I am still searching for answers on practicing yoga and the correlation (not causation) of F.A.I. and Labrum tears of the hip related specifically to the Vinyasa style of yoga. I was excited to see that Leslie Kaminoff, renown for his knowledge and his book, The Anatomy of Yoga, expressed his thoughts. Kaminoff's response: William J. Broad is not doing "Yoga". What I love about Kaminoff's response is that he is speaking about YOGA - the whole of yoga, not just the physical aspects, the "workout". Kaminoff says, "Asana practice is a tool of yoga. Yoga is a much, much bigger tool than Asana practice." Broad admits that his motivation for writing this series of articles on how yoga can hurt your body was because he hurt himself in an Asana class because he was distracted by a beautiful woman in front of him. He was not practicing YOGA! His latest article is here, Women's Flexibility is Liability (in Yoga) The actual practice of yoga, of all aspects of yoga, has to do with bringing a certain consciousness to our actions. In which case, if we are practicing Asana, we should be able to bring that awareness to our bodies and thereby practice safely and within our limitations, while still challenging ourselves at the edges. Interestingly, this also fits within the Yama of Ahimsa (non-violence). Kaminoff describes these three Niyamas as the "Prayer of Serenity" of Yoga: Tapas (the fire, discipline, practice) = the things that we can change If you are truly practicing Tapas, Svadhyaya and Ishvara pranidhana in an Asana class, then you ARE practicing Yoga. That's not to say we don't injure ourselves. Of course the possibility exists. The possibility exists playing basketball, or in an aerobics class, or crossfit for crying out loud, or simply walking out your front door... darn-it, I broke my toe last year inside my own house, so now being home is a risk! I have also injured myself in yoga, and I am currently dealing with the exact injury Broad discusses in his most recent article - F.A.I. (Femoral Acetabular Impingement). But my injuries have come from a lack of awareness and connection - perhaps a regression in my practice of ahimsa, in my own body and practice and pushing beyond limits that I should rather accept as they are. The difference though between yoga and other forms of fitness though is twofold: It follows then, that if we are working on this level, we should be able to avoid injury. Now, I fully realize that another important factor in this Asana practice involves the teacher - and a knowledgeable teacher should be able to mitigate the danger through careful cueing and guidance, to help the student cultivate a higher awareness in her body, her own challenges and her own limitations. The actuality is, not all teachers have that knowledge. Knowledge is a continuum, and gained through time, with careful study and experience. All teachers are well-intended, but on a different point along their personal journey. Practicing yoga in the form of a group exercise class holds its own set of risks. I cannot keep a room of 30 people nearly as safe as I can a group of 5, try though I do! Tapas Svadhyaya, Ishvara pranidhana... these three principles should help us to find the introspection to learn to move beyond limitations but also to learn those limitations that we cannot move past. When we cultivate this, we can avoid injury (and non-harming, that is ahimsa). The bottom line, one of the yoga sutras, which Kaminoff quotes, "all of the suffering you are about to experience can and should be avoided." How to avoid this? Through the mind-body connection that IS yoga.
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This post is in reference to Waylon Lewis's response to the latest lululemon controversy, one in which the company directly stated that heavy women are not their target market. Read the article here: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/11/in-defense-of-lululemons-ceo-chip-wilson/ My response: I completely respect this response to the lululemon controversy. It's up to you, friends, where you put your money. Where you put your money reflects what is important to you. I personally don't care if you wear lulu or prana or inner waves om girl. Lewis says: "It's the right of any company to target any demographic." Yoga is getting a lot of flak these days for how it can hurt your body. Specifically I refer to a recent article written by the science journalist and author of The Science of Yoga, William J. Broad, Women’s Flexibility is a Liability in Yoga, published in the New York Times on Nov 2, 2013. The point of Broad’s article may have been to warn practitioners to practice yoga safely. It may have been a means for Broad to sell more books. The real-world result for yoga instructors is that we are also taking a hit, and a lot of that criticism is that we are not being trained enough to teach yoga safely. As a yoga instructor who cares a lot about the safety of my students, yet who also wants them to challenge their own limitations, a tenet of yoga that is beneficial on a physical and a spiritual level, this criticism is difficult to digest. (Please notice I never said, nor do I say to "push through the pain" as Broad quotes yoga instructors... I do encourage my students to challenge their own limitations and to develop an awareness of what their body is telling them - an awareness that we have numbed through habits and lifestyle, and one which a good yoga practice can help us to restore, but that's another commentary in itself!) When an article such as this comes out, I pay close attention to what it says and its implications. This article speaks directly to me both as a practitioner (being a woman of more than average flexibility) and as an instructor (making sure that I am educating my students to be aware of their bodies, and while challenging their limitations, also feeling and sensing pain that might be bad). Then I find myself searching for answers. Wanting more information. I found some answers in Paul Grilley’s, noted creator of the Yin Yoga practice, response to Broad’s article. You can read his response here. (Thank you from the yoga instructors of the world to Paul for his response!) I kept searching, questioning, examining my own body and working with the pain that I have been sensing in my own hip area, pain that a doctor I highly respect hinted might be a labrum tear or the dreaded F.A.I. – femoral acetabular impingement - mentioned in Broad’s article. While I don’t believe that it is for me this issue that is supposedly for far too many women developing into “agonizing pain and, in some cases, the need for urgent hip repairs,” it is a red flag that tells me to examine my personal practice carefully - what causes the pain and what relieves it. But more than that, this red flag helps me to become more aware of my teaching, and how I can teach better, safer, how I can avoid the overuse of a pose or action that might be causing this injury in the long term, yet to still challenge my students and give them the yoga class that they want. And, being an advocate and instructor of the Vinyasa style of yoga, one of many variations of the Hatha (physical yoga) practice that tends to move more vigorously from one pose into the next, often repeating the movements several times in a sequence, being more aware of these injuries of overuse will allow me to guide my students more safely and effectively. Focusing on the transitions is important, and the quality of movement through those transitions. The main point to understanding this article then, from my view, is correlation, not causation. Today I found another article, “Preventing Yoga Injuries vs Preventing Yoga, Part I: The Hip Labrum” from The Daily Bandha, a website seeking to educate yoga instructors through explaining the anatomy of yoga. This article quotes a study performed on professional dancers and the extreme ranges of hip motions they put their body through repeatedly. Having started my love of the body and movement as a dancer, I am thankful for this perspective: “These results do not mean that the dancers should stop executing these movements, but rather they should limit them in frequency during dancing class.” We don't have to stop doing yoga to stay safe. We also don’t need to blame our yoga instructors for their lack of knowledge. As one of my teachers has said with compassion, “We all begin teaching too early.” True. But we all need to continue to learn, grow, experience, and be open to changing our ideas so that we are able to educate ourselves and our students to practice in the safest way while still pushing that physical edge that we all know and love in yoga. Yoga has so many benefits - people who are strong but tight can become more flexible; people who are flexible (muscular or hypermobile) can become more strong. Not to mention the benefits of meditation, of relieving stress, of improving and even healing physical ailments to a greater or lesser degree. But knowing where you stand and how to approach yoga is key. And I will not let an article written by a guy who seems to be out to get yoga in general, ruin what I love and what I do and what I bring into my classes. In my yoga classes, I've been talking a lot lately about being present, living in the moment, and how difficult that is to really do in our modern, western, scheduled, distracted, busy lives. The yoga mat - our Asana Playground - is one place where we can teach ourselves to be present. When we are truly present, we allow thoughts of the future and past slip away, and we are only in the NOW. On a physical level, on our Asana Playground, we get to experience the NOW as we move through each posture. More specifically, as we move BETWEEN each posture. The posture itself, the Asana, is only a moment - "...a momentary gathering of alignment, breath and attention into one physical shape. And then it [is] gone." (Lee, Cindy. "Art of Asana." Yoga International, Spring 2013 #121.) Isn't it true? Before that moment, we are deepening, opening, engaging, and breathing. Then, the moment happens, and voila! ASANA! What happens next is a TRANSITION - a transition OUT OF the Asana. Now I realize that I teach a VINYASA yoga class - one that flows breath and movement, one that, at least I hope, feels fluid to my students. In the Vinyasa style, it is true, that alignment, breath and attention gather for a moment to create the Asana. But in a Bikram class, or a Hatha class, where each posture is taught individually without the focus on a fluid transition in between, the actual Asana, when you reach it (if you are supposed to reach it at all is another discussion in itself!) is still that momentary gathering. I love that thought. Can I say it once more? The Asana... is... a MOMENTARY gathering of ALIGNMENT, BREATH and ATTENTION... Hallelujah! Yoga is DANCE! Yoga is LIFE! No wonder Yoga is so great! So, let's come off our Asana Playground and back into the World. When we have practiced graceful transitions through challenging, awkward, frustrating, glorious, fun postures in yoga, we allow ourselves to move gracefully from one moment into the next, whatever arises in that moment. When we have truly embodied that concept, isn't it grand how that transfers into the World, where we also allow ourselves to move gracefully through those transitions? Not postures, but situations - point A to point B, conversations, frustrations, elations, whatever arises in the NOW. We are much better equipped to accept it and transition - move - gracefully through it. Now there is more... and this idea I credit to Ram Dass, whose writing I was reading this morning... When we get caught up thinking about the future, our minds see in advance where we are going, and make us imitate where we think we are going. This doesn't give us a chance for our intuition to show us the way. And our intuition is highly intelligent. Saul David Raye speaks a lot about the Mayan concept of the "heart-mind". We have the mind, the intellect, but then the heart also, the feeling, has wisdom. Somewhere between the two, lies our intuition, and it is with the heart-mind that the best decisions are made. There is another blog entry in and of itself! I will have to save that for the next time! Until then, inspiration abounds! I uploaded 2 new videos to my YouTube channel today. These are from today's classes. Just playing around before class, I decided to record what I was doing. I'm not quite sure yet where these videos are headed. I know that one day I would like to dub music and instruction, or get good enough to instruct while I am demonstrating. But perhaps they will be inspiration to other yoga instructors to get creative, to students to feel the flow or practice something at home, a teaching tool? I am always open to feedback, so please contact me if you have something to say! Constructive is always best! :)
The first one: http://youtu.be/DOKsC6N93E0?t=3s This flow is meant to warm up the class quickly, moving straight through integrating the mind and body into core strengthening plank variations, Anjaneyasana (crescent moon) into Pyramid to open up hip flexors then hamstrings, and straight into a Sun B flow. The second one: http://youtu.be/1zFkKdK3UUs?t=3s This sequence moves from Crescent Lunge, then straightens the front leg and twists into Parivrtta Trikonasana (revolved triangle), finding a deep twist as you lengthen side body, hip back, ground into big toe mound, and twist through thoracic spine. From here bend standing leg to flow into Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana (revolved half-moon), continuing to expand through the torso, deepening the twist. Then, focus on the transition into Parivrtta Natarajasana (revolved dancer), feel the body grow and expand into the full posture. Land in Utkatasana, and Prayer Twist. Shift the weight onto one foot, and extend the other leg back into Revolved Crescent Lunge. Straighten the front leg and find Parivrtta Trikonasana again. Next comes the arm balance, Parivrtta Koundinyasana. Notice how this posture is almost identical to revolved triangle, but the weight is on the arms rather than the feet! Have fun! Click to see the latest video: "Be Present In The Flow"
This is the latest yoga posture series from Indieflow Yoga. This series is a good exercise for the yogi to stay focused and in the moment. It is a long series with a lot of balancing. Move slowly through the transitions, maintaining balance and core strength. Postures sequence: Crescent lunge with heart opener - vertical twist - Crescent with heart opener - Dakasana - Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana - Parivrtta Natarajasana - Garudasana - bound Dakasana - standing splits - Matseyendrasana - Navasana - Dakasana - Virabradrasana II - Trikanasana - reverse - runner's lunge - Eka Pada Vashistasana - Chatturanga I attended the Hanuman Festival in Boulder this year (my 2nd festival). I can tell you the story of Hanuman (a story of devotion, a story of finding our inner strength, a story of remembering how powerful we are...) another time. Valerie D'Ambrosio is a yoga instructor and life coach. She is one of the founders of the Hanuman Festival. My Yoga For A Cause business partner, Natasha, attended Valerie's class at the Festival. Valerie mentioned in class that if anyone had something they would like to have published in her newsletter, to let her know. Natasha, being the totally awesome business partner that she is, mentioned me to Valerie. Valerie then decided to highlight me as her "Inspired Individual"! I was excited and honored! So, I spent an entire morning composing my write-up and answering Valerie's really tough and deep-thoughtful questions.. It was quite an exercise into myself! I wanted to share this with you all. Click here to read the newsletter, Organic Twist. Scroll down a bit to the "OT Inspired Individual" section. Yoga For A Cause (coloradoyogaforacause.org) was born in March 2012 when a mother in my neighborhood reached out because her son had been diagnosed with a rare bone cancer. Medical expenses were piling up, and she needed help. I didn't know her personally, and didn't feel that I alone could contribute much, and I reflected on so many people who are in a similar situation, needing help but afraid to ask, and how we as a society have grown so distant even though we are neighbors. From there, I considered how deeply important community is. And my community, my kula, is full of yogis who want to help if you just ask them. A quote from Margaret Mead inspired my first event: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." That quote continues to inspire and give life to my vision of Yoga For A Cause, and what it could be. As individuals, as separate beings, our influence is small. But as a whole community, as one, we can move mountains! Summer 2012 I hosted six events for various organizations, including the Chanda Plan Foundation and one for Colorado Wildfire Relief. For the Summer 2013 season, I wanted to make a greater impact, and realizing again that as one my impact only goes so far, but as a community we can do so much more, Natasha joined me in renewing YFAC! We decided to focus on one organization, The Gathering Place (www.tgpdenver.org) as the recipient of our donations, and have reached out to three established studios in the Denver area, well-known instructors and musicians, to design three main events. For these events, 70% of ticket sales will be donated directly to The Gathering Place with a season goal of $5000. We have also been honored by a few other donation-based yoga communities, Sunset Yoga and Bhakti Yoga Breakfast Club, who have committed their summer seasons to Yoga For A Cause. Generosity abounds, and I am truly delighted and honored to see it become a reality! QUESTIONS from Valerie: *How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Hmmm... I think age is a mentality. I am older than most assume I am, and that is probably because I consider myself young! I think 32 is a nice, ripe age with tons of potential! (But I am older than that!) ;) *Who and what do you love? What are you doing about it? I love everyone and everything. Truly. I love even what I loathe. It's complicated, isn't it? To find that even something (or someone) you loathe has a place, and to be able to truly appreciate that place and love that thing. I love my community, my family, and more than I ever knew I could, I love my children. What I am doing about it is to make my hope for the future into action. With YFAC for example, I want to show that we can come together as a community and share in an experience while also helping others. I want my children to know that this is important to me, and through them I hope to establish a love for all things. (om shanti, shanti, shanti...) *How do you celebrate the things you do have? Wow, that's a hard one, and one I am sure I will work on throughout my life! :) I celebrate by living, by appreciating every thing that I have, whether that be my lifestyle, my family, or material things. But I also celebrate with the understanding that nothing is permanent, and that one day, in an instant, expected or unexpected, every thing I have could be gone. And, by knowing that if that happens, what remains will be my life and my memories, and through those I can continue the celebration. *What is the difference between living and existing? The difference between living and existing... to exist is simply to be in a state of being, not impacting or changing or moving or actively doing. Living is just that, actively doing. Living is actively finding your strengths, and what you can do with them. Living is taking risks. Living is doing something that terrifies you, once in a while at least. Living is realizing that everything you do has an effect on something else. Living is doing all that you can with what you have in this life. *What legacy to you want to leave? I see my greatest legacy through my children. I observe their actions, how compassionate they are towards others, how open to life they are, and how they work through difficulties. I feel that through them, my legacy will continue. And as with Yoga For A Cause, I hope that legacy includes fostering a knowledge that we are all one, good and bad, happy and sad, beautiful and grotesque, and that as one, we all deserve the same compassion and hope for the future. Kristen Boyle is a yoga instructor in Denver, and remains forever the student. (Om bolo shri satguru bhagavan ki.) Namaste, Kristen I choose not to listen too closely to the news when I feel it pries too deeply into the lives of others, constantly flashing judgments and opinions in our faces. But the case of Trayvon Martin weighs heavily on the current climate of our country, more closely our own neighborhoods and communities.
I do not view George Zimmerman a monster. TO ME, he is the unfortunate product of our time, and what happened between George and Trayvon that terrible night indicates that we need to closely examine our laws and prejudices we and why they exist. TO ME, George Zimmerman is perhaps a zealot. That characteristic in a person who takes his duty to protect his own so seriously that he would take deadly action to do so can be dangerous. His zeal leads him to confuse his role with that of trained law enforcement, even when asked by the 911 responder to stay away. CONSIDER George, armed with a gun, a gun he is legally allowed to carry, and he carries it into his duty to protect. CONSIDER George, who grew up in a social climate where blacks or people of dark skin, especially young males in hoodies, are viewed as a threat. That's a prejudice of deadly ramifications. CONSIDER the "stand your ground" law, which essentially legalizes a person to use deadly force in exactly the situation George and Trayvon found themselves in. The result of this combination is deadly. It is one which has the potential to blame the victim for has own murder. This is precisely what we have just seen happen in the Florida courts. I FEEL for Trayvon Martin, his family suffering his loss, and all black teens whose parents fear they will be viewed and treated the same way, and who are fighting for justice. I FEEL for George Zimmerman and his family, who will forever live with threats and hate from those who view him as a monster. I HOPE that from this place we can bring about change, change that will help people to see the "other" as their equal. to question whether a gun is necessary and right in a situation, and to closely examine the Stand Your Ground Law and its implications. Whether you agree or disagree with what I have written, thank you for reading. By listing closely, we begin understand. Take a comfortable seat. Bend your elbows and bring your arms by your sides, palms up. Close your eyes. Now, in your right hand, imagine something you LOVE. Feel its weight. Smile. In your left hand, imagine something the opposite - somethi...ng you LOATHE. Feel its weight. Keep smiling. Stay
calm. What you are cultivating is a state of equanimity. Equanimity (aequus - even, animus - mind/soul) is a balanced state of stability and composure which is undisturbed by the experience of emotional, physical or other phenomena, whether ecstatic (good) or traumatic (bad). Equanimity is a state revered by many spiritualities. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, equanimity (upekshā) is one of the “four sublime attitudes”, along with loving kindness (maitri), compassion (karunā), joy (mudita). In Hindu thought, equanimity describes the nature of Brahman, the Absolute Reality. Absolute Reality is just what it sounds like – everything, the All! And Everything encompasses just that, everything – meaning good and bad, and everything in between. Ironically, to think of things as good and bad, saying we love or loathe something – that is a human judgment. Cultivating a state of equanimity eventually allows us to move beyond our human judgments, our labeling, to a state of simple accepting all that IS. When we cultivate (and cultivate implies working towards a goal, not necessarily the goal itself) this state of equanimity, when we can remain in balanced, stable, composed when faced with a physical, emotional or other experience, whether ecstatic or traumatic, we are able to experience it from a place of power. Yoga allows us the space to cultivate this state, and through yoga (yoke, union), we practice the joining of the two – good and bad – without judgment. My hope for you is, that when we cultivate equanimity on our mats, we can take that state, that lesson, that thought, out into the world, our daily lives, and though we may not remain in that state for always, it is a familiar place that we can recall and tap into when faced with life’s experiences. Next up: Hanuman! Hanuman is a great story. He was born to Anjana, a human, and Vayu, the wind god. Anjana is where we get the pose Anjaneyasana (Crescent lunge)... interestingly often paired with Hanumanasana! Hanuman had godlike powers, but because of some war or something, as in so many stories from mythology, he had to be removed from his mother, and raised by the monkey tribe, thus transforming his appearance to be monkey-like, and his memory was taken away. Without his memory, he forgot that he was divine. So, when asked by the god Ram to take a message to his love, Situ, in Indonesia, Hanuman didn't realize that he could make it from the tip of India in one great leap. So he sat, in Virasana (Warrior's pose) to meditate, to find the power and strength inside of him. Then he made his famous "leap of faith" to Indonesia. Hanuman is symbolic for us because, like us, he has forgotten his divinity. When we are faced with a challenge, something which makes us doubt our own strength, something we think we are unable to do, we are like Hanuman. When faced with these things, if instead of staying with our self-doubt, we sat quietly, and tapped into our inner strength, we would find ourselves able to do what we are determined to do. What leap of faith will you take today? |
AuthorKristen is a certified Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist and Life Mentor. She offers online and in-person healing sessions. She lives and teaches in Denver, Colorado Archives
December 2019
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