FIVE Ways Yoga can Help your Back

It’s easy to ignore what we can’t see, and so it is with ‘the back body’ - as it’s termed in yoga-speak.

However, the ignoring gets harder when it starts to hurt. And if it ‘goes’ we realise just how utterly dependent we are on the beautifully-designed spinal column for our mobility.

A sedentary lifestyle, poor posture, inactive glutes, and weak deeper abdominal muscles all add up to create the perfect environment for back pain.

A surprising number of people have scoliosis of the spine, and don’t even know about it. It might show as hip pain, or sciatica, or as if you have one leg longer than the other. Of course, you might have an obvious scoliosis, but even the most severe of back conditions can be helped by yoga.

Back Pain

The most common area to feel back pain is in the lower back, the sacroiliac or lumbago area. But pain is also common in the mid-back area, the thoracic spine, as well as the very top of the spine where the thoracic spine meets the cervical spine. In fact, back pain can occur all the way down from the neck and shoulders, to the hips.

I’m not a doctor so this blog will not address serious back pain or issues such as slipped or bulging discs. These should be seen by a medical doctor.

The back pain I’ll be discussing is the non-specific kind that is caused by a strain on the muscles, tendons, or ligaments surrounding your spine. This can be caused by lifting a heavy object, a sudden movement, or the wear and tear of getting older.

If you haven’t ever had back pain, but get the odd twinge – then ACT NOW. Prevention is better than cure. And this is where a regular yoga practice comes in.

So get on with giving me those five ways already! I hear you cry. Right, Ok then.

1.       Standing Poses  - Awareness

The best way to introduce yourself to your back is through practising the standing poses. They put your back through the full gamut of movement, while relying on your legs to do the heavy lifting as it were.

Once we become aware of how we stand in Tadasana, and how our body works through all the other standing poses, we can start to work out how our spine works.

If you have a pre-existing back problem, your teacher will always tell you to step, not jump your feet apart, and to stand with your feet slightly apart. This means that you’re not putting extra pressure on the spine.

2.       Twists  - Mindful Stretching

The other thing we do when we first start yoga is that we want to rush to the final pose. There’s an element of competitiveness, wanting to ‘do our best’, and impatience that pushes us to get to the last stage.

The problem with this is that if we ignore those intermediate stages we build in bad habits that will come back to bite us (in the back) further down the line.

Twists are a great way to practice mindful stretching of the spine, especially sitting on a chair, or plenty of height. It’s also important to get that twist right from the lower abdomen, this means that the twist works up and down from your waist and reduces the load on your sacro-iliac joint.

Using the breath to increase the twist, as well as increase your hold, will add to the mindful quality.

3.       Forwards Bends - Lengthening

The spine is supported by muscles, tendons and ligaments. If these supports are short and tight, it can impact the healthy movement of the spine. Through our yoga practice we learn to create space and length in the spine through the extension of the muscles, tendons and ligaments.

It's not a quick fix. A senior yoga teacher recently told me that it takes seven years (of consistent practice) to make a difference. But that’s still achievable, and shows that will persistence comes results.

Of course the whole body is connected tight hips and hamstrings can also have an adverse effect on the back. By learning to bend forwards, we lengthen the entire back body.

4.       Backbends and Abdominals - Strengthening

To have a healthy back we need to do a combination of stretching and lengthening these supports, but also building up the muscles that support the movement of the spine.

And there’s a lot of them. There are the para-spinal muscles, the trapezius muscles and the glutes – just to name three.

The backbends start to build up the muscles of the spine, increasing the strength and resilience of your back. Abdominal poses are important for supporting the movement of the lower back, especially for flexible people.

5.       Inversions - Postural improvement

When we start at an Iyengar yoga class, many of the instructions are perplexing to say the least. The longer we attend, the more we can feel and the more subtle our physical adjustments become.

Gradually you can build up to regularly practising the inversions. The inverted poses will help to strengthen your spine as you are lifting up the body against gravity. It’s also really important to be aware of your spinal alignment in these poses, as incorrect posture can adversely affect the neck and upper spine.

But if you treat the inverted poses such as headstand and shoulderstand with respect they will certainly help to strengthen your back well into old age.

A Ten-Step Plan to Commit to a Yoga Practice for Lent

Hi,

Many of us have good intentions, but life gets in the way. Especially when ‘life’ includes dealing with a pandemic and three lockdowns (and counting).

Today is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. Traditionally we give something up that we know is bad for us, such as alcohol, sugar, or chocolate.

However, what if we don’t give anything up this Lent, but take something up? And what if that something is a regular yoga practice?

For just over six weeks we can commit to a yoga practice and then see how we feel at the end of it. You with me?

Step 1 - COMMIT

Commit to your practice, starting from today/tomorrow! For these six weeks I’m going to advise you not to have a single day off. This doesn’t mean that you need to be doing an hour a day.

Each week you will have a ‘rest day’ when you will choose one or two of your favourite restorative poses and just do those.

Step 2 – PLAN

It’s best to have a rough plan of what your six weeks of home practice could look like. You could change it around each day of the week. Or you could choose a sequence and practice it every day and then change to a new sequence in the next week.

If you’re a relative beginner it’s best to incorporate a few standing poses into each practice, as they build up our strength for all the other poses.

Each sequence has a shape (see previous blog – the Secrets of Sequencing). Start with some poses to warm up the body, then move to some more energetic poses, and move to your peak poses. If you practice inversions, always make time for those, and then a few cooling down poses and then a five minute śavāsana.

Step 3 – GET SOME INSPIRATION

If you’re still not confident that you’ll know what poses to practice it might be worth investing in a yoga book which has some sequences in it (see previous blog – My Top 5 Yoga Books). Or you could look for inspiration from Iyengar yoga teachers on social media. There are plenty of sequences out there if you know where to look.

The secret to Iyengar yoga is the variation it offers. Other forms of yoga repeat the same poses for years until they are ‘mastered’. With variety we don’t neglect parts of the body, and also try to avoid bad habits building up. But if there are certain poses that you feel you ‘can’t’ do, don’t avoid them completely.

If, for example, you struggle with backbends practice Virabhadrasana 1, Virasana, Chatush padasana, and Bhujangasana on your elbows.

Step 4 – TELL EVERYONE

If we tell our friends and families of our commitment to a daily yoga practice, we’re much more likely to keep it up. Plus with everyone at home, there will be times when it will be tempting to think ‘there’s just no time’.

If your fellow householders all know that you’ve committed to your practice, they will understand that that time is ringfenced and non-negotiable.

Step 5 – CHOOSE A TIME

From experience I’ve found that it’s best to choose a time that you can commit to each day, especially during the week. That might be first thing in the morning, or perhaps straight after you finish work.

It’s best not to practice soon after eating a full meal, so that restricts what time is practical.

Step 6 – DECIDE HOW LONG TO PRACTICE FOR

I find it’s best to have a minimum practice time in my head. So if you’re just starting to commit to a home practice, that might be 20 – 30 minutes. If you’re more experienced, I find that 45 minutes is usually the minimum time required to fit in a whole practice.

But learn to know when to stop your practice. Also, be flexible. If you’ve hardly had any sleep, or are feeling unwell, put yourself in a supported pose, or even just do a 10-minute śavāsana.

Step 7 – PREPARE YOUR YOGA PRACTICE AREA

One advantage of all this Zoom yoga has been that we have now scoped out most of the places round the house – or the one place – where we can practice yoga. Get all your props and leave them neatly stacked in the area. Make sure you’ve got blankets and a sturdy chair in the vicinity. Make it as easy as possible for you to do your yoga practice.

Step 8 – HAVE FUN!

Think of your home yoga practice as a time to really tune in to your body. Try repeating the poses more than once. Try doing the poses slightly differently and see if you can feel a difference. Be questioning. You will probably have your teacher’s voice in your head with various instructions.

See if you can work out the effect of those instructions on the whole body. If you have Light on Yoga, try out some of the poses even if you’ve never done them before. BUT PRACTICE WITH CAUTION.

Step 9 – LET ME KNOW HOW YOU’RE DOING

As a yoga teacher I’m here to give you encouragement, to answer any questions and to cheerlead your achievements. You can email me, comment below, or follow me on Facebook and Instagram, where I am planning on giving some more home practice hints and guides to poses.

Step 10 – DON’T BEAT YOURSELF UP

Having said it’s best to commit to practicing every single day, it’s also not yogic to get stressed and depressed if you have to miss a day.

The first step to practicing yoga are the yamas and niyamas, which are a set of values and ethics. So perhaps if you don’t have time for your physical practice you can practice ahimsa (non-violence) to yourself, by allowing yourself a rest.

Poppy x

How Yoga Can Help with 'Working From Home' Syndrome

Hi,

I’m not sure any of us realised what we were heading into back in March last year.

The double whammy of a winter lockdown means that many of us are spending a lot of time indoors. It’s easy to skip the daily exercise when outside is dark, grey, cold and wet 95% of the time.

And many of us are back (if we ever left) to working from home.

In our home, our teenage kids are at virtual school in their bedrooms, and then watch animé in their breaks. My husband is holed up in a little study all day, and I'm alternating between Zoom classes and my PC for writing work. It does mean we all have a slightly longer lie-in (there are some silver linings), but between us all, we are spending a LOT of time on screens.

And as we all know, staring at a screen can bring all sorts of problems.

What does looking at a screen all day do to our bodies?

Many of us haven’t got round to setting up the ideal ergonomic desk set up. The result of this is that when we’re focused on a screen we don’t breathe properly.

As well as barely breathing, our posture is usually pretty terrible:

• We sit cross-legged, reducing venal flow and cutting off the circulation to the legs.

• Our lower back is often dropped, pulling on the muscles of the spine and causing compression of the nerves in the lower back.

• The shoulders are also pulled forwards, causing the chest to become convex and drop.

• The head is pulled forwards, again pulling on the upper spine, and pulling the cervical spine out of alignment, which can cause neck problems.

So what can we do about it?

As with most things, the first step is awareness. Once we become aware of how we’re sitting, it’s easier to do something about it. Sit at your computer and scan through your body – get someone to take a picture of you if you’re not sure! Once we see how we’re sitting we can use our common sense to do something about it.

But here are a few tips to start with:

• Uncross your legs, and sit on a chair that’s the right height so that your feet can be flat on the floor with your shins vertical.

• Lift your screen up on some big books (or you can buy a laptop stand) so that you can keep your head lifted while looking at the screen. Or just scroll up more often so that what you’re writing is closer to the top of the screen.

• Draw your shoulders back and down at regular intervals and try to keep them there while you work.

• Use a yoga belt round your shoulders and periodically pull on the tail ends to keep the shoulders drawing down.

Do some chair yoga

If you haven’t got time to stop what you’re doing but are starting to feel a bit hunched over, then quickly do some chair yoga for your shoulders:

• Urdhva Hastasana/upward-facing arms – stretch your arms up to the ceiling, with palms facing each other. I love this simple pose because it does so much. It lifts the heart, lifts the spine, stretches the shoulders.

• Gomukhasana arms/cow face pose arms – stretch one arm up to the ceiling then fold it down behind your back so that the palm is against the centre of your shoulder blades. Stretch the other arm out and slight the back of the hand up the back – clasp the hands together if you can. If you can’t catch, then get hold of your clothes and pull the top elbow up and the bottom elbow down. Change arms.

• Garudasana arms/eagle arms – bring your arms in front of you with your arms at right angles and your elbows level with your shoulders. Cross one elbow over the other and bring the backs of the hands towards each other until you can catch the thumb of the hand on top with the little finger edge of the hand underneath. Breathe into the stretch across the shoulder-blades. Change the cross of the elbows.

• Paschima Baddha Hastasana/Bound arms behind your back – this is a simple pose that helps to draw the outer shoulders back and down. Hold one elbow behind your back and draw the arm down, then reach across and hold the other elbow. Change sides.

Get up and stretch!

We all take tea breaks and loo breaks don’t we? So what about 5-minute yoga breaks? This should be mandatory in my mind.

When we sit for long periods our legs and back seize up. So try these yoga poses which help to stretch and tone the legs:

• Ardha Uttanasana/Half Forward Fold Pose – with your hands at the wall or on a surface at hip height step back till your trunk and arms are level with your hips, and your legs are vertical. Take the feet hip-width apart and stretch back from the hands to the outer hips, and lift the legs. This stretches out the back and the hamstrings.

• Vrksasana/Tree pose – As well as strengthening the ankles, this pose works on hip and groin flexibility and balance, which is great to focus the mind too.

• Vajrasana/Kneeling pose – while it might feel counterintuitive to sit on your heels after lots of sitting, kneeling is actually a great way to restore energy to the legs, as it compresses the legs for the blood to then efficiently return.

• Sankatasana/Difficult pose (!) – To stretch out the back of the calves and Achilles kneel up on the balls of your feet. Hold onto a chair and then roll backwards and forwards from the back of the ball of the foot to the toes.

• Adho Mukha Svanasana/Downward Dog – Downward dog is a stretch of the whole back of the body, including the shoulders, as well as an inversion.

Happy body, happy mind

Remember that our bodies and minds are intrinsically linked. If we don’t look after our bodies and let them tense up into one big knot, our brains will also be fogged and tense.

Getting up from your place of work to do some yoga (even an online yoga class) isn’t skiving off work, but making sure that you’re working to your optimum level.
.
Poppy x

How Yoga Helped when my Son was Mugged

Hi,

Yesterday evening my son was mugged on the way home from school, literally minutes from our front door. His phone and air pods were taken from him and he was politely asked to enter the pin before his attacker walked off in the opposite direction.

As upsetting as this experience is, my son has been totally calm and acted brilliantly. Afterwards we did lots of ‘mugging admin’ to cancel his phone, debit card and change his passwords. We have a lot on our phones.

2020 has been a bit like this

This year feels a bit like that mugging. The Coronavirus pandemic crept up on this country last March and has stolen from us. But at the same time, it has also given us a lot too.

At the very beginning of it all, that first lockdown gave us a sense of space and quiet. An almost-elation at the sense that everything could stop and we didn’t have to rush about any more.

Then as summer came on, and we were allowed to leave our homes we had a sense of hope that although the news was bad, we could come through this and get to the other side, that things would return to ‘normal’.

The second lockdown in Autumn proved tough, but we had learnt resilience to it by then. To take each week, day, hour as it comes, and not look to the future too much.

This Christmas doesn’t feel like a gift just yet. When I realised we wouldn’t be able to see any of my family at all (to be on the safe side) it felt truly sad. Doing all my shopping online, not being able to see any friends, and worrying about the health of my family is not bringing on all the ‘festive feels’. If you've had Covid, you may still be feeling the after-effects.

But next Christmas, (hopefully) when we can all be together again, we will fully appreciate what is really important about Christmas. It’s a cliché, but it’s true. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

And it’s the same with my son. His phone and air pods are unimportant and can be replaced, but people can’t.

Being Grateful

This sense of being grateful for what’s really important is part of the meaning of the yogic principle of santosha, or contentment.

This notion is very alien to our consumer brains, which have been programmed to want the latest, newest gadget, or to constantly updated. We are also used to setting intentions, goals and aims. This is not a bad thing – we need to be strive to improve – but sometimes this makes us forget to stop and take stock.

Santosha says, ‘This is enough. Right here, right now’.

Getting on the Mat

This blog started as a way to motivate anyone who wants to commit to a home practice.

This morning I dropped my son off at the station and watched him walk away in the dark morning. My parental instinct is to worry, to protect and shield him. But that won’t help him, or me.

Once home I got on the mat and did my practice. Nothing spectacular or particularly impressive. But the routine of connecting to my body – stretch, open, balance, repeat, breathe – brings that flickering fear under control.

A Christmas Sequence
As we wind down for the Christmas break, I’d like to give you a Christmas sequence to help you feel positive and content.

Vrksasana (can be done to the wall )
Virabhadrasana 2 (arms can be up as in classical pose, or experiment)
Ardha Chandrasana
Utthita Hasta Padangustasana 2 (use support such as chair or stool for your heel, or see if you can balance)
Parsvottanasana (can be done with back heel to the wall)
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Uttanasana (use bricks for hands if usually used)
Sirasanaa (or Prasarita Padottanasana if you don't practice headstand)
Dandasana
Sarvangasana
Savasana

Enjoy Christmas, in whatever form it takes.

And thank you for your support, feedback and smiles.

Poppy x

The Trouble with Online Yoga - and What to do About it!

Hi,

We’re getting to the end of Lockdown 2.0, and the collective national mood is mainly, ‘Bleugh’.

We’ve had enough.

It’s been such a strange year, and where the first lockdown was scary, dramatic, and new, this one feels tired, dull, and rather depressing.

For some students, we had a brief interlude of in-person classes, but for most of us, my own learning included, this year has been pretty much all online yoga.

What Effect this Has

Online yoga has been around for many years, but this year necessity has driven most yoga classes online.
There are a few things I’ve noticed that can have a negative impact on our experience of online yoga:

1. Technical issues
There are quite a few things technical things that can go wrong with online yoga, but the main culprit is your internet connection. When this is unreliable, it can leave you feeling frustrated and cut off.

2. Space
Most of us are very lucky and have found a space in the house where we can practice yoga and be seen by the camera.

But this might be in the same room as where we work, or in the bedroom, or in a communal family space, leading to a sense of claustrophobia, difficulty concentrating or being bounced on by kids/pets.

3. Seeing/Hearing through the screen
One of my students has done an amazing drawing to show how if I wore a two-tone yoga outfit it would help the class to differentiate between my left and right. Watch this space…

There’s no doubt it’s harder to see the demonstrations on a screen (especially if it's on a phone) and in the evenings in artificial light.

4. Being Muted
We’ve discussed leaving students off mute in some classes, but the problem with this is that background noise, or technical interference can interrupt the class.

The downside of being muted is that it means it’s much harder to ask questions. You also lose the communal sounds of doing a hard or nice pose together.

5. More screen time
For those who are working from home, going back onto a screen for any reason feels exhausting. As I’ve occasionally mentioned, being on a screen hardens the eyes, creating tension.

The blue light emitted from the screen isn’t beneficial for sleeping. And there’s the whole technical side of logging in and so on, which can be a faff.

6. Seeing yourself
The use of zoom means that we can now see ourselves, albeit sometimes very small depending on the type of screen used. This can be useful, but it is also a distraction from feeling the pose, rather than checking to see ourselves in it.

It can also lead to unnecessary ideas about our yoga poses - either not as good as, or better than we thought.

How to Combat these Issues

There are probably more drawbacks than the ones listed above, but there are also lots of positives to be drawn from live-streamed yoga.

I would also say that it is here to stay. So how can we work through these online obstacles to get through to the yoga on offer through this medium?

1. Technical issues
Obviously, the best way to deal with this is to invest in a perfect internet connection and extra boosters all round the house. The other practical solution is to make sure all your other family members aren’t using up acres of broadband at the same time as your lesson.

However, if your internet connection is dodgy the most important thing is not to let it stress you out. If it comes back on, great, if not, use the time that you’d set aside for the class to carry on with a practice.

2. Space
The ideal scenario is to have a dedicated space, which is just for your yoga classes and practice. But if that’s not possible, try to keep the space you do use as clean, clear and clutter-free as possible. Also, you can ask those who live with you to respect your yoga time and try to leave you undisturbed for the class.

Remember that if your kids/cats/dogs/hamsters do come in during the lesson, this is just another way to test our ability to focus on the yoga. Yoga is the stilling of the movements of the mind, even when you have a cat pawing your chin.

3. Seeing/Hearing through the screen
I am investing in some LED lights as I’m aware that as the winter evenings get darker it is becoming harder to see me. There was also a class last week in which I had to yell at the screen so that the students could hear me, but this does seem to have been resolved (thank goodness).

It does also help if you can plug your smaller screen into a bigger one (I know some of you have used a TV). Or come up close so that you can see me. And if you can’t see or hear me please do unmute yourselves and ask.

4. Being Muted
If you miss that sense of being connected then you can always come into the zoom session a little earlier for a chat or to ask a question.

I keep threatening to have a class where everyone’s unmuted, but I think some people would find that distracting. We could always try half and half.

The important thing to remember is that though the sense of yoga community is very supportive, the reason we commit to yoga is to commit to ourselves. Use the silence (apart from my voice blabbering on) to notice your own thoughts and bring your attention to your body in each pose.

5. More screen time
There’s no doubt that lockdown means we are much more reliable on our screens. There’s a balance between looking at the screen and being focused on the yoga. I tend to do the poses with you to begin with, but then I hope to be able to come closer to see you working on the pose without moving your energy outwards.

On a practical level, if you do an evening class you can set the screen to go to a more yellow light after a certain time which is less of a strain on the eyes.

6. Seeing yourself
Yoga acts as a mirror to your true state of being. Sometimes this true state of being is distracted, fed up and irritated. That’s OK!

Occasionally I have found that my tolerance for online yoga classes has taken a nosedive. This hasn’t been down to the teachers, but because I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it.

Focusing on my own practice at that point really helped. As well as taking a break from doing too many online classes.

On a practical level, you can also get rid of your own small screen in the bottom right-hand corner by pressing on the blue icon. Then the only way to see yourself is through the yoga.

To Conclude

I hope this doesn’t come across as too negative. As a teacher, online yoga has taught me a lot – about myself and my students.

And as you can see from the featured image, online yoga expands the borders of yoga, meaning that distance is no barrier.

The most powerful message that online yoga has delivered to me is to have faith in the yoga. To trust that in whatever format it comes at the moment, that it will help.

And that there is ALWAYS more to learn!

Please do LET ME KNOW if there is anything you've found from doing online yoga for the last 8 months - what you've enjoyed about it and what you've struggled with. Together we can make this the best experience possible.

The Lowdown on Yoga Workshops

Hi,

Your home practice and the regular weekly classes you attend are the bedrock of your yoga practice.

Showing up on the mat at a regular time and place is what establishes yoga as an intrinsic part of our lives.

But what about yoga workshops? How are they different? And are they worth spending extra time and money on?

Workshops – what are they?
Usually, they’re longer than your usual weekly lessons.

They tend to have a clearer focus – this could be a general focus like energising, or calming, but could also be a particular group of poses, or even just one more advanced pose that takes more time to warm up for.

But the clue is in the title. Workshops are a way of being more explorative with your yoga.

My Own Experience
I remember the first workshop I ever went to.

It was at the Iyengar yoga studio in Maida Vale with an amazing teacher called Pixie Lillas, a Senior Australian teacher. I had been attending classes with my then teacher for about four years, but I had never managed a handstand. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to kick up without help.

But that day she said, ‘Adho Mukha Vrksasana’ (Downward-Facing Tree pose) and I panicked. Everyone else seemed to just float up into the pose, while I flailed frantically. But just as she came over to help me I suddenly found an extra boost button and I found myself upside down. It was a real ‘Eureka’ moment, and since then I’ve absolutely loved handstands.

The workshop gave me the confidence to push beyond my comfort zone.

Online or In-Person
Before March this year, I’d never been to an online yoga workshop, let alone taught one. But 2020 has meant that we’ve had to use technology in a way that we’ve never had to before.

Iyengar himself was a great innovator and his use of props created a whole new methodology of yoga. Taking yoga online has its drawbacks, but it has opened up a whole new way of working too.

This year I have taught two online workshops, which worked surprisingly well. I have also attended many myself. They have a different feeling to in-person classes, in that you are more responsible for your own actions. You can take a break if you need to (even if it’s just a micro-break). And the voice of the teacher is your main guide.

It also means less time away from family which can be important especially at weekends.

However, there is nothing to beat the energy that comes from being in the same room as your teacher. Being able to see their demonstrations up close, and having their eyes as your only mirror mean that you place more trust in them.

But I’m pretty sure that going forwards workshops will be both in-person and online.

Doing more Yoga
Workshops are not necessarily about getting to do the jazzy poses, it’s also about exploring those poses that we do often in more depth, or in a slightly different way.

They’re also a way of simply doing more yoga! The body adapts to whatever we usually do. So if that’s one lesson a week, yes, there’ll be benefits from that one lesson, but if you then start attending two classes a week, you’ll notice a change in your practice, and if you add in regular workshops, your practice will move on again.

It's also a way of saying to yourself - and your family – that yoga is important to you, and that you want to make time for it.

They’re Fun
They’re not always a barrel of laughs, but yoga workshops have the potential to be more fun. Because there’s more time to get into the sequence you might do poses you’ve never done before, or find that you can get more out of the yoga poses you do every week.

It might be that you’ve forgotten what you loved about yoga – workshops can be a way of re-igniting that passion for yoga and giving you ideas that you can take into your home practice.

And I would also say that, as we head into this winter, they can give you something to look forward to!

Experience the teaching of new Teachers
Obviously I’d like to say that you need only ever come to my workshops, (and yes, please do come to my workshops).

But workshops can be a great way to experience different styles of yoga teaching and can give you new insights into yoga.

Now that Iyengar yoga has adapted to online teaching, there are lots of online workshops which means experiencing Senior teacher’s teaching is easier than ever. Recently Abhijata Iyengar taught in a workshop to raise funds for the NHS. Usually, the only way to be taught by her is to go to Pune in India or to travel to a national convention.

But Home Practice is still the Fundamental Building Block
This blog started a year ago in order to help you with your home practice journey. I hope you've found them helpful, and most importantly, I hope you've found a way to fit a home practice into your already busy lives.

So yes, I do think that workshops are great – and I’d love to have you in one of my workshops.

But as the late daughter of BKS Iyengar, Geeta, said:

“It is your practice that brings the secrets to you. No teacher can give you the secrets.”

Opening the Heart with Backbends

Hi,

It’s September – back to school time! And now, finally, the kids are actually back to school. Never before have I appreciated the education system as much. Not so much for what the children learn there, but for the routine, the stimulation, the friends, the BEING OUT OF THE HOUSE.

And that’s where we’re all at. We’ve been at home, with the odd jaunt away, for six months. And when the government recently announced the ‘Rule of Six’, many people felt desperate as our small freedoms are being taken away from us again.

We understand why. We know that there’s a pandemic and sadly it might only just be the beginning, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

The Effect on the Body
When the mind and heart suffer a setback, the body reflects this too.

I remember when I was doing my yoga teacher training, I was feeling unconfident and disheartened. My teacher looked over at me and said, “Why are you standing with your chest dropping? Lift it up!”

That instruction has stayed with me, particularly because I had no idea that my posture was reflecting my mood. And the simple action of drawing my shoulders back and lifting my chest had the effect of making me feel more powerful, and that actually, I could do this. The mind affects the body, the body affects the mind.

The Effect of Backbends
This heart-lifting action is part of what makes backbends so intense. B K S Iyengar has said the following about backbends:

“…you create tremendous depth and vastness in the chest through the backbends that the emotional centre accommodates [absorbs and withstands] all types of pressures and strains.  There is no chance for a person who does backbends to get emotionally depressed or distressed.”

By opening our chest and heart up the maximum in a physical way, we literally lift and open our emotional hearts. This is not a soppy simile, it’s literally true. Try it now.

The Fear Factor
But backbends can be scary. Poses where we arch backwards make the body feel vulnerable. And we can’t see where we're going. There is also a tendency to be cautious with the spine, especially if you’ve suffered back pain in the past.

The key is to build up slowly to backbends. You should have a solid foundation in the standing poses, twists and inversions in order to master the backbends.

What are the Backbends?
The first backbends we learn as beginners are Shalabasana (Locust pose), Bhujangasana (Cobra pose), Dhanurasana (Bow pose) and Urdhva Mukha Svanasasana (Upward facing dog). These poses are going against gravity so we learn to work the back muscles first.

The next backbends are Ustrasana (Camel pose), Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana (Two-footed Inverted staff pose) and Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward-facing bow pose). These poses are going with gravity, so we have to resist with the back muscles.

B K S Iyengar says that Urdhva Dhanurasana is the basic pose of the backbends, just as Tadasana is the basic pose of the standing poses and Dandasana is the basic seated pose. The thing is Urdhva Dhanurasana isn’t an accessible pose for many people!

Working on Backbends*
The great thing about Iyengar yoga is that it teaches you to break down poses into their component parts. And also how all the poses build on each other to prepare you for the next pose. So if you wanted to work on Urdhva Dhanurasana there are plenty of poses you can work on first to help you get there. You'll need to work on opening up the shoulders and improve the internal rotation action. It's also a good idea to open up the front of the thighs and groins.

Here are some pose ideas to open up the shoulders and armpits: 

Once you're confident with these, you can progress to these more intense poses:

Once you've warmed up your body and worked to open your shoulders then you can move to Urdhva Dhanurasana over a chair. Try it first sitting in front of the chair on blocks and then lift up with your head and shoulders supported on the chair, holding the backrest (see image 8 in the above block). Then push up by pushing the seat of the chair away - image 9 - making sure the chair is secure at the wall and won't tip. And then try it over the chair with your hands to bricks.

Cooling Down after Backbends
It's really important to allow the back to recover after a backbend practice. A seated twist will help to stretch out the lower back. And Ardha Halasana (Half Plough pose) over a chair is a lovely way to release the back.

Or you can do Urdhva Prasarita Padasana with a belt (lying flat on your back with both legs vertical) which is the same shape, but a different orientation. These inward-facing poses will allow the mind to come back to an introspective state before getting back to your day.

Backbends are intense, but the benefits are multiple. And at this time of uncertainty, a bit of heart-lifting can't go amiss.

Poppy x

*Do adapt the poses to suit your body, any injuries you have, and your physical state. If you're menstruating or have a back problem it may be best to avoid backbends.

Why it's Important to Rest in Yoga

Hi,

Lockdown has changed the usual chronological landscape of the year. The weeks, weekends, and months have merged into one undifferentiated block of time, and now it's officially the summer holidays and I’m looking forward to taking time off over August.  

Rest is an important factor in maintaining our health, which is something to be all the more aware of in these Covid-19 days.

And although we’re leaving our houses less, many of us have found that life has gone back to being just as busy, but in a different way.

So how should we approach our yoga practice over the summer break and on any vay- or stay-cations we might be lucky enough to go on?

Rest
In yoga, it’s important to schedule rest. We were told as teacher trainees to practice six days a week, including a restorative practice, and to rest on one day.

Just as we always put a śavasana at the end of a yoga class, that day of rest allows the body to absorb the lessons learnt in practice as well as rest and recover.

It is not a race, and learning to pace yourself is part of taking responsibility for your own practice.

Home Practice when you’re Away
If you’re going away, take your yoga mat with you. But don’t worry if you don’t get round to practicing every day. This is your chance to rest and recover from the stresses and strains of everyday life.

When I go away I take a very lightweight travel mat, which folds into the bottom of my bag, as well as a belt. If we’re driving I might take my blocks too and wedge them into the boot of the car.

The best times to practice on holiday are usually when you wake up in the morning, or just before bed. Aim to do 15 – 20 minutes, and don’t worry if you do less than that.

The last thing at night can be a great time to do some restorative yoga. Get yourself settled into the restorative pose you feel most comfortable in, such as Supta Baddha Konasana, Supta Virasana, or Setu Bandha. Spend ten minutes in the pose, letting the attention rest on the breath. Then come into supported śavasana and carry on with breath awareness, gradually deepening and lengthening the breath.

Just Stop
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to yoga. But if you’re a driven sort of person, who likes to get things ‘right’, it’s important that you give your body a break from the physical practice of yoga every now and then.

After I took my yoga assessment over three years ago, I stopped practicing for a couple of weeks. My body had taken a bit of a punishing from the rigorous practice regime I’d had to do, and taking a break was just what my body needed.

Adapt your Practice
If your home practice is still sporadic then it might be best to keep up with your practice over the summer break. Put three days a week in the calendar, and tick them off.

But you can still make your regular practice more restful. B.K.S. Iyengar says:

“In asana practice, we are trying to generate and stabilize our energy, to maintain it and not waste it unnecessarily.”

So even if you're doing some standing poses, backbends and inversions for energy, you can still make sure they don't deplete you. To do that, make sure you release any unnecessary muscle tension in the body - the classic areas of tension are in the tongu.

Make sure you keep breathing normally while in the poses, as holding your breath adds an element of strain.

And take breaks between poses going into resting poses such as Adho Mukha Virasana or Ardha Uttanasana.

Sequence to Adapt to a HOT Climate
If you're lucky enough to be going away somewhere hot, it can take a while for the body to adapt.

The following sequence, adapted from B.K.S. Iyengar's Yoga for Sports, will help you to acclimatize quickly so you can enjoy your holiday*:

And finally thank you to everyone who's come to my online classes and workshops, read or responded to my blogs, or sent me emails to let me know how you're doing. This has been a strange time, and the supportive yoga community we all share has been a brilliant way to keep feeling connected, even if we can't be physically together.

Have a great summer - and don't forget to get some rest!

Poppy x

*Please bear in mind that in my demonstrations I’m mostly showing you the final variations of each pose. Do adapt the poses to suit your body, any injuries you have, and your physical state e.g. going forward to a bolster/chair, and substituting Setubandha for Sarvangasana if you have your period or any neck or shoulder injuries.

The bandage I’m wearing round my head is to aid cooling and calming of the brain.

A Personal Response to the #BLM Call for Change

Hi,

My heart is full. The protests and global movement catalysed by the murder of George Floyd have triggered what feels like real momentum for change.

As a white woman, I am being woken up to white privilege in a real way for the first time in my life. It is a very uncomfortable feeling. But that is nothing compared to what POC have to wake up to every single day.

I have experienced humility, shame, embarrassment, and guilt from the posts I have been reading on social media. At the same time I am inspired and in awe of the black people, some who I know, some I don’t, who have spoken with such honesty about the experiences they have faced in their everyday lives.

There is no excuse, no possible justification for any person of any skin colour to feel anything except confident and happy in their skin. That anyone should fear for their own lives, or the lives of their children because of the colour of their skin is a travesty.

Yoga means Union
The word yoga literally means ‘to join’. Yoga is about removing divisions – between our mind and body, and between each other.

In his book Light on Life, p XV (see last month’s blog post) B. K. S. Iyengar says:

"We are all human beings, but we have been taught to think of ourselves as Westerners or Easterners. [-] There is no difference in the soul – what I call the “Seer”. The difference comes only between the “garments” of the seer – the ideas about our selves that we wear. Break them. Do not feed them with divisive ideas. That is what yoga teaches. When you and I meet together, we forget ourselves – our cultures and our classes. There are no divisions, and we talk mind to mind, soul to soul. We are no different in our deepest needs. We are all human."

This is what I love about teaching yoga. I might not know anything about the students in front of me, but I get to know them through their relationships with their bodies. We are all the same on our yoga mats – each working to our own capacity.

How can Yoga help?
We all know yoga can help our bodies and minds, but there is also a part of yoga that is there to help with our moral selves.  Before we even get to the physical poses there is a first rung to the ladder of yoga, called the yamas and niyamas.

These are ten guiding principles to living life in a yogic way – that is in a balanced and harmonious way. The yamas are universal ethics:

• Ahimsa – non-violence

• Satya – truth

• Asteya – non-stealing

• Brahmacharya – restraint

• Aparigraha – non-coveting

The niyamas are individual ethics:

• Saucha – purity

• Santosha – contentment

• Tapas – ardour

• Svadhyaya – self-study

• Ishvara pranidhana – Devotion to God

These principles should be our starting point when dealing with life’s dilemmas. In terms of the Black Lives Matter movement, all of these principles apply, but it is the niyama Svadhyaya – self-study – that concerns me most at the moment.

When we practice yoga it allows us to hold a mirror up to ourselves. We learn to finetune our attention until we can move the smallest part of the body in isolation.

And just as we learn to turn this attention to the body, we learn to shine that light onto ourselves and our actions. Svadhaya is about understanding our motivations, our intentions, and aligning them with the principles of yoga.

In this instance, it has made me realise that thinking of this as other people’s problems is part of the problem and that it is time to listen, learn and self-educate on how to become actively anti-racist.

Can our home practice help?
Can our home yoga practice help us with the problems of the world? In one way – no. We need to take action and stand up for what we believe in, whatever that is.

But in another way – yes. When we commit to our yoga practice we learn the self-discipline needed to keep showing up on the mat. When we spend time with ourselves we give ourselves time for self-study. When we have the courage to practice poses we find hard, we’re facing our fears with courage.

A Yoga Sequence for Self-Study
There are infinite yoga sequences we can practice. But there are certain poses which encourage our attentions to turn inwards and focus on our inner selves. Here’s a sequence to try at home to encourage Svadhyaya*:

* If you’re menstruating or have any medical reasons not to practice the inversions then you can replace Sirsasana with Cross Bolsters or Prasarita Padottanasana and Sarvangasana with Setubandha.

Adho Mukha Swastikasana
Adho Mukha Virasana
Adho Mukha Svanasana
Uttanasana
Parsvottanasana
Uttanasana
Prasarita Padottanasana
Sirsasana
Paschimottanasana
Janu Sirsasana
Upavista Konasana
Paschimottanasana
Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana
Sarvangasana
Savasana

*Please bear in mind that in my demonstrations I’m showing you the final variations of each pose. Do adapt the poses to suit your body, any injuries you have, and your physical state.

My TOP 5 Yoga Books to help you with your practice

Hi,

Just as we’d all settled into lockdown life, we’re now being told that the ‘Stay home’ message is being changed to ‘Stay Alert’. Most of us have responded by thinking ‘what does that even mean’?

It’s hard to stay alert to something 120 nanometres big. To get a sense of scale, a human hair is around 80,000 nanometres wide. What we do need to stay alert to is our mental health and well-being (neatly this week is Mental Health Awareness Week 2020).

To this end, I’d like to talk about some of the books that I’ve been turning to during this period to keep my practice going and my head and heart on an even keel.

My TOP FIVE Yoga books

Light on Yoga
By B. K. S. Iyengar
 
This is the ‘Bible’ of Iyengar yoga. First published in the 50s it was a radical book. Up until that point, yoga was seen as something that only wandering holy men in India would do. The knowledge of yoga was passed from Guru to Shishya (pupil) and was kept as a mystery.
 
B. K. S. Iyengar was an extraordinary character who worked hard to master yoga. After teaching and befriending the great Yehudi Menuhin, and with his encouragement, he decided to spread the wisdom of yoga to the West, and this book was the culmination of that effort.
 
I would encourage everyone who is a committed Iyengar yoga practitioner to have this book on their shelves. Not only is it inspirational and aspirational in terms of the poses he demonstrates, but there is great wisdom in his introduction to the book.
 
There are also sequences at the back of the book covering a wide range of ailments, although a word of caution, as these are really aimed at advanced yogis.
 
Light on Life
By B. K. S. Iyengar

Another Iyengar classic, this book was written much later, when he was in his 80s, with all the benefit and wisdom of hindsight, and a life devoted to yoga. This isn’t a practical guide in the physical sense, but a practical guide in the philosophical sense. If you’re at all interested in the philosophy of yoga, it’s an absolute MUST.
 
It's one of those books that you probably won’t read all in one go. But it’s one that you’ll come back to again and again for the stories, the diamond-like clarity of understanding of the human condition, the perfectly percolated wisdom.
 
He’s firm, but compassionate; qualities that I understand he had as a teacher of yoga too. From the preface:

"Many of you worry that you are unable to meet the challenges that lie ahead. I want to assure you that you can. I am a man who started from nowhere; I was heavily disadvantaged in many ways. After much time and effort, I began to reach somewhere. [-] What held good for me will hold good for you too."
 
The Woman’s Yoga Book
By Bobby Clennell

This book has been my saviour for many years now. It’s a beautifully illustrated book that has asana and pranayama poses and sequences for all phases of the menstrual cycle, as well as sequences for the joys that can come with hormonal fluctuations such as PMS, migraine headaches, bloating, insomnia, lower back pain, etc.
 
Bobby Clennell, the author, now lives and teaches in New York, and she’s a fabulous teacher, with an instinctive understanding of yoga and how it works for people’s bodies.
 
The book has sequences at the back which are so easy to follow – I do the sequence for when you’re menstruating every month, and it is so calming and stretches and opens all the right bits.
 
As well as focusing on the phases of the menstrual cycle, there are also some brilliant practical instructions for many of the basic poses, especially restorative poses and pranayama.

Yoga - The Path to Holistic Health
By B. K. S. Iyengar (and other editors)

This hefty hardback is published by Dorling Kindersley as an encyclopaedic, step-by-step picture guide to Iyengar yoga. It’s a brilliant book, and if you’re going to buy any book from this list, I would recommend this one.
 
The publishers worked closely with Iyengar on the book, and occasionally he is pictured adjusting the students who are modelling for the photos. The book’s opening chapters are on Iyengar’s life and works, the benefits of yoga and the philosophy of yoga, clearly written and with lots of nice pictures (always helps).
 
The rest of the book is a practical guide to nearly all the basic poses. Each pose is clearly described and photographed from every angle, with the benefits and cautions for each pose clearly stated. It also has sequences at the back for most ailments, as well as a 20-week plan for home practice for beginners.

Yoga – The Iyengar Way
By Silva, Mira and Shyam Mehta

The Mehta family worked closely with Iyengar in the early days, and the evidence is there in the beautiful postures photographed for this book. Another Dorling Kindersley book, the format is not dissimilar to the Holistic Health book, but this is a slimmer, more portable version, and there are more advanced poses in this book.

Each pose has a ‘ways of practicing’ and a ‘work in the posture’ section, which offer variations if the final pose is too hard, as well as some key things to think about while practicing.

The sequences at the back are also very useful for those of you who are thinking of progressing your home practice if you feel that you’re getting into a bit of a rut. The final course is not for the faint-hearted, however!

Other books
I would say that these are my top 5 books that I reach for on an almost daily basis, but there are other essential books that I also refer to often:

Yoga – A Gem for Women – by Geeta Iyengar
A Chair for Yoga – by Eyal Shifroni
Props for Yoga, Volume 1: Standing asanas – by Eyal Shifroni
Props For Yoga, Volume 2: Sitting asanas and forward extensions – by Eyal Shifroni
Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali – by B. K. S. Iyengar
Light on Pranayama – by B. K. S. Iyengar
Hatha Yoga Pradipika – by A. G. Mohan and Dt. Ganesh Mohan

How to Practice Headstand at Home

Hi,

Last month I talked about how to keep calm and carry on doing yoga as our everyday lives were being radically changed by the pandemic sweeping the world.

We are now a month into lockdown. During this period most of us have had ups and downs. We have come out of our homes and clapped the NHS three times, feeling part of a national outpouring of gratitude to the amazing people who are on the frontline of tackling this health crisis.

We have also tutted to each other about this or that person not sticking to the rules of social distancing.

We have also heard of or had someone close to us, affected by this terrible disease, perhaps even fatally. The reality of why we are all doing this then hits home and we realise this is no game.

But most of the time the humdrum routines of daily life are a distracting comfort. Our small kids still need almost constant attention, we’re trying to work, exercise, eat, chill out  - and all in the same space.

So for many of us, the yoga that we dip into as part of our busy weeks has become that bit more important – a touchstone. And I'm thrilled to report that many more of you have got in touch to say that you've been doing more of a home practice.

Practicing Inversions at Home
Quite a few of you have mentioned that you’d like to practice inversions at home, but don’t really have the confidence yet.

Practicing headstand (Salamba Sirsasana) is an ongoing journey. It takes years to work on your headstand until you feel as solid as a rock in the centre of any room.

Part of that journey is a physical one - practice, practice and more practice, as well as strengthening the body and opening the shoulders. But it is also a mental journey as headstand is always accompanied by THE FEAR.

Inversions - and why they're important
There are many benefits to inversions and they are the keystone to most Iyengar yoga classes. Headstand and shoulderstand:

• Build stamina

• Alleviate insomnia

• Strengthen the lungs

• Relieve the symptoms of colds, coughs and tonsillitis

• Help with a normal digestive system

PLUS:

• Rejuvenate the brain

• Enhance clarity of thought

• Increase your concentration span and sharpen memory

PLUS:

• Keep you looking and feeling younger

There's no rush
The Iyengar Yoga rule of thumb is that you need to be able to do a good (for good, read not shaking or feeling exhausted) shoulderstand for at least 5 minutes, and have a good grasp of the standing poses.

Once your teacher thinks that you've got both of those, and as long as you don't have underlying health issues*, which means that headstands are not a good idea for you, then it's time to have a go.

Ideally, it's best to start doing headstands in the classroom. That way the teacher will be able to assess your pose and give you instructions as to how to improve your pose, plus get you up and down safely.
However, in the situation that we’re in at the moment, as long as you have been practicing yoga for a while, then you should be ok to do a headstand.

Poses to Prep for Inversions
Poses that prepare the body for the inversions, are all the standing forward bends, as well as downward dog.  It's also good to stretch and open the shoulders and hamstrings, as tightness in these areas can restrict the lift of the spine in the inversions.
 
A successful headstand depends on two things: your ability to lift the body up and out of the shoulders and away from the neck, and the correct alignment of the spine.

How to go up into headstand for a beginner. Do get as close to the wall as you can - I had a radiator in the way!

This is why we work on lengthening the sides of the neck, drawing the tops of the shoulders away from the ears in simple standing poses, such as Urdhva Baddanguliyasana in Tadasana (upward-facing interlocked hands in mountain pose).
 
Step-by-Step
It’s important to get the foundation of your pose secure first. The fingers are deeply interlocked, but not gripping. The outer edges of the forearms press down, and the crown of the head (towards the back of the head) is placed down on the floor. If the head is placed too near the forehead, the spine will have to arch to compensate.
 
See below for the step-by-step guide to going up into headstand for a beginner:

Once you’re confident going up like this, and you want to work on learning to balance away from the wall, it’s good to learn going up with two legs bent up together:

Watch out for these common mistakes, the first one dropping into the lumbar spine and not lifting the shoulders, the second one leaning back with the upper spine and buttocks, and the third variation showing the correct alignment of the spine, with the trunk lifting up straight, shoulders lifting and heels stretching up the wall.

Practice, Practice and more Practice
Don’t rush to kick up into headstand if you’re not confident. Practice Ardha Sirsasana (the second stage in the first set of photos), stretching the back of the legs up, and walking in till the back is straight. Once you’re confident doing that, then you’ll find it easier to lift up into the pose.
 
Or, you could use a chair to lift up from if you’re stiff in the hamstrings. Learn control in each stage before you progress to the next.
 
Don’t forget to practice a variation of shoulderstand, or setubandha if you’ve put headstand into your practice.
 
It’s worth the effort, as regular practice develops self-confidence, willpower and emotional stability, all of which we could do with right now.
 
 
*Shoulder or neck injury, high blood pressure, migraine headache or detached retina. Also don’t do inversions when you’re menstruating.

Coronavirus: How to Keep Calm and Carry on Doing Yoga

Hi,

These are unprecedented times in our lives. Just a few days ago I had almost finished writing the blog for this month, all about inversions and how to practice them at home, but I'm going to save that for another time because things are moving so fast, that we all just need to take stock.

Coronavirus has impacted all of our lives in multiple ways. Some of us are already self-isolating, some of us are worried about our parents, our jobs, some of us are gutted that holidays we'd planned, outings and so on are now being cancelled.

We listen to the news and the tidal wave of information is overwhelming. Social media is another window to a world that seems to be shaken to its core.

And yet.

There are still comparatively few fatalities worldwide, the sun comes up, the world keeps turning, and in Venice, dolphins are playing in the harbour and shoals of fish are visible in the canals.

The sheer pace of life that we kept up without thinking about has had to slow. We can't make plans for the short term, because we're living day-to-day. And that creates a sense of space that is both scary and freeing.

Where yoga comes in
We choose to attend weekly classes for a variety of reasons. Perhaps it's the sense of community, the physical satisfaction of having stretched the body, the way we sleep better after a yoga class.

But the father of yoga, Patanjali, who we chant our acknowledgment to, says that yoga has one purpose, which is:

yogah Chittavritti Nirodhah - Yoga is the stilling of movements in the consciousness

And at the moment our minds are anything but still, as we worry about how our lives will be impacted, and struggle to take in the sudden changes to our daily routines.

Yoga practice
The simple discipline of getting on your mat when things are difficult is a constant in your life that can provide reassurance.

Now that we're working from home, or going out less, we should have more time to commit to a home practice.

What about pencilling in 8 - 9 am every morning so that before you sit at your desk/spring-clean the loft/homeschool the kids, you have a set window to be on your mat? It might be that you only do 10 minutes in Bridge pose or Supta Baddha Konasana, but at least you know you've added yoga into your daily life.

What do I practice?
This is always a challenge. During the swine flu outbreak in 2009 when the institute in Pune  had to close, B K S Iyengar posted a morning sequence on the noticeboard, which was to help boost immunity:

Credit: Yogaforbeginnersandmore.blogspot

We've done a variation of this sequence in the recent restorative classes. But holding some of these poses for a long time is not easy for everyone, so make sure you're doing these poses to strengthen the body, and don't force the pose if you start to shake or feel exhausted.

A simple sequence which would waken up the body and still the mind would be to start with poses that stretch the legs, then move to standing poses, then headstand if you practice it, then seated poses, then shoulderstand, a supine pose to cool the body and finishing with savasana.

Exploring online options
Practicing yoga through online options has its limitations, and nothing can replace being physically in the same space as a teacher, but in these unusual times, it might be worth looking into practicing yoga online. I am looking into taking my classes online and will keep all students updated.

There are also plenty of resources online for sequence ideas, such as this website by another Iyengar yoga teacher, Tamara Hockey.

Final thought for the day
Having endured four years of non-stop Brexit doom-mongering, we seem to have immediately switched to Corona-crisis-mode. But yoga is here to remind us that while everything around us changes, the things that matter, such as our connection to our inner selves, remain the same. In Iyengar's words:

Change is not something we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they're meant to be.

Keep safe, take care of yourselves and your loved ones, and keep doing yoga.

What I LOVE about Yoga

Hi,

It's February and LOVE is in the air, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to tell you about my yoga journey, and why it is that I love yoga.

The Beginning
I found Iyengar yoga, like most of us, quite by chance because it happened to be the closest yoga class to me that fitted in with a time that I could make. My kids were still very little, but my youngest had started nursery and I was desperate to reclaim my body, and I'll be honest that getting fitter and losing weight were definitely motivators.

From the very first lesson, it made sense to me. I found it challenging and interesting in equal measure. I continued attending once a week for a couple of years and was then invited to attend an Intermediate class by my then teacher. It was MUCH harder. This transition from one to two classes a week turned something that was on the periphery of my life into something that moved much more to the centre.

The Choice to Become a Teacher
It was my teacher who suggested I become a yoga teacher. It wasn't something I had thought a possibility, but once she'd planted the seed, it began to slowly take root. But before even thinking about applying for the teacher training course I knew I had to establish a home practice. As you all know, a home practice is very different from the yoga you do in a class. Although you work hard in a yoga class, it is a passive experience because the motivation and direction are external.

Once you decide to start a home practice every decision is down to you. The motivator for me at the start was to improve my headstand. It took me many years of going to yoga to be ready for headstand, and once I started doing it in class I found I wanted to go home and get better at it. You can't just practice headstand on its own [see the sequencing rules from last month's blog] so I had to come up with a sequence that supported my goal to balance in headstand away from the wall.

The Teacher Training
At the time, the teacher training course was two years minimum and you had to have practiced Iyengar yoga regularly for three years. This gave you a good foundation for the course, but nothing could have prepared me for how hard it was. My teacher trainer was (and is) fiercely passionate about Iyengar yoga and she took no prisoners. My yoga improved very quickly, and I learnt a lot from her rigorous style. Over the course of the two years, we were broken down and rebuilt as yoga teachers.

There was a steep learning curve in terms of knowledge; I learnt about the philosophy of yoga, how to plan a lesson, the basic anatomy of the body and how to help people through different variations.

But there was also a steep experiential learning curve; I saw bodies differently, I saw myself differently. I learnt to really look, not just parrot out instructions. I learnt to teach from the heart.

Being a Yoga Teacher
I was told when I was doing my teacher training that it was only once I'd passed my assessment (that's another story) and started teaching that the real learning would start. And they were right.

Standing in front of a class of students is both scary and exciting at the beginning. The lesson seems to stretch ahead like an eternity. But time passes and the students are your best teacher. Through them (through YOU) you learn about real yoga.

What I Love about Iyengar Yoga
I am an Iyengar yoga student and I love being part of this global family, but no one way is perfect. Iyengar yoga has its flaws, its politics, and its detractors. But there is a wisdom and depth of understanding that emanated from Iyengar himself that makes Iyengar yoga very special to me. It's important never to think that because we practice one way we are superior.

In his book Light on Life, Iyengar says:

"If we ever find ourselves apart from or superior  to others, purer or more elevated by yoga, we can be sure that we are [] drifting back into a state of ignorance."

Once you start practicing Iyengar yoga you never stop learning. You are always a student.

My Yoga Practice
The real yoga that I do is my yoga practice. The will to get onto my mat. The intelligence to come up with a sequence that will move me on from yesterday, or that will be right for my mind and body, and the persistence to keep doing that every day in order to move the yoga from the body to the mind.

Sometimes I am distracted [remember those nine obstacles to yoga...I've come up against most of them, plus a couple more] by family life. Sometimes I am purely lazy and opt for a cup of tea in bed  - and that's OK too! But most days a week I fit my practice in early in the morning before my children wake up to go school so that I can start the day knowing that I am set up ready to go.

My yoga equipment is stacked neatly in the corner of the bedroom, and the fitted cupboards in our bedroom work well for a supporting wall. I find that sticking to one time and place means that some of the obstacles to yoga are removed.

What I Love About it
If you ask most yoga teachers what they love about yoga they'll look at you blankly. It's too hard to answer. Yoga isn't something outside of themselves that can be objectively described. The brilliant Wendy McGuire, my teacher and the teacher of many teachers, says:

Students and friends often ask me how yoga has changed my life. It is impossible for me to answer that question – yoga is part of my life”.

And that's it really. Yoga is me. I am yoga.

REVEALED! The SECRETS of Yoga Sequencing...

Hi,

January is a brilliant time to get a home practice started. It's a new year, a new decade and there's a natural energy to make positive changes in your life.

As I've discussed in my previous blogs, a home yoga practice is different from the yoga that you do in a yoga class. It's more exploratory and it's driven by your own motivation and willpower, both of which are useful things to cultivate.

In previous blogs, I've given you some short and simple practice ideas, but the key to a home practice is being able to decide for yourself what poses to practice and in what order. This is called 'sequencing'.

What is sequencing?

Yoga sequencing is an art and a science and takes years to master. As a newly-qualified yoga teacher, I asked my senior teacher for some sequencing tips for lessons. Her answer was salutary, "Sequencing IS yoga, you need to work it out for yourself." Harsh but fair.

But there are certain rules about sequencing, and I'm going to give you a whistlestop tour of them right now.

 The (Unwritten) Rules of Yoga Sequencing

There are hundreds of yoga poses, but these poses are generally grouped into 'types' of pose.

We have:

·         Warm up poses - such as Adho Mukha Virasana (downward-facing hero pose)

·         Standing poses - such as Tadasana (Mountain pose) and Trikonasana (Triangle pose)

·         Forward bends - such as Paschimottanasana (Seated forward fold)

·         Seated poses - such as Dandasana (Staff pose) and Janu Sirsasana (Head to knee pose)

·         Inversions - such as shoulderstand and headstand

·         Twists and abdominal poses - such as Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved triangle pose)

·         Backbends - such as Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward-facing bow pose)

·         Supine poses - such as Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining bound-angle pose)

·         Rest/Savasana - this deserves its own category, as no yoga practice is complete without it

Combining the types of poses

There are certain types of pose that you can pretty much do any-time, anywhere. Downward dog is one of those poses, as is its partner pose Adho Mukha Virasana. These two work well to begin a practice, and when done without holding Downward dog for too long, can also be a nice way to cool down towards the end.

Generally speaking, a complete yoga practice will have one of all of the categories above. So, an example sequence might be:

Warm-up poses - Pavana Muktasana (wind-relieving pose)

Supta Padangustasana 1 & 2 (reclining hand to big-toe pose - leg straight up, and then out to the side)

Standing poses - Tadasana (mountain pose)

Vrksasana (tree pose)

Trikonasana (triangle pose)

Forward Bends - Ardha Uttanasana/Uttanasana (Half Standing forward fold)

(Standing forward bends are good preparation for the inversions.)

Inversions - Sirsasana (Headstand)

 (Inversions are really important. If you don't do headstand you can do Prasarita Padottanasana (Legs wide apart forward fold).)

Backbends - Bhujangasana (Cobra pose)

Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward facing dog)

Twists - Bharadvajasana 1 (Legs bent up to one side twist)

(This open twist releases the back and starts to cool the body down.)

Inversions - Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand)

(If you don't do shoulderstand you can do supported bridge pose to the wall or legs up the wall.)

Forward Bends - Janu Sirsasana (Head to knee pose)

Paschimottanasana (Seated forward fold)

(Seated forward bends turn the attention inwards and cool down.)

Rest - Savasana

At the end of your practice it's really important to rest to allow the body to absorb the benefits of the practice.

What NOT to do

There are also some hard and fast DON'Ts for yoga sequencing:

·         DON'T do Savasana at the beginning of your practice. Unless your practice is just savasana.

·         DON'T do shoulderstand before headstand.

·         DON'T do only one side and not the other, even if you have an injury, find a way to make the pose accessible on both sides.

·         DON'T intersperse backbends with forward bends such as Adho Mukha Virasana until you've finished doing all your backbends (apart from Downward dog, which is a kind of forward bend). You can do forward bends before and after backbends though.

·         DON'T do backbends after shoulderstand. Shoulderstand tends to be the beginning of your cool-down.

·         DON'T go into savasana from an energising pose such as the standing poses, or strong twists.

What to DO

As well as plenty of DOs:

·         DO always follow headstand with shoulderstand or a shoulderstand variation, such as bridge pose. If you don't you'll be angry all day! This is because headstand is energising and fiery, and shoulderstand cools the body and mind.

·         DO try different poses to warm up the body.

·         DO fit in one restorative practice a week - this would include standing poses against the wall, supported reclining poses and pranayama (breath awareness and control).

·         DO fit in a savasana at the end of your practice - even if it's a very quick one.

If you have any sequencing questions, or would like some ideas for different types of sequences, such as first thing in the morning, or last thing at night, or if you're stressed, or have a bad back, then don't hesitate to email me and I'll do my best to help.

 Poppy x

Give yourself the gift of yoga this Christmas

Chair Urdhva Hastasana - To lift the spine, open the chest, and increase the heart rate.

Chair Bharadvajasana - To stretch the lower back to alleviate stiffness, as well as rejuvenating digestive organs

So, another year is drawing to a close. In fact, this year it's a new decade around the corner. Let's hope it's a better one...

But, Christmas is about acknowledging the light in the dark. Whatever religion, or none, it's hard when the nights are long, the layers are many, the sick bugs are plentiful - and the country looks like it might be heading towards the abyss.

It can also be a painful time for many who have lost loved ones, who don't have family nearby, or who are going through a hard time for whatever reason.

Whatever your reality this Christmas, it's a time for kindness, goodwill, and hope.

A Christmas Present  
But there is one thing that you can do for yourself to make this Christmas a better one - that will make the joyful times more clear, the hard times easier to bear AND can even help your groaning digestive system process the vast amount of food on Christmas Day.

And that's yoga. From my experience, even the smallest amount will help to recalibrate body and mind to become really present this Christmas.

How and what?
How do you fit a yoga practice into the festive season, while still enjoying the odd lie-in, and with the kids scrambling all over you, or when you're travelling all over the country to visit the various branches of the family tree?

The answer is to fit yoga in ANYWHERE. For example, when you're sitting in that tailback, you can do some 'chair yoga'. This is a specially designed type of yoga for the physically infirm, but in fact, Chair yoga is great for anyone who happens to be stuck in a chair.

Chair Yoga Poses
I just so happen to be sitting in a chair at this very moment, typing out this blog, so I thought I could demonstrate here and now.

Chair Ghomukasana - To stretch and open the shoulders, alleviating stored tension.

You can also do Tadasana (mountain pose) when standing in the queue at the Post Office (standing firmly on both feet, lifting the kneecaps into the knees and drawing up the thighs - then feel your spine lift through those actions).

You can do Virasana (Hero pose), Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle pose) and Upavista Konasana (Legs wide apart pose) while watching your favourite family Christmas movie.

And there's always Savasana (corpse pose) which you can do at any time (if you've just eaten a big meal it's best to do it with support under the upper body) which will take the body and mind to that deep sense of peace which is ALWAYS there, despite the Christmas chaos.

Good luck with fitting some yoga into your holidays and in the meantime I wish you the Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest of New Years.

Poppy x

How to get Creative with your Home Yoga Practice

Hello again!

If you're reading this then the chances are you also read my first ever yoga blog - THANK YOU.

After putting it off for so long I've been overwhelmed with the response. For this blog post, I'd like to talk about how your home practice is different to the yoga that you do in class.

Getting to know yourself
One of the advantages of practicing yoga is that you get to know yourself in a different, more sensitive way. In the introduction to his brilliant book 'The Path to Holistic Health' B K S Iyengar says:

"Yoga helps to integrate the mental and the physical plane, bringing about a sense of inner and outer balance, or what I term alignment"

When we're in class the teacher is acting as our guide to alignment, giving us the instructions needed to bring awareness to your body, and take the mind to the little toe, the pad of the thumbs, even the inner organs.

At home, with no teacher to guide us, we need to find our own inner guide, to take our attention out of the busy brain, into our body, which is ready and waiting to get to know us.

Detail of instruction
I vividly remember one of my first yoga classes. We were doing a seated twist and my teacher told us to move our shoulder blades in a certain way and I had literally no idea what she was talking about. I just turned even more ferociously and hoped that was what she meant.

There have been many more instructions over the years that have whistled by over the top of my head. That's completely normal.

Then one day, the instruction to move my shoulder blades in the twist made total sense. The penny had dropped, as my awareness of my body slowly developed.

What to do at home
In a class, the teacher does their best to give instructions that will work for all the students. But often they can't tailor their class to each student. So they might say, "Take a brick if you need one"'. For many of us, we don't know if we need a brick or not. That's where a home practice comes in.

Take Uttanasana, (standing forward fold) for example. Standing with your feet hip-width apart, start out in Tadasana (mountain pose) and stretching the arms up, stretch forwards to bring your hands down towards the ground. If you can only touch the floor by rounding your upper spine, or your knees bend, then you need bricks.

However, if you practice first thing on a cold morning, you might be surprised to discover that even if you can usually touch the floor, it will feel harder, and the backs of the legs will set up a loud complaint. The body is not a static object, but an incredibly sensitive and changing instrument, which through a dedicated yoga practice, we will eventually learn to 'play'.

Talking of 'PLAY'
Your home practice is exactly that  - it is YOURS. You decide when, where, what, how long. And because you're now in charge, you can give yourself permission to play.

One of my favourite Iyengar yoga teachers is a lady called Carrie Owerko (some of you might remember I came back from the summer holidays all fired up after a weekend workshop with her). Her strapline on her website is perMISSION to Play, and that's exactly what she does. She bends the rules of yoga, pushing at the boundaries of possibility and play to create a fresh and exciting new take on movement and yoga.

But if you're only just setting out on your yoga journey, playing with it can seem intimidating - we just want to be TOLD what to do!

How to play in your home practice
So, because the aim of this blog is to support you as you learn to fly, I'm going to give you three examples of some simple pose variations that you can practice at home.

Remember that these are just suggestions. If you come up with your own, even better!

If you have a knee problem, be aware that for some poses you might need to put something soft in the back of the knee - a scarf is good. If you have a back problem, always have your feet slightly apart, don't jump into any of the poses, and don't force any forward bends. Shoulder problems keep space around the sides of the neck.

Adho Mukha Virasana/ downward-facing hero pose

• start with the knees wide and the arms wide

• then take the knees narrow and the arms narrow

• then take the knees and hands the 'normal' distance apart

• move your right hand to the centre and take your left hand to the left and stretch the side body

• do the same on the other side

• lift up onto your fingertips

• press your hands down flat

• bring your elbows down to the floor

 Adho Mukha Svanasana/ downward-facing dog pose

• start with your hands and feet wide

• then take the hands closer and bring the feet together

• Now turn the hands out - feel what happens in the upper arms and shoulders

• Turn the hands in slightly - ditto above

• lift right up onto your tiptoes

• now press the heels down (onto bricks if needed) and see if you can lift the toes

Urdhva Hastasana/ upward-facing hands pose in tadasana

• Stretch the arms up in line with the shoulders, palms facing in

• Stretch the arms up with the palms up facing forwards

• Stretch the arms up with palms facing behind you

• Take the arms wider in diagonals

• See if you can bring the palms together keeping the arms straight

If you were interested in the rest of the sequence for your home practice, the poses to follow would be:

Utkatasana (chair pose)
Trikonasana (triangle pose)
Virabhadrasana 2 (Warrior 2)
Ardha Chandrasana (half moon pose)
Uttanasana (standing forward fold)
Sarvangasana (shoulderstand) or Setu bandha Sarvangasana (supported bridge pose)
Halasana (plough pose - feet to the floor behind the head)
Paschimottanasana (seated forward fold)
Savasana (corpse pose)

How this blog can help you set up a Home Yoga Practice

Hi,

Welcome to my first ever yoga blog.

I've been writing about yoga for four years and officially teaching yoga for over two years, and for that entire time I've been meaning to write my own blog about yoga. It just seemed the obvious thing to do...

So what's stopped me? The same reasons that stop all of us from achieving the things we want to do.

In Light on Yoga (the 'Bible' of yoga) B K S Iyengar lists the nine obstacles to a regular yoga practice:

1. Vyadhi - sickness

2. Styana - languor

3. Samsaya - doubt or indecision

4. Pramada - indifference

5. Alasya - laziness

6. Avirati - sensuality (? - not sure about this one)

7. Bhranti darshana - false knowledge, illusion

8. Alabdha Bhumikatva - failure to maintain continuity of thought

9. Anavashtittatva - instability of concentration

(I always wanted to add: 10. Being a parent...)

I would say that a mixture of all of the above (with the possible exception of number six) have contributed to the continual putting off of this blog for around two years.

But now I've navigated the obstacle course of languor, laziness etc, taken the bull by the horns, and written it! Success!

Well, not quite. The art of the blog is to keep up a consistent, regular, high-quality stream of content, regularly blogging so that the magic imps at Google sense the activity of your website and bump it up the Google ratings. Thus, not only do I have to find the impetus and drive to start it, I also have to KEEP IT UP.

Why on earth any of this is relevant to you

It struck me that my procrastination in getting on with this blog could have wider relevance. As a student of yoga you'll know some of the benefits of coming to class regularly: physically feeling stretched, mentally feeling challenged and emotionally restored and opened.

And that's just from one class once a week (or two, if you're lucky). Imagine the benefits of doing yoga every single day - a 'home practice'.

We all know that this would be good for us. But for one or all of the nine reasons listed above we put it off till the mythical day that we 'have more time'.

Starting a home practice

I would love to help you start a home practice. But before I get stuck into the practicalities of what that involves, the first step is wanting to start a home practice.

So I'm going to outline some of the multitudinous benefits.

·         you'll get better at yoga

·         you'll enjoy your lessons more

·         you'll have fewer aches and pains

·         you'll have more energy in your everyday life

·         you'll be more in tune with your body

·         you'll sleep better

·         you'll be able to access a sense of calm when needed

·         you'll develop a very useful self-discipline

·         you'll be less afraid

·         you'll be more in touch with your emotions

·         you'll look and feel younger

I deliberately put that last one last, as I didn't think you'd read the rest! Notice that at no point did I write that you'll gain muscle tone, stretch your tendons and hamstrings, decrease your resting heart rate and increase lung capacity. But it will also do all those things too.

You're convinced!

I'm hoping that you're now convinced that starting a home practice sounds like a good idea. This is the first step - congratulations!

The next step is working out how to fit it into your life in a consistent, realistic and achievable way. This is harder, as that long list of obstacles that has stopped me from writing this for so long, seem to do their utmost to get in the way of the things we know are best for us, but mysteriously don't seem to pop up when we're getting sucked down an online rabbit hole.

How this blog aims to help you

My aim with this blog is to create a guide to setting up your own home practice. It will be from my own experience, from my own brilliant teachers and from the books that have helped and guided me. If you'd like to know more, just read the blog that I send each month (that's the plan anyway).  I intend to include short practice sequences, guides to practising inversions safely at home and lots of other info!

The idea is to give YOU the tools and confidence to set up a home yoga practice, while feeling that support and help is never far away.

This blog's takeaway

If you're feeling inspired and you can't wait that long to know how to start, I'm going to give you 6-step, handy home practice guide to help you get started.

 1. Put your mat (and props if you have them) somewhere accessible - this doesn't include the boot of the car.

2. Pick just three poses that you remember from class and write them down.

3. Choose a 10/15 minute slot tomorrow that you can commit to - write it down on a post it note/ set an alarm/ tell your family.

4. Do those three poses in that slot.

5. Congratulate yourself!

6. Repeat.

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