First Street Yoga - Newberg, Oregon

Why should a grown-up take the risk and trouble to go upside down? Handstands, cartwheels, hanging from your knees are all familiar movements from childhood but for most of us, as we age, we stay upright. And there is risk upside down. Weakness, lack of coordination and spinal problems can add real elements of danger. So why do it?

Because we can.

Learning to do difficult things expands our abilities and increases our range of options. Avoiding doing difficult things reduces our abilities and limits our options. When we learn to do a handstand, for example, we teach our arms to be sturdy and strong like legs. The upper back and shoulder area must learn to be firm and stable, yielding great benefits to normal posture. At the same time, we teach our mind equanimity, the ability to be calm and reasonable even when things look difficult and confusing. These are some of the first gifts we get from upside down.

Besides building strength and confidence, upside down poses are naturally calming. Really. When we put most of the body above the level of the heart, gravity assists the venous return of blood, easing the heart’s work. Our lungs work differently, too, as the postures allow more space in the rib cage and more blood to the upper lung tissues. Inverted poses are believed to be fortifying and beneficial for supporting a healthy immune system. The concentration that balancing requires helps focus and calm the mind.

This Sunday (2/19 1-4pm) I’ll be teaching the ABCs of Upside Down, a workshop designed to introduce inverted yoga asanas and how to practice them safely. We will spend some time on anatomy and physiology in order to understand the various dangers and how to avoid them. You will learn how to prepare your body to practice headstand and shoulderstand safely, and you will have the opportunity to work on these poses as appropriate. We will have  time to practice a variety of relaxing supported inversions as well.

Who should come? Students should be reasonably healthy (no congestive heart problems, serious eye problems, or untreated high blood pressure) and should have at least four months of alignment oriented yoga instruction. Beginners who are interested in moving on to L2 but are nervous about the inversions will particularly benefit from this workshop. More advanced students looking to refine their practice will learn different approaches and props to help their practice develop.

This small workshop will have plenty of opportunity for questions and for adapting the practice to suit the individual. These are some of my very favorite asanas and I am eager to share their discoveries. I hope you’ll join me!

To register, call or email. You are welcome to show up that afternoon and attend as space allows. Questions? Let me know. -Jane

The advancement of technology has made everything  faster, and much in life is easier than it used to be. However, as technology increases,  more demands are put upon us; communications are made with the expectation of immediate response, and decisions are made as quick as you can hit the send button. This new speed of life, especially around the holidays, puts stress levels at an all time high.

Join Alison on Sunday, Dec. 4^th from 1-4 for Yoga for Stress Relief: an active and restorative workshop. Using yoga philosophy to guide us, we will spend the 1^st half of the workshop practicing actively to relieve built up tension stored in the body. In the 2^nd half, we will practice restoratives to unwind the body and calm the mind.

You will learn new ways to cope with stress and leave feeling relaxed and refreshed.

To save a spot in the workshop email or call (503) 554- 5485.

Sore necks, injured shoulders, tired aching upper backs: these are the common results of daily life. The head, after all, is a heavy burden. When we spend the day with our nose to the grindstone, so to speak, the upper body suffers. It may be work that starts the problem but resulting discomfort affects all of our life: sleep, play, exercise, and the ability to remain cheerful. That’s a lot to lose.

There’s a cure. Join Jane on Sunday November 13 for help for aching necks, shoulders and upper back. This three hour workshop (1-4) is appropriate for all levels. In it, students will learn about the anatomy of the upper body and begin to gain a better understanding of their difficulties. Active asanas will work to develop strength in the back body while restorative poses will help stretch and relax the muscles of the upper chest and shoulders.

To save a spot in the workshop, email or call (503) 554-5485.

It is possible to trade that pain in the neck for a light heart!

Most of us have had the experience of driving a car when the tires are not quite balanced. It takes more work – to hold the car steady in its lane, to corner and to change speeds. Our bodies are just the same. We function best when we are symmetrical, but life works against symmetry. Right-handed or left-handed, how we work and how we play, these factors tend to develop muscles unevenly. When we’re out of balance we’re just like that unbalanced car; extra effort must go to keeping on track. The practice of yoga is an individual practice of figuring out and correcting our asymmetries. Strength and flexibility are balanced to create the greatest freedom of movement possible.

Yoga myths

You must be flexible to practice yoga. Strength and flexibility are like the flip sides of a coin; the stronger you are, the less flexible you are liable to be. Yoga works to balance these qualities in all the poses. We use props like chairs and blankets to support ourselves on this journey. Yoga gradually encourages flexibility by releasing tense muscles to allow greater range of motion, while training muscles to be strong even in extended positions.

Yoga is good for improving stress and flexibility but it’s not real exercise. When we move quickly from pose to pose, yoga practice can be quite aerobic. Most of the time, especially for beginners, yoga asana is more like weight training – but the weight you bear is your own. Moving in and out of the poses as well as the isometric tension of holding poses work to build muscle. When we strengthen a muscle in a lengthening position (the opposite of crunching contractions) the muscle is less visible but more active metabolically (will burn more calories when at rest). Unlike weight machines, yoga doesn’t target specific muscles. Instead, it aims toward best function. You’ll discover muscles you never knew you had!

Yoga truths

Yoga is an excellent cross-training for most sports. Because yoga practice works to create a balanced body, the awareness, coordination, and strength it confers benefits all sports. Further, the emphasis on mental focus and emotional stability can be key in eliciting the best possible performance even in stressful circumstances.

Yoga is one of the best ways to improve back problems. Numerous well designed studies now confirm that alignment based yoga is one of the most effective ways to cure chronic back pain. Just like the alternatives, surgery and pain management, yoga has side effects. The side effects for yoga? Stress relief, increased feelings of well being, better breathing patterns, long term weight loss, and more.

Yoga decreases stress and improves concentration. While we work physically, we keep the mind focused on our immediate experience. This simple focus becomes a meditation that improves concentration and teaches tools for managing stress.

Interested? Join John Thursday evenings at our Introductory Course (For Men) and experience these yoga truths for yourself.

When my grown children come home for visits, they are eager for physical work. They cheerfully chop firewood and stack hay, not so much out of care for us parents as out of a love of physical challenge. As I get deeper into my fifth decade, I notice I’m losing the drive for heroic physical exercise. And when I do push myself, I take longer to recover. Surprisingly, this loss of raw physical power has yielded to coordination, thoughtfulness and finesse. As I get less capable physically, I become more physically effective. This is a paradox that is common to yoga practice.

The discomfort of unwanted change is exactly like the discomfort we feel in asana. It may not be pleasant, but we use it to learn. We probably don’t know much about our hamstrings until we feel them complain in a forward bend. Without discomfort, the inner structure of muscle and bones is invisible to us. When I was young and filled with power, why bother with carefulness and planning? I could charge ahead and get the job done. Now, I need to think twice and this effort of refinement gives a wonderful gift: grace.

Unwanted change is the school of adaptability. Whether we’re facing the short-term change of summer to fall or the long-term changes of aging, yogis think less about most perfect conditions and more about most effective response. When we shift our attention in this way, we become the master of our fate and not a victim of circumstances. We discover grace, or, as Patanjali says in the third sutra, then we dwell in our own true splendor.

Yours in continued exploration,

Jane