The Joy of Laying on the Floor

I feel I really must promote laying on the floor.  Once a day, twice a day or more for 5-20 minutes works wonders for your mind and body.  Why do I do it?  Sometimes I am practicing my Alexander Technique lesson, sometimes I am avoiding over fatigue and sometimes I am recovering from pushing too far.  But more often than not I find it welcoming and comforting. Remember that there is a big difference between laying on the floor and laying on a bed or sofa, the effects are not comparable.

One of the first home exercises we were asked to do in Yoga Teacher Training was to describe how we felt in different positions.  I felt very secure and safe laying on the floor, not so much in some other positions.  I had no problem exploring the effects of gravity, letting go into gravity, noticing areas of discomfort and watching my breath in this position.  I found it relaxing, rejuvenating and peaceful.  I remember laying on the floor in a warm sunny spot on a cold winter’s day as a child.

But I do realise that some people may find laying on the floor a challenge, most likely emotionally.  Whereas I find it a treat others may find it uncomfortable.  If this is the case then start slowly, a few minutes at a time, often.  Build up slowly.

Laying on the floor in a group class may not be a problem but practicing at home may feel like being lazy or too difficult to do with kids, dogs or a partner/husband with a raised eyebrow looking on.  Find a space where you can lay down a yoga mat or towel (all you need is a space 6 x 3 feet), close the door and do not feel guilty for taking 5-20 minutes to recharge.   Be sure the temperature is comfortable and that the area is relatively clear of reminders of work needed to be done like a pile of laundry.

If your neck feels strained find a paperback book to slip under your head of a height which helps your neck feel comfortable.  If your lower back hurts in this position place a pillow under your knees to start.  Eventually you can remove these props as your body lets go of tension and habits of holding on.  Your mind will learn to relax more quickly each time you take time to allow your nervous system to slow down.

There are so many things you can do in this position.

• lay your hands on your belly and feel them move with your in and out breath
• relax your body progressively starting at your heels and working up to your head by imagining releasing their weight into the floor
• start with your toes and tighten then release body parts as you move from toes to face
• imagine a beautiful color moving from your feet up to your head energizing your body as it moves
• send a little love to the parts of you that feel good then a lot of love to the ones who are complaining
• practice thinking of nothing, allowing thoughts that come into your mind to float by as if on a cloud or on a raft in a slow moving river
• imagine being in a beautiful place you love and feel, see, hear and smell all the details of that place
• do you need more?  No, pick one and stick with it for a while.  Relaxation takes a little practice.
• don’t forget that you can also practice non-doing or doing absolutely nothing as well

Enjoy! Laying on the floor can be pure joy.

Copyright 2009.  Brenda Rosenberg CYI, APIA, CST

Posture, Mindfulness, Yoga

How is our posture molded?  Habits that  persist over years shape our posture.  Our attitudes and emotions shape our posture.  For example, you may go through an unhappy period during your life (this could be for a very good reason) during which you are stressed and your breathing is shallow.  Along with your shallow breathing you slouch, turning inwards.  This changes the chemistry of your fascia or connective tissues.  If this persists for a length of time even though you become free of  the unhappy event(s) then this unhappiness becomes a part of your belief system and it is held in your slouching body “I am an unhappy person”.  Our posture reflects our past and how it has been molded by our attitudes, activities, surgeries, accidents and movements.

One way to begin working with your posture is through mindfulness.  Lay on the floor and notice (without trying to fix) all the parts of your body that are in contact with the floor  beginning with your heels.  The process of noticing allows your body to begin to change.  Next, continue with some sort of movement routine, yoga for example.  At the end return to notice your body laying on the floor.  If there has been a change with more of your body being in contact and with more symmetry then your movement efforts have been successful in creating change.

The more we can stop and notice what is going on in our bodies and our breathing the more we learn about our habits. The more we reconnect with the forgotten parts of us, the more we can become aware of our posture during emotional times and then we can come to learn what we need to do to create more openness, more space in our bodies.  Think openness, space, lightness, ease of movement and effort, awareness of breath.  Think of these things when you think of posture.

Copyright 2009  Brenda Rosenberg CYI, CST, APIA

Pain, Let It Be

Every once in a while you run into phrases that stick with you, waiting for you to “get it”.  During one CranioSacral Therapy training class I had a headache originating in my neck.  I struggled to pay attention in the class because of it.  I massaged the appropriate acupuncture points on my hands and fidgeted in general trying to find a way to ease my discomfort.  A teaching assistant watched me for a while and then said, “Let your headache be”.  The comment struck me at the time as making no sense.  I needed to “do” something to make it better. But, the more you test it, fiddle with it, worry over it, argue with it, curse at it or poke at it, the bigger the pain gets if only in your mind.

It is okay to tell yourself no.  No, not to do, let it be as it is.  Just observe.  Stay on the edge of the problem. Sit with it and have a cup of tea.  There will be an answer, let it be.  Paul McCartney was right.

 

Copyright 2009.  Brenda Rosenberg CST, APIA, CYI

 

 

The Resources of Yoga, Feng Shui and Bodywork

The origin of the word resource is to “rise up”.  When referring to resources that can help us in times of need in our physical or emotional lives, we need to have developed individual resources from which we can call upon to rise up to help ease any troubling situation and restore balance.

Resources can be external such as healthy connections to family, friends or nature. These resources are nourishing, safe and replenishing to our nervous systems. Having professionals such as bodyworkers, therapists, physicians or councilors that you trust to listen to your needs or help you deal with your concerns are worth developing when you are feeling well so that they are familiar with you when you need them.

Your home can be a resource if it is a safe haven that supports you in your goals.  Spending time considering the Feng Shui of your home can help you to create this sanctuary.

Internal resources can be cultivated or developed through journaling, meditation, visualizing or remembering safe places or persons.  Yoga, Feldenkrais and Alexander Technique are movement resources where  practicing over a long period of time allows you are able to draw on them for support for rehabilitation of body and soul.

Our natural resources become overwhelmed during surgery, accidents or when experiencing trauma of any kind.  This results in an overloaded nervous system.  Longer term unhealthy connections such as relationships that are draining, conditional or berating, unhealthy habits and addictions lead us to lose touch with our mental and physical health resulting in pain and suffering.

Safety is a felt sense in the body and anything associated with safety and calm are resources that can be drawn upon when we feel tired, stressed, in pain, or are struggling with difficult life circumstances.

Take a moment to list your resources and think of some ways to develop them.

Copyright 2009.  Brenda Rosenberg CYI, APIA, CST

Yoga at the Gym

Why do you go to the gym?  Perhaps you think you should get exercise to be healthy, reduce stress, get stronger or more shapely.  You are taught how to use the machines safely and given general guidelines as to the number of repetitions and  sets that will give you results.  I have not heard many people speak of going to the gym to become more flexible.  There may be the odd class that teaches stretching technique.

The gym offers you the opportunity to use more effort to get bigger muscles and some cardio conditioning. Yoga helps you to meet life with less effort and more flexibility.  Why not go to the gym and use some concepts from Yoga to help you get balanced, strong  muscles with less effort and maximize your cardio conditioning with the added benefit of focus?

Your body is not a thing to be manipulated into shape at all costs.  If you take the extra few moments to focus on each repetition of each exercise as if you were exploring that movement  for the first time  you may be amazed at what you discover.  Less effort means a more efficient use of oxygen by the body, more benefit to the target muscle or muscle group and a more effective workout all around.

Ask yourself these questions?

• Am I sitting/standing on the machine in a balanced way?
• Am I isolating the movement to the joint and muscle group that it is intended to work?
• Am I using/tightening more muscles than are necessary to do this movement?
• If I am using two arms or legs for the exercise am I actually using one side more than the other?
• Could I do this movement with less effort if I was breathing in or breathing out with the movement?

Multitasking is getting a bad name for itself.  Walking on the treadmill, listening to an ipod and watching T.V. while texting  to a friend is actually a waste of time.  BE-HERE-NOW! If your goal is to become healthier and in better shape, then do that.  Actually feel what is happening to your body:  how are you breathing, where are you holding excessive tension, are you running or walking in an unbalanced way (look at the bottom of your shoes) ?  Misuse of the body adds up and eventually you will be wondering why you are so inflexible and in pain even though you go to the gym regularly.

Copyright 2009  Brenda Rosenberg CYI

Feng Shui and Your Ideal Environment

Featured Article

My instructor for Advanced Interior Alignment, Laurie Bornstein writes a wonderful newsletter on Feng Shui.  With her permission I am inviting you to read her article and begin to think about your environment.  If your environment is supporting your efforts for improved health, flexibility, etc.  you will more likely meet with success or at least find the right people to help you find that balance you seek.  Brenda

Create Your Ideal Environment

Feng Shui Teacher and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, “The Feng Shui Marketing Queen” is the author and creator of ‘Simple Feng Shui Series’, her FREE monthly ezine filled with articles and tips on how to live and work in balance, visit http://www.fengshuimarketingqueen.com to learn more.

When you enter your home, do you feel a warm welcome, and a sense of satisfaction? When you go to work, are you greeted by a desk covered with projects and things to do? If so, how does that feel? Is this an environment that welcomes and energizes you or is this an environment that drains and depletes you? Creating your ideal environment means looking honestly at what’s working and what isn’t working in your living and working environments.

Is your home or office disorganized and filled with clutter? When you’re surrounded by clutter you are literally blocked, physically and mentally. It’s impossible to be fully productive. Productive energy cannot find its way through piles of papers, remnants of unfinished projects, broken or unused furnishings, or randomly placed tools and equipment.

Go through your belongings. How much do you actually use? Are there items you’ve been holding onto that you don’t use, don’t like or don’t really have a use for? These are the types of things that create clutter in our environments, clutter that not only takes up valuable space in our physical environment, but clutter that also takes up space in the quality of our life. When space is blocked, life takes on a certain sluggishness. We may have great ideas and plans but we lack the motivation necessary to accomplish them.

Creating an environment that supports your needs means taking the time to determine how you live and who you are. A simple and powerful way to begin is to answer the following questions:

1. What do you like most about your life right now?
2. What are your strengths?
3. What are your weaknesses?
4. What is your attitude about the circumstances of your life? Your home?
5. What is your mood when you are alone?
6. Are there areas that you need to work on to improve the quality of your life?
7. Is there a conflict between the way you actually spend your time and the way you’d like to spend your time?
8. If so, what are you willing to do to change this?
9. Are there aspects of your life, your responsiblities that someone else could do to free up time for you so you could do those things you desire?
10. Do your relationships have the depth of intimacy you desire?
11. Is the amount of creative expression you have in your life satisfying?
12. What do you want to do that you aren’t doing?
13. When you think of home, what are three symbols that embrace the spirit of home? For me they are, comfort, personality, and welcome.
14. What room in your home do you like best? Why?
15. Where do you like to read?
16. Where do you like to sit?
17. What do you like to do when you’re at home?
18. What objects hold the most meaning for you?
19. Which room or area of your home most captures your personality?
20. How would you describe your home?
21. Is it what you want it to be?

In answering the questions above (and any others that may come up for you during the exercise), be honest and truthful with yourself. When we take time to think deeply about ourselves and our spaces, we open the door to possibility. We create the energy that supports change by simply increasing our own awareness.

Review the furnishings, the colors, the lighting and all aspects of those rooms, those areas in your home that you like best. Recreate what you like in other areas of your home. Starting with your main living spaces, your bedroom, your living or family room and then work your way through the rest of your home. When you take the time to invest in your home, you are investing in yourself. Recognize your needs, understand that what you like matters, give yourself permission to create a home that embraces the spirit of your personality and you will have Created Your Ideal Environment!

Copyright © 2008 Harmony Life, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Legs Up the Wall Pose

Taking time for a restorative pose is not only worth the time, it is a necessity.  The link at the bottom of this entry is to Yoga Journal’s online resource of Yoga poses. The pose chosen here can help in many ways, from stretching your hamstrings to relieving the ache of varicose veins.

We spend our days fighting gravity with postural habits that are hurting us.   Take 10-15 minutes or more a day to rest with your legs up the wall and you will emerge a new person, ready to take on the next task with ease.  The photo in the link shows a woman resting over a large bolster-this is not a necessary prop, you can just have your hips on the floor or on a small folded blanket.  Find the best position for your body type.

In class we experiment with a few variations of the basic pose that can offer you an easy way to stretch your hamstrings and hips whilst easing upper body tension.  Yoga does not mean difficult.  There are many ways for all body shapes, sizes, flexible or not  to get to know themselves better, let go of some old habits and explore the you you always were but may have been hiding.  Don’t be intimidated by the models you see performing yoga poses for books and journals, they are just that, models.

http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/690

Copyright 2009.  Brenda Rosenberg CYI

Yoga for Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain

This September 2009, I will be offering a new class for those who have chronic muscle pain, whether or not they have been officially diagnosed with Fibromyalgia or a related condition.  This class will run Tuesday mornings from 10:00 to 11:00, beginning September 8.

We will begin by exploring resources.  Resources are those people, places, activities, or things that help us through difficult times.  For example,  your list of resources may include swimming, music, a certain friend, family dinners, walking in nature, books, etc.    My hope is that you will add yoga practice to your list of resources.

We will begin with noticing  what is going on in your body in this moment.  This is really all that we need work with, what is going on right now and by noticing this in detail will initiate a change.  The best way to understand this concept is to experience it first hand.

Muscle pain is tricky business.  It is often at the mercy of our nervous systems which in turn are affected by our moods, emotions, lifestyle, general health and environment.  We need to train ourselves to new habits, reveal new options for movement and create new pathways for day to day change.

In Yoga we experiment with easy movement, exploring new ways to allow our bodies to move.  By paying close attention to how we move we discover that we have options.  We can move more easily if we let go of excess effort and we can move with more control if we pay attention to our whole body use.

Rest is vital to our bodies learning new information.  Restorative rest is one in which we support the body so that we can allow it to rest easily.  The combination of movement and rest with attention is how we begin to create new ways to use our bodies in a pain free manner.

Copyright 2009.  Brenda Rosenberg CYI

Think of some way to bring part of today’s class into your everyday life

Think of some way to bring a part of today’s class into your everyday life.  I often end class with this phrase.  What does it mean to you?

One student expressed the idea of practicing balance postures in the grocery lineup or any lineup.  Lineups are a perfect time to stop being impatient and challenge yourself to become balanced enough to stand on one foot, something subtle like the leg portion of tree pose or bringing one knee towards your chest.  It could also be a conversation starter and give you an opportunity to share what you are doing and that could lead to any number of  positive things.

Yoga class is designed to introduce, reinforce and challenge you to experience new ways to move,think and breathe.  It gives you tools to bring into your everyday life.  Some of these tools are:

• awareness
• curiosity
• pause
• stopping, letting go, releasing

For example, you can become more aware of the parts of your body that are in contact with the ground or chairs and how that surface is supporting you.  Become curious as to how your thoughts are affecting your posture.  Pause before you move in a habitual way, stop,  and try to move with more ease.  Let go of extra tension you do not need to hold a posture or move.  Release tension through giving your attention to your breath.

Of course bringing your class into your everyday life could also mean creating your own home yoga practice-one step at a time.

Copyright Brenda Rosenberg 2009   All rights reserved.

Come As You Are: Stop, Look and Listen in Yoga Class

In yoga class it is important to come as you are into: each pose, each movement, each breath.  If you come as you are it will be easier to notice what is happening.  If you can notice what is happening then your body, nervous system and mind will respond.  If you notice your body responding then you will come closer to feeling whole without needing to become someone better or different.  If you don’t have a need to become someone else then you will be less likely to have an attachment to too much effort, comparisons, discomfort, the past or giving up. You will be less likely to have aversions to certain poses or movements and less likely to just ignore the problem.

Somewhere in all of the above is a middle ground.  Not too much: not too little……not too tight: not too loose.  And how is this accomplished?

Stop:  What are you doing too much of or too little of?

Look: Look for tension, holding, strain, or parts of the body that you might be ignoring.  For example, tightening your neck and face  do not help you achieve better balance and as well, locking your knees or elbows into an extended position shows you are not aware of their lack of participation in the pose.

Listen:  Are you repeating negative thoughts in your mind such as “I hate this pose, I cannot do this pose, I cannot change my body so why am I trying, I can never overcome this pain…….”

Find a middle ground for your body, your speech and your mind.  Come as you are, notice what you are doing or not doing and open yourself to the possibility of change.

Copyright 2009.  Brenda Rosenberg CYI, CST, AIA