UpDog: Just Keep Breathing...What do we do? We Breathe

I have been thinking a great deal about breathing the last little while. Such an automatic simple thing, and yet so life changing. A friend of mine just completed the first in a series of trainings to become a yoga teacher and the two of us have been discussing the art of pranayama in both our physical asana practice as well as in our daily lives. Since I have learned to breathe, really mindfully and actively breathe, my life has been so much more peaceful than I ever thought possible. I always thought I had a short temper...turns out I was short of breath!

I have been leading a lunch time yoga practice as of late, and many of the folks in the class are coming from work. I have been amazed at the hurriedness of people as they run in, short of breath and quickly jump onto the mat all wiggles and agitation, but in just a few minutes of sitting quietly with nothing to do but breathe, the energy in the room changes dramatically. The frantic stress of jobs and traffic is gone and there is just calm and joy.

A third thing that got me thinking about breathing was a question asked about breathing after class today. One practicer has been having difficulty breathing during class. Feeling as if the lungs do not want to fully inflate on an inhale. I started thinking about what we could do to help strengthen the lungs and also get us used to that thing that so many of us just refer to as "yoga breath." That is, the long deep inhale followed by the slow full exhale. The practice of pranayama. Believe me, there are as many ways to practice breathing as there are yogis, but this is just a little something that I came up with.

During the next few days, focusing a few minutes throughout the day to breathe.

During any yoga practice asanas or just breathing practice, the tongue actually plays a huge role. Flattening the tongue so that it sits relaxed at the roof of the mouth is key. The tip of the tongue touching the back of the front teeth and the tongue taking up the entire roof of the mouth. This actually causes that tiny closure of the back of the throat that makes breath sounds audible sometimes. It also reminds us to keep the mouth closed and the jaw relaxed.

Our first practice, let's try doing some breathing a just focusing on that (tongue placement) for a few breaths. That's it. We're done for now.

The next time (which may be later that day or the next day) we can start with a few breaths focusing on the placement of the tongue again and then adding a few more breaths, concentrating on expanding the belly on the inhale. Done again for a while.

The next practice can focus on the above two things (each for 3-5 breaths) then adding on again by focusing on the rib cage expanding as well as the belly. Done.

Ok, we are getting the hang of this. Next time, adding on yet again by inviting the air all the way to the collar bones, still allowing the belly and ribs to expand on that inhale. Enjoying that deep breath each time.

Finally, when we are feeling those beautiful inhales we can start to focus on the exhale as well...slowing it down to match the inhale.

So the first one will only take a minute. Each pranayama practice after that will be a bit longer and a bit longer. Ideally we are practicing some place quiet, in a comfortable seated position, with our eyes closed. After a while, with practice, we could do this on a busy subway and forget there are even other people around!

The act of breathing itself tones that thin sheet of muscle right beneath the lungs. Our physical practice adds to that because when we are folded, twisted or stretched in a pose, the lungs have to work even harder to fill up, which helps strengthen them more. The breath both calms and energizes the body. Really quite a miracle of engineering...

Happy breathing!

Quote of the Day: "Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next."--George Steinbrenner 

EatUp: Comparing Apples To Oranges and also Corn Dogs?

Food. I love it. And sometimes I hate it. We have grown up in a society here in North America, where food is a constant source of both of these emotions. It really should not be that way, but it is. I never really thought much about the food that I was putting in my body until I reached my mid-twenties. I ate what I wanted and I was active, and I never gave my body or my nutrition much thought at all. As I got older and wised up to the crap that was served and labeled as food, I started giving it more thought. I won't bore you with the details of the last 20 years of trying to figure out what is right and what is wrong when it comes to food, but I have figured out that what we eat should be food. Not the stuff that passes as food, but food, food.

 |fo͞od| noun--any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth


So, "nutritious" is the key I guess. My thought as a religious person is that food is the stuff that God made for us to eat. Each of us may have our own idea of what that is, but I think we all can agree that no God created Twinkies or Wonder-bread. My ideal is to eat food that is as close to the way God made it as possible. The fewer steps between its creation and my mouth the better. I know, it seems simple enough, but "junk" food is cheap, tastes good, and is highly addictive. In fact, cost is one of the major reasons that people state for not eating as healthy as they could. (Highly addictive and tastes good are the real reasons by the way.) So here we all are with the love/hate relationship.

All of this hot air is to make one observation. On my drive home from the grocery store today I passed a fast food establishment whose marquee advertized corn dogs for $.79! Cheapo! But when I unloaded my groceries I did a quick little bit of math. I bought a 3lb bag of Apples for about 4 bucks. That worked out to $ .33 per apple! Two apples for the price of one corn dog. I also had a bag of mandarins. They were about $3 for three pounds, coming in at about $.12 per little cutie. That is about 6 oranges for the price of one corn dog. Still sound cheap?

I know, I know...corn dogs taste good. Love. Hate.

Quote of the Day: “Do you know what breakfast cereal is made of? It's made of all those little curly wooden shavings you find in pencil sharpeners!” 
― Roald Dahl

BreakingDOWN: Gidget and the Beave at Twilight

Ok, so let's not make a big deal about my obvious absence the last few months. No biggy. Just life.
And for my first bit of blogginess back in the ranks, I have nothing important to say. Yes, as usual.

In this post, I am going to come off as a total lazy bum, who does nothing worthwhile with her time but watch old TV shows, but I believe it is worth exposing all of my skeletons to make a point that no one cares about but me. Yes, as usual.

So, last week, I am lying in bed waiting for the Hunky Hubby to finish his rather lengthy nighttime routine so I can shut out the light, watching an old episode of Leave It To Beaver. Yes, I realize that is the only kind of episodes of Leave It To Beaver. The Beave had spent some birthday money on a model despite his parents' very sound advice to put the money away in the bank. He then lied about the source of the model etc etc. Mayhem ensues and June and Ward have this conversation.
"Don't you think the Beave is too old to lie to us?" June asks. Ward's response is pretty good I think. "No, but he's too old to think he'll get away with it!" Priceless right? Golly, I wish parenthood were that well scripted nowadays.

Don't worry, in the end young Master Cleaver realizes the errors of his ways, apologizes for all of his wayward behavior and concedes that his parents' advice was indeed sound and that he was foolish for not heeding it in the first place. All of this is done with words like golly, and gee thrown in for good measure, but in the end, mom and dad really did know best.

Fast forward a few days to me doing some mundane chores with the TV on the background listening to an episode of Gidget. There is a little contrast of note. Gidget was up to some scheme as usual, and when her father offers his advice, "Golly gee Dad, you're such a square." or something like that, is offered as rebuttal. In the end, her father was right after all, yet Gidget, unlike the impish Beave was unwilling to offer like apology or concession.

The point? Leave It To Beaver ran on television from 1957 to 1963. Gidget was on air a bit later. 1965-66. Things had started to change. In the era that Beaver was the standard, children not only looked up to their parents as role models, but even relied on them to help them solve problems, negotiate the big world and help them transition into adulthood. Less so with the perky pixie Gidget. She and her friends seem to want to figure things out on their own, without the intrusion of pesky parents. Parents were fuddy-duddy conformists, out to wreck any fun the young people might try to have. The kids knew what they were doing and certainly did not need the "grupps" interfering and making a mess of things they knew nothing about!

Flash forward to today. The worst thing that an adult in the 60's could be was "out of touch" and "square". Today? Sheesh! Pretty sure I cannot even write it. When was the last time that any of us saw a show geared toward teens where the parents were held in a place of respect and honor rather than ridiculed and belittled? Where they are looked to for guidance and the wisdom they possess? How about a show or movie where the young people are the heroes and heroines who solve their own problems with sheer grit, ingenuity and fortitude? Granted, not bad qualities, but usually it takes more that 13 years to develop such character. I am sure that both types of entertainment are out there, it just seems that there has been a slow degradation in our society of many things, including the honoring of the wisdom and knowledge that comes with life experience.

I have no answers. Just an observation and a long rant.

UpDog: Letting Go

Anyone who has a hobby that involves physical activity will understand how sometimes athletics, even for the casual participant, can be a metaphor for life. Pushing past the wall, climbing the hill, finishing what you start, overcoming hurdles, never giving up, getting up when you fall and the like.  I am certainly no athlete, but I am physically active and I do have a regular yoga practice and am a yoga instructor. Our life lesson today comes from yoga.

If you have ever been to a group yoga class and wondered what the instructor is doing during savasana then hold on to your seat, I am about to blow the lid wide off that long held secret. Ok, not really, because I have no idea what others do, but I usually lie quietly and think about the yoga. (This is not what we should be doing when we are in our own practice, but when I am in front of the class, that is not my practice, it is theirs). Today a thought came to me about a student of mine.

photo credit: deserthorseyoga

I usually offer several options for any posture, allowing each of us to listen to our own bodies without feeling like we have to push ourselves to do something we are not ready for, while still challenging ourselves if we would like to. I think that yoga can rise up to meet each of us wherever we are on any given day with our body or mind. And while it is true that some of the options offered may be easier or harder than others, the difficulty is not really where I want the class to focus. My desire is that everyone feel comfortable enough to both try new things that might be difficult, but also to back off when necessary. The student that I was thinking of today is always asking me, "Which way is harder?" when I offer modifications to poses. I refuse to tell him, not only because I do not want him to always push himself to choose the "hardest" option (which he will) but also, because there is no such thing. What might be harder for me, may be easier for you, and vice versa. And something that may feel easy on one day, may feel more difficult the next. One of the main focuses of regular yoga practice is to increase our ability to tune in to the needs of our body at any given moment and on any given day. Often that may mean giving ourselves permission to ease out of a posture.  The process of "letting go" is huge. We honor ourselves and others by letting go of competition, judgement and expectations. Everyday is different. Every body and everybody is different. Respecting that, and embracing that is a wonderful gift to give ourselves.

So in yoga practice, so in life. Sometimes it may be time to push ourselves, and to try new things that might be difficult. But sometimes it may be time to be gentle with ourselves...to ease off. This is not throwing in the towel, this is kindness. Remembering that what may be hard for one, may be easier for another and withholding judgement and competition, not only of others, but of ourselves. Being mindful that we are not required to run faster than we are able...but rejoicing that sometimes we are able to soar!

Quote of the Day: "Breathe."