This is a message from a London Yogi who was struggling at first with the sterotypes related to Western yoga.

Four years ago I thought yoga was for girls. I play football, end of story. Despite this, for various reasons not worth sharing now, I started to go along to yoga classes to support my partner. Six months later I was still going, and really enjoying it. Nonetheless my practice at this stage was a little sporadic, and yoga was languishing a long way behind football in my set of priorities.

There are times (and I don’t say this lightly) when I’d rather do yoga than play football. Let me explain the attraction. Firstly the physical side of things. Football is great because it clears my mind, gives me an outlet for my physical energies, and leaves me mellow yet somewhat elated. Yoga also has that effect on me. It gives me the high.

I also have a sense of progress. I am no natural yogi; I am bony and angular and not naturally flexible. When I started I had trouble sitting cross-legged. Yet now I can sit with cross legs, I can touch my toes with ease (even put my palms on the ground), I can stay in a head stand for a couple of minutes… in short, there are a multitude of postures that were once beyond me and now are quite achievable.

It has benefited my health. I used to suffer from chronic lower back pain but yoga has now got that under control. (As it happens I have had back troubles again recently, of a different sort, but this seems unrelated.) I have noticed a dramatic increase in lung capacity (all the positions in yoga are coordinated with the breath, so one learns to regulate one’s breathing and to breath more deeply). The other day I swam a kilometre for the first time in my life. This was with almost no swimming practice, but lots of yoga.

I have much more control over different parts of my body. Whereas playing football benefits only a subset of the muscles in the body, yoga does the lot. Before I did yoga there were whole areas of my body that were weak and unutilised – that I didn’t know were there. Now I have awareness of these areas, and can use them (for instance when lifting heavy things, instead of busting my back like I used to).

Yoga isn’t just physical though. It also challenges and benefits my mental/ spiritual side. Firstly this takes place through regulating the breath. I have learned to breath deeply and slowly, thereby lowering the heart rate, and naturally calming the mind. This aids concentration and eases stress: when we’re stressed our breathing tends towards shallowness and hyperventilation; by dealing with the physical symptoms of stress, some of the mental symptoms are also relieved.

Yoga also builds awareness of the present moment – what the Buddhists would call “mindfulness”. Yoga requires awareness of one’s whole body and full involvement in the here and now. Just as when I play football I am entirely focussed on the game without thought or worry of the past or future, so too in yoga I am freed of these distractions. Yoga seems somehow more beneficial though, because my mental state remains calm. (I’m not calm when I play football!)

Yoga is refreshingly non-competitive. While I admire very talented yoga practitioners (see video for an extreme example), a good session of yoga for me can be much more modest yet still push my physical and mental boundaries, and bring just as much benefit. With this in mind I’d recommend yoga to anyone, no matter what their state of physical health, for they will surely benefit.

I was asked by one of the yogis this week if it helped to practice yoga while trying to concieve and during pregnancy and whether it effected you if you were stressed.

Stressed-out women are 12% less likely to become pregnant during their fertile time, Oxford University scientists have said after testing the advice to women to relax when trying for a baby.

They carried out saliva tests on 274 women and analysed levels of the stress hormone cortisol and the enzyme alpha-amylase, an indicator of adrenalin levels.

All the women were aged between 18 and 40 and were trying for a baby naturally. Researchers carried out the tests on day six of each woman’s menstrual cycle for six cycles or until the woman fell pregnant. They used fertility monitors to identify ovulation and confirmed the pregnancies with testing kits.

The study, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, found no effect from cortisol on the chances of falling pregnant. But women in the group with the highest levels of alpha-amylase had a 12% lower chance of falling pregnant for each day of their most fertile days than those with the lowest levels of alpha-amylase.

The authors concluded: “Stress significantly reduced the probability of conception each day during the fertile window.”

This is the first study to find that a biological measure of stress is associated with a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant that month. We found that those women with high levels of a marker for stress were less likely to succeed in conceiving.

“The findings support the idea that couples should aim to stay as relaxed as they can about trying for a baby. In some people’s cases, it might be relevant to look at relaxation techniques like yoga and meditation.

If you would like to book a one to one session click here.

(OORD-vah don-your-AHS-anna)
urdhva = upward
dhanu = bow

Step by Step

1. Lie supine on the floor. Bend your knees and set your feet on the floor, heels as close to the sitting bones as possible. Bend your elbows and spread your palms on the floor beside your head, forearms relatively perpendicular to the floor, fingers pointing toward your shoulders.

2. Pressing your inner feet actively into the floor, exhale and push your tailbone up toward the pubis, firming (but not hardening) the buttocks, and lift the buttocks off the floor. Keep your thighs and inner feet parallel. Take 2 or 3 breaths. Then firmly press the inner hands into the floor and your shoulder blades against the back and lift up onto the crown of your head. Keep your arms parallel. Take 2 or 3 breaths.

3. Press your feet and hands into the floor, tailbone and shoulder blades against your back, and with an exhalation, lift your head off the floor and straighten your arms. Turn the upper thighs slightly inward and firm the outer thighs. Narrow the hip points and lengthen the tailbone toward the backs of the knees, lifting the pubis toward the navel.

4. Turn the upper arms outward but keep the weight on the bases of the index fingers. Spread the shoulder blades across the back and let the head hang, or lift it slightly to look down at the floor.

5. Stay in the pose anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds or more, breathing easily. Repeat anywhere from 3 to 10 times.

Benefits

Does yoga help breath cancer patients?

University of Alberta research fellow Amy Speed-Andrews has examined how a specialized Iyengar yoga program for women currently in the treatment for breast for breast cancer, and who have completed treatment, makes a difference in their recovery.

For two years groups of study participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their physical and mental health at the beginning of a 10-week session of Iyengar yoga and again at the end. After analyzing the data that was collected, Speed-Andrews, from the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, found that after yoga 94 percent said they had improvements in their quality of life; 88 percent felt better physically; 87 percent reported being happier and 80 percent were less tired. Other improvements were reported in body image and in decreased levels of stress, anxiety and depression. This is significant, considering breast cancer treatments often leave women in pain, immobilized, tired and depressed.

Whenever I ask my yogis before class if they have any requests, I’m asked about hip openers. Hip openers may be challenging, but they can also be incredibly satisfying, both physically and emotionally.

If you’re like most students, you probably feel as though someone poured superglue into your hip sockets. There are perfectly good reasons for this. First, modern life requires sitting all day, which keeps your hips from the rotation, flexion, and extension they need to remain agile. Second, common sports such as running and cycling—and even an everyday activity like walking—demand hip strength but not flexibility. The third culprit is stress, which creates tension in your body, especially in your hip area, which is a complex cluster of powerful muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Even a little bit of stress-induced clenching can really lock them up.

So, short of tossing out your chair (which could lead to other physiological problems), and entirely eliminating stress from your life, what can you do to unstick your hips and get them gliding freely again? For starters, you can start to incorporate Pigeon Pose into your daily routine.

This pose is perfect for tight hips because it stretches the hip rotators (the buttocks area) and the hip flexors (the long muscles that run along the front of your thighs and pelvis). It also requires substantial external rotation in the front leg and substantial internal rotation in the back leg. If you practice it consistently, you’ll notice an increased suppleness throughout your practice. You may also find that your body moves more easily even after class, since your pelvis is the central hub of movement.

All you have to do is be attentive to the many—and sometimes difficult—physical sensations that arise. Your ability to observe and be with these sensations and the accompanying cacophony of thoughts and feelings may be just as rewarding as the physical benefits of the pose.

Why not start your week off with a good stretch and give yourself a mini Yoga Wellbeing challenge? This stretch strengthens the legs and ankle, it stretches the backs of the leg and also improves a sense of balance.

Step by Step

1. From mountain pose, bring your left knee toward your belly.

2. Reach your left arm inside the thigh, cross it over the front ankle, and hold the outside of your left foot. If your hamstrings are tight, hold a strap looped around the left sole.

3. Firm the front thigh muscles of the standing leg, and press the outer thigh inward.

4. Inhale and extend the left leg forward. Straighten the knee as much as possible. If you’re steady, swing the leg out to the side. Breathe steadily; breathing takes concentration, but it helps you balance.

5. Hold for 30 seconds, then swing the leg back to center with an inhale, and lower the foot to the floor with an exhale. Repeat on the other side for the same length of time.

It’s the paradox of sunscreen. When you dutifully slather on the SPF 30 before heading outside on a sunny day, you’re protecting your skin 
from harmful ultraviolet rays. But you’re also preventing those rays from prompting your skin, liver, and kidneys to make an essential vitamin—vitamin D.

For more than 90 years, vitamin D has been known to play a role in bone health. But new research suggests that vitamin D may have many other health benefits. Vitamin D may play a role in reducing the risk of cancer, heart attack, and stroke. Emerging studies are examining the effects of higher doses of vitamin D on depression and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

Vitamin D occurs naturally in a few foods, such as salmon, egg yolks, and liver, and many other foods are fortified with 
it. The Food and Nutrition Board at the Institute of Medicine deems a vitamin D intake of 2,000 international units per day to be adequate for adults aged 50 and younger; older people need more. In light of new research, those recommendations are currently under review. But many of us aren’t getting enough even by the current recommendations. By some estimates, as many as three out of every four people in the UK aren’t getting enough vitamin D. While some nutritionists recommend seeking vitamin D by going outside for 10 or 15 minutes without sunscreen on a sunny day, dermatologists argue that’s neither a safe nor reliable way to ensure adequate vitamin D levels.

What’s the yogic message today? Read the label of your multivitamin to see if it contains the daily value of vitamin D, and ask your doctor to check your vitamin D levels 
at your next physical, if you’re concerned. And don’t forget your sunscreen and hat when you head for the beach.

Wondering whether a private session would suit you? Here’s a little bit of an insight to booking a private yoga session.

Yoga Wellbeing will send you the right teacher for your private yoga wherever and whenever it suits you. Laura will spend as long as you need discussing what you’d like to achieve and how you’d like to achieve it. We will talk about what you need to help your body and mind, what you enjoy doing and any particular requirements. You choose the time and place and then we choose a teacher who is ideally qualified to help you.

You pay a flat rate of only £60 per hour, so whether you prefer a one-on-one or you want to share your class with family, friends or colleagues, the cost is the same regardless of location or group size. There is no minimum time commitment, and you can always cancel an appointment without charge as long as you give your teacher twenty-four hours notice. All Yoga Wellbeing teachers are fully qualified, fully insured and have been personally picked by the Yoga Wellbeing team.

Call  now 0845 843 0895  for a personal consultation or to book a Yoga Wellbeing teacher to visit you at your home, office or hotel.

Seen as our Yoga Wellbeing theme is Yoga for Runners this week. We thought we would include a great all round stretches for alot of runners weaknesses. The pyrmaid pose stretches your spine but mostly stretches and strengthens the hamstrings. 

Step by Step

1.Stand in the mountain pose. With an exhalation, step or lightly jump your feet 3½ to 4 feet apart. Rest your hands on your hips. Turn your left foot in 45 to 60 degrees to the right and your right foot out to the right 90 degrees. Align the right heel with the left heel. Firm your thighs and turn your right thigh outward, so that the center of the right knee cap is in line with the center of the right ankle.

2.Exhale and rotate your torso to the right, squaring the front of your pelvis as much as possible with the front edge of your mat. As the left hip point turns forward, press the head of the left femur back to ground the back heel. Press your outer thighs inward, as if squeezing a block between your thighs. Firm your scapulas against your back torso, lengthen your coccyx toward the floor, and arch your upper torso back slightly.

3.With another exhalation, lean the torso forward from the groins over the right leg. Stop when the torso is parallel to the floor. Press your fingertips to the floor on either side of the right foot. If it isn’t possible for you to touch the floor, support your hands on a pair of blocks or the seat of a folding chair. Press the thighs back and lengthen the torso forward, lifting through the top of the sternum.

4.In this pose the front-leg hip tends to lift up toward the shoulder and swing out to the side, which shortens the front-leg side. Be sure to soften the front-leg hip toward the earth and away from the same-side shoulder while you continue squeezing the outer thighs. Press the base of the big toe and the inner heel of the front foot firmly into the floor, then lift the inner groin of the front leg deep into the pelvis.

5.Hold your torso and head parallel to the floor for a few breaths. Then, if you have the flexibility, bring the front torso closer to the top of the thigh, but don’t round forward from the waist to do this. Eventually the long front torso will rest down on the thigh. Hold your maximum position for 15 to 30 seconds, then come up with an inhalation by pressing actively through the back heel and dragging the coccyx first down and then into the pelvis. Then go to the left side.

Here at Yoga Wellbeing we seem to be getting a huge amount of professional runners come to us asking for a little bit of help with flexibilty. One of the main questions is how clients can improve their classic runner’s hamstring tightness. We take classic yoga poses and alter them to take limited flexibilty into account. We play to runners strengths and adress the weaknesses.

One of our clients has ran five London Marathons and has found yoga an excellent cure for the hamstring problem. Yoga postures can correct the muscle imblances that result in high impact training. They help to realign the joints abd stretch and strengthen the muscles to prevent pain and injury. Yoga for runners is about felxibilty, so we’re not running with the brakes on and increasing the chance of injury.

A huge part of the programme is breath. Breathing through all of the stretches is key and yoga helps you to breath through some of the more challenging stretches. Running is wonderful but is not an all rounder. While most runners can run 25 miles comfortably they have difficulty touching their toes. This is because running only works mostly in one plane of motion – forward. In yoga we work in all directions. It brings balance to a running regime, strengthening to the muscles underused in running (such as the back extensors and the abs) and stretching those that get overused like the calves and the hamstrings.

If you would like to know more about our Yoga for Runners programme then please just click here.