The Science of Yoga

Yoga + Meditation Increase Resilence. What Does That Mean?

According to Merriam Webster
re-sil-ience
ri'zilyens
noun: resilience; plural noun: resilences

1. the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity

2. the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness

Medical Related Definition:

1.  the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress

2.  an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change < emotional resilience>

Synonyms: rebounding, quick to recover, pliable, springy, stretchy, snapping back

Yoga for Osteoporosis - An Interview with Loren Fishman MD and Ellen Saltonstall on Yoga U

By: Eva Norlyk Smith, Ph.D.

Excerpt:

Eva Norlyk Smith: How does yoga help counteract osteoporosis?

Loren Fishman: Well, let me count the ways. Most people have heard of Wolf’s law: The architectonic, the structural support of bone, follows the lines of force to which that bone is exposed. When bone cells get stimulated through being compressed or twisted or elongated, they produce more bone mass until that bone gets strong enough, to resist the pressure. At that point the pressure no longer distorts the bone, and the bone-making cells stop making more. What a wonderful feedback system.   In osteoporosis, the bones bend more, so pressure is more effective in stimulating the cells to make bone.

In short, like weight training, yoga works by stressing the bone.  Yoga stimulates the bone with isometric contraction at almost every conceivable angle for long periods of time.

Ellen Saltonstall: What is often overlooked in modern weight-training exercise and certainly when evaluating the effects of osteoporosis drugs, is that there is a difference between structure and density. Dexa scans will get a measurement of density, but they tell us nothing about thestructure of the bone. Dense bone mass on its own doesn’t necessarily provide protection against fractures; unless the bone fibers are laid down in a way to provide greater strength, the bone mass is not going to be very stable It’s like the difference between a pile of steel beams and the George Washington Bridge. A bridge has been planned by engineers, so the beams, when put together, create a well-organized, completely integrated structure, which can sustain huge amounts of weight—because of the strength created by the structural interconnections.

In short, density and structure both matter for bone health.  But unfortunately, we don’t have convenient ways to measure the structure of bones as of yet. We do have straightforward ways to measure the density. The osteoporosis drugs do work, they reduce the risk of fracture considerably, but the functional limitations of just building bone mass without proper structure and strength are completely ignored.

Is Your Yoga Teacher Full of It? : On Perspiration and Misinformation 

By: Richard Pallardy

Yoga and the Breath  By: Doug Keller

"Breathing seems simple --you breathe in and you breathe out. But there are patterns to our breathing that are of our own creation, and these patterns are often artificial strategies for dealing with events in our lives."

April 2012: Detox Poses + Retreats

Hello Friends,

April is here. Spring forth.

In March, we discovered the intricacies of a backbend. We build a mindful stretch through aligning the vertebrae and engaging the front body, as we fall back with ease. This will help you safely open parts of the chest and shoulders, abdomen, hips and thighs. Allow your breath to guide you in backbends. If you feel constrained, or panicked, ease out of the pose until you can relax.

In the spirit of spring cleaning, we focus on yoga asanas that detox the body systems this month.


April Focus: Detox Poses



Detoxifying poses we will explore :

- Twist in Sukhasana
- Marichyasana 3
- Ardha Matsyendrasana
- Legs up the wall

Yoga Retreats this
MAY 2012: Greece +
Seven Arrows




Restore and Retreat in Crete, Greece this May 13-20th 2012!

Join Kalliope Mamais and Tina Paul for a yoga wellness retreat this Spring!

INCLUDED:
*airport transport to and from airport
*shared or private room
*breakfast + dinner
*morning/evening yoga practice

COST:
$1,250 - Double
$1,450 - Single

Email for details : digyoga@gmail.com

Seven Arrows in NJ
May 4th-May6th
with Marisa Bonfanti



I will be assisting the wonderful Marisa Bonfanti on her Spring Retreat on a family run home along the Navesink River in NJ.

JOIN US! :)

INCLUDES:

* Accommodation
* Transportation to/from ferry
* Morning Yoga + Meditation
* Fresh Meals
* Hiking/Beach time

COST:

Dorm - $270
Shared (3-4 people) - $300
Private - $350

More info here : IN FULL BLOOM: A SPRING YOGA RETREAT WITH MARISA BONFANTI

Soul Flow Yoga @ Shambhala Yoga & Dance

Lia is back to invite all those who dig yoga to "Soul Flow Yoga" at Shambhala Yoga and Dance! 

Join four spirited women for a harmonious yoga flow that will feed your soul! Yoga asana and pranayama will be co-taught by Angela Arnold and Lia Hall accompanied by the soulful voices of Mayteana Morales and Saretta Wesley.

Class is $20 + donations
Space is limited. To reserve your place RSVP at (718) 622 9956 or email contact@shambhalayogadance.com

http://shambhalayogadance.com/

Loving Kindness Meditation

 “Scrape the Old Paint Off the Wall”

There’s no universal love without purification, otherwise the gunk will show through

Mettā (Pāli) or maitrī (Sanskrit) is loving-kindness, friendliness, benevolence, amity, friendship, good will, kindness, love, sympathy, and active interest in others.

¥     It is one of the ten pāramīs of the Theravāda school of Buddhism, and the first of the four sublime states (Brahmavihāras).

¥     The cultivation of loving-kindness (mettā bhāvanā) is a popular form of meditation in Buddhism; it represents culmination of buddhist path.

Practice:

¥     Sit down. Notice awareness of impermanence from vipassana practice.

¥     Try to remain open even if you feel solid.

¥     Sense the tiny and effortless vibrations throughout the body.

¥     Let thoughts permeate qualities of goodwill and friendliness.

¥     Think about a circumstance or of people that generate this feeling, or contact intrinsic goodness; remember as a young child your natural beneficence; bring up all that is best within you.

¥     Inhabit gratitude, compassion, and forgiveness.

¥     Notice that goodness can be a felt sense; allow this feeling tone to percolate into movements and vibrations throughout your body and the space around it. Just as a concentrated drop of food coloring in water spreads and colors the water, your feeling tone can spread and change your perception of your environment.

¥     Sense a hint of a smile and watch the energy of the smile. Watch it spread to the forehead, scalp, throat, chest, lungs, heart.

¥     If you lose the sense, produce thoughts and associations just as you did in the beginning.

¥     Abide in a pure feeling of beneficence, goodwill, and friendliness.

¥     Goodwill becomes your mantra—there is nothing but this feeling.

¥     Smile through your body, room, neighborhood, city, and world.

¥     Think about the people with whom you have or will interact today and surround them with this smiling tone.

¥     Think about the people whom you have hurt or who have hurt you. Feel the hurt as a quiet place quiet place in the body and feel it being healed by loving state.

¥     Feel loving kindness on yourself. Forgive yourself in general. Bathe yourself in loving kindness.

¥     Now with each joy and connection you encounter, notice that there is some feeling tone of human warmth.

¥     Be ready to foster and spread this quality in every situation. Each time you encounter a new situation is a chance to deepen this practice. This doesn’t mean you are wimpy or ineffectual.

¥     Bring this meditative state into day-to-day life.

         Cultivating Loving-Kindness

Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I vow to cultivate loving-kindness and learn ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants, and minerals.  I vow to practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, peace activist, and refugee during the Vietnam War, explains that by recognizing a sense of “inter-being,” we realize that it is in our best interest to be mindful and compassionate toward others. “A tree reveals itself to an artist when the artist can establish a certain relationship with it,” he says:

Someone who is not human enough may look at his fellow humans and not see them, may look at a tree and not see it. Many of us can’t see things because we’re not wholly ourselves. When we’re wholly ourselves, we can see how one person, by living fully, can demonstrate to all of us that life is possible, that a future is possible. But the question, “Is a future possible?” is meaningless if we’re not able to see the millions of our fellow humans who suffer, live, and dies around us. Only after we’ve really seen them are we able to see ourselves and see nature.

When we look at a flower, we no it is always receiving non-flower elements like water, air, sunshine and simultaneously gives something back to its environment. Hence, just like everything, a flower is a stream of change. Every instant there is input and output; it’s always being born and always dying. It’s always connected to the environment around it. The components of the universe depend on one another for their existence.

         Yoga Asanas and Breath:

Use each transition and movement to observe a quality of friendliness toward yourself and others. How you arrive in the posture determines how you will be in it. Feel that each posture can be an expression of your “smiling tone.” You may even sense that this feeling, that you both generate and receive, radiates to those near you—setting the tone for the entire space around you. Acknowledge that those around you are breathing the same loving kindness.

References:

Thich Nhat Hanh. The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology. Berkley: Parallax Press, 2008.

--. Living Buddha, Living Christ. New York: Riverhead Books, 1995.

Shinzen Young. “Loving Kindness: Explanation and Practice.” Five Meditations. Audio Renaissance, 2004.

Vipassana Meditation

Vipassanā (Pāli) or vipaśyanā (Sanskrit)

Vipassana is the -  "vi-" and verbal root √paś is often translated to “insight” or “clear seeing, intuitive knowing”; there is no direct translation; basically means careful observation of moment-by-moment experience; liberating insight comes from it

-       In the Buddhist tradition, it means insight into the nature of reality.

-       Earliest of known Buddhist meditations, which also includes Zen and Tibetan Tantra

-       A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi (vipaśyin).

-       It is a way of self-transformation through self-observation and introspection.

-       Aimed at developing deep insight into the true nature of experience

-       Goal is to understand nature of impermanence (anicca); sufferings (dhukah); and non-existance (anatta)

-       helps one become more attuned to emotional states

-       one can watch thoughts rise and fade, and learn to react with calm detachment and clarity, reducing compulsive reaction

1. Sit and pay attention to sensations that arise in body. Observe objectively. Take an aspect of experience. Infuse it with precise attentiveness and allowingness.

2. Observe thoughts as a witness. Avoid getting lost in thoughts. Allow the ordinary operation of senses and thinking. Analyze each into components; note

ideas, thoughts, and images; note sensations arising at different times and different places. Allow them to rise and pass without interference—pure observation,

not pushing and pulling, but remaining interactive with life. If necessary, push and pull; you are not indifferent or passive.

3. Allow sensations to stay or move. When you infuse each experience with this awareness, painful sensations will cease to cause suffering and joyous ones will heighten your sense of fulfillment.  These insights are intended to release blockages, so that we can escape into the flow of life, rather than mask and repress our experiences.

It is normal to react to the vipassana practice. We may experience discomfort, emotions, vulnerability, and shaking in the body. This is considered to purify our stored process of pain. Eventually, with intensity, the sensation will disperse.  Try to stay with the practice maintaining continuity of awareness.

Origins of our sensations are: Physical / Physiological/ Psychological

We often avoid subtle discomforts that are felt in unconscious parts of ourselves. Here, we make them conscious. Watch them move feely from one place to another.

Noting technique: Say the name of place where you feel sensation to yourself (e.g. knee, chest, hands, forehead, upper body)

If you become preoccupied, say parts out loud; objective, matter-of-fact; tone of voice;

focus on fact that they are constantly shifting and changing – one experience to another; rising and fading; dwell in impermanence – the flow of nature. Like a surfer is in the moment; see how thoughts and feelings change. Rest in change. Movement softens and opens you up.

Monaghan, Patricia and Eleanor G. Viereck; “Meditation: The Complete Guide”Ospina, Maria “Meditation Practices for Health State of the Research”; Young, Shinzen. “Vipassana: Explanation, Practice, and Additional Tips.” Five Meditations. Audio Renaissance, 2004.

lia & tina dig yoga 7.14.10

*Tapas, Svahdhyaya, Isvarapranidhana

"Through my efforts, I gain the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”~ Anonymous

*Tapas, Svahdhyaya, Isvarapranidhana

effort, self-study, surrender

Kriya yoga is every “cleansing action” that we can actually practice and comprises these elements:

·      Tapas: tap means to “blaze, burn, and shine”; conscious ardour to achieve goal; it is austerity and self-discipline; practices such as asana and pranayama that can help us to remove blocks and tensions, in vocal, physical and mental aspects; it keeps the body fit through heat and cleansing; must not cause suffering; Iyengar says, “Life without tapas is like a heart without love.”

·      Svadhyaya:  sva means “self” and adhyaya means “inquiry” or “examination”; searching, asking questions, looking into ourselves; other translations include the study of texts and repeating mantras; “The person practicing svadhyaya reads his own book of life, at the same time that he writes and revises it.” (Iyengar)

·       Isvarapranidhana: action not motivated by outcome; we know we have done our best

“The goal of yoga is to encourage us to be a little better than we were before...by making an effort and by practicing patience. When we do this we will not see ourselves as beset by so many problems.  Our efforts may change in intensity, but over a period of time we will gradually experience progress.  We must actively seize every opportunity that helps us progress.” ~T.K.V. Desikachar

The Heart of Yoga

Niyamas

Niyamas are rules of individual conduct and self-discipline.

1.    saucha – purity

2.    santosha – contentment

3.    tapas – ardour or austerity

4.    svadhyaya – self- study

5.    Isvara pranidhana – dedication or surrender

Saucha – purity

When cleanliness is developed, it reveals what needs to be constantly maintained, and what is eternally clean. What decays is the external. What does not is deep within us.

~ Yoga Sutra II.40 ; Translation by T.K.V. Desikachar

Purification or cleanliness is of 3 kinds:

(1) Physical – purification of body and it’s organs, including clothing and surroundings;

(2) Vocal – right use of words;

(3) Mental – right thinking

Cleanliness is key in supporting an individual’s health.  We purify the body by practicing good hygiene and by practicing yoga asanas (postures) and pranayama (breathing techniques), which detoxify and oxygenate the body from the inside out.

Some things you can do this Spring in the spirit of Saucha:

• Donate clothes and other household items to your local charity
• Clean out your fridge, closets, and drawers to make for good, clear, light space
• Review your diet; get rid of foods that make you feel dull and sluggish
• Evaluate your relationships, or job and shed what is negative

Physical considerations for cleanliness include the food we take in and the place we practice. Food is taken for sustenance “to promote health, strength, energy and life.” We literally are what we eat.  Just as the cellular material from food metabolizes and assimilates to our body’s cellular makeup, the quality and energy of the food affects us energetically.  When one becomes clear and views the body as the vehicle of the soul, it will be guarded well.  Also, the place where we practice should be quiet, “clean, airy, dry and pest-free.”

            Because the body and mind are directly connected, when one purifies the body, one also purifies the mind of emotional and intellectual agitations.  The process of cleansing reveals the radiance that underlies an accumulation of material consumption, impure action, intention, thought, and speech that we can burden ourselves with.  Often it is our own afflictions and actions that become obstacles to clear sense perception; hence, the ability to have real cognition or see reality clearly as it is. Of course, I don't intend to say that we must be indoctrinated in the ways of yoga philosophy, but I suggest we glean from it this notion as passed down from the lineage of Krishnamacharya, that recognition of confusion is a form of clarity. And "when one is benevolent, one sees the virtues in others and not merely their faults...then one is ready to enter the temple of her own body and see her real self in the mirror of her mind.”