, Pranayama Bhramari, Shitali, Shitkari, Agnisaar, Kapalbhati, Nadi shodhan, Meditation, Walking, Yogic kriyas Uddiyana banda, Shat kriyas Neti, Kunjal, Enema will help balance the endocrine system, tone the abdominal organs, stimulate both the nervous & circulatory systems & reduce stress. Learn these from some qualified Yoga instructor.
IMPLEMENT THE FOLLOWING SUGGESTIONS
Take 4 to 5 small meals a day rather than three large ones.
The evening meals should be taken at least two hours before going to bed. Light evening meals are recommended.
Avoid the temptation of a second helping.
Take medicine in fixed quantity and at fixed time.
Be regular in exercise/Yoga abhyasa.
Do not make any change in the medicine unless proper advice is taken.
Even though you notice no trouble, get your physical examination carried out periodically. In the beginning let this examination be monthly When you get a control over quantity of glucose in the blood you should get it done every three months.
Get blood examined for glucose as advised by your physician.
Get the examination carried out for glycosylated hemoglobin (Hb Aic). One can find out by this test whether diabetes was under control all throughout the past three months.
Get your blood pressure and blood lipids tested regularly.
Get the blood and urine examined annually to establish that there is no defect in the kidney.
Get fundoscopy of the eyes carried out annually and get teeth cleaned and examined annually.
Daily examine your feet and skin. If you have got hurt and if it has got septic, contact the doctor immediately.
Think positive & try to be cheerful always.
By Rita Khanna
THE LATEST YOGA AND DIABETES NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Monday, 3 November 2008
BECOMING A YOGA TEACHER
You've taken yoga classes for a few years. You grok yoga. You've developed a home practice, can name some yoga folks among your crop of friends, and maybe you've read a few of the essential tomes on the subject (more about that in a future column).
So what's your next step? Well, you could take a flight to India and place yourself at the feet of a yoga master and hope s/he accepts you as his/her student, or you could enroll in one of the many teacher training programs available in the Philadelphia area. There are a slew of them.
Teacher training is a marvelous way to get acquainted with the vastness, richness and whackiness of the yoga world. It's huge and often confusing. It still confuses me and I expect it always will. Yoga is older than dirt and, like a thousand year old tree, has spawned thousands of branches and saplings. All one can do is climb the tree, look for a branch that looks stable and hang out for a while, then if you've a mind, wind your way to another. Teacher training provides you with a boost up the tree.
For me, the teacher training experience opened up a new world in my life. In addition to exposure to the vast literature and history of yoga, a teacher training program might introduce you to ayurveda, the yogic system of health; kirtan, the yoga ensemble chanting/singing of yoga Sanskrit sounds/vibrations; meditation, teaching methodology, cool yoga tricks, and, of course, a deeper understanding of the essential poses(asanas).
You might also experience, as I did, a bond with your fellow students. Training can be intense and time consuming. Students are often seeking some understanding of their world and have chosen yoga as the window to that understanding. The teachers training group of which I was a part maintain communication via a message board, have frequent gatherings and have a mutual concern and love for one another that I myself have never before experienced. We are indeed a tribe with our own identifying symbol of our mutual bond. The image in the photo box is a stylized line drawing of Ganesh, a Hindu/yoga symbol revered by the founders of many who know yoga, and a fave of the founders of Yoga On Main, where I did my teacher training. Yes, that's a muffin on Ganesha's trunk, my unique addition to the design.
All of the following Philadelphia area schools are certified by the Yoga Alliance, http://www.yogaallianceinternational.org/index1.php, an organization that was developed in part to bring some structure and credibility to teachers of yoga. The schools in this list represent an array of styles and approaches to yoga. If I have missed any, or have left out some essential information, please do not hesitate to add it to the list via a comment. I am always open for correction.
http://www.yogaonmain.com/teacher.html
http://www.joanwhiteyoga.com/training.htm
http://www.yogafit.com/articles/yoga-teacher[training[philadelphia.html
http://www.dhyana[yoga.com/special.html#200
http://www.poweryogaworks.com/teacherTraining.asp
http://www.wakeupyoga.com/training.html
By Jonathan Bartlett
THE LATEST YOGA TEACHING NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
So what's your next step? Well, you could take a flight to India and place yourself at the feet of a yoga master and hope s/he accepts you as his/her student, or you could enroll in one of the many teacher training programs available in the Philadelphia area. There are a slew of them.
Teacher training is a marvelous way to get acquainted with the vastness, richness and whackiness of the yoga world. It's huge and often confusing. It still confuses me and I expect it always will. Yoga is older than dirt and, like a thousand year old tree, has spawned thousands of branches and saplings. All one can do is climb the tree, look for a branch that looks stable and hang out for a while, then if you've a mind, wind your way to another. Teacher training provides you with a boost up the tree.
For me, the teacher training experience opened up a new world in my life. In addition to exposure to the vast literature and history of yoga, a teacher training program might introduce you to ayurveda, the yogic system of health; kirtan, the yoga ensemble chanting/singing of yoga Sanskrit sounds/vibrations; meditation, teaching methodology, cool yoga tricks, and, of course, a deeper understanding of the essential poses(asanas).
You might also experience, as I did, a bond with your fellow students. Training can be intense and time consuming. Students are often seeking some understanding of their world and have chosen yoga as the window to that understanding. The teachers training group of which I was a part maintain communication via a message board, have frequent gatherings and have a mutual concern and love for one another that I myself have never before experienced. We are indeed a tribe with our own identifying symbol of our mutual bond. The image in the photo box is a stylized line drawing of Ganesh, a Hindu/yoga symbol revered by the founders of many who know yoga, and a fave of the founders of Yoga On Main, where I did my teacher training. Yes, that's a muffin on Ganesha's trunk, my unique addition to the design.
All of the following Philadelphia area schools are certified by the Yoga Alliance, http://www.yogaallianceinternational.org/index1.php, an organization that was developed in part to bring some structure and credibility to teachers of yoga. The schools in this list represent an array of styles and approaches to yoga. If I have missed any, or have left out some essential information, please do not hesitate to add it to the list via a comment. I am always open for correction.
http://www.yogaonmain.com/teacher.html
http://www.joanwhiteyoga.com/training.htm
http://www.yogafit.com/articles/yoga-teacher[training[philadelphia.html
http://www.dhyana[yoga.com/special.html#200
http://www.poweryogaworks.com/teacherTraining.asp
http://www.wakeupyoga.com/training.html
By Jonathan Bartlett
THE LATEST YOGA TEACHING NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Friday, 31 October 2008
BRINGING YOGA INTO HOSPITALS
Medical advances sometimes happen in strange ways. Someone finds a fungus in dirty lab dishes and, eureka! penicillin is born. Now a premier Manhattan hospital is turning a cancer-treatment floor over to a world famous fashion designer in the hope that serendipity, science and intuition will strike again.
Beth Israel Medical Center personnel took part in a yoga session at the art studio of Donna Karan's late husband.
A foundation run by Donna Karan, creator of the 'seven easy pieces' philosophy of women's wardrobes and founder of the much imitated DKNY line of clothing, has donated $850,000 for a yearlong experiment combining Eastern and Western healing methods at Beth Israel Medical Center. Instead of just letting a celebrated donor adopt a hospital wing, renovate it and have her name embossed on a plaque, the Karan Beth Israel project will have a celebrated donor turn a hospital into a testing ground for a trendy, medically controversial notion: that yoga, meditation and aromatherapy can enhance regimens of chemotherapy and radiation.
'While we are giving patients traditional medicine, we are not going to exclude patients' values and beliefs,' said Dr. David Shulkin, the chief executive of Beth Israel, noting that a third of Americans seek alternative treatments. 'To make care accessible to these third of Americans, we're trying to embrace care that makes them more comfortable.'
On Wednesday, Dr. Shulkin, who had never done yoga before, joined Ms. Karan and about 60 Beth Israel employees on the floor of her late husband's West Village art studio for an hour of yoga poses, finishing off with 'om' and the recorded sound of bells.
'They didn't teach us that in medical school,' Dr. Shulkin said afterward, still sitting barefoot on his black mat, swearing he had put his BlackBerry on 'meditation mode' and had not checked it. Asked if the yoga had worked, he formed his answer carefully: 'I think the personal touch and the personal attention to a patient absolutely works.'
The husband and wife team leading Wednesday's session, Ms. Karan's yoga masters, Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman Yee, will oversee the experiment. Fifteen yoga teachers will be sent to Beth Israel's ninth floor cancer ward starting in January to work with nonterminal patients, and nurses will be trained in relaxation techniques. Their salaries, as well as a cosmetic overhaul of the ward, are being paid for by Ms. Karan's Urban Zen Foundation, created after her husband and business partner, Stephan Weiss, 62, died of lung cancer in 2001.
While other hospitals in New York and across the country have dabbled in yoga, the new Beth Israel project is broader, better financed and more integrated into the medical protocol, and because of Ms. Karan's concern that it might be dismissed as touchy feely nonsense, it includes a research component. Ms. Karan hopes to prove that the Urban Zen regime can reduce classic symptoms of cancer and its treatment, like pain, nausea and anxiety (thereby cutting hospital stays and costs) and serve as a model for replication elsewhere.
But Dr. Benjamin Kligler, the research director in integrative family medicine for the Beth Israel affiliated Continuum Center for Health and Healing and the research project's principal investigator, acknowledged that the experiment of yoga teachers and their interaction with patients did not lend itself to the random, double blind placebo trials favored in the medical world.
'The truth is, from a very traditional research perspective, that's a problem,' Dr. Kligler conceded, adding that it might be time for the medical establishment to consider a new research model for what he called 'lifestyle interventions.'
Organizers are also wary of the halo effect: Will Ms. Karan's fame taint the experiment? But they are cognizant of the value of stroking people with deep pockets and of celebrity branding: Someday the cancer ward's plaque reading 'Leo and Rachel Sussman Division of Hematology/Oncology' will be joined by one honoring Ms. Karan.
'You have your right column energy and your left column energy,' Ms. Karan said, suggesting that there is room for both.
She traces her commitment to integrative medicine to what she saw as the narrowly limited treatment of her husband, a sculptor, and of Lynn Kohlman, a photographer, model and DKNY fashion director who was still ravishing and dignified despite the staples in her head and mastectomy scars on her chest when she died of brain cancer in September.
Ms. Karan longed for the help of a Marcus Welby, the kind of friendly, wise doctor who seemed possible only on television, and even then in a more innocent era. 'Today everybody's a specialist,' she lamented in an interview. 'We're only one person, even though we have a lot of parts, but everybody takes a piece of us.'
Despite all his high tech medical treatment, her husband could not breathe, she recalled, until a yoga teacher taught him to 'open his lungs.' 'He went from ah ah ah,' she said, mimicking his gasping for breath, 'to aaaaahh.'
'Everybody was dealing with his disease,' she said of the doctors. 'Nobody was looking at him holistically as a patient. How do you treat the patient at the mind body level? Not only the patient but the loved one?'
Ms. Kohlman apparently sensed her illness before her doctors did. Lying on the floor during a yoga session at a beach resort on Parrot Cay, a tiny Caribbean island, she began to shake. 'You're having kundalini rising,' Mr. Yee, the yoga master who is partnering with Ms. Karan at Beth Israel, yelled, running to her side. Ms. Kohlman, who wrote about the experience for Vogue, insisted, 'I have brain cancer.'
She intensified her yoga. 'She asked for it in the hospital,' said Ms. Karan, who practices yoga daily. 'She needed it, she wanted it.'
'This works,' Ms. Karan insisted. 'Now we have to prove it in the clinical setting.'
To do that, she turned to Beth Israel because it is among the handful of hospitals nationwide with full fledged integrative medicine departments. Beth Israel's department is headed by Woodson Merrell, known as Woody, who rides a silver Vespa to his Upper East Side office and who made the obligatory pilgrimage to India in the 1960s. Beth Israel has experimented with integrating mainstream and alternative therapies for eight years, mainly through the Continuum Center, which employs 10 doctors. In the spring, integrative medicine was elevated to department status, just like surgery, orthopedics and the rest.
'A lot of other hospitals have integrative medicine, but it's kind of stuck away in the basement,' said Dr. Merrell, who, not coincidentally, is Ms. Karan's internist. 'People like to think it's not there.' Starting in November, the cancer ward will be renovated by Ms. Karan, the architect David Fratianne and Alex Stark, a feng shui master. The dull beige walls and green linoleum tile floors will be replaced with bamboo wallpaper and cork floors. Nooks and crannies now used for brown bag lunches and naps and crammed with a desultory selection of dusty books will be turned into yoga, prayer and meditation retreats for patients, their families and nurses.
Urban Zen will cover the salaries of a patient 'navigator,' a sort of cancer ward concierge, and a yoga coordinator. The Yees and Dr. Merrell expect that about half the eligible patients will decline to participate. Those who do will find a flexible definition of yoga, with some who are very ill simply getting help to breathe from a yogi who will also manipulate their limbs, rub their feet or simply listen to them.
Last week, two yoga teachers in Karan designed black T shirts printed with white block letters saying, 'The Unstoppable PATH/Patient Awareness Towards Healing,' approached several patients for an impromptu workout.'
Looking like a radiantly healthy creature from another planet, one of the teachers, Shana Kuhn Siegel, sidled up to the bedside of an emaciated 34 year old patient, Natoya Harrison, who insisted on eating her meal of chicken and potatoes before embarking on yoga. Ms. Harrison, who was formerly obese, was hospitalized in a coma caused by complications of a gastric bypass performed elsewhere. What did she miss about life outside the hospital? Ms. Kuhn Siegel asked. 'Not being able to participate in sex, church,' Ms. Harrison said, adding, 'I shouldn't have said those two things together.'
'You can say whatever you want,' Ms. Kuhn Siegel replied. She prompted the woman to talk about her 15 year old son, and asked if she would like to close her eyes. 'I thought you were going to ask me questions,' Ms. Harrison said nervously. 'Why are you trying to put me to sleep? What's your M.O.?'
Noticing the T shirt, she perked up, asking: 'Where can I get one of those?' Ms. Kuhn Siegel promised to tell Ms. Karan that Ms. Harrison would like a shirt, and tried to capitalize on the connection.
'There's a position I can put you in to relieve the pain in your abdomen,' she said. 'It's a position called 'bound angle.''
Ms. Harrison let Ms. Kuhn Siegel manipulate her scrawny limbs, bending and straightening her knees, propping up her head. 'How about a cup of green tea?' Ms. Kuhn Siegel asked.
'Nope,' Ms. Harrison said. 'I think I'm going to throw up.'
Ms. Kuhn Siegel handed her a wastebasket and backed away.
By Anemona Hartocollis
THE LATEST YOGA IN HOSPITAL NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Beth Israel Medical Center personnel took part in a yoga session at the art studio of Donna Karan's late husband.
A foundation run by Donna Karan, creator of the 'seven easy pieces' philosophy of women's wardrobes and founder of the much imitated DKNY line of clothing, has donated $850,000 for a yearlong experiment combining Eastern and Western healing methods at Beth Israel Medical Center. Instead of just letting a celebrated donor adopt a hospital wing, renovate it and have her name embossed on a plaque, the Karan Beth Israel project will have a celebrated donor turn a hospital into a testing ground for a trendy, medically controversial notion: that yoga, meditation and aromatherapy can enhance regimens of chemotherapy and radiation.
'While we are giving patients traditional medicine, we are not going to exclude patients' values and beliefs,' said Dr. David Shulkin, the chief executive of Beth Israel, noting that a third of Americans seek alternative treatments. 'To make care accessible to these third of Americans, we're trying to embrace care that makes them more comfortable.'
On Wednesday, Dr. Shulkin, who had never done yoga before, joined Ms. Karan and about 60 Beth Israel employees on the floor of her late husband's West Village art studio for an hour of yoga poses, finishing off with 'om' and the recorded sound of bells.
'They didn't teach us that in medical school,' Dr. Shulkin said afterward, still sitting barefoot on his black mat, swearing he had put his BlackBerry on 'meditation mode' and had not checked it. Asked if the yoga had worked, he formed his answer carefully: 'I think the personal touch and the personal attention to a patient absolutely works.'
The husband and wife team leading Wednesday's session, Ms. Karan's yoga masters, Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman Yee, will oversee the experiment. Fifteen yoga teachers will be sent to Beth Israel's ninth floor cancer ward starting in January to work with nonterminal patients, and nurses will be trained in relaxation techniques. Their salaries, as well as a cosmetic overhaul of the ward, are being paid for by Ms. Karan's Urban Zen Foundation, created after her husband and business partner, Stephan Weiss, 62, died of lung cancer in 2001.
While other hospitals in New York and across the country have dabbled in yoga, the new Beth Israel project is broader, better financed and more integrated into the medical protocol, and because of Ms. Karan's concern that it might be dismissed as touchy feely nonsense, it includes a research component. Ms. Karan hopes to prove that the Urban Zen regime can reduce classic symptoms of cancer and its treatment, like pain, nausea and anxiety (thereby cutting hospital stays and costs) and serve as a model for replication elsewhere.
But Dr. Benjamin Kligler, the research director in integrative family medicine for the Beth Israel affiliated Continuum Center for Health and Healing and the research project's principal investigator, acknowledged that the experiment of yoga teachers and their interaction with patients did not lend itself to the random, double blind placebo trials favored in the medical world.
'The truth is, from a very traditional research perspective, that's a problem,' Dr. Kligler conceded, adding that it might be time for the medical establishment to consider a new research model for what he called 'lifestyle interventions.'
Organizers are also wary of the halo effect: Will Ms. Karan's fame taint the experiment? But they are cognizant of the value of stroking people with deep pockets and of celebrity branding: Someday the cancer ward's plaque reading 'Leo and Rachel Sussman Division of Hematology/Oncology' will be joined by one honoring Ms. Karan.
'You have your right column energy and your left column energy,' Ms. Karan said, suggesting that there is room for both.
She traces her commitment to integrative medicine to what she saw as the narrowly limited treatment of her husband, a sculptor, and of Lynn Kohlman, a photographer, model and DKNY fashion director who was still ravishing and dignified despite the staples in her head and mastectomy scars on her chest when she died of brain cancer in September.
Ms. Karan longed for the help of a Marcus Welby, the kind of friendly, wise doctor who seemed possible only on television, and even then in a more innocent era. 'Today everybody's a specialist,' she lamented in an interview. 'We're only one person, even though we have a lot of parts, but everybody takes a piece of us.'
Despite all his high tech medical treatment, her husband could not breathe, she recalled, until a yoga teacher taught him to 'open his lungs.' 'He went from ah ah ah,' she said, mimicking his gasping for breath, 'to aaaaahh.'
'Everybody was dealing with his disease,' she said of the doctors. 'Nobody was looking at him holistically as a patient. How do you treat the patient at the mind body level? Not only the patient but the loved one?'
Ms. Kohlman apparently sensed her illness before her doctors did. Lying on the floor during a yoga session at a beach resort on Parrot Cay, a tiny Caribbean island, she began to shake. 'You're having kundalini rising,' Mr. Yee, the yoga master who is partnering with Ms. Karan at Beth Israel, yelled, running to her side. Ms. Kohlman, who wrote about the experience for Vogue, insisted, 'I have brain cancer.'
She intensified her yoga. 'She asked for it in the hospital,' said Ms. Karan, who practices yoga daily. 'She needed it, she wanted it.'
'This works,' Ms. Karan insisted. 'Now we have to prove it in the clinical setting.'
To do that, she turned to Beth Israel because it is among the handful of hospitals nationwide with full fledged integrative medicine departments. Beth Israel's department is headed by Woodson Merrell, known as Woody, who rides a silver Vespa to his Upper East Side office and who made the obligatory pilgrimage to India in the 1960s. Beth Israel has experimented with integrating mainstream and alternative therapies for eight years, mainly through the Continuum Center, which employs 10 doctors. In the spring, integrative medicine was elevated to department status, just like surgery, orthopedics and the rest.
'A lot of other hospitals have integrative medicine, but it's kind of stuck away in the basement,' said Dr. Merrell, who, not coincidentally, is Ms. Karan's internist. 'People like to think it's not there.' Starting in November, the cancer ward will be renovated by Ms. Karan, the architect David Fratianne and Alex Stark, a feng shui master. The dull beige walls and green linoleum tile floors will be replaced with bamboo wallpaper and cork floors. Nooks and crannies now used for brown bag lunches and naps and crammed with a desultory selection of dusty books will be turned into yoga, prayer and meditation retreats for patients, their families and nurses.
Urban Zen will cover the salaries of a patient 'navigator,' a sort of cancer ward concierge, and a yoga coordinator. The Yees and Dr. Merrell expect that about half the eligible patients will decline to participate. Those who do will find a flexible definition of yoga, with some who are very ill simply getting help to breathe from a yogi who will also manipulate their limbs, rub their feet or simply listen to them.
Last week, two yoga teachers in Karan designed black T shirts printed with white block letters saying, 'The Unstoppable PATH/Patient Awareness Towards Healing,' approached several patients for an impromptu workout.'
Looking like a radiantly healthy creature from another planet, one of the teachers, Shana Kuhn Siegel, sidled up to the bedside of an emaciated 34 year old patient, Natoya Harrison, who insisted on eating her meal of chicken and potatoes before embarking on yoga. Ms. Harrison, who was formerly obese, was hospitalized in a coma caused by complications of a gastric bypass performed elsewhere. What did she miss about life outside the hospital? Ms. Kuhn Siegel asked. 'Not being able to participate in sex, church,' Ms. Harrison said, adding, 'I shouldn't have said those two things together.'
'You can say whatever you want,' Ms. Kuhn Siegel replied. She prompted the woman to talk about her 15 year old son, and asked if she would like to close her eyes. 'I thought you were going to ask me questions,' Ms. Harrison said nervously. 'Why are you trying to put me to sleep? What's your M.O.?'
Noticing the T shirt, she perked up, asking: 'Where can I get one of those?' Ms. Kuhn Siegel promised to tell Ms. Karan that Ms. Harrison would like a shirt, and tried to capitalize on the connection.
'There's a position I can put you in to relieve the pain in your abdomen,' she said. 'It's a position called 'bound angle.''
Ms. Harrison let Ms. Kuhn Siegel manipulate her scrawny limbs, bending and straightening her knees, propping up her head. 'How about a cup of green tea?' Ms. Kuhn Siegel asked.
'Nope,' Ms. Harrison said. 'I think I'm going to throw up.'
Ms. Kuhn Siegel handed her a wastebasket and backed away.
By Anemona Hartocollis
THE LATEST YOGA IN HOSPITAL NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
Thursday, 30 October 2008
HALLOWEEN YOGA
Youngsters were invited to try their hand at yoga as part of a special Hallowe'en themed morning of free lessons.
YogaBugs has launched its first children's lessons in Bath aimed at giving youngsters the opportunity to explore yoga through adventure stories.
The classes are aimed at youngsters aged between two and a half and seven years old and started with a spooky session.
Bath based personal trainer Laura Marsden has launched the scheme with osteopath Melanie Todd and believes there are many health benefits to the activity
She said: 'We are thrilled to bring YogaBugs to Bath. Yoga improves children's co ordination and balance, builds strength and stamina and promotes healthy sleeping patterns.'
Many yoga postures have very child-friendly names such as dog, surfer and crab, which YogaBugs creatively weaves into fantastic adventures in the jungle, space or under sea.
'It means the children are motivated and inspired to join in without really realising they are practising and benefiting from yoga.'
Classes are continuing and will be run at Bath Library and the Percy Community Centre.
It is hoped that the scheme can be expanded into schools and nurseries.
For more information, email laura@yogabugs.com.
By www.thisisbath.co.uk
THE LATEST HALLOWEEN YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
YogaBugs has launched its first children's lessons in Bath aimed at giving youngsters the opportunity to explore yoga through adventure stories.
The classes are aimed at youngsters aged between two and a half and seven years old and started with a spooky session.
Bath based personal trainer Laura Marsden has launched the scheme with osteopath Melanie Todd and believes there are many health benefits to the activity
She said: 'We are thrilled to bring YogaBugs to Bath. Yoga improves children's co ordination and balance, builds strength and stamina and promotes healthy sleeping patterns.'
Many yoga postures have very child-friendly names such as dog, surfer and crab, which YogaBugs creatively weaves into fantastic adventures in the jungle, space or under sea.
'It means the children are motivated and inspired to join in without really realising they are practising and benefiting from yoga.'
Classes are continuing and will be run at Bath Library and the Percy Community Centre.
It is hoped that the scheme can be expanded into schools and nurseries.
For more information, email laura@yogabugs.com.
By www.thisisbath.co.uk
THE LATEST HALLOWEEN YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA
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