10 backbends

Back to basics. Ten done.

And the debate continues...

This would be helpful everywhere

I do yoga in most airports. No qualms about finding a quiet spot to do some backbends or downdogs. Right after teacher training, my very wonderful lovely amazing dear friend and I taught our first "mock" Bikram classes in an airport lounge (right next to the smoking room, of all places). But this is quite spectacular: an airport with a dedicated yoga room.

Lost in translation

I learned in class on Monday that what we usually call "happy baby" pose is actually called 'dead bug.'

I like the Sanskrit version better.

What's cool is that I can play all the songs here on the ukulele. <3

We are all unique individuals.

All of us who commented on the NYT yoga article, anyway.

Too good is no good

Everybody needs a little structure and a little struggle in their lives. You gotta stay on your toes. Too good of a life is no good. Too much freedom and too many choices are actually limiting.

Structure creates freedom.

It's everywhere.

Put your exactly forehead on your exactly knee. 

Everything wrecks your body

God, Krishna and everybody has been responding to the NYT story about How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body. How can I not add to the cacophony of retorts and rejoinders? (Among the best, Spaweek's commentary.) This one by Paul Raeburn isn't bad either:

The Times could run a similar headline on almost any form of physical activity. It might commission a piece called “How Running Can Wreck Your Knees,” or “How Tennis Can Wreck Your Elbow,” or “How Moving A Refrigerator Can Crush Your Toes, Break Your Back, and Rip Your Rotator Cuff.” But the story it did was on yoga.

On a metaphysical level, we're all on a collision course with death marked by injury potholes. Sometimes injuries are foisted upon us, as in random accidents (human vs. car, human vs. curb, etc.), and sometimes we elect into situations that might put us at risk. I think the difference between tennis wrecking your elbows, running wrecking knees, biking wrecking backs and hips and moving fridges wrecking toes, backs and rotator cuffs is that people don't expect most of those activities to have the unqualified positive health impacts that yoga does. Of course people break bones while skateboarding, skiing, or doing gymnastics. People break bones by falling off of curbs, too. But people aren't supposed to get hurt doing yoga. It's supposed to fix their injuries. And it does, but it can also cause them.

There's an unfounded and false expectation for yoga that all it does is heal. Superyoga, the cure-all.

I have had yoga injuries. Lots of them. Fortunately none of them have been permanently debilitating. Plenty of overstretched muscles. A seriously injured knee (fixed, ironically, by laying off the yoga for a bit)... I have also seen lots of yoga injuries. People passing out and faceplanting in class. Someone dislocated a shoulder in class once. That was gross.

People faceplant outside of yoga class all the time, and they also dislocate their shoulders doing non-yoga activities. The point is that like everything else, like life, yoga is not safe. Nothing is. However, if done well and thoughfully, yoga can bring lots of health and joy to people's lives. Like just about every other physical activity.

The difference for me between yoga and just about every other physical activity, except running, is that with yoga, you just need yourself. No props, no machines, no equipment, no partner, no special court or activity space. It's just you and the yoga. It's portable. It's minimalist. (Running is minimalist as well. All you need are shoes, and these days even that's debatable.) And it does heal and help. I have seen some pretty miraculous things happen because of a student's yoga practice, and that is totally cool. Knees fixed, movement restored, flexibility gained, weight lost.

But it's not overnight. It's not a traveling salvation show where people fling their crutches, canes, inhalers and medications into the trash cans. It takes work. It takes time. It takes practice and care.

The subtext of the NYT article is really an indictment of yoga teachers and their egos. It's not really about yoga injuries, it's about the danger posed by teachers who lack training, lack moderation, or lack respect for their bodies and others'. Yoga schools are filled with instructors of the "wounded healer" variety, who deliberately or unconsciously believe that by fixing others they fix themselves. Or by punishing themselves or their students, they achieve purification and atonement. Bad yoga teachers wreck yoga. And if you want an unbiased assessment of a teacher or studio, as yet there are no report cards. No industry-wide standard of evaluation. Only online reviews which can be both informative and patently misleading.

There's also some selection problems with yoga. You're unlikely to join a bicycle racing team if you're 300lbs with asthma, junk knees and if you can't begin to think about touching your toes, much less see them. Therefore, cycling injuries amongst this group are probably few and far between. Yet this person is the ideal candidate for a beginner yoga practice. However, yoga classes, especially the beginner or all-levels classes, have at least two identifiable problems: 1. multi-level classes mean that either you teach to the lowest common denominator and the more advanced students get bored, or you teach to the mid-range or advanced level and the beginners get injured; or 2. new yoga students probably don't know their limits or just in what shape their body really is, so they try to emulate the teacher or the more advanced students.

Yoga attracts all types, including the woundedest of the wounded who have been cradling their injuries and comforting themselves with the labels of their diagnoses for a long time. Yoga students also lie about their conditions, omit important information about their health, selectively remember doctors' instructions, and forge their own interpretations about their health. Sometimes yoga teachers are put in really bad situations beyond their control. We can't select our students; we teach the people who show up. And sometimes people are just looking for someone or something to blame for their problems and yoga is a convenient target. Of everything described, this is the most unfortunate problem because yoga has the potential to do so much good.

For all its faults, one of the most admirable tenets of Bikram yoga is that you never touch your students. It protects both the students and the teachers. If the students can't do with their bodies what you describe with your words, then that pose is not available for them. Today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe after a year of practice. But you never touch your students. Maneuvering advanced students into poses can be really tempting as well, especially the flexybendy ones (ahem). If the strength isn't there to get you into the pose, don't force it.

My final comment about the article is that many of the people who achieved the injuries described really had to work hard to get them. Most people are not going to sit in vajrasana for hours on end, and this is not even the prescribed execution of the posture. No duh his knees went kaput. The injuries described in the article are not the average, run-of-the-mill yoga injuries that teachers see on a regular basis. It's much more likely that we hear students say, "I had a facelift two days ago and my doctor says I'm cleared to practice but I can't do any inversions." Well okay then. Fair enough.

It's more likely we hear, "I have carpal tunnel syndrome." Or, I have a torn hamstring. Or I twisted my ankle. Or I was in a car accident. Or I have fused vertebrae. Or I have vertigo. Or I have a headache. Or I just finished chemo. Or I am overworked and underpaid. Or I am constipated (dear god please let the constipated people spare us the details). These are more common problems.

The moral of the story? Do yoga, with care.

Fun and challenging yoga poses

Let's play.

Eight crooked limbs? Not as hard as it looks after all.

I did this one - firefly - for the first time this past fall. Glee. Bliss.

Handstand tutorial

Some people are lucky enough to have real live mentors in-person. (Jealous!!!) For those of us who have sporadic studio practices and who primarily practice at home, e-mentors can be just as useful. I have been looking for handstand advice. The sandstand-handstand suggestion was useful, but if you're not near the beach much, practicing near the surf can be difficult. So...

Here's a video I found on learning handstands. What I like about this is that it gives me something new to work on. I have been kicking up against the wall and can balance for long-ish stretches, but with the wall as a crutch. Turning around and walking my feet up the wall looks like it will be a nice new addition. We'll see where it goes.

You might remember this talented yogini from the steamy yoga by Equinox video that's been circulating. (Again, jealous!!!) Hey if I had that practice, I'd do a commercial in my unmentionables for the whole world to see as well.

Do it now

Have you been waiting for an invitation? Someone to give you the green light? A red carpet rolled out?

I was. It's intimidating trying new things when you're old enough to be self-conscious and foolish enough to believe that you can't be as good at it now (starting late(r) in life) as you would have been if you'd have gone ahead and done it twenty years ago when you really wanted to. So what. Do it now.

You might just be great at it and never knew it. Or you might suck, but you're having fun sucking at it, whatever it is.

Here's a minimally-related story to illustrate: A friend of mine had a dog, but didn't really have time for the dog. For some time (a year, maybe?) he kept the dog kenneled in the backyard, well-fed and safe, but not living the kind of quality life that a pet dog c/sh/ould live. So eventually he ran an ad in the paper to find the dog a new home, and a nice country gentleman responded. He was a rancher, and wanted a dog. My friend delivered the dog to his house, and to their great amazement, the dog leaped from the truck, ran into the field and started herding the cows. On his own. No training. It was in him already, but he just had to be given the chance.

So there are some difference here. You are not a dog, and you are not waiting on some master to set you free to herd cows. BUT the point remains, you never know how good you could be at something until you put yourself in the situation. Scared to fall? Me too. Handstands are scary. I was scared to backbend once upon a time too. You'll get over it, but only if you try.

Twenty years from now I want to look back on 2012 and say that was the year I did it. And if I keep up my practice, in twenty years I'll probably be a little better at these new things I'm trying in yoga and in life than I am presently.

Everyone starts somewhere!

Sh*t Bikram yoga teachers say

I totally had a breakthrough in (standing bow, camel, ...).

Why was she kicking out on a bent knee?

Gah, I only practiced six times last week.

This pose is so good for your knees.

I was going to do a triple, but I only did a double yesterday.

Don't you just love Emmy?

We don't do child's pose in this class so just relax in savasana.

This pose works on your thyroid, parathyroid, thalamus and hippocampus muscles.

After awhile, your sweat is so clean it doesn't burn your eyes anymore.

My electrolytes are out of balance.

Are you seeing the bodies?

Change.

2012: Maximum Enthusiasm

Hello friends. Sorry I've been away so long - I've been busy learning handstands. Still working on them. I took one yogini's advice to try them in the sand at the beach. Damn, yogini! That was tough! The sand might be more cushion-y than flooring, but it gives way and it took some time to figure out the balance. Overall it was great fun landing in the water and generally making an idiot out of myself trying to balance. I must have looked ridiculous but who cares. You know what was AWESOME in the sand? Backbends. I was doing dropbacks like it was my job.

As happens in the new year, people have resolutions. Mine this year is to have more fun in my practice and in life. The past two years have been filled with mega deadlines and milestones and fun has taken a backseat to the must-do's and obligations. Back seat no more! Maximum Enthusiasm in 2012!!! 

So in the meantime while I have not been blogging, I have found these awesome yoga products. Have you used any of them before? Any firsthand reviews?

Sanuk makes sandals and other items from real yoga mats. How inventive!

This one's just called Yoga Mat, plain and simple. They are muy comfortable.

And **bonus** they're both vegan and vegetarian. Two thumbs up for Sanuk! I'm kinda partial to this pair, myself:

These are the Yoga Rain Dance flippers. Love 'em.

Next up, from Real Simple (always the best!) we have the travel yoga mat.

Have mat; Will travel.

Their pitch goes like this: Hard-core yogis might not love the visible seams on this foldable yoga mat, but being able to fit easily into a gym bag (the mat collapses to a 10-by-12-inch rectangle) is pretty om-azing.

On that note, here's a beachy fun song (that I can play on the ukulele!!) to send you into 2012. This is the year for enjoying life, yoga, song, dance and play. Work hard, play hard, be happy, live well.

be light, be free. happy new year :)

New year's resolution: lighten up + be serious when it's called for...and partyrock-ncha-ncha-ncha otherwise! Have a groovy 2012, sweethearts!