Hatha yoga – Karen's New York Love Affair

Another divine yoga week

Since my last entry I’ve had another seven chances to expand, learn, and grow through my yoga practice. The Reach Out Challenge has been a gentle invitation into new beginnings on the mat, especially in combination with the one-month membership to My Yoga Online.

In the past week I’ve repeated the Short Hatha Flow class, done several of my own practices, and tried these new classes:

Developing Internal Balance – with Carolyn McManus

Grounding Breath Yoga Flow – with Kreg Weiss (co-founder of My Yoga Online). This is the most gentle class I have found yet. Nothing hurt when I did this class! And I really enjoyed the different breathing practices. Truly a class for slowing down the pace and getting in touch with deeper reality. I liked the way Kreg suggested the possibility of getting in touch with our true nature once the mind had quieted. I hope that many people benefit from this class.

Smart Yoga Tip: Pelvic Decompression – with Jesse Enright. A helpful mini-tutorial about the muscles in the pelvis and their role in holding everything in place as well as allowing opening in the hips.

Sea Side Yoga Flow – Michelle Trantina (co-founder of My Yoga Online). Is that Vancouver I see in the background?

I continue to make new discoveries in my regular yoga practice as a result of the learning and exploration in the classes with the other teachers. I find that when I do my own practice at my own pace, I have more time to explore and deepen into the pose than in most of the classes (except the restorative yoga classes, of course!). I have a new appreciation for the luxury of taking my time in a pose and seeing how far my muscles want to stretch. In the past I have gotten into the habit of just holding the pose for 6 breaths and then moving on, because that is my routine. But often my muscles want to stay a little longer. So doing the restorative classes really opened up the invitation to hang out in a pose. Plus needing to do a full 30 minutes, rather than rush through my practice to be done in 10-20 minutes, is a support to take more time in the poses.

Since Halloween fell during the past week, I thought you might like to see pictures of the dear little pumpkin I carved. This was the first time in years that I had a doorstep to put a pumpkin on. By 7:30 I’d had 42 little goblins to the door, and all the candy was gone. I hope you got lots of tricks and treats!

Three more days until the challenge is over. Thanks to my friends and family who have pledged 50 cents or a dollar or even two dollars a day for the 30-day Reach Out Challenge. The total pledges is now at $285 dollars! Almost at my goal of $300. If you haven’t done so and would like to sponsor me to raise money for Yoga Outreach, you can use the online donation link. Or phone me at 604.251.6337 or send an email to kyrempel [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks!

Everybody has to hatha

Last night I went for a run after work, so I began my 30-minute practice with some of the poses from my regular yoga routine. After I run I do a sequence of stretches aimed at keeping my legs relatively flexible and my knees strong. Some are actually physio stretches to which I add the ujjayi breath, and some are typical runners stretches like the calf stretch and ankle circles. Then I move into cat, mountain, standing forward bend, and so on.

I had been thinking of continuing on with my regular routine, but My Yoga Online was calling to me seductively. I wanted to continue the enchanting process of discovery. So I set up my laptop table in front of the mat, and searched for a Hatha (the root of all other yoga forms) yoga class that was about 22 minutes. Using the easy search boxes on the Video page, I found a 20-minute class called Short Hatha Flow, and let er rip.

This was another class with Martha Waal, of Get set for a good night’s sleep fame. I really liked the level of difficulty (beginner) and relaxed pace of the class. Again, I would have like to stay in each pose a little bit longer, but there were some nice spaces for checking in with the breath and overall sense of self throughout the practice. I started out with a stiff ache in my left sacroiliac joint (from the run), and the practice released the ache, with rag doll, and a lovely floor sequence that really got into the lower back with side twists and knees hugged to chest.

In contrast to this lovely way to loosen the SI joint, consider this “medical” approach, from the Sports Injury Clinic:

Treatment of SIJ Pain: What can you do to treat sacroiliac joint pain yourself?

Rest from any activities which cause pain. (That is, don’t run! Not!)
If the surrounding muscles have tightened up, use a warm-pack to help them relax. (Nice.)
Don’t heat if an inflammatory condition is suspected.
Anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen may be helpful. Always check with your Doctor first. (While it’s important to reduce swelling, we also want to make sure not to numb the pain rather than address it.)
Try wearing a sacroiliac back belt. (Yeah, that’s gonna happen!)

Or, do yoga and experience calm, inner peace, kindness towards self and others, and at the same time release the tension in the joint.

The class ended with a short sivasana (corpse pose, or final resting pose, for those who are new to yoga). I followed that with the closing sequence from my regular practice (since I still had two minutes to do), which includes seated forward bend, butterfly, a variation of triang mukhaikapada paschimottanasana (thanks to Iyengar for the Sanskrit), and a seated twist. With the TMP, I do the forward bend, but then lay back fully and stretch out the bent knee that way too. I swear this is essential for preventing my IT band from spazzing out when I run! I finished with another physio stretch for my knees, which involves sliding the knee caps up towards the thighs.

Once again, I felt very grateful to Yoga Outreach for the Reach Out Challenge, and to My Yoga Online for this amazing offering of teachings. Having done five of their classes now, I am noticing a bit more about how it all works. It seems many of the classes were recorded by My Yoga Online especially for the website. What tipped me off is that the lovely studio is the same, with beautiful wood floors and creamy painted radiators and arched windows (see picture). This innovative website was founded in 2005 in Vancouver, BC, by renowned yoga and wellness experts Michelle Trantina and Kreg Weiss, and business entrepreneur Jason Jacobson.

Thanks to my friends and family who have pledged 50 cents or a dollar a day for the 30-day Reach Out Challenge. If you haven’t done so and would like to sponsor me to raise money for Yoga Outreach, you can use the online donation link. Or phone me at 604.251.6337 or send an email to kyrempel@gmail.com. Thanks!

The ultimate 15-minute yoga class

The most refreshing 15 minutes of the week!

For the past 8 months I offered a free 15-minute yoga class at lunch time. The participants were my colleagues at Coast Capital Savings. This was an adaptation of the 60-minute class I developed for the Society for Technical Communication, following the same principles of being accessible to people of every fitness level, with poses suitable for all of us while wearing office attire, and not requiring any special equipment.

Weather permitting, we did the class in the parking lot, and later on a grassy lawn across the street. When the weather was cool or wet, we did the class in a large meeting room, with lots of windows and light coming in on two sides. When indoors, I encouraged people to kick off their shoes. Outdoors, people often felt more comfortable keeping their shoes on. Sometimes the women did this class in their high heels! How’s that for adaptability!

Over this period of time I perfected a series of poses to loosen all the tension from the neck, shoulders, and upper back. It is mostly standing poses, though when indoors I like to include Cat.

Karen’s 15-minute yoga for the office class

Horse (Qigong) – loosens shoulder joints
Bear (Qigong) – loosens joints from ankles to shoulders, and softens neck
Carnival (Kundalini) – loosens upper back
Little wings (Kundalini) – pulverizes remaining tension in upper back
Mountain with side bends (Hatha) – uses breath to loosen ribs, open sides
Tree (Hatha) – brings balance and resilient strength
Cat – a final stretch to open space in the spine and chest

I guarantee that you will feel lighter, looser, rejuvenated, and refreshed after this class! Many times I was amazed at how the tension and pain in my shoulder (which I injured long ago with 15-hour days at the computer) vanished from doing this class. The participants also reported feeling benefits such as improved mood and reduced physical tension. But more than the physical results, the benefits of sharing this special time with my colleagues was the most uplifting aspect of this class. Namaste.

Yoga for the New Year

Speaking of bears, I’d like to invite you to a yoga class I am teaching on Tuesday, January 19. It’s free for members of the Society for Technical Communication. If you’re not a member, it’s $15 to pre-register online, or $20 at the door.

One of the poses I’ll be teaching is called the bear pose! This class is a gentle class intended for people with any level of experience with yoga. No special equipment or clothing is necessary, as the poses are chosen so that you can do them at the office during your workday.

I teach four short sets of poses that you can do at work while taking a five-minute break, bringing energy and suppleness into your body, focusing your mind, and easing tension from your eyes and neck.

If you’ve never done yoga before, this class is a great way to experience first-hand the joy that yoga breath and movement can bring. Participants who came to the class last year were amazed at the states of pleasure they experienced from these simple techniques. If you’re already a regular yoga practitioner, you may still learn something new as the class draws on poses from Qigong and Kundalini yoga, which may be new forms to you, as well as the more familiar Hatha yoga. You’ll feel great whether you are new to yoga or have been practicing for years!

P.S. If you couldn’t make it to the class, but would like to experience the benefits of yoga in your workplace, check out the info at www.karenrempel.com. I would be happy to bring this workshop to you!