Cleaning up Shop...

Well my stay here was brief.... but sadly I did not get the readership I was hoping.... so I am in the process of moving my posts (rewriting and adding as well) on a new blog site. The new blog will still have the same great name - "Aspiring Yoga." And, you can still read my insights and tips as I slowly discover more about myself and yoga! I look forward to you joining and hope to see you at:

http://aspiringyoga.tumblr.com/

And... you can now also follow me at Twitter at:

Tim Fox @aspiringyoga
https://twitter.com/#!/aspiringyoga

See you soon!
Namaste!

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!

Flexibility Gains through "Gravity Yoga" - Part 3

I just want to add (on this series of posts on "flexibility gains" - although this post has nothing to do with discussing flexibility gains) that a part of the reason that pursuing yoga is so fun is that I get a lot of positive energy from the people involved. I met some great people in the world of dance, but the fierce competition made for a lot of behind people's back gossiping, bullying, and cutting others down that was not at all constructive. I don't see these elements in the world of yoga as much (as far as I've seen the world of yoga!). Perhaps this is also part and parcel of my more advanced-in-years take on things. But, by and large people are going to yoga classes for themselves. If you can get past who has their leg higher and get over competing with yourself (I'm guilty a little of the later - but I'm working on getting over this!), yoga classes are an ideally supportive environment where teachers are really there for you and classmates are very respectful of one another.

With this frame of thought, I wanted to perhaps comment a little more on some of the negative comments I made about Lucas Rockwood and his stretch products. Yes, he has many products to sell and he is aggressive about selling them. But, I don't work with him in person. To me he is a teacher on a DVD, and his ideas on the DVD have been helpful to me. I also have found working with Rodney Yee DVDs very helpful, but know as a fact he teaches at incredibly expensive yoga retreats and sells expensive products there. Teachers have to make a living, and I guess that is how you have to do it. What gets to me is when you are continually bombarded with the sales pitch. Back in New York, I was bombarded with a sales pitch from a dance teacher I did work with to buy (sign up for a monthly order for) health products right at his dance classes. How quickly he cooled off to me when I said "no" after ordering from him only once! He was a teacher that for a time I regarded as a personal friend. Some where along the line when the selling becomes too pushy, the feeling of competition (not yours - the teachers) messes up the trust you have with the teacher. Without the trust, you question that you are being respected as a student and that your best interests are truly being met. This is after - in one way or another - you have paid for the teacher to look after your best health interests in dance or yoga.

But to say "no" to a Lucas Rockwood or Rodney Yee product via email is simply a quick click on the delete key. None of my teachers "hooked" me into racking out cash, and I have found what I gained from them far more valuable than what I have lost (monetarily or emotionally - fending off sales pitches!) Take the best from your teachers and ignore the bad elements with a simple delete key. If you experience a teacher in person that is selling products, it is probably time to change classes or even yoga studios. I dropped my former dance teacher, and I felt much better for doing so even though I learned a lot studying with him.

The reality today is that yoga teachers probably have to work a day job too. I know my teacher in Japan does. This does not make it easy to calling yoga teaching your profession. So, naturally many yoga teachers are drawn to ways to make money. They may produce DVDs, teach at yoga retreats, teach at universities or studios, and even sell products. In the most extreme cases, some teachers can look extremely greedy and self-serving. But, in my experience, a nicely put together class DVD is a nicely put together class DVD. If the DVD is nice, it is all you need to take from that teacher. The rest you can ignore if you want...

Where am I going now ...? - Part 2

Okay. I think I got a little more response on my last post than I expected. Blogs are meant to entertain the reader and to some extent sensationalize the events of the writer's life - in this case my own regarding my journey through movement and yoga - and all that that entails. There are no lies in my blog, but the last one I guess was more of a vent than I realized. I really haven't expected much readership at all, so I was a little surprised (even though I in part instigated it by posting a link to the new article on Facebook) when I had my 3rd comment ever on this blog since starting it a few months back, and 2 comments on Facebook sounding quite concerned. My doctor told me shingles was from stress and this was echoed by posters on Facebook (a family member and a friend) wondering if I was ok and what's wrong. The truth be told - and here I am really taking aside from the theme of this blog - is that I have a little more stress than usual because I am an expat living in a new country that has new customs, food, and language. In Japan, I experience these things (both wonderful and challenging) on a daily basis, and there is no time out from it really other than at my home with my wife or by talking with my American colleagues. When  you don't have a good grasp of the local language, it is kind of like feeling like a kid again who can't tie their own shoelaces on their own. I need my wife to go with me to the doctors or the dentists, and while I can basically make myself understood at stores and such it takes much more effort. So, there are times I get a little frustrated and more short-tempered than I would in New York where I last lived, but these are also the growing pains of settling into a new country. I have been through a huge number of changes this year, but have experienced things that I think are overall positive. Over time, stress usually gets less as you adjust to a culture. Yoga certainly has been helping me tremendously, and will have a great role in helping me have a happier and healthier year in 2012. To round out the New Year, I will be visiting family and friends in New York City at the end of December and through New Years and have a chance to sample some yoga classes in Westchester and in New York City. I will even visit my old Astoria, NYC haunt, Agora Yoga - with their great atmosphere and kind teachers...

Where are I going now...?

This year in spite of getting healthy and doing yoga, it has been a deplorable one in other ways. Before I started yoga at the beginning of my Japan life in March 2011, I had a manditory medical check by nurses and doctors who check all the students and all the staff. They set up at various nursing stations taking blood samples, urine samples, blood pressure, and checking how "fat" you were among other things. The results came back that my heart was "bad" (an irregular heart beat - but I already knew that), and that I was too "fat." Now I've been a guy who has been called skinny all my life, and so this was pretty funny for me. They also told me that I was eating too much sugar. I knew that too. I couldn't stop eating delicious Japanese chocolate when I first came here. Everywhere this delicious boxed chocolate is abundantly available at 24-hour convenience stores located every couple of blocks in Japan. I would go so far to say that Japan stole the convenience store model from the US and shaped it into an abominably perfect masterpiece of shopping utopia for all tastes - in my case - catering to my insatiable craving for chocolate. So, with a bit of struggling at first I knew I had to shape up, and do something to kick or at least control my chocolate habit. One box of chocolate covered almonds a day was intolerable! I was riding my bike a little, but I needed something regular that would take care of my very immobile sitting at a desk reality at my work.

Even though this blog has discussed my hard work getting a yoga training routine going, I've skipped over my illnesses this year like I was something invincible. Illness unfortunately is an important part of the struggle to keep healthy - my struggle - this year. This year I had a week of influenza just after my medical exam. After starting yoga, I've have 1 ear infection, 2 colds (one included a fever), and most recently my last cold included shingles on my left side. In fact, last week I had to take a week off of yoga. This was frustrating and drove me a little crazy. I was trying not to irritate my shingles which if scratched or rubbed will get worse. This week as I began to get a little better, I got back a little into yoga. But, a new obstacle entered the picture. The weather is getting colder, and most homes in Japan, including my own, have no central heating. I have a heater under a floor table called a kotatsu, but this hardly helps when you want to get up and move about. I've ended up doing far more tai chi than I've wanted to do to get my body warm. Then, I have to wear a lot more clothes and be a lot more careful stretching. I also need to cover myself when I go into savasana. Headstands are also out until my sinuses have recovered. My workouts tend to be shorter, and I have to be patient with the cold.

Where am I going now with my yoga practice? I guess now I am learning the lesson of patience, and a better understanding of my vulnerability. I am trying to do what it takes to be healthy rather than obsessing about my yoga progress. I can worry more about that when I am healthy again, and the weather is better. Perhaps my illnesses this year are a sign that the balance of all things in my life (family, work, free time, and yoga) were out of balance. Rather than doing as much as I can - which I think I have been doing - I should try to do a little less as well as I can. This is I think is a better way for me to do the best that I can do without doing too much...