From breathing to standing poses, see how each muscle is used, and how the spine, breathing, and body position are all fundamentally linked.

Author Leslie Kaminoff is a recognized expert and teacher in anatomy, breathing, and bodywork. He is the founder of the Breathing Project, New York City’s premiere yoga studio dedicated to the teaching of individualized, breath-centered yoga practice and therapy.

The Archives of Internal Medicine, a major medical journal, published a clinical trial showing the effects of yoga for low back pain. The study is the best of its kind in organization, sheer brute numbers and statistical analysis.

With researchers like the study’s lead investigator, Karen Sherman from the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, I hope to see similar studies done to demonstrate not just the physical but the psychological and spiritual benefits of yoga.

How does yoga help prevent brittle bones?

Yoga works by stressing the bone, much like weight training.  Yoga stimulates the bone with isometric contraction at almost every angle for long periods of time.  By doing weight bearing poses like standing poses (Warrior I, II, III, triangle, side angle) arm balances (crow, plank) and inversions (handstand, shoulderstand), this affects the whole spine, arms, shoulders, elbows, knees, legs, ankles and feet, while encouraging range of motion.  Because yoga poses pull and stretch the bones from every angle, yoga also stimulates the formation of a bone structure that is able to resist greater amounts of pressure, and many different types of challenges.

]]> http://www.margaretgamboa.com/2011/07/yoga-builds-strong-bones/feed/ 0 http://www.margaretgamboa.com/2011/07/summer-yoga/ http://www.margaretgamboa.com/2011/07/summer-yoga/#comments Sun, 10 Jul 2011 01:53:43 +0000 Margaret http://www.margaretgamboa.com/?p=1214 This summer take your yoga practice outdoors and enjoy the warm sun and sounds of nature.  Asana practice can help you to create space in your physical body and in your thoughts and choices. This season discover a yoga practice that allows you to open up, let go, and find more freedom in all areas of your life.  Focus on backbends, hip openers and poses that strengthen your core to help you open up  as you build strength and confidence.

Some of my favorite poses are Vasisthasana (side plank pose) and Navasana (boat pose).  These poses are fun, playful and build confidence. While practicing these poses, find a balance between alignment and a sense of playfulness.  And remember that the pose requires a willingness to be vulnerable… be open to falling and trying again. After all, having fun is what summer is all about.

Here are a couple of recipes:

Citrus Spritzer

Three Citrus Basil Cocktail

One of my favorites is…

“Angela’s Potion” made with Spinach, Mint and Limeade from Homegirl Cafe in Los Angeles.

We all know that this pursuit of the simple life is nothing new.  From hippies to Quakers, many associate simplicity with spiritual growth.  Today, it’s not only the granola types who are practicing this, but ordinary people who are modifying their everyday behavior trying to be conscious about what they eat, drive and buy.

No doubt, yoga is a practice that encourages simple living.  Our asana practice can help make us be happier with less.  In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, one of the ten principles is aparigraha, or greedlessness.  This idea means not just taking only what you need, but not having a lot of unnecessary things or wanting things that other people have around you.  Basically, this means keeping only what you need and wanting only what you need.  Yogi’s believe that aparigraha leads to contentment or santosha, and being satisfied with what you have and not wanting more.  For me, each day is both a challenge and an opportunity for me to practice living simply.

If you are interested in reading about “voluntary simplicity”…

The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhr

Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life by Cecile Andrews

Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex World by Linda Breen Pierce

Or check out Seeds of Simplicity

Grocery stores may sell them, but experts won’t touch them, click on the link below to learn what you should know about your food.

Read Laura House’s article on Planet Green here.

VINYASA

Ashtanga

The practice of Ashtanga that’s getting mainstream attention today is a fast-paced series of sequential postures practiced by yoga master K. Pattabhi Jois, who lived in Mysore, India. Today, yogis continue to spread Jois’s teachings worldwide, making it one of the most popular schools of yoga around.

The system is based on six series of asanas which increase in difficulty, allowing students to work at their own pace. In class, you’ll be led nonstop through one or more of the series. Be prepared to sweat.

For more information, visit Ashtanga teacher Richard Freeman’s website www.yogaworkshop.com

Jivamukti

Jivamukti is a highly meditative but physically challenging form of yoga. Each week, more than 2,000 people visit the Jivamukti Yoga Center in New York City. Its popularity lies in the teaching approach of cofounders David Life and Sharon Gannon, who opened their first studio in 1986, combining an Ashtanga background with a variety of ancient and modern spiritual teachings. In addition to vinyasa-style asanas, classes include chanting, meditation, readings, music, and affirmations. This spiritual resource center also offers specialized courses in Sanskrit and the sacred yoga texts.

“Over the course of time, students will get a broad yoga education,” Life promises. “One week, a class may focus on a particular asana, while the next week’s theme may discuss more metaphysical issues.”

For more information, visit www.jivamuktiyoga.com

Power Yoga

Power Yoga’s popularity has spread from yoga studios to health clubs across the country and has taken on a broad range of applications. The common thread is a rigorous workout that develops strength and flexibility while keeping students moving through poses. For specifics, consult individual instructors before taking a class.

For more information, visit: Thom Birch and Beryl Bender Birch’s website www.power-yoga.com. Bryan Kest’s website www.poweryoga.com

Kali Ray Tri Yoga

A series of flowing, dancelike movements intuitively came to Kali Ray (Kaliji) while leading a group meditation in 1980. In 1986, after developing these movements into seven distinct levels, Kaliji established the TriYoga Center in Santa Cruz, California, offering a system of yoga that is taught in a meditative environment.  A union of asana (postures), pranayama (breathwork), and mudra (seals), this practice is deeply meditative, promoting relaxation and inner peace.

For more information, visit www.kaliraytriyoga.com

White Lotus Yoga

White Lotus Yoga is the collaborative effort of Ganga White and Tracey Rich, who meld two eclectic backgrounds and years of experience into a nondogmatic teaching approach dedicated to helping students develop a well-balanced personal practice. At their 40-acre retreat in the Santa Ynez Mountains of Santa Barbara, California, this husband and wife team offers a complete yoga-immersion experience with programs ranging from weekend and weeklong getaways to 16-day teacher training programs.

White Lotus Yoga is a flowing vinyasa practice which ranges from gentle to vigorous depending on your ability or comfort level. In addition, class formats incorporate alignment, breath, and the theoretical understanding of yoga.

For more information, visit www.whitelotus.org

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Iyengar

B.K.S. Iyengar, from Pune, India, is one of the most influential yogis of his time. At 80 years old, he continues to teach thousands of students from all over the world, encouraging them to penetrate deeper into the experience of each pose. This is the trademark of Iyengar Yoga, an intense focus on the subtleties of each posture.

In an Iyengar class, poses (especially standing postures) are typically held much longer than in other schools of yoga, so that practitioners can pay close attention to the precise muscular and skeletal alignment this system demands. Also specific to Iyengar, is the use of props, including belts, chairs, blocks, and blankets, to help accommodate any special needs such as injuries or structural imbalances. Using props gives the student support, allowing them more freedom to breathe deeply into the pose.

For more information, visit www.iyisf.org

HEALING

Integrative Yoga Therapy

In 1993, Joseph Le Page, M.A., founded Integrative Yoga Therapy (IYT) in San Francisco. Le Page developed a yoga teacher-training program designed specifically for medical and mainstream wellness settings, including hospitals and rehabilitation centers.

Two-week IYT intensives are offered worldwide, training health-care professionals, yoga teachers, and bodyworkers to adapt gentle postures, guided imagery, and breathing techniques for treating specific health issues such as heart disease, psychiatric disorders, and AIDS.

“Healing happens through connection with the deepest part of who we are,” says Le Page. “The program emphasizes the healing process in detail by addressing all levels of the patient; physical, emotional, and spiritual. An example of this therapeutic application is to teach patients with heart disease to become more aware of themselves and their condition at all levels, using yogic lifestyle changes, breathing techniques, asanas suitable for their condition, guided imagery for the circulatory system, and meditation with a focus on healing the heart.”

For more information, visit www.iytyogatherapy.com

Viniyoga

Viniyoga is an empowering and transformative practice designed to tailor one’s yoga practice based on individual needs.  In this gentle practice, created by T.K.V. Desikachar, poses are synchronized with the breath in sequences determined by the needs of the practitioner. According to Gary Kraftsow, owner and teacher at The American Viniyoga Institute on the Hawaiian island Maui, Viniyoga is a methodology for developing an integrated practice for each person’s needs as they grow and change. “As children, our practice should support balanced growth and development of the body and mind. As adults, it should protect our health and promote our ability to be productive in the world. And as seniors, it should help us maintain health and inspire a deeper quest for self-realization,” says Kraftsow.

For more information, visit www.viniyoga.com

Anusara

Anusara means “to step into the current of divine will.” Anusara Yoga is an integrated approach to hatha yoga in which the human spirit blends with the precise science of biomechanics. It is a new system of hatha yoga that can be both spiritually inspiring and yet grounded in a deep knowledge of outer and inner body alignment. It can be therapeutically effective and physically transformative. The central philosophy of this yoga is that each person is equally divine in every part; body, mind, and spirit. Each student’s various abilities and limitations are respected and honored. Anusara Yoga differentiates itself from other hatha yoga systems with three key areas of practice: Attitude. The practitioner balances an opening to grace with an aspiration for awakening to his or her true nature. Alignment. Each pose is performed with an integrated awareness of all the different parts of the body. Action. Each pose is performed as an artistic expression of the heart in which muscular stability is balanced with an expansive inner freedom.

For more information, visit www.anusara.com

Bikram

When you take a Bikram yoga class, expect to sweat. Each studio is designed to replicate yoga’s birthplace climate, with temperatures pushing 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Why the sauna-like effect? “Because sweat helps move the toxins out of your body,” explains Radha Garcia, owner of Bikram’s Yoga College of India in Boulder, Colorado. “Your body is like a sponge. To cleanse it, you need to wring it out to allow fresh blood and oxygen to circulate and keep your immune system running smoothly.”

This method of staying healthy from the inside out was designed by Bikram Choudhury, who sequenced a series of 26 traditional hatha postures to address the proper functioning of every bodily system.

Choudhury first visited the United States from India in 1971 on a trip sponsored by the American Medical Association to demonstrate his work using yoga to treat chronically ill patients. Today Choudhury continues teaching students of all ages and abilities from his studio in Los Angeles where he also conducts a certified teacher’s training program.

For more information, visit http://www.bikramyoga.com/

Sivananda

At its core, Sivananda Yoga is geared toward helping students answer the age-old question “Who am I?” This yoga practice is based on the philosophy of Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, India, who taught disciples to “serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize.” In order to achieve this goal, Sivananda advocated a path that would recognize and synthesize each level of the human experience including the intellect, heart, body, and mind.

In 1957, his disciple Swami Vishnu-devananda introduced these teachings to an American audience. A few years later, Vishnu-devananda founded the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers, summarizing Sivananda’s system into five main principles: proper exercise (asanas); proper breathing (pranayama); proper relaxation (Savasana); proper diet (vegetarian); and positive thinking (Vedanta) and meditation (dhyana).

There are more than 80 centers worldwide, as well as ashrams and teacher-training programs, all of which follow a hatha yoga practice emphasizing 12 basic postures to increase strength and flexibility of the spine. Chanting, pranayama, and meditation are also included, helping students to release stress and blocked energy.

For more information, visit www.sivananda.org

Kundalini

Kundalini Yoga, stemming from the tantra yoga path, at one time remained a closely guarded secret practiced only by a select few. In 1969, however, Yogi Bhajan decided to change this tradition by bringing Kundalini to the West. Yogi Bhajan’s reasoning was based on the philosophy that it’s everybody’s birthright to be “healthy, happy and holy,” and he believed Kundalini would help spiritual seekers from all religious paths tap into their greater potential.

The practice of Kundalini Yoga incorporates postures, dynamic breathing techniques, and chanting and meditating on mantras such as “Sat Nam” (meaning “I am truth”). Practitioners concentrate on awakening the energy at the base of the spine and drawing it upward through each of the seven charkas.

For more information, visit www.3HO.org

ISHTA

ISHTA, Integrated Science of Hatha, Tantra, and Ayurveda, is the yoga brainchild of South African native Alan Finger, who currently runs workshops at his yoga studio in Irvington, New York. Finger blends 37 years of teaching experience with his eclectic studies under Sivananda and the tantric hermit Barati, helping students of all ages and abilities to get in touch with life’s boundless energy.

“The sequence of postures is designed to help students integrate their individual sensations with a life energy force that’s beyond sensing and perceiving,” says Los Angeles-based ISHTA instructor Rod Stryker. “It’s a tool for visualization and a way to become more fully oneself.”

A typical ISHTA class mixes flowing Ashtanga-style asanas with the precise method of Iyengar, while including pranayama and meditation exercises as well. Instructors begin classes with warm-up poses, then gradually build to a more challenging practice.

For more information, visit www.beyoga.com

Kripalu

Located in the Berkshire region of Western Massachusetts, the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health has helped guide thousands of people along their path of self-discovery by teaching a system of yoga developed over a 20-year period by yogi Amrit Desai and the Kripalu staff.

During the 1970s, while studying under Indian guru Kripaluvananda, Amrit felt his body begin to move in a spontaneous flow of postures without the direction of his mind. This deep release of prana (life’s energy force) brought about a profound transformation in Amrit, so he developed these movements into three stages of practice, which he could then teach to others.

The three stages of Kripalu yoga include: willful practice (a focus on alignment, breath, and the presence of consciousness); willful surrender (a conscious holding of the postures to the level of tolerance and beyond, deepening concentration and focus of internal thoughts and emotions); and meditation in motion (the body’s complete release of internal tensions and a complete trust in the body’s wisdom to perform the postures and movements needed to release physical and mental tensions and enter deep meditation).

For more information, visit www.kripalu.org

Tibetan Yoga

Tibetan Yoga is a term used among Buddhists to describe a range of tantric meditation and pranayama practices. Though little is known in the West about the physical practices of Tibetan Yoga, in 1939, Peter Kelder published Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth (Doubleday, 1998), describing a sequence of postures of Tibetan origin called “The Five Rites of Rejuvenation.” In 1994, yoga teacher Christopher Kilham published a modern version of these exercises called The Five Tibetans: Five Dynamic Exercises for Health, Energy, and Personal Power (Inner Traditions). Composed of five flowing movements, this active workout keeps students on the move. Beginners start with 10 or 12 repetitions and progressively work their way up to the 21 repetitions of the full routine. Classes may be difficult to find.

Tibetan Buddhist monk Tarthang Tulku adapted another ancient movement practice for the modern West called Kum Nye. More contemplative in nature than the vigorous Five Tibetans, Kum Nye strives to integrate body and mind and means “interaction with the subtle body.”

For more information, see Tulku’s Kum Nye Relaxation (Dharma Publishing, 1978) or visit www.nyingma.org.

Hatha

If you are browsing through a yoga studio’s brochure of classes and the yoga offered is simply described as “hatha,” chances are the teacher is offering an eclectic blend of two or more of the styles described above. It’s a good idea to ask the teacher or director of the studio where he or she was trained and if the poses are held for a length of time or if you will be expected to move quickly from one pose to the next, and if meditation or chanting is included. This will give you a better idea if the class is vigorous or more meditative.

Source: Yoga Journal “Not All Yoga is Created Equal” By Jennifer Cook  

Viparita Karani is good for almost everything that ails you, including headaches, anxiety, arthritis, digestive problems, high and low blood pressure, insomnia, migraines, mild depression, respiratory ailments, varicose veins, PMS and menopause.

It is also one of the easiest yoga postures to do – all you need is a wall to take advantage of its healing benefits.

Try it!

I now approach my yoga practice being mindful of my shoulder placement in each pose.   From my posture in Tadasana to my alignment in Chaturanga, my practice has developed into a moving meditation, staying focused and awake, especially in transitions between postures.

I found the Yoga Journal article Wear and Care to be helpful and inspiring.