Yoga

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.

Yoga for Back Pain

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Chronic back pain is a common issue attended to by many physicians. While there are many medications available to manage pain, there are also very simple, low impact exercises that can reduce or even eliminate mild back pain all together.

Yoga is a great form of exercise that can ease pain and discomfort throughout the body. The great thing about yoga is that it allows one to focus on specific areas of the body if needed. There are many yoga poses that focus on stretching out the back muscles, thus potentially easing or eliminating back pain.

Here are some poses that can ease and reduce back pain (images from Google images):

Cat-cow

Start on your hands and knees with your spine neutral (think of your back as a table top). Use your breath to move between the two poses, breathing in during cow pose and out during cat pose. Move slowly and with intention.

Benefits of cat-cow:

  • Improves balance and coordination
  • Strengthens and stretches the spine and neck
  • Stretches the hips, abdomen and back
  • Massages and stimulates the kidneys and adrenal glands
  • Relieves stress and calms the mind

Downward facing dog

Press equally between your hands and feet. Press back, pulling your chest towards your thighs. Bend the knees and elbows to reduce pressure in the shoulders. Pull your heels towards the mat or floor (it is not required for your heels to touch the mat/floor).

Benefits of downward facing dog:

  • Calms the brain, relieves stress
  • Energizes the body
  • Stretches the shoulders, hamstrings, calves, arches, and hands
  • Strengthens the arms and legs

Half Pigeon (do pose on each side)

From downward facing dog take your right leg towards your arms and bring the leg down flat with your foot on the outer edge, facing the left hand. Square your hips and bend your right knee as much as is comfortable. Keep your torso up or fold it to the ground, being sure to listen to your body and making sure that your body isn’t feeling any pain. Repeat this pose with the left leg.

Benefits of half pigeon:

  • Stretches out hip rotators and flexors
  • Stretches out lower back and spine
  • Relieves tension

Standing forward fold

Stand with your feet together or slightly apart (about two fists distance), whichever feels more balanced. Gently fold from your hips, bending your knees as much as feels good. Take your hands to the floor or hold opposite elbows, using your arms to frame your head. Sway from side to side, slightly twisting at the waist. Settle into the forward fold, allowing gravity to pull your head and spine towards the ground. Stand in this pose as long as feels good. Roll your spine up slowly, one vertebrae at a time, coming into mountain pose (tadasana).

Benefits of forward fold:

  • Helps relieve stress
  • Stimulates the liver and kidneys
  • Stretches the hamstrings, calves, and hips
  • Strengthens the thighs and knees
  • Reduces anxiety

Supine twist (do pose on each side)

Lay flat on your back. Keep your left leg straight, take your right knee into your torso, and use your left arm to pull your knee to the left side. Take your right arm out to the right side, keeping your right shoulder blade to the floor, turning your head towards the right. You can take both knees bent together and twist them as well, whichever feels better for your lower back. Repeat this pose with the left leg.

Benefits of supine twist:

  • Helps release the lower back
  • Opens tight shoulders
  • Elongates spinal muscles
  • Calms the mind

Ease into each pose and create your own flow. Take time in each pose. Be sure to breathe deeply into each pose and if there is any pain adjust or come out of the pose.

Be sure to get professional medical advise before using these poses to treat any chronic or severe back pain.