Archive for the ‘exercise’ Category
Get your bliss on anywhere with a new yoga app for your iPhone or iPod Touch. iTunes has a decent number of yoga apps available. Some look good, some look horrid, but this one featuring Deepak Chopra and Tara Stiles looks somewhat promising.
Any recommendations for iPhone yoga apps? I’m possibly in the market, but don’t want to waste money on something that’s not top-notch.
A few months ago I experimented with removing running from my exercise routine because I wanted to see how much flexibility I could gain by laying off the daily pavement pounding and sticking with a daily yoga practice. I have a propensity for inflexibility in the first place, but to my surprise, the lack of running really didn’t make that much of a difference in terms of increased flexibility.
However, when I decided it was time to get back out on the streets again, my lungs felt like they were going to collapse. It was at that moment, when the side-cramp and wheezing reached a critical zenith, that I realized I needed to balance out my yoga practice with aerobic exercise.
I still needed running.
While running has many benefits, it can also beat up on the body a little bit, which is why yoga complements it so well. Try some of these recommended stretches/poses from Runner’s World to stay loose and flexible after your next workout.
I also recommend checking out Yoga for Runners at Yoga Journal.
You don’t want to be that person, you know, the one who everyone stays as far away from at yoga class because their mat reeks so bad and has so much sweat and bacteria growing on it that it might very well be the next step in the evolution of yoga. The living, breathing, stinky mat.
But no, oh no, not your mat. You would never sweat all over your mat, roll it up sopping wet and then throw it in the sweltering trunk of your car. Trust me, it’s not going to be so hot in the trunk that it cooks the little suckers who are throwing a party on your yoga mat. The heat just gets them even more riled up and excited to plant a foot fungus on your forehead the next time you rest in child’s pose. Now that’s a lovely thought isn’t it?
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written about how to clean a yoga mat, and since I initiated my freshly-delivered yoga mat last night with more than just a few drops of sweat, it’s about time for a re-attack. Feel free to chime in with any tips or advice (“yogahacks”) if you’re already one of those who knows how to baby your mat like it’s a Rolls Royce.
First off, the method you use for cleaning your mat depends on what type of mat you have and how dirty it is. For daily preemptive action, you should at least wipe your mat off with a towel after each use. Some like to spritz their mat with a little mat spray before toweling it off or they use a handy wipe or it’s costlier cousin, the yoga mat wipe, to scrub away the nasties. Beware, however, that you don’t use mat spray just to cover up a smelly mat problem. Some people are allergic to it as well.
Even if you take the time to regularly wipe down your mat, it could still use a more thorough cleansing every couple weeks if you use the mat a lot. Cleaning a lightly soiled mat is as simple as grabbing a sponge or rag and rubbing out the oily spots with a solution of two cups of water and four drops of dish soap. If you don’t want to use soap, you can also create a 50% water/50% organic cider vinegar solution, which is what Manduka recommends for the Black Mat Pro and eKO if you don’t want to fork over the dough for actual yoga mat wash. Once the mat is clean, rinse the solution off with fresh water, and then rub the mat down with a dry terry cloth towel and hang it out to air dry.
The true stinky mat. If you’ve neglected your mat for so long that it’s practically alive, then you may want to choose to fully submerse it in a solution of warm water and mild detergent or mat cleanser. Once the mat is scrubbed off and rinsed clean, squeeze out any excess water, roll the mat up with a dry towel, and then smoosh the moisture out by stepping on it. Finally, hang the mat up to air dry.
One final method for dealing with a dirty mat is to throw it into the washing machine on the gentle cycle with a little detergent and cold water. I’ve never personally used this method, so I can’t vouch for the effect the washing machine has on a yoga mat, or vice versa, but can confirm that some manufacturers like Manduka highly recommend against using the washing machine, both for the sake of the mat and the machine. If you do choose to go this route, at the very least, remove the mat before the washing machine hits the spin cycle.
Obviously these are only a few of the numerous methods for keeping a yoga mat healthy and clean. Just remember, don’t be “that guy.” If you have a proven method that works for you or your particular mat and would like to share, please leave a comment.
“This practice becomes firmly rooted when it is cultivated skillfully and continuously for a long time.” – The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali 1:14
If you’re anything like me, then you may have noticed that the intensity of your yoga practice surges at times and then peters out at times. You practice regularly for a week or two, and then nothing. You move on to something else for a while and then realize one day that you haven’t seen your yoga mat for a month. It’s a strong likelihood that this pattern of inconsistency affects not only your yoga practice, but other aspects in your life. It’s human nature. While this pattern is certainly natural, for many people it becomes a habit that hinders them from taking their performance and skill in any activity to the next level. For most people, myself included, it’s not that they one day decide they don’t enjoy yoga practice, it’s just that they have not taken the necessary steps to develop the yoga habit.
“It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing but the habits he has accumulated during the first half.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Habits are powerful, unconscious patterns of behavior that once formed, play a large role in influencing the direction of one’s life. To a certain degree, our lives go where our habits take us. Our bodies, the vehicle; our habits, the chauffeur.
How to Form a Habit. Habits can be both good and bad, and interestingly enough, creating a good habit pretty much involves the same process as making a bad habit. Without delving into neurological explanations for habit formation (check out Scott Young’s great explanation here), the bottom line is that habits form through REPETITION. The philosopher Aristotle nailed it on the head: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”
To form a habit, all you need to do is repeat the activity over a period of time. Opinions vary on the length of time it takes to form a habit, but most agree that it takes anywhere from three to six weeks of conscious, consistent, repetitive, and focused behavior to develop a new good habit. It’s not always easy, but the end results are almost always worth it.
If you want to consistently enjoy the benefits of yoga, then you need to take the steps necessary to make it a habit. One of the best ways to develop the yoga habit is to commit to a 30 day yoga challenge.
30 Day Yoga Challenge. The heart of the 30 day challenge is commitment. It means making a promise to yourself and following through on it. It means banishing from your life all your old wimpy excuses for failure. It means promising to practice for a certain amount of time each day and just doing it. If you commit to 15 minutes a day, then you practice for 15 minutes every day. If you commit to an hour each day, then you practice for an hour. Don’t set unrealistic expectations, but commit to a goal that pushes you. Whatever you commit to, do it for 30 days and you will drastically improve your chances of turning your yoga practice into a habit.
Here are a few suggestions for succeeding in creating a yoga habit.
1. Make yourself accountable. Another aspect of commitment is accountability. Write down your goal and/or tell someone about your plans. Memorializing the commitment on paper or telling a friend helps set it deep into your mind that you will practice yoga for 30 days in a row. Make yourself accountable to prove that you can do anything you set your mind to.
2. Prioritize your life. If a 30 day yoga challenge is something you want to commit to, then make it a priority. Use these 30 days to simplify and streamline your life. Examine your current daily routine and activities and determine what really needs to stay and what needs to get the axe. Maybe that means watching less TV or cutting back on social web surfing so you have time to dedicate to your practice. Most people have plenty of time, they just don’t use it well. Depending on how high the yoga challenge ranks in your priorities, you may also decide to temporarily give up otherwise worthwhile activities to create the necessary time. Chances are if you cut something out of your life, you won’t even notice it’s gone in a month.
3. Set a time and have a practice plan. A lot of our daily routine, i.e. when, where, and how we do things, is determined by our habits. Since you’re trying to make yoga a habit, figure out the best time in the day and place for you to get on your yoga mat. Morning or night doesn’t matter so much as picking a time and then sticking to it as best as possible. Maybe there are certain yoga classes you want to attend. Plan for it. Remember, you’re trying to form a habit, and consistency will help with that. Not many people can make it to the yoga studio for 30 days in a row, so you will also have a chance to work on your home practice. For many people, myself included, home practice is the only option available. My advice is to go to bed a little earlier so you can practice in the quiet of the morning before the world wakes up. However, when setting your schedule, also allow for some flexibility. Life would be boring if there weren’t any surprises. If you know your regular practice time won’t work one day, or something unexpected pops up, have a backup plan in place already so you’re not tempted to skip a day.
4. Educate yourself. This is also a very important step in maintaining your motivation throughout the 30 day yoga challenge. Spend some time at the bookstore or library and browse through the yoga section. If you see a book that interests you, buy it; you’ll probably never be more deserving of a purchase for yourself. Throughout the month, turn to your yoga library and other yoga-related magazines, DVDs, and websites to increase your understanding of whatever aspect of yoga interests you, be it asana sequences, philosophy, history, whatever.
Here are a few good places to start:
5. Write about it. Keep track of your 30 day yoga challenge by writing about it in your journal or blog. You may even consider following this 30 day yoga journey designed by Florian Yoga Companion. If nothing else, at least have a calendar to mark off each day that you practice. Nobody wants to have an empty square on their 30 day yoga challenge calendar:) If you do decide to write about your 30 day yoga challenge, let us know so we can cheer you on!
Completing your own 30 day yoga challenge will require discipline, commitment, focus, and sacrifice. It won’t guarantee that you have a yoga habit for life – you can fall out of good habits just as easily as you fall into bad ones – but it will be a step in the right direction. So take the leap, start a 30 day yoga challenge, and enjoy the journey of a daily yoga habit.
