Elisa's Yoga Blog

Yoga Wear and Yoga Hair

Yoga Wear

During past yoga practices, I have experienced fussing over clothes that are too tight, too loose, too long, and too short. Through trial and error, I eventually found what works for me. Here are my guidelines:

1. Vinyasa class: this involves a bit of sweating and moving around, so I wear sweat-wicking capris and a fitted sweat-wicking shirt. This minimizes fussing, since I don’t have to stop and roll up my pants or tuck in my shirt for certain poses.

2. Hatha or Iyengar class: I often wear longer pants, since I have more time to lift the bottoms of the pant legs up if I need to.

3. Restorative or yin class: I like to be warm and wear long pants (see below) and a long-sleeved shirt. Even on a warm day, the body can cool down significantly during these types of classes where poses are held for 5+ minutes.

However, I would like to note that my cousin Michelle wears these exact pants during her vigorous Anusara practice, and seems to have no problem. I’ve noticed that half the class wears the same pants (ok—they happen to be in the same social group, which includes the designers and model of the pants), and they too don’t seem to be fussing over their pants as they flow through their practice. Perhaps they’re all a bit leggier than me, and the pants aren’t as long on them.

Yoga Hair

This cousin of mine also wears her hair in a bun. However, I find that the bun, whether low or high, gets in the way in some poses. This is especially true in my Ashtanga practice.

Since my friend Nancy practices Ashtanga, I asked her for hair advice, even though she has conveniently hacked off her long hair and can practice her Ashtanga without fuss. She suggested pigtails, which I happily wore for my next practice. I tried to take a photo, but the lighting wasn’t right, and also my vanity prevented me from posting a picture that included a huge pimple on my face (I don’t know how to Photoshop that out). Anyway, the low pigtails worked for me, and I had an uninterrupted Ashtanga practice. My hair didn’t even look that messy afterward, and so I was inspired to write this post.

Side note: I am aware this post is only interesting to a select few. Thanks for reading it anyway!

Letter to Nancy Ashtangi

Since no one I know except Nancy Ashtangi cares about my Ashtanga weekend, I was going to write her an email about it instead of posting an entry. But I thought there might be a chance someone else might care, so I decided to post the email, so she and others can read it if they are interested.

Dear Nancy Ashtangi,

On the first day I had a 6 hour intensive with Richard Freeman. I arrived early because it matters to me where I sit. After I sat down on my mat, the guy in front of me turned around and I smiled at him. He turned away. Jerk! Anyway, since I was early, I had time to look around and start freaking out. I’m the only one here who can’t do the whole primary series! I am a fraud and everyone will know! But it turned out that I wasn’t the only one, and no one knew or cared what I could and couldn’t do, and we didn’t go through the primary series anyway. We did a lot of coordinating breath with movement and bandha stuff. RF’s thing is all about the intelligence in this, that, and whatever when you’re doing this and that. Especially in the big toe. That day I was totally reunited with the intelligence in my big toe.

I think I mentioned before that I was worried studying with different teachers would “corrupt” my current practice, because there are things that I have been working on for months with Fiona Stang. One main thing that was different was the posture of the spine. I have been working on rounding it (because of my odd spine issue I think—or did she make everyone round when we did that workshop over the summer?) and RF was so not into that, bringing his chin forward as he folded forward with a flat back. Anyway, I didn’t want to look like I wasn’t listening or that I was too arrogant to follow what he said, so I did it and it felt strange to me. In today’s practice w/FS I managed to go back to rounding the back like before and being a bit more brave with certain things (b/c of David Swenson, coming up in this letter).

I was worried that this day long intensive was going to be super intense, since his DVD appears quite uncompromising with postures (have you done the DVD yet?) and doesn’t offer variations outside of the sun salutations. But I found it to be quite accessible, and his assistants were great with adjustments. I found that after starting Ashtanga practice, I really enjoy it when I get adjusted. I didn’t hate it before either though.

I didn’t do Urdhva Dhanurasana or Plow. I think I need to see my Iyengar teacher for some help there.

Ok, and that night I was registered for Sarah Powers’ yin class. It was great! And she said in the beginning of class that we were there for those who weren’t, so that really made me think, “I should take better notes for Nancy” and so hopefully the next sessions are more descriptive.

DS’s session: Ashtanga’s Greatest Hits. It was so awesome. I couldn’t wait to tell you. First, in those poses involving grabbing the big toe, he got us to feel the difference between grabbing the toe with your fingers and grabbing your fingers with the big toe itself (ah, there’s RM’s intelligent big toe). It made the movement a lot easier when you used your big toe to help (this seems obvious, but when actually done it’s not always intuitive I think). And with the arm movement, he got us to pull from the shoulders, first, rather than just using the bicep.

He showed us Marichyasana E & G, which was exciting, even though I’m having super struggles with D (and all twists in general). He also said we should squeeze our knees in coming out of backbends (we did Ustrasana as an example—I didn’t go very far into it).

But! Omg! This is the highlight of my weekend! He said we were going into Pincha Mayurasana and peacock. Right away I picked up my notebook to sit back and take notes on it for you instead of doing the poses. But then he said we were going to partner up. The woman next to me made eye contact with me and some gesture that indicated she thought we should partner up, so, due to social pressure, I agreed to support her, but said that I wasn’t going to do it myself. But the demo that DS did with a random person in the crowd looked easy, and a lot less scary than other demos have appeared to me. So when it was my turn to do the pose, even though I protested, I gave in easily and planted my forearms down in front of my partner. Then I lifted my knees off the ground so I was in puppy dog with my head off the ground. Then I lifted a leg (my left one maybe). My partner caught my leg, and then I kicked up the other one and I was in it for the first time omg!!! I couldn’t believe it! Maybe I did it once in my Iyengar class but I was super supported by 2 people and blocks and whatnot I think, and I don’t even think it was that particular pose anyway. Either way, I told my partner that was my first time and it was so great!

And then! Peacock pose! I thought I wouldn’t even attempt that awkward and illogical pose for at least a year. Who does that pose? Anyway, that was a partner pose, too, and so I assisted my partner and then she assisted me. And then! DS came up to us and showed her how to assist, by assisting me in the pose! He helped me keep my legs up and arms back and omg it was so exciting! The next time he’s in Vancouver we’ve gotta go see him!

Oh, I forgot to write in my notes that both men were quite funny. They told lots of jokes.

After this 2 hour DS session, I had another w/RF. You know how sometimes a yoga instructor tells you stuff all the time, and makes the same adjustment on you all the time, and then after a few months you finally get it? I think FS has been trying to get me to “wrap my shoulder blades” when my arms are up (by the ears, like in Utkatasana or Downward Facing Dog), but I didn’t get it until this session. I don’t have much to say about this session, b/c it was like a condensed version of the intensive. But today in FS’s class she didn’t do the wrapping shoulder blades adjustment for the first time, so I guess I finally got it. Sorry I don’t have that much more to say about RF. But FS said that sometimes in RF’s classes he will say important things that need to sink in, and that after a while you finally absorb and understand it. So just wait a couple months and then I’ll tell you what profound things I learned!

2 complaints: we did Parivritta Trikonasana 3x each side (in RF’s class) and now I hate it. I wasn’t greatly fond of it before, started to kinda like it a bit, and now I’m totally not into it. Twists. Ugh. Some people love twists! I want to love twists, too! But it’s like something I must love from afar, or it’s like something I love that doesn’t love me back and might just hate me instead. Second complaint: oops I can’t post this. I’ll tell you in person! Ha! It’s in my notes.

I also went to a pranayama session w/RF and an 8 Limbs of Ashtanga lecture w/DS. The 8 limbs lecture was great, but I was very tired and in great danger of falling asleep. I kept squirming to stay awake. I love lectures, and this one was interesting, but I was getting yoga’d out! I think that’s the night I wolfed down a steak and scalloped potatoes and 3 huge slices of buttered bread for dinner (after the yoga sessions). I really wanted a glass of red wine to go w/that but I don’t know anything about wine except that 9 times out of 10 I take one sip and wish I had ordered a coke instead. Ok, 19 times out of 20.

At the pranayama session I was done. So done. Negative thoughts were threatening to consume me: this room smells like an airplane. That guy needs to shut up. Why is she putting her mat so close to mine? And then the grossest thing happened. Ok, not the grossest thing (the grossest yoga story I have I won’t post but anyone can ask me about it in person!) but something a bit similar. RF asked us to gather closely to watch him do something. I can’t even remember what b/c I was so distracted by this gross thing. I didn’t have to move my mat b/c I was near the front anyway. Some guy whose mat was behind me and diagonal to me sat in front of me (not on my mat), and started picking at the top of his toenail. He was really working at getting something. That’s all I could look at. My negativity fully consumed me at this point and I was freaking out and taking notes on this so I could tell you about it in this letter! After he had retrieved whatever he wanted from his toenail, he put it in his hand and carried it back to his mat. Maybe he dropped it on the floor on the way, but probably not since he took the care to carry it. I didn’t look back to see, and I wish I did b/c what if it landed on my mat? What if!!! I inspected my mat and found nothing, but you can never be too sure. I can barely even read the scribbled notes I have on this. It made me think, Don’t step on my yoga mat, like that article (http://www.vancouveryogareview.com/yoga-tips/dont-step-on-my-yoga-mat/). Sorry, I don’t know how to insert that url in a more attractive way.

Later on in Cyndi Lee’s class I felt like saying to someone else, “Hey, Miss Totally Unaware. Stay out of my space. Your butt is in my face while you unroll your mat in an illogical way.” I will demo this illogical mat unrolling if anyone cares.

The last session I attended was on about teaching beginners (this is the CL class), so I won’t bore you with those notes. But CL was great. We also should definitely take her session next time.

Love,

Elisa

For those of you who aren’t used to my “I super love this! I super hate that!” honest and sometimes non-yogi like attitude toward things, I hope my rant toward the end didn’t turn you off. But if it did, whatever.

Best Time For Practice

Many people have asked me what the best time in the day to practice yoga is. I always tell them that the best time is the time it’s convenient for them, because that’s when they are most likely to be available to practice. Scheduling morning practices before an early workday is not too ambitious for some, but subject to last minute snooze button decisions for others.

Having said that, my new year’s resolution is to practice in the morning, before I start teaching or doing other work related things. I know from experience in the past that I don’t like getting up early and my body is quite stiff in the morning. Morning practices make me feel dizzy and I can’t express poses as deeply as I would like to without having had nourishing meals throughout the day and much more time for my body to wake up. Nevertheless I resolved to wake up early and practice.

Because the sun was shining, I was able to easily wake up before my alarm went off. I arrived on my mat shortly after and found that, as I should have expected, my sun salutations were lackluster, my standing poses were stiff, and my seated poses were my excuses to rest. This was supposed to be my home Ashtanga practice, and for those of you who aren’t familiar with it, there is supposed to be a vinyasa/flow/movement in between each seated pose. Not today!

While today’s practice should have been fine, since we must listen to our bodies and let the present moment dictate the direction of our practice, I don’t want to continue practicing in this way because I feel so limited. But I can accept today’s practice, even though it was quite humbling. I accept it because it was humbling.

I recall 2 of my best home Ashtanga practices of 2010. One was after I had taught an energizing Yoga with Spinning class (plug: Mondays and Sundays at Kerrisdale Yoga 11am-12:15pm. Wear running shoes.) after which I was inspired to practice without taking easier variations that I often do when I’m not practicing with my instructor. The other was one early evening after I taught a class. I wasn’t quite hungry for dinner yet, I still had some energy, and I had the whole day, plus the Vinyasa Power class I taught, for my body to warm up. I practiced almost as energetically as I had that day after the Yoga with Spinning class.

For me, the best time of day to practice is right before dinner, or, apparently, after spinning. I have my best practices then. I will continue to experiment with mornings though. Tomorrow I plan to wake up and shower or take a bath before practice (sounds weird, I know, but both Deepak Chopra and B.K.S. Iyengar say you should do this before your practice, and I have found that it warms the muscles up in a very nice way). I will probably still perform slow sun salutations and poses to avoid the dizziness that could surface, but perhaps I will get a practice closer to the one I seek.

The point of this entry is to encourage anyone who reads this to experiment practicing at different times. It might be inconvenient to practice before work. Or, you may feel a bit too fatigued after work to have your practice. But if you try doing yoga at different times of the day, even on different days of the week, you might find that at the oddest times (after spinning, perhaps?) you can find your most beautiful practice. Pushing through a bit of inconvenience, fatigue, hunger, or anything else discouraging you from practice, might give you exactly the great practice you don’t even know you can have.

Travel Yoga for the Holidays

Here’s a picture of me at the studio, with my rolled up yoga mat, ready to go. I will be taking it with me when I go on holiday at the end of December, and thought some of you might have similar plans to practice when the studio is closed. Between December 24th - January 1st the studio will be closed, and you are on your own for practice! Not to worry, because I have written a short sequence for you to do at home, in between the holiday fun and chaos.

Begin in Sukhasana (Easy Sitting Pose) and stay for as long as you like. This can even be your entire practice!

If you want to move, come forward on to all fours, into a table top pose.

Cat/Cow to warm up the spine

Downward Dog - Child’s Pose - Downward Dog

Step forward and look forward with a FLAT BACK!!! (I had to get some yelling in there because I can’t emphasize this enough, and I’m not there to actually raise my voice)

Exhale to fold back down, relaxing the back of your neck

Inhale, sweeping your arms up overhead and standing tall (relax shoulders)

Exhale hands down

Reverse: Inhale hands overhead

Exhale fold forward

Inhale look forward with a flat back

Exhale place your hands on the floor and step back to a plank

Inhale here in plank

Exhale to Downward Dog

Child’s Pose - Downward Dog

Drop knees to tabletop pose

Cat/Cow

Sukhasana

Repeat as many times as you want or have time for

Feel free to stay in each pose for as long as you like. Also, think of this sequence as a basic salad. Throw in some standing poses if you are in the mood. Add some spicy balancing poses and/or twists if you have the time and ambition. Each practice is your own, whether at the studio in a class or at home by yourself.

Weekend Cardio Yoga

This weekend at Kerrisdale Yoga we are starting our Yoga with Spinning classes. The classes are already booked up, so unfortunately many people will be missing out. If you’re one of the disappointed yogis, here’s an alternative yoga sequence to give you a short cardio kick this weekend. Feel free to add additional sun salutations to get your heart rate up.

5x Surya Namaskara A

2x Surya Namaskara B (using either lunge or Warrior I)

Surya Namaskara B inserting Warrior II, Triangle, and Warrior II after each lunge/Warrior I

Surya Namaskara B inserting Warrior II, Side Angle, and Warrior II after each lunge/Warrior I

Surya Namaskara B inserting Pyramid after each lunge/Warrior I

Surya Namaskara A dropping to Child’s after Downward Dog

Seated twist (any variation)

Apanasana (lying on your back, knees hugged into chest)

Savasana

Tips:

If you use music in your home practice, feel free to repeat each Surya Namaskara flow several times for the duration of a song length if you want to elongate your cardio session. For example, repeat Surya Namaskara A throughout an entire song rather than simply doing it 5x, and move on to the next step in the sequence, repeating that for the duration of the next song, and so on.

Keep in mind that repeatedly lowering to the floor might result in sloppiness from fatigued wrists and arms, so consider skipping lowering to the floor if this is the case. It’s alright to simply step back into a Downward Dog, or even skipping Downward Dog as well and simply stepping back into your Warrior poses.