BLISS-IN 90: Week 4 - Trifecta

Last week Laurin and I recapped Surya Namaskar and covered some new hip-stretches to help heal the pain in her left hip – and Firelog pose was so transformative for Laurin that she no longer needs to take Aleve to sleep comfortably! I wonder how her practice went this week?

Don't forget to check out the Question of the Week at the end of the blog to share your experiences on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, too!

LAURIN'S WEEK 3 HOMEWORK EXPERIENCES

This week was a little tough for Laurin to practice consistently as she was helping a friend move for a few days and was sore from all the lifting and carrying things up and down many flights of stairs. So, she wasn't really able to practice meditation for more than 10 minutes, two times this week (but she said she did get to meditate for a longer period of time than last time so that's an improvement).


Laurin is now confident practicing Surya Namaskar, despite only having the opportunity to practice twice during her busy week. She now even practices Chatturanga with her knees up, and if her arms and wrists feel strained she just puts her knees down, so this means her arm and core strength is slowly improving the more she practices.

After our first week Laurin saw immediate results when she experimented with a Pitta-friendly diet, so she has continued to be mindful of what foods she eats since then. In keeping with her Pitta/Kapha Dosha, she's mostly cut out red meat and has begun using soy instead of almonds in her salads (as almonds are aggravating to Pitta) and has been feeling better over-all in terms of digestion. Laurin has a gluten-intolerance and avoids all sources of gluten, which is a good practice for pacifying Pitta and has come easily for Laurin – avoiding cheese, however, has not been a natural thing, and in Laurin's words "is uh, not happening". I wholeheartedly agree...I think if I found out I was lactose intolerant I would still eat a Lactaid, say a prayer and tough it out. Cheese is so delicious I'm surprised it's not illegal. Cheese does contain very small amounts of morphine, and milk contains casein which also has opiate-like effects; so cheese truly is a trifecta of pleasure. It's true, Google it. 


WEEK 4 ONE-ON-ONE PRACTICE

Now that Suyra Namaskar is second-nature to Laurin, practicing Moon Salutations together was a breeze. 

With Laurin's hip flexibility being a bit stiff, I showed her different variations of low lunge to practice depending on how she was feeling. You can practice with the arms straight up over head, hands can be in prayer at your heart, you can bind the hands behind the back (either clasping hands or grabbing opposite elbows or taking reverse Namaste hands on the back), you can place the hands on the knee for a deep hip stretch and more stability, or you can place the hands on the floor inside the front foot – whatever your body is into, low lunge has a variation that will work for you.

LAURIN'S HOMEWORK

1) Practice Surya Namaskar A and Moon Salutations throughout the week.

2) Continue practicing Lizard, Firelog and Pigeon nightly to open up hips.

3) Meditate once per day for at least 10 minutes.

4) Read Yoga Sutras 17-30.


MY HOMEWORK


1) Write up a simple hip-and-shoulder-opening sequence for Laurin to
take home next week and build on her practice.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Which variation of the Moon Salutations do you practice? Do you practice according to The Bihar School of Yoga's method? Or do you practice that fun, new-fangled sequence created by who-knows-whom? Personally, I like to play with both versions depending on my mood, what about you? Share photos of you practicing your Moon Salutations on Instagram and Facebook and tag with #blissin90 to share the love!

Check out our Bliss-in 90 progress again in 2 weeks! Going to be taking a brief hiatus from blogging due to scheduling conflicts between us, but I'm planning on filling in the space with some fun lil nuggets for ya'll so stay tuned :)

BLISS-IN 90: Week 3 - "Cobra-thingy"

So last week Laurin began practicing Surya Namaskar A and some hip-opening stretches at home – Let's see how she's doing this week!

Don't forget to check out the Question of the Week at the end of the blog to share your experiences on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, too!

LAURIN'S WEEK 2 HOMEWORK EXPERIENCES

It was really exciting to hear that Laurin has been practicing Firelog to open up her left hip--and only has been practicing about 1-5 minutes, at the most 3 or 4 times this week--and she no longer needs to take Aleve to sleep comfortably before bed. How's that for progress?! Pretty amazing what just one pose can do for you! 

Laurin felt like she forgot a lot of Surya Namaskar A, and really wanted to re-cap this week and practice it some more together. (I let her know that for next week she shouldn't hesitate to text or call, I'd be happy to walk her through it so she can continue to practice on her own between our sessions.) She said she kept forgetting the "cobra thingy" (haha I love the way Laurin refers to poses) and couldn't recall where "baby-stance" (or Child's Pose, as Laurin refers to it ;) ) should go in the sequence. I understand why she was a bit lost. The way we practiced Surya Namaskar was modified for her body, and the videos she found online to attempt to practice along with were slightly different than what I was advising she do to protect her low back; so, I'd be confused, too! 

She's been practicing mostly at night since mornings are kind of hectic for her--as a fellow night-owl, I like to practice at night too, but we both love the way it feels to practice in the morning. I encouraged her to try to practice meditation in the mornings to clear her head and if she has time to throw in a few rounds of Surya Namaskar A. She's still only getting up to 8 or 9 minutes of breathing/meditation in because of her living situation. She says despite the short amount of time she's feeling a difference in her mood, feeling more patient, so that's good!

I completely forgot to ask Laurin about her experience beginning to read The Yoga Sutras, so, we'll have to get her thoughts on that next week.

Laurin's notes

WEEK 3 ONE-ON-ONE PRACTICE

Instead of hopping into a hip-opening sequence as I originally planned for this session, we recapped Suyra Namaskar A and practiced rounds of it together to make sure Laurin would feel more confident practicing on her own. 

We both felt the "cobra roll" from Budokon (which I explain in last week's blog) was a little too much to think about at the moment. Instead of the roll from Knees-chest-chin into Baby Cobra, we just lowered the knees in Plank and kept the knees down for Chaturanga, then lowered the torso all the way down to the ground and gently lifted the chest into Upward Dog (despite Laurin's low back issues, she doesn't feel much of a stretch in Baby Cobra and feels fine in Upward Dog. I just let her know if she ever feels more tension there to practice Baby Cobra instead.), then pressed back to "Baby-Stance"/Child's Pose, then pressed the hips up and back into Down Dog. (I will post a video soon of our modified Surya A so you can see it in action and try it for yourself! To be really real, I have little experience with editing video and I've been procrastinating on making this and any other demo videos because I fear a road-block in the production process. Ridiculous, I know-- when we all know there's no such thing as "no fear", just feeling the fear and then facing the challenge, so, face the challenge, I shall!)

After our Surya-recap we practiced Pigeon and a new hip-opener for Laurin, Lizard, for her to start doing at home. Lizard is a deep hip-stretch but there are baby steps to take along the way before you can go all-out in this pose. Lizard can be practiced with hands on the ground with the arms straight, wrists under shoulders, or with forearms on the floor. Additionally, the back knee may be off the ground for a more active version of the pose, or the knee can be down on the floor for a more restorative stretch. The stretch wasn't deep enough for Laurin with her hands on the floor, but her forearms wouldn't touch the ground all the way, so we modified with a block under her forearms to get a deeper stretch.

I asked Laurin if she wanted stick figures with explanations to take home with her and she said, laughing, "No, that's the problem you keep trying to push stick figures on me, I'm not a visual person, I need it explained and/or I need to watch you and have you there to spot me" haha, well, that's less work for me so I don't mind!

LAURIN'S HOMEWORK

1) Practice Surya Namaskar without the "cobra roll", just lowering down all the way from plank to the floor then lifting to Upward Dog 

2) Practice Lizard, Firelog and/or Pidgeon nightly. 

MY HOMEWORK

1) Write out Moon Salutations (the sequence as I learned it in my Teacher Training. Even the YouTube video I linked to is slightly different than how I learned it– you'll find that just like with Surya Namaskar A, there are variations, this variation is according to the Bihar School of Yoga.) for Laurin to take home and follow after we practice the poses together next week.

  

QUESTION OF THE WEEK 

Which Yoga pose (or poses) have helped to heal or ease pain in your body? How often did you practice and how long before you could feel a difference in your body?

Please share your healing poses on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and tag 'em with #blissin90 so we can all check them out :)

See you next week!

BLISS-IN 90: Week 2 - "Baby-Stance"

Let's check in with Laurin and see how she did with this the first week of homework! Don't forget to check out the Question of the Week at the end of the blog for your chance to share the love, too! Share your photos with us on Instragram, Facebook and Twitter, and tag 'em with #blissin90!

My "flow" notes. And yes, I am aware I spelled "Ujayi" incorrectly 
for some strange reason! :)

LAURIN'S WEEK 1 HOMEWORK EXPERIENCES

We left off last week with leaving Laurin with some breathing and meditation exercises to practice for the week, as well as a breakdown of Surya Namaskar A to study, and also left her with some resources on Ayurveda to check out if she so pleased. Laurin was going to begin reading The Yoga Sutras this week but her copy of the book didn't arrive until the day of our second session, so, that'll have to be done next week!

Laurin can't really meditate in solitude due to close-quarters living situation but she valiantly makes an effort as much as possible on subways and other quiet moments she can find. She's been using the 2:1 breath to relax before bed every night, and feels the difference and falls asleep faster (not that she had sleep trouble before but she noticed that happened). Aside from bedtime practice, when she's attempted to meditate she's only gotten up to 8 or 9 minutes due to distractions from her living situation. (The beauty is that over time it gets easier to tune out external stimuli the more you practice concentrating on the sound of your breath.)

Laurin read up on Ayurvedic diet recommendations for her Pitta/Kapha-ness and did some experimenting this week already: She tried a baked potato (okay for Pitta to eat) with sour cream (not great for Pitta to eat) and felt very sick afterwards.The next day she tried potato w/ butter (close to ghee which is good for pitta) instead, and was totally fine. With those results she said she's going to continue exploring Ayurvedic recommendations, but, instead of going crazy monitoring every morsel that goes into her mouth she's just going to increase Pitta-pacifying foods (Excellent approach, dietary changes that stress you out aren't going to do any good for you anyway).


WEEK 2 ONE-ON-ONE PRACTICE

We spent this second session breaking down the poses and transitions of Surya Namaskar A. We modified the sequence without Chaturanga/Half-Push-Up due to Laurin's cervical spine and shoulder issues. Instead we practiced Surya Namaskar while employing and modifying a movement from the Budokon system where you move in a "rolling wave" from Astangasana (8-limbed pose, colloquially known as "Knees-Chest-Chin") into a Bhujangasana (Cobra) or Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Dog).

 
To protect Laurin's sensitive low back, instead of moving into Upward Facing Dog from Knees-Chest-Chin we moved into a "baby" Bhujangasana (Baby Cobra) with a less intense backbend, more bend in the elbows than in the back. And instead of moving from Baby Cobra back to Downward Dog, we moved into Balasana (Child's pose, or as Laurin referred to it in a moment where she forgot the name: "Baby-stance", which is now what I shall use to refer to Child's pose, now and forever) and then straightened the legs and lifted the hips into Down Dog from Baby-stance (I said "now and forever." I'm a lady of my word.)

For Downward Dog we modified the pose to widen the feet further than hips distance to protect her low back, and also practiced feeling the difference being both in- and out-of-alignment in Down Dog. When one has upper-back issues the tendency is to hang out in the shoulders and put too much weight in the wrists and shoulders, the remedy is to pull the heels down toward the floor, even if the heels aren't touching the floor, actively reach them toward the ground -- this helps take weight out of the shoulders. Since Laurin is building flexibility in the hips and hamstrings, I had her bend her knees super deeply when walking from Down Dog into forward fold. 

Laurin exploring Down Dog in Union Square.

 


No Savasana this time as we didn't really flow and I could tell she hadn't moved enough to feel the sweet release of Savasana. Her and I both being Pitta's, I know she needs to exhaust herself a little in order to feel good being still for a while.

Instead of Savasana, I thought it would be good to practice some hip-opening stretches. As Laurin has undiagnosed pain in her left hip, Pigeon and Firelog (with blanket under left hip when it's on top due to tightness) are some poses that could help her open up her hip pretty quickly. When practicing Pigeon, her left hip was so tight she was falling over to her right, I had her pull her right hip back and left hip over to the left to balance it out and she felt the stretch even more (with no pain). She said already she felt a difference (in a good way), can't wait to see how she feels next week!


LAURIN'S HOMEWORK

1- Read Yoga Sutras (as translated by Satchidananda) Sutras 1-16.

2 - Practice Surya Namaskar A at least 3x/week and at least 5 rounds to start, reccomend she go as long as she can/feels like then practice Pidgeon and Firelog (with a blanket) for 1-5 minutes each, as often as she would like to stretch/open up her left hip.

3 - Continue practicing Meditation and breathing exercises at least 3x/week

MY HOMEWORK

1 - Create a simple hip-opening sequence for Laurin to practice and take home the following week.

2 - Explore more restorative hip-stretches for Laurin to practice.

3 - Research hands-on adjustments in restorative poses to help open up her left hip, and relieve lower- and upper-back pain.


QUESTION OF THE WEEK!
We'd like to know: What's your dosha and how do you keep your dosha in balance? (If you don't know you can take a test here to find out! And, in a pinch, you can use Google to find more info on the doshas and Ayurveda). Share pictures of your Ayurvedic practices on Instragram and tag 'em with #blissin90!

Have you ever tried any dietary changes or changed your Asana practice to balance your dosha? If you made changes, did you notice a difference? Do you think Ayurveda is a buncha bologna? Tell us in the comments below!