Posted Questions & Answers

• Breath of Fire
• Beginning Yoga DVD's & Props?
• Regaining Breath & Shoulder Mobility for Wheelchair User
• Yoga Videos for Seniors with Stiff Neck & Shoulders
• Locked Knees
• Can Pranayama Cause Bloating?
• History of Hatha Yoga
• Yoga for Fertility

Breath of Fire (added 3/2/09)

Q: Jim: When doing the "Breath of Fire" I see some people sucking in their belly forcefully and pushing the air out on the exhale, and others say to let it go out on it's own. Which way is the right way?
Length of Practice: I'm just getting started, about two weeks.
Styles Practiced: Kundalini

A: Richard Rosen: First of all there usually isnt any "right way" to do these practices, there are several ways usually depending on the school you're studying in. The real question for you is: which way, considering you've been practicing for 2 weeks, is most appropriate for you at this stage. I personally wouldn't advise you to practice this Breath of Fire in such a forceful way, but that's just my training and experience as a teacher. The B of F is equivalent to what's called Bellows (bhastrika), which is an advanced form of breathing I feel isn't useful for beginners such as yourself, though your Kundalini teacher will probably dispute that. I suggest you begin with what's called Kapalabhati, "Skull Brightener." In this technique the exhale is the active breath, inhale is a passive recoil. Start by firmly but not forcefully contracting your lower belly (below the navel), directing the push diagonally--that is, up and into the abdomen--then completely releasing that contraction and allowing the belly then to pull the inhale into the lungs. Start out slowly, say one contraction per second or so, and practice for 30 seconds to a minute at first. Gradually build up the speed of your contractions and the length of practice to maybe 90-100 per minute for 3 minutes. Once you can do this easily, then you can start to think about B of F...in my opinion. I understand this may seem a conservative approach to your teacher, but to my way of thinking you want to approach a breathing practice slowly and respectfully. Changing your breathing can have many unforeseen repercussions, not all of them pleasant. Take your time and be patient. Richard

Beginning Yoga DVD's & Props?

Q: Deanna Petrella: I have never done yoga and want to know which dvd's are the best for someone just starting out. There are so many dvd's out there and I do not want to get the wrong dvd's and get discouraged. Also what items does one need to get started (mats, blocks, etc)? I watched a program on pbs about Rodney Lee and his wife Colleen and I liked it very much.

A: Richard Rosen: I've been reviewing Yoga videos for Yoga Journal for the past 18 years, and have writting reviews for almost 250 videos in that time. There are 2 excellent videos available for new students, both can be found at Body Wisdom Media (www.bodywisdommedia.com). They are titled Yoga for Beginners, with Barbara Benagh, and Yoga for Inflexible People, with Judi Rice. Since you enjoyed Rod and Colleen so much, you also might look into joining the Gaiam Yoga Club. It will deliver a new yoga class with R & C each week to your computer for a small fee. As far as what props you need - a mat, block, strap and a blanket will do.

Regaining Breath & Shoulder Mobility for Wheelchair User

Q: Bobbie Morrell: I have a friend who is paralyzed from the armpits down, and relies entirely on her arms and shoulders for mobility (wheelchair, transfers, etc.). She has chronic difficulty with her neck and shoulders, and a lot of breathing problems. Are there some yoga moves/techniques that could be used by her to improve her situation, and/or someone who could be consulted (book, video, contact) to help her regain breath and mobility?

A: JoAnn Lyons: Thanks for writing to us. Hopefully my answer will help others as this answer will appear on our website.  Yoga can help your friend. I've been teaching yoga to people with varying disabilities for over twelve years and am constantly amazed at the power of a yoga practice to help; frequently that "help" comes in ways not anticipated.

If you are willing to assist her with her asana practice, she will receive more benefit from yoga poses than those she might attempt on her own. Since she uses her shoulders and arms for mobility, it would be good for her to know what muscles she uses and what muscles are available to her for this mobility. Students with a spinal cord injury, working carefully in a yoga practice, frequently "find" muscles they thought were not available to them and they begin to reconnect to their bodies.

For stretching the neck and shoulders, which is necessary since she's constantly using these muscles, I recommend Garudasana (Eagle Pose) and Gomukhasana (Cow's Head Pose). A more detailed description can be found in Recovery Yoga which I list below. Here's where someone helping can be important, making sure the arms are externally rotating throughout Eagle Pose and the upper arm externally rotating and arm behind the back internally rotating while practicing Cow's Head Pose. The assistant must be careful not to push the student into a pose, merely assist the movement, directing the muscles and holding the weight of the arm if it is not possible for the student to do so.

Living with any disability is highly stressful and I think a restorative yoga practice is not just a luxury, but also a necessity.While relaxing in a restorative yoga pose, the student begins breathing awareness. On the following list are books that will be helpful for your friend to read, as well as you or anyone assisting her. All of the recommendations suggest a restorative practice, please don't leave out or shorten that part of the practice:

• Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis: A Journey to Health and Healing, Loren M. Fishman, MD, and Eric L. Small.
• The Wheelchair Series, Chair Series and Pranayama and Relaxation sections in this book will give you a lot of ideas about adapting poses to your friend's needs.
• Relax & Renew, by Judith Lasater, Ph.D., P.T. This book very clearly and completely sets out various practices for different issues, specifically addressing the issue of stress. The descriptions are clear and concise and the pictures, helpful.
• Waking: A Memoir Of Trauma And Transcendence, by Matthew Sanford, nationally recognized yoga teacher, an accomplished public speaker, and a paraplegic for the last twenty-nine years. For more information: www.matthewsanford.com or www.mindbodysolutions-mn.org.
• Recovery Yoga, by Sam Dworkis. Sam has multiple sclerosis, but his book is for people recovering from recent operations, those with chronic conditions or injuries. Though the pictures of poses are very helpful and one might be tempted to simply skim the book and follow the pictures, the words he writes must be read, and re-read, to understand what yoga is really about. On his website (www.extensionyoga.com) he offers free-access to much of Recovery Yoga.

Yoga Videos for Seniors with Stiff Neck & Shoulders

Q by Dorothy Walters: Which Rodney Yee DVD would be suitable for an 80-year old who would practice sitting or standing--with special attention to stiffness in neck and shoulders?

A by Richard Rosen: Greetings Dorothy: I've been the video reviewer for Yoga Journal since 1990, and in that time have reviewed about 250 yoga videos and watched at least half that many again but didn't review. So I think I can claim some expertise in the field of yoga videos. Also Rod is one of my best friends, I've seen many of his videos and recommend them every chance I get. But not this time. Your age and inexperience are both factors. You can certainly get one of his videos for beginners and watch it for inspiration, he's a very charismatic guy and a teacher or attend at least a few sessions of a small class geared to seniors. Your comment about stiffness in the neck and shoulders set off an alarm in my mind. This situation should be looked at by someone who understands the potential hazards of exercising your neck and shoulders improperly, and can suggest what you should and shouldn't do. My feeling is that videos are generally adjuncts to a regular practice, unless you live somewhere where there's little or no access to a live teacher. Fortunately for us in the Bay Area, we have an abundance of well-trained teachers to call on. We have a class for seniors at Piedmont Yoga, but I see your telephone prefix is 415, which probably means you live in the City or North Bay and may not be able to get to Oakland easily. I suggest then that you contact Nancy Randall, who's been teaching our senior yoga class for many years and lives in San Francisco. Nancy will either be able to help you herself or refer you to someone you can trust. I'm not trying to alarm you or discourage you from starting yoga. Performed properly with attention the yoga poses are remarkable for their health-giving qualities, and I applaud your intention to start a practice. I urge you though to first find a competent yoga adviser to give you a few pointers on how to best to structure your practice given your needs and limitations. Then please write again and we can talk about videos that may be of some use to you--including Rodney's.

Locked Knees?

Q by Ellen Zimmerman: Dear Richard Rosen, "Yoga for 50", pg. 19, Locked Knees. Please clarify "With locked knees, the keecaps will turn slightly inward, and that out-leg line will pass slightly in front of the middle knee." Thanks. Sincerely, Ellen

A by Richard Rosen: Hi Ellen. Thanks for writing. I know that some teachers give the instruction to "lock the knees," by which I'm sure they mean to straighten and strengthen the joints. This is a good thing to do, but many beginning students interpret this instruction by pushing back on the knee cap, as if trying to press it deeper into the joint. This, in my opinion, isn't the best way to go about things. The knee cap is embedded in the tendon of the quadriceps muscle (the big four-belly muscle on the front of your thigh) that crosses the knee joint betweenthe thigh bone above and the shin bone below. When you straighten the knee properly by contracting the quadriceps, the knee cap should lift up, that is, move toward the hip joint, not push back. You can try thisfor yourself. Stand up in Mountain Pose (tadasana) with your knees slightly bent. Now first, simply (but carefully) push your knee caps back, without any resistance from the calves. Repeat a few times. What does that feel like? Then try straightening your knees by consciously contracting the quads and, resisting the calves forward against the shins, lifting the knee caps up toward their respective hips. Feel any difference? If you have trouble contracting your quads, try squeezing a foam yoga block between your thighs.The real danger of pushing back on the knee cap comes when you have knees that hyper-extend, which puts a lot of unnecessary stress on the joints, especially in the standing poses. Ideally when the knees are fully and safely straightened (in the standing position) you should be able to draw a line along your outer leg from the mid-outer hip through the mid-outer knee to the center of the outer ankle bone that's relatively perpendicular to the floor. When you hyper-extend your knees, the point on the outer knee falls behind the perpendicular line; in other words, if you connect up the three dots, the line will form a kind of flat "V" shape, with the tip of the "V" pointing behind you. Also the knee caps will go "cross-eyed." If you visualize your knee caps as a pair of eyes, when they're properly straightened they'll look straight forward. Hyper-extended caps will both turn slightly inward as if staring at a point mid-way between them. Students who tend to hyper-extend need to intensify their efforts to use the quads and resist the calves forward. Try this variation of the above exercise. Stand in Mountain and then tip your torso into a forward bend. Bend your knees slightly and press your hands against your calves. Now against thisresistance contract the quads and lift your knee caps to straighten your knees, stopping at the point where the knee cap "eyes" start to turn in. If you're a habitual hyper-extended, it'll feel as if your knees are still slightly bent, but they're not. They're now fully extended but not "locked." Repeat this a few times until you can feel the difference between full extension and hyper-extension. Hope this helps. Richard

Can Pranayama Cause Bloating?

Q by Rayna Mehta: I started doing pranayama techniques by Yoga Ramdev a few days ago. I did it for 3 days straight but on Sunday afternoon started to get cramps and pains in my lower belly. On Monday, i was extremely bloated and in much pain (I didn't do yoga that day). Today I feel the same and am still very much bloated. I am not due for my period. Is it due to one or a few of the pranayama techniques? Perhaps the one where you have to exhale forcefully or inhale and hold with your chin down?
A by Richard Rosen: I see by your message that you've practiced "on and off" for a year. This may seem like a fairly long time to you but relative to many practitioners, you're still brand new at yoga, especially since you say your practice hasn't been regular. Without seeing you in person I can't say exactly what caused your discomfort but it seems pretty clear to me that you've gone too far too fast for your level of ability. I don't mean any disrespect to your teacher, but you shouldn't be holding your breath at this stage of your practice, nor should you be exhaling forcefully (and the instruction to bring your chin "down" is also potentially harmful; if done improperly you could injure your neck). I applaud your efforts at pranayama and hope my words aren't discouraging, but I urge you to back off a least a little. Spend most of your practice time just watching your normal breath, and let the inherent wisdom of your breath guide you. It's not unusual to experience some discomfort when beginning a pranayama practice, but what you describe is not acceptable. Don't be in a hurry to "get somewhere", working with your breath is a long slow process that requires patience and regularity, and don't be enamored of "techniques". All the old yoga texts agree that techniques are only temporary props that should be used with attention and caution. Please keep in touch if you have any more problems, we're happy to offer whatever help we can.

History of Hatha Yoga

Q by Liza Pengelly: Two newsletters ago you talked about how Hatha Yoga, the way that it's practiced in it's simplified version in most Yoga classes, is only about 80-100 years old. Thank you for talking about this, since people do think that they are doing Yoga as was done "thousands" of years ago. And you mentioned that Yoga can conservatively date back to 2500 BC, but that this number has been cast into doubt. In "The Deeper Dimension of Yoga"; Georg Feuerstein says that "Yoga is the current of spirituality that has developed on the Indian peninsula over a period of some five thousand years." What are some of the complicated reasons for this huge difference in years?

A by Richard Rosen: Thanks for writing. To start I should note your email has a slight error, or more likely I didn't express myself clearly in the news letter. I didn' date Yoga back to 2500 BCE, what I said (or meant to say) was the book in which the earliest mention of Yoga is made is 2500 years old, which dates it around 500 BCE. So yes indeed there is a vast difference in the dating of Yoga--some 2500 years--between myself and Dr Feuerstein. Of course if ever you have to bet on the outcome of any Yoga debate between myself and the world-renowed expert Dr Feuerstein, you would be most unwise (and somewhat poorer) to take my side. But here, in the case of the age of Yoga, it's a matter of who you believe the most--or how far out on that Vriksha limb you're willing to climb--when dating these ancient books. I'm sticking for now with the mainstream Western academics, those who date the oldest Hindu sacred book, the Rig Veda, at about 1500 BCE, and the later Upanishads, where you'll find that first concrete reference to Yoga, at about 500 BCE.Dr Feuerstein however, for reasons too complicated to explain here, has dated the Rig and its attendant Upanishads considerably earlier, which accounts for the vast gulf between our dates. Who do you believe? Before you make up your mind, you should research Feuerstein's rationale behind his estimate in a controversial book he co-authored with two other Yoga experts, Subhash Kak and David Frawley. It's titled In Search of the Cradle of Civilization, published almost 15 years ago, interestingly enough, by the Theosophists, who were instrumental in introducing Americans to Sanskrit classics in the late 19th century. Something to remember: even though the I'm dating the earliest mention of Yoga at 500 BCE, you can bet that the actual practice is far older, since these Upanishads are the written record of a long preceding oral teaching. We just can't say for sure how long, and while 5000 years might be stretching things a bit, certainly 3000 to 3500 years isn't beyond the realm of possibility. Hope this answers your question.

Yoga for Fertility

Q by Tambora: Do you offer yoga for fertility patients, particularly those undergoing IVF?

A by Clare Finn: Not specifically but when working on fertility it is best to think in terms of "plum poses";as in a ripe plum - supta baddhakonasa, reclining upavistha (with legs up the wall), and supported viprarita karani.