Ways To Build Muscle For Your Dream Physique
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Ways to boost your strength and feel great about your body.
Read More
Great Ways for Women to Build Muscle and Get Lean
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Let’s look at the overall picture of your health and how strength training, eating well, and resting enough can help you boost vitality and increase muscle.
Read More
15 Things To Help You Boost Your Confidence
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Recently I posted on Instagram about being self-critical after I recorded a video of myself doing burpees.
Read More3 Ways to Reduce Soreness After Yoga or a Workout
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Photo by Tom Huynh.
I find my muscles are sore often, from teaching and practicing yoga.
Here are my top 3 remedies for relieving soreness after a big workout.
Photo by Tom Huynh.
3 Ways to Reduce Soreness After Yoga or Working Out
I shared this salt with a friend recently who was so sore she could hardly walk (her quads were burning!) and afterward she felt much better. I've also relied heavily on epsom salt baths to get through a yoga teacher training-- it adds up quick when you're practicing 2 or 3 times a day! Even just after one yoga class, you could draw your bath, add a glass of wine and a candle and it's such a lovely way to wind down after a long day.
2. Hydrate. Drink more water before and after your workout. Especially if you are doing heated yoga or it's spring or summer with warmer temperatures, adding more water to your daily habit will help from getting sore. Carry your water bottle with you everywhere you go as a reminder to drink water throughout your day.
Photo by Tom Huynh.
3. Take rest, stretch, and use a foam roller or wheel. One of the best ways to reduce soreness is to get another yoga class in :) You could also do a relaxing, restorative yin sequence or 3 simple sun salutations at home. Deepen your breath to allow more access to deeper tissue in the body. Here's a good list of poses to try, or these restorative poses. Another good thing to remember is to give yourself rest days where you aren't doing a big workout, so your muscles can recover. Last and certainly not least, consider investing in a dense foam roller! I use mine almost daily, under my back, and to release tightness in my legs (quads and shins). Another effective option is the Dharma Yoga Wheel, which helps open the back, chest, shoulders, and hamstrings.
Cheers to feeling energized and releasing any soreness you've got going on!
Namaste, friends.
PS Do you teach yoga? Here are tips for taking care of yourself as a yoga teacher.
Sacramento Seva Yoga: Yoga Reclaimed
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Photos by Brynna Bryant of Respiro Photography.
What does 'yoga' mean to you?
In my eight years practicing and two years teaching, I've come to discover yoga is about union. Unifying the body, mind, spirit. Uniting the breath with movement. Showing up together as a collective, empowered community.
Yoga means uniting forces with other like-minded, high-vibration, compassionate humans and spreading love and kindness out into the world. Yoga is about learning to love more, feel more, and experience life more fully.
So with those things in mind, I recently launched a project with Respiro Photography and Sac Sierra Yoga where I'll be blogging about seva, or selfless service, and all the local Sacramento yoga studios where you can take free yoga classes.
I want to get out into new spaces, talk to yogis I've never met, learn from the amazing teachers in my local community, and say thank you.
Photo by Brynna Bryant of Respiro Photography.
Sacramento Seva Yoga: Yoga Reclaimed
My second stop on the tour was Yoga Reclaimed in Auburn. Full disclosure: in January, I started teaching the Tuesday and Thursday noon classes at Reclaimed...so you could say my deep love and appreciation of this studio is a somewhat biased perspective on the space :) But let me just say that even though I'm on staff, and therefore not necessarily a 'neutral' point of view, I'd still love to tell you about Reclaimed's free community class and believe it definitely belongs on the Sacramento Seva list.
The Saturday morning community yoga class at Reclaimed is a truly unique and wonderful experience. Studio owner Ryan Bailey teaches an upbeat, inspiring, and challenging 90-minute balance class. To me it feels like a cross between a sacred kirtan gathering and a dance party you'd have with friends-- the music is loud, the energy is intense, and the yogis all around you are working really hard, so you feel motivated and encouraged.
The space has the energy of transformation. You leave the studio feeling a lot different than when you arrived -- sweatier, more lighthearted, and more connected.
Favorite moments from class: I loved immediately grounding and joining together as a community with the call-and-response chant to Ganesha. Very powerful mantra, and great drumming :)
I also loved the intensity of the warm up sequence, and all the core work we did to get our bodies ready for twisting and backbending. Ryan teaches the kind of class where you can't run and hide from what's going on -- a lot is being asked of you, physically, and at the same time you have the opportunity to connect inwardly on an emotional and spiritual level. As he described it, it's like being at a buffet... you get to pick and choose what you want to eat, and you don't have to choose everything. And the poses that you do participate in, those are the ones to savor.
My favorite moment was toward the end of class, when Ryan offered a profound reminder to become a witness to our own experiences. Not only on the mat, but also in our lives -- to be willing to step back for a second, see ourselves and our reactions for what they truly are, and to go from there.
Ryan teaches yoga in an incredibly powerful, raw, and authentic way. He meets you right where you are, whether it's your first time rolling out a mat or you've been to his class for years. He acknowledges and sees his students, and he is willing to push you to be the best version of yourself. Thank you, Ryan, for sharing the love and devotion of Bhakti yoga!
Above photo by Adam Perron.
Reasons I can't wait to come back: The community at Reclaimed is vibrant. The yogis here are open-minded and open-hearted, incredibly willing, and committed to their practice. The teachers bring their heart and soul each time they step into the room to teach, and often the classes are blessed by generous, mindful assistants too, meaning that your practice will be enhanced by touch and sometimes even a massage of your temples or feet during shavasana. Most days I leave the studio having hugged someone and/or laughed wholeheartedly, too, and that is a beautiful thing.
Studio location: 530 Grass Valley Hwy, Auburn, CA 95603
Phone: (530) 305-9408
Seva (free) community class offerings: Saturdays from 9:30am-11 am
At Yoga Reclaimed, all are welcome. Come kick off your shoes, roll out your mat, and dive right in!
Namaste.
Stay tuned for the next update in the Sacramento Seva Yoga series, and as always feel free to reach out to me with feedback or any questions.
Determination
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Photos by Brynna Bryant of Respiro Photography.
Keep pursuing what you love relentlessly.
With passion.
Keep devoting yourself, and trusting.
2 Amazing Books for Self-Care (You Can Be Stress-Free and Pain-Free!)
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Taking care of your body is so important. You don't have to be a regular at the yoga studio to know this. Whether we're on or off the mat, we must constantly work to remain in balance, releasing stress so we can think clearly and moving mindfully so that we avoid injury.
Today I want to share two incredible books that help me stay stress-free and pain-free. They're full of incredible information about anatomy and the body, so they're a great resource for me to use as a yoga teacher when I'm planning classes or helping a student who needs a modification.
But I'd honestly recommend these books to anyone, regardless of your age, activity level, or body type... they contain a wealth of knowledge about releasing stress and muscular tension, and the poses and exercises are shared in a way that's easy to read.
It doesn't matter if you've done yoga... if your body hurts or you feel stressed, go read these books! :)
The Roll Model by Jill Miller
This book is a guide to using various roller balls and props for releasing muscular tension. I am so grateful for my yoga tune-up therapy balls that came with the book. I use them several times a week, especially if I'm sore after a class. They're compact and easy to carry in a purse or backpack, and you can use them in so many different spots throughout the body!
A while back, I was suffering from intense pain in my low back and glutes, with sensation that felt like sciatica. Often the best relief throughout my day would be from using the therapy balls and the hip exercises from The Roll Model. Combined with exercises such as mula bandha to strengthen my pelvic floor muscles, this book seriously changed my outlook and helped me release so much pain and stress. I highly recommend it as a resource to anyone who is suffering from pain anywhere in the body, and especially to all yoga teachers, coaches, trainers, and massage therapists.
Photos via Yapana Yoga.
The Yapana Way to Self-Care and Well-Being by Leeann Carey
The author of this book, Leann Carey, has designed an incredible system of yoga for unique needs. By using props and careful alignment, she makes any pose accessible to any body. I love the way the book is organized and the comprehensive illustrations with specific sequences. She even has sections for enhancing the immune system, recovery for athletes, and relief from PMS.
In an interview about the book, Leann said that if she could recommend only 3 poses a day to a yoga student, they would be fish pose, legs up the wall pose, and revolved knee squeeze pose (pictured below). These three poses incorporate back bending, supported twisting, and relief to the lower back and feet. Each of them are incredibly powerful postures to incorporate into your daily practice!
Jill and Leeann each have over 20 years of experience studying and teaching yoga, and it's easy to tell when you read their books. I am so grateful to have these amazing titles on my shelf of yoga books, and I can't wait to share copies with my friends and fellow teachers this year at Christmas ;)
Namaste!
Real Men Do Yoga: Dallis
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Photos courtesy of Dallis.
Happy Friday, yogis! It's been a little while since I posted in the Real Men Do Yoga series, and today I'm excited to bring you Dallis Hollis' story. Sponsored yogi Elizabeth interviewed him about his experience practicing yoga... enjoy!
How did you get introduced to yoga and what keeps you coming back?I started practicing yoga somewhat reluctantly while doing P90x. I didn't see yoga as strength training, but was pleasantly surprised to see it is absolutely a strength exercise. I do martial arts, and it requires balance and flexibility to work in harmony, so that keeps me on the mat.
What does yoga offer you that you can't find with other workouts?Yoga offers me an exercise that focuses on counter balance muscles that most people forget about. The muscles in your toes and shin that burn during a pose are the same ones that help you balance when chambering for a kick.
Have you noticed that you're the only guy in the class? What would you say to a man that has never done yoga?
As a boot camp instructor, I mostly had women come in for workouts. I think we live in a culture where men feel they must do "masculine" exercises. Men are often discouraged from stepping outside of their gender roles and feel they have to "pump iron" if they want to work out like a man. I'm here to tell you yoga is very manly! It's definitely gender neutral and works GREAT for augmenting any workout routine.
What is your favorite pose to do in yoga and why?My favorite yoga circuit is working through the different warrior poses and triangle poses. It's a great leg stretch and burn. For men turned off by the meditation aspect of yoga, maintain constant flow and movement through poses and alternate push-ups or situps in between.
Do you have any goals for your practice?
My goals are jiu-jitsu based as I am seeking more flexibility in my hips.
Thank you so much Dallas for taking the time to share from the heart and giving me great insight to why real men do yoga.
What does yoga offer you that you can't find with other workouts?Yoga offers me an exercise that focuses on counter balance muscles that most people forget about. The muscles in your toes and shin that burn during a pose are the same ones that help you balance when chambering for a kick.
Have you noticed that you're the only guy in the class? What would you say to a man that has never done yoga?
As a boot camp instructor, I mostly had women come in for workouts. I think we live in a culture where men feel they must do "masculine" exercises. Men are often discouraged from stepping outside of their gender roles and feel they have to "pump iron" if they want to work out like a man. I'm here to tell you yoga is very manly! It's definitely gender neutral and works GREAT for augmenting any workout routine.
What is your favorite pose to do in yoga and why?My favorite yoga circuit is working through the different warrior poses and triangle poses. It's a great leg stretch and burn. For men turned off by the meditation aspect of yoga, maintain constant flow and movement through poses and alternate push-ups or situps in between.
Do you have any goals for your practice?
My goals are jiu-jitsu based as I am seeking more flexibility in my hips.
Thank you so much Dallas for taking the time to share from the heart and giving me great insight to why real men do yoga.
Illustration via
Pinterest.
Are you a guy who practices yoga? Do you want to share your
story? Email me at aliveinthefire at gmail dot com! Also be sure to check out
this post, and the other stories on Alive in the Fire of men who practice yoga.
Namaste.
Alive in the Fire
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What does it mean to be alive
in the fire?
I feel alive in the
fire when I am willing to sit with what’s difficult – by facing my fears
head on, and breathing through the discomfort.
Alive in the fire is being willing to burn off the old habits that no longer serve me.
To change, even when change is hard.
Humble, yet fierce.
Calm, and ready.
Willing.
Alive in the fire.
Real Men Do Yoga: Vincent
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Photos courtesy of Vincent.
Today I'm honored to share Vincent's yoga story as part of the Real Men Do Yoga series. Vincent is a yogi from Washington state who I connected with on Instagram.
He's a military man with a strong practice and a big heart, and I could tell right away that he's the real deal. Thank you, Vince, for sharing your inspiring yoga journey and awesome photos! May you continue to walk a peaceful path, shining your light and lighting up others around you.
How did you end up in yoga class?
To be honest, it took me a while to get into an actual yoga class. I had wanted to try yoga for a long time but never had enough courage to sign up and attend one. I didn’t know why I was so scared because the first glance I ever had into a yoga class (which was during a 2009 deployment in Afghanistan) there were several other men in it.
I think it really came down to me not wanting to be embarrassed of my lack of coordination or something.
So fast forward a few years to the beginning of 2013 and the yoga itch came back and I decided to scratch it this time. I didn’t automatically just dive into a class; I started with videos from YouTube and like most people these days Instagram helped fuel my growing obsession with my practice. Being self-taught can only take you but so far in your practices so after a point I decided that I was ready to get over my fear of being among other people practicing yoga in a public venue. I have never looked back since.
What style do you practice?
I mainly practice Vinyasa Yoga. The thing I like about this style of practice how it focuses on gaining a better discipline when getting into postures and maintaining strong breathing techniques. Breathing is something I have a hard time keeping calm when practicing but the more I give myself into the flow the easier it becomes.
How do you feel when you practice?
I feel free and challenged all at the same time. I used to not believe that yoga was a serious workout until I gave it a go myself. But I always prepare myself for a great challenge every time I step on my mat.
You never know what progress you will achieve or what setbacks will come your way. That’s one of the thing I love about practicing yoga.
I feel free and challenged all at the same time. I used to not believe that yoga was a serious workout until I gave it a go myself. But I always prepare myself for a great challenge every time I step on my mat.
You never know what progress you will achieve or what setbacks will come your way. That’s one of the thing I love about practicing yoga.
Share about an experience you had on your mat that you’ll never forget.
Well there are so many experiences I could go on about (positive and negative) so to narrow it down will be rather hard. But this happened at home and at class. For a long time I was trying to get into wheel pose and could not understand what I was doing wrong. I was getting more and more frustrated with every attempt. So when I had enough I decided it would be the best idea to gain some proper instruction.
My teacher Erin at Harmony Yoga in Spokane, WA gave me the confidence (with proper advice and a watchful eye) that was I was lacking in my posture. Out of nowhere I popped up into a proper aligned wheel. I have never been so happy on my mat before that time. I couldn’t stop smiling and Erin could see the shear excitement radiating from me. That is why that moment will stay with me.
Are you ever aware of being one of few men in a yoga class? What are your thoughts on yoga for guys? What would you say to a guy who’s intimidated about taking a class?
I am typically one of two (if any) other guys in any of the classes I attend. I think that, like me, most guys do not see doing yoga as a “manly” activity to do while at the gym.
One thing that I believe is a great benefit of doing yoga is that it adds another great tool in your toolbox of fitness. I know yoga has given me the ability to be calmer in times that it was needed. Giving me the chance to be more flexible and have greater control over muscle groups which can come in handy when lifting weights like most males will do in the gym.
So I would say that more men need to give it a try and see what it is really about. There is no real reason to be intimidated by practicing yoga.
How do you see your yoga journey evolving in the next few years? Do you have any goals you’re working toward?
I would love to see my yoga journey evolve into something great over the next few years. What that actually means has yet to be revealed as of yet. I can only imagine how far practicing will take me. I have already met some wonderful yogis and made some lifelong connections all because of my practice so to ask for more seems crazy. I have some goals that I am working on within my practice but with my current job in the military and the demands that come with that I may not be able to dedicate the proper amount of time to landing a handstand that I can hold for more than one second.
Other than that posture goal I just want to continue to be able to radiate positive vibes from within and have those vibes affect those around me in a positive manner.
Thanks again, Vincent! Readers, I hope you'll join me in following his journey in photos on Instagram.
Yoga Saved My Life (A Post in the Real Men Do Yoga Series)
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Photo via Yoga Dudes.
Through yoga, we become aware of our need to heal, and what practices we can adopt in order to heal ourselves.
Photo via Yoga Dudes.
Early on in the exploration of yoga, that healing generally manifests physically: we begin new eating, exercise and relaxation practices that help us treat our bodies with kindness. Then, when we don't resist it, yoga will take us to a much deeper place of healing; it offers us a chance to connect with our spirit, and to carry our practice off the mat and into every aspect of life.Recently I've encountered the stories of two men whose lives were forever changed by yoga, and I'm inspired to share them as part of the Real Men Do Yoga series. I'm encouraged by their humility and strength, their willingness to shed the ego.
Photo via Kim's website.
"I started in a place of mourning and find myself now in a place of hope and excitement," Kim says. "All of the twists and turns of the past were necessary for me to find my voice as a singer and an artist."
Abundance follows healing. I love hearing stories that confirm this. Another eye-opening story about the power of yoga comes from journalist Brad Willis, known now as Bhava Ram.
Today Ram is an influential yoga teacher, healer, and speaker who works with Kripalu, Yoga Journal, and other conferences.
How has yoga transformed your life? I'd love to hear!
As always, if you're interested in participating in the Real Men Do Yoga series, feel free to shoot me an email at aliveinthefire at gmail dot com. Namaste.
Photo via Yoga Dudes.
Leverage Your Life (A Guest Post by Sponsored Yogi Justin)
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Photos courtesy of Justin.
Am I living up to my highest potential?
This is a great question for spring time, when the earth itself shows signs of renewal, vital energy, and awakening.
Every day is a new opportunity to invigorate your life, and notice what opportunities surround you. Today I have an inspiring post from sponsored yogi Justin on ways to fulfill your potential by leveraging the tools you have, including a yoga practice.
The concept first came up when I took a workshop on Thai Massage recently. If you aren't familiar with that form of massage... picture you and your massage therapist getting into all sorts of pretzel like contortions and at the end of the hour you will feel exactly like a Bavarian Pretzel: soft and yummy.
What I learned in the workshop was that the various stretches are not used to induce a sense of intimate awkwardness, but to always leverage body weight. Body weight, not body strength, is used to massage the muscles to maximum effect with minimal effort.
After 25 minutes of tossing my partner Molly around and giving her an amazing massage with a group of 50+ people surround us, she asked, "Wow, aren't you tired?" The honest answer was, "No." I wasn't tired because I leveraged my body weight and my muscles didn't have to do much except get a nice stretch.
This past week I took a five day coaching course so that I could improve my career and my relationships. One of the surprising things I learned was that if I wanted to easily improve in those areas of my life I needed to work on my communication skills.
Communication skills are leverage for improvement in other areas of my life. If I focus solely on career and relationships it will require a lot of effort. I'm effectively performing a Swedish massage on my life...things will improve, but it will be exhausting.
What does this have to do with Yoga? Why am I posting this on a yoga blog, other than because I took the Workshop at a yoga studio?
Well...What is yoga? It's a practice where I have to communicate with myself.
I need to listen to my body, understand it, and sometimes ask it to do things it doesn't want to do. If I can't do that with myself, how well am I going to do that with a friend, a partner, a sibling, coworker, or boss? Probably not very well.
If I take a more intensive yoga workshop or do 1 on 1 instruction then I WILL be asked to do something I either don't want to or physically can't perform and I be forced to communicate that to the instructor or I'll be communicating with a doctor or therapist. Either way I'm communicating with other!
Yoga is not just yoga; yoga is leverage for your life.
This is so true! Thanks, Justin, for your wise words. Hope you yogis are making time to leverage your lives and spend some time on your mats this week!
Outdoor Adventures and Sports Gear for Yogis, Climbers and Hikers
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I've always wanted to try mountain biking, too. Do you guys like going on outdoor adventures?
I recently discovered this awesome site called The Clymb, where you can find sports gear for a wide variety of activities -- everything from yoga clothes to cycling gear, camping supplies and running shoes.
If I could pick any outfit for my next yoga in the park session, I'd have to go with this sexy top and sweet pair of leggings:
And for hiking and biking:
The site carries a lot of high-quality brands like Patagonia, PrAna, Lucy, Columbia and Adidas, but with discounts of up to 70% off retail prices. Very helpful for someone like me who would rather spend a reasonable amount on gear, and have more of my budget for traveling to cool locations to enjoy nature! :)
I'm thinking a trip to Tahoe is in order in the near future... and eventually I'd like to plan to take a few vacation days for a trip down to Yosemite, Death Valley or the coast up near Mendocino. I haven't gone exploring in forever, and it would feel really good to be away from the city and in a place where it's quiet enough to hear the wind through the trees, and dark enough at night to see the stars :)
Since I was a little girl, I've always loved being outdoors and traveling. When I was a kid, my dad would always take my brother, sister and me camping. I loved having no set schedule, and the way we'd let our days be determined by the sunrise and sunset rather than any specific plans. We'd wander on the trails and listen to him tell stories. We'd search for animal tracks and unusual birds. We were always on the look out for bears and poison oak, and we didn't mind when the red dirt got on our shoes.
Nothing quite compares to being away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and free from cars and noise and screen time :)
A few trips that are on my list for sure:
- climb in Moab with my friend who's grown up in Utah
- do a bicycle tour (1-2 weeks cycling and camping)
- hike in Alaska
- see the Grand Canyon
- explore the beaches in Thailand
- climb Half Dome
- teach yoga abroad as a guest teacher (at a studio or retreat center)
What excursions do you want to take this year?
PS What's the coolest place you've practiced yoga outdoors?
Setting an Intention
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Photos via Pinterest.
I am healthy; I am strong.
I vibrate this mantra during my practice today.
At any time I feel weak, unstable or incapable, I will return to the intention: I am healthy; I am strong.
How to Build Strength with Compassion
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Photo via Pinterest.
Today's beautiful guest post is from Ashley Josephine, a fellow blogger from the Top 100 Yoga Blogs list. Ashley discusses ways we can utilize yoga to develop ourselves into peaceful warriors and she reflects on ways that the language of yoga teachers helps us to develop a softness in our strength.
Photo via Ashley's website.
As an intensity junkie, this kind of thing was right up my alley. It is somewhat
ironic that it was this very intense program that introduced me to the much
less intense, yet arguably more effective, yoga practice. At the same time, it
makes perfect sense. Yoga is peaceful, calm and relaxing, but when you really
dive into it, it’s more intense then even P90X.
Photo via Pinterest.
For those of you unfamiliar with P90X, the yoga DVD is 90
minutes long. Quite frankly, that was just way too much time to be doing any
type of exercise because I’m a busy body always flitting from one thing to the
next and I don’t have a spare 90 minutes in my day, let alone 5. But I
committed, got it done and then decided that yoga would probably be a great way
to keep up my newfound in-shapeness.
As my yoga practice left the confines of my bedroom and
floated into the inviting walls of a studio, I became more and more in love
with the physical toning benefits of yoga and noticed a very significant shift
in my body. But because of my intensity junkie-ness, nagging perfectionism and
Type-A leaning tendencies, I easily got bored and started looking for new, fun
ways to keep my muscles guessing and growing.
Photo via Pinterest.
I enrolled in group fitness classes - Ab Burner, Zumba,
Belly Dancing, you name it, I probably tried it. I mixed in Pilates and always
told myself I’d try Barre. I never strayed completely from my yoga practice, as
it was there to ground me, calm me down, and tone when I needed it to.
About the only thing I haven’t done is CrossFit (we’ll get
to that in a minute).
More recently I was feeling restless again and I decided to
try a new workout program. This time it was BodyPump. Almost immediately, it
didn’t feel right. Sure, the program is effective and my body looked great. But
the instructors barked orders using words such as “KILL”, “PUSH” and “DON’T
STOP.”
All of these commands seemed antithetical to my run-of-the-mill
preferred yoga vocabulary, such as “breathe,” “release,” “surrender,” “let go.”
Thankfully, around the same time, I was reminded by one of
my teachers how strong yoga really makes you.
The Two Kinds of Strength
There’s a difference between “stay with it,” breathe through
it, and “PUSH” or “DON’T STOP.” It’s not only a linguistic difference, but also
an energetic difference. It’s the difference between working your body with
intention and awareness and following instruction blindly from someone who
absolutely is much different than you and your body.
Yoga makes you strong in more ways than one. I like to call
it compassionate strength, and I’ve only stumbled on it more recently in my
practice.
Photo via Pinterest.
You can be strong and intimidating. You can be strong and
bulky. You can be strong and evil.
But you can also be strong and loving. Strong and powerful. Strong and caring.
It’s this type of strength the world needs more of, and the
exact type of strength yoga teaches.
Yoga is physically challenging and will absolutely build and
tone muscle if you practice a physical, aerobic style on a daily basis.
Yoga is mentally challenging in that we must move beyond the confines of what our mind is able to recognize. While sitting on a meditation cushion breathing won’t melt fat off your thighs, it will wipe fat out of your mind and help you feel lighter, more clear and incredible.
Photo via Ashley's website.
We must dive into the unknown to progress. We must face our
thoughts with honesty and compassion to feel better. We must know ourselves,
truly, to succeed on an aligned level with the universe and the world around
us. This takes mighty mental strength.
Yoga is emotionally challenging in that it helps us release
old energy and make sense of the situations that come up in our lives.
Yoga gives you strength with space. Space to continue
growing. Space to be just as you are. Space to invite others into the fold.
Space to love. Space to fail. Space to try new things.
All of those things take strength. But without compassion,
you’ll simply muscle your way through life, finding yourself lost, confused and
unhappy. You might have “killer” abs. You might be “hot.” But you won’t feel
loved. You won’t feel safe. You won’t feel good.
Photo via Pinterest.
How Do You Build Compassionate Strength?
Some of the strongest people in this world may not be the
most physically fit. There’s plenty reason to honor your body and take care of
it by “working out.” But yoga simultaneously invites you to “work in.”
I don’t go to other fitness classes now. And CrossFit still
scares the heck out of me. I’m not interested in bulking up or chiseling out
some six-pack abs. I’m much more interested in shedding layers of emotions that
are holding me back while maintaining the form I have now.
So how do you build strength with compassion? First, remember that it takes practice. Remember that it’s going to be very challenging. Remember to give yourself a break. Pat yourself on the back. Smile. And keep breathing.
Here’s a reminder to keep you the right kind of strong:
·
Breathe
·
Love
·
Surrender
·
Accept
·
Acknowledge
·
Celebrate
·
Fail
·
Try
·
Create
·
Build
·
Relax
·
Rest
·
Let go
·
Release
Now those are some beautiful yoga truths, wouldn't you agree? :) Thank you, Ashley, for sharing your passion and your wisdom.
To read more of Ashley's work, check out her Unconventional Beginner's Guide to Yoga. And for more reading, try this post on strength in Chaturanga or this post on compassionate giving in karma yoga.
To read more of Ashley's work, check out her Unconventional Beginner's Guide to Yoga. And for more reading, try this post on strength in Chaturanga or this post on compassionate giving in karma yoga.
Chaturanga
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Photos via Pinterest.
Chaturanga used to be one of my least favorite poses, but I've recently embraced it in class. The "pushup of yoga" is one of those poses that can help you build the strength and courage you need to move toward more advanced postures, like handstand and arm balances.
- Generate the pose from strength in the legs. Keep those quads engaged!
- In the pose, elbows are over the wrists. Hands press down, low belly lifts.
- Before you bend, be sure to shift forward. Reach with your heart and your heels.
- Draw your shoulder blades together strongly, picturing your heart opening.
- Gaze slightly forward, not up, in order to avoid tension in the neck.
- Think about avoiding these common issues: bum is too high (engage the core more firmly) or shoulders are drooping (again, think of your shoulder blades drawing back).
A final note: consider if you're adding resistance to the pose. If your teacher asks you to take Chaturanga and hold for five breaths, what is your immediate reaction? Is it the thought, Damn, I don't want to do that or, worse yet, I can't do that?
You'd be surprised at what you're capable of if you let yourself trust yourself and be open to what's possible. You may find your arms hold you there, steady, if you can calm your mind first. The body perseveres.
Bikram's Spine Strengthening Series
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Photos via Bikram Yoga Seattle.
Lately I've been doing Bikram's Spine Strengthening Series on my own, at home. I find it's a wonderful set of postures if you're looking to increase your back and core strength, which can positively affect everything you do in yoga.
The movements themselves are beautiful, too. I love the way each pose flows into the next.
The sequence goes like this:
Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)
Locust Pose (Salabhasana)
Full Locust Pose (Poorna-Salabhasana)
Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)
Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)
Locust Pose (Salabhasana)
Full Locust Pose (Poorna-Salabhasana)
Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)
With each posture in the series, you increase the backbend, coming into a fuller and fuller expression, working all the muscle groups along the spine throughout the process.
If you're doing the Spine Strengthening Series, remember too: where the eyes go, the body follows. Cast your gaze upward and your body will go there too.
PS A great post from a Bikram blogger on why she has a love/hate relationship with these poses. And a post from a medical doctor on how these back-strengthening postures can relieve pain.
Aerial Yoga
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Photos via Pinterest.
Plus I love the way I could go deeper with inversions, without the fear of falling. After my first class, I felt an amazing sense of new space in my spine. I felt refreshed and rejuvenated.
I'm looking forward to going back this week, and sharing some photos with you soon! Have you guys ever tried aerial yoga before? What did you think?
