Strengthen the Core; Defy those Odds for Age Limitations

Approval Addiction...I get it. I could say, "#metoo."  When you have survived abuse, whether it is verbal, emotional, sexual, physical beatings, whatever...you become addicted to approval.

However, core strengthening postures can engage the navel chakra, known as House of Jewels, "manipura chakra."  

Practice these poses for core:

• Boat Pose - Low Boat and High Boat
• Stand up, sit down, stand up again - try not to use your arms
• Leg Lifts Posture
• Standing Balancing as you bring the knee towards the chest
• Chair Pose
• Planks - Side Plank, Forearm Plank, Kneeling or Full Prone Planks
• Twisting Postures as you inhale to lengthen then twist on the exhale
• Cat/Cow with no need to move the neck, just the torso
• Spinal Balance
• Warriors with lifting the lower abdominals and bringing the pelvis to neutral

You don't need to be a certain size, age, or ability level to add these into your physical practice.

Use the mantra, "I am confident and courageous," with Alternate Nostril Breath.

This works.

Heap stress on us, make us believe survival is shaky, and hormones flood our central nervous system, instinctively diverting our behavior into one of two outcomes. Here’s what one expert wrote:

By its very nature, the fight or flight system bypasses our rational mind — where our more well thought out beliefs exist — and moves us into “attack” mode. This state of alert causes us to perceive almost everything in our world as a possible threat to our survival… Fear becomes the lens through which we see the world… Our heart is not open. Our rational mind is disengaged. Our consciousness is focused on fear, not love.  

Shannon Martin

*****

Faster, harder, better, run, flee, add more to the calendar, get out of town...

When our nervous system is in overdrive, our minds become frantic.  We either fight with words or throwing objects; most of the time we leave.

Leave the scene with an addiction, an impulse to overeat, overspend, overindulge, over-watch, drive faster, evacuate a relationship, whatever it may be.  We highjack and move... our ANS, autonomic nervous system, becomes entrenched in adrenalin.  Shallow breath, holding breath, fleeing body.

Yoga gives us the opportunity to stay....to pause....to wait with the breath.  Practicing the pause creates space or sukham, and then we learn to be more self-disciplined even if it is only on the mat.

Therefore, when I tell you...practice the pause, stay in the pose, connect with your exhale, slower is better and less is more, there is a purpose.

Spin cannot accomplish this space, boot camps cannot achieve it, Cross Fit cannot out lift it, running cannot create enough distance, and neither can eating too much.

Yoga...it is more than just the physicality of the movement.  It is the work inside that makes the difference.  There has to be a reason something has lasted thousands of years.

Eventually, it will carry over into our daily habits.  I will be waiting for you on the mat...at the door...to congratulate you for coming home to yourself.  Let's breathe.

Namaste'

Jeanne K

Sometimes, Stop, Start, Good Job...Let Me Inspire You Again to Get on Your Mat!

1. Enjoy the process of yoga again.
• Sometimes we become weary in well doing.
• Stop expecting perfection.  Your body did not get this way in a day, and it will take more than a few attempts to be better at yoga.
• Start accepting your today's body on the way to where you want to be.
• Good job for getting on your mat every time you do.  Feel powerful and confident from it.
2. Learn the yoga habit of contentment, "Santosha."
• Sometimes we try too hard and then become too frustrated.  Don't be overly so focused on getting it, that you forget the process is for progress.
• Stop feeling angry if you cannot do the peak pose and just sitting.  Do one of the steps that created the peak.
• Start moving something....For example, everyone loves to hate "Boat" pose.
• Sit up and bring your hands underneath your thighs and lift one foot up off the floor at a time.
• Use your breath on the exhale to lift your feet. It engages the core when you breathe out and helps the hip flexors to raise the feet.
• Take a break and hug your knees to your chest. Then, try again.
• Practice it at home in between classes, your ilio-psoas muscle may be overly tense/tight and just need some patient homework.
• Let go of the resting angry face...I get it, and I can hear your loud sighing or your hand waving as if it could be cooler (especially in hot yoga).  If it wasn't important, I would not include it in class...
• Good job on trying the yoga postures that you don't enjoy.
3. Feeling bored?  Try a different class or time or teacher.
• Sometimes we get too much in our thinking minds and try to fast forward our anticipation to what the teacher may cue next.  The whole point of yoga, meditation, and breath is to get you out of your futuristic thoughts and into the present moment.  Be there now...
• Stop saying to yourself..."same ole, same ole, move faster, move slower, this is too hard, I am hot, I am cold, are we done yet, when is Savasana…"
• Start using those crazy affirmations I am always saying to make, point to your mat, say to yourself before class begins where you can hear yourself, "This is a good work for me today.  I am..._________________ (peaceful, persistent, proud of myself....)fill in the blank."
• Good job on trying another time or focus when you feel stagnated.  If 5:45 pm is too hard, go at 4:30 pm.  If the noon class seems boring to you, go the evening Yin Yoga at 7:15 pm.  Mix it up with spin or yoga with weights.  If you don't enjoy my classes, come on Sundays to Lori's class at 5 pm, Courtney's class every other week on Monday/Thursday, or Debbie's Sunday class at 3 pm, or use a yoga video at home.  I recommend Yoga Today, Yoga International, Ekhart Yoga, and Yoga Glo for online classes.
4. Yoga does a work in, as well as, a work out. Don't try to develop a yoga skill or pose in a week or two.
• Sometimes we are overly ambitious, maybe we should just continue doing what we are doing now.
• Stop expecting what took me almost 24 years to cultivate in my body and brain - as just a few months in yours.  Stop comparing your body to someone else's in the studio or a photo you have seen.  It is plain old hard work...
• Start feeling good in your own skin.  This is the only earth suit you get.  Be whatever age you are on the mat.  The reason you don't look 24 is because you are no longer that age.
• Good job on working it day after day, practice after practice, and going inside instead of just the physicality of the practice.
5. Meditation takes self-discipline.
   

   • Sometimes it seems so difficult if you are only doing it to GET.  You may not GET anything ever.  But, your brain and your spirit appreciate the minutes of silence.
   • Stop telling yourself it is a waste of time.  Stop rolling your eyes when someone talks about it.  If you are doing yoga, you are already meditating with movement.
   • Start a timer or start meditating at stop lights.  Whatever works, try one minute.
   • Good job on knowing it is good for you and worth it.

   There you have it...my encouragement for Day #21...yoga matters.  If you have become weary, please let me inspire you again.

Dear 2019,

1.  I will bring the most courageous, compassionate, and kind version of "me" to the yoga mat.

2. I will seek out stillness and embrace the present moment.

3. I will walk in wisdom.

4. I will practice more love and less judgment of myself and others.

5. I will encourage myself through the discipline of "tapas," or the fire of self-discipline.

6. I will work at controlling my breath instead of holding it.

7. I will eat wisely and slowly. (not in a car or distracted in any way)

8. I will smile more, compliment more, and hug more.

9. I will sit quietly in silence often.

10. I will embrace my faults and know that the journey ahead this year will contain mistakes.

11. I will sleep better, more soundly, and with less wake-ups as I strive to find the balance for myself.

12. I will journal more frequently.

13. I will pray little snippets all day long, "help," "wow," "thanks!"

14. I will freak out less about my lack of perfect and instead laugh about my imperfections.

15. I will not over-think every little thing.

16. I will learn and then learn some more because knowledge is vast, and I hunger for it; Yoga for Autism and Differently Abled People is coming next month!

17. I will welcome all people, even those who frown or critique without a question.

18. I will accept other people's mistakes just like I see my own from the perspective of my intentions.

19. Now, I will worry less, this is my biggest challenge for 2019, because it steals my joy.

It's the TRYING that heals you!

As I sat down in the reception room to read a book, I came across that phrase..."It's the trying that heals you."

It clicked.

I had an epiphany.

You see, none of us is really good at yoga.

None of us keep perfectly faithful to low carbs all the time.

Every one has Up days, Down days, and days we just don't feel as motivated or as energetic as we would like.

So, remember, "It's the trying that heals you."

Yoga people are the ones who just get back up the next day and try, try again.

*****

So, if you suck at balancing.  Try some more.

If you gain instead of lose, today is a good day to start over.

If you mess up in twists and they are uncomfortable.  Keep on twisting.

If you ate too many carbs and feel bloated again, just begin again.

If you want to do the yoga poses, a body part is painful or resists your efforts, keep on moving it.

If you don't like to meditate, I get it.  Neither do I.  But, I keep on meditating.

If you think the breath practice is boring, keep on slowing down the exhale.  

If you imagine that yoga is a waste of your day, exercise is too time consuming, or cardio is just too hard, keep getting on your mat, putting on your tennis shoes, and setting aside that time.

It's the trying that heals you. Plant that tree now.  Stop procrastinating.

Failed...but Not a FAILure

I have failed tests.  In fact, my first Cooper Institute exam, the words came up on the computer screen at the testing center, 

"You failed."

I have failed my children as a mom.

I have failed at a job and have been let go.

I have failed at keeping promises.

I have failed at my business.

I have failed at times as a teacher.

I have failed a friendship or two.

I have failed myself.

I have failed to live up to my Christian ideals.

I have failed at yoga poses.

I have failed at losing weight and keeping it off.

But, here is the BEST NEWS...

I am not a "FAILure."

Neither are you.

Don't stop now.

What is the difference between a failed attempt and a failure?  The ability to keep on trying.  Failing can create bitterness or humility.  I am choosing the second one, and also I am choosing to never give up.  My tattoo reminds me, "nevertheless, she persisted."

God's mercies are new every morning.

Old things have passed away and behold all things are made new.

I retook that Cooper Institute exam in December of 2009, and I passed.  Now I just recertified again for three more years.  It was the hardest and most difficult test I ever took on a computer, but the life lessons have been so much harder to let go off personally.  I had to forgive myself and others.  Choose to be better and move forward.

Never give up.

Namaste'

Jeanne K

P.S.  No, I was spot on with my carb count yesterday.  But, I felt this message bubbling up within me.  So, whoever this is for:  You are not a failure if you keep on trying.

Have you ever felt like throwing in the towel, quitting, or just resigning?  Tell me your story.

Muscle Movement

Action of the Joints =

Prime Mover Muscles;

Yoga Poses with Weights

Shoulder Flexion = Anterior Deltoid, Pectoralis Major; Shoulder Press and Frontal Raise in Warrior I

Shoulder Extension = Latissimus Dorsi, Posterior Deltoid; Lat Pull Down in Standing Balancing Poses, like Tree, Crab or Reverse Table

Shoulder Abduction = Middle Deltoid, Supraspinatus (one of the four Rotator Cuff muscles); Lateral Raise with thumbs up in Warrior II

Shoulder Adduction = Latissiumus Dorsi, Pectoralis Major, Teres Major; Chest Press or Woodchopper in Bridge Pose

Shoulder Horizontal Abduction (Scapulae Retraction - moving the shoulder blades towards the midline of the back) = Posterior Deltoid, Rhomboids, and Middle Trapezius; Reverse Fly in Warrior II

Shoulder Horizontal Adduction (Scapulae Protraction - moving the shoulder blades away from one another) = Pectoralis Major, Anterior Deltoid, Serratus Anterior;  High Plank, Forearm Plank, and Chest Fly in Bridge

Elbow Flexion = Biceps Brachii, Brachialis, Brachioradialis; Bicep Curls in Warrior I, Hammer Curls in Goddess, and Arms Extended at shoulder height in Warrior II

Elbow Extension = Triceps; Tricep Extension in Pyramid, Tricep Extension in hands behind the neck and straightening the arms in a Balancing Pose like Standing Pigeon or Eagle

Trunk Flexion; Lateral Trunk Flexion = Rectus Abdominis, Obliques, Quadratus Lumborum Triangle with hand weights. Side Planks with weights or none, Forward Folds

Trunk Extension = Erector Spinae muscle group; Locust Pose with or without weights, Cobra

Hip Flexion = Ilio-Psoas; Knee to Chest in Lunge Kicks with weights at side or add in overhead press

Hip Extension with Leg Straight = Gluteus Maxiumus; Warrior III, Curtsy Squats

Hip Extension with Knee Bent = Hamstrings;  Bridge Pose with leg pulses

Hip Abduction = Gluteus Medius and Gluteus Minimus; Half Balancing Moon and Modified Gate or Side Plank with leg lift and heel/toe parallel to the floor

Hip Adduction =  Adductor Magnus, Adductor Longus, Adductor Brevis, Gracilis; Revolved Triangle and Twisted Pyramid

Knee Flexion = Hamstrings (Semimembraneous, Semitendinosis, Biceps Femoris); Donkey lifts from Table Top or Quadriped

Knee Extension = Quadriceps (Vastus Lateralis, Vastus Medialis, Vastus Intermedius, Rectus Femoris); Standing Mountain with Extended Leg in front of you with weights or no weights

Ankle Plantar Flexion = Gastrocnemius, Soleus (calf muscles); Standing Mountain or Chair Pose with Heel Lift

Ankle Dorsal Flexion = Tibialis Anterior (shin muscle); Lying on the back with feet on the wall for toe flaps keeping heels on wall or walking on heels with weights

Jeanne teaches these classes on Friday (12:00 pm no sun salutes), Tuesday (5:45 pm with Sun Salutes, Thursday (5:45 pm with Sun Salutes) and in January Monday (4:30 pm no sun salutes)