This has been an amazing experience. 600 Politicians, Senators, National Institute of Health, IOM, University Professors, Doctors, Naturopaths, TCM, Homeopaths and other practitioners coming together to talk about how our Nation’s health care system can be improved.

Some highlights are:

-          Major push in US towards an Integrative Medicine model

-          Understanding that health care needs to change, is not affordable anymore.

-          All parties (business, health insurance, health professions, patients) seem to agree.

-          President Obama has promised to reform health care with a major focus on prevention

-          Dean Ornish was by far the best speaker (before he had to rush to the Capitol for a Senate hearing to testify about how health care can be improved). His points was that he and many other renowned researchers have done plenty of high quality studies on how heart disease, diabetes, cancer can be reversed up to 70% by lifestyle changes (biopsychosocial, for example plant based diet, yoga, meditation) and that it is time to put this knowledge into action.

-          Prevention on a national scale from kids to adults is necessary and will increase quality of life and health care costs.

-          Several discussions were about yoga and how yoga incorporates many of the health benefits we all seek: physical fitness and flexibility, deep breathing, body mind relaxation, mindfulness.

National Yoga Month will play a vital part in the process of transforming health care from a disease management system to a health and prevention health care model.

Los Angeles, March 1, 2009 – In observation of National Yoga Month (September 2009), the Yoga Health Foundation calls for all yoga studios, teachers and students to go online at www.yogamonth.org and get involved to create one Yoga Month event in every city across the United States.

The Yoga Health Foundation, a nonprofit 501 c(3) organization based in Los Angeles, CA, was founded by Johannes Fisslinger with the intent of delivering yoga and other preventative health care practices to underserved communities.  To achieve this goal, Fisslinger created National Yoga Month, a national awareness campaign to inspire an informed and healthy lifestyle.  In October 2008, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion deemed September (followed by Breast Cancer Awareness in October) to be National Yoga Awareness Month and listed it as an official health observance at www.healthfinder.gov.

National Yoga Month is a campaign to educate and inspire youth and adults to take responsibility for their health by focusing on prevention and living a healthy lifestyle. Yoga Month is the perfect opportunity to begin to create small lifestyle changes for yourself and your family.

HOW OLD SHOULD ONE BE TO START YOGA?

• You can start yoga at any age.

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF PRACTICING YOGA?

• Some of the benefits of practicing yoga are increased flexibility, stronger muscles and connective tissue, alignment of the vertebrae, toned and rejuvenated internal organs.
• In addition, the epidermal, digestive, lymphatic, cardiovascular, and pulmonary systems are purified of toxins and waste matter; the nervous and endocrine systems are balanced and toned; brain cells are nourished and stimulated.
• Results of a regular yoga practice include increased mental clarity, emotional stability, and a greater sense of overall wellbeing.
• Yoga is one of the 10 most utilized Complementary Medicine methods in US.
• Because Yoga operates on so many different levels, it can be an effective therapy for chronic diseases and conditions that do not respond well to conventional treatment methods.
• Additionally, a regular yoga practice will sharpen concentration, balance, and composure.

WHO BENEFITS FROM YOGA MONTH?

• You benefit the most. Start practicing yoga (at home or with a teacher) and feel the difference it will make in your life.
• Yoga Month educational programs were created to offer solutions to diseases such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension and other chronic illnesses that have cast a pall over the health of our youth. 
• Yoga Month proceeds fund the national awareness campaign and health education programs like mind body fitness education for children in pre-schools, kindergarten, elementary schools and after-school programs. 

The Yoga Health Foundation’s 2009 goal is simple: One Yoga Month event in every city.

Get involved. Visit www.yogamonth.org and add your event today!

You might have heard by now that yoga studios are as full as ever. The physical and emotional stress created by the recession (or is it a depression…) is felt all over the country and globally as well.

Yoga has been around for 5000 years and it will be around for many more to come. Maybe there is something to learn from this. Not only can practicing yoga help us live a more balanced and healthy life but the yoga lifestyle can give many important pointers to redesign our economy and society.

Focusing on sustainable growth with sensitivity towards our environment (our close personal reality and earth itself) will be essential in the years to come.

Yoga Month wants to inspire. Yoga Month is about creating a healthy personal lifestyle and a supportive community. Just imagine what millions of yogis and yoginis can do together.

Hello yoga lovers and welcome to the YogaMonth blog.  In this blog – we’re trying to do something never done before, especially for in the yoga community.  We’re writing about our experiences as humble yoga students and hopefully will excite you enough to participate in the yoga classes we write about.  

I’m YogaMan and I wish to share my S. Cali yoga practice experiences with you and hopefully help you in finding the right studio, instructor, and a link to learn about yourself through the study of yoga and self understanding.

So here we GO!

 This week was very special, I finally feel like I’m getting my soccer skills back and FINALLY shedding the “holiday 10”…aka – those 10 pounds I gained while traveling around this beautiful country and visiting loved ones during the Xmas holiday season.

On Wednesday I decided to go to the 24 Hour Fitness on 2nd Street in Santa Monica and practice yoga with Crystal C, a 20-something athletic yoga instructor who has great posture and loves to incorporate breathing exercises into the routine. 

The routine was very calm and concentrated on both breathing and the core, and although it was a bit short for my taste - After the hour-long class I left the gym feeling like I am walking on clouds and ready to take on the day

If you’re in Santa Monica and would like to visit Crystal C and take her class, well she teaches at the 24 Hour Fitness gym every Wednesday at noon…Let her know YogaMan sent you!

Thanks for reading about my experience and be sure to visit again to learn about my next yoga experience.  Also feel free to add me on twitter (YogaMonthMan) and Facebook (Yoga Month).

Namaste & CHEERS
YogaMan

Let your mind wander to the subject of yoga. What do you see? An emaciated Indian man with his feet wrapped around the back of his neck? A lithe, 20-something model with her feet wrapped around the back of her neck? A lithe, 20-something model in skin tight clothing standing on her head?

Or do you see yourself sitting in a chair, one knee crossed over the other, in a gentle twist that energizes your spine, relaxes your shoulders and deepens your breath? (Of course, if you’ve had a hip replacement you won’t see your knees crossed!) If you think that image is impossible, think again!

Yoga has joined the elder world in a big way. More and more senior centers, assisted living facilities, and even skilled nursing facilities now include yoga in their recreational choices. Yoga studios across the country now offer classes called Gentle Yoga, Yoga for Seniors or Therapeutic Yoga. Any of these might be appropriate for an elder who want to enjoy life to the fullest.

Many yoga poses can be adapted and modified to fit the needs of the elder population, and their baby-boomer children who are beginning to feel some aches and pains too! There are yoga teachers who are specially trained in the therapeutic aspects of yoga and are able to create programs especially designed with the elder yogi in mind.

These practices are gentle, move slowly, allow ample time for rest and relaxation and often include enlivening breathing techniques and calming contemplative/meditative practices. Some of the practices can be adapted to a chair or wall for support.

Yoga’s gifts and benefits are many…increased strength and flexibility, more sound sleep, better balance, increased lung capacity, greater peace of mind. All of these benefits increase our joy in living, our acceptance of life-as-it-is, and greater ability to live with purpose (whatever that may be for you). You might find yourself able to play with your grandchildren with greater gusto. Or you might provide that calm center in the midst of a family upset. Or your yoga practice might inspire you to become a mentor in the field you spent decades perfecting. Or you might teach a child who has little family support to read.

You really don’t need to be a pretzel to enjoy yoga. All you need is an open mind.

            At the age of fifty-one my mother took-up yoga after a girls’ getaway to Canyon Ranch Resort during the spring of 2002. While at the beautiful health spa, my once skeptical mother decided to take a class listed as restorative yoga, which involves the use of props such as blankets, bolsters, straps, and blocks to help students into extremely relaxing and healing postures that help relieve symptoms of chronic stress. Typically only five or six poses are performed in one class, the majority being executed on the ground, and each pose is held anywhere from five to ten minutes, ultimately “restoring” the body.

Upon hearing the instruction that she was going to be in one position, concentrating on nothing else other than her breath for ten minutes, my mother freaked out and thought there was no way she could do it—no way could she sit still and just breathe for ten minutes. But, before she knew it the ten minutes had flown by, and the instructor was guiding the class out of the first pose and into the second. As soon as the teacher had lead them into the next position, and the enchanting music infused the air, she once again fell into an extremely relaxed state. Upon leaving the class she felt so relaxed and rejuvenated, my mother knew that yoga was definitely something she wanted to try again. For the remainder of her stay at Canyon Ranch she attended daily restorative yoga classes. Jazzed she actually liked yoga, which was becoming exceedingly popular, she then found a great local studio five minutes from the house, and spent the rest of the summer attending yoga classes, learning the basic fundamentals of a hatha yoga (the physical branch of yoga consisting of yoga poses or postures called asanas) practice. 

            The positive changes were evident almost immediately. Since we had been kids, my brother and I repeatedly witnessed the unraveling of my mother. She would yell, scream, cry, and lose it over what we thought were the silliest things. Granted she had plenty of validity to be stressed, not only was she raising her two children, but two step-children as well as working full-time, and keeping the perfect house. But, that wasn’t it. She was unable to distinguish between minor annoyances and major cataclysms, resulting in a permanent frantic state. Yoga changed all of that.

            During her last few years of teaching (she taught first and second grade for thirty years) she was able to make it to yoga once, maybe twice, a week—enough to radically shift her temperament. The woman, who perpetually carried on five conversations in her head, was learning to become quiet and remain still, to breathe slower, and to focus her attention. She became noticeably calmer, more rational, happier, and peaceful. Yoga has taught her to let go of the small stuff and, although her house is still spotless, she no longer panics if the carpet remains un-vacuumed for 24 hours.  She is more grounded, her personal relationships have improved, and she no longer screams, well, not nearly as much.  I have witnessed a transformation in my mother beyond words. Not only has she become more coordinated, but also she is more confident, comfortable with herself, and empowered to try new things. Naturally she wanted to share the gift with me—the gift of yoga. 

Have you ever seen photos of a yogi standing on one leg with the other one wrapped around the back of his neck? Mindboggling! It’s even more remarkable when we fear for our lives walking on the street, terrified of losing balance. As the population turns gray, more and more of us will be facing this fear on a daily basis.

That remarkable yogi notwithstanding, each of us can improve balance with a calm, steady and regular yoga practice. This post and two to follow will guide you through the practice of Tree Pose/Vrksasana.  Today’s entry shows the pose using a chair for support. It’s best practiced by people whose balance is already a bit shaky! Using the chair will give you confidence while you build strength in your legs and learn to connect with your feet and the earth beneath your feet.

These, and many other practices, can also be found in my book, A Vibrant Life: Yoga in the Middle Years and Beyond.

Tree Pose with a Chair 

Vrkshasana

Place the front legs of the chair against the wall. Stand next to your chair holding onto the back of the chair with your right hand. Shift your weight onto your right foot. Find a spot on the wall in front of you to rest your eyes.

Lift your left leg off the floor with your knee pointed directly forward.  Once you have found your balance, move your left knee out to the side. Place the sole of your left foot against your right ankle.  If your left shoulder is flexible, as you inhale, raise your left arm out to the side bring it up overhead next to your ear. Mindful attention to your breath will help you maintain and develop balance. Remain in this pose for as long as you are comfortable. 

More options:

If you are living with shoulder issues, allow your left hand to rest on your heart.

To come out of the pose: As you exhale, release your arm from overhead or from your heart. Place your left foot on the floor and stand securely on both feet. 

Take a few resting breaths before you turn around and repeat on the other side.

Awareness: Visualize the roots of your tree growing deep into the earth from your standing leg. The crown of your tree reaches up toward the sky. As you are balanced in Tree Pose, be aware that your pelvis is parallel to the wall in front of you so that the two hip bones are pointing directly forward.  Maintain your steadiness by holding onto the back of the chair.

Cautions: dizziness or light-headedness, balance issues

Benefits: improves balance, strengthens legs, opens hip joints

Namaste yogis and yoginis-

Blog coordinator Angela, here. 

Our recent article by Bekah Finch has got me thinking.  It’s no secret to those of us who have been practicing for awhile that yoga transforms us.  Often, first it’s our bodies, then we find ourselves being able to let things go a little easier than before.  We may change our diets and start examining ourselves further.  Our relationships start improving.  Sometimes, we find ourselves so transformed that we wake up one day and can hardly believe we used to act in…whatever less-than-pleasant ways. 

So, we’re on this journey into ourselves, and, eventually, we find ourselves wanting to give back.  But…how?

Karma yoga is the yoga of action in the world.  Through this path, practitioners engage in seva, or selfless service—we help others through our unique talents, or find a cause that speaks to us deeply and advocate for it. 

So, I’m wondering—what’s YOUR seva?  What are you currently doing to make the world a better place, and how did you get started?  Feel free to discuss in the comments section, or, better yet contribute an article to this blog (you can reach me via email at dr.angelakolter on gmail).