Winter Yoga for Weight Loss: Core Strengtheners

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

It is not uncommon for many Yoga practitioners to put on a few extra pounds during the winter season. If this is the case for you, practicing a vigorous, flowing series of Yoga postures, that includes a series of core strengthening poses, will help you to maintain a healthy weight and a strong core. Strong core abdominal muscles are very important for stabilizing the entire body, including the lower back. When the abdominal muscles are weak, the lower back is much more vulnerable to strain and injury, both on and off the Yoga mat. 

Many different sequences of Yoga poses offer core-strengthening benefits. A Power or Ashtanga Yoga series of asanas, however, is particularly effective at strengthening core abdominal muscles. The reason for this is that during an Ashtanga Yoga class, a practitioner links the postures together with the movements of the Sun Salutation in a long, flowing dance. This vinyasa or flowing style of Yoga helps to strengthen all of the major muscles groups in the body, especially the upper back, arms and core abdominal muscles. 

A flowing series of Yoga postures also helps to increase the metabolism and improve heart health, due to its vigorous, aerobic nature. This increase in your metabolism will help you to burn off excess calories during the cold, winter months. Of course, if you find a Power Yoga class to be quite challenging, and you need to rest in Child’s Pose periodically during the class, which is fine! It is far better to listen to your own body and honor your natural “edge” during a class, rather than push yourself to the point of possible injury. Over time and with consistent effort, your strength and flexibility will increase, so that you are able to move through an Ashtanga class with ease and dexterity. 

The continual repetition of Plank Pose, or Chaturanga, during a flowing sequence of Yoga asanas, is incredibly strengthening for the upper body and torso. In addition, by moving through Downward Facing Dog into Chaturanga, then into Upper Facing Dog with each vinyasa, you will be toning and firming many of the major muscles groups in your body, including your core abdominal muscles. By incorporating the practice of Navasana, or Boat Pose, into a sequence of finishing postures, you will further enhance the conditioning benefits of a challenging Power Yoga class. 

There are a number of Yoga poses that target the core abdominal muscles. Navasana and Chaturanga are two such poses. However, these poses can be quite challenging for beginning Yoga students to perform multiple times and in correct alignment during a class. If you are a beginning to intermediate Yoga student, who needs to practice some less strenuous core strengthening postures, integrating the practice of Vasistha’s Couch and Modified Side Plank Pose into your Yoga practice will help you to develop more strength in your oblique muscles, abdominal area and upper arms. If you are a Yoga teacher, who is teaching beginning to intermediate students, you may wish to include the practice of Vasistha’s Couch and Modified Side Plank Pose into your Yoga classes. 

* Vasistha’s Couch into Modified Side Plank Pose

To practice Vasistha’s Couch, come to a seated position on your Yoga mat. Extend your legs out in front of you, and then roll gently to your right side. Stack your legs on top of each other with your toes slightly flexed and your ankles gently pressing together. Bend your right arm and rest the weight of your body on your right forearm. Keep your forearm perpendicular to your body, your right elbow in line with your right hip and your right palm flat on the mat. Place your left palm on the outside of your left thigh with your left arm comfortably extended. The real key to Vasistha’s Couch is to keep your legs, hips and elbow in a perfectly straight line. 

This posture will elongate all of the muscles in your side torso and bring awareness to muscles that you may not think of often. It will also promote a sense of spaciousness all through your upper torso. To move into Modified Side Plank Pose, raise your body off the mat by simply pushing up against your right forearm and the outside edge of your right foot. Keep your entire body in a straight line, do not let your hips sag. Hold Modified Plank Pose for three to five breaths, and then release the posture by moving back into Vasistha’s Couch for a breath or two, before repeating the pose on the left hand side. 

Virginia Iversen, M.Ed, has been practicing and studying the art of Yoga for over twenty years. She lives in Woodstock, New York, where she works as a writer and an academic support specialist. She is currently accepting Yoga and health-related writing orders and may be contacted at: enchantress108@gmail.com.

Improving Yoga Student Safety: Supported Malasana

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

Over the past several decades, the practice of Yoga has grown exponentially! It is now possible to find Yoga classes in community centers, hospitals, prisons, health clubs, universities, and even at local homeless shelters. There is a wide range of Yoga classes offered to many different groups of students around the country. If you find yourself teaching classes to a diverse group of students, learning how to gently and effectively encourage your students to use props and modify challenging poses, will allow your students to practice more advanced Yoga postures with ease and safety.

If you are a Yoga teacher, improving student safety is most likely one of your top priorities when you are teaching a class. This is especially true if you are a new Yoga teacher. As you gain more experience, you'll be able to more easily spot students who are especially prone to injury, and you'll be able to identify students who may need special modifications and support in the postures quickly. As your teaching skills deepen, you will become more comfortable with the appropriate, strategic use of props and modifications, which will help your students to practice challenging Yoga poses in a safe and effective manner.

* Malasana or Garland Pose

Malasana, or Garland Pose, is a Yoga posture, which can be quite challenging for many beginning students. Correctly practicing this Yogic squat can also be very challenging for experienced students who have tight Achilles tendons, calves, hamstrings, and hips. With the appropriate usage of modifications and supportive props, many of these students will be able to safely and comfortably benefit from the practice of Garland Pose. The benefits of Garland Pose include elongating and stretching the Achilles tendons, upper back, hamstrings, shoulders, and neck. This posture also helps to increase flexibility and release tension throughout the groin muscles and hips. 

Additionally, practicing Malasana tones the abdominal muscles and helps to encourage a better sense of balance. This Yogic squatting pose is also particularly good for increasing the digestive fire. The digestive organs are stimulated as the energy of apana vayu flows downward. This downward flowing of energy promotes a feeling of being grounded and calm, as well as optimal digestive activity. Before leading your students through the practice of Malasana, make sure that you have enough wedges, rolled blankets or Yoga bolsters available for the students who may need props, in order to practice this posture safely and effectively. When you are ready to lead your students through the practice of Garland Pose, ask them to come to Mountain Pose at the front of their Yoga mats. 

With an exhale, instruct your students to come to a squatting position on their mats with their feet comfortably far apart and parallel to each other. Have your students place their hands in Prayer Position, as they gently apply pressure against the inside of their thighs. The pressure of their upper arms against their thighs will increase the stretch throughout their inner thighs, hips, shoulders, and neck muscles. For those Yoga students who need to practice the modified version of Garland Pose, have them place a rolled blanket or a foam wedge underneath their heels, if their Achilles tendons are particularly tight today.

If some of your students experience mild knee discomfort in this posture, have them sit on a bolster for support, in order to relieve undue pressure on the knees. If any of your students are recovering from a serious knee injury, it is advisable to have them practice Happy Baby Pose, instead of Garland pose. Instruct your students to hold Garland Pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute, and then release the posture and move gently and mindfully into Standing Forward Fold, before coming back to Mountain Pose at the top of their Yoga mats.

Virginia Iversen, M.Ed, has been practicing and studying the art of Yoga for over twenty years. She lives in Woodstock, New York, where she works as a writer and an academic support specialist. She is currently accepting Yoga and health-related writing orders and may be contacted at: enchantress108@gmail.com 

Improving Yoga Student Safety: Creative Class Formatting

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

The systematic practice of Yoga poses, meditation techniques and breathing exercises can have a profoundly healing effect on a Yoga student. This healing may come in the form of a healthier body and/or in the form of a lighter, happier more peaceful mind. However, if a student is working above his or her ability or fitness level in a class, the possibility of injury can derail many of these benefits. By creatively formatting your Yoga class and maintaining an awareness of any students who may be prone to injury, you will lessen the likelihood that a student may injury him or herself in your class. 

In addition, by facilitating easy and comfortable communication between yourself and your students, you will further mitigate the possibility of injury. This ease of communication will help you to be aware of any students who may need extra support or modified Yoga poses and props, in order to practice certain asanas safely. One of the easiest ways to improve the communication between you and your students is to have each student fill out a questionnaire about their health concerns prior to practicing with you. As you review the student questionnaires, you will be able to identify students who are healing from injuries or who are contending with serious health issues. 

In this way, you will be able to keep on eye on these students, so that you can support their healing process through their Yoga practice. The other way to facilitate easy, fluid, ongoing communication is to have “office hours” prior to, or just after, a Yoga class. Even a fifteen minute slot of time when you are available to meet with your students individually, on an ongoing basis, will help you to stay aware of any students who may need some extra support and attention during class. Additionally, by creatively formatting your Yoga class, so that you can quietly and unobtrusively keep your eye on any students who are injury prone, will greatly improve your students’ safety during a class. 

A wonderful way to creatively format a Yoga class in order to improve student safety is to practice in a circle! Although this class format is unconventional, practicing in a circle will help you to have a direct line of vision to each student. This will facilitate your keen awareness of each student’s needs, on a moment-to-moment basis. Although some students may feel a bit shy about practicing Yoga in a circle at first, if you exude an air of acceptance and fun, these students will begin to relax and most of them will enjoy the enhanced contact with you and with the other students. 

Another creative way to format your Yoga class in order to improve the safety of your students is to rotate the direction that you are demonstrating the poses. In other words, in the traditional Yoga class format where the teacher faces the front of the room, by demonstrating the first pose or first series of postures facing your students, you will put them at ease. As the class proceeds, by rotating the direction you, yourself, are facing, you will be able to quietly keep on eye on any injury prone students. By simply turning a quarter of a turn towards each adjacent wall as you demonstrate each posture, with your students following suit, you will be able to more easily spot students who may need additional support to practice the postures safely and effectively. 

This is particularly true when the class turns to the back wall and you can observe your Yoga students from behind, without them becoming self-conscious. This observational stance will allow you to identify those students who frequently choose to practice in the back of the class, but who clearly need additional instruction, modifications and props to safely progress in their Yoga practice. By creatively formatting your Yoga classes, you will facilitate increased connection between your students and yourself, as well as increasing the connection between your students. This increased connection will further enhance a sense of community, fun and safety during your Yoga classes. 

Virginia Iversen, M.Ed, has been practicing and studying the art of Yoga for over twenty years. She lives in Woodstock, New York, where she works as a writer and an academic support specialist. She is currently accepting Yoga and health-related writing orders and may be contacted at: enchantress108@gmail.com.

Creating Healthy Habits with Yoga: Seasonal Yoga

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

As your Yoga practice and teaching begins to deepen, you will notice that there is a seasonal fluctuation in the types of Yoga that are most effective during different times of the year. By balancing the energy of the season with both your own practice and the postures that you teach in your classes, you will maintain an optimal level of personal health, and you will help your Yoga students to navigate seasonal fluctuations with vibrancy and balance. For example, several repetitions of the Sun Salutations and challenging standing asanas, arm balances and core work, will raise your students' metabolism and internal body temperature, offsetting the cooler seasons. 

Springtime detoxifying Yoga practices are a favorite among students and teachers alike. The burgeoning of new green leaves and the graceful blooming of flowers brings a sense of new life during the spring.  If you pause quietly to check in with yourself during the springtime, this quickening of energy can be felt within your own body. As you feel the energy coursing through your own body, practicing detoxifying twisting asanas and invigorating standing and balancing asanas, woven into the Sun Salutations, will help you to release any inertia or heaviness that accumulated during the winter. Participating in a juice fast or a light soup fast will also help to dislodge any toxins that may have accumulated over the winter months. 

Seasonal Yoga practices that are optimal for the summer months include seated forward folds and Yin Yoga poses that are practiced in a restorative fashion. Inversions, such as Legs Up the Wall Pose, also help to cool and balance the body during the hot summer months. Although you may wish to warm up initially by flowing through a series of Sun Salutations and standing postures in a vinyasa-style fashion, slowing down a little bit towards the end of your practice during the summer months by incorporating seated forward folding Yin Yoga poses and restorative postures, will help to calm down an overly active sympathetic nervous system and to bring down your core body temperature. These physiological effects of a cooling Yoga practice will help to balance you during the warm summer months. 

Seasonal Yoga sequences that are helpful during the cool fall season include warming Sun Salutations and grounding and strengthening Yoga poses, such as the Warrior series. Grounding Yoga postures, such as Warrior II, help to ground and strengthen your energy. This sense of being more solidly on the earth will help you to be more focused and one pointed, as your pursue the goals that you may have set for yourself during the beginning of the fall season. Many of the balancing Yoga postures, such as Tree Pose and Half Moon Pose, also encourage the mind to settle on one point. This one pointed concentration helps sustain your focus on a single goal or course of action, which usually translates into following through on a particular idea or project. This will help to generate the ability to accomplish the tasks or goals that you have chosen for yourself. 

By becoming aware of how your body and mind are affected by the energy of the different seasons of the year, you will be able to choose a sequence of Yoga postures and pranayama exercises that facilitate both your own health and the health and well-being of your Yoga students throughout the course of the year. The ancient Indian health system of Ayurveda also has many seasonal recommendations for flowing through the seasons in a balanced and healthy manner. When Ayurvedic principals of healthy living are combined with a regular Yoga practice, the results can be very healing and transformational. 

Virginia Iversen, M.Ed, has been practicing and studying the art of Yoga for over twenty years. She lives in Woodstock, New York, where she works as a writer and an academic support specialist. She is currently accepting Yoga and health-related writing orders and may be contacted at: enchantress108@gmail.com.

Winter Yoga: The Benefits of Hot Yoga

By: Virginia Iversen, M.Ed

The seasonal practice of different styles of Yoga is quite effective for mitigating many of the challenging emotional and physical aspects of each season. The transformative effect of Yoga becomes truly apparent with regular, daily practice. In addition, by practicing certain styles of Yoga during the different seasons, particularly in temperate geographical areas, you will be able to maintain a state of homeostasis and well-being throughout the year. 

If you live in an area that is experiencing the depth of winter right now, practicing Hot Yoga may help you to increase your metabolism, lose weight, improve your mood, and detoxify your system. The practice of Hot Yoga is usually done in a studio that is heated up to 104 degrees. There are also more moderate classes, known as Warm Yoga, for those of us that would like to experience practicing in a heated room, without the temperature being quite so high. 

In the Northeastern United States, the winters can be very cold and long. Although it is beautiful to venture outside on a brilliantly, bright sunny day, after a blizzard that left a foot and a half of snow, the cold temperatures and additional work of clearing all the snow can leave you feeling tired, sore and chilled to the bone. If this is the case for you, practicing Yoga in a heated studio can be just the medicine that the doctor ordered! 

The warming and detoxifying effects of a Hot Yoga class will help to keep the life force energy, or prana, flowing freely throughout your body. This is especially important during the cold winter months, when many of us tend to cut back on our physical activities and stay indoors. Practicing in a heated room also helps to loosen up tight muscles, so that you can move more deeply into the postures and make substantial progress in your practice. 

Practicing Hot Yoga also stimulates the metabolism and digestive fire, which helps to shed extra weight, as you burn calories and reduce excess water weight. A Hot Yoga class will also improve your cardiovascular fitness because the heat will help to increase your heart rate as you move through the postures. The heating, limbering and detoxifying effects of a Hot Yoga practice make this type of practice ideal for balancing out the bone chilling, icy winter months. 

A note of caution, however, does go a long way to be careful to avoid pushing yourself too hard if you have a cardiac condition or high blood pressure. If you do have any kind of heart condition or are hypertensive, please choose a Warm Yoga class or a class that is offered in a “regularly” heated room or studio. If you really would like to practice in a moderately heated room, please check with your health care provider first, to make sure it is safe for you to do so. 

Practicing Yoga in a heated room not only helps to reduce excess weight, it also can help to boost your mood. As you flow through a series of Ashtanga-inspired postures, you will find yourself breathing more deeply, in order to accommodate the physical demands of this aerobic form of Yoga. This increased oxygenation will help to clear away mental fogginess as fresh blood circulates through the entire body, including the brain. Practicing in a heated room will also improve your mood by helping you to drop any internal baggage that you are carrying, at least while you are in class.

The demands of a Hot Yoga class are so substantial that it is nearly impossible to fret about your to-do list while you are class! This mental “breath of fresh air” will provide you with a new perspective on many of the situations in your life that may be causing you a certain degree of anxiety or emotional duress. Generally speaking, when I walk out of a Hot Yoga class, I feel like I have been scrubbed clean from the inside out! This lightness of being is reflected in the peace in my heart, as I lightly move back into my life with a fresh perspective and a more enthusiastic spirit, a state, which is often experienced by many Hot Yoga enthusiasts. 

Virginia Iversen, M.Ed, has been practicing and studying the art of Yoga for over twenty years. She lives in Woodstock, New York, where she works as a writer and an academic support specialist. She is currently accepting Yoga and health-related writing orders and may be contacted at: enchantress108@gmail.com.