Jill Satterfield, founder of Vajra Yoga, the brand-new School for Compassionate Action, and a fixture at the Tibet House, gives Well+Good three tips for holding onto what summer sanity and sense of relaxation we’ve acquired. So come fall craziness, we’ll all have a few of the tricks that accomplished yogis and meditators and the Dalai Lama have at the ready. Be them, now.
1. Savor, don’t gulp, a piece of summer fruit.
Take a bite of summer fruit, like a peach or a melon, and chew it slowly, allowing it to almost dissolve in your mouth. Normally, we eat so quickly. But if we take our time, we can really be transported into an awareness of taste, the sense of taste. Plus it’s way of pausing to enjoy last bits of what summer’s given us.
As promised here is the second half of my interview with the wise and wonderful Claudia Welch—along with a great video interview I found online. Loved reading everyone’s comments in Part 1, and I’m looking forward to hearing what you guys think of the book!
Since reading it I’ve been practicing many of the recommendations, and I honestly see a difference in how I feel. I don’t expect overnight miracles, but I’m hopeful that these practices are going to help regulate my periods and hormonal fluctuations. If anyone is interested in going deeper Dr. Welch is offering a live phone and online course in this stuff (that’s a link to sign up for a free call)—I’m going to try to sit in on a few if I can.
We’re curious: For those of you who have experienced imbalances, what—if anything—have you noticed affects this most? Is it stress, or food choices, or have you not made the connection? It’s so great to hear all your stories, and as Dr. Welch pointed out, we have such an intelligent and thoughtful community of readers here. The best!
Onto the interview…
Your prescriptions for rebalancing seem so simple, but they’re also quite specific. Tell us about a few that you’ve found very effective.
It is true that some of the prescriptions are simple. But simple can still be hard. If the prescription, for example, is: slow down, and we have been driving ourselves forward for too long, we may not know what “slow down” looks like, or how to get there from here. Sometimes “slow down” is the main prescription and it is often the most effective. But there are other, easier short term remedies that can be very effective.
When we have excess stress in our lives, our nervous systems become hyper sensitive. When they become hypersensitive, we are more likely to translate benign events as threatening ones. When we do that, more stress hormones are secreted, making our nervous systems even more hypersensitive. It is a downward cycle. If we could but calm down the nervous system, we could help break that cycle. And lo, there are ways and means to accomplish that very thing. And, behold, they are simple. Or can be.
One simple remedy is warm oil self-massage–called “Abhyanga” in Ayurveda. There are loads of nerve endings that enervate our skin–the largest organ of our bodies. In essence, we can calm the nervous system through the skin. It works. It is a bit too much to explain here, but it is described in an Appendix in Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life.
I also love 15 minutes of gentle Alternate Nostril Breathing practice, daily. I find it to be one of the most powerful remedies for hot flashes and hormonal imbalance in general.
High-intensity workouts are all the rage right now, but you warn that this type of exercise can be detrimental to some women—when do you recommend against it?
Eastern medicine recognizes that different constitutions require different amounts and types of exercise to maintain optimal health. Stronger, sturdier constitutions do well to engage in longer, harder workouts, while women with slight or delicate frames, do better with slower, er, less sweaty workouts.
There can be many signs that a woman is over exercising. When a woman, for example, is underweight or her periods are scanty, absent or irregular, these are some signs she is either under-nourished, over-exercising or simply outspending her resources in other arenas. In other words, even if she is consuming a healthy diet and getting regular and good sleep–both activities that serve to nourish yin in her body–her output may be exceeding her input. The energy she commits to exercise, work, run errands, etc. may be greater than energy she receives from food, sleep, sweet relationships and down time. In these situations, it would be much better for a woman to engage in gentle yoga, walking, tai qi or qi gong, than weight lifting, running, vigorous yoga or rigorous workouts.
Our bodies prioritize survival over reproduction so they will–100% of the time–allocate whatever nourishment we are receiving, first to our survival and to the organs and tissues that are crucial to survival. If there are resources left over, then they can go to nourish a healthy reproductive system.
Many of us in our forties and older, will remember Jane Fonda’s “make it burn” video workouts and feel like we are being lazy if we do anything less, but there are entire exercise forms in the East that focus more on moving qi or prana–our life force–internally, with gentle, minimal or even no physical movement. When we look at masters of those forms, they may barely move and never break a sweat, but are in incredible shape. These masters understand the value of irrigating our internal organs with energy, rather than simply our muscles, and we can see the results.
Plenty of competitors tap its many benefits to improve their athletic performance, stay injury-free, and de-stress.
Here are five female athletes on the US Olympic team that just may have brought their yoga mat with them to London (and will probably need a really long Savasana in a couple of weeks).
Pictured: Hope Solo (Namaste?)
1. Hope Solo
The star goalkeeper of the US women’s soccer team, whose sister is a yoga teacher, told Nike Women that yoga helps her with speed and agility on the field. “A lot of times simple stretching takes away from your speed, so for me dynamic yoga gives me the ability and empowers me to keep my speed and elongate my muscles,” she said. The entire team has also taken group yoga classes together as part of their training.
2. Evelyn (Evie) Stevens
This Olympic cyclist (and New Yorker!) is also on Team Specialized-Lululemon. Stevens starred in a Youtube video called “Cycle faster.Do yoga” for the yoga clothing juggernaut, where she said that she often brings her practice on the road with her. “Fortunately, my teammates are very kind, and they’re okay with me doing my yoga in the corner of the hotel room,” she said. “I love it—it helps mentally, physically, and I think it’s helped my strength.”
3.Rebeca Soni According to About.com, Soni, a swimmer who just won a silver in the 100-meter breaststroke (plus one gold and two silver medals at the 2008 games in Beijing), started doing yoga to improve the flexibility in her shoulders and back. Pretty crucial, since she’s a breaststroke specialist. She also uses yoga to recover from intense training sessions, and is sponsored by YogaWorks.
Equinox’s Q Blog does for fitness what Vogue does for fashion. And today the stylish site featured the fashion-forward gym-bag contents of Well+Good’s co-founder Alexia in its most recent Unzipped column.
“If you run a fitness, beauty and wellness website, in a way, your gym bag is kind of like your briefcase,” writes Q about Alexia. True that!
Five yoga classes a week are making my muscles way more sinewy and my body super lean. But my skin is having a freak out.
Both my yoga mat and my skin are sticky. But my yoga teachers look radiant as ever. I don’t attribute this to just soap and water. Even the Schuyler Grants of the world need to exfoliate and moisturize. They’ve obviously figured out how to make sweating for a living work for them—and found skin-care products that lend a no-makeup-needed aura and a natural glow. I need to find mine.
Despite the inner calm I’m getting at yoga, there’s no solace at my studios for what ails my skin: extra oil, pore clogging, and extra redness. (There seems to be a moratorium on products that aren’t overtly wellness related.) So I’ve done some research and rigorously revamped my skin-care regimen to match my newly vigorous vinyasa practice.
My yoga bag is now stocked with staples targeted for my yoga-induced skin-care woes; my picks are listed below. It’s perfect timing for a week that kicks off with back-to-back outdoor yoga in Times Square today and Yoga at the Great Lawn in Central Park tomorrow.
Melisse Gelula’s product picks for yoga-afflicted skin
Cleanser
I never exit the yoga studio without washing away the sweat from my face (and décolleté and back of my neck). It’s a skin-care sin for which there is no absolution, since it’s just gluing down your dead skin cells and settling into your pores like cement. I like to use a cream cleanser for that dewy skin feeling, but lately I’m clinging to a clarifying one, like the liquid Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap with tea tree oil, an anti-bacterial.
SukiSpa Purifying Serum keeps pores clear with salicylic acid from white willow bark
Clarifying treatments
Until my pores get used to the amount of sweating they’re doing, I’m using Susan Ciminelli’s Toning Formula, with essential oils, and SukiSpa Bio-Active Purifying Face Serum, a product that contains my new summertime friend salicylic acid, a proven pore penetrator. Both are pretty pricey, but the new Burt’s Bees Acne Solutions line is an affordable source of salicylic-acid products that work like preventative Drano.
(Lady Gaga won’t want to read this one…but she probably should.)
One of my clients in her 20s complained about cramping and pain around her right big toe. I asked her a few questions and found out she just started working (1 month ago) at her first professional job wearing high heels every day. Whether she wanted to hear it or not, I told her right away that high heels are detrimental to her health!
The truth is, toes are one of many amazing features of the body that are sadly overlooked, misused and abused.
Most of our toe problems occur from wearing improper shoes (high heels, too small, excessively cushioned, too narrow, blister prone) and not stretching and strengthening the toes. Over the past few decades it has been the goal of manufacturing companies to make shoes for fashion and/or for comfort, focusing on aesthetics for the former and support for the latter.
Unfortunately neither of these shoe forms provides a solid foundation for the feet and toes. Why? In regards to high heels, your feet are in a more plantarflexed position, putting an extreme amount of pressure on your toe joints and most specifically on your big toe joint. This can create hammer toe, bunions, and osteoarthritis in your toe(s). Pain and injury can even run up to knee, hip and back muscles and joints, affecting your overall posture.
Comfort shoes, on the other hand, cause a different kind of problem.
Models may have a reputation for being self-involved and shallow, but these five beauties smash that stereotype to bits.
They don’t just go to charity dinners; they’ve created organizations and advocacy campaigns to make the world a more beautiful place.
Instead of runway shows, they plant trees in South Africa. Instead of photo shoots, they work to formulate cleaner, chemical-free skin-care products.
Here are our picks for the top five models with a mission.
Turlington Burns, one of the world’s most famous supermodels, has long been an advocate for public health, throwing her support behind anti-smoking campaigns and efforts to bring yoga to the masses.
But she found her real cause in maternal health. She directed and debuted her own documentary on maternal mortality rates around the world, No Woman, No Cry, in 2010, and then founded the organization Every Mother Counts to call more attention to the issue.
Once she finishes her Master’s in Public Health at Columbia University, she’ll be an unstoppable force for change.
Cameron Alborzian, who now goes by “Yogi Cameron,” has modeled for Versace and Guess—and he starred in Madonna’s “Express Yourself” music video.
These days, his pursuits are more holistic. Cameron is now a yoga instructor and an Ayurvedic healer who travels the world helping people lead healthier lives—he even brought yoga to soldiers in Afghanistan.
His first book on self-healing, The Guru in You, was published in 2011 and he’s currently filming a TV series for Veria Living where he’ll help everyday people solve health issues on-screen.
Has the recent New York Times article about “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” created a lot of controversy in the yoga world? Yes. Are we still talking about it, despite the fact that it turned our Kombucha-filled stomachs? Yes.
This isn’t the first time the ancient practice has come under fire and scrutiny, nor the first time we’ve all debated the “correct” way to practice. So to find out why William J. Broad‘s screed against yoga has caused so much controversy, we talked to Tara Stiles–named the “yoga rebel” by the New York Times just last year.
Here’s what she has to say about how not to wreck your body on the yoga mat:
What was your opinion of the New York Times article about how “Yoga Can Wreck Your Body?” I had a New York Times piece done on me last year, and it opened up a lot of things for me, so my first reaction to this article was, ‘What a great PR piece for you.’ Although, it wasn’t such a good idea for the overall voice of yoga. It just scares more people away from yoga, and convinces them that they’re going to kill themselves. Of course people get injured in yoga classes, but I think the problem is not paying attention and not moving slowly enough–not the practice itself. Injury happens when you approach it from the outside (teachers pushing you, egos, trying to force yourself into a pose), which is not really yoga. When you move from the inside out, you’re not going to get hurt.
Are you referring to power yoga when you say that teachers sometimes push and force us? I’m not referring to one type or another, but this does comes from the teacher. There is this kind of broad sensibility in yoga that you’re supposed to look like a certain person in a pose. But when you come from the inside out, there is a great sense of energy and sustainability. In other words, you are what you practice. If you practice frustration and pushing yourself into a pose, you’re never going to be satisfied and get where you’re going.
Exercise is the ultimate anti-aging product. Need proof?
Check out these 7 gorgeous, vibrant women—all of whom are fitness and yoga devotees.
Many of them have been leading active lives since grade school, and they swear by healthy habits like superfood smoothies and more than 8 hours of sleep.
In most cases, they’ve also made being active not just a passion, but a profession.
If their toned physiques and glowing complexions featured here don’t inspire you, maybe a workout with them will? —Lisa Elaine Held
Colleen Saidman Yee
Owner of Yoga Shanti
Age: 52
Saidman Yee might be a former model, but she credits 25 years of yoga with keeping her young.
In addition to running her Hamptons studio and teaching at workshops and festivals around the country, she just released a new A.M. & P.M. Yoga DVD with husband Rodney Yee.
“I believe that stagnation is an aging culprit,” says Saidman Yee. “Practicing yoga keeps the circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems functioning optimally.”
Yoga also protects her from the ravages of stress, and she complements her practice with flax-and-omega packed smoothies, long, hot baths, quality sleep, and “lots of laughter.”
Ruth Zukerman
Co-founder of Flywheel Sports
Age: 54
Zukerman has been in the fitness industry for 30 years and today teaches an average of 10 Flywheel spin classes a week.
Sweat, she says, is key to looking and feeling great. “Despite the bodily changes that we women experience in our fifties, sweating through exercise has kept my body toned, my pores clear, and my skin firm.”
She also is sure to get enough sleep and maintain a balanced diet (with a daily avocado!).
“A friend of mine once referred to me as ‘The Fountain of Ruth,’” says Zukerman. “I hope to be worthy of that name for many more years!”
Simply put, hatha yoga can be described as the set of physical practices in yoga. It is quite an expansive term that incorporates more or less all the main poses of yoga. Today, hatha yoga is the most common and widely practiced part of yoga. The word ‘ha’ refers to sun while the word ‘tha’ refers to moon. It is said that the literal meaning of the term hatha is ‘connecting the sun and moon to gain energy’. However, this is not a definite meaning of the term.
Most of the hatha yoga postures are based on the principles of physical postures and conscious breathing. Asana means physical and pranayama means breathing and they both are the two main pillars of hatha yoga. The main purpose of hatha yoga is to use physical postures, mental focus and conscious breathing to create awareness, strength, balance and well being in the life of the practitioner.
Benefits of Hatha Yoga:
The benefits of hatha yoga are mainly dependent upon the extent you go to. Some professional yogis go the extra mile and make their bodies extremely pain resistant and flexible with the help of hatha yoga. However, the general people who go for hatha yoga are more inclined towards keeping their bodies and minds fit. Here is a list of the benefits you can expect to experience:
- Hatha yoga builds strength in each part of the body unlike most of the other traditional exercises that only focus on one part at a time.
- Hatha yoga is known to increase flexibility within the body and tone the muscles. This is the reason most yogis are slim and well maintained.
- Hatha yoga is also great to bring peace and focus to the mind.
- Hatha yoga can reduce stress. It also makes your mind capable of handling stressful situations calmly.
- Hatha yoga is great for building proper body alignment.
- Lastly, hatha yoga is absolutely beneficial for those with breathing problems. It can increase the capacity of the lungs to breathe. By promoting better breathing hatha yoga makes it possible for you to live a healthier life.
Should You Go For It?
People who are into hatha yoga enjoy the benefits of it. Also, since it is a vast field of yoga, there are levels for beginners as well as for experts. This is the reason hatha yoga is said to be for everyone. You can start slow and then move onto the difficult postures. The good part is that even with the basic postures you can expect to garner the benefits of hatha yoga. In short, hatha yoga is for everyone. You don’t have to belong to India or you don’t have to be ill to start practicing it. If you want a healthier and better life then hatha yoga is your way.
Another great thing you will learn about hatha yoga is that unlike most exercising regimes, hatha yoga won’t take up much of your energy. You can expect to be fresh right after the class!
