AshtangaNews Ashtanga Yoga Matters (as taught by Sri K Pattabhi Jois)

[Here is an article submitted by Mariela Cruz, authorized Ashtnaga Yoga teacher in Costa Rica. You can read more about Ashtanga and Pregnancy with Wendy's article here and the follow up article here - Ed.]

As I start to write, I can feel, and start to count, the contractions that are now coming every ten minutes. We are almost there, my baby and I, ready to meet and finally embrace! During the past nine and a half months, he has become my teacher, my guru and my salvation.

I am 38 weeks and almost there. This article is an attempt to capture the magnificent experience”yoga-wise” that this baby has meant for me and my practice.

The level of letting go that I have experienced, I never, ever anticipated. Just when I was enjoying a peak in my practice, very strong and committed, this baby chose me. Third Series was blowing my mind and my body seemed to answer to all the extreme demands this beautiful practice asks.

Mariela Cruz adjusting 9 months pregnant in Costa Rica

I was gifted with a very bendy body that started practicing yoga at a rare young age. My mother was one of those “weird” beings (in a good sense, I realize now) who was always searching. Back then, to practice yoga in Costa Rica, a traditional catholic country, was considered a mortal sin. Anyways, she found a way to take me with her to class when I was about 10 years old. My only memory is watching these beautiful tall, white bright
beings moving in the shala’ s corridors -angels I guess- and since then, I could feel the blessings of yoga.

Life kept moving; I had my four children and I became a lawyer. Although very successful as a lawyer, I found to be absolutely miserable in a career that was not for me.

Mariela 6 months pregnant in scorpion: don’t try this at home!

My first visit to Mysore was 7 years ago. Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore is hard to describe: I can only say that the energy around Guruji and Sharath made me return six more times and always crave for India while I was home. Practicing on my own (since I had no teachers in San Jose where I live) was a small price to pay, compared to the promise of returning every year to see my beloved Guru.

Life started changing very fast. We built the studio and people started coming. Life shifted and I happily gave up my law practice and started teaching full time.

When the news came last June that I was pregnant again, there was a mixture of profound joy and overwhelming worry… “and what about my practice?”

One thing is to theorize about how beautiful having a baby is, especially if you are in love and with the right partner by your side. But then there is the reality of what your body will go through! The first three months were pure hell! Besides that, I decided to go back to India and finish the process of getting authorized by Guruji and Sharath: it was not a very good idea! But my desire to be close to my teachers and finish this first stage was too strong to let go.

I arrived in Mysore last August on my own, being 12 weeks pregnant and after 26 hours of non-stop flights and delays. Pregnancy is such a delicate time. You are as open and vulnerable as ever and flying across the world from Costa Rica through Germany to finally arrive to Bangalore and then Mysore was the biggest challenge I have faced. Constant nausea, vomiting and loneliness made this the hardest trip. Arriving by myself, longing for my husband and children was also very hard.

A dear friend rented me his place, a very cozy little apartment with all the facilities. Mr. and Mrs. Chinnappa, the landlords, were always so kind and respectful. So I felt cared for in the middle of everything. I would stay awake all night, still very jet-lagged, thinking of my loved ones and crying and directly go to the shala at 6 am for practice.

I was assigned to practice with Saraswati. A part inside of me craved for the 5 am practice with Sharath as always, for my teacher friends and the whole gang.

Practicing with all the beginners requested a big dose of humility. But Saraswati’ s gentle approach and daily concern made everything easier for me, even though during practice I had to leave and go vomit every ten minutes. My body was refusing to adapt to so many changes at the same time: baby, food, time zone and broken heart.

Being used to having my body do whatever I asked of it, this felt very confusing. I felt as if I was possessed and couldn’t get it to obey my mind. This started upsetting me deeply, to a point where I started regretting what was actually happening and many doubts started clouding my mind.

Yoga teaches us the art of acceptance. It’s easy to accept things when they happen “your way”; but how about when they completely go upside down?

From a three-hour daily practice, I had to cut short to half Primary Series with a lot of modifications. It was very interesting how Saraswati immediately removed all the twists (Marichyasana C and D). My practice used to give me lots of energy for all the challenges of motherhood and full time yoga teacher, but now I was feeling depleted and above all, profoundly depressed.

My husband made it to India for his first time, probably intuiting I needed support. The trip ended with my authorization being granted and us returning to Costa Rica. Though things were not easier once we got home.

Normally the nausea and vomiting stop after the third month and Guruji and Saraswati advised against practice during the first three months. However, this was not the case with me. I came back and things got worse. I could barely stand up from my bed. Everything was foggy and couldn’t get the grip of the practice again. Teaching was very hard, but I kept going.

My body felt terrible and I wasn’t able to apply the only medicine I know for body and heart aches: practice. What to do?

I realize this pregnancy has taught me what my regular practice would have never taught me. Suddenly, everything I loved the most was taken away from me. When I say “I loved and love my practice above everything else”, it is because I appreciate so much the perspective it has brought to my human experience.

Giving up such love is no easy task. I had to start from scratch, doing one Surya Namaskar and then collapsing into Child pose for 20 minutes while the room kept turning and turning.

I realize my profound love for practice was definitely a very heavy attachment. My body was used to the chemicals produced by it and I had to go through heavy “detox” with all its consequences: mood swings, sadness, intolerance almost to the verge of depression.

Then slowly, things started shifting. My only option was to surrender. And from that surrender to this tiny teacher inside of me came a second wind. My practice completely changed, even more as I started growing bigger. But as I faced my mat everyday, scared to find I was not able to perform anymore, I started getting real. I found new joy and gratitude in the blessing of knowing there was a life growing inside of me and that somehow he was helping me understand new things. My only sadhana was to become a clean channel for this soul and stop interfering and asking something for myself. Instead, to just be there for whatever he needed from me, beyond my likes and dislikes.

Yoga gives us so much power and there are many ways to use that power. We can use it for our own benefit or we can use it to give and help each other. Even though I always thought that my job as a yoga teacher and my mission as a mother was fulfilling all this, I know there was a part inside that still wanted something for myself.

As Krishna tells Arjuna: surrender the fruits of your actions. This is what I have learned during this last 38 weeks. I can now happily say that I will go back to my practice, after Gael is born, from a different space inside. A space that simply wants to serve and give in a sincere way and use practice as an instrument to prepare body and mind for that.

I feel very blessed by the presence of this little-huge being in my life. He was already in India with me and I plan to take him back next year to Mysore. Gael will always be a constant reminder that yoga is not about achieving anything, but about being grateful for what life offers us. As we all, in our family, embark in this new adventure with baby, I thank all of my children for teaching me how to let go of selfishness.

UPDATE 17th FEB 2008: Gael was born on Friday February 15th at 1:26 pm - baby and mom are doing well.

Ruth Jones, MCSP, PhD student Southampton University UK, and Stanford University California USA, has been conducting cutting edge research on the Pelvic Floor Muscles (PFM), also know as Mula Bandha in the context of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. She also happens to practice regularly at the studio where I practice so we were thrilled when she offered to contribute her latest findings! - Ed]

You will know the importance in your Yoga practice to engage your Pelvic Floor Muscles (PFM) or mula bandha, but did you know that the PFM have other functions such as contributing to spinal stability, pelvic organ support, urinary and faecal continence, sexual function and performance? What a great group of muscles to keep working well! And how do you know that you are contracting the PFM effectively when over 30% of the female population contracts incorrectly at their first attempt? We do not have the statistics for men, yet it would not be far fetched to suggest that the percentage could be higher. Or am I just biased?

Here is what I will cover with this article:

• The basics of Pelvic Floor Muscle anatomy and physiology
• How to correctly engage the PFM
• How to incorporate it into and outside your Yoga and Pilates practice

Pelvic Floor Anatomy

It’s not just all about the muscles: the Pelvic Floor is actually a complex structure made up of muscle and fascia. It can be divided into three sections: the fascia, the levator ani muscles (PFM) and the superficial sphincters/perineal muscles.

The fascia gives attachment to the PFM and surrounds the muscles and pelvic organs. Sometimes there can be a tearing of this fascia and the supporting ligaments which gives rise to Pelvic Floor disorders such as incontinence. It won’t matter then if the PFM are strong and contract at the right time, someone may still have incontinence because the bladder or urethra (figure 1) is not supported in the correct anatomical position.

Figure 1. Schematic Diagram of the PFM and organs.

The levator ani is the collective name given to the PFM (figure 1 and 2) and is sometimes divided into the Pubococcygeus, Puborectalis, Pubovaginalis and Iliococcygeus. The Pubococcygeus arises from each side of the front of the pubic symphysis (midline joint), and passes around the urethra, vagina (in women) and anus to insert onto the coccyx. As you can tell from their names, the Puborectalis is the name given to those muscle fibres that loop from the pubic bone around the rectum and Pubovaginalis from the pubis around the vagina. The Iliococcygeus originates from the right or left Ilium on the pelvis and attaches to the coccyx.

Figure 2. 3D MRI reconstruction of Female PFM
Reprinted with kind permission of Lennox Hoyte

The Superficial Perineal muscles are as their name suggests superficial or less deep than the levator Ani and are thought to have an important role in sexual activity. They all insert and meet at the perineal body, which is almost like a central tendon between the anus and scrotum in men and anus and vagina in women. The external anal sphincter encircles the anus, attaches in the front to the perineal body and behind to the coccyx.

The nerve supply to the Pelvic Floor is mainly through the Pudendal nerve originating from the 2nd to 4th sacral nerve roots. Have you ever noticed little girls or boys walking/bouncing on their tip toes when they want to go to the toilet? This is because the nerve supply to the calf muscles has a similar origin as the PFM, and by contracting the calf muscles, there is a reflex response of the PFM and the bladder contraction is quietened down. So if you ever find yourself caught short, go up and down on your toes vigorously and it’ll give you a few minutes grace. On that note, have you ever been sitting down for a long time, for example on a car journey, get up or out of the car and are suddenly desperate to go to the loo? Again, the skin at the back of your legs has been stimulated whilst you have been sitting down, and this stops the bladder from contracting too strongly. Once you stand up, that reflex inhibition is lost! So if you don’t want to be caught short gain, try contracting your PFM (see below) before you get out of the car.

The muscles of the PF have both slow (type 1) and fast (type 2) twitch muscle fibres, but since the role of the PFM is mainly to provide support over a sustained period of time, they are predominantly type 1. This is important to remember within your yoga (or Pilates) practice. Towards the end of your practice, especially if you have been contracting them too hard, they are going to be more fatigued. So if you develop awareness of these muscles, feel when they can no longer lift and hold, and perhaps call it a day with your practice…until the next time!

Guidelines for activating the PFM

These are the guidelines I use to assist people to activate their PFM (or Mula Bandha):

• Imagine your PFM as a sling that attaches from your tail bone at the back (sacrum and coccyx) to your pubic bone at the front.
• Now take a breath in, and as you breathe out, gently squeeze the muscles around your back passage, as if you were trying to prevent wind (gas/flatulence) escaping.
• Bring this feeling forward (remembering the muscular sling) towards your pubic bone as if you were trying to stop yourself from urinating (having a pee).
• Keep holding this contraction as you imagine that you are on the ground floor of an elevator, you want to lift your PFM as if you were going to the 1st, then 2nd 3rd etc floor.
• Keep breathing as normally as you can, whilst holding onto your PFM. Aim to hold for 10 seconds, before releasing your PFM.
• Repeat up to 10 times, breathing normally.
• Remember to release all the way back to the ground floor, as holding on too much may be as much of a problem as not being able to hold onto them at all.

Also, you may have noticed that your abdominal muscles were also engaged as you pulled in your PFM. This is perfectly normal as long as you do not tilt your pelvis or hold your breath as you do so. In yoga the abdominal muscles activating is part of the Uddiyana Bandha (the abdominal lock), and the Mula Bandha is almost always activated at the same time as that lock.

As I said earlier, many people do not activate their PFM correctly when first asked to do so. Without being examined, we cannot tell for sure whether you’ve got it “right”. Having said that, below are some tips to make sure that you are not activating too much of the incorrect muscle groups:

• Many people bear or push down when they try to activate their PFM, as if they were straining to go to the toilet. Remember to squeeze and lift, as described above, rather than pushing down.
• Keep your buttock cheeks (bottom muscles/butt), inner thigh, and leg muscles relaxed.
• There should be no movement of your spine or pelvis as you engage your PF or abdominal muscles.

Timing of Contraction: It seems that the timing of contraction is as important as strength of PFM contraction. In women who do not have a Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, there is a small PFM contraction before they cough, or raise their intra abdominal pressure. It appears that this pre-contraction is lost in women who have Stress Urinary Incontinence. It maybe the case that this loss of pre-contraction is also lost in other women with prolapse of the pelvic organs, so encouraging them to also do a pre-contraction seems logical. There also seems to be a correlation between Pelvic Floor disorders and back pain, although we have a good idea why this is. So if you get back pain, or if you have noticed that your PFM are not as they used to be, whether due to childbirth, high impact sports such as trampolining, or just aging, its a good habit to contract your PFM just before you cough or sneeze, lift anything heavy, or even just bending over, as well as contracting your PFM as described above twice a day.

Tips from the clinic to bring your PFM into your Yoga practice

As I have previously said, it’s not all about strength: letting go fully, timing of contraction, endurance and anatomical position of your pelvic organs are all important aspects of good PFM function. So what to do in your Yoga practice? From what we know about PFM physiology to date, these muscles are mainly designed for endurance. There is evidence that the end of a workout, these muscles are as fatigued as the rest of your body. So, if you contract them too hard, they are going to tire and it will be difficult to maintain throughout your practice, potentially leaving your spine and pelvic organs vulnerable to strain. We don’t know how quickly they recover either, so just after your practice, especially if you know that you have a PFM disorder, it maybe well worth contracting your muscles before you lift or bend over, as extra protection.

Back to your practice, as a good rule of thumb, I would suggest contracting around a quarter of your maximum effort. Try this now. Contract your PFM, as detailed above, as hard as you can. Let go of that contraction by half, then by half again. You should still be able to feel the lift, but be able to breathe easily from your diaphragm. Frequently people find it hard to do both!

Over time your awareness, the endurance, coordination and strength of your PFM will improve, allowing you to work harder for longer…should you wish! Yoga is a great way to maintain and improve the health of your Pelvic Floor. Imagine looking and feeling as good on the inside as you do on the out!

Ruth Jones February 2008

[More than a year ago, Wendy Spies practiced Ashtanga through her pregnancy and wrote about it in Ashtanga During Pregnancy: One Ashtangi's Experience. This article became our most read, with almost 14,000 views as of December 2007. She also posted a video on YouTube.com, 9 Months Pregnant Backbends, which has had almost 70,000 views. This is a follow up more than year later, answering some of the questions you've asked in the comments sections. -Ed.]

Thank you so much for the wonderful questions. I had intended to write an article when August (my son) was 6 months old. It has been 14 months now and I am only now having enough energy to indulge any “extra projects”. Any extra time this past year was spent on trying to reconnect with my husband in our marriage, get my practice more regular or catch up on sleep!

I am glad I waited. We recently weaned from nursing and it has been another layer of experience I did not expect. I had some pretty severe (but thankfully short lived, about two weeks) depression when I stopped nursing my son. The mental shift caused by the drop in prolactin was profound for me. What I found interesting during this period is that the dramatic shift allowed me to observe the effect of the hormones on my monkey mind. I was living my dream life and knew that, yet I still felt terrible, like life wasn’t worth living.

baby August in savasana (7 months old)

I practiced off and on through that period and eventually came out of the funk. I would like to say that the physical practice of yoga and meditation brought me out of it, but it didn’t. I practiced as much as I could during that time I tried to meditate more but found it nearly impossible. I was truly overwhelmed with negative thoughts. I was dragging myself through my practice not enjoying a single minute of it. I would like to believe that it would have been worse if I hadn’t practiced, but I am not sure. The only thing that actually helped me was time. I told myself that if the depression went more than two weeks then I would seek medical attention. Luckily I didn’t have to. This depression ended about a week ago and my practice feels more solid than ever.

It is amazing how trauma builds character and devotion. I am thankful I experienced this. The overall big shifts in hormones for the past (almost) two years have been a very educational experience. It has been an opportunity to really separate the mental from the physical and observe my own inner dialog. I believe that this is a journey we can all share even if we don’t carry a pregnancy. We most easily have the opportunity to become the observer when our lives shift. Through changes caused by injury, trauma in family and jobs, moving, even through happy additions to our lives, we have the opportunity to use our practice to observe those mental and physical transformations in ourselves. One day we are strong and flexible, the next day we are not, one day we are happy and the next an overwhelming sadness overtakes us. Gifts are given to us and then in the next breath taken away. These experiences give us an opportunity to separate our identity from these gifts, to get deeper, to find our own true nature. What am I if I am not strong? Happy? Friendly? Flexible? We are then able to feel closer to those around us, to truly understand how we are all fundamentally the same beautiful people wanting to be happy and struggling through life’s journey.

baby August in tadasana

Now onto the questions…

I’d like to know more about your breath. Did you practice ujjayi breathing not only in your practice but during labor as well? Or did you practice other breathing techniques like Lamaze during labor?

My husband can probably answer that question better than I could. The details of the labor are very fuzzy to me now. I remember getting momentarily very angry at Terence, my husband, when he wasn’t “breathing right”. We had been taught one technique in our classes, but then when we got down to the labor, I found that technique very stressful, it was making me anxious. So through my declaration, “don’t do that! Do like yoga, yoga breath.” We immediately began doing some long deep breathing. (Terence says that the counting associated with yoga breathing really seemed to help bridge through the contractions.)

How far were you in your practice before you got pregnant?

(I am going to assume that this is a question about where in the Ashtanga sequence I was when I got pregnant.) I was blessed with a flexible back, so when I started Ashtanga second series was actually easier for me than first. I think that is true for many people. I had a very traditional hard-nosed teacher who took away all the postures and started me with a half primary and was very conservative with giving our postures. I was officially just barely into second series when I got pregnant. However, I teach “vinyasa” and practice and teach all kinds of different postures. So, I wasn’t always just doing primary series. Also, I found that I was really testing the patience of my teachers during this time. I added the splits sequence in there for a while, I did some pigeons and extra lunges.

At what point did you stop doing postures on your belly and forward-bending postures?

The very first thing I lost or modified was anything where my chest hit the ground. I found that my breasts were very tender as soon as I was pregnant. This made most things that required any chest on the floor impossible. The soreness lasted until just a couple of months ago. I did a modified preparation for dhanurasana and bekasana where I never rested completely on my front before going into the postures.

upward dog?

And what was your practice like after the baby? Assuming you were up nursing, etc., were you able to go to mysore practice, logistically and energy wise?

I waited a month and then practiced a TON as soon as I could. For a few months there I was practicing every day. I was lucky enough to get a 5 month maternity leave, so I could get up super early and nap in the afternoons (or when the baby was). August (the baby) was not sleeping through the night until he was a year old. My husband was nice enough to take the baby and I would go very early before he had to go to work. Often August would sleep while I was gone, so it didn’t put Terence out too much.

Finally, how has your practice changed since you became a mom?

I went back to work after 5 months and the party was over! (I am a software designer) It was extremely difficult to practice at first. We didn’t want to leave August at daycare too long during the day. My husband still needs to exercise too, and our schedules at work aren’t as regular as we like. Sometimes Terence needs to travel or be on a conference call at 6 am. Things are getting better with each day as we learn to create more of a routine in our lives.

Also, there is another interesting element that I didn’t anticipate that makes practicing hard. There is this powerful maternal compulsion to spend every waking moment with your offspring! I had to convince my husband to force me to leave in the mornings to go do yoga.

I am lucky these days to practice ~4 days a week. Every once in a blue moon I will get in 6 days, but that is super rare. It is even more difficult now that the baby wakes up anywhere from 5:30-7 in the morning. I have recently added in a little jogging to supplement my yoga. This is something that my son and I can do together. It is difficult to practice with a toddler who is either crawling all over you or causing chaos in another room. I also get the extra support from my husband to teach 5 yoga classes a week. When I first came back I was attempting to teach 10 and then I was never doing my personal practice.

Is there any way I can return to my previous shape? Will I be able to do backbends again and also in pregnancy?

I can say that I am in different shape than before, better and worse in a lot of ways. I have a little pot belly now and I am not sure my abs will ever be quite like they were before. However, the new softness makes the jump throughs better in a lot of ways. I don’t try to force it, they just magically come. I was able to do backbends after a few months of healing. The mula (pelvic floor) area can take quite a long while to rebuild, especially if your child’s head is 15.5 inches! One of the things that was always very easy for me, salamba sarvangasana (shoulder stand) took an unbelievably long time to rebuild, while arm balances came back quite easily and better than before.

You really cannot predict how a pregnancy is going to feel until you are there and if practice is even possible. I hope to practice again while pregnant. Who knows if that will even be possible – if I will be blessed with another baby or one that seems to enjoy the practice as much as August does. I will definitely let you know how it goes if we are able to explore another yoga pregnancy!

Wendy and August (October 2007)

Coffee Therapy
courtesy IdleType

I define yoga therapy as the practice of yoga with the intention to reduce suffering of any form – physical illness, emotional suffering, social isolation.

…the practice of yoga … asks, how is this individual suffering in this moment, and what could reduce that suffering?

…it’s again about finding a way to be comfortable in the present moment…

These quotes are from Kelly McGonigal, a yoga therapist whose scientific research summaries I’ve used in some of the Health posts on AshtangaNews.

Cookie Therapy
courtesy Minuet

Seeing that she is a Yoga Therapist, I got curious about Yoga Therapy, which to me, seems a little antithetical to Sri K. Pattabhi Jois’ Do your practice and all is coming. But I figured I was missing something, and my curiousity led me to Kelly’s interview from the International Yogatherapy Conference in May 2006.

From reading the research summaries on her website, I would define yoga therapy as using specific sequences of asana, along with breathing and meditation exercises, to try to obtain healing benefits

Cat Therapy
courtesy Boboleta

for particular conditions. The yoga therapist creates a sequence that her client can perform and works one-on-one with her client (or in small groups) rather than teaching a one-practice-fits all sequence (like the Primary Series).

I would never suggest that yoga will replace medical care. In some cases, with some illnesses and injuries, yoga might be a sufficient treatment. But in general, yoga is about making this whole experience more comfortable. Yoga helps rehumanize the often dehumanizing experience of physical or emotional illness.

Weekend-in-the-Country Therapy
courtesy me

Yoga therapy seems to be especially beneficial for people suffering from chronic pain, especially back pain, and long-term illnesses, like cancer and AIDS. Kelly states that she’s seen the most impact on emotional suffering.

…Most people discuss the value of yoga in terms of prevention – yoga, as a lifestyle, may help to prevent certain common diseases in the U.S. But I think that yoga is becoming so welcome in medicine and psychology because it is not being presented as an alternative medicine, or alternative-to-medicine. It is presented as a way to reintroduce some of the core values of healing: helping individuals maintain some sense of power over their own well-being, honoring the importance of seeing the “whole” person and not just treating symptoms, and finding a way to prevent unnecessary suffering.

Light Therapy
courtesy Onkel Ulle

I have to say that looking at other online sources about yoga therapy, I still find the field a little too flaky, a little too touchy-feely, new-agey for my comfort. For example, the yoga therapy section on Yoga Journal’s website has articles that gives specific advice for treating Hepatitis C, vision problems, and even recommends specific postures to alleviate erectile dysfunction.

On the other hand, I found Kelly’s concise explanation of preventing unnecessary suffering in the present moment and her focus on traditional scientific research is intriguing, valuable and very well-stated.

If you want to learn more about yoga therapy, a good place to start is the International Yogatherapy Conference’s section about yoga therapy. Atypically, Wikipedia does not (yet) contain good information about yoga therapy.

Ashtanga Therapy
View of the Old Shala from Above, courtesy Govinda Kai

What posture is this?

Wendy Spies, an Ashtangi and yoga teacher, wrote one of our most popular posts, Ashtanga During Pregnancy: One Ashtangi’s Experience.

Wendy’s kindly offered to write a follow-up post and I know it’s going to be great. Just take a look at her prior post.

If any of you have questions you’d like Wendy to address or suggestions for her next post, please submit them via the Comments and include your email address, so Wendy can follow up with you, if necessary.

The Baby and the Guru, from Govinda Kai

Thanks for your contributions, and thank you, Wendy!

We all know that yoga, including Ashtanga yoga, is good for us. But how good?

As it turns out, not sooo good. Physiologically at least, asana practice provides only “mild to moderate” physiological benefits. What do you think, Ashtangis?

For me, I’d agree. Here are the results from a study I conducted during a recent Mysore-style class:

• My heart rate averaged 104 beats per minute and I was in my heart rate zone for only 14 minutes in a 75 minute practice (through Navasana). I burned 104 calories.
• During my traditional exercise program of 45 minutes cardiovascular training and 15 minutes exercising, my average heart rate is 135 and I burn 300 calories.

Sally E. Blank from Washington State University Spokane conducted a real scientific study (of Iyengar yogis - I know what you’re thinking) recently and categorized yoga as “mild to moderate intensity exercise without evidence of a sustained cardiopulmonary stimulus“.

The study is one of the few I’ve seen that actually quantifies the physiological benefits of any form of yoga, and I think it’s pretty interesting. Some of its findings include:

• In a 90-minute practice, the participants burned 100-200 calories.
• Participants were in a fitness heart range for 11-60 minutes in a 90-minute practice (or 55-85% of maximum heart rate).
• Standing asana, inversions and back bends (pushing up to back bends) resulted in the larger physiological response than seated or supine asana.
• Backbend and Warrior postures resulted in the highest heart rates.
• Alignment affected the participants’ ability to maintain backbend with perfect alignment resulting in holding backbend for 90-120 seconds while malaligned backbenders only held the posture for 60 seconds.
• Poor alignment raised blood pressure in many postures, but especially in backbend.

Some of the conclusions of the study were:

• “The general cardiorespiratory responses to asanas were similar to changes observed in subjects who perform weight lifting circuit exercise.”

• “This volume of exercise meets the current public health recommendations for physical activity that provides substantial benefits for reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and improved cardiovascular fitness for sedentary adults.”
• “Steady state heart rate was not sustained for a minimum of 10 minutes during the yoga practice.”
• “Moderate to strenuous yoga vinyasa and jumpings would be expected to promote cardiovascular endurance if the practice was sufficiently long. To achieve optimal cardiorespiratory benefits, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends that exercise include 20-60 minutes of large muscle rhythmic and dynamic activity with a minimum of 10 minutes of activity per session.”
• “Based on this evidence, yoga asanas can be fully integrated into western approaches to exercise prescription for healthy, rehabilitating, and diseased populations. “

The participants in the study were all women, aged 36-49 with a weekly practice of 4-9 hours per week and had practiced Iyengar for 2-16 years. In the study, the yoginis held poses for up to 5 minutes (with no vinyasa between poses). The yoginis did 24 postures over about 1-1/2 hours and were considered “intermediate” level practitioners.

The study also noted that at least 16.5 million people in the United States practice yoga and 77.1% are women.

Physiological Responses To Iyengar Yoga Performed By Trained Practitioners by Sally E. Blank at Washington State University Spokane was published in the February 2006 issue of the Journal of Exercise Physiology.

Thank you to Kelly McGonigal, a yoga therapist in the San Francisco Bay Area, for her exhaustive list of studies on the benefit of yoga.

And to SeaOfClouds for the heart photos.

And, Ashtangis, don’t forget to get your cardio in!

From a medical perspective, Uddiyana Bandha (the abdominal lock) combined with Ujjayi breath (the breath we use in Ashtanga yoga) should in theory increase anxiety.

The Ujjayi and uddiyana bandha practices are the virtually the opposite of what anxious patients are taught in order to reduce their mental anxiety. From the perspective of western medicine, the therapeutic mechanism of Ujjayi breathing and uddiyana bandha may be through a kind of behavioral conditioning… beginning Ashtanga yoga practitioners are frequently exposed to anxiety-inducing moments of chest-breathing and oxygen-hunger, wondering “how can I get enough air … I’m going to explode!” This repetitive exposure to a stressful situation conditions the practitioner to other physiologically stressful situations.

While much of the research and anecdote indicates that yoga does have a calming, focusing effect, I have seen little that explains how such stress inducing breath could lead to such benefits.

Richard Peterson, a psychiatrist and Ashtangi, in his thorough article called The Healing Psychology of Ashtanga Yoga developed a compelling theory.

Yoga practitioners who are breathing smoothly and shallowly though their noses, while simultaneously experiencing a racing heart and air-hunger, are training their bodies and minds to react smoothly and calmly when they are in a similar physiologic state in another context. For example, a non-yogi who is terrified of public speaking, and who has no practice with controlling racing thoughts and shortness of breath before a speech, is likely to perform poorly when compared to a similarly terrified speaker who is a yogi. The yogi has successful experience working through these same feelings in yoga practice.

Rich enjoys one of the therapeutic
effects of visiting Mysore

In this article, Richard uses his extensive medical education to theorize about possible psychological effects of Ashtanga. He also cites 36 sources; 28 of these are from scientific studies or medical journals. Because of his educational background, because he cites his sources and because of his scientific approach, I have confidence in Richard’s conclusions and think his article is a great resource.

Plus, Richard has written this article out of his love of and curiousity about Ashtanga and psychiatry; he’s not earning money from yoga therapy or anything like that. To top it all, how many medical articles end with “Practice, and all is coming”?

Rich Peterson, Mysore 2004

About Rich Peterson: I’m currently practicing with John Berlinsky and Lea Watkins at YogaStudio Mill Valley (California). I go about 2 times per week currently, down from 4x/week following the birth of our baby girl 5 months ago. My wife and I trade baby sitting duties. I learned Ashtanga in Mysore in 2004 at AYRI. Our blog from that trip is here and the Mysore section is here.

According to AYRI:

The purpose of vinyasa is for internal cleansing. Breathing and moving together while performing asanas makes the blood hot, or as Pattabhi Jois says, boils the blood.

Sharath & Guruji looking especially healthy

The benefits of boiled blood are numerous. Thinner (boiled) blood circulates more freely, so it’s better able to remove pain, impurities and disease.

The sweat generated by Ashtanga practice is also beneficial, because it removes the toxins brought out by the boiling blood.

John Berlinsky helps a student
(photo courtesy of Govinda Kai)

In Yoga Mala, Sri K. Pattabhis Jois discusses in great depth the benefits of Ashtanga in general as well as the benefits of each asana. For example, for Prasarita Padottanasana (A-D), Pattabhis Jois writes:

[If learned from a Guru], the anal canal will be purified, the bad fat in the lower abdomen will dissolve, the waist will become thin and strong, and the body will become light and beautiful. This asana also cures constipation, and purifies the top part of the spinal column and the waist.

I think anyone who’s practiced Ashtanga (or any yoga) for a while would say that practice has numerous physical, emotional and mental benefits. My friends who do not practice yoga express interest primarily because of the “stretching” and “relaxation” benefits they perceive yoga will provide. So there’s this general, yet anecdotal, perception that yoga, including Ashtanga yoga, is beneficial.

However, being a curious, analytical type of person with an interest in health and science, I was wondering what kind of medical or scientific research exists about yoga, particularly Ashtanga?

So, in a brief series of upcoming posts, I’ll be highlighting some of what I’ve learned.

With that, I invite you all to please comment freely and include any resources you have about the benefits of yoga.

From Yoga Mala:

Turbinado sugar. Yum.

Some people even have of fear of practicing it [yoga] altogether. But this is little different from the opinion of those who look for the faults of sugar without knowing its sweetness. Once they taste it, its sweetness becomes apparent. Similarly, once we practice yoga, we come to realize its ananda [bliss].

Despite my analytical bent, I fully endorse tasting the sugar.

[Wendy Spies practiced Ashtanga through her pregnancy - all the way to the day before the birth of a healthy baby boy, and shared some really wonderful insights with us. Wendy started practicing in 1987, and plans to start teaching yoga again in June. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Thank you, Wendy, for your thorough contribution. -Ed.]

[See Wendy's follow-up article and baby's photos here (December 2007). -Ed.]

Wendy in Sarvangasana
April 23, 2006 (baby’s due date: May 13)

* how did you practice change as your pregnancy progressed - 1st trimester, 2nd, 3rd?

During the 1st trimester, my heart rate would accelerate, sometimes to the point that I’d get dizzy. You are carrying a lot of extra blood in your body at this point in the pregnancy, which causes these kinds of effects. All of changes also affected my respiration, which made it harder to keep the breath long, so often I’d hold poses for a longer number of breaths to compensate. My body shape also changed a lot in the first three months, so I learned to compensate in a number of asanas.

I wasn’t showing at all, and debated about whether or not to tell my teachers. One thing you learn when you get pregnant is that everyone has advice for you, which is always quite heartfelt, but often misguided. Some teachers advised me not to practice, and the yoga literature is full of contradictory advice about which poses to do or not to do. In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t discussed the pregnancy with some teachers, as it caused them to back off from adjustments or look at me with disapproval, at least until they were more confident that I wasn’t going to break because I was pregnant. Lino’s attitude was very different - he had me doing tick-tocks at this stage.

["Tick-tocks" means: going from standing going to a very quick handstand, dropping the feet over the head down into wheel, then coming back up into standing, then from standing dropping back into full wheel, then kicking the feet over the head back to a quick handstand then to standing -Ed.]

The whole advice battlefield had its biggest impact when I took a teacher’s advice to not practice during the first trimester. By my second day off, it was clear that my body wasn’t a fan of that idea at all. I started to get morning sickness, which I hadn’t had before, and generally felt pretty awful. After seeing the doctor, and getting the all clear, I resumed practicing, and started feeling better right away. The morning sickness never returned.

Urdhva Dhanurasana

The only problem with asking doctors about yoga is that they all have a different idea of what yoga is and it is rare that they will understand a practice like Ashtanga. David Swenson had a great suggestion - he advised me to bring in specific photos of postures or video clips into the doctor’s office and say “can I do THAT”, not to ask the general “can I do yoga” question.

The best advice I got at this stage was from my doctor and from reading an article about Nancy Gilgoff’s comments about Ashtanga while pregnant. The doctor basically chuckled at the idea that I was heeding any advice given by non-doctors. She told me my number one job during the pregnancy was to train like I was going to run a marathon - labor was going take as much work as running 26 miles, and being in good physical shape would be crucial. The best yoga specific advice was to keep doing whatever I was comfortable doing before the pregnancy, but also listening and modifying as needed as my body changed as the baby grew.

The second trimester wasn’t dramatically different from the first, but there was definitely more compensation for my growing abdomen. Some of the twisting postures became quite difficult, and I started to make simple adjustments to postures like Utthita Trikonasana by widening my stance. By the end of the second trimester, Anne had me modifying Marichasana C & D by twisting in the opposite direction, which kept my belly from interfering, but kept the basic structure of the asana intact.

The third trimester was a different story altogether. Padmasana was now completely gone (which was a bit shocking, because I had heard that pregnancy opened the hips – it does, but in an unpredictable way). My vinyasas now involved stepping back and forward – no jumping at all. My shoulders and arms got stronger because of the extra weight, but that also caused my shoulders to get much tighter.

Betty Lai has a detailed article about practicing while pregnant on Ashtanga.com. I practiced with Jois during his world tour this year, a few weeks before giving birth. What I found interesting was that he adjusted and modified many postures that I was doing which differed from the advice given in the article. So, again, what is appropriate for one person is not for another and teachers’ advice changes with time and experience as well.

Sirsasana

* later on did the baby react to certain postures? which ones?

In general, the baby loved practicing. Like any kid, he was huge fan of the big movements, especially inversions. The first time anyone saw the baby move was in the end of second trimester when Philippe strolled by while I was in Sirsasana, and saw some movement in my belly that definitely wasn’t bandhas! Through most of the pregnancy, though, the baby wasn’t reacting to postures, and was calm throughout practice. But in the last two weeks, I was feeling movement in almost every posture, which was probably a combination of the asana and the natural movement of the baby moving into “launch” position.

* what was hardest about practicing pregnant?

The difficult things for me were: not practicing too hard and calmly letting postures go. Also, getting used to people staring and not minding that almost everyone is more concerned about your baby than they are about you (while they might not make that explicit or ever admit even to themselves).

* did some postures get easier?

I am “blessed” with very tight hips relative to other parts of my practice. All of the postures that depend on open hips got easier for me, but I was still careful to maintain integrity in the poses. So, asanas like Supta Kurmasana, Baddha Konasana, Upavistha Konasana, and Janu Sirsasana C got slightly easier. It didn’t happen nearly as quickly as I expected, these postures really only came very, very late in the pregnancy and have luckily stuck around afterwards (for now). One of the things people warned me about was the relaxin (a hormone released during pregnancy) allowing postures to become much easier and that causing the integrity of the joints and your strength to dissipate. However, for me, that wasn’t really the case. Due to the extra weight I became very strong and less flexible in many ways due to this strength. Also, because I was practicing every day, the shifting of weight in my body did not lead to problems with balance like it might have otherwise. However, after delivery, the dramatic weight shift did cause my balance to become greatly compromised. I am still trying to regain my Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana.

* how did it affect your breath?

The breathing was very hard because of my greater lung capacity and volume of blood. You actually breathe in a fundamentally different way when pregnant. My lung capacity grew significantly very early on and the breath became much shallower. I had always had a fairly slow practice until I got pregnant, then I needed to either hold postures for about 10 breaths to maintain the same pace as before, or I would practice very quickly like Pattabhi Jois does in lead classes.

* do you think it had an effect on delivery?

Yoga definitely had an effect on my labor and delivery. Specifically, it gave me a greater ability to control and use the muscles necessary for the final stages of labor (mula bandha more than anything else) and it also helped me deal with the pain through breath and meditation. To contrast my labor with that of my sister, her first child was a relatively speedy delivery of 12 hours and she didn’t practice at all. I was blessed with an even quicker 2.5 hour active labor (45 minutes of which was me waiting at 10 cms for my sister to get from the airport to the hospital so she could make it for the delivery). And much to my relief August (my son) measured a 9 on the APGAR.

* when do you plan to start practicing again? or what is your
post-birth practice now like?

At 4 weeks I did my first practice. I waited until the bleeding had completely stopped. The doctor said that wasn’t necessary, but it was the best compromise I could make given all the conflicting advice. My doctor said I can do whatever I like as long as the bleeding doesn’t increase. I have learned, as I believe all new mothers do, the pregnancy advice pales in comparison to post pregnancy advice! When interacting with everyone from Aunts to complete strangers, be prepared to perfect that nod and smile and then listen to yourself because you know what is best.

My post pregnancy practice has been better in many ways. I have a much greater appreciation for the practice itself. I am just thrilled when everything lines up correctly and I can sneak in some yoga. With those dramatic changes – the weight gain, muscles and ligaments shifting, and entire lifestyle shifts – having a baby is a big lesson in not wanting postures, but just being happy with what you have. As a teacher it also gave me an even greater appreciation for injuries and limitations of others, and how our bodies and our minds change as we get older. Yoga teaches us to not be attached to our physical self or to the practice - there is nothing like pregnancy, delivery and nursing to further reinforce that dissociation!

Mom and baby

* what one thing would you advise for pregnant yogis?

Listen to yourself, you are your own best teacher and most importantly don’t be afraid to practice! By practicing, I sometimes felt like I was choosing myself over my baby. But now, after the labor, and seeing how healthy August is, I know that my practice was for both of us.

Read the rest of this entry »

Between ages 45-55, people tend to gain about 1 pound per year, a phenomenon known as middle-aged spread. That’s 10 whole pounds by the time you reach your mid-fifties! Ouch.

Dr. Alan R. Kristal found that yoga helps prevent middle-aged spread. But rather than creating magical benefits or even meaningful calorie burning, yoga:

• Contributes to people feeling “more connected” to their bodies, which makes them want to be more active and eat better, including heightened sensitivity to the feeling of satiety.

• “Promotes a sense of well being, and encourages commitment and discipline”, which helps people make lifestyle changes and stick with those changes.

So the effects of yoga start with the mind and percolate to the body - truly “mind medicine” as Guruji likes to say.

Dr. Alan R. Kristal of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle also found that people who practice yoga - as little as 30 minutes once per week - gained only 3.1 pounds. And that’s any kind of yoga, not necessarily Ashtanga yoga, which is a much more physical practice. Senior teachers like Lino Miele, Tim Miller and Dominic Corigliano are living proof of this effect.

Dr. Kristal also found that:

• Yogi students ate less fat and more fruits and vegetables than non-yogis.
• They did more physical activity, in addition to yoga, than non-yogis.

Yoga, great for people of all ages

The study was originally published in the July/August 2005 issue of Alternative Therapies in Health & Medicine.