Friday Q&A: Propping for Relaxation Pose (Savasana)

Q: I have been wondering something about Savasana: Aside from the fact that Savasana has not been all that great for me due to low back/SI joint issues which are lately resolving, I find that my knees feel like they hyperextend in the relaxed state with gravity's pull. Would that alone be reason to always place a support under my knees, or not necessarily? Additional information: I developed the habit of sleeping with pillows under my knees probably...

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Featured Pose: Warrior 1 for Upper Body Strength

by Baxter and NinaWarrior 1 is the second pose in our upper body strengthening series because, like Warrior 2, Warrior 1 is an accessible pose that is very strengthening for your arms and upper body. Even though you don’t bear weight on your hands or arms, the Warrior 1 arm position entails resisting gravity. Because the arm position is different than Warrior 2, this pose strengthens different muscles, including those that raise your arms forward...

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Meditation and Healthy Eating

by NinaMy friend Elizabeth told me that before I knew her she weighed 205 pounds, but that she was able to lose weight and keep it off by changing her eating habits. From my observations of people close to me who have weight problems and from what I’ve read, I understood how unusual this was. So I asked Elizabeth to share her story with us. Okay, fine, I admit it! I have an agenda. Because I know from our previous conversations that Elizabeth has...

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Yoga for Agility

by Baxter Agile Mugsy Pretending to be BaxterThis past weekend, Nina and I taught our first official “Yoga for Healthy Aging” workshop together in Castro Valley, CA, just a short 25 minute jaunt from Oakland.  As we were preparing for the session, we discussed some essential skills or benefits that regular asana, pranayama and meditation practice can lead to for those of us concerned with aging well. Some of the more obvious benefits include...

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Active vs. Passive Yoga Practice

by ShariAugust Flowers by Nina ZolotowI have been thinking a lot about this topic and how I vary my own practice daily. Common sense would dictate that when you feel energetic you do an energetic practice and when you feel tired or exhausted a restorative or passive asana practice would be appropriate, but it isn’t as clear cut as that. There is this small impediment and it is called your conscious mind.Now many different disciplines, schools of...

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Friday Q&A: Watching TV While Doing Yoga

Q: Is it possible to distinguish which benefits of hatha yoga arise from (just) the physical activity and which from the practice of paying attention to one’s body in the pose? For example, what if one does a sequence of poses while, say, watching television and not paying much attention to the pose? I would think that would still help develop strength, flexibility and balance.A: First of all, congratulations for starting—or thinking about starting—a home practice. Practicing a home is the best way to create the yoga practice that’s best for you,...

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Featured Pose: Warrior 2 for Upper Body Strength

by Baxter and NinaWarrior 2 is the first pose in our upper body strengthening series because it is a very easy and accessible pose that is very strengthening for your arms and upper body. Even though you don’t bear weight on your hands or arms, the arm position entails resisting gravity. This strengthens the muscles that lift your arms to your sides and all of the small muscles inside the joint that help you stabilize your arms at the shoulder joint,...

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One Year Anniversary!

by NinaIt’s our one-year anniversary today! Celebrate with us by listening to one of my favorite songs by Flogging Molly (I love the video, too). I’ve always thought the chorus for this song, “Ah but don't, don't sink the boat/That you built, you built to keep afloat,” works perfectly as a theme for this blog. That, and the ending to the song:A ripe old age,A ripe old age,A ripe old age,Just doing the best I can!We’ve come a long way in our first year. There have been 248 posts, covering a wide range of topics from asana practice to aging theories...

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Yoga for Healthy Eating, Part 2

by BaxterToday, as I was driving to the Farmers Market in Berkeley to enjoy my weekly ritual of buying local grown and produced fruits, veggies and animal protein, I happened to catch a bit of the show “Your Health and Fitness” on KPFA. The host posited the assertion that “health” bestows on each of us the opportunity to live a full life. I gotta say, I loved the simplicity of this notion, and all that it really implies. Then I got home to read the...

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Yoga for People with Medical Conditions

by Shari and NinaCarol Krucoff’s post last week Yoga May Be the Best Activity for the Elderly inspired me to interview Shari Ser about the Yoga for Health class at the Berkeley Yoga Room that she and Bonnie Maeda, RN teach on a weekly basis. This class is special because it’s for seniors with medical conditions as well as general aging dysfunction, and current students include those bilateral total knee replacement, severe osteoporosis, coronary...

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Friday Q&A: Yoga for Healthy Aging Workshops

Q: Do Nina and Baxter ever teach workshops on yoga for healthy aging together? A: Why, I thought you’d never ask. Because it just so happens we’re going to be teaching a workshop on yoga for healthy aging together for the first time ever this month!  On Sunday, September 23, 1:00 – 4:00 pm, we’ll be teaching a Yoga for Healthy Aging workshop at Yoga in the Middle in Castro Valley, California. Come celebrate the one year anniversary of our blog by learning in person about some of the many things we’ve been blogging about! To register, go to:...

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Upcoming Featured Poses: Upper Body Strength and Flexibility!

by Nina (with Baxter)Baxter and I have been excitedly planning (and photographing) the next group of poses we’re going to feature on our blog. Inspired by the popularity of my post Building Upper Body Strength the Easy Way, we decided to focus on the upper body for the next several months. We’ll be presenting several basic, easily accessible poses, all with several modifications, that will help you both build your upper body strength while you increase...

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Good luck to Malaysia Team for Mr Asia 2012!

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Yoga Solutions for Anxiety

by NinaIn the last few of weeks, two different women I know told me they were having panic attacks. As their life circumstances were very different as were their symptoms, the private lessons I gave them ended up being very different as well. That’s the beauty of yoga (and the private lesson), which allows you to customize your solutions to a particular person’s needs and concerns. But before I started to write about my yoga solutions for anxiety,...

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9/11 Anxiety and Yoga

by BaxterSome years ago, when Nina and I were working on a series of yoga classes for stress management, I read the book The Relaxation Response by Dr. Herbert Benson, and an interesting finding from the work he did has stuck with me. He noted that his blood pressure patients who meditated regularly not only saw improvements in their blood pressure readings, but they also had certain substances in the blood stream that increased or decreased. ...

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Yoga May Be the Best Activity for the Elderly

by Carol Krucoff, E-RYT 500Inviting elderly people to try yoga can be challenging, since many harbor the common misconception that you must be young and fit—or at least able to get down and up from the floor—to practice. That’s why I always tell prospective students: If you can breathe, you can do yoga.Now, a new study suggests that for older adults—even frail elders in their 80s and 90s—yoga offers substantial health benefits and may be the best...

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Friday Q&A: Knee Restrictions

Q: I have chondromalacia from an untreated sprained knee that I got 5 years, at 2 months post partum. Once I finally had it diagnosed, I needed nearly a year of physio for my knee to become 95% functional. So today, I cannot hyperflex, or sit on my knees, or go on all fours. Because I am very interested in practicing yoga now, I need to adapt several poses. Some impossible positions for me are the child's pose, the lotus, and anything stemming from...

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Caloric Restriction: Comment and Response

by Nina and BradBrad’s post on caloric restriction (see Caloric Restriction and Longevity) prompted an interesting comment from Kathleen Summers MD PhD that I thought it worthwhile to share with you. Rather than having Brad respond in the comments section (I'm not sure how many of you actually read the comments), I asked him to reply to her comment at the end of this post. So have a look! This debate is a very good example of how little scientists currently understand about the aging process (a theme we return to periodically) and provides a hint...

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