yoga practice

 by Vicky Arundel

What does yoga mean to you?

This thought-provoking question was offered at the beginning of a yoga therapy training that I have undertaken recently as a student. It’s wonderful as a teacher to be put back in the position of a student again. I have always loved learning and credit this insatiable curiosity for knowledge as the key to fueling my passion and sustenance as a teacher.

 

Here are some of the thoughts I jotted down in response to the above question and I sincerely encourage you to do the same. Get out a piece of paper and explore what this practice means to you, dear reader. Give it some thought and time to percolate; you might be surprised by what comes up for you.

 

What Yoga Means to Me:

Developing Relationship to Self

  • Over 25 years of practice with varying levels of commitment (at least in the early years) there has always been something about yoga that pulls me back in. A thread or through-line that remains; a desire to connect with myself. To build relationship with myself, to develop self-awareness, to be kinder, to touch something closer to essence or spirit.
  • I think yoga can mean many things and the practice perhaps serves different purposes for different people at different times. Like any long-term practice, it has seasons. Creativity, motivation and inspiration wax and wane like the moon, and the content and style of the practice has changed much over the years for me.

 

Emotional Sanctuary and Resilience

  • At its most practical level yoga has been a means of maintaining and managing my physical and mental health – whether that’s mobility, nervous system regulation, stress resilience, strength and body awareness.
  • Yoga has been a means to calm the beast of anxiety, explore the dark ache of depression and sit with the numbness of sadness and loss. At times like these I appreciate its intense practicality, the tools that take me out of the overwhelm and stagnancy of an unhappy mind and into the safer and easier to navigate (for me) realm of sensations, postures, breathing exercises.
  • These practices act like mini life-rafts that I can find sanctuary and solace from when everything feels uncertain, unknown and uncomfortable.
  • Through these practices I give myself back agency and choice – I can not know what life has around the corner and I recognise my limited capacity in the wheel of fate, but on my mat I am empowered by my ability to choose and that is huge.

 

Physical Embodiment and Acceptance

  • My physicality has always been very important to me – my body, my connection to it, my sense of it, has played a huge role in my life. Yoga has been a means through which I can really harness and develop that connection – through embodiment I feel it enriches my life, my ability to touch and express joy, to savour, to find pleasure and sensuality, as well as to process pain, to be with the visceral experience of emotions without trying to suppress them or push them away.
  • This practice has given me a safe sanctuary to explore all this – from the most mundane pursuits such as keeping mobile hips, to a soft quiet space that I can retreat to when times are dark and tough and the only place to go is inward.
  • I hope to offer this practice as a sanctuary to my students too – my heartfelt desire is that they gain from it whatever it is they need, without judgement or my own personal bias and predilections. The pursuit of physical fitness is as worthy a pursuit in my eyes, as the desire to connect to a deeper level of conscious awareness. In fact, I truly believe one can seek both, they are not mutually exclusive.  

 

Returning to Presence (again and again)

  • I would also humbly suggest that the word yoga is something more akin to a verb than a noun – that it is describing a quality of being, a state of attention or absorption perhaps in line with the flow state.  A quality of attention that could be brought to any action.
  • I struggle deeply with this and feel that as such, I am still very much in the infancy of this practice. I find it hard sometimes to transmit what I practice and explore on my mat into daily living. My brain is always at least 2 feet in front, always ahead scanning the horizon and predicting/planning/overthinking. Fear causes me to constantly project and anticipate about what is to come and often the only thing that roots me in the here and now is a physical, timeless experience such as yoga.  

 

A Reminder – Everything is Connected, We are all One

  • My struggle to stay present is also matched by my frequent forgetting of the connection of all things. Something that yoga philosophy reminds us of frequently. I see and understand this connection in rudimentary and unsophisticated ways such as the connection between my calves and my lower back, or the butterfly effect of my actions rippling out and affecting others.
  • I also find awe in the notion that we are all made of stardust. But I still find myself frequently forgetting this fact in life – I feel my separateness, my loneliness, my longing for meaningful connection that at times feels so absent. My practice at times has made me feel even more insular and even more introverted, and yet as I get older I recognise that ultimately meaning is found in life through relationship with others, through sharing, through connection. Finding the balance between my desire for introversion and retreat must be balanced with the very real need for sangha and community. Perhaps this is the next stage of my yoga journey.

in Lifestyle 0 comments
 by Vicky Arundel

5 Reasons to Take a Private Yoga Class

The way yoga is taught today couldn’t be further removed from its traditional roots. Back in the day, yoga was handed down from teacher to student usually in one-on-one settings or small individualised groups with common aims. Taught in this way, sequences and practices were highly specialised, safe, logical and custom-made for the individual.

Fast forward today, and teachers have their work cut out for them, with a huge diverse range of levels, physical constraints and injuries presented in each class. It’s become a real, and dare I say, virtually impossible challenge to teach a public yoga class that will cater to all students various and unique needs.

That is why I’m such an advocate for private yoga sessions. Many of us see the logic in investing time and money into additional training to improve our technique and skill, whether its at the gym with a personal trainer or with a coach to improve our tennis game. Why wouldn’t we do the same for yoga, particularly if its something we enjoy and we plan to spend some time doing?

This particularly holds true if you identify with any of the following statements:

You are a beginner…

As a beginner it can be really intimidating to step into a group class. I would encourage every beginner to have a private session first (just as you might have an induction when you start at a gym), if for no other reason than to make you feel a little more relaxed and comfortable.

Good quality one-to-one instruction can also help keep you safe and injury-free by providing personalised modifications to poses so that you get the most benefit and enjoyment out of your practice.

You are injured…

Done mindfully and with awareness, yoga is one of the safest forms of physical movement out there. However, it really pays to see someone for a private if you are injured or working with musculo-skeletal imbalances.

Whilst a yoga teacher/therapist is not able to diagnose or treat injuries, yoga can help restore better movement and function. Certain poses or practices may also be contra-indicated for specific injuries and should be avoided altogether.

An experienced teacher will tell you what to skip in class, what beneficial poses to do instead, and what poses to adapt or modify, creating a practice that will help fast-track you on the path to recovery.

You are an Ashtanga/Flow/Vinyasa junkie…

One of the riskier elements of more dynamic styles of yoga is the repetitive nature of certain movements, and the potential for wear and tear on vulnerable joints such as the knees, shoulders, lower back and wrists.

Many of the injuries I see in yoga come from repeating the same poor alignment habits over and over again. Almost everyone can benefit from a chaturanga (a style of push-up) tune-up, and seasoned practitioners can learn from going back to the basics of alignment in oft-repeated poses such as downdog, updog, warriors and plank.

Even the most skilled sportsmen will continue to work alongside their trainer to develop and refine the basics of their craft, so if you are repeating a lot of the same sorts of movements it’s really important you get these checked by a trained eye.

You are working with a chronic health condition…

With any health condition you will have very specific needs and requirements that are best addressed in a one-on-one setting. A qualified teacher can help create a practice that addresses these needs, keeps you safe and provides you with a logical sense of progression and growth.

We also often forget that yoga has so much more to offer us than just physical postures. There are a huge array of therapeutic practices, such as meditation and breathwork that have been shown to have wonderful healing properties. If you are working with a health condition this is also rich territory to explore and again best suited to the quiet, compassionate space of a one-on-one session.

You are looking to advance/ re-inspire your practice…

I’ve often likened my relationship to yoga practice like any long-term relationship. There are times when the passion is alive and flourishing, and then other times where things feel a little stale and in dire need of spicing up!

I’m a big believer in a steady, long-term sustainable yoga practice and I think this can only happen when you constantly revisit the intentions behind your practice, and look for new sources of inspiration, whether that be exploring a new style of yoga, delving into the philosophical teachings of yoga, or having a list of ‘project poses’ that you’re working on.

Private yoga sessions can be a wonderful place to explore ways in which you can continue to grow your practice, giving you a clearer insight into where you want to go and the steps to get there.

in Uncategorized / Yoga Therapy 0 comments
 by Vicky Arundel

A Yoga Sequence to Improve Balance + 3 Essential Tips!

One of the most frequent requests in both my private yoga teaching and public classes is a yoga sequence to help improve balance. I often say to my students that working on balance requires a healthy dose of patience and a good sense of humour. Balance can be a notoriously tricky thing to pin down – some days we can feel very steady, other days like we’ve just stepped off a boat! That said, there are definitely proactive measures we can take to improve our balance. Below are just three of my favourite tips, followed by a short standing sequence designed to get you feeling centered and steady.

3 Tips for Better Balance

  • Relax

One of the best pieces of advice I was given about balance was ‘to be more like the bamboo’. The bamboo plant represents the perfect blend of strong and supple – it’s branches are firm and hard, with strong roots and yet it flows and bends easily with the wind, never fighting against it. We can keep this image in mind when balancing, trying to find that perfect combination of stability and fluidity, allowing for the inevitable micro-movements and readjustments that the body makes in order to find center. Many of us instinctively tense up when we try to balance – we become rigid, our joints lose their supple elasticity and we might find ourselves holding our breath. Paradoxically it is this tension and rigidity that often throws us off kilter. So next time the teacher cues tree pose in class, be more like the bamboo, allow yourself to flow with the movements a little bend don’t break.

Be more like the bamboo
  • Keep your eyes steady!

Our bodies (and minds) tend to move wherever our eyes go. The yogis understood the distracting power of sight and created the concept of dristi, a Sanskrit word that describes keeping the eyes steady and focused on a single point. I often encourage my students to find something at eye level, or if preferred, a few meters out in front that they can gaze at (in a relaxed way, no hard staring!) whilst balancing.

Steady your gaze (dristi)
  • Work on your feet

As described in earlier posts, our feet have the potential for an enormous amount of pliability and movement, and they are key to our sense of foundation, connection with the ground and therefore our balance. However our footwear, predictable terrain (think tarmac, carpets, flat surfaces) and general lack of movement have created rigid, tense feet that lack shock absorption and the ability to really ‘feel’ the floor. We need to improve the mobility, strength and flexibility of the feet to ensure proper articulation of the joints, to maintain arch support and to ensure better balance. For ideas on how to work the feet check out this earlier yoga sequence – many of the exercises will be helpful for improving balance.

Love your feet

THE YOGA SEQUENCE

Please note for a printable version of the sequence please click on this link.

BALL ROLLING FOR THE FEET:

Focus: To release tight connective tissue on the sole of the foot, improving tissue glide and gently re-mobilise the joints of the feet.

Place a firm ball under the sole of your foot. Put pressure through the foot as you roll the ball around the whole surface area of the sole of the foot. Roll front to back, side-to-side, explore circles. If you find a particularly tender spot, pause, apply gentle pressure and take a few deep breath before rolling to another spot. Continue for about 1 minute on each foot and then repeat on the second side.

HIP ABDUCTION/ADDUCTION:

Focus: Strengthen the muscles of the outer hip and thigh which help to stabilise the hips and knees in standing postures.

Stand on a yoga block with one foot and hover the other foot off the ground until both hips are level. Gently engage the lower abdominals towards the spine and create a sense of length through the tailbone.Visualise extending up through the crown of the head.

Without moving the spine or rest of the body, inhale and as you exhale lift your right leg out to the side, as high as it will go without leaning to the sides, lifting the hip or turning the foot out. Inhale to bring the legs back together. You should feel a sense of muscular engagement on the outer hip and thigh. Repeat this action 10 times on each leg.

HIP FLEXION/ EXTENSION:

Focus: Strengthen the muscles on the front and back of the hip and thighs.

Start as per the previous pose. Stand on a yoga block with one foot and hover the other foot off the ground until both hips are level. Gently engage the lower abdominals towards the spine and create a sense of length through the tailbone. Visualise extending up through the crown of the head.

Now again, without moving the rest of the body bring the right leg forwards as high as it will go and then extend the leg back behind you as far as it will go (note: it won’t be very high). Keep the knees straight throughout. Be mindful not to lean forwards or backwards in your spine as you move the leg. Repeat this action 10 times on each leg.

MOUNTAIN POSE WITH BLOCK BETWEEN THIGHS:

Target: To strengthen the muscles of the inner thighs, pelvic floor and deep core that help to stabilise the pelvis and lower back.

Stand with your feet about hipwidth apart. Place a yoga block or rolled up firm blanket between your inner thighs. Visualise lengthening up through the crown of the head. If you tend to hyper-extend your knees, try unlocking them slightly and engaging all of the muscles around the knee joint.

Inhale, as you exhale, squeeze the block with your inner thighs and at the same time feel the muscles of your pelvic floor lift up and the muscles of your lower belly hug in towards the spine. Notice the lower back and hips stay neutral throughout – be mindful not to tuck under. Try to hold the contraction for 10 seconds, breathing normally and then release. Repeat 2 more times.

MOUNTAIN POSE WITH HEEL RAISES:

Target: To strengthen and mobilise the feet and the muscles of the front and back of the legs.

Stand in mountain pose, feet a comfortable width apart. Lengthen your tailbone and draw the lower abdominal muscles gently in and up.

Inhale lift the heels off the floor coming onto your tip-toes, reaching the arms overhead. Exhale lower the heels and arms down and then try to lift the toes off the ground, rocking the weight slightly back into the heels. Make sure your spine stays neutral throughout – don’t let your lower back arch when the arms come overhead. Try to lift up and lower down through the center of the foot – avoid letting the ankles sickle in or out. Feel free to rest your hands lightly on a chair or table surface for balance if needed. Repeat this action 10-15 times.

CHAIR POSE ON TIPTOES:

Target: To strengthen and mobilise the feet, ankles, calves, hamstrings, glutes and quadriceps.

Start in mountain pose and on an inhale lift up onto your tiptoes. As you exhale slowly bend your knees and lower your hips down, keeping your heels lifted. Inhale to lift your hips, straighten your legs and lower your heels. Only lower as far as feels right for you – eventually you can make this movement stronger by lowering your hips all the way down towards your heels. You can use a chair to support and stabilise your balance if you like. Repeat this 5 times.

STANDING CROSS CRAWL:

Target: To improve proprioception (an understanding of where your body is in space), co-ordination and balance through fluid movement.

Start in mountain pose. Gently engage the lower abdominal muscles, feel them cinching in around the waist. Lengthen up through the crown of the head. Inhale lift your right leg and your left arm up overhead. Exhale lower down. Then switch sides, lifting the left leg and right arm up. Continue for 30-60 seconds. Move as slowly and as controlled as possible and don’t forget to breathe!

TREE POSE:

Target: To improve balance in a static one-legged position. This pose strengthens and builds endurance and stamina in the muscles and joints of the legs and hips.

Standing tall place your left foot onto the inner ankle, calf or thigh of your right leg. Make sure the foot is placed above or below the knee rather than directly on the side of the knee.  Keep the hips and toes of your standing foot pointing forwards, as you widen the right thigh to the right by squeezing the buttock muscles gently.  Find one point of focus to gaze at for greater balance and stability. Firm the muscles of your legs and outer hips in, lift tall through the sides of the waist and extend the crown of the head to the sky. Hands can rest on your hips, in prayer at the chest or reach them skywards.

To make this pose more challenging for the muscles of the feet, ankles and hips, you can stand on a soft surface such as a rolled blanket or spongy yoga block. To test your balance and proprioception still further you could explore closing the eyes! Hold for 5 slow, relaxed breaths and then switch sides.

Thanks to Tummee for the images! Please use the following link to access a printable copy: https://www.tummee.com/yoga-sequence/Tz5z5
in Balance / Goals / Strength / Yoga Sequence / Yoga Therapy 0 comments