Five-Minute Yoga

Early in 2006, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. Not osteopenia, which is a weakening of the bones, but full-fledged osteoporosis.

At first I felt betrayed.

I had been practicing yoga for almost 20 years. Yoga is supposed to be protective, to build bones through weight bearing. Downward dog, headstands, shoulder stands, handstands  – I had found a gym inside my own body, and I used it.

Besides, I was doing everything else that doctors recommended: lots of calcium and vitamin D, lots of walking, no smoking and very limited amounts of alcohol.

But with osteoporosis, genetics trumps prevention. I’m a fair-skinned woman of European descent. My mother once broke a vertebra by sitting down hard in an upholstered chair.

My doctor said the new reading might have been the difference between the old bone density scanner and the new one, and not really a change.
She talked about the importance of balance, and muscle strength, and the fact that bone density and fractures don’t correlate as precisely as you might imagine.
And she suggested I try one of the drugs, Fosamax, that works by inhibiting osteoclasts, the cells that lead to bone resorption into the blood stream.

I took Fosamax for a while, but then I read stories about the link between this family of drugs and a condition called jaw necropsy, in which the bones of the jaw die because the decayed cells are no longer being cleaned away. I stopped taking it.

For a while I felt fragile, as though I might break at any moment. I stopped doing hand balancings, fearing for my wrists. Then I got angry. One morning practice, on a backbends day,  I did headstand drop-overs, one after another, with a most unyogic curse word between each one. Nothing happened.

In the next six months I fell twice, both times badly. Nothing broke.

It’s been more than four years now, and my practice is stronger now than it was then.

Still, I’m faced with the same dilemma as everyone else who gets a diagnosis of osteoporosis.  If I don’t take the drugs, there’s really nothing I could do about it, except to go on following the guidelines for prevention – and they didn’t work.

Right now I’m travelling in Wales. If I weren’t, I would be signing up for Faye Berton’s Bones for Life workshop,

Faye has more than 20 years of yoga and Feldenkrais teaching experience, and is a certified Bones for Life instructor, based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Bones for Life is based on the work of Ruthy Alon, a Feldenkrais practitioner. She teaches bone-strengthening movements  and alignment  that strengthen bones through normal movement. As she writes on her website:

“Comparative research shows that African women, who carry massive loads on their heads with effortless grace, are one hundred times less liable to fractures than women in the West, despite the fact that their bone density is lower than that of Western women.”

The Bones For Life movements are gentle enough for seniors, but, at least on the evidence of some rather grainy videos posted on YouTube, effective enough to create dramatic change in the way people move.

It makes sense to me that changing the way we carry our weight could change the way our bones respond.

And that’s by far the most useful thing I’ve seen so far to do about osteoporosis.

Bones for life is coming to Yoga on 7th on July 24 and 31, two Saturday afternoons, from 1 to 5 p.m. It’s in two parts; the first Saturday open to everyone, the second to those who have attended the first.

If you’re interested in attending, check the Yoga on 7th website for more details, or email Mary Balomenos at mbalomenos@gmail.com.

The Sadhanistas at the end of our last morning

We are all in the picture together because Jenny set my camera up to do a time lapse photo, and she and Koreen piled enough chip foam blocks on a chair to achieve the right height. We’re missing only one Sadhanista, Maureen, who had an early morning bike trip planned, and couldn’t convince her fellow bikers to start a little later.

As happy as I am to have the choice of rising early or sleeping late for the rest of the summer, I’m going to miss this group, and the energy, enthusiasm and good humor that filled the studio every morning.

And the restorative practice?

Perhaps yesterday’s proposed class plan would have been possible if we’d all known all of the poses and all of the setups ahead of time. But we didn’t.

By 7:30 I was looking at the list and deciding what to skip. And Savasana was only five minutes, not the promised 10.

Restorative classes always go quickly. That’s a lesson I seem to learn and then repeatedly forget, swept up in the excitement of trying a different sequence, or a new  setup that felt so good when I tried it.

Perhaps I might make a sign that reads: “Keep It Simple,” and hanging it on the wall by my desk.

Here’s what we really did:

Restorative: Day 10

Adho Mukha Virasana (downward facing hero) 2 to 3 minutes

Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward dog) in sling at rope wall or with head support and hands to the wall. 2 to 3 minutes

Uttanasana (standing forward bend) head support, to chair
3 to 5 minutes

Sirsasana (headstand) in the ropes 3 to 5 minutes

Viparita Dandasana (inverted stick pose) on two stools, with two bolsters, or one bolster and blankets, feet at the wall. 3 to 5 minutes

OR chest opening on horizontal bolster, support for the head if necessary

Salamba Sarvangasana (shoulder stand) on a chair, 5 to 10 minutes
set up with your head to the wall and move from the chair to Nirlamba Sarvangasana

Nirlamba Sarvangasana (unsupported shoulder stand) feet to the wall
5 minutes

Setubanda Sarvangasana (shoulder stand bridge pose) on long bolster, feet to the wall, strap around the thighs, blanket under shoulders. 10 minutes

Paschimottanasana (seated forward bend) with head support 3 to 5 minutes

Viloma Pranayama with interrupted exhalation, lying down, five minutes

Savasana (corpse pose) with chest elevated 5 minutes

My thanks to all of the Sadhanistas. I hope your practice stays steady, strong and joyful.

Sunrise in Vourvourou, Greece

This morning we worked our way through the twists practice for the last time.

Tomorrow morning, for the 10th day of Sadhana, we’ll do a  restorative practice.

There was some discussion of starting late, because of the July 1 holiday, but it turns out that at least two people wouldn’t be able to come. So that leaves us with one  last day of getting out of bed at 5 and starting practice at 6:30.

We all know it’s going to be, if not easy, then at least doable.

Ten days of early rising looked like such a stiff  climb when we started, but here it is, coming up to day 10 and the mountain has turned into something more like a stepladder: steep, for sure, but short.

Casting around for a good restorative practice to tackle early in the morning, I found myself looking at the practice in the back of Light on Life. (There’s a drawing of each pose, if you’re unsure of what the props would look like.)

Although the heading on the page is “Asanas for Emotional Stability,” each one of these poses is a mainstay of restorative practice. And in the sequence that Guruji gives, they lead to Viloma Pranayama, which, he writes, “allows you to experience inner silence.”

I know we won’t be doing the whole practice, in part because of time, in part because we have eight rope sets and 17 Sadhanistas. I’ll let you know how it goes when I get home on Thursday morning.

So here’s the dream plan for tomorrow:

Restorative: Day 10

Adho Mukha Virasana (downward facing hero)  2 to 3 minutes

Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward dog) in sling at rope wall or with head support and hands to the wall.  2 to 3 minutes

Uttanasana (standing forward bend) head support, to chair, 3 to 5 minutes

Sirsasana (headstand) in the ropes      3 to 5 minutes

Viparita Dandasana (inverted stick pose) on two stools, with two bolsters, or one bolster and blankets. 3 to 5 minutes,

OR chest opening on horizontal bolster, support for the head if necessary

Salamba Sarvangasana (shoulder stand) on a chair, set up with your head to the wall and move from the chair to Nirlamba Sarvangasana,   5 to 10 minutes

Nirlamba Sarvangasana (unsupported shoulder stand) feet to the wall,  5 minutes

Half Halasana (plow pose) with thighs resting on a chair seat with bolster on the chair seat, five to 10 minutes

Setubanda Sarvangasana (shoulder stand bridge pose) on long bolster, feet to the wall, strap around the thighs, blanket under shoulders. 5 to 10 minutes

Viparita Karani (inverted lake pose) legs up the wall, bolster under pelvis, 5 minutes

Paschimottanasana (seated forward bend) with head support   3 to 5 minutes

Upavistha Konasana (wide-angle seated forward bend) head resting on chair seat or bolster,  2 minutes

Baddhakonasna (bound angle pose)  3 to 5 minutes

Supta Virasana (reclined hero pose) using bolsters or chair   3 to 10 minutes

Viloma Pranayama with interrupted exhalation, seated or lying down, 5 to 8 minutes if seated

Savasana (corpse pose) with chest elevated, 10 minutes

Photo courtesy Phillipp Klinger, Flickr Creative Commons.

Sunrise with Gulls at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

It doesn’t seem possible, but there it is: we’re in the last practice cycle.

Today it was forward bends. Tomorrow we’ll do back bends, on Wednesday twists, and on Thursday, a restorative practice. Then the Sadhana will be over.

As the days go by, the practice goes more smoothly. Looking around this morning, I saw more focused work in arm balance, stronger headstands and more certainty in the standing poses.

So much in yoga still surprises me, and this perhaps most of all: all we have to do is practice, and the poses come.

Getting it perfect isn’t important. It doesn’t even matter if you do the full pose or stop at one of the numerous bus stops along the way.

As long as you show up, day after day, and put yourself mindfully into the shape of the pose, your practice will improve.

So far, the Sadhanistas have had no trouble showing up. Only four people have had to miss a morning, which, out of a possible attendance of 117 over the past seven days, is under four percent absentee rate.

No wonder the room looks steadier.

Photo from Flickr Creative Commons, courtesy of TheMarque.

Yoga on 7th on June 25 at 6:15 a.m. – a perfect day for back bends

I made it to bed last night around 10:30, and had just turned out the light when I remembered that I hadn’t laid out my clothes for the morning.

Tired as I was, I got up, gathered the tights, t-shirt and underwear and hung them in the bathroom.

Any other night I might have weighed the options and decided to stay horizontal.

But I know I don’t cope well with choice at 5 a.m. and I also know that strange fluke of time that makes the minutes in the morning, before you leave the house, so much more fleeting than the minutes in the evening, when there’s nowhere else you need to be.

It reminded me of how taking on an early morning practice shapes not just the morning, but the night before. And a commitment to a regular morning practice eventually changes the shape of all of your days.

Day five means we are halfway through the Sadhana.

Right now I have the best motivation in the world to prepare the night before and get up when the alarm goes off.

From the talk in the room, I know there are several Sadhanistas who want to keep on practicing early when the Sadhana is over.

So how do we find our motivation after July 1?

Sunrise at Devil's Tower National Monument, Wyoming – not as steep a climb as getting up some mornings

One thing I wanted to accomplish during this sadhana was to reconnect with the joy of early morning practice – and joy it is.

For one thing, the nagging little voice that says: “It’s time for practice, better start now, let’s get going, when do we start?” and on, and on, ad infinitum, is quiet.

By 9 a.m., when I’ve said goodbye to the Sadhanistas, done my inversions and rested in Savasana, my practice is done. Anything more I might do in the day is gravy.

But it’s not just that. There’s something special about practice in the morning, a particular lightness and clarity. And despite the early rising, it seems to add energy to the day, not subtract it.

“I get a real burst of energy when the practice is over,” Joanne said on her way out the door. “I find I have to hold myself back a bit when I get to work, so as not be too obnoxious.”

And on day four, now that my anxiety over sleeping in – and leaving 17 people at the door, waiting for me – has subsided, I’d say yes, I’m back in touch with the delight of the morning.

The second round of forward bends practice unfolded much as the first one did. Once more we ran out of time before we could do Marichyiasana I.

Well, there’s one more forward bend practice to go. Maybe next time.

Photo courtesy of backpackphotography on Flickr Creative Commons.

A New Zealand June sunrise

This morning when I looked outside at 5:15 a.m. the sun was already up, just hidden behind the perpetual cloud cover.  I’m looking forward to the first clear blue-sky morning.

Today’s sequence, as usual, wasn’t quite what I posted yesterday, although it was close.

Chattush Padasana fell by the wayside.

And we followed shoulder stand with a sequence I learned in Pune and practice often: Maryichiasna III followed by Malasana, repeated two to three times, sitting on the shoulder stand setup for height. Eight a.m. was drawing near, so we practiced it only twice, before settling into Savasana.

Tomorrow, twists. I expect it will look something like this:

Twists: Day 3, 6, 9

Sitting  5 to 10 minutes

Constructive rest position/pavanamuktasana 3 to five minutes

Adho Mukha Virasana (downward-facing hero pose)  1 minute

Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog pose)             1 minute

Pincha Mayurasana (elbow balance)             2 x 30 seconds

Sirsasana (headstand)             3-5 minutes

Uttanasana (standing forward bend)             1 minute

Tadasana (mountain pose)             30 seconds

Utthita Trikonasana (triangle pose)             1-2 minutes

Uttanasana (standing forward bend)             1 minute

Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose)             1-2 minutes

Prasarita Padottanasana (wide-legged standing forward bend)             1 minute

Parivrtta Trikonasana (revolved triangle pose)             1-2 minutes

Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana (revolved half moon pose) 1 – 2 minutes

Parivrtta Parsvakonasana (revolved side angle pose)             1-2 minutes

Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog pose)             1 minute

Bharadvajasana II (Bharadvaja’s Twist II)          2 x 1 minute

Virasana with arms in Gomukhasana (hero pose with cow face pose arms)   1 minute

Sarvangasana (shoulder stand)             3-10 minutes

Halasana (plow pose)             1-3 minutes

Supta Padangusthasana I (leg up) (supine hand-to-foot pose)             1 minute

Supta Padangusthasana II (leg to side) (supine hand-to-foot pose)             1 minute

Parsva Upavistha Konasana (wide-angle seated forward bend to the side)     2 minutes

Supta Baddha Konasana (supine bound angle pose)             3 minutes

Adho Mukha Virasana  (downward facing hero/child’s pose)             1 minute

Savasana (corpse pose)             3-5 minutes

Today’s sunrise photo courtesy of Linda W1, Flickr Creative Commons.

The sunrise we'd like to have seen on the first day of Sadhana

The first day of Sadhana is a bit like the first day of school, when you get to see who else is in your class.

Everyone who was early enough to have a choice scoped the room and set up in their personal power spot: at the back in the corner, on the rope wall, by the front windows, along the west wall – almost all in the same habitual spot as in class.

Richard was first in the door at 6:15. By 6:30, when I went to lock the door, there are only two Sadhanistas missing, and they both arrived in time for sitting and oms.

As usual, the proposed program turned out to be a little more than we had time for, despite my best efforts to pare it down.
Marichyasana I was the morning’s casualty, dropped off the list in favor of having a slightly longer Savasana, although it turned out to be short enough, all the same.

Tomorrow, backbends. (If you’re just joining us now, click here for the forward bend sequence for the first day of Sadhana, and some tips on using it.)

I suspect that many of us will sleep better tonight, especially those of us who aren’t usually up early, and spent Sunday night waking ourselves up to check the time.

Perhaps tomorrow we’ll see the sun at sunrise.

Backbend Sequence: Day 2, 5, 8

Sitting 5 to 10 minutes

Constructive rest position 3 to 5 minutes

Chest opening 5 minutes (on two wooden bricks)

Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog pose) 1 minute

Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand) 2 x 30 seconds

Sirsasana (headstand) 3-5 minutes

Uttanasana (standing forward bend) 30 seconds

Tadasana (mountain pose) 30 seconds

Utthita Trikonasana (extended triangle pose) 1-2 minutes

Uttanasana (standing forward bend) 1 minute

Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose) 1-2 minutes

Parivrtta Trikonasana (revolved triangle pose) 1 minute

Virabhadrasana I (warrior pose I) 1-2 minutes

Virabhadrasana III (warrior pose III) 1 minute

Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog pose) 1 minute

Virasana Gomukhasana (hero pose with cow face pose arms) 1 minute

Salabhasana (locust Pose) 2 x 30 seconds

Dhanurasana (bow Pose) 2 X 30 seconds

Setu Bandhasana (bridge pose) 2 X 30 seconds

Urdhva Dhanurasana (upward-facing bow pose) 2 x 30 seconds

(from a bolster, with two wood bricks at the wall, or from the floor

or, rest in constructive rest position)

Chattush Padasana (four-footed pose) 2 X 30 seconds,

on shoulder stand setup, as a preparation for shoulder stand.

Sarvangasana (shoulder stand) 3-10 minutes

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (bridge pose) 3-5 minutes

supported with brick, feet at wall, or knees bent

Supta Baddha Konasana (supine bound angle pose) 1 minute

Adho Mukha Virasana (downward facing hero/child’s pose) 1-2 minutes

Savasana (corpse pose) 5 – 10 minutes

Photo courtesy Flickr Creative Commons, ex-magician

Tomorrow is officially the beginning of summer. It’s also the beginning of the second annual 10-day Summer Sadhana at Yoga on 7th.

At 6:15 tomorrow morning, 18 of us will meet at the studio and begin to practice together.

We’ll repeat a sequence of forward bends (days 1, 4 and 7), back bends (days 2, 5 and 8) and twists (days 3, 6 and 9). On day 10, which falls on Canada Day, we’ll have a restorative session.

Every day follows a similar pattern. First we sit. Then we move from child’s pose into dog pose, and then into handstand and headstand, or whatever preparation for those poses is suitable for each person’s practice.

(Check out Get a Leg Up on Downward Dog and Half a Headstand with Three Blocks and a Wall for ideas, if you’re not sure what to do.)

Standing poses follow. Each day, the standing poses work with the theme of the day. Tomorrow it’s forward bends, so we’ll be including Parsvottanasana and Ardha Chandrasana, both of which help to prepare the body for seated forward bends, as well as the more advanced standing balance, Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana (standing splits).

Depending on the day’s work, it’s either shoulder stand, or the focus poses next. In forward bend practice, we do the shoulder stand first, because the seated forward bends continue its soothing, cooling action.

Then it’s a gentle twist and savasana, and we’re out the door, to find out how it feels to live a day that started with 90 minutes of practice.

If you’d like to follow along at home, the sequence is below.

Some tips for home practice:

• You may find some of these poses difficult. Each one has a bus stop – a place to pause and wait, rather than going all the way to the end of the route.

• If a pose completely eludes you, spend the time repeating the pose just before, or, if you’d rather, move on to the next pose.

• If neither the Sanskrit nor the English name rings a bell, try searching the Yoga Journal website. The poses may not always be exactly as we do them in class, but they’re very close.

• Be sure to leave enough time for Savasana at the end. Your body and your nervous system need it to absorb the work you’ve done. Five minutes is a bare minimum.

Forward bend sequence: Day 1, 4, 7

Sitting, centering          5 to 10 minutes

Constructive rest position   3 to 5 minutes

Adho Mukha Virasana (child’s pose)

Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward-facing dog pose)             1 minute

Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand or preparation)             2 x 30 seconds

Sirsasana  (headstand)  or preparation, 3 – 5 minutes

Uttanasana (standing forward bend)             1 minute

Tadasana (mountain pose)             30 seconds

Vrksasana (tree pose)             1-2 minutes

Utthita Trikonasana (extended triangle pose)             1-2 minutes

Uttanasana (standing forward bend)             1 minute

Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose)             1-2 minutes

Parivrtta Trikonasana (revolved triangle pose)             1 minute

Ardha Chandrasana (half moon pose)             1-2 minutes

Parsvottanasana (intense side stretch pose)             1-2 minutes

Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana (upward extended one leg pose)            1-2 minutes

Uttanasana (standing forward bend)             1 minute

Sarvangasana (shoulder stand)             5-10 minutes

Eka Pada Sarvangasana (one-legged shoulder stand)             1 minute

Parsvaika Pada Sarvangasana (one leg to side shoulder stand)  1 minute

Halasana (plow pose)             1-2 minutes

Urdhva Mukha Paschimottanasana II  (upward facing forward bend, Plate 169/170 In Light on Yoga; start by lying on your back, legs at 90 degrees, strap around your feet, gradually bring your feet overhead into an upside-down Paschimottanasana.)

Upavistha Konasana wide-angle seated forward bend)             2 minutes

Baddha Konasana (bound angle pose)             1 minute

Janu Sirsasana (head-to-knee pose)             2 minutes

Paschimottanasana (seated forward bend)             2 minutes

Jathara Parivartanasana (supine twist or revolved abdomen pose)             1 minute

Savasana (corpse pose)             5 to 10 minutes

Sunrise photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons, Fr Antunes