#shareyourpractice

Post yoga bliss 🌸💕 thank you to my lovely students who spoil me #yogateaching #bonus #shareyourpractice (at Arlington, Virginia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BswX0qlFzcxgc0hkj6MlxUmpm1Z2EI6lJXpbNg0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1595mbsb5y1o9

😯#AUM lessons with the incredible Krishna #yoga #shareyourpractice #sutras (at Meadowlark)

"Body is not stiff. Mind is stiff" - Sri K Pattabhi Jois I am always astounded by the affect yoga can have on my day. It goes without saying that I feel all of the physical benefits. With every practice I feel stronger and more flexible and this is helping in all areas of my life (even the simple act of getting up off the floor holding a small child was a struggle a few months ago!) Aside from all of this, the thing that has had the biggest impact by far is how yoga can affect my mood. I can walk in to the shala with a dark cloud over me, convinced that I don't have the energy or concentration to do a class. I then get on my mat in a room filled with inspiring like minded people and something else takes over me. When I finish my practice I glide out of the room with a clearer, more positive view of the world. On days when I don't practice it affects my whole being, and sadly everyone around me is impacted. I have a lot less patience and I'm generally very grumpy. What I'm curious to know is why the sense of happiness and calm that comes from yoga is far more powerful and much deeper. It is widely reported that endorphins released by the pituitary gland during exercise can help lift your mood. I have felt this during Yoga and many other sporting activities. This could be one factor, but does Yoga offer anything beyond this? Ashtanga yoga is a combination of a set sequence of flowing postures, deep breathing with sound and a focused gazing point. I've seen it referred to as moving meditation. There have been lots of recent studies on the effects of meditation on the mind. Herbert Benson, founder of the Mind-Body Medical Institute, which is affiliated with Harvard University discovered that meditation induces a host of biochemical and physical changes in the body collectively referred to as the "relaxation response". The relaxation response includes changes in metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and brain chemistry. It is thought that more than 60 percent of all visits to healthcare providers are related to stress. It causes the “fight or flight” hormones, epinephrine and norepinephrine, to secrete into the bloodstream. This incites or exacerbates a number of conditions. They include hypertension, headaches, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome and chronic lower back pain, as well as heart disease, stroke and cancer. The immune system works best when relaxed. Benson believes that taking about twenty deep breaths per day, done "with intention", can accomplish relaxation, and relieve stress related conditions. According to a Psychological Bulletin article, EEG activity begins to slow as a result of the practice of meditation. The human nervous system is composed of a parasympathetic system, which works to regulate heart rate, breathing and other involuntary motor functions, and a sympathetic system, which arouses the body, preparing it for vigorous activity. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has written, "It is thought that some types of meditation might work by reducing activity in the sympathetic nervous system and increasing activity in the parasympathetic nervous system, or equivalently, that meditation produces a reduction in arousal and increase in relaxation". A study of GPs attending a meditation workshop found a drop in their Kessler Psychological Distress Scale readings. The workshop was designed to give GPs some useful tools to help deal with stress in their jobs. After the short workshop they were measured on the Kessler scale and then again after 2 weeks of meditating twice a day at home. Their average pre-K10 score for these GPs was 17.2 (SD: 5.67); the post-K10 score was 14.7 (SD: 3.92), with 25.1% of the ‘at risk’ participants moving to the ‘low risk’ category. This scale is commonly used to help diagnose depression. The workshop was designed to give GPs some useful tools to help deal with stress. Not only for their patients but also for themselves. Brain trait changes have been observed in neuroimaging studies using fMRI scanners. In a meta-analysis of 21 neuroimaging studies, eight brain regions were found to be consistently altered. There is also evidence to suggest meditation plays a protective role against the natural reduction in grey matter volume associated with aging. One study found evidence that Zen meditators experienced a slower age related decline rate for cerebral gray matter volume in the putamen, which plays a role in learning, cognitive flexibility and attentional processing. Alex Korb PHD wrote an article in Psychology Today called Yoga: Changing The Brain's Stressful Habits. She is a neuroscientist who went along to a series of ashtanga classes with her dad (who had already been practicing for 6 years). She found the class physically challenging and couldn't believe that she was being asked to do things like stand on her head and do backbends. She came to the conclusion that yoga works not because the poses are relaxing, but because they are stressful. It is the mind's attempts to remain calm during this stress that create yoga's greatest neurobiological benefit. With regular long term practice you can train the brain to stay calmer and more focused during stressful situations. The stress response in the nervous system is triggered reflexively by discomfort and disorientation. The twisting of your spine, the lactic acid building up in straining muscles, the uneasy feeling of being upside down, the inability to breathe, are all different forms of discomfort and disorientation, and tend to lead reflexively to anxious thinking and activation of the stress response in the entire nervous system. However, just because this response is automatic, does not mean it is necessary. It is, in fact, just a habit of the brain. One of the main purposes of yoga is to retrain this habit so that your brain stops automatically invoking the stress response. So, on top of the endorphins released by physical exercise, Yoga's meditative qualities can also help: changes in metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and brain chemistry, make us calmer and more focused during stressful situations, produce a reduction in arousal and an increase in relaxation, and potentially relieve physical pain. The more I look in to it the more I believe that the meditative state you achieve during yoga has a transformative effect on our minds and our ability to feel calmer and happier. It's a very special experience to spend 1-2 hours on your mat and be so focused that you don't think about the world around you or the stresses and strains of day to day life. I feel that I am at the beginning of a lifelong journey of understanding the benefits of yoga but I know for sure that it is already making me a much better mother, wife and person. “Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is a wonderful moment.” - Thich Nhat Hahn

(Patanjali's Sutra I-II)

@francesculpin teaching some standing postures with @avidyogi #TT #ShareYourPractice #ashtanga #vinyasa #yoga @meadowlarkyoga (at Avid Yogi)

Sunday 15th: I am planning to go to the Meadowlark 1.5 hr full led

Day 6 #JourneytoHandstand This needs a lot more practice! #shareyourpractice #aimtoteach #avidtrainees15 #ashtangayoga @beachyogagirl @kinoyoga @avidyogi