Do you trikonasana?

​This posture is taught in a hundred different ways. I think we need to explore it to find the one which works for us. For example, if you have larger (or tighter) hips like me, that good ole fashioned cue 'imagine your body is between two panes of glass' is just not going to work. In fact, that cue is not going to work for so many bodies, and could potentially hurt my knees, my lower back or hip joint. 

For me, allowing my back hip to come forward slightly, allows my front knee to track over my foot properly, and my hips to feel good in the pose, instead of awkward. Doing it this way has made me actually enjoy the pose, when years ago it just confused me cos I thought "in what world would my body ever be in that shape the teacher is suggesting?"
Thank you wise self for tuning in. Because of this, you fell in love with yoga again. 
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Om Tat Sat.

On hands on adjusting. What I've learnt from your responses in my post below, and also from private messages from people (mostly trauma survivors) who chose to not join the discussion. 

• Yoga teachers don't get to draw the line as to what is respectful or disrespectful when it comes to trauma informed teaching. It's the individual trauma survivors who get to draw the line, and we need to listen. 
• Yoga teachers today feel that asking permission is being respectful and mindful, yet to a survivor, having to say yes or no can be very uncomfortable. This also includes putting your hand on your belly when nobody is watching. I'm told now that trauma survivors (and non trauma survivors) still find it hard to say no. 
• Some people, who have never experienced trauma, also don't want to be touched in a yoga class. 
• Many students enjoy hands on assists/adjustments and touch from their teacher, and attend yoga to receive this. This needs to be acknowledged. 
• Having specific classes which state 'hands on assisting/adjusting may be offered' written on the website or in an email will give a student the power and choice to attend. If people are aware of this before walking into a yoga class, they have more power. 
• It doesn't matter if your 'traditions' taught otherwise. Yoga has evolved. Remember, if we stuck with traditions, most of us in this conversation (women) wouldn't be teaching yoga. 

I don't think it's an all or nothing situation. As yoga is non-regulated, and there are so many approaches, it's hard for me to make any bold opinions like 'yoga teachers should or should not be hands on'. I do think however, that there needs to be more education involved and we need to be more open minded to insights and opinions which aren't ours. There are professionals out there, who know about this stuff. I'm not one of them. Ask me about yoga history / philosophy and I'm all over it. That's my thing. Ask me about trauma informed teaching, i'm a beginner. I think more senior yoga teachers need to admit this and be okay with it. 
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I consider myself so very blessed to be part of such an awesome community. Love youssssssss.

Due to the rise of trauma informed yoga, hands on adjusting is happening less and less in a yoga class. What do you think? Do you want to be hands on assisted by your yoga teacher? Would you prefer they ask permission? Do you feel you can get the same awareness without a hands on adjustment? Do you expect a hands on adjustment when you go to yoga, or would it potentially stop you from ever returning? 

Personally, I don't mind a hands on adjustment, but I want to have a relationship with my teacher first, i want them to know me physically and emotionally, and understand my limitations. I also want them to ask me permission, because sometimes I just don't want to be touched. I do also have to admit, I enjoy them less these days. I'm not really sure why. 

As a teacher, I completely and wholeheartedly respect that many of our students don't want to be hands on assisted. Some teachers ask at the start of the class, some teachers ask when they are about to make the adjustment. I wonder, are we making people feel uncomfortable by asking them on the spot? Are there some students who say yes, when they actually mean no?

This is something I think about a lot as a yoga teacher trainer and course developer. I think there needs to be fresh and new education around this area in a yoga teacher training. I would LOVE to hear your thoughts. Ambika x
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Just wanted to share. 

I'm taking progesterone medication (fibroids - another story). It's doing it's job, apart from giving me random headaches. The way I deal with these headaches, depends really on what time of the day it is and where I am. If I'm home, I'll walk down into my studio and do some yoga postures, If i'm out and about to teach, I'll take something. 

Last night, or should I say this morning, I woke with a headache. I was so tired I couldn't will myself to get up, so I imagined I was getting a massage. I seriously imagined someone's thumbs pressing into my shoulders over and over. I felt their hands massaging my neck, I felt the pressure and the heat. My pain went away. I shit you not, my headache went. 

This got me thinking about pain. About different types of pain. I'm not saying to those of you who experience pain "get over it, it's all in your head", because it's real. PAIN IS REAL. But could it be that there are pains which do need medical treatment (either natural or pharmaceuticals, i would never judge you), and pain which simply needs that inner healer in all of us?

In yoga, we try to teach our students how to identify different pains. How to discriminate between pains. There are pains where we've clearly taken a posture too far and we could injure ourselves, and there are pains which are taking us to our edge, which we can breathe through. It's about developing the wisdom to know the difference. 

Could we then take this off our mat, into our lives? Last night I didn't need a pain killer. I killed the pain. I literally imagined my pain away! So freaking cool! 

Something to think about. 

Will I now substitute my massage therapist with an imaginary one? Hells no! 

(again, this post is in no way judging anyone who takes medication daily for pain management. I respect you and would never judge you). 

I remember seeing a male yoga gang (type thing) and underneath their name it read 'The Uncelebrated Minority' and I laughed and thought, clearly they don't know anything about yoga history. 

Women weren't allowed to practice yoga, and then when they were finally welcome in the shala, they weren't welcome to teach. It's only been the last 50 years that women have been recognised as yoga teachers, and more recently as 'worthy' teachers. Still today if you walk into many studios, there's framed pictures of male gurus, including male teachers who have been accused of sexual abuse. 

Yes there may be more women who frequent yoga classes these days, but its men who are still worshipped as the gurus. 

Let's write the next chapter. Today, and moving forward, I aim to celebrate the women who paved the way for female yogis like Indra Devi, Swami Radha and Geeta Iyengar and also the women who are doing some kick arse things in yoga land today like Sally Kempton, Ana forrest, Tara Judelle, Sarah Powers ... too many to mention. 

I now leave this to you, please comment with the women who have inspired you in yoga :) 

www.theyogasocial.com

​Happy International Women's Day :)

So you found your perfect yoga home that ticks all the boxes: challenging (but relaxing) classes, nice hipster studio, awesome teachers, cool events, retreats to Bali, herbal tea at reception. Now what? Is this what yoga is? 

Did you know that yoga is a way of life? In fact, the asanas (the postures) we practice in a studio are just a small part of yoga. Who we are as a person, how we treat others, how we treat ourselves, how we keep our home, how we contribute to the world and how we impact nature is all part of being a yogi. 

The second sutra in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras reads, 'Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodha' which translates roughly to 'Yoga is to slow down (or to stop) the fluctuations of the mind'. This is the goal of yoga. If we achieve this, we achieve self realisation. When the mind becomes calm, and free from thoughts, we can then realise that THERE IS NO SEPERATE SELF.

Which means, WE ARE ONE. 

Basically.

In a nutshell :) 

If we are truly living a yoga life we could consider that every single thought, feeling, word and action has a direct impact on the balance of EVERYTHING. We are matter, we are energy and each and every thing is connected. FULL ON! 

Volunteering, serving, helping others, being mindful of where our food is from, being mindful of where our clothes are made, acknowledging others, caring for nature, and simply being kind without expecting something in return are all practices of yoga. I reckon this is where the hard work is for many of us, not the handstand. 

Yoga is a work in progress. It's a practice. A lifelong practice.

So, now you have realised that you are connected to the stranger over the other side of the world, the fish in the sea, the possum in the tree, the person next door, the flower in your front yard, the chair you are sitting on ...

How do you choose to live? 

How will you practice yoga off the mat? 

1. Happy Hormones! Moving our body feels good. Simple. When we move our body, not only are we exercising our physical body, we are releasing happy hormones. These hormones make us feel better about ourselves which makes us ace to be around. Happiness = patience, compassion and awesomeness. 
2. Focus! We all know that scatty 'search for the car keys  (find them in the fridge) scenario'. Or staring out the window thinking about your next holiday (in 8 months time) at work. Not being able to focus can be a result of so many factors including; lack of sleep, stress, poor diet, lack of exercise, hormonal imbalance .. the list goes on. Yoga techniques, in particular the breathing exercises we call pranayama, can help to slow down our heart rate, improve breath control and increase concentration and energy. You'll have your 'to do lists' crossed off and all your draws labeled in no time :) 
3. Mobility! Feeling a wee bit stiff? It happens. Inactivity leads to a stiff body. Fact. Not only are our muscles passively short and tight from sitting down all day (work, driving, watching tv etc), but our connective tissue called fascia which acts like a sheet beneath the skin surrounding and connecting our muscles, and other organs too becomes stiff. Don't get me wrong, robot dancing was cool in the 80's but ... anyway, yoga can help to improve mobility and flexibility. 
4. Youth! You could feel younger. When we complain (or hear someone else complain) about getting old, it's usually when we are standing up from a seated position, if we have a sore back, or if we have put on some extra weight. Yoga can help relieve aches and pains, improve core strength and can also help us lose weight if we are commencing yoga after being inactive. You could feel younger in no time. 
5. Community! We have never been so connected due to social media, yet we have never felt so isolated because of it. Where did our sense of community go? When did we stop calling in at our mates place after work or school? What happened to that dance class, pottery class, or book club? Yoga is famous for community. When you attend a yoga class, you become part of a tribe and there's nothing quite like it. Be warned, once you find your tribe, you'll be doing annoying things like going on life changing yoga retreats and practicing yoga in the park with your yoga family. Just saying. 

There you have it. Happy Hormones, Focus, Mobility, Youth and Community. Five reasons (of about 500) to start yoga. There are so many levels and styles of yoga these days, it's not hard to find a class to suit you. My advice is, don't search instagram to find your yoga inspiration. Just go to a local class. Go somewhere easy for you to get to first, so it will be easier to commit. If you find the class isn't for you, don't give up on yoga, approach the teacher and ask their advise on a class which is slower, faster, cooler (temperature), more gentle, less spiritual, more traditional etc. A good teacher will happily recommend someone else. 

Happy OMing (yes ... I know that's extremely daggy!) 

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​It takes a long time (sometimes years) to understand that the 'movement and stretches' which we know as asana in a yoga class are simply tools. And yoga provides us with many tools, including asana, mantra, meditation, kriya and pranayama which help us reach the goal of yoga, self awareness. 

Pranayama is the formal practice of controlling the breath, and is the link between the physical and mental disciplines of yoga. Asana will help develop your body, and pranayama will help develop your mind. 

Unfortunately pranayama isn't practiced much these days in yoga classes in the west. I think this is due to the following:
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• We are obsessed with the physical postures and the desire to master the asana (that's another blog post!). 
• Classes are shorter, in some studios just 45 mins, so teachers don't have much time. 
• Yoga Teacher Training courses taught over 2 weeks in some exotic location don't give trainees enough information or enough time to process this information. What's left is a very inexperienced yoga teacher who knows very little about any of the other tools of yoga. 

These reasons, in my opinion, are such a shame. Pranayama can offer us so much. The majority of us breathe incorrectly, which has a direct link to our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. 

Here are some reasons why we should all be taking 5 minutes a day to practice pranayama. 

1. Mindful breathing helps us to slow down our heart rate and destress. - When stressed, our heart rate speeds up and our breath is shallow. This puts the body in ‘fight or flight’ mode (sympathetic energy system is used). Hormones are released like cortisol and adrenaline which keep you alert when danger is perceived. When the breath is elongated, and the heart rate slows down, our bodies ‘relaxation response’ kicks in (parasympathetic nervous system). Due to our busy lives its common for many of us to be in continuous ‘survival mode’ but we ultimately need the balance of both for our wellbeing.  Using simple breathing techniques, we can elongate our breath, which helps us to relax and calm. 
2. Theres a link between breathing properly and our digestion! This is because our digestive system is supported by our parasympathetic nervous system. 
3. Pranayama balances the energetic body. In yoga philosophy, the structure of the body is made up of five layers. We call these layers sheaths. Among these sheaths, the second (after the more gross food sheath) is called the vital sheath. Many of the pranayama exercises we practice in yoga were originally practiced to cleanse, purify and balance our nadis which are the channels that carry our prana (energy) through our vital sheath. There are three main nadis, our shushumna nadi which travels through the centre of our body which houses our chakras, and the pingala on the right, and ida on the left. The pingala nadi represents the 'ha' in hatha, and also represents the sun, heat, light and our masculine energy, whilst the ida nadi, the 'tha' in hatha, represents the moon, cool, dark and our feminine energy. Certain pranayama techniques are solely practiced to balance these nadis, like the yin and yang. Confusing? I get it. It's hard to understand this in the west cos it sounds a little 'new age, airy fairy'. I think though, If you really think about it, sometimes we feel imbalanced. At times we may feel a little too fiery, possibly hard to sleep, or sometimes we may need a little more fire in our belly to motivate us. Certain pranayama techniques can help with this :)  
4. Our asana practice (like downward facing dog) will improve! You can have the strongest biceps, the most flexible hamstrings and a core like a coat of armour, but if you don't know how to breathe properly, your asana practice will be missing out BIG TIME. Learning to use our breath can help us take our stretching type postures to a deeper level, like seated forward bend for example, our breath can guide us into a deeper stretch. Our breath can also help us with the strengthening type postures like crow pose as we use our breath to stay focused and also to preserve my energy. If we have an understanding of how to preserve our breath, our yoga practice is more efficient and we're able to power through my day. 
5. Pranayama can improve our sleep. It's no secret that we've been using breathing exercises as a technique to decrease pain, anger and anxiety. When our children hurt themselves, one of the first things we tell them to do is breathe. When a woman is in labour, she is encouraged to breathe. When we are angry, we are taught to close our eyes, count to 10 and BREATHE. Bedtime is often a time when our mind switches on and we start to run through our 'stuff' (you know .... all that stuff). Using breathing techniques, we can bring our focus to one thing, just one thing (the breath), which can help us detach from all the stuff. It's really that simple once we put it into practice. Like everything, practice is the key. 

There are so many more benefits of pranayama. Honestly, if you go to a class which doesn't include pranayama, well  that's a bummer if you ask me, but check out some techniques on youtube. I strongly advise you to practice Nadi Shodana or Anuloma Viloma (alternate nostril breathing) for learning to control the breath, and calming the mind, Kapalabhati (shining skull breath) for energy and vitality and also simple Sama Vritti or Vishama Vritti (even or uneven breathing) for a quick 5 minute destress. 

Happy breathing :) 

(image insert is my teacher training trainees studying pranayama in Colllingwood, Victoria 2017). 

This is a question we are asked all the time, which surprises me as I had never even considered yoga as exercise. But of course it is. It's in every gym, and loads of people practice it purely for the physical benefits. And that's okay with me :) 

What many yoga students in the west don't understand is, yoga is actually a school of thought, with its main goal being self awareness. The practitioner can achieve this goal through many paths of yoga, including asana (the physical postures), meditation, chanting, prayer. Not all yogis downward dog.

So I suppose when it comes to weight-loss,  it depends on what path of yoga you are practicing. I believe that If you are usually inactive, and you begin practicing asana (the physical postures), then simply because you are moving you may lose weight, but generally, yoga is not considered a 'fat burning' form of exercise. 

For cardiovascular training or fat burning, you would need your heart rate to be up at a moderate to high intensity for the majority of the class, so you could potentially lose weight if you practice asana 4-5 times per week at a high intensity (Ashtanga, Power Vinyasa etc) together with mindful eating. 

Also, when we practice asana, and other paths of yoga like meditation and breathing exercises, we are decreasing our stress levels, and when we commit to a yoga practice, we tend to make better choices in our diet and our lifestyle. So yoga can indirectly help. 

So my answer to this question is, educate yourself as to what weight loss actually is physiologically, then decide whether you want yoga to be that path. Personally, I want yoga to be my path of self study. My practice of non-attachment to ego, and everything I identify with. I respect the ancient art of yoga and the fact that it's an internal practice. Yoga is my personal journey of self awareness. Yoga is surrendering. Yoga is my state of mind.

​For cardiovascular exercise, I box and jog :)