Tip of the Week: Your Feet are the Foundation

Your yoga practice starts with a solid foundation. In order to have a strong, solid, safe practice we must first focus on the feet. It is from the foundation that we grow our yoga poses. 

There are four corners of the feet. There is the ball of the foot below the big toe, the ball of the foot below the pinky toe, the inner edge of the heel, and the outer edge of the heel. When standing, lift your toes up so you can press these four corners down into the earth and you can feel the arch lift up. Draw energy from the earth all the way up to your hip socket. Spread your toes long and gently place them on the floor without relaxing your arch. You'll notice that your muscles are now engaged all the way up your leg. By creating this strong foundation, you will find that you have more stability, ease and flexibility throughout your body. 

From yogabycandace.com: "Focusing on the feet is a way to deepen your practice because it requires the student to hone in on subtleties. A tiny movement or shift in weight on the feet can impact the entire practice."

Tip of the Week: Yoga is Amazing for Kids!

We have loved seeing the smiling faces of little ones come through our doors since we started the Kids Yoga classes in March. We took last week (April 16th) off for Spring Break, but classes are up and running again starting today! They are held every Wednesday from 4:45-5:45pm in our studio downstairs without the heat. Kids ages 7-12 have been loving teacher Lisa Boone, as she makes it challenging but way fun with postures, music, games and stories.

                                        Our Bikram Yoga SLC Kids

We love this article by Marsha Wenig in Yoga Journal on how yoga is so beneficial for kids. 

Yoga for Kids

When presented in a child's language, yoga can help counter the stress experienced by young people living in a hurry-up world. 

Our children live in a hurry-up world of busy parents, school pressures, incessant lessons, video games, malls, and competitive sports. We usually don't think of these influences as stressful for our kids, but often they are. The bustling pace of our children's lives can have a profound effect on their innate joy—and usually not for the better.

I have found that yoga can help counter these pressures. When children learn techniques for self-health, relaxation, and inner fulfillment, they can navigate life's challenges with a little more ease. Yoga at an early age encourages self-esteem and body awareness with a physical activity that's noncompetitive. Fostering cooperation and compassion—instead of opposition—is a great gift to give our children.
Children derive enormous benefits from yoga. Physically, it enhances their flexibility, strength, coordination, and body awareness. In addition, their concentration and sense of calmness and relaxation improves. Doing yoga, children exercise, play, connect more deeply with the inner self, and develop an intimate relationship with the natural world that surrounds them. Yoga brings that marvelous inner light that all children have to the surface.

When yogis developed the asanas many thousands of years ago, they still lived close to the natural world and used animals and plants for inspiration—the sting of a scorpion, the grace of a swan, the grounded stature of a tree. When children imitate the movements and sounds of nature, they have a chance to get inside another being and imagine taking on its qualities. When they assume the pose of the lion (Simhasana) for example, they experience not only the power and behavior of the lion, but also their own sense of power: when to be aggressive, when to retreat. The physical movements introduce kids to yoga's true meaning: union, expression, and honor for oneself and one's part in the delicate web of life.

Tip of the Week: Take a BIG Step in Triangle Pose

Beginners often take too small of a step in Triangle. It would seem that a smaller step would make this pose easier, but truly the 4-5 foot step ensures that the final pose is properly aligned. When proper alignment is reached, a natural dynamic tension will help to suspend the posture. If you don't take a wide enough step, it will be harder to make your thigh parallel to the floor, with your leg creating a 90 degree angle. With too narrow of a step, you are also more likely to extend your knee over your toes. For more information on Triangle Pose click here: Triangle Pose

"What doesn't Triangle do? It improves every single bone, muscle, joint, tendon, and internal organ, and it revitalizes nerves, veins, and tissues." ~ Bikram Choudhury

“What doesn’t triangle do? It improves every single bone, muscle, joint, tendon, and internal organ, and it revitalizes nerves, veins and tissues.” - Bikram - See more at: http://eastwest.co.nz/eastwest/blog/posture-clinic-triangle-pose/#sthash.hsP47MKa.dpuf

“What doesn’t triangle do? It improves every single bone, muscle, joint, tendon, and internal organ, and it revitalizes nerves, veins and tissues.” - Bikram - See more at: http://eastwest.co.nz/eastwest/blog/posture-clinic-triangle-pose/#sthash.hsP47MKa.dpuf

Tip of the Week: Transform Yourself With a 30 Day Challenge!

Doing a 30 Day Challenge is an awesome way to transform your body and your life. For more information on how to do a challenge, click here: How to Have a Successful 30 Day Challenge

Following is a beautiful testimony of Bikram Yoga SLC student Annika who recently completed a 90 day challenge and is now on day 119. 

                                                                                  Friend Kendra with Annika

My Bikram Story

I have struggled with the idea of writing a testimonial about my experience at the Bikram studio. The struggle, I realized, did not come from writing about my experience, but rather exposing a journey filled with vulnerability. After much thought it occurred to me that if there is one thing I’ve learned after 119 days in a hot room is that none of this is about staying in my comfort zone. So here it is…

As I started the 30 day challenge I envisioned the end goal and thought: ”By the end of these 30 days I will be different” Again, I thought this as I began the 60 day challenge, and again at the 90. I'm not sure what exactly I was looking to change. I just wanted to be different-thinner, more confident-all the things I didn't see within myself. I have practiced yoga sporadically since I was about 16. I've been to a number of retreats and tried an extensive list of esoteric practices. Along this journey nothing has ever clicked. Frustrated, I found myself pushing to find something, not even knowing what it was that I wanted to find.

Here I am 119 days into one of the most intense disciplines of yoga, the quintessential peak of my yogic journey. Sitting at the cusp of this moment, I can honestly say that the 'AhHa' moment, that “click,” that sudden vision and understanding of "IT ALL"…wasn't what I thought it would be. What I uncovered was a bit different. 

I was once ashamed of who I was. Constantly I would tell myself that I was not good enough, smart enough, thin enough, kind enough…I was not enough. Daily I would drink to excess. I fooled myself into believing that I simply had mastered the art of truly enjoying life…every day. To add to my life’s enjoyment, rarely would I be caught without a cigarette in my hand. Plagued by anxiety and depression, every day was a struggle, and for so many years I fueled my body with toxins just enough to keep the real pain at bay. For about 7 years this was my life. My bad habits escalated and my body began to shut down. This became normal for me. I blamed it on a weak immune system, and my high paced lifestyle. It wasn't until recently that I realized, “this is not who I am.” 

Cynthia Ocelli once said, "For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn't understand growth, it would look like complete destruction." For 7 years I pushed the boundaries of what my body could tolerate. I was relentless and I did not care. Starting this journey masked as a 30-day challenge, I pushed even farther: Only this time I pushed love into my tired spots and fear out of the resistant ones. Suddenly, the walls that housed who I thought I was began to crumble. 119 days of staring at my sweaty body in a room hotter than hell-- I saw more than just the sweaty reflection of myself. Being in that room allowed me to be present  in a way I had  never experienced  before. I saw beyond the illusions of what I thought I had to be in this lifetime, and it was absolutely beautiful. 

“There is this story that an old instructor told me. It was about this tribe in Africa. They believed that everyone had a special vibration or song, and if you were quiet enough you could hear it. When a woman in this tribe got pregnant, they would go into the forest and sing and dance around her until they could hear the vibration of the child within. And when it was time to welcome this new life into the world they would sing their song. When it was time to say goodbye to a life in the tribe, again they would sing their song as they drifted off. The only other time they would do this was when someone in the tribe had committed a crime. To this they would circle around the individual and begin singing their song. They did this to remind them of who they are and to bring them back to that space.” Bikram yoga has reminded me of who I am and allowed me to return to that space.

I was so focused on change and becoming this kale eating yogi that I didn't realize the thing I was looking for, I already had. I found peace behind the veil of the dialogue, the postures and the flexibility.

Each instructor and fellow yogi has had a profound effect on my journey. I can't say enough how truly blessed I feel to have met you all and to be able to practice with you every day. The impact this studio has on the community is incredible. Yoga is really not just about touching your toes, although having a bow that goes to the ceiling a'int bad either (lol just kiddn)! But really, the essence of what yoga is about is definitely within this studio. I am so grateful to be a part of it.

With all my love,

Namaste,

Annika

Tip of the Week: Don't Wipe Your Sweat

Sweating is all part of the fun that is Bikram Yoga. Sweating in a hot room is unavoidable – it’s the body’s natural air conditioner and it regulates our body temperature. The evaporation of sweat off of the skin prevents us from overheating during class. If you wipe it away, you disrupt homeostasis, the body’s natural, intelligent, and highly adaptive mechanism of self-regulation. Wiping off sweat will only encourage more sweat production for the body to cool down.  

Unnecessary wiping of sweat can also disrupt your focus and bring you out of your moving meditation. Just stay calm, allow the sweat to drip onto your towel, and over time you will become more aware of how perspiring is the body’s way of helping you maintain a temperature that will get you through the 90 minutes.

Sweating during Bikram Yoga is inevitable; our bodies do it in order to naturally regulate our core temperature. But it’s not the actual sweat itself that cools you down – it’s the process of perspiration evaporating from the surface of your skin. So, when you wipe the sweat away during class, you’re only preventing your body from doing what it needs to do to stay cool. - See more at: http://www.bikramyogavancouver.com/bikram-yoga-lessons/bikram-yoga-how-to-keep-cool-in-class/#sthash.XB5SUZPN.dpuf

drinking enough water before class and bringing adequate water into the hot room can help regulate your body temperature. We recommend taking small sips throughout class to avoid practising on a full stomach - See more at: http://www.bikramyogavancouver.com/bikram-yoga-lessons/bikram-yoga-how-to-keep-cool-in-class/#sthash.XB5SUZPN.dpuf

drinking enough water before class and bringing adequate water into the hot room can help regulate your body temperature. We recommend taking small sips throughout class to avoid practising on a full stomach - See more at: http://www.bikramyogavancouver.com/bikram-yoga-lessons/bikram-yoga-how-to-keep-cool-in-class/#sthash.XB5SUZPN.dpuf

drinking enough water before class and bringing adequate water into the hot room can help regulate your body temperature. We recommend taking small sips throughout class to avoid practising on a full stomach - See more at: http://www.bikramyogavancouver.com/bikram-yoga-lessons/bikram-yoga-how-to-keep-cool-in-class/#sthash.XB5SUZPN.dpuf