There are 3 different effects that a yoga practice can have on energy.
One is brmhana. This is an energizing type of practice! The word comes from the Sanskrit root word meaning "to expand."
It's opposite langhana is purifying, calming, and reducing. You'll feel this way after a restorative yoga class. This is related to the word laghu, light. These practices calm the nervous system and help clear & cleanse the body.
Samana - balancing, is a combination of the two. In this kind of practice you'll do a combination of energizing and relaxing practices.
When you know which practices & postures are energizing or relaxing, you can create your own home practice to help you achieve the energetic state you want.
When thinking of Brmhana yoga practices, it is important to emphasize:
- Postures: Back bending, side bending, repeating postures several times, faster practice, and/or longer holds in stronger postures help build strength and energy. Shorter rest periods. Less emphasis is on forward bending, twisting, and slow, gentle stays which are langhana - these practices calm, purify and reduce.
- Breath work: Inhale & exhale of equal duration increase energy. Gentle holds of the breath after inhale and/or alternate nostril inhale (see breath blog) build energy. Building the breath to a comfortable maximum inhale & exhale is important. Straining or forcing the breath is not healthy, it's like straining any other muscle! In langhana, (reducing) practices, emphasis is on longer exhales or holding the breath comfortably after exhaling.
- Chant: Louder, faster chanting with higher pitch increases energy / Slower, quieter, & at lower pitch calms the body. The choice of chants also has either a stimulating or calming effect. Try making the sound ahhhh vs the sound eeeeeee and you can sense which one is calming.
Krama inhale is a useful practice to build energy and to help you develop your inhale. For many people, inhale is the more challenging portion of the breath, and this practice helps build inhale.
To practice 2 stage krama;
- Build inhale & exhale to 8 seconds over the course of several breaths.
- Inhale focusing on expanding your chest on all four sides: 3 seconds, hold breath 3 cts
- Inhale softening the belly: 3 seconds, hold breath 3 cts
- Exhale 6 counts.
Of course, to practice at home, when you're doing a building, energizing practice, you'll want to add forward bends to relax & stretch the back after back bends. Just don't emphasize calming stays in forward bends. This will keep your energizing practice from becoming a balancing practice, which is a nice combination of both energizing and reducing postures. Of course, while a qualified yoga teacher may be able to help you create something that really meets your needs, you can log your home practices, and see what postures and practices influence you and how!
In this way, you'll gain insight into yoga and how it affects your own system.
Kathy
Tap into your own depth revel in the consequences! Inhale
Practicing yoga during pregnancy can be wonderful for both your body and mind. As your body changes and new life develops inside you, yoga can help you adapt and center during this time of great change.
Yoga designed specifically for antenatal women presents a way to keep the body in shape throughout pregnancy, while preparing for labour and motherhood.
Here are some of the benefits:
Through yoga, you can tone muscles, improve posture, and keep balance as you grow. The strengthening and stretching can help to decrease the aches and pains that come from increased weight and your shifting balance and center of gravity.
Yoga helps to relieve stress and tension by training your body to relax, which can be very helpful during labour and during other stressful times.
The different types of yogic breathing can be either energizing or calming, and are very useful for labor. They can also be used during any stressful situation, in pregnancy or once the baby is born. The visualizations can also decrease tension, and bring a deeper connection inward to your baby and also to your deepest feelings.
It is important to check with your doctor before beginning antenatal yoga, just as you would with any exercise routine. Also, make sure your instructor has had specialized training in prenatal yoga.
In class, pay attention to your body and to what feels good when you are practicing. Whenever you exercise -- especially at this time-- there is the risk of doing too much, so if you feel any pain, or discomfort, stop. It's also very important for pregnant women to make sure not to overstretch because mid-pregnancy, hormones loosen the joints, and you don't want to stretch them more. A good teacher, and a consistent, gradual practice will make a big difference.
Yoga can help you return your body to it's best shape after labour, as well. Just make sure you have your doctor's approval before you begin. The breathing and meditative processes will also enable you to better handle the life changes that a new baby brings.
Ujjayi is a breathing technique that you'll encounter at some point in your yoga adventures, whether you know it or not! The problem is, that in most classes neither the technique, nor its benefits are explained in full, so to get you clued up and top of the class, here's the low-down on the fine art of breathing.
Taking a deep breath
Ujjayi translates as ‘the victorious breath’. Sometimes called the ‘ocean breath’ or ‘Darth Vader’ because of the sound made by the air as it comes in through the constricted space, breathing in this way requires a partial closing of the glottis (the vocal folds and the space between them) in the back of the throat.
As the throat is narrowed, the airway becomes smaller and the result of the passing air is a rushing sound. The sound can be loud and forceful or gentle and very quiet, but the pitch should be uniform and not jerky or jarring. The length and speed of the breath is then controlled by the diaphragm, making the all important muscle even stronger with practice.
Breathing out...
For ujjayi novices, the easiest way to learn how to do this is to open your mouth and make a forceful breath with a huff sound – the same noise you make when you blow on a window to try and fog it up. Try it a second time, this time closing the mouth halfway through and you’ll have mastered the exhale.
...and in
To replenish your airways, keep the back of the throat closed and inhale. Continue for several breaths, then, once you're comfortable with this technique, add a gentle pause of 1-2 seconds after the inhale, and after the exhale.
Why ujjayi?
Ujjayi is one of the few breathing techniques that can be practised throughout the duration of a class. It also has a heating (ushna, in yogic language) effect on the body so the more forceful the ujjayi, the stronger the heat, which in turn gets the body warmed up and ready for deeper asana practice.
On a deeper level, this breath stimulates the vagus nerve - an important nerve that runs through the lungs, the stomach, and has an effect on the heart. Gentle stimulation of this nerve relaxes the heart rate and normalises blood pressure.
Air Ways
Ujjayi breathing has many variations. For example, you can breathe in with the ujjayi breath, then close the right nostril with the thumb and breathe out through the left nostril, which is only partly closed. Then inhale through both nostrils again with ujjayi, but this time exhale through the right, completing one round. This technique is called an anuloma ujjayi or ‘with the grain’ and helps the practitioner focus, slow down and relax via slow exhalation.
The other technique is called ‘viloma ujjayi, or ‘against the grain’, where the trick is to breathe in through one nostril and breathe out with ujjayi breath. This technique is used to help slow and lengthen the inhalation.
In both variations with the nostril techniques, there is a rule to remember: when we regulate the breath through the nostril, we don't constrict the throat at the same time. The right way is to valve at the throat, and then valve at the nostril, alternately.
Although the total length of time for a single round of breathing will vary from person to person, certain durations of inhalation, pause and exhalation will influence you in different ways:
Holding the breath after inhalation gives you an energising boost of oxygen
Holding the breath moderately after exhaling relaxes the body
What to do
A worthy goal is to do a breathing practice for five minutes, slowing the duration of the inhale and exhale, little by little. Over a period of weeks and months, you can then comfortably slow the breath more and more. This will have a positive effect on your mind and stress levels, your immunity, and your ability to respond, instead of react, to the world.
What not to do
Never force or strain the breath, never inhale for longer than you exhale and don't hold your breath for a longer period than your exhale either – remember this is for initiated yogis, not for the beginner.
Although Yoga has been honoured as a powerful healing tool for thousands of years, only recently has it received the attention of the scientific community…
• In 1998 The Journal of The American Medical Association described an 8-week yoga program as having positive results for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.
• In 2005 The Annals of Internal Medicine reported a yoga program had significant benefits for people suffering from chronic back pain.
• A recent study at the University of California used yoga to reduce hot flushes.
• Multiple studies show that yoga helps decrease blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health.
• Two nursing studies published in 2008 showed improvements in sleep, mood (less depression) as well as improved muscle mass, cardiovascular-respiratory functions, and range of motion in senior citizens who participated in a “silver yoga” program.
These studies ignited interest among healthcare professionals and the public since they revealed the potential of therapeutic yoga as a scientifically based healing modality. However, these positive results have brought about a significant problem. Many yoga students believe that it is possible to walk into any yoga class and receive the benefits of therapeutic yoga.
Unfortunately, not all classes are designed to address a person’s specific health needs. On occasion, people who attend general group classes see their condition worsen. This could be because there is a crucial difference between the typical yoga class and the specialised field of yoga therapy.
The key to yoga therapy's effectiveness is differentiation. Classes or sessions are tailored to the needs of people with specific conditions: back pain, neck and shoulder tension, heart conditions, sleep problems and more. The postures and practices most beneficial to the condition being treated are chosen, and those that may be risky or detrimental are avoided. In the carpal tunnel research program, postures often found in yoga classes such as downward dog (hips raised high in the air, hands and feet on the floor) were left out in favor of postures with less risk and greater benefit to the wrists. Thus, in order for yoga therapy to be effective, it is necessary to select yoga practices carefully, even modifying or adapting the postures so they become safer.
Most often, yoga therapy is accomplished in small groups or in a one-on-one setting. In an individual session, a short practice can be tailor-made for the client. For example, working with Sarah, a woman with knee pain, poor elimination and nervousness, a short practice of postures was created to strengthen and balance her knees, using certain twists and forward bends to massage the belly and stimulate elimination. Following that, we chose a calming breathing technique to soothe her mind. While the constipation cleared after a few days and did not recur, it took a week or two of practice before her knee felt better. When the nervousness returns — less frequently now than before — Sarah uses her breathing practice to calm herself.
For Marv, who slept fitfully 2-4 hours a night, a CD of simple postures and breathing techniques to use at bedtime was created specifically for him. His nightly sleep increased to seven hours and come morning, he now feels rested.
In choosing a yoga therapist, find one who is knowledgeable about your needs. Certain training programs address only the emotions; whereas others may address structural or physiological conditions, and in some cases, therapists receive training in all three areas. Be wary of classes that group together people with hip, knee, back and shoulder problems. Although you may benefit in some ways, postures that alleviate some of these conditions may aggravate others.
Whether a client chooses a class setting or a personalised session, the key to success in yoga therapy is to feel connected to the healing process. A good therapist will inspire and motivate clients to do a short at-home practice that can be done in 10-15 minutes to help relieve symptoms. The therapist will also help the client take steps to uncover and eliminate factors that may cause or aggravate the problems. This may include avoiding certain postures or changing a daily habit, such as the position of the neck while talking on the phone.
The ultimate goal of yoga therapy is to help individuals facing health challenges at any level by empowering them to take do-able steps that reduce pain and symptoms, balance energy levels, improve attitude and increase overall wellbeing.
Joy, Peace, Light,
Kathy
