More Complaints

Angry, depressed, stressed out? Constipated, overweight, not in optimal health? Trouble sleeping, focusing, getting motivated?
Who do you listen to? Doctor? Life coach? Friend? Therapist? Yoga Instructor?
The answers are the same as in last week’s column. These days we are in charge of our own care. We are in charge of finding the right help. It can be very confusing. How do we change it? Do we have to live with it?
I cannot speak for all yoga teachers. But here is the general philosophy: In yoga we are here to learn about our own bodies and our own minds. We are here to learn what makes us feel better and what makes us feel worse. We are here to pay attention. The practice of yoga is to help you learn to be your own teacher. Your instructor is there to help you learn more about yourself and how to care for yourself in order to do that.
Let’s get over the anxiety, let’s get things moving, let’s find our best weight, and create the lives we want. Let’s learn how to manage stress so we can be happy everyday.
Yes, we want to know what to do everyday so we can be free.
Some day I will just start putting out testimonials so you really believe me.
Yoga Therapy is designed to get you in the right place to heal, on your own. It is so very empowering. What are you waiting for?
Namasté,
René

Samskaras

In yoga, we learn to identify what we call samskaras or the groves in our mind. Samskaras are the patterns that we develop from an experience or repeated experiences that had either positive or negative effects on us. These patterns can become beliefs and these beliefs can make decisions for us. That can be good or bad. Some beliefs serve us well, others can be knee jerk reactions and not so good. What gets us into trouble is when the unconscious belief makes a decision that is really counter productive to our best self. We begin making these samskaras when we are very little, some of them can come from the influence from our parents and then later friends. Most of the time we are completely unaware of these patterns. Some are small, like ordering macaroni and cheese a lot because it made you feel good when you had it as a kid. It might be your ‘go to’ dish, even when there are other options that might be better for your health. Some are big, like racism. But whatever they are, we should know about them if they are going to make decisions for us. We need to know how they affect our lives, how they hold us back or help us out.
And yes, yoga helps us identify them. We begin with just the ones that happen on our mats and progress on to the biggies that can change our lives. “Wow, I didn’t even know I did that!” or “Wow, that’s so cool how you do that!” We always start exactly where we are and move along the path. And we do this ourselves. That’s’ what makes the process so powerful, so special and so empowering.
So start asking yourself: why do I believe that? Why do I do that? The science of yoga has some very cool ways to help you change the samskaras that need changing and use the ones that are helpful to you. We want to make it the best it can be.
Namasté,
René

Got An Injury?

Cranky knee or wrist? Weak core or low back? Neck stiffness? Tight hamstrings or frozen shoulder? Headaches, sore back, bum ankle, carpel tunnel, sciatica, hip pain, arthritis, extra weight?
Who do you listen to? Doctor? Physical Therapist? Chiropractor? Yoga Instructor?
These days we are in charge of our own care. We are in charge of finding the right help. It can be very confusing. What if the pain does not go away no matter what we do? How do we live with it and still thrive?
I cannot speak for all yoga teachers. But here is the general philosophy: In yoga we are here to learn about our own bodies. We are here to learn what makes us feel better and what makes us feel worse. We are here to pay attention. The practice of yoga is to help you learn to be your own teacher. Your instructor is there to help you learn more about yourself and how to care for yourself in order to do that.
Let’s get the back strong, let’s get more movement in the hips, let’s strengthen the hips and knees to carry us forward in our old age. Let’s get to know our backs and how to manage them so we can be happy everyday.
Yes, we want to know what to do everyday so we can be free.
Some day I will just start putting out testimonials so you really believe me.
Yoga Therapy is designed to get you in the right place to heal, on your own. It is so very empowering. What are you waiting for?

Namasté,
René

You are where you are

A very cool thing about yoga is that you get to start where you are. You don’t have to be flexible, you don’t have to be skinny, you don’t have to have the perfect yoga clothes, you don’t even have to have your own mat. You do however, have to go to the class to get the benefits.
All those super crazy looking yoga poses are really just party tricks. It’s the process of learning how to do them that is the real yoga. We start at the beginning, wherever that is for each of us and see where we are tight, we see where we are weak. We see what our balance is like. We get to know how we breathe, how we think and how we feel. All that is what we call ‘awareness’. We get to take a real look at our strengths and our weaknesses. Then we focus on how to use our strengths to our advantage and how to overcome our obstacles. We do this a little bit at a time. Each time we get on the mat we become a little bit more aware.
As we learn to develop our strengths, we begin to apply them outside of class and really focus on creating the lives we want. We learn to leave our weaknesses in the dust. We feel empowered. It feels good. We get stronger. Our egos can help us out sometimes by pushing us to the edge of our ability. Our egos can hinder us sometimes – we push too hard and get hurt. So we learn to listen to when we need to push and when we need to back off. This is the journey. It seems impossible and it ends up being lovely. So don’t let all those experienced yogis intimidate you. They were beginners once too. They fell down too. They are on their own journeys. And they will tell you how sweet the journey really is.
See you in class.
Namasté,
René

Grounded

Did you ever have one of those days where you just can’t concentrate? Head is up in the clouds and not for any special reason? Or maybe there is a special reason and you are completely distracted by it. The mind can wander off and leave us with work undone, sentences unfinished. In fact, the mind can attach to a thought and lead us on a journey of unbelievable drama! Suddenly we are a mess or aggravated and nothing really happened – our own little thoughts caused the problem. Where our mind goes, so does our energy. This is a problem. I do not want my energy to go to some issue that my mind made a big deal of at 3:00 in the morning! We look back later when we are all balanced again and say “what was I all in a fit about in the middle of the night?”.
Ideally we would meditate and find our inner calm and everything would be right again. But how do you do that when your mind is in the driver seat towing all your energy along with it? Well, you do yoga and pranayama that’s what. The fastest way to change how you feel is by changing your energy. If you give your mind a task that requires focus, concentration, attention to breath and movement it will ground you. This can change your perspective in no time. A grounding practice can bring you down form the clouds and allow you to get much more accomplished than you would have. Making the time for yoga can increase your productivity. There are actually breath practices designed for that! No more ADHD excuses for me. I now know how to focus!
A grounding practice consists mainly of forward folds and standing poses held for a bit. A lot of jumping around and movement can make you feel good, yes, but grounded? – not so much. We want to feel good and grounded. Ask any of the creative minds that practice before work. They’ll tell you how productive they are and how much they enjoy the process after yoga. So get those feet planted and do a tree pose.
Namasté,
René

Keeping It Real

The picture of serenity, always calm and thoughtful, tranquil, peaceful, centered, wise, never stressed out – and then we got a puppy. How does all that work with a puppy? The puppy is just like Marley, only black. She is a 12 week old, black lab and super cute. She is so full of energy and wants to chew us and our house, to pieces! How serene can you be when your favorite shoes are toast? What about when the toilet brush gets dragged across the living room? How does Downward Facing Dog help? What helps is to know that things are always changing. Nothing outside myself is under my control (well the puppy can be taught….and kept to certain areas) But it is how we react that is the real work, the True Yoga. Learning to breathe while doing the challenging poses helps us remain calm in the storm. Because that is what we all want to be – right? Steady and calm, even when turmoil is all around us – like the Dalai Lama. He doesn’t blow a gasket. What we are learning is an even deeper sense of inner calm and patience.
Everything is changing and nothing material is worth blowing a gasket. But what about grandma’s antique chair? Our minds are really just like the chewing dog, if left unattended, with out focus and discipline – they run amok!
The yoga here is: play with the puppy, breathe and put grandma’s chair in storage. Get a baby sitter and get into yoga class.
Namasté,
René

Get Upside down!

Going upside down is what we call the “anti-aging” and “anti-depressant” secret of yoga. Going upside down changes your mood in seconds and leaves you with a smile, every time. You do not need to stand on your head. There are surprising techniques that can help you get all the benefits with out the fear or the strain on your neck. Going up side down or inversions, change the way the prana flows. It gets that vital life energy moving upward toward the head and it lifts the corners of the mouth and the corners of the eyes. It lifts your spirits and it’s great for the immune system. Yogis have been doing inversions for years. If you are in a bad mood and need an immediate change, go upside down. I never dreamed I would be able to do a hand stand. I could not do one when I was a kid. But I soon learned it’s possible and fun! Shoulder stand is easier, especially with a block under your low back. But you can just do what we call legs up the wall.
Sit right next to a wall, with your hip touching the wall. Roll onto your side keeping that hip at the wall, so you are in a tight little ball on your side with your bum at the wall. Then swing your legs up the wall and come onto your back. Close your eyes and slow your breath for 5, 10 or 20 minutes. Come out by rolling back onto your side and pressing to your hands and knees. ‘Legs up the wall’ pose is better than a nap. It will leave you feeling rejuvenated and fresh, not groggy like a nap. Everyone can do legs up the wall. It’s safe and relaxing. For other inversions you need the instructions of an experienced teacher. There are some medical conditions that are not good for going upside down. Be sure to tell your teacher if you have glaucoma or blood pressure issues.
Going upside down gives us a new perspective. You will love it. It can be scary to those of us that have never done it. You are never to old to try it and you will soon learn that it is natural and fun.
Give ‘legs up the wall’ pose a try and let me know what you think.
Namasté,
René

Living Yoga

Yoga was not designed for only practice at the studio for an hour and then no yoga until your next class. It is about what we do everyday. When we look back at our lives, we see what we are conditioned to see. When we look forward, we are looking at what we anticipate seeing. We see everything through the narrow viewpoint of our experience. The yoga philosophy asks us to expand that view. But in order to do that, we need a clear and calm mind. The great sage Patanjali said that our minds are like mirrors. When we look in the mirror and see a bunch of spots on the mirror, we think those spots are us. But if we wipe the mirror (of the mind) clear every day, then when we look, maybe we can see our true nature and not just through the culmination of past experience. If our house is dirty and we don’t clean it, it gets dirtier and dirtier. Pretty soon, there is caked on dirt everywhere and we have to move out! So it makes sense to clean the mind everyday. Clear thinking helps us make good decisions.
Our physical yoga practice helps us clean the mirror and calm down. It helps us to see our own egos and how past experiences cloud our judgment. When we practice a pose in yoga, we must focus. First, we learn to focus on alignment and breath. Then we learn to shift the awareness inward. If we are trying too hard then we focus too much on what the body is doing. If we do not try enough, then the mind wanders off to what we are going to eat next or how someone else in the room is doing. So we use the body to help us clean, by focusing and going deeper in to the inner layers of prana, or energy. This is the key to taming the mind. It’s not easy. But we get there a little bit at a time. If we practice a little bit everyday, in-between trips to the studio, we can see a little more of our true selves all the time.
Happy Cleaning!
Namasté,
René

Beautifully Balanced

Nadi Shodhana(alternate nostril breath): I do this breath everyday and have really seen results. For the physical body it can bring balance and harmony to the system. It’s a good practice for menopause. It’s very good for mood swings. But it is not just for women. It’s about balance, which is something we all need in our lives. When breathing on alternate sides, the breath goes to the opposite side of the brain, which balances us mentally. Because one side of the brain is the side that keeps us fired up and active and the other side helps us think and or sleep. Nadi Shodhana is very good for resorting our natural sleep patterns. It can be done just before bed or first thing in the morning.
On an energetic level, it helps decongest and purify the nadis (channels of energy running up each side of the body). Ida is the feminine side, the lunar, yin, physically relaxing, passive, receptive side that controls sense organs. Pingala is the masculine, solar, yin side that activates and makes us dynamic. These sides of us need balance.

Sit comfortably on a chair or cushion, spine tall. Run your right thumb down the right side of your nose to just below the bone and close off the right side. Breathe in through the left nostril. Close off the left nostril with the ring finger and exhale through the right side. Now inhale through the right side. Block off the right side and exhale through the left. That is one round. Do this for 15 minutes daily, in a calm place. If you do this everyday for 30 days, I promise you will feel more balance in your life. You will react less. It really works. Of course, it is best to work with an experienced teacher at first.
May your life be balanced and beautiful.
Namasté, René

What to give yourself for Christmas: You thought I would say yoga. BUT, that’s just part of it. The best thing you can give yourself or your loved ones is practicing the art of receiving. You may think that you know how to receive, but basic receiving, Receiving 101, is about learning how to receive your breath and make it smooth.
Receive every breath like the most beautiful gift you could ever be given. Well, it is the most beautiful gift! With gracious receiving of each breath, we train ourselves to receive everything else with grace. All of our life lessons are gifts, even if we don’t see them as such most of the time.
Receiving, or cultivating gratitude, is the number one recommended cure for depression. See in yoga, we view depression as an energy imbalance, and the number one way to fix that is with breath practice. The perfect way to prepare for breath practice is – yoga!
It also helps with stress management, weight control, detoxification and sleep. Somewhere in the back of our minds we long for that super carefree holiday of warm fireplaces and loved ones, relaxed days and free time.
So the next best thing to receive is a good diet, one that keeps us light on our feet and nourished. Eastern philosophy looks at overindulgence as toxic. Eating hard-to-digest foods while stressed out is toxic. A natural by-product of practicing yoga is body and diet awareness. Whole, unprocessed foods, good fats and lots of fruits and vegetables are a lovely gift to receive (and leave a little room, don’t over-do). Lots of good sleep, nourishing foods and less clutter will make a very happy, receptive and relaxed Santa.
Cranky, stressed out, broke, overstimulated, over caffeinated, over fed, lumps of coal do not make nice elves!
If you need help along the way, just call.

With lots of love for The Holidays,
Namasté,

René