Author Archives: Tracy Weber

More Research on the Benefits of Viniyoga–Viniyoga Reduces Workplace Stress!

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I know from personal experience that Viniyoga is an amazing tool for reducing workplace stress—that’s what hooked me on it almost fifteen years ago, when I still worked at Microsoft.  But now, research proves it!

Aetna, inc. recently studied methods of stress reduction in the workplace. The results were published in the online version of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. The study evaluated the effectiveness of Mindfulness Meditation (a specific type of meditation) and Viniyoga on both perceived levels of stress and biological markers of stress. The Viniyoga intervention used in the study was designed by my teacher, Gary Kraftsow. The study participants included 239 Aetna employees located in California and Connecticut who were split into three groups:  the Mindfulness Meditation group, the Viniyoga group, and a control.

The results were encouraging.  Both the Mindfulness Meditation and the Viniyoga interventions saw over a 30% reduction in perceived stress levels. Participants also showed significant improvements in several heart rate measurements, suggesting that their bodies were better able to manage stress.  Even better, both Viniyoga and Mindfulness Meditation worked in about half the time as other commonly used mind-body interventions.

The Viniyoga intervention included a twelve-week yoga program that used physical yoga postures, breathing techniques, and guided relaxation. Participants met in class once a week and received practice handouts to use at home and in the office. Which just goes to prove what I’ve said all along—a well-conceived home practice gets results!

For more details on the study, check out the article on Aetna’s web site.

Be well, and come see me in class soon to reduce your stress!

Namaste

Tracy

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, and check out our Series on Yoga to Ease Stress!

Yoga and Meditation: A Port in the Storm

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Last Wednesday was a very tough day in Seattle, and I spent most of the day completely oblivious to it.  As many of you know, several people were killed in a local coffee shop that morning by a mentally ill gunman.  There’s no discounting the tragedy for the victims, the families and friends – even the shooter himself.

But I spent the day working in a different realm: finishing the fourth draft of my novel, which is, ironically, a yoga murder mystery.  I sent the manuscript to my editor just 30 minutes before arriving at the studio to teach.  To say I was in a good mood would have been an understatement.  I sang, danced, and “high fived” myself all the way down Greenwood Ave, ecstatic at having reached this personally huge milestone.

Then I walked into the studio.

The first person I encountered told me about the shootings and the frantic calls she’d received from family and friends.  I responded with something eloquent like “Huh? Did something happen today?”  Soon after, another student told me that her son’s school had spent the day in lock down.  Later, another friend told me how the manhunt had almost expanded to Greenwood – all while I’d been blissfully unaware, creating my own version of mayhem in a wonderfully fictional world.

I have to admit to feeling a little separated from this, even though I myself was the victim of random violence many years ago.  I suspect that’s because I heard about it so much later than everyone else.  Part of me felt guilty for not being as upset as those around me – and part of me didn’t. You see, the yoga teachings never promised us an easy life.  They never promised freedom from suffering.  In fact, they literally say that suffering is inevitable.

What they do promise, however, is a path to peace in spite of it.  They offer us a port in the storm.  No matter how hard we try, we can’t control what happens in this great lottery we call life.  But we can hopefully learn how to be more balanced and peaceful in spite of it.

If you’ve met me, you know that I’m far from perfect.  I stress and angst and worry with the best of them.  But yoga and meditation help.  All we have to do is practice.

I taught the meditation below in my class that night.   May it help you find your own safe harbor in the storms of life.

A Simple Meditation for Inner Peace:

  1. Sit or lie comfortably, with your spine in a neutral position.
  2. Allow your eyes to close and notice your breath – without intentionally trying to change it.  Bring your attention to the warmth and coolness of the breath at the tip of your nostrils.
  3. When you are ready, think of a word that represents inner peace or equanimity to you.  It could be balance, peace, calm, silence, or any other word that has meaning to you.
  4. Each time you exhale, mentally recite that word, and feel inner peace pour through your body, as if it were washing through every cell.  When your attention wanders, just notice it, and invite your attention back to the breath at the tip of your nose.  Then return to reciting your word or phrase with every exhale.
  5. Continue this meditation for 10 minutes or longer if you’d like.

Namaste

Tracy

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle!

Insight from Injury

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This week’s blog entry was written by guest author Jenny Zenner. Jenny is a graduate of Whole Life Yoga’s teacher training program. She  can be contacted at jz*****@***il.com.

I recently spoke on KUOW’s The Conversation with Ross Reynolds sharing my yoga injury story during William Broad’s appearance for his new book The Science of Yoga. His book and recent article “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body“ have sparked a lot of discourse within the yoga community. As a journalist who suffered a significant injury in yoga, he’s played the publicity game well, getting the attention of many to challenge certain practices while shedding light on the true benefits available through yoga.

As someone who was dropped on their head like a pogo stick in an advanced teacher training workshop, I hope that the ripple is wide, reaching a multitude of teachers and students to improve safety on the mat. My injury occured in spite of my training. I was at a studio where I was hoping to impress the owner by taking the advanced workshop to get added to the teaching schedule. Instead of engaging my own philosophy, I followed the instructions given, doing challenging backbends, doing an additional workout the morning of the second day to “warm up” and changing partners for each pose over the course of the two days. So it was under these conditons of being sore and fatigued, trying to impress and getting assisted by a complete stranger that I attempted a posture I’d never done before. The strong but slight woman was at least 15 years my senior. In retrospect, she had no hope of being able to successfully support me, and I had no business attempting the posture. Crumpled on the floor after getting released from the failed assist, tears welled in my eyes as I regrouped on my hands and knees, embarrassed and shocked. The owner stood by, recommended I work on getting my hips over my shoulders next time, and proceeded with the class.

Fortunately I only sprained my neck and got a concussion, as the next levels of spinal chord severity are paralysis and death. I’m a safer teacher as a result. I don’t teach risky postures to strangers in group classes. I didn’t have the courage to challenge the workshop teacher even though I was a certified instructor myself. I can only wonder how many other students are embarking on risky postures taught out of tradition and pride. Alas in a recent class at a studio I was visiting, I heard a man in his 50’s gushing about a training he’d done over the weekend where they’d done Crow to Handstand, the very act that led to my concussion and sprained cervical spine, an injury that impacts me to this day 4 1/2 years since it happened. Looking at him, I wondered under what circumstances he found the need to do such an acrobatic posture. Thus I am compelled to continue the conversation by inviting fellow teachers, trainees and students to explore with me the risks of postures like headstand, plow, locust and transitions to wheel.

Join Tracy Weber and me for Prose+Pose™ at 7pm on June 21st at 5focus to question, defend, and learn. Tracy is the founder of Whole Life Yoga in the viniyoga tradition, grounded in the philosophy of tailoring practices to individuals with safety at the forefront. She will discuss what led her to viniyoga and the foundations of her teacher training program. I will lead a discussion on the sections of William Broad’s book addressing risky postures and opportunities for more rigorous training of yoga teachers.

Jenny

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle!

Living your Dharma–A Second Chance

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This barred owl stood sentry as the wildlife rehabilitator helped the studio's fallen pigeon.

I expected to do lots of things when I opened my studio, but rescuing injured wildlife wasn’t one of them.  Today provided just that challenge.  It was the last thing I wanted, but just what I needed.  You see two days ago, I lost my 16-year-old cat. 

Devil-cat earned her name.   Marc and I rescued her as a wild kitten on our honeymoon.  She spent most of her 16 years with us completely feral, even though she lived inside as a house cat.  She hissed, scratched, and did bodily damage to anyone who tried to touch her. In fact, no one could pet her without fear of hemorrhaging.  All until this past December, when she had what appeared to be a stroke and magically changed, becoming suddenly friendly and loving, if somewhat off-kilter. 

Her transformation made her death two days ago that much harder.  After all, I’d just started to really get to know her.  Devil and I had just fallen in love.

Just when I thought I couldn’t take another trauma, an instructor e-mailed me.  An injured pigeon huddled outside the studio door.  All I could think was “No God, please, not another death. I don’t think I can stand it.”  I even considered ignoring the e-mail and hoping the problem would magically resolve itself. 

But I couldn’t.  Instead, I went online and did some research.  Armed with gloves, towels, a box and goggles, I set out to capture the wayward bird.  But what would I do when I caught it?  According to law, some animals aren’t worth saving, and pigeons are among them.  Most wildlife rehab centers are prohibited from even trying.  But fortunately Paws directed me to a lovely lady who has chosen to give up funding in order to help all animals, including my new feathered friend. 

That bird couldn’t fly, but man could it run.  I’m sure I looked like an idiot chasing the winged beast around the studio parking lot, begging it to stop and assuring I meant it no harm.  When I finally captured her, I placed her on a towel in my hole-punched box and took off for Snohomish, hoping she wouldn’t die en route.  Over an hour and several wrong turns later, I pulled up at Second Chance Wildlife Center.  Owls, crows, blue jays, pigeons—even a chicken—all recuperated in cages when we arrived. And she (my pigeon was a girl) was still alive.  The victim of a hawk attack, she wouldn’t have made it much longer out in the world, but here at this facility she stands a very good chance.  All because of a woman who dedicates her life to helping beings less fortunate than herself.

What’s the yoga lesson in this?  I guess first is to follow your dharma, your life work, just as this woman has done.  Make your life meaningful.  Stick by your principles.   Help those less fortunate, even if it means giving up pleasures (or government funding) that would make your own life more comfortable.  And know that, just as the Yoga Sutras say, when any being–no matter its species–suffers, we all suffer.  Live with “active compassion” when you see suffering, and work as hard as you can to prevent similar suffering in the future.

I still grieve the loss of my cat, but I hope my bird makes it. I think she will.  And I’m grateful for the new hope she’s given me, even in  the midst of my loss. 

Namaste

Tracy Weber

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle!

Deconstructing Cravings–Eating for Energy!

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Today’s post is written by guest writer Kamala Chambers, who will be teaching a free workshop at Whole Life Yoga on Sunday, June 3!  She can be reached at ka*********@***oo.com

Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself. -Cicero

The body is an amazing source of intelligence. It is always there for you, pumping blood, never skipping a heartbeat, digesting whatever food you put in it and maintaining homeostasis. Is this reliable, intelligent bio-computer making a mistake by craving ice cream or a hamburger or chocolate? Are cravings due to lack of will-power or discipline? I’d like to suggest that cravings are not a problem. They are critical pieces of information that tell you what your body needs.

The important thing is to understand why you crave what you crave. Perhaps your diet is too restrictive or devoid of essential nutrients. Perhaps you are living a lifestyle that is too boring or stressful. Your body tries to correct the imbalance by sending you a message: a craving. A craving for something sweet could mean you need more protein, more exercise, more water or more love in your life. The key to stopping the sugar craving is to understand and deliver what your body really needs.

No book or theory can tell you what to eat. Only awareness of your body and its needs can tell you. Of all the relationships in our lives, the one with our body is the most essential. It takes communication, love and time to cultivate a relationship with your body. As you learn to decipher and respond to your body’s cravings, you will create a deep and lasting level of health and balance.

The next time you have a craving, treat it as a loving message from your body instead of a weakness. Try these tips to respond to your body:

  • Have a glass of water and wait 10 minutes.
  • Eat a healthier version of what you crave. For example, if you crave sweets, try eating more fruit and sweet or root vegetables.
  • What is out of balance in your life? Is there something you need to express, or is something being repressed? What happened in your life just before you had this craving?
  • When you eat the food you are craving, enjoy it, taste it, savor it; notice its effect. Then you will become more aware and free to decide if you really want it next time.

To learn more about understanding cravings, and and eating for energy, join Kamala on June 3rd at 1pm at Whole life Yoga!

My First Dive Into the Universe of Viniyoga

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Today’s post is written by guest writer Jasmine Kaloudis, who teaches yoga in Philadelphia and who is now, after 15 years of practice, is finding herself drawn to the wonderful tradition of viniyoga.  She can be reached at in**@**************ne.com.

I just got back from my first Viniyoga training with Gary Kraftsow at the NYC Yoga Journal conference last weekend.  I’ve been practicing hatha yoga for over 15 years and have mostly gone to classes that just had a bunch of sun salutations in them.

Yoga has been a way for me to release tension and tightness but I think I was not trained in proper alignment and anatomy and after doing thousands of up-dogs, down-dogs, shoulder-stands and warrior poses without proper body mechanics, I have a feeling I injured my body pretty badly.  I’ve had chronic neck stiffness and headaches for many years now and the last year my knees have been pretty bad.    I was starting to dread yoga teaching so much since I would have to ice my knees after my classes and I would not be able to sleep due to my screaming knees.

I started to take some Iyengar classes and that seemed to help my throbbing knees.   I went to a doctor that specialized in athletes and knee pain and based on his recommendations and my Iyengar classes I was finding a higher level of manageability for my knees but my neck and headaches were persistent (despite rounds of holistic practitioners and conventional western medicine I could not figure out how to get rid of my head-aches and neck stiffness)

Imagine having someone whack you on your head with a sledgehammer all day long and just about every day.  Now imagine someone is sticking a little knife at the back of your neck.  Welcome to my body.  I used to want to run away from my body but there was no where to run to.  Deep sleep provided the only vacation from my body.  I used to hate waking up in the morning since I had to wake up to my neck and forehead screaming at me.

Enter Viniyoga…..

I am not sure if I had ever heard of Gary before this weekend.  I think his name was familiar to me from Yoga Journal.  I remember reading once about Viniyoga but whatever I read didn’t grab me and I was never interested in exploring it any further.

I went to his first workshop on upper body, neck and shoulder pain.  We did some unusual yoga poses that were similar to other poses I had done before but there were key differences.  Gary kept emphasizing coordinating our breath to our movement, (otherwise it’s just calisthenics .   We twisted,  We triangled. We saluted and we warriored.   After about 30 minutes of breath-centered poses, I slowly but deeply started to feel some relief.    It would take hours for my body to integrate what we did and later I started to feel more relief.

I was comfortable just being in my body.  I felt present.  I felt at home.  I didn’t want to run away from myself or my body.

I went to Gary’s all day intensive even though the title sounded uninspired. “Yoga for Depression and Anxiety.”  We dove deeper into some of the physical and emotional mechanisms behind anxiety and depression.  We explored chanting and breath centered movement.  It was like a moving meditation.  I could feel deeply ingrained patterns of limitation, pain and constraint being worked though levels of my fascia and psyche.

I felt a sense of liberation.  I was freed up to have new thoughts and new feelings.

I taught some of these methodologies the next week in my beginner yoga classes and was delighted to see the look of relief on my students’ faces after I had introduced them to Viniyoga.

I can’t wait to dive deeper into the warm waters of Viniyoga.

Jasmine

Jasmine Kaloudis teaches  beginner yoga in Philadelphia  and is the author of the best spiritual websites list.  She writes about yoga on her blog at http://www.synergybyjasmine.com/yoga-blog.

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle!

Measuring Progress in a Viniyoga Class—Response to a Student Question

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I look forward to answering your questions in this blog.  Please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail your questions to tr***@***********ga.com.

Hayden, a Whole Life Yoga teacher training graduate asks:  A student asked me today how he could measure his progress in my drop-in classes, since they vary so much week to week.  He mentioned, in particular, other yoga classes that always contain sun salutations, and how, if you do them regularly, you can tell that you are getting stronger. But since I don’t want to do regular sun salutations with my class, how can I design drop in classes so that my students are experiencing growth and can see it?  This seems easier to do in a series.

Hi Hayden!  As is usually the case, I don’t have any quick and easy answers to this question.  Gary (my teacher) always says that real progress in yoga practice can best be measured by your relationships.  If your relationships get more stable, your yoga practice is working, and vice–versa.   He also often says that if he were forced to measure the “accomplishments” of his teacher training graduates, he’d evaluate the level of their neuroses.  Remember, according to the sutras, physical prowess was never the intent of yoga practice.  The intent was clarifying and calming the mind.

However….

Viniyoga is multi-faceted.  It can have an orientation that is developmental (Siksana), like my Energize and Strengthen series, therapeutic (Cikitsa), like Yoga for Healthy Backs, or spiritual (Adhyatmika), like my New Years Day workshop.

Physical practice is indeed easier to measure in series classes, as you have the same students over and over again throughout a defined time period. A drop-in practice is trickier, as it’s designed each week based on the students present in class. But drop-in students can still pay attention to how they feel in common poses over time.   There’s absolutely nothing magical about sun salutations.  They are simply a series of specific postures done in a flowing manner. You can measure physical changes in any posture that is taught over and over again.

The trick is to teach the same posture over time and ask students to pay attention to how their body responds to that pose.  For flexibility, seated postures work well. They block escape valves so progress can be more directly seen.  The lateral adaptation of janu sirsansa, deep twists, or regular old pascimatanasana work well for this.  For strength, poses such as plank, caturanga, half squats, arm balances, or all of those lovely prone postures work well.  Progress in those poses would be measured in how many repetitions a student can do or how long they can stay in the pose while maintaining a smooth breath.  For endurance, any flow done repeatedly over time works well.  Breath adaptations in asana and pranayama practices provide effective measurements of breath development.

But the bigger question, I guess, is why is the student practicing?  What do they hope to gain?  And why are they so concerned about measuring themselves? Remember, external measurements are really antithetical to the goals of yoga practice.

Finally, as a teacher, you need to decide who your audience is.  Each class you teach must meet the individual needs of the students present.  This is no easy task–believe me, I know. You may find over time that you need to segment your students into levels, such as beginning, intermediate, and advanced.  Otherwise you won’t be able to adequately meet the needs of anyone.

But above all, please remember, that emotional stability is much more important that any external physical measure.  External measures are more about ego than real growth.

I hope that helps!

Namaste

Tracy

More information about Whole Life Yoga’s teacher training program can be found at our web site:  Yoga Teacher Training at Whole Life Yoga.

Another New Viniyoga Video!

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When I wrote about two new viniyoga videos in my blog a few weeks ago, I thought they were the only new ones out there.  Turns out, I was wrong.  As I researched anatomy books for the next teacher training, I came across a third video that I wanted to share with you.  Breath Centered Yoga is a DVD created by Leslie Kaminoff, a viniyoga master teacher and the author of Yoga Anatomy, the anatomy text we use in Whole Life Yoga’s teacher training program. 

Leslie is a long-time student of Desikachar who lives in New York.  He founded The Breathing Project, an institute dedicated to this style of yoga in New York City, and his knowledge of both breath-centered yoga and anatomy is renowned. Although I’ve never studied with him personally, I know several people who have, and they have described him and his teaching approach as grounded, accessible, and filled with humor. I never hesitate to recommend his work to my students. 

His DVD offers four practices that vary in length from 18  to 29 minutes.  The 29 minute practice is meant to be a stand-alone practice.  The three shorter practices can be practiced individually or combined to make a single practice that is a little over an hour in length.  The DVD also includes several bonus audio tracks with descriptions of adaptations for everything from plus sized bodies to “real men.”  😉

True to the viniyoga methodology, the practices on this DVD involve dynamic movement in addition to stay.  The video’s  practitioners don’t move in concert, but at their own pace, and they each practice using their own adaptations. The video is described as offering “gentle, therapeutic yoga routines that are accessible for all levels.”

I haven’t actually seen this video yet, and I don’t yet carry it in the studio. However is it readily available on Amazon.com and other online retailers. I hope to add it to my retail offerings later this spring or summer. I am excited to find another video I can recommend to my clients by a very reputable viniyoga master!

In the mean time, if any of you buy and review it, please tell me what you think!

Namaste

Tracy

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle!

Connecting with Your Body, Mind–and Baby–with Yoga

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This week’s blog entry was written by guest author Shelley Curtis. Shelley is a graduate of Whole Life Yoga’s teacher training program, and our newest prental yoga instructor!  She  can be contacted at sa***@*******nk.net.

I started taking yoga classes after a minor back injury, partly to heal but mainly to strengthen and stretch my body to prevent hurting myself again. I loved the way yoga made my body feel and sensed there was more to it for my mind but didn’t understand the mental and emotional benefits until I was introduced to viniyoga just before I became pregnant with my first son (now 5 ½).

After I found out I was pregnant I started going to prenatal yoga classes at Whole Life Yoga and practicing at home almost daily. This is really when I started to get the body-mind connection that yoga, especially viniyoga, has to offer. By practicing viniyoga regularly throughout my pregnancy I was able to connect with my body and my baby in a way I don’t think I would have otherwise. The breath work and linking breath and movement allowed me to be fully present and helped me to ride the emotional roller coaster of pregnancy in a much more mindful way. The same held true for labor – and motherhood. I used the same tools during my son’s birth and then again as I struggled with being a new mom.

A couple of years (and many viniyoga classes) later, my dear friend and mentor, Sharon Beaudoin, urged me to consider enrolling in Whole Life Yoga’s teacher training program. I hadn’t ever thought about teaching yoga but met with Tracy anyway and decided to enter the program mostly as a way to enhance my home practice. Then came baby number two! I was lucky to experience the teacher training during my pregnancy for many reasons, one of which is that it ignited in me a passion for teaching prenatal yoga.  And of course I fully experienced the many benefits of viniyoga throughout my pregnancy, labor and transition to mother of two!

Yoga is such a gift for pregnant women, most of who are getting know their bodies – and their minds – in an entirely new and different way. I feel so fortunate that I get to join them as they begin their journey to motherhood.

Shelley

Please Join Shelley in her new prenatal class at Whole Life Yoga!

Inviting Newness to Your Practice–Lessons from the Tasha-Dog

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Gorgeous spring days like today make me feel, well, alive. The air is crisp and infused with the sweet smell of new flowers.  Colors have returned to the Seattle landscape—reds, pinks, purples, blues, greens—even the whites seem to jump out in stark contrast to the gray days we will soon leave behind.

This year, my dog seems unusually entranced by the newness.  Our normal ninety-minute walks stretch to two, even three hours as the paths she found disinteresting all winter suddenly come alive to her again.

Today, as she walked me to her new favorite spot at Greenlake, I was struck by how the familiar is continually interesting to her.  By conservative calculations, we’ve walked Greenlake’s path almost 2000 times in our seven years together; yet she still finds it fascinating.  As she gets older, her interests and abilities change.  She is no longer the great hunter-dog that dragged me, face-down, across the grass as she tried to catch those ever-elusive squirrels.  Now she’s more of an observer, a tour guide of sorts, saying hello to familiar walkers as she gazes across the lake from her new treasured spot in the shade.

But still, every time, she leads us to Greenlake with enthusiasm–with intention.  I never know exactly where we’re headed, but I can tell that she does.  And in spite of her obviously planned destination, she enjoys every minute of the path along the way.

Like Tasha, we can live our lives–and practice our yoga–with great enthusiasm and a sense of newness.  We can bring the same sense of wonder to the 2000th repetition of cat pose that we brought to our first.  As our bodies change, we may not be able to do handstand or wheel, but we can invite vitality, energy, and joy to every pose we can do.  We can invite gratitude and intention to every breath we take.  In fact,  these simple poses give us the opportunity to more fully experience the connection of body, breath and mind that is truly the purpose of yoga.

As we enter this season of re-birth, I’d like to invite all of us, including myself, to experience life and our practice the same way Tasha does.  As happy in exploring the familiar as seeing the new.  As present and joyful in our old age as we were in our youth.   As connected with our world on the days our path is difficult as the day we took our first step.

The yoga sutras call this persevering practice:  Doing the same practice over and over again, over a long period of time, without interruption, with enthusiasm and an intention of growth.  Such a practice, they say, leads to the true goal of yoga: clarity.

May you find newness and re-birth, joy and optimism, hope and clarity this Spring.  And may you experience the inner peace that is the state of yoga.

Namaste

Tracy

Come visit Whole Life Yoga in Seattle!