Lillah Schwartz » iyengar

Yoga and the Organic Body, Morning Leg/Back Warm Ups – Part 3

Lillah — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:52:45 +0000

Knowing how to make your back feel good is great.

Try these two poses and see what happens.

In these exercises we are toning the whole front body to observe the release of the back body.

Pay careful attention to what she says about the knee in the beginning of the video. Our goal is to make the body feel better and eliminate any pain, not cause pain. Careful attention to proper instruction is important in yoga.

Yoga & the Organic Body, Morning Leg Warm up, Part 3

Tone both the neck and abdomen and observe the release of the neck and spine that comes from the law of ”reciprocal inhibition” ie; the release of the antagonistic muscles.

Did you feel your back release? Were you able to let go of tension and hardness in your kidneys? Let me hear from you.

Namaste, Lillah

IAYT & Yoga Therapy Today

Lillah — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:24:22 +0000

We all know yoga is therapeutic in many ways, and in different ways depending on the style. IYAT, the International Association of Yoga Therapists is an organizing body for those teaching and currently researching yoga therapy. The following link is a recent study released on Iyengar Yoga for Chronic Low-back Pain. Be still my heart! There are several useful resource links in the study for those of you who are currently teaching yoga.

If you are interested in more studies and resources for yoga therapy, become a member of IAYT at this Link.

SYTAR – Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research September 1-4, 2011 Monterey, California

Thank you for reading. I hope the information was helpful to you. Namaste, Lillah

Morning Leg/Back Warm Ups-Part 2

Lillah — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 17:35:57 +0000

Looking for a real good hamstring stretch while keeping your low back safe? Try this one – after warming up with part 1 first of course.

organic-morning-leg-warmup2.wmv

This extension should really get you warm! Let me here from you.

Namaste, Lillah

Morning Leg/back Warm ups-Part 1

Lillah — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 17:25:16 +0000

Excellent to set the foundations of the legs and begin opening the hip joint. Learn to maintain the extension of the legs and spine to create softness of the belly and release pressure on your organs.

organic-morning-leg-warmup1

What a great way to start a morning. There are 3 more parts with some core toning coming up. Let me know how you like the video. What works for you?

Namaste, Lillah

The Art of Choosing

Lillah — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:30:05 +0000

How do we choose and what does that say about spiritual practice?

How we make choices and what motivates us reveals cultural preferences as demonstrated in this video clip from TED. Very interesting.

Sheena Iyengar on the art of choosing

Reflections from Lillah…

What stuck in my mind after viewing the video, was how performance and choice was related to how we perceive mother. In the US students perceived mother as an adversarial force inhibiting freedom, whereas Japanese students perceived mother as supportive and guiding to all that is good.

In the realm of spiritual practice many traditions look to the personal to connect to the Eternal. The native Americans; “ Grandmother, Grandfather, Great Spirit”, The Sufi Order of the West; “ take us in thy parental arms….”, in Catholicism; “Mother Mary, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit”.

How then do we of the West, with our love of individuality, and the responsibility to then make our own choices for better or for worse, create a relationship with our Universal and Divine nature?

My current understanding is that our individuality is both a blessing and a curse. For as we begin from the point of authentic self-expression to My idea, My energy, My way… our ego is allowed to grow bigger and bigger stealing the show as it were, leading us to self-serving extremes. What I have learned through time is that I can’t do it all myself. Every expression is really a collaboration of many ideas, people and circumstances. It seems to me that individuality often supports a false premise, as no woman/man is an island and each individual is not separate from the whole.

As individuals we may seem in our outward expression to be unique, and in a way we are, as the Divine spark manifests differently in each of our hearts. Yet we are really a combination of all the forces that create us, making us more alike than different. These include the basic elements (earth, fire, air and water), family and ancestral dreams and conditioning, our relationships with family, friends and community, and the ways in which we express the shared ideals of those groups.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist holding a Nobel Peace Prize, helped us to embrace this idea of “non-self”. The idea that when we look deep into a living being we see the totality, all that the tree is made of, earth, clouds, sun, etc., so really there is no tree without all the other elements. When we can bring ourselves to a deep acceptance and appreciation of how we are created and supported by everything around us, now “my” point of view becomes an expression of the ideas and desires of my family, community, and with clear focus and attention the Divine impulse itself.

Going back to the video. How then can one find the peace of knowing when one has chosen well?

In the yoga Sutra, Patanjali set forth timeless guidance. Through asana and pranayama practice, we are to find release from the distractions of the ego mind and come to a still quiet place within. There we can turn our attention toward the Divine Self. There is a saying by those in spiritual circles that energy follows thought. Therefore the more we give our attention to realizing our Divine Nature “consistently through time”, the more we establish a relationship with the peace and wellbeing that is our birthright.

It is from this place of inner stillness or peace that clear choices are made. Accepting our limited understanding of all the cause and effects at play at any one time, making a clear decision means feeling in our heart for our best choice, the one that brings us a sense of contentment, a fullness of heart. Even so, the results of our choices are not guaranteed. Therefore the guidance of all great spiritual traditions is to not be attached to the outcome, or, from Patanjali’s perspective to “surrender the fruits of ones actions to the Divine”.

On the Bhakti path of devotion, my inner quest is to remain connected to “Source”, not with an overly individual feeling of separation, but rather through the gateway of the heart. I love to connect by invoking the presence of a great being or “Grandmother” for I deem her to be wiser than I. All my ideas and desires are not really mine… yet an expression of “all that is” expressing through me. My responsibility is to live as authentically as possible, in good faith that all will be well, surrendering the fruits of my actions as a gift to the Divine Being which sustains me.

How is it that you connect with your “Source”? How do you know when you have arrived? After a difficult choosing, Is there a lasting peace that remains?

Thanks for reading. I look forward to your comments. Namaste. Lillah

Stabilize the Sacrum with Yoga – Part 7

Lillah — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:13:40 +0000

Final Pose in this series. The base of our sacrum is stabilized by muscles. Try Salabhasana, Locust pose legs only with a belt and see if you can find those deeper gluteal muscles. One more way to find your yoga butt!

Stabilize the Sacrum with Yoga – Part 7

Remember to end every practice with Savasana, relaxation, even if just a few minutes. Love to hear how the sacral series is working for you! Namaste, Lillah

Stabilize the Sacrum with Yoga Part 6

Lillah — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:54:13 +0000

We toned our core in Part 5 … now its time to create a good looking yoga butt with Upward Facing Dog Pose! Just like My student Joanne, hands on the floor may not help you.

Stabilize the Sacrum with Yoga – Part 6

Let me know how up dog in the chair helped you. Thanks for watching! Namaste, Lillah

Stabilize with Core Strength

Lillah — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:27:49 +0000

Core strength is important for all yoga practitioners and often overlooked. Learn to execute Urdhva Prasarita Padasana and tone your core!

Stabilize the Sacrum with Yoga – Part 5

After you can keep your spine neutral with one sweep down and up, then stop at 30, 60, & 90 degrees for more of a challenge. Just remember IF there is pain … no gain.

Look forward to hearing from you! Namaste Lillah

A Pelvic Lift & a Belt to Stabilize…

Lillah — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:10:58 +0000

The pelvic lift or Setu bhanda is at the base of many therapeutic yoga sequences. Try the pose with a block which tones the inner leg or the belt and tone the sacral area.

Stabilize the Sacrum with Yoga – Part 4

After all the time many of us spend in a chair, this pose will feel really good!

As always, please share this blog with a friend and let me hear how this pose or series is working for you. Namaste, Lillah

Triangle pose is a challenge

Lillah — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:20:09 +0000

Triangle pose or Trikonasna challenges students with Sacro-illiac joint problems in a big way. There are ways to work positively which will help students stay out of pain by focusing on the details.

Stabilize the Sacrum with Yoga – Part 3

See if you can make this one work for you. Most students do not drop the root of the front thigh enough to feel the relief in their sacrum. Let me hear from You… Namaste, Lillah