YogaBear: Free Yoga Classes for Cancer Survivors

I have just found a wonderful website. It’s called Yoga Bear, and it helps to provide free yoga classes to cancer survivors.

Yoga is a great therapeutic exercise as it is relatively gentle compared to other cardiovascular exercises like running or kickboxing. More than this, in that one to two hours of yoga lessons, learners experience a soothing sense of peace. This is surely something that the cancer survivors sorely need, as they had just gone through a rather trying and worrisome period of their life.

What is more wonderful about YogaBear is that it also acts as a connecting platform for cancer survivors, yogis and volunteers. It acts as a community of friends, available for people to share their experience or just provide words of encouragement.

The only regretful thing is that currently the yoga lessons offered is limited to classes in the United States. Perhaps if the program is successful enough, the movement will be spread to other countries. Or perhaps, if you are a cancer survivor, you may like to start a movement in your own country!

For those who would just like to support the movement, you can make donations or buy a tee-shirt from them. Or, you can just help to spread the word around by blogging about YogaBear or telling your friends about this inspiring non-profit organisation.

What makes a great yoga student

Here's my own personal list ...

1. Be punctual.
2. Respect your teachers.
3. Wear the proper yoga clothing.
4. Stay till the end of the class.
5. Try your best to do those asanas.
6. Ask questions at the end of the class.
7. Practice at home.
8. Come to class regularly.
9. Have an open mind.
10. Be eager to learn.
11. Observe what others are doing (but don’t compare!)
12. Listen to what your body is telling you.
13. Enjoy the music.
14. Enjoy the movements.
15. Maintain grace and flow.
16. Be mindful of your breathe.
17. Stretch yourself (both mentally and physically)
18. Give other fellow students enough space.
19. Make friends.
20. Most of all, have fun. Yoga’s a relaxing activity, not the opposite!

(PS. This is not my photo... in case you were wondering. =P)

The Mental Diet ... clear your mind

Have you heard of the Mental Diet?

It’s this concept first mooted by Emmet Fox, an author who published a book in 1935 called the “The Seven Day Mental Diet”. His idea was incredibly simple. Go on a mental diet for 7 consecutive days where you do not dwell on a single negative thought.

Curious, I looked up the mental diet on the web. I hit upon this blog of a person who decided to go on a 12 month mental diet! The blog chronicled his experience in this period of time. He’s at Day 96 now.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I think the guy should start practising yoga. It complements his “diet” perfectly. Yoga is a practice that quiets the mind. In the one or two hours when I practice, I always feel an absolute sense of peace… (especially at the end of the practice when we are doing our “corpse pose”… =P).

How does yoga do this?

According to this article, the key is in the breathing. Apparently, there are two nervous systems in the human body: sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic, commonly known as the "fight or flight" system, causes “the blood pressure to rise, the breath rate to quicken, and stress hormones to flood into the body”. Yoga, on the other hand, requires us to take long, deep breathes. This encourages the actions of our parasympathetic nervous system, which lowers our blood pressure.

In short, the quality of the breath affects the quality of our mind. The slower our breath, the quieter our mind will be.

In fact, yoga emphasizes the art of breathing so much that there is a special term for this practice, called the pranayama. This is a Sanskrit word meaning “lengthening of the breathe”.

The simple practice of slow breathing allows the yoga practitioner to make the mind still, and eliminate any negative thoughts that constantly dogs our daily life.

That said, I think the idea of a “Seven day mental diet” is great! Besides the one or two hours of yoga practice, perhaps we can also take up this commitment to clear our minds of negative thoughts for seven consecutive days. I am sure it will clear your mind of any mental clutter, and make you a better person.

When the Breath wanders, the mind is unsteady, but when the Breath is still, so is the mind still." - Hatha Yoga Pradipika

How to avoid getting sick while attending yoga classes

My work place is starting to impose anti-swine flu measures. Each employee is given a flu kit, and we are supposed to measure our temperature before we attend any meetings.

This sets me thinking. How can we avoid getting sick while attending yoga classes? Especially for hot yoga where there's so many hot bods in a room?

Here are my top 5 best ways to avoid getting sick while still attending our favourite yoga classes:

1. Firstly, read the World Health Organization website. It helps to know more about the disease, so you can distinguish the facts from rumours. Many of our fears could be unfounded.

2. Wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly and often. This is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of infection.

3. Stay away when are you sick. This is common sense even when there is no swine flu around. If you are not feeling well, don’t turn up for the class! If you just happen to sneeze or cough in the class, cover your nose and mouth with a tissue. Also, avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

4. Drink lots of water. Water helps to flush out toxins and water products from the body. So form the good water habit.

5. Lastly, continue practicing yoga! The best prevention is a strong immunity system. And what better way to keep fit than yoga? Better still, practice laughter yoga so you can stay healthy and stress free.

Wishing you good health and happiness.

Namaste.

Which is better - Yoga or Pilates?

That’s a very common question for beginners in yoga, and a valid one too.

I mean, there are a lot of commonalities between the two forms of exercises. Both involve a great deal of stretching. Both involve exercising using a mat (although pilate may involve machines as well). Even some of the postures look very similar. Well, I have tried both forms of exercise, and to me, the real difference in the two is more in the spirit than the form.

Origins

Yoga originated in India, and is steeped in ancient Indian culture. More than a physical exercise, the practice focuses on uniting the mind, body and spirit through exercise, breadth and mediation. That is the reason why many yoga classes start with a simple om chant that is meant to clear the mind.

Pilates, on the other hand, was developed by Joseph Pilates during World War I in the 1920s. The exercises were originally designed with the objective of rehabilitating WWI soldiers to recover from diseases and injuries.

Differences in practice

Since the objectives of the two forms of exercise are so different, their practices differ in subtle ways too. Pilate focuses more on improving core strength, i..e muscles in your pelvis, back, abdomen, torso, etc, that help you to stabilize. In many moves, you hold your one part of your body (e.g. your torso) in place while moving your limbs in different directions. This helps to build up the core muscles in your body, which in turn helps to improve your stability and balance.

Yoga, on the other hand, involves bending, stretching, twisting and flexing your body in various postures in coordination with your natural breathing. Building up core strength is but one aspect of the practice. The mental aspect of clearing your mind of clutter is an equally, if not even more, important aspect.

So which is better?

Well, I am a yoga girl at heart, so I will try to be as objective as possible here.

Whether yoga or pilates suits you better depends ultimately on yourself. If you are after more physical conditioning and less of the “new age” ideas like being at peace with yourself, then maybe pilates will suit you better. On the other hand, personally, I find pilates more physically tiring than yoga. It is more common to have painful muscle aches and sores after the class, which may or may not be a good thing.

Yoga, on the other hand, is a more natural and relaxing form of exercise to me. I always think of yoga as giving yourself a good body massage. Instead of a masseur working your tensed muscles, you are the one who will work through each of your body part. At the end of the session, I always leave the session feeling very peaceful and relaxed. And for that night, I will have a very good and sound sleep.

Save the earth one yoga mat at a time

What happens to the poor old yoga mat after years of use? Up till now, perhaps nothing much except to languish in the store room for years.

Now there’s a great website that allows us to contribute back to the practice of yoga that has given us so much.

The “Recycle your Mat” programme is a programme started yoga practitioner Stephanie Stano in early 2008. The business is centred around two main objectives - recycle and upcycle mats as new products and reuse mats through donation. These objectives are met through yoga mat collection at yoga studios, fitness centers and through individual’s shipments of yoga mats. No matter what your yoga mat is made from (plastic, jute, PVC, natural rubber, latex), they have use of it.

There’s even more great news now. Recycle your mat has teamed up with Manduka, a leading yoga product company. For every yoga mat that’s sent to Recycle your mat, they’ll send a confirmation email with a 20% off coupon for purchase of an eco-friendly Manduka yoga mat or any other Manduka item.

For more information on how you can make a difference one yoga mat at a time, click here.