Applying DNS to Revolving Triangle Posture

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Flexibility vs. Mobility of the Hips

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The first yoga class I ever took was a Bikram Yoga class at The Yoga College of India in North Beach San Francisco. It was a 6 pm class held in a heated room that followed a 4:30 class full of tired, sweaty bodies. The room was ridiculously hot and wet even before I’d even taken my first pose, and I’m certain that I have never struggled and sweat that much before or since.

Besides a sore back and a wounded ego, I came away from that class with the discovery that I was, in fact, pretty flexible. I had no idea I was capable of bending my body in the ways I did in my early days of taking yoga classes. Years later a client came to me who’d been taking Bikram Yoga classes and was recently diagnosed with a disc herniation. She told me that what she really enjoyed most about her experience in Bikram classes was the “noodly bendy” feeling. Her body was already very flexible and therefore being even more “bendy” was the last thing she needed, but I understood where she was coming from. Flexibility is desirable not just because it can be an indicator of good health, but also because it just plain feels good.

After suffering for several years with my own back issues I’ve come to see flexibility in a different way. It’s clear to me now that for myself and the many others who have or have had chronic pain, flexibility is part of the problem. At least the “bendy” kind of flexibility that lacks a stable foundation. People with bendy bodies are often drawn to yoga classes, especially Bikram or other “Hot” yoga classes because bendiness comes easy to them. It can be very challenging for these very “flexible” students to improve their stability doing yoga, and they often manifest injuries that begin to limit their mobility, sometimes dramatically so.

When my “noodly” client first came to me she could barley bend forward, despite her natural flexibility. As I helped her improve her mechanics she gradually became more stable and her mobility improved dramatically without the back pain returning.

When I work with a client who lacks flexibility, I try to help them find ways to improve their mobility rather than just giving them stretches to make them more flexible. It can feel good to be “flexible,” but ultimately it is the quality of our movement that counts. And that quality of movement depends a great deal on stabilization.

Stabilization means that I am able to maintain stability in one part of my body while I move another. If for example I am bending forward, I want to stabilize my spine so that I can generate more of the movement from my legs and hips. Stabilizing the spine is essential for increasing range of motion in the hips. Stabilizing the hips is essential for the long term health and function of these very important joints.

Stabilizing my hip joint requires that I stabilize the femur (thigh bone). This demands a good balance between the strength and responsiveness of my lateral hips and the flexibility and freedom of movement from my medial hip. If the muscles on my lateral hip don’t respond well to loads (ie-lack strength), the medial hip muscles will shorten and pull one femur toward the other. This can compromise the stability of the hip joint and will eventually damage it.

Conversely if I do have good balance between my later and medial hip then I am able to stabilize the femur effectively and this will allow for better mobility of my hip. Better hip mobility improves the health of the hip joint and greater stability through a larger range of motion.

I’ve found stabilizing the hip to be a very effective way to improve hip mobility and resolve hip related pain patterns. In my view mobility is the kind of flexibility we want. That is, not the “noodly bendy” kind but the kind that makes us stronger and affords us more range of motion and freer movement while minimizing wear and tear on our joints.

For a demonstration of one of my favorite posture for improving hip stabilization and mobility, check out this video.

Aligning Ourselves with a Better Diet and a Healthier Lifestyle

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This past spring I offered a cleanse program and there was quite a bit of interest. I guided several clients through the program and there were several others who expressed interest but never followed through. It’s easy to understand why. For some people the changes in diet and lifestyle necessary to participate fully in our cleanse program, even for a short period of time, are a bit far from where they’re at to make the journey.

So I started thinking about how to meet more folks half way (or even 3/4 of the way!). After all, making changes to our diet and lifestyle is not easy. When taking clients through the cleanse I always remind them – “it’s only temporary,” but of course if we’re going to undertake making significant changes, even temporarily, we’d likely want to see some of those changes last, especially if they’re working for us.

If I want to make changes to my diet but I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew, it may work better for me to make smaller changes and to set targets closer to where I’m starting from. In this way I can begin to establish a direction of change that helps me align with my intentions and improves my ability to stay on the path on which I’ve started.

For instance, one of my clients asked me to give him some advice about changing his diet. Before I could do that, I needed to see where he was at, so I asked him to keep a food journal for a week or so and then give it to me to look over. After seeing what he was eating I had several recommendations in mind, but based on his age and his food journal I could tell that he had some long standing habits that were going to be a little tough to break.

I suggested he just do one thing – give up refined sugar, just temporarily, for a two week period. My guess is that he was seeking a bit more than this, but I saw the refined sugar in his diet as the low hanging fruit that would offer the most bang for his buck, or so to speak. If he wasn’t eating sugar he would immediately see the benefits in how he felt and that would encourage him to make other changes leading to further benefits and providing further encouragement. Before long he would have made some pretty significant changes with some pretty substantial results to show for it. In other words it was this one change that I saw as the key first step on his journey toward a better diet.

I wish I could say now that it was a huge success and that he’s eating better and he’s healthier than he has ever been, but alas it’s only partly true. That first step turned out to be one that he wasn’t prepared to make at that time. Nonetheless, my recommendation did seem to plant an important seed in his consciousness. Currently he’s following a different cleanse from a book he purchased recently and he is in fact eating healthier than he has in a long time, maybe ever.

So while I realize I can’t take full credit for the change in my client’s diet (maybe not much credit at all!), his story does illustrate my point. We all have to get started somewhere on the path to better health, and we need a doable plan to get us started. But more than anything we need a first step that points us in the right direction.

 

 

Wall Plank

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Tiffany teaches a wall plank in this video and talks about how it can be a useful tool for correcting dysfunction of the shoulder girdle.

Stair Mechanics – Walking Up

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In this short video Tiffany details some of the most important features of functional mechanics when climbing stairs. This includes some of the most common mistakes and how to correct them.

High Lunge for Hip Stabilization and Mobilization

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I’ve been really loving the short movement sequence shown in this video. It’s got a number of applications including stabilizing the hip joint, increasing range of motion in the hip, trunk stabilization and training for better throwing mechanics. I also find this sequence an ideal preparatory movement for classical standing asana in that it helps to awaken the movement patterns that really bring yogasana to life. Check it out!

Our Body’s Built In Cleansing System

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I recently posted an article about our Spring Cleanse & Ayurvedic De-Tox in which I outlined some details of the program and some of the reasons we recommend it. And while the very proactive approach of doing a cleanse is a good idea for keeping ourselves healthy, it turns out that our bodies are doing their own cleansing every day on their own.

Our body has the ability to clean and repair its own tissues by employing specialized cells in our immune system called macrophages. This cellular cleansing process is called autophagy, and it is a process whereby the macrophages digest and remove old and dysfunctional proteins that build up inside other cells, as well as anything that our immune system identifies as foreign.

These macrophages are large white blood cells and they are concentrated in our lymph nodes. Their job is to perform phagocytosis – locating foreign bodies and biological debris, engulfing them and then breaking them down into a form that neutralizes them and allows them to be eliminated or assimilated. Phagocytosis helps keep pathogens, old or unhealthy tissue and other potential disease causing materials from lingering in our bodies so that they don’t have the chance to make us ill.

As I mentioned, this cycle of cleansing and repairing is going on on its own all the time, but there are actions we can take to facilitate it and help it to work better.

Here are 3 things that we can do to help keep the autophagic function of our immune system working its best.

1. Fasting and/or restrictive eating

There is a lot of research which shows that fasting helps improve the ability of the macrophages to do the job of cleaning and making way for new and healthier tissue. Intermittent fasting in particular has been shown to be effective in boosting autophagy.

Here are some suggestions on how to do intermittent fasting:

The 12-16 hour daily fast: I have found this to be the easiest way to fast on a regular basis. Finish your dinner by 7pm and do not have anything to eat again until 8am the next morning. This amounts to a 12-13 hour daily fast.

The 5/2 plan: Eat whatever your normal food intake is 5 days of the week, and on then on the other 2 days eat very small meals. An example would be to have your regular meals Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and on Tuesday and Friday have only steamed vegetables or a light soup.

The 6/1 plan: Have whatever your regular meals are 6 days a week, and then completely fast from food the other day. This plan would work best for highly disciplined persons who is do not have a physically demanding job.

Bear in mind that if you decide to try one of these plans, there are CAUTIONS. 

PLEASE DO NOT FAST IF YOU ARE:

*Pregnant

*Younger than 18

*Frail or elderly

*Undergoing chemotherapy or radiation

*Dealing with hormonal diseases that require medications

*Have a history of eating disorders

***If you are not sure if intermittent fasting is appropriate for you, please discuss it with your doctor first.***

2. Exercise

When we exercise appropriately we put our body into a controlled, beneficial state of stress. When muscles are challenged with resistance, like lifting weights or doing a plank posture, it causes tiny micro-tears in our tissues. These tears stimulate minor inflammation which then triggers a cycle of cleansing and repair by the microphages. The macrophages from the lymph system then go into action, both stimulating the process of inflammation and doing the clean up of waste products left behind after the inflammation resolves.

Inflammation generally occurs in the first 24-36 hours after exercise. It typically feels like soreness or fatigue from the exercise. After 24-36 hours the body begins to lay down new collagen to both repair the established tissue and regenerate healthy new tissue. During this cycle a crew of macrophage cleaners are busy releasing soluble substances in our lymph system to remove debris, thereby making the tissue repair, regeneration and growth possible.

3. Sleep

When we sleep, our body and brain get the needed rest for recovery and rebuilding of tissue. During sleep the waste removal system of the brain, the glymphactic system, works to keep cellular debris from accumulating in the brain. The glymphatic system is a functional waste clearance pathway for the central nervous system. This pathway is composed of the cerebrospinal fluid housed in our spinal column and brain. The clearing of soluble proteins, waste products and excess extracellular fluid increases in this pathway during slow wave sleep.

*Research is being done to look into the possible role of the lymphatic system in preventing degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimers.*

In conclusion, our bodies have their own systems for “cleansing” the tissue and promoting tissue health. This system is greatly improved, as is our overall health when we avoid overeating, exercise regularly and appropriately and get enough quality sleep. And while eating right, exercising and sleeping enough are basic to human health, they’re not necessarily easy for everyone. Perhaps appreciating the amazing work our immune system does for us, day in day out, can inspire us to do our own part in keeping ourselves vibrant and well.

DNS Warm Up

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This short video gives guided instructions for learning some DNS principles and using early developmental movements as a warm up for any movement practice you choose. I like to use this sequence as preparatory sequence before doing classical yoga postures, but it could also be done before a gym workout, a run, a bike ride or a hike.

We’re hoping to offer more video sessions like this and we’d love your feedback. Let us know what you think!

Why Do A Spring Cleanse?

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Now that I’m wrapping up with several clients whom I’ve guided through our Spring Cleanse and Ayurvedic De-tox, and now that Tiffany and I have finished our own annual spring cleanse, I have a few thoughts that I’d like to share with you. First, I recognize that a lot of you are interested in the cleanse but you’re not sure if the program we offer is one that will fit your timeframe, commitments and/or lifestyle. Let me provide a few more details on our program so that you have a better idea of what you’d be getting into if you, should you decide to try it.

Our program generally takes about 2 weeks to complete, give or take a few days. For daily coffee drinkers I generally recommend tapering off in advance of starting the first week of the cleanse. If you count these days you’re reducing your coffee intake, then it can add a little extra time to the program. I also think it’s a good idea for people who drink alcohol regularly to stop for 2 or 3 days before beginning to make other changes to diet and lifestyle. It’s not essential, but even moderate drinkers can sometimes experience a bit of withdrawal from stopping all intake of alcohol and it’s good to get this out of the way before starting this process.

Ayurvedic cleansing is partly about taking as much pressure off the digestive system as possible so that it can do it’s job more efficiently. That job, to transform the food we eat into a form that we can easily assimilate and transform into healthy tissue, can be made more difficult in multiple ways. Eating too fast, eating inappropriate food, eating at the wrong time and eating under stress are just a few of many examples of behaviors that make it harder for our digestive system to transform our food in an optimal way.

Some of these examples, such as eating under stress, may be due to circumstances beyond our control. But others, such as our choice of food, are well within our control and provide opportunities to make choices that are more favorable to our digestive health, better for assimilation, and helpful for producing better quality tissue along with better health overall.

When we make good choices with diet and lifestyle, good digestion and good health tend to follow. But we don’t always make the best choices and our digestion may suffer as a result. When this happens we tend to have poor transformation of food, poor assimilation and may sometimes begin to accumulate toxicity in the digestive tract.

Let me pause here a moment as say that while the above scenario is far from optimal, it is typical for most of us. Life gets in the way of making good choices and as I said, sometimes things are beyond our control. So this formation and accumulation of toxicity in the G.I. tract is something we all tend to have to some extent or another. And when this toxicity sticks around long enough it will eventually be absorbed and follow the food path into our tissue where it can damage tissue health and cause disease.

Again, this accumulation of toxicity is going on to some extent in all of us. However, a proper cleanse is a way of clawing back some of the health we lose as a result of these accumulated toxins, and while I can only offer anecdotal evidence that it works, my experience and that of the clients I’ve guided through the cleanse is a sense of renewal and clarity. The body and mind feel cleaner, better lubricated and they begin to hum along like a well tuned machine (I’m not generally crazy about the machine analogy when discussing the human body but I’m hoping it speaks to you in this case).

In addition to eliminating various foods and beverages to take stress of the digestive system, our spring cleanse also helps eliminate the toxicity that has already made its way into the tissue. This is what makes it different from other popular cleanses or fasts. Our program goes this extra step and and I think that’s what makes it so effective.

Tiffany, myself and our clients have experienced quite a few specific positive changes as a result of doing the spring cleanse. One is less pain in our bodies. Last year a client who has some arthritic joints saw a dramatic reduction in arthritic pain. This year some minor hip/back pain I’d been having resolved during the cleanse. For some clients, minor aches and pains completely disappear.

Another positive change that we’ve noticed in ourselves and in our clients is an improvement in mental clarity. Nearly every person that we’ve guided through the spring cleanse has commented on feeling more clear mentally during and after the cleanse.

The cleanse has also proved helpful to  clients with long standing digestive issues, and some of them have seen those issues significantly reduced or even eliminated during the cleanse. These are folks who have already tried making substantial changes to their diet in the past, such as eating a gluten free diet or eliminating dairy, without really seeing a signifiant change in their symptoms.

The dietary changes in our spring cleanse starts with an elimination of alcohol and caffeine and a short list of hard to digest foods. These changes can have a big impact on how we feel physically, but can sometimes be difficult psychologically (I know they sometimes are for me). I try to remind myself and my clients that however difficult some of these changes might be, they are only temporary and we needn’t feel that we must take on a major overhaul of our diet and lifestyle going forward – FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES!  This is not the point of the cleanse anyway. This cleanse is about making short term changes that have specific intentions meant to have specific effects, and once those effects are achieved then we should feel very free to go back to our normal diet.

Still, longer term changes can and do happen and most clients will decide to continue with some of the changes they’ve made during the cleanse even after they finish. Last spring, for instance, one client decided not to go back to caffeine after her cleanse. She decided she didn’t need it and gave it up. I’m not sure I could ever do that but I fully support her choice and was impressed with her resolve.

I’d also like to emphasize that our spring cleanse is not about pain and suffering. You will be eating three squares a day and will be encouraged to avoid anything that creates a lot of stress for you. In the same way that the cleanse design is partly about taking stress off of your digestive system, it’s even more about taking stress off of you. This give you space to see yourself more objectively and gain some clarity – about your diet, your lifestyle, your body, your mind and your health in general. This space allows the foods, substances or behaviors that aren’t serving you to be brought into focus and it begins a process of letting some things go. Ideally this happens gradually, naturally, and without difficulty.

Still, for those of you who aren’t up for any or all of the above, there are some good ways of making smaller changes this spring that will still have a significant impact. Here are a few:

  • Take a break from alcohol : If you drink alcohol regularly, it’s a good idea to take a break now and again. Try taking 2-4 weeks off entirely and see how you feel. Remember. It’s only temporary!
  • Lighten your diet : The qualities of moist and heavy tend to accumulate over the winter in the form of excess kapha. Look at all of the light green vegetables nature offers us this time of year. Asparagus, sugar snap peas and spring onions help reduce excess kapha and improve digestive health. Don’t like those foods? Just try eating less cheese.
  • Reduce Raw and Favor Cooked : Fresh raw veggies are so healthy right? Well yes, but they contain little or no fire element and can be too cooling for some and place a drag on our digestive fire. The solution – cook your veggies well. Worried about losing their valuable nutrients? Consider all of the nutrients you’ll be getting from your food when your digestion is really working its best!
  • Stop Snacking: Small meals more often is in my view, unhelpful for most people. Our digestive system needs time to complete the process of digestion and having a new meal after 2 hours, however modest, doesn’t allow that process to reach completion.
  • Try Intermittent Fasting: This can be as simple as not eating after a certain time or leaving at least 12 hours between your evening meal and your breakfast. Feeling more ambitious? Try skipping dinner one day a week.

There’s still time to schedule your Spring Cleanse and Ayurvedic De-Tox. If you’re interested or have more questions, feel free to email me any time.

Happy Spring!

 

 

Why Ghee and How to Make It

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Ghee, or clarified butter, is commonly used in Indian cooking and especially Ayurvedic cooking. When made from good quality butter, especially butter from grass fed cows, ghee is loaded with fat soluble vitamins and beneficial fatty acids. And because ghee has a high smoke point, these nutrients aren’t destroyed in the cooking process.

From an ayurvedic perspective, ghee is considered a digestive in that it helps to improve absorption and assimilation of nutrients. Therefore ghee not only provides valuable nutrients on its own but makes the nutrients in our food more available to our tissue. Ghee is also used in ayurvedic medicine as an important carrier of herbs because helps to deliver these herbs and their effects to all of the tissues in the body.

When we make ghee, we are removing the moisture and milk solids from the butter. This includes the lactose and casein protein and therefore ghee is fine for people who are lactose intolerant or have a sensitivity to dairy sometimes caused by exposure to casein.

Ghee can have high concentrations of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and butyrate. There is some scientific evidence to suggest that CLA my help reduce body fat, inflammation and blood pressure. One study suggested that CLA may also prevent the formation of cancer cells.

Butyrate or butyric acid is a fatty acid important to gut health. Our gut flora make butyrate as it is an source of nourishment to the cells in our colon. Some studies have suggested that butyrate may support healthy insulin levels and thus may help regulate blood glucose. Studies also suggest butyrate may help reduce inflammation in the digestive system and might therefore be helpful for individuals with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease.

Best of all, ghee is delicious and when made properly has virtually an unlimited shelf life. It can be used in place of any other cooking oil when sautéing vegetables or pan frying fish or tofu, and it’s great spread on toast!