How to start a yoga practice at home

At home Yoga practice for Beginners 

HOW TO START PRACTICING YOGA AT HOME

Interval Yoga friend and yoga practitioner Vesela Savova has an excellent new post on How to get started on a yoga journey at home. She offers tips and suggestions on how to improve and further one's practice just by using videos at home. Her journey into yoga is very inspiring and can be a great motivation for both new and seasoned practitioners.
HERE IS A LINK TO HER POST
http://cherryblueberry.com/2014/04/02/advance-with-your-yoga-practice-at-home/

 

I would also suggest to check out my complete beginners classes and make sure to put effort into learning alignment. Alignment can seem boring and frustrating at first but think of it as laying the foundation for a great yoga practice down the line that will perfect your practice, shape and strengthen you body and mind and and help avoid injury as you advance. 

COMPLETE BEGINNERS YOGA CLASS

A power yoga class for beginners 

NAMASTE

What to do if you fall off the wagon...

It's the beginning of January and everyone is going strong, running, practicing yoga, working out. I have never seen as many joggers in my neighborhood as I see right now.  Seems like everyone is motivated and excited to make this the healthiest year of their life. Unfortunately by next month half of the people would have backed off, slowed down or given up on their resolutions.
Why are we not able to keep our resolutions?
I am extremely persistent with the things I enjoy and with the goals that are achievable and reasonable. When I talk to friends and yoga enthusiasts who tend to fail I notice a definite pattern!! The people that are most likely to fail usually set unrealistic, big goals that would crush even a yoga pro and once they skip a day they let it all go down the drain. Then they try to "punish" themselves for failing and come back even stronger. Maybe do 2 MONSTER classes in a row because they skipped a few. It becomes this daunting thing we HAVE TO do rather than a fun time that we can dedicate to ourselves, that we can enjoy and benefit from on an emotional, physical, mental, spiritual level and let's not forget have fun while doing it.

So some things you can do to make sure you achieve your goals are:

1. SET REASONABLE GOALS!
You don't need to workout 1 hour a day, 6 days a week to be fit. Check out the post I wrote on workout schedule and base it off on that: weekly schedule  
Walk with friends, walk your dog, clean your house on off days and don't be harsh on yourself. If you are very busy make your goals achievable- 3x week rather than all or nothing approach.

2. Be sure to shift your perception and to "decide" that what you do is fun. COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS. Every time you roll out your mat make sure you realize how blessed you are to be able to sit and stretch and move and breath and goof on your mat while so many people in the world don't have that luxury. Be grateful and enjoy your blessings.

3. If you fall off the wagon don't sweat it. It's not the end of the world. Be kind to yourself. Even talk to yourself as if you are your own 5 year old child. Don't nag yourself. Tell yourself it's fine. And everything you do is enough. That way you are not laying the ground for self sabotaging out of guilt. (the most common reason why we fail is IMO guilt) Free yourself of guilt. It serves no one so why engage in a behavior that's not serving you or helping anyone else for that matter.

4. MOST IMPORTANTLY  when you do fall of the wagon come back to it SMALL. This has been the secret to me being persistent and constant for years. I forgive myself with ease which has helped me forgive everyone with ease. I don't hold on to hurts and grudges and I definitely don't waste precious time beating myself down over small things. :)
Come back to your routine with something so modest and doable that you would actually do without fretting. Do a beginner 10 minute routine, or a beginning of a class only. If it pulls you in of course you can do more than that but my rule of thumb is just get back on the wagon by dedicating 5-10 minutes to it. Next day your energy will be high enough for you to complete a strong 30 minute class. :D I PROMISE

These are my 4 tips on how to make yoga and working out a lifestyle not a fad.

Let me know if you if you have personal tips and secrets for staying in shape long term :)

NAMASTE

SENDING LOVE AND GRATITUDE TO ALL 

WEEKLY YOGA AND WORKOUT SCHEDULE

NAMASTE BEAUTIFUL YOGIS!

The following is a basic weekly Yoga/Interval Yoga schedule.

This is a very general outline. Please adjust to your individual needs, goals and time constraints.  

WEEKLY SCHEDULE FOR ACTIVE PEOPLE:

(If you have an active job or you walk 1.5-2 + miles a day you fall in this group)

Monday -Moderate to Strong Vinyasa or Power or Impact Yoga   20- 40 mins

Tuesday - HIIT OR HIIT YOGA ~10-20 mins

Wednesday - Light Vinyasa 30 minutes

Thursday - Strong Interval yoga 10-30 minutes

Friday - Rest 

Saturday - Either a hike or a deep Vinyasa 40-50 mins

Sunday - Rest/ Hike/meditate 

You can move the days around to fit the routines within your schedule, add more rest days if you feel tired, sore, or exhausted. 

Over working out is just as bad as being a couch potato. Exhaustion can tax the immune system, it can lead to injuries and hault your overall long term progress. 

If you feel tired either take a rest day or do something light that feels PLEASANT. 

Rest as much as you need to during the classes. It takes time to build strength, endurance and cardiovascular capacity. 

IF YOUR OBJECTIVE IS TO INCREASE YOUR FLEXIBILITY REPLACE ONE OF THE HIIT OR HIIT YOGA ROUTINES WITH ANOTHER DEEP VINYASA CLASS. 

DO NOT WORK ON DEEP FLEXIBILITY EVERY DAY. Allow for rest days. 

WEEKLY SCHEDULE for PEOPLE WITH AN INACTIVE LIFESTYLE:

(If you have a sedentary job, and you are not able to walk, move through the day you fit in this category) 

MONDAY WEDNESDAY FRIDAY  POWER OR VINYASA YOGA - 50mins -65mins long

TUESDAY  (THURSDAY) SATURDAY HIIT or HIIT Yoga 10-40 mins depending on energy level

Take Sunday AND/OR Thursday off or do some light yoga on these days. 

Listen to your body!!!!!

Also be mindful that overtraining can overstimulate your appetite. If you are trying to lose weight you don't need to overtrain. Train smart, train enough so that you are building muscle and flexibility, go for walks and include plenty of raw and steamed veggies and raw fruits into your diet! 

My personal practice is a lot shorter than you might think. I focus on effective moves and functional exercises. I make sure to be kind and gentle to my body rather than beat myself down. I find that this kindness-to-oneself approach to be much more effective in achieving my fitness goals than a bootcamp approach that leaves me exhausted and shaky. 

I don't believe in screaming ... period. In fitness, in yoga, in bootcamp. I don't yell at my dog or friends why would I want to yell or be yelled at when I am trying to nourish my body with conscious movement.  The purpose of my yoga and teaching is to learn and teach kindness and acceptance of oneself so that we can spread it out into the world. (Confession - I would actually never attend a class in which the instructor screams and yells at the students)

Everything we do should come from a pure place of connectivity rather than a desire to punish ourselves (which dieting and fitness can turn into)

If we do things out of guilt then we just perpetuate that behavior and we are doomed to fail long term. I want everyone to succeed long term and find a place of harmony and balance within themselves and their body!!!

So lets be kind to ourselves  and get ULTRA FIT too :)

LOVE AND BLESSINGS 

INTERVAL YOGA and WEIGHT LOSS

 INTERVAL YOGA and WEIGHT LOSS

If you need some help and inspiration for your New Year's Resolution this may give you the boost to start a practice or be persistent with your yoga practice in the coming year! 

One of the questions I get a few times a day is "Is yoga going to help me with weight loss?" "Do I need to add cardio to my yoga routine?" 
Now most of the yogis crazy about yoga have come to yoga not for the weight loss benefits but because of the divine feeling of connection with spirit it gives us. The flexibility and the toning of the body and the weight loss effects are an added bonus. 
Yet even though yoga's main focus is yoking the spiritual and the physical yoga is actually extremely effective for weight loss. 
Here is how and why in just a few bullet points. 
1. Yoga has a calming effect on the nervous system thus it can be effective for emotional, stress eating. 
2.  Some poses in yoga can stimulate digestion and assimilation thus helping with appetite, satiety and therefore weight loss (indirectly and directly)
3. Doing yoga burns calories!!!!
4. Doing (my) POWER YOGA burns a lot of calories. :)
5. Doing my Interval Yoga is a well rounded routine in which you are doing cardio, stretching, toning, strengthening and awareness meditation in one. Therefore you DO NOT need to add cardio or running to an Interval Yoga class. But you do need to add some cardio or interval training to a traditional Vinyasa or Hatha Yoga class. 
6. To be precise Interval Yoga is much more effective for weight loss than Cardio is because I incorporate Interval Training into the class- which is in essence Intervals of Intensity. They are proven to be much more effective for weight loss than running or spinning alone.

Actually just 10 minutes of Interval Training can give you the same weight loss results as a 50 minute cardio session can give you. Better yet Interval Training can be amazing for post exercise calorie burn.  In fact you can burn an additional 200 calories throughout the day after a short interval training session. 200 calories on top of the calories burnt during the exercise itself.  And your metabolism is much higher for the rest of the day. 
A study (PDF) from the University of New South Wales followed the fitness and body composition changes in 45 overweight women in a 15-week period. The women were divided into two groups and assigned interval or continuous cycling routines. The interval “sprint” cycling group performed twenty minutes of exercise, which repeated eight seconds of “all out” cycling and then twelve seconds of light exercise. The continuous group exercised for 40 minutes at a consistent rate. At the end of the study, the women in the interval group had lost three times the body fat as the women in the continuous exercise group. (An interesting note: the interval group’s loss in body fat came mostly from the legs and buttocks area.)
7. Interval Yoga will increase your endurance and cardiovascular capacity just the way cardio does. Interval training has been proven to achieve the same results in a quarter or a fifth of the time required for a cardio workout. In other words you can Do yoga and intervals and in just 30 minutes you can work on your flexibility and strength while incorporating cardio elements into your yoga and this way you are going to improve your cardiovascular endurance and achieve weight loss results.

8. IF YOU ARE DOING MY VINYASA OR BEGINNER CLASSES AND STRIVING TO LOSE WEIGHT. THEN YES! YOU CAN ADD A CARDIO ROUTINE TO YOUR YOGA PRACTICE.  I recommend my 10 minute short Interval workouts but if you are a runner you can do intervals of running or spinning etc. Just make sure you stretch after running :D 
9. Yoga can stimulate or balance your glands- adrenal, thyroid, pituitary, etc and thus help you with hormonal balance and address hormonal weight gain. 
10. The twisting poses in yoga are extremely effective for mid section weight loss. The media have been saying for years that you can't spot reduce when losing weight. Lately this myth has been proven wrong. In fact you can trim down certain areas of your body with an effective and mindful exercise and diet approach.
I have done that myself many times and I know for a fact that a mindful approach to movement and fitness can sculpt and shape your body. 
11. This is an indirect benefit - but yoga can prevent future injuries thus keeping you active throughout your entire life. Yoga can help you achieve structural balance which is key in any long term weight loss or fitness plan. 

In order to keep this short I am gonna wrap it up here. If you have any questions or requests for future posts please let me know.

LOVE AND BLESSINGS TO ALL
And 
HAPPY HOLIDAYS 

UPPER LOWER BACK VINYASA YOGA CLASS

A CLASS DEDICATED TO STRENGTHENING THE BACK MUSCLES WHILE STILL WORKING ON CORE, UPPER BODY STRENGTHENING AND LEGS STRENGTHING.
After the strength building sequence for the back I am including backbends which is a natural progression  after strengthening the back.

After I was done with the class I did feel a slight soreness in the upper back muscles which means it was gently strengthening.

In order to do proper backbends its always great to strengthen both the lower and upper back so that we can perform them while maintaining proper alignment.



Most of us have back pain and back muscle weakness combined with stiffness. Building a strong back is directly related to having a strong core. A lot of women have weakness in the upper back which can lead to poor posture and back and shoulder and neck pain.
So  it's a great idea to focus on stabilizing and strengthening and stretching the back.




 One of the exercises included is chair pose back flies:
Feet hip width apart. Knees pushing back. Hips back.
Starting position: chair pose. Forearms together in front of chest.
Natural curve in the lower back.

 Ending position: open the arms out at aligning the forearm with the torso. Keeping a 90˚ angle between the upper arm and forearm. Tucking the shoulder bladed into the upper back.

EXERCISE TWO:

STARTING POSITION: arms ahead of us. Palms of the hands down. Back wide. Shoulder blades down. Shoulders down.

Finishing position: Bringing the elbows bent at 90 degrees in the same plane with your body.  Tucking the shoulder blades into the back.  shoulders down. At the top of the rep flex your upper back muscles.
NAMASTE

BEGINNER POWER  YOGA
THIS IS A GREAT PLACE FOR BEGINNERS AND BEGINNER INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS TO START WITH.