Bye-bye beauty salons! The anti-aging benefits of yoga

There are various health related benefits to yoga. The good news is that anti-aging is one of these benefits! I have in fact met some instructors whom I thought were in their 40’s, only for them to surprise me by telling me that they were in their 60’s!

So, why exactly does yoga come with anti-aging benefits?

· Based on deep breathing

In the world of yoga, there is a breathing method called Pranayama, which is regarded as one of the most important aspects of yoga.

By performing these deep breaths, it has the effect of bringing energy into the body. This breathing method is what produces the following health benefits.

–   Normalizes hormone balance, allowing you to become youthful from within.

  • Lowers blood pressure and improves blood flow, helps digestion and activates metabolism of cells.
  • Stimulates parasympathetic nerves and furthers relaxing effect, reduces stress and anxiety, and suppresses inflammation in the body which causes aging.

–   Promotes turnover of the skin, improving skin glow and blood color.

・Trains your muscles to become elastic and supple
As we get older our muscles slowly deteriorate, and it is said that muscle fibers become thinner. However, similar to the brain, our muscles become stronger and more effective the more we train it.

The relaxed movements of yoga stimulate our tightened muscles without adding undue stress, and helps train them. It helps with skeletal realignment and improves our posture. As it places stress on our joints and connective tissues, our joints become strengthened as well.

As blood flow improves, our internal organs become active and metabolism improves, assisting in resolving obesity and improving body balance.
Furthermore, since antioxidant substances (substances to remove reactive oxygen) in our blood increase, waste accumulated in the body can be discharged, leading to the rejuvenation of the body. Because a strong core (mainly deep belly, pelvic floor, muscles along the spine etc.) will also be trained, we will become better at using our own body, and less likely to become injured in our daily lives.

・Improved balance and stability

We lose our sense of balance as we get older, as well as stability. Falling and broken bones are the most common reasons we need care as when we age. The number of people who suffer a broken femoral neck increase exponentially in accordance with age.

Yoga contains many poses which force us to maintain balance. Our brain and body must work in unison when trying to balance, and furthermore both sides of our brain must fire together. Yoga is also a good way to train both sides to communicate more efficiently.

・Heightened sense of inner consciousness, allowing us to live more mindfully

We often feel stress in our modern society. It is said that “stress is the source of a million diseases”, and stress can in fact trigger serious sicknesses. In addition, there are many people who are too busy with their daily tasks that they cannot devote any time to managing their own health.

Practicing yoga will allow you to turn your eyes toward your body and thoughts, and to notice even the subtlest of changes. It will also allow you to build healthy habits to not accumulate stress.


2 Recommended Anti-aging Poses

・Shoulder Stand
A pose that secretes hormones for rejuvenation. It is effective for improving poor circulation and swelling.

First, lay down facing up. Keep your legs perfectly straight, and slowly extend them towards the ceiling. Hold your hips with both hands, and continue to lift your butt and hips toward the ceiling, in that particular order. Try to think of it as standing on your shoulders and keep your body as straight as possible.

Exhale and inhale for a few repetitions, slowly bring your body back to the floor and you’re done!

・Camel pose
It is a pose that improves blood flow, activates internal organs and produces a detox effect. It is recommended for people with desk jobs, stiff shoulders, and hunchbacks.

First, spread your legs slightly and stand on your knees with your toes vertical to the floor. Exhale slowly while pushing your pelvis forward, and open up your chest while looking up at the ceiling.

If possible, try to touch your heels with your hands for a better effect. Exhale and inhale for 5 repetitions in that pose, and slowly bring your body back.

Haruka

what kind of body does yoga build

The practice of Asana is not just working out the body’s soft tissue; it is also not just stretching and strengthening muscles. Although body exercise do burn fat and build muscles. But Yoga, along with conscious breathing, exercises a complete system of the entire body changing the body from inside out. Based on my own experience of Yoga practice, I found several obvious changes to my body.

1. Maintaining the ideal body weight is easy.
I don’t need to control my diet. I basically eat whatever I want. But as I practice Yoga, my body system will make an automatic adjustment. The taste and hobbies of my diet will gradually unconsciously favor the healthy food. But this process is not the same as conscious diet control.

2. Big improvement of flexibility
After a few years of practice, although I still have a “hard” body, I do feel my body opens up a lot more that it did before Yoga. For example, I couldn’t imagine I manage to do the front split now.

3. Strength and Stamina
One of the most beautiful sides of Asana practice is to use all the muscles of the body. Gym exercise is mostly isolated out to work on a group of partial muscle such as arm to raise dumbbells to practice biceps. But even with the arm, there are many small muscle to activate. The power of Asana allows you to hold the weight of whole body while standing your hands and using your arms to balance the weight of whole body. It needs coordination and activation of the whole body, not just the strength of individual bid muscles. yoga postures also teach us to stay in uncomfortable situations, to find peace and relaxation in the nervous system. This mind controlling is more powerful than muscle stretching.

31
May, 2018

Bhujangasana

We had our final exams today, it was a very intense and sweaty practice but fun at the same time.  You can see everybody at their best alignment, drishti and pranayama.  Everybody looked so graceful and beautiful with all the asanas.  At some point, there were cards layed on the floor for us to teach with a time limit.  Tadah!!! I picked a card and got Bhunjangasana – Cobra Pose.Read More

When you thought you knew

After quite a few years of yoga practice, with various teachers that all agree on what is the perfect alignment in basic poses, you start to believe that these poses have no secret for you and you are craving for more challenges. It was therefore quite a shock when Master Paalu described what should be a perfect Adho mukha svanasana (downward dog) and the consequences of doing this asana right or wrong for the rest of your vinyasa.

The common explanations I received over the previous group classes was that when in downward dog:

  • you should have your back flatten
  • you should aim at having your hills touching the floor but it’s ok if you can’t
  • you should do a nice V shape and spread the weights equally on your legs and arms
  • you should push the floor away with your hands

Additionally, from Adho mukha svanasana you should be able to move to Santolasana (high plank) without moving your feet and your shoulders will be automatically above your wrists. The high plank position therefore really helps you know how wide your downward dog should be.

With this practice, I could go easily through many vinyasas without feeling too tired, even the chaturangas were ok for me. However, I was not improving in arm-balancing poses and not even close to hold a hand stand.

What Master Paalu told us shaken me up because to him all the teachers are wrong. Not only is the downward dog too wide when you do it the way I described previously but your planks and chaturangas are also wrong and will not help you balance on your arms and can lead to wrist injuries. And here is why:

  • Apart from very stiff persons, your hills should be on the floor in downward dog, which means that you need to shorten the distance between your feet and your hands.
  • To hold the pose, you need to engage your hip flexors, a good way to know if you are indeed doing it is to try to hold a towel between your lower belly and your upper thighs. It is actually really hard to do but with patience and practice you will be able to do it.
  • Most of the weights should be on your legs in order to hold the pose more comfortably.

You might think, ok but if the distance is shorter between my feet and hands, I will not be able to go straight to plank without moving my feet, right ? Well, actually the key thing is that your shoulders should be not be above your wrists in plank or chaturanga, they should be much more forward ! This way your elbows will form a 90 degrees angle when you go down to chaturanga. Additionally for all the arm-balancing poses you need to move your shoulders forward to have enough strength and balance.

This “new” alignment makes the vinyasa more challenging because different arm muscles are engaged but it really helped me to improve my crow poses (even one legged crow) in no time. Engaging voluntarily my hip flexors was also my key to go up to hand stand.

Give it a try and see for yourself.

 

– Stephanie –

 

 

Meditate in Sirsasana (Headstand)

Yoga is meant to be a comfortable position. But boy was I not comfortable with my legs in the air during a headstand! And soon my foot will have the desire to root themselves back to the ground.

“Engage your arms, squeeze your chest tightly!” Paalu would instruct energetically to encourage us. Great, this helped to shift the focus and I could stay 5 breathes longer upside down. But still I won’t be able to achieve the 3 minutes goal that has been set upon us to achieve at the end of the 200-hour YTT. 

Then one day Paalu gave an analogy to meditation. Imagine a sea of fishes; thoughts are like the fish jumping out of the water. Meditation works towards us achieving a state of calmness, the ocean is still, there is no jumping fish… and after some time, those fishes will compartmentalize in groups deep down the ocean and just stay there. Your mind will become one with the stillness, and clarity will simply open up.

The next time when I tried headstand… I notice the jumping fish in my mind and how my hanging feet and spine wobble. Let the fish sink, inhale slowly, exhale smoothly, count your breathes steadily, gaze at the tip of the nose, engage Uddiyana Bandha. The fish fell back into the sea. My mind steadied and I hung comfortably in the air. 

This would continue on as I hold in headstand for 3 minutes. I observe how breathing calm the nerves, the drishti gives a focus and only when the mind is still, then Sirsasana becomes a comfortable posture. 

Of course it would definitely help when one is comfortable with the arms and shoulder strength to push the ground away. And for all those can invert but not hang long enough in headstand… just remember the falling fish analogy. Meditate and work on your crown chakra.

The more challenging a yoga pose, the more relaxed one has to be to get into the posture comfortably. 

Namaste,
Ying

Beginner’s Guide to Adhomukha Shvanasana

Adhomukha Shvanasana or commonly known as downward dog is one of the most recognized yoga poses. Benefits of this asana include strengthening of the arms and shoulders and stretching out the gluteal muscles, hamstrings, calves and Achilles tendon. It also enhances blood circulation and brings energy back to the body by removing fatigue. This is the main reason why I would consider this asana to be a very important pose in a yoga sequence because if it is done properly it can help you regain your energy and aid you in not tiring easily during your sequence. Honestly, this is a pose I have yet to perfect but this simple guide that I prepared has helped me and I hope it helps anyone who is also having difficulty with this asana so that they can reap all the benefits this asana has to offer.
 Warmup ———— focus on wrists, shoulders, triceps, hips, glutes, hamstrings, calves and ankles
While standing
• Wrist rotations – 5 counts clockwise and anti-clockwise on each wrist
• Rotate both arms clockwise – 10 counts
• Rotate both arms anticlockwise – 10 counts
• Tricep stretch – 10 counts on each arm
• While standing swing one leg front and back while not moving upper body -10 counts on each leg
• Squats – 15 counts
• Hamstring stretch by bending leg to the back while standing – 10 counts on each leg
• Hamstring stretch by bending leg and bringing knee towards the chest while standing – 10 counts each leg
• Calves stretch by pushing against wall and with one leg forward and the other behind – 10 counts and switch legs – 10 counts
While lying down
• While lying down on the mat with back on the mat, bring one knee towards your chest using a strap around your feet push feet away from chest and try to straighten your leg while using your arms to pull the strap towards your chest- 10 counts on each leg
• Ankle rotations – 5 counts clockwise and anti-clockwise on each ankle
 Getting into the pose
• From a table top position with hands shoulder width part lift your hips towards the sky on exhale. Press your palms into the mat while lifting your hips and straightening your legs and grounding your heels towards your mat. Feel the lengthening of the spine. Stay here for 5 breaths.
 Tips
• Gaze between your legs
• Keep the weight evenly distributed across your hands and feet
• Belly should be in
 Variation
• Bend legs at the knees slightly and heels off the ground
By Rhadhika

My Top 5 Tips To Enhance Your Asana Practice (Part 2)

3) Remember To Breathe

Knowing when to inhale and exhale can  allow you to enter a pose more easily. For example when you are doing a forward fold, you  exhale . When you exhale, the lungs empty, making the torso more compact, so there is less physical mass between your upper and lower body allowing you to do a deeper fold.

Consistent breathing also aids you to hold a pose longer and in that way  you can enjoy the full benefits of a particular asana.  I am definitely one of those people who are guilty of holding their breath during a difficult asana.  For me, this happens when I am just too focused on getting the asana right and I end up forgetting to breathe. Soon after, I would be out of breath and wouldn’t be able to hold the pose any longer. Reminding myself to breathe ensured that I was getting enough oxygen into my body so I could maintain my poses. Focusing on my breath also helps my mind focus and in turn allows me to hold the pose longer.

4) Balancing Your Body Weight

Knowing where to balance/shift your weight during an asana ensures that you are not injuring your body and that you are not tiring out certain body parts which in turn allows you to maintain the pose longer. For example, when in a downward dog your weight should be evenly distributed between your legs and your arms. This prevents injury to your wrist and ensures that you do not tire your arms out. When you do this you will be able to hold the pose longer as more than often it is a resting pose. Another example would be any warrior pose. I would always find myself naturally putting weight in the front leg but when I started to also put weight on the back leg, the pose became less tiring.

5) Remember Your Gazing Points

This straightforward tip actually had a bigger effect on me than I thought it would have. Knowing where to look when you are in an asana ensures that you are not distracted by your surroundings and therefore aids you in focusing your mind on the pose.  I found this to be particularly helpful during balancing poses such as looking straight ahead when doing a tree pose ensured that I wasn’t distracted and this allowed me to maintain my balance for a longer period of time.

By Rhadhika 

My Top 5 Tips To Enhance Your Asana Practice (Part 1)

There were many lessons I learnt from the teacher training course that brought my yoga practice, in particular my asana practice, to the next level.  There are too many list but I would say these are my top 5:

1)  The Significance of Warming Up

I would say this is my ultimate and top tip. I used to always go straight into poses and be very discouraged when I was unable to do them even though I have tried the poses many times before. However once I learnt that I should warm up/ strengthen/loosen up the relevant muscles for a particular pose, I was able to do poses that I was never able to do before or at the very least I was getting closer to doing that. Doing a proper warmup before poses that I have yet to perfect not only enhanced my asana practice but it also boosted my morale.

2) It’s Not All About Flexibility

I think there is a common misconception that yoga is all about flexibility.  I learnt that this is not true.  Strength actually plays as an important role in yoga. Having strong muscles are not only required so you can get into some asanas but they are also required so you can maintain the pose. For example, Chaturanga Dandasana. I have always had difficulty with this asana and I realized that it was because I lacked the strength required for the pose.  I then started working on strengthening the muscles required for the pose such as my core, arms muscles (including the biceps and triceps), and upper back muscles (rhomboids, trapezius, serratus anterior) and soon enough I saw myself getting closer to perfecting an asana that once seemed unachievable.

However it’s not just physical strength that is required for certain asanas, mental strength also plays a part. I found my mental strength to be very important when I was required to hold poses. I am sure we have all been there when our mind is telling us that your body can’t hold the pose any longer and we see ourselves succumbing to these thoughts.  Once I started opposing these negative thoughts and remind myself that it is only a case of mind over matter, I could see a vast improvement in how long I was able to hold certain asanas.  My mental strength also played a part when I was doing balancing poses such as the crow pose. I learnt that the trick to the crow pose is that you had to lean forward but I was always afraid that if I did that I would fall on my face.  Using the help of yoga blocks and learning how to fall without injuring myself are some of the ways I used to diminish my fear of falling.  Overcoming this fear hasn’t been easy but, for me, acknowledging the fear was the first step and as the day’s progress I see this fear in me fading. 

By Rhadhika 

Easing Beginners into the yogi’s squat Malasana (Garland pose) 

Malasana (Garland pose) is one of my all-time favourite poses because of its simplicity in improving back posture, strengthening the ankles, stimulate digestive organs to eliminate wastes, and the nice stretch felt when one presses the elbows against the inner thigh as the pose tones the lower body. 

 

I have incorporated it into my Beginner yoga lesson plan and included asanas that open the hips, stretch the hamstrings and strengthen the inner thigh muscles. The sequence after warming up and Sun Salutation A (Surya Namaskar A) includes: Chair pose (Utkatasana), Warrior I & II (Vribadhasana I & II), Extended Side Angle Pose (Utthita Parsvakonasana), Lizard pose (Utthan Pristhasana) before transiting into Garland pose (Malasana).  The only comment from my YTT classmates that trialed my teaching is the challenge to stay longer in Lizard pose.

 

So happily after making minor adjustments to my lesson plan, I started to teach at home to accumulate practicum hours.

 

Over the two classes I conducted, 4 out of 5 students could not get into my favourite yogi squat without falling all over! I was caught off guard when the students were having such a challenging time.  However, I didn’t want to just skip a pose and move on. The graceful Plié Squat came to my mind. 

 

Plié Squat is an exercise that originated from the ballet position to keep the back straight while also bending the knees. Standing with the feet wider than hip distance apart, keep the feet turned and pointing in the same direction as the knee (45 degrees or wider). Because of the feet placements, the pose place deeper emphasis in the inner thigh adductors, while working on the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, hip flexors and calves as intended in the earlier asanas of my original lesson plan.

 

After holding in Plié Squat for 30-45 seconds, I got the students to narrow the standing stance, by shifting the foot towards each other (approx 2-3 steps inwards). The feet are still pointed towards the direction of the knee cap. And the magic happens! Keeping their back straight, all of them can now ease and lower more comfortably into Malasana and stay for 5 breaths… (before wobbling around while trying to keep the heels grounded!) 

 

Try this preparatory technique if you’d like to teach beginner students Malasana (Garland pose).

 

Cheers!

Ying.

Easing Beginners into the yogi's squat Malasana (Garland pose) 

Malasana (Garland pose) is one of my all-time favourite poses because of its simplicity in improving back posture, strengthening the ankles, stimulate digestive organs to eliminate wastes, and the nice stretch felt when one presses the elbows against the inner thigh as the pose tones the lower body. 

 

I have incorporated it into my Beginner yoga lesson plan and included asanas that open the hips, stretch the hamstrings and strengthen the inner thigh muscles. The sequence after warming up and Sun Salutation A (Surya Namaskar A) includes: Chair pose (Utkatasana), Warrior I & II (Vribadhasana I & II), Extended Side Angle Pose (Utthita Parsvakonasana), Lizard pose (Utthan Pristhasana) before transiting into Garland pose (Malasana).  The only comment from my YTT classmates that trialed my teaching is the challenge to stay longer in Lizard pose.

 

So happily after making minor adjustments to my lesson plan, I started to teach at home to accumulate practicum hours.

 

Over the two classes I conducted, 4 out of 5 students could not get into my favourite yogi squat without falling all over! I was caught off guard when the students were having such a challenging time.  However, I didn’t want to just skip a pose and move on. The graceful Plié Squat came to my mind. 

 

Plié Squat is an exercise that originated from the ballet position to keep the back straight while also bending the knees. Standing with the feet wider than hip distance apart, keep the feet turned and pointing in the same direction as the knee (45 degrees or wider). Because of the feet placements, the pose place deeper emphasis in the inner thigh adductors, while working on the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, hip flexors and calves as intended in the earlier asanas of my original lesson plan.

 

After holding in Plié Squat for 30-45 seconds, I got the students to narrow the standing stance, by shifting the foot towards each other (approx 2-3 steps inwards). The feet are still pointed towards the direction of the knee cap. And the magic happens! Keeping their back straight, all of them can now ease and lower more comfortably into Malasana and stay for 5 breaths… (before wobbling around while trying to keep the heels grounded!) 

 

Try this preparatory technique if you’d like to teach beginner students Malasana (Garland pose).

 

Cheers!

Ying.

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