Some tips on how to get the most out of class

The hour and a half spent in class is your time.  Listen to your body and don’t do anything that doesn’t feel right.  Don’t pay too much attention to what your neighbour is doing or feel the need to do exactly what the teacher is doing.  Personal attention and hands-on assistance on my part will facilitate your feeling the stretch and releasing the muscles. 

The following reminders will help you enjoy your class all the more:

-          come to the class on an empty stomach

-          wear comfortable, non-restricting clothing and bare feet

-          you may want to bring a pair of warm socks and sweater/sweatshirt for the final relaxation.

-          I provide mats, props and blankets, however you may want to bring your own for assisting in poses and for use in the final relaxation.

If you have any injuries, illnesses, or pregnancy please tell me before the class so I can modify the class for you.  If you are fatigued or “under the weather”, still come, yoga can be very beneficial.  Please feel free to discuss with me, before or after class, any personal concerns or suggestions you may have for changes or additions. If you would like some advice on practice at home, I have resources that I can suggest to you.

If you feel sore after a class, drink plenty of water to flush out stored up toxins and/or try soaking in a bath with epsom salts.

 

You are welcome to come to class as much as 15 minutes early to have some quiet time to yourself.  I will suggest relaxing poses for you to take during this time.

Keep in mind that yoga is a time for quiet attention and looking inward.  Many people come to yoga for stress reduction and relaxation.  Please keep socializing to before or after the class.

I will do everything based on my training and knowledge to provide you with a safe and enjoyable yoga practice.  Although yoga is an inherently low risk activity, it is still possible for even experienced practitioners to injure themselves.  You alone are ultimately responsible for your physical safety, as it is impossible for me to feel your physical limitations.  To create safety, I provide information on the benefits, precautions, adaptations and contraindications for each pose.  If you are in any doubt about a physical condition that may affect your participation, please inform me.  You may also wish to consult with your physician.

The adventure of exploration

As the new season starts up and I am getting together information about my classes, I am forced to ask myself - what is the essence of my yoga, what is it that I connect to most?

At the beginning it was a completely physical pursuit and has evolved over the last 20 years - I'm a bonified middle aged lady now at 45.  But it is also constantly changing.

Right now, (if I was forced to choose one word) I would have to say that it is exploration.

I have chosen a few pictures of animals stretching as they are so inspiring - their bodies are free, they don't look like they're thinking too hard.

So as I embark on a new year of yoga, that is where I'm headed - a free body through exploration, and naturally the not thinking too hard part would be great too!

Exploration is related to many other words - noticing, awareness, playfulness.  So while we hold the yoga poses and follow our breathing, we're asking ourselves - what's going on?  Am I bored, energized?  Where do I feel tension?  Where do I resist?  Where do I let go?  Where am I holding? Where am I loose?

The other side of this, is that we're not looking at our neighbour or putting too much stock in what the teacher is saying (!?).  We're treating ourselves as the expert about ourselves.  And depending on the day, we might bring seriousness, spontaneity, playfulness or any other emotion to this exploration.  It's a journey, an adventure that never ends.  Just like a pose, you can release into it infinite amounts.

Through the querying, we hopefully gain knowledge about ourselves, and isn't knowing ourselves the biggy that everyone keeps talking about?

Look at that dude - he's happy, extremely flexible and definitely not thinking too hard!

Yoga for Sciatica

Sometimes students email me if I have any information about particular problems they have.  I welcome these inquiries, as it sends me back to the books and to the internet, where I glean all the information and whatever makes sense to me based on my experience, I can hand over back to the questioner.  Here is what I've come up with for sciatica, which is a problem that has come up a few times.  

Sciatica can be quite annoying, and different for everyone, so what works for someone else, might not work for you.  The sciatic nerve is quite a big one, the thickness of your finger, starting at the low back and ending at the back of each leg.  Sciatica is usually caused by a bulging disc in low back or a tight piriformis.   Avoid all forward bending, try all stretching very slowly and carefully, you might have to experiment a bit with the following to find out what will work for you:

A sequence to follow can be found at:

http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2308

Also try (keeping back straight for each one)

- Dog pose to a wall - toes pointed in, heels out
- Raise the painful leg on stool, chair, step - whatever you can handle.
- Sit cross legged, cross foot over knee of painful side, if you can take it, hug knee toward chest, but don't go into twist.
-Lie with legs up wall, bum at wall or slightly away, bend leg of good side and place ankle of bad side over thigh (as high up as you can go) over knee of good leg.  Slide foot of good leg down the wall as far as you can go. 

Also keep those hips open with hip openers!