Five Yoga Poses in Five Minutes to Fight Depression

You feel heavy, dull, tired. Maybe it’s gray outside (or, if you live in the pacific northwest, maybe it’s been gray and dark for weeks). Perhaps a life event (sickness, heartbreak, lethargy, indecision) has you feeling the terrible weight of emotional gravity.

I get it.

Having struggled with bouts of depression since my early twenties, I understand how debilitating an affliction it can be. Whether it affects you seasonally or chronically, practicing self-care in depression can be difficult. And the hardest part can sometimes be taking any action to change. When I feel depressed, pretty much the last thing that I want to do is get on my mat. Let me curl up in my bed and sleep, thank you very much. Or cry.

First, you’re not alone.

Secondly, if you can make the journey to the mat for even five minutes, we can make a change. Set a timer. Step on your mat. Just do it. Because just five minutes will change something. And maybe five minutes today turns into six minutes tomorrow, which turns into ten minutes in a week. Small steps.

We usually think that our minds run our bodies, but the reverse can be true: changing our bodies can change our minds. Check out Amy Cuddy’s inspirational video (bottom) and you’ll see what I mean. By putting your body into a physical appearance of joy and expansion, your mind and your hormones start to get the idea that life isn’t all terrible. Over time, small little changes can start to add up.

Five minutes. Here we go.

Cat/ Cow

Cow
Cat

Simple movement. Depression is stagnant energy. Start to move the energy of your body through simple cat cow. Start moving in all direction, “Color outside the lines.”  Move your spine in all directions. Move your shoulders, move your hips. Get the flow going. Make noise, even if you just hum. Add some voice to what you’re doing. Move the energy.

Sun Salutations

Do three. Big Breaths. Rather quickly. Focus on taking expansive breaths, even larger than usual. Big wide arm movements to move the stuck energy. Audible sighs. Noisy sighs.

Not sure how to do one? Check this out from my friends at Do Yoga With Me. 

Warrior Two

Warrior 2. Be Big.

Get big. Get wide. Push your feet apart. Reach your finger tips apart. Take your shoulders onto your back and stretch. Draw your shoulders onto your back, then reach through your arms. Ten breaths on each side.

High Lunge

High lunge.

The ultimate pose of joy and expansion. Open your arms, press into your feet and fill your body with breath. Get wider, longer, deeper from your toes to your finger tips. Take up your space. Ten breaths on each side.

Ustrasana – Camel

Modified
Full

See my video on doing this safely. Lots of leg strength, lots of grounding. Core strong and engaged.

Lift your chest forward and open. Open heart. Five big breaths.

Repeat it three times, pausing each time to sit on your heels.

Now. How do you feel?

Small steps. Small steps. #smalldailyacts

Amy Cuddy’s video on how body language shapes who we are. A must see.

Also, check out this post, “Not everyone who does yoga is happy, and that’s okay.” From my heart to yours.

 

Slow Down: How Yin and Restorative Yoga Can Help You Beat Stress

I honestly don’t know where I’d be if the practice of yoga hadn’t entered into my life when it did. I was unknowingly walking around in a perpetual state of fight-or-flight for years. Unaware of what was at play within me, I believed it was perfectly normal, and necessary…to be afraid of everything, and everyone, all the time.

Now, I can write this article with a smile and catch myself before I get too deep into a spiral of stress and fear. I know we each have our own path, and I cannot promise that yoga will “save” anyone, or be “the answer.” But, in my studies and my experience, I’ve found invaluable depth in this practice. It’s given me so much more freedom and space in my life.

One of the reasons that I teach yoga is because I want to help alleviate the burden of stress in our world. 

With the development of technology, social media, and the internet over the past few years, our culture has become incredibly stressful. We are expected to multi-task, be extremely efficient, and remain in a constant state of alertness and activity. This vigilance causes continual wear and tear on our bodies, our minds, and depletes the amount of energy that we have available to contribute to our quality of life. This heightened state within the body is often unconscious; a lot of us are walking around in a state of “fight-or-flight”, or a stimulated nervous system response, without even realizing it, because it has come to feel normal. The human nervous system and the stress response has been functioning the same way for millions of years; however, many of the perceived stress in modern-day society is left unresolved, and the nervous system remains in a heightened state of “fight-or-flight”, rather than naturally returning to balance when the danger has subsided.

Stress is often accompanied by several adverse side effects. The more stress that we experience, the more its effects compound within us. When stress becomes chronic, there is an accumulation of stress hormones in the body, and this residue can lead to disease.

How our nervous system works

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is a division of the peripheral nervous system that influences the function of the body’s internal organs and systems. The autonomic nervous system acts largely unconsciously, and regulates bodily functions such as the heart rate, respiratory rate, and digestion. This system is the primary mechanism in control of the fight-or-flight response: the body’s response to stress.

The autonomic nervous system has two branches: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The sympathetic nervous system is often considered the “fight or flight” system, and the parasympathetic nervous system is often considered the “rest and digest” In many cases, both of these systems have opposite actions where one system activates a physiological response and the other inhibits it. When we are functioning in a healthy way, the PNS will kick in and inhibit the stress response, and our body will return to balance. The PNS is actually our natural state; it brings the body to homeostasis and invites feelings of relaxation and contentment.

The good news is, if we notice that we are in a state of chronic stress, there are practices to help calm the nervous system, stimulate the PNS, and alleviate some of the effects of compound stress.

Dr. Herbert Benson identified the “Relaxation Response”:

“A physiological state characterized by a slower heart rate, metabolism, rate of breathing, lower blood pressure, and slower brain wave patterns.”

This state can be induced through relaxation and breathing techniques. A consistent yoga or meditation practice can help strengthen the PNS, and minimize the body’s tendency to activate the PNS.

Yin and Restorative Yoga

While all styles of yoga build awareness and help to balance the systems of the body, I’ve always been drawn to the slower paced practices. Yin and restorative yoga provide a much needed contrast to the constant activity, stimulation, and demands on the body that can occur as a result of a busy life by inviting the body to slow down. When I include Yin or Restorative yoga as a regular part of my practice, it’s both a nurturing and energizing experience, allowing me to continue with other more active and demanding activities in my life with a clear and consistent focus.

While both styles involve releasing into stillness, using supportive props, and remaining in the postures for a period of time, there are some fundamental differences in the intention and effects of each practice. 

In a Yin Yoga class, practitioners place a healthy and deliberate amount of stress on the more dense tissues of the body to encourage them to remain healthy and strong. This practice facilitates gradual lengthening and release in the fascia and deeper layers of connective tissue. The fascial web of the body is one seamless network, one connected system. It holds the shape of our bodies and carries the stories, memories, and patterns from our lives. Working with the fascial network can lead to lasting release of chronic holding and a powerful shift of the body and mind. While the yin practice is ultimately relaxing, the stimulation from holding poses can occasionally be mentally challenging. 

In a Restorative Yoga class, props are used to completely support the weight of the body, which invites the nervous system to shift from a sympathetic response to stress (“Fight-or-Flight”) into a parasympathetic response (“Rest and Digest”). Unlike yin, the restorative practice is not about stretching connective tissue (or any other tissue!), but is designed to restore a natural state of balance to the nervous system. Over time, restorative yoga can help alleviate the effects of chronic stress by eliciting a deep state of relaxation. The deep state of rest that is accessible through restorative yoga can enhance the health of the nervous system, lymphatic system, endocrine system, and organ function. 

If you have not yet tried one of these styles, consider adding yin or restorative to your yoga menu. They might begin to change your definition of how it feels to be “relaxed”…

References

 

Six Weeks To Self Love: The Illuminated Woman

My client Julia called me yesterday in despair.

“I promised to make big changes in my life this year. I was so excited and motivated on January 1 ! Now only 2 weeks later I’ve basically thrown them all out the window.”

In the past year, Julia had been under a lot of stress and let her bad habits take over. Her company downsized and even though she didn’t lose her job, she was doing the work of three people and being underpaid. Then for months she didn’t put much effort into finding that great relationship she wanted so badly and had shied away from many social plans.

“I don’t have the time or the energy and I feel so blah. I just want to go home and hide.”

Julia didn’t feel confident and hadn’t been motivated to do anything consistently about it. She kept putting it all off and didn’t feel good physically or mentally about herself or her body.

“Once I feel more confident and better about myself I’ll be motivated to do it all. Once things slow down I’ll really focus on myself.” Julia realized that an entire year had passed and she was still stuck in the same place, making the same promises to herself and not following through.

She then asked the magic question,

“What’s wrong with me? Why do I keep doing this to myself?”

I answered with one of my favourite quotes from A Course in Miracles: “Do you not see that all your misery comes from the strange belief that you are powerless?” Then I asked her, “Do you want to be suffering over the same issues a year from now?”

Julia had been doing what so many of us do:

  • She had been afraid of stepping into her greatness and going for all of her dreams.
  • She had been unwilling to push through discomfort.
  • She had gotten stuck in a pattern of settling, tolerating and holding onto safety.
  • She was playing small to stay under the radar rather than taking the powerful actions to be that woman she dreamed of being.

But…I could hear in her voice: she was tired of listening to herself complain.

“I see that I keep procrastinating and so much time is going by. I’m missing out on so much in life.”

Julia decided to make a commitment to herself. It was time to pour on the self-love and self-care she had been missing! She was ready to let go of all the justifications and bad inner dialog she had entertained and believed for so long.

Does anything about Julia’s situation seem familiar?  Are you ready for your own dose of self-love and self-care? It will help you change anything!

Here’s my suggestion:

Sign up for my 6-week course, The Illuminated Woman. I teach this 6-week coaching course with Dana James (a triple certified nutritionist who is also trained in cognitive behavioural therapy). Specially designed for women, this course will help you undo self-defeating patterns, radically shift your relationship with food, and set up healthy mental and physical habits for self-nourishment and self-love.

Details:

  • Starts Tuesday, February 13
  • Runs for 6 consecutive weeks
  • All calls are recorded in case you can’t make the phone call live!

 WHAT TO EXPECT:

  • Seven-day meal plans for each week – these are plant-rich plans that can be adjusted for a vegan diet.
  • 70-minute calls for 6 consecutive weeks.
  • Your own 45-minute private coaching call with me to tackle specific concerns.
  • Emails to troubleshoot and remind you that you’re supported on this journey.
  • Commitment to each other and ourselves to stay motivated focused and nourished over this 6-week program.

BONUS GIFTS:

  • 1lb raw, organic Beauti-fuel protein powder developed by Dana James.
  • My 7-day Brain & Body Boot Camp program, featuring fitness guru Amanda Russell with streaming video and mind exercises.

PRICING:

  • $699 USD for 6-week program.
  • $625: early bird discounted price for sign-up by Friday, February 2.

It’s time for self-love!

6 Fitness Exercises People Can Easily Do On Their Way to Work

Bike ride for fitness

The journey to work starts the moment you step out of bed. I’m not going to tell you to do a 5-10 min “wake up” workout. I know that is a not a sustainable practice for most people who work full time. It is a far better idea to begin with small activities that will produce incremental gains.

Once you have incorporated these six fitness exercises into your daily work schedule, then you can concentrate on making substantial and long-lasting improvement!

1) Active Teeth Brushing

It may sound strange, but the time you spend brushing your teeth in the morning and evening could be used simultaneously to help you warm up and cool down during the day.

If you spend two minutes brushing your teeth, that means you are standing over the sink for a whole two minutes when you could start activating and mobilize your body. Side/kick back is a great way to activate your glutes and increase circulation in your lower body. Add a few squats and lunges and you will feel a massive difference. It is surprising how such brief exercise can get you energized for the day.

2) Skip One Bus Stop

When I arrived in London I was shocked to find how many bus stops you have here! It prevents you from walking. Getting off one stop early and walking the rest of the distance is going to be very beneficial. Movement promotes healthy living.

Often the next bus stop may only be a few hundred metres away. Trust me, it is worth walking those extra steps. After a couple of weeks these steps accumulate and without realizing you’ve covered miles and miles more than you would have if you had got the bus right to your door.

Skipping one bus stop is the way to go!

3) Take the Stairs

Another great way to train your legs without making your working day any longer is to use stairs. Instead of using escalators or elevators I try to quickly climb stairs, it is often a faster way to get around tube and train stations. Climbing stairs works your core muscles, thighs and glutes.

It is a great exercise to tone your bum and you can do it daily with no gym membership needed!

4) Ride Your Bike to Work

Save money and get fit at the same time. Commuting around big cities can be a nightmare and sometimes you can get stuck and packed into a bus or train. Start riding a bike to work or at least try and ride halfway.

There is no excuse anymore either! I have noticed that more and more, public bikes are available on practically every other street corner in London. It means you do not have to even buy a bike or worry about storage. The health benefits are limitless!

5) Stand

Standing on the way to work on the bus or train is going to make you more secure in your body and strengthen your muscles. If standing for 20-30 minutes is tiring, you need to take a closer look at your physical health. When you stand in public transport you can’t do any elaborate squats or do kick backs but you can activate your glutes and your thighs.

Connect with your body, contract and release your muscles, feel that extra blood circulation.

6) Get a Foldable Commuting Scooter

If owning a bike creates storage issues getting a foldable commuting scooter can be a great solution. It makes you move and it’s a great way to get more active on the way to work. If you don’t have time to get off one stop earlier and walk, a scooter can get you where you need to go much faster. It is easy to carry on the train or a bus and when you get to work you can store it under your desk.

Get Started Today!

Hopefully with a bit of hard work you can kickstart your journey towards being fit and active. Making these small changes can have a big impact and may be the foundation from which you can launch yourself into a healthier and more active lifestyle.

How Meditation Helped Me Through Addiction Recovery

Overcoming addiction is singlehandedly the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

Through addiction and recovery, I learned more about myself than I ever thought possible. I learned that my mind was highly susceptible to outside influence, and that’s something I desperately needed to change.

My painful road to addiction

In the prime of my life, I was in a terrible car wreck. My friends and I were driving home from the beach on a beautiful sunny day in June. The world was at our feet. Or so we thought.

My friend John was driving along the long stretch of road that ran alongside the ocean. It was a beautiful drive, and he liked to drive fast.

I knew it was dangerous, but I didn’t want to seem uncool. So I sat there in silence.

As we were careening down that road, a white sedan attempted a u-turn into our lane. Either she didn’t see us or didn’t realize how fast we were going. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed. I was recovering from many injuries, including a spinal fracture. Pain medications become a way of life.

I lost two friends that day, including John. And that’s a pain that no meds could cure.

I returned home from the hospital with a long list of care instructions and a prescription for OxyContin. The painkillers worked as advertised. They worked on the physical pain and even seemed to dull my emotional pain.

At first, I took my prescription as recommended. But it wasn’t long before I needed higher doses to relieve the same pain. I was amazed at how quickly my tolerance grew.

Prescription painkiller addiction

I don’t remember the exact moment when I realized I was addicted. I started to catch on when my doctor was reluctant to refill my prescription. But part of me believed he was overreacting. Part of me needed to believe that.

After my own doctor stopped prescribing pills, I found others who would. In addiction circles, we call this “doctor shopping.”

I guess I realized I had a problem when I was on my second or third doctor. Because I started having trouble getting refills, I had to go longer periods without “a fix.” Then I felt physical withdrawal symptoms, and I couldn’t ignore the problem any longer. I was an addict.

Addiction and brain chemistry

It’s a very humbling moment to realize you’ve become an addict. How did this happen?

From the outside, it’s easy to wonder why I wouldn’t get help at this point. The answer? I had a disease. The disease of addiction changes your brain chemistry so you lose your own free will.

The progression from prescription pills to heroin was much easier than I would have ever expected. And then came another level of shame. People think addicts don’t care about these things, but that’s not true. We care; we just can’t help it.

When I finally hit rock bottom, I was ready and willing to do whatever it took to get sober. I was motivated, but I didn’t fully understand what was in store for me.

Depression, anxiety, and recovery

I started at a typical rehab center where they helped me through the physical detoxification process. This is the part that includes some very ugly withdrawal symptoms.

But that wasn’t the worst of it by far.

They released me from the rehab shortly after my physical symptoms subsided. And then I met PAWS.

Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) is the stage of recovery that comes next. Because drugs alter your brain chemistry, it can take months or even years for your brain to relearn how to work without them. During this time, your brain struggles to supply the right amount of natural dopamine to keep you functioning normally. This is why depression and anxiety are such major parts of recovery.

I was struggling hard. I was even thinking about relapsing.

And then I met the person who would change everything.

How meditation helped me overcome addiction

On a particularly difficult day, I stopped for coffee on the way to work and ran into an old friend from rehab. He looked amazing!

Unlike me, he seemed confident and secure in his sobriety. I jokingly asked him his secret, as if there’s a magic pill or something. In reality, I was convinced that he was just a stronger person than I was.

When he told me what he was doing, I was skeptical.

Barry credited meditation for pulling him out of the depths of despair. That sounds dramatic, I know, but those depths are real. I was talking to Barry from my own despair pit on that very day.

When I got home, I began feverishly researching meditation. And then it all made sense.

What I learned that day was enough to drive me to start meditating straight away.

The meditation-recovery connection

As it turns out, meditation and drug abuse have something in common: Dopamine.

Dopamine is closely associated with pleasure-seeking activities, including addiction, but it also has other roles. It plays a part in memory, mood, learning, and sleep. If your body doesn’t have enough dopamine, you may become depressed. In the case of addiction, dopamine is partially responsible for the intense cravings that drive you to use drugs.

Interestingly enough, meditation also increases dopamine in the brain. In fact, Kjaer and colleagues (2002) found that meditation increased endogenous dopamine by 65 percent.

Through my practice, I’ve learned that meditation not only provides a natural dopamine boost, but it also helps strengthen the mind. When I finally gained some control over my negative thought patterns, I found it much easier to resist any cravings.

I’m not sure where I was headed on that day that I met Barry in the coffee shop, but my future wasn’t looking good. Today, I have a completely different outlook, and I feel like I have a new lease on life. It was still a difficult journey, but meditation helped me overcome the biggest struggle of my life.

Source:

Kjaer, T. W.; Bertelsen, C.; Piccini, P.; Brooks, D.; Alving, J.; Lou, H. C. Cognitive Brain Research 2002, 13 (2), 255–259.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11958969/

 

Five Poses For Desk Jockies

This is for all the desk jockeys out there. You know who you are. Your days are spent in front of a computer – you’ve likely got tight hips, a sore low back, rounded shoulders, neck pain, wrist pain, overall poor posture, and soreness – and you know that your posture is taking a hit. You can feel the effects that your non-physical job is having on your physical body, and you know that you need to take action in order to feel better.

You have likely heard the saying that sitting is the new smoking. When those words first rang through my ears, I had to pause and really thing about them. Could it be true? No. I mean, maybe? Hmm. While being sedentary isn’t quite as harmful as inhaling carcinogenic chemicals, sitting can wreak havoc on your body.

According to Dr. Alice Chen in this Huffington Post video, the average American is sitting for 7.7 hours per day! As we sit there are many physical and physiological effects on the body.

Side effects of sitting include:

  • Sore and tight muscles due to reduced circulation;
  • Low back pain due to compression of the spine;
  • Compression of your ribs, lungs, and digestive organs;
  • Over-stretching of the rhomboids and upper back muscles;
  • Neck strain;
  • Brain fog, also due to lack of circulation and getting oxygen to the brain.

Now that we know some of the nasty side effects that can happen from too much sitting, let’s talk about some yoga poses that you can do to help lessen the side effects.

Hold on a second, my timer just went off, which is my reminder to get up and move. So, how about if you close your eyes and take 5 deep breaths? This will give you a moment to connect to your breath, and will also give me time to stand and stretch.

Thanks! Ok, I’m back. Experts recommend that we take a break from sitting and get up and move. In this TODAY article, Keith Diaz – a lead author at Columbia University Medical Center – suggests movement every 30 minutes, even if it is just for 60 seconds. You can set a timer or your phone to remind you to get up and move. You might take a lap around your office, fill up your water glass, or just stand and fold over your legs, which will also help your spine to decompress.

Here are 5 yoga poses that will help counter the effects of sitting. It won’t take you long to get through all of these, so no more excuses, get moving. NOW!

  1. Cow/Cat

These two poses help to bring movement into the spine, open up the chest, and unite movement and breath.

  • Come to a tabletop position, with your wrists under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Your toes can be tucked (as shown) or untucked.
  • As you inhale, soften your belly towards the earth. Widen your collar bones as you pull your heart through your shoulders and look up. Let your sitting bones widen apart and point up towards the space behind you.
  • As you exhale, push the earth away from you. With the movement initiating from your tailbone, round through your spine as you look towards your thighs. Squeeze your belly button towards your spine as you empty the air from your lungs. Spread your shoulder blades apart. Keep your neck muscles relaxed. Create a lot of space between your chest and the earth.
  • Continue for 5 cycles of breath.

*For an added stretch through the forearms, turn your hands so your fingers are pointing towards your knees, with the heels of your hands flat on the earth. You might need to bring your hands closer to your knees. If you don’t feel a stretch, start to slowly move your hips towards your heels until you find the desired stretch.

  1. Downward Facing Dog

This pose helps to lengthen the spine, strengthen the wrists and arms, decompress
the low back, and stretch the legs.

  • Start in a tabletop position with your hands placed outer shoulder-width apart. Walk your hands one hand’s length forward. Align your middle fingers to point straight ahead while spreading the fingers wide.
  • Connect the base of each finger to the ground and then press down through the fingertips and heel of the hand. Be sure to keep the outside edges of your index fingers pressing into the earth and not peeling away from it.
  • Tuck your toes, lift your knees and draw your sitting bones towards the space behind you. Bring length into your spine until you are in the shape of an upside-down letter “V”. Look at your feet to be sure they are placed hip-width apart (about two fists-width between the inner edges of your feet).
  • Spin your inner elbows slightly up towards the sky until you feel your upper arm bones externally rotate and your collar bones widen. Feel the arm bones plug into your body as the shoulders draw away from your ears.
  • Keep length in the spine and feel the torso lengthen as the hips pull back. Soften the space behind the knees and reach the heels towards the ground.
  • Look forward and check to see that your hands are still connected to the earth. Keep your ears in line with your biceps and the muscles of your neck relaxed. Feel your side body muscles of your upper and mid back engage, which will help stabilize you and bring length to the spine. Strengthening these muscles helps alleviate strain on the wrists and you’ll create a sustainable Downward Dog.
  • Hold for 5 breaths.
  1. Standing Backbend

This pose helps to open the chest and strengthen the upper back body.

  • With your feet hip-distance apart, take the heels of your hands onto the backs of the hips (like you were placing your hands into pant pockets) with your fingertips pointing towards the ground.
  • Lengthen your tailbone towards the earth as your belly draws up and in.
  • Draw your inner elbows together and bring your shoulder blades closer together. This will help lift the back of the heart towards the front of the chest.
  • Draw your chin towards your throat and then lift your heart up towards the sky. Let your eyes look towards the space behind you.
  • Root through your heels and keep your hips stacked on top of your knees (so they don’t press too far forward).
  • Use your inhale breath to find expansion through your collar bones and exhale as you draw your shoulder blades closer together and open through your chest.
  • Hold for 5 breaths.
  • Use your inhale breath to slowly rise back up.
  1. Supported Bridge

This pose helps relax the hip flexors (which are often tight from sitting) as well as open
up the chest.

  • Lie down on your back with your knees bent, your feet hip-width apart, and your arms by your sides.
  • Press your heels into the ground and lift your hips up towards the sky.
  • Keep the space that you have created underneath your hips, place a block (or two) underneath your sacrum (base of your spine), and then lower your hips down to the block.
  • Hold for 5 breaths.
  • Press down through your heels, lift your hips, remove the blocks, and gently lower your hips to the ground.
  1. Twist

Twists are great for overall spine health and also act as a way to naturally detoxify the
body.

  • Lie down on your back with your knees bent and your feet hip-width apart. Reach your arms out wide.
  • Press down through your heels to lift your hips and slide them a few inches to your left, then set your hips down.
  • Let your knees gently fall to the right, bringing them towards the ground.
  • If there is space between your knees, you can place a block in between the knees or underneath the right knee.
  • Turn your head to the left as long as there is no discomfort in your neck.
  • If the twist feels too intense, press your feet away from you, which will take the knees away from the chest.
  • If you want to make the twist more intense, draw your knees closer towards your chest.
  • Hold for 5-8 breaths, longer if you like.
  • Bring your gaze back to centre, and then bring your knees and hips back to centre.
  • Repeat on the left side.

Sometimes, it is the smallest changes that can lead us to different, healthier habits. Begin to notice how your body feels when you return back to the office. As your brain and body start to communicate more effectively, you might find that your posture at work starts to improve. You might notice that your body is a bit less stiff than it used to be. Help reduce office fatigue by choosing to get up and move throughout the day, and add these simple stretches into your daily routine. Desk jockey, you’ve got this!

Beautiful, cotton, handmade yoga mats

If you’re looking for something special for yourself or a yogi friend, check out these organic, natural, cotton mats from Ayur Yoga Organics. Beautifully made, each mat is crafted with Ayurvedic principles in mind and contains herbs that have been selected to to balance different doshas (constitution).

  • Sun Mat: Yellow/ Tumeric base with neem, designed to invigorate and support kapha (earthy) constitutions
  • Moon Mat: Gray/ Neem base with tumeric, cooling to support pitta (fiery) constitutions
  • Earth Mat: Gray/ Neem base with pomegranate, grounding for vata (airy) constitutions

The mats are pre-shrunk, made with organic cotton and jute (vegetable fibre) yarn. The yarn that is used is soaked in a special bath of herbs that are designed to accommodate each dosha (constitution), then dried for eighteen days to let the mats absorb the properties of the bath. After the mat is woven, the back of the mat is brushed with rubber to give it some stick to the floor.

But how are they for practice?

I tried out an Ayur Yoga mat in class and enjoyed the novelty of having cotton (rather than rubber) under my hands. Though the cotton felt initially a bit slippy, the mats are cleverly woven with threaded ridges to aid the grip in both the hands and feet. I dribbled some water to the mat (those of you who have used mat towels before know this trick), and the mat became easier to grip. If you sweat, you’ll love having cotton under your hands for better traction. (Using a cotton mat for practice is not a new idea: ashtanga practitioners routinely place cotton “rug” on top of their rubber mats.)

Pro’s of mat

  • Beautifully and uniquely made (it’s like practicing on art)
  • Organic cotton
  • Ayurvedic integration
  • Extremely easy to carry (lightweight and folds/ rolls easily)
  • Easy to clean (throw in cold water)
  • Well-priced: $108 (ashtanga mats are about $100)
  • Feel good about supporting entrepreneurs!

Con’s of mat

  • The ridges (though good for grip) may be irritating to those who roll over their toes a lot or like a smooth surface
  • The rubber coated bottom may slide on floor and distort matter if enough force is applied
  • Mats are thin; f you have sensitive knees or hip points, you may need more padding
  • Mats may be machine washed cold, but I cannot speak to their longevity without practicing on it longer.

I love having this mat in my collection. I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of my trusty Manduka, but this beauty is a lovely addition and I look forward to practicing on it more.

Interested?

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A moment with Gil Hedley

Gil Hedley has been leading instructional and inspirational human dissections for over twenty years and is a thought leader in integrative human anatomy. A self-described “somanaut” who helps others to “explore the inner space of the body, and discover there the rich terrain of themselves,” Gil has also completed a “What’s the Fuzz,” tour through North America to share his most recent insights. (Don’t worry if you missed it; he has promised an online version!). Gil is an inspirational teacher: deeply knowledgable, relentlessly curious, and immensely reverent.

How did a divinity scholar wind up as a human dissection expert?

Ha! “What a long strange trip it’s been!” Short version: When I was doing my doctoral studies in theological ethics, I was starting to experience my body through practicing Tai Chi. That led me to acupressure massage, which I followed up with massage and Rolfing structural integration training. Once I was practicing, I had the urge to deepen my anatomy knowledge through dissection explorations in service of my clients, and before you know it I was teaching anatomy to groups of Rolfers, massage therapists, etc. Twenty-four years later and I’m still at it!

What inspires you to do what you do?

I am committed to becoming conscious and awake, to know “who I am,” and that for me has involved a deep exploration of the question, “What is my body?” Teaching dissection courses has been a means for me to study that question with ever increasing depth. I am also on a mission to democratize knowledge of the body, and expose the profound gift of it. That drives my sharing information and insight as broadly as possible, from the lab  – but far beyond it.

What has been your most surprising insight through your work?

There are no “parts” to our bodies. It is possible to perceive the different textures without mistaking them to be the stuff of separate entities. Everything really is continuous. And the application of the insight can be extended beyond the conventional limits of “a body” to relationship at large. We can deny or miss the connections, and, here we are nonetheless, in relationship!

What have you hoped to share with people through your “What the Fuzz” tour”?

I hope to share an opportunity to look into the human form and be blown away both by its grandeur, and also by its intelligence. The human form does the teaching on this course, the body itself has a lot to say if we plop down at its feet, observe, listen, and feel. It’s a pretty bottomless cornucopia of insight into the nature of human form, movement, and the particulars of our internal relationships. Ultimately I’m just inviting people to look into this profound mirror with deep appreciation.

Can a layperson understand your work, or should you have some anatomy background to attend?

Sure, a layperson can go. They will have a different experience than someone with some professional or personal interest in anatomy. Everyone has a body so can benefit, but the takeaway will be different depending on one’s intention for attending. The courses generally fill with folks who have devoted themselves professionally or personally to an ever growing understanding of the body. That having been said, mastery of anatomical terms is far less important than a willingness to explore with patient presence.

You’re also a writer. Can you leave us with a quote to contemplate?

“Notice the beauty

along the way~

fill with wonder:

all that is you.”

I highly recommend spending some time with Gil in person if and when you can. I have completed two six-day human dissections with Gil; while I learned a tremendous amount about the layers and anatomy of the human form, my most precious take away from the experience was a profound and giddy delight in my own embodiment. Gil is an excellent guide in the exploration of “what is means to be human,” and – if you are curious about your human body – his 6-day workshop is a life-shifting experience.

In the meantime, play with him online via his website and extensive (and generously shared) youtube videos!

Book Review: Serving the Broccoli Gods

Mary Purdy Nutritional Show

Hilarious. I want to be her friend.

She had me from the first line:

“When I was four, my parents received a report card from my kindergarten teacher. The first line read, “Mary is a totally competent person.””

Self-deprecating, wise-cracking, and personable, Mary’s new book Serving the Broccoli Gods is a fun breath of fresh air. The bulk of the book consists of her entertaining personal stories (and thank you Mary, for putting some of your heart on your sleeve for us in addition to your humour), dabbed with recipes, tips, and food suggestions. It’s rather like hanging out with a fun galpal who sprinkles your chats with intriguing facts, nutritional research, and a rampant commitment to healthy eating.

Though her passion for food radiates from every page, the book is less about plying you with advice and recipes (there are really only seven or so direct info-boxes on food) than it is about giving you an introduction to Mary herself. It’s a quick read at only 75 pages. She’s your wise-cracking friend, your straight talking advisor. And if you like her style, head on over to her youtube channel and get oodles of nutritional resources on Mary’s Nutrition Show.

Check it out on Amazon.

 

Why you should go sugarfree

You may have heard, sugar sucks for you.

Sugar has been linked to obesity and bad cholesterol, which has been linked to an increased chance of cancer. And while researchers are usually cautious about drawing a direct link between your sweet tooth and a cancer link, they have gone so far as to indicate that sugar is cancer’s friend and that sugar consumption is related to cardiovascular fatality.

While there is science to indicate eating sugar may not be great for you longterm, I highly advocate quitting sugar for awhile because of how it will shift the way that you feel. I did a sugar fast a couple of years ago and it was revelatory. For one month, I avoided food that contained any added sugar. Obviously I stayed off of alcohol, sweet drinks, and desserts, but I also avoided processed salad dressings, sugary condiments, and packaged food (for the love of god, they put sugar in bread and tomato sauce!).  I even took fruit off the menu.

The results:

  • No cravings
  • No energy spikes and plunges
  • Slept better
  • Was less hungry
  • Stuff that was naturally sweet tasted better (I had a carrot and it was like rediscovering creme brûlée)
  • I lost weight effortlessly

After my month, I liked the way that I felt so much that I stayed sugar-conscious, if not completely sugar free. But doing a real reset occasionally is very helpful in kickstarting good habits and raising our levels of sugar-consciousness.

Now is the perfect opportunity to reset your palate and your metabolism. New year, new habits, new body.

Want some support and camaraderie? Well, I gotta group of fabulous individuals all doing one month sugar free.  Give it a try for just a week and see how you feel.

Join the party!

For fun: who eats the most sugar globally.