Thinking about the Wisdom of Yoga

by Nina Gaudi Stairway by Brad Gibson“You have taught the essence of yoga is equanimity, Krishna;
but since the mind is so restless,
how can that be achieved?
The mind is restless, unsteady,
turbulent, wild, stubborn;
truly, it seems to meas hard to master as the wind.”—The Bhagavad GitaIn my post What is Healthy Aging? I added “wisdom” to the list of tools yoga provides for healthy aging. But since then, I’ve been thinking about how reading...

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Friday Q&A: Yoga Tricks for Better Sleep

The Dreaming by Paul GauguinNina: At the end of my post Yoga You Can Do In Bed, I asked for additional suggestions from our readers. Caryn Dickman, a yoga teacher at Piedmont Yoga Studio (see here), wrote in with such good suggestions, I decided, with her permission, to post them here. What I love about her suggestions is that she obviously listened to her body and used her creativity to come up with "yoga tricks" that worked for her.  Caryn:...

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What is Healthy Aging?

by NinaDespite the horrifying vision of “exergames,” Brad’s post on Tuesday ("Successful Aging and the Thinking-Moving-Feeling Triad") got me interested in Dr. Dilip Jeste’s work. After all we’re all blogging away here about “healthy aging” without ever having really defined what it is. And that’s exactly what Dr. Jeste, Estelle and Edgar Levi Chair in Aging and Director of the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego, is currently trying to do. In an interview on Medscape (here), he said the...

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Yoga You Can Do In Bed

by NinaPatterns in a French Garden by Brad GibsonDid I say “in bed? Yep. It’s normally not a good idea to fall asleep when you are doing yoga (you can overstretch your muscles if you fall asleep in a restorative pose and if you’re practicing conscious relaxation, well, being unconscious pretty much negates the positive effects you’re aiming for). However, there is one exception to this rule of thumb: when you’re lying in bed sleepless due to insomnia.Whether...

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Successful Aging and the Thinking-Moving-Feeling Triad

by BradEarly this month I attended a symposium sponsored by the Longevity Consortium at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging on “Environmental, Developmental, and Genetic Factors in Aging and Longevity.” There were lots of interesting presentations, especially on the search for genetic determinants for longevity, or what we call genome wide association studies (GWAS). It turns out that almost nothing survives rigorous statistical scrutiny at...

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Yoga for Osteoarthritis: Interview with Shar Ser

By NinaLast Saturday, I took a wonderful workshop at the  Berkeley Yoga Room on Yoga for Bone Health, with Bonnie Maeda and Shari Ser. We covered yoga for osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and joint replacements. Because I know that many of you are concerned about osteoarthritis (and I have it myself), I asked Shari if I could do another interview with her, this time about yoga for osteoarthritis. Nina: Why is yoga so beneficial for people with...

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Sunday Update: Loren Fishman's Current Osteoporosis Sequence

by NinaIt has been brought to our attention that the osteoporosis sequence designed by Dr. Loren Fishman for the osteoporosis study that we discussed on Friday (see here) is not the sequence he currently recommends. The sequence he currently recommends is described in great detail (with many photographs) on his website under "A Dozen Poses vs. Osteoporosis". This sequence is not only much more accessible (and by that I do mean easier) than the original sequence, but it now excludes forward bends entirely (probably because forward bends are contraindicated...

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Friday Q&A: Is Loren Fishman's Osteoporosis Sequence Safe?

Q: You say that people should not do the same poses all the time. What about programs like Dr. Fishman's osteoporosis study, which has participants doing the same sequence of poses every single day? A: Thanks for this question. Indeed, if a person does the same sequence day in and day out, you could run the risk of a repetitive strain injury. The fact that Dr. Fishman's sequence is only supposed to take 10 minutes a day to do means that the practitioners are not holding the poses terribly long, which would reduce this risk considerably. However,...

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Featured Sequence: Wrist Flossing for Wrist Care

by NinaIn Baxter's post on wrist care (see "Wistful Wrists: How to Keep Your Wrists Safe"), he recommended a wrist "flossing" sequence developed by Tom Alden that was featured in Timothy McCall's book Yoga As Medicine. This is a wonderful sequence you can do if you over-worked your wrists doing yoga, have wrist problems, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, or just want to give your hands and wrists a break during a marathon typing session. There are...

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What is an Advanced Yoga Practice?

by NinaYear-Old Snow and New Snow by Philip AmdalA number of years ago, I encouraged a close friend of mine, M, to join me in taking Rodney Yee’s advanced class. Even though she had a muscular, athletic, and stiff body that made doing super bendy poses difficult, if not impossible, I knew that she understood how to take care of herself in class, that she would adapt the poses for her particular body type and keep herself safe, so I wasn’t worried...

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Wistful Wrists: How to Keep Your Wrists Safe

by BaxterFollowing last week's hoopla around the New York Times article "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body" and my interview on San Francisco public radio’s KQED last Thursday (see Can Yoga Be Bad For You?), Nina and I realized that it might be helpful to look at the most commonly injured areas of the body (from yoga or otherwise—more often otherwise!), and see if we could recommend a few helpful ways of avoiding injury or working with trouble when...

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Does Yoga Wreck Your Body? A Scientist's Perspective

by BradThere’s been a lot of buzz after the Sunday Times article on yoga and injuries, "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body." My own take on this is that this is pretty shoddy journalism. The writer should have looked no further than the New York Times own Science Times format for Q&A.  Maybe a question like “Does yoga cause more injuries than similar exercise regimens?” would have been more appropriate? I suspect the answer would have been “no.”In...

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Friday Q&A: Propping for Shoulderstand

Q: For years I've read & been told at the Piedmont Studio (great teachers as you know) that I should use a blanket while doing Shoulderstand. Yet, when I'm home on a carpet surface w/mat I'm very comfortable doing the Shoulderstand with no blanket/s. When I use one or two blankets, it's actually uncomfortable on my neck. Yet, I respect what I've been told and am concerned that suddenly one day an injury will pop up just because I was too lazy to get up & get the blankets! I use them at the studio because I know I'm expected to, but at home...

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Baxter Bell on KQED's Forum: Can Yoga Be Bad for You?

Today Baxter participated in one-hour panel discussion hosted by Scott Shafer on public radio station KQED's Forum program. Other members of the panel were:Glenn Black, yoga teacher featured in the New York Times Magazine articleJason Crandell, yoga teacher and contributing editor of Yoga JournalKaitlin Quistgaard, editor in chief of Yoga JournalMoshe Lewis, physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at California Pacific Medical Center, St. Luke's CampusIf you want to stream or download the audio, go to the KQED web site http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201201121000.To...

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Getting Clearer on Yoga and the Risk of Injury

by BaxterIf you have not had a chance to read Nina’s Monday post (see here) about the New York Times article “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body,” please do, because she articulates some very important points to consider as you digest all this hype coming from William Broad, a New York Times writer. In addition, you’ll find my take on this issue on Yoga Journal’s blog, where I am an occasional guest blogger (see here).Before getting into recommendations...

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Featured Sequence: Low Back Care

by BaxterSeveral weeks ago, I introduced some thoughts on low back pain and yoga (see here). As I mentioned, the majority of episodes of lower back pain are related to short-term issues of muscle strain or spasm, or other soft tissue and joint situations that usually resolve in six weeks or so. However, it is possible that a regular yoga practice or a special sequence directed at the lower back area can speed up that process and get you back on track...

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Not All Yoga Poses Are Created Equal

by NinaIf you haven’t read it already, you might want to check out the article “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” in the Sunday New York Times Magazine (see here). So were Baxter and I—we’ve both read it—shocked and surprised to read that yoga can cause serious injuries? Well, not exactly. As teachers and long-time practitioners, we’ve both seen our share of injuries and had them ourselves, too. And for some time, I’ve been talking about wanting to write...

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Friday Q&A: Yoga After Retina Repair

Q: I'm interested in discussion regarding yoga and retina issues.  Cautions and options for yoga after retina repair and doctor permission to return to class.A: Thanks for your question regarding practicing safely with eye related concerns, specifically cautions and options for yoga after retina repair and doctor permission to return to class. This is not an uncommon concern among some of my students. In fact it came up again this past month, when a student had to undergo laser treatment to the retina for a partial tear to the back surface...

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When Less is More

by NinaIn Baxter’s post about meditation on Tuesday (see here), he recommended that students who want to start a meditation practice should start out small, with short sessions only a few times a week. This reminded me of a quote from The Wisdom of Yoga by Stephen Cope that not only made me laugh, but also made me really think about how to approach making changes in your life. As Swami Kripalu often pointed out, Eight-Limbed Yoga begins not necessarily...

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Featured Pose: Reclined Leg Stretch Sequence

by Baxter and NinaThe Reclined Leg Stretch sequence (Supta Padangusthasana) opens your hips and stretches the backs of your legs. It’s a perfect starting pose for just about any practice, as we usually like to start low (on the ground, that is!) and work up to standing poses. But it also works as a great standalone mini practice, providing relief for lower back pain or release of leg muscle tension due to sitting, traveling, or walking. And if you...

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