Run, Yoga, Run: The Bikram Athlete

Photo illustration via Blow Up Studios and their ad campaign for Pure Yoga. 

Hey yogis. How is your week going? Are you busy shoveling snow?


Perhaps you've had to mix up your workout this week because of inclement weather. Just this morning the Hubs and I helped push a neighbor's car over a pile of snow, and it got me thinking about those muscles we don't usually use in the Bikram room. By engaging in other core-building or stamina-enhancing exercise, we can improve our yoga practice. 


Sometimes we need to mix it up in order to improve not only our physical health, but our mental health, too. The repetitive nature of Bikram yoga (as a result of the dialogue and our familiarity with the 26-posture sequence) makes it tempting to zone out during class -- to disengage, stop listening, and go with what we know.


At those moments, we risk injury.


Often it can be great to mix up your work out routine by adding different styles of yoga or different cardio activities to your schedule.


Do any of you readers do Bikram on the side? Maybe you are into cross training, running, swimming, or biking -- but you find yoga to be a great complement to your other athletic endeavors.


No matter what your first fitness love is, Bikram can help you build the strength and flexibility you need to perform at your best, and live your healthiest life.

Photo illustration via Blow Up Studios.

One reader of the blog recently contacted me about her work as a personal trainer. Jeozette of MVP Personal Fitness Consulting recommends that athletes balance their cardio with Bikram, as the two can inform each other and provide awesome balance. The rest of this post is adapted from Joezette's article here.

You Gotta Have: Total-Body Conditioning 
(not simply strong quads) 

Consistent running can lead to a lot of tightness and strain in the spine, shoulders, hamstrings, and hips. This is why it is so important to condition and stretch those areas to develop more strength and movement to your body.


Try the following cross-training exercise to build arm strength and flexibility.


EXERCISE: Push-up; one of the best exercise for muscles of the chest (pectorals), arms (bicep and triceps) and core development.


Start face down on the floor with your feet together curled slightly so you rise on the ball of your feet. Place you hands close together so your thumbs and index fingers form a triangle on the floor. Keep your stomach contracted.
Inhale as you raise your body up till your arms are straight. Keep your head and neck level with your body and back straight. Exhale out as you lower your body back to the ground.

Photo via mewall82 on Flickr.

You Gotta Be: Pain Free!

Bikram Yoga will put an end to the tightness that leads to pain by opening up your joints and stretching all your ligaments, tendons, and muscles. Remember that running doesn't use ALL your muscles. You need a pose that will utilize your whole body.


Try the following Bikram Yoga pose to help straighten rounded spines and relieve backaches. This pose will also increase circulation to the spine and strengthen the abs, arms, thighs, and hips.It will improve the flexibility of the scapula, deltoids, and traps.


POSE: Bow Pose; Start lying on your stomach, bend your knees and bring your feet down towards your glutes. Reach back with your arms, take hold of each foot from the outside, grasping about two inches below the toes. Keep your feet and knees six inches apart throughout the pose. Take a deep breathe, look up towards the ceiling and lift thighs and upper body off the floor. Kick back lifting legs higher off the floor. The main goal is to balance on your abdomen. Hold pose for 20 seconds while breathing in and out through the nose.

Photo via creativENERGYoga on Flickr.

You Gotta Have: Agility, Coordination, and Balance

Agility, coordination, and balance are also important factors in day-to-day activities, such as standing and walking or (running). Try the following Cross-training exercise to improve these basic functions.


EXERCISE: Jump Rope; Holding the jump rope handles, one in each hand, the rope should be resting on the ground directly behind your feet. Your head should be up, eyes looking forward, not down at your feet. Your elbows should be positioned in close to your body. During the jump, your body should be erect. A basic jump is straight up and down and about 1 inch high. The rope gets its momentum with a basic swing of the wrist and forearms. The knees should flex and extend slightly with each jump. As you jump, try to develop a rhythm (the speed at which the rope turns).

Photo via kait.rich on Flickr.

Bottom line? Mix up your work out and balance it out with some hot yoga! You'll be happy you did when the winter storm hits and you don't have to pull any muscles while shoveling snow. 

Have any other advice on how to adapt to Bikram as an athlete? I'd love to hear from you, runners, swimmers, bikers, and tri-athletes! Leave a comment below.

Photo illustration via Blow Up Studios.

Quick Question

Original photo via Coffee and Yoga. Photo illustration by yours truly.

Readers, what do you love most about your yoga? Please comment below to inspire an upcoming post.

You Need to Say It

Photo via FYeahYoga.

Chances are, you need to say it again. To your husband, to your family, to your friends.

I love you; I always will. I forgive you for making mistakes. I missed you while you went to the bathroom just now. I missed you yesterday all day while we were at work. I want to spend more time with you, not my computer screen. I need you. I need to be held by you. I need to be close to you.

I love you. I always will.

A lot of the time we get by in the day-to-day without really ever connecting with those around us. Without connecting to our own emotions, fears, and needs.

We hardly take time to stop and notice what we're feeling, much less communicate it to those who need to know.

There's a difference between thinking it and saying it.

I urge you -- however lonely you are, however upset, or angry inside -- to show it today. Reach out to someone who can help you, or talk to you. Tell him you love him. Ask him if you can make a plan to spend more time together. You need it.

He deserves to know, as much as you deserve to tell. To let go.

Ready for the Impossible?

 

Photo via Pennyweight.

I have a feeling 2011 is going to be an incredible year. Are you ready for it?

I'm ready for quiet moments, full skies and elaborate dreams. I plan to do plenty of yoga, healthy cooking, and reading for fun.

And I want healthy relationships -- with my Hubs, my friends, and myself -- to be at the top of the list.

Photo via Andrew + Carissa.

Photo via Atlantic Tree Fox.

Now is one of those times of year I feel pretty reflective. I find myself reminiscing about my favorite memories -- which means reliving the Big Day over and over. Anyone else wish they could enjoy their wedding day all over again just because it was so wonderful?

Before we left California, I was also helping my mom pack up a few boxes and get rid of some of my old stuff. I spent a few hours going through old papers -- birthday cards, love notes from my lunchboxes as a kid, letters from penpals, journal entries, high school essays. I found myself feeling strangely sentimental, and sad to leave my family. The cards from both of my late grandmothers almost brought a tear, and more so they have inspired new poetry.

Photo via A Desert Fete. 

Photo via Oh Happy Day!

Getting back to our wonderful little apartment has also inspired me. Hubs and I endured a particularly long and ridiculous journey home (delays at the airport, delays for our bags, delays for the cab) so we were pretty happy once we made it to our bed last night.

We spent the whole day today cleaning, organizing, and getting rid of old stuff. The perfect New Year's purge!

It felt great to free up some space and tidy up. We still have a bit to do -- and I have big plans for my own new planning schemes to keep things easy to find! 

Photo via David and Sarah.

Photo via Stephen Beadles Photography.

At the start of January, it's easy to look forward and think how lovely and open the new year is. It's just as easy to look back at the year behind us and get overwhelmed by how much we had to do to survive it.

Are you busy looking forward, or looking back?

At this very moment, I am equally at peace with my goals for the new year and my accomplishments from the past year. I feel prepared to do better, to grow, to let go. I'm as ready for the impossible as I can be.

Photo by Jose Villa.

A final quick note: I'll be featuring a new series here on Alive in the Fire very soon! It's called:

Beyond Childhood (How to Love Your Kiddos Better) 

Get excited; you're going to be seeing a lot of adorable baby pictures, parenting advice, thoughts for expectant moms-to-be, reviews of green products, and ways to make family your top priority in 2011! I hope you'll follow along and consider contributing your comments and ideas.

If you know of a mom who might want to share her story, please have her email me here: aliveinthefire at gmail dot com.

I'd also love to hear from you with ideas about:

• Family-focused companies
• Eco-friendly and green products for babies
• How to put family first
• Raising kids with love, hope and spirit
• Eating well for you and your family

Thanks and namaste!

Practice, Not Perfect Execution

Photos via Brandy Lyn Winfield, an incredible yogini who won the 2010 Bishnu Charan Ghosh Cup and who teaches at Bikram Yoga Summerlin in Las Vegas, NV.

How many times does a Yoga Asana Championship-winning yogi practice a posture before taking home that trophy?

You'll never know. They lost count.

Or better yet, they never counted to begin with. Because it wasn't about the number of times they got it right. It was about trying again. Doing the best they could. Letting go of the rest.

Taking flight.

I recently read a lovely blog post by Bikram yogi Hannah over at Hannah Just Breathe about how there is always something we can learn from our practice. Even if we mess up and eat right before class, sitting in savasana can teach us to prepare better next time. Even if we've been to Teacher Training and back, we have more to learn from our instructors and the yogis around us about how to focus, how to let go, how to have fun.

Whether it's our first class or our 100th in a challenge, we are practicing strength and getting better by letting go of expectations instead of demanding perfection of ourselves.

As Hannah's teacher said, "Each time you come, each time you practice, you learn something new, about your body or yourself or the yoga.  It is the practice that’s important, not the perfect execution.”

Next time you get overwhelmed by your own mistakes, or frustrated by your yoga performance, I challenge you to reconsider the way you define your practice. Are you at the studio to experience the yoga and to detox your body and mind, or to impress your fellow yogis by executing the posture perfectly?

Will you fix your hair and shorts and wipe sweat so you look OK, or let it go and get down to business?

Who are you making eye contact with in the mirror -- your neighbor or your own steady gaze?

Do you bring home pride, or humility after class?

I was so proud of Joanna over at Lock the Knee when I read her recent post about how well she took disappointment when competing in regional yoga championships did not go exactly as planned. Basically, she didn't hit her Standing Bow the way she had been hoping to, and practicing for, but that didn't mean she was about to give up. And in case you were wondering, she's got a killer Standing Bow:

A true Bikram yogi and teacher. I mean, this lady's got it goin' on.

Instead of slinking off-stage, Juliana took her time completing the rest of the postures she had been practicing (as she says, "because at this point I didn't really care about the clock and I was still on stage in front of a whole ton of people.  I might as well do something nice before hanging up my leotard until next year!").

Sarcasm aside, instead of freaking out or getting upset, J was able to laugh off what didn't go as well as she hoped it would -- and she even posted about it on her blog in one of the most hilarious throwbacks to the awesome web comic Hyperbole and a Half I've ever read. She had fun, she did some great yoga, and she took home no regrets -- she practiced being calm and carrying on! -- and for that, The Dancing J should be super proud.

As should Hannah, her wise instructor, and the novice yogi who he counseled about coming to class on and empty stomach.

With these inspiring Bikram yogis in mind, I challenge you to reconsider your habits at the studio, and your true motives for engaging in this practice called yoga.

Next time you find yourself whining at yourself in the mirror about how you didn't achieve that last inch of depth in Half Moon, or how you didn't get your chin to shoulder in Standing Bow before falling out, shut your brain up.

Relax.

Bikram yoga is about practice, not perfect execution.

I love how delicate her toes are in this picture. So beautiful! You can believe it took some practice to get to this perfect execution.

Hopes, Wants, Wishes: A Holiday Gift Guide

Deck the halls!

Christmas season is just around the corner, although it's hard to believe it while I'm enjoying 80-degree weather in Puerto Rico. Are you ready for your gift shopping?

Here are a few item's I've been drooling over lately.

Super sexy!

 Incredibly gorgeous swimwear from Mikoh.

Perfect for Bikram class.

 StayHuman ruched shorts.

A new take on the turtleneck.

A lovely Lole sheer top from Uncle Dan's in Evanston.

Warm and fuzzy and comfy.

Grey wool fleck botas from TOMS shoes. Adorable!

Have to love a long zip up.

Beautiful Wear With All Jacket from Lululemon.

Fancy yoga wear.

A wrap-around bolero style top from KayaYogaWear on Etsy.

Chunky scarf in the best color.

A scarf from Secret Pocket, who has my favorite store name ever.

This yoga bag is sick, and it comes in the color key lime.

A yoga mat carrier from Yogiwear that's to die for!

I'm also considering some rad non-traditional Christmas ideas like...

• Buying a potted tree.
• Donating a yoga mat.
• Doing an art swap or services exchange with friends instead of buying gifts.
• Baking all gluten-free goodies.
• Taking a silly family portrait.

What are you up to for the holidays? Would love to hear about your weird and wacky traditions in the comment section below.

Black Friday Giveaway: Some Like it Hot

Happy Black Friday!

Where are you celebrating a day of shopping, relaxing and working off your feast at Bikram?

Here's what I've got to work off from yesterday. Whew!

I am so excited to take class at Bikram Yoga Minneapolis with my cousin Joelle and our friend Matt this afternoon. Woohoo first timers!

In case you're a little nervous to try the yoga today, here are some reasons why you should rest easy and get fired up for class:

• You'll sweat out all the toxins and feel lighter and tighter after class.
• You will leave the studio feeling exhilarated, rejuvenated and invigorated.
• In class you will sweat, laugh, and challenge yourself to your fullest potential.
• Reduce stress of the holidays by taking 90 minutes for yourself.
• It's never too late to try again.
• If you can, you must!

Now for the Black Friday giveaway! Today's item comes from Yoga with Style: a hilarious and high-quality hot yoga towel...

Humor in the heat, my favorite.

This Baktuli high-performance sport and yoga towel will give you power and energy in class. It's a 100% Turkish cotton terry towel featuring Microban for anti-microbial protection. This towel is super absorbent and offers great grip and durability. Machine washable. Can be used in the studio, home or at the beach. Designed in Canada; made in Turkey. A wondrous find and free to one winner (valued at over $45)!

This site's got an awesomely diverse shop with clothing, bags, blankets, gifts, jewelry, mats & more!

To win the hot towel, please:

• Leave a comment below about your craziest experience in the heat, and where you wish you could travel to this winter for some sunshine and warm weather.
• Check out the Yoga with Style blog and comment on their 12 Days of Breathing post (consider participating, too!).
• Add Yoga with Style on Facebook and Twitter.
• Enjoy the heat in class today!

Please note: domestic winners only.

Brrrrr. It's chilly out! About ten degrees here in Minnesota.

Bundle up out there! See you at the studio for some holiday heat.

Change Brings New Light

Sometimes change hits us in the heart like a windstorm. We are struck by the unexpected, the abrupt, the weight of the words as we utter them, turning toward a new path.

I sold the house.

I'm closing the store.

I'm leaving, and I won't be back.

How do we survive? How do we move on?

In yoga, there are postures that make us feel as though we're ready to pass out, puke, die. Often in the standing balancing series, toward the end of a long pose, we want to come out. To give up.

We make a choice: do I surrender, or do I breathe right through it? One more breath, one more moment. And then, the posture is over.

At the beginning of class, during deep breathing, a new flow of oxygenated blood to our brains may make us feel lightheaded, dizzy, even euphoric. This signals that we are experiencing a change -- a movement into a new state, a shift into meditation, a conscious and deliberate decision to rest in the present moment. During the breathing, we feel ourselves fully within the room and within our own bodies. Centered, whole, ready.

We become the breath.

We become the change, without panic, fear or hesitation.

In yoga, it is the breath that carries us through.

In his book The Wisdom of Yoga, Stephen Cope describes the transformational inner process which yoga guides us through. He highlights a passage from the Yoga Sutras to explain the changes that take place:

Being absorbed in the play of the mind's luminosity yields insight about the subtle, hidden, and distant.

Focusing with perfect discipline on the sun yields insight about the universe.

Focusing with perfect discipline on the moon yields insight about the stars' positions. 

(3.26-28)

Yoga brings the mind into focus by using the body, by placing it in space. When we can contextualize ourselves in a physical universe, we can then begin to explore the inner world of our mind, leading to greater self-understanding. Our understanding is likened to light, and has been described by various religions as "the light within" or "the divine light." Cope goes on to describe it beautifully:

"The compelling luminosity of 'deep mind' draws the seeker's awareness increasingly inward. In the yoga tradition, this increasing interiority is seen as a developmental imperative. All adult development moves from the external to the internal. That is to say, our experience of each stage of our 'waking up' process is inevitably one of deepening interiority...Introversion draws us into an exploration of the compelling inner structures of the mind."

Change can be hard. Change can hurt or heal, it can confuse us, it can leave us gasping for breath.

But at the moment when we become fearful, bewildered, distraught -- at our greatest moment of weakness -- we must remember that this change also brings new light.