Fluid Fusion

Lately I have been straying from my traditional yoga practice a little bit. While I still incorporate yoga into my weekly workouts, I have been adding ballet and pilates as well. While these are usually more "body" and less "mind" focused than yoga, I find they have similar benefits.

Each of these types of exercises creates lean, strong muscles and uses your own body as a resistance as opposed to dumbbells or other weighted devices, machines or props. Each practice improves balance and builds flexibility with low impact.

Because there are not many of these classes available at my local gym, and I do not have the time or resources to travel around to all the different studios and gyms in the area to find the different kinds of classes that I am interested in, I have begun checking out different DVDs from the library to explore different kinds of movement and exercise. Even though some of these are dated, the workouts being demonstrated are still useful and legitimate.

The video I tried today, Sarah Picot's More than Mat Pilates, adapted Pilates movements that are typically performed on a reformer machine to the mat. The exercise routine was intense without being rushed, and with varied movements that focused on strengthening the core muscles.

She laid out several principles of Pilates that her workout was based upon:

• Breathing. Similar to yoga, Pilates recognizes the importance of the breath and synchronizes movement with the breath. However, unlike yoga, you inhale through the nose, but exhale through the mouth.
• Naval to spine. This alignment was practiced throughout the workout.
• Imprinting. This terminology means for your body to relax, your spine to be neutral and there not to be any space between the floor and your back. Imprinting creates balance in your body.
• Articulating your spine. While yoga encourages practitioners to keep a straight spine, in Pilates, you often curve your back. As you curve your back, you focus on moving one vertebra of the spine at a time. Articulating the spine helps to restore fluidity in movement, creating flexibility and reducing back stiffness.
• Flow. As in vinyasa yoga, this Pilates workout moves smoothly from one exercise to the next, in sync with the breath.

Saved by Julia

Tonight my husband and I watched Julie & Julia, the movie about the Julie Powell, a blogger, who undertook the self-imposed challenge to cook all 524 of Julia Child's recipes from her acclaimed cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year's time.

What I found interesting was the Julie Powell character's continuous claim that Julia Child "saved" her, that these acts of cooking and writing "pulled her out of the sea". While this description may be melodramatic, it does point to the need that many of us have to distinguish ourselves in someway and find something to define ourselves by. For Julie, she was able to escape the drudgery of her office job and her feelings of failure as a writer by tackling complicated culinary feats. Not only did she find cooking creative, relaxing and refreshing, it was a way for her to carve a new identity and create meaning in her life.

I think each of us needs something to hold on to, that we feel sets us apart and gives us a sense of who we are. Those of us who spend our lives taking care of others - our children, our parents, our students, our clients - may seek a deeper connection with our own selves. I personally strive to challenge myself with developing my physical fitness, but each of us set our own goals and find our own path. Once we do, it makes life a little bit easier.

Today's workout:
30 min. run (4.0 mi)
25 min. weight lifting
60 min. personal yoga training
60 min. yoga @ home

Enlighten Up! It's a Movie!

I finally got an opportunity to view the documentary, Enlighten Up! This movie was recently released on DVD, and is available from Amazon.com. I, of course, made the mistake of purchasing the DVD from Amazon at $19.95 plus shipping, before realizing that it was available through my cable On Demand service for only $4.00. Needless to say, I will be returning that online purchase.

Filmmaker Kate Churchhill recruits Nick Rosen, a 29-year-old New Yorker, to be her guinea pig in a yoga experiment: Can yoga transform anyone in six months? Nick comes from an interesting background, with a shamanic healer mother and a corporate-looking criminal attorney father, and he seems somewhat skeptical of the claims of yoga, but ready to embark on this yoga journey!

The movie opens with a series of short clips of celebri-yogis giving quick answers to questions about what is yoga. Clearly, this is meant to demonstrate the wide range of opinions and viewpoints, as contradictions and differences readily arise.

Contradictions abound in this film as Kate and Nick travel around the United States and India, sampling yoga classes from all styles of yoga, including Bikram-style, Jivamukti, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Laughter Yoga, Dharma yoga, and many more. Nick connects strongly to the physical side of yoga, identifying the happiest moments of his life as arising through striving for physical fitness. However, Kate seems to be aiming for Nick to achieve her own agenda, pushing him to seek a more spiritual level to yoga that he doesn't seem to be comfortable with.

Even though the physical side of the practice most appeals to Nick, the teacher he is initially drawn to is not the one with the most physically demanding class. He connects with Dharma Mittra, the teacher in whose class he felt the most comfortable, whose world view was more closely aligned with his own, and who Nick felt emanated warmth and humor.

I find this interesting, because it shows that no matter what your goals are in yoga, even if they are just toning your body - that people matter. When Nick meets with David Life, David tells him that if he wants to get more out of yoga, to "surround yourself with a group of people who stimulate that burning desire." Fitting in with your community is an essential part of yoga - or any part of life. When you feel connections with other people, you are more likely to grow as a person yourself.

When pressed about the spiritual quest that Kate wanted him to pursue, Nick continually responded with his need for facts and evidence. Without dismissing the potential for yoga to spiritually transform other people, he did not seem to find sufficient evidence that would lead to such a change in himself.

I enjoyed the movie. I found the interviews with the various gurus enlightening and was amused by the many different permutations that yoga can take. Even as an avid practitioner of yoga myself, I found some of the followers positively kooky ... and other patently offensive (Diamond Dallas Page, "T&A, not Namaste" - yuck).

The film also opened my eyes a little bit to the ways in which yoga can go in a direction that I am uncomfortable with. Although I do appreciate the spiritual possibilities of yoga, and the ways in which it can help me strive to be a better person - seeing other Ashtanga yogis literally bowing at the feet of Sri Pattabhi Jois made me cringe.

In any case, I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys documentaries or has a strong interest in yoga. If you are able to watch it, let me know what you think!

Today's workout:
30 min. run (4.18 mi)
20 min. resistance training
60 min. private yoga training
60 min. yoga @ home

Ashtanga Yoga: First Series DVD

Since I can no longer regularly go to a gym with a decent yoga program, I have to find a way to beef up my home practice. This is hard for me, as I really need the motivation and leadership provided by an instructor. I have tried out several yoga DVDs that I enjoy, but I was really looking to continue with "serious" yoga and needed a DVD that would lead me through a true primary series.

Not surprisingly, I found it in a video created by David Swenson, the author of the authoritative Practice Manual containing detailed instructions for all the asanas in the primary series. Swenson was a student of the founder of Ashtanga Yoga, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.

His video, Ashtanga Yoga: The Practice with David Swenson, is as thorough and enlightening as his book. He guides you through each step of the primary series with precise prompts and offers modifications throughout. The practice is fluid and follows the breath, and I worked up a sweat. It is definitely not a video intended for beginners unfamiliar with this type of practice. David's uber-flexibility is both disheartening (I could never do that!) and inspiring (maybe if I practice long enough I could do that!). The only down side to the video is his monotone voiceover and the lack of background music - it makes for a very somber tone. However, this is far outweighed by the technical value of the instruction. I could play my own soundtrack in the background if I decide that I need it. I will definitely be using this video often!

Today's workout:
@ gym:
60 min. strength training (focus on arms) & plyometrics
@ home:
60 min. yoga

Energy Balance Yoga

D had a playdate most of the day, so unfortunately, I did not have an opportunity to get to the gym.  I thought about taking a run outside, but didn't really have the motivation.  In fact, I thought about skipping a workout altogether, but decided I needed to "force" myself to do SOMETHING.  

So I pulled out one of my yoga DVDs.  I rarely use these, but they good for these kind of moments.  I bought most of them before I was "serious" about yoga, and doing them now shows how mindfulness about the body can change your workout entirely.  I was glad that I changed my mind and chose to exercise.

Rodney Yee is a well-known yoga master, trained in Iyengar style yoga.  The Energy Balance DVD is divided into five sections: Awakening (warm-up), Centering (balance flow), Creativity (sun salutation-style vinyasa), Reflection (seated forward bends), and Surrender (restoration and savasana).  Yee's simple directions are accompanied by a relaxing soundtrack that is not distracting.  He uses the English, not Sanskrit, names for the poses and provides little direction beyond the names of the poses.  I would suggest familiarity with a variety of asanas before attempting the video, as it would be distracting and difficult to complete the practice if you have to continually fix your gaze on the television.

I modified the workout by completing the centering sequence twice, in order to focus more fully on balance work.  The balance postures presented here are not terribly challenging, with the most difficult being Half-Moon and Warrior 3 ("brave warrior").   In the creativity section, Yee does not include chaturanga (moving directly from plank to up dog).  He also does not direct viewers to vinyasa throughout the Sun Salutation B sequence.  (For example, he suggests: plank-up dog-down dog-triangle right-down dog-triangle left-down dog).  I modified this to be: plank-chaturanga-up dog-down dog-triangle right-plank-chaturanga-up dog-down dog-triangle left-plank-chaturanga-up dog-down dog.  I was able to add these modifications and stay with Yee's directional cues.  I was able to work up a sweat!

This is a great workout for maintaining flexibility and balance.  With all DVDs, the exerciser has the responsibility to monitor her own form and make the most of any workout.

My mantra for this yoga practice was:  I dwell on positive thoughts.  Inhale: positivity; Exhale: negativity.