On the Importance of Final Relaxation in Savasana

If you have taken some yoga, you are all familiar with savasana - the corpse pose - used as a final relaxation in many yoga classes. Because yoga engages your body with so many simultaneous stretch and strength exercises, it is extremely important to have some relaxation time at the end of your practice.

As I worked with my DVD yoga classes this year, I was always annoyed with how fast the teachers raced through the final relaxation. Two minutes wasn't cutting it for me. I noticed that the teacher Yorie at my Wednesday night yoga class includes between 10-15 minutes of relaxation in savasana at the end of her workout. I compared how I felt the next day.

After a 2 minute relaxation the way I practiced at home, I felt very sore all over - particularly in my back and in the backs of my legs. The day after Yorie's class, I felt only a little sore even though the intensity of the workout was similar to what I do at home.

Over the last few weeks, I listened to what my body needed and have routinely clicked the DVD player pause button on my controller at relaxation time. I haven't strictly timed my relaxation, but have stayed in relaxation until I really felt a peaceful sense of calmness not just in my mind, but throughout my whole body. About the time when I am wavering between thinking about my body and thoughts are drifting elsewhere into dreamland, I slowly get myself up to seating by rolling over to my side and taking a few breathes before siting.

For me, I like sitting in simple crossed legged pose or half-lotus position with my hands on my knees facing up - to draw power from the earth. I also to hold this longer than the DVD teachers do. Much like Yorie's class I prefer to do this for about 3-5 minutes (eyes closed), and then follow this with my hands in prayer position for 3-5 minutes (eyes half open) before bowing and saying namaste.

Compare a short relaxation time in your practice to a 10-15 minute relaxation time, and see if you can see the big difference too!

Yoga in a Cold Place

If you live in a home with no insulation or central heating, even a fall morning or evening can feel frighteningly cold. Muscles that should be warm when you practice have to be massaged quickly in the shower or after sitting and watching TV, or you feel you have to do aerobics before you get going with yoga. Aerobics!? You didn't plan an evening of aerobics did you you!? You wanted to do yoga! So, how are you going to keep your body warm, so that you can safely enjoy a full yoga practice in your cold home in a place where even running a space heater is too expensive?

Tai chi, whatever style you practice, can be done just about anywhere and in any weather. With the exception of Yang style that requires a wooden floor to do turns, tai chi can be done on the beach or in a park. Assuming you are preparing for a yoga practice in a cold apartment, a 10-15 minute tai chi long form can be done without any prior warm up because of the slow and gentle speed of the practice. By the end, your body will be slowly warmed up, and prepare you to start a yoga routine with slow deep breathing and a calm and meditative state of mind.

Another warm-up I like to do are what yoga teacher Lucas Rockwood calls gravity poses. These are a series of yoga poses designed to increased flexibility through the use of gravity and deep breathing. Most of these poses are held up to 5 minutes. I like to do about 15 minutes of these even if I have done tai chi on a typical day. Because of their use of gravity, they are in fact perfectly safe to do without a warm-up - though they are even better after some kind of warm-up. I think they themselves are a good warm-up too.

In Japan, I also have a Kotatsu, which is a Japanese floor table with a heater under it. A Kotatsu is great to warm your legs, so that once you get out of it after about 10 minutes, you could comfortably start a yoga practice. Alternatively, a hot shower or even better yet a bath - would have the same - if not even greater benefit to make sure your body is warm and that you are in a relaxed and comfortable state to practice Yoga in a cold space.

My apartment also has an air-conditioner in the living room area which fortunately doubles as a space heater. Set this going and the room will be warmer, and at least more comfortable to work-out in.

Something else I tried recently was putting on heavy layers of clothing for 20 minutes. By heavy layers, I don't mean putting on 6 or 7 sweat pants over one another. What I mean is buying a winterized pair of snow pants. Uniqlo and other clothing stores have affordable winter clothes that are light, but specially designed to trap heat. A hoody is also great to wear over a long sleeve shirt for a while around the home. I also have a neck warmer. This is basically a tube you can wear and pull down to warm your neck.

After you feel warmed up from wearing extra or special winter clothes, change your pants to a pair of full length sweat pants. If you feel you need to, you can wear dance or exercise tights under these. Some people also like to wear leg warmers. Make sure you are wearing socks to keep your feet warm. Keep your hoody on until you feel warm enough to take it off. After taking this off, keep it close to your yoga mat along with a small blanket. You will need them during slow cool down times and the blanket is a must during the final rest or savasana time.

A note of caution is that you will need to be extra cautious to listen to your body. You may not be able to get your legs as warm as you could in a heated space. You may therefore need to go easier on your stretches. I also find that my body is not as good at telling me that it is thirsty in colder weather. Drink regularly before the practice, and if necessary during the practice. Drink something warm if possible as warm drinks are best for the health of your throat.

Be your own boss. When you practice at home, the DVD teacher is just a guide. You are your own real teacher. The controller is your friend and should be used as needed. In a cooler room, you may sometimes need a longer time to move into a particular position you find challenging. I have tight hamstrings on my right leg for example. In cooler weather, I sometimes need to pause the DVD player to give myself more time to get into a wide angle stretch.

Finally, in a cooler temperature, a regular sleep routine is more important than in warmer seasons. A tired body, in my experience, is more susceptible to chills and infections (such as sore throats or irritated sinuses) in cold weather. Don't push yourself as much in your training if it is getting late. But, you will need to keep yourself moving throughout your practice without breaking much (if at all) or you will find yourself cool down much faster than in warm weather.

Be safe!

Guiding My Practice through Illness to Recovery

Although the human body is an intricate marvel that can exceed our expectations, it breaks down and gets sick. Even when you are being careful, illness may knock you down. It's quite easy (and is the problem in my case) that you push yourself too much without realizing it. It is a funny thing to hear teachers tell you that you have to discipline yourself to make sure you practice regularly and don't miss a day of yoga etc... But, the truth for me (and perhaps you too) is that it is quite easy to take too much on. You might find that a certain yoga practice makes you feel good, and that you can add this much more to your practice. Suddenly, you may find yourself with a practice that is too long (when you are doing a personal home practice). In my case, I was staying up too late and lost the balance between work and exercise.

I think this probably happened too me twice this year, and now I am going through a second recovery. While the first time I got sick was an ear infection and I was pretty much able to keep to my yoga routine, this time with shingles it was not comfortable or good for my recovery to continue my practice full tilt. My shingles in fact was accompanied with a cold and fever, and I had to take a whole week off of yoga. The next week when the fever was gone and the shingles on my left side was a little better, I did yoga 6 days of the week but only for 30 to 40 minutes a day. On the third week, I am still recovering from my shingles, but have brought my daily practice up to about 40 to 65 minutes. So far so good. The question then is whether I will go back to alternating days with 3 days at about 100 minutes and the other 3 days at about 40-60 minutes of yoga practice? Probably 100 minutes is too much for an office worker... I have also been out of my yoga class for 3 weeks as well. I would like to go back next week on Wednesday.

I have learned through the course of this sickness recovery process that you can do yoga while you recover from an illness, but you may need to modify the types of exercises you do and the length of time (shorten) your practice. I haven't practiced headstands for a while because of clogged sinuses. It is very uncomfortable to feel like you got water up your nose from swimming when you are just doing yoga! However, downward dogs have been fine, as have forward folds. So, other times of inversions - less extreme kinds have been possible for me.

As you recover, rather than suddenly jumping back to your previous intense schedule of practice, it is better to gradually build it up. No doubt I haven't felt as strong as I did before I got sick. I need to build up my strength again, and get my lungs breathing again now that my sinuses have healed and are no longer congested.

Something that I have learned that is very important - is TO TRY AND DO A LITTLE LESS THAN YOU THINK YOU CAN DO! This is a very hard lesson for me and I may fail to listen to my own good advice. This means that I will have to make a shorter workout schedule and commit myself to it by putting it on paper.

Sometime soon I will post a more parred down schedule from the one I posted in an earlier blog. I think I will post both the new and the old side by side. I would also like to make them a little more informative for the reader. It is all very fine for me to post that I will do 40 minutes from this DVD Tuesday and 60 minutes from this other DVD on Friday, but that does not tell you the content of the lesson. Sometime I will will post the sequence of my workouts as my goal is to eventually work out on my own listening to my own body. This means at some point memorizing the lessons on these DVDs and deciding based on how my body feels on a given day what material or materials to cover. I think this is a good goal for all students to eventually strive for.

It is of course true that no two people are alike, but in sharing these sequences and exercises I hope I can help others gain new insights and ideas to incorporate in your own home practice.

Stay healthy - and while you should always keep to your workout routine - when you have the temptation to add more to your workout - avoid being addicted to your practice or adding more than you can handle. Again, try to do a little less than you think you can do!

Namaste!