Please get comfy and have a listen to the following breathing exercises I created for you. Taking a few minutes to practice conscious breathing has many benefits including stress reduction, pain management, regulated sleep cycles and increased energy. Give it a try and please let me know what you think!
Yoga is so much more than putting our bodies into various shapes and poses. In fact, the word, yoga, means union or the yoking together of body, mind and spirit. The purpose is to connect ourselves to our highest nature. The practice of yoga includes breathwork, meditation and chanting mantra. My body feels energized after doing the poses, but I find peace and clarity from fusing all aspects of the practice.
The first time I heard the sound of the harmonium, about 12 years ago, was a spiritual experience for me. The sound was different to any instrument I had ever heard and chanting mantra to the sound of the harmonium made me feel connected to myself and those around me. I felt uplifted. Last year when we decided to go to India I knew I would be coming home with my own harmonium.
Enter Udaipur; the white city. This was our first landing stop in India after New Delhi. What a romantic and enchanting place, this city of lakes. Marble palaces and havelis (mansions) sit perched above shimmering Lake Pichola. I decided to go explore the town while the boys were doing their schoolwork. Walking through the crooked, narrow streets- none wide enough to fit a car through- is something of an art. I had to jump into a shop doorway to avoid being hit by either an auto rickshaw or cow. I landed right into a sweet little music shop where I was invited in by Krishna, the owner. We talked for a while about family, yoga, my travels and his life in Udaipur. I asked him if he would take me on as a student of the harmonium while I was in town and we set up my first lesson the next morning. Our first session was a family lesson with Dave and me on harmonium, Oliver on sitar and Judah on tablas.
After the hour was over Krishna said it was time to go home for tea. We said our goodbyes and he exclaimed, "No madam, we all go home for tea. My wife makes us tea." Krishna's wife, Heena, makes the best cup of masala tea in all of Rajasthan, I'm sure of it. Despite being busy cleaning and preparing for the Diwali holiday, Krishna and Heena were wonderful hosts. We were invited to stay and join them for Heena's aloo gobi for lunch in their tiny home, just large enough for a table for 1 person and a twin bed that they share with their teenage son. We stayed for hours while Heena taught the boys how to cook chapati over an open flame and gave me a henna on my hands. And she loved seeing photos from our trip.
I continued my harmonium lessons each day, testing out several instruments throughout each lesson. Krishna had about 20 harmoniums in his tiny shop, but there was one I kept coming back to. Krishna and all the men throughout his ancestry are of a caste of musicians. My harmonium was one of a few that had belonged to his grandfather, who was one of the palace musicians of Udaipur.
I love its antique look, I love its old and unique sound and mostly I love its history. I've been wanting to add something creative into my life for a long while. I'm looking forward spending many hours learning and practicing my new instrument while sipping on a homemade masala tea, though mine doesn't compare to Heena's!
Pigeon is one of those poses that you really have to be careful in. When putting your leg into the motions of flexion, abduction and external rotation you're already setting up for potential problems with the hips. Eka Pada Rajakapotasana Prep, AKA pigeon pose, has all three of these motions, plus the added risk of weight bearing on the front leg. Adding a lot of pigeon into your life can cause repetitive stress on the hip joint, specifically because the bony parts of the hip (the femoral head and the acetabulum) are moving closer together, meaning bone on bone. Not good. Too much extreme range of motion can cause torn labrums and Femoral Acetabular Impingement (FAI) that wears down the bones, possibly leading to hip replacements. Pigeon Pose can also be hard on the knee since it's trapped between the hip and the foot, so keeping both the hip and the foot in good alignment is crucial. So, if you don't mind, please let me ruffle your pigeon feathers and offer a healthier version of this hip opener. Below I'm going to offer some Pigeon Do's and Pigeon Don'ts.
First and especially, if you are a person that is very flexible and your joints have a large range of motion, move away from the idea that you need to go to your end range of motion. It's better for your body not to.
1. Bring your knee forward, but not too wide. If your joints are stiff you'll bring the knee more narrow towards the center of your mat between your two hands. If you usually go wide with the front knee, avoid that, so you can eliminate the abduction motion (widening) from the pose. Try placing the knee to the inside of the wrist.
2. Always lead with your knee and NOT your foot. This way the shin will be running on a diagonal shape on your mat. The whole top of your foot should be on the floor with your toes spread. Keep your ankle straight so the foot is aligned with your shin.
3. We need to keep the back of the hips level to avoid SI joint (where your sacrum meets your hips) misalignment, which could cause low back pain. So, keep an even balance on both the front and the back leg.
1. Don't push your ankle or foot forward. I'm publicly debunking the myth that your front shin should be at a 90 degree angle, or as parallel to the front of your mat as you can get it. I've heard many yoga teachers instruct this in class, teaching that pushing that foot and shin forward gives you a better hip opener. NOT TRUE! If you do this action repeatedly in your pigeon pose, better have a good orthopedic surgeon lined up. Seriously. With the shin far forward you are bringing your leg into the most extreme version of external rotation, flexion and abduction you can get in this position; i.e. bone on bone .See Exhibit A
2. Don't lean all the way over onto your right hip. See Exhibit B
3. Don't lean all the way over onto your left hip. See Exhibit C
4. Instead of going to your end range of motion, trying staying at around 70-80% to protect your joints
Triangle Pose is one loved by many as it is both stretching and strengthening to the lower half of the body. I love taking this pose to the wall and feeling it change dynamically...
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For much of my life I've loathed twists. I have scoliosis, a curvature in the spine, which causes a great deal of pain in my back. Yoga twists often cause me to fall too deep into my curve, exacerbating the pain. After 20-something years of doing yoga I finally found a way to enjoy these poses by creating stability in my hips while I'm twisting. I love this version of Twisted Child's Pose which brings the motion into my thoracic spine (upper back) while my hips and lumbar spine (low back) remain neutral.
Four steps to Twisted Child's Pose variation:
Get on hands and knees and line up left hip and shoulder against a wall
Slide your left arm underneath your right until your shoulder is on the floor
Gently press your right fingertips into the floor to facilitate more twist in the upper back
Press the tops of your feet into the floor to add further stability to the hips and low back
*While this is a great pose for anyone with a spine :) I'm showing it for a Left Lumbar Spinal Curve. We see several different types of curves with scoliosis, if you need help modifying this pose for your specific curve please send me an email at jackierosenheim@gmail.com. I'd be happy to help!
Windshield Wiper is one of my favorite poses for low-back release. When my low back is aching, when my hips feel tight or when I need to reset my mind as well as my body, this pose feels so luxurious. It is a simple, feel good pose.
How To:
With your feet slightly wider than your hips, allow the knees to gently rest together.
As the knees touch, your sacroilliac joint (the flat triangular bone at the base of your spine) widens and also provides some much needed spaciousness to the lumbar spine (low back) as well.
By slowly swaying the knees from side to side windshield wiper style, you're also getting the added benefit of lubricating the hip joints and releasing the psoas muscle which, when tight, is one of the major contributors to low back pain.
Take two deep breaths on each side and move slowly as you transition to the opposite side.
Close your eyes and enjoy!
I have so many stories to share from our 7 month journey around the world, however there is one experience that really stands out for me. While in New Zealand we took a day cruise on the Milford Sound in the Fiordlands National Park. We couldn't have chosen a better day, which was only just by luck. There was a heavy mist hanging low, yet the sun was beginning to make an appearance. The water was extraordinarily calm and the waterfalls were flowing with force from the previous night's rain. Cruising through the inlet towards the Tasman Sea we were surrounded by glacier-formed mountains on all sides. Some of the fastest growing mountains in the world, their peaks rise from the tectonic plates making way for limestone karsts to rise tall. Their valleys have been carved out by over 20 periods of glaciation, dating back 20 million years.
It is the most astounding beauty I have seen in almost all of my recent travels around the world. To top it off there were pods of dolphins playing in the waters and seals sunbathing all around. However, what struck me most about the day is the likeness of the human soul to these majestic mountains. Just as the glaciers are constantly growing or receding and being shaped into their present imposing stage, so to do our souls constantly grow, shift or recede to shape us into our most present, perfect and illuminated form of self. This should be a reminder that even when life feels dull or stagnant there is so much happening inside ourselves. And just like these waterfall-covered mountains, we too, have a rushing inner wellspring. Ever-present and ready to flow; offering an abundance of the love, light and energy that resides within us.
