New Releases: Yoga Nidra and Deep Physical Relaxation

by Baxter and NinaHappy New Year, everyone! We've been talking for some time about providing you with a few relaxation tracks that you can stream from our site or download onto your own audio devices. Now, at last, thanks to help from Margy Cohea and Quinn Gibson, we're pleased to release our first two tracks, both featuring Baxter Bell. We're starting out by providing two shorter relaxation sessions, around 15 minutes each, because we know so many of you have busy schedules or aren't quite ready to commit to a whole hour of yoga nidra. You can...

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On Holiday

by Nina, Baxter and BradThe staff here at Yoga for Healthy Aging will be taking a break during the upcoming week, so there will be no posts from us between Christmas and New Year's Day. However, we won't be completely idle, as we're working on a gift for all of you that we hope to have ready sometime very soon. We're not going to tell you what it is, because of course we want it to be a surprise, but here's a hint: it will be very, very relaxi...

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Friday Q&A: Ujjayi Breath

Q: You have written quite a bit about breath, which is both interesting and helpful. I am wondering about ujaya breath (sp?), which I learned about from my first yoga teacher (Kripalu). We used to do this when holding more difficult poses, but I am not sure of why this breath is seen as important, and would like to know more about it.A: Ujjayi (ooh-JAI-yee), known as the “victory” breath, is a breathing technique in which you slightly constrict the opening of your throat to create a slight resistance for your breath. As you inhale and exhale, this...

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Pet More Downward-Facing Dogs: Yoga Resolutions for the New Year

by Nina"Hear now the wisdom of Yoga, path of the Eternal and freedom from bondage. No step is lost on this path, and no dangers are found. And even a little progress is freedom from fear." —The Bhagavad GitaWhen my son was in the fourth grade, he came to me with a problem. His teacher had asked him to write a list of ten possible resolutions he could make for the new year, and the thought of coming up with ten things he needed to change about himself...

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Thoughts on Dhyana: Meditation over the Holidays

by BaxterAs I pass through yet another solstice and the modern winter holiday celebrations, I appreciate my own meditation practice, however sporadic it is at times. So I thought today would be a good day to begin introducing the topic of meditation on this blog.Even trying to introduce the topic of meditation is a bit daunting, however, because there are many eastern traditions that have varied and unique approaches and emphases when they define...

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Featured Pose: Half-Dog Pose at the Wall

by Baxter and NinaThe featured pose this week is a version of the classic Downward-Facing Dog pose that is a bit easier to do than the full pose and does not require a clean floor or a prop other than a wall. It’s a fantastic allover stretch, opening your shoulders and stretching your arms, back, hips and legs (in the straight leg version). It also provides a good forward bend of your pelvis over your thighbones without bending in your lower back....

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Yoga Philosophy: Contentment

by NinaThrough the Mist by Brad Gibson“He who finds happiness only within, rest only within, light only within—that yogi having become one with nature attains oneness with Brahman.” —The Bhagavad Gita, trans. by Mohandas K. Ghandi When I first started teaching, I was determined to find the right language to help my students come slowly out of Savasana (a bigger challenge than you might imagine!). Eventually I learned that repeating the word “slowly”...

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Mr Tesco Ampang 2011

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Friday Q&A: Sequencing Two Poses

Q: I love the variation of Viparita Karani with the chair. I also love Knees to Chest, which you featured in an earlier post. What I am wondering is should I do a pose in between these 2 as a transition or is it OK to go back & forth between the 2?A: There’s no need to do any poses between these two, as they’re both gentle, symmetrical poses. It’s only when you are doing a deep forward bend, backbend, or twist that you might want to consider a counter-pose.Can you go back and forth between the two? Personally, if I were going to sequence these...

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Yoga and Your Emotions

by NinaLa Sagrada Familia (a detail) by Brad GibsonI once bet an old friend of mine, a long-time yoga student who expressed some doubt when I told him that yoga poses can have strong effects on our emotions, that I could change his mood by putting him in a yoga pose. He said, “You’re on!” So what I did was set him up in a supported form of Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana) and left him there for three minutes (the amount of time needed for...

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Interview with Vickie Russell Bell, Continued: Teaching Yoga to Students with Parkinson's

Baxter: Can you talk a bit about what sort of experience or training would be optimal for a teacher out there thinking about doing this sort of class for folks with Parkinson’s?Vickie: Teachers interested in working with PWPD need to have a strong background in teaching asana and adapting classic poses. Assisting a teacher who works with disabilities or special populations (or even someone who is adept at working with seniors) would be very useful....

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Interview with Vickie Russell Bell: Yoga for Parkinson's Disease

In October, we were fortunate to have long-time yoga teacher and yoga writer Richard Rosen contribute a post about his personal journey with Parkinson’s Disease and the recommendations he has for working with the condition. This month, I am pleased to share with you an interview with another yoga teacher, Vickie Russell Bell, who has been involved in serving the Parkinson’s community for several years now. You can learn more about her teaching here. Baxter:...

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Featured Pose: Knees to Chest Pose (Apanasana)

by Baxter and NinaKnees to Chest pose is a great way to warm up at the beginning of a practice or to cool down at the end of a practice, especially after a backbend or forward bend practice. This pose allows you to check in with the tightness or openness of your hip and buttock muscles and soft tissues, as you gently massage your lower back and abdomen. Because your knees are bent, the tension on the hamstring muscles is greatly reduced, making it...

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Friday Q&A: Restorative Yoga

Q: Thanks to your blog, I’ve been practicing Legs Up the Wall pose on a regular basis now, and I just love it. However, I have a friend who can’t do inversions due to blood pressure concerns. What are some relaxing poses that she can do?A: Restorative yoga is perfect for someone like your friend, as well as anyone who is sick, stressed out, or low on energy, or who just wants to experience a soothing practice. Restorative yoga is a form of yoga that...

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Shopping List: Yoga Books We Can’t Live Without

by Nina and BaxterFor most people who practice yoga at home, yoga books are indispensable. When you have questions about poses, you can look at photographs. When you don’t know what to practice, you can find a sequence to try. When you need inspiration, you can turn to classical yoga philosophy or read advice and wisdom from any number of well-known teachers. At Nina's house, they even have two copies of the same book (which they fondly refer to...

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Mr Gym 1 Malaysia

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Your Key to Your Nervous System: Your Breath

by NinaTide Under First Bridge by Brad GibsonNOTE: This post has information in it that has been corrected in a later post called Falling for Yoga Myths: Yawning and Sighing and Your Breath. Please read the later post after reading this one!Have you ever wondered why you tend to yawn when you’re sleepy? Well, a yawn is a great big inhalation. And because your heart rate tends to speed up on your inhalation, that yawn in the middle of that boring...

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A Pair of Serendipities Re: Spinal Stenosis

by BaxterOne fortunate thing about teaching a lot of yoga is that students are always coming up and asking me about interesting things that are happening with their bodies. And now our readers here at Yoga for Healthy Aging are also chiming in with intriguing questions about themselves and their students. (Thanks, by the way. We were hoping you would do just that!) Just last week, one such reader wrote in asking about a student with a condition called...

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Okay. Back to Aging.

by BradManzanita by Brad GibsonOkay. It’s been a while, as I’ve been busy with writing NIH grants and papers, as well as traveling. So it's time to get back to one of the central points of this blog: what is aging? It turns out this is no more clear than trying to define yoga. When I joined the Buck Institute for Research on Aging some 11 years ago, I was surprised and a little chagrined to discover how unsettled and wide open this central question...

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Friday Q&A: Larger Women

Q: Do you know if Baxter is going to talk more about teaching to larger women? I had a class at Piedmont Yoga Studio for larger women and I think one problem that was overlooked was that larger women “seemed” to be more flexible in certain areas where they oftentimes were hanging on their ligaments from bearing the weight. I remember at the beginning these women were so “proud” that they were able to do certain things but we had to work on containment. At the time I was one of the larger students and so I learned this firsthand.Briefly it happens...

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Featured Pose: Locust (Dynamic Version)

by Baxter and NinaLocust pose (Salabasana) is a simple backbend that strengthens the entire backside of your body, from the nape of your neck to the backs of your heels. Baxter loves this pose because it’s helpful for such a wide range of problems, including lower back pain, postural problems, and weakness anywhere along the chain of your back body, including your , including hips and hamstrings. And because the backbend is shallow and doesn’t put...

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Arthritis, Exercise and Yoga

by NinaHey, I heard this really nice little piece on arthritis and exercise on NPR that I wanted to share with you. Fortunately, NPR has both the audio and a transcript of the piece on their web site (see here). What I liked so much about this particular piece was how simple and clear it was about why it is important to continue to exercise when you have arthritis (even though most people don't) because exercising, while it cannot reverse arthritis, is the only way to prevent the arthritis from getting worse. Here's why:1. Arthritis breaks down...

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