Short Yoga Sessions Stimulate Brain Function and Improve Cognition

by Ram

Monarchs Feeding by Melina Meza

Both Nina and Baxter emphasized the need to have a short session of yoga as a quick practice especially during long travel or while taking a break from work (see Mini Office Yoga Practice).  And I recently wrote a piece about the ill effects of prolonged sitting, and suggested taking short breaks and bringing in office yoga or supplementary yoga (see Yoga, Your Compantion Through the Day). All these articles advocated incorporating at least 10-15 minutes of yoga that could not only add new life to the dull and routine tasks of everyday life but also keep us fit physically and emotionally.

One may question the benefits, if any, from a short session of yoga. Not surprisingly, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Illinois, a single 20-minute session of yoga awakens and sharpens the mind significantly, comparable to walking or jogging. The study involved 30 participants who were either given a 20-minute yoga class or asked to carry out a moderate aerobic exercise regimen for the same period of time. In addition to standing, sitting and reclined yoga poses, the session also included a short meditation practice where participants were encouraged to focus on their breath. In the comparison group, participants worked out an aerobic exercise session, which was also shown to provide a cognitive boost of its own.

When participants were tested for cognitive performance, the authors found some significant difference between the two groups.  Those who’d been practicing yoga and meditation performed significantly better in the assessment tests. Following the yoga practice, the participants were not only able to focus better, they were also processing new information quickly and accurately, and were able to recall the new information more effectively than after performing an aerobic exercise. While there are several scientific studies that indicate that practice of asanas and meditation has beneficial effects on the emotional well-being and general mental acuity, what’s remarkable about this specific study is that even a short yoga session of 20 minutes is sufficient to stimulate brain function and improve cognition. Yoga does so through multiple cellular mechanisms, including:

• releasing brain chemicals that contribute to a feel-good response and ward off anxiety and mental stress
• normalizing blood pressure and stabilizing the heart beats
• reducing anxiety and depression

Simple and short though the yoga session may be, the outstanding benefits are surely long lasting. Got office yoga or supplementary yoga?

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Featured Sequence: Lower Body Strength Practice

by Baxter

Warrior 3 Pose

Lower body strength is vital to so many of our daily activities, from the simplest tasks, such as, getting out of bed in the morning and moving around the house as we start the day, to elective activities, such as, getting up and down in the garden on a lovely spring day, to unexpected events, such as helping to move furniture for your best friend. So, from from my perspective, we are talking about strengthening the muscles around your hip, knee, and ankle joints as well as the bones that make them up. I’ve designed this Lower Body Strength Practice for you with all that in mind.

In previous posts we have described how yoga asana practices can build both muscular strength and bone strength. Modern exercise physiology and other research has given us suggestions for how long we might want to hold our static poses to either build new muscle or new bone. And although different timings are suggested in the literature, I’d recommend that when you try out these poses on your own, you start by noticing when you start to feel tired or weak or shaky as you try holding the poses. Make a mental note of how long it was before those sensations arose and then make that your starting goal point. And as you practice over time, add a few seconds to your baseline hold until you can safely work up to my suggested hold times. 

Research on bone building has suggested that holding poses or doing weight-bearing poses for up 10-70 seconds will turn on the bone-building activity in thin bones. For building new and stronger muscles, you will want to shoot for 90 second holds of the static poses. So, for combining these two goals, I suggest that you gradually work your way up to 90-second holds over the course of a few weeks or even months if you tire quickly when you start out. I will emphasize both the static poses variations and dynamic mini-vinyasa sequences (moving in and out of a particular pose). The mini-vinyasa sequences make use of strength, while at the same time requiring and challenging agility and balance, two of the other skills we want to develop in yoga for healthy aging!

And even though the following sequence is designed to address lower body strength, keep two things in mind. First, any time you are doing a yoga asana practice, you get way more then just your intended focus. So, even though I am recommending the following poses for lower body strength, know that you are also likely getting some core strengthening, upper body strengthening, and a decent amount of opening or stretching as well. Second, this is by no means an exhaustive list. I am focusing on some of the more common and accessible modern yoga poses, but you could add others on your own, if you find they challenge your lower body strength.

Warming Up 

Dynamic Reclined Hip Stretches: Since we will be working with all the joints of the lower body, it is nice to start by warming them up to their fuller range of motion. Do this a few times on each side. 

Active Practice

1. Bridge pose: Do six rounds of dynamic Bridge pose, inhaling your hips up and exhaling them down. Then come up into the pose and try to hold it for six breaths, gradually working up to a 90-second hold.

2. Locust pose: Lying on your belly, do six rounds of full or half Locust, inhaling while lifting your chest, head and either one or both legs, and exhaling back to the starting position. Then come up into the pose and try to hold it for six breaths, gradually working up to 90 seconds over time. Take your time with this one, as it can be challenging for some lower backs.

3. Boat pose: Sit with your knees bent and your feet on the floor in front of you. Hold onto the back of your knees and rock back to balance on your buttocks with your feet just off the floor. See how long you can stay before your front thighs begin to tire. If Version 1 is easy, try Version 2, which involves bringing your shins parallel to the floor and holding there. If Version 2 is easy, try Version 3, letting go of your knees and stretching your arms forward. Finally, if Version 3 isn’t challenging enough, try Version 4, straightening your knees so your upper and lower body forms a “V” shape. Start with six breaths and work up from there.

4. Hunting Dog pose: Come to your hands and knees. Extend one leg back behind you with your knee straight and toes on the floor. Keep your pelvis and lower back steady as you lift up your back leg about parallel with the floor. Hold for six breaths, gradually working towards 90-second holds. Repeat on the other side, of course!

5. Mountain pose: Practice Mountain pose with a block between your thighs and your feet set so you feel a nice squeeze of your inner leg muscles against the block. Stand for 60-90 seconds with your legs actively squeezing the block. This will strengthen your inner thigh muscles in addition to working all of the standing muscles in your legs.

6. Dynamic Arms Overhead pose with Heels Lifted: Starting in Mountain pose (with or without the block in the previous pose), inhale your arms overhead and lift your heels a few inches off the floor, keeping the balls of your feet evenly on the floor. Then exhale as you return your arms and heels to the starting position. Repeat six times. Then try to hold your heels up for six breaths, adding time gradually. This is great way to strengthen your calf muscles and work on balance!

7. Powerful pose (Utkatasana): From Mountain pose (with or without a block between your thighs), inhale yours arms overhead. Then exhale into high squat, with your knees bending forward, your hips sitting back a bit and your torso leaning out over thighs a bit. Then inhale back to Mountain pose with your arms overhead. Repeat six times. Then try holding the pose for six breaths, gradually lengthening over time. This pose works your hips, knees and ankles.

8. High Lunge: From Mountain pose, take an easy forward fold, placing your hands either on blocks by your feet, or on the floor. Then step one leg way back into a high lunge as you bend your front knee. Position your front knee over your front ankle joint and keep your feet hips-distance apart, side to side. Press down into your front foot and the ball of your back foot and try to use your arms less for support to increase the work of your legs. Start with six breaths and gradually increase to 90 seconds over time. Repeat on the other side.

9. Straight Leg Standing poses: You’ll be doing a dynamic sequence as a warm up for the full static hold. I will use Triangle pose to illustrate this, but you could do this with Pyramid pose as well. Start with your legs apart and feet aligned as usual for Triangle. Inhale your arms up parallel with the floor, and then exhale into Triangle. Inhale back up with arms out to sides, and then exhale your arms down to your sides. Repeat six times. Then hold full Triangle for six breaths, and work on increasing your time in the pose. Repeat on second side. So, do the dynamic sequence as a warm up for the full static hold.

10. Bent Knee Standing poses: You’ll be doing a dynamic sequence as a warm up for the full static hold. I will use Warrior 2 to illustrate this, but you could do this with Warrior 1 and Extended Side Angle Pose as well. Start with your legs apart and feet aligned for Warrior 2. Inhale your arms up parallel with floor, and then, as you exhale, bend your front knee over the front ankle joint. Inhale while straightening your front knee and exhale as you release your arms to your sides. Repeat for six rounds, and then hold the full pose for six breaths, working up to 90 seconds gradually. Repeat on second side.

11. Balancing Poses: You’ll be moving with your breath to enter the pose. I will use Warrior 3 to illustrate this, but you could do Half Moon Pose, Tree Pose or Eagle Pose similarly. Stand with your feet and torso aligned as for Warrior 1 pose. Then inhale your arms overhead. Next, exhale and bend your front leg over your front foot, and as you inhale, tip your torso forward over your front leg, pivoting onto the ball of your back foot. Exhale and step your back foot toward your front foot about six inches. On your next breath cycle, with hands to hips, tip forward and balance on your front foot, straightening your front knee, lifting your back leg up for Warrior 3.  Hold for six breaths, then step back foot down to the floor. While in the pose, attempt to keep your hips square with the floor beneath you, and work toward getting your back leg and your torso parallel with the floor. Repeat on second side. Gradually add more time in the pose.

Cooling Down

After strong standing pose work, it is a treat to rest your legs nicely for a few minutes. I recommend any of the following three poses:

Savasana with a bolster under the knees (see Corpse Pose Variations): 

Easy Inverted pose:

Legs Up the Wall pose (Viparita Karani), my favorite:

Aim for 10 minutes to try and cultivate the Relaxation Response for your body and your mind!

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When Relaxing Isn't Relaxing

by Nina

Cactus Flower by Melina Meza

On Friday, Baxter wrote about how meditation and other forms of conscious relaxation, such as yoga nidra, can be agitating for certain people (see Friday Q&A: Can Meditation Be Dangerous?). I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true for many of us at certain times. Sometimes when you’re feeling anxious or depressed having to sit quietly with your thoughts can be overwhelming. The same thing is true for lying down on your back in Savasana or restorative poses with your eyes closed. Even practicing supported forward bends, which many people find soothing, can cause you to brood rather than quiet down. 

A more active yoga practice will be easier for you when you’re depressed or anxious—the physical challenges and mindful movements will engage your mind—yet it’s still important for you to manage your stress (see One Thing: Yoga, Zen, Whatever). So here are some ideas for different things you can try when classic relaxation techniques just aren’t working for you.

Eyes Open: If closing your eyes in Savasana or any restorative pose causes agitation or brooding, try keeping your eyes open but with a soft focus.

Crocodile Pose: Sometimes lying on your back can make you feel exposed and vulnerable (see Anxiety, Yoga and the Front Body). So try lying on your belly in Crocodile pose (Makrasana) instead to see if that is more comforting. If your lower back curves too much in Crocodile pose, place a folded blanket (long rectangle) under your lower belly. 

If you don’t find Crocodile comfortable, you could try a supported version of Savasana, as raising your torso higher than your legs might feel better than being flat on your back, or even a side-lying Savasana (see Corpse Pose Variations).

Supported Child’s Pose: Like Crocodile pose, Supported Child’s pose allows you to relax without feeling exposed or vulnerable. Many people actually find hugging their bolsters very comforting. You can turn your head to side and keep your eyes open if that helps; just be sure to turn your head to the other side for an equal amount of time.

Supported Inversions: because the Relaxation response is triggered by your physical position, supported inverted poses don’t require a mental focus (see Why You Should Love Your Baroreceptors). So you can keep your eyes open and even listen to music while you are practicing them and you’ll still quiet your nervous system. These are also great alternatives to forward bends, which cause some people to brood and others just find unpleasant. Of course, as with any pose, if you feel bad in an inverted pose, come out of the pose immediately. See All About Supported Inverted Poses to find a supported inverted pose that's right for you.

Choose Appropriate Breath Practices: Never do a breath practice that makes you feel uncomfortable in any way. Practices that encourage you to take a longer and/or deeper inhalation can actually be agitating for people with anxiety. The safest thing to do is just to practice simple breath awareness. But if that isn’t enough to engage your mind and you keep being distracted by depressing or anxious thoughts, try a practice that’s recommended for your particular state (see Balancing Your Emotions with your Breath).

And please let me know if you have any further recommendations! I'd love to add more ideas to my list.

Finally, if you are a teacher who is teaching one or more students with mental disorders, it is always a good idea to let the class know that if anyone becomes seriously agitated, anxious or depressed during meditation or relaxation, they should stop and raise their hand so you can help them find an appropriate alternative. 

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Friday Q&A: Can Meditation Be Dangerous?

Cactus by Melina Meza

Q: I've got a question for Baxter (as one of his former teacher training students and budding yoga teacher): Are there any studies showing that individuals with mental disorders such as depression or schizophrenia should not meditate because it may worsen their condition or otherwise?

A: My students are always spurring me to look more deeply at what I know about yoga and its safe application for so many conditions! And this question opened up a new world of work on yoga and psychological issues to me. I had previously taken a wonderful workshop that Patricia Walden and Timothy McCall did at Yoga Journal Conference many years ago, in which they recommended yoga as a helpful adjunct to the treatment of depression and anxiety. Nina reminded me today as we talked about their work that Patricia did mention cautions on the appropriate use of certain yoga poses and meditation as they related to those two particular conditions. But I was unaware as to whether there existed studies on this.

On the positive side, Timothy lists multiple studies on his 75 Conditions Yoga Helps listthat show yoga having benefits for anxiety and depression. But as I began to do some research, I immediately came across several online meditation sites that warned about certain contraindications. I also found a review article that looked at existing research on meditation and mental illness, which had some recommendations based on their discoveries. Today I’ll summarize some of what I discovered and give you a few links if you’d like to read more yourself.

The good news is that there were no strict or absolute contraindications for introducing meditation to students with mental illness, especially if the teacher is truly experienced with the meditation technique being taught, has a clear understanding of the student’s mental illness, and has given the student proper preparations for the actual meditation being taught. However, having a clear understanding of the student’s depression or schizophrenia may be way beyond the scope of practice of most yoga teachers or yoga therapists, so as a teacher, you might want to collaborate with the student’s therapist to make sure the student is stable enough to tolerate or benefit from learning meditation. And if you are a practitioner with a mental disorder who wants to learn meditation, check in with your therapist first and then try to find a very experienced meditation instructor.

According to The Spiritual Competency Resource: 

“There are conditions and situations when meditation is contra-indicated. A useful rule of thumb is that meditation should be used with caution whenever there are concerns regarding reality testing, ego boundaries, lack of empathy, or rigid over-control. For example, when treating a schizophrenic patient with active psychotic symptoms, it may be inadvisable to include meditation as a component of treatment, as reality testing may be impaired.” 

A 1979 study Precipitation of acute psychoticepisodes by intensive meditation in individuals with a history of schizophrenia looked at the worsening of patients’ schizophrenia when meditation was introduced, whereas a 1986 study A holistic program for chronic schizophrenic patients demonstrated the safe introduction of meditation as part of a holistic program for schizophrenic patients in a state mental hospital setting. So, as with so many things related to yoga, it depends on many factors as to the safety of introducing meditation to this population. 

I also discovered an anxiety condition that I was previously unaware of previously (although I did get hints of this when Richard Miller, PhD added a newer component to his yoga nidra practices for PTSD students that had them establish a “safe space” mentally that they could go to during their yoga nidra if they suddenly became anxious or had a panic attack). The condition, called “relaxation-induced anxiety,” is one in which someone who is unaccustomed to the deep relaxation that often accompanies meditation finds the resulting physiological release and attention to internal sensations, perceptions, and images, to be a source of fearful anxiety-producing apprehension. It turns out this kind of anxiety can happen with just about any relaxation technique, so that includes not only yoga nidra but also simple Savasana or a restorative yoga practice. Being aware of condition seems like a great idea for any yoga teacher who offers such practices to their public students. A 1983 study Relaxation-induced anxiety in a subclinical sample of chronically anxious subjects that looked at 30 chronically anxious patients who were given a progressive relaxation practice found that 17% of the participants had an increase in anxiety during the session.

Another very thorough review article Meditation: concepts, effects and uses in therapy (not a research paper) that looked at the results of 75 scientific selected articles in the field of meditation, including Transcendental Meditation, found that over 60% of participants reported negative side effects. Before I list the reported complaints, keep in mind that I don’t have the percentage breakdowns for them and the authors caution that the research itself has limitations on how well it was done (more on that in a minute). The reported side effects were: 

“relaxation-induced anxiety and panic; paradoxical increases in tension; less motivation in life; boredom; pain; impaired reality testing; confusion and disorientation; feeling 'spaced out'; depression; increased negativity; being more judgmental; feeling addicted to meditation; uncomfortable kinesthetic sensations; mild dissociation; feelings of guilt; psychosis-like symptoms; grandiosity; elation; destructive behavior; suicidal feelings; defenselessness; fear; anger; apprehension; and despair.”

The authors point out that many of these side effects are also symptoms that patients with neurosis might have had the symptoms before trying meditation, so it may be a question of the chicken or the egg. And once again, they warn about the state of the research:

“Research into meditation is mixed, and of poor quality. Most of the studies are methodologically flawed, with insufficient number of cases, lack of standardized diagnostic procedures and being limited to non-psychiatric populations.”

I think the take-home here is that we have some evidence that meditation techniques can be helpful for some people with conditions like depression and even schizophrenia, but maybe not for others who are more unstable and fragile. It would seem prudent for anyone with significant symptoms of any mental illness to be working with a good psychologist and maybe a psychiatrist if medications are required. So yoga teachers and therapists should consider forming working relationships with mental health professionals to best serve their students with mental health issues. And if you are a student with mental health problems who experiences significant anxiety, agitation or depression while meditating, please let your teacher know as he or she may be able to offer you an alternative practice (Nina will have some recommendations on Monday). 

—Baxter

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Accidentally Karma Yoga

by Nina

Austin Graffiti by Melina Meza

Brad has recently been telling me about how gratifying he finds mentoring his younger colleagues. He said that he’s turning more and more to this activity as a way of finding fulfillment at his work. Then, just last night as we were walking home from dinner out, he told me he’d read an article about a scientific study that confirmed his new approach to his job Meaningful Activities Protect the Brain From Depression by Olga Khazan.

For the original study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers followed a group of 39 teenagers over the course of one year to see whether the way their brains reacted to either eudaimonic (selfless) or hedonic (selfish) rewards correlated with how depressed they felt over time. First, the subjects underwent an fMRI while making a decision about whether to keep money for themselves (a hedonic reward) or to donate it to their families (a eudaimonic reward). They also played a game to determine if they were willing to take risks for the possibility of a greater financial reward (hedonic). Through the use of questionnaires, the researchers determined that depressive symptoms declined among those who made the selfless decision but rose in those who made the selfish decision. As Olga Khazan put it:

“It turned out the teens who had the greatest brain response to the generous, family-donation financial decision had the greatest declines in depressive symptoms over time. And those who got a boost from the risk-taking game were more likely to have an increase in depression. The types of rewards the teens responded to, it seems, changed their behavior in ways that altered their overall well-being.”

I said, “Brad, I have two words for you: karma yoga.” Karma yoga, I explained, is the yoga of selfless service, most famously embodied in the work of Mohandas K. Gandhi, who, inspired by the message of the Bhagavad Gita, worked for the freedom of the Indian people. In fact, Ram has already written about the topic of karma yoga in his post Selfless Service for Harmonious Longevity, in which he defined karma yoga as:  

“This individual puts the well-being of others as a top priority ahead of his/her personal gain or achievement.”

(Obviously, someone’s husband doesn’t actually read all the YFHA posts.) While Ram tied the practice of karma yoga to longevity in his post, he mentioned some benefits of the practice that would also contribute to the feeling of contentment that Brad has been experiencing:

• Stress reduction. When helping others, the body releases an important hormone called oxytocin, which assists in buffering stressful thoughts.
• Morale. Merely thinking of a selfless service releases certain “feel-good” chemicals, namely dopamine and serotonin (lack of which have both been linked with depression and other mood disorders).

And recently in his post Mental Exercise and the Perfect Brain, Ram mentioned that he himself practices karma yoga because it leads to true happiness and improved cognitive skills, bringing “greater fulfillment to my life.”

So, there you have it, Brad! You’re practicing karma yoga without even knowing it—and feeling the benefits. Namaste, dear husband.

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One Thing: Yoga, Zen, Whatever

by Nina

Zen Jewel by Torei Enji

Last night I was thinking about someone close to me who is going through hard times—struggling with rather serious depression. Although he exercises regularly, he doesn't take yoga classes. He's considering starting, though, and naturally I'm the go-to expert on that topic so I spent some time reading up on the studios in his area in an attempt to help. But when it came down to it, I surprised myself by recommending a Zen center in his area instead of a yoga studio. That's because I felt that if he was going to do one thing for himself—in addition to western style therapy—it should be a practice that would reduce his stress levels. Stress, of course, can exacerbate or even cause depression and I know his lifestyle is stressful. And Zen style meditation is a great way to switch your nervous system from Stress mode to Relaxation mode, and to teach you to cultivate equanimity in the face of challenges.

Still, why, when I have been writing about yoga for stress management practically since Day 1 (see The Relaxation Response and Yoga) wouldn't I recommend yoga? Well, the truth is that most yoga classes (like the ones in his neighborhood) are merely exercise classes. They don't teach meditation, pranayama or any forms of conscious relaxation, except maybe a brief Savasana at the end of a sweaty flow class. Gosh, one studio was even offering something called ariel yoga, which looked kind of like Cirque du Soleil. That might be fun but those acrobatic techniques didn't really seem like the most helpful skills for him to be cultivating at this point.  I felt in the end that at least some basic instruction in meditation from an experienced teacher—and I knew he needed in-person instruction not just YFHA written instructions—and a group to practice with in beautiful, peaceful room would be more helpful to him than trying to learn to jump into Chaturanga Dandasana.  It's kind of sad but I just didn't trust those unknown yoga teachers whose bios I read online to teach him the kind of yoga I felt he needed at this time. I know that fancy poses and the promise of a "yoga body" are what sells yoga these days but some really valuable techniques sure seem to be getting short shrift in the meantime. 

Well, that's my mini rant for the day. But I do want to add that if you're going through some difficult times yourself and you want to try just one thing, do something to bring your stress levels down—yoga (see here), Zen, whatever. Besides, the Buddha himself was a yogi, right?

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Yoga and Foot Cramps

by Baxter 

One of our readers sent in a question that I was surprised we had never received before:

“I'm having this ongoing cramping of the feet, mostly the arch during yoga classes. The cramping I experience happens is not flex, such as in seal or cobra or even in a kneeling pose where the top of my foot is on the mat. It's then I get the cramp in the upper arch of my foot. Each foot will cramp and sometimes both cramp at the same time. I've read about electrolyte balance and eating bananas and I have a pretty healthy diet and I practice yoga in a studio 5 days a week. I've been cramping almost from the beginning of doing yoga, about 2 years ago.”

This is such a common experience for most yoga students, certainly when they first begin doing yoga asana, but even over time. I know that both Nina and I have experienced this first hand, so we are empathetic to our reader’s plight! That said, it might be nice to have a better understanding of what I jokingly refer to as “the deadly yoga foot cramp” (news flash: no one has actually died from these inopportune and usually harmless cramps that anyone at YFHA is aware of, but, boy do they hurt!).

A foot cramp is a sudden and involuntary (you can say that again!) contraction of one or more of your muscles. In the case of the foot, it is most likely the smaller muscles that reside solely in the foot, called “intrinsic" muscles, but may also involve those that originate near the knee and end on one of the foot bones, called “extrinsic” muscles of the foot. Your average person may have experienced a sudden muscle cramp elsewhere in the body, quite commonly in the calf at night (Charlie horse), which can be very painful until the cramp subsides. If it weren’t for the pain and the muscle going offline temporarily, we wouldn’t likely even talk about muscle cramps. And, although when you are in the midst of a sudden foot cramp in class or at home, it seems like it may last forever, it usually resolves in seconds or minutes, especially if you come out of the pose you’re doing and do a little self-care to help things along.

Even though in many cases the exact cause of muscle cramps is not known, there are certain causes for having them more often. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) website has a pretty exhaustive list of possible causes:

• Brain disorders, such Parkinson’s, MS, Huntington’s Disease, to name a few
• Chronic kidney disease and dialysis
• Damage to a single nerve or multiple nerves that are connected to muscles
• Dehydration (not having enough fluids in your body)*
• Disorders or injuries that involve peripheral nerves
• Heavy exercise*
• Hyperventilation, which is rapid or deep breathing (can occur with anxiety or panic)*
• Increased levels of phosphate in the body
• Overuse of muscles during sports or work activity*
• Pregnancy, more often during the third trimester*
• Reduced levels of magnesium or calcium in the body*
• Thyroid disorders
• Too little vitamin D
• Certain medications*

* Indicates conditions that are easier for us yogis to evaluate or have checked out by our docs if foot cramps don’t gradually subside over time.

That list above does include some serious and somewhat scary possibilities, so if your foot cramps lead to any of the following conditions, you may want to have a more thorough evaluation with your physician:

• Cause severe discomfort
• Are associated with leg swelling, redness or skin changes
• Are associated with muscle weakness
• Happen frequently
• Don't improve with self-care
• Aren't associated with an obvious cause, such as strenuous exercise

(List from the Mayo Clinic.) 

Factors that may increase your risk of muscle cramps include:

• older age, when sarcopenia or muscle mass loss has set in and the remaining muscle may be more easily overstressed
• dehydration, which is both a cause and a risk factor, especially in athletes who become fatigued and dehydrated while participating in warm-weather sports
• pregnancy, when muscle cramps are more common
• medical conditions, such as diabetes, or nerve, liver or thyroid disorders

So, some common-sense actions may reduce the chances of continued problems with foot cramps during yoga practice, such as staying well hydrated, and stretching your muscles in sensitive areas before and after your yoga practice. But, hey! Wait a minute! Aren’t I already stretching my muscles simply by virtue of doing yoga poses? Well, a beginner might think such a thing, but experienced yogis know that many poses involve the contraction and strengthening of muscles to enter, maintain and exit a pose successfully. And, in some traditions, the poses are held for several minutes, probably enough time for a sensitive muscle to cramp and spasm. So, if you suffer from frequent foot cramps during your practice, you might want to develop a foot warm-up sequence to do before or/and after your regular class or home practice—more on that in a moment!

During an acute foot cramp, I have always found that coming out of the pose that is triggering it, and stretching and massaging the part of my foot that’s cramping seems to speed up the release of the cramp and my return to my practice. Medical sources suggest the use of ice or heat, but I always find that the foot cramps resolve long before I am able to get to anything like that, so that suggestion would be for the more unusual and persistent forms of cramping.

A few ideas for a foot warm-up sequence:

• Massage the foot by hand for a minute or so before activity.
• Sitting or standing, roll a tennis ball systematically between the sole of your foot and the floor to massage and release tension in the muscles of the foot.
• From a kneeling position, turn your toes under and sit back on your heels with your hands on the floor in front of your knees or on your thighs to stretch the soles of the feet, possibly even the plantar fascia as well.
• In Reclined Leg Stretch pose on your back, put the strap on the arch of the foot and rock it side to side to massage the muscles on the sole of the foot.
  
• Stand facing a wall and step one leg back into Warrior 1 position, bending the front knee toward wall and getting a good calf stretch for the back leg.
• When doing standing poses, imagine the toes relaxing and releasing away from the balls of the feet, instead of clawing the floor.
• And for our reader who is experiencing cramps in a more unusual location of his foot, poses that stretch the tops of the feet, such as, Hero pose (Virasana) and Thunderbolt pose (Vajrasana), or if it’s comfortable for you, Reclined Hero pose (Supta Virasana) might be helpful.

A final note from Nina, who finds that in Cobra if she activates her hamstrings, her feet don’t cramp! Thanks, Nina, and good to know! 

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Jack Up Your Training Intensity With 21s.

High Intensity Training Series

Jack Up Your Training Intensity With 21s

By Veeraj Vic Goyaram

Ronnie Coleman is well known for doing his barbell curls with 21s

Most of you probably already know about 21s as a great way of making your workouts interesting, fun and to bomb a lagging bodypart by hitting it in a way that it is not accustomed to. The use of this awesome technique mustn't be limited to barbell curls as many exercises can lend themselves to 21s. 

What are 21s?

For those who don't know, 21s involve dividing the range of motion of an exercise into two parts and then performing 7 reps from start point to midpoint, 7 more reps from midpoint to finish and then 7 final reps using the entire range of motion. For the barbell curls, this is illustrated below. But this order doesn't always have to be this way. You can switch things around. 

Illustration of 21s on barbell curls. 

Exercises that I have tried 21s on

• Shoulders: Shoulder presses and even one arm side laterals.
• Biceps: Barbell and cable curls
• Triceps: Cable pushdowns
• Back: lat pulldowns
• Legs: leg extensions, squats, leg curls and machine adduction exercise

Have you tried 21s on any other exercise? Feel free to write and share with us how you went about! We'd like to hear from you.

How to use 21s?

If you're starting out on 21s begin with a light weight and perform a maximum of about 2-3 sets per workout. Don't be over enthusiastic and go overboard. 21s are also very taxing and I wouldn't recommend it for more than 1 exercise. Many top champions recommend performing it only once or twice per month per bodypart. 

My Bio: I am a Mauritian originally from Roche Bois, Port Louis and now based in Cape Town, South Africa where I am busy with my postgraduate studies in molecular biology of exercise. My research, supervised by Prof. Edward Ojuka and Dr. Tertius Kohn, looks at the influence of nutrition and exercise in gene expression in muscle, research which is relevant and applicable to exercising individuals, sports persons and diabetic individuals. The knowledge that I share with you stems from my 18 years of experience in bodybuilding and 8 years (and counting) of university education in the field. I have also published work in the American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism (2012, 2014), International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism (2013) and co-authored two book chapters on exercise and diabetes. I also presented my research work at the 2012 International Sports and Exercise Nutrition Conference (UK). I am grateful to each and everyone at the UCT Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine. "Knowledge without sharing is worth nothing"

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Friday Q&A: How to Subscribe

Q: Could you sign me up to receive updates by email?

A: We actually get this question quite frequently. Although we have instructions for subscribing to the blog on our How to Subscribe page, the blog's new way of showing the pages in a drop-down list instead of tabs (Google surprised us by making that change) means that some people don't realize the page is there. So in today's post, I'm going to provide the same instructions you can always find on the How to Subscribe page. (Please note that when you subscribe, you're signing up for an outside service, not an email list that we maintain ourselves, so we have no control over when and/or how often the updates are sent to you.)

In general, you can subscribe to blogs by email, RSS, or, if you are a Google member, by becoming a Google follower. Instructions for all three methods follow below. If you are on Facebook, you can also follow us there, and get links to the post of the day, as well as other links and information. Simply like the Yoga for Healthy Aging page!

1. To subscribe by email or RSS, hover your mouse over the dock at the upper-right of the home page (the thin black rectangle): 

When you see the icons, move your mouse over the Connection icon until you see the word "Subscribe" and then click. This opens a Subscribe box that gives you options for email or RSS feed delivery.

To sign up for email, enter your email address in the box and click the Submit button. This will open a window that asks you to enter text to prove you're not a robot:

Enter the text and click the Complete Subscription Request Button. This will open a window accepting your request for an email subscription and telling you to expect an email that you must use to verify your request.

When you receive the email requesting confirmation, please confirm by clicking the link or you will not successfully subscribe to the blog. If you don’t see the email within 24 hours, check your junk mail folder.

If you have trouble subscribing by email and want help, email me at nina@wanderingmind.com and I'll sign you up. After I sign you up, I'll send you a message telling you how to confirm your subscription (the confirmation process is one that I can't turn off).

For RSS feed delivery, choose your feed destination and follow the instructions from there.

2. To become a Google follower, hover your mouse over the dock (the thin black rectangle) on the upper-right side of the blog:

Move your mouse onto the Followers icon until you see the word "Followers" and then click. This opens the Google Followers box, which includes a "Join this site" button.

Click the Join this site button and follow the instructions from there.

—Nina

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Starting to Move Again, Part 2 (A Progress Report)

by Nina

Daffodil by Melina Meza

As some of you may remember, during this last winter, Baxter and I became concerned about people we were hearing about who were afraid of leaving the house because they were worried about falling on the winter ice. Even worse, we heard about a couple of people who had fallen and who had then lost all their confidence in their physical abilities. The real problem here is that loss of confidence can lead to inactivity, and that inactivity in turn leads to stiffness, weakness, loss of balance and/or loss of agility. But we knew that yoga could help these people so we got started blogging!

First, Baxter wrote a general post about how you can use yoga to cultivate balance specifically for dealing with icy conditions (see Winter Ice, Fear of Falling and Yoga).

But I decided that I wanted to help a specific individual, a women who had left a comment on my post Regaining Stability for Free. Here is the original comment:

“Omgosh. I ....this took my breath away. This is exactly what happened to me! I was this vibrant, moving being....then a stupid, nasty fall (via a piece of gravel on the sidewalk) ended all that. And my subsequent life mirrors your friend's. Thank you SO much for giving us hope!”

So I followed up with this reader to find out more about her particular issues, and with Baxter’s help I came up with three short yoga sequences for her to practice as a way to regain both her physical abilities and her confidence (see Starting to Move Again ). The three sequences were:

1. Baxter’s classic Low Back Care Practice. Because our reader was having back problems in addition to fear of falling, I hoped this sequence would help relieve back pain and restore a feeling of physical wellbeing.

2. Baxter’s classic Mini Restorative Practice . Because our reader was feeling anxious, I hoped this sequence would help relieve stress. And because she was stiff from lack of exercise, this sequence would allow her to gently and passively regain flexibility.

3. My Gentle All-Around Practice. Because the standing poses in this sequence build strength in the lower body and improve balance and stability, I felt this sequence would be helpful for our reader as well as for anyone who is afraid of falling.

My hope was that practicing these sequences on a regular basis would, over time, restore our reader’s flexibility, balance, and feelings of self confidence, and allow her to be a “vibrant, moving being” once again.

Now that it’s spring, I decided to check back in with her to see how the program had worked for her. The news was so good, I decided I had to share it with you. Here’s what she said:

“The moment I started practicing, I knew that I had the tools to positively effect a change, and that translated, almost immediately, into regaining my confidence. And once I got my flexibility back, it was as if there was a mind-body reconnection as well. Although I sometimes backslide, when I do attend to the poses and sync my mind with my body, I feel pretty much invincible!”

I’m partly sharing this with you simply because it makes me so happy! But there is also an important takeaway: having a home practice, however basic, is empowering.

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Mental Exercise, Yoga and the Perfect Brain

by Ram

Abstract Lights by Melina Meza

Generally we assume that as long as the brain is working fine and memory is reasonably good there is no need to pay attention to it. But the concept “use it or lose it” applies to the brain as well as the body. Our brains are like the car engines; just as the performance of the engine is enhanced as long as the oil is changed regularly, similarly the brain actively grows and rewires itself in response to stimulation and learning. Brain fitness, mental fitness and mental exercise all mean the same thing: it is the act of performing a mentally stimulating task that keeps the brain fit. Several scientific studies find that mental exercise can either prevent or delay the onset of mental and physical diseases.  Furthermore, age-associated memory loss can be prevented by: 1) physical activity/exercise, 2) staying mentally active, 3) being socially active, 4) eating a healthy diet, 5) leading a stress-free life and 6) sleeping well.

Several scientific studies point to the benefits of yoga (asanas, meditation and pranayama) in combating stress, keeping the individual physically and mentally stable and active, improving the digestive capacity and also helping in the sleeping process, all of which will result in combating age-associated memory loss. Yoga does this through multiple cellular mechanisms.  Studies show that the practice of yoga has beneficial effects on emotional well-being and general mental acuity without any of the side effects. Yoga increases brain chemicals such as endorphins and enkephalins that contribute to a feel-good response and ward off mental stress. It is akin to stimulating the brain in a positive way, which results in optimal brain function all of which can keep an individual alert and sharp.

So the questions are: Do I practice mental exercises? Does this involve yoga in any way? Is there anything that I do regularly with yoga that I feel will contribute to my brain health?

I incorporate yoga as part of my daily mental exercise regime. Yoga to me is not just about asanas but about all forms of the discipline that bring the body-mind-breath in tune. I sincerely feel that my yoga practice is keeping me mentally agile and physically fit.  Here are eight simple mental exercises that I incorporate as a daily/regular practice to combat age-associated memory loss and other mental illness.

Meditation: I do a 30-minute meditation and pranayama practice combined with an hour of asana practice. Meditation helps to settle my unruly mind and allows me to focus consciously. I also believe that meditation gets to places in my brain that asanas simply cannot penetrate. Meditating helps me to ease smoothly into my asana practice. Similarly, doing asanas helps me deepen my meditation practice.

Pranayama: I have a daily practice of pranayama. It helps me to calm down, reducing the Flight or Fight response. I have found it particularly useful in relieving stress in my mind that primarily comes from lab work.

Asanas:  I commit to a one-hour home asana practice when I am not teaching at the studio. My yoga sequence keeps varying each day and this variation in the asana sequence is a perfect way to stimulate the brain. In addition, I switch the sides lest I end up with a dominant side. (Some of the poses that I routinely do on the right side first, I practice the same by starting on the left side and vice versa.) Furthermore, as I do each pose I mentally call out the name of the pose preferably in Sanskrit thereby stimulating the “recall” centers of the brain.

Additionally, I end my asana practice with inversions. My rationale for this: with age there is a decline in the volume of blood flow into the brain. This decreases the hemoglobin, sugar and oxygen content to the brain that may be responsible for age-associated mental problems. Inversions trigger increased blood circulation to the brain (by reversing gravity) thus keeping the brain nourished and healthy.

Physical Exercise: My day doesn't feel right if I go without some form of physical activity. There are days when I feel so tired and my brain refuses to work smoothly towards the end of the day. Being aware of the fact that physical exercise is not only important for body's health but it also helps the brain stay sharp, I force myself to go for a workout to the local gym. The antidepressant-like effects kick in after exercising for just 20 minutes.

Santosha: I try to smile a lot and be happy and contented; smiling helps to improve mental and cognitive skills, interpersonal skills and it adds years to life. (See Santosha, Smiling and Longevity).

Satya: Truth frees us from all kinds of emotional turmoil and telling the truth significantly improves a person’s mental health and has a positive impact on health and longevity. So I do my best not to lie and if I am in a fix, I will avoid answering. (See Satya: The Truth about Lies and Healthy Aging.)  

Anger Management: Research from several diverse groups indicates that rage and anger are definitely hazardous to health. Anger has been associated with chronic over stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, which, in turn, increases blood pressure and heart rate, causing alterations of ventricular function. These days I rarely get angry primarily because of my long-standing pranayama and meditation practice, techniques that are known to curb anger and achieve calmness. (See Anger Management: Philosophy, Science and Yoga.) 

Karma Yoga/Selfless Service: Research studies show that selfless service provides freedom from emotional disturbances including desires, ambitions, fear, worry, anxiety, judgment, rage, etc., leading to true happiness and improved cognitive skills. Therefore, I engage in selfless service and voluntary acts during weekends that brings greater fulfillment to my life. (See Selfless Service for Harmonious Longevity.)

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