Endless Knots

My kind of yoga

Excellent piece, "What Happened to Yoga?" by Linda Matchan in today's Boston Globe. When I was 22, I learned yoga on a concrete floor with a towel as a mat. Things have changed a tad since. From Matchan's piece: “The minute yoga is packaged and branded, you’ve lost it,’’ [Justine] Wiltshire Cohen contends. Which is why I've shied away from yoga classes for decades--until recently when I found Down Under Yoga, which Wiltshire Cohen founded. Nice coincidence; nice place; good thinking in this article.

Scorpion redux

My yoga partner has been perfecting Scorpion.
Latest edition of Vrischikasana here.

Scorpion par excellence

Daughter #2 in Scorpion Pose (Vrischikasana)
She gives private lessons, Sola the dog not included

Eliza on my favorite pose

No accounting for taste. This is my all-time favorite posture, which Eliza has described in "Another day in the salt mines." As she suggests, I pop out of my chair when I've been exercising my fingers for too many hours nonstop and indulge. Try it.

Aspirational Yoga: The Sequence of the Bear

A few years ago, Daughter #2 spent a month in yoga teacher training, something I’ve always wanted to do. When she completed the course, she moved home for a few months (lucky us) and taught me the yoga routine I’ve been doing ever since.

Over the past week, we’ve had the opportunity to practice together every day. Here’s this week’s routine, strongly recommended. Warning: Don’t try it all at once if you’re new to yoga or have been taking some time off. The length of holding poses requires some conditioning but…lordy, lordy, it feels soooo good. And be sure to rest for as long as you want between poses.

NB: Have a clock nearby to time yourself. “Poses” listed here without links (see my comment below as I've added links for these thanks to a reader) are for conditioning only. This routine takes us about 90 minutes; lengthen or shorten depending on time available. AND remember never to hold a pose if it’s causing real pain. You know the difference between the discomfort of stretching and true pain.

One more thing: The popularity of yoga has come a long way since I started practicing. I’m forever grateful to Sally Leonard (where is she now?), who taught me basic hatha yoga in 1969. Our “studio” was a small stucco house with a concrete floor located on the beach near Merida, Mexico. Our “mats” consisted of towels. Our “yoga clothes” were bikinis. I mention this by way of saying that as a form of exercise, yoga is a lot like walking. The only thing you absolutely need is the intention. For people like me who hate gyms (never mind paying the membership fees), pulleys, weights, and treadmills (the symbolism alone repels me), yoga is the no-fuss, always-on solution.

The Sequence of the Bear

20 Sun Salutations
10 single leg lifts (left side, right side)
10 double leg lifts
100 bicycles (or 150 or 200 or 20, ahem)
Headstand – 5 minutes
Child's pose – as long as you want
Dolphin – 20 reps
Shoulderstand – 5 minutes
Bridge —2 minutes
Wheel – 30 seconds (or in my case, 1 quintillionth of a second)
Fish – 30 seconds-1 minute
Bound angle pose – 1 minute
Half-forward bend, right leg bent, left leg straight – 2 minutes
Half forward bend, left leg bent, right leg straight – 2 minutes
Seated side angle pose – each side, 1 minute -- (Ed. note: name of site for this link = YogaJess.com!)
Seated forward bend, both legs straight – 10 minutes
Cobra – 3 times, 30 seconds each
Half locust - each side for 30 seconds
Full locust - 30 seconds (scroll down on link page to see what this really is)
Bow Pose—one minute
Pigeon – left side, 2 minutes (fyi, we bend forward in this pose)
Pigeon – right side, 2 minutes
Spinal twist – both sides, 1 minute each
Crow (aka Crane) pose – as long as you can hold it (if you can hold it, double-ahem)
Standing forward bend with hands interlaced and extended your head—2 minutes
Triangle pose - 2 minutes each side
Sivasana - at least 10 minutes

And why headstanding is a good idea

Thanks to keen reader, Annie Marascia Luongo, I've been alerted to "Why standing on your head may improve your health," by Sheryl Walters. Honestly, I didn't know any of this when I took up yoga - and can't claim 39 years later that headstanding has had this effect on me but...read on and then try it! Few believe this: headstand is one of the easier yoga poses, mainly requiring a little bit of courage, some arm strength, and some ab work. Caution: Do not try it without a spotter until you are absolutely confident. Once you're up, however, stay there for a few minutes. You'll be amazed at its effect on calming the nerves, straightening the spine, and opening up the lungs. Possibly my fave pose, after my all-time #1, forward bend.

(NaturalNews) It is very rare that we are able to see the world upside down, and regularly viewing the world from this angle can bring a variety of amazing benefits to our life. Turning ourselves upside down is not only an amazing practice for health... but for beauty as well.

Headstand and Yoga for Skin Care

A headstand can reduce facial wrinkles, and if practiced regularly, is a natural 'face-lift'. This is because it reverses the effects of gravity and allows the skin to rest in the other direction.

Furthermore, yoga for skin care increases the circulation to the face, which brings much needed nutrients and oxygen to rejuvenate and remove wrinkle causing toxins. The result is smoother, clearer, brighter and glowing skin.

Thicker Hair, Fewer Grays

A headstand can actually convert gray hair back to its natural color! It will certainly delay the onset of gray hair. This is due to the increase in blood supply and nutrients to the hair follicles in the scalp.

Balding can also be prevented or slowed, and thicker, healthier hair is produced...

Click through for the rest of this article. If you practice headstand, the claims will make you feel quite virtuous.

Yogini alert: avoid sneezing in headstand

It's not a good idea. I made it as far as the lead-up to the sneeze, you know, the attempt to suppress the oncoming heaving chest while still straight up and then...the ignominious descent. If anyone has managed to retain the posture while sneezing, I will name you Reader of the Week (not the Weak).

Yoga, blessed yoga

I agree. There's nothing like it. See CNN's "Yoga's appeal broadening to disability community:"

...[l]ongtime instructor Karen O'Donnell Clarke says the limitations could have a number of sources: multiple sclerosis (which she has), a sports injury, fibromyalgia or even a sedentary lifestyle. Post-surgical conditions, Parkinson's disease, stroke and arthritis may also cause some impairment. "Pretty much if you name a health condition, yoga can help with it," she says.

The Majesty of Your Loving

Many years ago, we had the chance to become friends with Olivia and Hob Hoblitzelle, beacons of clear thinking in the fields of psychotherapy and spiritual development. I liked them immediately when we met - Olivia's calm presence even when everyone around us seemed to be going nuts, Hob's sense of humor.

To my young eyes, their home was everything an abode should be - simple, beautiful, and with a Japanese garden, this before everyone had a couple of bonzai in the kitchen and a Buddha or two in the backyard. Their children were close to adolescence; ours weren't even born. I truly admired them. Then, as is the case with so many who influence us, our lives drifted off into our futures.

About five or so years ago, I was in a yoga class at Kripalu, the yoga center in Western Massachusetts, and noticed a beautiful woman, intent on her practice, a few mats from me. It was Olivia. We spoke briefly, long enough for her to tell me that Hob was quite ill, that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and that she had come to the yoga center for rest and retreat. Some months after that, I read in the paper that Hob had died.

Now the news that Olivia has captured their seven-year journey in a book whose title promises many gifts: The Majesty of Your Loving: A Couple's Journey through Alzheimer's. And there's a website that summarizes their story, gives information on how to arrange a reading or workshop with Olivia, and, of course, provides additional resources.

Yoga: Rx for MS?

When I began my first real job as a reporter for my hometown daily, The Pottstown (Pa) Mercury, I had two regular assignments: writing up weddings and writing up obituaries. Both were compiled from forms - in the case of the former, the family filled out the details, including the description of the bride's and bridesmaids' dresses; for the latter, the funeral director would come into the newspaper, stand at the counter, and go over the details with me. The result of this early training is that I always read the obits first - and, on Sundays, I never skip the weddings in The New York Times.

Thus today I read the Boston Globe obituary of Janet Marzilli, who died of complications of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). I did not know Ms. Marzilli but I do have MS. Like so many others I've met over the years with the disease, she, according to the obit, developed many coping mechanisms, including starting a group for others with MS (ATOMS - the Association to Overcome Multiple Sclerosis). And, notably, she lived for 43 years post-diagnosis and gave birth to five children.

For anyone reading who has MS or who knows anyone else with MS, I offer this: Do yoga. I cannot claim it as a cure, for I continue to have episodes many years after my original one, but I can attest to its efficacy in reducing my symptoms. About a month ago, all the telltale signs of an episode descended - extreme fatigue, numbness in my back, legs, and feet, "banding," the sensation of terrible tightness, in my calves. Sometimes when this has happened, I've soldiered on, doing my best to ignore it. But, as I've grown up, I've come to understand that this is not the wisest approach.

This time I decided to pay attention to what I know works: laying low, meaning a lot of time in bed (ah, wireless computing) and increasing my yoga practice significantly. Significantly. For the past month, I've pushed myself to do at least an hour of yoga a day. While I cannot say my symptoms are gone, I can say that I feel immeasurably better than I did a month ago. Stronger, more energetic, and happier - and for those who know the symptoms, decreased banding, less tingling, and a whole lot less pain.

If you've never tried yoga, don't be put off by photos of people who can turn themselves intro pretzels. Even a motion so slight as bending your neck, reaching your chin toward your chest, done slowly, consciously, without strain, is a form of yoga. You can do it right now. Right here at the screen. Don't push - and, please: If you have MS, avoid the craze called "hot yoga." Heat exacerbates symptoms.