Scientific Ink

Tag: Yoga

  • Rope Yoga at Vie in Ann Arbor

    Rope yoga, or Russa yog, started here in Ann Arbor. I have seen the studio on S. State Street (between Washington and Liberty) and the Ann Arbor Observer recently profiled the studio/founders. For some reason I never made it to the State Street studio, it’s one of many Ann Arbor yoga studios I have on my list but never seem to visit. This week, Vie fitness studio on S. Ashley is starting to offer classes, and I went to a free class on Tuesday night.

    Now, when I was a kid, and we had the “climb the rope” activity in gym, I was always one of the earthbound kids, watching with a mixture of awe and jealousy as some tiny, wiry kid got to the ceiling and back on the rope. Maybe it is because I’m tall (and therefore heavy), maybe it is just because I’m weak, but pull-ups, chin-ups, and any kind of rope climbing have always been something to shun for fear of embarrassment or worse.

    Still, my yoga classes at the Ann Arbor YMCA often featured “rope work”. The old Y had all sorts of pegs in the wall, and we’d essentially tie ourselves to the pegs to get different stretches than normal. For instance, downward dog when the wall (or a partner) is pulling back on my hips is an altogether different stretch. I get a little less hamstrung and a little more stretch elsewhere. So, I knew ropes + yoga = good.

    I overcame my fear and signed up for a free course. All I had to lose was a little dignity and an hour of my evening. The yoga class got me into Vie’s upstairs studio (previously I’d been in the downstairs spinning studio). They have weights and other fitness equipment upstairs, and a glassed studio with about 8 ropes hanging from anchors below the ceiling.

    Fear snuck back in as I approached the rope. It was kind of rough, and I wished I’d brought my cycling gloves. But, I started the class by hanging from the rope and stretching my side closest to it in a gentle C-shape, nice. There were some moments where I struggled to pull myself up (or push myself up), but doing Virabhadrasana III (Warrior III) using the ropes was lovely. I got the same feeling of flight that I have achieved for a moment here and there in previous attempts, but the ropes stabilized it and let me absorb it. Power! Joy! Balance! Yoga!

    So, I think I still will try to make a class at the “mother” studio on State Street, but I’m happy I tried Rope Yoga at Vie and will probably try again, I have to keep working on my core and my upper body strength, after all.

  • The value of downtime: a restorative meditation retreat (gratitude, week 10)

    My meditation center had a 1-day meditation retreat on Saturday. This is probably the most private thing I do, and in the past I’ve hesitated sharing about it. For instance, several acquaintances and colleagues asked me what I was doing this weekend, and I replied “not much” to most of them. I’m not sure where the urge to secrecy comes from. I suppose by many definitions, going into a quiet room and sitting still with several other folks for with the same intention might sound like “not much”, but I knew “not much” was such an understatement as to be an outright lie.

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  • Breathing well (gratitude, week 9)

    neti pot demo 2, originally uploaded by mybloodyself.

    A few years ago, I had a subscription to a yoga magazine which included articles about yoga asanas, living your yoga off the mat, explanations of yoga scriptures like Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and recipes. I liked the magazine. Interspersed with stuff I liked were a few ads and stories about neti pots. They featured beautiful pictures of little ceramic pots, shaped like teapots, that they recommended we use to pour water through our nostrils to clean out the sinuses. I thought they were completely and totally nuts.

    I’m someone who “never” gets sick. I might get some sniffles now and then, or feel a bit achey, but I almost never miss work for illness. Not this year.  In the past 2 months, I’ve missed 4 days of work in 3 different weeks due to illness. This last bout was first a very sore throat, followed by several days of getting better, and then I got knocked over by a sinus infection that also wanted the skin on my face.

    I called the doctor on Monday, and got an appointment for Thursday morning. I imagined I’d be better by then, and anticipated cancelling it. While I was back at work on Wednesday, I wasn’t better enough. I was constantly and unproductively honking into mountains of tissues. The right side of my face seemed completely stuffed with something that didn’t budge. At the advice of my sister, I’d taken to snorting warm saltwater. It was kind of gross drawing it through my nose and spitting it out, but I was desperate. The warmth and the moisture gave me at least a temporary relief. I didn’t want to go anywhere without my bowl, container of salt, and towel.

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  • Grateful for unexpected gifts – gratitude week 1, 2008

    Rudraksha beadA new acquaintance at my meditation center handed me this rudraksha bead. Anu divided up a necklace that had been her grandmother’s, and she gave individual beads to members of a group of 20s-30s folks who meet in a sadhana circle once a month. She opened her purse to pull out a bag holding a set of beads, and this one fell out and rolled across the floor towards where I was sitting. It feels good around my neck.

    A rudraksha bead is the seed from a plant that grows in the Himalayan foothills. By legend, the tree sprung up from the tears of Shiva, shed in compassion for the welfare of all. The seeds bring material and spiritual well-being. Rudraksha beads are typically used as prayer beads, in japa malas used in the repetition of a mantra.

    I’ll wear this rudraksha pendant to remind me of my intention to be grateful. What better to remind me than an unexpected gift.

  • My intention for 2008: to live in gratitude

    Christmas 2005 photos 011I made a resolution and an intention for 2008. The intention is the higher goal, the filter I’ll use to make decisions (“will this action/purchase/choice help me to live in gratitude?”). I would suppose that the resolution would be more along the lines of a tactic or an action plan. I made them in the right order (intention first, resolution second), though I am writing about them in backwards order.

    My intention for 2008 is to live in gratitude. I’ve already started writing gratitude-themed posts (such as my post about the people that were my personal highlights of 2007). Gratitude makes my life better, some folks recognize it is as useful as meditation. Gratitude resets my mood by giving me practice in positivity, and it reminds me to embrace the people and the events and the things that matter to me, that make me happy. And embracing these things increases my connection to them, a happy spiral.

    When I’m losing my mind, I withdraw. I’ve always done this. In high school I’d leave the table with my friends and go sit next to my locker, and like it. And after several days of this, I’d feel sad to be alone, neglected, and a bit resentful. Gratitude helps me break out of my self-imposed withdrawl.

    When I’m losing my mind, I get critical of myself and of others. I want myself and others to be what we’re not, and in these moments I forget to appreciate all that I am, all that others are. Gratitude helps me reconnect to how things are, not how I want them to be.

    So, I’ll be posting each week on gratitude to help me keep it in mind and to deepen my understanding of the practice.

  • Practice makes permanent

    So, I have been straying from my path, not going to satsang at my local meditation center, wondering what the point of the chants and the gatherings are, feeling disconnected. I have let that question “why should I go?” rattle around in my head for a little while, and I just rediscovered the answer.

    Tonight, when I sat down for meditation, I noticed a few extra soundtracks playing in my head: the music I had been listening to in the car when I went to get groceries, the football game my husband watched as I plinked around on the computer next to him, the grandiose or pessimistic fantasy du jour, and my usual planning channel, full of to-dos and shoulds and schedules and stress. When I closed my eyes and that’s all I heard, I had to reconsider how I was filling my time, filling my mind. That’s the gift of meditation – the chance to notice my patterns and to choose to maintain them or to let them go.

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