Dead Body Pose

Dead Body Pose

  Dead body pose, also called Savasana is physically one of the easiest poses in Yoga.  But in other ways, Savasana is the toughest of all poses!  In fact, a yoga instructor once told me that he felt that Savasana was the most difficult pose of all!  I was at a yoga class the other week, and at the end of a brutal 60 minute yoga workout, it was time for Savasana (click here for a photo of Savasana, along with benefits and instructions).  As I was getting ready to lie down and relax, I noticed quite a few people quickly getting off the floor, rolling their mats up and promptly leaving.  This got me to thinking, why do some, if not most, practitioners of yoga have such issues with this pose? 

  I remember reading an article a while back, and the only thing I got out of it was how a client of a yoga instructor would always refuse to do Savasana.  When asked why, he responded with "it makes me feel like I'm dead, so I refuse to do it!".  Okay, his choice, but lets look at some of the many the benefits of this pose:

--it decreases your heart and breathing rate.

--it decreases blood pressure.

--helps to reduce frequency of panic attacks, or feelings of anxiety.

--increases confidence.

--increases your energy.  

  In many ways people view this pose as "meditation", and there's a lot of stigma attached to meditation making it seem almost impossible to do.  When I'm in Savasana I like to focus on my breathing, and relaxing all of my body from my toes up to my head.  I make it sound easy, but for all of us, this is extremely difficult.  Many of our minds are racing a mile a minute, such as "what should I make for dinner to-nite", "how am I going to handle this situation at work I've been having problems with", "I wish the person next to me would stop moving around", "the music playing in the background is really irritating!".  Then you get an itch and you really need to scratch it, then that bead of sweat is rolling down your forehead and you have to wipe it away.  The pose can then get very frustrating, and you want to come out of it so you can carry on with your day!  Can you see why this is difficult?

At least, if you're doing a challenging pose, like Tree you are concentrating on keeping your balance, maintaining your breathing, stretching your spine up and keeping your shoulders down.  In Savasana you're only focusing on the inner self, the mind, the brain so to speak.  My point in this short blog is this, try even if for only a minute, to stay in Savasana.  Try to watch your breath and when you start to think of other things, be okay with that, then move back into watching your breath.  After a minute, go for two, then go for more and more time, but don't be so concerned with time (see how confusing this pose can be?)

Be gentle with yourself in this pose.  Give it a try, it's very invigorating, and it helps you to assimilate all the benefits of the yoga you have just done.  Be aware, but don't think.  Be relaxed, but don't fall asleep.  It's not so easy when you think about it, or not think about it!

  

  

Is Yoga Supposed To Hurt?

Is Yoga Supposed To Hurt?

No!!!  Yoga is not supposed to hurt!  There are reasons why you have modifications for poses, and that props (such as belts or blocks) are used to support you so that you don't injure yourself.

You have to know your boundaries.  You have to learn how to listen to your body at all times, check in with yourself and be aware during your entire practice of what your body is feeling.  Do you notice how your yoga instructor (either in real life, or on DVD) keeps reminding you to breath, to relax your shoulders, to soften your face?  They're not doing that to annoy you, or to make you look pretty, they're reminding you to check in with your body.  

This also includes emotional pain!  Poses that cause us emotional pain (see my last blog), can stop us from breathing correctly, or cause us to have an expression of pain on our faces.  Again, check in with yourself and ask if this is physical or emotional.  Emotional pain is just as painful and important as physical pain, so again it's alright to use props, or get into a modification of a pose.  

It's really important that you communicate with your yoga instructor about modifications.  In my opinion, a good yoga instructor should always ask new comers if they have any old or new injuries.  If your yoga instructor doesn't ask, please go and tell them.  

On the other hand, in my personal practice, yoga has healed an old injury.  About twice a year, sometimes more, I would sprain my left ankle to the point where I would be on crutches for a month at a time.   I was told by a doctor, the last time I sprained it, that I would eventually require surgery.  I don't like surgery (who does!), so I decided to use yoga as a way to mend and strengthen the muscles in that ankle (something I don't recommend you do unless you speak to a professional first).  Now mind you, I was very afraid to do any pose or activity that would challenge that ankle.  So for 6 months, I wore an Ace Wrap around that ankle during yoga practice to give it more strength while doing certain poses such as Tree Pose (click here for a photo of tree pose, and it's benefits).  Modifications and props were my best friends during that time!  This strengthened my ankle to the point where I don't have to wear an Ace and I've not had a sprain in over two years!

I remember looking on Facebook years ago, and a friend who is an avid yogi was teased by one of her friends that yoga can cause severe injuries by placing a link to an article to "prove his point".  Sometimes yoga injuries are just plain freakish (I knew of a woman who broke her nose while falling out of crow pose), and some are due to people pushing their yoga limits way past what they should be doing.  The point is that you should not do a yoga pose by yourself, that could have the potential to injure, unless you absolutely know what you're doing.  

If a yoga instructor is going around class forcing people into certain poses (such as pushing you down so that you can stretch further), I would suggest staying away from that instructor.  I'm okay with an instructor correcting my pose, and with a very gentle touch correcting my posture.   I'm not okay with an instructor who uses force to "help" you get deeper into the pose.  If you find yourself in a class with an instructor who uses force, it's okay to ask them to please not touch you when you see them coming your way.  

Remember, be aware, be safe, don't force it, listen to your gut, use modifications, use props, find a good yoga instructor, and have fun with it!  Yoga should not hurt, and yoga should not cause injuries.   

          

Why am I feeling so emotional in this yoga pose?

Why am I feeling so emotional in this yoga pose?

 The first time I tried a simple back bend, I felt panicky and suffocated.  I ignored that feeling because I didn't understand at that time what it meant.  Then, the first time I was in Camel Pose (click here for a photo of what Camel Pose looks like) I couldn't hold the position for very long because I felt as though I was going to have a panic attack, so I gently came out of the position, and went into child's pose.  It baffled me, why was I feeling this way?

 I then got to thinking about trauma and how the body tries to protect the mind.  Keep in mind (no pun intended there!), that the body and the mind and the spirit are all one.  The body will try to protect your spirit and mind by taking some of the blow of a traumatic or emotional situation.  So, lets say for example, that something happened to you that made you shut down your heart, when you do back bends, you're opening up your chest very wide, you're also opening up your heart along with your heart chakra.  

Chakra's, simply put, are energy centers in your body that spin according to how open or closed that chakra is.  If your heart has been broken, or if anything happened that affected your heart chakra, chances are that the heart chakra is closed down, or clogged, or dirty and needs to be "repaired".  Click here for a chart of our seven chakras.  We have seven chakras, each of them related to a glandular section of the body, each chakra has a spiritual, and physical purpose.  If one or more chakras are "broken down", then our entire aura, and thus spiritual body is affected, this in turns affects our minds, and body!

This is the beauty of yoga.  Yoga is for the mind, body and spirit.  So how do you get into poses that are difficult and make you feel like you're going to have a panic attack, or cry, or feel depressed, or feel any "negative emotion"?  In my example of Camel Pose, I would get into the pose, and breath very deeply.  I would allow myself to feel the panic, and if it became too much, I would go back into child's pose.  Also,  while in Camel, I would imagine my chest and my heart chakra opening up.  I imagined green light (green is the color of the heart chakra), entering and cleaning out my heart chakra.  Be gentle with yourself, be patient, and don't force any pose if it starts to feel overwhelming to you in any way.

Yoga gives us a mind/body/spirit communication.  The key with this communication is to stay present, and to be open to receive the messages your body is trying to tell you.  Expect nothing, your body will not speak if it's being watched like a hawk, or forced to produce a result.  If you need to seek support please do so.  You are worth to being listened to at every level of your being.    

Your First Yoga Class

Your First Yoga Class

  I was so afraid before my first yoga class.  Nerves took a hold because I truly didn't know what to expect, I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to do some of the poses, I was scared people would be watching me secretly giggling at my technique or lack of, I was just scared.  But, once I was 10 minutes into my first yoga class, I realized that all those fears were totally false, and I began to mellow out and enjoy yoga class!

  So what to expect?  First, find a beginners yoga class (if you are a beginner especially), even if you're not a beginner, and have not practiced in a while, a beginners class will brush you up on poses, technique etc.  My best advice for choosing a  yoga class is to ask around, word of mouth is a good way to find a good class and yoga instructor!  Do research on your computer about yoga studios in your area, find out if your gym offers yoga classes (they usually do).  

  If you have one, bring your own yoga mat, and make sure to clean your mat before you use it in your home again.  If you have yet to buy a yoga mat, most studios will supply you with one.  Using yoga mats supplied from a  yoga studio will actually help you figure out what mats you would prefer, and eventually buy (mats come with different thickness and treads and last many years, so they are investments).  Most yoga studios will also supply belts, and blocks so no need for you to buy or bring your own.

  It's helpful to do some online research on basic yoga poses.  This will help you understand what the instructor is saying when she says "lets lie in corpse pose", or "lets do a simple sun salutation".  Some common yoga poses are: down dog, fetal/child pose, corpse pose, warrior stance, chair pose, plank, cat/cow pose.   Here is a wonderful link with photos of the basic poses that you should take a look at before your class Love to know Common yoga poses.  

  Finally, if you're in class, and you find you just cannot do the pose your instructor wants you to do, it's totally okay to lie down into child pose until the next pose comes along.  Although it's a simple pose, it's a resting pose with many benefits, and is totally fine to do when you're feeling overwhelmed in class.  Here is a youtube video on how to get into child's pose this is the beginners version of child pose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MATFkfTgJU

  Michelle.