Category: Yoga Practice

“The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the thinker.”

– Eckhart Tolle

Many of us go through life believing that our thoughts are who we are. Thinking is so familiar to us, so much part of our moment-to-moment reality, that we can’t imagine who or what we would be without it. 

Of course, we need thinking in order to navigate our lives. Reflective thoughts enable us to learn from our experiences and hopefully make wiser choices moving forwards. Thinking about the future means we can plan the lives we wish to live. As a species, our ability to think creatively has allowed us to increase our comfort, improve our life expectancy and fashion everything from skyscrapers to silicon chips.

But what happens when we are overtaken by thoughts that seem to be working against us? What happens when the same thoughts loop round in our minds on repeat and we feel powerless to stop them? What do we do when our thoughts are telling us that we are worthless, unlovable, destined to fail, or even that the world would be a better place without us?

The Secret Self

I struggled with my own thinking patterns a lot in my 20’s. I was my own worst critic, believing I was not good enough, not smart enough, not interesting enough for the world around me. Inconsequential problems would lodge themselves in my head and refuse to leave me alone.  I did what I could to escape them but even if I found a temporary reprieve they were destined to bounce back more aggressively at some point.

At times my thoughts could be dark, random and even disturbing. Because I believed I was my thoughts, it followed that I must be a bad person.

Not wanting to let anyone in on this secret self, I attempted to contain it and fake normality. I tried to be nice on the outside and just hoped that no one would notice otherwise. Needless to say this was a lonely and imprisoning experience.

Awakening The Witness

I remember the first time I tried meditation in my 20’s. It did not feel at all helpful. In fact it felt like being in confinement with my worst thoughts. The experience only added to my feeling that there was something wrong with me. How come meditation could work for other people but only made things worse for me? What was I missing?

It wasn’t until I came across The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle that I experienced the ability to step back from my thoughts and observe them. Here is an exercise from the book that stays in my mind:

“Try a little experiment. Close your eyes and say to yourself: “I wonder what my next thought is going to be.” Then become very alert and wait for the next thought. Be like a cat watching a mouse hole. What thought is going to come out of the mouse hole? Try it now.”

In waiting for the next thought to come, I found that a gap opened up in my mind. In this gap there were no thoughts and yet there was something alive that felt like me. It was peaceful, spacious and clear. By practicing the exercises in the book, I continued to access this thoughtless place. With time, I found I could shift into it more readily, without needing to do anything in particular.

What I had come across in The Power of Now was ‘the witness’ – the part of us that sits beyond the thoughts, is able to observe them and know it is not them. It was life-changing for me because I now knew I was something more than my thinking mind.

The Power To Choose

As I practiced more yoga, I discovered that the concept of the witness (Sakshi) is central to yoga. The witness enables us to observe not only thoughts but physical sensations and emotions too. We discover from this observing place that thoughts, sensations and emotions come and go whilst the witness is always there, unchanging. The analogy that is often used for this is a clear open sky (the witness) with clouds passing through it (thoughts and sensations).

There are many ways that yoga helps us to access this witnessing capacity. Whether we are meditating or moving through our asana practice, focusing our attention on a particular object such as the breath makes it easier to notice when our mind wanders and thoughts arise. The more we get used to doing this on our mats, the more it becomes natural in our everyday lives.

Over time, we start to notice our habitual patterns of thinking and find we have a choice as to how we engage with them. We might, for example, choose to challenge self-criticism by reminding ourselves of our positive qualities. Other thoughts we might observe but allow them to just pass on by. And when we notice the kind of thoughts that support the vision we have for lives, we can choose to engage with them and act upon them.

This act of witnessing our thoughts also helps us to change our behaviour. So if I’ve decided I don’t want to drink alcohol every night, rather than just going along with the voice that says ‘it’s the end of a long day, you deserve it’, I can observe this as a thought that’s not serving my best interests. Then I have some space to weigh up my decision – do I actually want to have a drink tonight or might I make a different choice?

The witness gives us the gift of the gap; the space in which choice becomes possible.

Gateway To Freedom

The important thing about witnessing is that we are not trying to push anything away. Dark thoughts may arise and we notice them but we learn not to react to them. We discover that just as the sky can accommodate a myriad of clouds, we can make space for a whole range of thoughts.

In fact, difficult thoughts can even become a gift.

It’s easy to be complacent with a continuous stream of thoughts when they are mostly peaceful and pleasant, but when our thoughts start to trouble us, it can remind us to take a step back from them.

In stepping back, we release ourselves from the limitations of the thinking mind – the belief we are trapped, separate and alone. We find a gateway to our true nature which is expansive, peaceful and free.

In the words of the late spiritual teacher Ram Dass:

“Eventually, floating in that subjective awareness, the objects of awareness dissolve, and you will come into the spiritual Self, the Atmān, which is pure consciousness, joy, compassion, the One.”

– Ram Dass

Putting It Into Practice

Here are a few ideas for accessing the witness:

1. Take your awareness to your breath as it moves in and out of your nostrils. Feel the sensation and temperature of each breath. When a thought pops up, notice it and return to the sensation of the breath. Notice your ability to notice the thoughts
2. Try free-flow writing. Write three A4 sides of whatever is going through your mind, without judging, analyzing or stopping. When the thoughts are on paper, it creates a sense of separation from them and it’s easier to see that they are not us. (This technique is taken from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way. She recommends doing it first thing in the morning and it’s therefore known as Morning Pages.)
3. Practice witnessing sensations in your body, both during your yoga practice and throughout the day. Let go of the labels (‘my achey hip’, ‘my indigestion’) and bring a sense of curiosity to the sensation. Notice the part of you that’s doing the noticing and see if you can rest in it for a time.

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Hi all! I liked this sweet little infographic from Health Perch; it’s a nice quick reference for meditation styles and tips:

“If someone says “meditation” to you, what do you think of? You might think of Buddhist monks, chanting together. Or you might recall a bunch of yoga devotees sitting together in silence and thinking deep thoughts. But meditation can benefit everyone, even if you’re not an expert and even if you just tackle some sort of meditation for a few minutes a day. And you might be more encouraged to tackle meditation if you know that there are various kinds of it and that you can probably find the type that best fits your personality and your goals.

For example, Kundalini meditation is inspired by the yoga practice of the same name. And in fact, it integrates a physical approach with breath work, with thoughtful approach to moving up the spine and connecting mind and body. Want to learn more about why meditation may be a good thing for you and what types you want to try? This graphic has some ideas.”

When I practice Yin Yoga, I become myself completely and experience a deep feeling of peace within myself— I am fully myself and do not have to please anyone else—either proverbially or in reality. While some types of yoga specify precisely how certain positions should look, and many practitioners do their best to emulate this ideal image, Yin Yoga is oriented towards the person practicing it—you can’t go wrong. Our inner teacher is the most important yoga teacher and only considers this one individual body. I believe there is great healing potential within this as only we ourselves sense what is best for us.

I do not consider it wise to seek out a doctor just to have a medicine prescribed for current complaints—and to hope that everything will be fine again—without any further questioning. Unfortunately, essential conventional medicine increasingly focuses on combating symptoms and less on looking for the cause. Also, very few doctors have enough time to concentrate intensively on the history of the individual patient. Alternative medical practitioners, on the other hand, tend to look for the origin of the complaints, and they view people more on a holistic level, taking more things into consideration which might have caused the issue in the first place.

In order to better understand our particular ailments and issues, we need rest periods, and  some kind of regular practice, for example something like a regular Yin Yoga practice, which directs the senses inwards and can bring us into deep contact with ourselves. The mind speaks very softly, and these periods of withdrawal are absolutely vital to  understand it and to find out what the body can express with symptoms. It is said that when the mind is not being listened to, the body sounds the alarm through illness, thereby making the person slow down.

Ideally our energies are in balance when we both integrate Yin and Yang energies into our life. Yin corresponds to a female, more receptive, and yang to a male, more outgoing energy. In our current age we oftentimes have a surplus of Yang in our environment, which can trouble us at a physical level. Never before have there been so many hyperactive children as there are today—I tend to find the term “hyperactive” unsuitable, and I am only using it here for the ease of understanding—and “burnout” is just named as a fashionable complaint, without due respect for its incredibly harmful effect on our lives. In my experience, I find an important cause is anxiety, which can be worsened due to an excess of intense Yang-energies.

Think for a moment how everything has changed over the years: Barely anybody takes time out to rest in the early afternoon nowadays; due to mobile accessibility we receive calls or text messages late in the evening when we should actually be resting; the TV is on all day in some households, even when nobody is consciously following it; there are fewer family meals; the performance mentality at school and at work is ever-present; attentive conversations without glancing at your mobile phone have also become rare. All these things exhaust our Yin. Yin and Yang are then no longer in balance, which has adverse consequences. If these energies fall out of their dynamic balance, energy can no longer flow harmoniously and this creates the circumstances for illnesses to occur.

Yin Yoga practice gives us the peace that we so urgently need in this noisy world. We can use it to get in touch with our inner selves once again, as well as find release in our stuck places. Our body awareness is trained and intensified through long and deep stretches, but these also provide us with calm so that memories or emotions can emerge again. If we become our own quiet observer and look and listen carefully to what it is showing us, it is quite possible that we will even be able to trace the causes of certain complaints in time.

Our body communicates with us constantly, but many of us have forgotten how to listen to it and interpret its signs. For example, if we experienced emotional damage in childhood, we often carry this into our adult lives. Symptoms often appear—such as nervousness, anxiety, depressive malaise, or sleep disturbances—which can be treated quickly with medicines, but the actual causes of the complaints remain unrecognized and untreated. It is therefore important to become aware of what is going on inside us, no matter whether it is pleasant or painful. If we identify what is causing us stress, then we can accept it, process it, and ultimately let it go. This progression can be very liberating and is a complete contrast to the repression of unpleasant experiences or memories. A repression mechanism never works in the long term. Whatever is behind it will keep occurring until it is accepted, understood, and released.

Yin Yoga practice, with its passive stretches that last for 3-5 minutes, we can learn,  in a wonderful way about the process of letting go. If we have learned to let go physically, we can then also let go better emotionally and mentally. The peaceful and introverted Yin Yoga practice gives us sufficient space to question pain or illnesses and find out what the body is trying to tell us.

We know today that our self-healing capacities are most powerful in the parasympathetic state which you can reach during a yin yoga practice. But always remember that YOUR path might be very different from that of your partner, your friends, or your family. Please be mindful with yourself, so you can experience the power of self-healing in early states if your body is out of balance and trying to tell you something. Then you have a good chance of getting back on track again soon.

Here is a yin yoga sequence which focuses on stretching all meridians and ends with a tapping massage so that you can start refreshed into the day! 

Enjoy your practice!

***

Adapted from Be Healthy with Yin Yoga: The Gentle Way to Free Your Body of Everyday Ailments and Emotional Stresses by Stefanie Arend (She Writes Press, August 2019).  

Photo credit:  Forster & Martin Fotografie, Munich

We all experience difficult periods in life that leave us feeling sad, lonely, or scared. However, some of us deal with these emotions almost daily. 

Depression is a psychiatric condition that usually manifests in listlessness, sadness, anxiety, and guilt. It often has internal or endogenous causes, but can also be related to conflicts, stressful circumstances, or trauma.  

We carry our healing powers within us at all times, but sometimes they are hidden by a lack of contact or familiarity with our inner self. Meditation, self-reflection and the simple act of taking time for oneself, in addition to the psychological benefits to be gained from any exercise, make yoga a powerful component of the healing journey. Yin Yoga helps us get in touch with our emotions and balance the energies that run haywire throughout the day.  

If the feelings you are experiencing are not just a temporarily more depressive mood, but are indeed symptoms of depression, then treatment from a psychotherapist or other mental health professional is recommended. Yoga teachers should never presume to see themselves in this position. However, we can give valuable support on the path to mental health and happiness.  

Depression is oftentimes kept secret due to embarrassment or anxiety. A diagnosis, or even an awareness that one feels differently from the people around them, can lead to insecurity and compound stress. Therefore, it is particularly important to feel comfortable and confident in your yoga practice rather than striving for a specific ideal in your poses. Because Yin Yoga is adaptable to specific needs and capabilities, and because there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ posture, the Yin method is easily accessible to everybody. When I practice Yin Yoga, I become myself completely and experience a deep feeling of peace and freedom with the realization that I do not have to please anyone else. 

Depression is often related to suppressed emotions—for example aggression, grief, or anger. It is therefore important to work through possible trauma or face your own anxieties. Meditation can be very helpful here, but the inexperienced should practice with a teacher who can help and support them if necessary. A doctor, therapist, or teacher can support you and open the door, but remember that you must pass through it yourself. 

Possible questions for reflection are: Why am I anxious? Which of my emotions and experiences wish to be seen? What issues from my childhood still need to be healed? What is my calling, and how do I get back on my path? 

Below is a series of Yin Yoga poses to ground and comfort you in this difficult period: 

Ujjayi Breathing 

Ujjayi Breathing can create heat in the body, but it can also be very relaxing. It is therefore ideal for the start of practicing exercises, if you feel unsettled, or your mind is very full. Ujjayi translates as “victorious breathing,” as it triumphs over shallow breathing. Breathe in Ujjayi as long as you like. In some styles of Yang Yoga, Ujjayi Breathing is also practiced while doing the poses.  

Sit in Easy Pose on the mat, and straighten your spine while placing your hands loosely on your legs. Now let the epiglottis narrow, with a deep flow of breath out into the throat area, as though you were making a whispering sound with your mouth closed or were breathing onto a mirror to clean it. The sound of Ujjayi Breathing is reminiscent of a distant sound of the sea. With this sound in the throat, you can inhale and exhale calmly and deeply. Come back into a natural flow of breath and feel the effect. 

Dragonfly (Upavistha Konasana) 

1. Sit on the mat with outstretched legs, and open your legs wide until you feel a comfortable stretch in the sides of the legs. Take a yoga bolster or a rolled-up blanket and lay it centrally lengthways in front of you so that your stomach is touching the bolster when you bend forward. If you want to massage the lower stomach organs, then lay the bolster flat on the floor. You can reach the upper stomach organs better if you place one or two blocks under the lower end of the bolster. If you are not very mobile, you can also place additional blankets or blocks on the bolster to raise it. Then relax your back and legs, and bend forward as far as your body will allow. Rest your head on your hands or props. Direct your breath gently to the stomach and pelvic area. 

2. Alternatively, you can also go into Half Dragonfly by stretching your leg out to the side and bending the other one inwards, pulling your foot to your pelvis. You can then also change the position of the leg. 

3. Another variation is Dragonfly with a side bend. Sit up straight again and tilt your upper body to the left. Place the bolster on the left leg so that your arm is supported comfortably. You can either take your right arm behind your back, or lift it at an angle over the head to increase the stretch. 

Remain in Dragonfly for three to five minutes, including Dragonfly in the supine position or Half Dragonfly, and changing sides. You can stay in the side bend for one to two minutes per side, and in the rotation for around five to eight breaths. Then come back to the center and relax into Supine Position. Alternatively, you can just do the forward bend. 

Dragon (Anjaneyasana) 

Come onto all fours, and place a blanket under the knees if you are sensitive to pressure 

here. Then take your right leg from between your hands and place your left knee on the floor. If you want the position to be gentler, then pull the left knee forward slightly; for more intensity, take it further back. The right knee can be placed in front of, above, or behind the ankle, but this should not cause any pain in the knee. Let the pelvis sink towards the floor very passively. Now place the hands either left or right next to the foot, or both on the inside. The position becomes more intense if you support yourself on your forearms, and it is slightly easier if you use props—for example, blocks or a yoga bolster. 

Embracing Wings 

Lie on your stomach and cross your outstretched arms at shoulder height under your body. Your right arm is in front of the left one, and your palms are facing upwards. Place a block or folded blanket under your forehead, or a yoga bolster under your chest if you wish. Give your weight up to the floor. If the tips of your fingers go numb in this position, then you should change it—for example, with the head up higher or moving your arms a few centimeters up or down. 

Remain in the position for two to three minutes and then change sides. Release your arms again and then relax into Supine Position. 

Cleansing Meditation 

Practice this meditation daily as you wish, as long as you feel completely freed by this. 

Recall something that made you feel uncomfortable: something that annoyed you, for example, or an injustice that was done to you or something that sucks your energy. Now think of an energizing place in nature, a place where you really feel good. Sense this place precisely. Imagine gentle drops of rain falling on you, which are colored violet. These drops are running over your whole body, first outside and then inside too—like an external and internal shower. The violet water flows over your hands and feet and out of you again, and takes everything with it that should no longer be part of you. If you feel externally and internally cleansed, then imagine your crown chakra opening up and radiant white light flowing into you. The rays are flowing through your whole body, and they replace everything that you have just given up with new positive energy and strength. 

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This article includes poses from Be Healthy with Yin Yoga: The Gentle Way to Free Your Body of Everyday Ailments and Emotional Stresses by Stefanie Arend (She Writes Press, August 2019).  

Photo credit:  Forster & Martin Fotografie, Munich  

Find Stefanie.

Find Stefanie on YouTube.

Anxiety is the most common mental illness in the United States. There are many kinds of anxieties, ranging from social anxiety to obsessive compulsive disorder to specific phobias. Most of these are associated with a loss of confidence, and particularly with a lack of basic trust, which is marked in childhood. However, anxiety is also correlated with a complex and variable set of risk factors such as brain chemistry, genetics, life events, and personality.  

Easily recognizable physical symptoms of anxiety include quick, shallow breathing, muscle tension, high blood pressure, and feelings of narrowness or rigidity.  

Anxiety is treatable, but unfortunately the large majority of people affected never seek professional help. It is important to face your fear in order to discover its cause. Depending on the severity and depth of your anxieties, this does not have to be something you face alone—almost anyone can benefit from the support of family or friends, and for traumatized or depressed people, working with a therapist can be very helpful.  

In China there is a lovely expression which goes: “Anxiety knocked on the door, trust opened it, and nobody was there.”In the spirit of that wise proverb, some possible questions for reflection are: What exactly do I fear? What is the trigger for my anxiety? Where and how can I feel this anxiety? What happens when I face the anxiety? What happens if I feed my anxiety with trust and love? Oftentimes, though it may seem counterintuitive, the simple act of accepting our feelings of anxiety for what they are, rather than feeling stressed about being anxious, can go a long way toward alleviating mental and emotional discomfort.  

Yin Yoga teaches us a simple but powerful method for soothing the worries that have become so prevalent in our daily lives. Please join me below in a series of accessible poses and a guided meditation to help leave our anxieties behind and find physical, emotional, and mental equilibrium. 

Full Breathing 

Sit on the mat in Easy Pose and straighten your spine. Be aware of your natural flow of breath. Let it deepen with every breath. Place your hands on your abdomen, left and right of your navel, and consciously direct your breath there. Then take the hands onto the lower ribcage and breathe into your chest area. Place your hands below your collarbone and breathe into the upper apex of the lungs. As you inhale, lift the hands upwards or forwards, and lower them again as you exhale. Put one hand on the lower abdomen and one hand on the upper abdomen. Now link up the breath across all three levels. Become aware of the small pauses between breathing in and out, and extend them a bit further. Now either breathe with an extended inhalation, very evenly, or with an extended exhalation—depending on what feels harmonious to you. However, always breathe in such a way that the breath can still flow easily. Come back into the natural flow of breath and notice whether anything has changed. Alternatively, you can also do Full Breathing while lying down. Place your feet on the floor and leave your hands resting on the abdomen. This version is ideal before going to sleep, for example, or if you are lying awake and unable to sleep at night. 

Easy Pose with arm and shoulder stretch (Sukhasana) 

This position opens up the hips and stretches the whole back as well as the arms and shoulders. 

1. Come into Easy Pose, your right arm crossed in front of the left. Bend forward in a relaxed way with a rounded back, and cross your arms so that your right arm is in front of your left arm and the palms are facing upwards. Alternatively, you can grip the opposite shoulder. 

2. Then change the arm position by placing the palms downwards on the opposite knees. Remain in Easy Pose for three to five minutes, including both arm positions. Then straighten up again, release the arms and legs, and move to and fro loosely a few times. Then change sides—crossing the left leg in front of the right one, and the left arm in from of the right—and repeat the process. 

Butterfly 

Sit on the mat, place the soles of your feet together, and pull the feet towards the pelvis. Let the knees drop gently outwards, or support the outsides of the legs with two blocks if this stretch is too intense for you. You can also sit on a blanket or a cushion. Relax the back, let your upper body sink forward passively, and place your arms where it is comfortable for you. 

Rainbow Bridge (Modified Urdhva Dhanurasana) 

This position mobilizes the thoracic spine, opens the heart chamber, and stretches the shoulders and insides of the arms. 

Place a yoga bolster and a rolled-up blanket straight across the mat. Then lie down with your back on the bolster, which supports your pelvis and lumbar spine. Your shoulder blades are on the blanket, and your arms are placed alongside your head. If you would like to intensify the stretch, you can extend out your legs, or for a gentler variant, leave your feet placed on the floor.  

Stay in Rainbow Bridge for three to five minutes. Then either sit up again with activated pelvic floor muscles, or roll to one side out of the position. Relax into a supine position. 

Protective Meditation 

You can carry out this meditation any time you need protection on an energetic level. 

Concentrate on a color that gives you strength. Now imagine a column of light appearing in front of you in this color. Take a step forward in your mind and place yourself into the light. You are completely protected in this column of light. It connects you with the energy of the earth on the one hand, and with the energy of the sky on the other hand. You can help the effect further and use the following affirmation if it feels right to you: “May only light and loving energies come through to me, and may all negative energies remain outside, starting now.” Then give thanks to the universe for this energetic protection. 

*  *  * 

This article includes poses from Be Healthy with Yin Yoga: The Gentle Way to Free Your Body of Everyday Ailments and Emotional Stresses by Stefanie Arend (She Writes Press, August 2019).  

Photo credit:  Forster & Martin Fotografie, Munich  

Find Stefanie.

Find Stefanie on YouTube.

Do you ever leave the office feeling utterly exhausted? After sitting for 8+ hours and staring at your computer screen, you know that you should get some movement and head to the gym or catch a yoga class. But instead you instead find yourself at home – and completely spent.

According to Healthyway, some of the ways ways in which your office job can leave you feeling tired include lack of light, lack of fresh air, and lack of movement. Take this a step further, and think about the effect that a desk job has on your overall posture. Many office jobs will encourage sore wrists, tight forearms, neck strain, shoulder issues, and aching hips. We need to offset these habitual strains with movements that help to counteract these effects. (Sorry gym buffs, it’s not more squats for your already over-taxed hips!)

While adding a structured, lengthy, or intense workout after a long workday might not feel attainable (let alone possible with scheduling demands), carving out just 15 minutes for this yoga sequence that will help combat your desk fatigue from your work day.

It’s important to make time to help re-energize and refresh your body and mind after a long day at the office. This 15-minute yoga sequence for desk fatigue will help stretch your hips, open up your front body, bring length to your spine, and give you the opportunity to slow your thinking brain down. Pro tip: like any new routine, set yourself up for success; set a reminder or an alarm and leave your mat out where you can see it to help you make it happen.

Heart Opener On Blocks

• Take two yoga blocks, place one in the middle of your mat, so that your spine can rest along the block. Place the other block on it’s tallest height and rest the back of your head on it. You can keep your knees bent or take your legs long (as long as your low back doesn’t feel strained).
• Let your arms stretch out and relax your fingers. It can take a few breaths to get settled into this posture.
• Stay here for 10 breaths.
• When you are done, slowly roll off the blocks onto one side and take a few breaths.

Cat/Cow

• Move to your hands and knees, and come to a table-top position. Stack your hips over your knees and your shoulders over your wrists.
• Move through 3 rounds of cow / cat. Notice the movement through your spine, as well as how it feels to open through your chest and stretch through your back body.

Easy Seat With Forward Fold

• Come to a seat with your legs crossed. Sit up tall, and then fold over your legs. Walk your arms out in front of you while you send your sitting bones and hips towards the space behind you.
• When your left shin is in front, walk your hands over to the right to stretch through your left side body. When your right shin is in front, walk your hands over to the left to stretch through your right side body.

Repeat the seated froward fold and side stretch on the other side.

• Come back to centre, sit up tall and shrug your shoulders up to your ears. Roll your shoulders back and down. Repeat 5 times.

Neck Stretch

• Bring your chin to your chest to find a gentle stretch through the back of your neck.
• Nod your head over to the left to find a stretch through the right side of your neck.
• Come through centre and then nod your head over to the right to find a stretch through the left side of your neck.
• Do this 3 times on each side.
• Come back to centre and lift your head so you are looking straight ahead.

Downward Facing Dog

• Move to your hands and knees and come into Downward Facing Dog. Feel free to “walk your dog”, move through your hips, whatever movements feel good. Stay here for 5 full breaths.

Forward Fold

• Walk your feet to your hands and come into a forward fold. Take your feet slightly wider than hip distance as you take your hands to opposite elbows. You can stay still or give a gentle sway from side to side.
• Bring your feet to inner hip-distance and release your hands towards the earth. With slightly bent knees, press through your feet, take your arms out wide, and rise to stand. Bring your hands together and through heart centre.

Tree Pose

• With your hands on your hips, externally rotate your right thigh and place your right foot anywhere on your inner left leg. Press your right foot against your left leg (as long as it is above or below your knee), and lengthen your tailbone towards the ground. Keep your hips level, and you can use your hands to help you balance or challenge your balance and bring your hands to heart centre or reach your arms towards the sky.
• Hold here for 5 breaths.
• Move your right knee to centre, bend your left knee, and lower your hands to the earth as you step your right foot back.

Low Lunge With Your Hands Clasped

• Lower your right knee to the ground, and place your hands on your hips. Level out through your pelvis again, from left to right, as well as front to back. Find a stretch through the front of your right hip and / or thigh.
• Root your tailbone towards the floor and then reach your arms behind you and interlace your fingers. This will help open up through your chest.
• Hold here for 5 breaths.
• Place your hands on either side of your left foot and step your right foot forward. Slide your hands up your shins to lift half-way, and then forward fold.
• With slightly bent knees, press through your feet, take your arms out wide, and rise to stand. Bring your hands together and through heart centre.

Repeat tree and low lunge on the other side.

Plank

• From Mountain Pose (Tadasana), reach your arms up, and fold over your legs. Lift half-way, and as your hands plant on the ground, step each leg back until you are in plank pose.
• Hold for 5 breaths.

Lower onto your belly.

Locust (Salabasana)

• Interlace your hands behind your back and press the tops of your feet into the earth. With your leg muscles engaged (you’ll know as your knee caps will lift slightly), lengthen your spine and reach your heart forward.
• Lift your chest and forehead away from the ground as you squeeze your shoulder blades together.
• You can stay here and breathe or lift your legs away from the ground.
• Your arms can stay where they are or you can lift them away from your back body (be sure to pay attention to how this feels in your shoulders).
• Hold for 5 breaths, and then lower onto your belly.

Make your way onto your back with your feet on the floor, and underneath your knees.

Figure 4 / Eye of the Needle

• Lift your right leg and take your right ankle to your left thigh (closer to your knee than your hip).
• Flex your right ankle.
• If you need more of a stretch for your right hip / glutes, lift your left foot so your left shin is parallel to the ground.
• Flex your left ankle.
• Be sure your chest is open and your shoulder blades are on the ground. Your workday has brought enough rounding through your front body, so keep space across your chest.
• Hold for 5 breaths and lower both feet to the ground.

Repeat on the left side.

Bridge

• With your feet inner hip-distance apart and your feet under your knees, inhale to lift your hips away from the ground.
• Draw your shoulders away from your ears, interlace your fingers underneath your body, and draw your shoulder blades closer together.
• Press down through your feet and see if you can lift your hips higher.
• Feel the back of your head gently press into the floor so that your chest lifts up towards the sky.
• Hold here for 5 breaths.
• Release your hands, move your arms out from under you, and slowly lower your hips onto the earth.

Savasana

• Let your entire body rest on the ground. Take your legs out wide, let your palms turn up to the sky. Let your eyes soften or completely close.
• Stay here for at least 3 minutes (if you are on a schedule, set an alarm to be sure you don’t stay here longer than you can).

Slowly bring movement into your body, stretch long through your body, roll to one side. Sit up tall, bring your hands to heart centre, and notice how your body feels.

Photo credit: @violetanneyoga

I know you. I see you, my yogi friend. You want to be a better person, you want to do good. And maybe – like many of us – you think that doing better means that you have to work harder.

But here’s the irony: at some point, you have to work less to move ahead.

Let me share a story. I’ve been seeing a speech pathologist to clear up some bad vocal habits (teaching public yoga classes and teacher trainings for fifteen years can wear on the voice after a time). At my last appointment, she looked me (as readied myself to “be a good student”), and said, “What do you think about EASE?”

I immediately flinched. Ease? No, please say something else. Tell me what to do, tell me what action to take, but please don’t tell me that I have to “let go,” or “release” or some hippy nonsense like that.

But of course, that’s exactly what was needed.

Why We Get Tense

Over time, we all get knocked around a bit by life. We fall in love, and get hurt. We fail, and we armour up to hide our vulnerability. We laugh to hide our feelings, we smile to hide our fear. We develop compensatory patterns to deal with any variety of challenges: emotional, physical, and mental. We call these habits of tension our “personality.” Yogis may refer to them as samskaras, or deep, habitual patterns of conditioning. In your yoga practice, you may be all sthira (effort) and no sukha (ease).

We all have these tension patterns. And once you’ve been walking around on the planet for thirty years, these patterns of tension may start to have unforeseen side effects. You may start to develop back pain. Or maybe you become emotionally withholding. Maybe you’re in a relationship rut and don’t know how to break the cycle. Or maybe you have vocal issues.

Unfortunately, we can’t overcome these engrained habits through direct effort. That’s like adding a layer of “effort cement” on top of a faulty scaffold. The only way to find a pathway to greater functionality is to ease up and untangle the essential patterns of tension that have gotten you there in the first place.

This process can be enormously disconcerting.

When you come from a culture that encourages “working harder to get ahead,” letting go feels all wrong. In fact, letting go is actually harder than doing more (take that, workaholic brain!) because it takes incredible vigilance and care to inhibit your conditional patterning from arising.

While my vocal situation illuminates the particular challenges of unwiring a physical dysfunction, unwiring emotional and mental triggers provide a similar challenge. (In fact, they’re all the same thing.) Like my vocal habits, the emotional patterns that have served you well in the past may now be getting in the way of how you want to move forward.

However, letting go of these habits derails the familiar pillars of support and “self-ness” that have guided you thus far in your life. Inhibiting a defensive smile of politeness may feel as vulnerable as taking off all your clothes. Because, in a way, you are. You are taking off the layer of tension that you somehow associate with self-protection and “you-ness”.

Letting go of my throat tension isn’t just about releasing some physical muscles. Letting go unravels a sense of “Rachel-ness” to which I have become identified; it unhinges a sense of my own perceived I-ness. However, when I do inhibit that tension, I am in a greater space of possibility and presence.

Being present gives us the opportunity to “de-scaffold” ourselves from the layers of habitual reaction that will otherwise guide our actions and responses. When we become present, we can practice (practice! practice!) relaxing and opening to what is really going on. How do I really feel right now? If we can gently inhibit our conditioned responses of tension and reaction, then we are suddenly awake to a world of complete possibility. And while this is a little being thrown out of a window without a parachute, it’s also the only place where you really get to see the sky.

Your challenge?

More ease. In your yoga practice, but also in your life. Be willing to relax in the moment without immediately grabbing for the conditioned responses that may feel safe. Explore the no man’s land, and see what arises.

Practicing yoga has never been more accessible! But even so, getting a yoga at home practice started isn’t always easy. Here are five tips to get you started.

1. Create a practice space

Your home practice space doesn’t have to be fancy. While it’s luxurious to have a designated space that’s only for yoga, your practice space will probably double up as something else (for example, when I practice at my sister’s, my “sacred” practice space is actually the living room floor!). If you’re able, de-clutter your space and add something that brings you a feeling of zen (a candle, a picture, a plant). Putting a little energy into your space will help it feel special and important.

Having a designated practice creates an imprinted memory. Over time, as you practice in that same area, you will create some good energy there, making it easier for you to transition into a zen mind state.

2. Don’t sweat the props

Yoga studios have lots of fun props – bolsters, block, and straps. At home, use pillows, books, and towels instead! In fact, you don’t even need a fancy mat (I’ve been known to just practice on the carpet or to throw down a big towel). The wonderful thing about yoga is that there is nothing that you need to make it happen. You only need yourself.

3. Get a team

The hardest part of your home yoga practice is just starting! However, these days, it’s easy to put a team in your back pocket. With so many free online resources (like Do Yoga With Me, for example, where I teach), you can easily find a class that fits into your life and your skill level. If you’re not sure where to start, try a beginner level class.

Here are a few of my classes you can check out right here:

• energy boosting flow for beginners – 30 min
• spine all ways – 60 min
• chair hatha yoga – 13 minutes
• after work revitalizer – 20 minutes

4. Start with five minutes

Your yoga practice can be just five minutes long. That’s it! On days when you feel busy or overwhelmed, just make it to your mat and commit to five. Often when we start a mini-practice, we realize that all the crazy voices in our heads (“You don’t have time,” “There’s too much to do!”) are simply anxiety voices. They often fade when we simply take a few deep breaths. And if you really only have five minutes, then great. In my experience, a quick 5-10 minute practice can be as profound and nourishing as a longer practice.

5. Let yoga fit your life

People often ask me questions like, “when should I do a home yoga practice,” “how long should I practice,” “how often should I practice yoga at home?” The answer is, “when you can!” Yoga can fit into your life and support what you need. Your home yoga practice can look like many different things:

• a ten minute wake up practice in the morning
• a twenty minute practice after you get the kids to school
• a thirty minute practice on your lunch break
• a fifteen minute practice to get ready for bed
• a 75 minute Saturday afternoon practice

The yoga practice can fit into your life, beautifully. There’s no “right” way to do it. Feel free to ask me any questions, and happy home practicing!