Student Q&A: How-To-Breathe

Lately, I've had several beginner-level students ask me after class about breathing, and how to "do it right." 

This is a really common concern and one that deserves a proper response.

First, there is no "wrong way," to breathe. Of all the many behaviors we complete, this is one that will happen whether we are thinking about it or not. That said, there are ways to breathe that are more efficient for certain activities. Unlike most activities, yoga asks that we pay close and conscious attention to how we are breathing. This can pose a challenge in-and-of itself, as having to notice something that you have never had to notice before will bring about new insights and ideas. 

I like to explain it like this: our breathe is like fuel for our bodies. When we are doing something like yoga, we need fuel to move us along in a way that is supportive and efficient. The breath delivers energy to our physical body as we are challenging it with the effort of strengthening, stabilizing and lengthening it's various layers. By bringing a greater amount of oxygen into the blood supply, we are able to "fuel" our muscle body while also releasing waste material that can get in the way of clarity (in the physical and mental layer). 

Whether you are inhaling when the instructor says to exhale or vice versa, as long as you are breathing, you are on a path toward more efficient energy use. Typically, there are movement patterns that make more sense to do with a particular part of the breath. For example, cat pose is generally instructed with an exhalation as the physical structures in the body draw toward the mid line and contract, much like the anatomy of an exhale causes the respiratory muscles to (essentially) draw together. However, there is an argument for switching the breathing pattern, as in performing the shape of cat pose while inhaling. 

Secondly, simply noticing that you, "don't know how to breathe," or "don't get the breathing exercise," offered in class that day is a remarkable insight! 

As one of my teachers says, "Confusion is a form of clarity."

Part of the process of yoga is realizing when something is confusing, over-your-head, strikingly clear and even unremarkable. We all have moments of grasping for perfection, beginner or master. The important thing to know is that with practice, it all becomes clearer and easier. So...show up to class, pay attention to how you are breathing, and find the flow of your own breath as it fuels you to move and synchronize with that space within that is already complete. 

Enjoy this compilation [YouTube video below] while continuing to surf the interwebs! 

Be well,

Niki

How Do You Stand in Your Life?

In 5 days I will be leading a workshop with my friend and colleague Jennifer Netherby at a local studio in North Hollywood. We have been doing a series of workshops we call, "Nail It," to dancers and yogis with special interest in learning more about how to move safely in their bodies.

This weekend, we will be focusing on the feet and how we find balance in challenging experiences.

Leslie Kaminoff, my anatomy teacher, says it like this:
"Our feet are the only structures in our body that were designed to have a relationship with the Earth."

I find this completely fascinating and beautiful. Often in my classes I will instruct my students to feel their feet and begin to have a conversation with the mat through them. The way we hold our weight against the Earth has significant affects on our experience of wellness, balance and power.

Naked, our feet are incredibly designed and fashioned for the unexpected. In healthy feet, our arches support every step we take by absorbing the shock we emit at almost 3x our own body weight. Each set of 28 bones helps to organize the dozens of muscles which can articulate with as much accuracy as our hands. Sadly, most people will loose their innate foot power by wearing "cute," but  non-supportive footwear and walking for a lifetime on manicured, landscaped and homogeneous surfaces.

Hatha Yoga, by its very nature, will strengthen your feet, encourage articulation of the toes and increase the supportive arch in the muscle tissue. Without the ability to stand with an even effort of grounding and rebounding, we stand to risk injury (bunions), disease (plantar fascitis) and loss of well-being (joint pain in the knees or hips, poor circulation, lack of mobility in the toes).

For years I never thought about my feet. I didn't like how they looked, I cared more about what my shoes looked like, and had no idea that they were responsible for so much potential energy. Having broken my big and middle toe during the fall of last year, I know that my regular yoga practice and awareness of my feet helped to alleviate a lot of the associated pain, headache and balance issues that come with a major bone break.

This blog post isn't doing much justice for the prowess of our kickers. If you're local to Los Angeles, come over to Aeriform Arts this Sunday to learn the details of how to cultivate strong feet and an even stance. I'll write again soon about some of the cool mechanics of how we actually move about the Earth.


Cheers,
Niki

The Poetry of Prana

I am a poet. I love poetry...and I have a real soft spot for spoken word. For me, it is the love-child born from the esoteric allure of oral tradition and the intellectually adept prowess of literature.

Among some of my favorite story-tellers are Saul Williams, William S. Burroughs, and Buddy Wakefield. Lucky for me, I found Mr. Wakefield on my other favorite thing, TED Talks.

I've included a link below to his brilliant idea - noteworthy and acute. He gives a heady, vibrant talk about his experience with vipassana meditation, a form of breath centered meditation found worldwide. The closest training site to us here in Los Angeles is at the Sivananda Ashram in Grass Valley, Ca.


Buddy Wakefield on Vipassana:

This is the dialogue that doesn't end...yes, it goes on and on my friend...

As you may or may not know, the kind of yoga that I teach is based on the philosophies of an "old sage," the "father of Hatha Yoga," the one know as Patanjali. This philosophy outlines a system or path to find "enlightenment," "peace of mind," or "self-realization." One of the ways to get there is through seated meditation. (Fun fact: hatha yoga, the yoga we in the West see as normal yoga..the stuff on magazine covers and in clothing adds...is yet another way to get to "enlightenment," and is also the prerequisite for seated meditation)

The following is a good write-up of some of the benefits and how-to's for your own meditation practice.

Let the conversation begin... enjoy!

Compliments of Yoga Journal Online

Nail It 2: Backbends Workshop and a Look Back

I am super excited about the second Nail It: Backbends workshop (Happening January 27 from 4-6pm at Aeriform Arts in North Hollywood - sign up here!). This go-round, we'll be focusing on opening the shoulders to go deeper into backbends without injury.

Our first workshop focused on neutral pelvic alignment to support the root of the pose. This time, we are working on the blossom! Think of the two workshops together as a balance of sthira (stability) and sukha (freedom).

The low back is super bendy while the mid and upper back are tight (For a reason - they're protecting our heart, lungs and other important organs).  By stabilizing the low back (Which isn't actually built to bend deep), allows more freedom in the mid/upper back for a deeper backbend.  

Finding Stability: First stand how you normally do sideways by a mirror. Look in the mirror and notice if your low back is arched so the butt sticks out or curved so the butt is tucked under. Know that this tendency (no matter how slight) is probably where you're starting from as you move into your backbend. To go deeper, you want to start from a neutral pelvis and stabilized low back.

Finding Neutral: Stand with your feet parallel and lift your arches upward. You might feel a lifting of the quads and a toning of the belly, which may even allow for a softening and broadening of the shoulders. 

Play with this and notice how it feels in your pelvis and low back. Once you find that stabilizing position, you can begin to lift the sternum toward your chin as the upper body begins to extend. 

A final note to remember: Backbends require courage!  This T.E.D. Talk by Brene Brown  inspired our first workshop where she defines courage in an original and quite yogic way!  Courage: To tell the story of who you are with your whole heart...be imperfect...be vulnerable. 

Hope to see you at our second workshop! 

My First Juice Cleanse

As part of my advanced teacher-training credential, I participated in a 3-day juice cleanse. The Pressed Juicery sourced our cleanse with cold-pressed, delicious juices.

I have a pretty clean already: I don't eat meat or dairy, and generally eat only a small amount of processed foods sparingly throughout the week...like levied bread or a treat with cheese in it. Some sushi or cooked salmon sometimes, too. I cut out bleached sugar and sugar alternatives years ago along with glycerin-based foods, soda and candy. I also don't really drink a lot of caffeine..some black tea or a coffee now and again. But I was curious what the cleanse would be like.

I have one more aloe vera/water drink left tonight before the cleanse is over and I am surprised to report that I feel very normal. Some of the other people in my group doing the cleanse have had varied responses...from crankiness and headaches to complete juice-rejection... vomiting, chills, the whole bit. I have to think that I feel so normal because my GI tract didn't have that much stuff to get rid of. Because of this, I'm planning to do a heavy-metals cleanse.

This is what I've gotten from the juice cleanse:
1. Veggie juice cut with ginger and lemon is incredibly energizing and a much better choice for me in the morning than a chai tea.
2. I can consume a lot of liquid and not feel hungry. This makes me think that I mistake hunger for thirst kind of regularly.
3. I don't need as much protein as I thought to have enough cognitive energy and zest to get through my hectic schedule each day.
4. Having healthy food prepared before I start said hectic schedule gives me a real relief during the middle of the day when I become tired or irritable and don't want to think about making myself something or scavenging around LA for real food.
5. Juice cleanses are an awesome break to notice things like: food cravings; habitual cravings sourced from comfort or emotional stuff; how commercialized eating has become; cleanses are more fun in groups.

If some radical shift happens in the next 2-3 days as I start to reintroduce solid foods again, I will post an update! Happy eating everyone :)

It's 2013!! We live in the future.

Tis the season for making resolutions of transformation and possibly [most likely] not fulfilling them. Based on my observation and experience as a behavior therapist, analyzing and strategising ways to create efficient and helpful behaviors in people, I've found that we tend to set ourselves up for failure.

How about this year, we set ourselves up for success with specific goals and intentions that spring from a much broader idea of being?

I got this note from the Universe today:

Considering your grandest and most glorious dreams, niki:

When your thoughts and visualizations pertain to the "hows" (how they will come true), or when they include an insistence upon unimportant details (virtually all details are unimportant; think of them, yes, but just don't attach to them), or when they require specific people to behave in specific ways... at the very best, your efforts will only increase the likelihood of your desired dream coming to pass. 

Whereas, when your grandest and most glorious dreams are BIG-picture items, like rocking abundance, total fulfillment, amazing health, vivacious happiness, and the like, the floodgates of success begin to powerfully tremble and your manifestation becomes inevitable. 

Hark... a tremor I do detect... 
    The Universe

Enjoy!
Niki