Paripurna Navasana

Paripurna Navasana or the boat pose as it’s called. Is another posture I really like, probably as I find it quite easy. But then again, I have been practicing it more or less daily, for the first few years. It looks easy but it is hard work for your legs, abdomen and back muscles. In the beginning my legs started shaking like mad and still do if I stay long in it. The trick is to find your point of gravity, and do the same as in all other postures. Pull up at the kneecaps and really work your legs, keep extending the legs away from you at the same time you tuck the tailbone in, navel towards the spine and lift the chest up towards the ceiling. Instead I think most people bring their chest in and narrow it and that makes the spine convex (rounded),  instead of keeping extending the chest and front spine, while just trying to hang in there and keep the legs up. They also tend to forget to really work the legs (as we all do) but the legs are so important. When working the legs, they actually make the postures easier, ok you feel it very intensely in the legs, that burning aching feeling! The more you work the legs, the stronger the legs gets and when you start working those legs other things fall into place.

How to do it, sit on the floor with your legs bent. Hands slightly behind the hips and lean back so you sit at the back of the sitting bones. Keep your hands on the floor and lift and extend the legs up and straighten them, pulling up at the kneecaps. Then when you find your point of balance, bring your arms up in front of you at shoulder height. Keep extending the back of the legs at the same time you pull up at the kneecaps, and lift the chest towards the ceiling. Pubic bone towards the navel and navel towards the spine. Make sure you don’t round your back. As I wrote this I kept lifting my spine towards the ceiling and bringing the navel towards the spine 😉  which made me laugh. You can also start by bringing the arms up first and then the legs, some people find this easier. You do the same as above except bringing arms out first and then the legs. You shouldn’t do this pose when your on your menstrual cycle, also note that these instructions are not in full detail.

If the above is to hard and it’s impossible to straighten the legs, you can place the feet on the wall at a height that lets you straighten the legs and practice like this until you get stronger. You can also use a chair, you place your calf on the chair and hold on to the legs with your hands, keeping your arms straight. This will teach you the right alignment of the pose and it will strengthen your muscles too. When you find this too easy go back practicing without the props. In no time you will be able to do it, that said, doesn’t mean that it will be easy, but at least it will be easier. See my drawings below.

When my teenage daughter took the photo of me doing paripurna navasana, below. We were going on a girlie shopping trip to Gothenburg. I was showing her what I was doing and wanted her to take a photo (lucky I did). I thought it would be fun to do the pose near the water in the city or at a nice place. As we live in Ireland I thought she wouldn’t mind as she wouldn’t know anyone. She wasn’t to enthusiastic about the idea, but who can blame her, she’s at the age where parents are utterly embarrassing. Anyway when we got there and been shopping and walking around for hours, I found a good spot, but she said “no way will I  take a photo, it would look way to weird.” I said, “but no one knows you here”, her reply was,” but think of someone I know would be here.” After a bit of begging, it’s usually the other way around, I left it and was grateful she took a photo at all.  🙂   I do remember when I was her age how embarrassing parents could be.

Detoxifing your life….

How do we avoid people that bring us down, or minimise our exposure to these people in our life. This can be very hard, especially if the toxic people are family or long time friends. But the thing is, if they bring you down, you have to minimize the time you spend with these people. There is no other way, you can’t change other people. You can only change yourself, or in this case how you react to other people. We all have these people around us, maybe some lucky few don’t. But that is more likely due to, that they have cut these people out of their lives, or minimize the time spent with them. Some of us might even be one of these people, maybe not all the time, but at times. I know I have, when things in my life been though, and I seem to focus on the negative instead of the positive. Luckily I snap out of it fairly quick, and of course it’s hard to do. But some people are like this all the time and they can’t see it themselves. These people are very hard to be around, as they drain you. When you have been around these people you just feel tired and emotionally drained and sometimes even in a bad mood.
So would it be selfish to cut these people out of our lives? Not at all!! We have to, especially if we want to stay happy, it’s very hard to stay happy with people around you, dragging you down. So be ruthless, in this case you have to think about yourself first. If they bring you down, maybe try to talk to them. Maybe they don’t know they are like this, and maybe they don’t want to be like that. So by telling them how they make you feel, they have a chance to change. But not all people like to hear this, and some people well never change, but at least you have made an effort. If it doesn’t work and it’s a family member or someone, who you just can’t completely cut out of your life. Then minimize the time you spend with them to the bare minimum. Try to stay positive when you are around them, and when you leave, try not to let their negativity stay with you. Take a deep breath and think something positive or count your blessings, say thank you for being able to stay positive and happy.

It’s usually these people too, that try to stop you from dreaming big. Don’t let them stop you from achieving your dreams. A lot of the time, people try to stop you, because they never went after their dreams. This makes them, not want you to either. Sometimes it makes these people feel better, if you don’t go after your dreams. Then they can feel better about themselves. Always encourage people to follow their dreams, it might seem farfetched to you, but not for them. Follow your heart it never lies!! You just have to learn how to listen to it. Most things I have done in my life, I have had people trying to talk me out of it, but this only made me more determined. But a lot of people might just give up, and regret it later in life. I do truly believe that you can love, what your working with. But the road there, might be full of hard work, and doing things, you don’t like that much, just to get you to your goals!

Dream big!!!

“Aim for the moon…even if you miss you’ll land amongst the stars.”

                                                                                  – unknown

Sirsasana-Headstand

Headstand is one of many postures I have struggled with, due to my old shoulder injury. For many years my neck got sore after headstand, but it disappeared shortly after. I have tried many things, bricks, blankets, belts and bolster some worked some didn’t. Because my muscles in the upper arm and shoulder have been working differently then they should have done, this has made it very difficult to properly lift my shoulders, particularly my left shoulder, which is very important in headstand. For years I kept practising, but it wasn’t until my teacher got me to use a bolster for headstand. First then could I do head stand without my neck getting sore, this then developed into using three bricks, I found this particularly good, as this way made me work the proper muscles in my upper arm. The first few times I worked this way, I could only stay up for a few seconds and my arm started to tingle and go numb due to weak muscles (or rather muscles working the wrong way, were now forced to work properly, but which in turn pressed on nerves).

I always knew something wasn’t working properly in my upper arm/shoulder, and this made me start thinking about it even more. I kept on working this way (with the three bricks), it also made me leave the wall a few inches, but still I had contact with the wall through the bricks, at first I couldn’t believe how weak my core felt. This is the downside of working at a wall, it doesn’t work your core which is also very important in headstand. But of course in the beginning the wall is needed to make you feel safe and learn how the alignment should be and feel. I started to wean myself off the bricks and starting to use a blanket for under my head, and kept working away from the wall, but still use it as alignment. I started to build up my core strength, but I still felt my neck was sore and this prevented me from staying for any longer periods. I decided to take a photo of myself in headstand just to check my alignment, so I got one of the kids to do this. I have to say I was shocked to see how poor my alignment was, so every day I practised headstand, I took a video of myself trying to change my alignment. I watched it straight after, while the adjustment I would have done, was still fresh in my mind. This was great, but it took time, I didn’t care how long I stayed, just kept on videoing my headstand and changing my alignment, and I’m still working on this as I still have a lot to do. But as I corrected my alignment I could feel that my neck got less and less sore.

What I noticed on the first picture, was that I had a big banana shape, no wonder I sometimes felt it in my lower back ;). I do have a flexible lumber, and have worked hard on, not trying to work from my lumber, but as I turned upside down it was like starting from scratch. Every time  I do a new posture, I feel I tend to go back to this default shape. Even though my bad shoulder affects my headstand, my poor alignment is the real trouble in giving me a sore neck and watching that first picture it all made sense. I also started to go to a Physical Therapist, to sort out my shoulder once and for all, which I should have done a long time ago. But like they say “better late than never”, this was great and it was nice to get it acknowledged, that something was wrong in the way my muscles worked. She said my muscles in my upper arm, felt like ropes, and what a different it made! For every week I noticed that my muscles worked better, I could feel how my upper arm got softer and how the muscles moved better, and for the first time I could feel my dorsal spine in downward dog. As my muscles got softer and my weak muscles started working, it also meant that I got weaker in some of my postures. But I didn’t mind this, as I knew the muscles were finally starting to work properly. This has also had a great effect on my headstand and other postures, and I know it’s still a long road ahead!

If you get a sore neck in headstand, try to figure out, if it might be your alignment. Ask a qualified teacher to help you, and take videos and pictures, as it’s much easier to correct something when you can see it. But be cautious, ask  your teacher for help. Bring the photo and show it and ask how you can improve your alignment and keep on practising.

In headstand, it’s the same alignment as in Tadasana just turned upside down ,except for the arms, so everything you do in Tadasana you do the same in headstand. The only difference is that you press the lower arms and elbows into the floor. This sounds easy, especially if you have learnt to correctly do Tadasana. But as soon as you turn upside down, things that made sense standing on your feet, suddenly feels alien.

I will show some pictures below, when out of alignment in headstand, and bare with me my alignment is still under construction! The first picture shows the banana shape, you can see how I dip in my lumber and stick my floating ribs out, the second picture is slightly better, but I still dip in the lumbar and stick my floating ribs out. The third one is a lot better, but still not perfect, but as I said I’m still working on this, you can see how I dip less in the lumber and don’t stick my floating ribs out as much. You can also see how the line from shoulder-hip-ankle is more aligned. Take your time, to learn the right alignment from the beginning, even if it means you have to slow down and can’t stay up for as long, as this will pay off later on. Practice as often as you can, as this is what makes the difference!!   

Happy practicing!!!!  

Challenge yourself!

We should challenge our self, sometimes this can be hard as its quit nice to stay in our comfort zone. This is with everything, yoga, sport, everyday life, this is how we grow and feel satisfaction, well at least one of them. My challenge at the moment is to have yoga classes in Swedish, you might think this would be easy as I’m a native swede. I have lived abroad for 15 years, during this time I have spoken more English then Swedish, I’m getting more and more comfortable speaking English, I’m dreaming and thinking in English most of the time, or it might even be the whole time, my shopping list is mostly in English with a bit of Swedish thrown in. I’m starting to forget small words or everyday words but off course when I’m home they all get back to be, so deciding to have a yoga class in Swedish is a challenge but a fun one.

Every single yoga class I have went to have been in English, I trained in English and so on. But as the day came closer and I brushed up on my Swedish and I looked in Swedish yoga books to get the terminology right. When the big day came I was quit nervous, like that day I taught my first yoga class, but this time it wasn’t about the teaching aspect, but to be able to speak in my native language and saying it right. Oh my, it was harder than I thought, but I got thru it and it was great to face this challenge. I’m glad I did it, so in the future I’ll be able to travel back and forth having yoga classes/workshops. Luckily I had my step mother in the class so when I felt totally lost and couldn’t find the word I looked over at her for help, second time around I felt more at ease and some English words slipped in here and there.

This is the same in yoga, if we always working where we are comfortable we never get any further and we miss out on such great things. When you practice yoga go a bit wider with your legs in the standing poses, and press that outer edge of the back foot more into the floor and feel what happen in your body, or hold the postures longer, really work those legs in downward dog, as B.K.S Iyengar said “be cautious, be bold!”,take care of your body and listen to it, but keep on challenge yourself.

The good thing about challenge yourself is that its very humbling, in my case I was back at a place I felt loss and really had to but my nervousness aside, and its also good as you become a beginner again and in teaching yoga and practice on a different level, sometimes  its easy to forget the way you felt the first day on your yoga mat, when you looked around the room wondering will you be the only one stiff as plank or never done yoga before etc. I remember my first Utthita trikonasana (triangle pose) how my whole chest collapsed towards the floor and am thinking how am I ever getting my shoulder’s back, and these things are very hard for beginners. I love these humbling moments as it brings me closer to my students and especially the beginner ones.

So keep challenge yourself, big or small doesn’t matter just go for it!!!

  

Does makeup & trendy clothes make you fun…???

Someone told me, that my friend’s sister was more fun than her sisters, as she wears makeup and dress trendy. This made me think, is this how people think, it also made me sad. In this particular case, the girl just have a fun personality, but the thing is that it’s so shallow that people would think someone is more fun just because they wear makeup and trendy clothes. Personally I love nice clothes, I don’t really mind the brand as long as they’re nice, I buy clothes in Penney’s and I buy expensive clothes when I can afford it, but not because they are a particular brand but because I like the look. Off course more expensive clothes usually sit better and last longer.

I don’t wear makeup often, only because I don’t really have the time in the morning and probably because I’m a bit lazy, and to be honest it’s hard to fit it in with going up early, for yoga and mediation practice which I do favour more than having time to put on makeup. But don’t get me wrong I don’t have anything against people wearing makeup, I think wearing makeup is great if that’s what you like.  So maybe I’m not the most fun person but wearing makeup and trendy clothes wouldn’t make me more fun and if people’s opinion about you is based on your looks its indeed a very sad place we live in! Sometimes I wish I had the energy to put it on!! Having a teenage daughter I want to teach her that it’s the inside that counts not how you look, and as you can imagine this is not working so good at the moment, but maybe and hopefully I have planted that seed, and it’s start growing in the back of her mind to one day blossom. If not I’ll be there to quickly remind her. But like I said I might not be the most fun person in the world, but I have other qualities like being caring and considerate to other people and if someone need a hand Im happy to help to mention a few things, off course I have plenty of bad ones too, like a short temper and impatient etc but I do work on these.Edit

I think being fun is like art “its in the eye of the beholder”! It’s the same about people that don’t drink much, like myself, I very rarely drink, but this does not make me boring, but sadly a lot of people think so. I have heard on numerous occasions that “Your so boring that won’t drink” and “come on just have one glass of wine” and we’re trying to teach our kids to not fall for peer pressure and we or rather some adults are pressuring other adults to drink, ok I know we’re adults and should stand up for it, but not everyone is strong enough and by pressuring other adults be basically tell are kids that this is ok, we all know they do what we do, not what we tell them to do. People just assume if you don’t drink that equals boring, I actually enjoy not drinking more then drinking, because the day after with 3 kids it’s not a fun day. Among the reason I don’t drink much anymore is the night after regrets, laying in bed remembering the embarrassing things I said or did, and the more you think the more you remember, oh no did I say that…and you just want to crawl further and further down under the duvet, I absolutely hate this and I don’t like this guilt the day after, I love waking up with a clear head and no regrets, and this is just one reason why I don’t drink, another is I do like a good glass of red wine, but to be honest I rather drink a good cappuccino, soya off course in the coffee shop than going to the pub.

As I’m talking about what other people’s opinions about things are, I might as well bring up about being vegan and the usual comments about this. Some people always seem to have an opinion about this when you decide to change the way you eat, especially if your reason is for animal rights and environment. But whatever the reason the thing is, if someone is having you over for dinner or coffee they usually say and what are we going to give you, or what do you eat? Ok I don’t expect anyone to go out of their way to make something or even have anything, I can always eat potato/pasta/rice and veggies or a salad. What I don’t like is that some people think that my choice of being vegan is such a hassle for them, ok they might have to put some more spuds on. Off course not everyone is like this far from it, but the one’s that are tend to be very loud 😉 Sometimes I even hear, wouldn’t it be easier to go back being a vegetarian, yes maybe it would be, but the thing is I feel great so why should I give this up, just to be less hassle.

So if you don’t want to wear makeup, drink or eat meat/dairy or whichever it is, do it for yourself and don’t let anyone else change you!!! 😃