Check out this photo of my talented yoga friend of The Hot and Healthy Blog Marysia Weiss in Eka Pada Bakasana. the photo is by photographer Jim Knowles.
Here is a short description of the class that goes with this playlist…
Buckle up yogis and get ready for some fun transitions! Float from Eka Pada Bakasana (One legged crow) to Tripod headstand and later learn to glide from Marichyasana I (Seated forward fold wrap) into Eka Pada Bakasana. Jump start your handstand practice with some explanations on pikes and one legged entry methods. Complete your adventure with kicking over from Urdhva Dhanurasana at the wall. Enjoy!
Initiation (Change)Adam Plack & Johnny (White Ant) Soames
While working on handstands in Brock Cahill‘s Flight Club class at Yogis Anonymous, I was chatting with other students about handstand tips. We were talking about how hard it is to manage simultaneously two of the tricks to finding balance in a handstand: engaging your core while opening your heart. Thinking about it after class, I was pondering about how these two principles apply in life. Read More…
If a giant sea turtle (Honu) was responsible for dressing you in the morning what sort of clothes might he or she pick out? Before you answer with “wetsuit” or “flippers” consider that these giant peaceful creatures are an endangered species.
Nicole Sherman is a Hawaii native. She grew up swimming with the dolphins and giant sea turtles. Out of her deep affinity for these majestic creatures sprung her passion to create a line of clothing to benefit and honor the majestic sea turtle. Honu Yoga Design was born!
When you get dressed in your stylish new Honu Yoga gear you can feel great knowing that a percentage of all proceeds go directly to www.kurmalliance.com an amazing charity helping to save our beautiful sea turtles from extinction.
Nicole Sherman is no stranger to difficulties of her own. Her love for yoga began as a way to understand and heal her scoliosis. Now Nicole shares the transformative benefits of yoga teaching locally both to groups and private clients.
Above are a just a few of the fun T-shirts and Tanks from Honu Yoga Designs. My red “I Love Handstands” Tank never fails to start interesting conversations with perfect strangers wherever I go.
When you consider all the different messages people send off via the text on their shirts I consider wearing these shirts as a way of spreading the yoga gospel. Why not send out a positive message while rockin’ some threads that directly benefit some of nature’s most vulnerable creatures?
“Never Stop Lifting!” is the advice my teacher Krista Cahill gave me what felt like a million times as I attempted (and failed) at this seemingly impossible transition from Crow Pose (Bakasana) to Handstand.
Physically its all about shifting your weight forward by moving your pelvis up and forward and bringing your knees towards your chest.
Mentally it is all about never giving up, even when something looks and feels impossible!
This transition serves as a great reminder to never ever, ever give up!
What poses inspire you? What have you learned from them?
To get the mix on itunes click here for the PING playlist!
This practice will open your hips as we explore creative transitions in our flow. Expect to sweat, twist, turn and fly! Plenty of opportunities to invert and arm balance if you so desire or not, you’ve got options!
When I first found myself in a yoga class figuring out how to actually do Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) was a challenge enough,… let alone trying to learn the ancient language of Sanskrit. (the language of yoga)
To say I found Sanskrit intimidating is to put it mildly. All I knew is that all the names of the poses sounded alike since the name of each pose ends in the word asana. (asana means pose, so Trikonasana is Triko which means Triangle followed by asana which means pose.) All I have to say is Yogi rappers have a huge advantage, but I digress….
After deciding I wanted to become a yoga teacher I was a little distraught when I learned I was going to have to learn this ancient language of rhymes whether I liked it or not.
I must admit, at first I didn’t really see the point, however, as a teacher it has become essential for me to have a good grasp on both the Sanskrit names of the poses and basic Sanskrit terminology.
Click below for a few great online resources to acquaint yourself with the Sanskrit names of poses, and commonly used yoga terms from the Sanskrit language.
I found these websites extremely helpful for you “new to Sanskrit” yogis!
This one www.tilakpyle.com is great because it has audio. The guy recorded his voice pronouncing the names of the poses in Sanskrit. If you click on the name of the pose it takes you to a page with photos of the pose and a description.
Also try www.YogaJournal.com for pronunciation and great photos and descriptions as well!
Also check out www.YogaDancer.com which gives you the all of the poses (even ones I’ve never heard of! ) and when you click on the pose it shows you all the different variations as well,…very cool!
Also for the meanings of a lot of commonly used Sanskrit terms check out Yoga Glossary.
Testosterone is responsible for making it possible for men to lose fat and retain muscle more easily than women. The good news is that women’s bodies produce it too, and there are many ways in which we can increase its production. I know what you are thinking, “I don’t want to have a hairy chest and a deep voice”. Never fear, that is only a problem if you take synthetic hormones like steroids.
Testosterone Benefits:
Builds muscle
Burns fat
Boosts energy
Increases sex drive
Strengthens bones
Lifts depression
Increases optimism.
Testosterone Boosters:
Vegetables
Fruits
Nuts
Meat
Eggs
Fish
Must eat some fat (even saturated fat) Testosterone relies on the right balance of fat in the diet.
Human Growth hormone is a fat burner. Your body usually uses glucose before burning fat, but HGH forces your body to use its fat reserves first! Yippee! This turns you into a fat burning machine even when you are sleeping! It also helps your body make new muscle cells. Usually your body stops growing new muscle cells after your teen years due to inadequate HGH in your body.
Progesterone is useful in shedding fat stores as it facilitates the utilization of stored body fat as energy. When your body produces enough Progesterone it helps you burn an extra 100-300 calories a day! (That’s two of my favorite organic chocolate truffles,…but who’s counting…) When your body does not produce enough of it you overeat. Poor liver function suppresses Progesterone production. Progesterone also helps you to correct estrogen dominance as it does the following:
Essential for proper thyroid function and thus fat burning
Delivers more oxygen to the cells
Restores sex drive
Helps prevent cancer
Stimulates bone building
Progesterone Boosters:
Reduce stress. Stress greatly reduces Progesterone production in the body. (slow down, do yoga, meditate, breath deeply ect. all are beneficial when it comes to stress reduction.)
Avoid products like soy, tofu and soy milk. According to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, these foods contain natural plant estrogen. More estrogen in your bloodstream enhances estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance causes fat storage and a slow metabolism.
Foods containing B vitamins, Zinc and Magnesium boost the body’s ability to produce Progesterone. Eat Yams, Walnuts, Whole Grains, Red Meat, Chicken, Shellfish, Turkey, Turmeric, Thyme and Oregano.
Drink warm water with the juice of one organic lemon upon rising to boost liver function. Do this before consuming anything else.
Watch processed foods, high refined carb intake, alcohol, medications (Tylenol, Aspirin ect.) and environmental pollutants (household cleaners, perfumes, air fresheners ect.) as they suppress the liver.
Happy Fat Burning!
Watch for my next article on the hormones that make you fat….
Music for vinyasa yoga!
