the power of your breath

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It's been just over a year since moving to Calgary and I've discovered just how much I love teaching yoga! Watching people touch their toes for the first time EVER is extremely rewarding. Moving mindfully and with gentle, focused breathing is what and how I teach. The biggest aha-moments for many of my students is the power and influence of breathing on the body-mind connection. Pranayama is breath control and through a variety of exercises or inquiries it keeps us in the present moment as we maintain our focus on the ebb and flow of our breath. When you move or simply sit in stillness with your breath, amazing things can and do happen! I had a student whose shoulders were uneven due to a broken collarbone (~20 years) and after a handful of yoga sessions which included pranayama his shoulders were even.

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The benefits of breathing for mental health cannot be overstated. A few moments spent exploring the qualities of your breath alleviates depression, anxiety and stress. It can be as simple as matching the length of your inhalation with that of your exhalation or slightly less simple as alternate nostril breathing. Start practicing one breath at a time, notice when you hold or restrict your breathing and let that pattern go. To get you started (read hooked on pranayama!) try Bumblebee Breath (Brahmari).

Find a comfortable seat or lie down and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths by inhaling through your nose and exhaling a sigh. Settle in and clear you mind of expectations, preconceived ideas, stresses, worries and anything that doesn't serve you. Remember that it's your intention that's important. When you are ready inhale and exhale through your nose and allow your belly to gently expand with your inhale and flatten with your exhale. Stay calm and think of fluidity, softness, ease. When you are ready inhale through your nose and exhale your breath as a hum. Play around with the pitch of your hum and watch that you don't force it. Notice any sensations that arise. How does you body and mind respond to the gentle vibrations which your humming creates. We are unique individuals and each of us will feel and respond to brahmari breath (and yoga in general) differently. There's no right or wrong, it is what it is and in this yogi's opinion humanity's diversity is inspiring and worthy of celebration!

The benefits of  Brahmari breath include relief from anxiety, depression, insomnia and restlessness, it builds confidence, improves memory and concentration and mitigates migraines. From a physical perspective, Brahmari reduces hypertension and lowers high blood pressure. Give it a try. Take the time to be curious and explore!

the fabulous majority!

Since so few of us fit into society's (read the media's) grand definition of beauty it seems reasonable to presume that there only a few yogis who are atypically bendy, and therefore capable of some of the more acrobatic poses. Popular yogis, like Rodney Yee was a dancer and a gymnast before he became a well known yoga teacher and practitioner  Talk about an unfair advantage! Many everyday yogis are unable to complete a pose as demonstrated by yogi models, and I wonder how many of our favourite yogis are moving in pain or compensating their movement in one way or another.

Most of us have anatomical limitations stemming from tight or weak muscles, injuries and genetics which challenge our yoga practice. As such, we move in pain or compensate our movement to get into and out of some poses.  I'm flexible which is helpful for getting into some poses, but there are poses for which I lack the muscle strength or congruency to do correctly. Instead of moving purely, and honoring where I am, I'll let my ego take over and simply flex my way through a pose.

Beauty, similar to how we look in our poses is an external characteristic and doesn't begin to describe our heart or our intention, that is our True Self. That said, challenging ourselves with poses IS fun, and the key is not to take it too seriously. I approach my poses from a "function over form" perspective which essentially boils down to adapting a pose to suit your body and mind to where you are in the present moment. I describe this perspective in terms of a spectrum, and I encourage my students to find where they are along it as we practice.

For example, Vrksasana (Tree Pose) is broken down into 1) balancing on one leg (right) and 2) externally rotating the opposite leg (left) in the its hip socket, and 3) lifting your (left) foot and placing it anywhere along the (right) balancing leg, except for the knee. The variations that define Vrksasana's spectrum is where you place your foot on your standing leg, whether or not you use your arm to lift and place your foot on your leg, and your arm variation (eg Warrior arms, Charlie's Angel, in prayer, hands on wait, T-position, eagle arms etc.). There are as many ways to express your Vrksasana as there are yogis, so have fun with it and get creative. Try introducing some flow into your pose by flowing from one arm variation to another, just remember to stay connected with your breath. Here are a few examples of where I fall on the Vrksasana spectrum:

Remember, yoga is a personal practice and the diversity among us physically, creatively and mentally is inspiring, extraordinary and worthy of celebration. Make each pose your own!

"The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely." - Louisa May Alcott