We all have them and these limitations hold us back from feeling free to enjoy our lives. It’s common to seek a doctor’s advice, perhaps get further testing or try physiotherapy. Here’s a new option available.
You
have probably heard that yoga stretching can get helpful but large, fast paced
classes can leave you confused, exhausted and maybe even make your pains worse.
The new option just becoming available now is small group yoga therapy sessions. In this format, you can access the evidence based practices that lead to positive results without the higher fees associated with private therapy.
How does this work? This service will usually be accessed through a yoga studio (sessions are now being organized in Thorold at the Yoga Centre of Niagara), but also your health care provider may be able to make a referral. You’ll be asked to fill out an intake form that covers your general health history and specific goals for your condition.
The commitment is
usually for 4 – 6 weeks, one meeting per week.
There will be 2 – 5 people in your group, probably with similar
concerns. Each person receives an individualized
assessment and personalized treatment plan.
When you attend each session, you’ll do some group learning and
exercises then go into your own program.
The facilitator will watch you, guide you and modify the program as necessary. The expectation is that you will work on your
program at home, every day. The
consistency is extremely important to the success of the exercises. Cost will probably range from $30 – $40 per
session. Some health or insurance plans
may cover the expense.
Is it safe for you to try Small Group Yoga Therapy? It should be. Consult your doctor before trying any new movement program. The therapist facilitating the program should be open to sharing with your health care providers any plans being offered to you to insure that the therapy is coordinating with your other care. Plans will consider your fitness level, age, type of goals and lifestyle. For example, if you have mobility restrictions, movements can be arranged using a chair so transfer to the floor is unnecessary.
What makes this different than, say, physiotherapy? Yoga therapy considers the whole person. Rather than looking at simply muscle strength, for example, yoga factors in the function of the nervous system in the understanding that this is where strength originates. So there will be a lot of talk about breathing and relaxation techniques, as well as strength exercises, to improve the whole system from its root. There is also the slow, gentle but consistent at home program. You are actually doing the therapy, not the therapist. You take control of your own body, mind and spirit. It becomes an intriguing journey of self knowledge, not boring at all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4_VlQV3UK0
To submit an intake form, and learn more about the Small Group Yoga Therapy Program, please contact Cheryl to obtain an intake form and begin your journey to joy!
Please note: if
you have no stress, this article will not be of interest.
But if you live in modern society, your system experiences stress just due to the level of stimulation (noise, visual messaging, abundance of choice, etc.). Imagine life 100, or 1000, years ago. It gets dark in early evening. It’s perhaps cold outside. Maybe you huddle by the fire or work by candlelight for a bit, but then you cocoon for long stretches. There’s no television, cell phone or central heat. You can go days or even weeks seeing just the same few faces. You have very little concept of what life is like on the other side of the world so you don’t worry about the wars or starvation there. Your nervous system today is wired for that level of stimulation. It’s very new in human development that we have access to 24 hour news, shopping, visiting, gambling, etc. We no longer have a long, open spaces in our lifestyle to nap, dream, work at quiet, repetitive tasks and generally be bored to tears.
Even if you have a perfect marriage, no money concerns, a benevolent boss and consistent access to the best parking spots, your system is chronically and cumulatively deprived of restoration time. What we commonly believe to be symptoms of aging are actually the result of this deficit.
Most of us wouldn’t sign up to go back in time. There are ways, however, to adjust to the
rest needs of your system without such drastic steps. One way is Restorative
Yoga.
You might consider yoga stretching or exercise, which it can
be. Restorative
Yoga is a different approach that also improves performance, concentration and alleviates pain…. without stretching or straining.
Restorative
Yoga means taking time to arrange your body over pillows, blankets, chairs,
etc. in such ways that all curves are supported gently. Properly propped, you feel no actual “stretch”
sensation. The position should be
neutral and as comfortable as possible.
Restorative Yoga helps us discover where we are holding tension. The actual effort involved in restorative yoga is the willingness to look at how and where we are holding tension, and to relax our body on the ground, allowing the breath to come in more, so the tension that we find can be softened or less gripping.
Restorative Yoga creates the conditions for the relaxation response to kick in. The grounding; complete, full breathing; and quietness of Restorative Yoga help us elicit the relaxation response, a neurological response that tells us we are safe, pulls us out of “flight or fight” mode and initiates the body’s self-healing process.
Restorative Yoga helps us face what we are avoiding about ourselves. Our habit of running around, conquering our to-do lists, and fueling ourselves with coffee and ambition can often be a way we avoid deep discomforts and unwelcome feelings in the body and mind. Restorative yoga asks us to stop engaging in all the doing and face what we really need to look at about ourselves. To learn about, befriend, and care for the whole of ourselves in a way we are not used to. This is an essential step for health and healing, for true renewal.
Previously, I only took Restorative Yoga seriously when I was injured or had already put in a good workout. Now it’s become the first priority in my self care protocol.
Try Legs up the Chair pose after work. Try the position pictured above when you’re fighting off a cold. In our “Learn to Rest” section of the resources page, there are many different options.
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.
With the fall harvest underway, markets are abundant with eggplants and tomatoes. I was searching for a hearty vegetarian, make ahead meal that was different. This Barley Crust Eggplant Lasagna is high fibre and packed with seasonal flavor.
Pot barley (not pearl – those grains have been polished to remove much of the healthy fibre and vitamins) is a wonderful grain to have in your pantry. When cooked, it is toothsome, chewy and almost meat like. In this recipe, we used cooked barley as a base for a rich ricotta layer topped with fall vegetables and, of course, more cheese!
Make ahead. This will keep in the fridge for 3 – 4 days before baking. And leftovers can be enjoyed for the rest of the week. This recipe makes an 8″ square baking pan, and serves at least four people. To make it in a traditional lasagna pan, double ingredients.
Recipe:
For the crust: Bring 3 cups vegetable stock to a boil. Add one cup pot barley. Reduce heat and simmer, lid on, for about 20 – 30 minutes. Drain well. Combine cooled barley with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1 egg and chopped fresh parsley and chives (other herbs are fine – about 1/4 cup in total). Press mixture into bottom of well oiled 8″ square bake pan.
For eggplant layer: Slice eggplant into 1/4″ thick rings and place on sheet pan. I use parchment paper to cover the pan first so the pan stays clean. Salt generously. Place in 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. When eggplant is browned and tender, place slices over crust.
For the ricotta layer: In a mixing bowl, combine one package ricotta with one egg, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Spread evenly over eggplant layer.
For the tomato layer: Slice heirloom tomatoes in 1/4″ thick pieces. Place over the ricotta layer.
For the topping: Top casserole with 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese.
To bake: Place in pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Keep casserole covered. When vegetables are tender and hot throughout, remove foil or cover and broil to brown cheese.
This is the amazing comforting fall meal that awaits you after the casserole has a few minutes to rest. Check out other unusual recipes such as Carrot Top Pesto and freezing your own Roasted Red Peppers.
“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.
What
is one of the biggest muscles in your body, crossing three joints, affecting
your breathing and every step you take?
Let’s go on a tour of this hidden giant and discover how releasing
tension in this muscle can liberate your health and spirit.
Have you guessed yet? It’s the psoas (pronounced so-as) and it is primarily regarded as a hip flexor, although, as with most of our anatomy, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Let’s first look at the geography. This photo shows an anterior (meaning from
the front) view of the left side. The
red is meant to represent the muscle fibres.
See how the muscle starts up on the spine? It has big, ropey attachments to the front of
your vertebrae starting at T12 (just under the bottom of the shoulder blades)
to L4/5 (the arch of your low back). It
travels along the inside (anterior) side of the hip bones (those are the saucer
shaped ones, either side of the illustration).
It emerges at the groin and finishes on the inside of your thigh
bone. Stop reading and measure this by
touching your body from the mid-back to inner thigh. That’s a long muscle! Because it is so large, the top and bottom of
it are often doing different things.
Which makes it very tricky.
So
what does the psoas do for you? It
flexes the hip, for starters, which means in bends the leg up into the body or
pulls your body down toward your leg. So
walking involves lifting a leg which means the hip flexor is active. It also deeply influences the curve of your
low back. In cases of non-specific back
pain, I always suspect the psoas. It
typically presents as tightness in the thoracic or lumbar area that responds
well to gentle stretching and relaxation but gets worse with prolonged standing
or sitting. Typically, an exaggerated
lumber curve means a tight hip flexor, but flattened back curves can mean psoas
malfunction too. As I said, it’s a
tricky character. The muscle also acts
as a bit of an external rotator, which means it turns your thigh bone out a
bit. If the external rotator muscles are
overused (if you tend to walk a bit duck foot like, this might be you), this
can create hip pain and other conditions such as sciatica.
The
psoas crosses the hip joint, sacro-iliac joints and the spinal
connections. It is the only muscular
connection between the leg and the spine.
Misalignment and tension can affect knee, pelvic and shoulder function.
As the psoas travels through the torso, it weaves in amongst all your digestive and reproductive organs. Malfunction or tension in the muscle can contribute to acid reflux, constipation, IBS, fertility problems, menstrual irregularities and cramping, among many other issues.
This charming fellow is showing the position of the diaphragm. It’s that big dome shaped muscle under the lungs and heart. Look at the fibres right at the spine where we noted the psoas starts. They interdigitate, which means they hook up quite intimately every breath. Which brings us to the biggest insight into getting a healthier psoas muscle. Breathing!
Moving
a bit deeper into our investigation, think of the basic job of the psoas. Hip flexion is called for in fight or
flight. We are either going to lift the
leg to run or fight, or we might pull the body into the legs to protect our
belly. We are deeply hard wired to
initiate a psoas reaction to any environmental irregularity or threat. So did someone criticize your report today at
work? That’s an environmental threat to
your psoas. Did someone pass you too
fast on the highway? Did you feel
disappointed that you weren’t invited to lunch?
Did you worry about making budget?
Was it really loud or too bright?
You get the picture.
Many clients ask about stretches for the psoas. It may make much more sense to begin to release the tension of the last few decades a bit first. Aggressive stretches (isn’t this one fun?)
can cause damage in the groin and take a long time to heal.
Let’s
look at a more patient plan that is safer, quite pleasant to undertake and provides
ripples of benefits to all systems of the body.
Legs Up The Chair Pose : This video demonstrates the pose (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1dvKsv39tY&t=17s). In this series, plan to spend 5 – 10 minutes here. Get comfortable. Begin breathing in and out the nose, slowly and rhythmically. Gradually take as full breaths in and out as you can without straining. After the first few minutes, let go of actively breathing and just let nature take its course. Deliberately day dream about pleasant thoughts, like a favourite vacation memory. If an emotional charge comes into your relaxation, gently set it aside, promising to revisit it later.
Half Knee to Chest Pose: Start with both knees bent. Inhale. As you exhale, hug one knee gently to chest, not too tightly. Gradually straighten out other leg to form this shape. Feel the bones of your straight leg as they might be made of iron …. sooooo heavy! Take a few active nostril breaths. Repeat other side.
Gate Pose: Place a folded blanket under the knee for cushion. Modify to stand on the left leg here if weight bearing on the knee is painful. Inhale, reach left arm up and exhale to side bend. Move in an out of the posture a few times and then hold for 3 – 5 breaths. As you use your diaphragm fully to breath, see if you can start to sense the influence that has on the psoas. Repeat other side.
Active Bridge Pose: Place a yoga block, or full roll of toilet paper, between knees. Inhale to lift hips and arms. Exhale to lower. Keep block or toilet paper roll firmly hugged between knees. Repeat 10 breaths.
Savasana (or Relaxation Pose): Lie back on mat, using a pillow under head or rolled blanket under knees for comfort if necessary. Stay as supported by the floor as much as possible for about 2 – 5 minutes.
As you slowly stand up and move about, notice if there is a lightness in your step. The psoas muscles act as guy wires between the leg bone and spine. When they are relaxed and receptive, they conduct the electricity more fluently. These exercises may also be accompanied by a feeling of light heartedness as they release deeply held stress.
