Most of us spend considerable time sitting at a desk and/or working at a computer and let’s face it, our necks and shoulders get really cramped and tight. Depending upon your particular line of work and your physical condition, those knots can begin tying up your mind as well as your shoulders. The antidote for me is frequent yoga breaks.

Today I gave a short demonstration for area workers of some yoga stretches that can alleviate Desk Stress. Here are two poses that will help yo release that tension. It’s a very brief, mini introduction to yoga in the workplace.

OFFICE YOGA Stretch and Relax while at your desk!

       Arms Overhead – Great for releasing shoulder and neck tension that occurs during computer work.

With hands clasped together, turn palms toward knees. As you inhale, raise arms overhead.  Continue softly breathing as you press through index finger mounds.  Release shoulders towards kidneys. When ready, exhale and release arms.

      Seated Spinal Waves -If you are feeling stiff and achy, try some spinal waves. The spinal waves gently move the spine releasing tension throughout the back of the body. As tension and knots are released, energy can flow in unimpeded waves of healing and rejuvenation throughout your entire system. Try them anytime you need a quick pick-me up during the day.

Sit with your buttocks on the middle of the seat with your ankles falling in line with your knees. Inhale and lift the spine. Place your hands palms down on your thighs.  As you exhale, round the back draw the tail forward while pressing the navel towards the spine to engage your abdominal muscles. Tuck your chin gently stretching the back of the neck. Invite the shoulders to roll forward, away from the spine.  Inhale and reverse the curve of the spine, lifting the chest and drawing the tail down and towards the back of the chair. Lift the chin and stretch the front of the neck.  Roll the shoulders back and squeeze the inner shoulder blades toward the spine. Stretch the front of the torso as you release the belly. Lift and open the heart center.

Repeat 10 times.

© Carolyn Kieber Grady 2012  

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Wrapped Gift (barefoot photos)

Woohoo….let the drums roll and the bugles blare.

There are two winners of the Free Yoga Book Giveaway announced on the Your Presence, The Most Generous Gift post.

Kathleen commented that “It is not about the “stuff” but about being with each other and spending time with those that we love. It is also about taking time for self.” Both thoughts I want to hold close to my heart during this new year. Spending time with those we love, and I include MYSELF among the beloved, is a core practice. Any nigglings of alienation dissipate when I am present to love. Self-doubt, one of my “corrupting nigglers” also wears thin in love’s presence. In the presence of love, I know who I am ….and feel good, spiritually and mentally healthy, and whole.

For K., A copy of Esther Myers’ book beautiful and honest book, YOGA & YOU Energizing Yoga for New and Experienced Students, is awarded. Esther passed away in 1994. Though I was never fortunate enough to have a class with EM, her struggle with breast cancer as well as her honesty describing the daily ups and downs of yoga practice continue to inspire me. Fortunately for us, her teachings live on in this text. Kathleen, I hope you enjoy, learn, and your practice is inspired in 2011!

Perce wrote that it was during a yoga practice (don’t you love those little epiphanies that arise out of nowhere during practice ~ I sure do and they remind me that my BRAIN needs yoga as much as anything else) that she realized she had many items already on her shelves that her family would enjoy. Don’t we all, Perce!

Thanks for the reminder to look around and mentally, or in your journal, inventory, your assets. There are so many gifts already in our possession, from the “stuff” we own, such as the jewelry you mentioned in your comment, to the personal characteristics we’ve developed over the years, such as an ability to listen and be present to another person.

For you, a book that was on my shelf: Mira Mehta’s How To Use Yoga, A Step-by-Step Guide to the Iyengar Method of Yoga, Relaxation, Health, and Well-being. Perce, I hope the precision shown in the writing and the clear photos in this book will assist the alignment and sukham (happiness) in your practice.

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Practicing yoga postures without breath awareness sustains physical benefits such as increased flexibility, deepening strength, improved balance.

Seeds at Watson Lake, Prescott AZ (barefoot photos)

When breath becomes an integral component of asana, the mind focuses and can achieve the single-pointed awareness so often mentioned by the ancient sages.

Breath awareness is key for deepening yoga practice because it links the mind-body into a unified being. As it anchors the mind to the physical movement (or non-movement), it  awakens the body’s intelligence, as B.K.S. Iyengar says.

Mindful awareness then turns the practice from a purely physical level into meditation for the practitioner.

Breath awareness is also key to opening into more mindful awareness of life itself. When my thoughts or emotions start to spin out in their all too often merry escapades, I find that checking in on my breath can slow the wild energy down and I can more easily glimpse the reality I am experiencing sans whatever emotional or mental machinations surrounding said reality.

A simple practice for increasing your conscious awareness of your personal breath patterns is to simply notice the breath and then give it a short name, such as rushing breath, or lazy breath, or not-breathing (yes, breath holding is more common than you might think), or hyper-ventilating.

Checking in with the breath, once per day, will increase your mindful awareness of the moment. As a bonus, you may find, as I have, that breathing FEELS good. Through continued practice, I have found a beautiful relationship developing with my breath. It’s a marriage that gives me much pleasure.

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Butterfly bush flower (barefoot photos)

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the dog days of summer have settled in with a big ole lazy heat wave. Who wants to move when the air is so heavy? Yoga class today? No, thanks, set me in front of my fan with an icy latte and a spicy novel. It’s good to slow down in the heat, even if that means giving ourselves permission to laze around.

At some point though, the novel ends, and the body calls for movement, despite the sweltering weather. Recent research shows SITTING to be a major culprit in health decline. So I’m heading to the studio, no matter how strong the sun is today. No matter how lazy my mind tells me that I am.

I’ve been working on supta padanghusthasana (reclining leg lift) which is a foundation pose. It’s a forward bend that is practiced lying on the floor with the back of the body completely supported. Even if my back is achy or slightly injured, I find I enjoy the stretch and release of this particular pose.

With both knees bent, I reach for the big toe of my left foot with the second and third fingers of my left hand. Those are the “peace sign” fingers for all you lovers of hamstring release. Stretching the left leg, reaching the toe pads toward the ceiling, lengthening the inner ankle bone up and away, I soften my shoulders, my hips, my belly, my face and gaze gently up at my big toe. Maybe I curl my mouth into a half-smile. Just for the heck of it and because I need to remind myself that I am inviting my hamstrings to release with non-forceful effort.

Sometimes I practice with the foundation foot pressed into a wall. It’s amazing how that can ground the femur. Then I can invite the groins to release deep within. Sending my awareness into the places I tend to hold and then slowly breathing into that area. The lifted leg slides a bit closer toward my shoulder. Perhaps I’m able to grasp that ankle today. The lower back responds to the stretch by softening and dropping. I imagine my brain dropping onto the back of my skull as my thinking slows.

And then, for fun, sometimes I practice while in legs-up-the-wall pose.

There are the variations, beginning with supta padangusthasana two: Turning the leg out from the hip so that the knee begins to look toward the floor, I draw the raised leg away from the body and up towards the shoulder.

Supta Padangusthasana #2 (barefoot photos)

Or Supta padangusthasana three which is not an official pose but delivers a strong stretch all the way around the hip. I swing the lifted leg back to the center; switch the hand  grasping my foot, and invite my body to roll onto the side as the foot drops onto the floor and I release the opposite arm away from me in a “T: position. With a strong exhale into the shoulder blades, I tuck the other shoulder under my body and release the upper hip away from the leg

MMMMMM, It’s all delicious.

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Adho Mukha Svanasana or Downward Facing Dog, aka DFD, is a pose I could never give up, at least not willingly. There are so many delicious benefits: the back enters a lovely traction, stretching out whatever has kinked up, the shoulders are invited to open and receive a stretch, the arms strengthen with every breath, the backs of the legs lengthen, the soles of the feet and the Achilles and calves stretch luxuriously, the heart center opens, balance is encouraged between the upper and the lower body, the upper spine and tops of the shoulders soften and then I breathe and practice my endurance or move into a flow with three legged dog, and pigeon OR plank pose and upward facing dog OR side arm balance (vasisthasana) OR forward fold and chair pose….Ahhhhhhh, the variations and mini-sequences keep the pose fresh and the mind attentive.

At least once per season I teach each of my groups a DOWNWARD DOG CLASS. An entire class focused on DOG. Barking optional. No one ever complains. I’m in my element and so are my students. We have the luxury to REALLY examine our strengths and weaknesses in DFD. Why not? Check out the depth of BKS Iyengar’s dog! It becomes clear how much room there is for development ~ I know there certainly is lots of ways to “grow” my dog. This year I’ve been working on endurance and strength in Dog. Try holding it for five full minutes. I’m not there yet and the question remains: Is it my mind or my body that is holding me back?

Here are some notes from my journals:

DFD: Find the central axis and can you make it longer breathe into that area that is tight

DFD: Partner practice putting thumb in acromium process as you lift and rotate arms outward—can do this sitting

To reset shoulders, do Viparita w/ big rolls under forearms and sandbags on armpits

To teach external rotation of shoulders:

#1 head on block

#2 Thumbs and fingers on wall at floor level

#3 Ace bandages wrapped on upper arms

#4 Arms on blocks (also good for wrist issue people)

#5 blocks under forearms to help lift forearms

#6 Squeeze block between legs to rotate inner thighs rotate in….resist at ankles….stretch big toe to outer heel

Dog makes a suitable basis for home practice. Listen to your body and mind as you develop a deepening awareness of this beautiful pose. The physical or mental areas where you have difficulty present possibilities for growth in the pose. You may wish to pay attention to these areas during preparatory practice for DFD. For instance, if your shoulders are tight, you probably want to embark upon a couple of shoulder openers before you attempt Dog. If your back has been bothering you, warm it up first with cat-cow and a twist or two. If your hamstrings have not been stretched for a while, supta padanghusthasana is in order.

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If you have been practicing for any amount of time, you’ve probably asked yourself, what is the goal of all this mat-work? Is it to become a bit more “bendy?”

My answer is that BENDY is an offshoot of a good practice. You should begin to see real changes in your everyday life after a couple of months of yogic practice. The people around you should begin to notice that YOU HAVE CHANGED.

I remember quite vividly, Mike saying to me that I had become a “kinder, gentler” version of myself.

HUH? answered. It took a while for me to recognize the SELF that was emerging. How beautiful and wonderful to evolve. Truly this is a gift.

The world is evolving as well, just as individuals are moving through samsara on journeys filled with peace and love. I share with you an amazing video of two rock stars in my world: an interview by Boulder’s green blogger yogi, Waylon Lewis on his elevision with eminent Buddhist scholar, Robert Thurman. They tackle the question, Does the Dalai Lama matter? and in the process discuss world peace, Tibet, Buddhism mixing it all up with some humor and light. I don’t know what Waylon did to Bob, but the usually staid teacher was in rare form, telling silly jokes that of course the Laughing Yogini LOVED.

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Happy Fourth of July to American yogins everywhere.

Beyond the flashy fireworks and barbecue festivities, this is a day to reflect upon the meaning of freedom and to celebrate the birthday of our country. Revolutionary War soldiers certainly felt as if Colonial powers were impeding their lives and their freedom. For many of us however, the celebration is checkered by a history that was often cruel and pocked by the nether aspects of  humanity.  For instance,  the culture and political community that existed on the continent was nearly obliterated.

How can we reconcile the shame with the pride?

Have you taken time today – even ten minutes – to ask WHO AM I while sitting in silence and listening to whatever burbles into consciousness? I feel truly free when connecting with my SELF, the Source of energy and life itself. Does the past impede your present life or can you free yourself to live truly open to this present moment? Have you ever felt truly free?

Some thoughts to pepper your practice:

Do you feel constricted in your life?

Can freedom be achieved in every single asana? What is the key?

Is there a place or a practice that helps you move and act beyond shame and pride? Do you even think that this is possible? How does this relate to freedom? Is freedom a worthwhile endeavor? What do you consider more important?

What are the chains keeping you from living the life that is YOURS?

Is personal or spiritual freedom possible without political freedom? What price are you willing to pay for each of these liberations?

How can a sense of lightness, humor, and joy infuse the challenge of becoming more free?

When I watch the fireworks tonight in Swansboro, North Carolina, I’ll think of the struggle for personal/spiritual freedom that this community is dedicated to and I’ll clap for y’all at the first appricot squiggle bursting overhead.

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Continuing the discussion on the triad of yogic practice: FLEXIBILITY, BALANCE, and STRENGTH, today’s post focuses upon BALANCE in our practice and in our lives.

Many students, particularly elders, join a yoga class because they wish to improve their BALANCE. This is not surprising because during every decade of living we lose considerable ability to BALANCE. Unbalance is due to several reasons, the most prominent being loss of muscle mass. It’s easy to see then, that building STRENGTH is a critical component of developing BALANCE.

Having said that though, there is considerable difference among students and for a variety of reasons, younger students sometimes have worse balance than elders.

Maybe we need to question the essential existence of BALANCE in the world and in our lives. What is BALANCE exactly?

Is balance an achievable state or a momentary state?

Is BALANCE a construct of the mind?

Is physical balance different from mental or spiritual balance?

Can one be achieved without the other?

Is BALANCE synonymous with enlightenment?

Is BALANCE possible without flexibility or strength?

Before we twirl ourselves into a heady, non-yogic state of mental machinations, let’s pause to remember the deeper dimensions of our yogic practice. Phillip Moffitt of the LIFE BALANCE INSTITUTE, writes in his article,”The Perfect Pose”:

In the type of meditation I teach, vipassana, the heart of the practice is being present with mindfulness and equanimity. In vipassana we use sitting on a cushion and walking meditation as our two primary forms of practice, but we also emphasize that the practice happens in each moment of your life, not just during the times of formal meditation. The same is true for hatha yoga; the time you spend on the sticky mat is your formal practice, where you learn to strengthen and stretch your body and to concentrate your mind. However, the deeper intention of yoga is to create a state of fluidity and flexibility in body and mind such that you can handle the inevitable physical and mental stresses and strains that arise in your life. If you practice with this intention, it doesn’t matter what your poses look like.

Having thus returned to our SELVES (if you’re not there yet, please breathe, rub your ears, feet, hands, feel and acknowledge the grounding points of your BODY), we recognize that BALANCE can definitely improve with daily hatha yoga practice. Nearly all of the standing poses (The warriors, triangle, standing forward bend, standing wide-angled forward bend, right angle, half-moon, the standing “revolutions”) as well as what we typically call the BALANCE poses (tree, dancer, standing big toe pose) provide development of our physical balancing skills.

Does our mental or emotional outlook affect how we “perform” the poses on any given day? There is some truth here, but how much? Yogic Lore, and my first adult teacher, repeatedly said that yes, indeed, if we are feeling agitated, our tree pose will be wobbly, we’ll sway in triangle, etc.

My experience,however has been otherwise. Sometimes it’s the pose that brings me into balance on monkey-mind days! Sometimes, placing my body in a very precarious position, pushes my mind – and heart – to settle down and focus so my body can remain upright.

I’d always felt that BALANCE was one of my weaker skills, but I’ve found that over the years, as I’ve gained flexibility, coordination, and strength, especially in the hip and thighs, that my BALANCE has shown remarkable improvement.

Concurrently, as I’ve strengthened the connection with my core, my inner being, the balance I feel in my life -off the mat – has undergone remarkable transformation. For many years, I felt as if I was not leading “my” life. Now I know, and it’s with a deep, often unconscious, knowing that I am the compassionate creator of my own life.

Balance resides in the being. What happens outside is another question.

Meditation & Asana Practice: To take your balance further, practice the above-mentioned poses, and observe how your emotional and mental states effect the physical pose. Do you enjoy greater balance in the morning or in the evening,  on still versus windy days, in summer or in winter, in a class or when alone. How much do energies outside of your SELF affect you?

YOGA JOURNAL activity:  five-minute free write on balance in your life, recording some of your observations from practice. Feel free to share some of your reflections with other yogi-nis in the comment section on this page.

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Since I began a discussion of inversions with the benefits of a modified shoulderstand, it might be beneficial to continue with a look at the full pose, sarvangasana. Here are 3 videos for studying. Even if you are an experienced shoulderstandee, I recommend you study the videos for tips you may have forgotten or perhaps that were missed when you first learned the pose.

*Please remember to seek medical advice BEFORE inverting, especially because shoulderstand is contraindicated for menstruation, glaucoma, displaced retina, uncontrolled high blood pressure, certain neck or back issues, as well as other conditions.

*ALWAYS learn the pose from a qualified teacher before attempting it on your own.

*Come out of the pose if it doesn’t feel right for you on that particular day.

*YOU are the only one who knows how your body is feeling on any given day.

* Remember to be patient and begin with short stay in sarvangasana, increase your timing gradually, say 15 seconds more each subsequent shoulderstand you attempt.

*Ringing in the ears, a sense of fullness or pressure in the head, or quickness of breath are signs that you should come down. Please heed them.

*Spend some time transitioning out of the pose. Traditionally, FISH pose is practiced, but you can try a supported fish by sliding your head and shoulders off of the support, and resting your hips elevated on the blankets. Knees can be bent or straightened. Spend at least half the time you were upside-down, in the transition phase to allow the back and mind to settle.

Even early in your practice of sarvangasana, you may begin to reap some of the many benefits of the “Queen” of Yoga. As you grow proficient in the pose, the benefits continue to accrue and deepen.

For those of you who are more experienced with shoulderstand, you may benefit from studying B.K.S. Iyengar teaching a master class:

FOR FURTHER READING:

AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE ON SHOULDERSTAND FROM YOGA.COM

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When advertising my classes, I stress developing flexibility, strength, and balance. Most people will read that and presume I’m referring to physical aspects focused upon in the classes, which is true.

However, FLEXIBILITY, BALANCE, and STRENGTH are qualities needing development in every mind, heart, and life.

When I canceled classes at the last minute in order to attend a weekend yoga workshop, my teacher emailed and praised my flexibility. It’s a beautiful aspect of a well-developed yoga practice, he said (or something to that effect).

During March, I’ve taken some time away from the computer. As the regular readers will have noticed, there were few posts – and I still need to answer some of the exquisite comments that have been made – I also spent little time posting updates on Twitter and FaceBook. It was enough for me to scan my emails and answer the most pressing. I didn’t read many blogs, nor did I spend much time in my beloved Comfort Cafe! My excuse is that I felt myself digging further into a cyber-rut and I needed “out.”

For me, March became a time to re-charge and do something DIFFERENT (doing something different is a hallmark of flexibility, right?)

I DID allow myself to collect some garden manure at Renee’s Poop Party, wallow in some genealogical research, take long walks, rake my gardens, read, and begin to create my poetry collection, BAREFOOT & UPSIDE DOWN. I visited my folks in North Carolina, spent an afternoon with my cousin, helped a fellow writer on a project, saw my old writing mentor, and chatted on SKYPE with my family, including my sis in Poland.

So there, I’m certifiably FLEXIBLE. And it’s got nothing whatsoever to do with how close my chin comes to my shin in forward-fold. Or does it?

FLEXIBILITY is about softening, releasing, exhaling.

In yoga practice, we scan for places in our body where we may be holding, grasping, clenching, knotted, or otherwise shortening our physical selves, our energetic selves.

In meditation, we observe our minds and hearts for these same rigid, knotty, and hard patterns.

These patterns have developed over the course of our lifetime in response to myriad events.

FLEXIBILITY is about re-wiring fixed patterns. As we grow older, we continue to develop more and deeper patterns. Whether we look at our daily breath, or where we hold our stress, or how we approach problematic relationships, we can probably find several long-standing and typical ways of responding. There is a yogic saying: YOU ARE ONLY AS YOUNG AS YOUR SPINE (is flexible).

Neuroscientists say that FLEXIBILITY is important for keeping our brains young. PBS had a great series on the AGING BRAIN. Check it out and then Learn More at the Brain Resource Center. There’s loads of fresh research on everything from aging to ADHD.

In yoga and meditation,as in every other area, it’s important to maintain a soft attitude toward our flexibility. Commanding ourselves to release: YOU WILL SOFTEN THOSE STEEL-TINGED SHOULDERS OR ELSE! is a lot like kicking the horse when you want it to trot. A gentle attitude works with horses as it does with our shoulders and our crankiness.

Fortunately, we have a great tool for helping us to release deeper: the breath. Without even using words, we can send the breath to those crying hamstrings in forward fold and, focusing on the exhalation, release the belly and feel the hams grow longer.

In meditation, we can return to watching the breath when we find ourselves caught up in repetitious thought patterns, thereby creating space between the nuggets of verbiage that repeat ad nauseum in our cerebrum.

As far as those pesky relationship issues, try a little softening and breathing and see if things don’t iron out- at least somewhat, if not altogether.

And regarding moods that can overtake our entire life while raging unchecked, try more sitting and breathing, more yoga stretching, with much more softening all around.

Don’t take it all so seriously; that’s a sure fire way to grow more rigid. Throw some light and laughter at your stiffness, your bleakness, your obsessions, your life. It’s spring, after all.

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