Yoga for the Lower Body

Summer is officially here! If you are still worried about how you look in a bikini, stop it! You're beautiful. However, if you want to quickly tone up your lower body, try my yoga sequence below. It's divided into two videos (sorry!) but they're really just one cut in half, so go right from part one to part two. The sequence hits all parts of the legs and rear, stretching and strengthening so you don't bulk up but merely gain strength and tone. Strengthening the legs protects the knees, so make sure as you do this sequence that the knees are actually in alignment so you get maximum protection for them.

Yoga in a Chair

Sometimes I wake up and can't find the motivation to do a whole yoga practice. When that happens, I don't force myself, but I do try to find time to stretch throughout the day. What if you are in the same boat but sit at a desk all day? Simple. You do yoga at your desk. The following video leads you through a sequence you can do without ever having to leave your chair. If your co-workers look at you funny, so what! It's for your health.

This sequence can be helpful for anyone with limited mobility as well. Simply adapt it for your needs. If you are a paraplegic or something, skip the leg work. Adapt the sequence for your individual needs. All that is required is a chair (which can be a wheelchair) and a strap, but the strap is optional. How easy is that? In just 10 minutes you can loosen up from top to bottom without having to even get up.

Current Yoga Schedule

My schedule has changed!

In Spirit Living is now Inspired Life Studios. Classes are now 100% Donation Based!

Mondays,Tuesdays, and Thursdays in locations in Monmouth County, NJ

Monday: 6:00 pm Mixed Level Hatha Yoga at Spa & Bodywork Market, 10 River St. Red Bank NJ http://rbhlc.com/

Tuesday: 9:00 am Beginner Hatha Yoga at Cedar Village Adult Living Community

12:30 pm to 1:30 Lunch Hour Hatha Yoga at Inspired Life Studios, 560 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ Inspired Life Studios

Note that the time of my Tuesday class at Inspired Life Studios has changed!

Wednesday

Thursday: 7:00 am Beginner/Intermediate Hatha Yoga at Inspired Life Studios, 560 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ

6:00 pm Chakra Yoga (level intermediate and up) at Inspired Life Studios 560 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ Inspired Life Studios

Note that the time of my Thursday class at Inspired Life Studios has changed!

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Classes at Chisel Personal Training in Middletown to resume when interest resumes. Anyone who wants to take yoga with me in Middletown should let me know what days work best for them.

Anyone in New York City (Manhattan, sorry Brooklyn!) who is interested in private, in-home classes, should contact me for rates.

Cross-Training: Yoga for Runners

Yoga is often used as a system of cross-training, and it especially compliments running. Runners usually are already in excellent cardiovascular condition and have strong legs, but often they neglect the upper body and core. Having a strong core is imperative for getting the most out of your run and yoga can help develop a strong yet supple center. Running also creates a lot of stress in the joints which can be alleviated with the slow, rhythmic stretches of yoga.

One of the main benefits of yoga is that it teaches you to listen to your body, to be in touch with the subtle cues that your body is constantly giving you. People often notice that there are imbalances in their bodies after a few yoga classes. Muscles that are supposed to be working are weak, their function overtaken by nearby muscles, which in turn become too strong. Running with these imbalances can lead to tight, brittle muscles at best and injuries at worst. Working on these imbalances through yoga can conserve energy that was being wasted on tight muscles, making your running workout feel that much easier.

Yoga is considered a precursor to seated meditation because when performing yoga postures (asanas), the yogi focuses his gaze on a fixed spot or drishti (literally "gaze"). This develops dharana, or concentration, described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras as "the binding of consciousness to a single spot." In the classical, eight-limbed system of yoga described by Patanjali, the last three limbs are dharana, dhyana-meditation, and samhadi-Enlightenment. By developing dharana, we can move onto dhyana. Adding a few sessions of yoga per week into your normal running routine will teach you to incorporate dharana while you run. You can do this by focusing on an outside drishti, or by making your "drishti" your breath or even your body's subtle cues.

In the following video, I lead you through a ten minute sequence that will strengthen the upper body and core and stretch out the lower body. Feel free to learn the poses first and hold them for longer than I do in the video. Do this sequence only after a proper warmup. After all, the goal here is to prevent injuries, not cause them. Do a few Sun Salulations before the workout, and lie down in Savasana for a few minutes afterward to center yourself. This particular workout is meant to be done at a different time than your run-either on alternating days or at a different part of the day than right before or after running.

Part 2 contains poses you can do at the same time as your run. Pre-run poses are Virabhadrasana I and II (see Yoga Journal's description of the poses here and here). They'll warm up the legs and develop focus. Post-run poses are Baddha Konasana (Yoga Journal describes it here) and Supine Baddha Konasana, or the goddess pose to relax the body and lengthen shortened muscles.

Downward Dog, again

It may seem like a bit much to dedicate two posts in as many weeks to one pose, but every day I see people doing it wrong and feel the need to do my part to stop it!

In Downward Dog, most people "get" the legs. They stretch, you feel it, you know you're doing it right. The upper body is where problems occur in this pose. In any good yoga sequence, the back should be moved through its possible range of motion-bending laterally (side to side), backward, forward, twisted, and inverted (upside down). Downward Dog is the ideal yoga pose because it combines a forward bend with an inversion (you are upside down, after all), with, perhaps surprisingly, a back bend. Many, many people bend at the shoulders in this pose and thus are unable to appreciate that backbend until they let go and allow the shoulders to release.

When doing this pose, you want to feel as if the upper back is in a backbend, and to do this you must allow the chest to sink toward the floor. The shoulder blades then slide down the back (technically up, toward the hips, which are in the air). If your shoulder blades cannot easily move onto the back, something is wrong in your alignment. Probably, the hands are rotated inward so the elbows are rotated out. This causes the protrusion at the top of the arm bone known as the lesser tubercle to grind against the coracoid process, the hooked part of the shoulder blade. As you can imagine, this can damage the shoulder joint, leading to nerve damage or other injury. To avoid this, make sure that the hands are shoulder distance apart, fingers spread. You want the middle fingers to be pointing directly forward or slightly rotating outward toward the corners of the mat.

Another mistake I often see in Downward Dog is lifting the head. Do NOT do this! I read a horror story of a woman who kept her head lifted in Downward Dog and somehow nicked her carotid artery, causing a stroke. Seriously. Even if it doesn't cause a stroke, lifting the head in Downward Dog can easily cause friction between the cervical vertebrae or between the C7 and T1 vertebrae, which can lead to all sorts of health problems down the road. I usually tell my students to drop their head in Downward Dog, but many teachers would say that you shouldn't drop, rather hold the head up in line with the shoulders to maintain spinal integrity. Either is valid since the point is to not lift the head. In fact, you could even do the pose with a block or some stacked pillows under your (fore)head for support. This variation is said to relieve menstrual pain and migraines.

To learn the basics of the pose, check out my other blog post on the subject. I explain how to get into it and demonstrate in a short video with my student Marion. Now get out there and do some yoga!

citation: wikipedia.org and yogajournal.com

Props and Modifications

Alignment is very important in yoga. A few millimeters could be the only difference between a healthy muscle or joint and a major injury. The problem is that every body is different, and one person may need to adjust a centimeter to the left, and another to the right. Fortunately, most people can determine if they're off-balance enough to injure themselves and can adjust. Every asana has variations and modifications-one of those variations is the proper one for you.

One of the best ways to achieve proper alignment in yoga is through the use of props. Straps, blocks, blankets, bolsters, foam rollers, and even special yoga strap walls are used in many yoga classes to achieve perfect alignment and/or modify the poses. In the following video, I demonstrate how props can be used to achieve Eka Pada Rajkapotasana-aka One-Legged King Pigeon Pose, or just pigeon pose. Pigeon pose requires a lot of flexibility in the legs (it's a prep pose for Hanumanasana, the yoga split) and proper alignment in the upper body. Using a folded blanket, 2 blocks, and a strap, I demonstrate how to modify the pose to get the proper alignment. Unfortunately there is no substitute for flexibility though, so if you don't feel ready to do the pose, wait until you do. If you are almost there but not quite, adding extra blankets for height under the hip and knee should help you get deeper into the pose.

As always, only do this pose once you're properly warmed up. A few rounds of sun salutations after a basic warmup, followed by leg stretches should help. The best leg prep for pigeon pose in my opinion is "rocking the baby pose." To do this, sit with the legs straight out in front of you, then lift the right leg, holding onto the foot with the right hand and the knee with the left hand. Then rock it from side to side as if you were rocking a baby, then switch sides. This will stretch the piriformis muscle that gets worked in pigeon pose.

Anuloma Viloma

Anuloma Viloma. Sounds exotic, no? It is a pranayama, but if often taught with kriyas or cleansing exercises for its detoxifying properties. Its alternate name is Nadi Shodhana, or Nadi purification. If you've checked out my other videos or done research into yoga philosophy, you know nadis are channels that prana runs on. This breath technique cleanses them, enabling energy to flow freely.

Healthy breathing is done through the nose, not the mouth. This cleanses and warms the air that comes into the body. If you take a moment to notice your body and your breath, you might notice that air comes in more easily through one nostril than the other. I always joke with my classes that people who do cocaine know this principle well! According to yoga philosophy, your dominant nostril will switch off every hour and a half if you are healthy. If one nostril stays dominant too long, that's not healthy. Anuloma Viloma causes both nostrils to breathe evenly; no one nostril is dominant. In this video, we do 4 rounds. For the full effect, you should do more than 4 rounds, but this is a good place to start. Try to breathe slowly, even if you breathe more slowly than I do in the video. Afterward, take a few slow, deep breaths through both nostrils to feel how neither one is dominant; that the body is in equilibrium. Build up to 10-20 rounds and you will notice an amazing feeling of vitality that this pranayama imparts.