“You are old, Father William,” the young man said,
“And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head –
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”
– Lewis Carroll

1) Thank you so much for all your input on Friday’s post about simplicity. Some of your comments certainly made gave me something to ponder! I think I am lucky in that I am naturally a very tidy organised person (as is Himself) and our house is generally neat and tidy. We talked a lot about this at the weekend and everything in our house is how we want it (well as much as it can be considering it’s a rented house – if we had our way it would be far more sustainable and be powered by the wind and the sun, but you can’t have everything). As Inca Maia said:

there is a big difference between “I can do without” and “I don’t need”

Decades-old record collection and yoga mat aside I practice non-attachment! The yoga mat is an issue. It now has a hole. It is no longer grippy at all. But what do I do with the stupid non-biodegradable thing? I am considering going matless… watch this space….

2) Do you want to unleash your inner artist? Do you live in London/Surrey? Join a (matless?) me in October for a weekend of marvellous yoga and creativity…. more details here!

3) Readers, you remember a few months ago I was given three months’ free membership to the Gaiam Yoga Club? And you will have noticed how I let you down after two months and stopped reviewing on a weekly basis? Forgive me?

I think Gaiam is marvellous for people with some yoga experience. It’s down to earth and humorous teaching. Nobody takes themselves too seriously. There is much focus on anatomy and physiology, on relaxation and breathing. It’s not all asana which is marvellous. Give it a go!

Why did I give up? Well I got frustrated during the week on headstands. I don’t do headstands you see because, well, my neck looks like this…

Yeah. And then I went on my yoga conference and met Bob and my practice went up about seven hundred notches and now I’m back on my mat (or no mat) in my own way. That’s not to say Gaiam didn’t give me a kick start, it certainly did. And it certainly gave me some things to think about for my teaching.

I think that’s it for today readers

Love and oms x

Missed previous weeks?  Click here.

Sometimes we get exactly what we need exactly when we need it.   I’ve been tired, hot, under the weather and to beautifully coincide with this the Gaiam yoga club gave me a week of forward folding and restorative postures.

Forward folds, by their very nature are passive.  Gravity helps us to stretch the muscle groups in our legs and lower backs.  By letting go and handing the pose over to gravity and the breath we can go much deeper than we think we can and in the process let go of tension and pain.  These postures are lessons in patience though, they cannot be forced, they cannot be rushed.  We have to sit with them and release gently, slowly and with awareness.

Foward folds are also something that a lot of us find difficult, especially when we are new to yoga.  A lifetime in chairs or even of running, walking and cycling without adequate stretching can make our hamstrings tight.  Members of my beginners classes often cannot touch their toes at first.  Often it alarms them, but usually they make vast improvements in relatively short amounts of time, especially if they practice with patience.

According to the yoga teacher’s bible (Asana, Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha) forward bends “loosen up the back, maintaining good health and increasing vitality.  These practices move the spine into the position known as the primary curve, the shape it takes in the womb.  During a forward bending asana each of the vertebrae is separated, stimulating nerves, improving circulation around the spine and nourishing the spinal cord.”

What’s not to like right?

In forward folds and other restorative postures (Supta Baddha Konasana, supported Savasana) you will also become aware of the breath slowing down; becoming longer, softer, calmer.  And in turn the mind will begin to slow down and the awareness will begin to withdraw, preparing the body for meditation.

In our fast paced society even our yoga practices tend to be strong, sweaty, vigorous.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  But sometimes our bodies are calling out for some rest, some restoration, some yin.  I was lucky enough to get a wake up call via the power of the interwebz at exactly the time when I needed a week off from a strong practice.  I need to listen to my body more.

Readers, do you let your bodies restore?

The Gaiam Yoga Club is currently running two memberships – US$25 per month or US$65 per quarter (which saves you US$10).  Both packages include a 10 day free trial period.

Introduction, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

Inversions are good for the lungs, for the heart, for the thyroid gland.  Most yogis are told this again and again in class.  What a lot of us aren’t told though is that if done incorrectly, too soon, without proper instruction or with pre-existing back conditions, headstands and shoulderstands may also finish us up in a chiropractor’s office with compression of the upper back.

Because my spine looks like this:-

I’m not the biggest fan of the headstand of the shoulderstand.  When I do practice shoulderstand I like to do it supported by the wall, but personally I like to think that all inversions, where the head is lower than the heart, give similar benefits.  So, for example, a downward dog….

….or legs up the wall (or indeed just in the air),

will still give the body the “slowing down” feeling that a shoulderstand can give.  Try them, they may not look as clever but they are beautiful!

Whilst headstands were off the menu this week at the Gaiam Yoga Club, shoulderstands and handstands were not.  To be fair there were several versions of shoulderstand to practice, including one with wall support and the podcasts continually encouraged us not to go further than our bodies told us to.  Now this is great for people who know their bodies but I’m still not 100% convinced that someone new to yoga, who has never practiced inversions with a teacher, will be completely comfortable practicing shoulderstand as instructed through video and podcasts.  Maybe I’m wrong?  Maybe as a teacher I want to keep thinking students need me?   What do you think?

And then there are handstands!  There is a lot less potential for injury in a handstand.  You tend to just topple over at the very worst.  When it comes to handstands a lot of it is about letting go of fear.  Most people could do handstands at least against the wall as a kid.  Somewhere along the way we lose that innate sense of fearlessness that we have as a child and suddenly are too scared to kick up the wall as an adult.  Handstands are about overcoming that fear.  And having fun trying.

Two things.  Firstly I have carpal tunnel in my wrists (I know! Is there a part of me that works properly?).  Putting a lot of weight through my hands, as you need to for handstands (and hand balances in general) just isn’t an option for me.  Although the version of handstand where you face the wall rather than away from it and walk your feet up it works to an extent for me I was disappointed that this was the only other option for handstand.

Secondly (and this isn’t Gaiam’s fault at all) this last week was the wrong week for me to be doing inversions.  Now I’m not particuarly strict on the old adage of not doing inversions when you have your period, I believe that every woman is different and I know some women find inversions help with the cramps.  But for me it feels horrible to be upside down at this time of the month.  I was sorry to see that there was no mention of this on Gaiam at all before teaching shoulder and handstands.

The sequences were  a lot of fun, fitted into busy days and felt very balanced so I would still, on the whole, recommend this course.  But maybe not to complete beginners.  However, there are discussion forums and blogs to explore which may help answer any practioner questions.

So readers, how do you feel about going upside down?

The Gaiam Yoga Club is currently running two memberships – US$25 per month or US$65 per quarter (which saves you US$10).  Both packages include a 10 day free trial period.