Friday Q A Finding a Yoga Teacher

Lady Bug and Flower by Melina Meza

Q: I started taking yoga classes 6 months ago at my gym, and no longer work out with weights (after 10 years!). I feel the instructor has a spiritual side but also leaves me feeling, dare I say, like I've had a workout. I would like to transition to a regular yoga studio, but how to choose the one that would work for me? I'm strong, but I have to consider that I'm 61 years old. I used to like vigorous exercise but it leaves me feeling wiped out instead of invigorated.

A: Unfortunately there is no easy answer to this question. In a way, finding the right yoga class might be like finding a house to buy. You can do all the research you like, looking at photos and inspection reports, but in the end, you need to go see it (maybe even more than once) to determine whether it is the right house for you. But it really is worth taking your time to find the right yoga class for you. Not only will you have a better experience with the right class, the right teacher will be someone who inspires your practice

But what the heck—I guess it's because I used to be a technical writer—I've decided to outline three basic steps for finding the right yoga class for you:

1. Find out what's available in your area. While it is tempting just to go to the closest studio to your home or work, I encourage you to check out several studios because the one closest to you is not necessarily the best one. For someone your age who has little yoga experience and doesn't want an overly demanding class, I'd say you might want to avoid the most athletic, physically demanding styles of yoga, such as Ashtanga (aka Power Yoga), Bikram, and Anusara. In general, the other styles, such as Iyengar, Viniyoga, Kripalu, Integral, and Kundalini (have I left out anything important?), will be more suitable for you, though anything billed as gentle yoga will not be too demanding. Obviously in your situation you'll want to start with a beginning or at least a level 1 class, if not gentle. (A class for "seniors" probably won't be enough of a workout for you.)

2. Look into the reputation of the studio and the teachers. You can ask people you know what studios and teachers they like or even look online for information and recommendations. Most studios have web sites, where you can read the biographies of the teachers on the staff. I suggest you do this, and that you look for someone who has had significant training (often the number of hours of training is specified) and teaching experience. In her post Finding the Right Yoga Teacher for You, guest poster Andy has some more specific pointers.

3. Try out several classes. Always start by arriving a bit early and introducing yourself to the teacher, and tell the teacher about any concerns you might have (see What Your Yoga Teacher Really Wants to Know). You'll soon find that you not only prefer one yoga style over another but also that you respond better to certain teaching styles and personalities. And you'll know when you find the right class when you find one that not only feels comfortable to you but when you realize that you are looking forward to going back to class!

Finally, this may sound odd, but why do you want to leave the teacher you already like so much? I myself, did "gym yoga" for over five years with two wonderful teachers who were very well trained. Although some gym yoga teachers are not well trained, there are quite a few who are and they may be just as good as those you'll find in a formal yoga studio. So if you love your current teacher, consider staying where you are!

—Nina

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Friday Q A Multiple Sclerosis

Take Back Your Life by Melina Meza

Q:I am curious about how yoga might be used to benefit someone with a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).  I have heard about it, but am not sure how to proceed.

A: Thanks for checking in about this. I am surprised we have not addressed this to date, so I am happy we will go over it today! After I did my teacher training in 2001, one of the first workshops I ever attended was down in the South Bay, where a well known teacher from Catalina Island, CA named Eric Small was teaching a weekend workshop for the National MS Society on “Yoga for People with Multiple Sclerosis.” In my previous incarnation as a full-time family MD, I had cared for a few patients who had the diagnosis of MS. But honestly, it was their neurologist that really addressed their MS and its symptoms more than I did. If only I had known then what I learned from Eric back in 2001, I would have had some very powerful tools to address this serious condition. And, boy, was I learning from the right person. Eric was diagnosed with MS as a young adult and had a pretty severe first episode, which made it hard for him to even walk without the aid of crutches.  Fortunately, he attended one of BKS Iyengar’s first classes in San Francisco in the late 60s and was taken under the master’s wings and taught how to work with his condition using yoga practices. Eric has rarely had any additional symptoms, a rare story with MS, indeed.

For those of you out there unfamiliar with MS, it is the most common neurological condition that leads to work disability in younger adults. Two-thirds of people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20-40, and although it is not a cause of premature death, it does often lead to significant disability. The theory behind MS is that the body develops an auto-immune response to the protective sheath that surrounds the nerves in the brain called myelin sheath, attacking it as if it were a virus or bacteria. Not only does this lead to scarring of the myelin, but it can affect the underlying nerve as well. The result is that communication running down the damaged nerves slows or stops, leading to all kinds of unwelcome symptoms, like muscle weakness, spasticity, lack of coordination, loss of balance, gait difficulties, tremors, swallowing trouble, speech disorders; numbness, tingling, burning, or pain; blurred vision, double vision, blind spots or blindness; bowel and bladder problems like urgency, frequency, retention, incontinence and constipation; as well as vertigo, depression, or emotional labiality; and short term memory loss and impaired concentration are the most common cognitive signs. This is a staggering array of symptoms, and because no two MS suffers will have the same constellation of symptoms, it can take a while to even get to an accurate diagnosis of MS.

There are a few different patterns for the affects people experience, and I am going to suggest that if you want to know more about that, check out the National MS Society website. But let's say that in many cases the symptoms will intensify for a while, referred to as a relapse, and at times they will diminish for a while, called remission. One of the main complaints from those with MS during a relapse is fatigue and heat intolerance. They often note fatigue arising in the late afternoon, and symptoms worsening if the environment is hot or if they overheat with activity. This is a perfect point of entry for yoga, especially quieter poses, restorative practices and breath work.

Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall Pose)

Although we have mentioned yoga’s benefits before, the MS society notes the following as particularly relevant in dealing with the huge list of possible symptoms that MS folks may experience: breathing becomes deeper and more regular; circulation increases, for better distribution of O2 throughout the body; flexibility increase; muscles and joints are toned; internal organs are massaged; and a general feeling of well-being arises. And since fatigue and heat intolerance are the most limiting factors to the MS student, the breathing and restorative practices are extremely beneficial for managing these symptoms and you might start out learning these for your benefit or teaching these first for your student with MS (see Mini Restorative Practice).

Because these students also often have some degree of spasticity as well as movement and gait disturbance, the systematic stretching and breath attention of yoga releases tension in the areas affected, while improving circulation and enhancing awareness of the student’s body. Body awarenessaids in recognizing and regulating an individual’s unique MS symptoms. In addition, regular practice will also improve coordination, helping directly with balance issues and helping with transferring.

Many MS students may be using a cane, crutches or a wheelchair some of the time, so you will need to become familiar with using all of the props you can. Chair practices (Chair Yoga) are helpful, but even having poses these students can do in bed will be very helpful if they can not transfer to a chair or the floor easily. So, depending on the individual’s function on any given day, you will either be doing a fairly typical yoga class, a chair yoga class or a very modified class in the wheelchair or in a bed. The key will be to keep things quiet and cooling in general. During times of remission, if there are minimal symptoms, you could try sharing a regular intensity class, as long as heating poses or sequences don’t lead to a flare of symptoms. I’m hopeful these general guidelines will give you a place to begin your exploration of yoga for MS.

—Baxter

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Friday Q A Can Yoga Really Help Me

Fallen Tree by Brad Gibson

Q: I have been getting the emails for some time and find them very interesting but have a question that has been nagging me for some time. I have been practicing yoga for years and have been teaching yoga for 10 years. I am now 63 and in the last 3 yrs despite my daily practice and veggie diet feel that my body has been deteriorating, i.e., increased aches and pains, worse in the morning, increased loss in vitality and recurring viruses, etc. I know I am getting old but I have always had faith in my yoga until the last year or so. Do you think yoga can really help with these problems in the way it claims to once we get older?

A: This question is what prompted Baxter to write his post What to Expect from Your Yoga Practice on Tuesday. But I thought it worth posting the original question for two reasons. The first reason is that this is not the first time we’ve received a question from someone who is having serious problems but whose description of their situation is too vague for us to provide a specific helpful answer. What we typically do in these cases is to suggest that the person be examined by a medical doctor to get a specific diagnoses. Only when there is a specific diagnosis is it possible for us to recommend specific yoga remedies. That's something for you all to keep in mind if you are having unexplained aches and pains, loss in vitality, recurring viruses, or any other troubling symptoms.

The second reason is that it may be be that you, as was the case with the person who asked the above question, have indeed been examined and nothing specific has been found wrong with you. In this case, it seems to me (and Shari and Baxter agree with me on this) that if someone has been medically checked out and they are perfectly healthy, but their yoga practice is be causing them to be tired and/or in pain all the time, it is probably a good idea for them to change their practice. While most folks out there don't exercise enough, there definitely are a few who overdo yoga! So it might be time to do different types of poses and/or sequences, at least for a while. This might mean a gentler practice, a practice from a yoga tradition different than the one you usually study, a break from standing poses or the poses that are painful for you, or studying with a new teacher. Or it might be good to take time off from active asana, focusing for a time on restoratives and relaxation until your body recovers. Sometimes a temporary break from yoga asana is even necessary (I've been there myself). I strongly recommend a private consultation with a teacher you respect—even if you are a teacher yourself—who can look at you with fresh eyes and make some recommendations for changing your practice. You'll probably have to experiment for a while to find out what's best for you, but I've personally found that a period of experimentation can be very fruitful for deepening your understanding of yoga.

And what about the answer to the specific question: Do you think yoga can really help with these problems in the way it claims to once we get older? I can say with complete confidence that all four of here at Yoga for Healthy Aging (and that includes, besides me, a medical doctor, a medical researcher, and a physical therapist) all do believe that yoga can help with these problems. That’s why we started this blog!

—Nina

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Friday Q A Shaky Legs

Red Bud Tree in Transition by Nina Zolotow

Q: Shaky legs towards mid to end of practice (standing poses and prone, like locust with lifted legs), what makes this happen? (I'm guessing they are tired.) And how to address this? Is it just a matter of strengthening?

A: Let me begin by saying that you are not alone with this phenomenon. In fact, for the first year or so of my asana practice, I'd experience the same thing, especially in poses that were held for a long time. It would sometimes recur if the level of difficulty of my asana classes went up, such as when I graduated myself from the beginner level classes to the intermediate level. In all likelihood, the muscles that start to shake are becoming fatigued to the point that the normal sustained contraction cannot be held, so you get this on-off thing happening that is felt as shaking. It may be a build up of lactic acid in the muscles, the by-product of the energy used to contract the muscles, and evidence the muscles probably need a respite. This reaction usually improves as you practice more regularly and work on the offending poses a bit in your home practice. This will begin to increase your endurance and the shaking will be a fond memory of what it was like early on in your yoga history!

—Baxter

A: I, too, experienced shaky legs during my early years of yoga practice. Shari reports that fatigue causes “muscle fasciculation,” which is incomplete contractions because the muscle efficiency has been reached and it is fatiguing. She suggests that you honor the fatigue and rest your legs. I’d like to add that I think it’s not just a matter of leg strength per se, but rather than in yoga asana we’re using our legs differently than we do in walking, running, or other forms of exercise. The example you gave of Locust pose illustrates this, because we don’t normally lift our legs backward behind us. That’s why it is only by doing more yoga (and those very same poses that fatigue your legs) that you’ll gain more endurance in those poses. I myself noticed the shaking after the strenuous poses, when I was in an inversion, such as Shoulderstand or even in a resting pose. So you might experiment with doing leg stretches after the poses that make your legs shaky to see if that helps relieve the muscle tension and relaxes your legs (and leg stretches are great counter-poses for backbends, partly because they do relax your legs after their hard work lifting you into a backbend).

—Nina

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Friday Q A Yoga and Pacemakers

Q: I am a yoga practitioner and a teacher of active classes, and have been for 20 years. I am 64. Four years ago, I had a pacemaker put in to correct sick sinus syndrome, which is to say I began randomly fainting because my heart hesitated too long between beats - for no identifiable reason. All other aspects of my heart health and general health are excellent. I returned to my asana practice slowly as I learned to keep space between the collarbone and first rib where the wire is inserted in the subclavanian artery so as not to damage or wear it out prematurely. Having been certified in Anusara, I exaggerated the action of 'shoulder loop', keeping my side body long and my inner body bright. I have not found any other practitioners or therapists, nor have I found any teacher or doctor other than Dr. Carrie Demers who would even address this. Dr. Deemers suggested nadi sodana and agni sara as ways to vitalize the first chakra energy and therefore increase energy upward.

Does anyone on your team have insight or suggestions? I can't be the only yogi with a pacemaker, can I? My aim is to lessen the amount of times my body turns to this back-up device and to put off the eventual need for replacement of the battery and/or wires - which has to be down for everyone sooner or later.

A: This is an intriguing question. To date, there are no specific studies looking at sick sinus syndrome and yoga to help guide us. And none of our staff are cardiac medical specialists, so we are not able to give the kind of specific, scientifically grounded advice our reader may be seeking. The steps the writer has already taken to keep space between the collar bone and first rib appear to be anatomically sound and may indeed lead to keeping the pacemaker in working order longer than poor postural habits might do. General attention to Mountain pose and other upright poses that encourage a broad, open upper chest region could help this work with the Anusara chest loop.

Because the sick sinus syndrome is not very common, I have included a brief definition found on the Mayo Clinic website:

 “Sick sinus syndrome is the name for a group of heart rhythm problems (arrhythmias) in which the sinus node — the heart's natural pacemaker — doesn't work properly.” 

See the Mayo website here for further information.

The result of a natural pacemaker that does not work properly can be a slower heart rate, a faster heart rate, long pauses in heart rhythm, or a combination of these variations.  Once the condition is treated and artificial pacemaker is put in place, these variations become less dangerous.

Although I could not find specifics on the effects of stress for sick sinus syndrome, stress can definitely have a negative effect on general heart health. Yoga has been found to be helpful with other heart conditions, even though sick sinus syndrome has not been yet studied. And because yoga techniques can help lower stress responses in regular practitioners, simply doing a balanced practice several times a day, if approved by your cardiologist, could be of overall help for your heart health. In addition, practices that are deeply relaxing for the body and mind, such as restorative practice and guided meditations like yoga nidra would also be helpful.

Caution should be practiced with pranayama techniques in which the breath is held at the beginning or end of an inhale or exhale, as these could either stimulate the heart rate to drop too low or surge too high.  In particular, if one takes a full breath in and then retains or holds it for a number of seconds, it could cause a sudden drop in heart rate if not performed properly. In the medical world, this is known as a Valsalva maneuver.  And although it is used in medical settings to treat abnormally fast heart rates and even as a diagnostic tool, a pranayama practitioner would not necessarily want to invoke this response unawares. 

Balanced alternate nostril breathing, nadi shodhana, without retention, would therefore  likely be neutral in effect on the heart, and therefore safe to practice. Agni sara, since it involves breath retention at the end of an exhale, could be a bit more tricky. I’d recommend finding a pranayama teacher with many years of experience to work with more closely to support a regular heart rate. Please keep us posted on practices you find helpful down the road!

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—Baxter

Friday Q A Breath Practices for Anxiety

Statue and Bird by Melina Meza

Q: I’ve been having bouts of anxiety lately, especially first thing in the morning after I wake up. Is there a short, simple practice that I can do before I get out of bed that will calm me down so I can start my day in a better emotional state?

A: There definitely are some simple breath practices that you can use in the morning before you get up as well as any time during your day that you may find very helpful! In his post How Your Breath Affects Your Nervous System, Baxter gives the scientific background about why breath practices are so effective. And I myself regularly use a simple breath practice to help me relax when I’m feeling stressed and to help me fall back to sleep if I awake in the night.

I discussed your question with Baxter, and together we came up with a list of three practices that you can choose from. In general, all three are different ways of lengthening your exhalation. Because your heart rate is naturally slower on your exhalation than on your inhalation, making your exhalation longer than your inhalation begins to slow down your overall heart rate, sending a message to your brain that everything is more peaceful and calm than it was five minutes ago. This message encourages your brain to support this shift by activating the Rest and Digest or Relaxation Response (see The Relaxation Response and Yoga), which will reduce your stress hormones, quiet your mind, and hopefully quell your anxiety. 

Try all three techniques and see which ones work best for you. When you are initially learning the practices, it is best to do them for shorter periods. But I recommend over time working your way up to ten-minute sessions because it seems to take about 7 or 8 minutes for the Relaxation Response to take full effect. However, in a pinch, even a minute or two of a simple breath practice can help head off an anxiety attack, so even a short session can be very beneficial.

Exhalation Pausing. The simplest breath practice you can do is to pause briefly at the end of each exhalation. You can do this practice in a seated position or even lying in bed, on your back with your head supported by a pillow. Start by practicing basic breath awareness. This means focusing your mind on how your breath moves in your body, perhaps on how your belly rises and falls with your breath or, if it’s easier, how your chest moves with your breath. You could also focus on the more subtle sensations, such as the feeling of your breath moving in and out or your nostrils or, if you prefer, the sound your breath makes in your body. I actually like to lie on my back with my hands on my belly because that makes it very easy for me to feel the movement in my abdomen.

Now you’re ready to try pausing at the end of your exhalation. When you reach the end of your next exhalation, simply add a beat or two—without straining—before moving on to your inhalation. Keep it relaxed and easy. And if the practice irritates you in any way, simply return to your natural breath.

If at any point you realize your attention has wandered from your breath (it will, of course), simply—and without self-judgment—bring your attention back to your breath.

Bhramari (Buzzing Bee) Breath. This breath practice, in which you make a buzzing sound as you exhale, naturally lengthens your exhalation. To practice a simple version of Bhramari, start by inhaling normally through your nose. Then, keeping your mouth closed, make a low- to medium-pitched humming sound in your throat as you exhale. As you make the buzzing sound—which should last the entire length of the exhalation—tune into the literal vibration of the sound waves in your throat and even in your skull and brain. After you complete your exhalation, inhale through your nose, and if you're comfortable, repeat the cycle. Try to make your transitions into and out of each humming exhalation as smooth as possible. See Pranayama for Everyone: Bhramari Breath for more information.

1:2 Breath. In this breath practice, you actually control the length of your inhalations and exhalations, and aim for a ratio of 1:2, for example, a one-second inhalation and a two-second exhalation or a two-second inhalation and a four-second exhalation. 

Before starting this practice, spend a little time observing your natural breath and mentally counting the length of your typical inhalations and exhalations. If your inhalation is longer than your exhalation, start by making them the same length by consciously slowing your exhalation. 

Once your inhalation and exhalation are equal, try gently increasing the length of your exhalation by releasing air more slowly. Keep your breathing relaxed so you are not straining, and if at any time you begin to feel agitated, simply return to your natural breath. As long as your breath feels smooth and relaxed, continue to gradually increase your exhalation bit by bit until it is twice as long (but no more than twice as long) as your inhalation. If the 1:2 ratio feels uncomfortable or if you're gasping on your next inhalation, return to a ratio that is more comfortable. You can gradually work up to the 1:2 ratio with practice. 

Another way to lengthen your exhalation to a 1:2 ratio is to use a gentle version of Ujjayi breathing for your exhalation only. To do this, breath in normally through your nose, with a relaxed feeling in your throat and vocal cords. Then, as you start to exhale, slightly constrict your throat, keeping it very gentle and relatively quiet. This action in your throat is similar to the one who use on your sunglasses when you try to clean them off, and it will naturally slow down your exhalation a bit and bring you closer to the 1:2 ration. As you practice this form of breathing, relax your throat as you inhale, engage your throat a little as you exhale. 

Baxter recommends doing a set number of repetitions of the 1:2 breathe, such as six rounds or twelve rounds. Then let your breath return to its natural length and depth, and notice how things feel internally. 

If controlling your breath in this manner is stressful, practice the exhalation pausing practice described above instead, and maybe give the 1:2 practice another try after you have some experience with breath work under your belt.

Because chronic stress can exacerbate or even cause anxiety (see Chronic Stress: An Introduction), I think it is also important that you address your overall stress levels in general (see The Relaxation Response and Yoga). So see if you can manage to incorporate some time for gentle or restorative yoga or any form of conscious relaxation into your schedule.

—Nina 

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Friday Q A Savasana Vs Seated Meditation

Q: I've gone through all your articles regarding meditation and savasan :) What is the difference between the state of mind during the centering in the beginning of yoga practice (meditation) and savasan? The different position of the body is obvious, but what about the mind? Thank you and namaste, Linda

A: What a fascinating question! And also, it turns out, a tricky one. In fact, it led to an interesting email exchange between me, Nina, and Dr. Timothy McCall. Before I share that exchange with you, I’d like to say that in comparing seated mediation with the practice of Savasana, it is important to understand that:

• The short meditation done at the beginning of a yoga class, though “centering,” is not the full practice of seated meditation, which is traditionally done for much longer periods of time.
• The short Savasana (Corpse pose or Relaxation pose) done at the end of a yoga class, though relaxing, is not the full practice of the pose, which is traditionally done for much longer periods of time and always has a mental focus (such as the breath, a physical sensation of the body, a peaceful image, progressive relaxation, or even a mantra) and is not just “lying down in Savasana.” Of course, if you tend to fall asleep in Savasana, then you are indeed just sleeping and therefore your mental state in the pose can’t be compared with that of seated meditation.

Done properly, both these practices have been shown to lead to state of conscious relaxation. Scientists who have studied conscious relaxation have found that alpha waves (slow brain waves) increase in intensity and frequency during conscious relaxation, but are not commonly found during sleep. During Savasana or meditation our brain waves may slow to the alpha rhythm (8-12 cycles per second), during which we remain quietly aware of ourselves and our surroundings without a lot of self-directed mental processing, or they may slow even further to the theta rhythm (4-7 cycles per second), during which we may get a “floating” feeling, dreamlike mental imagery, and withdrawal from the outside world. Much is still unknown about these unique states, but what it is known is that regular practice of conscious relaxation helps foster ongoing feelings of serenity, contentment, and even happiness.

Now for the debate!

Nina: Timothy, I was wondering if you had any thoughts about this question. I was going to answer it, saying that with a mental focus (breath, progressive relaxation, yoga nidra, mantras, whatever), Savasana creates a similar state of mind to seated meditation. However, without a mental focus, it is primarily physical relaxation (with the body in anatomic neutral) enhanced by a postural relaxation response (because you assume the position for sleeping, which is less stimulating to the nervous system than sitting upright or standing). But I wanted to check with you to see if you had any other thoughts about it.

Timothy: I think the mental relaxation you can get in Savasana is fabulous but to me it's qualitatively different from what happens in the long-term practice of meditation, which I view, as traditional yogic thought says, potentially deeply transformational. Of course the state you can achieve in a brief check-in before yoga isn't really meditation, but just coming inside for a minute, so a good Savasana is probably way deeper than that. Savasana, of course, can also be transformational in its way, but to me it's different. I agree that some kind of awareness, which can even be just mindfulness of whatever arises as in Vipassana, is crucial to Savasana, or otherwise it's mostly a nice rest!

Nina: So why would your physical position make a difference? I feel confused about this. If you practiced lying down meditation every day for 20 minutes, would that not have the same effect as seated meditation?

I don't agree that Savasana is mostly a nice rest. That's just how most people use it these days. When I was working on our book proposal for Savasana, we interviewed all kinds of long-time teachers who told us about getting into meditative states with Savasana (done properly). Old descriptions of the pose include reciting mantras as you moved your consciousness to different parts of the body, etc.

I might include your quote while saying there are different points of view on this one (unless you can explain to me how/why it is qualitatively different).

Timothy: No I'm saying it's only a nice rest if you space out. If you maintain relaxed awareness, or use some of the tools you mentioned, it's definitely much more than that. Most yoga experts I've heard believe that sitting meditation is different. One theory I've heard it that the vertical arrangement of the chakras is important. I've heard others, including Desikachar, who I interviewed in Chennai one year, say that you can meditate lying down if sitting is not possible, and indeed I did that for a while when I had the thoracic outlet syndrome, and you can do it. I guess what I'm talking about is the effects of a regular long practice. So after I finish pranayama every morning, I sit for one hour, and I've been doing that much or almost that much daily for a long time. The cumulative effect of that seems very different to me that what I've had for doing briefer Savasanas after asana practice for about 15 years. I'm sure some advanced yogis (partially from doing seated mediation I'd guess) can reach some amazing meditative states in supine positions. So yes, there's some difference of opinions, and it's all valuable, so I normally don't obsess on all this hair splitting. Good luck!

Readers: Do you have any thoughts about this? And, Linda, perhaps you should try doing some experiments!

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