Five Points Yoga

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Archive for December, 2008

The supervitamin of the year – Vitamin D

Posted December 31st, 2008 | 1 Comment » | Bookmark and Share

Has everyone else noticed how often people are singing the praises of Vitamin D?

 

Just the other day in the NYTimes, it was reported that low levels of Vitamin D are associated with a higher incidence of Cesarean surgery. 

 

In fact, this year, it came out that a lack of Vitamin D may increase your risk of heart disease, autism in children, cancer (colon and breast), and some autoimmune diseases.

 

Doesn’t it seem like every few years, there’s a new wonder vitamin?   And then a few years later, that vitamin, in high doses, seems bad for you.   I did a little research, and surprise!   I found out that just taking higher doses of Vitamin D may not be a great idea.

 

Here’s an article about Vitamin D supplementation from Science Daily.  In it, the study suggests that “ingested vitamin D is immunosuppressive and that low blood levels of vitamin D may be actually a result of the disease process. Supplementation may make the disease worse.”

 

This means that in some cases, taking a Vitamin D supplement may make the situation worse.   I thought it was important to note that it says “ingested” Vitamin D.   Most of us know that the “sunshine” vitamin is produced in our bodies from exposure to sunlight.  

 

Even in the wintertime, taking a walk outside can expose you to some Vitamin D.   Go out in the unseasonably warm winter days and expose your skin to the air and the sunlight!   Try to get away this winter to a warm, sunny place.   I think all these years, when I’ve been saying that I was “soaking” in the sun while on vacation in the winter, what I was partially doing was storing up Vitamin D!

 

Yay for a healthy wintertime in 2009!

Posted under Health and Wellness, Prenatal Information

Back to Practice, Back to Blogging, Back to Life

Posted December 30th, 2008 | 1 Comment » | Bookmark and Share

 

Though the holidays can be fun, I love love love being back to my life!   We just got back from visiting our families in Buffalo, and I practiced about 30 minutes total of yoga in the past week.   Coupled with about 20 hours of driving, and OUCH!  I was out of sorts.

 

I pulled up last night, and went directly to teaching two classes back to back.  Then up again early this morning to teach two more.   So when I arrived home this afternoon, I immediately rolled out my yoga mat and had a luscious practice for about an hour.   It set me right, physically and mentally!   I also made a massage appointment for next week, when I know I will really need it (right before the start of the Odyssey).  

 

I’m loving taking care of myself, and I’m so excited for myself personally to undergo a month of consistent practice, bolstered by the Odyssey.  In my practice, I took it slow, as I’ve promised myself I would.   It’s kind of my resolution during the Odyssey – I think I’ve been trying to cram in a lot of postures into limited time, and it really doesn’t work!   You’d think I’d know this after 10 years of teaching, but sometimes you need to learn the lessons very experientially.   I’ve learned it!   I’m slowing down, even it means I only do half as many postures as I want to.  

 

Happy New Year everyone!  We’re having a party at our house tomorrow night.   Maybe I’ll be able to convince some attendees to do a group yoga pose, champagne in hand….

 

Namaste,

 

Barrett

Posted under Health and Wellness, Personal Experiences, Upcoming Events, Yoga

Yoga for Real Life – Guest Post

Posted December 19th, 2008 | 4 Comments » | Bookmark and Share

 

Welcome to our newest guest blogger, Lin-Ann.   She’s a longtime student of mine with a beautiful dedicated practice.  When she mentioned she’d be interested in writing about her experiences practicing and even teaching a bit of yoga, I jumped at the chance to hear her voice.   I’m so glad I did – read for yourself!

—

 

On Thanksgiving Day, I decided to take a month-long leave from my job to dedicate myself to self-healing. Admitting I needed this break was a big deal for a Type-A achiever like me, and being supported by my employer and my loved ones in taking the break is even more of a blessing. In my professional life, I give my energies to working in a residential treatment center as an adolescent and family therapist for teen girls with emotional and behavioral issues, most of whom have histories of significant trauma or mental illness. In my personal life, I am coping with the devastating loss of a significant love relationship. This has really gotten me thinking about the power of healing grief, trauma and other psychological ailments through yoga and other bodywork. (More on my professional endeavors in the next post.)

 

As a gift to myself, and as a way to dedicate the next month to self-healing, I decided to turn the newly-vacated spare room in my house into a yoga/bodywork room. I brought in my music, candles, my mat and props. So now, commitment to practice doesn’t even require taking my mat out of the closet. It’s all laid out.

 

 For a week, I’ve been knocked down with a sinus infection and plagued by the lethargy that accompanies grief. I thought that since I had not practiced in three days, I should go to the mat and see what it brings me. This was met with a lot of negative “brain chatter” as I call it: I’m too tired, too sick to practice. My body doesn’t feel like it. This is not going to feel good at all. I had bodywork done the night before which focused on my left glute, and a lot of accompanying anger emerged from that area of my body during the massage. My inner teacher was telling me to focus on stretching out this area, which had been worked pretty deeply the night before. I still felt some strange energy emanating from that point. I did a short series of sun salutations and then did half pigeon, revolved half moon, triangle, revolved triangle, baddha konasana (bound angle or butterfly), and then took a seated position with knee over knee (not sure what this asana is called). I also did ankle over knee, pulled into my chest, lying on my back. I ended with self massage using Barrett’s donated tennis balls on my left hamstring (to release anger) and left shoulder (a place where I happen to carry a lot of sadness).

 

During this short practice, I was amazed to feel a physical strength and peace that is too easy to forget that we possess in moments of vulnerability and weakness. As I moved and stretched slowly, another old friend that had not visited me for a while came to knock on my door: hope. Hope that there is a way out of grief, and I am taught this solely through the way my body feels, not what my mind tells me. My body says, See you can feel strong again. Look what your being is capable of. And then the mind follows. The evidence is in my body, so there is no way for my mind to talk me out of it. This, I think it’s the true power of healing through the body, rather than the mind. And this, from a person who spends most of her day healing others through talk therapy.

 

What elation to be able to find small moments of peace and present-mindedness, groundedness, and kindness amongst the chaos of this life. I wonder if any of you have experienced these moments, whether your body has been able to help free you from the trappings of the mind. Have any of you had your practice help you find your way out of trauma, grief, or loss? I would love to hear about your experiences.

 

It’s almost midnight, but I think I need to head to the mat now. Namaste, Lin-Ann

 

Posted under Guest Poster

In Praise of Child’s Pose

Posted December 19th, 2008 | 5 Comments » | Bookmark and Share

 

This is what I’m doing a lot of in my practice these days 🙂  

 

I notice that if I’m short on time, I try to cram in a lot of postures – I’ve been talking about this a lot but it’s taking me awhile to really change this habit.   When I’m full of energy (ie kind of manic) I need to move to start with, but then my whole being drops into yoga and eventually I get reallllllly slow and sigh a lot.   In the end, I end up hugging my bolster like a yogi’s teddy bear, and drape myself over it in child’s pose.  It feels so good! 

 

If you don’t have a yoga bolster, you can definitely experiment with couch cushions and sleeping pillows.  

But you might also splurge and get a bolster! 

 

They’re available at: www.huggermugger.com – I like round bolsters best, like the one I’m on, but they also have rectangular, which are a bit more firm.

 

The art of restorative yoga sometimes takes awhile to figure out, even if you’ve been practicing for 14 years, evidently!  In busy times, like the holiday season, I find that’s when I need to relax the most.  Let me know if you end up splurging on a bolster!

 

Enjoy your practice!

 

Posted under Personal Experiences, Yoga

Last Day for Odyssey Discount!

Posted December 15th, 2008 | 1 Comment » | Bookmark and Share

Hi All,

 

Today is the last day to sign up for the Odyssey at a discount!    See this posting all about it and go here to register.

 

I just want to explain the below post.  I’ve wanted to have some other yogis write on this blog about life as it relates to their yoga practice.   Over the next few months, you’ll hear a couple different voices from yogis I know, talking about their practice on and off the mat.  I’m really excited about this!

 

Catherine is our first guest blogger.  She’s a new mom.   Stay tuned for another guest blogger later this week!

 

Namaste,

 

Barrett

Posted under Guest Poster, Local Interest, Personal Experiences, Yoga

I trust the internet more than my pediatrician

Posted December 15th, 2008 | 4 Comments » | Bookmark and Share

This is from guest poster, Catherine.   She’s a dedicated yogini and a new mom whose agreed to write a few guest posts for us here.  I thought it would be great to get her perspective about life with an infant.  Thank you Catherine!

———-

Uh Oh. I trust the Internet more than my pediatrician.

 

I have a big, healthy four-month-old son. Everything about him so far is very normal and average (which is great!) When I was pregnant, my belly would measure exactly on target for the week that I was in and I actually went into labor on his due date.

 

Given that I had such a low-risk pregnancy, I didn’t think much of the choice of his pediatrician. Around our 38th week, the midwife asked for the name of the pediatrician and my husband and I looked at each other as it dawned on us, “Oh, right. We should probably do that before he’s born.” Given that we were attempting to get 1000 other things done before he arrived, we went to the first pediatrician that we could find who was close to our house and covered by our insurance. We didn’t think much about the choice at the time. After ten minutes talking to the pediatrician, we thought she seemed like a very reasonable, knowledgeable woman.

 

And she DID turn out to be a reasonable, knowledgeable woman, but not the right pediatrician for us. 

 

She wasn’t right for us for a few reasons. First of all, there was the Eye-Gunk Issue. From birth, my son would get mucus-y stuff in his eyes. It happened particularly when he slept, but occasionally at other times as well. For the first 6-7 weeks of his life it didn’t get worse or better, there was just always eye gunk in his eyes and I would wipe it away whenever I could with a warm washcloth. When it first started happening, I looked it up on the Internet (of course, right? Why go to a knowledgeable professional when you have Google?) and it seemed to simply be a clogged tear duct. All the sites say to just keep it clean and the tear duct will eventually open on its own. When we saw the pediatrician, however, she saw the eye gunk and prescribed erythromycin to rub on his eyes.

 

I said, “But is it an infection? Isn’t that an antibiotic?” She said, “No, it’s not an infection but this will clear it up.” I remained confused by her answer but after another week where the eye gunk level stayed the same, I decided to actually fill the prescription and start applying it. We had a messy several days of me trying to coat the inner eyelid of a baby with petroleum-based goo. He would then always rub his eyes with his hands and then of course stick them in his mouth. Being a new mom, I then became worried about him eating the eye goo. Since it didn’t seem to help the eye gunk issue, I simply stopped administering the goo and just didn’t tell our pediatrician. I just made sure that his eyes were nice and clean right before we went to see her. Now that he’s four months, the eye gunk issue is totally gone. Chalk one up for the Internet.

 

Next time I post I’ll write about another major issue – all about Vaccines. 

 

 

Posted under Guest Poster, Postnatal Information, Yoga

Practice for One Month with Us

Posted December 10th, 2008 | 1 Comment » | Bookmark and Share

It’s been a week since I’ve posted because I’m right in the middle of finishing up preparations for the Yoga Odyssey.  This is the month-long home practice program that I’ve run twice now, and I can’t wait for it to start again January 4!  You can sign up here for the Odyssey.

We’re starting to get a critical mass of yogis signed up and ready to practice – very exciting!   I wanted to post because the early registration deadline is December 15.   Register by December 15 for $30.  It’s good to register in advance because you’ll be able to mark your calendar and go through holiday time without this hanging over your head to do.   Also, I’ll send you a preparatory email with tips (including optional book, video, and music selections) on December 16, just to get you thinking about setting up your life for a little more yoga practice.

In the spirit of preparation, here’s a little article I wrote about how to practice at home.   It might help you roll out your mat today, and definitely will help you as you embark on the Odyssey next month.

Enjoy!

KICKSTART YOUR HOME PRACTICE

 

If you struggle when you try to practice at home, you’re not alone!   Many people are daunted by the prospect of creating a yoga experience without a teacher to lead them.  I have been leading a month-long self practice course several times per year wherein students have explored how to develop their own practice. 

 

Here are some tips that have come out of those courses:

 

1) Take a moment to plan the logistics of your practice. 

 

Sometimes this is the biggest impediment.   Where in your house will you practice?   At what time?   Can you free yourself from distractions, like phones ringing and kids/pets needing attention?   Sometimes students have needed to talk with their family members to make sure they will have some uninterrupted time to devote to their yoga practice.

 

2) You only need a minimal amount of time.

 

Often, we sabotage ourselves by thinking we need to find 60-90 minutes to practice yoga, because that’s how long a yoga class is at a studio.   Thankfully, that’s not true! Yoga postures are so potent that you can feel a difference after only about 10 minutes.   Commit to 10 minutes of practice for the next week or two, and notice how much better you feel.  Within a short amount of time, you’ll likely want to practice for a bit longer.   Students have often commented to me that it is easy to find more time when yoga has become part of the daily routine.

 

3) There are lots of postures to practice.

 

As for what to practice, draw your inspiration from any number of sources.   Many yoga books have suggested sequences to follow.   Several websites offer free yoga sequences, such as yogajournal.com.  Consider writing down a practice that your teacher led you through in class, or even ask your teacher to write something out for you to practice at home.  Many of my students simply practice the traditional morning yoga warmup of  Sun Salutations – energizing and easy to remember! 

 

4) Be kind to yourself. 

 

In our home practice program, my students have mentioned over and over how much they needed to hear that any little bit helps.   It’s okay if you don’t practice for a day, or even a week!  Life happens – the important thing is not to feel so guilty that you never start again.  And it’s okay if you only practice for 10 minutes and never longer – I bet you still feel better than when you weren’t practicing at all.  Many of us need one space in our lives where we don’t have to be perfect.  We don’t even have to be good.  Yoga can be that space.  Give yourself permission to do nothing but child’s pose for your yoga practice, if that’s what you feel.  Cut yourself some slack if you don’t make it onto your mat – can you just close your eyes for a moment at your desk and take a deep, relaxing breath?   That’s yoga at work for you as well!

  

Enjoy your practice – Namaste!

 

 

Posted under Health and Wellness, Local Interest, Personal Experiences, Upcoming Events, Yoga

Somerville becomes a Fit City

Posted December 3rd, 2008 | Leave a comment » | Bookmark and Share

Just ran across this article about how promoting walking and biking in Somerville has helped kids and adults alike get more fit in the last several years.   I was a proud Somervillain for almost 8 years, and still work there every week, so this makes me happy.  

The article also talks about fresh and local produce being more accessible to kids in school and to residents through farm shares. 

It reminds me of this article earlier in the week, about a doctor who eats only organical food for 3 years.  He’s coming out with a new book on “green” living during pregnancy.   Should be interesting!

Posted under Education, Food, Health and Wellness, Local Interest, Prenatal Information

The ‘Inconvenient Truth’ of Childbirth

Posted December 1st, 2008 | 2 Comments » | Bookmark and Share

I just finished watching the documentary that the Tribeca film festival dubbed “The ‘Inconvenient Truth’ of Childbirth.”  It’s called The Business of Being Born, and it is produced by actress Ricki Lake.   I’d been meaning to see it for a long while, and as soon as I saw it available on Netflix Instant, I watched it.

It’s an amazing video for those of you thinking about your birth options, now or in the future.  It’s pretty well-balanced, interviewing a range of providers and families, but the central story it tells is about why giving birth, and the place you give birth and the way you give birth, is controversial.  And why it matters to many women and their partners.  

I want to recommend it to anyone who is planning on being pregnant in the next few years, or to anyone who cares about healthcare and access to a range of care options.  I found particularly compelling the parts of the documentary about how few birth centers there are, and about the lobbying actions of ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) to make homebirth illegal.  In Massachusetts, we had 3 birth centers when I started working in the prenatal field – one closed about 3 years ago, and 1 is on the  verge of closing now, as I’ve written about here in this blog.  That leaves only one left, the Cambridge Birth Center.   They are maxed out, filled to capacity, months in advance.   Clearly, there’s a desire on the part of women to avoid the excess of interventions in birth, and yet there’s little access to low-tech birth options.

Anyway, when I watch something like this, it confirms to me that prenatal yoga is more important than ever.  As you’re growing your baby, you need a safe and sacred space away from all the hype, and the fear, and the questioning.   Each of us need that space in our lives to be still and silent, and let our bodies’ wisdom shine forth.   I think if more women felt good about themselves, from yoga or childbirth education classes, or from positive, empowering visits with their midwives/doctors, then we’d have better outcomes for women and babies.    

I encourage you to watch the documentary – it’s compelling! Next on my list is to read Birth and Pushed.   Anyone read them?

Posted under Education, Health and Wellness, Postnatal Information, Prenatal Information

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