Because I love yoga, and Pilates, but am by no means a guru of either practice, I felt compelled to pass along some helpful resources so that you can learn more. Yoga is one of those activities that evolves as you evolve. The yoga you do today will not be the same yoga you do a year from now, and your body won’t likely be the same body either (note: this is a good thing – Yoga evens ‘things’ out, balances muscles, massages the joints, just all-around good stuff ;0). I’ve learned through my own yoga/Pilates journey that there is always something new to learn.  That said, here are some fabulous resources you can tap for “current” information.

Enjoy!

MAGAZINES

Yoga Journal

Learn the poses and live the lifestyle, online or subscribe to the print version.

www.yogajournal.com

Pilates Style

So far, the only magazine dedicated to the practice of Pilates: workouts, tips, nutrition and products. www.pilatesstyle.com

Whole Living – Your connection to body & soul

A Martha Stewart publication that focuses on green living, organic food and mind-body fitness. www.wholeliving.com

WEBSITES

Inner Idea
Explore all facets of mind-body practices: physical movement, nutrition, mediation, stress management and spiritual renewal. The Inner IDEA website is a great place to find mind-body research, books, DVDs and fitness conferences listings.

Pilates Insight
An all-encompassing online resource for Pilates information, products, and training.

Pilates Digest
Want to further your knowledge of Pilates and expand your repertoire of exercises? On this user-friendly site you can easily find product reviews, training articles, video exercises. You can even purchase mind-body apparel and gear

Pilates Method Alliance
An international, non-profit organization that establishes certification and continuing education standards for Pilates professionals. Use this valuable resource to locate a qualified instructor, or to learn how you can become one yourself.

The Pilates Method
The Physicalmind Institute has been developing teacher-training programs and continuing education resources for instructors since 1991. You can also locate PMI-certified instructors near you using their search tools.

Stott Pilates
Stott Pilates rovides cutting-edge Pilates education, equipment, DVDs, and articles. This site is a reliable resource for both instructors and students.

Yoga Alliance
Individual yoga teachers and training programs that comply with the minimum educational standards established by Yoga Alliance can register with this prestigious organization. Use their registry to locate YA instructors and training programs near you.

Yoga Download
“Take Yoga Anywhere!” is their motto. Use this site to download yoga and Pilates videos right to your computer and work out whenever and wherever it is convenient for you.

Yoga Movement
Find out about yoga events, improve your personal practice, or find a yoga studio when you’re on the road – they list studios in every state and over sixty countries.

Yoga Research and Education Foundation
The Yoga Research and Education Foundation is a non-profit organization whose primary objective it so conduct and promote research on anything related to Yoga.

Yoga Skills
Stress management products and expertise for yoga students and teachers.

Runners, I am SO jealous of you right now! As my injury slowly heals (waaaayyy too slow for my liking), I seem to notice more people hitting the jogging paths. Forgive me if I throw a rock at you as I drive by. ;0)

One thing I have learned through this rather inconvenient pain in my ass (literally), is that less might be is more. I stretched before said injury, but not enough. I went to yoga every so often, but I know it wasn’t enough. It had been some weeks months since I had a “taper week” or really, any light workout at all. My all or nothing attitude got the better of me. And so, here I am, having to heed my own advice. Believe me, it is like swallowing a bitter-tasting horse pill that then lodges in your throat. I’m learning, and passing along to you my plan of attack so that, 1) I’m held accountable, and 2) you can partake in a “less is more” workout if you chose – and actually, I highly advice that you do.

1. More stretching. Every day for me now. 15-30 seconds per major muscle group, plus some smaller muscles that are overworked and under-appreciated: IT band, tops of feet (perorius tertius, also known as dorsal flexors, as if you care, but you might), the soleus (calf muscle), and perorius longus (the muscle that runs down the outside of your lower leg.) My plan: 2 sets of each exercise, 5-7 days/week.

2. Yoga. The once/week deal I had going on was great…when I went. Clearly, I need yoga in my life, and I think yoga needs me. My plan: Ashtunga 2x/week for 60 mins for now. I’d like to get up to 3x/week and have one of those days include Hatha or a yoga/pilates fusion sort of thing. We’ll see where all this goes over the next few weeks.

3. Massage. I have two appointments set for next week, and after than, I’m shooting for once/month. The benefits of massage are so many that I have to send you away from here momentarily to check them all out. Read: “38 ways yoga keeps you fit“, and Please come right back

4. Taper weeks. The body can not handle day-after-day, week-after-week, of hard training. Period. As with any time of periodized program (marathon training comes to mind), you have to balance the building weeks with taper weeks where, literally, less is more. This gives the muscles time to recover and repair. My plan: every 4 weeks, make 2 of my workouts lighter (i.e, less hard).

5. Sleep more. My plan: 8 hours per night! That’s my mantra. I haven’t lived by this rule, and yet, sleep is so important for muscle repair and for keeping cortisol levels in check. And with that note, I’m off to bed!

I’ve taken lots of yoga classes. Lots. They have ranged from challenging, to utterly amazing, and also awfully B-O-R-I-N-G, hard, and frustrating. The difference is in the instructor. The right one will send you off feeling like a taller, tighter, more energetic (yet, strangely relaxed) version of yourself. A not-so-great instructor might send you off feeling no different than when you arrived, and since the whole point of mind-body fitness is to alter both the mental and physical state, you want to enter each class knowing that your hour won’t be wasted. Many of the best instructors are registered through Yoga Alliance.

Yoga Alliance® fulfills the duel function of registering individual yoga teachers and yoga teacher training programs who meet minimum educational standards. Studios employing Registered Yoga Teachers (RYTs) and Experienced Registered Yoga Teachers (E-RYTs) have met the minimum training standards. Studios who employ instructors meeting Yoga Alliance® standards usually note this somewhere on their website or in their marketing materials. You can also do a bit of homework on your own before you take a class.

4 Questions to ask your Yoga Instructor or Studio

1. Yoga Alliance recommends a minimum of 200 hours of training before teaching yoga. If you aren’t sure if your studio’s teachers meet this minimum requirement, ask the studio owner or director whether any of their instructors do. At least three years of regular practice is ideal prior to teaching.

2. Yoga instructors should be comfortable doing the poses. Does the instructor demonstrate all of the poses before queuing the students? Is the instructor dedicated to his/her own yoga practice? How does the instructor further his/her own knowledge and skill level

3. Classes should be small enough that the teacher can get around the room to correct form and alignment. If you have any special needs or health problems that might interfere with safe yoga practice, ask the teacher if she would be willing to show you modifications.

4. A good teacher teaches in “stages,” explaining postures and poses in detail, from the simplest version of the pose, to the most advanced, so that each student in the class can tailor the pose to match their level of training.

Note: A good teacher should be willing to bring new students up to speed, rather than leave them to fend for themselves in a class full of more experienced participants. When you attend a new class or decide to experiment with a different type of yogaM, arrive a bit early, introduce yourself to the instructor, and point out that it is your first class. In most cases, teachers are more than happy to accommodate novice yogis.

(This post is a few months old, but as I try to play “catch up” from a short vacation, I thought I’d cheat and pull it out of the archives. Enjoy!)

I’m a sucker for a challenge. Can’t say no, not even when I’m certain I’ll fail. I figure, better to have tried and missed the mark than to not try at all. I guess the very real possibility of bodily injury would stop me, but I’ll save that for another post. Let’s just say, the Crane Pose won (this time).

photo by Martin Sconduto

Said Loretta, “just lift your toes off the block, if you can, use your core, and place your shins on the back of your arms.” I had to try it. Strong core? No problem. Balance? Got it. Let’s just say, I’m glad I was in the back of the room. The Crane is one of those poses that looks amazing when done right…such as when someone other than me does it. “Graceful” I was not, and my core felt every bit of that pose, as did the top of my head (and that wasn’t supposed to be part of the deal.) To Loretta’s credit – her cues were much better than I just summarized. The problem here was the student (not listening very well, I might add), not the teacher.

The picture above is NOT how I looked. Rather, I was a#$ over tea kettle, but my my point (finally) is this: If you MUST try something just to see if you can, make sure you’re out of eye shot from the instructor (who won’t be able to fight the urge to tweak your form, if said form looks more like Dolphin than Crane), and far enough away from classmates so that if you fall out of the pose, you don’t take anyone else down with you (which didn’t happen to me this time, but it very well could have.)

Crane pose tips:

1. Keep your knees wider than your hips when you lean your body forward onto your arms. This widens your base of support and helps engage the core. In fact, it forces you to engage your core.

2. Use a block if you have access to one. It is better to feel the pose first with feet in contact with the block. Then, when (and if) you are ready, lift the feet up.

3. If you can, get your inner thighs as close to your upper body (torso) as possible. If you can get your knees behind your armpits, you’re good to go.

4. Lean forward while balancing your shins on your upper arms, but keep your head up (see photo above). I made the mistake of lowering my head, throwing the whole pose off balance and down I went. Good times.

5. As you balance in this pose, focus on drawing your abdominal muscles toward your spine, but also point your tailbone toward your toes. There will be a slight upward curve in your back, and this is good.

Note: this pose does put a lot of strain on the wrists, so be sure to release the tension in these joints after the pose.

Check out Yoga Journal for more “challenging” poses.

We stump, stoop, slouch…so much so that the quality of our everyday lives can be directly affected from these posture problems.  I thought of this while sitting at the computer working, and had to stretch to relieve that nagging tightness between my shoulder blades. At the same time, I noticed a whole slew of other bad habits I was committing, and quickly set about practicing what I preach.

Why good posture is important:

Practicing good posture can improve your breathing, decrease your risk of injury, help you move more easily through the tasks of daily living, and also improve your sports performance.

Some signs you might need to improve your posture?

-      Do you have one hip higher than another?

-      Do you have one shoulder higher than another?

-      Does one side of your body rotate slightly more to one side?

-       Does your pelvis tip forward, back, or to one side when you stand?

-       Does your head juts forward beyond neutral alignment?

-       Do your chest and shoulders roll inward, as if your slouching, even when you’re trying not to?

-       Are the arches of feet are collapsed?

9  Pointers for Improving Posture

1. Check your posture throughout the day, and note some of your back habits.
2. If you spend a lot of time hunched over your computer keyboard, take time to stretch your chest muscles, lower your shoulders, stretch your neck, and roll  your shoulders down and back into proper position.
3. If you have a habit of crossing your arms in front of you, try clasping them behind you.
4. If your pelvis tips forward, try engaging your glutes. Standing in line at the grocery or a check out line is a good time to practice this, or even while driving in your car.
5. Take time every day to stretch muscles that tend to be tighter for most people: chest, hip flexors, hamstrings: too much tightness in these areas can cause posture problems
6. If you always sit or stand in the same position, vary your position from time to time.
7. Shoulders have a tendency to creep up toward our ears…try to keep them rolled back, and down, as if your placing your shoulder blades into the back pockets of your pants.
8. Consider yoga or Pilates – both help realign the body and strengthen the muscles that improve posture.
9. If you continue to have problems, see a physical therapist, chiropractor, or orthopedic specialist.