Ayurveda ultimately helps one to achieve the goal of yoga; to become united with the divine, which is why the two are fantastic compliments to one and other.  Ayurveda focuses on the health of ones body and yoga focuses on the cleansing of ones mind.  Together, the two become very powerful and have the ability to transform an individual into a holistically balanced lifestyle.  There are three doshas that fluctuate their intensity depending on the mental and physical environment of an individual. Those three doshas are referred to as Vata, Pitta and Kapha.  Briefly, Vata refers to those who tend to be thin and do not gain weight easily.  A balanced Vata represents the energy of movement.  Pitta refers to those who are well proportioned, medium sized and represent the energy of transformation.  Kapha refers to those who have efficient strength with a sturdy frame and when in balance that represents the energy of construction.  Each dosha appears in each individual, however the intensity of them alters.  Balancing these doshas is crucial to maintaining a balanced life.

     By using the doshas and other aspects of ayurveda, ones yoga journey can become a journey of balance and strength in the holistic aspect of ones life.  The 30 day yoga challenge in May will be a great opportunity for you to use the methods and compliments of yoga and ayurveda to achieve all that you can!

Constantly running is a repetitive action that can create imbalances in the body.  Yoga is not only beneficial for runners because it strengthens and creates flexibility throughout the body, but it also creates balance with its cross training effectiveness.  As one creates balance in their body through yoga, they are gaining knowledge as to how their body’s movements work.  Think of your body as a tree.  Your feet act as the root to your tree.   If the roots of the tree are strong and deep, the more stable the tree will be.  Treat your feet first by noticing how your weight falls when standing in Tadasana or Mountain pose.  Stand naturally and take notice to how your feet hit the earth.  Think of your foot as though it were a drum and elongate your toes making the bottoms of your feet as taut as possible. Creating this movement also creates alignment in your body by making your feet centered, allowing your feet to ground into the earth and root your body as if it were a tree.  Lift the arches of your feet and notice all four corners of your feet equally pressing into the ground.  Taking the Tadasana pose before the big race will help focus the mind and body for the best performance.

Photograph by: Rich Spencer

After a long run, Downward Facing Dog helps to stretch the calves, hamstrings, back and feet.  By elongating your fingers, hands, toes and feet assures a healthy alignment, especially following a run.  An exercise that also helps the feet is to stand on a tennis ball and create circular motions with the ball, targeting the bottom of your foot.

Join Andrea Cirignano on April 22, 2012 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm as she shows you how Yoga can help you run faster, stronger and longer: All while preventing injuries along the way!  Andrea is also very passionate about nutrition and overall wellness and likes to bring a wholesome approach to her personal practice and to the students in her classes.While teaching, Andrea places a focus on breath, alignment, therapeutic benefits, and incorporating asanas into a home practice. Andrea’s goal as a teacher is to expose students to the world of yoga and encourage them to get to know themselves and their bodies to find out where yoga can take them, mentally, physically and emotionally. This special workshop is designed for the runner in us all. Whether you are an avid runner or newer to the activity, this workshop is right for you! This workshop will include a lecture and an all-levels asana practice where you will explore pre-run and post-run poses to prepare your body for both rest and activity, as well as discuss what changes you can make to your diet & lifestyle to help improve your runs. Helping you avoid injury and run pain free!

“Anybody can do just about anything with himself that he really wants to and makes his mind to do. We are capable of greater than we realize.”

- Norman Vincent Peale, author

Researchers at the Harvard Medical School discovered that as little as a 10-minute meditation session can activate the sections of the brain that takes part in controlling the autonomic nervous system.  The autonomic nervous system is also associated with your digestion, blood pressure and stress levels.  By taking the time to meditate, you can target these aspects of your life that are difficult to control, and help to create a sense of balance internally and externally.

A study done by students at the Maharishi School of Management in Fairfield, Iowa tested the stress level outcomes of a group of people who took part in 4 months of dedicated meditation.  These individuals produced less cortisol after the 4 months of meditation.  Cortisol is a steroid hormone in the body that is beneficial, only when producing normal amount or slightly higher.  It helps to increase energy, increase metabolism and regulate ones blood pressure.  A large increase in ones cortisol levels, however, brings many negative outcomes into ones life.  A significant rise in cortisol levels may wither the thyroid function, create cognitive impairment, increase blood pressure, decrease bone density, and produce blood sugar imbalances.  For those reasons, cortisol is commonly known as a stress hormone because chronic stress heightens the cortisol levels of an individual.  Hence, avoiding stress in ones life could have the capability of saving an individual from a downward spiral, mentally and physically.

It is very important that we all avoid melting away with the stress of our lives.  Their are too many negative effects that are much t0o heavy to carry around.  As described before, meditation is a very efficient practice to accomplish just that.  Here at Bala Yoga, we are dedicated to practicing yoga as a meditation in itself.  As you flow through the progressive movements of your yoga practice, we like to target meditation through your fluid movements.  By being in the present moment during your yoga practice, your negative reoccurring thoughts can be let go of and the movements of that moment can be the best of your ability.

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

- Bruce Lee

Photograph by: Gosia Janik

        Positive thinking also yields success.  The optimism of personal strength and power to move forward will allow you to accomplish all that you desire.   Keeping your focus on opportunity as opposed to limitations opens your life to experience because you allow yourself to go places you never thought you could.  All of this power to create begins with the mind.  Positive affirmations will allow you to accomplish your goals with your yoga experience here at Bala Yoga, as well as in all other aspects of life.

What is the 40 Days series?

Baron Baptist observed “Many of us are searching without knowing exactly what we are looking for. Some of us go on a diet to lose weight and try all kinds of programs and workshops to make ourselves feel better, or perhaps we throw ourselves into our work and seek wealth and status to fill the void, but underneath, an emotional emptiness remains. No matter how much we try to gloss over that yearning with temporary fixes, it is still there, whispering the truth: that what we need isn’t another quick fix, but a rather a rebirth — a whole-life revolution. “ 40 days to Personal Transformation is a breakthrough program to radically change your body and awaken the sacred within your soul. A daily combination of asana practice, meditation, diet, journaling and personal reflection will cultivate a solid foundation from which students can live and grow.

Why is 40 days an important length of time?

“The number 40 holds tremendous spiritual significance in the realm of transformation. Jesus wandered in the desert for forty days in order to experience purification and to come to a greater understanding of himself and his mission. Moses and his people traveled through the desert for forty years before arriving home to the holy land. Noah preserved the sacredness of life by sailing his ark for forty days and forty nights. According to the Kabbalah, the ancient Jewish mystical text, it takes forty days to ingrain any new way of being into our system, and that is what we are aiming to do here: wipe out the old and welcome the new. In forty days, you can shift into a whole new way of living and being.” -Baron Baptist

What goes on at the weekly meetings?

The weekly meetings are a time to gather, reflect and share. They are a valuable part of the program and you will find strength and encouragement from the support and connection of the participants. Meetings consist of deep listening, speaking truthfully in an empowering manner, and discussion of weekly readings.

What am I signing up for?

Daily Yoga Practice:  Six days of yoga per week (five days of active or vigorous level classes, one day of a gentle level class, and one day of rest). We encourage you to practice at Bala Yoga (unlimited yoga classes are included with the program), but you may supplement one home practice per week. For each week there is a theme for your physical practice that will help you build a strong and sustainable personal practice.

Daily Meditation Practice:  You will begin to build a daily meditation practice over the 40 days beginning with just 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes at night. Each week we will build upon the tools of the previous week, adding a weekly focus and increasing the length of time slowly.

Observance of Dietary Intake:  Each week we look at a specific area of food, and bring attention to our habits and attachments around that food. During the fourth week we will take a three-day cleanse to give your body a rest.

Personal Journaling:  Each week there will be a short reading and journal questions from 40 Days to Personal Revolution and Peace is Every Step that will encourage inward self-explorative inquiries.

Weekly Community Meetings:  Once a week the 40 days group meets and Brian Charlton leads group discussion of the weekly readings and journal questions. The weekly community meetings are the most beneficial part of the program. As the group moves and changes together, you will find strength and encouragement from the other participants sharing. Ignite your 2012 with health, vitality! This is the time to let go of the past and create a new reality! Sign up for 40 days now! Early registration ends December 31st.

This is the first of many blogs that we will be sharing on a wide variety of topics.   Starting off I would love to educate as many people in the Bala Yoga community with the knowledge I have in holistic nutrition and health.

Let me begin by saying, yoga nutrition is no different from everyday nutrition and lifestyle.  We ALL need to eat REAL foods, we all need sleep and we all need a purpose.  No matter if you are a yogi or not…

Nutrition can be simple. In many cases the answer to reversing disease is to do the opposite of what got you sick.  We need to see how far from the path we have wandered and start living a more basic life. Including eating simple and real foods, spending time with family, getting proper sleep and finding a purpose for your life.  Here is a great way to look at the foods we are eating:  Ask yourself, was it here hundreds of thousands of years ago?  Since when did we start removing the egg yoke, and taking the fat out of everything?  Did we ever stop to think that we survived hundreds of thousands of years on these very same foods?

Tip of the Week: Chew your water – Drink your food.

Chew your water and drink your food.  What does that mean?
We basically inhale our food and chug our water, we rush through our meals and try to get on with our day.  Do we not realize that food and water are what gives us life, maybe we can slow down and show some darn appreciation… jeeze!  Start drinking your water and chewing your food.  How?

1. Chew your food until it is almost liquid.
2. Drink water in small sips and allow the water to mix with your saliva.

Steve Gold Live Music at Bala Yoga Kirkland from Mike Baiocchi on Vimeo.

Namaste,

Michael

About Liz Doyle…

“It is my fundamental belief that yoga is a transformational process for the development and reorganization of one’s consciousness. With that said, it is my heart’s intention to utilize yoga to create the appropriate energetic space, and provide techniques and tools to enable the true yoga practitioner to operate from their authentic Being.” ~Liz Doyle

Liz Doyle began her yoga career with Kathleen Hunt’s teacher training program, which laid a solid foundation for her further studies. Liz has studied with Andrey Lappa, the father of Universal Yoga, Theresa Elliott a local creative Iyengar teacher, Katerina Wen, completed a year- long apprenticeship with Troy Lucero, and most recently spent a month with Edward Clark of Tripsichore Yoga. An avid student of the practice, Liz teaches some of the most creative, challenging and fun yoga classes in the Seattle area. She understands yoga from a philosophical and alignment perspective, which complements her ability to assist students in improving their technique, increasing skills, and going deeper.