Therapeutic yoga involves breaking down poses to understand the specific effect on the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional bodies.
Yoga is a terrific exercise program. Every bit of your body is pulled, squeezed and massaged for a full workout. Maybe you’ve discovered that it feels like something more.
Yoga emphasizes movement timed with breath. This creates a magic bridge between body and mind that leaves the practitioner feeling integrated and more coordinated than before the class.
Isn’t all yoga therapeutic then?
In a vast market such as fitness, there is room for all sorts of classes. Here are a couple key points that differentiate a yoga class from a therapeutic offering. And here’s what to look for if you want to use yoga as a transformational tool.
The level of training and experience of the teacher. To be considered a Yoga Therapist, the instructor should have over 1000 hours of dedicated training from a licensed school as well as hundreds of hour of practical experience.
The pace of the class. Since the practices are meant to have lasting impact, they need to be broken down and digested slowly. A fast paced class will not land the same way as a meditative flow class.
The adaptation to the individual. Each participant should feel that the class has been aimed at their particular needs. There will be a variety of props demonstrated.
The depth of information shared. Knowledge is power. It’s important for the participant to understand the “why” of this practice and for the practice to fit with their core beliefs and comfort levels.
The feeling of empowerment. Rather than desperately trying to keep up, or follow elaborate rituals, or pushing to graduate to another level, therapeutic yoga meets the participant in that sweet spot of competence, comfort and challenge. Language that encourages the participant to “push”, “achieve” or physical assists to that effect are absent.
In our group classes, Cheryl works diligently to create these standards for all participants. Unfortunately, many individuals have tried “yoga” and been disappointed. Seeking a therapeutic class may be a whole different experience.
Here’s another article about the power of taking therapeutic yoga online. Before the pandemic, Cheryl would never have guessed how much energy and impact could be shared via zoom.
We’re not strictly vegan at my house, although the preference is for vegan mayo for the taste actually. But it can get pricey, and availability during the lockdown has been limited. Going to the larger grocery stores means longer lineups and greater traffic flow. Our local markets don’t always stock this item.
So… this recipe evolved from necessity. It uses soft tofu and a high powered blender.
Ingredients. 1 block soft tofu (use non-GMO and organic if you can find it. There are some tetra-brick tofus on the market that would be shelf stable to order online)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice.
1/4 teaspoon salt.
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon agave
Process in a high powered blender for about 60 seconds until smooth.
Variation: Spicy Mayo
add 1 tsp smoked paprika and 1/4 tsp smoked, ground chipotle pepper to mixture.
Keep in covered container in fridge for up to two weeks. May separate slightly as there are no commercial emulsifiers in this. Just stir prior to use.
Try this quick 20 minute practice every day for the next 21 days. It is designed to mobilizeyour joints, bring cleansing circulation to your organs and energize your thinking.It is recommended to keep a notebook or journal handy and record your impressions post practice each day. These quick notes are for you alone and will help you see the changes in real time.
Joint Freeing Series – this simple sequence of stretches prepares your body for full poses. Try one of these videos to lead you through.
2. Sun Salutations – one round of this classical combination of postures will create some heat to begin the transformation. Choose the type that best suits you physical needs (there’s even one that uses a chair so no pressure on knees!) from here.
3. Spinal Balance – from hands and knees (place hands on chair if knees on floor doesn’t work), lift one leg up and back, parallel to floor. Keep hips square to floor (this is very important!). Hug muscles into the center of your body to stabilize core. Slowly lift opposite arm alongside ear. Hold for five breaths each side. Repeat once.
4. Bridge Pose – Do the posture five times dynamically, inhaling as you lift hips and exhaling as you lower. Then hold posture five breaths. Keep knees pointing straight ahead and isometrically magnetize heels back toward your body to engage the hamstrings. Imagine lifting the hips from the back of the buttocks where it meets the legs. How high you lift the hips isn’t that important but keeping your low back spacious and comfortable is very important.
5. Wide Legged Supine Twist – lie on back. Place feet mat width apart, or wider. Inhale with knees center and exhale, drop knees to one side. Repeat to each side five times, then hold on one side for five breaths. Slide arms out away from body to open chest to deep breaths. Support legs with pillows or blankets so you don’t have a big stretch sensation anywhere but feel the earth is hugging you from underneath. This video shows the set up ( it’s the third video down – hip flexor release).
6. Alternate Nostril Breathing – this breathing technique creates a nimbleness in the frontal lobes of the brain. When we want to get creative to solve life’s challenges, or bring our “A” game, fire on all cylinders with 5 – 10 rounds of this breath. This video shows how (it’s the third video down on the page, “practice 1/6 : alternate nostril breathing”).
7. Take a few minutes to jot in your journal. These questions may inspire you:
How does my body feel right now?
What word, principle or mantra would I like to take into my day?
How may I be of service today?
This practice guideline is intended to inspire you to embrace yoga as a tool for positive change. It is very general. If you would like a personalized plan, consider Small Group Yoga Therapy. There are new sessions starting soon.
Energy is a resource for which we control the budget. Investing wisely to achieve maximum return is important here as it is with finance. Learn the science behind therapeutic rest in order to boost your focus, strength and resiliency.
As the holidays creep closer, the pressure to jam more into each day increases. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, doing less will actually help you get more done. Here’s how.
A tremendous amount of mental and physical activity takes place in the background of our awareness. Experts suggest up to 90% of our reactions, thoughts and behaviours are initiated from the subconscious mind. All of these electrical impulses, or thoughts, require energy. Many of these automatic decisions may not be in congruence with your current priorities, but you keep doing them anyway as reflexes and habits. For example, you may have a willful commitment to eating healthier, but late night cravings for ice cream when you can’t sleep derail you regularly. Sometimes, you can’t even recall eating it at all! This conflict can cause stress on the system about which we are oblivious.
Most of us think of stress as really tragic events or other big ticket changes in your life. Most people, because they function quite capably in their life’s work, don’t even feel stressed. By the time we report stress to our doctor or other caregiver, the symptoms of imbalance have deeply impacted our physical and emotional health.
Stress is an inherent part of being human. All of us experience stress or we couldn’t get out of bed each day. Stress is a normal and healthy set of physiological markers (such as increased heart rate, tension in large muscle groups, increased adrenalin, etc.) that allow us to get things done and feel alert. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the relaxation response. Again, this is a specific set of physiological markers that create an environment in the body for repair, digestion and reorganizing. Ideally, the human animal is equally balanced in the course of a day between activity and rest. The flow between the two states of activity and rest is a continuum and we constantly float along that spectrum. Even in the course of one breath, there is a little movement between activity and rest.
As stress has become more and more associated with negative health outcomes, intensive research has shown that stress response happens in modern life far more often than we realize. Stress, or activity, is generated in the sympathetic nervous system any time we feel the mildest of a survival threat. An update on your computer platform; searching for a parking spot; worrying that that last joke was well received – these common occurrences generate the biochemical changes in your body that take your away from the reparative and restorative rest we so desperately need. Add in a few bigger ticket stressors such as financial or family concerns and our system is drawn chronically into sympathetic nervous system activation too often and for too long.
Choosing to invest your energy in the
chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system prematurely wears you
out. It contributes to sleep disturbances, skin rashes, arthritic
pain, sharp tempers and a lack of creativity to name a few symptoms. Remember – modern life inherently pushes you
to this imbalance. Perhaps most
compelling is that the holidays are potentially a time for connection, family
and celebrating what is wonderful in our lives.
When we are depleted, the fatigue prevents us from being truly present
and enjoying the season as much as we could.
What we think of as “relaxing”, really isn’t.
Socializing – while very enjoyable, the noise, heavy food, alcohol, pressure to be witty, all add up to a “survival threat”. It stimulates your sympathetic nervous system.
Exercise – movement is extremely important but exercise alone, especially movement that is in any way associated measuring, evaluating or competing, activates the sympathetic nervous system. As the adrenalin and other hormones of the stress response are produced to answer the call of exercise, they are burned off so we feel more balanced when we finished. There has been no rest though.
Media – watching television or catching up on podcasts allows physical stillness but is in no way restful for the nervous system. Studies show that the powerful emotional centers of the brain react to the images and ideas on media as if they were happening directly to us. Our rational brains can distinguish the difference, but that part of your brain is not consciously directing these reflexive responses.
Relaxation is an activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. There are separate nerves that enervate your organs and tissues for this branch of the autonomic nervous system. Remember, we flow along the continuum throughout the day and can feel relatively ‘relaxed’ when we are not actually in the relaxation response. To create the flow of neurotransmitters and biochemical markers that will truly help us heal, we need to take rest seriously.
Modern society is the most complex ever
recorded so your lives probably reflect that.
Besides the obvious advice to edit activities and eat healthy, here are
a couple interventions that can help you “power rest”. Introducing regular and repeated therapeutic
relaxation into your daily routine recalibrates your brain giving you greater focus and
strength.
This ancient breathing technique
alternately stimulates the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems to
help you create a better flow along the continuum. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Sit in a chair with an upright and alert
posture. (Instructional
video here.) Feel free to play some uplifting and relaxing music in the
background (try https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z8lIU9fKjk&list=PLNxTjx73TgkdaxeYhQQvIEYbSm-RqLeOm). Using your right hand, place the thumb over
the right nostril. Place the ring finger
over the left nostril. The index and
middle finger can curl down into the palm, or lightly rest them between the eye
brows. Inhale only through the left side
then adjust fingers so exhale is only through the right. Stay on the right side to inhale, then adjust
fingers to exhale on the left. This is
one round. Relax shoulders, align head
over the rest of the spine. Repeat until
the time goes off. This breathing
pattern may help you feel more balanced and prepare for deeper stages of
relaxation.
Strategy #2: Legs Up the Chair Pose
This restorative
yoga posture inverts the play of gravity on the body, inducing a physical
sense of relaxation. It alleviates lower
leg swelling, sore feet, aching hips, backs and knees (all symptoms of marathon
holiday parties and shopping). To do, (instructional
video here) utilize a kitchen or living room chair or couch. Align the legs so that the calves are
supported by the seat with the edge of the seat in the crooks of your
knees. Place a pillow or folded blanket
under your sacrum to elevate your hips slightly. A pillow might feel nice under your neck. Close your eyes and breathe slowly and
deeply. As little as five minutes can
bring new energy but continuing for up to 20 is recommended. Adding an eye pillow or cool cloth will
reduce lines and swelling around eyes.
“Our breath is constantly rising and falling, ebbing and
flowing, entering and leaving our bodies.
Full body breathing is an extraordinary symphony of both powerful and
subtle movements that massage our internal organs, oscillate our joints and
alternately tone and release all the muscles in the body. It is a full participation with life.” Donna Farhi, “The Breathing Book” (Holt Publishing, 1996)
On your
last visit to the doctor, he/she may have asked you to take a deep breath. Here’s what I commonly see in my yoga therapy
practice when I observe someone instructed to deep breathe.
They inhale. Their
nostrils pinch a bit and it makes quite a sound on the intake of breath. Their arms and shoulders hug into the body. The shoulders and collar bones lift up. Neck muscles tighten. And often their bellies pull in. Try a deep breath in this manner. Does it feel liberating or joyous to
you? It feels like a lot of work to me.
Our
breathing automatically adjusts to whatever external circumstances
require. It’s brilliant really. Because we spend more and more time in
sedentary activities, during which our brains are concentrating on reading or
talking but not movement, our breath just goes into a shallow holding pattern that
just keeps the basics going. No point in
investing a lot of energy in breathing deeply when the muscles are relatively stagnant.
Every once in a while, however, the tissues
of the body send out an SOS. FEED
US! And you are prompted to sigh or
inhale as described above.
Breath is literally your life. As oxygen is brought into the lungs and permeates through the alveoli to the blood stream, hemoglobin molecules shuttle the oxygen to all the cells of the body. During shallow breathing, not a lot of volume of oxygen is being delivered. This translates to sluggishness, mental fog and increased stiffness.
One of
the more efficient ways your body can breathe is shown in this
illustration. As the lungs fill with air,
the diaphragm descends down toward the abdomen to make more room for that balloon
like action. As you exhale, the lungs
deflate and pull all the other bits back into place.
Maybe
you notice that this natural breathing pattern involves letting your belly
muscles relax on inhale. That can be a
barrier for many of us who try to look skinny (by sucking in our gut) or think
that tight “abs” will keep our backs happier.
Breathing is a whole body experience.
Relaxed breathing means that muscles need to relax as well as
contract. That is a definition of strong
muscles – ones that can lengthen and shorten as needed.
Program for Restoring Your Life by Breathing Better
Constructive rest: (this could be done in bed if getting to the floor is difficult)
Take 2 – 20 minutes here. Use a pillow if necessary and blanket to keep warm. Observe your natural breathing. Where do you feel movement? No movement? A lot of movement? Do you hold your breath? Is your breath ragged or irregular? Are there pauses? Where and how long? There is no right way to breathe right now. You are just familiarizing yourself with what you are experiencing today.
2. Cat/Cow Stretch: Inhale, sit up erect, lifting the chest toward the ceiling. Exhale, hug the belly muscles in and let the back body stretch. Repeat 5 – 10 slow breaths, breathing in and out through the nose.
3. Side Stretch
Lean to one side on exhales. Lift back upright on inhales. If your arm gets tired up in the air, tuck it behind your back. Repeat 5 times to each side.
4. Seated twist
Inhale, sit up tall, facing forward. Exhale gently twist to one side. Repeat 5 times to each side.
5. Down dog with Chair
Keep knees a little bent, or a lot bent. Lift buttocks up and backward to length the entire spine. Take 3 – 5 long, patient breaths.
6. Relaxing Chest Stretch
This could be done in bed if getting to the floor is too difficult. Place a rolled blanket along the length of the spine. Buttocks is on the ground. An additional pillow can support the head if needed. Knees are dropped out to the sides and supported by more blankets or pillows so hips are comfortable. There should be a pleasant stretch along the inner thighs but no pain in joints. Let arms drape out to sides, palms up. More blankets could support the arms if this stretch is too much for tight shoulder or chest muscles. Rest here up to 15 minutes.
Making these movements part of
your daily routine will bring more life to your life!
Living in Niagara during August and September is one big harvest of yumminess. Yesterday I decided to process a bushel of red shepherd peppers (sweet). They are easy to roast using the barbecue and freeze wonderfully.
The whole process takes about 1.5 hours. To organize your workstation, you’ll need a cutting board, a pail for the peelings (to the compost of course!), a large sheet pan for the prepared peppers and a hot barbecue. This can be done in your oven, but it is messy.
Once the peppers are sliced in half and the seeds removed, place them skin side down on the grill. Cover and cook about 10 – 15 minutes until the skins are blistered and blackened.
Take the charred peppers and place on sheet pan. Allow to cool and the steam will loosen the skins. I needed to do about 4 batches of peppers to do the whole bushel but you can do smaller amounts.
The skins will just slide off after about 20 minutes. If some parts didn’t cook evenly, or are blackened, just leave them. It all adds to the smokey flavour.
Pack peppers in freezer bags. They store well for at least a year.
To bring a wonderful sunshiney taste to winter, use the red peppers on pizzas, sandwiches or in pasta sauces. Here’s a quick sauce that I use on cooked vegetables.
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
In a powerful blender, like a Vitamix or Ninja, blend 1 cup roasted red peppers with 2 T olive oil, 1 small clove garlic, 1 T balsamic vinegar and salt/pepper to taste. Keeps in the fridge for one week.
In yoga philosophy, there are several suggestions for living
a happier and simpler life. We are
encouraged to practice non-greediness (aparigraha) or santosha
(contentment). I was raised on a farm
and those pioneer ideals of always using everything fully and embracing what
nature gifted us are already ingrained.
So it’s harvest time in my garden. When you are done admiring my special
gardening hat, you may note the lush greenery.
Everywhere. And my farm roots and
my yoga training insist that I find a use for it all!
Take carrots for instance. <!–more–> We traditionally only focus on the root, but the lacy green tops are quite edible. I chop them into salads, whip them up in my greens smoothies and I still have tons more. So today I got creative.
Vegan Carrot Top Pesto
After cutting the greens from the carrots,
and removing the larger, tougher stems (little ones are fine), I rough chopped
the greens until I had about 3 cups.
This is the seeds and garlic ready to be chopped finely.
Out came my trusty food processor.
This is one of the hardest working tools in my kitchen and I’m always
surprised that so many cooks don’t invest in one. It’s invaluable for making hummus, muffins,
lentil burgers, grinding nuts and chopping veggies. Mine is a $150 model and it’s worth the extra
to get the precise cutting. Here you see
the 1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds and one peeled clove of garlic ready to go for
a whirl.
Now add the carrot tops. As you
can see, there are a lot of greens in that bowl. Add ¼ cup balsamic vinegar, ½ cup good extra
virgin olive oil and generous amounts of salt and freshly ground pepper. You can adjust the seasoning later so use
less than you think at first.
This is what the mixture looks like after spinning, and scraping the
sides of the bowl down, and spinning again and again. Adjust the olive oil and seasonings as you
go.
Pour into a glass storage container and cover with a thin layer of olive
oil to keep the colour bright. It will
store covered in the fridge for a month or in the freezer for up to 3.
What do
you do with all that pesto? Add it to
cooked pasta (1/4 cup at a time, then taste); flavor salad dressings; use it on
cooked veggies or meat or make …..
Smoked Tofu Panini
Sandwiches
Prepare
bbq tofu: Slice one block smoked tofu
(extra firm; available at any grocery store) into ¼” pieces and marinate in
barbecue sauce for a few minutes. Broil
or bbq slices until browned (the tofu is all ready to eat so you’re just adding
flavor here).
Using a hearty multi grain bread, slice two
pieces for each sandwich. Spread
generously with the pesto.
Thinly slice a garden ripe tomato and layer over
the pesto, followed by a single layer of tofu.
Top with second slice of bread.
Using a panini press, grill the sandwiches until
heated through. Alternatively, keep the
bbq hot and use a sheet pan on the grill.
Make sure it’s well oiled and place sandwich on pan. Push down with metal flipper to compress
sandwich a bit. Flip after the bottom
gets nicely browned and repeat technique.
Serve with basil aioli (blend chopped fresh
basil with mayo or vegan mayonnaise) for dipping.
