TKV Desikachar, son and student of T Krishnamacharya, friend and teacher of The Yoga Institute’s Founding Director, Michael de Manincor, used to regularly teach that yoga is not only good for general health and well-being, it can help improve many areas of our lives, including our golfing ability. He never mentioned surfing, but the same applies….

Read on to find out……

Strength vs Flexibility

Any repetitive activity that builds strength can come with its challenges of flexibility. Suring is no different.

Too much strength can cause inflexibility and too much flexibility can lead to instability. This is particularly important for surfers as it’s essential to stay quick and agile, as well as have the strength and stamina to paddle either out in rough surf or to gain speed quickly to catch waves.

What to make flexible?

Thoracic & lumbar spine (upper and lower back)– cat/cow pose, focusing on mobilising the top segments of the spine to ensure mobile paddle position. Lower (lumbar) spine also can become tight and overworked, and will need a good stretch and release.

Hip flexors & Hamstrings – low lunge, tucking the tail bone to access lengthening of hip flexor and tilt the buttocks back in the forward bend to release hamstrings.

What to make strong?

It’s important to move dynamically in and out a few times to prepare the body before building strength by holding.

Legs (particularly quads and glutes) – chair pose, pressing into the heels to help engage buttocks

Abdominals & arms – Plank pose and apanasana, controlled movement to build strength

Back – cobra to strengthen and stabilise the back

Breathe for Big Waves

The breath is a very powerful tool to assist with stability, energy and stamina. The more effective we breath, the more effective your ability to surf. The key is to moving and maintaining long, steady rhythmic breathing.

Whether or not you are used to surfing big waves, most surfers would have experienced times when they wish their breath could go on for longer.

The main aim of pranayama is to consciously extend the breath, making it smooth and steady will not only allow you stay under water for longer but also access a sense of calm in your body, even under pressure. The breath effects ever single system in your body.

When working with the breath, it’s important to work gradually for it to be sustainable, but also to avoid creating and negative impact on the nervous system (fight or flight).

• Anuloma Ujjayi – lengthen the exhale
• Vinuloma ujjayi – bring the inhale to meet the exhale
• Breath Retention on exhale
• Breath retention on inhale

Each step of this process can take months and advised to work with a professional who is skilled at working with advanced pranayama techniques.

Under Water Calm

As divers can testify, the slower you breath, the more focused you become and the longer you can stay under water for, it is no different with surfing. Yoga can help you to maintain and calm and focused mind even in the most stressful of situations, including being dragged under a wave.

Written by Natalie Bowcutt

Written by Jayne Robertson

For many years I had one speed…fast.  And one intensity…hard. So how has a girl like me become so deeply enamored with restorative yoga?   Restorative yoga, as I have been taught, is a deeply healing practice that utilizes props…lots of them (blankets, bolsters, sandbags, belts, chairs, eye covers etc).

It all began when a dear yogini friend of mine named Cheryl said, “I think you’d get a lot out of taking a course in restorative yoga with Judith Hanson Lasater”. I’ve had many endless conversations with Cheryl around everything yoga as we studied yoga therapy together and as a result, a deep and lasting friendship emerged.  I trust her and her opinions as I have relatively few people with whom I can be such a yoga geek.  If restorative yoga is something that Cheryl valued then I thought I would probably find it valuable as well.  So I committed to a four- day intensive with Judith.

During those four days, Judith said one thing in particular that has stayed with me over the years – during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, the only style of yoga she practices is restorative.  When the week is over, she said that everything seems more colorful, easier and the world, in general, more peaceful.  I quietly thought to myself, “Yeah, right…the world turns into rainbows and unicorns with a bit of restorative yoga.”  A couple of days later, as I was driving back from San Diego to the desert and passed through some gently rolling hills, I noticed how lush they were and what a lovely shade of green.  I noticed the blue sky and the white puffy clouds.  And then I caught myself saying out loud, “It’s true!  Everything DOES look more beautiful!”.

Then the magic started to reveal itself the moment I began using a unique way of supporting the head and neck with a blanket during savasana (the final relaxation in every class). People actually moaned with pleasure as I tucked them in…and they still do after these many years of doing so.  What also revealed itself was how deeply healing the practice is and how desperately people need committed downtime to reset the balance of their bodies, minds, and spirits from an over-scheduled and full life.

And then there are the transformational moments that happen.  Just today, I asked a relatively new student to the practice how it was going for her coming to class twice a week.  She said that having been in constant pain for several months, falling out of shape and becoming more distanced from her body was a real concern.  She felt she was pointed in the direction of an electric wheelchair to cope with daily pain and discomfort.  Now, she’s back to walking and doing a stationary bicycle, along with her restorative yoga. But, she said “It’s been the yoga that has pointed me in the right direction.  I’ve completely turned around how I felt, I have hope and am managing my pain like I haven’t for a long time.  It’s enabled me to become more active with the walking and cycling. It’s amazing.”

I tried not to act too surprised in hearing her experience, but I couldn’t help but feel my heart expand.  Some of us need restorative yoga because we’ve always had the default speed of hard and fast.  Others need it because they have crazy busy lives and must step out of it for a while and finally, others step into the practice because they’ve been in physical or emotional pain that at times seemed beyond a turning point.

I’ve always said if you can breathe, you can do yoga.  But if you want to alter your nervous system and create better balance in your lifestyle, then perhaps restorative yoga is for you.

Still not convinced?  Come give it a try and let your body, mind, and soul do the talking.  You might just hear yourself say, “ahh”

Date: Saturday 12th – Sunday 13th August 2017

Location: The Yoga Institute, level 1/498 Miller Street, Cammeray, NSW

Times:
Saturday: 10:30am-5:30pm
Sunday: 9:30am-6:15pm

by Sarah Loveband

When considering a suitable yoga practice for tight hips, it depends….    

There are various factors which could be responsible for a person’s sensation of tightness in the hips. Muscle shortening, scar tissue, conditions like osteo or rheumatoid arthritis or even a person’s anatomical boney structure can limit their range of movement (ROM). As a yoga teacher or yoga therapist – a facilitator of functional movement amongst other things – it’s useful to educate yourself on the causes of tightness (perceived or actual) so you can assist people in initiating and maintaining movement in the best possible way for their body.

For many people, the most common cause of hip tightness is lack of movement. Due to work demands, many people are required to sit for up to 8 hours a day (and sometimes more) with their hips in a flexed position. Prolonged hip flexion places the muscles at the front of the hip (known as the hip flexors) in a shortened state whilst on the opposite side of the pelvis, the gluteals (which are responsible for hip extension), are lengthened.  As a result, the muscles anterior to the hip (at the front) become short and tight whilst the gluteals (at the back) are stretched and weakened.

Aside from a slight sensation of tightness at the front of the hip, one of the most common symptoms of tight hip flexors is lower back pain. This is because one the primary hip flexors (the psoas) attaches to the anterior side of the lower lumbar spine and to the anterior femur. Thus tightness in this muscle pulls on the lower back creating pain. Because the pain is felt in the lower back many people seek to perform stretches over the lower back area. However the source of the pain is on the opposite side of the body.

There are many factors that can result in low back pain, so as always IT DEPENDS on individual circumstances, whether the sequence described below will be appropriate.

A simple practice to address hip flexor tightness

To alleviate tightness in the hip flexors it is recommended that people who ARE experiencing this, perform the asanas mentioned below multiple times per week. Always begin with gentle dynamic movement – moving in and out of the posture with the breath 3-5 times – then introduce long holds of at least 30+ seconds to allow the muscle fibres to release.

Knee to Nose – Start in an all fours position, on an inhale, extend one leg straight behind you, on your next exhale, bring the knee towards your nose. Repeat the movement 3-5 in time with your natural breath, extending leg on the inhale, moving knee towards nose on the exhale. Repeat on the other side. This movement encourages the hip flexors to contract and relax which is recommended prior to moving into a stretch position.

Kneeling Lunge – Start in a neutral upright kneeling position, on an in-breath, move one leg forward into a lunge, on the next out breath move the leg back to the kneeling position. After 3-5 dynamic repetitions moving back and forth between the upright kneeling to lunge position with the breath, hold the lunge for 30+ seconds with weight shifted forward, mentally scan over hip flexors and direct your breath to this area. Repeat on the other side.

Bridge & Psoas stretch with block – Start lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hands by your sides on the floor, palms up. On an in-breath lift the hips, moving into a ‘bridge’ pose, on your next out-breath return the hips to the floor. Repeat 3-5 times in time with your natural breath, moving hips up on the in-breath and back down on the out-breath. On your next inhale after you raise your hips, place a block under the sacrum (back of pelvis, at base of spine) and extend one leg. Resting the heel of the extended leg on the floor, bring the opposite knee in towards the hip with hands resting on knee. Hold for 30+ seconds, mentally scan over hip flexors on the extended leg side and direct breath to this area. Repeat on the other side.

#Tip: Some students may find placing a block underneath the sacrum uncomfortable, in which case you can cover the block with a blanket for more cushioning.

#Tip: If you suffer from tight hip flexors you should also aim to strengthen the opposing muscle group, the gluteals, as this will create physical balance within your body.

To strengthen gluteals:

• Bridge: Performed dynamically with the breath as described above. After you raise your hips not eh in-breath, pause, hold & squeeze gluteals at the top, using the contraction of the glutes to move the hips further into extension. #TIP – you can even touch your glutes for a moment so you can feel the muscles contracting, thus building mind/body connection, exhale release and roll down with control. Doing 10 repetitions of this up and down movement in each set, complete 3 sets, resting between sets. Repeat multiple times per week.

How many of us subscribe to the philosophy of ‘no pain – no gain’ and apply it to various aspects of our lives?

Yet when we truly practice yoga, we learn to develop a relationship with our body, where we listen to what it is telling us and respond and move in a way that is deeply honouring.  After all, yoga means union and how can we be in union if there is not a true respect for the body. To me this means no pushing, no hardness, no pain.  With this, there is much to actually gain.

Pain is the body’s feedback mechanism to say stop what you are doing. Our mind can often override this signal, but at what cost to the body? When pain is felt, the body responds by causing the muscles to harden up around the injured site for protection to avoid further injury.

So what happens when we actively go into a movement that stretches the body to an extent where there is pain?  The connective tissue (or commonly known as fascia) also hardens up in order to protect the body.

This fascia is a system of tissues that runs throughout all the muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, nerves, blood vessels and organs, overlapping and enveloping these soft tissue structures like cling film. The purpose of this system is to protect these important parts of our bodies.

So if one of our aims in practising the physical postures of yoga is to loosen and open the body, to have more fluidity, then why would we induce pain and cause more tension? It just doesn’t make sense.

We can apply our understanding of this principle in our practice of yoga, and it also makes sense to apply it to bodywork therapies including massage.

As a yoga teacher, connective tissue therapist and massage therapist, I have come to understand that the best way of releasing tension in the body is through the quality of connection – not force.  A stronger stretch in yoga or a harder stroke in massage may offer temporary relief, but does it solve the underlying problem in the long term? In my experience the answer is no.

For long term healing, the approach that I take as a bodywork therapist is to respect and respond to the connective tissue by working with the body in a connected and gentle way.

As an example, in massage, rather than forcefully working into a trigger point (a point of tension held in the muscle) to access the deep tissue and muscles, the body requires lots of repetitive strokes to first of all warm up the outer layer of muscles allowing access to the next and deeper level of muscles (hence the name deep tissue). If you try to access the deeper muscles via force and without truly understanding the role of the connective tissue in the body, the outer muscles harden and go into protection, working against what we are trying to achieve, which is to relax the muscles. Once the outer muscles have been warmed up, then we can access the deeper tissue in a gentle manner, with no force and without inflicting pain.

With the modality of Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy we work with gentle hands-on healing techniques performed with slow rhythmic motion on various parts of the body. The therapy works directly with both the physical structures of the body (muscles, joints, etc.) and the energy that flows through the connective tissue system and in turn releases tension and tightness in the muscles.

By listening to the body and treating it with absolute care and gentleness it leads the body towards it own natural state of healing with no pain inflicted.

Written by Donna Gianniotis 

What is the most effective Yoga practice for kids? Well……IT DEPENDS….

Why do kids need Yoga?

There are, what seems like, an infinite amount of benefits of practising yoga for children. There is however, still no one-size fits all for children, as each learn and are motivated in different ways.

• More and more children and young adults are experiencing anxiety
• Social pressure increasingly complex, inflamed further by social media
• Less physical activity in day to day lives due to increased screen time

Engaging in well-designed, regular classes can help to strengthen and align growing bodies, development self-regulation and relaxation skills, focus and calm young minds, increase attention and memory as well as plant important seeds for later in life.

It depends…

Before embarking on teaching children yoga, important considerations need to be made and class plans designed and delivered accordingly. Key considerations are:

• Age

Differences in age groups can make a huge impact. A guideline would be seperate ages groups into ‘toddlers & preschool’, ‘young children’ 5-8, ‘older children’ 9-12, ‘teenagers’ 13-16 and ‘youth’ 15-19.

*mostly asana focus with dynamic and varied sequences

*headstands only from teens onwards and counter poses are not so important generally until teenagers

*alignment generally only understood in older kids

• Physical fitness and/or development

Not all kids are flexible and strong so individual considerations should still be taken for muscular skeletal developments, general strength and natural flexibility. Also, consider appropriateness of practice for overweight children, growth spurts and speed of recovery / breath changes

• Interest / willingness / readiness

There will be a mixture of kids who have chosen to come and some who have been sent by parents or schools. Some will be confident and others not, so consider ways each child can have a sense of achievement and manage expectations. There will also be some who might have special needs so consideration for any additional training or support in Yoga Therapy you may need.

• Psychological development & history

Based on many factors, each child will have different ways of coping and responding to situations so it’s important to guide them into accepting feelings and situations e.g. ‘it’s ok to feel like this”.

Use games to practice exploration, self-awareness as well as concentration and memory. e.g Postures and Sanskrit words

Top tips

• Small vs Big classes – small enough to give personal attention to each student

• Set ground rules – you could get them to write them down at the start of each class. Create rules of mutual respect for teacher, each student and awareness of group dynamic. Encourage non-competitive community (yoga sanga). Ensure mats are cleaned and put away and relaxation time is valued

• Stimulate curiosity – create games and maintain engagement with lots of questions ‘Can you say namaste?’ ‘How did you feel in warrior pose?’ ‘Which poses do you remember? E.g. Yoga Box to include animal poses or Jumping pillow – when they are stood on it they say “I feel….”

• Be intense – louder, happier, crazier, more positive than they are!

• Manage your expectations – children are children so don’t expect them to behave like adults. Walking away, chatting and playing is part of who they are so have realistic expectations and always take the class with a light spirit and have fun

These are for general advice only, we always recommend seeking a qualified teacher to help fine tune and guide you through a personalised practice, just for you.