Weekend Edition #16 The week in review

Thanks to the participants and organizers of last weekend's Anahata Yoga Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  It was a wonderful event and there is already talk about the next one...



Here are a few articles, posts, and conference notes worth a read:

• Yoga: Changing The Brain's Stressful Habits by Alex Korb, Ph.D. in Psychology Today
  "As a neuroscientist, despite my initial incredulity, I came to realize that yoga works not because the poses are relaxing, but because they are stressful. It is your attempts to remain calm during this stress that create yoga's greatest neurobiological benefit."
  
• Ellen Williams Kympton, 68: Practicing with Gratitude, Living Gracefully with Cancer by Robbie Norris in the Richmond Private Blog
  "I teach a 78-year old woman who has experienced major revitalization during two years of daily practice. Her 40-minute (and growing) practice has dramatically changed her body, increased her overall wellbeing, and enlightened her sense of humor with moments of childlike bliss.
  People who know only a little about Ashtanga Yoga (including many who might say they've tried it) often characterize it as fast yoga, athletic yoga, yoga for the young and healthy, or a practice that is too strict with no room for innovation. When you hear someone speak about Ashtanga Yoga in that way, be assured they know virtually nothing about it, and let a red flag go up -- because it will be a person who assumes authority about that of which his knowledge is slight."
  
• AY:A2 ashtanga session ‘bootlegs’ via YogaRose.net
  Here’s the session as one long view.
  Eight limbs and tristhana.
  Ashtanga as a natural movement practice.
  Ujjayi pranayama versus breathing with sound.
  House Recommendations.
  Communicable diseases in the Mysore room.
  Finally, here’s a playlist of all the videos.
  
• Conference notes with Sharath Jois in Mysore, India via Jois Yoga
  -January 8, 2012 by Andrew Hillam
  -July 22, 2012 by Anna Muzzin
  -September 9, 2012 by Megan Riley

For the home practitioners, there is also a new live stream of Sharath teaching in Moscow:

I'm heading to Mysore in the fall to practice and study with my teacher R. Sharath Jois.  Here is a glimpse of a led intermediate class at the shala a couple of years ago:



Lastly, I've opened up an online shop to help raise funds for my trip and also for Uttarakhand disaster relief.  Check it out!

Thanks for reading!

Weekend Edition #2

In this Weekend Edition we've got the week's post popular post on ujjayi vs free breathing which goes along with tomorrow's local conference theme on breathing in asana practice. 

You've probably noticed an abundance of food-related posts.  The topic has been big around here the last few weeks and rightfully so.  What we eat has a massive impact on how we feel and on our yoga practices (not just asana)...    

How Digestion Works includes a basic primer on your insides from one end to the other.  There's an infographic and short video, but there are also a couple of longer videos that you might find interesting that includes footage from a full-length Berkeley biology course.

A Strategy for Health "Many people confuse pleasure with happiness. This can be a big problem and can lead to some very unhappy results. It is imperative that we recognize the difference between pleasure and happiness."

How to Eat Right to Reduce Stress lists foods to include and avoid so we can stress less.

The Kind Diet explains how to transition to a kinder lifestyle, become vegan, and explore macrobiotics.  Really great and simple recipes as well as clear and digestible information.  And pretty pictures.

 Forks Over Knives gets you thinking about why and what you eat.  If you're feeling inspired to do some healthy cooking, head over to Going Home to Roost for plant-based dinner ideas.

Stress Test

How do you know you are stressed out?  Perhaps this is a funny question in that most people that I know would answer with "how do you know when you're not".  

For me there were some very clear signs from the last week:

1.  Falling over in Tittibhasana C (mental/physical exhaustion).

2.  Barely making it up the stairs to my apartment.

3.  Losing my monthly unlimited subway card four times in two months.

4.  No period.

5.  Constipation.

6.  Unexplained anger and hostility toward others.

7.  Loss of appetite/strong desire to eat.

8.  Back pain and tension.

9.  Vivid and traumatic dreams.

10.  But this is the best one.  I had a dream where I was going on this hike through the wild west and I was kidnapped and sold into slavery.  I thought it was sex slavery as I waited down in a dingy basement on a dirty old cot.  But no.  It was yoga teaching slavery.  The basement was below a highend yoga studio/spa where I was expected to teach "whatevery the clients ask for dammit".  Amazing.

I wasn't supposed to have this week off, but it worked out that way.  Boy did I need it.  Bowels like clockwork, a visit from Aunt Flo, return of healthy appetite, time to cook yummy meals, release of body tension/pain, dissapearance of dreams, compassion and patience for others, renewed stamina, and a reeestablished joy for my happy little life.  

I'm reading this book called "The Cure Within:  A History of Mind-Body Medicine" by Anne Harrington.  I admit, I'm not reading it cover to cover, but I have landed on some interesting discussions regarding stress such as the relationship between what we call "stress" and exhaustion.

Was I feeling stressed our exhausted or both?  Humans have always been exposed to stress, yet some might argue that the demans of modern life are "fundamentally unnatural".  Even, that perhaps what uniquely defines modern man's dilema is the notion that our stress manifests from situations where we are unable to solve them, leaving us feeling frustrated.  Or maybe it is that we just have way too much on our plates.  

Teaching yoga can be physically and mentally exhausting.  "Career" yoga teachers, I've heard them called.  Those who teach yoga to pay their rent.  I guess that's me.  I don't know how it ended up that way and for some reason, I have a hard time admitting it.  It just kind of happened.  Recently, someone was complaining to me about their job and then said how much fun and breezy it probably was to be a yoga teacher.  Hmm.  I never really thought of it as a career and perhaps that was why I was taken off guard.  But in order for it to be a career, one must either be really lucky and have some high paying gigs, be independently wealthy, or work one's tail off.   I'm working my tail off and dreaming about it too.

Okay, so there is that.  Then there is New York City.  Oh, and isn't public speaking like the biggest fear?  Well I do it about three times per day.  Then there is this move to India.

In researching "the cumulative effects of stress on individuals over a period of a year or more", researchers Thomas H. Holmes and Richard H. Rahe designed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale.  Basically, it is a list of "stressful events" with their stress point value.  You add up your points and based on that, you can figure out how stressed you are (and hopefully work to balance your life out).  Here is a link to the modern version:  SRRS.  Interesting changes compared to the 1967 version.

"Change in sleeping habits" lost one point 

"Single person living alone" is added

"Other" is added

"Give appropriate points to yourself" is added

"'Spouse' begins or stops work" instead of "wife"

"Mortgage over 40,000" instead of "10,000"

According to both scales, "if your score is 300 or more, statistically you stand an almost 80% chance of getting sick in the near future. If you score is 150 to 299, the chances are about 50%". At less than 150, about 30%. 

My number: 395.  Or at least it was last week.  Good thing I do yoga.  And spend a day eating homemade apple pie and watching romantic comedies.