Issue: #12: May 2010

Namaste Friends,

If you take my yoga class, you'll know my approach is very different from the traditional vinyasa class. I have nothing against vinyasa. In fact, I believe moving with the breath is an effective tool to develop mind/body awareness.
 
However, I always incorporate isolation exercises to work a specific muscle group before going on to explore an asana. Why? Because by waking up targeted muscles, you develop body awareness and improve your ability to do the asana correctly and easily. This is especially important if your muscles have become weak and chronically tight due to poor posture. Of course, you may still be able to do something that looks like the pose. But looks can be deceiving. If you fail to activate the right muscles, you may compensate in ways that could lead to injury down the road.
 
Rotator cuff injuries stemming from poor chaturanga technique are a prime example. They're often due to amnesia in the lower traps. 
 
Another example of damage waiting to happen: weak outer hip muscles such as the gluteus medius, which you use whenever you stand on one leg. These muscles are essential in any balancing pose: tree, extended hand to foot, warrior III, you name it. If you are weak in the outer hip, not only is your balance compromised, you risk injury to your knees or your back. However, activation drills for the gluteus medius done before balancing poses will initiate a better recruitment pattern that will help align the hips and prevent injury.
 
The same principle applies to side navasana, which requires strong obliques, the muscles of your side core. If you can't figure out what muscles to use to hold yourself up, you'll wind up propping yourself up with your arms or falling over when you let go. However, after warming up the obliques properly, it's a breeze. You've improved your motor control and helped forge a mind-muscle link that will only improve with practice.
 
One final note. Remember, we are all different, with different muscular imbalances. For optimal results, you may need to repeat an exercise two or three times on one side to build up enough strength for balanced action.  Just one more reason to cultivate a home practice!

Breathe well, be well,

Suzanne
suzanneausnit@optonline.net
fullpotentialyoga.com

P.S. Please join me at Play Ball: Self Massage and Ball Therapy Workshop on June 23 or 27.

Soul Food
"The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster...

"Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster."--Elizabeth Bishop

HEAL

Eye-Q
The eyes are the windows to the soul in more ways than one. Relaxing the eyes is not only critical to improving vision, but also helps tone down the entire nervous system. Vision occupies about 40% of the brain's capacity, one reason you sleep with your eyes closed. Unfortunately age exacts a price on our eyes, locking them into habitual patterns and undermining their ability to focus at different distances. The good news is that eye exercises can restore visual flexibility. For example, sit or lie down with your eyes open and move your eyes up and down, pausing at the top and bottom, about 10 times. Repeat, moving the eyes from side to side.  Then circle the eyes in both directions. Focus your attention on one eye at a time, letting the other eye come along for the ride. Finally, rub your palms vigorously together to generate heat and cup your eyes with your hands, eliminating the light without placing pressure on the eyeballs. Focus on your breath as you let your eyes sink deeply into the back of your skull.  Feel your eyes relax under your hands. 

Flame Out
We know that yoga is helpful for arthritis because its isometric stretching stimulates bone cell growth and helps increase range of motion. Now, new research has shown that yoga may reduce inflammation--helpful for reducing the risk of not only arthritis, but also heart disease, diabetes and stroke. An Ohio State study found that a chemical called IL-6, an indicator of inflammation, was 41% lower in women who practiced yoga twice a week for a year.  One possible reason is that regular yoga practice increases the dominance of the parasympathetic nervous system--the "rest and digest" portion of the nervous system.  This may help calm an overactive immune system.

STRENGTHEN

Grab a Six Pack
What's the most effective abdominal exercise? A San Diego State University study compared 13 common ab exercises using EMG to see which muscles were most strongly activated. The winner for the rectus abdominis (the "six pack" muscle) was the bicycle crunch, which also stimulates the obliques. It works best if you bring your elbows across to touch your opposite knee and cycle your legs slowly as close to the floor as possible. To feel the burn, make sure both shoulders are lifted from the ground instead of only one. EMG data also showed that the upper and lower rectus can't be isolated. However, crunching your upper body up does engage the upper abs more, while lifting the hips focuses more effort in the lower abs. Bicycles combine both movements, which is why they're so effective.

Heads Up
Where you hold your head has a lot to do with creating unnecessary tension in the neck. If you hold your head forward as many of us do, your neck muscles have to work twice as hard to support its weight. Think of how sore your neck feels after a few hours craning to see a computer screen. When your skull balances on top of your spine, those muscles don't have to overwork.
    
To find that balance, stand with your back to a wall, heels an inch or two away from it, arms down and your head not quite touching the wall. Let the wall firm your shoulder blades into your ribcage. Press your fingertips into the wall, pushing the wall towards the floor to descend the shoulder blades and activate the lower traps. Sense how your head comes to rest more vertically on top of your spine. Imagine your neck starting below the shoulder blades, and without letting your ribs poke forward, lift your sternum from that point and you'll find that magic spot where the head rests effortlessly on the spine. If you still sense too much tension, lie on your back and roll your head gently between your palms, placing one palm on your forehead and one behind your head as if you were rolling out a piece of dough.

LIVE

Lights Out Eats
Is a calorie always a calorie regardless of when you eat it? Does eating late at night add pounds because the body stores those calories as fat? The good news is that scientifically there is no evidence that bedtime calories are more fattening than others--what matters is the total number of calories, not when you eat them. But there are, in fact, good reasons to avoid big meals or mindless snacking at night. While eating late won't change your metabolism, it can lead to consuming larger portions because you're overly hungry. It can also encourage eating junk food because you're too tired to cook a healthy meal. Another risk of eating a large meal after going a long time without food is the negative impact it can have on the interaction between blood sugar and insulin, a factor in developing diabetes. 

Diet Docs
Kristen Dollard and John Douillard, with a recipe assist from reknowned Skinny Chef Jennifer Iserloh, have just released a dietary roadmap for healthy eating according to your ayurvedic type in The Yoga Body Diet. The book helps readers determine their particular dosha (vata, pitta or kapha) and then modify recipes accordingly. You'll discover it is better to make smaller portions of fresh food so there are no leftovers to store.  Ayurvedic healers believe that leftovers or anything reheated is void of energy and can slow digestion. The book also details yoga sequences and poses specifically geared to each type.

 

WORKSHOP

Play Ball: Self Massage & Ball Therapy
Get on the ball through this fabulous self-care technique used by professional athletes and dancers to literally roll muscle tension out of your body. This powerful therapy refreshes, rejuvenates and relaxes your body thanks to a series of specially designed rubber balls that follow the contours of the bony structures of the body, making it easy to find specific muscles. It's like a deep tissue massage--only better because you can increase or decrease the pressure at will.
 
These balls of relief and renewal will: 
     *Unravel deep-seated knots in your neck, shoulders and hips, calves, hamstrings and quads.
     *Improve your posture, reduce back pain and increase
range of motion in your joints.

     *Increase circulation and hydrate the body's tissues.
     *Iron out sore spots you never knew you had.
 
Ball therapy works wonders for runners, golfers, weightlifters, yogis and couch potatoes. All levels welcome.
  
WHERE: 537 Park Avenue, Hoboken 
WHEN: Wed, June 23, 7-10 pm and Sun, June 27, 1-4 pm
COST: $95 (includes 5 balls) or $75 (without balls)
     
Space is limited: Participants must sign up before the workshop. Contact me at suzanneausnit@optonline.net, 973-204-0929