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Pullen Out the Stops

The Yin for your Yang

Part 4: Types & Styles of Yoga

The first pose of your first Yin Yoga class is kinda like sitting at a “stupid” stop light (as opposed to a “smart” light that changes when you approach the intersection) for a full five minutes at 3am with no other cars in sight.  You sit and you sit.  Now imagine sitting in an extremely uncomfortable position for that full five minutes. The wait seems interminable. Torturous.  Now do it for 90 minutes.

If you’ve never done Yin (yeah, that’s what us Yinners call it), the horror stories can put you off, but don’t listen to the one timers who whine about how painful it is, or the Yang yogis who think Yin is for wimps because it doesn’t make you feel like Arnold (yes, that Arnold).

The key to Yin Yoga--a very recent (and American) addition to the yoga family of styles—is coming back the second time. And then the third.  Cause it’s about the third or fourth class that you really start to get it. Or more accurately, your body starts to get it and it starts feeling good to stay in a stretch so long.  Your body actually starts craving it.

Creator Paulie Zink designed Yin Yoga to be the perfect complement to the dynamic and muscular (or yang) styles of yoga that emphasize internal heat, and the lengthening and contracting of our muscles. Yin targets the connective tissues, such as the ligaments, bones, and even the joints of the body that normally are not exercised very much in a more active style of asana practice.

I love Yin because you get to use what I affectionately call yoga toys—blocks, straps, bolsters, and blankets—to support your static stretches.  And instead of the yang or vinyasa style which moves you smoothly from one pose to the next, in Yin you hold each of the 15 or so asanas, most of which are seated, for 3-5 minutes.

Yin Yoga generally targets the connective tissues of the hips, pelvis, and lower spine.  So if your kids can sit comfortably in Sukasana (or "criss-cross, apple-sauce" for those not fluent in Sanskrit) and your hips are about as tight as a suspension bridge, Yin Yoga is for you.

Click HERE to see a sneak peek of Yin Yoga.

Sweatin’ Buckets with Bikram

Part 3: Types & Styles of Yoga

The great thing about yoga is that there are about as many different styles as there are human personalities.  Now I can’t really knock any particular style, especially one I haven’t done in the traditional sense (I have done Hot Yoga a few times and I still don’t get it).

Bikram is one of those styles that—from all I’ve read and heard—I don’t really want to do. Yes, it’s done in a hot room and I mean 2pm-in-the middle-of-a-Central-Florida-July hot. I mean, why would I want to do exercise in a hot room on purpose?

Yes, there’s all that stuff about warm muscles being less likely to get pulled and the fact that you can get deeper into difficult stretches when your muscles are warm and toasty which really makes you feel amazing.

Yes, there’s the fact that you can burn a serious amount of calories (like 900 in 90 minutes!) and that all that sweating really does detoxify your whole body.

And yeah, there’s that wonderful Nestea Plunge feeling you get when you walk out of a Bikram or hot yoga class and into a 78° room and feel every one of your senses come alive.

But besides all that.

Well, maybe I will try it.

Once.

Here’s a link for you.  You decide: http://youtu.be/wEzznV7LlyA

Gazunteight, I mean Ashtanga

Part 3: Types & Styles of Yoga

Today and the next two days, I have a treat for you.  I’m not just going to tell you about three styles of yoga are, I’m going to show you them via the invention I wish I’d created so I could retire and pay you to come and do yoga with me—we’re going to watch a sample video of Ashtanga yoga on YouTube. The great thing is I’ve done all the labor intensive work by scowering through a Twilight Zone Marathon length of videos that were either too weird or too boring.

But we have to do the preliminary work first, so here it goes: Ashtanga Yoga was created by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (try saying that name three times fast). This method of yoga involves synchronizing the breath with a progressive series of postures—of which the Sun Salutation series is only a small part.  It is a process producing intense internal heat and a profuse, purifying sweat that detoxifies muscles and organs. Any of you who have taken Power Yoga, a sister of Ashtanga, knows just how it feels. 

What makes Power Yoga different from Ashtanga is that is doesn’t follow a set series of poses. Therefore, any power yoga class can vary widely from the next depending on the instructor. Power Yoga was really born of American ingenuity and is the offspring of our unerring ability to take anything we deem cool from the furthest corners of the globe and twist and shape it to fit our needs. (It’s another reason why so many other cultures call us the Great Satan. Isn’t that nice?) Power yoga will most likely appeal to people who are already quite fit, enjoy exercising (yes, there are a few people who actually do enjoy exercise), and want a minimal amount of chanting and meditation with their yoga. 

Okay, enough talk.  Get out your mat, pull out your popcorn, and let’s watch some yoga!

Ashtanga Yoga

Power Yoga

Using Toys in Your Yoga Practice

Part 2: Types & Styles of Yoga

Like a good book, anything introduced to us that makes us smarter, healthier, sexier, or more efficient, gets passed on. The better and more successful it makes us feel, the faster the wildfire spreads.  It’s like that old shampoo commercial, “I told two friends, who told two friends.  And so on, and so on…”

Over the last 5,000 years, yoga has been no different although if the shamans who started this whole trend had had cellphones and the Internet, yoga would probably have come over to the New World with the Pilgrims and Starbucks would rule the current market with yoga dens. But because people are so different and everybody thinks their way is best, the origins of yoga have faded into obscurity in favor of the various styles of Hatha Yoga (the physical practice) of yoga.

The first style of yoga we’re going to discuss—or more accurately, I’m going to spout on about--is Iyengar based on the 94-year-old B.K.S. Iyengar’s approach. If nothing else, the guy deserves a soapbox just for living that long. Iyengar’s style is distinguished from many others by being a vigorous practice that (1) emphasizes the details of each posture and (2) is identified by the use of what I call “toys” or props to accommodate physical limitations. Such toys include belts, chairs, bolsters, blankets, blocks, and Jacuzzis (well, no, that last one isn’t really true, but it was a nice thought).

According to B.K.S groupies, er, yogis, Iyengar yoga has a multitude of benefits that are all intended to promote physical and spiritual well-being. One of the primary benefits of this style of yoga is to reduce the stresses of modern day life. I mean, the guy is still doing yoga at the age of 94—he must have got something right. In addition, Mr. Iyengar has developed specific practices for those who suffer from back pain, depression, high blood pressure, and a compromised immune system, conditions that none of us in modern day America can relate to at all.

Through a specific instruction by qualified teachers, students develop a profound understanding of proper alignment thereby increasing their own personal knowledge of how muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments and fascia work collectively together. Sure you may end up spending a whole class on two or three poses, but think of it as a trade-off--you’ll never have to suffer through a college student’s worst nightmare--Anatomy and Physiology.

Truth is, Iyengar is a sort of Bill Gates of the Yoga World. Ever imitated but never really replicated mostly because everybody seems to be creating their own brand of yoga now.  Hey, I know--I can start my own style and name it after myself, too.  How about Pullen Your Leg Yoga? Nah, I don’t think that would go over very well either.

Well, tomorrow we’ll look at the style of yoga where breath is king—Ashtanga!

You’ve Been Practicing Yoga and You Never Even Knew It

The Yoga Desktop: Part 1

You’re wrong.  All this time you’ve thought Yoga was just about Down Dogs, chanting, pretzel-like poses, and having your soul sucked out through your ears (see De-Mystifying Yoga, Part 1).  In truth, the complete practice of Yoga is so much more…and less.

First, there are types of yoga and, within the types, there are styles of yoga. Still confused? I’ll put it in laymen’s terms: Think of the full spectrum of Yoga being your computer desktop, the different types of yoga being your Programs, and the styles of yoga being the files you use inside those Programs.  Hatha, the first type of yoga we’re going to discuss would be a program like your Microsoft Word or Excel. Hatha gets the most attention because it’s the one that is the most practiced and practical for people today. For Americans anyway. We love the physical stuff.  Sitting still for more than five minutes--except in front of screen or monitor--is about as challenging as balancing an egg on your head. Hatha yoga lets us do what we love--move. 

Never done Hatha yoga? Never fear.  You’ve probably been practicing one of the other types of yoga and you never even knew it!  Types like Jnana, Raja, Bhakti, and Karma.

The one you're probably the most familiar with is Karma Yoga.  It’s the concept of “you reap what you sow" or “what goes around comes around”. In other words, if you “pay it forward” by giving the vagrant cleaning your windshield a dollar, letting the frantic mother of the screaming kid jump ahead of you in line at the grocery store, or unstopping the sink of your 90-year-old neighbor, eventually it will come back to you.  So play nice.

Jnana Yoga is the practice of gaining knowledge and wisdom. So any high school or college students out there, or any of us who actually take the time to read a book--or read my blog--are practicing Jnana Yoga. Congratulations!

Meditation is at the heart of Raja Yoga.  If you pray, sit on the beach and ponder the meaning of life, gaze across the Grand Canyon and wonder at your insignificance, or stare into space will your teacher or boss drones on and on, you are practicing Raja yoga.

You practice Bhakti Yoga every time you kiss your kids goodnight, forgive a friend for hurting your feelings, or smile and wave when another driver cuts you off in rush hour traffic.  Bhakti yoga is simply the practice of unconditional love.

There you go.  You’ve been practicing Yoga for years and never even knew it.  Now we just have to get you on a mat doing the Hatha type and you can call yourself a true Yogi or Yogini (a female yogi).

Tomorrow we delve into the styles of Yoga.

Putting It All Together

De-Mystifying Yoga: Part 5

This week, we’ve vanquished your ignorance, educated you on its origins, and clued you in to how yoga can keep you from becoming the lead story on the 11 o’clock news—and not because you won the Lotto.

Let’s put it all together.  It’s a fact, simple and true that yoga is good for you—physically it makes you healthier, stronger, and more flexible.  Mentally, it makes you healthier, stronger, and more flexible.  It goes without saying (although I am going to say it) that if you are physically healthier and mentally more secure and peaceful, your spiritual life will follow suit.

Some God-fearing religious folks would say that the spiritual has nothing to do with the physical.  I would ask, then why did God give us “temples” as He calls them in which to store our mind and spirit?  Surely, we are whole beings—physical, mental, spiritual—and one part of us can’t be unhealthy or healthy without the other parts suffering or reaping the benefits.

If you’ve never tried yoga, try it.  If you’ve tried it and didn’t like it the first time, take it with a different instructor, go to another studio, TiVo a different fitness channel, or pick up another (free) DVD from the library.  Do it until it clicks. Until you have your “ah-ha” moment.

Next week, Kundalini, Ashtanga, and Anusara.   No, these are not undiscovered Native American Indian tribes or the catchy names of the newest Energy Drinks.  They are just three of the many different styles of yoga popular in America today, and we’ll talk a little bit about each so you know what you are getting yourself into before you try them.

No Ohm-ing Required

De-Mystifying Yoga: Part 4

This week we’ve discussed the misconceptions of yoga, given a VERY brief history, and viewed some of its physical benefits.  Now it’s time to explore its mental and spiritual benefits.

Now, whoa there!  Before you go AWOL on me, I’m not talking about burning incense, chanting in a dead language, or performing transcendental medication, maximation, or mediation.  You don’t have to transcend anything but your own ignorance.  In other words, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

You can make yoga as mental/spiritual as you want or don’t want, but the benefits are enormous.  Yoga has been proven in countless studies to improve your ability to not only get to sleep faster (no more pills) but to also improve the quality of your sleep, which of course directly affects how much you scream at your kids the next day.  It improves concentration (a necessary evil in corporate staff meetings), increases emotional balance (so you don’t go postal on your co-workers), lessens mood swings (so you’re not mistaken for a PMSing adolescent) and decreases anxiety and stress (neither of which you could possibly be experiencing in such a positive and booming economy).

So now that you know yoga could prevent you from morphing into Michael Douglas from Falling Down i.e., going on a solitary rampage through O-town and I-4 traffic, tune into tomorrow as we rap up de-mystifying yoga.

Fit & Flexible

De-Mystifying Yoga: Part 3

Monday we talked about the fallacies of Yoga.  Yesterday we talked a little bit about its history.  Today we’re going to talk a little bit about the physical practice.  Yoga is simply a series of exercises—some static, some dynamic—that does your body a world of good.  Here’s just a few benefits:

·        Increases flexibility (you’ll be able to touch your toes—without cheating and bending your knees like you did when you were five).

·        Improves balance and coordination (you’ll trip over your own feet a whole lot less).

·        Increases joint movement (not quite as well as a Gumby doll, but at least you’ll be able to stretch and flex without sounding like a bowl of Rice Krispies).

It also contributes to muscular strengthening, develops long lean muscles, improves posture to allow better function of the internal organs, improves breathing, circulation, and pulmonary function, and improves kinesthetic awareness (understanding where you are in relation to other objects around you so you don’t whack your head on the kitchen cabinet or slam your fingers in the drawer), and produces a positive effect on the immune system (yes, believe it or not, you won’t get sick as often).

That’s just SOME of the physical benefits.  So now that I’ve piqued your interest, you gotta come back tomorrow for more.

A Very Brief History of Yoga

De-Mystifying Yoga: Part 2

Yesterday we talked about ignorance and some people’s misunderstanding of just what Yoga is.

So let’s make it simple.  Yoga, in its original form, was a spiritual practice of Stone Age shamans from the Lunds Valley in India that was designed to heal members of their community and served as religious ritual.  Over the centuries—5,000 of them, to be in the ballpark—it has evolved.  Like everything else.

The western form of yoga today is a far cry from the original which does have many traditional yogis crying from afar at how America has destroyed it. But nobody owns yoga.  There are many “fathers” of yoga, but the real Father of yoga is the one who created our bodies in the first place.  These early shamans and the ones who further developed the physical practice—called Hatha—were simply smart enough to figure out the benefits of deep breathing, meditation, stretching, and exercise.

You don’t have to know the deeper philosophies of yoga or the 10 or 12 branches of it (depending on who you talk to) to reap the benefits.  You don’t have to “Ohm”.  You don’t have to be able to turn yourself into a pretzel.  You don’t have to worship anything.  It can be a purely physical practice if that’s what you choose to make of it.  And with how highly it is being praised by traditional and non-traditional medicine nowadays, it might be a good idea to look into it further.

Check back tomorrow to learn more.

Don't Listen to Everything You Hear

De-Mystifying Yoga: Part 1

The girl walked into my studio lobby like she was entering the cavernous foyer of a haunted house.  I came around the front desk and greeted her warmly.  She tentatively shook my hand.

“What can do for you?” I asked.

“I wanted to ask about your Pilates classes.”

While she continued to look about furtively as if awaiting a ghost or vampire to leap from behind our lockers, I launched in to my spiel about Pilates.  When she didn’t respond, I segued into the class that dominated our schedule—Yoga.

She flinched as if I had blasphemed and said, “Oh, I don’t do yoga.  It’s evil.”

She went on to explain how her church had recently hosted a Yoga Bashing seminar where they warned their parishioners that yoga was of Satan and that you could actually get your soul sucked out of your body if you participated.

Just shy of four years as a yoga instructor and 30 years as a faithful and practicing Christian, I internally shook my head.  Ignorance.  It has divided more people in the last…well, since man has walked the face of the earth, than just about anything else.

Just to set the record straight.  Yoga is not evil.  Like ANYTHING in life, it is what you make of it.  Sure it has its roots in Brahmanism, a branch of the Hindu religion, but just because you sit in a Lotus position, close your eyes, and take deep breaths doesn’t make you a pagan. (Actually it makes you healthier.)  Did you know that Christmas is actually rooted in pagan religion yet this past holiday season, I don’t recall seeing anyone walk into the Florida Mall the way this young woman did into my studio.

More de-mystifying tomorrow.