A Home Yoga Practice

By Shelley Gordon   

You don’t need a dedicated space. You don’t need incense or candles. You don’t need sitar music or a chanting soundtrack. You don’t even need a yoga mat. All you need is a little knowledge and the initiative to make a home yoga practice that works for you.

I’ve been practicing yoga for over 15 years and teaching for 6, so I have a lot of poses to draw from, but as I say in my classes, “You could choose to do Child’s Pose for 30 minutes and you’d still be practising yoga.”

Make Time
If you can’t commit to an hour at the same time everyday, that’s okay! Start with 5 minutes when you wake up by doing a couple Sun Salutations or a Pranayama exercise. Not a morning person? Try a balancing pose like Legs Up The Wall or a seated twist  before you go to bed.


Sun Salutation

I urge you to learn this simple sequence. A Sun Salutation is a series of poses that flow into each other with the rhythm of your breath. Each one takes less than a minute and you can do as little or as many as you like. 
You can find tons of tutorials online, but ABC of Yoga is always a good place to start.
http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/yogapractice/sunsalutation.asp

Clear Your Mind
Listen to the sound of your own breath. Notice the texture, the tone, the heat and the rhythm. Focusing on an even inhale and exhale will help to clear your mind. Stopping the mental chatter will allow you to be more present.

Take a Private Lesson
There is an abundance of insightful yoga instructors in Hamilton who offer private yoga sessions. The cost is usually $50 - $100 per hour. Tell your instructor what your goals are and ask for a personalized home yoga practice sequence. A single one-on-one lesson can teach you what poses work best for you, Pranayama (breathing techniques) or give you a deeper understanding of Sun Salutations.  

Balance
When exploring new poses, find a balance between effort and ease. If a pose seems strenuous, don’t go as deep or try a modification with blocks or straps. Alternately, if a pose is too easy perhaps you can bend your knee a little deeper or reach your arms back further. Feel your muscles working while keeping your breath calm. 

Have Fun
Find a few poses that you enjoy and make you feel good. Add your own dance move between postures or create your own sequence. Smile. Laugh. Fall out of poses and get back up to try again. Just remember to have fun and not to take it so seriously… it’s just yoga! 

Looking for more help?
Details on Postures: www.YogaJournal.com or www.MyYogaOnline.com
Yoga Props: www.YogaAccessories.com or www.ShopHalfmoon.com or www.LoveMyMat.com
Private Lessons: www.DeLaSolYoga.com or www.InFineFeatherYoga.com

Shelley Gordon is a certified yoga instructor specialising in healing injuries as a physiotherapist assistant. She also runs an eco-conscious yoga company with her mother, Kathy, making yoga accessories from reclaimed fabric. 
www.lovemymat.com

Warrior One: for the Desk Warrior

By: Shelley Gordon

   
Warrior One opens the chest and hips, lengthens the spine and builds strength in the legs. Why do we need to do this and how will it benefit us?

If you’re always sitting behind a computer screen with your shoulders rolling forward, causing your upper back to round and chest to cave in, you may feel tension through the neck, shoulders and upper back. In Warrior One reaching your arms overhead (in proper alignment) opens the chest by strengthening the shoulders and back. Building a strong upper back can help reduce neck pain and the possibility of becoming the Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

For the sedentary desk warrior, daily hip flexor stretches can help counterbalance prolonged hip flexion involved in sitting for hours. This shortening of the front body often pulls the pelvis forward causing strain or pain in the low back. Warrior One opens the hip flexors and neutralizes the pelvis.

Sitting takes no effort from the legs, leaving the muscles inactive for most of your day. Warrior One awakens almost all the muscles of the legs by recruiting them to support your entire body. At first you’ll feel the weight in your quadriceps (thighs) but eventually you’ll learn to activate the hamstrings and shins by pressing the feet firmly and evenly into the floor.

When you’re feeling any low or upper back tension at work, get out from behind your desk and give Warrior One a try. Don’t be shy about it. It only takes a few moments and you may find yourself feeling happier, healthier and more focused.

Finding your Warrior

1. Stand with your feet inner hip distance apart (4 – 6 inches) with hands on your hips. Notice that your hips are facing the same direction as your chest & shoulders.

2. Step your left foot back roughly 2 – 4 feet, on a slight outward angle.

3. Press your left foot firmly into the floor to activate the left leg as you bend your right knee over the right ankle. Press your left hip forward and pull your right hip back. Notice your hips. If they are not facing forward, step your left foot a few inches forward.

4. Raise your arms overhead, shoulder distance apart with palms facing each other. Actively pull your shoulder blades towards your tailbone as your reach your fingers upwards. 

5. Send your tailbone towards the floor, gently thrust your left hip upward & forward, draw your front ribs inwards and elongate the back of your neck. You should now feel a stretch at the front of your left hip/pelvis.

6. Hold Warrior One for 5 – 10 breaths and repeat on the other side. 

Tips 

1. If your left calf is feeling the stretch instead of the left hip, place a rolled up yoga mat or towel under your left heel. This will help correct the alignment of the pelvis & bring a stretch to the hip.

2. To deepen the stretch in your shoulder blades, back, and neck, turn your pinkie fingers inward and press the thumbs behind you. Be sure not to extend from the rib cage.

3. Aren’t sure if your pelvis is neutral? Think of your pelvis as a bowl of water full to the brim. A neutral pelvis won’t allow any water to spill out forwards or back. In Warrior One tight hip flexors will pull the pelvis forward causing the imaginary water to spill over the front side of your body. Pressing your tailbone towards the floor and pulling the front of the hips up will bring the pelvis back to proper alignment.

Some supporting info found at:
http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/588/
http://yoga.prevention.com/yoga-for-beginners/Way_of_the_Warrior_327.php

Shelley Gordon is a certified yoga instructor specializing in healing injuries as a physiotherapist assistant at Active Body Clinic. She also runs an eco-conscious yoga company with her mother, Kathy, making yoga accessories with reclaimed fabric.
www.lovemymat.com 

Final Resting Pose - Corpse pose for bedtime By: Shelley Gordon

By: Shelley Gordon

How do you feel when you wake up in the morning?

If you wake up with a sore back, neck, or shoulders or with pins & needles in your hands and feet, maybe you should re-consider your preferred sleeping position. The best position for the majority of us to sleep in is on our backs. But have you thought about the position of the rest of your body? If you sleep with your knees bent or with your arms above your head, you may be doing yourself a disservice.

Consider the importance of extending your limbs during slumber. The majority of us spend most of our day sitting. We move from sitting at the breakfast table to our car, from our car to our desk, the back to our car, to the dinner table and then the couch. In a seated position, our hips, knees and elbows are generally in flexion putting a strain on the muscles surrounding these joints. If we go to sleep with the body in a similar curled up position, eventually the body may become too tight to fully open or we may create impingements in our joints.

Bedtime is an opportunity for the body to reset and realign. Sleeping on your back makes it easy for your head, neck, and spine to maintain a neutral position so your muscles and tissues can relax evenly in all directions. We can extend this same principle to our extremities by sleeping in savasana or corpse pose. Lie on your back and let your arms and legs fall equally from the mid-line of your body. Let the legs & feet naturally fall open. Turn your palms face up to set your shoulder blades into your back and tuck your chin lightly towards your chest to lengthen the back of your neck. Now the shoulder, elbow and knee joints will maintain a neutral position.

Taking savasana at bedtime can also help reduce symptoms of carpal tunnel. CTS symptoms often come on at night and may wake you up. Some doctors believe it can be caused by your sleeping position. You may sleep with your wrist bent and/or tucked under your head or pillow, which can cause compression of the median nerve. So if you experience CTS allow your hands and wrists to lie flat on the mattress when you settle down for the night.

Still can’t get comfortable? For many people it is helpful to add a pillow or bolster under their knees to take any pressure off the sciatic nerve. Or try a soothing eye pillow scented with lavender to allow the muscles in the face to soften and calm the mind.


           Need more reasons to sleep in corpse pose?

•  It’s also ideal for fighting acid reflux, says Eric Olson, M.D., 
    co-director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine in   
    Rochester, Minnesota: “If the head is elevated, your stomach 
    will be below your esophagus so acid or food can’t come back  
    up.”

•  Back-sleeping also helps prevent wrinkles, because nothing  
    is pushing against your face, notes Dee Anna Glaser, M.D., a 
    professor of dermatology at Saint Louis University.

•  Sleeping on your back balances out your body weight and keeps 
    internal organs aligned.


Shelley Gordon is a certified yoga instructor specializing in healing injuries as a physiotherapist assistant at Active Body Clinic. She also runs an eco-conscious yoga company with her mother, Kathy, making yoga accessories with reclaimed fabric.              

                              
www.lovemymat.com