Author: yogideetz

A New New Year’s Resolution

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When each year comes to an end, we see so many advertisements about dieting, starting the new year off right. We see stories about new year’s resolutions, how to keep them, and what goals to stay away from. We get advice about how to many achievable goals and what to do if we don’t meet the expectations we’ve set for ourselves.

Let’s face it, resolutions can be hard to keep. Even when we add goals with the best of intentions, often we find ourselves “failing”. Instead of being a wonderful new beginning, New Year’s can bring on stress and feelings of letting ourselves down. So many of our goals are either vague, like “I will eat better in 2017”, or we don’t take into account that a goal may not be achievable, like “I will go to the gym for an hour every day”. These two examples can set us up for failure. Why put that on ourselves?

Instead of trying to change our whole lives in one go, why don’t we take small steps towards that larger goal? Back in 2015, I added the resolution to do yoga each and every day that year. Sadly, I did not achieve that goal. I did, however, push myself to do more yoga than I had ever done. In 2016, instead of saying I would do yoga every day, I told myself I would do something good for me each day, whether it was eating a salad, meditating, or even doing yoga. While this is a vague concept, I think it helped me with the first step of embracing a yoga lifestyle, meaning I was becoming more present and aware in my life. By becoming more aware of how my body felt after a meal or what I was feeling in the morning, I was really attuned to what I wanted and what my body needed each and every moment of the day. From there, it was much easier for me to embrace yoga each and every day. In the mornings I soon observed that when I took time to meditate, I felt much better throughout the day. I also noticed that after just 15 minutes of yoga, I felt much more clarity and inner peace.

Ultimately, while I may not have done yoga every day this year, I am closer to reaching that goal. I have also successfully integrated meditation and pranayama (breathing practices) into my daily routine. This, combined with eating healthy based on my body’s needs and wants, has really illustrated that our goals are achievable. We just have to give ourselves a break and really start with creating self-awareness.

Cheers to 2017! Here’s to achieving greater awareness and being present.

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Yoga Listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO

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The ancient practice of yoga is now listed as one of UNESCO’s “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”. In 2014, UNESCO’s committee for safeguarding listed practices voted unanimously for India’s proposal to add yoga. Yoga is now OFFICIALLY an international heritage and treasure…as if yogi’s really needed an official notice.

So what does this mean?

The main reason for creating the list is to highlight cultural contributions and heritages present around the world. By creating this list, UNESCO is essentially fostering understanding between cultures, highlighting the great contributions they have made to societies and cultural progress.

As quoted from the UNESCO website:

“Based on unifying the mind with the body and soul to allow for greater mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing, the values of yoga form a major part of the community’s ethos. Yoga consists of a series of poses, meditation, controlled breathing, word chanting and other techniques designed to help individuals build self-realization, ease any suffering they may be experiencing and allow for a state of liberation. It is practised by the young and old without discriminating against gender, class or religion and has also become popular in other parts of the world.”

Essentially, this list is a means to preserve cultural practices. UNESCO is not only highlighting yoga as a cultural contribution to the world, but it’s also creating a means to safeguard the practice from cultural elimination. Apparently, UNESCO may offer technical or financial support to communities who may be struggling to protect such ancient practices. This is still something to be seen happen or confirmed by UNESCO.

Ultimately, the addition to yoga to UNESCO’s list of cultural contributions helps us further the use of its traditions not only for physical exercise, but for overall health and healing. It also gives yogis an even better response when asked, why yoga?

For a complete 2016 additions to the list of UNESCO’s “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”, click here.

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Trauma-Informed Yoga

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“Trauma-Informed” is another buzz word going around these days. What it means to be trauma-informed isn’t always clear though. How to become trauma-informed is even more unclear.

In the realm of yoga, being trauma-informed seems natural. Sadly, it’s not always the case. Often the things we, as yoga teachers, try to do to assist the practicing yogi may in fact cause the trauma to resurface and may even lead to re-traumatization. Something as simple as moving someone’s hand can be the difference between a very gentle stretch and an anxiety inducing movement.

Many organizations are offering trauma-informed yoga teacher trainings. While the full 200 hour teacher training may not be completely trauma informed, weekend workshops and classes often incorporate or emphasize techniques necessary to work with traumatized and vulnerable populations.

One such organization is Street Yoga. This organization, based in the state of Washington, provides trauma-informed yoga classes to at-risk youth. This organization also travels around the world to provide trauma-informed yoga teacher training workshops to allow for vulnerable populations to have access to yoga. Yoga can teach many coping skills, allowing traumatized individuals to cope and move through their trauma.

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Some key examples to being a trauma-informed yoga teacher includes:

-Minimal physical adjustments

-Reducing the use of vulnerable poses (like child’s pose)

-Minimal use of difficult or exotic poses (like headstands)

-Providing safe space for sharing

-Incorporating meditation, pranayama (breathing exercises), and asanas (physical yoga poses)

Yoga is being used as a means for individuals to deal with trauma. Many UN Peacekeepers have used yogic techniques to not only deal with the work they do on a daily basis, but teaching these techniques to the refugees to help them deal with their own realities. Something as simple as a deep breath can help pause a stressful moment and allow for space and time to process and move through it.

While yoga won’t solve or fix any problems or trauma, yoga can provide tools to process and deal with situations in an effective way.

For more information on Street Yoga, check out their website: http://streetyoga.org/

Yoga for 12 Step Recovery

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Addiction has gotten a lot of attention recently, as the Surgeon General and other political figures have put a spotlight on how addiction does not discriminate, how any individual can become addicted to substances. Recent deaths, including that of Prince, have also brought addiction to the public’s attention, calling into question medical practices for dealing with pain.

Some addictions do begin with a truly well-meaning prescription for pain, whether it is pain from an injury or pain from surgery. Other addictions begin with experimentation or boredom.

Regardless of how it begins, addiction has the power to ruin anyone’s life. BUT, with treatment and support, one can break through the bonds of addiction and come out on the side of recovery, come through with the tools necessary to rebuild a potentially shattered life.

Many of these tools are scientifically based. Treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy, medication assisted treatment, and 12-step programs have all been scientifically proven to have results in improving the quality of life for those in recovery. These evidence based practices have truly been life changing for many.

A relatively new supplemental treatment is also making waves in the recovery arena. Yoga of 12 Step Recovery (Y12SR) is a combined group meeting and yoga practice session using the tools of the 12 Step method combined with the tools of yoga to help individuals face their addictions as well as the behaviors and thoughts which may have led to the addictive behavior. Guided by the theme “the issues live in the tissues”, this methodology uses the physical practice to help release underlying trauma and thoughts, ingrained in the individual’s core which may have resulted in addiction. Each Y12SR meeting combines the principles of asanas (yoga postures), pranayama (yogic breath), and meditation. The meetings also include a group sharing portion.

Y12SR is open to everyone. As the founder, Nikki Myers, puts it, “all A’s are welcome, meaning all asses are welcome”. This includes anyone suffering from addiction, whether its substance, behavior, or a combination, or anyone affected by addiction.

Y12SR meetings are being held all over the world. They take place in yoga studios, churches, community centers, and treatment facilities. The organization is moving towards becoming evidence based, meaning research is being done to show its efficacy. Overall, Y12SR is taking off.

With addiction at such high levels in the U.S. alone, I truly believe we can use all the treatment methods we have available to us.

For more information on Y12SR and to find a meeting near you, check out their website: http://y12sr.com/

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*Please note, Y12SR is not a substitute for 12-Step Meetings or any other form of addiction treatment, it is meant to be used as a supplement to those treatments.

 

Post-Thanksgiving Feast Yoga

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Everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving looks forward to the Thanksgiving feast. It appeals to the glutton in all of us, a nearly endless buffet of appetizers, dinner, and desserts. From the green bean casserole, to the main meal of turkey and stuffing, to the final slice of pumpkin pie, no one is complaining…

…until the meal is over.

That is when the endless moans of “I’m so full”, “I ate too much”, or “It’s nap time” begin. While it is always a part of the Thanksgiving tradition, it doesn’t have to result in a belly ache.

Here are a few yoga poses you can do after your Thanksgiving feast to aid the digestion process and help that feast move a little faster. Please wait at least 60 minutes before doing these poses to allow the food to settle.

1. Cat/Cow

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2. Downward Facing Dog

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3. Goddess Squat

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4. Seated Twists

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5. Reclined knee to chest

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6. Supine Twists

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7. Reclined Goddess Pose

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8. Savasana

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Enjoy these poses and mix them up as much or as little as you want! Be thankful for the meal you just had, but also for the ability to work it off!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Giving Thanks with Yoga

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November is a month dedicated to being thankful and expressing gratitude. Most of the month is spent planning family gatherings and meals surrounding this idea of expressing gratitude for the things and people we have in life.

Incorporating gratitude into your yoga practice isn’t as hard or time consuming as planning that big Thanksgiving Day meal.

Here are a few simple ways to incorporate gratitude into your yoga practice and subsequently, into your every day life.

  1. When setting your intention for your practice, let it be the simple word of appreciation. Feel this appreciation as you flow through your asanas (poses) and enjoy the breath as you practice your pranayama (breath).
  2. Use your asanas as a means of offering your thanks to yourself. Express that appreciation with a smile on your face and a deep breath in your lungs.
  3. During your meditation, imagine your blessings. Imagine all the loved ones in your life showing appreciation for all the good you have done.
  4. Focus on the strives you’ve made both in your yoga practice and in your life! Use these positive moves to guide your mood for the day.
  5. Savasana. Don’t skip it. Relish in it. Be thankful for it.

 

 

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Yoga for a Cause

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This article was written for the University of South Florida College of Public Health (USF COPH) October Newsletter.

Alumna Aditi Desai Uses Yoga to Get in Touch with Vulnerable Populations

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

USF College of Public Health alumna Aditi Desai is using a special set of skills and her public health passion to reach vulnerable populations – through yoga.

Desai recently returned from Nairobi, Kenya, where she completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training with the Africa Yoga Project (AYP). Now that she’s returned stateside, she’s begun her volunteer work with the Purple Dot Yoga Project.

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Aditi with Patrick K., one of the yoga teachers at AYP

“I became attracted to Purple Dot Yoga because of its mission to help empower women,” Desai said. “I love the fact that I can use something I love [yoga] to help others. Yoga is such a powerful tool in life and being able to spread it makes my soul shine!”

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Aditi practicing yoga on the beach

 

The Purple Dot Yoga Project works with survivors of domestic violence and abuse.

Desai also works as a health education specialist with a medication assisted treatment program at Tri-City Health Centers in Fremont, Calif. In both of her positions, being able to effectively communicate is crucial.

“It is tremendously important that I not only listen, but really hear and try to empathize with the community that I’m serving,” she said. “I’m working with an extremely vulnerable population so listening to them and adjusting my teaching practices to better serve them and allow them time to heal is the most important thing I can do as a teacher.”

Desai credits the COPH for helping her to build the skills to be able to truly listen to the communities she’s trying to serve.

“USF COPH was the best thing that happened to me and my career,” Desai said.

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Aditi practicing yoga with her four-legged friend

 

The Orlando native earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology, with minors in biology, chemistry, and photography, from Mercer University in 2009.

She graduated from the COPH with an MPH in global health practice and a graduate certificate in epidemiology in 2013.  Desai intended on a different academic path and often refers to her introduction to public health as “accidental.”

“I was planning on attending medical school and when I didn’t get in I thought instead of wasting time and retaking the MCATs, I would go ahead and get a master’s level degree while studying,” Desai said. “Little did I know, I would fall in love with the master’s degree coursework!”

Although she’s come so far—between Nairobi, multiple professional positions, working with the U.S. Peace Corps in Uganda—Desai has no intention of stopping anytime soon. The first thing on her list: the Purple Dot Yoga Project.

“I hope to expand the project to northern California,” she said. “I plan to continue acting as a volunteer yoga teacher.”

Desai also hopes to tackle a new vulnerable population using her yogi practices. Soon she begins teaching those in the medication assisted treatment programs at the Tri-City Health Center’s where she works.

“I am going to expand my yoga practices into teaching those in addiction recovery,” she said. “Using yoga to empower vulnerable populations is my ultimate goal and whatever I can do to achieve that, I will.”

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Aditi in bakasana (crow pose) on the beach

National Yoga Month

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As we say goodbye to September, I’d like to note that September is actually National Yoga Month! To honor it, I’d like to present a few health benefits you can get from yoga:

1. Increases Flexibility

As you stretch and move through the yoga sequences, you’ll notice that over time, your body becomes more and more flexible. You’ll notice one day you were only able to touch your fingers to your shins, then a few weeks later your fingers grace your toes. Maybe after a few more weeks you can touch your toes to your knees!

As your muscles stretch and become more flexible, you may notice a decrease in pain in certain areas of your body too. Stretching and strengthening areas of your body, like your core, can help protect and reverse pain in other areas, such as your lower back!

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2. Builds Muscle

With flexibility also comes strength. Throughout your practice, especially those chatarungas, you’ll notice certain muscle groups become stronger. As those muscle groups become stronger, they’ll work to protect other parts of your body. Strengthening your thigh and calf muscles can help to protect your knees, for example.

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3. Improves Posture

This ebb and flow of strength and flexibility create a natural stacking in your spine and bones. Your alignment and posture naturally improve because each posture feels better when it is in proper alignment. Tuning into your body and really noticing how it feels in certain poses will help to improve your posture and protect your body from injuries and strain.

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4. Improves Breathing

The breath is one of the most basic and yet key aspects of the yoga practice, and of life! Through the melding of the breath and movement in each yoga pose, the practice opens your awareness allowing you to notice how you are breathing. This allows you to not only maintain but also improve your lung capacity. The longer you practice pranayama as well as the asana of yoga (that is, the breath and poses), the more you will notice you can breathe in for longer counts and exhale completely. This will help increase the amount of oxygen in your body.

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5. Strengthens Bones

Certain poses, such as chatarunga and headstands, help the strengthen your bones. These poses are weight-bearing poses which force the bones, as well as the muscles, to really work to hold up the body. Plank is a good pose not only to help improve bone strength but also to strengthen the core muscles.

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6. Improves Joint Health

Like Tai Chi, yoga can help with joint pain. The flow through the yoga asanas really help lubricate the joints by stimulating synovial fluid. This fluid helps in the movement of your joints, so you don’t get bone to bone friction.

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These are just a few of the health benefits of yoga. Yoga not only helps the body physically, but it helps the mind too. By allowing the mind to be more present, the practitioner, or yogi, can really observe their body through the yoga sequence.

Yoga is ultimately a holistic practice, truly helping improve mind, body and spirit.

So Happy National Yoga Month to you all! I hope you continue to choose your own yoga adventure!

*All images from Google Images

 

International Yoga Day

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On December 11th, 2014, the UN General Assembly declared June 21st to be the International Day of Yoga. The declaration was a result of a call by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to make June 21st the International Day of Yoga. To the Assembly, Mr. Modi stated: “Yoga is an invaluable gift of India’s ancient tradition . It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature. ”

June 21st, 2015 was the first official International Day of Yoga. Over 175 nations supported and sponsored the event. Celebrations included large scale community classes made available throughout many countries including the U.S., India, and Kenya. Making yoga available to the masses is one of the main goals of International Yoga Day. While many countries embrace yoga, access can be an issue. By providing free community classes, this day allows everyone to experience the magic of yoga. In 2016, the celebrations continued. Yoga studios around the world offered free classes the entire day as well as large scale community classes.

Let us hope this tradition continues to grow each year, allowing yoga to touch and heal the world around us. Embrace and celebrate the yogi within and remember to always respect where you are at. I look forward to celebrating each year and sharing yoga with everyone in my community.

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Yoga Props

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Yoga props can be a valuable addition to a yoga practice. BKS Iyengar, the founder of Iyengar yoga and one of the foremost yoga experts in the world, was a large proponent of using props throughout one’s yoga practice, especially beginners.

Yoga props can provide extra support and comfort when needed. They had also allow for deeper reaches in certain postures.

Props are usually straps (towels can be used in lieu of formal straps), blocks, and bolsters. Straps and bolsters are used to create extension and comfort, respectively. Straps and bolsters can also be used to allow for better alignment in specific poses. Blocks are used to support specific poses as well as to create more depth in them, especially in poses with twists.

I’ve tried three types of blocks each made from different materials, wood, cork and foam. The two best types were the cork and foam blocks. The wood type was best for supportive poses but not as great for creating depth. The foam block (purple pictured below) was great to use in poses which need more support, like seated poses, or poses which may require more depth, like half-pigeon pose. The foam material really allowed for both support and some give, so sitting on the block felt comfortable. The cork block (pictured left below) was best for support in standing, twisting poses as well as for creating depth in the twists.Displaying IMG_5332.JPGDisplaying IMG_5332.JPG

Overall, either block you chose will be helpful. All props are helpful in their own way and can really improve a yoga practice. Props will only help the yogi get the best out of his or her own practice. Props should not be seem as a crutch, but as a support method to help your body reach new poses and new depth.