Ujjayi

If you blindfolded me in a yoga studio just two months ago and told me to get my "Ujjayi" going, I'd probably attempt a straddle on the back and do some kegels.  (Something about the word makes me think of the urogenital system).

Now that I know better,  I will keep my legs closed and prepare for some deep, cleansing, calming pranayama.  

Consider how most harried urbanites breathe.  We take quick oxygen from the nostrils to barely the neck and shoulders.  It's expelled just as quickly.  Shallow and short, our daily breathing patterns are not beneficial for optimal health.

In contrast, Ujjayi, is a deep, murmuring breath gliding down the back of the throat, regulated by slow, even contractions of the diaphragm. 

Let's try this.  Pretend you're some creepy stalker.  Whisper to your captive: "Hallo Hahn." Make it creepier.  Draw out the "H" and whisper, "Hhhhhallo Hhhhhhahn."  (Like Hannibal Lecter has laryngitis in Hamburg while trying to intimidate FBI's German liason, Herr Hahn).

Lost?
Okay, watch me first:
Inhale (mouth open) with: "Hhhhhhhhhaaaahhhhh"
Exhale (mouth open) with: "Hhhhhhhhhhaaaahhhhh."
Your turn.

Next step.  Watch me first:
Inhale.  Mouth open, draw, "hhhhhhhaaaaaahhhh." Bring lips together before the exhale.
Exhale.  Mouth closed, whisper over the glottis.
Your turn.

If you find yourself frustrated on the simultaneous Exhale + Closed Mouth + Whisper, try to imitate someone who is in a deep sleep / pre-snore stage.

Now you're ready to Ujjayi like a true yogini.
Watch me keep the mouth closed all throughout.
Inhale (whisper).
Exhale (whisper).
Your turn.

They say the whisper sounds like the ocean.  I don't know.  To me it sounds like a Sleestak.  If you were born after the 80's, google Sleestak and Youtube.  Then tune into the shortest clip.  Listen carefully.

So why Ujjayi?  Well, for starters, Ujjayi is known as the "victorious breath" because it moves you from one asana to another.  Off the mat, it's said to be great for lowering the heart rate and blood pressure as it stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system.

I put my Ujjayi to the test at the airport security line.  This is one place that induces some anxiety and impatience for me.  I was more than willing to be my own guinea pig for this real-life trial.  Conclusion:  just focusing on my Ujjayi breathing put me in a mellow state.  And I moved with less struggle from one action to another until I was free to go to my gate. 

So the next time you're on a crowded supermarket line, at the DMV, or airport security, turn on your Ujjayi breath.  At the very least, the person behind you might find it odd and give you some space.

Namaste ~e

Kapalabhati

Rise and shine ~ with a shiny skull!  NY pharmacist sharing her love for yoga here at 4:30am pacific standard time. 

Doing my kapalabhati, I wonder why it's called shining skull.... 

Inhale through the nose for a full deep breath. 
Pumping out on the exhale through the nose for 50 fast, furious breaths from the lower belly. 
Short abdominal contractions to exhale out a gnat in one's nostrils. 
50 short ones for one minute. 

Of course the pharmacist in me had to understand the mechanism of action in which this pranayama causes skull brightening.  Turns out, it shines the skull because cranial sinuses are facilitated during the exercise.  These canals that run through the dura transport blood and the CSF (cerebrospinal fluid)
away from the brain. 

Daily toxins leave the nooks and crannies of our noggins.  Leaving us with whiter, brighter skulls.

Namaste

Seeing Forrest

6 months ago, I thought Forrest Yoga was a movement born from the hippy-dippy tree hugging culture, possibly involving a lot of tree poses.  I got turned onto this style thanks to my German-born instructor, Anke.  (I even thought it could have been a type of yoga started out in the Black Forrest).

Well, thanks to Google and Anke's amazing teaching, I finally took my interest one step further and explored it on the web.  Alright, it was named after the creatrix herself  - Ana Forrest.

I read her book - Fierce Medicine - and was completely blown away.  Being a pharmacist, anything with the word "medicine" holds my ADD-riddled "modern" mind.  Being a new yorker and of a certain temperament, the word "fierce" preceding "medicine" will definitely seal the deal.

What is Ana like?  My initial impression after barely a week with her is a mixed bag - and so it should be with dynamic personalities.  She is not boring.  Yet, she is not flighty or flaky.

There are times I find myself wondering how the heck I'm finding pleasure (pleasure was yesterday's morning lesson) waking up before dawn to take a yoga intensive from 6 to 9am every flipping day - weekends included.  And then she'll say something so off-kilter, I'll find my pleasure howling with laughter.

Let me illustrate her sense of humor.  There's an exercise in which students are identified and grouped according to numbers.  The instruction was something like this, "As we go around the room, say your number from one to three."

Well, the way the students were spouting off numbers was just horrible in tone, pitch, etc... I'm one of those ultra - sensitive types that can't stand horrible voices.  A man would be better off bald and fat than have a bad voice.

And what is really a turnoff is a yoga instructor who walks in and starts talking with flat affect in her own voice.  We have one at the gym who has such a lame voice,  I stopped going to her class.  "Is she happy to be here?" I 'd wonder.  "Maybe her true calling is to be a postal worker?.."  If I no longer attend a yoga class, it's mostly because I can't stand the voice.

So we trainees are spouting off "1, 2, 3..." etc.  The noises that were being uttered would make the lowings of a cow sound like Mozart.  Ana interrupts and starts to go into a well-served tirade about being responsible for our own voices - especially those of teachers.  (I remember slipping out of a professor's class during 7am Pharmacology.  I will buy the notes that will be sold after the class, I thought.  There is no way I want to hear her grating voice 7 in the morning).

Ana explains how she is weary of these low vibrations in our voices.  Her final word on the matter:  "Just stop putting that sh*t out into the world."  I died laughing.