Q: Quick question, Baxter. Every morning when I wake up and come down, I stop at the middle landing, grab two post on both sides of the staircase and take a deep breath and slowly start bending back and I stay that way for about 20 seconds or less till I start getting a slight dizziness/rush/ kinda thing and then I do the "cow" pose (reverse). And I feel so fresh after that...now while doing this am I doing something that could be not right in course of time and I should stop doing that...does it sound like a kundalini rush or just a good work out for the back? I do need to know if you please. I am sixty five years old and do not wish to hurt myself in any manner that would make me bed bound. So please advise. Appreciate that. Thanx
A: Dear Stair Cat-Cower,
What a fascinating question! I am curious as to how long you have been doing this little morning ritual cat/cow standing on your staircase. Has the dizziness ever been so severe that you felt you might pass out? I suspect not, as I cannot imagine you would continue to practice this half way down the stairs, as a fall from that place could be quite injurious!
As to what is going on, that is anyone’s guess without more information and without personally examining you to make sure you don’t have any underlying conditions that would be worrisome, such as high blood pressure or cervical disc disease. The fact that it is somewhat mild sensation that leaves you feeling refreshed seems a good sign. However, if you have any concerns of doing something detrimental for your health, I’d get a general check up and mention the symptoms to your primary care doctor. It might be worth requesting some plain x-rays of your neck to look for any obvious reason to not be tipping your head backwards first thing the morning.
As to the question of “kundalini” energy, this is usually discussed in the setting of pranayama breath practices and deep meditations, although there are anecdotal accounts of kundalini energy activation via asana practices. However, once released, that sort of energy is usually described as having a more constant and continuous effect on the inner sensations of the body, as compared to your short and brief rush of feeling. It would be interesting to hear where you are getting this inner feeling? Is it in a particular location or does it run a particular course? These could be clues to the underlying precipitating cause of the sensations. If you have not done so, you might also have a private consultation with the most experienced teacher in your area to get their slant on what it happening for you. In the meantime, I’d recommend doing this at the bottom of the staircase, and make sure there is a soft landing in front of you in case the dizziness gets worse! And thanks for your intriguing question!
Namaste, Baxter
Friday, August 31, 2012
Healthy Spirits: Triple Voodo Bourbon Barrel Aged Grand Cru Release
This Saturday, September 1, we will be releasing our 5th exclusive single barrel beer project. This time it's Triple Voodoo's delicious Grand Cru, which spent over 3 months in one of our hand selected Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels. Doors op
en at 10AM. Bottles are $16.99 each. No bottle limits. Beer of the Month Club members may reserve bottles BY PHONE ONLY ((415)-255-0610) once the event begins. Triple Voodoo owner Greg Kitchen will be here to meet people and answer questions.
And just in case you missed our release last week, we should still have some bottles of our exclusive Telegraph Bourbon Barrel Aged Rhinoceros available for purchase! We hope to see you there!
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Caloric Restriction and Longevity
by Nina and Brad
You may have noticed that we’ve been talking about yoga for healthy eating this week (see Yoga for Healthy Eating) without defining what “healthy eating” entails. To be honest, we’ve intentionally been avoiding getting too specific about dietary recommendations because there is so much controversy these days about what a healthy diet is. However, one thing we can now say with confidence is that the best diet for healthy aging does not mean starving yourself. In today’s New York Times, the results of a 25 year study at National Institutes of Health on caloric restriction was announced, disproving the somewhat popular theory that a low-calorie diet will prolong our life span. See Severe Diet Doesn’t Prolong Life, at Least in Monkeys.
Since we just happen to have a bona fide scientist who studies aging on our staff, we decided to ask him to weigh in. Here’s what Prof. Bradford Gibson (aka Brad) has to say about this news and about caloric restriction in general:
"The data demonstrating that caloric restriction (CR) increasing longevity is impressive, at least for yeast, worms and flies. It was generally thought that this link between CR and longevity was evolutionarily conserved in mammals as well, as evidence from several mouse and rat studies seemed to indicate. (However, even the mouse data has come under scrutiny as the CR effect does not seem to work nearly as well in when these studies are carried out on mice with more diverse genetic backgrounds, you know, like the ones in your attic as opposed to the inbred lab strains.)
"The primate studies, however, have been obviously more problematic to carry out, considering the cost and time required to get the results can be 20 years or more. This, of course, has not discouraged some people, including some very prominent scientist, to adopt this seriously restrictive diet by choice. Personally, I thought they were nuts to do so; but the field of aging research has always attracted extreme positions and is littered with false or exceedingly thin claims and snake oil salesmen, despite the general field of aging research becoming more mainstream. So what have we learned? Hypothesis fail. Experimental designs are flawed. Things are more complicated than we thought. And I can assert that my own small number of encounters of people on the CR diet suggest that they don't look so good, i.e., pale, gaunt, and a bit listless. So enjoy your meal, wine and chocolate, and maybe the field of aging research will move on to a more interesting and scientifically compelling hypothesis to spend our NIH dollars on."
You may have noticed that we’ve been talking about yoga for healthy eating this week (see Yoga for Healthy Eating) without defining what “healthy eating” entails. To be honest, we’ve intentionally been avoiding getting too specific about dietary recommendations because there is so much controversy these days about what a healthy diet is. However, one thing we can now say with confidence is that the best diet for healthy aging does not mean starving yourself. In today’s New York Times, the results of a 25 year study at National Institutes of Health on caloric restriction was announced, disproving the somewhat popular theory that a low-calorie diet will prolong our life span. See Severe Diet Doesn’t Prolong Life, at Least in Monkeys.
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| Photo from National Institutes of Health |
"The data demonstrating that caloric restriction (CR) increasing longevity is impressive, at least for yeast, worms and flies. It was generally thought that this link between CR and longevity was evolutionarily conserved in mammals as well, as evidence from several mouse and rat studies seemed to indicate. (However, even the mouse data has come under scrutiny as the CR effect does not seem to work nearly as well in when these studies are carried out on mice with more diverse genetic backgrounds, you know, like the ones in your attic as opposed to the inbred lab strains.)
"The primate studies, however, have been obviously more problematic to carry out, considering the cost and time required to get the results can be 20 years or more. This, of course, has not discouraged some people, including some very prominent scientist, to adopt this seriously restrictive diet by choice. Personally, I thought they were nuts to do so; but the field of aging research has always attracted extreme positions and is littered with false or exceedingly thin claims and snake oil salesmen, despite the general field of aging research becoming more mainstream. So what have we learned? Hypothesis fail. Experimental designs are flawed. Things are more complicated than we thought. And I can assert that my own small number of encounters of people on the CR diet suggest that they don't look so good, i.e., pale, gaunt, and a bit listless. So enjoy your meal, wine and chocolate, and maybe the field of aging research will move on to a more interesting and scientifically compelling hypothesis to spend our NIH dollars on."
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Healthy Spirits: New Arrivals
1. Midnight Sun Berserker (limit 1 per customer)
2. Aspall Cuvee Chevalier Cider
3.Aspall Dry Cider
4. Einstock Icelandic White Ale
5. Erdinger Dunkel-Weizen
6. Sir Perry Pear Cider 4pk Cans
7. Midnight Sun Hop Dog Double Wheat IPA
8. Ballast Point Sculpin
cheers,
dave hauslein
beer manager
415-255-0610
Healthy Spirits: Midnight Sun Berserker
Limit 1 per customer, $19.99 per bottle. Beer club members may reserve by phone. Will be behind the counter, by request only.
(415)-255-0610
Reasons for Doing Yoga
by Nina
Yesterday in his post Yoga for Healthy Eating, Baxter wrote about a study that showed that obesity in modern societies was not caused by our sedentary lifestyle but instead by our eating habits. But the fact is, our current culture is a very sedentary one, and if weight loss isn’t a good reason for exercising, there are many, other important reasons, including both physical and mental health. If you’ve been reading our blog for any amount of time, you’ll surely have noticed that we’re strongly encouraging exercise in the form of yoga asanas as one of the most important strategies for fostering for healthy aging.
By chance on the same day Jane Brody of the New York Times addressed the issue of motivation for exercise (see Changing Our Tune on Exercise) by saying that the usual reasons experts give for encouraging us to exercise, including a desire to lose weight or improve your figure, to keep heart disease, cancer or type 2 diabetes at bay, to lower your blood pressure or cholesterol, to protect your bones, and to live to a healthy old age, turn out not to be good motivators for people. Instead it is the short-term benefits of feelings of well-being and happiness that keep us exercising:
Now research by psychologists strongly suggests it’s time to stop thinking of future health, weight loss and body image as motivators for exercise. Instead, these experts recommend a strategy marketers use to sell products: portray physical activity as a way to enhance current well-being and happiness.
Doesn’t that sound like one of the real purposes of yoga? Many years ago, my then teacher Rodney Yee, asked me why I did yoga, and struggling to find the right (and truthful) words, I could only come up with the following:
It makes my life better.
I went on to say that I almost always felt better after taking a yoga class or practicing at home on my own. And that is what kept me coming back to my mat day after day. Of course, I’m delighted that the practice I’ve chosen will have most likely provide many significant long-term benefits for me (and I can already see that I’m aging well compared to more sedentary people my current age), but in the meantime, I’ll be practicing today because, well, it makes my life better. Jane Brody put it this way in her article:
I walk three miles daily, or bike ten miles and swim three-quarters of a mile. If you ask me why, weight control may be my first answer, followed by a desire to live long and well. But that’s not what gets me out of bed before dawn to join friends on a morning walk and then bike to the Y for my swim.
It’s how these activities make me feel: more energized, less stressed, more productive, more engaged and, yes, happier — better able to smell the roses and cope with the inevitable frustrations of daily life.
For more information, see the original study Brody references, The role of motives in exercise participation.
Yesterday in his post Yoga for Healthy Eating, Baxter wrote about a study that showed that obesity in modern societies was not caused by our sedentary lifestyle but instead by our eating habits. But the fact is, our current culture is a very sedentary one, and if weight loss isn’t a good reason for exercising, there are many, other important reasons, including both physical and mental health. If you’ve been reading our blog for any amount of time, you’ll surely have noticed that we’re strongly encouraging exercise in the form of yoga asanas as one of the most important strategies for fostering for healthy aging.
By chance on the same day Jane Brody of the New York Times addressed the issue of motivation for exercise (see Changing Our Tune on Exercise) by saying that the usual reasons experts give for encouraging us to exercise, including a desire to lose weight or improve your figure, to keep heart disease, cancer or type 2 diabetes at bay, to lower your blood pressure or cholesterol, to protect your bones, and to live to a healthy old age, turn out not to be good motivators for people. Instead it is the short-term benefits of feelings of well-being and happiness that keep us exercising:
Now research by psychologists strongly suggests it’s time to stop thinking of future health, weight loss and body image as motivators for exercise. Instead, these experts recommend a strategy marketers use to sell products: portray physical activity as a way to enhance current well-being and happiness.
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| Bees Sipping Nectar by Michele Macartney-Filgate |
It makes my life better.
I went on to say that I almost always felt better after taking a yoga class or practicing at home on my own. And that is what kept me coming back to my mat day after day. Of course, I’m delighted that the practice I’ve chosen will have most likely provide many significant long-term benefits for me (and I can already see that I’m aging well compared to more sedentary people my current age), but in the meantime, I’ll be practicing today because, well, it makes my life better. Jane Brody put it this way in her article:
I walk three miles daily, or bike ten miles and swim three-quarters of a mile. If you ask me why, weight control may be my first answer, followed by a desire to live long and well. But that’s not what gets me out of bed before dawn to join friends on a morning walk and then bike to the Y for my swim.
It’s how these activities make me feel: more energized, less stressed, more productive, more engaged and, yes, happier — better able to smell the roses and cope with the inevitable frustrations of daily life.
For more information, see the original study Brody references, The role of motives in exercise participation.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Healthy Spirits Exclusive Bottle Release!
This Saturday, September 1, we will be releasing our 5th exclusive single barrel beer project. This time it's Triple Voodoo's delicious Grand Cru, which spent over 3 months in one of our hand selected Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels. Doors open at 10AM. No bottle limits. Beer of the Month Club members may reserve bottles BY PHONE ONLY ((415)-255-0610) once the event begins.
And just in case you missed our release last week, we should still have some bottles of our exclusive Telegraph Bourbon Barrel Aged Rhinoceros available for purchase! We hope to see you there!
cheers,
dave hausein
beer manager
415-255-0610
Yoga for Healthy Eating
by Baxter
Nina and I have recently been talking about yoga’s potential benefit on developing healthy eating habits. Healthy eating habits are vitally important because, after all, the modern adage that you are what you eat seems more and more true as time goes on. What you eat can make you feel bad and can make you sick, as exemplified by such conditions as gluten and dairy sensitivities. It may even lead to diseases such as diabetes and heart disease that can shorten your life span.
Sometimes we hear folks claim that it is our relative modern inactivity that is to blame for the trend towards more and more obesity in this country and in the developed world. Often called the Hunter-Gatherer myth, it goes something like this: modern health problems like diabetes and heart disease are a result of our modern way of life being radically different from the hunter-gatherer environments in which our bodies evolved. Intrigued by such claims, Herman Pontzer, an assistant professor of anthropology at Hunter College, and his colleagues, set out to see if they could shed some light on this question (see Hunter-Gatherer Energetics and Human Obesity). They wondered if hunter-gatherer societies, due to their more active lifestyles, burned more calories in the course of their day than their developed counterparts in the big city. That could account for the lower rates of obesity and heart disease and the like. They turned to the Hazda people of eastern Africa, one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer societies on the planet. They measured the daily energy expenditure among the Hadza people of Tanzania to see if these people, whose daily life is so similar to that of our distant ancestors, expend more energy than we do in a given day. And guess what? They don’t. In fact, it is about the same amount as the modern couch potato. Even though they did not look at other side of the formula, the daily calorie intake of the Hadza, they came up with the following conclusion:
“All of this means that if we want to end obesity, we need to focus on our diet and reduce the number of calories we eat, particularly the sugars our primate brains have evolved to love. We’re getting fat because we eat too much, not because we’re sedentary. Physical activity is very important for maintaining physical and mental health, but we aren’t going to Jazzercise our way out of the obesity epidemic.”
If we shift focus onto the original question that I am interested in, how can yoga help my student’s develop healthy eating habits, from this study and lots of other evidence out there to support Mr. Ponzer’s assertion, I want yoga to influence how much we are eating. And since more physical activity does not appear to be the key factor here (meaning more asana or more vigorous asana is not necessarily the answer) I return, once again, to the benefit of practicing the quality of mindfulness that is so central to most styles yoga practices that include more than just asana. So much eating of high calorie, low nutritional value food happens via a mindless habit. Our yoga practice can begin to bring into clearer view the food choices and quantities of food we are taking in. It requires some specific focuses and goals, such as noticing the difference between actual hunger versus emotionally stimulated eating habits.
It might involve the practice of eating slowly and mindfully, so as to not bypass the body’s natural signals from the brain that tell us when we are satisfied by our meal, versus eating fast and stopping when we feel full (or over-full, as is often the case). And perhaps doing a brief meditation to check in with how the body responds to the ingestion of those sodas and desserts that we crave, but often leave us feeling tired and depleted after the initial sugar high wears off, might start to shed light on their real effects. Once established in this mindful approach to eating and being, students often report making healthy changes in what and how much they eat. And they are able to tell a distinct difference in how they feel. They feel better, more even in their daily energy needs, less sleepy after lunch, more rested in the morning. So before you start foraging or hunting for you daily sustenance, try the easier route! Get more mindful about your eating habits!
Nina and I have recently been talking about yoga’s potential benefit on developing healthy eating habits. Healthy eating habits are vitally important because, after all, the modern adage that you are what you eat seems more and more true as time goes on. What you eat can make you feel bad and can make you sick, as exemplified by such conditions as gluten and dairy sensitivities. It may even lead to diseases such as diabetes and heart disease that can shorten your life span.
Sometimes we hear folks claim that it is our relative modern inactivity that is to blame for the trend towards more and more obesity in this country and in the developed world. Often called the Hunter-Gatherer myth, it goes something like this: modern health problems like diabetes and heart disease are a result of our modern way of life being radically different from the hunter-gatherer environments in which our bodies evolved. Intrigued by such claims, Herman Pontzer, an assistant professor of anthropology at Hunter College, and his colleagues, set out to see if they could shed some light on this question (see Hunter-Gatherer Energetics and Human Obesity). They wondered if hunter-gatherer societies, due to their more active lifestyles, burned more calories in the course of their day than their developed counterparts in the big city. That could account for the lower rates of obesity and heart disease and the like. They turned to the Hazda people of eastern Africa, one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer societies on the planet. They measured the daily energy expenditure among the Hadza people of Tanzania to see if these people, whose daily life is so similar to that of our distant ancestors, expend more energy than we do in a given day. And guess what? They don’t. In fact, it is about the same amount as the modern couch potato. Even though they did not look at other side of the formula, the daily calorie intake of the Hadza, they came up with the following conclusion:
“All of this means that if we want to end obesity, we need to focus on our diet and reduce the number of calories we eat, particularly the sugars our primate brains have evolved to love. We’re getting fat because we eat too much, not because we’re sedentary. Physical activity is very important for maintaining physical and mental health, but we aren’t going to Jazzercise our way out of the obesity epidemic.”
If we shift focus onto the original question that I am interested in, how can yoga help my student’s develop healthy eating habits, from this study and lots of other evidence out there to support Mr. Ponzer’s assertion, I want yoga to influence how much we are eating. And since more physical activity does not appear to be the key factor here (meaning more asana or more vigorous asana is not necessarily the answer) I return, once again, to the benefit of practicing the quality of mindfulness that is so central to most styles yoga practices that include more than just asana. So much eating of high calorie, low nutritional value food happens via a mindless habit. Our yoga practice can begin to bring into clearer view the food choices and quantities of food we are taking in. It requires some specific focuses and goals, such as noticing the difference between actual hunger versus emotionally stimulated eating habits.
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| Ripening Grapes by Nina Zolotow |
Monday, August 27, 2012
I AM HEALTHY, NOT OBSESSED
I believe in being healthy when it comes to exercise and eating “clean” for the large percentage of my week. Why do I bring the word obsessed into this picture…well...here it is in a nutshell…just as with anything else, too much of anything or an obsessive attitude can bring about an unhealthy balance in life…regardless of how good it is. If I was spending hours on end exercising, putting exercise above everything in my life to the point of letting it interfere or negatively impact my life, relationships, and self…NO GOOD. I mean really…can you imagine if a scenario went like this…I am invited for the day to relax at a spa with hubby, or attend an important function with my family and I said nope … gotta exercise, or I need to be late so that I can get my workout in…OK…now that would be OBSESSIVE.
I am not saying that exercise is not important, it definitely is a lifestyle along with my nutrition, but I am talking about for example…the old habits of Darla from my competition days, and sometimes modeling where obsessive did enter the picture now and then. Not cutting myself any slack with food and working beyond my physical means…YUCK. What the heck was I thinking…my A1 personality type was definitely on hyper mode during my “obsessive” days. What I am saying is that a good thing can be overboard or “obsessive” and cause more harm than good…in all aspects of life…physical, mental, and spiritual. Probably the worst would be complete burnout of a repeated behavior…my fitness would be a “have to” instead of a “want to”…OH MY and NO WAY. I want my healthy life to be a fun “lifestyle”, maintainable by consistent exercise and healthy food intake for the majority of the time…something I look forward to doing and just feel weird if I don’t.
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| My Fabulous Friend and Hubby |
I am so glad to be in a much more relaxed “older, wiser, better” place with balance and I truly enjoy all moments in life. I am not going to lie and say that I never struggle with letting go of a day of exercise because sometimes I do…the rearing of old ugly habits knocking on my mental door. Thank goodness for a more relaxed hubby who balances me out really well when I need a verbal chat to bring the sometimes “Over Do It” Darla back to reality. Being healthy is definitely a FABULOUS description of my lifestyle…OBSESSED … well, when that word gets tossed my way…I greet it with a Stay Healthy Smile!
IN YOUR FACE MOTIVATIONS
Personal Share: I just got back from a mini vacation boat camping trip with my wonderful husband, son and soon to be bride....and a bonus...I ran into one of my best friends who was camping in the cove around the bend...now talk about a small cove... I mean world. We had such quality time with lots of swimming, great food and overall fun! YES...I we found another waterfall and my Mom will kill me (love ya Mom) as I frolicked about the falls and climbed on a few rocks;) Fitness is FUN and does not always have to be the same routine. I say be spontaneous, be a kid, splash around and laugh so hard that your belly hurts...LIFE IS TOO SHORT! Enjoy the pics and Stay Healthy~
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| Fun swim and climb to the falls with friends |
GREAT FUN WITH FAMILY ~ I AM AN OUTDOOR STAY HEALTHY GIRL
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| OUR NEW FAVORITE COVE ~ BULLARD'S BAR |
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| Night on the Water with my Son, his fiance and Hubby |
Thanks for stopping by my Blog, hope you enjoy the content, and if you have not become a follower yet, I would love to see your face on my friend's list. If you are inspired, LIKE my entry, leave a comment and I look forward to responding!
Have a Fabulous Week!
Stay Healthy!
Darla:)
Healthy Spirits: Barrel Aged Triple Voodoo
Here comes another Healthy Spirits exclusive barrel aged release! This coming Saturday the 1st of September we will be releasing Triple Voodoo's Grand Cru, which was aged in one of our Buffalo Trace barrels. Details on pricing to come later in the week, but no bottle limits! Bottles will go on sale starting at 10AM September 1.
Georg Feuerstein, 1947-2012
by Nina
Just the other day in my post Why You Should Study Yoga Philosophy I wrote about how much I valued the work of yoga scholar Dr. Georg Feuerstein. Then yesterday I learned that he died on August 25. Even though I never met him, I consider him to be one of my most important teachers, so I wanted to take a moment to honor him.
It was always the work of Dr. Feuerstein that I turned to (and will continue to turn to) when I wanted answers to questions I had about yoga history and when I wanted a very literal translation—one in which I could see the relationship between the original Sanskrit and the English—of a yoga scripture. I felt I could always rely on him for a relatively unbaised perspective. But the most important single lesson I learned from him is this one:
“Yoga is like an ancient river with countless rapids, eddies, loops, tributaries, and backwaters, extending over a vast, colourful terrain of many different habitats. So, when we speak of Yoga, we speak of a multitude of paths and orientations with contrasting theoretical frameworks and occasionally incompatible goals.” —Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D.
Dr. Feuerstein’s wife, Brenda L. Feuerstein, announced his death on Facebook this way:
It is with great sadness that I announce that my husband and spiritual partner, Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., left his body on August 25, 2012 at 9:10 PM.
At this time, I would like to request prayers from the worldwide community for Georg's transition through the afterlife states and for a swift rebirth.
In lieu of flowers and gifts, Georg had requested a scholarship fund be set up to enable incarcerated people the opportunity to participate in our distance learning courses. More information about the fund will be available this week.
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| Doorways by Nina Zolotow |
It was always the work of Dr. Feuerstein that I turned to (and will continue to turn to) when I wanted answers to questions I had about yoga history and when I wanted a very literal translation—one in which I could see the relationship between the original Sanskrit and the English—of a yoga scripture. I felt I could always rely on him for a relatively unbaised perspective. But the most important single lesson I learned from him is this one:
“Yoga is like an ancient river with countless rapids, eddies, loops, tributaries, and backwaters, extending over a vast, colourful terrain of many different habitats. So, when we speak of Yoga, we speak of a multitude of paths and orientations with contrasting theoretical frameworks and occasionally incompatible goals.” —Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D.
Dr. Feuerstein’s wife, Brenda L. Feuerstein, announced his death on Facebook this way:
It is with great sadness that I announce that my husband and spiritual partner, Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., left his body on August 25, 2012 at 9:10 PM.
At this time, I would like to request prayers from the worldwide community for Georg's transition through the afterlife states and for a swift rebirth.
In lieu of flowers and gifts, Georg had requested a scholarship fund be set up to enable incarcerated people the opportunity to participate in our distance learning courses. More information about the fund will be available this week.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Healthy Spirits: Beer of the Month Club and Telegraph Bottle Release Information!
Beer of the Month Club-September has been charged and is now ready for pick-up!
Don't forget, we will be releasing our exclusive barrel aged versions of the Telegraph Rhinoceros Barleywine tomorrow, August 25, starting at 10AM.
Batch 111A=Four Roses barrel
Batch 111B=Evan Williams barrel
25oz bottles will be priced at $19.99 each with no bottle limits. Beer of the Month Club members may reserve bottles BY PHONE ONLY once the event begins by calling 415-255-0610. No e-mail reservations will be accepted.
***Just found out another of our barrel aged beers is ready for bottling! We may be doing another very cool release next week. Stay tuned for more info.***
cheers,
dave hauslein
beer manager
415-255-0610
Friday Q&A: Post-Surgery Scar Tissue
Q: Hi good folks. Several years ago I had emergency surgery for diverticulitus (I was 44, now 48). Afterward I lived with a colostomy bag for six months and then had a colon resection. During the second surgery it was discovered that I had extensive scar tissue. I am assuming that there is even more scar tissue now resulting from the second surgery. Since then I have experienced some occasional intense short blasts of pain when doing asanas (parsvottanasana and prasarita padottanasan in particular). I know I have to be careful of causing hernias and have worked to increase abdominal strength. I have two questions: What about the forward bends is causing the pain and how do I correct myself to prevent the pain? Will stretching (twists and backbends) aggravate the creation of scar tissue or can it help to keep my abdominal area more supple? Thank you in advance for any information and/or advice you can provide.
A: Thanks for writing in! Your question is challenging for several reasons. The most obvious one is that without a longer interview about your recent and past history and without an actual physical exam, it is really hard to know what is the source of your abdominal pain. As we have advised students in the past, make sure to get a good check up soon with your surgeon and family MD if you have not do so yet. Secondly, you could assume, and maybe rightly so, that your pain is coming from scar tissue that formed as part of the healing process from your two surgeries. It would be helpful to know if you had similar pains between the two surgeries, or only since the second one, when you have been able, I would imagine, to be more physically active. But—and the big but—there could be a completely different source of your pain that is as yet undiagnosed! Ergo the need to see your docs for a check up to rule out some other source of abdominal pain.
Finally, I am not sure, but must assume, that the abundant scar tissue seen during the second surgery may have been a result of a ruptured diverticuli, that ruptured into your abdominal cavity. This could explain the need for a temporary colostomy bag. When you have a rupture of this sort, the contents of your large intestines, stool, can escape into the belly cavity. This can result in an infection and inflammation situation in the belly, often treated with strong antibiotics. A side effect of such a situation is that the tissues of the belly can end up sticking to one another and adhesions (like the word adhesive) form between these tissues, and they are often referred to as “scar tissue.” Sometimes these adhesions don’t cause any trouble, sometimes they cause pain or pulling, and in rare instances, they could block to gut and cause a serious back up.
I would also assume that during the second surgery, they probably cleaned up the scarred areas while they re-connected the two ends of your large intestine. If everything was clean and no infection happened after the second surgery, you could expect little or no new scar tissue or adhesions. This is good news, and your assumption about more scar tissue after the second surgery may not be true.
But even with an uncomplicated surgery, healing tissue forms a scar as part of healing process and this is an expected and normal situation. However, the areas of scar on the surface of the body and even inside the body could lead to some tightness and restriction of movement in the affected area. I know this first hand, as I had a double groin hernia repair about ten years ago, and after the initial pain subsided, I definitely had tightness and mild discomfort for months if not a year afterwards. A patient yoga practice gradually got me back to a full experience of yoga.
Backing up a moment, clean wounds seal up pretty fast, with in a few weeks, but they continue to get stronger for a while longer, at least six weeks. In fact, a common warning after surgery is to limit activity for about six weeks after surgery to give the body enough to form a strong scar. Usually, after that, you can gradually resume your pre-surgery activity.
So if we assume you have been to the doctor and have a clean bill of health, how do you approach the pain you are having? If it is exclusively happening in forward bends, is it in all forward bends, or only the two standing ones you mention above? The fact that it happens in forward bends makes me suspicious that the action of “compressing” the abdominal contents is the trigger for the pain, especially if twists and backbends don’t cause pain. If the source of the pain is fascia or connective tissue in the belly, you can cautiously and safely do backbends and twists as a way of releasing some of that tension, which could lead to lessening of pain on forward bends.
If you love forward bends and want to keep them in your practice, consider tipping from the hip joints and avoid rounding the spine and don’t bring the lower belly in contact with your thighs. In other words, stay a little higher up in the forward bends and see if you can avoid triggering the pain. You can still feel a nice stretch in the back of the legs and torso with this modified way of doing forward bends. Also, for seated forward bends like Upavista Konasana (Wide Angle Forward Bend), where the legs are wide apart and the belly is not so compressed, I’d hope you would have less chance of triggering pain, even though the standing version was a trigger. You will have to do some experimenting in your home practice and have an experienced teacher observe you in your forward bends to begin to get more details on what poses seem good to do and others that might be best avoided. If I have a pose that I avoid because it triggers pain, I like to have one that I can substitute in when I am in a public class and don’t want to miss out.
Hope these thoughts are helpful in you yoga explorations!
—Baxter
A: Thanks for writing in! Your question is challenging for several reasons. The most obvious one is that without a longer interview about your recent and past history and without an actual physical exam, it is really hard to know what is the source of your abdominal pain. As we have advised students in the past, make sure to get a good check up soon with your surgeon and family MD if you have not do so yet. Secondly, you could assume, and maybe rightly so, that your pain is coming from scar tissue that formed as part of the healing process from your two surgeries. It would be helpful to know if you had similar pains between the two surgeries, or only since the second one, when you have been able, I would imagine, to be more physically active. But—and the big but—there could be a completely different source of your pain that is as yet undiagnosed! Ergo the need to see your docs for a check up to rule out some other source of abdominal pain.
Finally, I am not sure, but must assume, that the abundant scar tissue seen during the second surgery may have been a result of a ruptured diverticuli, that ruptured into your abdominal cavity. This could explain the need for a temporary colostomy bag. When you have a rupture of this sort, the contents of your large intestines, stool, can escape into the belly cavity. This can result in an infection and inflammation situation in the belly, often treated with strong antibiotics. A side effect of such a situation is that the tissues of the belly can end up sticking to one another and adhesions (like the word adhesive) form between these tissues, and they are often referred to as “scar tissue.” Sometimes these adhesions don’t cause any trouble, sometimes they cause pain or pulling, and in rare instances, they could block to gut and cause a serious back up.
I would also assume that during the second surgery, they probably cleaned up the scarred areas while they re-connected the two ends of your large intestine. If everything was clean and no infection happened after the second surgery, you could expect little or no new scar tissue or adhesions. This is good news, and your assumption about more scar tissue after the second surgery may not be true.
But even with an uncomplicated surgery, healing tissue forms a scar as part of healing process and this is an expected and normal situation. However, the areas of scar on the surface of the body and even inside the body could lead to some tightness and restriction of movement in the affected area. I know this first hand, as I had a double groin hernia repair about ten years ago, and after the initial pain subsided, I definitely had tightness and mild discomfort for months if not a year afterwards. A patient yoga practice gradually got me back to a full experience of yoga.
Backing up a moment, clean wounds seal up pretty fast, with in a few weeks, but they continue to get stronger for a while longer, at least six weeks. In fact, a common warning after surgery is to limit activity for about six weeks after surgery to give the body enough to form a strong scar. Usually, after that, you can gradually resume your pre-surgery activity.
So if we assume you have been to the doctor and have a clean bill of health, how do you approach the pain you are having? If it is exclusively happening in forward bends, is it in all forward bends, or only the two standing ones you mention above? The fact that it happens in forward bends makes me suspicious that the action of “compressing” the abdominal contents is the trigger for the pain, especially if twists and backbends don’t cause pain. If the source of the pain is fascia or connective tissue in the belly, you can cautiously and safely do backbends and twists as a way of releasing some of that tension, which could lead to lessening of pain on forward bends.
If you love forward bends and want to keep them in your practice, consider tipping from the hip joints and avoid rounding the spine and don’t bring the lower belly in contact with your thighs. In other words, stay a little higher up in the forward bends and see if you can avoid triggering the pain. You can still feel a nice stretch in the back of the legs and torso with this modified way of doing forward bends. Also, for seated forward bends like Upavista Konasana (Wide Angle Forward Bend), where the legs are wide apart and the belly is not so compressed, I’d hope you would have less chance of triggering pain, even though the standing version was a trigger. You will have to do some experimenting in your home practice and have an experienced teacher observe you in your forward bends to begin to get more details on what poses seem good to do and others that might be best avoided. If I have a pose that I avoid because it triggers pain, I like to have one that I can substitute in when I am in a public class and don’t want to miss out.
Hope these thoughts are helpful in you yoga explorations!
—Baxter
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Healthy Spirits: Bourbon Barrel Aged Rhinoceros Release!
SAVE THE DATE! The next Healthy Spirits Exclusive barrel aged beer release will be AUGUST 25 at 10AM.
We will be releasing 2 single barrel versions of Telegraph Brewing's excellent Rhinoceros Barleywine. One was aged in our Four Roses barrel, the other in our Evan Williams barrel. Both spent 5 months on oak. Head brewer Scott Baer will be in attendance for the beginning of the sale. Bottles will be $19.99, no limits.
Featured Sequence: Chair Yoga Mini Sequence
.by Baxter and Nina
How much yoga can you do without getting out of your chair? Well, it turns out quite a lot! In fact, today’s mini sequence is a well-rounded practice that includes backbends, forward bends, a twist, a hip opener, and a relaxation pose, all of which can be done at your desk or at the airport. The entire sequence is accessible to almost everyone, including people who find it difficult to get up and down from the floor or who cannot stand.
1. Chair Cat Pose for six rounds (with six breaths). This seated version of Cat pose is a great way to counteract the tendency to round forward when you sit in front of your computer, laptop, or tablet, or commute in your car. For those who tend to assume a head forward position, this pose returns your head to a healthier alignment over your shoulders. And moving back and forth between arching and rounding your spine strengthens the muscles that support your head in a more even way. For all of us, moving your spine back and forth between flexion (rounded) and extension (arched) helps keep your spine healthy by providing nourishment to the bones and disks.
Because you move rhythmically with your breath in this pose, you take in more oxygen, which has a positive effect on your respiratory system and can help if you get winded easily. In addition, moving with your breath is a stimulating, which may perk you up when you are feeling sluggish and can help you focus your concentration. It’s a good way to kick start your practice when you are feeling fatigued or depressed. After you start gently moving in this pose, you may feel ready for some larger movements.
For instructions and cautions, see: Seated Cat-Cow Pose
2. Chair Twist for one minute. This pose releases back muscles that are stiff or sore from sitting at a desk or from traveling, or from everyday activities that stress the back, such as gardening and painting, and increases the rotational mobility in your spine. Twisting also helps nourish the spine—movement of the spine helps maintain the health of the discs—and also strengthens the bones themselves as your back muscles pull on the bony insertions of the spine. This pose also strengthens the oblique muscles of your core (and we could all use a little of that). Traditional yoga teachers recommend twists for the health of your internal organs, improving circulation to and function of the abdominal organs, although no studies have been conducted to confirm this. And finally, for many of us, twists can release physical and emotional tension, providing relief from stress.
For instructions and cautions, see: Chair Twist.
3. Chair Seated Forward Bend/Hip Opener for one to two minutes. This simple pose is another good antidote to sitting upright in your chair. An excellent hip opener, this forward bend counteracts the tightness of your hips that you develop from sitting with your legs straight in front of you, helping you to maintain mobility in your hip joints. The release in your hips can feel wonderful, and you may also feel a good stretch in your lower back and inner thighs. The pose also helps stretch and wake up your arms as you press them toward the floor. By changing your relationship to gravity, this pose helps release tension you’re holding in your back, neck, and head. This can be particularly helpful if you’ve spent hours in front of your computer screen or driving, and your neck is stiff or even painful. The partial inversion also stimulates your circulatory system and can re-enliven you if you’re feeling sluggish, stimulates your circulatory system.
For instructions and cautions, see: Chair Seated Forward Bend.
4. Chair Backbend for 12 to 16 breaths. This simple chair backbend is the perfect antidote to the typical postural habits of slumping forward that we develop from sitting all day at our desks, in cars, and airplanes, and from the many everyday activities where we are bending forward, such as gardening or washing dishes. The basic back-bending shape re-establishes the natural curve of your lower back, correctly aligning your spine in its natural curves, which helps to keep your back healthy. The backbend also lengthens the front of your body, allowing many of us to breath in with greater ease. It helps release stress from your upper body, especially the upper chest. And while stretching the front of your body, the pose strengthens your back body muscles, which tend to be overstretched and weak if they are ignored. Because backbends in general tend to be uplifting, you may even find this pose helps encourage a more positive mood as you take deep inhalations and exhalations.
For instructions and cautions, see: Chair Backbend.
5. Supported Forward Bend for one to ten minutes. The simple supported forward bend is a safe forward bend for almost everyone. Because you’re bending your legs at the knees, you’re reducing the tension on your hamstrings and therefore allowing your pelvis to have more flexibility at your hip joints. In addition, because you’re resting your arms and head on a chair or desk and you’re not hanging in space, your lower back muscles can release more completely and relax more deeply. (Some of the seated forward bends with straight legs can aggravate lower back pain or disc problems because they pull so strongly on your back muscles and encourage the discs to move toward a posterior position, and you can sometimes over-strain your ligaments when you overdo.)
This forward bend can provide you a quiet moment in your busy day, and allows you to access the deep rest of conscious relaxation without lying on the floor, especially if you focus on your breath while you are in the pose. In addition, folding forward creates a feeling of safety and comfort for many people. And supporting your head enhances the soothing quality of the forward bend, so the Chair Forward Bend may even have a quieting effect on your mind and your emotions, cooling negative emotions such as anger and anxiety.
For instructions and cautions, see: Chair Supported Forward Bend.
How much yoga can you do without getting out of your chair? Well, it turns out quite a lot! In fact, today’s mini sequence is a well-rounded practice that includes backbends, forward bends, a twist, a hip opener, and a relaxation pose, all of which can be done at your desk or at the airport. The entire sequence is accessible to almost everyone, including people who find it difficult to get up and down from the floor or who cannot stand.
1. Chair Cat Pose for six rounds (with six breaths). This seated version of Cat pose is a great way to counteract the tendency to round forward when you sit in front of your computer, laptop, or tablet, or commute in your car. For those who tend to assume a head forward position, this pose returns your head to a healthier alignment over your shoulders. And moving back and forth between arching and rounding your spine strengthens the muscles that support your head in a more even way. For all of us, moving your spine back and forth between flexion (rounded) and extension (arched) helps keep your spine healthy by providing nourishment to the bones and disks.
Because you move rhythmically with your breath in this pose, you take in more oxygen, which has a positive effect on your respiratory system and can help if you get winded easily. In addition, moving with your breath is a stimulating, which may perk you up when you are feeling sluggish and can help you focus your concentration. It’s a good way to kick start your practice when you are feeling fatigued or depressed. After you start gently moving in this pose, you may feel ready for some larger movements.
2. Chair Twist for one minute. This pose releases back muscles that are stiff or sore from sitting at a desk or from traveling, or from everyday activities that stress the back, such as gardening and painting, and increases the rotational mobility in your spine. Twisting also helps nourish the spine—movement of the spine helps maintain the health of the discs—and also strengthens the bones themselves as your back muscles pull on the bony insertions of the spine. This pose also strengthens the oblique muscles of your core (and we could all use a little of that). Traditional yoga teachers recommend twists for the health of your internal organs, improving circulation to and function of the abdominal organs, although no studies have been conducted to confirm this. And finally, for many of us, twists can release physical and emotional tension, providing relief from stress.
3. Chair Seated Forward Bend/Hip Opener for one to two minutes. This simple pose is another good antidote to sitting upright in your chair. An excellent hip opener, this forward bend counteracts the tightness of your hips that you develop from sitting with your legs straight in front of you, helping you to maintain mobility in your hip joints. The release in your hips can feel wonderful, and you may also feel a good stretch in your lower back and inner thighs. The pose also helps stretch and wake up your arms as you press them toward the floor. By changing your relationship to gravity, this pose helps release tension you’re holding in your back, neck, and head. This can be particularly helpful if you’ve spent hours in front of your computer screen or driving, and your neck is stiff or even painful. The partial inversion also stimulates your circulatory system and can re-enliven you if you’re feeling sluggish, stimulates your circulatory system.
4. Chair Backbend for 12 to 16 breaths. This simple chair backbend is the perfect antidote to the typical postural habits of slumping forward that we develop from sitting all day at our desks, in cars, and airplanes, and from the many everyday activities where we are bending forward, such as gardening or washing dishes. The basic back-bending shape re-establishes the natural curve of your lower back, correctly aligning your spine in its natural curves, which helps to keep your back healthy. The backbend also lengthens the front of your body, allowing many of us to breath in with greater ease. It helps release stress from your upper body, especially the upper chest. And while stretching the front of your body, the pose strengthens your back body muscles, which tend to be overstretched and weak if they are ignored. Because backbends in general tend to be uplifting, you may even find this pose helps encourage a more positive mood as you take deep inhalations and exhalations.
5. Supported Forward Bend for one to ten minutes. The simple supported forward bend is a safe forward bend for almost everyone. Because you’re bending your legs at the knees, you’re reducing the tension on your hamstrings and therefore allowing your pelvis to have more flexibility at your hip joints. In addition, because you’re resting your arms and head on a chair or desk and you’re not hanging in space, your lower back muscles can release more completely and relax more deeply. (Some of the seated forward bends with straight legs can aggravate lower back pain or disc problems because they pull so strongly on your back muscles and encourage the discs to move toward a posterior position, and you can sometimes over-strain your ligaments when you overdo.)
This forward bend can provide you a quiet moment in your busy day, and allows you to access the deep rest of conscious relaxation without lying on the floor, especially if you focus on your breath while you are in the pose. In addition, folding forward creates a feeling of safety and comfort for many people. And supporting your head enhances the soothing quality of the forward bend, so the Chair Forward Bend may even have a quieting effect on your mind and your emotions, cooling negative emotions such as anger and anxiety.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Healthy Spirits: New Arrivals
1. Weihenstepher glass boots
2. Almanac Honey Saison
3. Almanac Extra Pale
4. Anderson Valley Brother David Dubbel
5. Anderson Valley Brother David Tripel
6. Meantime Naval College Old Porter
7. Meantime Scotch Ale
8. Meantime Coffee Porter
9. De Proef+Hair of the Dog Signature Collaboration: Flanders Fred (Limit 2 per customer)
10. Mikkeller Farmhouse Invasion IPA (with brettanomyces)
11. Anchorage Brewing Bitter Monk DIPA
12. Magnolia Proving Ground IPA Growlers
cheers,
dave hauslein
beer manager
415-255-0610
Why You Should Study Yoga Philosophy
by Nina
Baxter’s post yesterday (see Does Home Practice Make You Healthier?) was packed full of interesting tidbits, wasn’t it? But one of the most striking comments for me was this one about yoga philosophy:
Notably, frequency of philosophy study was the yoga practice variable that most often predicted health. In addition, more frequent philosophy study also contributed to a lower BMI and higher odds of being a vegetarian. And this sometimes equated to only reading philosophy once a week.
Now I’ve been saying for some time, both to students and on this blog, that I felt yoga philosophy was one of yoga’s valuable tools for cultivating equanimity (see Acceptance, Active Engagement and the Bhagavad Gita and other posts on yoga philosophy). So it was wonderful to hear that this recent study offered some evidence to back me up! And I thought today I’d say a little bit about why I think yoga philosophy is so beneficial, and also mention a few ways for you to get started with yoga philosophy, if you have not already done so.
In general I think that yoga philosophy helps us cultivate equanimity because it provides an alternative way of thinking about our lives. Every day in our society we’re bombarded with advertising that tells us that in order to be happy, we must buy more and achieve more. That’s just due to the nature of capitalism, as, of course, various companies and individuals wanting to make money need to persuade us to be unhappy with our current situation and urge us to improve ourselves by buying their products and/or services. And striving for material success also seems to be built into our culture Unfortunately, for most of us, this pressure leaves us feeling continually unhappy and stressed out, caught in an endless cycle desire and dissatisfaction. What yoga philosophy does is remind us that there is another way thinking about our lives, and provides us with a different goal we can aim for: equanimity. The following quote from the Bhagavad Gita describes the yogi who has achieved equanimity.
He who hates no light, nor busy activity, nor even darkness, when they are near, neither longs for them when they are far.
Who unperturbed by changing conditions sits apart and watches and says “the powers of nature go round”, and remains firm and shakes not.
Who dwells in his inner self, and is the same in pleasure and pain; to whom gold or stones or earth are one, and what is pleasing or displeasing leave him in peace; who is beyond both praise and blame, and whose mind is steady and quiet.
Who is the same in honor or disgrace, and has the same love for enemies or friends.
Although it is obviously a lifelong quest to achieve the state of equanimity described above, I’ve found that it is very beneficial when I notice dissatisfaction taking over, to step back and at least remind myself there is a different point of view. Then I can begin to let go. And obviously the people interviewed in the study Baxter discussed found similar benefits.
So, if I have convinced you to start exploring yoga philosophy, where should you start? The two most frequently read yoga scriptures these days are the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita, and these books are a great place to begin. As they are very different from each other (and, indeed, their messages are very different as well), I thought I’d briefly describe them to you.
The Yoga Sutras is likely the most commonly cited scripture these days (though this probably was not true in the past). Composed in 150-200 C.E. by Patanjali, who may or may not have been a single person, the Yoga Sutras is a short, concise work of aphorisms. It is very intellectual and abstract as opposed to Bhagavad Gita, and while some people find it too dry and abstract. I myself find it a brilliant work on psychology and the nature of the mind. The Yoga Sutras is often considered by some to be the climax of a long development of yogic technology, and Patanjali’s school has come to be considered the authoritative system of the yoga tradition referred to as “classical yoga.”
There are many different translations, some with detailed commentaries, others with little or no explanation. I suggest you peruse several different versions to find the best one for you to start with. Being something of a nerd on the topic, I find myself using several different translations on a regular basis, including:
Light on the Yoga Sutras by BKS Iyengar, with Iyengar’s commentary
Barbara Stoler Miller’s translation
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Edwin F. Bryant
Desikachar’s very loose translation in The Heart of Yoga
Georg Fuerstein’s very literal translation in The Yoga Tradition
The Bhagavad Gita is one section of a much longer work, the dramatic epic poem the Mahabharata, written in approximately 500 to 400 BCE. The Gita tells the story of Arjuna, the most distinguished warrior in the Pandava army, as he stops and surveys his adversaries in the Kavara army. The Kavaras are power-hungry corrupt rulers who had usurped the throne. The peace-leaving Pandavas, on the other hand, have the welfare to the people at heart. So this is considered a moral war. Arjuna sees among the opposing forces many with whom the Pandavas have no quarrel, including highly esteemed teachers and elders. He tells Krishna, his charioteer and great friend, he is determined not to fight. His scruples center on the imagined personal consequences of his fighting: his guilt for the decimation of his people. Krishna speaks with him about yoga—the Gita is their dialogue—until he is once more resolved to fight. Some people Krishna’s advice to Arjuna to go into battle disturbing, but Mohandas K. Ghandi, who called the Gita his “mother,” considered the war to be a metaphor for the battle within our souls.
As with the Yoga Sutras, there are many different translations of the Bhagavad Gita, and I recommend that you search for a translation that speaks to you. Translation can make such a difference; I’ve seen the same definition of yoga translated in these different ways:
yoga is equanimity
yoga is balance
yoga is evenness of mind
I really enjoy both the simple, very accessible translation by Stephen Mitchell as well as the more vivid and dramatic one by Juan Mascaro. And I always turn to Georg Feuerstein when I want a translation that while awkward is as close as possible to the original Sanskrit.
Although these two scriptures are just the tip of the yoga philosophy iceberg, I promise you that these two very different books are rich with insights, and you can read them over and over. And I assure you that if you find just one helpful message or concept, it will be worth your time and effort. If reading these works by yourself is too daunting, consider finding a friend or two to read and discuss the books with (I did that for many years with one of my dearest long-time yoga friends).
Baxter’s post yesterday (see Does Home Practice Make You Healthier?) was packed full of interesting tidbits, wasn’t it? But one of the most striking comments for me was this one about yoga philosophy:
Notably, frequency of philosophy study was the yoga practice variable that most often predicted health. In addition, more frequent philosophy study also contributed to a lower BMI and higher odds of being a vegetarian. And this sometimes equated to only reading philosophy once a week.
Now I’ve been saying for some time, both to students and on this blog, that I felt yoga philosophy was one of yoga’s valuable tools for cultivating equanimity (see Acceptance, Active Engagement and the Bhagavad Gita and other posts on yoga philosophy). So it was wonderful to hear that this recent study offered some evidence to back me up! And I thought today I’d say a little bit about why I think yoga philosophy is so beneficial, and also mention a few ways for you to get started with yoga philosophy, if you have not already done so.
In general I think that yoga philosophy helps us cultivate equanimity because it provides an alternative way of thinking about our lives. Every day in our society we’re bombarded with advertising that tells us that in order to be happy, we must buy more and achieve more. That’s just due to the nature of capitalism, as, of course, various companies and individuals wanting to make money need to persuade us to be unhappy with our current situation and urge us to improve ourselves by buying their products and/or services. And striving for material success also seems to be built into our culture Unfortunately, for most of us, this pressure leaves us feeling continually unhappy and stressed out, caught in an endless cycle desire and dissatisfaction. What yoga philosophy does is remind us that there is another way thinking about our lives, and provides us with a different goal we can aim for: equanimity. The following quote from the Bhagavad Gita describes the yogi who has achieved equanimity.
He who hates no light, nor busy activity, nor even darkness, when they are near, neither longs for them when they are far.
Who unperturbed by changing conditions sits apart and watches and says “the powers of nature go round”, and remains firm and shakes not.
Who dwells in his inner self, and is the same in pleasure and pain; to whom gold or stones or earth are one, and what is pleasing or displeasing leave him in peace; who is beyond both praise and blame, and whose mind is steady and quiet.
Who is the same in honor or disgrace, and has the same love for enemies or friends.
Although it is obviously a lifelong quest to achieve the state of equanimity described above, I’ve found that it is very beneficial when I notice dissatisfaction taking over, to step back and at least remind myself there is a different point of view. Then I can begin to let go. And obviously the people interviewed in the study Baxter discussed found similar benefits.
 |
| Arctic Sun by Michele Macartney-Filgate |
The Yoga Sutras is likely the most commonly cited scripture these days (though this probably was not true in the past). Composed in 150-200 C.E. by Patanjali, who may or may not have been a single person, the Yoga Sutras is a short, concise work of aphorisms. It is very intellectual and abstract as opposed to Bhagavad Gita, and while some people find it too dry and abstract. I myself find it a brilliant work on psychology and the nature of the mind. The Yoga Sutras is often considered by some to be the climax of a long development of yogic technology, and Patanjali’s school has come to be considered the authoritative system of the yoga tradition referred to as “classical yoga.”
There are many different translations, some with detailed commentaries, others with little or no explanation. I suggest you peruse several different versions to find the best one for you to start with. Being something of a nerd on the topic, I find myself using several different translations on a regular basis, including:
Light on the Yoga Sutras by BKS Iyengar, with Iyengar’s commentary
Barbara Stoler Miller’s translation
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Edwin F. Bryant
Desikachar’s very loose translation in The Heart of Yoga
Georg Fuerstein’s very literal translation in The Yoga Tradition
The Bhagavad Gita is one section of a much longer work, the dramatic epic poem the Mahabharata, written in approximately 500 to 400 BCE. The Gita tells the story of Arjuna, the most distinguished warrior in the Pandava army, as he stops and surveys his adversaries in the Kavara army. The Kavaras are power-hungry corrupt rulers who had usurped the throne. The peace-leaving Pandavas, on the other hand, have the welfare to the people at heart. So this is considered a moral war. Arjuna sees among the opposing forces many with whom the Pandavas have no quarrel, including highly esteemed teachers and elders. He tells Krishna, his charioteer and great friend, he is determined not to fight. His scruples center on the imagined personal consequences of his fighting: his guilt for the decimation of his people. Krishna speaks with him about yoga—the Gita is their dialogue—until he is once more resolved to fight. Some people Krishna’s advice to Arjuna to go into battle disturbing, but Mohandas K. Ghandi, who called the Gita his “mother,” considered the war to be a metaphor for the battle within our souls.
As with the Yoga Sutras, there are many different translations of the Bhagavad Gita, and I recommend that you search for a translation that speaks to you. Translation can make such a difference; I’ve seen the same definition of yoga translated in these different ways:
yoga is equanimity
yoga is balance
yoga is evenness of mind
I really enjoy both the simple, very accessible translation by Stephen Mitchell as well as the more vivid and dramatic one by Juan Mascaro. And I always turn to Georg Feuerstein when I want a translation that while awkward is as close as possible to the original Sanskrit.
Although these two scriptures are just the tip of the yoga philosophy iceberg, I promise you that these two very different books are rich with insights, and you can read them over and over. And I assure you that if you find just one helpful message or concept, it will be worth your time and effort. If reading these works by yourself is too daunting, consider finding a friend or two to read and discuss the books with (I did that for many years with one of my dearest long-time yoga friends).
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Does Home Yoga Practice Make You Healthier?
by Baxter
Over the years, as I have worked with individuals on a variety of health issues using yoga as a therapeutic tool, I have observed that those who do a regular home practice (usually two to four times a week) have more dramatic and sustained improvement in their health. There are always other factors that come into play, but in general, if they do their work regularly, they feel better and function better over time. This has been especially true for the students who have chronic pain conditions. But can what I have observed informally be applied more broadly to our general population of yoga practitioners? And what if you are generally healthy? Does yoga give you an advantage over other things? Well, a new study seems to say yes to that and a few other propositions about yoga’s benefits.
In a recent study entitled “Frequency of Yoga Practice Predicts Health: Results of a National Survey of Yoga Practitioners,”the authors out of the University of Maryland School of Nursing and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center looked at the positive health benefits of yoga, not simply the therapeutic benefits of yoga for those with illness and injury. Their stated purpose was to examine the relationship between yoga practice and health by evaluating such things as subjective well-being, diet, BMI, smoking, alcohol/caffeine consumption, sleep, fatigue, social support, mindfulness, and physical activity. They chose the tool of a survey, administered to practitioners of a specific style of yoga with a strict standardization of teaching that would likely contribute to consistent instruction, Iyengar Yoga, which could lead to a more valid set of results. Out of a pool of over 18,000 potential students at fifteen Iyengar schools in the US, they sent out a cross-sectional, anonymous internet survey to 4307 randomly selected students. They received back 1045 (24.3%) surveys completed and ready for analysis.
When they evaluated their data, they found that home practice had the greatest predictive positive effect on health. Frequency of home practice favorably predicted the following: mindfulness, subjective well-being, BMI, fruit and vegetable consumption, vegetarian status, sleep, and fatigue. They also found that the different components of yoga practice also had some influence: “Each component of yoga practice (different categories of physical poses, breath work, meditation, philosophy study) predicted at least 1 health outcome.”
Finally, they concluded, “Home practice of yoga predicted health better than years of practice or class frequency. Different physical poses and yoga techniques may have unique health benefits.” This so wonderfully echoed something I probably say once a week in class: “I love that you come to yoga class once a week with me, but if you want to get the real benefits of yoga, you need to practice on your own a few times a week.” And, of course, Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra says the same thing when he states that you will achieve your goals when you practice regularly over a long period of time!
To recap what the authors were looking at, I quote their study once again:
“The objective of this study is to better understand the interrelationship between yoga practice and health. Specifically, the study addressed the contributions of yoga practice in general (years of practice, classes per month, and/or days per month of home practice) and practice of specific components of yoga practice (physical poses, breath work, meditation, and/or philosophy study) to these aspects of health. It is important to study the unique contributions of the individual components of yoga practice because some aspects of yoga practice may be more effective than others in improving specific health outcomes such as body weight, sleep, and mental health.”
I couldn’t agree more! As I work with individuals, I am always considering which component practices would best serve the unique circumstances an individual is working with in designing a home practice for them.
When reading the fine print, a few notable specific observations popped out at me, specifically related to the study of yoga philosophy. Notably, frequency of philosophy study was the yoga practice variable that most often predicted health. In addition, more frequent philosophy study also contributed to a lower BMI and higher odds of being a vegetarian. And this sometimes equated to only reading philosophy once a week.
When they looked at categories of poses, “vigorous poses remained an independent predictor of BMI and sleep quality, for every additional day per week of vigorous pose practice, BMI decreased .21 of a point, and sleep disturbance improved .26 of a point.” And doing gentle poses more often correlated to a greater chance of eating vegetarian diet and drinking less alcohol. In regards to fatigue, it seemed that for older practitioners, even a small amount of yoga had a positive effect on fatigue levels and sleep disturbances.
And since so many of us are concerned about eating in a healthy way as we age, “more frequent practice of gentle poses, including supine restorative poses and relaxation pose (Savasana), were associated with three aspects of health that deal with feeding behaviors or cravings: higher fruit and vegetable consumption, higher rates of vegetarianism, and lower alcohol consumption.”
When the question of how does yoga achieve these impressive results, the authors mention a theory on how yoga decreases stress: “It has been postulated that yoga impacts the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis and the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) response to stress, possibly via direct vagal stimulation.” In other words, yoga may have some impact on the endocrine and autonomic nervous systems that results in lowered stress reactions in the body. We have alluded to this mechanism of action in past blog posts, and although this study does not look at the biochemistry of those surveyed, this theory still seems plausible as an underlying explanation for yoga’s benefits.
I need to go back to the philosophy findings. The authors go on to note that all those who had regular philosophy study were also practicing a lot of yoga in general. They concluded,” Thus, any relationship between philosophy study and health may reflect the relationship of frequency and intensity of yoga practice to health. This provides more evidence that an intense practice involving all aspects of yoga practice may be more beneficial to health than a less intense practice that includes only one or two aspects of yoga practice, such as just practicing the physical poses or breath work.” Darn! I can’t just sit around and read about yoga and expect good health! But we all kind of know that already from our personal experience, don’t we?
So, does yoga lead to good health? Well, this study does not actually prove this. It infers that may be the case, but it does not conclude that yoga causes good health. It may seem like semantics, but it simply means more work needs to be done to show causality between practicing yoga and good health.
Like all studies, there were some blind spots. Some of the limitations of the study included: studying only to Iyengar yoga practitioners in the USA; anonymous online surveys have the potential for lots of inaccurate data; the response rate of 27% was low; most of the subjects were predominantly white, female, and highly educated, so diversity was not represented; and this kind of study allows one to draw inferences, but do not allow one to conclude that yoga actually impacts health.
Despite these limitations, yoga still looks like a good bet to help improve your overall health. It seems you don’t necessarily need to practice for years to get benefits, but the more you incorporate it into your daily life, the more likely you are to see the predicted positives come true for you.
Over the years, as I have worked with individuals on a variety of health issues using yoga as a therapeutic tool, I have observed that those who do a regular home practice (usually two to four times a week) have more dramatic and sustained improvement in their health. There are always other factors that come into play, but in general, if they do their work regularly, they feel better and function better over time. This has been especially true for the students who have chronic pain conditions. But can what I have observed informally be applied more broadly to our general population of yoga practitioners? And what if you are generally healthy? Does yoga give you an advantage over other things? Well, a new study seems to say yes to that and a few other propositions about yoga’s benefits.
In a recent study entitled “Frequency of Yoga Practice Predicts Health: Results of a National Survey of Yoga Practitioners,”the authors out of the University of Maryland School of Nursing and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center looked at the positive health benefits of yoga, not simply the therapeutic benefits of yoga for those with illness and injury. Their stated purpose was to examine the relationship between yoga practice and health by evaluating such things as subjective well-being, diet, BMI, smoking, alcohol/caffeine consumption, sleep, fatigue, social support, mindfulness, and physical activity. They chose the tool of a survey, administered to practitioners of a specific style of yoga with a strict standardization of teaching that would likely contribute to consistent instruction, Iyengar Yoga, which could lead to a more valid set of results. Out of a pool of over 18,000 potential students at fifteen Iyengar schools in the US, they sent out a cross-sectional, anonymous internet survey to 4307 randomly selected students. They received back 1045 (24.3%) surveys completed and ready for analysis.
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| Backyard Wild Flowers by Brad Gibson |
Finally, they concluded, “Home practice of yoga predicted health better than years of practice or class frequency. Different physical poses and yoga techniques may have unique health benefits.” This so wonderfully echoed something I probably say once a week in class: “I love that you come to yoga class once a week with me, but if you want to get the real benefits of yoga, you need to practice on your own a few times a week.” And, of course, Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra says the same thing when he states that you will achieve your goals when you practice regularly over a long period of time!
To recap what the authors were looking at, I quote their study once again:
“The objective of this study is to better understand the interrelationship between yoga practice and health. Specifically, the study addressed the contributions of yoga practice in general (years of practice, classes per month, and/or days per month of home practice) and practice of specific components of yoga practice (physical poses, breath work, meditation, and/or philosophy study) to these aspects of health. It is important to study the unique contributions of the individual components of yoga practice because some aspects of yoga practice may be more effective than others in improving specific health outcomes such as body weight, sleep, and mental health.”
I couldn’t agree more! As I work with individuals, I am always considering which component practices would best serve the unique circumstances an individual is working with in designing a home practice for them.
When reading the fine print, a few notable specific observations popped out at me, specifically related to the study of yoga philosophy. Notably, frequency of philosophy study was the yoga practice variable that most often predicted health. In addition, more frequent philosophy study also contributed to a lower BMI and higher odds of being a vegetarian. And this sometimes equated to only reading philosophy once a week.
When they looked at categories of poses, “vigorous poses remained an independent predictor of BMI and sleep quality, for every additional day per week of vigorous pose practice, BMI decreased .21 of a point, and sleep disturbance improved .26 of a point.” And doing gentle poses more often correlated to a greater chance of eating vegetarian diet and drinking less alcohol. In regards to fatigue, it seemed that for older practitioners, even a small amount of yoga had a positive effect on fatigue levels and sleep disturbances.
And since so many of us are concerned about eating in a healthy way as we age, “more frequent practice of gentle poses, including supine restorative poses and relaxation pose (Savasana), were associated with three aspects of health that deal with feeding behaviors or cravings: higher fruit and vegetable consumption, higher rates of vegetarianism, and lower alcohol consumption.”
When the question of how does yoga achieve these impressive results, the authors mention a theory on how yoga decreases stress: “It has been postulated that yoga impacts the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis and the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) response to stress, possibly via direct vagal stimulation.” In other words, yoga may have some impact on the endocrine and autonomic nervous systems that results in lowered stress reactions in the body. We have alluded to this mechanism of action in past blog posts, and although this study does not look at the biochemistry of those surveyed, this theory still seems plausible as an underlying explanation for yoga’s benefits.
I need to go back to the philosophy findings. The authors go on to note that all those who had regular philosophy study were also practicing a lot of yoga in general. They concluded,” Thus, any relationship between philosophy study and health may reflect the relationship of frequency and intensity of yoga practice to health. This provides more evidence that an intense practice involving all aspects of yoga practice may be more beneficial to health than a less intense practice that includes only one or two aspects of yoga practice, such as just practicing the physical poses or breath work.” Darn! I can’t just sit around and read about yoga and expect good health! But we all kind of know that already from our personal experience, don’t we?
So, does yoga lead to good health? Well, this study does not actually prove this. It infers that may be the case, but it does not conclude that yoga causes good health. It may seem like semantics, but it simply means more work needs to be done to show causality between practicing yoga and good health.
Like all studies, there were some blind spots. Some of the limitations of the study included: studying only to Iyengar yoga practitioners in the USA; anonymous online surveys have the potential for lots of inaccurate data; the response rate of 27% was low; most of the subjects were predominantly white, female, and highly educated, so diversity was not represented; and this kind of study allows one to draw inferences, but do not allow one to conclude that yoga actually impacts health.
Despite these limitations, yoga still looks like a good bet to help improve your overall health. It seems you don’t necessarily need to practice for years to get benefits, but the more you incorporate it into your daily life, the more likely you are to see the predicted positives come true for you.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Fruit...
No, not the eating kind (although I love my fruit) but the kind of fruit that you see after laboring long and hard. I have been on this journey many times in the last few years (okay, strike that- last MANY years). but this time, something is different. I don't know if it was seriousness of the doctor, the kidney issues I deal with and being tired of that, the fact I had to go on blood pressure meds, or something else completely different; but this time- something clicked and I knew it was time. Seeing myself in my picture from early June may have helped this thought process along for sure, bottom line, it was time. I began this journey in spin class on June 11 but that first week was "iffy" so in all honesty, I started this journey on June 18. Since that time, a span of two months and a few days, I have lost 14 lbs. and I don't even know how many inches (I wish I had measured before I started). In the process of losing I have also gained- I have gained new friends. I have made so many new friends in my spin class and I truly look forward to seeing them in class- their encouragement to me motivates me to keep on going. I have gained confidence- I am approaching my life with a different perspective and wondering what God has for me as a result of this journey. I have gained physically- I have pushed myself in ways I never thought possible and try to use each class to push me beyond what I did the first time.
Am I disappointed I haven't lost more- NO! I am learning from the fable The Tortoise and the Hare. I may not run like the hare and that's quite alright! Because slow and steady will win this race!
Am I disappointed I haven't lost more- NO! I am learning from the fable The Tortoise and the Hare. I may not run like the hare and that's quite alright! Because slow and steady will win this race!
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