A Rare Treat

Two of my good yogi friends and I met up for lunch the other day at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (CBTL) Megamall.

Chona is now a professor teaching Research Methods.  Jon teaches almost full-time at Yoga Manila. I, on the other hand, was busy preparing for my kids’ vacation to the province, the house repairs, and other preparations for enrolment time. All busybodies whose schedules are very difficult to coordinate!

Fortunately, Chona and Jon were both available that day and providentially, I had a CBTL gift certificate about to expire. Great combination for bonding and eating, haha.

When 3 free spirits get together, anything goes. Our conversations hopped from yoga classes to poring over yoga pictures in a book and giving them thumbs up or down to plans for the wedding of our friend yogini to even some inane stuff. Free expression and laughter were the order of the day. If this is what busybodies call wasting time, I will gladly “waste” time again.

Here are pics of our lunch date. When can we do this again, Chona/Jon?

1001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom

After purchasing the book 1001 Meditations, I was intrigued that another book in the series focused solely on yogic wisdom. Unfortunately, Fully Booked at Bonifacio High Street did not have the copy anymore.

Well, on the day my kids and I watched Star Trek, I dropped by Fully Booked’s Promenade Greenhills branch and lo and behold, they had the last copy there. That copy (PhP 639) is now with me.

1001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom was written by Liz Lark, an experienced yoga teacher, author, artist and retreat leader.

Just to give you an idea of its contents, the book is divided into the following sections:

~ Starting your day well (awakening naturally, a sense of opening, the importance of grounding, encouraging vitality, encouraging fluidity, establishing positivity, readiness is all)

~ Throughout your working day (boosting energy, establishing self-confidence, coping with stress, increasing motivation, maintaining focus, clear communication)

~ Time for yourself (turning inward, strength and trust, inspiration and creativity, joy and celebration, finding balance)

~ Relating to others (love and compassion, a sense of nurturing, developing flexibility, purity and harmony, sensual expression, living in harmony)

~ In times of trouble (accepting change, resolving conflict, lifting the blues, relieving anxiety, dealing with loss, enhancing resilience)

~ Winding down (changing gear, time for reflection, aiding detox, encouraging release, settling yourself)

~ Ending your day well (the importance of rest, mindful relaxation, drifting toward sleep, transformation, silence and surrender)

Yogamad.com gives this brief description of the book:

This compact, colourful book brings together the most fascinating facets of yoga thought and practice in a friendly and accessible way from morning energizers and ways to remain focused at work, to techniques to aid relaxation and restful sleep. With postures, meditations, breathing exercises, mantras and mudras for every occasion interspersed with inspiring quotes from classical Eastern texts and modern gurus this yoga compendium will bring you increased balance, compassion and insight, as well as improved strength, flexibility and physical well-being.

Try to get a copy of this book if you can find it in other branches of Fully Booked or other bookstores. It is a handy book that hardly occupies space beside your bed or on your reading table. The yogic wisdom inside this small book will serve you throughout your yoga practice. And even if you are not yet into yoga, I believe practice of some or all of its tips can lead to a more meaningful life for you.

Here are some page samplings:

1001 Meditations

I found this book while killing time at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street (PhP599). It was the last copy in that branch but I saw another copy at the Promenade Greenhills one.

It’s tiny, just about 4 x 4 inches in size and an inch and a half thick. But when I flipped through its pages, I realized how, despite its being simply written, it contained a treasure trove of wisdom that was easy for anyone to digest and follow. You need not read it from cover to cover. Instead, you can take a few tips at a time and practice them.

The contents are categorized into the following sections:

~ Luck and Destiny (setting out, finding the way, uncertainty, ups and downs)

~ How to behave (positive perspectives, acceptance, humility, motivations and desires, choice and responsibility, right action)

~ Finding your strengths (courage, fortitude, self-awareness, wisdom, calm, creativity, patience)

~ Mind and body (the observing mind, managing emotions, embodiment, subtle energies, healing the psyche, coping with illness, well-being)

~ Home and family (parenting, learning and growth, the nurturing core, sacred spaces)

~ Relationships (in partnership, friendship, making connections, bridging the gap)

~ Happiness (everyday contentment, enjoying the moment, the joy of play, gratitude, treasuring the self, dealing with troubles)

~ The wider world (connecting with nature, the web of life, loving service, the global family)

~ Time passing (change and transition, timelessness, growing older, facing mortality)

~What really matters (truth, compassion, love, spirit, unity)

The suggested 1001 tips are numbered. Here’s a sample:

My Girl Does Yoga with Me

My girl C2 was an asthmatic as a baby and toddler. Actually, all my 4 kids were, but C2 bore the brunt of it. I remember the many asthma incidents we had experienced with her. She was frequently placed on steroids by her pedia which I now think was a bit too much. The nebulizer was always part of our luggage when we traveled and I remember spending a small fortune monthly on asthma medicines. On one boat trip, she had an asthma attack and I realized too late that the trigger was the boat’s pillows made of kapok. From then on, we added nonallergenic pillows to our baggage list.

I encouraged her to take up yoga as her P.E. class and was glad she did last year. I even got her a Scooby-Doo Gaiam yoga mat for her birthday to further motivate her.

 

C2's is the blue mat (extreme left)

Well, the semester came to an end and so did her yoga classes. 

This summer, I broached the idea of her joining me for classes at Vinyasa Yoga Center. After all, I had already paid in advance for classes and she could share these with me. She agreed and last week, we went for our first class with Pio. It was my first time back with Pio in a LONG time.

The Slow Flow class began with breathing exercises and a short meditation, after which we went through the sun salutations. I was glad that Pio called out modified poses for those less flexible so that C2 could cope. After class, we had a short bonding time at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I asked C2 how she found the class and was glad she was positive about it. In her school’s P.E. class, there were so many of them that it was hard for the teacher to pay close attention to many of them. As we were only 6-7 that night, he was able to come to her several times to adjust her stance.

The youth these days see themselves as almost invulnerable to sickness and tend to abuse their bodies with lack of sleep, alcohol, smoking and other unhealthy habits. If only they realized that the body does not forget and when they are past their prime, all this unhealthy living will catch up with them. I know. I have been there. And honestly, I feel that my body is in a much better shape and condition now than it was when I was in my 30’s.

Last week, C2 came up to me. To my great surprise and delight, she asked me to continue her yoga classes even after school starts. Yehey! Happy day for this yogini mom!!! And my wish is that yoga will be a great equalizer for C2 and bring her to a higher level of health.

Stress Can Age You

If stress does not kill you, it will at least age you.

Here’s a quick question. If you were to ask your friends (who obviously do not know your real age) how old you are, what do you think would their guess be. Would they think you are older or younger than your chronological age?

I just concluded a project with a company that had very high levels of stress. Although I promised myself that by going back to corporate work I would not let go of my yoga classes, I found myself missing first one class, then two, and before I knew it, I was going months without a yoga practice to speak of. Without my knowing it, I became too absorbed in work and its toxic effects. When I settled back into home life in January of this year, I got sick – TWICE. I think my body, running on adrenalin for the longest time, suddenly felt the letdown of all those months and broke down.

A few months into a home-based life again, I find myself able to resume yoga, be with my kids more (esp. now that it’s summer) and attend blogging events which are far, far from stress. Ever since I ventured into yoga, I have gotten comments from people I bump into and who knew me from decades ago when I was an upcoming corporate executive well-entrenched in the rat race, that I look younger now than I did then. I call yoga my age-regressing stress management treatment.

A finding that was presented at the 114th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) shows that “age may be more related to reactions to stress and the absence of disease rather than to a person’s chronological age…“ Chronic stress, the kind that drags on rather than being just a momentary crisis, can drastically affect hormonal levels and shift the body’s hormonal balance.

Researcher Elissa Epel of the University of California, San Francisco, says it is likely that the imbalance in the hormones is responsible for many of the psychiatric and medical diseases associated with aging. Epel also said that chronically elevated cortisol reduces lean mass, bone density and shifts fat distributions that can precede the onset of many age-related diseases like osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease and major depression.

An article “Chronic Stress May Make You Age Faster” states that older adults often face chronic stress in the form of social isolation, bereavement, financial stress and caregiving. However, not all adults handle chronic stress the same way. Those able to take such stressors in stride often look younger than more stressed adults their age.

But there is good news: a healthy lifestyle and exercise can modify some of the hormonal effects that seem to accelerate aging. The article gave out some stress management techniques which I used as a benchmark against how I was doing in these areas:

* moderate exercise (reason why I am into yoga!)

* adequate sleep (this is still an area I need a lot of work on)

* being able to manage one’s goals and expectations (a trial and error situation till now but I am continuing to learn)

* accepting that one cannot always control things (yes, I used to be a control freak; I am learning to let go more often…)

* finding meaning in life (the raison d’etre for my other blog, Here’s to Life!)

* strengthening social ties (one of the major reasons why I am into blogging. I draw life from being around young bloggers)

* having spiritual or religious beliefs (being part of a prayer community for many years has given me a link to the Divine that I call on under stressful situations)

Are the effects of aging stress reversible?

If I go by my own personal experience, the answer is a resounding and reassuring YES!!!

Go ahead. Take the age test. Go ask a friend how old he/she thinks you are. Do not be upset by the answer if it was not what you expected. Take their answer as a chance to honestly look at yourself in the mirror and see how the stress you are subject to is affecting how you look. Identify those stressors and see what stress management techniques you can apply to start you off on the road to reversing its aging effects.

Do something NOW, while your body has not yet fallen into the disease traps set by stress. This is your gift not only to your loved ones, but most especially, a gift to YOURSELF!

Off Topic: Romance Contest in My Other Blog (Pond’s Kit at stake)

(Note: this contest is now closed.)

For yogis and yoginis who are married — just a heads-up that my other blog, Here’s To Life!, has tied up for a blog promo where the prizes at stake are up to 5 Pond’s Age Miracle Microdermabrasion Kits!

All you have to do is share how you keep the fire of romance burning in your marriages. Open to husbands and wives who are residents of the Philippines. Entries accepted till midnight of March 27, 2009.

For rules, click HERE.

Report Card: March 16-17, 2009 & Wishes for Yoga for Seniors

I still have not resumed formal yoga classes with my teacher. Instead I have been doing self yoga just to keep my muscles exercised.

Yesterday, I went beyond my normal 2-3 lap warmup walk on the treadmill and went for 1.6kms of brisk walking in preparation for this Saturday’s Walk a Green Mile Walkathon with Ipanema. That took me all of 25 minutes. And my stamina was still up afterwards. That’s a good sign!

I went through a 1.5 hour yoga routine — slowly, at my own pace, breathing slowly, trying to get the asana right. This is the part I enjoy. I have all the time to get into the pose without having to follow the teacher’s count. This way, I can take it slow and easy but still reap the benefits of holding the pose and sweating it out.

A difficulty I noted at certain points of my practice was a pain I had on the inner right thigh running from the crotch area to the knee. I felt that pain doing Trikonasana (Triangle) and the Wide-Angle Forward Bend so I ended up modifying my poses and easing up whenever I felt the pain. It seems like my muscles here have become inflexible once more so it will take patience to work out the kinks once again and bring flexibility back.

This week, I plan to resume formal yoga classes. Maybe that will help me get back into shape faster.

On another bright note, I had the chance to talk about my yoga experience with friends who are in the prime of life. One of them is into Taebo, a regimen she took up after retiring from work. But she confessed that it did not seem enough as she felt not all her muscles were being exercised. I showed her some easy yoga asanas she could do and she seemed really interested in taking up yoga.

This brings me though to a thought because I believe that those starting yoga at her age should not be placed in classes with students half their age. They should be in gentle yoga classes — those cut out for senior citizens or maybe for those 50 and above who are just testing the waters of yoga. And the program has to be tailored to certain concerns at that age — how to combat the onset of osteoporosis, achieving balance to avoid falls, building mass and reducing fat, and gland disorders, among others. And the poses must all be modified and easy, at least until they can become comfortable moving to the next level.

But most yoga classes being offered are too intensive for their age category!

I hope I can find a studio that is willing to take up a program for this category of students in the future. Yoga benefits people of ALL ages and the ones who really need it most are those who have led stressful, unhealthy, inflexible lives and are just realizing it at this point in their senior lives and wish to reverse at least part of the consequences.

Namaste.

A Great Yoga eBook

Scribd.com is a site where one can upload documents, books, papers that one has written or has copyright privileges to. It supports many formats (PDF included) and even allows you to download a piece of work if you are allowed to by the original author who uploaded the document/book. For documents that are copyrighted, you can read the book/document right from the browser window itself.

I found this world-famous Maran Illustrated Yoga ebook that can be read at Scribd’s site.

Here are the links to some chapters. Other chapters are not available at the site.

I have browsed the ebook’s chapters and found it very helpful and informative regardless of the yoga level you are in (beginner or avid yogi/yogini). Hope you find it as interesting as I did!

Chapter 1: Yoga Basics (not available)

Chapter 2: Yoga and Breathing

Chapter 3: Warm-Up Poses (not available)

Chapter 4: Seated Poses

Chapter 5: Seated Forward Bends

Chapter 6: Chair Poses

Chapter 7: Standing Poses

Chapter 8: Standing Balancing Poses (not available)

Chapter 9: Standing Forward Bends (not available)

Chapter 10: Table Poses

Chapter 11: Back Bends

Chapter 12: Inversions

Chapter 13: Reclined Poses

Chapter 14: Relaxation & Restorative Poses

Chapter 15: Practices (not available)