Monday Night Advanced Class with Nina - Intense groin opening pose to make you sweat and relieve back pain!

Yesterday night's class finally made me sweat. The theme of this class was "groin opening poses". Read "intense poses that generate heat and really make you sweat". So all of you who think yoga doesn't give you an intense workout - eat your heart out! This was hard, intense and sweaty.

The class was estrogen majority. I was the only male (what happened to the other two) in class and probably most "pose challenged". With tight hamstrings, I couldn't dare stretch the back leg in "Hanuman Asana". We did a number of groin openers and supporting poses to allow the groins to really open. Supta Virasana, variations of Adho Mukha Svanasana, Raj kapot Asana (Pigeon Pose).

Nina borrowed some inspiration from Nuvana's back-care class. Its strap trick. A small strap tight around your lower waist. The belt is wrapped around your sacrum, and high part of the gluteus muscles real tight. I use this trick when I have lower back ache or when I am long flights to India. Then you add a wider belt at your sacrum in loop around the tight belt. You then pull down the wider belt with your feet. It pushes your buttock muscles down, releasing the back. This provides amazing relief to your back.

This trick was taught to me by Nuvana early on in my training with her. Back and shoulder ache were to most persistent problems I encountered - both of which are now much better since I started yoga. There are so many benefits to yoga, but I must say I use this Nuvana trick all the time to relieve lower back pain. If you are in metro Portland or visiting try the saturday morning back care class at Sunset Yoga. You will be amazed!

Namaste

The Yogi

How to manage your stress with Yoga?

For the last many months I have been dealing with very stressful situations in life. Stress has so many manifestations and effects on your mental, physical and emotional state. Irritability, sadness, depression, aches, pains, low self esteem, anger, defeat, over eating, weight gain or loss all are can be traced to stress. I have talked so much about managing physical in life with yoga therapy - but there is a silent 900 pound gorilla pain called STRESS.

We all deal with stress every day. How many of us really truly deal with it or manage it? With the plethora of drugs being bombarded at us for depression, it has become a fashion to be prescribed with an anti-depressant medicine. No one yet knows about all of the side effects of such medication. All I can say from experience is that it is no panacea for stress. Stress in my opinion is the root cause of many depression related and psychosomatic problems. I have been anti-depressant medication free since I started doing yoga two years ago. I am proud to say that today despite being under tremendous stress, I have not succumbed to anti-depressants again. As a matter of fact my physician is militant about me not going back on these medications. Yoga has saved me from medication hell. Combine it with some behavior changes and you have a new way to deal with stress.

Here some yoga poses and behavioral techniques that I use to deal with Stress:

1. Uttanasana
2. Salama Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand)
3. Salamba Sirsana (Head Stand)
4. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
5. Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Forward Bend)
6. Adho mukha Vriksanasana
7. Shavasana

The best sequence would be : 1, 5, 6, 4, 2, 3, 7

Most days when I feel really stressed or depressed I try some of these poses, maybe even one. Its an instant relief, but a continuous regular practice including one or two classes a week at a yoga studio like Sunset Yoga will help you manage stress and depression in the long term. I have also incorporated some behavior changes to deal with stress, most recent :

1. Drop your sail down: Acquiesce to the stressful situation or stress's in your life. Don't fight it - accept it.
2. Don't show up for war: Dont make your presence in situations that cause stress. Avoid them. If someone starts a fight - don't show up to the fight to react.

Such techniques require mental strength and courage, most of which I attribute to my continued practice of Iyengar yoga.

Namaste

The Yogi

Supta padangusthasana - Sciatic and Gluteal Muscle Pain Killer

"The pain" - it don't go away, but pain it coming down, and it did in a remarkable way this Friday after the yoga therapy session with Nuvana. We tried a wall and belt supported suptapadangusthasan for nearly an hour and the pain subsided signficantly. Every week a different pose has a different effect. Two weeks ago I couldnt even lift up the left leg. So it seems like as you progress through this journey of pain, different poses create the impact of lessening the pain. What a concept! I observe, I bear and I understand my body more and more... So with some help I created a video for you to watch. There is some raw footage of another pose I did two weeks ago with Nuvana that had made an impact. Some kid yogini videos for fun. Enjoy the music and may love and peace be the center of your life.

Namaste

The Yogi

Yoga Therapy Video:

Physical therapy for Gluteus Muscle and Sciatic Pain

My next step in this pain saga moved on to getting some physical therapy. About a week and half ago I saw Emily at Bethany Physical Therapy http://www.therapeuticassociates.com/Locations/clinic.aspx?id=25.
She is also a certified yoga teacher with experience in Iyengar and Anusura style. At my last visit this Thursday the following happened.

My left hip seemed to have rotated forward and right hip backwards and the muscles around it have strained/inflamed causing these shooting pains down my leg. She helped re-align with some posture adjustments and then the following exercises were recommended (and I reproduce with her permission)

1. Paraspinal Release with Left Obliques
a. Place both fo palms on a 3-4 inch block and place your feet directly in front of you.
b. Pull your shoulder blades down and ack and dig both of your heels into the floor as you bring your hip up and off the floor by pushing through your arms.
c. Once u lift up round your back by tucking your bottom up or in
d. Then side bend your trunk to the left so that you left hip comes up. Pelvis is turned to the right. Abdominal muscles are engaged
e. Maintain firm contact with your right arm and right leg so that you feel your right inner thigh
f. Hold the position for 4-5 deep breaths
g. Repeat 2 more time per day.

2. Standing Un-resisted Wall Reach
This is similar to an Utkanasana but with your bottom on the wall for support support, arms not raised but touching your knees and the back rounded as you take 4 deep breaths expanding you back as you inhale and then reaching forward on your knees and legs as your exhale, so you are eventually looking down on your knees.

She recommended hip opening type yoga exercises. So I was back to Nuvana's place on Friday evening for another Yoga Therapy session. And what an amazing change. Please come back for the next post along with a video.

Namaste!

Gluteal pain -- in physical therapy

I have been off regular yoga classes, but continued my yoga therapy on my own and since last Sunday the pain had subsided quite a bit. It was helping but not eliminating the pain. My physician suggested physical therapy. I was fortunte to find a therapist who is a also a certified anusura yoga teacher and has also done a fair amount of Iyengar. I had an enlightening meeting with her today. I have been so absorbed with the elections and work, I have no energy to write about my experience today with her, but it was eye opening and it gave me a deeper appreciation of being a yogi and being self aware of my body and my muscles and what I have been doing to self correct the problems I am having. She has given me two exercises and within 15 minutes of doing those exercises I felt even better. I have become even more self aware since this morning. Not to become too philosophical about this, but yoga does do the body good, but self awareness does the soul even better. May your day bring you much peace and love, as no money in the world can buy you that. It comes from self awareness!

Namaste