namasteph yoga blog

I was doing really well with my yoga practice – I was doing yoga almost every day at home and going to classes at least once a week. Then I took a trip to Mexico for a weekend, came back with a touch of Montezuma, Halloween hit, then the election, and I’ve been trying to get back into my yoga groove for a few weeks now.

It’s funny how once you stop, it’s so much harder to get going again.

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The theme for kundalini yoga this week apparently is “Let’s put our students into some serious pain!” The recommended yoga set is one that includes lifting up your legs at 60 degrees angles as fast as you can. This isn’t just 60 degrees straight up, but 60 degrees out to the side as well. If you have never done this before (like me), you are in for a world of hurt once the class is over.

I performed this set in class on Sunday night and it’s three days later and my thighs are still in agony. I can barely walk. I am hobbling around like an old woman and wince in pain each time I shift from sitting to standing. When I sleep at night, even some of my regular sleep positions put strain on the tender areas and make it hard to get comfortable.

Was it worth it? Well, I would say that the set did clear out a lot of energy and emotionally I feel terrific. But my body is seriously paying the price. I’m skipping kundalini class until they’ve moved on to a kinder, gentler set.

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Sat Nam Rasayan is a healing modality that comes from kundalini yoga. I took a Sat Nam Rasayan class the other night with Hari Nam Singh. He is a kind, friendly guy who is somewhat reminiscent of a Santa Claus in a turban. The class consists of the teacher guiding the students through a meditative state of “awareness” that allows for healing to take place.

I found the session to be quite relaxing and peaceful. I did not have any overwhelming moments of “a-ha” or anything like that, but the next day I was pretty tired, which tells me that some healing happened and my body was adjusting. The nice thing about this healing modality is that it is meditative in nature and does not require any bodywork, movements, or “woo-woo” rituals. As such, it’s something really anybody could benefit from and enjoy.

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I discovered that Blockbuster has some yoga videos to rent online. The selection is pretty thin but I managed to find Yoga Journal’s Yoga for Stress With Dr. Baxter Bell.

You might think from the cover (an attractive blond woman) that Dr. Bell is a woman, but no. Dr. Bell is a guy, and there aren’t any blond women in the video whatsoever (two brunettes, actually). It’s funny how so many yoga videos these days use cover models that have nothing whatsoever to do with the video content. But I digress. It’s nice to have some more male yoga instructors on video other than just Rodney Yee. (More men in yoga, please!)

Dr. Bell leads you through a fairly standard hatha yoga routine, with fairly precise instruction. I personally found the instruction to be way too detailed for my tastes, way too focused on the minute particulars of anatomy, though I do understand that some folks like that sort of thing. (Note: I read in another review that apparently there is an audio track you can use with less talking, but I did not see that during my trial.)

The poses themselves did not seem to be particularly stress-relieving: This is an actual workout. If you are looking for a gentle or restorative DVD, this would not be it.

With the talkative instruction and standard yoga workout, Yoga for Stress didn’t really inspire me. I found myself lukewarm about the DVD and sent it back to Blockbuster without using it again. I certainly don’t think it’s a bad video, and perhaps I’ll rent it again at some point in the future to see if I have a different opinion on a fresh viewing.

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I hear from a lot of my yoga teachers that the best time to do yoga is first thing in the morning, right after you get up, to start your day off on the right track.

I must confess, I have yet to successfully get into the habit of first-thing-in-the-morning yoga. My first go-to in the morning is my email. When I first wake up, my brain is not quite awake yet, I’m still sleepy, and my body is sluggish. I don’t want to speak to anyone, chat on the phone, or bounce my body around in 20 sun salutations. I drag myself to the computer, read my email, check the online news, and if my brain is really high-functioning that morning, maybe even respond to some email.

My personal yoga practice is something I prefer to do right before I go to bed. It’s not a strenuous practice. I’m not working on building up my upper body strength, so an onslaught of planks and chaturangas isn’t the goal. It’s more about stretching my body and calming my mind down before I sleep.

Maybe I’m just an incorrigible night person, but that seems to be what works best for me.

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Here’s a message sent out by Los Angeles Kundalini Yoga Instructor Guru Singh on the financial crisis:

Sat Nam – Dear Ones,
Right here now there are many forces at play in these cosmos and this world: some of
them are feeding off our collective human energy without our conscious knowledge
while additional forces, in each of our worlds, are our allies . . . siblings of our
dharmic destiny . . . rocks of Gibralter that stand by us to gather the support that
we can rely upon. It is each of our personal responsibilities to know the difference
between the two and have the mindset, skillset, toolset and willset to make the
conscious difference.

Read the rest of “A Yogic Message for the Financial Crisis” »

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Super Brain Yoga (sometimes spelled Superbrain Yoga) is a technique brought to us by pranic healing. It is an exercise that is supposed to balance the left and right hemispheres on the brain. It is supposed to help you become smarter. Some report that it has helped children with autism. Here is a news report on the technique:

For a demonstration, check out this video. (However, according to the information I’ve read, this woman has the inhale and exhale mixed up. You should inhale on the way down and exhale on the way up.)

For specific instructions, check out these links:

http://www.aarpmagazine.org/health/your_brain_on_exercise.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2330888_do-super-brain-yoga.html

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I was really excited last year to be a part of the Global Mala Project, instigated by Shiva Rea. The Global Mala Project had the intention to raise awareness and raise money for many worthy causes. I had volunteered last year and was looking forward to volunteering again this year.

Sadly, however, the community and grassroots vibe that seemed to permeate the first Global Mala Project seems to have been subsumed by a larger more commercial enterprise known as “Yoga Month.” The actual date of the Global Mala Project being overshadowed by “Yoga Health Festivals,” which are really just an excuse for vendors to show up and sell all their consumerist yoga gear.

Of course, there were vendors hawking yoga wares at last year’s Global Mala Project, but the overall goal seemed to be about the consciousness, the charity.

Yoga Month, and by extension, the “Yoga Health Festivals,” has a decidedly corporate, marketing feel to me. Oh, the website claims it’s about charity, but I’m dubious when the charity involved is one that is marketing yoga to kids under the guise of getting people to be healthier.

Don’t get me wrong – yoga has wonderful health benefits. But I’ve got a nose for BS and I’d guess that the financial rewards reaped by large yoga companies is their primary motive here, not making the world a better place. Getting kids sucked into an expensive yoga lifestyle is a good way to create new lifelong customers.

Yoga is a very big business now. Profit-driven yoga companies such as Hard Tail, whose exploitative, sexualized ads aren’t any different from what you’d find in a fashion magazine, aren’t necessarily any more “conscious” than a regular company, except that you can at least use their products to hit the mat. Granted, there are a lot of conscious, capitalist companies that strive to be more environmental and aware in their business practices, but that does not negate the fact that at the end of the day, they are still profit-driven.

Keep that in mind when the yoga marketing machine directs its sights on you.

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I don’t have back problems but I love doing yoga that makes my back feel good. I was thus quite interested in Yoga Zone’s Yoga for a Strong and Healthy Back DVD.

The DVD offers two separate 20 minute workouts that you can also do back to back. One uses a female instructor, the other, a male. Both workouts are focused heavily on spinal twists as the main focus for the back. They are fairly easy workouts and should be accessible to most beginners who are relatively healthy and don’t have major physical limitations. I can’t speak as to whether these workouts will be OK for those with back issues, however.

I was a bit disappointed that neither workout included any significant backbends. Even a cobra would have been nice. Because of this, I found the workouts to be a little bit of a letdown for me personally. These are workouts I’d do on those days where I had low energy and didn’t want to get too physical with my yoga practice. The most challenging thing you have to do here is stand in chair pose and twist.

The setting was in Jamaica, which really didn’t matter to me much as we mostly saw the teachers sitting on mats in front of a beach. The music was a little cheesy and Jamaica-inspired, but nothing overly annoying.

I thought the instruction itself was clear and otherwise found the DVD to be pleasant. I’ll give this DVD a B-, only because I think it’s way too focused on twists.

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Let me first state outright that I am one of those “embittered” Hillary Clinton supporters who will not be voting for Barack Obama in the fall. It’s not just about Hillary or the fixed Democratic primary, by the way…as an intuitive, I get real bad energy from Obama. I liked him at first, before I took a closer look, but now he makes my skin crawl.

So I just don’t get how new age people fall for the hype that Obama is this messianic messenger from the light. I think he’s a cynical, calculating, power-hungry Chicago politician who parrots progressive talking points or whatever else is the flavor of the moment to get ahead. (Obama’s dramatic flip-flop on FISA is proof of this.)

Yet, here in California, it seems, the leftist new age has embraced Obama as the Second Coming of Krishna. Fortunately, most yoga classes I have been to have been pretty neutral for the most part, though they sometimes imply that perhaps the Democrat would be a better president, they almost never say so outright.

Not so for one Boulder, Colorado yoga studio: They have gone so far as to add Obama yoga classes to their schedule. Called “OmBama Yoga,” these classes are described as follows:

OMbama Yoga classes! Enjoy these radically inspiring all level yoga classes of incredible, heartfelt practices for change! Join us for an eclectic and joyful practice as we celebrate the upcoming election and the opportunity of participating in the political process with one another and invoking the spirit of Obama’s own phrase, YES WE CAN! The instructors who will be leading these practices will be sharing their unique styles and collaborating with one another to inspire and serve and support you in this election year!

Can I just say: OMmy??!!! This is a bit much.

I personally would like to see politics kept out of yoga. As I’ve admitted above, I am not a fan of Obama. But even if I was, I just don’t think yoga is the place for it. You can’t assume everyone (even a fellow progressive) likes your particular candidate. I think yoga should be inclusive, and open its arms to people of all beliefs and political stripes. I’d be more open to an OmBama Yoga class if there was a similar OmMcCain Yoga class to balance it out.

You’d think that with a woman running for president, someone would have come up with Hillary Yoga, but it seems that a lot of women prefer to go for the young good-looking man over the “reminds me of mom” older woman when it comes to politics. Sigh.

Perhaps this liberal yoga studio has found their OmBama class to be popular, but is it also chasing away other potential yoga participants? I will tell you that I have stopped going to the Agape International Spiritual Center here in Culver City until the election is over. I don’t want to go for spiritual upliftment just to get hit with random Obama commercials during the service.

Early in the primaries, when Hillary and Obama were fairly even, I got earfuls of hateful spew from a few young women – yes, women – in line at Agape, who were angry that Hillary was so presumptuous to want to be president. Then I entered into the sanctuary only to be bombarded with Obama advertisements from the guy reading the announcements. I had enough and have not gone back since.

I know Obama quickly became the progressive darling this year, but I think it’s wrong to assume that everyone who is into yoga and spiritual things is automatically an Obama convert. Personally, I think Obama is dangerous due to the cult-like effect he has on followers, and for precisely the reason that he has “inspired” his own yoga class, I’m steering clear of Obama brainwashing in my yoga and spiritual life.

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