Featured Pose: Simple Chair Twist (Rerun)

by Baxter and Nina

The Simple Chair Twist is one of our five essential office yoga poses. It releases back muscles that are stiff or sore from sitting at a desk or from traveling, or from everyday activities that stress the back and increase the rotational mobility in your spine, such as gardening and painting. Twisting also helps nourish the spine—movement of the spine helps maintain the health of the discs—and it strengthens the bones themselves as your back muscles pull on the bony insertions of the spine. It also strengthens the oblique muscles of your core (and we could all use a little of that).

Traditional yoga teachers recommend twists for the health of your internal organs, improving circulation to and function of the abdominal organs, although no studies have been conducted to confirm this. And finally, for many of us, twists can release physical and emotional tension, providing relief from stress.

The Simple Chair Twist has the additional bonus of being accessible to almost everyone in any location, whether office chair, airplane seat, or even a car seat (except, as Baxter noted while sitting in Nina’s backyard, a 50s-style butterfly chair).

Baxter prescribes Simple Chair Twist for:

• general back tension
• stiffness
• people with balance issues (or who are unable to stand)
• certain low back conditions
• digestive difficulties (constipation or sluggishness)
• strengthening the oblique muscles
• arthritis of the spine
• people who engage in sports or other activities that involve rotation (all you golfers can restore symmetry to your body by twisting on both sides instead of one)

Instructions: Sit sideways on the chair, with your feet resting comfortably on the floor (if your chair has arms or is attached to another chair, see below for an alternative). Your thighs should be parallel to the floor, so if you’re tall you may need to sit on top of something and if you’re short you may need to place something (like a book) under your feet.

Keeping your thighs parallel to each other, lift your spine and turn toward the back of the chair, placing your hands on either side of the chair’s back. Inhale and create an inner lift from your sitting bones through the crown of your head. Then exhale and encourage the twist from your upper belly (above the navel) and chest. Continue lifting on your inhalation and twisting slightly deeper on the exhalation for about 1 minute. Then change sides and twist in the opposite direction. When you’ve finished the pose, pause for a moment to assess how the pose affected your body.

If you can’t sit on the side of your chair, you can sit facing forward as shown below.

As you twist to the right, place your right hand on the chair’s back and your bring your left hand across your right leg. To twist on the other side, simply switch your arm positions.

Cautions: With certain low back conditions (such as severe arthritis, bulging disc, spinal stenosis or sciatica) you should approach twisting cautiously and skip it entirely if it aggravates your symptoms. If you have osteoporosis, twist gently and don’t move through your full range of motion (stay within 50 to 70 percent). If you feel pain, please stop and when you get a chance, ask your yoga teacher for help.

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Featured Sequence: Brain Health Practice

by Baxter

Here's our new Brain Health sequence, which combines physical exercise and stress management to promote health of the organ in general with "brain aerobics" to challenge you mentally. If you want to practice this sequence on a regular basis, you'll need to change it up periodically (see Yoga Sequences Are Brain Aerobics for information).

1. Checking-In: Start by sitting and checking in with your mind: is your mind busy or quiet today? Is your focus good or scattered? What is your mood? As you take a few moments to observe your thoughts, notice if they have one of the following qualities: pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant. Can you notice this without necessarily having to act on this insight?

Next, choose a single yoga sutra, either from your Yoga Sutras book or by finding a sutra online, and read the Sanskrit aloud. Then, repeat the translation aloud three times in a row.

Now you’re ready for your asana practice. Set you mat up so the short end is touching a wall. Then stand at the front of your mat in Mountain pose, facing away from the wall.

2. Mini Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar): Practice the Sanskrit name for Sun Salutations. For general instructions on how to practice our Mini Sun Salutation, see Mini Sun Salutation. Start by practicing one round with your eyes open. Then attempt to do several rounds with your eyes closed, relying on senses other than vision to guide you. Because exercise is as important for the brain as it is for the heart, these Sun Salutations enhance basic brain health as well as stimulating brain function.

3. Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana 2): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then, facing the long edge of your mat, step your feet wide apart so that the outer edge of your left foot is flush against the wall (or only the heel if this is a problem for your hips). Then turn your right foot and leg out 90 degrees, towards the center of the room. Now, bend your right knee and raise your arms to come into the pose. Instead of looking toward your front arm, look back at your left hand as you enter, stay in the pose for 6-12 breaths, and then exit the pose. Turn to the other long edge of your mat and repeat on the second side.

Imagine the Wall!

4. Standing Forward Bend with the Wall (Uttanasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Now, stand with your back to the wall with your hips and shoulders touching the wall but your heels about 12 inches away from the wall. Bend your knees slightly and then tip forward from your hip joints to come into the forward fold, keeping your buttocks flesh on the wall and lowering down as far as you safely can. Caution: If you have osteopenia or osteoporosis, perhaps come only half way down. Stay for 12 breaths, and come up on an inhalation.

5. Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then, turn around on your mat so you can practice the left side of Triangle pose first. Facing the long edge of your mat, step your feet wide apart so that the outer edge of your right foot is flush against the wall (or only the heel if this is a problem for your hips). Then turn your left foot and leg out 90 degrees, towards the center of the room. Next, inhale your arms up to parallel with the floor, and keeping your attention on your left hand, come into full Triangle pose, using a prop for your bottom hand if necessary. As you stay in the pose for 6-12 breaths, keep looking at your left hand (your bottom hand) and continue to focus on your left hand as you come out of the pose. Then turn towards the other long edge of your mat and repeat the pose on the right side, following your right hand as you move into, stay in, and move out of the pose.

Imagine the Wall!

6. Powerful Pose (Utkatasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then, standing as you did for Wall Standing Forward Bend, keep your buttocks on the wall as you inhale your arms overhead, bend your knees, and tip your torso and spine forward over your thighs into the Powerful pose shape. See Powerful Pose for instructions about Powerful pose. Stay for 6 breaths. 

Imagine the Wall!

7. Extended Side Angle Pose (Utthita Parsva Konasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Next, align your feet for the pose the same way you did for Warrior 2, with your left outer foot (or heel) at the wall. As you come into the pose to the right, using a prop for your bottom hand if necessary, keep your eyes fixed on your right hand (your lower hand), throughout the pose. For additional instructions, see Upper Body Strength Practice Stay for 6-12 breaths, and repeat on the second side.

Imagine the Wall!

8. Half Downward-Facing Dog Pose at the Wall (Ardha Adho Muka Svanasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then stand facing the wall with your hands on the wall at shoulder height. Bend your knees a bit and slowly back your feet and hips towards the center of the room until your arms and torso are parallel with the floor and your hips are positioned directly over your heels. If your back and hamstrings permit, slowly straighten your legs without rounding your lower back towards the ceiling. Float your head between your arms as you actively push your hands into the wall and your hips away from the wall. Stay in the pose for 6-12 breaths. To come out, bend the knees a bit and walk the feet back towards the wall as you lift your torso up to vertical. For additional instructions, see Half Downward-Facing Dog Pose at the Wall. 

9. Warrior 1 to 3 (Virabhadrasana 1, 3): Practice the Sanskrit name of the two poses. Now, stand facing the wall about halfway back on your mat (you will need to experiment with the distance to get it just right). Step your left foot back about three feet, and turn it out a bit to the left. Then, inhale your arms up alongside your head and bend your front knee forward over your right ankle, coming into Warrior 1. Then, tip forward from your hips and lean forward, bringing your weight onto the right leg, your hands to the wall and your left leg up behind you into Warrior 3. Try to keep your hips square with the floor beneath you and your head floating between your arms. This can be quite a vigorous pose, so stay for just 3-6 breaths. See Warrior 3 Pose (Wall Version) for further instructions. To come out of the pose, on an inhalation, step back to Warrior 1 as lightly as you can. On your exhalation, come out of Warrior 1 and step back to Mountain pose. Repeat on the second side.

10. Reclined Leg Stretch Pose (Supta Padangustasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then, lie down on your back with the soles of your feet against the wall. Practice version 1 of Reclined Leg Stretch on your right side (see (Reclined Leg Stretch Sequence ), keeping good contact of the sole of the left foot against the wall throughout the pose. The key difference here is the tactile awareness of the bottom leg foot on the wall. Stay for 6-12 breaths. Then repeat on the other side. 

Imagine the Wall!

11. Legs Up the Wall Pose (Vipariti Karani): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then, set up for a supported version of Legs Up the Wall pose, using whatever propping would feel good for you today. See Legs Up the Wall pose for instructions on practicing this pose. After going up into the pose, change the typical position of your arms today, and notice how that affects the pose on the level of sensation, breath, and emotions. Stay for 5-10 minutes if your schedule permits. This pose is great for managing stress levels, which is important for maintaining brain health as it helps reduce strokes (see Brain Health Interview with Ram Rao).

12. Simple Seated Pose (Sukasana): Practice the Sanskrit name of the pose. Then sit in Sukasana with your back against the wall and as much support under your hips as you need for your back to feel comfortable. See if you can recall the sutra you learned for today. If not, re-read it now. Then, use the translation of the sutra as a mantra for a short meditation session, repeating the sutra mentally to yourself as you breathe in and out comfortably. I usually set a timer for how long I want to do my final meditation, typically at least 10 minutes, but feel free to start with 3-5 minutes at first. Any type of meditation can be beneficial for brain health, as it may help build brain strength (see Meditation and Brain Strength).

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Yoga Sequences Are Brain Aerobics

by Baxter

Do you like my brain? by Niki de Saint Phalle*

Brain Health is a topic we here at YFHA have addressed on numerous occasions. Research clearly points out that your mind like your body needs to be exercised regularly. I recently grabbed a flyer from my family doctor’s office that caught my eye. It was titled “The Power of Brain Aerobics: Maximize Your Memory.” As I read through it, I could not help but recall (good sign, eh?) the two excellent posts Ram did a while back on brain exercise (see The Power of Mental Exercise, Part 1 and Part 2). According to the group who published my flyer, the Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation, there are three conditions your brain workout must meet in order for an activity to be considered “brain aerobics”:

• It needs to engage your attention
• It must break a routine activity in an unexpected, nontrivial way
• It must involve more than one of the senses

You can see that attending a regular yoga class or practicing yoga at home likely meets all three of the criteria. First, you are actively encouraged to bring your attention to the practice at hand, whether it is the physical poses, breathing patterns or meditation. Second, because you classes are likely changing each week (unless you do a style of yoga that repeats the same sequence week to week), there will be some familiar components of a practice, but an ever-changing sequence of poses, with a goal for each class that is a bit different from the previous week’s class, breaking the routine in a nontrivial way. And if you’re practicing at home, you can consciously try to add new poses or change up your sequences to keep things fresh. Finally, not only does the successful practice of yoga involve more than one of our senses (most obviously visual, tactile, auditory), but involves the mind taking in information and acting on it in the moment.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting my new Brain Health Sequence. If you are going to practice this sequence on a regular basis, it may be more challenging to meet the second requirement of breaking the routine activity in an unexpected way. You will have to find ways to creatively modify the sequence every few times you practice. So in this post, I’ll make several recommendations for how you can do can make this or any sequence more stimulating for your brain.

To re-iterate why we want to do these mental aerobics, Ram says:

“Mental fitness is exactly what it sounds like: keeping the brain and emotional health in a healthy state by performing mentally stimulating tasks. Mental exercises refer to a series of exercises that help you to be more alert, think rationally and logically, make sound and correct decisions and boost a declining memory.”

Hear, hear! Now for some ideas about how to apply these concepts to your brain health (and other) sequence:

1. Each time you practice, pick one or two of the poses in the sequence and commit to learning the name of the pose in Sanskrit. We typically include the Sanskrit names of the poses in our sequences, so you can find the names right on the post. And if you want to know the Sanskrit name for a pose that is not included on the blog, there are many resources to help you with this, including my teacher Donald Moyer’s book Yoga: Awaking the Inner Body and Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar. Nicholai Bachman has a sweet little book and audio CD “The Language of Yoga” to assist in learning the most common yoga pose names, as well.

Note from Nina: Gosh, Baxter, you forgot to mention the second book I wrote with Rodney Yee, Moving Toward Balance—which has Sanskrit names for all the poses in the book! And, everyone, if you don’t have a yoga book on hand, Google or any internet search facility works very nicely for finding articles that include both English and Sanskrit pose names, such as those on Yoga Journal's site or even wikipedia.

2. Using your memory is a great mental exercise. So look over the sequence first and try to do it from memory. If you use the post while practicing, 30 minutes or so after you are done practicing, try to write out the sequence as accurately as you can.

3. A simple way to stimulate new nerve connections in the brain is by using the opposite or non-dominant hand/side for routine tasks. When it comes specifically to yoga asana, if you have a habit of doing the poses right side first, practice the same by starting on the left side before the right and vice versa. Or, as I do in class and at home, alternate which side you go to first in asymmetric poses.

4. Changing your daily habits and routines will allow mental stimulation to occur as well. So try practicing in a different room or space in your house. Something I often do is change the direction of practice by re-orienting my mat in my practice space to point in different directions. When you do this, notice what appears around you and how it feels to practice with the new orientation. Another way to change up a sequence is to tinker with it a bit by adding a new pose or substituting one pose for another (see Stuck in a Rut?).

5. Stimulate new neural network connections and brain growth by learning something new. I recommend that you have a yoga book at your mat and you take a few minutes to read a paragraph or two about yoga. Recently, I’ve been reading one sutra from Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD’s new book The Secret of the Yoga Sutra, pronoucing the sutra to the best of my ability and memorizing the English translation. For your learning pleasure today, I share with you Sutra 1.2 and his translation:

yogascittavrittinirodhah: Complete mastery over the roaming tendencies of the mind is Yoga.

I will typically reread the sutra for several days in a row, and continue to practice saying the Sanskrit phrase out loud.

Stay tuned for my new Brain Health Practice tomorrow!

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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Yoga to the Rescue

by Ram

Tokugawa with help from the Jodo monks of the Daijuji temple in Okizaki,
defeats the Ikkō ikki at the battle of Azukizaka by Yoshitoshi

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that develops after a person is exposed to a traumatic event. The individual could be either experiencing or witnessing the event.  Generally, people who are exposed to a traumatic event have difficulty adjusting and coping for a while but the symptoms get better with time and good care. However, if the symptoms get worse and protracted and interfere with daily tasks, the individual may have PTSD. Symptoms may include: recurring flashbacks of the event, hyperarousal, nightmares, severe anxiety, difficulty concentrating, feeling "jumpy" or getting easily startled, insomnia, uncontrollable thoughts about the event, self destructive behavior or withdrawing from social relationship. Women in general are more likely to develop PTSD than men, children are less likely to experience PTSD-like symptoms after a traumatic event than adults, especially if they are under ten years of age, and war veterans are at high risk for PTSD.

Anyone who is exposed to a dangerous situation naturally feels frightened.  The fear triggers the Fight or Flight response in the body to defend against the incoming danger or to evade it. This is a normal and healthy response of the body to protect the individual. But in PTSD, the Fight or Flight response is abnormally altered and as a result the individual may feel stressed or frightened even when they’re no longer in danger. Though PTSD was first recognized in war veterans, it can also result from a variety of incidents, including brutal assault, rape, torture, child abuse, abusive relationships, accidents, such as, car crashes, bombings, natural disasters, kidnapping or long-term captivity. The symptoms of PTSD may show up following the traumatic event or, surprisingly, may appear several years after the event. The symptoms cause significant problems at home, work, or in a social situations and can affect the individual’s normal functioning. 

What’s intriguing is why only some people suffer from PTSD. As with most mental health problems, PTSD is probably exacerbated in those who have:

• inherited some mental health risks (genes that play a role in fear associated-memory formation and acquisition)
• exposed themselves to frequent episodes of traumatic events
• dysregulation in the release of chemicals and hormones in response to stress

The primary treatment for PTSD is psychotherapy in combination with suitable medication. This type of combinatorial treatment approach seems to improve the symptoms, help individuals feel better about themselves and enable the individuals to adopt lifestyle changes to manage the symptoms that recur. Medications include antidepressants and/or anti-anxiety medications. The drawback is that these medications have the potential for abuse and patients complain of several non-specific side effects. So non-pharmacological remedies could serve as a perfect add-on treatment. Fortunately, there are now nearly a dozen research studies describing mind-body intervention therapies, including yoga and meditation, for management of PTSD symptoms that arise from exposure to various stress stimuli. See Managing Mental Health Disorders Resulting from Trauma through Yoga: A Review.

Yoga for War Veterans with PTSD: The effectiveness of a yoga program for improving PTSD symptoms was conducted in a pilot study involving twelve war veterans who suffered from military-related PTSD. The veterans participated in a six-week yoga intervention that was held twice a week. The researchers noted a significant improvement only in a subset of PTSD symptoms, including hyperarousal symptoms, overall sleep quality, and daytime dysfunction related to sleep. 

Yoga for Tsunami Survivors: In another study, the effect of a yoga breath program alone or in combination with a trauma-reduction exposure technique was evaluated on the 2004 tsunami survivors who were confirmed to exhibit PTSD symptoms. The 183 tsunami survivors were divided into three groups: 1) yoga breath intervention, 2) yoga breath intervention followed by 3–8 hours of trauma-reduction exposure technique, and 3) six-week wait list that served as a control group. PTSD measures (17-item PTSD checklist and depression) were checked at the start of the study and at 6, 12 and 24 weeks.  Eight months after the 2004 tsunami, survivors who performed the yoga program alone or in combination with the exposure therapy had significantly reduced scores on PTSD symptoms checklist compared with the control group. Additionally, the yoga group alone or in combination with the exposure therapy had significantly reduced scores on depression measurements compared with the control group. The benefits from the yoga program alone or in combination with the exposure therapy were maintained for 24 weeks, even without a regular practice. 

Yoga for Youth Incarcerated in a Correctional Facility: Juvenile delinquency requires interventions to help the youth cope with the stress.  A randomized controlled trial was carried out on 28 girls between 12 and 16 years of age, all of whom had a history of committing legal offences. The 28 girls were divided into two groups:  1) yoga and 2) games. The girls in the yoga group received training in postures and guided relaxation sessions for 60 minutes daily for 5 days a week. At the end of 6 months, both groups’ heart rate and breath rate were assessed to evaluate their physiological stress levels. While both groups showed significantly reduced heart rate, the yoga group also showed a significant decrease in breath rate, suggesting that a combination of yoga and meditation was helpful in combating fear, anxiety and hyper arousal like symptoms associated with PTSD.

Similar mind-body intervention programs were conducted on people exposed to civil wars, tsunami, hurricanes, interpersonal violence, combat, and terrorism in several places, including Kosovo and Sri Lanka. And in all such cases it was noted that yoga and meditation were extremely useful in reducing mental health disorders and other PTSD symptoms. Researchers believe that yoga and meditation may improve the functioning of traumatized individuals by relieving their psychological distress, increasing their mental awareness, and helping them to tolerate physical and sensory experiences associated with fear and helplessness. So if you know of someone who is experiencing PTSD or similar symptoms, kindly roll out the mat and encourage the individual to incorporate yoga and meditation into their lives. Both these practices do not require extensive hospital visits, expensive gear, space or setup and do not have any baggage of side effects. And the benefits are immense. Furthermore the healing power is in its simplicity!

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Saturday Bug Report

by Nina

Pineapple and Cockroaches by
Maria Sibylla Merian

Did you happen to notice that there were three posts on Thursday, July 24, 2014? Yes, that happened. And I don't think I can fix it. Of course, it's not the worst thing in the world, but I thought you deserved a bit of an explanation. 

Only the post The Power of Svadhyaya (Self-Study), Part 2 was a new one, and this post is the one that was supposed to be published on Thursday. Enjoy!

The other two posts, Never Go to Bed Angry and Friday Q&A: When to Eat, are posts from 2011 that I updated. Normally, updating a post—which I do very frequently—does not cause it to be republished on a new date, only, well, updated in place. But I've noticed that the Blogger (the Google software I use to create and maintain this blog) has quite a number of bugs, so I assume it's just acting strangely today and hope it will recover soon. It usually does—eventually—and since it's a free product, I'm not in much of a position to complain (around here one of my mottos about my housework and cooking is "No criticizing the free help!"). 

I do think these two older posts are worth reading if you haven't already read them (which was why I was updating them). But I did feel like I should let you know that we're going to return to our normal routine of one post five days a week. 

And speaking of bugs, did anyone have trouble finding the video that went with Jill's post When Red Flags Should be Raised? One of our email subscribers did. Try going directly to the post by using this link: http://yogaforhealthyaging.blogspot.com/2014/07/when-red-flags-should-be-raised-yoga.html. Or, you can watch the video on youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ygjVSoWWCA.

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Friday Q&A: Forward Bends and Osteoporosis

Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana)

One of our readers left the following comment on our post Featured Sequence: Mini Sun Salutation:

I am surprised you are including a deep forward bend. Research supports avoiding forward bends in osteoporosis and osteopenia and considering there are over 54 million people with osteoporosis and many don't know they are osteoporotic it seems safer not to teach forward bends for healthy aging. I think we have a higher percentage of yoga practitioners who fit the risk profile....slight, female, white, especially if they had a restricted diet in their younger years. 

This reader is concerned about practitioners who may have osteoporosis doing deep forward bends as we showed in our Mini Sun Salutation. And, indeed, for those with OP or even undiagnosed OP (they have it but don’t know it yet) forward folds hold the potential of increasing the risk of the most common fracture in those with OP: a wedge fracture of the thoracic spine. So, if you fall into this camp, I’d recommend modifying your standing forward bends by allowing your knees to bend as much as you need to help release your pelvis over the thigh bones as you bend, and maintain a more neutral alignment of your spine as you go down. That means avoiding rounding your upper back in the area of your thoracic spine.

I have a student in one of my class in her late 60s with recently diagnosed OP, and we discussed her modifying her forward bends in just this way for poses such as Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana) and Widespread Standing Forward Bend (Prasarita Padottansana), and she has been diligent about doing so.

Having said all that, I’d like you to keep in mind that our blog is not just for older adults who might have or be at risk for OP—or any condition for that matter. So, the Mini Sun Salutation post was really just an opportunity for us to share with you a basic common modern yoga practice that you can refer to as needed. We will try to add in a few more cautions to these sequences in the future, but you should always read our posts on yoga poses and sequences through the lens of your own personal situation, and take good care of yourself by making any modifications to the poses to better serve your needs. And if you are uncertain as to the safety or appropriateness of any YFHA recommendations, check things out with your local teachers. 

—Baxter

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The Power of Svadhyaya (Self-Study), Part 2

by Nina

Anatomical Body
India, Gujarat, 18th century

While preparing to write this post, I discovered that I had, uh, completely forgotten about some of the things I’ve written for the blog. (Hey, I’ve been writing at least one post a week—and sometimes two or three—for almost three years.) Yes, I was quite surprised to find a post about how we could use the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita to heal from an election so divisive that even Big Bird wasn’t being nice (see Yoga Philosophy of the Day, Part 2), another about how I was using yoga philosophy to prepare for a trip to Germany that I was feeling uneasy about (see Yoga Philosophy of the Day), and a third about how we can use wisdom of yoga to change our behavior patterns (see Thinking About the Wisdom of Yoga). But it’s no surprise at all to me that I find yoga philosophy extremely valuable in my every day life. And I’ve written about that in a general overview—which I have not forgotten about—called Why You Should Study Yoga Philosophy.  

As I mentioned in my post Svadhyaya (Self-Study), Part 1, there are two different interpretations of the meaning of niyama svadhyaya (self-study). In his book The Yoga Sutras of Patajanli, Edwin Bryant says:

Svadhyaya literally means self-study, but it more commonly refers to the study of sacred texts (in a sense the two meanings overlap, since sacred texts typically teach about the self).

So while one meaning of svadhyaya is to cultivate your inner witness to study your own self as I wrote about my first post earlier this week, another is to study the yoga scriptures, such as the Bhagavad Gita and The Yoga Sutras, and—if you’re feeling brave—the Vedas and Upanishads. And this type of study complements your self-study because as you read these texts, you can reflect how to use the knowledge they contain. I consulted with Ram before writing my posts on svadhyaya’s two different meanings, and he recommended asking yourself these questions about the scriptures:

• How do you use the knowledge for self-empowerment? 
• How do you use the knowledge for the betterment of society? 
• How do you grow in body and mind after reading those scriptures? 

This kind of self-study can also include more than reading just the original scriptures themselves. As Ram said:

S(s)vadhyaya =education, study, or knowledge improvement that is gained from studying not just scriptures but any book or any experience that provides deep meaning or interpretation of life (that is, thought provoking).

So svadhyaya includes any books about yoga, whether books that interpret the scriptures, such as the Edwin Bryant book I mentioned above (which I frequently turn to), books about the history of yoga, such as Georg Feuerstein’s The Yoga Tradition about ancient yoga and Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice by Mark Singleton about modern yoga, or modern books about yoga (plus, our blog, of course). Obviously, texts from the religions of the world will also provide you with food for thought, but you should also consider psychology books and books about human behavior. Two of the non-fiction books that have influenced me greatly include Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn and A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon. Even fiction that explores the human condition can contribute to your self-study (I read an interesting New York Times article For Better Social Skills, Scientists Recommend a Little Chekhov that explained how literary fiction can help you develop empathy and improve your understanding of human behavior).

It makes a lot of sense that in our studies of the self, we should turn to the wisdom of others. After all, yogis and people of other cultures worldwide have been engaged in self-study for centuries, so we can learn a tremendous amount from their experiences. As a matter of fact, the single piece of yogic wisdom that I keep returning to in my everyday life is over two thousand years old:

The wise man lets go of all

results, whether good or bad,

and is focused on the action alone.

Yoga is skill in actions.

—Bhagavad Gita

Brad and I have been talking about that quote a lot lately because he has been taking on some big challenges at work and he finds that taking this yogic approach has helped him maintain some peace of mind. (And, yes, I do remember that I include that quote that in my posts all the time!)

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Never go to bed angry

by Nina

Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens: A Detail by Joan Webster

On Tuesday I read a short little piece in the NY Times questioning the adage “Never go to bed angry” (see here). It was one of those bottom line pieces, and the bottom line was this:

“Going to sleep upset or disturbed preserves the emotion, research suggests.”

In the cited study in The Journal of Neuroscience, scientists exposed 106 men and women to images that elicited various emotions. In some cases the emotions were negative and in other cases the emotions were positive or neutral. The researchers then looked at what happened 12 hours later when the subjects were shown both new images and the previous ones, either in the morning after a night of sleep, or at the end of a full day of wakefulness. The conclusion was:

“The scientists found that staying awake blunted the emotional response to seeing the upsetting images again. But when the subjects were shown the disturbing images after a night of sleep, their response was just as strong as when they had first seen them—suggesting that sleep “protected” the emotional response.”

That doesn’t sound good, does it? Going to bed angry and waking up angry is not only an unpleasant experience for you, but it probably doesn’t enhance your relationships with the people around you. Besides, it's also not a good idea to go to bed angry if you are concerned about getting a good night's sleep. Your stress levels will be high and your sleep, if you can sleep, will be restless—maybe filled with upsetting dreams—and you won’t feel rested in the morning.

But very probably you—unlike the people in the study—can’t just put away an “upsetting image” when you are very angry. In fact, the chances are you’ll keep having one angry thought after another, and with each angry thought you’ll get another jolt of adrenaline (that’s why they call it the “fight or flight response,” people), keeping your stress levels as high as they were before.

The good news is that Baxter says it takes only about 90 seconds to clear the adrenaline released in your system by an angry thought if you switch to a more neutral topic. So to put away your anger, he recommends a structured breath practice, in which you measure your inhalations and exhalations, and count your breaths to engage your mind. If you combine this type of breath practice with a supported inversion (such as Legs Up the Wall pose) or a supported forward bend (if you find those soothing), both of which help switch your nervous system to relaxation mode, you’ll get a double dose of calm.

You could also use a guided relaxation (see here) as a way to engage your mind and relax your nervous system at the same time.

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Friday Q&A: When to Eat

The Bowl of Milk by Berthe Morisot

Q: One thing that often has prevented me from having another 1/2 hr. session (at home) in the afternoon is the problem of eating. I seem to remember learning I need to wait at least 1 1/2 or 2 hrs. after I eat before doing my next asanas. Is this true? What is the shortest time one needs to wait before doing a workout - or a session (I hate calling it a workout, but hopefully you get it.) I do my a.m. yoga before breakfast - but each day is different time wise & eating with a wait period before yoga becomes a real challenge. Could you give me some suggestions?

A: I tell folks that it depends on their digestion patterns. So I will often have a light meal an hour before practice without any ill effects. Others may find it prudent to wait a little longer, so as to avoid acid reflux or discomfort in forward bending or twisting from the stomach still being full. 

—Baxter

A: So many rules! It reminds me of the one they used to have when I was a kid about how you had to wait one full hour after eating before going back into the water. Have you ever tried practicing soon after eating a snack? How did it feel? If you felt uncomfortable (or worse), then it's probably not a good idea for you. But if you felt fine, I say go for it. Personally I do it all the time, with no ill effects. And I have heard that in India for people who can't practice on an empty stomach (some people, like me, get low blood sugar), they recommend yoghurt or milk before practice. (Confession: one time my friend and I ate hot fudge sundaes just before an advanced yoga class. Then, for the first time ever, the teacher started the class with Headstand. After class, we confessed to the teacher. He was very sympathetic! He said, "Oh, you should have told me. I would started the class with a different pose.") 

—Nina

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When Red Flags Should Be Raised: Yoga Snake Oil

by Jill Satterfield

Ochre and Red on Red by Mark Rothko*

As yoga grows in popularity, it also breeds abundant misconceptions and snake oil claims. The love and light aspect of many teachers and classes has gone increasingly haywire and has reached unfortunate proportions, leading many into despair and not for good reasons. After hearing so many promises of just three weeks to this or a weekend for that, anyone can think they’ve been pushed out of the human category by not responding as claimed. But when a yoga teacher says something will be a quick fix, our red flags should automatically go up because everything worthwhile takes time to be absorbed and digested.

When I was in my 20’s I was stricken with chronic pain. My gut felt like it had a burning hot knife in it that was twisting and searing all the time. I went from one doctor to another for over 13 years, endured 12 minor and two major surgeries. I also attended countless yoga classes and practiced on my own every day, often for a couple of hours.

And I was the person in class who wept into her forward-bended legs when the teacher I had at the time said this pose will heal this, and this pose will heal that, but only if we did them faithfully every day, for x amount of minutes each time. I was practicing these postures, but I was still in pain, my intestines weren’t functioning, and I was not at all well. Why were these postures not working for me? What was wrong with me? I was haunted by these questions for many years.

In hindsight, I see the error of my questions, not the error of my practice. There was nothing inherently wrong with me, but there was a lot wrong with the teacher’s pronouncements and claims. Nothing cures everyone, and yoga postures are not the be and end all, in spite of what many people enthusiastically think. Old age, sickness and death eventually befalls every one of us, and yoga poses will not change that. 

There are many styles and schools of yoga practice, which is great as we can choose what suits our body and minds the best. Even so, there isn’t just one way to practice, experience or pursue anything, and if we are told that there is, we should look for the closest exit. 

How to choose then, what to listen to, follow or engage in? The Buddha suggested that we not follow his or anyone’s advice unless we have directly experienced its sanity and truth for ourselves. I think this is a sensible rule to abide by. If you are told that any pose will fix or change something and it doesn’t, do not think it is you! And, question the source—what is the benefit in saying something is going to help everyone or that there is the only way to do something? Whoever utters these grand pronouncements needs to experience an injury or illness, or just to spend a little more time on the planet. It is humbling to be in pain, to have your body not behave or look as you would like, and as for aging, well, let’s just say it is very leveling.

Personalizing a yoga practice should begin with deeply listening to your body, noticing how it is feeling that particular moment or day. Turn towards your heart, ask yourself how you are feeling emotionally that day, and check in to your mind to notice its state at that time. By checking in, you automatically begin to set up a union of body, mind and heart. You begin a dialogue, and the more you listen, hear and quietly reflect and experiment, the more your wisdom will flow. Here's a short video by me that you can use to learn to check in:

All this isn’t to say that we don’t need teachers—we most definitely do. But choose your teacher wisely by trying his or her suggestions, and if they work for you, build on them by experimenting at home by yourself and conferring with your teacher when there are questions.

Fortunately, I eventually healed, beyond medical expectations. I did this by meditating deeply in my body, listening, checking in, trying things slowly, practicing over and over, not rushing or pushing or striving and by being very, very kind to myself.

Nothing is wrong with us, any of us. And we can all find beautiful, wise, and compassionate teachers and practices—especially when we walk away from those that don’t help us to feel our best.

Jill Satterfield is the founder of Vajra Yoga + Meditation, a synthesis of yoga and Buddhism that combines meditation, yoga and contemplative practices. Named “one of the 4 leading yoga and Buddhist teachers in the country” by Shambhala Sun Magazine, Jill has instigated mindful and creative educational programs for over 28 years.

She is also the founder and Director of the School for Compassionate Action: Meditation, Yoga and Educational Support for Communities in Need, a not-for-profit that trains teachers, psychologists and health care providers to integrate mind and body practices into their professions. SCA also provides classes to people in chronic pain, with illness, those suffering from PTSD, and at-risk youth. Jill teaches workshops internationally, is a faculty member of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Mindfulness for Yoga Training  and the Somatic Training in Marin, California, and is a guest teacher for many other training programs. To find out more about Jill, visit her website vajrayoga.com.

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Featured Sequence: Inverted Heart Health Practice

by Baxter

Last week, I shared with you a dynamic sequence for Cardiovascular Health. This week, I’d like to focus on the inverted yoga poses that can have some beneficial effects on overall heart health. Inverted poses come in different shapes and sizes; some are full inversions, such as supported Legs Up the Wall pose (Viparita Karani), while others are partial inversions, such as Downward-Facing Dog pose, in which your body is inverted from your hips to your head but your legs are in their normal relationship to gravity.

Inversions can have several immediate and long-term influences on your heart and circulatory system. If an inversion is physically challenging or held for a long time with lots of muscular effort involved, such as a three-minute Downward-Facing Dog pose, this can have a stimulating effect on your heart, increasing the heart’s workload and essentially exercising the heart muscle more than when it is resting. Inversions can also assist in the return of the blood in the veins back to your heart. The veins rely on the back pressure of blood coming out of the capillaries (which may not be particularly strong), the muscle tone in the walls of the veins (which is much less then an arteries), and one-way valves inside the veins that encourage blood to move toward the heart and not backflow towards the gravity-dependent parts of your legs and arms. As we get older, some of those valves fail and stop working properly, which can result in varicose veins. Regular exercises, such as yoga and even walking, help somewhat by contracting and relaxing the skeletal muscles of the extremities to create a kind of pumping action on your veins to keep the blood moving in the right direction. Inversions put your body in a position to take advantage of gravity to assist in venous return to your heart—you flip upside down and gravity pulls the blood back toward your heart and head!

Inversions can also have a quieting effect on your nervous system, encouraging a shift from Fight or Flight mode to Rest and Digest mode. This feeds back to your cardiovascular system, allowing it to quiet and rest by lowering your blood pressure, slowing your heart rate and promoting good variability in your heart rhythm moment by moment. This quieting effect occurs when inversions are done with less effort and held for longer periods of time, such as Legs Up the Wall pose practiced for 5-10 minutes. We have written about the baroreceptors in the neck and heart before, so if you want to bone up on how inversions affect the heart system, check out Why You Should Love Your Baroreceptors. As I am pretty sure I have said before, your heart muscle needs both exercise and rest, so a good combination of effort and relaxation in your practice will give your heart a more balanced experience.  

If you have a new diagnosis of high blood pressure, especially if it is not yet under good control, or already have developed some form of heart disease, this practice is likely not for you. Having said that, there are exceptions to this caution, in particular if you are working with an experienced teacher who knows your health history and can guide you into inversions gradually. 

And for additional ideas on supported inversions, check out Nina’s post from a while back: All About Supported Inversions.

Inverted Heart Health Practice:

1. Reclined Leg Stretch 1 (Supta Padangusthasana 1): Although we often think of this pose for opening your hips and hamstrings, it is a partial inversion, so I thought it a good place to start today! We will stick to version 1 only today, as it involves keeping the top leg more vertical. 

Lying on your back, bring your right knee into your chest and place the strap around the arch of your right foot. Extend your leg towards vertical (getting vertical depends on your unique muscle and joint challenges). Push out along the line of your leg bones towards your heels, and pull back towards your hip via the strap. Gradually work your towards 90 seconds in the pose. Repeat on the other side. 

See Featured Pose: Reclined Leg Stretch Sequence for more information.

2. Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana): This pose opens your back buttock muscles and hamstrings, as well as the back calf muscles, but it is also a partial inversion from your hips to your head. From Mountain pose (Tadasana), you might warm up for full Standing Forward Bend by inhaling your arms overhead, exhaling into Standing Forward Bend (maybe keeping your knees a bit bent the first few times), inhaling up to Arms Overhead pose (Urdva Hastanana), and exhaling back to Mountain pose. Then, when you have warmed up a bit, on an exhalation, come into a full forward bend and stay for up to 90 seconds. If you are super tight, keep a slight bend in your knees. If your hands don’t easily come to the floor, place them on blocks or have a chair seat in front of you and rest your forearms on the chair seat. If you have osteoporosis, you may want to skip this inversion. Come up on an inhalation.

3. Widespread Standing Forward Bend (Prasarita Padottanasana): Starting in Mountain Pose, step your feet wide apart, somewhere between 3 and 4 feet, depending on your build. Keeping your feet parallel, bring your hands to your hips, and on an exhalation, tip forward and down from your hip joints. Bring your fingertips to the floor, in line with your shoulders, and lengthen your spine. Then, if you can, bend your elbows and walk your hands back so they are in line with your toes and shoulder-width apart. (If you are very tight in the hips and hamstrings and can’t touch the floor, support your hands on blocks.) Release your head and neck so that, if possible, the crown of your head points down toward the floor or rests lightly on it.

The supported version of this pose, where you rest your head on a chair, a block, or the floor, can be more quieting to the heart and nervous system, so try that if your flexibility allows.

The more support you use, the more quieting the pose, the less support and longer you hold the pose the stimulating the pose: you get to decide how you want to practice each pose in the sequence.If you have osteoporosis, exercise the same caution described above for Standing Forward Bend. 

4. Downward-Facing Dog Pose (Adho Muka Svanasana): Come down to hands and knees, turn your toes under and lift up into Downward-Facing Dog pose. If you are feeling tight, take the first couple of breaths to move into the pose releasing tension and preparing to hold the pose in a quieter way. Once you become more still in the pose, you again will need to decide whether to stay for a shorter or longer period of time. 

The supported variation of Downward-Facing Dog pose that Nina shows in her post All About Supported Inverted Poses can be more quieting for your nervous system, and by extension, your heart. But I find you have to be very mindful to rest your head lightly on the support and not push it down like an extra hand. And you will likely need to use a higher prop than Nina.

Our post on Downward-Facing Dog Pose Variations can give you ideas for other versions of this popular modern pose to keep your sequence interesting! After you come down, you might spend a minute or so in Child’s Pose before moving onto the next poses that involve a bit of back bending. 

5. Active and Supported Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha): Come into Constructive Rest position (on your back with knees bent and heels about four inches from your hips), and establish the normal, slightly arched shape of your lumbar spine. Then lift your hips straight up as you push down into your feet, like an elevator going up a few floors, maintaining the neutral arch of the lower back. Once in Bridge pose, bring some focus to your arms. Press the upper back of your upper arms (right where your arms meets your shoulders) firmly down into the floor while actively lifting the lower tip of your breast bone up to the sky. 

In the full, active Bridge Pose, you are essentially inverted from your knees to your head. Stay for 15-30 seconds. To come down, lower your hips straight down, like an elevator returning to the lobby floor. Rest for a moment and consider repeating one more time. Then, come up again and place a block under your hips at the height that feels best for you. Since you will be allowing your pelvis to rest on the block, this version of bridge in much more restorative in quality, so you could easily hang out in for a while, possibly for several minutes. 

Another alternative is one of Nina’s favorites, Supported Bridge pose with Straight Legs. 

Use caution in Bridge pose if you have any neck issues, especially arthritis or disc disease in the neck.

6. Legs Up the Wall (Vipariti Karani): See Featured Pose: Legs Up the Wall Pose for instructions. If your body permits it, try to use one or two blankets under your pelvis, or, even more effective, a bolster. This will support more of your body in the inverted position. If you set yourself up well, this pose is usually easy to hang out in for anywhere from 5-20 minutes.

For those with more advanced practices, you could consider substituting Shoulderstand, either chair version (see Chair Shoulderstand) or full version. 

7. Corpse Pose (Savasana) of your choice: See Corpse Pose Variations for options. I will sometimes end my practice with Legs Up the Wall pose, but there is something to be said for doing the inversion-neutral Corpse Pose, where you are neither upright or upside down. So take 5 to 10 minutes to rest or ready yourself for what follows in your day. I’d recommend bringing your attention to the heart area of your chest as you also keep some of your awareness on the easy flow of your breath. 

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