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Yoga

Week 1 Day 2 – Some Arm Work

February 3, 2015

Holding the Chaturanga for 2 minutes is an awesome way to test your core and arm strength. If you want to make it a bit more challenging do the Chaturanga pushups. Basically you lower yourself towards the ground until your arms are parallel to your body and then push up into the regular plank.

Besides this you can do the little move demonstrated in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWb3tAgFlfE

The Adhomukha Svanasana is an awesome way to stretch the entire body. The picture below is not a great one of the pose since I’m wearing socks (extremely cold in Delhi) and my sister doesn’t have a yoga mat (still recovering from shock). However, remember that this asana is also about core strength. You want to use your core strength to elongate your spine. Push your index finger and thumb into the floor to lift and lengthen your body. The stretch on both sides of the body should be equal, so if you feel you are engaging your right hand more (as most right handed people tend to do), then actively start to push your left into the floor. Your heels DO NOT need to touch the floor. However, you need to ensure that the back of your legs are also stretched. The heels should not lean in towards each other, they should be pushed slightly away from each other. The challenge in the Adhomukha Svanasana is to elevate the tailbone as much as you can, without compromising the length of the spine.

This asana is to be practiced on arms day because it’s through arm work that you’ll be able to lengthen and straighten the spine. Work on opening up the shoulders and pushing the shoulder blades closer to each other. Bring awareness even to the armpits and see if you’re able to feel a stretch in the armpits as well.

Finally practice the Gomukhasana to get an intense stretch on the arms, shoulders, chest and shoulder blades. A lot of people tend to bend the elbow which is up (in the picture below the right elbow) forward. Actively push both elbows back. Elevate the spine. Push both feet into the floor for a greater lift. Hold it for 2 minutes on each side and you’ll start to feel your body opening up.

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Yoga

It’s Never Too Cold to Workout

January 14, 2015

This morning I woke up and instinctively curled into a tight ball under my blanket. It was so so cold. I checked the temperature and sure enough it was 15 deg with dense fog in Bangalore today. I lingered under the covers for a while and finally had to get up for class. And there was bleak attendance for today’s 8-9 am session. The fact is, even though you may be 100% committed to your fitness goals, getting up in the AM and throwing the covers back to get up is not child’s play. But small changes can lead to big results. So here are a three things you can do to make it a bit easier to get out of bed in this chill.

1. Plan what you’re going to wear the night before and have it out ready. The path from your bed to your workout clothes must not have the obstacles of decisions and doors. Preferably keep your clothes ready in the room where you change in.

2. Make yourself a cup of really really strong coffee or tea. I prefer tea and these days I add loads and loads of ginger, black pepper, cardamom…and pretty much any other heating spice to it. This not only warms you up from the inside but also wakes you up. Remember, go easy on the sugar. Also, you want to have enough so that you wake up, but not so much that you’re unable to move in yoga class!

3. Being self-motivated is great. But it’s easier to workout regularly in a group class. So, join a group class, make friends with the others and motivate each other to brave the winters!

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Yoga

How to: Keep Your Fitness Resolution

January 12, 2015

It’s the start of Week 2 of 2015. Most people’s New Year’s resolutions comprise majorly of fitness resolutions. People who bought state of the art running equipment last year want to run their first marathon this year. Some others want to come down 10 dress sizes. Lots of people hope that the new year will magically infuse them with the willpower to achieve their goals. They hope that new year resolutions are somehow different.

And most people who had fitness on their resolutions list may not even have started working on their goals. Because most people who state ‘I will lose 10kgs in 2015’ spend more time visualizing clothes they want to wear and dreaming about the shrieks of admiration/jealousy emanating from their friends. So lost are they in this visualization and dreaming activity, that they completely forget to plan how they are going to accomplish these feats.

And because there hasn’t been any proper plan in place the first week of the year may have been a repetition of the first week of the last year for many people. Dealing with the early morning getting ready for office frenzy. Sleeping late after finally switching the TV off. Coffee-fuelled days and restless nights.

The thing is, waking up early and going for a refreshing walk, having a wholesome breakfast, reading something interesting before falling into a blissful sleep isn’t really difficult. Nor is it difficult to workout EVERY SINGLE DAY. The difference between frazzled and flow-like-the-river days is just planning. Yes. So those who dream of losing 10 kgs can do so if they plan how they will go about doing it. Is it really feasible for them to get up at the crack of dawn every day for an hour long intense workout? Or would it be more practical to workout for three weekdays and then both days of the weekend. Can you really follow through on your goals like no sugar, rice, coffee, chocolate etc, or would it be easier to cut out one thing first and then move on to more. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a healthier, fitter, happier you will also need consistent effort over several weeks.

However, I do come across many people who have a balanced approach. There’s a girl whose been coming to class for a couple of months now. When I asked her about her new year’s resolutions she said just fitness, which is just an extension of the way she’s currently living. She eats well and tries to work out frequently. She tries not to overdo things. So the other day when she messaged me to tell me she won’t be able to make it to class I told her to relax. However, she came to class and said she would try to follow along to the best of her ability. She had pulled a muscle and wasn’t too sure about practicing that day. But I saw her energy levels consistently increase during the session and there was peace and smiles during the savasana. Later on she messaged me to thank me for the session because post yoga she felt energized and the muscle she felt she had pulled felt more relaxed.

That’s when I realized why this woman was achieving the fitness goals she had set for herself. She was achieving them because she was working on them a day at a time. A yoga session at a time. A meal at a time. And consistently making the choices that would contribute to achieving the larger picture she has in mind. That’s the key to success for fitness resolutions. Keep the larger picture handy, but focus on the small steps. This way you won’t be overwhelmed by the 10kg goal.

So when it comes to keeping fitness resolutions, sweating the small stuff yields the results you want.

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Yoga

What About When It Rains?

November 13, 2014

A lot of people interested in my Yoga in the Park classes as me this.

This morning I woke up and thought I’d start the day with a walk. I got ready and stepped out and realized it was raining. I was disappointed but it was too early for my mind to get irritated/angry etc. As if on cue, I got a Good Morning message that gave me insight into how to handle this situation.

My morning ladies were also optimistic and upbeat. And the beauty of practicing yoga in a group is that unconsciously you start to bond with the group. My morning ladies are used to practicing amidst the trees (and under the flag!)…

But today one of them offered us the use of her beautiful home for our practice.

It was a great way to start a cold, wet, grey morning and I feel so lucky to know these ladies. They are smart, open, friendly and encouraging. They have beautiful homes, great families and successful careers. And most of all, they help each other and me stay inspired. It’s still grey and cold outside, but my day is filled with warmth.

Post yoga we chatted meditation, vipassana, friends, lives etc over steaming cups of green tea. Learning from water, to adjust ourselves.

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Yoga

Your Approach to Things

August 20, 2014

What is your approach to life? Do you look at the ‘big’ goals and think of the long climb uphill which will definitely get you huffing and puffing…and well, you know that you may just quit halfway up..and so lets just put it off for a while. Do you look at the final asana and
1. Get discouraged because you “just know” you’re not flexible enough.
2. Hurt yourself by propelling yourself into the asana.
3. Get yourself into the asana in improper form.

Your approach to the final asana mirrors your approach to life. If your attitude towards your yoga practice is any one of the three, you need to shift your perception. Here’s what I suggest:
1. A goal, much like an asana, takes time. It requires careful study and dilligent practice. If your goal is a promotion, you need to look at your work right now and think about how you can add value. If your goal is to run a marathon, then you need to draw up a running plan and start on it today. If your goal is a particular asana you need to not only ask your teacher for some extra help, but also read up on it on your own, and practice it on your own. Yes, you need to put in more work than the next guy. Because you want more than the next guy. Therefore, be prepared to work longer and harder than the next guy.

2. Preparation is key. An inversion is as much about abdominal and arm strength as it is about balance. If your arms and abs aren’t ready for it you will topple. A manager (in those long ago days when I used to don the smart formals and stride resolutely into the office, laptop in hand) once told me that a promotion is not only about whether you have the ‘know-how’ to work at the next level. It’s also about whether you are emotionally mature to take on what comes with the next role. You may have washboard abs, but if your arms (or your mind for that matter) are not strong enough to take on an advance pose, then you’ll have physical trauma as well as emotional trauma (“She does it so easily, why can’t I? This must mean I’m not fit enough and therefore I suck.”) to contend with. Take it slow. Put in your work. The asana will come on its own. So will the promotion. The 21K…even the trek to the Himalayan summit!

3. The soft-spoken Indian politician (allegedly Cambridge educated), who sputters through his party’s manifesto in an interview with a Cambridge-educated wolf in a journalist’s clothing. The heir to a business empire who helplessly meditates next to the Ganges as he flounders through one bad decision after another and tries to keep the business afloat. The GRE, CAT, UPSC candidate who wants to devote all her waking hours to Bharta Natyam practice. The runner, weight lifter, CrossFitter, swimmer, tennis player agressively pushing her forehead to her knees because, well she can grab her toes easily and can hold the plank for 5 minutes, so this should be a piece of cake. All these people can do great things, but they aren’t ready for whatever they are doing right now. And it shows in their answers, in their decisions, in their performance and in their injuries. An asana is a highly technical posture which requires a LOT of practice and understanding. Sometimes success is not about building, it’s about deconstructing. What do you need to be good at right now to reach your ultimate goal? Work on that. When you finally ‘get’ the asana, you won’t be setting yourself up for long-term injuries.

This move looks simple. It builds abdominal strength, back strength, strong shoulders and arms. It’s an inversion, so it’s great for your heart, skin, hair etc. Keep your thighs turned in towards each other. Make sure your abs are pulled in. Square your shoulders and push them away from your ears. Push your hands evenly into the floor. Push your heels into the wall. Only if you follow all these rules are you doing this right. You’re building yourself up to handstands and other inversions. If not, then you’re going to start noticing cervical issues, weak elbows, spine compression amongs other things.