Be Yoga Is

Be Yoga will be celebrating its 1st Anniversary on 8 and 9 May 2010. Classes held on these 2 days will be absolutely free! So bring your family and friends and introduce Be Yoga to them!

There will be booths selling yoga apparels and what not. A special booth will be set up by their latest teacher, Vivianne DeDoncker who will furnish any question on Scoliosis and any concern on back or spinal issues.

On top of that a photo session will be made available for those who want to capture themselves in their favorite pose. Teachers will be there to guide you into the pose.

Last but not least, there will be a sharing session among members led by Azmi to chat about the achievements among the practitioners. This session will close with music and teachers and students will take turns to spontaneously come into their favourite pose in the centre.

The itinerary for the two days are as follows:

SATURDAY (8 May 2010)9am: Opening
9.30-10.30am: Hot Yoga with NINIE
11.00-12noon: Begin Yoga with AZMI
11.30-2.30noon: Photography session
1-1.45noon: Certificate presentation for BE Yoga Members + Backcare & Scoliosis inquiries
2pm-3pm: Yoga Dance with LILA
3.30pm-4.30pm: Yin Yoga with LILA

SUNDAY (9 May 2010)9am: Opening
9.30-10.30am: Pilates with KEN
11-12noon: Hatha I with AZMI
11.30-2.30noon: Photography session
1-1.45noon: Certificate presentation for BE Yoga Members + Backcare & Scoliosis inquiries
2-3pm: Kids Yoga with LILA
3.30pm-4.30pm: Yogilates with NINIE

NOTES:
1. All FOC classes have to be pre-booked by calling 03 7728 6182 / 03 7729 6182 (weekday business hours 7am to 9.30pm), maximum participants for each class is 30 pax.

So come and share the joy and join in the fun at Be Yoga’s anniversary celebrations!

Day 12 Challenge - Bridge Pose & Closing

Today's Yoga Challenge pose is the Bridge Pose.

The Bridge pose is one of the best pose for back pain as it helps to keep the spine flexible and doing the flowing bridge help to stretch the muscles of the lower back, strengthen the abdominals and massage the spine and sacrum.

Some tips and option when doing the pose.

- Make sure your feet are parallel with your ankles directly under your knees. It is important to have your feet parallel to reduce pressure on your lower back. When your feet are turned out, they close the space in the sacroiliac joint and create more stress on the joint than necessary.

- Once your hips are as high as they can get, snuggle your shoulders underneath your upper back. Interlace your fingers and fully extend your arms on the floor with your palms connected.

-It's helpful to put a light, soft block between your knees to aid your engagement of the inner thighs. It is also an amazing therapeutic pose if you put two blocks together, on their highest side directly under your sacrum, clasp your hands beyond the blocks and relax and release into the pose. Using blocks provides firm support and helps practitioners without the strength in the thighs to hold themselves up.

The benefits for Bridge pose include (from Yoga Journal):

- Stretches the chest, neck, and spine
- Calms the brain and helps alleviate stress and mild depression
- Stimulates abdominal organs, lungs, and thyroid
- Rejuvenates tired legs
- Improves digestion
- Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
- Relieves menstrual discomfort when done supported
- Reduces anxiety, fatigue, backache, headache, and insomnia
- Therapeutic for asthma, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and sinusitis

The Reclining Twist is a good counterpose to finish the sequence as it helps to restore equilibrium in the nervous system and release tension in the spine.

Watch the video at Yoga Bear website and have a wonderful time doing the poses to close the 12-day challenge.

Today is the last day of the challenge. What a journey it has been. Thanks Yoga Bear for the series of poses and I hope that my blog posts on the poses have given more info for those of you who are new to yoga.

Namaste!

Day 11 Challenge - Standing Poses & Triangle Pose

We are just one day from completing our 12-day Yoga Challenge. Today's Yoga Challenge are Standing Poses and Triangle Pose.

Standing poses in yoga are beneficial for improving your posture, strengthening your legs and stretching your entire body. Standing Poses are the foundation of many poses. It is important to concentrate on your alignment in these standing poses in yoga to achieve the full benefits of the poses.



Warrior II is a very good pose for strengthening and stretching the legs, ankles, shoulders and arms. It enhances balance on both sides of the body, expands the chest, encourages deeper breathing and improves coordination and concentration. Warrior II was my yoga pose for the month of November 2009. Click the link to read more about the pose.


The Triangle pose gives an excellent and complete stretch throughout the entire body as it stretches the hamstrings, the hips and the calves, improves overall balance and also strengthens the lower back. Click this link to read more about the Triangle pose which was my yoga pose for the month of April 2009.

Visit Yoga Bear website to watch the video on the poses and remember to ground your foundation as you do the poses, keeping your awareness of the body and the breath.

Day 10 Challenge - Boat Pose

Today's Yoga Challenge pose is Boat Pose or more popularly known as the Locust.


The benefits from this pose include:-

- Strengthens the muscles of the spine, buttocks, and backs of the arms and legs
- Stretches the shoulders, chest, belly, and thighs
- Improves posture
- Stimulates abdominal organs
- Helps relieve stress

Beginner's Tip (from Yoga Journal)

Beginners sometimes have difficulty sustaining the lift of the torso and legs in this pose. Begin the pose with your hands resting on the floor, a little bit back from the shoulders, closer to your waist. Inhale and gently push your hands against the floor to help lift the upper torso. Then keep the hands in place as you do the pose, or after a few breaths, once you’ve established the lift of the chest, swing them back. As for the legs, you can do the pose with the legs lifted alternately off the floor. For example, if you want to hold the pose for a total of 1 minute, first lift the right leg off the floor for 30 seconds, then the left leg for 30 seconds.

Beginners sometimes have difficulty holding this pose. You can support the area around your lower sternum with a rolled-up blanket to help maintain the lift of your upper torso. Similarly you can support the front of your thighs with a blanket roll to help support the lift of your legs.

Watch the video at Yoga Bear website on how to do the pose and use your breath to help you lift higher.

Day 9 Challenge - Sphinx & Low Cobra

Today's Yoga Challenge is Sphinx and Low Cobra


These two poses are good to stretch out the muscles in the lower back. Sphinx opens the chest and strengthens the core body. Cobra aligns the spine and invigorates the kidneys and nervous system.

In the Sphinx pose, try to bring awareness to your belly by focusing on your lower abdomen (the part just above the pubic bone and below the navel) and begin to draw your belly away from the floor to create a dome that lifts toward your lower back. This abdominal lift supports you and distributes the curvature of your backbend more evenly, soothing your lower back and awakening your upper back.

The Low Cobra is a slightly deeper backbend than the Sphinx. Keeping your elbows drawn into your sides, pressing your hands firmly on the floor and actively press your shoulder blades into your upper back, lift your chest into the mild backbend. The muscles along your spine will begin to activate and support you. By engaging your spinal muscles this way, you'll begin to develop strength and suppleness in your back.

Here are some alternatives and options which you can do when doing the poses.

- For a gentle Sphinx, rest on the ribs, sliding the elbows away to reduce compression in lower back.
- Internally rotate your legs by rolling your outer thighs toward the floor helps maintain width in your sacrum (the downward-facing triangular bone at the base of your spine) and length in your lower back.
- Use bolsters under elbows, to help elevate the chest and deepen the posture.
- In Low Cobra, if you feel pressure in the lower back, slight your hands slightly forward.
- If you spread the legs apart, you can deepen the sensations in the lower back, while legs together will release the sacrum or make the sensations more evenly along the spine.

Watch the videos on how to do the poses at Yoga Bear website

Day 8 Challenge - Lunges

Today's yoga challenge pose is Lunges



Lunges strengthens and tones the legs and back. It also softens the groin and hip muscles, releasing tension. The high lunge stretches and strengthens the lower body while the low lunge opens up the chest, hip, stretches the spine and upper body. The Kneeling Crescent Moon lunge helps to tone and strengthen the muscles in the arms and shoulders.

Some tips when doing the lunge

Do not bring the front knee forward of the ankle. This may lead to knee and ankle injuries.

If you Feel pain or pressure on the knee, place a folded towel or roll your mat under your knee as it rests on the floor.

When you do the Crescent Moon you can interlock your fingers if your shoulders are not very flexible. This will allow the arms to stretch back further.

Watch the video at Yoga Bear website. and surrender yourself to the pose.

Day 7 Challenge - Chest Opener on the Wall

Today's Yoga Challenge is Chest Opener pose on the wall.



Chest openers ward off depression, strengthen the immune system and keep the breath strong and vital. The legs are also given a good stretch. Tapping over the breastbone activates the thymus gland which produces 65-75% of the lymphosites in the body. Lymphosites work to consume unhealthy bacteria and viruses in the body.

This pose can be done by first placing your palm flat on the wall. Bend into the front knee until an opening is felt in the chest or shoulder nearest the wall. For a deeper stretch, you can change the hand position so that the back of the hand is on the wall, not the palm. To do this, simply rotate the thumb away behind you, turning the arm out and pressing the back of the hand to the wall. If you have shoulder injuries, you can keep the arm lower.

Open yourself to your best self by going to the Yoga Bear website to watch the video and do the pose.

Day 6 Challenge - Dolphin

Today's Yoga Challenge pose is Dolphin.



This pose focuses on the upper back and can help to release tension from that area so could be good for people who spend a lot of time sitting in their work. This pose can also help to strengthen the arms and the legs. It is a good pose for stress relief and can also help with mild depression.

There are a number of conditions that could benefit from this pose as it can help relieve symptoms of the menopause and also help with menstrual pain if the head is supported. The pose can aid digestion and help prevent osteoporosis. It is also thought to relieve headaches, insomnia, back pain and fatigue. In addition to that it may also have therapeutic applications for high blood pressure, asthma and sciatica.

It is important to ensure you remain safe while doing this pose so if you have any neck or shoulder injuries you should ensure you keep your legs bent. Also if you are new to this pose you may want to lift the elbows on a mat and press the wrists into the floor. This will aid you to open the shoulders and get the maximum benefit. Also if you want a less strenuous version you can support your head on a folded blanket or pillow.

The video at Yoga Bear website shows how to do the pose.

Day 5 Challenge - Abs with Roll

Today's yoga challenge is Abs with Roll which is the modified version of the Vertical Legs Crunch which works your abdominal muscles to strength your core. The roll between the legs helps to engage your core and keep your legs steady.



The core consists of all the muscles in your abdominal and lower back areas. This includes all the abdominal muscles (rectus abdominus, internal and external obliques, transverse abdominus and intercostals) as well as the muscles associated with the spine (the erector spinae group) and the hip flexors (iliacus and psoas, collectively known as the iliopsoas.

A strong, stable core can help to prevent injuries because with stronger muscles supporting the spine, pelvis, and shoulder joints it can better handle the forces of rotation and compression that lead to back and joint injuries.

Watch the video at Yoga Bear website on to do the abs with roll workout.

Day 4 Challenge - Seated Archer

The pose for today's challenge is Seated Archer which is also known as Cow Face pose which stretches your arms and shoulders.

The pose releases tension from the shoulders and opens the chest to facilitate deep breathing. It also helps in eliminating rounded shoulders. Use a strap if you cannot clasp the hands behind the back, hold the strap between your hands, keeping them as close as possible without causing any pain. Gently pull your elbows away from each other.

To deepen the pose, relieve headaches and breathe easily, pull the abdominals toward the spine, bend forward through the hips and gently press the chest to the floor.

Go to the Yoga Bear website to watch the video and learn how the pose reminds us to accept where we are and what we can do.

Day 3 Challenge - Seated Spinal Twist

Today's yoga challenge pose is Seated Spinal Twist


The benefits of a seated spinal twist include:

* Massages and stimulates abdominal organs
* Improves digestion, circulation and elimination
* Stretches and strengthens the spine, shoulders and hips
* Increases circulation to the spinal muscles and hydrates the intervertebral disks
* Reduces back pain, neck pain and sciatica
* Calms and restores the nervous system
* Stimulates the lymphatic system, an important part of your immune system
* Relieves stress, mild depression and anxiety

A seated spinal twist is especially good for the spine and its muscles. Since every nerve of the body stems from and originates in the spinal cord, you are affecting all the nerves of your whole system, when you twist and release the spinal column.

When performing this gentle simple seated twist, always think about lengthening your spine before twisting to create as much space between the vertebrae as you can.

Watch the video at Yoga Bear site and have fun doing the pose!

Day 2 Challenge - Seated Side Bend

Today's pose is Seated Side Bend.



Seated Side Bend is a very good stretching exercise for the sides of your body. Your body should lengthen rather than stretch. The shoulder of the arm raised should be behind so as to open the front of the body. The hips should never leave the floor.

Be careful with this pose if you have a problem with knees, hips or shoulders.
Sitting on the edge of a folded blanket will let you sit more comfortably for the pose and ease the strain on the knees and hips. Keep a folded blanket under your feet will take the pressure of your feet. If you cannot sit on the ground, perform this pose in an armless chair.

Go watch the video at Yoga Bear website to continue with the daily challenge.

12-day Yoga Challenge From Yoga Bear

Today is the first day of the Yoga Challenge from Yoga Bear. For 12 days in a row, Yoga Bear will post a short video with a pose and description. You are invited to participate and do one pose each day with them.

Today's challenge is Ujjayi Breath. Go to the website and watch the video and take the challenge!

Yoga Bear is a national 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting more opportunities for wellness and healing through the practice of yoga. The Yoga Bear website is for cancer survivors, yogis, caregivers, medical professionals and all those interested in healing yoga.

MC Yogi's "Give Love" Video

MC Yogi's new song "Give Love" is about being generous with ourselves with our hearts, with our time and with our energy. It affirms the universal principle of attraction. What we give is what we get.

MC Yogi's Give Love from Michael Rosen on Vimeo.

I like this song very much as it is very uplifting and inspiring.

"Open up your heart, unlock the cage, turn the key and break the chains. Love will always find a way. If you want love, you have to give love away" - MC Yogi