Jonathan Urla--up-to-the-minute-news--says that muscle confusion IS a myth.
You have to do the same movements again and again, to develop your body and mind.
about a year ago in New York City, US
Bettina's Profile
New York City, US
More About Me
My Occupation is
Accounting Administrator
My hobbies/interests are
Nutrition, movies, books ... and I am writing up a philosophy of life right now ...
One secret that helps me to stay healthy is
"Ask yourself what you would do if you knew you could not fail?"
My wellness goals are
I have 10 to 15 pounds I want to lose. Dietary goals include more organic produce and sparingly any meats. (Not red meat). Flexitarian because vegetarian-trained yogis put some real scares into me ...
I see myself achieving my wellness goals by
I need to increase my aerobic/cardio activity. Yoga alone will not help me achieve sounder sleep.
My inspirations are
I will always remember the two pilates teachers who spoke to me, Deva and Shana, and I'm in line to learning more pilates ...
With dance, I dance the 5 Rhythms, as taught by Gabrielle Roth; and do more freeform ecstatic dance; and I dance Bollywood style and bellydance.
A little more about me
I innovated my own complete yoga-pilates fusion practice ...
I still do yoga from on here, but I am more involved in dance and pilates on this site right now ...
Bettina's Wellness Diary
Recent Posts
My streaming was fast enough last night for the 31 minute class, Power Belly Dance by Gillian Cofsky ...
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It's true that David Magone is one of the more charismatic yoga instructors on here ... but, seriously, I feel like doing my own sequencing again, it includes a lot of pilates and I almost have it in the bag ... but I am tempted by the class, too ...
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Cameron Gilley's Heart Opening Flow Yesterday Helped my Nouveau Sequencing Today
March 16, 2012 at 8:17pm
Yes, nouveau. Pssst! If you didn't already suspect it, yoga-pilates fusion is due for a major comeback. And I have my own practice of it. As for tonight's practice, I put stuff back in it, too. [Not the headstand which was any more fuller expression than hare pose, though. In fact, perversely, I will be counting the days I could avoid doing any such fuller expression of headstand ... the golden mean rules!
So, "muscle confusion" is not entirely a myth. And, if anything-- even if it is, a class so precise in its cuing (alignment-wise) does wonders for how I internally direct my own sequencing in my self-practice. Cameron Gilley's is one of those kinds of classes. As was (and it's been many months now) my last studio classes ever taken, to date. With the first, large batch of classes, the teacher had been in the center of the room doing his own class or just taking care of the advanced students in class, mostly.
Maybe other people go to class to learn new poses or to supply themselves with the discipline to go through with a lengthy practice session that isn't just a bunch of shazam or comfort asana ... But I go to a yoga class (and/or NOW, I actually take one online thanks to Myyogaonline.com) for the same reason somebody stereotypical would go take a workshop: they have an ongoing, comprehensive, lengthy and frequent home practice (OR they were Kula members of a currently-disgraced school of yoga) but, in both cases, they just need some new approaches ... could care less about "accomplishing", "advancing" or getting anywhere, for the most part.
Marshall McLuhan had been right. Television - the mass medium it is -- he said "the medium is the message", and he characterized television as a "cool medium" ... the watcher of the television had a participatory life all their own. The medium did not rely on total engagement with the medium itself.
Online transmission is not just a "cool medium" ... it is an "ice cold" medium.
So, a class video that a yoga teacher had been generous enough to publish to the web is so "ice cold" (in Marshall McLuhan terms) it demands the tapas (or heat) from the active practitioner ...
Feelin 'hot, hot, hot ...
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My own Vinyasa-Pilates Fusion ... Centered and Refreshed for that Hour of the Night
March 14, 2012 at 10:02am
So, I practiced my own sequence for over 90 minutes last night.
Not one headstand "prep" (I did used to have both feet well off the floor, anyhow) ... for the first time in many months ... hare pose with tripod arms is on the menu, now ...
I don't care what kind of yoga it actually is, that I do—it is the one that I will do.
Held crow for 2 breaths ... (used to be able to hold it for longer than that) ...
But my vrksasana is improving ... and I modify pigeon with the flexed foot and one hip atop my new blanket and my front leg—instead of nearly under my upper leg—a tad bit off the parallel now ... and prasarita padottanasana (if I want to scoach my upper body out, and not concentrate on my Pilates powerhouse) has my head again seeking closer to the floor ...RETROGRESSION NO MORE!!
So I remember when I used to be a lap swimmer, and that had screwed with my flexibility. My wrists had been weak, and swimming butterfly stroke really had hurt them most every time; and I could not improve to save my life ...
No, this had not been some mind-blowing practice. Not this time.
But I think I have discovered the secret for getting centered.
P.S. I did figure out that I'd gotten my costochondritis injury a few months ago from attempting a further development of tripod headstand before I'd been ready for it (if ever), and NOT from compound push-ups. Those did not cause a flare-up, but I knew to modify with scorpion tail leg at its point of full extension ...
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The blanket didn't exactly work for my half-tripod-headstand when sandwiched between my Aurorae Synergy Mat-Towel with an additional towel on top. The right side of my neck complained 33 hours later (that is the side that has my far weaker arm). Which is a signal loud and clear—let's not do any more headstand for near future... I have a feeling about some practices on here which don't include headstand anyway; that is to say, I like them. My Mexican blanket is used for a few kinds of poses, and they seem to be in the hip opener and meditative categories ...
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Patching and Tweaking - well, she HAD been his teacher ...
March 10, 2012 at 8:17am
I have decided to add influences from this video popularization of Shiva Rea's vinyasa style template:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KwbvuaEeno&context=C4daf5f4ADvjVQa1PpcFM67wkutZogaBsOsTkrWaAV5ZjExlpYIvA=
Secrets of Sequencing - The Mandala
but adapted ( = slowed the hell DOWN ...) for a sequence that begins with utkatasana (and is a riff off of Sun Salute B) which is part of Soft 2 Be Strong, my own self-sequenced practice ...
Ms. Julie Peters is a genius yoga instructor, and to top it off ... Shiva Rea had been Jonathan Urla's (of Yogilates fame) yoga teacher trainer !
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We can't be 29 Forever ... Discernment comes a Little Late in Life
March 10, 2012 at 7:24am
From blogs written nearly a year after I left a certain studio ... (never to return)
http://www.yogatailor.com/wordpress/2011/02/yoga-what-your-teacher-is-not-telling-you-by-erin-bhaskar/
Sthir Sukham Asanam, in my experience, means that if you can only raise your leg an inch instead of all the way to your forehead, then do only that. See what most people won’t tell you is that along with Sthir Sukham Asanam, Patanjali also said prayatna shaitalyam. Which means, and here’s the kicker, that there is no need to apply un-necessary effort in any of the Asanas. This may go against your instincts, but if you can raise your arm only ½ an inch then don’t apply the effort to raise it a full inch. It will happen itself at some point. But only if first you are comfortable with where you are at. Rest into the pose. Relax into it. Be comfortable in it. And bring your focus to your body and mind and BREATH again and again.
It really represents the philosophy of focusing on the journey rather than the destination so beautifully. Focus and be comfortable with where you are at. Then you will see that the destination – of whatever it is you think you want to or should be achieving with your yoga practice – will happen without effort
IFF I ever go back to a yoga studio ... I would want my yoga teacher to tell me what he/she is not telling me ...
and
http://www.yogatailor.com/wordpress/2011/02/is-yoga-in-america-a-business-at-the-cost-of-a-true-seeker-erin-bhaskar/
“When you hold a pose for long enough for it to feel a bit uncomfortable, you’re building muscle strength”, says a Yoga Journal blogger.
She adds “You’re also building strength of mind by showing yourself that you’re stronger than you think you are”
I don’t even know where to begin in pointing out how wrong this is and on so many levels. It’s misleading, it’s dangerous and it’s against everything Patanjali says in YogaSutras. (for more on Patanjali read our blog on ‘sthir sukham asanam’). This kind of well meaning sincerity is dangerous in how misguided it is.
Holding a pose when you are uncomfortable is not going to build muscle strength or mental beliefs about your strength, it will make you stop going to Yoga class. You start dreading the class as it becomes yet another hurdle to climb in your daily grind. And that is not the point of Yoga.
When you hold a pose to discomfort, who decides how much discomfort is good enough for your growth? The teacher? You? She doesn’t know what’s happening inside your body. Especially when she’s done a 6-month yoga teacher training course at the local studio down the street. You could be putting yourself way out than needed.
As soon as I suggest that you don’t push, notice how you go into red alert! “But how will I progress if I keep staying where it is comfortable?” What “progress” are you looking for? For that, you need to first go into your very definition of progress where yoga is concerned. You want external progress in your physical posture, that’s why you and your teacher is scared to let you be and just breathe.
But try it once. Be in the pose where you are comfortable. And bring your mind again and again to your breath. You will see that going further in the physical pose will be one of the many by products of the many other benefits you will derive.
You can tell that this Erin Bhaskar is not a popular yoga blogger.
No way. But she represents why there was a need for a bit of a backlash.My self-sequenced Soft 2 Be Strong (which will not be commercialized in this lifetime) has rarely failed to leave me relaxed, centered and yet worked-out at the same time ... with only an average-length savasana at the end!
I can compare and contrast this to live studio classes I've taken, after which I ever felt centered only on a fluke!
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The Belly Dance video hiccoughed twice, and then stopped at time point around 24 minutes. I chose not to go low-tech (and totally NOT belly dance, since I am a rank newbie) and continue working out ... with 5 Rhythms ... the 15-minute rule prevailed ... I really have to get stuff cleaned up now (deadline) !
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Have to Fit the Practice in to My Life ...
March 7, 2012 at 4:59pm
I have a lot of cleaning up to do.
I think I will do Belly Dance Step by Step ... it is less tough on my arms.
If this streaming hiccoughs, I will think seriously about getting another download.
I feel charleyhorse in my midsection due to my first download, the Intermediate Practice (but I modified it down to my actual level ... soon I will have been practicing yoga for 5 years, but at my age and in my condition now, I had not stayed an "intermediate" for long. This practice is slow-paced, mindful and - let's face it - nobody's watching ... I also think this teacher would, if teaching me live, probably take an energy read on me .. accurately ...
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How often should a late middle aged person with not a whole lot of natural core strength do belly dance to not lose condition?
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And Ratcheting Down Further ....
March 5, 2012 at 7:38pm
Well, I finally purchased my very own Mexican blanket (in my favorite green color) after all these years of regular yoga practicing. And I used it for "surrendered pigeon" and for shoulderstand, which I can hardly do anymore without my neck hurting these days ... (my neck is not previously injured) ... as part of a Baptiste power yoga Download audio (which I, of course, modified and tweaked) done on 3 March 2012 ... Pretty fed up with that Baptiste (it did not take long). I will stick with Baptiste's own CD, which I "cheat" down from its intended All-Levels level (though it's hardly that), to my current seat as an advanced beginner, for now and maybe for a very long time ...
What kind of yoga DO I like?
Well, there's hatha, Buddhist-infused vinyasa, vinyasa-pilates fusion, slow flow, and lengthy savasanas ... plus pranayama with some light bandha action ...
I've heard that Kundalini you have to be careful with. I once took a Kundalini class at the place where I go to the satsangs. It cost me $12.80 (price has since gone up to $18--the studio did not have volume customers) ...
Meanwhile, I did about 35 minutes 5 Rhythms practice with a crampy, sore midsection ... for which I could thank my other belly dance teacher, Gillian Cofsky ...
Well, feeling weak will not keep me from what I have to do ...
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Feelin' I got away with something at the hands of a commercial yoga studio, FOR A CHANGE!
March 5, 2012 at 9:25am
I really like yoga, so much so I practice it at home. Class length. I could never afford frequent classes at a studio. I could never afford a frequent teacher. You also should know that I'm not much of a dvd person, but I'd had an agenda. Such as I needed to know why I like my otherwise intense home practice so much. Could it really have been that the style I practice did not resonate with the overall style taught at my former studio? So I'd picked up the Cyndi Lee dvd (of the Buddhist-infused OM Yoga fame) at a bookstore, making that purchase as a priority ...
So, not too long after there had been the time, I went and bought an introductory 2-pack at a nice price at the one and only OM Yoga Studio in New York City.
Me: "And you don't hold against me that I used the dvd put out by this studio several times ?"
Them: "No. You never have been to this studio before."
Me: "So you mean, LIVE classes not taken ... ?"This is after reading the reviews on OM, that at the live classes they do practically NO hands-on adjustments unless you pay extra - which, believe me, I had not then and NOT EVEN NOW, am willing to experience... Dear reader, you don't have to know that I had been assaulted and seriously traumatized by gratuitous adjustments--back when I'd gone to my former studio. So, this is pretty much FINE by ME!
Also, not thinking that, at least on the surface, my living in the NYC metropolitan area has anything to do with it, either ...
But for THEIR intents and purposes and/or for all they knew (irrespective of my more advanced age to what they were generally used to, being in the NYU area and all--in addition to my more stocky size ..), I could have been sitting back watching the dvd as the movie it actually is; and eating chips, absorbing Cyndi's fine patter, instead of doing it, those several times. Instead, in true floating-drumbeat fashion, I'd practiced it several times with the intensity and dedication inculcated into me by my experiences at my former studio, longitudinally, their old long-lasting expiry (infinite, actually) class pack carefully having been parceled out over 19 months. The former studio was heavily influenced by the asana master Dharma Mittra. The self-mortification inherent in how that studio taught me, comes from their Jivamukti influence (us middle-pathers generally do not buy THAT part...)
All in all, I had not felt I really deserved the INTRODUCTORY 2-class pack they sold me, as I'd felt I knew OM Yoga in my bones already from that dvd! Well, I'd signed up and took the intermediate class. Which was practically the tweaked-by-me version of the dvd, but with a few more balancing postures, inversions, and chaturangas thrown in
Feelin' I got away with something at the hands of a commercial yoga studio, FOR A CHANGE! [Even if technically not true] And this being a world-class place, to boot!
I look forward to doing the same with a download or two ... I don't exactly have room in my tiny living space for a dvd collection ...
But since I can't afford to go to a studio anymore, there are other benchmarks ...
And, failing that, there will always be how I feel afterwards!
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