Flexibility Gains through "Gravity Yoga" - Part 2

Well it's been a good month since I started working with the Lucas Rockwood "Flexibility" DVD. His claim is that with 15 minutes a day (over a period of time he does not state...), he can double your flexbility. As I work with the DVD, I am convinced that the exercises help my yoga practice, but that the gains are much more subtle. For example, I've noticed a little bit more openess in my hips and in doing doing downward dog in my shoulders. I am not certain whether I can atttribute this all to Lucas' magic product, however. His 15 minutes is of course only a small amount of the time that I dedicate to yoga each day, and my gains may also be attributed to consistently practicing yoga and consistently doing a variety of workouts. One thing I will say for the DVD is that it is a great way to warm-up the body for a steady breathing rhythm. The DVD emphasises deep steady breathing through the stretches. I generally go to a more typical type of class DVD after, but find I start this practice with a much greater awareness of breath. I would say then that the DVD is no "magic bullet" as Lucas Rockwood claims, but rather that his DVD is a helpful supplement to a comprehensive yoga workout.

I've noticed in frequent E-mails I get from him (he sends these on mass to anyone who orders from him)with his "stretching secrets" that he is connected to or is a follower of Anthony Robbins. For the uninitiated, Anthony Robbins is an inspiring motivational speaker and author who almost had me convinced about how to chance my life a few years back. What does he convince people to do? He argues from a health perspective for us all to pursue vegetarianism. This is very good, and there is good science to support this. What I am less convinced about is why he tries to convince everyone that they need to drink his green drink. I would be more happily convinced if Anthony Robbins wasn't trying to push his own green drink (for a high price) on his followers. I noticed that Lucas Rockwood does too. Drink Mr. Rockwood's "stretch formula" and you will become more stretchy! Well... er... um.... maybe... But for such a pricey product...? Sounds sketchy to me!

What am I doing it for?

When you do headstands do you use the wall for support or not? I try not to use the wall. Why?! This was a very good question. I understand that you will still make great gains with your alignment, develop your upper body strength, and do good things for your cadiovascular system etc. by using the wall to support your balance. Asking the question "why?" led me to think about how the body can naturally move and how the body can be trained to move. Babies have a tremendous flexibility which we in our lives either try to maintain or gain back through yoga or other exercise practice. Babies do not run around doing headstands (although children do run out and do cartwheels!). While we are capable of training to do this, it is not natural repertory for the body. Then why do it? Why do I still seek the challenge? I guess I amaze myself when I overcome a challenge and learn to do something that is "extraordinary." It keeps me feeling young and gives me the courage to sit at my desk at work another day. But, I should never pursue ways of moving, levels of flexibility, or new positions in yoga with a spirit of competition (or at least not too much!). Yoga is meant to develop our bodies and minds and improve our ability to relax and do things one step at a time. This means letting them happen... rather than making them happen. I think I'll keep trying to do the headstand without the wall to feel like I can "climb Mt. Everest" when I learn to do it consistently, but I need to rethink my journey but "unthinking" in my daily practice and just allow it to happen. I've run into problems of feeling "stressed out" before trying a headstand. I've noticed that the times I just go and do it are the times I am most successful. I make poor progress when I feel any anxiety by trying too much to do it...

Between Joy and Pain in the &*@&#^$%^!!

Things can get kind of ugly when something you love - that helps you relax and do something good for your body and mind - becomes a chore and you feel as though your strength is half what it should be and with your teeth gritting you count down the seconds till you end your practice... Well, learning is supposed to be cyclical. That is learning is like a circle slowly moving up - the idea being you take 2 steps up a staircase, but also 1 step back before you move on.

This week I think in many respects I'm taking that one step back. Last night my arms seemed weak and I was not connecting properly with my abdominals. I could not do a headstand even though I was making progress and was beginning to be able to do it each evening after 2 or 3 tries. While my upward bow is getting good enough, it was a chore getting up there and my lower back was sore. It took me almost to the end of my practice last night to get to my best downward dog - as least as close to properly as I could.

What made me feel better about this practice was that I have practiced very consistently for the last 5 months. I also had studied with an interesting DVD with teacher Erich Schiffman last Friday. In the DVD, he spends 1 1/2 hours to teach you how to do the FULL lotus position through a variety of stretches and hip opening exercises. His voice through the practice is very soothing and gentle. He says kind words such as "Don't push yourself - wait for it to let you in..." or "Do it so that it feels good, do it so that you enjoy the stretch." As I was reflecting on my practice last night, I thought about the kinds of things that Erich Schiffman said, and maybe part of the problem is that I am overthinking my practice and not enjoying it. I always find that I can do my headstand best when I feel the most relaxed. The fact that a very inflexible me was able to get my legs into a lotus (at least lying down) says something about what the power of enjoyment can do to your practice.

Enjoying your practice rather than doing it as a pain in the *&^*$^&%R&!!! may be the difference between making those important gains in your yoga practice or not... Anyways just some hazy self-reflection here... but possibly a grain of truth hidden behind all of this....

Flexibility Gains through "Gravity Yoga" - Part 1

This week I started working out with a flexibility DVD. The teacher, Lucas Rockwood , claims to have a stretching program of 15 minutes a day that can dramatically increase your flexibility over a short amount of time. By targetting key muscles and using what he calls "gravity yoga stretches" and changing by your diet to one rich in greens and with his special mail-order only dietary supplements, he goes so far as to claim that he can double your flexbility. I first came across Lucas Rockwell in a web search for some kind of DVD or book that could help me improve my own flexibility. After several years of dance and now yoga, I remember peaking at a certain point in flexiblity and then not making discernable gains. Certain positions in yoga are likley harder for me than a more flexible person because I am working harder at finding the positions. I always feel I am working to go beyond my maximum, while more flexible students can work more within a comfort zone and thus work less hard. This has always disconcerted me. I am not inflexible, but I would say certain things such as tight hamstrings have always limited the range of motion I would ideally like to have. I'm sure you know many people who feel the same way. Perhaps even yourself. On Youtube, I found many video clips by Lucas Rockwood about how to do various yoga poses successfully. What struck me about him was his clear matter of fact instructional style that made it sounds like anyone could learn to do any pose. Also, he was incredibly flexible and could do an upward bow or wheel like none other! I thought maybe this guy could help me if he had a DVD or something. What was his secret? I looked around the Internet and sure enough he has his own website (www.yogabodynaturals.com/ ) and --- a yoga stretch DVD! This week I started using the DVD considering I have nothing to lose except the $26 or so dollars I paid to order it... Please note I will be skipping on all of his powder or dietary supplements. It is possible that there is something to good diet and improving your stretches - but it is important to maintain a successful workout that is an affordable one and forgo pricey designer brand neutraceuticals if possible. I will update on my progess and see whether there is anything to his gravity yoga stretches or whether it is just a clever gimmick or marketing ploy. Stay tuned, and see whether (or not) I can get "bendier"!

Yogi Oki Doki

If you've ever lived in the US, and these days even if you haven't, you are probably familiar with Fox News. To discerning viewers in the states, Fox is well-known for editing audio and video clips to the point of distorting stories. The same could be said of a very unfortunate video clip which continues to haunt Youtube even though many postings have since been removed. The controversy surrounds a dedicated and I might add veteran yoga teacher by the name of Max Thomas, who is based in California. This teacher created a TV program intended for pre-school children called EiEi Yoga. Whoever got their hands on this video edited down to a roughly 2-minute Youtube clip to try and show what a "creepy" and "scary" man this yoga teacher is. Taking clips out of context, repeating them, or emphasizing them could turn any children's program into something awkwardly campy and creepy. Take the late popular television series Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. I'm sure if anyone took the Fox News style editing approach to even a single episode by picking out certain clips, changing the order, and putting manipulative subtitles on the screen, we could end up with the same conclusion that the late Fred Roger's was a "creepy" and "scary" man who should never be near our children. At first, I was drawn into the myth that EiEi Yoga was hosted by a "creepy" and "scary" man until I saw a post from the wife of Max Thomas (whose character is Yogi Oki Doki in the program) that said that the video was given very positive reviews in Yoga Journal and in the New York Times. She goes on to write that along with being a long-term respected teacher of yoga, he has down community outreach with yoga to help patients with HIV and teens with schizophrenia. She concludes that children like the program. On looking around the Internet for these reviews, I was able to dig up the New York Times review which sure enough gives EiEi Yoga. Randy Hutter Epstein writes after showing his kids the video for "...two classes and weeks..., I am starting to become convinced that yoga can aid children physically and emotionally." Amazon.com which still has the video available has it currently rated 3 stars out of 5. I looked through the reviews to see if anyone called the video "creepy" or "scary," and found that either the parents gave the video rave reviews or complained that it energized the kids too much without a calm down section at the end of the tape. All of these reviews are a far cry from evil troll behind the Youtube clip.

Controversial Youtube clip (PLEASE WATCH SKEPTICALLY - if is highly edited!!!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld4rPpYLYq0

Blogger who at first promotes Max Thomas negatively (Note the comments and how easily the public gets swayed by misinformation):
http://www.yogadork.com/news/who-is-the-eiei-yoga-farmer-meet-max-thomas-aka-yogi-oki-doki/

Listing for EiEiYoga on Youtube with real reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/i-i-Yoga-Kids-VHS/product-reviews/1561764019/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

A website with information about Max Thomas and his current work in Yoga:
http://www.highdeserteden.com/yoga.html

A New York Times review for EiEiYoga (Notice how postive it is):
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/15/health/the-novice-hardly-out-of-diapers-and-now-into-yoga.html?pagewanted=all

Notice how the blogger listed above changes their tone towards Max Thomas when his wife posts the following:
http://www.yogadork.com/news/ok-everybody-make-fun-of-the-hippie-dippy-e-i-e-i-yoga-farmer-video/

Robin Maxwell August 4, 2009 at 8:47 pm

As co-creator and producer of EiEi Yoga, and proud wife of Yogi Oki Doki (you may call me Mrs. Oki Doki) I would like to ask that someobody re-print Richard Rosen’s stellar Yoga Journal review of this video (1997) in which he unequivocally gave it “4 hooves up!”. Yogi and Rasta the Rooster appeared on several national TV magazines, and the science and medical writer for the New York Times said “Yogi Oki Doki is a hero in my house.”

Max Thomas (a/k/a Yogi Oki Doki) is one of California’s most beloved and respected yoga teachers. He was the director of the Center for Yoga in L.A. for four years in the early `80s before yoga became hip and ubiquitous. He has taught teacher training courses at the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, and in his own studios in L.A., Topanga and currently in Yucca Valley, CA. He has worked gratis for HIV patients in West L.A., and for schizophrenic teenagers at UCLA Medical Center. He was one of the first yoga teachers to acknowledge that if children were taught yoga we would be living in a much saner world.

Now, on a badly edited YouTube clip that has received close to a quarter of a million hits and 1,100 comments in 6 days (“Weird Hippie Yoga Farmers”) Max has been derided in every way imaginable, called “creepy” and “a pedophile.” One viewer referred to one of the beautiful children he was teaching as “that little nigger.” I know that the mental capacity of most of these people makes Fox News viewers seems like Rhodes Scholars, but it would be nice to see a little support from the yoga community for a fellow teacher, one who has dedicated the last 35 years of his life to bringing yoga to the world.

Perhaps you can go to the “everything is terrible site” and throw in a positive comment.

And yes, kids LOVE this video.

Punk Rock Yoga

In my search for the new, interesting, or controversial in yoga, I recently came across Punk Rock Yoga classes offered in Canada, the US, Australia, and Germany. At first I thought these classes were anarchical yoga classes set to alternative or punk music. But, as I read more, I became more intrigued. At punkrockyoga.com, the site describes the classes:

Punk Rock Yoga is Hatha yoga with a twist. We practice yoga in unconventional spaces and often feature live musicians. We offer an open-minded and straight-forward approach to yoga philosophy while embracing the ancient yoga tradition of Do-It-Yourself. We believe yoga is for everyone.

Founder Kimberlee Jensen Stedl says she started Punk Rock Yoga in 2003 to "...scrub the elitism and rigidity out of modern yoga." She said she wanted to teach in a nightclub setting and attract teenagers to yoga class. She writes that yoga from its inception 6000-years ago was passed on to be interpreted and developed by the students. Yet, today she said it is often treated as something codified into rules. She says the personal exploration aspect of yoga has been lost, and students follow teachers too much. She writes that: "the teacher should provide different interpretations on the subject and allow the students to discover their own answers." Punk Rock Yoga tries to take away the recent modern yoga obsession with attaining the perfect body through yoga by making all students feel comfortable in their bodies. It tries to break down the socio-demographic elitism of yoga by having students take class in a circle rather in rows. While a good summary of these basic tenants of punk rock yoga can be found on the Punk Rock Yoga website, Kimberlee wrote elaborates more in her book the Punk Rock Yoga Manifesto in 2010.

Though I haven't had the opportunity to take a Punk Rock Yoga class or look at her book, her ideas have got me intrigued about ways I could or perhaps even should improve my practice. An interesting starting point for myself down the road is "freeing" myself from relying on my exercise DVDs and really self-explore and evolve my own practice. Can I set up my home practice without DVDs? Second, am I open-minded enough to break away from using new age or classical Indian music to accompany my practice? Can I find relaxation and meditation through other forms of music? Thirdly, can I practice yoga outside of the confines of my apartment in other settings? 

So Much To Learn In So Little Time...!

These days I am not near a big city, and I only have access to 1 good yoga class a week. I've heard that many people are in the same situation, and hope they could study more. I, myself, want to study 6 days a week. But, the proliferation of instructional yoga DVDs and Internet sites with yoga resources and classes is tremendous. So, I can - with a certain amount of self-discipline - study yoga 6 days a week. So far, I've been very impressed with the quality of instructional yoga DVDs I use, and I have been able to learn a lot on my own. In fact, I've heard that it is strongly recommended that all students of yoga set up some kind of home practice in addition to their live classes to make discoveries on their own! Of course, I have to save my questions during the week for my teacher, or rewatch a certain section of a DVD over and over. But, I now have enough DVDs to have a varied and interesting practice. For the past few months, I have been rather spontaneous about what I would do for an evening of yoga. While it is good to always listen to your body, I felt I needed something a little more structured for a weekly schedule. This past weekend, I went over my DVDs and designed a schedule that would focus on different things that my body needs throughout the week. I tried to pay attention to my weaknesses, but also allow time for myself to enjoy things that are easier for me to do. Of course, picking and choosing can be difficult if you start collecting a large number of yoga DVDs, and I certainly wish I had a few more days to add other exciting workouts to my practice. Feel free to use or rearrange or delete or add to this suggested workout practice. I probably will as time goes on! Happy practicing!

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Classical Yang Family Tai Chi Long Form 15-20 min. Gravity Yoga Work on Headstand DVD (Lucas Rockwood) Day 1 15 min. 15 min. Power Yoga Total Body DVD (Rodney Yee 2005) 80 min.	Classical Yang Family Tai Chi Long Form 20-25 min. Work on Headstand 15 min. Gravity Yoga DVD (Lucas Rockwood) Day 2 15 min.   Strength Building Yoga DVD (Rodney Yee 2004) Do Workout  1 42 min. (DVD is   65 min.)	Classical Yang Family Tai Chi Long Form 20-25 min. Work on Headstand 15 min. Gravity Yoga DVD (Lucas Rockwood) Day 3 15 min. Ultimate Power Yoga DVD (Rodney Yee  2010) Do Workout 1,2,and 4 or 5 Do 1,2,4, and 5 only if you feel really energetic 1. Power Foundation (15 min) 2. Sun Salutations (20 min) 3. Standing Poses (20 min) 4. Back Bends (20 min) 5. Restoration (10 min)	Gravity Yoga DVD (Lucas Rockwood) Day 4 15 min. Yorie’s class at Kokubu’s community center 70-80 min.	Classical Yang Family Tai Chi Long Form 20-25 min. Work on Headstand 15 min. Gravity Yoga DVD (Lucas Rockwood) Day 5 15 min Yoga Burn DVD (Rodney Yee 2005) 60 min.	Yoga Abs DVD (Rodney Yee 2004) 30 minutes AND Backyard Yoga: Lotus Pose DVD (Erich Schiffmann) 81 min. OR Repeat 1 or 2 sections from classes during the week i.e. parts from Strength Building Yoga or Ultimate Power Yoga OR Try a new yoga DVD workout Optional: Roller Take 30 minutes to roll through back and hang at various points	BREAK Go for a walk or ride your bike.
125-130 min.	92-100 min.	95-100 min.	85-95 min.	110-115 min.	60 + min.	Any amount