In this week’s Pose of the week Felicia Tomosko demonstrates Vrksasana or Tree Pose. Find your strength and balance in this one-legged standing pose. Learn the basics and variations that you can practice as you advance on your tree pose journey.
This week in wellness news, getting and maintaining the attention of students is a core area of struggle in many classrooms. Students are continuously told to pay attention, but who teaches them how to pay attention?
Read that and these other great stories yoga, health & wellness stories from around the web.
Your purpose (dharma) comes alive when you live your own truth, when you’re completely connected. When you are connected with your dharma, everything else will fall in to place.
This week’s featured classes will help you become a little firmer and clearer on your purpose in life
They say that being a parent is the toughest, yet most rewarding job in the world. It comes with more responsibility and stress than any other occupation, so that’s why it’s so important that we have the ability to cultivate mindfulness and presence, acceptance and awareness, compassion and gratitude so we can be the best we can be; the greatest gift we can give to our kids.
Our collections for Parents will help you navigate the road of parenthood through breath, body and mind awareness.
Yoga for Parents: Mindful parenting is an art. This collection is your go-to resource for practicing with baby, connecting with your teen and taking a very deep breath when it all feels overwhelming.
Prenatal Yoga: Feel supported and more comfortable in your changing body as you connect with your baby and yourself for a calm, healthy and happy pregnancy.
New Mindful Mom: As a new mom, it’s challenging to find time to nurture yourself as you nurture your little one. These classes will guide you through your post-birth months and give you space to breathe. You’ve got this!
Looking for more inspiration? Our curated collections are designed to help you find yoga classes focused on topics that interest you.
In this week’s Overheard in Yoga Class, Darren Rhodes explains that sometimes simplicity, a sophisticated simplicity, gives immediate clarity. That feeling of clarity, with close proximity to complexity is such a feeling of relief.
Take this class with Darren: https://glo.yoga/2lGLv6A
In this week’s Pose of the Week, Dice demonstrates standing splits or Urdhva prasarita eka padasana. Practice a more refined variation of this standing pose as a hamstring opener, but further more as a prepatory pose for asanas like handstand. Let your head go as you lift your leg high!
This week in wellness news, whether you need to recover from a stressful day, a strenuous workout or even an injury or surgery, restorative yoga may be just the thing for you. In fact, if you’re recovering from surgery, it may be one of the only forms of exercise that’s safe and effective.
Read that and these other great stories yoga, health & wellness stories from around the web.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
Each day is a chance for us to be better than we were yesterday. Think about what simple steps you can take today to get closer to your best self.
This week’s featured classes will help you in your journey toward greater health, growth, and happiness.
It’s scientifically proven that being in love is good for us. But what about loving ourselves? We’ve all had days where we’re super down on ourselves, days where we subject ourselves to a harsh inner critic. But how can we be the very best we can be if we don’t love ourselves first? Self-love is essential for our wellbeing, happiness, success and our ability to enjoy the kind of life we want. Below are 10 ways in which you can begin to form a more loving relationship with yourself:
In this week’s Overheard in Yoga Class, Stephanie Snyder reminds us to practice lighting the fire of positive action.Do great things, change the world by appreciating the good within and all around.
Take this class with Stephanie: https://glo.yoga/2lRjvLs
You’ve practiced with them on YogaGlo. You’ve followed them on Facebook. You might even take their classes in person once in awhile if they travel to or live in your city. But how well do you know our YogaGlo teachers? Ask a Yogi is back so you can learn more about our teachers by asking questions you’ve always wanted to ask.
From favorite poses and tips for beginners to deeper questions about how their practice has changed their worldview, our teachers will collectively answer a new question each week. If you have a question you’d like to “Ask a Yogi” let us know in the comments and we’ll add your questions to the list.
Alex van Frank: Love yourself deeply and you’ll find that it is easier to love others as they are.
Chris Chapple: Love abundance and abundantly.
Darren Rhodes: Love spelled backwards = evol(ve)
Mary Taylor: Love arrives and supports the world when we step out of the way.
Noah Maze: Love the life you live. Live a life worth loving.
Stephanie Snyder: Love Story Yoga
Steven Espinosa: That’s really a question for the great poets of our time. But if you want an honest answer from me, here it is. Some days I think “Love Is All You Need” from The Beatles. And other days, I think “Love Stinks” courtesy of the J. Geils Band.
Taylor Harkness: Love coming home to my fiance and our pup after a long trip, teaching on the road. There is no better feeling
What’s better than chocolates & flowers? Yoga, of course! Grab someone you love this Valentine’s Day and connect with them in a fun and creative way!
In this week’s Pose of the Week, Elena Brower demonstrates half camel or ardha ustrasana. Use this preliminary backbend to create space in your front body. Tap into your vibrancy and energy by opening up, breathing deep, and resting in virasana to close.
This week in wellness news, A new study suggests that specific forms of mindfulness techniques can be particularly useful for reducing repetitive and intrusive negative thoughts that frequently occur in depression or anxiety.
Read that and these other great stories yoga, health & wellness stories from around the web.
The heart. The single most important and powerful organ in the body. A closed heart can lead to all sorts of physical and emotional problems, but when the heart is open, the possibilities are endless. We become more accepting, humble, genuine, our joys become greater and our sorrows bearable — not to mention all the physical benefits that come from having an open heart. So if you’re looking to open up your heart a little more, you’ve come to the right place. Yoga can help the heart, through both the mind and the physical body.
This week’s featured classes invite you to open your heart to possibility, forgiveness and change.
If you’re like most new mamas, it may seem impossible to find time for yourself with a new baby in the house. The smallest tasks seem monumental and making it into the shower may feel like the biggest accomplishment of your life.
The first year of a baby’s life is an intense time full of joy, exhaustion, worry and change. Try to carve out a few minutes each day for caring for yourself. Moms who focus on prioritizing self-care for themselves, often feel more balanced, happy and feel as though they can cope with stress more effectively. Be good to yourself.
Excerpted from MEDITATE YOUR WEIGHT: A 21-DAY RETREAT TO OPTIMIZE YOUR METABOLISM AND FEEL GREAT Copyright © 2016 by Tiffany Cruikshank. Published by Harmony Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
Today’s meditation is all about developing your ability to notice the sensations in each breath but then also see the bigger picture. The first part is to observe the breath and acknowledge the sensations in the body and see if you can detangle them from the mind. Then recount a stressful situation or a stressful day—anything recent enough that you can recall it in full detail and really connect to that memory. Notice the sensations that the recollection brings up in the body. Is it possible to allow the sensations to exist and to disengage the mind, to just notice and watch them? Take a moment to do this. Then notice what it feels like to acknowledge that everything will pass at some point. Consider that in the big picture, a month or a year from now, you’ll look back on this one little stressful experience and it will be insignificant. Last, notice what it feels like to acknowledge that right now, in this moment, you have everything you need.
Mind Makeover
Today’s journaling will focus on stressful moments.
1. Notice your stress points, either from yesterday or last week, whether they’re minor incidents, ongoing situations, or big events.
2. Ask yourself, how different would those stress points look if you were able to take an observer’s mindset? To detach yourself in the moment when you feel stress and simply observe? Notice the experience and imagine the big picture.
3. Will the outcome of those moments look different? Sometimes it will, and sometimes it won’t. How will it be different? Remember, today’s work is not necessarily changing stress or outcomes but rather changing your perception. That shift alone has a profound effect on your health.
Today’s mantra: I am content.
Excerpted from MEDITATE YOUR WEIGHT: A 21-Day Retreat To Optimize Your Metabolism And Feel Great Copyright © 2016 by Tiffany Cruikshank. Published by Harmony Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
Tiffany Cruikshank is the founder & visionary behind Yoga Medicine, a community of expert yoga teachers focused on fusing the best of anatomy & western medicine with the traditional practice of yoga. Tiffany’s classes have evolved over the past 20 years of teaching yoga to reflect her creativity and passion for using yoga as a form of medicine for the mind, body & spirit. With her medical background in Acupuncture & Sports Medicine, her classes are guided by a strong anatomic focus and her ability to teach a deeper understanding of complex subjects. Recognized more broadly as a health & wellness expert, Tiffany has worked with professional athletes and celebrities from around the world. She has run her own clinics and was the Acupuncturist & Yoga Teacher at the Nike World Headquarters and has been featured as an expert in numerous publications including Yoga Journal, Prevention , Self, Marie Claire, Fitness Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Fox News, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Mantra, Thrive, More Magazine, OM Yoga, YogaLife and many others. Visit Tiffany’s Website
Photo credit: Jenny Jimenez
In this week’s Overheard in Yoga Class, Alex Vanfrank explains that when life gets busy, it can take a toll on your overall well being. Make sure you find space within your body and day to relax away the outer chaos.
Take this class with Alex: https://glo.yoga/2kUkUmO
The following is an excerpt from my recently published book Yoga of the Subtle Body. Exactly what the subtle body refers to is a mystery. While there are many references for it in yoga, like chakras or nadis and it is activated by bandhas and mudras, the subtle body escapes definition. It is beyond any language, thought or scientific formulation. Perhaps the most important thing of all is the direct experience of its movement and flow inside our skin, tissues and glands.
What is the subtle body? Is it something material like connective tissue, hormonal secretion or neuronal pulse? Or is it formless, like space, pure energy, or consciousness? Is it tied to emotions such as fear or passion? In the tradition of yoga, the subtle body suggests that which is fine, delicate, and infinitesimally small such as an atomic particle. It also speaks to the all-pervading spirit and is one of the names of Siva.
When imagining the subtle body, the mystics and yogis of India and Tibet designed elaborate systems for navigating the body’s interior, akin to the network circuitry of a computer. These systems map the flow of breath called prāna whose dynamic potency pumps, flows and trickles through myriad channels called nadis. The exact nature of these pathways is difficult to articulate in any one biological system; its potency suggests a physio-spiritual force that transcends scientific rationale.
The language and imagery used to articulate the subtle body, in collections such as the Upaniṣads that date back as far as the 5th century BC and the Haṭha Yoga Pradipika in the 15th century CE, are metaphorical and cryptic. This is due in part to the fact that the landscape of the inner body, long before the era of the microscope or magnetic resonant imaging (MRI), was visualized during states of profound meditation. Also descriptions of the subtle body were shrouded in metaphor and obscure so as not to be readily understood by the uninitiated, but reserved for those who trained with a qualified master. Ironically, today we have the opposite scenario where yoga teachings are ubiquitous, launched on the world wide web and made available to everyone at any time.
We released a website update today that makes finding and favoriting classes easier than ever.
We’ve removed the Body, Heart and Mind categories on the left navigation and added a new one for Collections. You can now easily find and browse our curated collections of yoga and meditation classes with one click on the Collections icon.
Each Collection has been designed to meet your specific needs. Whether you’re a runner, a beginner, are looking to reduce stress or learn how to meditate – our collections are a wonderful place to find classes that align with your specific needs and interests. Each collection features a set of classes you can take in any order and return to again and again.
We hope this update makes Collection-perusing easier on the web. We’ll be updating these same changes on iOS in the near future.
A few collections we’re loving right now:
You’ve practiced with them on YogaGlo. You’ve followed them on Facebook. You might even take their classes in person once in awhile if they travel to or live in your city. But how well do you know our YogaGlo teachers? Ask a Yogi is back so you can learn more about our teachers by asking questions you’ve always wanted to ask.
From favorite poses and tips for beginners to deeper questions about how their practice has changed their worldview, our teachers will collectively answer a new question each week. If you have a question you’d like to “Ask a Yogi” let us know in the comments and we’ll add your questions to the list.
Chris Chapple: Commit to Truth, as did Gandhi. Speak truth to power through your purchases and transportation decisions.
Darren Rhodes: Daily dose: practicing asana (hatha yoga poses), pranayama, meditation; jogging or cycling; 20 minute naps; dark chocolate.
Mary Taylor: Remember that the world seems to get along just fine without me at the center of it. It’s just my misperception that I have to do many of the things “only I can do.” It’s a good lesson in self care and also perspective taking/humility. Maybe I’m not the center of the universe after all.
Noah Maze: I am so often away from home, that my go-to self care routine looks like a normal day at home: It starts with getting 8 hours of sleep. I’ll start my day with hot lemon water and meditation practice, take my kids to school, work in the garden and drink green juice until dinner. I will spend quality time with my wife, do a yoga practice during the day and then go for a hike or bike ride with my kids after school and then make them a special dinner.
Stephanie Snyder: Somatice movement, super clean diet and Thai massage.
Steven Espinosa: Oh, that’s an easy one. I go to the park with my dog, Uma. Nothing in this world makes me happier, or is more therapeutic than watching her run and play with her friends. No matter how challenging my day was, it immediately makes me smile and laugh. It brings me back into the moment and allows me to enjoy the simple things in life. By taking care of her, I am actually taking care of myself, too.
Taylor Harkness: Prioritizing sleep! As a young paramedic in a job filled with adrenaline, I had always been under the impression that you can sleep when you’re dead. It felt like such a waste of time. Now, years later, I wish someone had told me then what I know now through experience. Sleep is so crucial to health and wellness. Without quality sleep, we can do some major damage over time. Yet no one ever teaches you how to properly sleep. Here is my sleep hygiene routine for self-care and I hope they help. Remember, this takes practice and the mindful creation of a steadfast routine:
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection” – Buddha
The most important relationship you will ever have is the relationship you have with yourself. Self-love and care is at the very core of wellbeing. By caring for yourself and maintaining a positive and healthy relationship with yourself, you’re not only able to build healthy and fufilling relationships with others, but you have the ability to create and enjoy the kind of life you want.
If you’re in need of some nurturing and self care maintenance in matters of body, mind and spirit — you’re in the right place.
In this week’s Pose of the Week, Carole Westerman demonstrates Wide Leg Forward Fold or Prasarita Padottanasana. Take a break and fold in! Release tight hamstrings and let your neck go as you breath into your back body. A great pose to do after sitting for long periods of time.
This week in wellness news, how do you find a balance between keeping up-to-date and staying calm? New studies point to benefits of mindfulness, an increasingly popular form of anxiety-reduction habits and practices that get people to focus on the present moment, warding off future- and past-directed stressors.
Read that and these other great stories yoga, health & wellness stories from around the web.
If the Super Bowl is your thing and you anticipate getting a little intense at your party today, here are a few quick meditations you can do anywhere to get back to mellow quickly:
If the Super Bowl is so not your thing, we’ve got a few 90 minute classes you can simply get lost in (so lost you won’t hear your neighbors shouting at the TV next door!):
Enjoy, yogis!
In this week’s Overheard in Yoga Class, Amy Ippoliti explains that in this world of rapid technology advances, it can be easy to get enamored with what’s shiny and new, while losing touch with what your past can teach you. She encourages us to use our practice to honor our past, celebrate our present and be responsible for our future!
Take this class with Amy:https://glo.yoga/2kNd1M8
You’ve practiced with them on YogaGlo. You’ve followed them on Facebook. You might even take their classes in person once in awhile if they travel to or live in your city. But how well do you know our YogaGlo teachers? Ask a Yogi is back so you can learn more about our teachers by asking questions you’ve always wanted to ask.
From favorite poses and tips for beginners to deeper questions about how their practice has changed their worldview, our teachers will collectively answer a new question each week. If you have a question you’d like to “Ask a Yogi” let us know in the comments and we’ll add your questions to the list.
Alex van Frank: 1) The path of wellness as a lifelong journey, not a just short term goal. Just put yourself in the right direction and when the wind blows you off course just get back to it. Little readjustments along the way are what count. Falling off the course every once in awhile reminds you how worthy the journey is. 2) Practice Ahimsa (non-harming). Non-harming in how you eat, sleep, conduct your business, interact with others and most importantly with yourself. Don’t speak to yourself in harsh or judgmental ways. If you can give yourself some compassion, forgiveness and kindness you’ll find that there is a lot less tension in your body and life. Release the expectations you may have around some goals and enjoy the journey otherwise you’ll miss the fantastic things that happen on the way because you were too busy trying to just get there. 3) Do your wellness goals include things such as joyful movement? meaningful connection with others? being of service to others? You may find that resetting your goals to include these things in those goals will drastically improve your chances of success both short term and long term. A few years ago a student of mine, who was having difficulty with depression and fitness, asked me for suggestions and I recommended that she contact the local animal rescue center. Not only did she get the opportunity to take fun walks with great dogs, she also got to reconnect to the community and wound up with two of the best companions anyone could ask for. Create these goals that are win-win and you’ll be unstoppable!
Chris Chapple: Walk every morning, first thing. Find a place to swim regularly. Do Asana and Pranayama everyday.
Darren Rhodes: I don’t set goals–it means succeeding or failing. I articulate an inchoate aim/intention. I then ask myself, what if I moved toward this aim/intention? How might that influence my life? Since there is no way I can know the answer, my curiosity propels me to find out. .
Mary Taylor: 1) Be gentle with yourself and if things go off track, smile and start back toward the goal. 2) Make the goals attainable and measurable. “I’ll go to an hour long yoga class twice a week for the next month” (Rather than “I promise I’ll practice every day for the rest of my life!”)….Remember tip number one; when the first week goes by and you realize that you didn’t get to yoga. Smile! Start over. 3) Don’t hesitate to modify goals so they actually work. “Actually, I will practice any amount of yoga once a week for the next month.” Then if you happen to practice more, that’s a bonus!
Noah Maze: Tip #1 Spend some time in reflection and contemplation: What have you been doing? What’s been working, and why? What’s has not been working, and why? Are there other areas of your life that are asking for more attention? If so, formulate some new goals. Keep in mind your time and resources, and consider letting something else go in order to prioritize something else.
Tip #2 Do a three day juice fast/cleanse. This is like hitting the reset button and can be a potent way to infuse your body with nutrients as you break unhealthy habits while you shed a few pounds. There are lots of organic juice companies offering these programs, and they make it easy for you (albeit a bit pricy). Or if you have the time, shop at your farmers market (or grow your own) and make your own juices.
Stephanie Snyder: Take an honest assessment of whats up and move toward wellness from where I am actually at- includes seasonal demands, work demands, physical, emotional and mental status!
Steven Espinosa: To be honest, I’ve never been much of a goal setter. I’m more of a “follow my instincts” type of person. For better or for worse, at age 55 that is who I am. However, if I am feeling “out of balance” somehow, either physically, emotionally or spiritually here’s what I do. First, I disconnect from all social media to quiet the outside noise. Second, I try to become very still and slow down my tendency to rush around just to keep “busy.” And third, I close my eyes and take time to breathe. I know that all that sounds rather simple, but it’s not. Even for me. I might be a yoga teacher, but I’m a human being first. And still experience all the same concerns everybody does such as “worrying” about my future. Especially these days when there seems to be so much chaos and uncertainty in the world. But when I do those three things, I instantly feel better and am able to come back to a place of feeling “well” about myself and my life.
Taylor Harkness: 1) Make time for a reboot. Get out in nature; camp, hike, explore. Take your phone in case of emergency but leave it on silent in the bottom of your bag and don’t worry about taking pictures. Get present. Whether it’s for a few hours on a weekend, or for the entireweekend, resetting and unplugging can help get your head on straight. 2) Make a commitment with a friend. Have an open conversation about the need to hold each other accountable. Make regular dates each week to work out, plan a healthy meal together, or go for a walk. Create a positive routine that you look forward to and it will be much easier to stick with it. 3) Try something new! Never taken a barre class? Go for it. Never tried a spin class or a kick boxing class? Get in there! Sign up for a fun race so you have something to look forward to and work towards. A well-rounded fitness regimen is exciting, fresh, keeps you stimulated and is the best way to cross train.
If you’re looking to boost your metabolism, add these 4 yoga classes into your yoga routine! The metabolism affects every process in the body so time to fire it up so it runs more efficiently!
So maybe January’s “reset” didn’t quite work out. It’s ok! A new month is here and there is still time to start on those resolutions! To start you off right, we’re giving you an amazing, clean, detoxifying salad by the one and only, Kathryn Budig. Bon appetite!
Originally featured on my www.kathrynbudig.com blog
I travel for a living, which means finding consistencies in meals I want to eat can be a royal pain in the arse. When I’m home, I get to cook and eat exactly what my body wants—I pick every ingredient and know exactly what I’m putting into my precious vehicle. I do my best when I’m on the road, but honestly, it’s a total crap shoot at times.
I returned to teach in Southern Pines, NC, a few months ago. It’s one of my favorite stops because of the amazing woman who runs Hot Asana—Virginia Gallagher. She generously offered up her beautiful home to me and my husband, and we were treated with a gorgeous spread of food from her favorite local restaurant, Chef Warren’s.
Chef Warren is a true artist and lover of clean, organic yet decadent food. I chowed down on a salad sprinkled with pineapple and fried chickpeas on a bed of satisfying dark, leafy greens. Each bite made my smile wider (which makes for difficult chewing), but I was delighted to know we would be eating so well on a weekend where I normally struggle to find good food.
Today’s salad is dedicated to Virginia, her family, and inspired by the wonderful Chef Warren. Thank you all for being so hospitable, inspiring, and just damn fun!
1 lemon, juiced
Preheat your oven to 350F. Mix bourbon, maple syrup, and melted ghee together. Add walnuts until each nut is evenly coated with the delicious mixture. Spread on a cooking sheet layered with parchment paper and bake for 10-15 minutes.
Place your slivered red onions into a small bowl and cover with apple cider vinegar. Drizzle with a bit of sea salt and let sit for 10-20 minutes. Drain vinegar and gently shake them off before adding to your salad.
Warm sunflower oil on high heat in a tiny pot until glistening. Add chickpeas string occasionally for 8-12 minutes or until golden and crispy. Remove from heat and transfer the chickpeas with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel lined plate. Dab off excess oil and sprinkle with smoked paprika and a good sprinkle of sea salt.
Mix together olive oil, lemon juice, pinch cayenne and sea salt. Set aside.Combine kale, pineapple, red onions, cheese, walnuts and fried chickpeas in a large bowl. Toss with dressing and serve.
In recent years, there’s been a perceptible shift in the motivations people have for trying yoga, with many more coming not for the yoga bod (or the yoga butt), but for the yoga mind. Still of course, there are people who come to it just for a workout, or more controversially, to lose weight. And this is a really interesting issue, since these were definitely not the greater goals of yoga as it evolved, and yoga as a physical exercise probably won’t itself help a person lose much weight. But using yoga as a mental exercise might. Through the many ways in which it helps shift our relationship with ourselves, it also helps shift how we relate to our bodies, and to our own habits.
Let’s look at some of the research here. There’s not a ton of evidence to suggest that yoga as an exercise alone would help people lose weight – in fact, there’s very mixed evidence on whether exercise of any kind alone will help you lose weight. But one study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that healthy middle-aged people who did yoga, as opposed to other exercise, didn’t gain as much weight over the years as those who didn’t practice; and overweight people who did yoga actually lost a few pounds. But this was just an observational study, so it’s hard to know what other variables might have contributed to these trends. And the team later found that mindful eating might help explain the link more fully.
In fact, yoga’s power to change the body may not so much lie in its physical effects, but in its mental ones. A study a few years ago, looked at the role of Kripalu yoga in helping people lose weight. Participants were overweight and obese, and signed up for a five day yoga program at the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living, which included multiple yoga sessions per day, as well as workshops on healthy eating and cooking. After three months, people in the yoga group had increased in mindfulness, self-compassion, nutrition, and stress-management. After a year, people who participated in it had lost a significant amount of weight, though half the participants had dropped out of the study.
But the key here was likely that the yoga wasn’t just physical – the psychological was heavily stressed. Methods like “riding the wave” of craving were taught, in which people are asked to experience and stay with each sensation in the “wave” of craving, without jumping off of it, until it passes. And this may be the really valuable part of the experience. The kind of overweight that comes from overeating is largely psychological – we eat to cope with our emotional and psychological “stuff,” and we often pick up this habit from a very young age. So a practice that can help us adjust our attitude toward food, cravings, and ourselves may be better than anything that addresses only the physical.
Jillian Pranksy E-RYT 500, an international presenter and director of Restorative Therapeutic Yoga teacher training for YogaWorks, says that the yoga for weight loss question makes her a little nervous off the bat, since she doesn’t think there’s such a direct link between asana itself and body weight. But what yoga can do for us, she says, is to shift our relationship with ourselves and with our own patterns of behavior. “Yes, yoga has given me a fit, strong and flexible body,” she says. “But as a yoga practitioner and teacher my focus has long been on how the practice helps us cultivate more self-acceptance, compassion, presence, mindfulness, happiness, and overall wellness.”
Pransky adds that an early lesson she learned is that more doesn’t always equal better when it comes to our bodies. “One of my favorite teachings is that we don’t have to beat ourselves up to encourage change – harder is not always better. As a lifelong athlete, I’ve often favored intensity over relaxation. I can remember people working out very hard – every day – and NEVER loosing weight. In yoga, I see people breathing, relaxing, growing more mindful and sculpting changes in their body and mind never achieved by working out. It’s a combination mindfulness and self compassion, as well as quelling the stress response, which is known to encourage excess weight gain, and initiating the relaxation response, which is known to help facilitate proper digestion and metabolism.”
Additionally, investigating own patterns, and particularly the internal commentary that often runs in our heads, can be enormously helping in transforming our relationship with our bodies. “From my personal experience, and as I’ve seen with the experience of my students,” says Pransky, “a regular yoga practice has had a great impact on not only how I feel about my body, but the choices on how I nourish myself. In my 20’s, I remember an inner dialogue that was much more self-deprecating and self-destructive – which leads to less self care.”
Being a little gentler with ourselves as we learn new relationships to our own pain and past experiences, as well as with food, is a good goal to keep in mind. Other strategies may be necessary as well for keeping a healthy weight, but yoga can certainly help with this part of it. “Self-compassion and self-acceptance go along way in how we feel about our body and then how we treat ourselves,” says Pransky. “The work you do in class fosters a compassion that flows into every aspect of your life.”
Alice G. Walton, PhD is a health and science writer, and began practicing (and falling in love with) yoga and meditation five years ago. She is a contributor at Forbes.com, and writes for the University of Chicago, as well as other publications. Of all the areas of health she covers, she’s particularly interested in how yoga and meditation affect the brain and behavior. You can follow her on Twitter @AliceWalton and Facebook at Facebook.com/alicegwalton.
