I've been given access to the Gaiam Yoga Club with Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman. I guess, in return, I'm supposed to give feedback about my experience and perhaps write about it here.
The program of videos, podcasts and print media runs for 12 weeks, and is meant for the beginner who is practicing at home. My first impression is that it's a really polished product, with high production values on the handful of videos that I've seen so far. There's a lot of material to be absorbed, even when you're not starting from scratch. Normally, this online service costs $5 a week, billed quarterly (every 13 weeks). So I am being offered the equivalent of $60 to participate, assuming that the invitation was for the whole program. I just wanted to get that out front from the beginning.
What surprised me the most is that given the high profiles of Yee and Saidman on the yoga scene, the backing of a major retailer in the lifestyle business, like Gaiam, and the strong investment already made in the product, I'm surprised that I had not heard about this service before. It was launched in May, but I have not seen much promotion for it, and I do get a fair share of yoga-related e-mails for products, retreats, and other matters. For instance, I was trying to find a graphic, a banner ad or something like that to illustrate this blog posting, and I google the web for the one displayed here. There was no spot on their website that offered graphics or a media kit.
Teresa and I outside the El Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain on our vacation earlier this month. I took in a Vinyasa Flow 2 class at Thrive Yoga with Lisa Johnson teaching this evening. Although it was a demanding class, I felt really comfortable within my body and the parameters of the class. Lisa is a really thorough Anusara teacher who goes out of her way to explain and demo what she's asking of us. Sometimes, she showed us herself; other times, she had one of the students follow her instructions and she adjusted. We did a lot of prep work for handstands and other inversions, especially getting the arms, shoulders and torso correctly aligned. Lots of work against the wall. Because I have tight shoulders with extremely limited range of movement in some directions, I appreciated the opportunity to explore my edge. Even though I worked up a sweat, the class did not push me aerobically, which was fine with me after yesterday.
So I walked out my the class without any of yesterday's complaints. I'm glad that I did not skip my yoga class because I was afraid of repeating the experience. And now, I'm pushing my bedtime back so that I can jot down these ideas before the trail goes stale.
In my previous blog entry, I said that I was "back in stride." I take that back. Yesterday, I went running at midday and barely got through an abbreviated 2.5 mile route on the Mall. Admittedly, the sun was strong and the temperature was several notches above what I've been running in. I was drained by the time I got back. In the evening, I had a commitment to take in a vinyasa one class with my daughter at Flow Yoga Center. Once again, I was really fatigued by the class. I got home, ate a quick, light dinner and then went to bed and slept for eight hours.
I have done this "running and yoga in the same day" thing before and been fine, just what would be expected in terms of physical fatigue. I've even had to calm myself down after a double sesison because my yoga practice frequently restored my energy levels and made me more alert.
I do have an inflamed throat that may be a sign of another sinus infection, which would explain some of the fatigue since the infection would drag on my energy levels. Just confirms that I need to listen to my body and follow its signals.
Labels: class, conditioning, running, Stephanie
Proof that I was actually in Spain (Segovia in this case), not at a meditation retreat in Nepal. My wife can take credit for this photograph.
This weekend I went to Susan Bowen's vinyasa class on Saturday and Sunday. I also put in an hour on the elliptical trainer and the treadmill at the gym so I feel that I have gotten back up to speed on my yoga and conditioning after my vacation break. It may be a while before I am up to full strength because I still feel the fatigue in my shoulders from lots of planks, Four-Limbed Staff Pose (Chaturanga Dandasana), and Upward-Facing Dogs (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana). On Saturday, it was a student's birthday so Susan made us do 40 vinyasas to honor her.
This 10-day process to get back into my exercise routine drives home a simple lesson: the mature adult's body takes a long time to adapt to more rigorous and skilled endeavors. I started running nine months ago, but seriously only less than six months ago. I should lower my own expectations about what I can achieve, both in the short and the long term. Instead of thinking about having lost training time due to my break, I should look at the two weeks as an opportunity for my body to relax and chill out. Although I can run three miles, it does not mean that I need to do it, especially given the wear and tear on my muscles after years of inactivity. I need to incorporate ample recovery time so that I don't stress my body too much. Hints of shins splits are a clear warning in that respect. It's not like I'm on a training schedule for a half-marathon (or any competition, for that matter).
I think it's been providential that I got into yoga before running. My gradual learning of yoga allowed me to ramp up the physical demands on my body gradually while enhancing my body awareness. Yoga's emphasis on breathing gives me a value instrument for measuring exertion while jogging. I've been using the ChiRunning technique of Danny Dyer to give me a training method in keeping with my yoga approach. I've actually had to teach my legs and core how to run, and that's included some minor pain as muscle groups have found new uses.
Labels: breathing, class, conditioning, photos, running
If you ever need an intellectual motivation to get you off your butt and into an active program of exercise, read Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
"The prescription ... varies from varies from person to person, but the research consistently shows that the more fit you are, the more resilient your brain becomes and the better it functions both cognitively and psychologically." (p. 247)
To cut to the chase, his formula calls for 30-60 minutes of aerobic exercise, usually running or equivalent intensity exercise, six times a week. On two days, he recommends five short sprints (30 seconds max) injected into a normal session (the max intervals seem to trigger the body's optimization). Strength-training helps maintain or build muscle and bone mass, which can be affected by the aging process. Ratey also suggests that yoga, tai chi, martial arts or other similar activities be added to improve balance and flexibility, as well as body awareness and concentration. Obviously, it takes time, discipline and effort to work up to the condition of being able to sustain aerobic exercise for such long periods, but you will be rewarded.
Exercise has an impact on the brain's neuroplasticity, creating new neurons as the building blocks. Ratey covered stress, anxiety, depression, attention deficit disorder, addiction, hormonal change (menopause in women) and aging in separate chapters. Far and away the best thing you can do for your brain power, mental health and physical well-being is an active daily exercise regime.
Ratey gets down to the complex, inter-related chemical processes and components that create and balance the neurotransmitters that fire up the brain within the human body. Ratey's conclusions are not new. There has been a steady drumbeat of stories in newspapers, magazines and on the web about how physical exercise can radically improve mental performance, ward off illnesses and aging and overcome mental disorders, like depression. He emphasized that it's necessary to engage in physical exercise every day, both to make it a consistent habit and to make the body respond appropriately.
Ratey is a researcher and neuro-psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School who earned a reputation working on attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). More information is available on his website and his blog, which links to news stories and features about his new book.
Labels: brain_science, conditioning, health, reading, running
No running yesterday because I took pity on my legs after jogging two days in a row. Instead, I went to Flow Yoga Center to take a vinyasa class with Stephanie, our first class together in over a month. I'm glad that Steph picked a level-one class because my shoulders and biceps were sore from the previous evening's class. The nice thing about level-one classes is that they make you concentrate on the basics -- form, breathing, ease.
Today, I ran with a work colleague who kept up the pace and made me call for mercy two-thirds of the way through. But I put in my time, just as I show up on the mat.
I am sorry to be boring people with whining about how hard it is to get back into the swing of yoga practice and running. It just makes me feel my age and the risk of atrophy. I will try to shift into more engaging subject matter.
I got an e-mail message from Christine (:Brahmi:) Romero at St. Mark's Yoga. She will be leading a Laughing Yoga session on Sunday, June 22, 2:30-3:30. This style of yoga has been getting a lot of notice recently so it should be interesting. St Mark's Yoga, located on Capital Hill, will be hosting Kirtan with As Kindred Spirits on Sunday, July 27 at 2:00-3:30. The group has been playing at local yoga studios, as well as up and down the east coast. It has a CD and is preparing a second. More information about the group at their site where you can sample their sound.
I ran again today at midday, committed to getting my stamina and wind back. I took the full three-mile route on the Mall at an easy pace, but my legs felt like tree trunks, wooden, heavy and unforgiving. I wish I had kept up a more rigorous exercise regime during my vacation, but that's asking a lot. Considering how much time I spent on my feet and walking, I'm surprised that my legs seemed so out of shape.
I finally got my first yoga class in more than three weeks, going to Thrive for a Level 2 class with Dana Cohen. She gives a very athletic class, with sensitive, deep adjustments. It was Dana's last class for a while: she's going on what she calls her "summer tour," and will be missed. When I walked out of the studio, I noticed that my body core and legs felt completely different, unrestrained and balanced. That must be one of the things that yoga does for my body, I said to myself.
I ran my three-mile route on the Mall yesterday, finally ample to sustain my pace for the whole distance while welcoming a breather at a couple of stoplights. I did not feel fatigued afterwards, and it cleared up my mind substantially for the afternoon workload. I really think that my employer should pay me for running at lunch hour (well, in a way it does). I still have gone to a yoga class yet. Too many special events (Father's Day), housekeeping tasks (how dirty a house gets in two weeks' absence), and work deadlines.
I now really appreciate the set of habits that I welded onto my daily routine to keep me coming back to my yoga and meditation practice. Vacation relieves the stress of daily life, but it also disrupts the maintenance habits. It's really taken an act of will power to start running again, and hopefully Wednesday evening I get back to Thrive.
Labels: running
The Jivamukti Yoga Satsang and Flow Yoga will bring Sharon Gannon and David Life, the guiding lights of Jivamukti Yoga, to Washington, DC, on September 6-7. They will give four workshops that could not be contained in a normal yoga studio so the Marvin Center facilities at George Washington University will be the event site. Despite the expanded facilities, expect these events to sell out quickly so anyone interested should sign up immediately. Gannon and Life have their high-profile studio, the Jivamukti Yoga School, in New York City. They are charismatic teachers and extremely influential on the US yoga scene.
On a more modest scale, another Jivamuskti instructor, Alanna (Kaivalya), the Jiva Diva, will also be teaching a workshop on "Myths of the Asana" at Flow Yoga August 17. She has a great podcast that you should check out.
Jill Abelson, the lead Jivamukti presence in DC, has been laying the groundwork for these events with her own active teaching activities at Flow and other yoga venues. She's one of my favorite teachers in the DC area.
Labels: dc_yoga, philosophy
I accomplished two things that will clear away some time: I canceled my subscriptions to the New York Times (weekend) and Time magazine. My wife had taken out the subscriptions as gifts for me. I found that I never found the time to read through the Times on Saturday and Sunday while Time was in my briefcase for reading on the metro, which meant that I have not been making progress on my stack of books. Just as when I eliminated the Washington Post a few months ago, I could not say that the time investigated in reading these periodicals helped me towards my life goals. I decided that the only way to zero in on my priorities and cutting out the extraneous. I can still get news on the Web and I can trim my subscription budget a little. More subscriptions will probably bite the dust as they come up for renewal.
Labels: life style, news
My son, Matt, had another set of photographs on public display at Artomatic, the yearly, month-long, DC-area multimedia free-for-all that fills up an empty office building with the creative work of hundreds artists of varying degrees of accomplishment and invention. The show will be taken down tomorrow so we went to see it this evening since our travels had prevented us from taking it in sooner. Matt had to put in his time as a volunteer at the event (a requirement of all participating exhibitors) but he got away from a few moments so that I could snap this picture of him.
Matt drew a lot of attention, apparently, and I had feedback from a friend who chanced upon the exhibit and thought it was really good. Matt also got a favorable review by Mark Power (his photography teacher so he may not have been completely impartial, but probably sensitive): "His work may not have been the "best" photography at Artomatic but I liked it the best." According to the exhibit rules, Matt had to design, build and set up his exhibit himself so he invested a lot of time getting the show ready, even learning how to frame pictures. As I mentioned here previously, he was in an photo exhibit in March.
I thought his photos were quite inventive and the triptych plus one format created a kind of graphic language that tapped into quotidian objects for resonance and irony. Matt had never shown any "artistic" tendencies in childhood; he had plenty of potential as a writer. His training as a geographer (cartography, remote imaging, and other graphics) probably opened him to more visual expression. He's mostly self-taught, except for a few classes that he's taken recently.
While traveling in Spain, I was not able to fit in much exercise or yoga practices. The week before leaving and all the prep work required that I ease off on my practice and running. So it's been about three weeks since I've really pushed my body out of its comfort zone. Today, I went out at lunch time to run on the Mall on my own. I felt good for the first 15 minutes, but then I began to notice how hard it was becoming, a queasy feeling in my stomach, a heaviness in my legs and a tightness in my breath. The sun was bearing down like a klieg light and I relished every spot of shade along the route. Although the heat had backed off its 100-degree-plus peak of the preceding days in Washington, it was still more than what I had been used to in Spain, which had been consistently chilly. After two miles, I had to pull up and just walk the remaining mile back to the office. My stamina was just not there, because of the heat, the lack of exercise, just the fatigue of travel, or all of the above.
During the summer, it's going to become more difficult to run at lunch time, due to Washington's heat and humidity during the summer. I enjoy getting the sweat going, but I've never tried to do anything like jogging under the midday sun in muggy Foggy Bottom. I know that one of my running mates and switched over to a gym in the morning. In any case, I need to work my way back into full operating strength gradually and accept the pace that my body dictates.
Labels: conditioning, running
Mike Albo (or the Underminer, as he likes to call himself), Crossroads Films YouTube basecamp or standard website, parodies the yoga studio scene and the one-up-manship that taints the environment. It's very wicked and sounds true. Enjoy!
Fat People are Doing It! Yoga and The Underminer
Labels: life style, videos
I am back from our Spanish vacation, even though American Airlines did everything possible to keep me in Madrid, including unilaterally suspending our return flight reservations without notifying us. I did not get many chances to practice yoga, though I did fit in mini-sessions of mindfulness. I did learn a lot about my body from the harried pace of trans-Atlantic flights, long drives and sight seeing. After spending four hours walking through the corridors of El Prado Museum taking in the masters of Velasquez, El Greco and Goya, I could really feel the fatigue in the small of my back and my lower abdomen. But I discovered that by leveling my hips I could feel immediate relief. I focused on keeping my spine balanced on top of my hips. Another confirmation that I have hyperlordosis from years slumped over a keyboard.
