Make training a habit
New Year’s Eve always brings out the resolutions. I know many people use the new year as a time to renew their commitment to their training – yoga, tai chi, pilates, music, makko ho whatever it is.
Continue Reading
Yoga and the Tabata Method
Even though I’m an advocate of slow, relaxed and dare I say gentle exercise, variety is the spice of life. I’ve been playing around with the tabata protocol a few times a week – using it as a good morning workout when I’m short on time as so often happens around this time of year. Continue Reading
Get a jump on your New Year resolution
It’s only a few weeks before the new year. The time for New Year resolutions fast approaches and if you are anything like me, the run up to the holiday season is always a bit too hectic. I know so many people who make the same resolution every year – to practice everyday. And it is only through daily practice that we bring our yoga or our tai chi or our makko ho our lives completely. At the same time, for anyone who is not a teacher of these arts or a full time practitioner, it can be difficult – it can be more than just a balancing act – work, family, general household tasks all take time and we can be left feeling frazzled and dazed and confused and not sure where to even start our practice. Continue Reading
How to improve your posture with one easy exercise
Our posture is very important – most of us don’t pay enough attention to it, and it can be the cause of a many different types of aches and pains, from headaches to lower back pain. Keep holding yourself in bad posture for many years and chronic problems can appear. That’s right, I said keep holding yourself in bad posture – it actually takes more effort and strain to keep your body in bad posture than it does to keep good posture. The only problem is, posture is a habit, and we aren’t in the habit of holding ourselves well. Continue Reading
Relaxation and the genes
Healthday news reports that
Researchers say they’ve taken a significant stride forward in understanding how relaxation techniques such as meditation, prayer and yoga improve health: by changing patterns of gene activity that affect how the body responds to stress.
Basically, the mind can affect the body and what researches have found is that when we evoke a relaxation response, the mind turns off genes that are turned on by stress. This seems absolutely miraculous, but science is starting to converge with alternative therapies and beginning to chart what yogis, tai chi masters and meditation experts have know for years: That the mind really does affect the body.
Lots of different systems can evoke the so called relaxation response: Tai chi, yoga and meditation as mentioned, but also things like repetitive prayer, progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery. It really is great news when science starts to investigate the effect these powerful techniques have on our minds and bodies and provides us with a scientific explanation for what is happening. Though, all the understanding in the world won’t help unless you actually do your practice!
Makko Ho Stretches
What are the Makko Ho?
The Makko Ho are a series of simple stretches designed to help re-align your body, while at the same time promoting health by stretching your meridians. This set of Makko Ho stretches were devised by Shizuto Massunaga who used them in conjunction with Shiatsu to promote health and wellbeing.
Makko-Ho stretches:
Flow Yoga
Here’s a nice resource on Vinyasa Flow Yoga – the bonus is it’s free. Yup that’s right – free printable yoga routines.
The site is a goldmine of yoga poses, and printable mini-routines that show a “flow” between postures. There is also a nice library of yoga postures on there.
More stretches for the Gall Bladder
No surprise that yoga has many fine stretches in it that activate the meridians. This one can really stretch out a congested Gall Bladder meridian. You can feel the stretch quite deeply in the leg and even into the buttocks. Sometimes this stretch can make you want to scream – just another sign that it is activating the correct meridian since the emotion associated with Liver and Gall Bladder is anger 