1. Angry Orchard Apple Cider
2. 21st Amendment Monk's Blood
3. Lost Abbey Red Poppy
4. Old Crafty Hen Vintage Ale
5. Bruery Mischief
6. Bruery Saison Rue
7. Einstok Icelandic White Ale
8. Einstok Toasted Porter
9. Port Brewing Hop 15 DIPA
10. High Water Doppelsticke Alt
11. High Water Campfire Stout
12. Grand Teton Lost Continent DIPA
13. Oskar Blues Deviant Dale's IPA
14. New Glassware from Lost Abbey/Reissdorf/Duchesse De Bourgogne and Tripel Karmeliet
cheers,
dave hauslein
beer manager
415-255-0610
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Take Back Yoga!
by Nina
This morning I listened to a short piece on NPR this morning about the “Take Back Yoga” campaigned launched by the Hindu American Foundation (see here). According to this report, some American Hindus are saying yoga is about far more than exercise and breathing techniques, and they want recognition that it comes from a deeper philosophy, one, in their view, with Hindu roots. Sheetal Shah, senior director of the foundation, said, "What we’re trying to say is that the holistic practice of yoga goes beyond just a couple of asanas [postures] on a mat. It is a lifestyle, and it’s a philosophy. How do you lead your life in terms of truthfulness? And nonviolence? And purity? The lifestyle aspect of yoga has been lost."
If you’ve read this blog before, you already realize that none of us are in the “yoga is just a couple of asanas on a mat” camp. I’m even willing to bet that the four of us would agree the philosophy and lifestyle aspects of yoga will be more helpful than the asanas for allowing us to age gracefully. So I definitely agree with the Hindu American Foundation that many Americans have serious misconceptions about yoga. However, while we may agree that yoga is not just asanas, agreeing on exactly what it is, is more difficult than you might think.
In recent years I’ve done a lot of reading about yoga history and philosophy. And I’ve been particularly influenced by Georg Feuerstein’s masterful (and somewhat dry, I admit) The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice. One major insight this book brought me was what a minor part hatha yoga played during the history of yoga. Although yoga may be thousands of years old, for most of that time it had nothing at all to do physical postures. But another major insight for me was how little agreement there was during those thousands of years about what yoga was and how to practice it.
Even though yoga originally evolved as part of Hinduism, it was also adopted by the Sikhs, the Jains, and the Buddhists. And the different religions naturally had their own takes on yoga. But even among the Hindus, there were an enormous variety of interpretations, with a large schism developing between those who worshiped Vishnu and those who believed in Shiva. Then there was the dualism vs. non-dualism conflict, not to mention sex is good/bad, the body is good/bad, and you can achieve liberation in this lifetime/no you can’t. They didn’t even agree on how many “branches” of yoga there are! While classical yoga (the yoga of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras) has the well-known eight branches of yoga, other traditions have ten or twelve or even more.
So where does that leave us? There just is no simple answer. While some of you may find a teacher whose particular take on yoga you can adopt, others, like me, are left to piece something together for themselves. If you’re interested, you can start by reading some of the classic yoga texts, such as The Bhagavad Gita and The Yoga Sutras. Maybe you’ll even be willing to take on Georg Feuerstein’s book. Just be skeptical of anyone who claims there is only one right way to think about yoga.
This morning I listened to a short piece on NPR this morning about the “Take Back Yoga” campaigned launched by the Hindu American Foundation (see here). According to this report, some American Hindus are saying yoga is about far more than exercise and breathing techniques, and they want recognition that it comes from a deeper philosophy, one, in their view, with Hindu roots. Sheetal Shah, senior director of the foundation, said, "What we’re trying to say is that the holistic practice of yoga goes beyond just a couple of asanas [postures] on a mat. It is a lifestyle, and it’s a philosophy. How do you lead your life in terms of truthfulness? And nonviolence? And purity? The lifestyle aspect of yoga has been lost."
If you’ve read this blog before, you already realize that none of us are in the “yoga is just a couple of asanas on a mat” camp. I’m even willing to bet that the four of us would agree the philosophy and lifestyle aspects of yoga will be more helpful than the asanas for allowing us to age gracefully. So I definitely agree with the Hindu American Foundation that many Americans have serious misconceptions about yoga. However, while we may agree that yoga is not just asanas, agreeing on exactly what it is, is more difficult than you might think.
In recent years I’ve done a lot of reading about yoga history and philosophy. And I’ve been particularly influenced by Georg Feuerstein’s masterful (and somewhat dry, I admit) The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice. One major insight this book brought me was what a minor part hatha yoga played during the history of yoga. Although yoga may be thousands of years old, for most of that time it had nothing at all to do physical postures. But another major insight for me was how little agreement there was during those thousands of years about what yoga was and how to practice it.
 |
| Shadows of Leaves by Brad Gibson |
So where does that leave us? There just is no simple answer. While some of you may find a teacher whose particular take on yoga you can adopt, others, like me, are left to piece something together for themselves. If you’re interested, you can start by reading some of the classic yoga texts, such as The Bhagavad Gita and The Yoga Sutras. Maybe you’ll even be willing to take on Georg Feuerstein’s book. Just be skeptical of anyone who claims there is only one right way to think about yoga.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Sequencing in the Style of Krishnamacharya, Part 2
by Baxter
Last week, I introduced a few key concepts for you to consider as you think about trying to design a home practice using T. Krishnamacharya’s approach (see Sequencing in the Style of Krishnamacharya). Before diving into today’s discussion, you might want to take a few seconds to review that post. As we build our understanding of how to put a practice together, I’d like to share another foundational perspective and also introduce the concept of the “mini-vinyasa.”
In addition to having an eye to a goal for your practice, and understanding which stage of life you are in and what additional work or reflection you need to do as you start your practice, you need to evaluate on any given day whether your overall system in a state of fatigue, depletion or weakness or if you are in relative good health, energized, strong and balanced. Once you have an honest sense of that, you can apply another essential concept to how you will design and approach the yoga today.
Two terms help to clarify the way in which you will practice and even the attitude you will cultivate as you work: brahmana and langhana. Both concepts are very helpful when you are addressing injury or illness, but I find them helpful for everyday practice as well. And although Desikachar first connects these terms to how you breathe as you move between poses, I find the concepts can also be applied more generally.
Brahmana, which can translate as “to expand,” refers to a lengthening of the inhalation, with the possibility of adding a short pause or retention at the end of the inhale. This tends to energize and heat the body, which could be perfect for someone who’s underlying energy is a bit sluggish. Brahmana breathing tends to affect the chest and lungs more and anatomically fits better with back bending poses.
Langhana, which can translate as “to fast” or “to reduce,” refers to extending the length of the exhalation, with a possible pause or hold at the end of the exhale. Langhana practices tend to have a quieting and cooling effect on your system, so could be helpful in anxious or stressful times, as well as when you are generally depleted and need support. Langhana breathing tends to work better for forward bending practices and has a greater effect of the upper and lower belly, so could be good for processes of elimination.
In this system, unlike some others, you start working consciously with your breath with your very first asana sequence, since something called a “mini-vinyasa” is used. Instead of coming into a pose, say Warrior 2, and holding it for one to two minutes, with the mini-vinyasa method, you begin from a starting position, coordinate with your breath as you come into the full pose, and then return to the starting position with the next part of your breath. Typically this cycle is repeated about six rounds.
As an example, for Warrior 2, you would begin with your feet four feet apart, adjusted as usual, with your arms relaxed to your sides. On an inhalation, you would lift your arms up parallel with floor and bend your front knee to 90 degrees. Then, on your exhalation, you would lower your arms and straighten your front leg. You would then repeat this cycle five more times. And after completing six rounds on the right, you would repeat six round on the left.
To any mini-vinyasa, you could apply the concept of langhana or brahmana. In our example, since there is a natural expanding quality to the Warrior 2 pose, brahmana works more easily. So, as you enter the pose, you could take a four second inhalation, pause for one to two seconds in the pose, and then exhale naturally out of the pose. If your breathing gets ragged after only one or two rounds, you may not yet be ready to do this brahmana variation, so go gradually.
A full sequence or practice would involve a series of mini-vinyasa linked together to move you closer to your goal. To see illustrations of mini-vinyasa, see The Heart of Yoga by TKV Desikachar or Yoga for Wellness by Gary Kraftsow.
We’ll continue our journey toward understanding sequencing in the style of Krishnamacharya next time in Part 3!
Last week, I introduced a few key concepts for you to consider as you think about trying to design a home practice using T. Krishnamacharya’s approach (see Sequencing in the Style of Krishnamacharya). Before diving into today’s discussion, you might want to take a few seconds to review that post. As we build our understanding of how to put a practice together, I’d like to share another foundational perspective and also introduce the concept of the “mini-vinyasa.”
In addition to having an eye to a goal for your practice, and understanding which stage of life you are in and what additional work or reflection you need to do as you start your practice, you need to evaluate on any given day whether your overall system in a state of fatigue, depletion or weakness or if you are in relative good health, energized, strong and balanced. Once you have an honest sense of that, you can apply another essential concept to how you will design and approach the yoga today.
Two terms help to clarify the way in which you will practice and even the attitude you will cultivate as you work: brahmana and langhana. Both concepts are very helpful when you are addressing injury or illness, but I find them helpful for everyday practice as well. And although Desikachar first connects these terms to how you breathe as you move between poses, I find the concepts can also be applied more generally.
Brahmana, which can translate as “to expand,” refers to a lengthening of the inhalation, with the possibility of adding a short pause or retention at the end of the inhale. This tends to energize and heat the body, which could be perfect for someone who’s underlying energy is a bit sluggish. Brahmana breathing tends to affect the chest and lungs more and anatomically fits better with back bending poses.
Langhana, which can translate as “to fast” or “to reduce,” refers to extending the length of the exhalation, with a possible pause or hold at the end of the exhale. Langhana practices tend to have a quieting and cooling effect on your system, so could be helpful in anxious or stressful times, as well as when you are generally depleted and need support. Langhana breathing tends to work better for forward bending practices and has a greater effect of the upper and lower belly, so could be good for processes of elimination.
In this system, unlike some others, you start working consciously with your breath with your very first asana sequence, since something called a “mini-vinyasa” is used. Instead of coming into a pose, say Warrior 2, and holding it for one to two minutes, with the mini-vinyasa method, you begin from a starting position, coordinate with your breath as you come into the full pose, and then return to the starting position with the next part of your breath. Typically this cycle is repeated about six rounds.
As an example, for Warrior 2, you would begin with your feet four feet apart, adjusted as usual, with your arms relaxed to your sides. On an inhalation, you would lift your arms up parallel with floor and bend your front knee to 90 degrees. Then, on your exhalation, you would lower your arms and straighten your front leg. You would then repeat this cycle five more times. And after completing six rounds on the right, you would repeat six round on the left.
To any mini-vinyasa, you could apply the concept of langhana or brahmana. In our example, since there is a natural expanding quality to the Warrior 2 pose, brahmana works more easily. So, as you enter the pose, you could take a four second inhalation, pause for one to two seconds in the pose, and then exhale naturally out of the pose. If your breathing gets ragged after only one or two rounds, you may not yet be ready to do this brahmana variation, so go gradually.
A full sequence or practice would involve a series of mini-vinyasa linked together to move you closer to your goal. To see illustrations of mini-vinyasa, see The Heart of Yoga by TKV Desikachar or Yoga for Wellness by Gary Kraftsow.
We’ll continue our journey toward understanding sequencing in the style of Krishnamacharya next time in Part 3!
Monday, April 9, 2012
Three Happy Endings: Yoga for Better Sleep
by Nina
My friend Liz has a chronic disease but she takes great care of herself. She eats a healthy diet, and, when she is up to it, takes long walks and yoga classes at her neighborhood yoga studio. Because she has sleep problems, she recently decided to start practicing yoga at home as well, after she comes home at night. “It works!” she told me happily. “I sleep like a baby after doing yoga.” Today I decided to ask her what kind of yoga she does, and she said something very interesting. “It depends on what time I get home.” She went on to explain, “If I get home around 6:00 pm, I’ll do some flow yoga, with poses like Warrior 1, 2, and 3, and Half Moon pose. But If can’t practice until 8:00 or 8:30, that’s counter productive.”
“That makes perfect sense to me,” I said.
“Really?” Liz looked intrigued.
“Yes,” I explained. “Standing poses and vinyasa yoga are stimulating to your nervous system. When you stand up, your blood pressure has to rise to keep the blood pumping up toward your head. So if you do stimulating poses too close to bedtime, it’s going to be hard to go to sleep soon afterward. It’s like drinking a cup of coffee too late in the day.” Then I asked her what kind of poses she does if she can’t practice until 8:00 or 8:30.”
“Legs Up the Wall pose,” she replied. “And Shoulderstand and Plow pose. I also like to do that restorative yoga pose where you lie back on a bolster with your knees apart and the soles of your feet touching.”
“That’s perfect!” I said. “The first three are inverted poses, which automatically trigger the relaxation response. These are exactly the poses that are best to do right before bed to help you to sleep better. And that restorative pose is Supta Baddha Konasana or Reclined Bound Angle Pose, and it’s one of the most soothing and relaxing restorative poses.”
I went on to tell her that this is exactly the way I teach yoga for better sleep. It is important to get exercise during the day, but any vigorous exercise, including yoga, too late in the day can be over stimulating. So if you are having sleep problems, this is something you should consider when you are planning your day. Do your vigorous exercise, including standing poses, flow yoga, and backbends, earlier in the day. And try doing inverted poses, forward bends, or restorative yoga in the evening before bed to see if they help improve your sleep.
There’s no hard and fast rules, however. Liz discovered the best times for herself to practice vigorous versus relaxing yoga by experimenting. And the only way for you to find out the best times for yourself is by going through a similar process. However, I can tell you that if you take a nighttime yoga class and have difficulty sleeping afterward, when you come home, instead of getting right into bed, try practicing your favorite calming pose first and see if that helps.
Liz improving her sleep by practicing yoga at home is just one of the happy endings to this story. The second happy ending is that she made her home yoga practice her own by experimenting, observing, and coming up with her own yoga solutions that suited her particular needs and concerns. That, I told her, is advanced practice.
The third happy ending is that I asked Liz for her permission to write about her today, and she said yes. Thanks, Liz!
My friend Liz has a chronic disease but she takes great care of herself. She eats a healthy diet, and, when she is up to it, takes long walks and yoga classes at her neighborhood yoga studio. Because she has sleep problems, she recently decided to start practicing yoga at home as well, after she comes home at night. “It works!” she told me happily. “I sleep like a baby after doing yoga.” Today I decided to ask her what kind of yoga she does, and she said something very interesting. “It depends on what time I get home.” She went on to explain, “If I get home around 6:00 pm, I’ll do some flow yoga, with poses like Warrior 1, 2, and 3, and Half Moon pose. But If can’t practice until 8:00 or 8:30, that’s counter productive.”
“That makes perfect sense to me,” I said.
“Really?” Liz looked intrigued.
“Yes,” I explained. “Standing poses and vinyasa yoga are stimulating to your nervous system. When you stand up, your blood pressure has to rise to keep the blood pumping up toward your head. So if you do stimulating poses too close to bedtime, it’s going to be hard to go to sleep soon afterward. It’s like drinking a cup of coffee too late in the day.” Then I asked her what kind of poses she does if she can’t practice until 8:00 or 8:30.”
“Legs Up the Wall pose,” she replied. “And Shoulderstand and Plow pose. I also like to do that restorative yoga pose where you lie back on a bolster with your knees apart and the soles of your feet touching.”
“That’s perfect!” I said. “The first three are inverted poses, which automatically trigger the relaxation response. These are exactly the poses that are best to do right before bed to help you to sleep better. And that restorative pose is Supta Baddha Konasana or Reclined Bound Angle Pose, and it’s one of the most soothing and relaxing restorative poses.”
 |
| Flowers in the Shade by Brad Gibson |
There’s no hard and fast rules, however. Liz discovered the best times for herself to practice vigorous versus relaxing yoga by experimenting. And the only way for you to find out the best times for yourself is by going through a similar process. However, I can tell you that if you take a nighttime yoga class and have difficulty sleeping afterward, when you come home, instead of getting right into bed, try practicing your favorite calming pose first and see if that helps.
Liz improving her sleep by practicing yoga at home is just one of the happy endings to this story. The second happy ending is that she made her home yoga practice her own by experimenting, observing, and coming up with her own yoga solutions that suited her particular needs and concerns. That, I told her, is advanced practice.
The third happy ending is that I asked Liz for her permission to write about her today, and she said yes. Thanks, Liz!
Saturday, April 7, 2012
If your NEAT is low, maybe you should chill
I wrote most of this post a while ago, and then forgot about it. The recent blogosphere storm of comments regarding cold-induced thermogenesis caught me by surprise (), and provided a motivation to get this post out. Contrary to popular perception, I guess, cold-induced thermogenesis is an extensively researched topic. Some reasonably well cited references are linked here.
Let us backtrack a bit. When people say that they want to lose weight, usually what they really want is to lose is body fat. However, they frequently do things that make them lose what they do not want – muscle glycogen, water, and even some muscle protein. Physical activity in general depletes muscle glycogen; even aerobic physical activity.
Walking, for example, depletes muscle glycogen; but slowly, and proportionally to how fast one walks. Weight training and sprints deplete muscle glycogen much faster. Whatever depletes muscle glycogen also lowers the amount of water stored in myocytes (muscle cells), effectively reducing muscle mass. Depleted muscle glycogen needs to be replenished; protein and carbohydrates are the sources. If you deplete muscle glycogen through strength training, this will provide a strong stimulus for glycogen replenishment and thus muscle growth, even beyond the original level – a phenomenon called supercompensation ().
In conjunction with strength training, situations in which one burns mostly fat, and very little glycogen, should be at the top of the list for those wishing to lose weight by losing body fat and nothing else. These are not very common though. One example is nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), or heat generation from nonexercise activities such as fidgeting (). There is a great deal of variation in NEAT across individuals; for some it is high, for others it is annoyingly low.
Walking slowly is almost as good as NEAT for body fat burning, when done in conjunction with strength training. Up the pace a bit though, and you’ll be burning more muscle glycogen. But if you walk slowly you don’t burn that much body fat per unit of time. If you walk a bit faster you’ll burn more fat, but also more glycogen. C’mon, there is no way to win in this game!
This is why being physically active, in a “non-exercise way”, seems to be so important for health; together with strength training, limiting calorie intake, and all the while having a nutritious diet. These are not very common things in modern urban environments. Long term, there isn’t a lot of margin for error. It is ultimately a game of small numbers in the short term, played over long periods of time.
But there is an alternative if your NEAT is low – just chill. That is, another situation in which one can burn mostly fat, and very little glycogen, is exposure to mildly cold temperatures, but above the level that induces shivering (mild cold: 16 degrees Celsius or so; about 60 degrees Fahrenheit). Shivering in general, and particularly intense shivering, is associated with levels of muscle activity that would induce glycogen depletion () (). If muscle glycogen depletion happens while one is fasting, liver glycogen will be used to replenish muscle glycogen, and also to supply the needs of the brain – which is always hungry for glucose.
As the liver glycogen tank goes down beyond a certain point, and no protein or carbohydrates are eaten, the body will use amino acids from muscle to produce glucose. Muscle glycogen will be locked until it is needed. Interesting eh!? The body sacrifices muscle protein but doesn’t tap into muscle glycogen, which is only used to fuel violent muscle contractions. We are talking about fight-or-flight responses here. From an evolutionary perspective, sacrificing some muscle beats losing a lot of it to a predator any day.
Cold-induced thermogenesis is a very interesting phenomenon. The figure below, where open circles represent lean and closed circles obese folks, shows that it leads to different responses in lean and obese folks, and also that it presents a lot of variation across different individuals (like NEAT). This type of thermogenesis actually seems to be strongly associated with an increase in NEAT (); although it seems to also be associated with futile cycles used by the body to generate heat without any movement, as in thermogenesis during hibernation in certain animals () (). Having more brown fat as an adult, or being able to make brown fat more easily, is associated with more cold-induced thermogenesis; and also with a lower obesity risk.
In fact, cold-induced thermogenesis leads to an increase in energy expenditure that is comparable with that of another major energy sinkhole – overfeeding () (). Unlike overfeeding though, cold-induced thermogenesis does not require calories to go in. And, no, you don’t burn more than you take in with overfeeding.
How can one burn fat via cold-induced thermogenesis? Here are some ideas. Set the home thermostat to a mildly cold temperature in the winter (this will also save you some money). When it is a little cooler than normal, don’t wear heavy clothes. Take mildly cold showers, or end a warm shower with some mildly cold water.
What about more extreme cold exposure? It should be no surprise that one would feel pretty good after a dip in ice-cold water; that is, if the person does not suffer from a glycogen storage disease (e.g., McArdle's disease). At least in theory, that type of cold exposure should induce whole-body muscle glycogen depletion, just like an intense whole-body exercise session, with the resulting hormonal changes ().
Growth hormone should be up after that, perhaps for hours. Done right after weight training, or intense exercise, it may have a boosting effect on the hormonal response. But if you do that in the recovery phase (e.g., several hours after the weight training session), it should impair muscle recovery. It would be a bit like doing another strength training session, when the body is trying to recover from the previous one.
Let us backtrack a bit. When people say that they want to lose weight, usually what they really want is to lose is body fat. However, they frequently do things that make them lose what they do not want – muscle glycogen, water, and even some muscle protein. Physical activity in general depletes muscle glycogen; even aerobic physical activity.
Walking, for example, depletes muscle glycogen; but slowly, and proportionally to how fast one walks. Weight training and sprints deplete muscle glycogen much faster. Whatever depletes muscle glycogen also lowers the amount of water stored in myocytes (muscle cells), effectively reducing muscle mass. Depleted muscle glycogen needs to be replenished; protein and carbohydrates are the sources. If you deplete muscle glycogen through strength training, this will provide a strong stimulus for glycogen replenishment and thus muscle growth, even beyond the original level – a phenomenon called supercompensation ().
In conjunction with strength training, situations in which one burns mostly fat, and very little glycogen, should be at the top of the list for those wishing to lose weight by losing body fat and nothing else. These are not very common though. One example is nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), or heat generation from nonexercise activities such as fidgeting (). There is a great deal of variation in NEAT across individuals; for some it is high, for others it is annoyingly low.
Walking slowly is almost as good as NEAT for body fat burning, when done in conjunction with strength training. Up the pace a bit though, and you’ll be burning more muscle glycogen. But if you walk slowly you don’t burn that much body fat per unit of time. If you walk a bit faster you’ll burn more fat, but also more glycogen. C’mon, there is no way to win in this game!
This is why being physically active, in a “non-exercise way”, seems to be so important for health; together with strength training, limiting calorie intake, and all the while having a nutritious diet. These are not very common things in modern urban environments. Long term, there isn’t a lot of margin for error. It is ultimately a game of small numbers in the short term, played over long periods of time.
But there is an alternative if your NEAT is low – just chill. That is, another situation in which one can burn mostly fat, and very little glycogen, is exposure to mildly cold temperatures, but above the level that induces shivering (mild cold: 16 degrees Celsius or so; about 60 degrees Fahrenheit). Shivering in general, and particularly intense shivering, is associated with levels of muscle activity that would induce glycogen depletion () (). If muscle glycogen depletion happens while one is fasting, liver glycogen will be used to replenish muscle glycogen, and also to supply the needs of the brain – which is always hungry for glucose.
As the liver glycogen tank goes down beyond a certain point, and no protein or carbohydrates are eaten, the body will use amino acids from muscle to produce glucose. Muscle glycogen will be locked until it is needed. Interesting eh!? The body sacrifices muscle protein but doesn’t tap into muscle glycogen, which is only used to fuel violent muscle contractions. We are talking about fight-or-flight responses here. From an evolutionary perspective, sacrificing some muscle beats losing a lot of it to a predator any day.
Cold-induced thermogenesis is a very interesting phenomenon. The figure below, where open circles represent lean and closed circles obese folks, shows that it leads to different responses in lean and obese folks, and also that it presents a lot of variation across different individuals (like NEAT). This type of thermogenesis actually seems to be strongly associated with an increase in NEAT (); although it seems to also be associated with futile cycles used by the body to generate heat without any movement, as in thermogenesis during hibernation in certain animals () (). Having more brown fat as an adult, or being able to make brown fat more easily, is associated with more cold-induced thermogenesis; and also with a lower obesity risk.
In fact, cold-induced thermogenesis leads to an increase in energy expenditure that is comparable with that of another major energy sinkhole – overfeeding () (). Unlike overfeeding though, cold-induced thermogenesis does not require calories to go in. And, no, you don’t burn more than you take in with overfeeding.
How can one burn fat via cold-induced thermogenesis? Here are some ideas. Set the home thermostat to a mildly cold temperature in the winter (this will also save you some money). When it is a little cooler than normal, don’t wear heavy clothes. Take mildly cold showers, or end a warm shower with some mildly cold water.
What about more extreme cold exposure? It should be no surprise that one would feel pretty good after a dip in ice-cold water; that is, if the person does not suffer from a glycogen storage disease (e.g., McArdle's disease). At least in theory, that type of cold exposure should induce whole-body muscle glycogen depletion, just like an intense whole-body exercise session, with the resulting hormonal changes ().
Growth hormone should be up after that, perhaps for hours. Done right after weight training, or intense exercise, it may have a boosting effect on the hormonal response. But if you do that in the recovery phase (e.g., several hours after the weight training session), it should impair muscle recovery. It would be a bit like doing another strength training session, when the body is trying to recover from the previous one.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Friday Q&A: Squarers Beware!
 |
| Triangle Pose (Trikonasana) from Yoga: The Poetry of the Body |
A: When I read your question, I heard my teacher, Donald Moyer, saying, "Squarers beware!" Yes, there definitely has been an evolution in the understanding of the positioning of the back leg in Triangle pose, as well as other related standing poses (Warrior 2, Extended Side Angle) in the Iyengar world. I asked Baxter to elaborate. —Nina
A: As you adjust your feet, turning your right foot out 90 degrees, and kicking your back heel back about an inch or two, your hips will naturally turn a bit toward the front leg. Let this happen! This position keeps the top back of your sacrum wide and relaxed, unlike what happens when you strongly externally rotate your back thigh bone or try to square your hips with the long edge of your mat.
The old school instructions tend to cause narrowing and bunching of the muscles and soft tissues of the left sacroiliac joint, in our present example, which over time I believe can contribute the sacroiliac joint dysfunction and lower back pain. So, again, let your hips rotate a bit to the right. Once you tip your hips and spine out over the right leg, simply firm the inner edge of your back leg (adductors) toward the outer edge of your back leg (ileo-tibial band), and you will have a nice strong feeling in your back leg to assist in grounding of your back foot. Maintain the rightward rotation of your pelvis, even as you rotate your upper belly and chest up toward your top arm. On more occasions than I can count, when I have taught this version of Triangle pose, the old schoolers comment on how much better the pose feels in the pelvis and lower back. See what you think! —Baxter
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Featured Pose: Standing Side Stretch
This simple pose is a wonderful all-over stretch. Like last week’s Upward Bound Hands pose, Standing Side Stretch, also called New Moon or Half Moon pose, is the perfect antidote to working with your arms down by your sides all day. Raising your arms overhead reverses the effect of gravity on your arms and reestablishes the full range of motion of your collar blades and shoulder blades. This pose also lengthens the front of your legs and the backs of your knees, which are typically closed in the sitting position. Side bending brings greater length and opening to the muscles and joints on your side body, and stretches the muscles that run from the shoulder blades to upper arms, from lower back to the arm bones, and all the side waist and side hip muscles.
In addition, by taking your spine into conscious side bending, a movement that occurs rarely in every day living, you are helping to maintain the mobility of your spine, nourishing the joints and disks.
Lengthening the sides of your torso is a good preparation for back bends, forward bends, and twists. It’s also a good way to warm up for standing pose, and for seated poses that involve side bending, such as Revolved One-Legged Forward Bend or Gate pose. This pose takes up very little space and requires no props, which is why we’re including it in our office/travel yoga practice. If standing isn’t possible, you can do the arm position and side bending from a seated position.
Baxter prescribes this for:
- Shoulder stiffness
- General strengthening needed due to weakness or fatigue
- Improving breathing for conditions such as asthma and COPD
- Stabilizing the knee joint (for people with knee injuries)
- A counter-pose for runners, bikers and hikers, who tend to hold a lot of tension in their lateral hips
- Carpal tunnel (because releasing the shoulders can be helpful for the hands)
- Rotator cuff injuries
- Arthritis
- Balance problems (because you are shifting the weight slightly from one foot to another)
Now, on an exhalation, let your hips shift to the left a few inches as you tip your torso and upper body to the right, making sure you’re not rotating your hips or chest as you do so. As you tip to the side, maintain the parallel relationship between your arms. Also, keep your head evenly positioned between your arms, and in a neutral position, aligned with your spine, your eyes gazing forward.
You can do this pose dynamically as a preparation for the Moon Salute by inhaling to one side, exhaling back to center, inhaling to the other side, and then exhaling back to center. Repeat the pattern up to six rounds.
When you are reading to come out of the pose, return to vertical on an exhalation. On your next exhalation, let your arms float back down to your sides. Exhale back to vertical. On the following exhalation, let your arms float back to your sides.
If raising your arms overhead is not possible, you can do a side stretch with your hands on your hips as shown below. While this does not provide the same stretch for your shoulders, you still get the benefit of the torso stretch and spinal side bend.
If your SI joint is unstable, be sure to lift your torso away from your hips as you bend to the side. If you have shoulder problems, you can spread your arms wide or practice with your hands on your hips.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)