Count Breaths Not Calories

I don’t like to use the concepts of weight loss and yoga in the same sentence. Yet I’m noticing that gentle yoga has changed many of my students’ relationship with their body from being at war to being at peace and as a result, pounds are lost.

While it makes sense that a vigorous hot yoga class would lead to weight loss, most wouldn’t expect the same in gentle yoga. Burning150 calories per hour of gentle yoga hardly seems like a big deal, but it’s what happens off the mat that creates change.

The 75 minutes spent in a yoga class creates a template for how to live in your body. You have an opportunity to pause, use your breath, and respond – not react – to sensations. This dynamic of slowing down translates into more mindfulness around food choices, or honoring the body with rest rather than piling on more work.

In yoga we learn to listen to the needs of the body, not just around food, but the desires for rest, peace, and the removal of stimulation. Honoring these requirements feeds the body in ways that food never could.

There are vast differences between the settings of a yoga studio and a weight loss office:

·      We don’t have mirrors, and are never weighed or measured.

·      Our emphasis is on how you feel in a pose from the inside. Standing in a Warrior II pose, we feel authentically powerful, and that is far more important than how we look in our yoga pants.

·      We don’t count calories; we are invited the witness how nourishing the breath can be when experienced fully.

·      We don’t rush to meet a weight or size goal – rather we cultivate the fine art of patience by staying in a pose when we may want to leave, or continually returning to the breath when the mind wants to run the show.

·      We don’t take before/after pictures; we invite you into loving the essence of who you are and the gift of a body that can bend, flow and exhibit strength.

·      We don’t subtract, we add; you’re encouraged to feel the fullness of your breath, your grateful thoughts, and your progress.

·      We don’t ask you to measure your food, but you might notice that yoga unlocks feelings that you’ve been suppressing with emotional eating.

·      We don’t suggest removing gluten, dairy or sugar, but you may find your internal organs working more optimally to cleanse toxins as a result of twisting poses that literally wring out your liver, kidneys and more.

·      We don’t ask you to busy your mind by keeping a food journal, but rather to quiet your mind to allow the body’s voice to be heard.

With all that we’re not doing to focus on weight loss, we still achieve it. I’ve suspected this for years, and now we have evidence from researcher Alan Kristal. As an article at Prevention.com explains, “In Kristal's study of more than 15,000 adults in their 50s, overweight people who did yoga at least once a week for 4 or more years lost an average of 5 pounds, while those who didn't practice packed on an average of 13.5—a difference of nearly 20 pounds. Additionally, yogis who started at a healthy weight were more likely to maintain their weight than those who never unrolled a mat.”

Count breaths, not calories, and see what changes.

Should Trump Meditate?

I’m very concerned about the lack of peace in our country and in our world, and I’m surely not alone. So I started to write an article about how our country’s political climate might change if Hillary, Bernie, Donald and Ted would begin to meditate. But then I had a change of heart.

I realized that was the wrong approach for several reasons. First, for all I know, these candidates may have a more solid meditation practice than I do. (Okay, that's unlikely - but possible!) And second, I could spend far more time in meditation than I already do, so perhaps I ought to focus on "trumping up" (no pun intended) my own practice. How might that add more peace into our world?

Telling our presidential candidates to meditate more and campaign less would be throwing the blame on other people and taking it off myself. Expressing my anger at a particular candidate and getting into lengthy rants with others to trash them is only contributing to the chaos.

The more time I spend watching debates and town halls, the angrier I get and that creates more internal chaos. This not only takes time away from meditation, it makes it harder to connect to stillness when my system is still reeling from rage. Sometimes I’ve even skipped meditation to watch another debate.

When it comes right down to it, it’s none of my business whether presidential candidates meditate or not. It’s not within my control. What is within my control is cultivating my own sense of inner peace, which I find most readily on the yoga mat or meditation cushion.

Since I don’t have plans to run for office, organize a rally or even attend one, what can I do beyond complain and create more war within myself and around me? I can hold my own rallies for peace every week in my yoga classes. I can help one body at a time experience more peace on the mat.

I see many people helping others to experience more peace in their own unique ways, ways that our culture may not honor or consider to be a political movement, but they really are.

Like the grandparents that provide a calm port in the sea of activities that their grandkids’ lives are made of, there are many, many ways to help our world experience more peace. The responsibility is on every one of us, not just those running for president.

Debunking the Myths About Falling as You Age

Before beginning yoga, I should have been a stockholder in ankle sprain product companies. I had several pairs of crutches, a variety of braces, homeopathic creams, and a ton of ice packs. My ankle turned all sorts of amazing colors on a regular basis. I began to EXPECT to fall, and this was before even reaching 40.

When I started yoga and tried my first few balance poses, I lacked confidence, feeling like the worst in the class. I felt terrified and extremely vulnerable when balancing on one foot.

Through the consistent practice that strengthened my ankles, feet, and hips, while increasing my core strength, a new sense of confidence returned. I also learned how to be mindful when walking, and aware of my body in relationship to the space around me.

After six months of attending yoga class regularly, I was pumping gas into my car. While the tank was filling, I went inside to grab a tea. On the way back, my foot somehow got caught on the gas hose. I was able to re-right myself, almost gracefully, and untangle without any injury. This may not seem significant, but it was the first time I had ever avoided a fall. That is the power of yoga.

I have seen just as miraculous results in my yoga students, achieved within a few short months or less. Two things in particular seem to surprise and delight them – being able to stand on one foot without tipping over, and getting closer and closer to the mat or the toes in forward folds.

Yoga cultivates balance and can prevent falls. I’ve experienced this in my own life and studies confirm it. In my classes, I reinforce the mindset that we can decrease the correlation between aging and falls.

Yes, it’s a fact that everyone ages, and that falls increase with age. Research cited in a ler (lower Extremity Review) article states:

“Falls are the leading cause of injurious death for those over the age of 65 in the United States. At least 30% of those over 65 and residing in the community fall annually; 10% to 20% fall two or more times. After age 80, annual fall rates increase to 50%.”

The good news is that many studies, such as this one summarized at Yoga U, have shown that yoga reduces falling, improves balance, and reduces the fear of falling. This will come as no surprise to anyone who has witnessed their own balance improve on the yoga mat.

There are three major reasons yoga helps us be more stable:

1. Attention is focused. During yoga class, the mind is directed to focus on what is happening in the body. Off the mat, our minds lead the way, and that’s when accidents happen. Yoga teaches us to be aware of where our body is in space, a state called proprioception, and helps us truly be in our bodies.

2. Fear is diffused. Many have lost faith in their body’s ability to stand on one foot. Once poses like Tree or Dancer are mastered, a sense of physical confidence is achieved and taken out into the world.

3.  The body is strengthened. Ankles, hips, toes and the core are strengthened in yoga – all of which are needed to navigate an uneven pavement or an unexpected step.

Yoga cultivates balance, on and off the mat, and helps us to move gracefully as we age.  It's one of the best fall prevention methods available.

Top 9 Questions I Get Asked About Yoga

1. I’m not flexible – can I still practice yoga?

Of course! The practice of yoga will open your hamstrings slowly over time. Think of it this way: If you are not flexible now, where will you be next year without yoga?

“Yoga is not about touching your toes, it is what you learn about yourself on the way down.”

 – Jigor Gor

2. Is yoga a religion?

No. Yoga is a philosophy that began in India about 5,000 years ago. Yes, yoga sometimes interweaves other philosophies like Hinduism and Buddhism, but it’s not expected that anyone align with these, it’s just part of the yoga education.

All religious beliefs are welcome on the mat. In fact, you may find that as your mind becomes quieter, your connection to your faith deepens.

3. How often should I practice yoga?

If you are attending one 75-minute class a week (like the ones offered at More Peace Yoga), that’s a fantastic start and you will experience many benefits from just that one class. You may find that’s just right.

Adding another class, or a home practice, will likely organically evolve as your body and mind begin to crave the gifts of feeling more open and relaxed.

4. I have ugly feet! Do I have to be barefoot?

This is one of the most common things I hear – it seems no one likes their feet! But after a short time on the mat in mountain pose, really honoring the gifts of our feet from a place of gratitude rather than critique, we find what was once considered ugly is now beautiful.

After all, how would we get around without feet? :)

If your feelings about your feet don’t transform this way, there are always yoga toe socks that allow you to feel almost as connected to the mat as bare feet.

“Change the way you look at things,
 and the things you look at change.” 
– Wayne Dyer

5. What does namaste mean?

Nama means bow, as means I, and te means you. Therefore, namaste literally means “bow me you” or “I bow to you.”

As a way to honor the light within one another, I like to use this phrase at the end of class as a ritualistic and positive conclusion to a lovely experience.

6. What is Hatha yoga?

Hatha is also translated as ha meaning “sun” and tha meaning “moon.” This refers to the balance of masculine aspects—active, hot, sun—and feminine aspects—receptive, cool, moon—within all of us.

Hatha yoga is a path toward creating balance and uniting opposites. In our physical bodies we develop a balance of strength and flexibility. We also learn to balance our effort and surrender in each pose.

Hatha yoga is a powerful tool for self-transformation. It asks us to bring our attention to our breath, which helps us to still the fluctuations of the mind and be more present in the unfolding of each moment.

7. What should I wear to class?

You don’t need to dress like the women on the cover of Yoga Journal in order to practice yoga, and that can get very expensive.

In the More Peace Yoga studio, we dress casually. Just be comfortable and consider making sure that your shirt doesn’t slip over your head when you’re in an inverted pose (head beneath your heart). 

8. What if I can’t do some of the poses?

There is only one pose you must learn and that is a pose where you are comfortably able to breathe and relax if another pose isn’t working for you. That might be child’s pose, puppy pose or on your back in Shavasana.

You’ll learn the poses when the time is right, and until then, I’ll show you modifications that will get you close.

9. What Is yoga?

The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj, meaning to yoke or bind, and is often interpreted as “union” or a method of discipline. A male who practices yoga is called a yogi, a female practitioner, a yogini.

There are 8 limbs or asanas (the poses and the physical practice) of yoga in total. The asana were created in order to provide comfort, physical strength and stamina that is needed during long periods of meditation. We practice the 3rd limb (asana) most often in our classes.