Is Yoga Safe?

In January of 2012, New York Times writer William Broad stirred up controversy in the yoga community, and fear in the minds of people who might have been considering yoga as a safe and healthy activity.  Since then, I frequently find myself defending the practice and lifestyle of yoga.  There were several rebuttal articles and blogs written in response to Mr. Broad’s article, and most of them can be summed up as saying, “listen to your body, don’t let your ego take over and then you can trust yoga as a safe and healthy activity.”

The amount of competing information out there about yoga is staggering.  There are many competing styles and traditions, many of which don’t seem interested in working together to get the best and most correct information into the hands of the lay-person.  Instead of coming together to help bring yoga to the masses, many organizations and small studios and closing off and viewing what they teach as proprietary and secret.  But if you’re willing to pay a LOT of money, they will tell you everything they know. 

In the meantime, we are getting more obese, more sedentary, more inflexible, and more stressed out.  While the yogis fight it out, America suffers. 

The true purpose, the real goal of all yoga, since it’s beginnings, is and has been to help humans find inner peace.  To clear the mind, to calm the noise, to help us become more calm, more centered.  A few thousand years ago, a man named Patanjali taught in the Yoga Sutras that there are 8 limbs to the yoga lifestyle.  The physical practice, known as Asana, is one of those limbs.  And it’s the one that we’re all fighting about. 

 Let me give five tips that may help you wade through the confusion. 

1. Your Own Experience is Your Best Teacher

If your goal is to improve the strength, flexibility and composition of your body, be your own science project.  Try a few different styles and give each one thirty days.  Keep a journal, and after one month, step back and see if you are noticing any changes.  Look for little things like sleeping better at night, digestion, stress level and mood in addition to scale weight.  Your body has immense wisdom, you just have to listen to its signals.  If a particular style of yoga is working for you, stick with it.  If not, try another style.

2. Write Down Your Thoughts

Our thoughts literally make or break any experience we’re having.  In any given moment we can talk ourselves into or out of anything.  Our little thoughts get all jumbled up with our big thoughts.  Yoga gives us a rare chance to quiet our thoughts, to brush them aside, albeit temporarily, giving us moments of quiet.  In these quiet times, the BIG thoughts can come to us.  And often our BIG thoughts give us the answers we’re seeking.  So write down what comes to you in these quiet times.  If your yoga practice is helping you come to this quiet place, stick with it.

3. Do Some Soul Searching

How does your yoga practice make you feel?  Do you end a practice feeling lighter, more free, more open?  Is your practice opening up a space in you that feels like your soul is being fed?  If so, stick with it.  On the other hand, if you end your practice feeling hurt, discouraged, or frustrated, look around for another style or teacher.  Your soul also has immense wisdom.  Look for lightness.  And if you find that in your practice, stick with it.

4. Remember That Sometimes Less Is More

It’s easy to get into a yoga pose and have the desire to go to the fullest extent of the pose.  After all, we’ve seen that on the cover of the Yoga Magazine.  If they can do it, so can I, right?  We need to remember that every body is different.  Our joints may be looser or tighter than another’s.  Our muscles may be longer or shorter, more pliable or tighter than another’s.  All of the injuries in yoga can be avoided by simply listening to our bodies, staying with the breath, and doing what feels best in each pose.  Sometimes, less is more.

5. Listen

It is my sincere desire that everyone practice yoga at some level.  Remember that the original intent of yoga is to clear the mind, to restore peace to the soul.  At the end of the day, the best advice I can give has been given many times already; “listen to your body, don’t let your ego take over and then you can trust yoga as a safe and healthy activity.” 

Emotional Reactions in Yoga

You made it to class early enough to find your spot on the right side of the room. You have just finished an amazing flow with your favorite yoga teacher. As class is winding down and you come into bridge pose, from out of nowhere tears fill your eyes and begin rolling down your cheeks. You weren’t even feeling sad today, so what is going on? 

Emotional reactions in yoga are very common. Anger, sadness, joy, and many other emotions can surface when we come to our mats. When we commit to the yogic path through the physical practice of asana (postures), we are doing much more than just stretching our muscles.

Read more in my article on MyFitnessTunes.

Yoga For Cyclists

Today, in a training course for indoor cycle instructors, I realized that I had made my 10th remark about (and sales pitch for) the benefits of yoga for cyclists.

Cycling is a very limited range-of-motion sport that requires major energy output from the lower body.  It can also create neck and shoulder tension, postural problems, and ultimately injury if not balanced with other activities. 

If you’re logging a lot of miles in the saddle, and aren’t balancing out your workouts with yoga, read on. 

New Yoga Resolution?

Here we are again, the gyms are full of folks with great intentions and new resolutions.  In looking at the research, I learned that almost half of American adults make resolutions each new year.

Among the top new years resolutions are promises to lose weight and exercise, and this year, ‘giving yoga a try’ made it to the top of several lists.

So what about you?  Are you ready to give yoga a shot?  I have spoken to a lot of new exercisers this week, and many of them say they would like to try yoga but…

(read the rest of my article on MyFitnessTunes.com, click here)

The Tree Bark Diet

I finally found it.  The real magic potion.  

After 30 years of watching people turn to infomercials, pills, fads, surgeries, I finally found the cure to our nation’s obesity problem.  It’s the Tree Bark Diet.  A scientifically designed and proven formula that will melt fat off of your thighs, waist and arms.  It’s 100% natural, made from the bark of rare trees found only off the coast of Africa.  And think about it, have you ever seen a fat tree?  Each pill costs $10 but you only have to take one pill a day for a guaranteed 5 pounds a week weight loss. 

Now…if you are still reading and you believe me, I am going to quit my fitness career and open a donut shop.  Why do we believe these type of claims?  Because they are much easier for us to consider than the tried-and-true, time tested and proven facts.  If we want to lose weight, we have to move our bodies more and eat with better awareness.  Period.

For over 30 years, I truly think I have heard it all.  And I live in my own little bubble I guess, because I keep assuming that the average consumer has heard it all too.  So I’m continually amazed when someone asks me what I think about XYZ diet or product.  So here I present to you 8 ways to clean up your eating and change the way you feel and the way you look.  Warning…these are all things you have heard before.  But remember, common sense is not common practice.  We, as a nation, are losing the battle.  And as Yogis and Fitness Practitioners, I feel we have an obligation, and an opportunity to ‘Be The Change”. 

1. Get the good stuff in. 
   Think about what your body needs for optimum performance, instead of thinking about all of the things you ‘can’t’ have.  The minute I tell you what not to eat, you will think of little else until you finally break down and eat that thing (or more likely several of them).  But focusing on getting five servings (or cups) of fruit and vegetable each day helps curb the appetite for those other things.
2. Strive for a colorful plate. 
   A plate full of colorful foods means you have many different nutrients.  If you have kids, let them help you choose different and colorful items from the produce section and think of ways to work new colors into familiar dishes.
3. Drink plenty of clear water. 
   Approximately 70% of our body is water, and our metabolic activity relies on adequate hydration.  If we can get in the habit of always having water with us, and drinking often, we might be able to kick the diet soda habit. 
4. Consider eating less meat. 
   My kids’ school now does “Meatless Mondays” which they, and I think is pretty cool.   If you need some encouragement, consider that the most common cause of death in the US is heart attack. 
Every 45 seconds someone in the US dies of a heart attack.  The average US man has a 50% risk of death from heart attack but  the risk to a US man who eats no meat, dairy or eggs is just 4 percent!  Plus, research shows that adults and children who follow a vegetarian diet are generally leaner than non-vegetarians.
5. Learn to prepare more of your own food. 
   Home cooked meals are obviously more healthy than fast food.  Meals eaten at a table with real silverware are bound to give you more nutrition (and satisfaction) than meals that come in a paper bag.  Maybe you could make cooking a once-a-week family experience.  Let meal preparation become something that everyone looks forward to, and sit down to enjoy your creations together.
6. Be bold when using spices.
   Not only do they favor foods, many of them also boost the metabolism and speed weight loss.  For example, cayenne and cinnamon are both spices that speed up the metabolism, and help with fatigue. Do a little research and a little experimentation.  Find out what spices you like and notice that you may have less desire for fatty or sugary, sweet foods.
7. Always eat breakfast.
   If you’re not a breakfast person, consider a smoothie for the road.  Throw an assortment of fruits, veggies, yogurt, and flaxseed.  Get creative.  If you’re still not convinced, how about this: among people who belong to the National Weight Control Registry, those who have maintained weight loss for at least a year, almost 90% reported eating breakfast at least five days a week. This suggests that starting the day with breakfast is an important strategy to lose weight and keep it off.
8. Slow down.
   Take your time to eat, and taste your food.  Not only will this help you enjoy your meals more, it will help you feel full faster and thus you will eat less.  Thich Nhat Hanh gives us some suggestions on eating with gratitude.  We can practice an eating meditation every time we sit down to eat by offering the following words: 
   • This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings and much hard work.
   • May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.
   • May we recognize and transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation.
   • May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, preserve our planet and reverse the process of global warming.
   • We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, strengthen our sangha and nourish our ideal of serving all beings.

If all of these things seem unreasonable, start with the one that seems doable. Every time we make one seemingly small change towards better health, it seems that three more positive changes follow, almost unconsciously.  Give it a try.  Or, send me a check for some tree bark.