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Feeling Anxious? Five Foods That May Be Stressing You Out

Times are tough and it’s clear that many of us are under a lot of stress.

And as you may know, yoga is proven to help people deal with stress. But yoga isn't going to help you very much if you are opposing it’s effect by eating foods that actually CAUSE you stress.

So to supplement your yoga practice and help you cope with any anxiety you are experiencing, here are 5 foods that you absolutely should significantly decrease or avoid:

1. Processed white sugar has no nutritive value, and provides a short boost of energy that is then followed by an energy crash. This high/low energy cycle taxes your adrenal glands, potentially resulting in depression, fatigue, and irritability. Examples: processed cookies, cakes, donuts, candy.
2. Eating foods high in saturated fats may result in obesity, which puts stress on your cardiovascular and digestion systems. Examples: fried foods, lard, butter, high-fat dairy products, meat.
3. Alcohol converts to sugar in your body, stimulating the adrenal glands and leading to high stress and insomnia. Excess alcohol may increase the fat deposits in your heart and impair your immune function. It also harms the liver’s ability to remove the toxins that stress produces from your body. If these toxins are not removed they continually circulate through the body, which can be quite damaging. Examples: beer, wine, hard liquor.
4. Limit your sodium intake. Sodium increases your blood pressure, exhausts your adrenal glands, and may cause emotional instability. It also causes bloating, leaving you feeling uncomfortable and stressed. Examples: Bacon, ham, pickles, sausage, processed foods (a 4-inch oat-bran bagel has 451 mg of sodium!) salad dressings, ketchup.
5. Caffeine releases adrenaline, which increases your stress level and may wear out your adrenal glands. Caffeine may also interfere with your metabolism. Examples: coffee, soda, tea, chocolate.
   

Now, isn’t it odd that these are all foods that we tend to turn to when we are stressed?

Yoga Pose of the Week: Lunge

Lunge is a key yoga asana (pose) as it sets you up for several other yoga poses such as Warrior 1, high lunge, revolved high lunge, and revolved side angle pose. So if you get the hang of lunge pose you’ll be better prepared for going into the other more advanced yoga postures. Lunge pose is also terrific for building lower body strength and stretching the hip flexors (which prepares you for my favorite yoga poses: back bends!).

Here are a few ways to get into lunge pose (try them all to see which you like best):

• From forward fold, step your left foot back as far as it can go while keeping your right knee above your right ankle.

• From Downward-Facing Dog, step your right foot forward between your hands and align your knee over your heel.

• From standing at the back of your mat, take a giant step forward with your right foot and align your right knee over the ankle. Stretch your left leg back as far as it will go.
  

Once you get into lunge:

• Draw your right knee forward while resisting the front shin back at the same time
• Extend out from your core through your left heel
• Sink your right hip
• Lift the underneath of your back upwards
• Gaze forward as you lift and expand your chest

Here are some common misalignments in lunge:

Front knee is not above the ankle. To adjust, just draw the knee back to center.


Back leg sinks. Radiate back through your heel and lift the back leg upwards.


Head hangs low/chest collapses. Roll your shoulders back and lift the chest.

Downward Facing Freud: Yoga and Psychotherapy Team Up

Well the hot yoga topic of the week is that Time magazine published an article called Psychotherapy Goes from Couch to Yoga Mat about how yoga is being used to help with emotional healing. It’s called yoga therapy, and it’s being offered by therapists, counselors, and yoga teachers.

From the article: “The idea, say yoga therapists, is to allow yoga to empower people while priming them to access their deepest emotions.”

I’m kind of wondering what kind of training the psychologists and psychiatrists have to do this. I know that as a yoga teacher, I would go get certified as a yoga therapist before I advertised myself as one. Do the mental therapists have actual teacher training in yoga? Yoga therapy? Have they studied anatomical and energetic alignment? Do they understand kinesthetics?

Anyway, the whole thing is based on the idea that your deepest emotions are stored in your body. Dr. Elizabeth Visceglia, a psychiatrist and yoga therapist based in New York City, says “Ideally one would want to work with someone who is paying attention to both the physical and emotional experiences."

Many of us in the fitness / exercise / yoga world have either experienced first hand or seen emotional release during physical activity. In yoga, I’ve seen people cry or get anxious during deep hip openers such as pigeon pose or gomukhasana. There’s also the “high” that the people report during activities like running and other intense exercise.

What about you? Have you felt that “runner’s high?” Have you panicked in pigeon?

Even MORE Tips for Getting Ready for Summer

Over the last two weeks I’ve provided you with my top tips for getting ready for the summer:

1. Get a reality check by stepping on the scale and / or trying on some of your summer clothes.
2. As the weather gets warmer, start going for walks outside.
3. Find a buddy or join an exercise class.
4. Transition to eating “spring foods.”
5. Consider doing a spring detox
6. Decrease foods that cause bloating

If you’ve been following these tips, I’m sure you are already looking and feeling great!
Here are my final four tips for getting ready for summer:

• Use a Neti Pot. Neti Pot is an ancient technique for cleaning your sinuses. Who wants to walk around all stuffed up with a red nose?! It used to be considered way “out there” to use a net pot, but more and more I’m seeing it appear in the mainstream.

• Take the Clean Sweep quiz. Just like you spring clean your house, Clean Sweep is a personal assessment consisting of 100 questions. Once you go through these questions, you will be VERY CLEAR on what in your life needs your attention. Check it out at http://www.betterme.org/cleansweep.html.

• Begin a spiritual practice, or strengthen the one you have. We all need reminders of our connection with the Spirit. Consider reading a spiritual book (I recommend anything by Byron Katie), or starting a spiritual practice such as meditation or attending services.

• Make a decision - If you watch Oprah, you know exactly what I am talking about. I'm talking about MAKING THE DECISION TO LIVE THE LIFE YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO LIVE. Consider this: your life is not a dress rehearsal. So why are you living as if it is? I think everyone does this to some degree. Spring is a perfect time to make the decision to live differently - to eat well, to be active, and to do the things you want to do. So make a "spring resolution." Even if you just pick one thing that you really want for yourself.

So are you ready? Start right now. No really, NOW. Pick at least one of these things off this list (or think of something else that makes sense to you), and put it into action.
Feel free to share below or email me :)

Yoga Pose of the Week: Chaturanga Dandasana

By far, the yoga pose I see students struggle with the most is Chaturanga Dandasana.
Chaturanga is usually practiced a lot in a vinyasa yoga class as it’s one of the Sun Salutation sequences of yoga poses, and is often used as a connecting vinyasa between segments of a vinyasa yoga class.

How to get into Chaturanga:

1. From Plank Pose, draw your belly in and lengthen your tailbone. Extend out through your heels and your heart.
2. Begin to bend your elbows, keeping them close to your ribs, and lower your torso about half way to the floor. Your upper arms should be in line with your torso.
3. Pause here and maintain for 3-5 breaths – this is Chaturanga!

Sounds simple enough, huh? Here are some common misalignments:

• Elbows flay out to the sides. Draw the elbows in towards your ribs and send them straight back as you lower down.

• Belly sinks to the floor. Draw in your belly and lengthen your tailbone. If you cannot lower into Chaturanga without maintaining the line from your heels to your shoulders, then practice everything above on your knees. If you still “break the line,” then practic Plank Pose until you develop the core strength you need.

• Too close to the ground / shoulders dip. This is so bad for your shoulders! Have a buddy guide you to the proper height by placing their hand under your shoulder so you know when to stop.

• Too far forward in Plank before lowering down. This puts a lot of pressure on your wrists and shoulders, and is unnecessary. Maintain your shoulders over your wrists – do not shift forward before lowering.

• Collapse between the shoulder blades. While in Plank or Chaturanga on your knees, practice broadening your shoulder blades and pressing your hands into the ground.

• Grimacing and looking miserable. Ok not so much a misalignment but a reminder to ENJOY your yoga practice! Even a challenging yoga pose like Chaturanga can be enjoyable when you practice it and adopt the right attitude!
  

Should Your Dog Practice Yoga with You?

I’m a huge dog lover.

I also love yoga. LOTS of people love dogs and also love yoga, and so now we have “Doga,” a yoga class for humans and their dogs. Here’s what happens in a Doga Class:

“In chaturanga, dogs sit with their front paws in the air while their human partners provide support. In an “upward-paw pose,” or sun salutation, owners lift dogs onto their hind legs. In a resting pose, the person reclines, with legs slightly bent over the dog’s torso, bolster-style, to relieve pressure on the spine.” (NYTimes, 04/08/09)

I can’t imagine my two 80-pound Labrador Retrievers would love to sit with their front paws in the air while I support them, or for me to lift them onto their hind legs. Are you kidding? They’d hate it. And they’d surely be more interested in sniffing the other dogs’ butts than acting as a bolster for me to relax my spine!

My dogs are DOGS and they live dog lives.
Here are ways that I treat my dogs like dogs:

1. They don’t eat what I eat
2. I don’t ask them to get a job and pitch in on the household chores
3. I don’t expect them to understand everything I am saying and I don’t require that they answer me
4. I take them for long walks everyday and they are on leashes (I’m not)
5. I get down on the floor with them and wrestle and play and snuggle
6. I don’t make them go to Doga classes

Doesn’t this dog look miserable (photo from the New York Times)? I think this is bordering on animal cruelty.

I’d love to hear what you think. Is Doga just another way to package up yoga to be appealing to Westerners? Do you think it is good for Yoga? For Dogs? Do you think it demeans yoga? Dogs?