Yoga

Athlete, Education, Yoga

What keeps you upright

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Did You Know: The dynamics and supportive properties of the human spine are provided by:

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  • an intricate network of blood vessels
  • countless specialized nerve endings
  • hundreds of small nerve fibers which connect to structures of the spine
  • more than 220 specialized ligaments
  • greater than 120 individual muscles
  • over 100 intricate joints
  • 34 vertebrae
  • 24 presacral vertebrae (movable)
  • 5 sacral and 3-5 coccygeal vertebrae (non-moveable)
  • 31 pairs of spinal nerves
  • 23 intervertebral discs

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The human spinal column provides flexibility for movement, support for weight bearing and protection of nerve fibers. The spinal column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, which is the main pathway of communication between the brain and the rest of the body. The spinal column also protects the nerve roots and part of the autonomic nervous system.

The spine has three major types of joints:
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  • synarthroses
  • diarthroses
  • amphiarthroses

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The vertebral column consists of 24 presacral (moveable) vertebrae
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  • 7 cervical vertebrae
  • 12 thoracic vertebrae
  • 5 lumbar vertebrae

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The sacrum and coccyx are composed of fused vertebrae and are also considered part of the spinal column.

The cervical vertebrae are the most mobile of the 24 presacral spinal vertebrae.

The 12 thoracic vertebrae articulate with 12 pair of ribs. The thoracic spine is designed for a minimum of movement, thus providing protection for the internal organs.

The large stocky lumbar vertebrae are designed to support the weight of the body

Info By American Academy of Spine Physicians
Art by Andrea Schillaci

Athlete, Education, Triathlon, Yoga

The Athlete Meets Yoga

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The Athlete is about passion.  Drive.  The Zone.  Whether you run, bike, swim, do gymnastics, play ball …. we are all the same.  We work hard.  We play hard.  As good as our sports are for us, there are drawbacks.   A lot of our activities are repetitive and tend to exercise one muscle group more than another, creating imbalances in the body.  Another drawback is when you do have less than optimal bio-mechanics leading to bad form, the repetitive nature of our activities can lead to lower performance or even injury.

In walks Yoga.  Yoga is about balance.  Balance within a movement.  Balance within the joints.  Balance within the mind.
Yoga is a fun compliment to any activity that can improve performance and prevent or address injuries.   In simple terms, yoga is a bucketful of poses done in different sequences that exercise the entire body, cultivating balance within the skeleton structure.

Through the consistent practice of yoga, the joints become SUPPORTED and ALIGNED as a result of appropriate strength and length within muscle groups.  A runner’s knee pain may be the result of imbalances within the quads and hamstrings or as a result of weak hip stabilizers.  Get on your yoga mat often enough, working towards a nice balanced Warrior III and you find that the hips get stronger, the quads and hamstrings reach equilibrium.  The knee becomes quiet.

As you practice triangle pose you’ll learn to respect the limitations of your inner thighs and hamstrings, while using your quads to help the hamstrings loosen.  You’ll find the back stretch coupled with the upper body strength to create a wonderful expression of strength and space.  Each yoga pose has its challenges.

The fun comes in with the challenge of each pose, the music, the others in class with you.  It’s an awesome way to do the work needed to keep the body working well and in balance.  This happier body then plays ball better, runs faster, swims more efficiently, sleeps better, recovers faster and experiences less injury.

Play Hard.  Do Yoga.

Athlete, Personal Growth, Swimming, Yoga

Where do you work through your crap?

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Personal growth. Personal Space. (blah blah blah)

10 years ago I was super angry, with a HUGE CHINA sized wall around me. I sure couldn’t share my personal space. I’d beat you out of it in a heart beat. Literally.

Learning how to teach yoga, especially to men, was a HUGE HUGE (HUGE) challenge.

It’s really interesting how little life events intersect. To come together like a couple of chords to make a pleasant sound. Or musical instruments, to play together, to practice…leading to a fine piece of music. It’s like…time stops and…AHHHHH.

That’s what happened to me in the swimming pool during 2012. Apparently, despite the fact that I almost drowned (seriously) when I was little, I am HOME in the water. HOME.

What does that mean. We are all made up of…different constitutes. Type A. MB. Wood/fire. There are a ton of ways to characterize people. They all come down to the same thing. I’ll lean towards the more holistic/yoga definitions. They are cool and interesting. Type A sounds so ANAL and negative. So…my strongest “elements” (Chinese nomenclature) is WATER and WOOD. Wood would be a lot of TYPE A. Water…more artistic. That part of me a lot of you haven’t seen. You can check out my art here…ARTIST.

What’s the point. When I swim…I’m in the environment to really get in touch with myself. Check this out…whether I like to or not. It sort of…does whatever the F it wants. It can be very frustrating. But useful too. Especially if you know whats going on and can work with it. Speeds you along the healing/integration process.

Why am I writing about it now. I’m dealing with something super duper (uber) deep. It’s just about finished and I’m swimming in the pool more.

So…the emotions come up to the surface. In the pool I’m working HARD to correct some of my weaknesses. (maybe that’s why it’s in the pool…I’m pretty comfortable everywhere else).

Lets all chuckle for a moment.

The point is…everyone has a different mix of these “constitute flavors”. So everyone is going to be different…where they find that space. In the Catholic Church. In a forest. On a park bench. Mountain top. Playing music. With family. Meditating. Doing yoga. Running. Praying. Sex.

For me, for right now…it’s swimming.

swimming-at-andover1All this STUFF got stored in my body, my mind, my spirit ( my _____ ).  Some of this stuff has been locked up for many longs years, now working its way to the surface and doggedly expressing the need for release.

So I swim with my goggles filled with tears. Do my best to scale back and relax. Find rhythm. Honor the process, get my body in sync with the water and let the water do its thing.

Here’s the KEY: know when the moment has passed and move on. Leave it in the water. Get out of the pool a little bit different. With new space.

I hope you find where your space it at. That space that rings true for you. Like a beautiful heart stopping chord.

Personal Growth, Yoga

Daily $1,000,00 deposits

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I met a new friend the other day at the Y. His name is Jerry. It’s amazing how much of an impact such a short relationship had on my soul.

Here’s what he had to say.

“We all want to be happy. We all want to be healthy. At least in the world I live in.” I’m thinking. Dude, this turtle has got some insights. I’m gonna listen.

“Being healthy and happy isn’t just about your waist line. Your race pace. Your hair. The car you drive. The job you have.”  I’m like…”yeah yeah, this sounds good because all those expectations kind of stress me out.”

“You human beings are complex, and being healthy is a multidimensional thing. Chew on that a while.” I said “okie dokie”.

Cole-carrying-turtleSo I got to thinking…an acquaintance of mine tends to say things like “I traumatize my body with all this training” and what not. Which has always irritated me. I wondered why…and have gotten to this thought with the nudge of Jerry. Being healthy is about physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual. A combination. I read an article that being physically healthy is a small part of being HEATHLY. That emotionally being healthy has a bigger impact. So while I am physically stressing my body (which sometimes stress is a good thing, that’s how we grow and move forward), I’m making myself very happy. I feel good when I train. I love the people I am around. I enjoy myself 100%. Which I totally think outweighs the physical stress.

This article said that our emotional/spiritual well being has a BIG impact on our HEALTH. It’s the daily things that we do.  The deposits we make into our health account.

You don’t have to train for a big race to make these $1,000,00 deposits into your health account. Lots of equally awesome things to do, just depends on what lights your heart up.

Massage. Meditating. Yoga. Praying. Girls Night Out. Couples Night Alone. Ice cream with the kids. Serving others. Walking your neighbors dog when they are sick. Going to church. Brushing your girl friends hair. Being ok with onions thrown at you if you deserve it…

Or…meeting a friend Jerry at the North YMCA and giving him a ride home.

turtle-going-to-water

Personal Growth, Yoga

Are you fear’s b*tch?

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Race day is almost here. Well prepared. Fabulous team. Fabulous coaches. 1/2 IRONMAN BABY!!!!!

WELL PREPARED

At the beginning of this year, I wrote “QUIETLY CONFIDENT” on the dream board. And here we are.

It won’t come easy though. WELL PREPARED doesn’t guarantee perfection. Things happen. Part of the deal, learning to roll with the punches, doing the best you can with THE PRESENT MOMENT.

I’ve been struggling with anxiety during the swim. And now…exercise/anxiety induced asthma. I have a new understanding for those with asthma. It’s terrible. It leaves you feeling shitty, sometimes like you got hit by a truck. Not to mention the irritation, frustration and just plain anger that comes up because of the limitation that can get a hold of you without your permission. There you are. Wheezing. Feeling nauseous. Struggling for that breathe that you’ve been taking for granted for 38 years.

It really sucks when it happens at the beginning of the swim. You look up and you have ONE MILE of this suckage to get through.

One swim is really hard. One swim goes well. One goes not so well again. One race goes well. One goes BAD. Fear plants itself in your mind. Spreads it’s toxic poison. Makes things worse, gas on the fire. Takes space in your mind. Do you let it take space in your heart?

This is an “in your face” example. Do we let this happen to us on a lesser scale everyday? Taking tiny little detours to miss the piles of fear in the road? Not smile at a stranger because we fear they won’t like us. Not lay down some tough love because we fear…losing something, making a mistake. Not speaking honestly, because we fear letting out real feelings, not being accepted, someone calling “bullshit”?

Whatever is it. Being fear’s bitch…what’s it costing us? Can we learn to go right on through it. However messy it might be in the beginning. It’s bound to get better if we stick.

How to go right on through the piles:

1. Put your boots on. Think positive. KNOW that you can do it.

2. Be AWESOMELY OK with less than perfect.

3. Practice being calm. Breathing deeply.

4. Go looking for that place inside your heart, where resides boundless courage and strength. Dig deep.

5. Get after it.

6. Lastly: KNOW this WILL suck less than last time.

From my heart to yours.

Personal Growth, Yoga

DON’T RUN OVER THE BABY GEESE!!!!!

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Driving to work today I saw 2 parent geese trying to shepherd 2 baby geese across 21st street. There were a variety of styles of vehicles slowing down. Not not slowing down. For a moment, I thought one of the cars was going to hit them all. My heart spasm’d. Like STOPPED. “Oh no…PLEASE DON’T RUN OVER THE BABY GEESE!” My heart screamed out to this person a couple of cars in front of me. Someone honked at them, everyone stopped, and these poor frightened baby geese scurried across the street to safety.

What a parallel to how we live our lives. 

Some of us are LOST. In a big way. We don’t see the geese. We don’t acknowledge their place in the world. We don’t acknowledge our RESPONSIBILITY to live cohesively in the world with others EQUALLY. The Disconnected

Some of us sort of get it. We slow down, we might be a bit impatient, and perhaps guilt is what is mainly stopping us. How would you feel if you killed a baby goose. The Fearful

Some of us smile when we see the geese crossing. We stopped in plenty of time, we enjoy the sight. The Peaceful

And perhaps some of us are even more AWARE, watchful and protective. We stop AND we scan around to see that others are aware and stop too. The Warriors

How do you LIVE your life?

For me, honestly, a combination of them all, shifting a lot. My mind next traveled to how I parent my children. Some days I’m totally in a rush. Disconnected. Other times, HONESTLY, some times I got to dig deep and act a certain way with my kids, for fear of…what others will think, how my 14 year old with respond and will he next do what I need because of the “rush” that causes the disconnected and  blah blah blah. Some days I’m in the groove and feel like super parent. And anyone that knows me knows I’ve got plenty of The Warrior, for my kids and everyone else as well.

I think the magic happens when we can sculpt our lives in such a way…to give ourselves the chance at being at the higher levels of living. Knowing that you’re DISCONNECTED is a great step. Look around and see what’s not working. How things could be different. CHANGE IT! Try something different. Reassess.

JUST KEEP LIVING. 

And please stop for the baby geese.

Yoga

I ran into God today.

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I really loved my father-in-law. When I met my husband, I knew right away he was a keeper. He is a wonderful man. His dad taught him well.

His dad was awesome. He was a Shriner, a clown. A really good man. And I loved him dearly. My children loved him dearly. So when his illness wore on and on, witnessing him deteriorate and die a slow and painful death was very difficult.

When he was finally released from his suffering, it was bittersweet. A bright spot was gone. The suffering was gone.

At the funeral, a wondrous thing happened. I was the photographer, capturing the moments; grief, well wishes, love, compassion. And a TON of beauty. It was EVERYWHERE. It was almost intoxicating. The smiles of the family. The children that he loved so much, rejoicing in the day because death to them is different than to us. The cemetery was so secluded, we were the only people on the planet at that time, like time had almost stopped.

At the end, I was full of grief, I didn’t want to say the final goodbye. I didn’t want to walk away; to never see him, hear his laugh, see him hug my children. I was hanging back, feeling as if I was about to slowing melt into a puddle of sadness.

Then in the next instant all I could hear was the breeze through the trees. It was so intense, it was as if I could hear the sunrays travel between the trees to my face. I looked to my left as if someone had called my name and I saw these three deer that had wondered up to our ceremony.

In an instant all my pain was gone. My heart was filled with joy. I knew that my father-in-law as comforting me. Telling me “It’s not goodbye. I am right here.” So many years ago, and I can still hear the breath of God through the trees.

Today, as I was running, I was wrestling with something. My heart and mind going at it. I’ve been wrestling with this thing for quite a while now.

At just the moment when I was going to AGAIN but this thing on the back burner, I run into my three friends.

I smiled.

“OK.  I HEAR YOU!!!!!”

Action to follow.

Personal Growth, Yoga

Not Just doing …. BECOMING

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We DO diets. We DO New Year’s Resolutions. We DO training. We DO the things that get us to the goal. We DO “be nice and say our prayers”. We try this and we try that. We DO a lot of things.

But what ARE we? What are we BEING when we are DOING all of this DO?

Is there some spot on the map, “DESTINATION”, that we are trying to get to by all this doing?

Am I a crazy stressed out person playing “calm” when I swim or when I attempt to parent my children.

Or am I moving towards BECOMING CALM.

Am I shedding the layers that manifest the crazy stressed out. Am I CALM already, deep inside? Is CALM something I have to learn, or relearn, then BECOME?

The getting to this place called DESTINATION?

Do we throw the map away? Is the spot not the point? Is it about the ability to morph? Go through constant metamorphosis. Always changing. Always becoming. Always ALREADY being at the DESTINATION?

Changing. Really changing. Not just faking it, not sort of lying to ourselves, or playing a part. Really changing. Letting go of ourselves, having faith that the next stage will be more beautiful.

Must be scary for the caterpillar to go into his sack for a bit, sightless. And what an awe; wouldn’t it be cool to experience what the butterfly must experience emerging new. Transformed. ABLE TO FLY. The world to look so different.

Having BECOME something different. To grace the world with beauty.

For real world application. Do you practice yoga and when the series is done, step up to the top of the mat and let everything hang out waiting for the next instruction? Do you slouch in the grocery store aisle? Are you calm with those you want to impress and yell at your children or spouse? Do you give grace to others when they make a mistake, but not to yourself when you do?

Are you DOING? Are you BECOMING?

Personal Growth, Triathlon, Yoga

Ironman >>> Power = Engery * Potential

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I’m a mechanical engineer. Crazy good in math and science. So my view of things is a bit different. I don’t think things are necessarily good or bad like we tend to label them. Just energy in one expression or another. I think everything, EVERYTHING, gets recycled. Mountains and volcanoes. Rain, clouds, lakes, ice and oceans. Laughs and tears, smiles and frowns. Words and actions. Thoughts and dreams.

In college I studied the bigger thoughts about science. And it’s totally CRAZY interesting how…10 years later, here I am, an employed yoga teacher using my engineering degree more than I ever have. WOOT!!!! And revisiting all the thoughts presented to me in those crazy classes. Just crazy awesome. Anyway. (I might type “crazy” just a couple more times before I’m done.)

This has been on my mind for awhile. When I rested on “YES, I’m training for a 1/2 Ironman“, I asked myself MANY MANY MANY times…WHY WHY WHY? So the rest of this is why. If you get it… I hope so.

I want to be powerful. I want softness. I want wisdom. I want to find the balance that I CAN ACHIEVE. I believe all of these things fit into the equation of personal power.

So for me…those limits are different than others, I push myself in different ways. Learning the same things. I want to move through this challenge from the heart. To travel through consciously and always having fun. Finding lessons along the way. Learning to honor myself, love myself, take care of myself, learning to keep the  ego at bay. It’s yogic.

I can’t help but get back to this “power” idea. This poor word… power. It’s inherited some bad flack. (EGO + POWER = ???)

Power: without it, NOTHING HAPPENS. It’s just want it is. The ability to do something, with a couple of systems to define it. Electrical, mechanical…It’s what gets you off the couch. Gets that car moving when you push the gas pedal down. Gets you into that situation that that isn’t all that great. Takes power to have courage. Power to get to you to the next crossroad. Overcome the obstacle. Takes power to push through to the next cycle.

Definition of power

1. Capacity to do something: the ability, strength, and capacity to do something
2. In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed.
3. equation

So what are we learning?????

The ability to turn on the power, keep it on as needed, then to shut it down. To be fully charged…full of power. A FULLY charged battery without much crust. Able to use what you got to do…X, Y or Z.

We learn this on the yoga mat, on the track, etc. The difficulty lies when we let the EGO add too much pooh and mess things up. We push too hard. Forget what in the world we are doing. Start competing with the…instructor, teacher, neighbor, magazine cover. We lose ourselves. That’s not uncommon. We do it all the time. It’s a habit. To lose ourselves. (fyi, it’s the power that gets us back to center.)

headstand-balance-1We center ourselves. Turn on the power. Start driving down the road we feel drawn to.

Sometimes you just got to throw it down! Bad ass style. Sometimes with more finesse. Sometimes you let it go by you with just a bit of a nod. Learning to deal with the power, it’s important. Like learning to race a super fast race horse. Where do we practice that? On the mat, the track, in the pool, in the meeting room, at the kitchen table. It’s everywhere. It’s just the words you put to it.

It’s like breathing. If things move, there is power. You want more more of it, learn to use it. If you want to be more efficient, learn to use it well.

Live It OUT LOUD. Anything else is…not human.  🙂

FYI, starting a power yoga class. This is what we will be learning.

Yoga

The Dance We Learn on Our Yoga Mat

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There as been a lot of conversation about yoga. In the papers, in books, everywhere. Admittedly, my thoughts have been roaming all over the place. As with the conversations, some positive, some negative. Inspiration and thought provoking.   Unknowing and stagnant.

And of course, with so many different people and so many different expressions of yoga. Like the cereal aisle. Toothpaste aisle. Shoe aisle. Parenting styles. Like the vast array of religious and spiritual flavors you have to chose from. Of course you’ll have this opinion and that.

I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned on the yoga mat. Where my thoughts have landed today.

There is this dance we learn on the yoga mat. The dance between Strength and Flexibility. The internal DISCOVERY of your strengths. Your weaknesses. Yoga would have you work with your strengths. Develop more strength an in area, more flexibility in another, balancing things out. And in this way, we learn BALANCE. Right here, right now.

It’s not about trying to get to some ideal. A picture of some super attractive person doing something that we all wish we could do. It’s about contentment right here, right now. With a healthy desire to right forward. We learn how to develop more balance. Right here, right now.

From this comes HEALING.

So the dance goes on. Through the steps of strength and flexibility, we dance through the cycle of Discovery – Balance – Healing. Things always changing. Changing partners, changing music. Always dancing.

Strength and flexibility dance
Together
Living Vibrantly
Finding Stilling in
the Moment

Live it out loud!

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