How to Adapt your Yoga Practice for Winter

As the countdown to Christmas starts, we enter the darkest part of the year.

At my recent Winter workshop, we ended the session with a chat about winter, how we felt about it, and what we did to enjoy/survive the winter season. One student said that she liked to get up while it was still dark and watch the sky lighten. She also went for an early morning walk every day. Another student, who admitted that she ‘hated winter’, also found that getting out and about and walking really helped. Another put things in the diary to look forward to, such as walking holidays…

I was sensing a theme. It is so easy to underestimate the benefits of moving our bodies, and now that we’re heading into winter, it’s even more important to factor in different ways to keep our bodies and minds healthy.

Walking is great but what about yoga?

While getting outside and walking are important, having a regular yoga practice that you can adapt to suit the seasons will also reap benefits.

BKS Iyengar states in his book Yoga for Sports that ‘different types of asanas help the body adapt to either extreme warm or cold climates.’

‘Asanas which heat the system include the inverted asanas, such as Adho Mukha Vrksasana [handstand], Sirsasana [headstand], Sarvangasana [shoulderstand] and the arm-balancing asanas, such as Bakasana [crow pose].’

The inverted postures warm the body from the inside out, rejuvenating the circulatory system and helping with cold weather issues such as chilblains and Raynaud’s. And if you fancy throwing in a crow pose or two…well, it’ll definitely warm you up!

Add more Strength, less Stretch

It’s also important to add more weight-bearing poses into your practice over the winter. We can think about winter as a time to slowly build up our strength and resistance, so that we can spring into spring when the time comes.

Also, doing intense stretching in cold weather unless you’re really warmed up isn’t’ a great idea as the muscles are cold and stiffer. But this means it’s an opportunity to focus on strengthening over stretching.

It’s easy to add in resistance poses, firstly for the legs:

Utkatasana [chair pose] can be done against the wall or in the room, and is a great way to strengthen the quadriceps.

Chatush Padasana is a great way to balance out chair pose as it strengthens the opposing group of muscles, the hamstrings.

And the arms and shoulders:

The king of arm strengtheners is Chaturanga Dandasana [plank pose] but there are lots of way to build up to this pose, using poses such as;

A standing plank leaning against the wall

High plank with the arms straight and tailbone tucked in

Elbow plank, with hands clasped or holding a block with a belt around the elbows (which is also good preparation for Pincha Mayurasana [Elbow balance pose]

And good old Adho Mukha Svanasana [Downward dog].

And the abdominals:

These groups of poses aren’t done as much in Iyengar yoga classes, but they’re important for the health of the lower back.

Urdhva Prasarita Padasana [Upward facing legs pose] is an intense abdominal strengthening pose, but it’s important to keep the lumbar spine moving down to the floor. If it’s too much to take both legs straight down to the floor, take the legs down in stages, bending the legs in towards the chest in between.

Paripurna Navasana [Boat pose] can be done with legs bent, or using a belt

Jathara Parivartanasana [Revolved abdomen pose] is a great abdominal strengthener and can be done with legs bent or straight for a great challenge. This can also be a restorative pose when taking the legs over to a bolster.

Add more Restorative Yoga!

Winter is also about taking our energy inwards and taking time for quiet reflection. The strengthening poses are high energy and it’s a good idea to combine these practices with more restorative poses to balance out the energy levels.

Since teaching the regular restorative class at Adult Learning Lewisham in Brockley Rise, I’ve learnt to simplify, simplify, simplify.

As an Iyengar yoga teacher my instinct is to add detail and give lots of ‘warm up’ poses to get the body ready for the breathwork. There is a place for this, but sometimes, the REST part of restorative is easy to miss.

A restorative practice can be 15 minutes. Do Uttanasana with loads of support for 3 minutes. Do Downward dog with support under the head for 2 minutes. Then Supta Badda Konasana for 5 minutes. Savasana for 5 minutes. You could even just do Savasana for 15 minutes. The important thing is that you use the props. Make the body comfortable so that there is an ease in the body and the brain.

Whatever yoga practice you do this winter, know that it will make a difference!

How to Keep a Yoga Practice Going Over the Summer

The long summer holidays have just begun, and many yoga teachers have a break for the summer (like me) or go away.

Suddenly you’re left without your regular weekly yoga class to keep things moving. Many of my students say that they really notice the difference in their bodies when they miss a few weeks of practice.

My advice – start a home practice!

My Top Five Tips for Starting a Home Practice

The reason I started writing a blog all those years ago (well, almost five years ago now) was to help my students and readers of this blog to start their own home practice. Going to yoga once a week is great, but it’s only when you start doing yoga at home that you really start to notice a difference in your mind and body.

So where do you start, when our lives are already so busy?

1. Get your mat out! I’ve got a travel mat which I keep rolled out (like a not-very-attractive bedside rug) next to my bed. This means that first thing in the morning and last thing at night I have a visual reminder to move my body.

2. Start small. If you aim to do an hour’s yoga every day, the likelihood is that you’ll do one or two days and then give up. If you aim to do ten minutes of yoga every day, then you might do more than that!

3. Do ‘yoga snacks’. What are ‘yoga snacks’? Well, they’re a great idea coined by teacher Uday Bhosale (who learnt directly from the Iyengar family). His idea is to do small yoga practices in your everyday life. I’ve given lots of examples of these in classes, like standing on one leg while brushing your teeth, standing in Tadasana while waiting in a queue and doing Garudasana (eagle pose) arms while sitting at your desk.

4. Get upside down. The Iyengar yoga tradition places great importance on the inversions. They are incredibly good for you and if you can find a way to get upside down every day (or twice a week) you will feel the benefits. This can be something as simple as ‘legs up the wall’, or those of you more experienced can work on your headstand, making sure to always follow it up with shoulderstand or one of its variations.

5. Set a goal. When you have something to work towards your home practice makes more sense. When I first started practising at home it was because I really wanted to be able to kick up into a handstand. I had ten attempts every time I practised, and eventually I got up into the pose. During weekly lessons you don’t have time to commit to one pose, so a home practice is a great way to make progress.

What should I practice?

It’s hard to know how to sequence your home practice. You might struggle to remember the poses we do in class, or feel that you need lots of props, which you might not have at home.

The best advice I can give is just to start. Get on your mat and do ONE pose. There are a few poses that are great starting poses, like Adho Mukha Virasana (Forward bending hero pose), Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward dog), Pavana Muktasana (Lying on your back with legs bent in to your chest, stretching out one leg at a time).

Then it’s always good to do a few standing poses as they strengthen the legs and work the whole body. If you’re feeling tired or stiff you can do these with the support of a wall or chair. Poses such as Tadasana (Mountain pose), Trikonasana (Triangle pose), Parshvakonasana (Extended side angle pose) and all the Virabhadrasanas (Warrior poses).

If you’re stiffer it might be good to work on your hamstrings with some supported forward bends. So you could do Ardha Uttanasana (Half forward fold pose) to the wall or the back of a chair. Then you could see if you could take the hands a little lower towards the seat of the chair. You could work on Dandasana (Staff pose) sitting on the edge of a chair and stretching up to the wall.

If you’re more experienced you might do some shoulder work and then add in some backbends. Poses such as Shalabasana (Locust pose) and Bhujangasana (Cobra pose) are a good way to bring flexibility to the upper back and strengthen the spinal muscles.

Add in your inversions, then a cool down pose or two (such as Supta Baddha Konasana, Reclining bound angle pose or Adho Mukha Swastikasana, Downward-facing cross-legged pose) and then ALWAYS end with Savasana.

The thing is it will be different for each person. Your home practice is completely tailored to YOU and YOUR needs, so there’s no ‘one size fits all’ sequence.

What if I’m injured?

It’s understandable if having an injury means that you don’t practice or come to class for a while. Rest and recovery definitely come first. However, after this time, it’s really important to get back to yoga.

BKS Iyengar said that “pain is there as a teacher […] only when there is pain will you see the light.”

My weak area is my lower back. In times of stress this area gets painful, which means I have to work much more mindfully when doing my yoga practice. However, this also means that I now know what poses really help to alleviate this pain, which poses to avoid or modify and therefore how to teach poses to help with lower back problems.

For example, if you have sore wrists, then modify your poses. For example, avoid downward dog on the floor and try it on a chair. Or go for Elbow dog to avoid putting pressure on the wrists altogether (and really work those shoulders in the meantime).

If you ever need help with how to modify poses with an injury, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Here’s an EXAMPLE of a Summer Home Practice Sequence

There are an infinite number of yoga sequences, which is what keeps it endlessly interesting. This is a sequence that would work (with modifications if needed) for an early morning yoga practice, for a regular student of yoga.

Downward dog

Parsva Swastikasana (turning with crossed legs)

Adho Mukha Virasana (Forward bending hero pose)

Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward dog)

Eka Pada Adho Mukha Svanasana (One-legged downward dog)

Vrksasana

Urdhva Hastasana in Tadasana (arms up in standing mountain pose)

Vrksasana (Tree pose)

Trikonasana (Triangle pose)

Ardha Chandrasana (Half moon pose)

Utthita Hasta Padangustasana 2

Utthita Hasta Padangustasana 2 (Extended hand to big toes pose with leg out to the side, with foot to the wall or a chair)

Uttanasana (Forward fold pose)

Sirsasana (Headstand) or Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-legged forward fold pose)

Paripurna Navasana (Boat pose)

Urdhva Prasarita Padasana (Legs at a right angle and bringing legs down slowly)

Chatush Padasana - repeat a few times (Bridge pose variation holding ankles with belt)

Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand) or Setubandha (Bridge pose)

Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining bound angle pose)

Savasana (Corpse pose)

A Day in the Life on a Yoga Retreat

The picturesque village of Dolcedo in northern Italy

This year I went on my first ever yoga retreat in Italy. The retreat was run by Australian Senior teacher Pixie Lillas. I’ve been to quite a few workshops run by Pixie as well as interviewed her for the IY(UK) magazine. It was an amazing experience, and one I hope to give to others at some point! I’ve written about a typical day on this yoga retreat to share this experience with you.

 5:30am: The alarm goes off. I descend in silence to the bathroom, feeling a little glazed with tiredness. I make a cup of decaf tea and stare out the window at the soft, misty morning light on the hills behind the converted mill where we’re staying. My ‘flatmates’ drift about doing the same and we slip on our birkenstocks and pad up the studio.

6am: In the studio a few people are already there, lying still on their pranayama support, specified by Pixie and laid out in readiness from the day before. This small organisational effort makes a big difference in the early hours, and feels like a gift to ourselves.

6:15 - 7am: Pranayama. Often back home I will drift off to sleep during pranayama sessions, but here, in the cooler early morning air, I stay with Pixie’s voice and with the breath, finding odd moments of inner quiet to match the outer.

7 – 9am: We are still in silence in this break between yoga sessions. In our flat we have more coffee or a light breakfast of yoghurt, fruit and nuts, bought at the little shop in the village. After eating I sit and look at the view or read a book. The silence gives you time to sit with yourself.

9 – 11am: Active āsana session! These sessions often started with the same poses, such as Uttanasana (Forward fold) and Utthita Hasta Padangustasana (Standing hand to big toe pose). We would do them several different ways. The poses build throughout the session, but with plenty of time to cool down. Pixie has several key themes which are repeated throughout the week, such as ‘draw a line between the buttocks’, and ‘small floating ribs move back’. It feels like her instructions are specifically for me.

Shot of the studio from the outside

11:30am: The all-important LUNCH. Each meal is a veggie feast. E.g. stuffed peppers with coleslaw, green salad and authentic bread, with fresh fruit and cheese for pudding. Meals are communal, in the shade of a persimmon tree in a small courtyard. Each day we take turns to lay the table and clear. Conversation flows and overflows after the meal.

1ish – 4pm: A few of us walk down the hill to the village to have a one-euro coffee. We stroll past the village church, decked out inside like a Fabergé egg. Then a more strenuous walk back up the hill to have a dip in the mountain pool, dappled with light and dragonflies. I head back to my attic room for an afternoon sleep, setting my alarm for twenty minutes before the next session starts.

4 – 6pm: I get into Supta Baddha Koṇāsana in the silent studio. Pixie comes in with the sound of the bells rolling up the valley. The afternoon session is quieter. We hold Śīrṣāsana (headstand) and Sarvāngāsana (Shoulderstand) for long periods. I notice how my body responds differently to these poses every day. By the end of the day my body sinks into the final śavāsana like a stone.

Inside the studio, getting set up

6:30pm: SUPPER. The regular eating times mean that my stomach is cued up and ready to digest the next spread. Before supper I nip up to my room and apply bug spray in a vain attempt to dodge being a feast for the mosquitos that come out at dusk.

8ish – 10pm: I head out with a small group for a circular walk that starts sharply uphill towards an abandoned chapel. As night falls the river frogs’ chorus notches up in intensity. We stop on an old stone bridge which spans the stream. We admire an old lady’s immaculate vegetable garden as we loop back to the mill.

When we get back to the mill a flatmate calls us outside to watch the fireflies sparking. Then bed. I set the alarm for 5:30am.

Pixie and I at the end of the retreat

Dolcedo group of 2024

Sun Salutation: The Secret to your Summer Home Practice

The sequence known as the sun salutation or Surya Namaskarasana in Sanskrit, is an iconic sequence.

And on this summer solstice, with the sun finally blessing us with its glorious rays (don’t forget your sunscreen out there), I thought it would be great to explore it.

The History of the Sequence

While it would be nice to say that people have been doing sun salutations since time immemorial, there is very little evidence to suggest this.

In Patanjali’s yoga sutras there are only four verses (out of 196) which mention the physical aspect of yoga. The emphasis of the sutras is in elucidating the path to self-enlightenment through meditation, self-discipline and study.

The Vedas (ancient Hindu texts) have no mention of the sun salutation in yogic form, but there is mention of worshipping the sun through various rituals, which would result in health and prosperity.

In ‘The Yoga Body’ by Mark Singleton he states that Surya Namaskarasana is almost certainly “a modern, physical culture–oriented interpretation of a far more ancient practise of prostrating to the sun” (Singleton 2010: p206).

It is likely to be that Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, also known as ‘the father of modern yoga’ began the sequence. Two of his students, BKS Iyengar and Patabhi Jois, went on to found the two most influential forms of yoga in the West, Iyengar yoga and Ashtanga yoga.

Benefits of the sequence

This flowing sequence (or vinyasa) has its emphasis on rhythm and speed, which takes a while to work up to.

This tones and cleanses the pelvic organs, strengthens the upper body and brings the whole system to life. Those of you that did this sequence in the classes with me this week will have felt this revitalising effect.

It’s a great sequence to practice at home as it runs through standing poses, inversions, backbends and upper body strenthening in one go. Plus it gets the body moving and working and ready for other poses.

Practice

I’ve written out the sequence and included a lovely illustration by Bobby Clennell.

It’s important to be confident with all the component poses before tying them together into the sequence. Practice them separately before doing the Sun Salutation.

It’s traditional to repeat the Sun Salutation in multiples of three, and ideally (ha) 108 times as this is a sacred number in yoga.

The summer months are a great time to practice this pose at home as we tend to be more flexible in the warmer weather. Have a go at home or in the garden (just make sure you’re not in the full sun!)

Cautionary notes

Like any strenuous yoga pose or sequence it’s important to keep breathing as you go through the poses. Take a few normal breaths in between each cycle.

If you have a back problem take bricks for your hands in Uttanasana and step the feet back into Downward dog.

If you are physically depleted then take a bolster or blocks under the body when doing Upward facing dog and Chatturanga Dandasana.

From: The Woman’s Yoga Book by Bobby Clennell

The sequence for Surya Namaskarasana

1. Tadasana

Inhale and bring the hands into Namaskarasana (prayer pose)

Swing your arms up into

2. Urdhva Hastasana (arms up)

With an exhalation stretch the arms forwards and down into

3. Uttanasana (hands on bricks or to the floor)

Press the hands down on the floor and then inhale and step or jump back into

4. Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward dog)

With an inhalation swing forwards and up into

5. Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (upward dog)

With an exhalation drop down to

6. Chatturanga Dandasana (four-limbed plank pose)

And straight back up into

7. Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (upward dog)

Then swing the hips back into

8. Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward dog)

Then look between the hands and jump or step the feet forwards into

9. Uttanasana

Then inhale and swing the arms up into

10. Urdhva Hastasana

Then bring the hands down into prayer pose in front of the chest, and back to your sides into

11. Tadasana

Five Reasons to keep doing YOGA

In his book Light on Prānayāma BKS Iyengar says that there are four stages to yoga: commencement, intent endeavour, intimate knowledge and consummation. 

As you’re reading this blog, I’m going to assume that we can tick the ‘commencement’ box.  And that’s a big tick, as the first step is the hardest step of all.

We all start out with good intentions, but it’s much harder to translate those intentions into consistent action, especially when we have so many pulls on our time and energy.

In fact, the sage Patañjali lists nine obstacles to Yoga: physical illness, apathy, doubting your ability, indifference, burnout, uncontrolled desire, living under illusions, lack of concentration and inability to maintain achievements. And that doesn’t even include, ‘desire to socialise’ or ‘inability to keep eyes open due to lack of sleep’. Basically, there are a lot of hurdles to jump before we even get onto the mat.

So, to give you a boost, I’d like to give you some reasons for staying on the path or re-finding it, because it’s always there waiting for you.

Be Inspired by your Teacher

The ancient tradition of yoga has been reinterpreted for the way we live today, but the basic structure of the way yoga is learnt has not. You, the student, learn from your teacher. That teacher will be more experienced, will see things that you do not, and will have experience of how different bodies can access yoga poses. As Iyengar says:

“The obstacles, trials and tribulations in the path of yoga can be removed to a large extent with the help of a Guru.”

Unlike other forms of exercise, like running or body building, your teacher will guide and correct you, will encourage you and push you when you start to flag. And your teacher will have their own teacher who will do the same for them.

Make use of their experience and energy. That’s what I’m here for and I love my job!

Focus on the Needs of your Body

Once you’ve taken your first steps into yoga you start to get to know your body a bit more  – it might be that you need a small tower to sit cross-legged, maybe your shoulders are where your tension gets held – you’ll have become aware of your strengths and weaknesses.  

You’ll also have started to work out which poses you feel more comfortable doing, and which ones make you feel like running a mile. You’re starting to form a yogic relationship with your body.

By practising the sequences of poses, our bodies are gradually extended and strengthened. The more we do the poses, the quicker the transformation, but whether you go once a week, or have established a daily practice, any time spent on the mat is time well spent with your body.

Give Up Results

In work, in life, we have become ‘goal’ driven.  We are looking forwards, making lists, aiming to achieve our dreams.  This is all well and good, but sometimes this preoccupation takes us time-travelling out of the present and into the future.

When we are in a class, wobbling in Warrior 1 (Vῑrabhadrāsana I), we have no choice but to be in the moment, now, pressing down the big toe mound, or straightening the back leg, as without this concentration we flail and fall.

The results of yoga are tangible and real, but just because we can’t sit on the floor in Seated Hero Pose (Vῑrāsana) or get that other foot up in Lotus Pose (Padmāsana), however much we heave, it doesn’t mean we’re failing. Every effort, every inhabited pose is a result.

How Do You Do, Me

The previous two reasons have touched on this one, but it’s worth stating that yoga is as much about the mind as the body.

Some of the poses, such as the backbends, work on opening up the chest, and this opening can leave you feeling vulnerable. By opening up the body, we open up the mind to things that sometimes we’d rather leave hidden, which can be an uncomfortable experience. Many beginners find that this can manifest through tears or giggles. 

In Light on Pranayama, Iyengar says that the hardest pose can often be Śavāsana.  The frantic mind is forced to be still, which for the doers among us, can feel excruciating. That little itch on our nose becomes a torture as the mind fights to keep up a constant chatter. 

But when we allow that jumping bean of a mind to fall still, even for the smallest moment, we open a chink in the door to eternity.

Finding Joy

The eighth limb of yoga is ‘samādhi’ or ‘super-consciousness’.  Only the very devoted yogis reach this state in its purest form, but a glimpse of it is available to the humblest and stiffest of practitioners at any point. When do you last remember experiencing joy? It tends to be when we give in to the moment, and that burden of care or stress that we didn’t even know we were carrying drops away, leaving us feeling light and open.

To sum up, B.K.S. Iyengar says:

"In some postures, we lose the sense of duality and we live in peace, in a joy we cannot express in words. And even if we have to fight all our life to find this joy once more, it is worth doing it."

How Yoga can Lead to Contentment

It’s not easy to be content these days. FOMO is all around us and it’s catching. We get into the habit of upgrading and not just staying with what we have.

This attitude can affect how we feel about our yoga practice as well. Scrolling through Instagram it’s easy to feel that everyone’s practice is better than ours.

But it’s not about how yoga looks on the outside that’s important. Yes, we’re aiming to make the right shapes, but it’s what it’s doing on the inside and how we’re connecting our bodies that the real work happens.

What is contentment?

Contentment, or Santosha in Sanskrit, is one of the five niyamas, a personal ethical code which is one of the eight limbs of yoga. In yoga we need to cultivate contentment to make the mind a fit instrument for meditation, which is the ultimate purpose of the yoga poses we practice.

Originating from Latin and French, the middle English word ‘contentment’ has the literal meaning of ‘satisfaction from a claim or debt’. This puts a different spin on what we think of being content. It’s not a passive feeling, but an active reclaiming of something lost or wasted. We feel whole and that nothing is missing.

Action: Our posture can really impact mood and self-awareness. Try sitting up straight in your chair. Plant your feet on the floor and check that your spine is as tall as you can make it. Join your palms together in prayer pose or Namaskarasana and close your eyes. Connecting the palms brings us back to ourselves and pressing the base of the thumbs to the solar plexus centres us.

Namaskarasana or Prayer pose

But does being content mean that we’re passive?

There’s a misconception that being content means being without ambition or goals.

Contentment is about finding peace in every stage of life, but it doesn’t mean to never challenge yourself.

In the same vein, we can also apply contentment to an acceptance of our mixed successes in our yoga practice. Perhaps we can touch our toes after a long time of working at stretching the hamstrings. A student today touched her fingertips to her brick in Trikonasana, which for her was a great achievement. But for another student it might be kicking up in handstand for the first time.

Just because we can’t do something today, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be content. We’re right where we’re meant to be.

Action: Make a list of the poses you’d like to get better at. This isn’t to make you feel bad about where you are today, but to give yourself a focus for the future.

How can we cultivate it?

This week I’ve been teaching restorative classes. Just because these are less active classes doesn’t mean they’re easier. In fact, for some students these classes pose a greater challenge as they require mental tenacity.

Supta Baddha Konasana

According to BKS Iyengar in Light on Life contentment ‘is an acceptance of one’s mixed lot as a human being.’ Restorative yoga is a great place to start when practising acceptance. We learn to accept the discomfort of the pose because a) we know there will be benefits in the long run and b) that the pose will end at some point! Which reminds me of that saying that gets trotted out in the face of adversity, which is that ‘Things will be alright in the end, and if they’re not alright, it’s not the end.’

 Action: Give yourself ten minutes to practice one or two restorative poses. Suppta Baddha Konasana is the one that most of us remember (Reclining Bound angle pose).

How a yoga practice can help you to feel content

In the pursuit of happiness, remember: contentment is the only real wealth. Alfred Nobel

We can’t feel happy all the time. Life has thrown a lot at us in recent years, not to mention a global pandemic and a cost of living crisis. We can’t know what’s round the corner, but we can practice emotional stability, so that we can weather the ups and downs with a little more equanimity.

The final destination of the eight limbs of yoga is Samadhi, or bliss. From the physical postures we start to draw the attention inwards, leading to meditation, focus and stillness. Samadhi doesn’t mean that we don’t feel emotion, but that emotion no longer controls us.

I can’t say that yoga has solved all my problems, but my yoga practice has certainly given me a solid foundation from which to withstand the hardships along the way.

Action: Commit to a yoga practice, even if it’s once a week. Choose poses that are familiar and let your body start to let you know what you need to practice.

WHY YOU SHOULD GO UPSIDE DOWN (SAFELY)

Inversions are such an integral part of an Iyengar yoga practice. And by inversions I mean any pose in which your head is below your heart. The classic inversions are headstand and shoulderstand, and the energetic handstand and forearm balance. As well as this we have the gentler options of downward dog, standing forward fold (Uttanasana) and legs up the wall.

When would you NOT do inversions?

Inversions ARE good for you, but there are a few health conditions which mean that inversions should be avoided: unmedicated high blood pressure (although shoulderstand can be practised with caution), some heart conditions, neck injuries, recent stroke, detached retina, glaucoma, and epilepsy are common issues that should be addressed before inverting. Talk to your yoga teacher (or me) if you have any concerns.

Also, I would suggest that you take a break from inversions during your period. Generally in life we just have to ignore our body and get on with it, so it’s always nice to feel that we are being given the option of resting.

Why are inversions so good for you?

One of the (many) things that starts to decline as we get older is our awareness of our body in space or proprioception. This has a knock-on effect on our balance and stability. Going upside down is a proven way of improving our proprioception, making falls less likely.

Going upside down also helps improve the efficiency of the circulatory system, as it reverses blood flow and means that the heart doesn’t work as hard. It’s also very beneficial for the lymphatic system, which is a key part of our immune defence system.

Physically inversions are an excellent way to maintain core strength and flexibilty. In order to balance efficiently we need to be using the whole muscular system as well as strenthening the arms and shoulders (handstand, headstand and downward dog).

Also inversions are a great way of balancing out the endocrine system. Shoulderstand especially is great for perimenopause and menopause as it stimulates the thyroid and parathyroid glands which secrete hormones that regulate the metabolism.

Also, inversions are great for our mental health, giving us a new outlook on life and a confidence boost. According to BKS Iyengar in his book Light on Yoga, “Regular practice of Sirsasana [headstand] makes healthy pure blood flow through the brain cells. This rejuvenates them so that thinking power increases and thoughts become clearer.”

How to Practice them at Home

There are loads of ways to incorporate inversions into your home practice. It’s best to start with what you feel confident with, such as downward dog. Spend a bit of time in the pose, and make sure you relax the head and neck. Try different ways of practising, such as putting your hands on bricks, or pressing your heels to the wall. If you’re tired it’s a good idea to take support for your head. Your home practice is your way of finding out what works for you.

Shoulderstand is a great pose to practice at home, as we often don’t have time to fit it in during classes. Make sure you take support under your shoulders (as seen in the picture above) and if you can’t take your feet to the floor behind your head, then use a chair or go to the wall. Start by staying in the pose for a minute, and then build up from there. If you have any blood pressure issues always spend plenty of time in Halasana (plough pose) before going up into the pose, and come down slowly too.

In the Iyengar yoga system we don’t recommend that you practice headstand until you’ve been attending classes for a while. You should also be confident with your shoulderstand and all the standing poses (that doesn’t mean perfect). Once you’ve had a few goes at headstand in class it’s time to take your practice home as that’s where the real progress will happen. See below for a step-by-step guide to getting up into headstand at home.

Bricks, blocks, blankets and belts - why Props are so Important for Iyengar yoga

Back in ‘ancient times’ when yoga was first being practiced there were no props.

The only prop was the body itself.

In fact, Iyengar’s eponymous book, Light on Yoga, first published in 1966, includes hundreds of images of Iyengar in yoga poses, and there is not one prop in the book - except for a wooden box that he’s seated on in the last pose of the book.

Even the yoga mat was only ‘invented’ as recently as 1982, when an English yoga teacher called Angela Farmer got fed up with her hands and feet slipping on the floor and went to buy some carpet underlay - the very first yoga mat.

So why does Iyengar yoga use props?

BKS Iyengar was a perfectionist and when he started his yoga practice he was recovering from a long childhood illness. He looked around him for ways to access the poses without hurting himself. The props we use use today are based on the simple objects Iyengar found lying around the house or in the street.

Iyengar explains why he introduced props into his practice first, and then his teaching when he realised the benefits:

I was preoccupied trying various ways to improve and perfect my own practice. I used to pick up stones and bricks lying on the roads and used them as ‘supports’ and ‘weight bearers’ to make progress in my mastery of āsana…

As his teaching progressed, he realised the value of props, and pioneered the use of props in restorative and therapeutic yoga.

What are the most common yoga props?

The first yoga prop was probably the brick. Initially just a sawn-off bit of wood, these were used to assist the lift of the shoulders in headstand to reduce pressure on the neck. Gradually, the bricks were standardised and evolved into the cork or foam bricks we use today.

Now, if you visit an equipped Iyengar yoga studio you’ll find:

Mats, blocks, bricks, belts, bolsters, blankets, bandages, slanted planks, setu bandha bench, tressler, ropes, rope walls, chairs and more.

What do I need to practice Iyengar yoga?

While props are important in Iyengar yoga, they’re not essential. The lockdowns of the past couple of years taught us to improvise with our yoga props, just as Iyengar did all those years ago.

However, if you’re starting out as a yoga student, it’s really helpful to get your own props so that you can practice safely at home, as well as taking them to classes if needed.

Your starter props kit would consist of:

1 mat, 4 blocks, 2 bricks, 1 belt and 1 blanket

The blanket is possibly optional, but I find a blanket will be used in one way or another in most classes, under the head in savasana, or on top of the blocks in shoulderstand, and for restorative sessions it can be folded and placed over the blocks to stand in for a bolster.

And once you have your own props it encourages you to practice at home - where the real yoga happens.

The final yoga prop which is used in most yoga practices is a chair. Find a folding chair and keep it handy. Israeli yoga teacher Eyal Shifroni has written two books full of ways you can use a chair to deepen your yoga practice.

What your props are used for:

MAT - A large part of yoga is to improve our proprioception – the awareness of the body in space. Having a mat means that we can work out where to place our feet, to align the edges of our feet with the edges of the mat, to be in the centre of the mat in Tadasana and so on. It places the body in space. Mats also give a sticky surface to prevent the hands and feet from slipping. Mats can also be folded up give support in headstand, or rolled to support the spine in poses such as Chair Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana.

BLOCKS – Blocks are used most often for seated poses to give a secure support from which to lift the spine. They are also used to ‘lift the floor’ when in shoulderstand, in order to lift from the shoulders, rather than letting the weight drop onto the back of the neck.

BRICKS – Bricks are mostly used as extensions of the arms in standing forward bends. If the hamstrings are tight the hands can be placed on bricks so that the spine can stay extended. Bricks are also used as supports in Brick Setubandha (the clue’s in the name).

BELT - The simple D-ring belt is an essential part of your yoga kit. A bit like the bricks it acts as an extension of your arms to reach the feet in supine and seated forward bends, in the standing balancing poses, such as Vrksasana, and it can help to give direction to a pose, e.g. to lengthen the arms up in Urdhva Hastasana. It can also contain the arms, e.g. keeping the elbows together to give a more secure base in shoulderstand.

BLANKET - A heavy cotton blanket is the ideal option, and most reflects the blankets used in the Iyengar Institute in Pune. Folded it can act as a support, and a way to soften the poses when being held for longer.

A final word on props.

Iyengar yoga focuses on alignment of the body in the pose, so instead of pushing the body beyond it’s natural limit, props are used to access the final pose, while still respecting each body’s particular boundaries.

There are endlessly creative ways to use props to change the focus of each pose too. This is another great advantage to Iyengar yoga - you will never do the same class twice, indeed you’ll probably never do the same pose twice.

However, as Shifroni states in the introduction to ‘A chair for Yoga’:

Practitioners should be careful not to develop dependancy on props; rather, props should be employed intelligently in pursuit of a more mature and mindful asanas practice.

Your Handy Festive Yoga Sequence

It’s hard to keep a yoga practice going at this time of year.

We’re tired, there’s a lot going on, and it’s easy to skip it.

But if you can take 15 - 20 minutes to fit in a yoga practice, you will:

• alleviate seasonal aches and pains

• stretch out stiff muscles from lots of sitting

• increase the efficiency of your digestion - much needed at this time of year

• reduce stress and improve sleep

• give yourself a much-needed bit of space

See below for an example of a quick practice to get everything moving.

Please take your own conditions into consideration. If you usually practice inversions, then add them in after the handstand - headstand, followed by shoulderstand.

And finally a 5-minute savasana (not pictured).

And a Merry Christmas to you all, and a happy New Year.

Can Yoga help your Self-knowledge?

Life can be tough, right?

The past few years have been a rollercoaster of global crises, and, for most of us, a few personal ones thrown in for good measure too.

When the proverbial hits the fan, it’s useful to have a sense of self. To know how or when we need to ask for help, to know when to stop and so on. But for many of us, this self-knowledge only comes through bitter experience.

However, there is another way we can build a sense of self-knowledge which is deeply useful in these tough times.

This self-knowledge comes through our yoga practice.

What is self-knowledge?

Self-knowledge, in Sanskrit, Svadhyaya, is one of the five Niyamas, part of the first limb of yoga.

Without the discipline of self-knowledge we cannot truly practice yoga, without practicing yoga, we cannot truly know ourselves. So, like the chicken and the egg conundrum, which comes first?

According to BKS Iyengar, “Your practice is your laboratory, and your methods must become ever more penetrating and sophisticated. Whether you are in asana or doing pranayama, the awareness of the body extends outward, but the senses of perception, mind, intelligence should be drawn inward.”

Action: When we stand on our two feet, spreading the toes, moving our weight back onto our heels, we draw our minds out of the fug of habitual action into the clarity of intelligent perception.

How can we cultivate it?

Self-knowledge begins with self-awareness. Iyengar again, with yet another brilliant sentence:

“Self-awareness is the opposite of self-consciousness.”

Our relationships with ourselves are (mostly) extremely complex. We are conditioned by our upbringing, societal norms, by social media, peer pressure and so on. When we begin practising yoga we are usually in two camps:

“I’m actually pretty good at this yoga lark – I can touch my toes easily in this pose.”

OR

“I’m awful at yoga, I’m so stiff, everything hurts, I’ll never be as good as other people.”

While being at opposite ends of the spectrum, both responses are self-conscious. A self-conscious response can lead to over-stretching of the muscles, either due to showing off how good you are, or through panicking that you’re not good enough. Neither one is very useful in the long run.

Action: The pose which most of us find easiest to be self-aware in at the start is Savasana. Lying still and quiet with the eyes closed we can use the gentle rhythm of the breath to just observe the body and mind. Then we gradually learn to take that quiet into the rest of our poses.

How to get out of our heads 

To become self-aware and not self-conscious requires practice and self-compassion. Iyengar puts this very neatly:

“When you are self-aware, you are fully within yourself, not outside yourself looking in. You are aware of what you are doing without ego or pride.”

The increasing use of social media and the focus on what we look like is a difficult habit to break. We tend to see ourselves as if from the outside, but we forget that we live inside our bodies. By truly inhabiting ourselves we can take a break from all that noise that goes on in our heads.

Action: The invocation practiced at the beginning of each yoga class is a way to move our attention from outside – in. Sitting cross-legged we bring our attention first to our posture. Then to the breath. Then to the movement and vibration of the breath through the sung invocation. We remember that we are just part of the long tradition of yoga practitioners, as well as a way to be unified with the other students in the room with us.

How to build a practice

Our noisy heads are one of the main obstacles to getting on our mats in the first place. Most of my students say, ‘I know I should do a yoga practice, but…’ and there are so many ‘buts’ that get in the way.

I can completely relate, as life has a habit of getting in the way of a whole host of good intentions.

The thing to remember is that your yoga practice is there for you, not the other way around. We are all different beings and we each need to find what works for us (self-knowledge…)

For some people getting up half an hour earlier than the rest of the household and doing a pyjama practice is what works.

For others the extra sleep is too important, and they find a way to fit 40 minutes of practice into their lunchbreak.

Or for the extra-busy person, yoga poses can be built into everyday life; Tadasana in the queue, Vrksasana while brushing your teeth, a quick Downward dog while waiting for the kettle to boil. It goes without saying that an undisturbed hour of practice is going to be more beneficial, but a quick pose here and there throughout the day is also a practice.  

Try adding in one pose to your daily routine, and see start to reap the benefits of self-knowledge that come with it.

What is Pranayama and how will it help?

Pranayama, control of the breath, is one of the eight limbs of yoga and is an essential part of Iyengar yoga. But it’s not easy to make time for it in our already-busy lives.

But so many of us are struggling with the burnout that 2022 has brought, coping with the aftershocks of a global pandemic, with the background of a war in Europe, rising energy prices and so much more

And the positive effects of pranayama are definite and not illusory. It gives relief from anxiety, stress-related diseases and everyday ailments. There are no short cuts – the only way to reap the benefits is through patient and regular practice.

How does Pranayama fit into yoga?

Pranayama is practiced side-by-side with asana practice, and while the asana practice is essential for pranayama practice, the practice of pranayama benefits our asana practice.

How? All those chest-opening poses we do in backbends expand the upper chest. All those twists we do strengthen the spinal muscles so that the lungs are supported. All those forward bends lengthen and expand the back body, and quieten the mind. All those standing poses increase stamina and help with postural alignment. And the practice of pranayama strengthens the heart and lungs leading to better poses.

While other forms of yoga rush to introduce complex pranayama practice, the Iyengar yoga method gradually introduces pranayama at a pace that allows the body to be ready for this powerful practice.

The Pranayama Practice

What exactly is pranayama? Simply put in BKS Iyengar’s words:

Pranayama is a conscious prolongation of inhalation, retention and exhalation.

The first step in any pranayama practice is awareness of the breath. By making our breathing a conscious act we start to bring our intelligence to the breath, just as the asana practice brings intelligence and awareness to the body.

For beginnners it is best to start in lying down in a supported position, otherwise the spine can start to collapse. Even just breathing normally, but with awareness, it increases your ability to focus, increases energy and softens the lungs.

Then there are many different pranayama techniques you can practice, but they all start with an exhalation breath to expel the air from the lungs.

Seated Pranayama

Once the student has practised the asanas for a good amount of time, and has done a fair amount of supine pranayama, the next stage is seated pranayama. The seated position can be cross-legged or in any comfortable position which allows the spine to lift (especially the lower spine), such as siddhasana, padmasana or virasana.

Once the seated position is established, the head is lowered towards the trunk in a position called jalandhara bandha, or ‘chin-lock’. Poses such as shoulderstand help to lengthen the neck and allow you to hold this position without stiffness in the neck. The hands rest gently on the knees. It’s important that when seated, you keep the trunk lifted so that the lungs and abdomen aren’t compressed.

Quick Pranayama Practice

If you’re like me and you find it hard to make time for a pranayama practice, try this ten-minute practice.

• Lie down on your mat with the the spine and head supported, on a bolster or folded blankets. You want the head to be angled down slightly towards the chest and not thrown back.

• Cover the eyes with an eye pillow or belt to relax the nervous system.

• Breathe normally. Observe the flow of the inhalation and exhalation breath in and out of the nostrils.

• Then work to make the breath even and steady, expanding the chest upwards and outwards at the same time.

• Then gradually lengthen the exhalation breath, breathing out to the end of the breath, but keeping the mind quiet.

Continue with the above for 10 - 15 minutes.  Then remove the eye covering and open the eyes gradually.  Stay breathing normally before gradually getting up when you feel ready.

The Benefits of Pranayama

How can just breathing help us? In lots of ways.

The regular practice of pranayama has been found to:

• Improve sleep quality

• Reduce high blood pressure

• Improve lung function

• Enhance cognitive performance

• Reduce addictive cravings

And more. So even if you just do 5 minutes before bed in the evening, try it. You have nothing to lose!

How Yoga can Help Tight Hamstrings

Tight hamstrings are extremely common, and one of the biggest reasons that people say, ‘I can’t do yoga – I’m not flexible’.

But just because you can’t touch your toes, doesn’t mean you can’t do yoga, it’s even more reason to do yoga!

Classically, men have tighter hamstrings, but both men and women can have them. There are multiple reasons for why tight hamstrings are so common. Firstly, it’s genetic. The flexibility of our bodies is an inherited trait. Lots of aerobic exercise such as walking and running builds up the muscles in the legs but can shorten the hamstrings. But one of the other main reasons for tight hamstrings is that we sit far too much. Sitting is not a good position for healthy hamstrings.

The Anatomy of the Hamstrings

The hamstrings are a very handy bunch of muscles which help us walk, run, jump, and stop our spines from flopping forwards when we bend over.

Situated at the back of the thighs, they start deep in the buttocks at the sitting bones, pass down the back of the thigh and attach to the lower leg just below the knee.

The hamstrings help to operate both the knee and the hip, allowing the knee to bend and to lift the leg backwards (for example in Warrior three when we take the back leg up).

Now (crucially for the toe-touching test) the hamstrings also control the movement of the trunk as we come into forward bends (to stop us from just flopping forwards over our legs). This is called ‘eccentric muscle contraction’, which is an action used a lot in yoga.

Why are Tight Hamstrings a problem?

The hamstrings can have a huge influence on our posture. They can pull the pelvis into a posterior tilt (tilting backwards) which can flatten out the lower back. This means that the spine is unable to move freely. Tight hamstrings cause the pelvis to over rotate at the back, causing lower back pain, especially in the sacro-iliac area, knee pain and foot pain.

 Happy hamstrings are long hamstrings. This means that the spine can move freely and the knees can fully open.

How Can Yoga Help?

For our hamstrings to function optimally, we need them to be both LONG and STRONG. If we just lengthen the hamstrings without strengthening them, we will not have enough support to lift the back of the legs and keep both the pelvis and the hips stable.

We also need to work with intelligence, because just pulling on the hamstrings will result in injury – which can take a very long time to recover from.

Yoga to Lengthen Your Hamstrings

There are many poses in yoga which help to lengthen the hamstrings. All of the forward bends, both standing and seated are great hamstring lengtheners. Here are some ways to work at lengthening the hamstrings in your yoga practice:  

• Get to know your limits. We all need to find that point where we’re out of our comfort zone, but not into the danger zone. We are aiming for mild discomfort, or feeling of stretch, which you are able to sustain, and which should start to ease the longer you hold the pose.  

• Work the opposite muscles. When lengthening muscles it’s important to flex the opposite muscles. This is because of a process called reciprocal inhibition. When one set of muscles is working, the opposing set relaxes. So, if we’re working our quads, it enables the hamstrings to relax and stretch more. So pull up those knees people!

• Take your time. Iyengar yoga is an intelligent and holistic form of yoga practice. We each have to take the time to get to know our bodies and their capabilities. Safely lengthening the hamstrings, as well as all the tendons and fascia that makes up the back of the legs won’t happen overnight. It will take months and years of regular practice.

• Use the props. Another reason why Iyengar yoga is such a great method (I’m biased) is because each student has access to a range of props which will help to access those poses that require long hamstrings. All the forward bends need long hamstrings, but if you’re not there yet, you can use the bricks for your hands in Uttanasana (Standing forward bend) or the belt to reach your feet in Supta Padangustasana (Reclining hand to big toe pose).

Yoga to Strengthen Your Hamstrings

There are lots of poses which work to strengthen our hamstrings too:

• Any poses which require you to lift your leg up backwards help to strengthen the hamstrings, e.g. Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (One-legged downward dog pose) and Virabhadrasana 3 (Warrior 3).

• Also, backbends where you lift from the floor are hamstring strengtheners, e.g. Chatush padasana (four-footed pose - with the weight on the shoulders and the feet) and Urdhva dhanurasana (Upward-facing bow pose).

• Floor-based backbends are also good hamstring strengtheners, e.g. Shalabasana (Locust pose) and Urdhva mukha svanasana (Upward-facing dog pose).

• Finally, BKS Iyengar reminds us that it’s not always the obvious poses to go for. Bharadvajasana (seated spinal twist) is also good for keeping the hamstrings supple, so it’s always worth adding this one into your practice.

Remember it’s not a Race

My final piece of advice to you is that yoga is not a competition. Some people have naturally long hamstrings, but they too will have their challenges. Yoga about getting to know our own bodies and then working with them to progress.

Ten Ways to Tap into Spring Energy for your Home Practice

Spring blossom

When it comes to our home yoga practice, there are certainly seasonal shifts. No one can deny that it’s harder to fit a morning practice when it’s cold and dark.

However, now the days are longer and the nights are shorter. There is more light, more warmth (sporadically – this is the UK after all), and it’s time to get back to business. So here are my TOP TEN tips for how to infuse your yoga practice with the energy of spring.

1. Rise with the Lark

One of the best ways to take advantage of all this extra light is to get up earlier. Although it can feel like every extra second in bed counts, that precious time in the early morning can be a really productive window. By setting the alarm just 20 minutes earlier you can fit in a quick yoga sequence as the birds sing their dawn chorus (well maybe not quite that early…).

2. Increase Your Practice Time

If you’ve got an established home practice then spring is the time to ask yourself whether you’re really getting the most out of it. Have you got into a rut of squeezing in a quick session without getting into the nitty-gritty? Use the positive growth energy of spring to deepen your practice by making it longer and more thorough.

3. Go for a Dream Pose

Spring into action by setting your sights on a dream pose - such as a pose that I’ve been teaching in my classes this week - handstand (or Adho Mukha Vrksasana). Poses like handstand require regular practice on your own to really master. Start by deconstructing the elements of the pose and work on each part, for example, practicing Downward dog and Uttanasana to lengthen the hamstrings, and then practice getting the lift of the hips by stepping up onto a chair or blocks from Downward dog.

4. Try New Things

Despite how wonderful yoga is, like anything that we do a lot of, we can start to lose some of our enthusiasm for the subject. If you’ve never been to a yoga workshop, why not make this spring a first (try my ‘Free the Shoulders’ workshop coming up this May).

5. Take Action

Spring is the time to make decisions you’ve been putting off and then DO something about those decisions! Have you wanted to start a home practice but never had the confidence? A lot of students say they’re just not quite sure where to start. Start with three poses. Repeat them all three times. Feel the difference. Go from there.

6. Spring Clean Your Yoga

You’ve gone out into the garden (or balcony) and cleared out all the winter detritus that builds up, spring-cleaned the house (opened the windows at least) and now it’s time to do the same for your yoga. Spring cleaning your yoga means letting go of old habits and embracing new goals. Or sometimes just finding that pose that you hate and giving it a good old dose of attention – it’s often the ones you don’t like that are the ones you need to practice.

7. Spring Clean Your Body

Once you’ve polished off your kids’ eggs in a late-night cupboard raid, it’s time to tune into your body to work out what’s best for summer. According to yoga’s sister science, Ayurveda, in the warmer, lighter months the body doesn’t need as much heavy food. So why not try whole grains, salads and lighter proteins such as fish.

8. Get Organised

Once you’ve made decisions, spring cleaned and tried new things, it’s time to get organised with your yoga. Do you have so many good intentions that fall by the wayside as obstacle after obstacle seems to block your path to your yoga? Life is busy and there are so many demands on us, but, by getting organised, we can build a routine that supports and makes space for our yoga practice.

So, sit down with your diary and put your yoga practice sessions into the diary, in indelible ink. Then once you’ve got your time slots, decide what you’re going to practice in each slot. You might want to put in a restorative practice if you know you’ve got a busy time coming up. Be specific.

9. Jump for Joy

There’s something about springing into the air on your two feet that makes you feel like a newborn lamb gallivanting in the fields. In Iyengar yoga we don’t do lots of jumping, but there are ways to add more movement into your home practice. (Just bear in mind that if you have a back or knee injury jumping may not be the best idea).

Try adding a few extra jumps when going from Tradasana into standing poses, or, from Downward Dog to Uttanasana. Or just add a few jumps in Tadasana at the start of your practice.

10. Be Positive

Spring is a time to be a glass-half-full person. The natural world is blooming and singing with zingy, green colours. Put your darker woollies to the back of your drawers and wear your brightest clothes. Make a list of what makes you happy at the end of each day. Choose a Sankalpa (intention) in your extra early morning slot and decide to be your happiest self today.

Why Yoga is the Best New Year's Resolution that Isn't a New Year's Resolution

We’re halfway through January (already!) and those New Year’s resolutions have probably started to wane by now, whether it was to lose weight, give up alcohol or do the whole ‘Veganuary’ thing.

But I feel that this year, what with it now being year three of a global pandemic, we are well within our rights to skip the resolutions.

Me feeling is that it’s enough to resolve to get through the year, and whatever it decides to throw at us.

The good thing is that if you’re reading this blog, you’ve made it this far. Through the fearful but sunny spring and summer of 2020, through the false hope of Christmas 2020, the dark days of January 2021, the uncertainty, vaccines, two-metre distancing, mask-wearing and probably, Covid itself.

But, it has left most of us with scars of some sort.

How Yoga Teaches us to take the Rough with the Smooth

The thing is, we all know that life isn’t a bed of roses. None of us really expect to be happy all the time, but it’s still hard when we face suffering and uncertainty - as BKS Iyengar observes accurately in his book Light on Life, “Most people want to take joy without suffering.’

Iyengar says, “I will take both.”

When we commit to a yoga practice we’re committing to to both pleasure and pain.

For example, in the yoga class that I taught this morning we focused on the feet and the hands. We worked them hard, spreading the feet, sitting on the heels (agony), asking tough things of our hands and feet. But with this effort came the pleasure of connecting hands, arms, shoulders and upper back. The pleasure of feeling the body come together in a pose.

Why We Commit to Yoga Again - and Again - and Again

Let’s come back to that word: resolution. When broken down into its component parts it is; a means of solving a problem or dealing with a difficult situation AGAIN. This is very similar to committing to a yoga practice.

I decided to commit to a yoga practice seven years ago as a yoga teacher trainee. At the beginning it was easy to stick to it as I had to a) know all the yoga poses off by heart b) get confident enough to teach them and c) had the support of my co-trainees on the same journey.

Seven years later my yoga practice is still something I have to re-commit to every day. The incentives have changed. Without an assessment looming the practice is for my own benefit and to inform my teaching. And there are days when I don’t get on to the mat. But I know that if I do, it will shift my perspective and allow me to face the day with a little more equanimity.

Why Isn’t Yoga a New Year’s Resolution?

Yoga is the best New Year’s resolution that isn’t a New Year’s resolution, because it’s an All Year Round resolution. And now I’ve said ‘resolution’ too many times and it sounds weird.

And because our yoga practice gives us all those ‘re-’ things that are healthy for body and mind.

Yoga teachers us resilience. Because we practice the poses we find hard, we pick ourselves up after falling over, we try again and again.

Yoga teaches us respect. Because we start to appreciate our bodies for the things they can do, not the things they can’t.

Yoga teaches us to relax. And not in a shallow way, but the deep relaxation of savasana, when we sink down through the layers of consciousness.

So in order to re-commit to your practice, whether it’s a daily one, a three times a week one, or your commitment to a weekly class, why not come up with your own ‘re’ word that motivates you to get on the mat?

And then we can resolve to make 2022 the year that we all practice yoga together.

Yoga Philosophy - and why it's more Yoga than Yoga

As yoga students, how important is it to know about the philosophy of the yoga we practice?

Yoga Philosophy is a vast subject; the Vedas, the Sutras of Patanjali, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Upanishads, to name but a few. You could spend a lifetime studying any one of these great texts.

But yoga is a physical practice, so do we need to know about the philosophy of it to be fully-rounded yogis?

What is yoga?

The physical poses that we know as ‘yoga’ are actually asanas, (postures), which are just one part of eight different aspects of yoga.

The eight limbs of yoga are the yamas (moral restraints), niyamas (positive duties), asana, pranayama (control of the breath), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (self-realisation).

These eight limbs are described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which is perhaps the most famous philosophical or theoretical work about yoga – but by no means the only one.

A brief history of Yoga Philosophy

We don’t really know when yoga began, but the estimate is around 2,500 years ago. Modern Yoga is an amalgam of lots of different Indian forms, but the earliest mention of yoga in a written form is in the Upanishads and the Mahabharata.

The Upanishads are part of the Vedas (meaning ‘wisdom’) – ancient Sanskrit texts – which are a collection of spiritual teachings, and the basis of Hinduism. The Mahabharata is an epic tale (the other one is the Ramayana), which tells of the wars between two groups of cousins, as well as lots of devotional and spiritual teachings.

Within the Mahabharata is the Bhagavad Gita, in which Krishna’s teaching is infused with yogic concepts.

Following on from these works is possibly the most important philosophy of Yoga; the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Written somewhere between 500 and 200 BC, it is a collection of 196 aphorisms (sayings) covering all aspects of yogic life.

In the 15th century, the sage Svatmarama wrote the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (Light on Hatha Yoga), which is much closer to a manual than the other works and is more like the yoga that we recognise and practice today.

Where to start

But where do we start? As yoga students the best place to start is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. As an Iyengar yoga teacher, I start all my classes with the traditional chant to Patanjali, so it would be a bit remiss of me to chant away to some sage I have no idea about.

However, if you’re expecting a handy guide on how to do yoga, you’ll be disappointed. The sutras are a series of aphorisms that focus mainly on the philosophical journey of yoga. Within the 196 verses, there are only three that actually refer to the physical postures we call yoga.

There are four sections or padas of the book.

1. Samadhi pada – on concentration, or contemplation

2. Sadhana pada – on practice

3. Vibhuti pada – on properties and powers

4. Kaivalya pada- on freedom from attachment

The first deals with where you’re heading – samadhi. It’s an aspirational way to start and is directed at those who are already well on their way to enlightenment. The second sutra in this section is the definition of yoga that might surprise most yoga students:

“Yoga is the cessation of movements in the consciousness”

— Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

So far from being a way a way to feel healthier, grow stronger, or even gain self-discipline, the primary goal of our yoga practice is to quiet the endless chatter of the brain.

The second chapter is for the less spiritually evolved (so, most of us) and covers the eight limbs of yoga, as well as the three great paths of yoga; Karma Yoga (the yoga of action), Jnana Yoga (the yoga of knowledge), and Bhakti Yoga (the yoga of devotion).

The third chapter is about the divine effects of yoga and the eight supernatural powers, or siddhis. These siddhis include the ability to change size, weight, to attain every wish and to gain power over all things – so eat your heart out, Marvel.

The final chapter is about achieving kaivalya when the sadhaka (seeker) attains liberation from the extremes of pleasure and pain and lives in a state of virtuous awareness. Easy.

Things to bear in mind

It’s not a religion. According to Patanjali, those who practice yoga can be of any faith, colour, creed, or sexual orientation (well, he didn’t say that, but I’m extrapolating). Anyone can do yoga, and their beliefs and values will be strengthened by the practice and philosophy.

Don’t be overwhelmed. Yoga philosophy was studied by sages who literally did nothing else, for their whole LIVES. For us normal folk, studying yoga philosophy is likely to be a long way down our ‘to do’ list. I return to the same chapters of my books over and over again. Sometimes, if I have 5 minutes, I just open the book at a random page and read what swims into view and just digest that one section.

Yoga philosophy can be a practice. If your body isn’t up to practice, but you’re feeling the need to quiet the mind, then practising any of the eight limbs of yoga is still yoga. Studying any of the eight limbs of yoga, is still yoga. In fact, it could be argued that it’s more yoga than actually doing yoga (according to Patanjali and his 196 aphorisms).

Take Notes. Have a notebook that you keep to hand, and then when something makes sense to you, jot it down. Or keep a handy guide of the meanings of some of the recurring words, like samadhi.

Why a Restorative Yoga Practice is ALWAYS a Good Choice

I’ve written before about the importance of rest, but as we head into the winter months after a long period of uncertainty, this has never been more important.

Speaking to several students over the past few months, it feels as if things are very busy for many of us.

This isn’t surprising, as this is the first time in a while that we have been ‘back to normal’, while at the same time, living in a country that currently has the highest rates of Covid in Europe. This is on top of the usual coughs, colds and seasonal bugs that are starting to do the rounds.

The beauty of Iyengar yoga, and having a yoga practice, is that our practice can be a perfect fit. It can change according to your mood, the season, the time of day, your energy levels and so on.

And interestingly I have been choosing a predominantly restorative practice for the last few weeks.

A Bit More about Restorative Yoga

BKS Iyengar is credited with having ‘invented’ restorative yoga as a concept. Due to the ill-health he suffered in his formative years, Iyengar had to fashion props from bits of wood or everyday objects in order to get into yoga poses. His inventive use of props meant that the benefits of poses could be felt without over-straining the body.

Restorative yoga is about allowing the pose to do you, rather than you doing the pose. You have to allow the body to inhabit the pose, and then let the breath inhabit the body, and the mind inhabits the breath. When you become fully passive in the pose there is a sense of weightlessness and submersion in the pose.

 Why Restorative Yoga isn’t Resting Yoga (necessarily)

The name restorative can be misleading however. Some students get overexcited when the bolsters come out, but restorative yoga doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be resting.

Restorative yoga is about restoring the natural balance of the body, physically, emotionally, and hormonally. Sometimes this is done through supported backbends, long holds of inverted poses and other things that can feel distinctly UNRESTFUL while you’re doing them.

This is because yoga emphasises the need for relaxation, but it goes further and advocates rejuvenation. Relaxation is going from a negative to a neutral state, while rejuvenation is going from a neutral to a positive state.

Why Inverted Asanas are Especially Important

All restorative yoga poses have their benefits, but inverted restorative poses are particularly important for a stressed-out nervous system and for mental and emotional health.

Any pose where the head is positioned below the heart counts as an inverted pose, so you don’t have to be up in full headstand or shoulderstand. Also standing inversions, such as Uttanasana and Adho mukha svanasana with the head supported (preferably on something soft) give the same benefits.

Focusing on Relaxing the Eyes

We can feel tired after a whole day spent working on the computer, but it’s brain-tired. Our eyes are pushed forwards from looking at the screen, and we haven’t been breathing properly so the body is not fully oxygenated.

With so much of our lives now conducted on screens – Zoom meetings, online yoga, WhatsApp chats, and so on, we need to find a way to take a break from all the screen-related activities.

Yoga gives us this time to rest our eyes. Here’s a simple exercise you can try: take a bandage and softly cover the eyes. Lie in supported savasana and allow the eyes to completely soften. Focus on the breath.

In any yoga pose, it’s important to check on what’s happening with the eyes, especially strenuous poses such as backbends. We need to learn to soften the face, even while working the rest of the body – this eventually leads to the ‘effortless effort’ of Patanjali’s sutras.

Practical Help

If you’ve felt inspired to start a restorative yoga practice, then why not check out my YouTube video on the Five Basic Restorative Poses for some practical help.

How your Yoga Practice can Help Combat Age-related Muscle Wastage

Photo by Elina Fairytale from Pexels

There are many reasons that people seek out and start a yoga practice. It might have been to be able to touch your toes, to help with post-cycling stiffness, or to lose weight, that age-old motivator.

But once we start to submerge ourselves in the practice, the subtle, physical benefits of an improved sense of balance, quieter breath and deep muscle strength become the reasons that we want to continue with it.

The other day I came across the ‘delightful’ fact that once we hit the venerable age of 30, age-related muscle wastage starts to occur. After this age you begin to lose as much as 3 – 5% muscle mass per decade. An extreme version of this muscle wasting is called sarcopenia, which can affect balance, mobility and cause aches and pains.

That’s if you do nothing about it.

But for those of us that have a regular Iyengar yoga practice, there are ways to combat muscle wastage, using our body weight, and the regular props that we use.

According to ‘science’, there are three types of exercise that can help to prevent or alleviate the speed of muscle-wastage in the adult body.

These are:

1. Resistance training – Also known as strength training, this helps to actively build up muscle. It involves exercises that use weights, resistance bands or body weight.

2. Functional training – these exercises are aimed at helping people to carry out everyday tasks. It trains different muscle groups and helps them work better together.

3. Aerobic training – exercises in this category increase your anaerobic rate. This is your heart and breathing rate. Also known as cardio, this can include running, walking and swimming.

Can Yoga do all these?

Yes, although just because I’m an Iyengar yoga teacher, doesn’t mean I don’t do any other exercise. I’ve been a regular runner for over ten years, as well as doing plenty of walking. I know many of my students also cycle, swim and do other forms of exercise such as Pilates. But yoga has the capacity to really help in this area.

Resistance Yoga

We have an excellent strength training tool that we’re never without – our own bodies.

In fact, according to Google, ‘body weight training can be as effective as free weight training or training with machines’.

Poses such as Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-limbed staff pose) and Urdhva Prasarita Padasana (Upward-facing extended feet pose) are obvious poses when we exercise one muscle group by holding the weight of other parts of the body.

But there are others; Utkatasana (Chair pose) is an epic strength-training pose for the whole of your legs, Urdhva Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand) builds arm and shoulder muscles, Shalabasana (Locust pose) builds the spinal muscles. Basically, think about all the poses that you find hard, and start to huff and puff in fairly quickly, and they will be doing some kind of resistance training.

Functional Yoga

The purpose of functional exercise is allow us to do those daily tasks safely. Think picking up kids, putting shopping away, going up and down stairs, turning round to reverse the car into a tight spot. All these regular, everyday jobs require a degree of balance, flexibility, and strength.

Because yoga is a full-body practice, based on natural bodily movements, there is a functional aspect to our practice too. Okay, maybe we’re not arching up into backbends in our everyday lives, but backbends give us the spinal strength and freedom to reach over our heads, to turn suddenly, and to carry the weight of the muscular body on our spines.

Aerobic Yoga

Is yoga aerobic? Many people would would say not. BUT. Yoga can be aerobic too.

I feel like I’ve said this a gazillion times in my classes, but the simple act of lifting the arms up over the head (which is one of the classic ways to start an Iyengar yoga class) is an aerobic activity, because the heart has to work harder when working against gravity.

Aerobic exercise is generally classed as any movement that leads to an elevated heart rate and increased consumption of oxygen (in other words, getting hot, out of breath, and sweaty). So, going by this definition, Iyengar yoga classes are not often aerobic, but they can be! Sun salutations, backbends, and quick sequences of standing poses can all lead to more of an aerobic workout.

In short, come along to my yoga classes and let’s start building those muscles, because there’s no time like the present!

Why you Should Take your Yoga on Holiday

It’s summer! And now we finally have the weather to prove it.

And as the end of term approaches many of us will be getting ready to go on holiday, which for many of us will be within the UK’s shores.

But even though our summer holiday is a ‘staycation’, it’s still a joy to have a change of scene, even if it’s not abroad.

So what should you be packing to take with you? Despite the sun at the moment, it’s probably worth taking sunscreen, a sunhat, wellies, and a thermal vest. Cover all bases…this is the UK after all.

But what about your yoga mat? Is it worth taking up precious space in your bag for your yoga stuff? YES.

I have to say that I ALWAYS take my yoga mat at the minimum.

Here’s my reasons for why you should pack your mat this summer.

Make Your Yoga Practice Non-negotiable

By taking your mat (and/or other props) on holiday you’re sending yourself a message. That your yoga practice is a central part of your life which, for your own wellbeing, you bring with you to wherever you happen to be, even on holiday. This attitude will serve you well when you return to daily life, and you’ll be grateful that your yoga practice came with you on holiday.

Make the Most of your Holiday

We’ve all been there. The much-longed-for holiday arrives and then the stress that comes with going on holiday starts to bite. The packing, tidying up the house, the traveling, the traffic, the arguments over who gets which bedroom… By the time you arrive, you need a holiday just to recover from going on holiday.

This is when your yoga mat comes into its own. Recuperate from your travels with a calming yoga practice. Bookmark 20 minutes a day when you are unavailable (especially if you’re a parent) to any requests except emergencies. Then your holiday actually starts to be a real holiday, rather than just some nice photos to put on the family WhatsApp.

Holiday Smugness

Holiday yoga is actually the best kind of yoga. If you manage even five minutes you get extra smug points. This means that you are allowed to sunbathe all day, read ten books, indulge in food and booze, all guilt-free because you’ve done your yoga practice for the day.

Yoga with the Family

If you have your mat with you, it’s also a chance for your family to join in with your yoga practice. Tear them away from their screens and get them jumping about with you in an energising yoga session.

Or, if you’re heading away for a romantic break with your partner, try some couples yoga for some extra bonding (or just for a good laugh).

Get Creative

We’ve all had to get more imaginative with our yoga practice over the past 16 months, as our yoga lessons moved online.

In the same we you can explore your new location and adapt your practice to fit your location. Use whatever you can – towels, sofa, a bed to adapt your yoga practice.

Rest and Restore

If you’re heading on your first proper holiday for what feels like a lifetime (due to the madness of the past year and a bit), then perhaps now is not the time to challenge yourself.

Instead, experiment with supported inversions and plenty of supported supine poses. You might even just spend one practice in a 30-minute śavasana just observing the breath. Now that really is a holiday practice.

Why I'll be Celebrating International Day of Yoga 2021

Today, 21st of June, is International Day of Yoga 2021.

I’m not usually into celebrating #days, they feel like an artificial construct formulated for social media.

But I feel like this year we need any excuse we can to celebrate yoga, which has helped many people through the past 15 months.

The theme for this year is ‘Yoga for Well-being’ which is another buzzword that is bandied around a lot.

Really yoga is ‘Yoga for Being’, and we find out whether we’re feeling well or not through the being.

How Yoga can Unite Us

But despite my cynicism, International Yoga Day feels important this year.

Another reason it’s more important than ever to celebrate yoga, is because celebrations bring us together.

Today was also meant to mark the end of all Covid-19 restrictions in the UK, and although many of us felt that was a possibly unrealistic goal, it’s still been a blow to many people and industries to have that freedom taken away from us again.

The celebrations that we have had on hold must wait a while longer.

Instead of coming together physically, we can unite virtually in our appreciation of an ancient practice which gives us so much.

Iyengar Yoga

For me personally, I am grateful for Iyengar yoga. At the recent Iyengar Yoga (UK) convention, Abhijata Iyengar (BKS’s granddaughter) told a virtual gathering of over a thousand people that yoga brings us together in hope, strength and courage. Her words and her teaching made me feel part of a greater whole.

It’s not a perfect methodology, and there are divisions in yoga, just as there are in the world. But yoga gives us the tools to become unified within ourselves, and from there we have a chance of being more open to others.

Sequence for Today

Geeta Iyengar was also slightly reticent about the idea of an International Yoga Day. Back in 2015 when the first one happened she said, “For us, every day is yoga day.” But in honour of Guruji, she composed this sequence below.

If you can’t find time to do the whole sequence, then perhaps just choose three of four poses and do them a few times. Be fully present and be grateful for the practice that gives us so much.

How Yoga Helps your Balance

Falling over is something my son used to be absolutely brilliant at. He’d fall over everywhere (usually into mud or water) and pop up again unscathed and slightly triumphant.

This skill is something that we lose, and once we become adults, falling over becomes something we actively fear.

This is because our awareness of our bodies (and how to fall, or not fall), known as proprioception, gets less and less. But what exactly is proprioception and why is it important?

What is proprioception?

The term was coined by the Nobel-prize-winning, English neurophysiologist Sir Charles Sherrington. It is a word to describe how we know what our limbs and joints are doing in relation to our trunk – our sense of our body in space. This links closely to balance, as without having bodily awareness, we are less able to maintain and control our balance.

As we age, various factors mean that our proprioception decreases. This negatively affects our sense of balance, which leads to falls.  It can also lead to a deterioration in joint health because when we are less aware of our limbs in relation to our bodies, we can develop bad habits which can lead to arthritis and other chronic joint conditions.

Can you improve proprioception?

Yes! Proprioception can be improved through conscious movement and exercise - such as yoga. Physical activity positively affects the nervous system by building new and stronger connections among neurons, as the brain responds to repeated stimuli.

Iyengar yoga is particularly beneficial as it focuses on the alignment of the body which helps to develop and maintain awareness of the different parts of the body in space and in relationship to each other. This effectively preserves that precious sense of proprioception over time.

What yoga poses help with proprioception?

Proprioception is about being aware of our bodies in space. The most extreme versions of this are when we turn our worlds upside down in inversions. Inversions are incredibly important for re-calibrating the body and the mind. By turning ourselves upside down, the body learns to become hyper-aware of which parts of the body relate to others. We are also taking balance to the extreme by finding that central point of balance  – a small, coin-sized space on the top of the head. Practice sirsasana (headstand) daily to improve your body’s proprioception.

It’s also really important to strengthen the joints. The standing poses, e.g. the virabhadrasana poses (warrior poses) strengthen the joints and muscles of the legs and help to maintain proprioception.

And what about balance?

Balance starts with the feet. When I learned to teach yoga, my teacher trainer had a phrase that she would return to again and again - ‘Start with the base of the pose’.

This has really stuck with me, and for good reason. If your foundations are shaky or misaligned in yoga, what chance have you got for the rest of the pose?

When we walk, we are moving our weight from one foot to the other through a swinging motion. This is a complicated action, or dynamic posture, that involves a huge amount of sensitively interpreted signals from the feet and ankles. As children, we are, first of all, lower to the ground, and less afraid. Our sense of our bodies in space might not be fully developed (hence the terrifying lack of fear that most small children display) but they are reading the world around them with their entire bodies all the time.

As we age we get further from the ground, and we very rarely walk without supportive shoes on. This means that the subtle muscles and neural receptors in our feet and ankles are less sensitive to external factors, leading to a less reliable sense of balance.

Poses such as vrksasana (tree pose) are really important for improving balance. As we learn to balance on one foot, the sensory nerves, muscles, and tendons are strengthened and our awareness heightened.

If you struggle with balance, standing in tadasana (mountain pose) with the eyes closed is a good way to realise how much we use our sense of sight to balance, and by taking that out of the equation, the sense of touch suddenly goes into overdrive to keep the body steady.