Cultivating the Opposite: Yoga Philosophy for Healthy Eating, Healthy Aging

by Nina

“People in America are addicted to sugar, and to fat and to salt,” he says, and as a nation, it’s holding us back. “Food is intensely pleasurable, and people are afraid that if they change the way they eat, they’ll stop having pleasure.” —Jan. 17, 2013 interview on NPR with John Mackey, co-CEO of Whole Foods

This morning, as I was helping Baxter prepare for his workshop on Yoga and Healthy Eating at the upcoming Yoga Journal Conference, he told me he was struck by this quote from my interview with my friend Elizabeth D, who lost 50 pounds and learned how to eat a diet that suited her particular body:

“I also changed my perspective by viewing eating healthy and exercising as a way to do something positive for myself, not something to dread.”

Baxter went on to say that this was a form of “pratipaksha bhavanam,” which Patanjali recommends in the Yoga Sutras.

II.33 Upon being harassed by negative thoughts, one should cultivate counteracting thoughts. —trans. Edwin Bryant

The Sankrit words “pratipaksha bhavanam” from the original text of this sutra literally mean “cultivate the opposite” (or “cultivate counteracting thoughts” in Bryant’s translation). That’s what Elizabeth did when she said she changed her perspective about how she viewed healthy eating; she contemplated her original view and then consciously took another one. That reminded me of an interview I heard this morning with John Mackey, co-CEO of Whole Foods. He talked about, among other things (most of which I do not agree with, but let’s not go there right now), why Americans have trouble with unhealthy food addictions. He said that people “are afraid that if they change the way they eat, they'll stop having pleasure” and recommended they take the same approach that Elizabeth took, changing to a different perspective, in this case, that healthy food is as pleasurable as junk food. So that’s our thought for the day about yoga for healthy eating: use Patanjali's yoga philosophy to change your thinking about the way you eat.

Seattle Garden (A Detail) by Joan Webster

But, of course, Patanjali wasn’t talking about healthy eating in the Yoga Sutras. He was addressing  a much more all-encompassing subject, which is that negative thoughts can lead us away from the behavior specified in the yamas and the niyamas—including non-violence, non-stealing, non-greediness, and truthfulness—which is necessary to achieve the equanimity that is yoga. For example, thoughts about violence can lead to acts of violence. Here’s the next sutra:

II.34 Negative thoughts are violence, etc. They may be personally performed, performed on one’s behalf by another, or authorized by oneself; they may be triggered by greed, anger, or delusion; and they may be slight, moderate, or extreme in intensity. One should cultivate counteracting thoughts, namely, that the end results of negative thoughts are ongoing suffering and ignorance.  —trans. by Edwin Bryant

Again, Patanjali recommends “pratipaksha bhavanam” or “counteracting thoughts” in this sutra. As Edwin Bryant says, “For example if any aspiring yogi experiences feelings of dislike for a person, which is a type of himsa, violence, then, upon becoming aware of this feeling, the yogi can make the effort to think of the person in a nonviolent fashion, perhaps viewing him or her as simply an embodied being who is victimized by the gunas and karma, etc. and ultimately as a pure purusa soul.”

How does this tie into healthy aging? Spending less time in the grip of negative thoughts, especially anger, and thereby avoiding negative interactions, will obviously help reduce stress and stress-related diseases. And the ability to re-frame our perspective on a situation is a valuable method we can use to reduce the klesas, the five afflictions I discussed in my post The Pains Which Are To Come. Edwin Byrant likens negative thoughts to weeds in a garden:

“As in a garden, the more one makes an effort to uproot weeds, the more the bed will eventually become a receptacle for fragrant flowers, which will then grow and reseed of their own accord until there is hardly any room for the weeds to surface.”

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Studying with Our Teachers

by Nina

One of the frequent questions we get here on Yoga for Healthy Aging is: how can I study with your teachers? The answer is that the best way is to attend the special workshops and retreats that our teachers offer throughout the year. While we previously had some of this information on the blog, I’ve now updated it for 2013. And to make it easier for you to find the information for a particular teacher, I’ve created separate pages for each teacher. To find the listings for an individual teacher, simply click on the tab at the top of the page that displays that teacher’s name. A new page will be displayed, which lists the teacher’s workshops and retreats in chronological order, and includes links to the web sites where you can find registration information.

We hope to meet some of you in person soon!

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Experts Weigh In on Injury Risk with Yoga Poses

by Baxter

A few months back, I had the honor of moderating a panel discussion for Yoga Journal Magazine on the topic of injuries that occur when performing yoga poses. In the West, you and I know this physical part of yoga as “asana practice” or the doing of a series or sequence of yoga poses. In many settings, these yoga pose sequences can be devoid of any of the other limbs or aspects of yoga, such as meditation or lifestyle guidelines (like the niyamas). As has been suggested elsewhere, there is an inherent risk of injury to our oh-so-human bodies when we humans engage in physically demanding activities, such as exercise, and yes, even yoga asana.

Joining me for the panel discussion (which appears as an article in the February 2013 Yoga Journal Magazine) were three of the country’s most experienced yoga teachers, representing different yoga traditions:

Gary Kraftsow trained under TKV Desikachar, who focuses on one-on-one instruction, often with a more therapeutic bent.

Patricia Walden has studied with BKS Iyengar for some 40 years, with his attention to solid alignment, static held poses and the assertion that doing asana is another way of doing meditation.

Ana Forrest, also a veteran of almost four decades of teaching, is the founder of her own style of yoga, known as Forrest Yoga. From my limited experience of taking a session with her, I would describe her style as a physically demanding and strong practice, but with attention to the mind and breath.







As we began our discussion, each one of us was able to recall at least one, and sometimes more than one incident of having sustained an injury during yoga practice. In my case, through inattention, for Ana, secondary to being generally disconnected from her body when she first started practicing, for Patricia due to her ego wanting to impress her teacher, and for Gary, long inversions with unskillful sequencing or lack of adequate preparation. So we all had the personal perspective of being a human being who can get injured doing physically challenging yoga poses. Interestingly, in each case, these injuries, which could have been viewed as negative, unwanted events, actually led to important insights as healing occurred, allowing us to feel compassion for our students and for ourselves and giving some tools to help others avoid our mistakes and heal more quickly when injured. 

Some of the important take-home messages from our conversation were that we all would benefit from:

•    Remembering that the underlying purpose of yoga is not to master a bunch of difficult yoga poses, but to develop a healthy, deep relationship with our bodies as a gateway to a more important relationship with our mind and heart.

•    Working mindfully and gradually to build intelligence in your body and understanding of the poses you do decide to learn, with the guidance of a skilled and experienced instructor who has the same intention for you and who can provide feedback as to your readiness to go further safely.

•    Reframing our intention as it relates to yoga poses from mastering poses to helping bodies. If that were your underlying purpose, we would all be less likely to move into situations where we injure ourselves.

•    Realizing from the start that we often bring somewhat injured bodies to our first yoga class, just by virtue of being human and living a typical human life.  If we can keep this in mind, compassion for ourselves arises naturally and we can truly be kind to our bodies as we enjoy the challenge and newness of yoga.

•    Studying with teachers whose sequences of poses leaves us feeling really good at the end of practice and the next day. Then learning for ourselves in our home practice how to sequence to do the same. And cutting ourselves some slack if we end up tweaking our bodies now and then!  If three of the country’s most renowned teachers did it, don’t you think we probably all are going to have it happen to us at least once?

The conclusion of all four of us is that yoga’s benefits far outweigh any risk for injury that exists. Setting clear intentions as to what your purpose and hope is by doing yoga is as essential an ingredient as a safe and fruitful practice. Coming back to a relationship with the movement of the breath as a grounding focus for the mind was also strongly encouraged. And finally, as Gary mentioned, remembering the poses are just tools designed to help individuals understand their bodies and transform them, and that the practice is about you and not the poses! Such an attitude goes a long way toward keeping you safe and injury free.

For those last-minute folks who might think about joining us, Gary, Ana and I will all be teaching at the San Francisco Yoga Journal Conference this coming weekend. To read the entire article “Injuries: Why They Happen & How to Avoid Them,” pick up the February issue of Yoga Journal out now or look for it online at yogajournal.com.

Be safe out there while you are having all that fun doing yoga!

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The Pains Which Are To Come....

by Nina

Oak Tree in Late Summer Light by Brad Gibson

II.16. heyaim dukham anagatam

The pains which are yet to come can be and are to be avoided.
—Yoga Sutras, translation by B.K.S. Iyengar

Last night a friend was telling me what she loved about our blog was that it was positive and optimistic. We write about good things, she said, and have positive solutions. Well, we do believe that yoga has many answers for helping us age gracefully, and we regularly recommend various poses and practices for preventing and/or reducing many of the “pains” that accompany aging. But, I have to say, we are also realists, both about the “aging” and “yoga” parts of our mission. In the last five years, Brad and I have seen all four of parents die. All were in their eighties or nineties, and they died of diseases typical of the elderly (cancer, Alzheimer’s, stroke). Without going into details, I’ll say none of these deaths were particularly pretty, and certainly no amount of yoga poses or practices could have helped prevent the decline and pain that came at the end. In fact, with two of the deaths, from cancer and from kidney failure, we’re grateful for modern medicine’s painkillers.

As I’m sure many of you must know, experiencing the death of your own parents is sure to make you contemplate your own. We wonder for ourselves, if it is possible, how can we avoid the pains which are to come? For me, this is where yoga philosophy comes in. (Studying the scriptures is svadhyaya, one of niyamas that comprise the second branch of yoga, so this is as much a part of yoga as anything else we do and is obviously available to anyone, regardless of age or physical condition.)

Although I tend to turn to the Bhagavad Gita for wisdom about cultivating equanimity, I also find the Yoga Sutras an invaluable resource. To my mind, the Yoga Sutras is a brilliant work of psychology. Patanjali deconstructs how the mind works, identifying the roadblocks to cultivating equanimity, and then goes on to recommend solutions. I find this sutra particularly relevant for those of us concerned about aging:

11.3. The five afflictions (klesas) which disturb the equilibrium of consciousness are: ignorance or lack of wisdom, ego, pride of the ego or the sense of ‘I,’ attachment to pleasure, aversion to pain, fear of death and clinging to life. —Yoga Sutras, translation by Edwin Bryant

Aversion to pain, fear of death, and clinging to life, all of which seem to come along with aging, do indeed disturb our sense of equanimity. But the very fact that these feelings are identified as “afflictions” suggests to me that while there is always difficulty, including pain and death, we don’t necessarily have to experience it as suffering. It’s the aversion to pain that causes suffering, not the pain. And it’s the fear of death and clinging to life that causes suffering, not death—or dying—itself.

I actually find this explanation alone to be very helpful. For rather than just feeling that suffering is inevitable, knowing there is a difference between a difficult situation and my reaction to it helps me from getting so caught up in it (well, it’s a work in progress). So that’s a little “wisdom” to counteract the “ignorance” that is another one of the klesas. You can find a lot more wisdom in the Yoga Sutras, and I recommend reading this if you haven’t already. But what does Patanjali recommend for overcoming the klesas? After introducing the klesas and describing each one in detail, Patanjali simply says the following:

II.11. The states of mind produced by these klesas are eliminated by meditation. —Yoga Sutras, translation by Edwin Bryant

My friends will all tell you that I take very good care of myself. I practice yoga asana regularly, in way that supports my particular body and needs, I include stress management practices for my emotional well-being as well as my physical health, and I eat a healthy diet. But I believe that, in the end, cultivating equanimity through wisdom and practice will be the most important aspect of my healthy aging.

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Workshops of Interest: Timothy McCall's "The Science and Practice of Therapeutic Yoga"

by Timothy

I'm excited to be doing my most in-depth course of the year, The Science and Practice of Therapeutic Yoga, in Walnut Creek, CA at the Yoga and Movement Center. Traditionally, I've taught that course over 8 days but now for the first time, it will be held over four consecutive weekends starting Saturday, Feb. 16th. This course has more on the scientific background of yoga and research updates, and more case work than my regular Yoga as Medicine workshops. You don't have to take all four weekends if that's not possible, but it's important to attend the first weekend, as that sets the stage for the whole training.

I’ll also be teaching the five-day, 30-hour Yoga as Medicine workshop at Namaste Yoga in my adopted hometown of Oakland, CA June 3-7th. In addition, look for YAM workshops in Denver, outside of Minneapolis, and in Grass Valley, California, in the coming months.

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Friday Q&A: Encouraging Men to Practice Yoga

Q: Having retired from the elementary classroom after 36 years (which included spending many of my waking hours working with females and having a wife and two daughters) I guess I continue to be drawn to traditional female types of occupation/activity. I have fallen in love with yoga and have been blessed with practicing in a studio with excellent, caring, compassionate instructors. All unique and different, all very tuned in to their students.

I am at a loss as to why more males practice yoga. Not sure if it’s the macho type no pain-no gain mentality or it LOOKS too easy and not worth the effort or maybe it's simply too intimidating. It's a tough sell to get any of my male friends to attend a class (and I even offer to pay!). I talked to the guy who started Broga-yoga and he thinks there needs to be an aerobic component to men's yoga and he believes the number of men practicing yoga will explode in the next 10 years. I hope he is correct on the latter but I disagree with his aerobic inclusion. But how to attract more men to yoga continues. For now, I just try to keep doing my practice and hope others follow. I appreciate all your insights and thoughtful responses at Yoga for Healthy Aging.

A: If you were to poll 50 men and ask them why they do not practice yoga, I am sure you will get 50 different answers. Some of them may be genuine whereas some you will fail to understand. Andrew Tilin has written an excellent piece on this very topic in the Yoga Journal Where Are All the Men?, and some of the reasons cited by him resonate with your reasons as well.

What surprised me is that this trend exists not only in this country but in India as well, the country that produced the likes of the Iyengar clan, the Shivanandas, Mahesh Yogis, Jois and present gurus like Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri (all of them male gurus). Last month I conducted a couple of workshops on Yoga, Ayurveda and Weight Management. In a class of 42, there were only 6 men (including me). When I asked the studio owner about the gender discrepancy, she remarked that she rarely had men in her yoga sessions. One of the reasons which I thought was true and genuine was accessibility to a good studio. Men who returned from work late in the evening did not wish to drive again in the traffic and pollution to get to a studio. And believe it or not, it took me one hour to drive to a studio that was only one mile from where I lived.

So what can we do to change the trend? Well, you have done your best, even to the point of offering to pay for a class. All that we can do is lay out the path; it’s for them to follow. Meanwhile you continue to be on the path as you are a role model not only to the retired community but also to men of your age.

—Ram

A: As a long-time teacher, and a man, I have been curious about this as well.  I just reviewed the Andrew Tilin article, and he brings up many good points that I think are true for many of my male students, or men who have tried a class or two with me and perhaps have not returned.

But I think there are some hurdles that exist right up front that keep men from even considering trying yoga, especially the impression that it is a woman’s domain—this, of course, despite its male dominated history prior to the 20th century. In addition, many men don’t think they will be physically challenged by the practice of yoga, if they believe it’s mostly about seated stretching and such. So we need to remind these men that there are many options today regarding intensity of physical practice that could fit their needs and desires.

The other common response when I ask a man if he has tried to do yoga is this: He says he’s too tight, while demonstrating a standing forward fold in which hands barely go past his straight knees. These guys don’t get away with this excuse with me, because that is exactly where I started! So I can speak to the dramatic changes that can happen in one’s flexibility if a man starts and stays with yoga over the long haul. And if we can link that to improvements in other activities they are involved in, such as golf, or improved concentration at work, we could have some success in getting more of these men involved.

And I do think the experience of tightness and pain can dissuade a man from returning to yoga if they do give it a try. This is such a paradox, because we know many of these same men would not bat an eye to play an aggressive game of basketball, get knocked around and even mildly injured, and head right back to the court the next week to do it again. I do think it is important to give men in class some guidelines regarding working with pain and stretching intensity, without calling them out. I have found that men are sensitive to appearing incompetent in class, so some finesse by the teacher is necessary to give them the info they need with out drawing attention to their practice specifically.

And perhaps having specialized classes for men may help. Just last evening I had a professional basketball player attend class with his girlfriend. When asked how he got into yoga, he mentioned a special summer series of classes that had been taught to his team at the studio. He found that helpful to his basketball skills, so decided to continue studying after the all-men’s class ended.

And as Nina and I know, sometimes offering a fella a free session can get them hooked for life. Don’t give up the men, because as most of us know, they need yoga now more than ever!

—Baxter

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To Sit or Not To Sit (on the floor)?

by Ram

Getting Married Sitting on the Floor

As a child growing up in India I remember sitting on the floor for all kinds of activities, including eating, writing, reading and playing several indoor games. Growing up in a family of moderate means, owning several furniture items or a dining table or a cot was considered a luxury, and the pleasure of having these items at home was similar to the pleasure one achieves owning a Benz or Lexus. The dining table and its associated cutlery items were used only when there was a guest at home. On a daily basis we sat on the floor to eat, often off of a banana leaf.

Eating off of Banana Leaves

Sitting on the floor and performing all the above mentioned activities required us to lift our backs, arch our spines slightly and fold forward a few inches in order to complete the activity successfully. We could assume any sitting position, including Sukhasana, Siddhasana or Ardha Padmasana (without involving the hand mudras). Full Padmasana posture (Lotus pose) was adopted only when we sat to pray or meditate. My paternal grandfather always extolled the benefits of sitting or squatting on the floor and decried the use of chairs and tables. But peer pressure and being scoffed at by friends for sitting on the floor, often compelled us to use the chairs in the absence of grandfather’s glaring vision.

Now the benefits of sitting on the floor as advocated by my grandfather comes in the form of a published scientific paper that links sitting on the floor to overall health and life span extension. In the December 13, 2012 issue of the journal European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, in the article Ability to sit and rise from the floor as a predictor of all-cause mortality, de Brito, et al strongly suggest that the ability to sit and rise unaided from the floor serves as a predictor of mortality. The Brazilian researchers discovered that subjects who scored poorly on the “SRT score” (sitting-rising score) were at the risk of being 6.5 times more likely to die in the next six years.

The study involved more than 2,000 people ages 51 to 80, who had to sit on the floor and then rise to a standing position using as little support as possible. While the speed with which the subjects sat and stood wasn’t a factor in the scoring system, using a support to rise was a big factor in the scoring system. The more support a person required to rise (for example, placing the hand on the floor or knee or both for support), the lower the score for such action and points were deducted for using support. Rising up with an unsteady gait from a seated position or looking wobbly on the way up or down resulted in deduction of scores. A perfect score of five for each action (sitting and standing) was the goal. The final SRT score varying from 0 to 10 was obtained by adding sitting and rising scores and divided into four categories: 0-3; 3.5-5.5, 6-7.5, and 8-10. More than half the participants with ages from 76 to 80 who scored 0-3 were 6.5 times more likely to die during the course of the study (the study lasted for 6.3 years), compared to people who scored in the higher categories. Thus, during the course of the study 159 of the 2,000 volunteers died, with the majority of the deaths coming from the group that had the most trouble getting up and down. Interestingly, a 1-point increment in the SRT score was related to a 21% reduction in mortality.

The authors believe that muscle wasting and sarcopenia leading to lower limb muscle strength and poor trunk flexibility may influence the ability to sit and rise from the floor. (Baxter has already highlighted this article and mentioned several poses to strengthen the quads, lower back and hamstrings that would help in a smooth sit-rise transition. See From Independence to True Longevity.)

The work and results of the Brazilian researchers were so interesting that the editor of the journal suggested that simple tests like SRT are warranted in general health examinations in order to assess an individual’s mobility, flexibility, functional capabilities, health-related quality of life and outcomes in non-hospitalized aged adults. Meanwhile, I realized that my grandfather, who insisted and inculcated on us the practice of sitting on the floor daily, may just have been a temple priest but he sure possessed unrecognized scientific instincts!

My take home message? Spend more time sitting on the floor! Below are my ten tips for building or maintaining a daily sitting schedule. You can think of adapting one sitting pose and incorporating others gradually, or you can dive into doing most of the activities all the while sitting down. Practice rising up first with a suitable support until you are able to stand up unaided.

1. Sit and watch TV or listen to your favorite music
2. Sit and make all your phone conversations
3. Sit on the floor and do your bills
4. Sit on the floor and read your favorite book
5. Sit and browse the computer or send SMS
6. Sit and do your homework
7. Sit and do the yard work
8. Sit and play some indoor games (Uno, chess, cards, Monopoly, etc.)
9. Sit on the floor and start practicing the art of eating (snacks and meals)
10. Sit in the bathtub or shower cubicle and take a shower 

The Groom With His Parents

Note from Nina: If you haven't already spent a lot of time sitting on the floor in a crossed-legs position (or any seated position where your legs are externally rotated), it might be best for you to start with shorter time periods on the floor and work up to longer periods, rather than simply changing all your seated activities to the floor. This is to prevent the possibility of injury due to over-stretching your hip and thigh muscles. Also, consider using a cushion or folded blanket under your sitting bones. And if you have hip, knee, or any other problems that prevent you from being comfortable in a crossed-legs position, feel free to experiment with propping or other seated positions that work for your body (or get some advice from your yoga teacher about alternatives). The important thing is for you to be comfortable!

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