yogalila

Book Review

It’s a compelling title: Power Yoga: An Individualized Approach to Strength, Grace, and Inner Peace (Ulrica Norberg, 2007). I hoped for a book that would help me craft a yoga practice that meets my unique (possible quirky) goals –and would help you do the same. Sadly, I didn’t get that. There are still reasons that this book might be interesting and valuable in a yoga collection, but not the reasons that the title suggests.

The book opens with a quote from Deepak Chopra misunderstanding Einstein. My first thought was “please, shoot me now”. But it gets better. You just have to get past that first bit. Norberg starts with a brief description of the types of yoga and the historical roots of yoga. There’s nothing particularly deep here, but it’s nice that she doesn’t shy away from potentially thorny questions such as ‘is yoga a religion?”. (No, in case you were wondering.)

From there, she moves on to the chakras, bandhas, and breathing. Again, there’s nothing particularly new (how could a description of yoga be new, exactly, anyway?) or deep, but her explanations are solid and helpful in their concise way.

Asanas, described in word and photographs make up the rest of the book, for all practical purposes. The photographs from Andreas Lundberg are beautiful. I have some quibbles here and there with Norberg’s form, but heaven forbid someone should take pictures of me doing those same postures. There are some rounded backs here and there. There’s a peculiar malasana variation whose point I don’t understand. And her sequencing within the sun salutations is new to me. I haven’t seen malasana in surya namaskara B before. I’m entirely willing to believe, though, that that could be because of my lack of experience. She repeats common yoga assertions regarding the benefits of certain yoga postures. Vrksasana reduces pancreas problems. The liver and spleen are energized in marichyasana. Really??? I get a little tweaked by these unsubstantiated, and probably unsubstantiatable, claims.

And I feel like the catty queen of the universe even typing this, but really, she chose the wrong outfit for doing yoga. There’s just not enough of it, and it’s distracting. It’s sort of like Rodney Yee and his Speedo. Sure, you look cute, but there’s such a thing as too much information. If someone came to class wearing that outfit, I’d spend the whole time worrying that there was going to be a disastrous wardrobe malfunction. It sort of messes with my meditative state.

But let’s not let cattiness rule here. There are genuinely good things about this book. In the posture descriptions, she offers both a beginner and advanced version. I think that must be the “individualized approach” bit. I guess I can say that it is both insufficient to my needs and nonetheless valuable. I particularly like her periodic mention of where drsti should be and where one’s anatomical attention should be. She occasionally points out common beginner misunderstandings of a posture, which I find to be really helpful. And there’s a strategy for getting into my all-time-nemesis posture, ustrasana, that might actually work for me. I’d buy the book for that alone. 

The book concludes with a section on meditation and another section with questions and answers. The meditation section is similar to the asana section –similar strengths and similar weaknesses. The question and answer section is interesting. Again, she doesn’t shy away from the questions that some people stumble over. “What is a guru?” “Is yoga theory important?” These are good questions and she provides sensible, thoughtful answers. I’m a little daunted that she suggests that the Pradipika is an essential text. It probably is, but yikes. That’s a slog-fest if ever there was one.

To sum it all up, Norberg’s book is not an essential addition to anyone’s yoga library. On the other hand, it’s a friendly and helpful overview of and introduction to yoga. It’s not quite what the title suggested it might be, but it’s practical, and literate, and useful. That’s not a small addition to a corpus that includes more than enough nonsense.

Tias Little Workshop

9/22/07
Back Bay Yoga Studio, Boston, MA (www.backbayyoga.com)

Today I attended two workshop taught by Tias Little (www.tiaslittle.com).  The morning workshop ( 9AM -12 PM) was about grounding and was titled “The Heart of the Legs”.  The second workshop in the afternoon, (2-5 PM) was titled “Kidney Chi”.

Tias told us he practiced Ashtanga for over 10 years and still teachers Ashtanga but from my practice of Iyengar, he seemed more Iyengar based – lots of detailed alignment instructions, long holds, each pose practiced 2-3 times.  But he also added vinyasa (sun salutations) although not very many.  The morning practice was more rigorous and heat building and the afternoon session was remunerative.  However, his bio doesn’t mention anything about Iyengar training. 

The morning practice was very focused on the alignment of the legs and feet.  We’d often execute the alignment instructions then come out again, then re-execute them again.  There was a lot of hip opening. 

The afternoon workshop started with a lecture about the kidneys.  Tias said we should monitor our fatigue level and do a practice around that.  He said our kidneys hold the chi of our body and we should never give all that chi away – and when it runs low, we should do poses that rejuvenate the kidneys, which is the practice we then proceeded to do.  There were a lot of twists – not a lot of standing poses, but some twisting standing poses.  It was delicious. 

Each workshop started and ended with chanting and ended with a long mediation with Tias quoting poetry.  His language used in teaching was unique and very artistic. For example, he talking about “quadrating” the thighs and talked about discipline in the pose but being lighthearted about it. 

He had a very skilled assistant and they both constantly wandered the class giving adjustments that felt very good and related to what we are doing.  They were both very attentive. 

Tias seems to have the skill to bridge a gap between more alignment oriented practices and more vinyasa/ power type practices.  He says that you should have strong alignment and flow – that you need both in a practice. 

Hopefully I’ll get a change to study with him again but for now but hips and outer thighs and kidneys are buzzing with joy! 

don't be so down, dog

I read about this study showing that yoga eased depression in only the most cursory way, but finally found an article that went into more detail while remaining understandable to the layperson.  The sample was very small but hopefully the funding will come through to do a more thorough study.

Have any of our readers found that yoga has helped them with depression or anxiety?

To Draw/To Write: your own Yoga Journal

One of the aspects of yoga that expresses itself off the mat is the urge to put pen to paper and journal our experiences through drawing or writing. Some of us have kept journals or sketchbooks since long before we began our yoga practices, then found those lifelong habits supporting our yoga experience.

Sharon describes her process:

I started living some of my life through my drawings when I was a very young child, preschool. The drawings became more and more elaborate as my fantasies and skills developed. In the second grade (in the 50s) I identified with Sheena, Queen of the Jungle and carried my versions (drawings of course) of her exploits as my “identification papers”.

Through the years my sketchbooks’ focus morphed from fantasy to thought, reflected in the things I saw before me. They became a smaller part of daily life as my attention and energies were more directed toward my paintings and larger drawings. The link to my little thoughtbooks became somewhat random especially when I was keeping a regular journal from about the age of 12 through my 30s, although these too were a bit over-run with sketches.

What drew me back to my books as a daily meditation was a sadhana we (those of us who make up Yogalila and a few others) did in 2004. Some of us, including me, were reading book 2 of the Sutras of Patanjali and I started accompanying the readings with morning line drawings of my hands and feet along with some random thoughts and the sutra for that day. I used a pilgrim’s notebook I bought on the Ruta de Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The connection between hand, eye, mind and substance were almost mesmerizing to me. I didn’t want to break that chain.

And here I am, with a stack of little books. The sutra comments have become false haikus. I draw the things around me, I focus on injuries and draw and draw and draw the structure and the surface of the areas involved. I draw “waiting” too.

I often start my yoga practice with a drawing that I do, sitting cross-legged on my mat. Over the last few years the drawings have begun to take over more space in my life and my work and my yoga, as well as deriving from those areas. And funny thing, my paintings and drawings are getting smaller, like the book I sketch in.

I’d like to be more diligent with my yoga notebook. I can go for weeks without touching it. I want to be more organized about recording practice etc. but I can’t seem to get into the same mental place with writing as I can in my sketches. Drawing links the inside and the outside and seems to happen in the same organic way yoga does.

More of Sharon's sketches can be found at her sketchblog, Daybooks

Sophie's choices:

I’ve kept some kind of a journal since I was twelve years old, and found that when I began yoga classes, the journaling habit naturally lent itself to record those experiences. My yoga journal began with poses we worked on in class, but expanded as my Kripalu teacher encouraged us to note emotional responses to poses and insights gained through practice. Workshops also lent themselves to journaling, and I would take notes along with sketches of pose variations, lines of energy, alignment and partner assists. I would include philosophy, tradition, and little bits of wisdom passed on by the teacher, along with overall impressions of the workshop and the teacher’s personality.

Like Sharon, my journaling habits were refreshed by participating in a sadhana with my on-line community. My sadhana journal became a very personal record not just of asanas practiced or classes attended, but books read, challenges encountered, and discussions held, sometimes accompanied by study of sutras, and subsequent reflections and insights.

These days, my practice journal often includes ways to work through injury, with modifications for poses and other exercises, using both words and pictures in a process of inquiry. They provide a compilation of ideas from various sources and have helped me develop my own approach to recovery. I’ve found the information useful down the road if problems reappear or similar injury occurs.

While my written journals can be somewhat analytical, drawing and sketching opens a more intuitive dimension of journaling. Anatomical drawings provide a way of sensing inside oneself, cultivating an appreciation of our internal selves and all the parts that come together to make a pose. They can be part of coping while injured and a way to celebrate our bodies through all stages of the healing process.

The visual expressions of drawing can provide a counterpoint to analyzing poses in logical left brain way, and perhaps lead to better spatial understanding of the pose and the body. Being process oriented in both our yoga and our drawing supports our intuitive aspects. It can provide insight, becoming an expression of the individual's perception of reality. In the same way that Sharon and I will have a different expression of Paschimottanasana, we will also have different ways of verbally describing a pose, or different ways of drawing a femur.

Whether drawing or writing, journals give us more ways to practice our yoga, exploring our relationships with the pose and the mind/body state.

Forrest Advanced Teacher Training

Intense.
Transformative.
Mind-turning.
Intense.

That’s the words I use to describe the nine day Advanced Teacher Training I attended last week in Boston’s Back Bay Yoga Studio (www.backbayyoga.com).  It was an amazing experience and one that I would like to do yearly (but not right away – I need to process this past week –whew!).

We started daily at 7 AM sharp with chanting and meditation led by Jonathan Bowra.  We started an almost four hour yoga class with Ana Forrest immediately after.  A lot of partner work helped us learn adjustments. 

After a two hour break, we came back for a four hours in the afternoon to do some soul-searching, teaching with critiques from Ana and Jonathan and our peers, more adjustments, and seeing and injuring circle – where we try to correct an injury or posture issue with a yoga pose.  We also did a few private classes on each other. 

The group was mostly experienced yoga instructors, the majority being Forrest trained.  There were a lot of talented teachers and it was great to be working with such a dynamic group. 

The morning classes were incredible – we did a lot of gravity surfing (flowing from one arm balance to another) and a lot of inversions.  I was looking at Ana’s demo video recently and we attempted at least some variation of what Ana does in the video.  I think I built a whole layer of strength in my body. 

I tried a lot of the new adjustments with my students this week and they loved it!  Ana and Jonathan also gave me useful comments on my teaching. One time when I was doing a private yoga class with one of the other participants, I told her to activate her feet and I turned away.  Ana was right behind me and say “Chris, what did you just tell her?”.  I look at my student’s feet and they were not activated!  Ana and Jonathan always tell us when you ask or make a change in a posture, wait to look that it was done. 

listen up

There are a couple of podcasts available on the CBC radio website right now that might be of interest to yogalila readers. 

One is a 45 minute interview with Krishna Das - if you attend a class that plays music or if you own any yoga dvds, it's fairly likely that you've heard his music before.  (The podcast has the music cut out for copyright reasons - but you can listen to the streamed version of the show on your computer and get all the music and chanting.)

The other one is an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert - author of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia- a book I loved so much I have since bought copies for at least 5 of my friends (I'm losing count).  Highly recommended.

Science and Shoulderstand

Most of us who have practiced yoga for any length of time have eventually encountered a statement from a teacher, magazine article, book or website telling us that shoulderstand has a beneficial effect on our system through its action on the thyroid gland. Although this statement seems to be most prevalent among Iyengar-style influenced teachers, it is not exclusive to this style. Similar statements have been made by Sivananda style teachers, and I clearly remember hearing it from my Kripalu teacher nearly 13 years ago. I was then, as now, curious about the validity of that statement. Though I don’t feel I need to understand the scientific basis behind every benefit offered by yoga, the specificity of the association of the pose shoulderstand and thyroid function struck me as worth thinking about. Shoulderstand, “the queen of asanas” is given prominence by Iyengar teachers and practitioners as a pose of particular benefit to women, especially in alleviating discomfort and ailments associated with hormonal changes during maturation and menopause. Clearly, information gained from decades of experience has provided B.K.S. Iyengar and his daughter Geeta abundant anecdotal evidence that shoulderstand has numerous benefits, as described in Yoga, the Path for Holistic Health, and Yoga, a Gem for Women. Iyengar’s students continue to recommend of this pose as therapeutic for women as can be seen, for instance, in Patricia Walden and Linda Sparrowe’s The Women’s Book of Health and Wellness.  Popular literature describing health benefits of yoga is abundant, as even a relatively casual collector of yoga books will know.

Curious as to the scientific basis for the connection between shoulderstand and thyroid function, I started searching the literature for peer reviewed, scientific studies that might provide experimental evidence for this claim, using the standard search engines and databases available to the university I attend. It didn’t take long to realize that scientific studies on the physiology of shoulderstand’s effects on the thyroid gland, were extremely scant. Apart from a small handful of studies published in the mid-70’s in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, experimental evidence for shoulderstand’s effect on thyroid function is notably lacking. No studies were located that seem to have built on those early findings.

Does any of this matter? For the average practitioner who enjoys including shoulderstand in their regular practice and enjoys the physical, mental and emotional benefits from the pose, there is certainly no reason to worry about the science behind it. However, as yoga students begin to perceive yoga as a form of therapy or complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and health care providers and HMOs respond to the public’s drive to include CAM as part of their coverage, the questions arise: can yoga be prescribed as a health care practice, akin to physiotherapy? And if so, can the student/client/patient ask that it be included as part of their coverage? Objective evidence of the efficacy of yoga would certainly assist that process – if that process is what we really want as students, clients or patients. Experimental evidence has been steadily accumulating for benefits on musculoskeletal disorders and factors in cardiovascular disease risk, among others, but remains scarce for yoga and endocrine function. There have, however, been pilot studies demonstrating that restorative practice (including shoulderstand) has alleviated hot flashes in menopausal women. These provide encouragement for further studies on a larger scale using appropriate randomization and control groups.

Part of me is repulsed at the thought of offering yoga up to the altar of the controlled double blind, but in a practical sense, perhaps allowing yoga to be integrated into the health care system as a complementary therapy could still be consistent with one of yoga’s main purposes – to alleviate suffering. The removal of sources of discomfort, disease, and physical ailment remains consistent with Patanjali’s aphorism 1.30: “The inner obstacles that disperse the mind are sickness, mental inertia, doubt, haste, apathy, intemperance, errors in judgement of oneself, lack of perseverance, and the inability to stay at a level once reached.” Many of us who practice yoga have already experienced a taste of relief from these obstacles. Will validating yoga through science contribute to helping others get a taste of that relief? Of would the process of scrutinizing yoga through western scientific methods take something away from a holistic practice meant to address all aspects of human nature?

The Energized Teen

When I took my yoga teacher training, we were taught to look at people’s energy.  This takes skill and attention – you need to really look at a person.  These days most of us don’t look at anybody for too long so it takes some adjustment to do this as teacher. 

However, if you work with teens, there is very little skill needed to feel the energy they exude – it knocks you over! That’s exactly what happened to me when I first walked into the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club (http://www.lawrencebgc.com/ ).  I was almost knocked over by the energy! 

I had the privilege of teaching the teens and pre-teens here for twelve weeks.  The facility is beautiful and I taught in the brand new dance studio with wood floors.  The staff even purchased mats for the class. 

The first class, I walked in, and the room was loaded with about forty teenagers – over half boys – interested in trying yoga.  The chatter was non-stop and while I tried to get them to focus within, I kept getting knocked over by that amazing energy!  OK – warm-ups, they won’t be quiet.  Abs – they might quiet down – nope – lots of “This hurts”.  Finally sun salutations – they close their mouths.  That amazing energy is finally channeled. 

Working with young people is very different than the older people I typically teach.  First, there’s that fidgety energy. Second, their bodies are typically more malleable than adults.  Third, they are ready to try anything.  Fourth, they don’t watch you do a pose, they only do the pose.  Fifth, they are not afraid to say what they want (“will you do that adjustment to me?”). 

On the fourth class, I taught wheel or upward bow.  This is pretty deep backbend and most of my students can’t do this.  I asked them to watch and then I did the pose.  I couldn’t see them while doing it and when I looked up, all thirty or so students were in wheel.  I wish I had a camera! 

They asked me to teach them how to change “Om”.  Once I could get them to stop laughing, they felt the power of the chant. 

Savasana was always a problem.  Lots of giggles and talking filled the air.  I tried various techniques to get them settle but nothing completely worked.  On the last class, I told them that since this is the last class, for me, could they please be quiet.  Silence!  They felt the power of looking within themselves and this was a very rewarding moment. 

yoga teachers in the news

Interesting to contrast two recent newspaper articles about yoga teachers - one about a 75 year old who has been teaching for years and one about the numbers of young teachers entering the  field.

I used to be pretty hard-ass about who should be out there teaching - but I've softened up quite a bit.  I wouldn't want a younger,less experienced teacher myself, but I do think there is room for them. I also think one of the best ways to become a better teacher is to teach.  There's a place for everybody. However, I do like Shiva Rea's advice to younger teachers in the  NYT article - "don't talk."  Ha.

Nothing new under the sun

As I was flying my way home last night after spending the holidays with my family, I passed the time reading Hanna Rosin's article, "Striking a Pose", in the latest issue of The Atlantic. This morning I as I tried to find it online (no luck, subscription only-but you can read a related interview with the author) I came across this interesting blog post where the writer compares this article to past health/fitness articles that have appeared in The Atlantic over the years, for example:

In “The Gymnasium,” published just two years after The Atlantic’s 1857 founding, David William Cheever described the concept of the ancient Greek gymnasium, characterizing it as a place where, as in the modern-day yoga studio, the paths to fitness and enlightenment converged. “The sedentary,” he explained, could come to the gymnasium “for their customary constitutional on the foot-course, the invalid and aged… to retain somewhat of the vigor of their earlier years,” and “the scholar, to listen to the master in philosophy.” As for the benefits of exercise itself, the Athenians believed “that there could be no health of the mind, unless the body were cared for,” and, like some present-day yoga practitioners, they “viewed exercise also as a powerful remedial agent in disease.”

Serious yogis are often heard to say that real yoga is more than mere gymnastics.  Hmmm.