Alternative treatments

After a fun and hectic month launching the Yoga Lifestyle Programme and doing lots of filming and editing... I have finally got around to writing my final blog post from my amazing weekend in London at the Om Yoga Show. As you walk around the main arena of Olympia each and every stall has something amazing to offer to the show.

I am a massive lover of any type of massage and felt spoilt for choice as I contemplated which treatment to indulge in. I ended up choosing shiatsu. My therapist lifted, twisted and bent me into many different positions to release energy blockages and tension. It was a very relaxing experience and I felt as if I was walking on air afterwards.

The benefits of massage can improve, stimulate, increase, develop, regenerate, and relax each and every organ in the body. This improves the overall function of the organ systems.

It is very important to have regular massages to increase your health and to prevent disease. 

I have a regular back massage and reflexology for my general wellbeing and recommend this to all of my patients.

I offer full body massage, sports massage and Indian head massage.

It is the time of the year now when we are wondering what to buy our loved ones for Christmas. If you are unsure what presents to buy for people this year why not treat them to a relaxing pamper session or to some yoga. 

Check out my christmas special offers at:

http://ayurvedicyogalifestyle.co.uk/#/alternative-therapies/4561711531

xXx Namaste xXx
  

Budakon - Jungle

I have had a thing for Budakon yoga since I discovered it last year at the yoga show.

I have always been into martial arts since I was very young and have tried many different styles.

When I was 17, I got into both yoga and kickboxing at roughly the same time. I immediately felt a connection and fell in love with them both equally. To me yoga was my yin and kickboxing my yang. I found that they both complimented each other perfectly.

Cameron Shayne has portrayed the philosophy of my ideal style of how to structure the perfect class. He has intricately joined the mind, body and spirit in a way that I feel a deep resonation. I absolutely love the idea of combining yoga and martial arts.

The gorgeous Ryan demonstrated Budakon Jungle taking us back through our evolutionary past and to our animal instincts to re-ignite our yoga practice. It was the most fun open class of the weekend. We all charged across the ever so small studio imitating different animals. Some were graceful, others not so graceful. Or should I say Ryan made them look graceful! It would be funny to watch back how we all looked when practicing them! Lol

I will be enlightening my students with a new concept of the word crocodile! Formerly known as chatturanga in my yoga classes, crocodile in Budakon is basically a walking plank. You keep your body in a perfectly straight line navel pulled in towards spine to create a strong core. Then keeping your arms straight, flex and extend your wrists while simultaneously moving your opposite foot forward. It’s quite difficult getting used to your co-ordination at first but when mastered this pose is excellent for the core and strengthening the wrists. The next progression is walking crocodile which is very challenging and requires a lot of core and upper body strength. After each movement you add a press up! I really liked this variation it got my muscles working extremely hard and my heart rate elevated rapidly. The jumping crocodile followed... Now this isn’t for the faint hearted! 

As you lower into chatturanga pose, you explosively push your hands and feet into the ground while leaping yourself forward to land in your starting position. Ryan’s demonstration was very fluid and he made it look so easy. The distance he created from himself and the floor was very high and he jumped really far forward.

My attempt was quite good, I could jump up from chatturanga and land in the same position but I didn’t appear to move forward much! I will definitely be having this as one of my goals in my personal yoga practice. 

Budakon yoga inspires me very much and I will continue to practice at home with the DVD's! :)

xXx Namaste xXx 

Dru Yoga - Healing Chronic Pain

It was by chance that I attended this workshop. I thought it was a marketing for back pain workshop I didn't realize it was in connection with dru yoga.

I got into the practice of Dru Yoga every Sunday morning for several years after breaking my back. I really enjoyed it as it was very different to any other style of yoga I had done. It is a gentle form of yoga that is used therapeutically to people of all fitness levels worldwide. It is a light and gentle movement orientated form of yoga that really gets the energy moving throughout the entire body. It is very effective at removing energy blockages and aids in healing.

Dru Yoga is one of the UK’s largest yoga training schools and has a large database of research-proven records stating how yoga has dramatically reduced pain and helped in the recovery of injury and disease.

The sequence we practiced at this workshop was specifically designed for people with chronic back pain. It is a very basic sequence that is designed to be practiced in the workplace. The yoga teacher demonstrated the practice in a skirt to prove it is easily done in your work outfit.

It was a simple and enjoyable class that revealed a lot of references to previous trials and research assessing yoga for various medical complaints. 

The University of York Department of Health Sciences

Bulletins November 2011:

'Yoga can provide more effective treatment for chronic lower back pain than more conventional methods, according to the UK’s largest ever study into the benefits of yoga.' 

This 12 week study consisted of 2 groups. One group was to practice yoga for 12 weeks and the other group was offered GP care alone. The participants measured their levels of pain using the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire throughout the programme and then 3, 6 and 12 months after. There was an overall improvement in the every day activities like walking, getting out of bed and putting on clothes in the group that practiced yoga even 9 months after the programme had finished.

I know the benefits of yoga are truely amazing when it comes to treating back pain from personal experience. There was a time when I thought I would never walk again. I was bed bound for several months and I found simple things like sitting up, eating and drinking very challenging. When I finally found my feet I could not climb stairs or steps and when I could, I had to take one step at a time very slowly. 

It was 12 months until I was fit enough to start practicing yoga again and I found most postures challenging. From the beginning of the class I struggled with Sukhasana (easy seated pose). Even using the wall as a prop I felt pain. This took me a good few years to develop and sit in with ease. I now enjoy this pose and if any pain does arise I can breathe through it until I feel totally relaxed.

I was elated when I discovered Dru yoga. I saw an advert in the paper for yoga classes at Gorton Monastery on a sunday morning so I thought I 'd go down and give it a go. 

To my amazement when I got there the class was far from what I expected! The warm up sequence seemed more like a gentle dance warm-up then yoga. As the class progressed the movements were very slow and gentle and throughout the practice I didn't feel pain at all. I found my new medicine. I was hooked! 

Every sunday morning I headed over to Gorton Monastery positive that this Dru yoga class was part of my healing process. I continued this class for 2 years and found it very effective at reducing my pain. 

Even though I haven't practiced Dru yoga for a few years, I would highly recommend this style of yoga to people who have disabilities and chronic pain.

xXx Namaste xXx

Hot Power Yoga

 (Urdhva Dhanurasana)  

Wheel Pose

After having a delicious 3 egg omelette at the hotel restaurant for breakfast, I searched my yoga show manual to plan my day ahead. I was in need of an energizing vinyasa style class so I began to hunt one down. I stumbled across Hot Power Yoga with Dylan Ayaloo.

He describes his class as; “Brief but powerful vinyasa flow style suitable for all levels. You will be encouraged to tune into your body to discover what is right for you rather than seeking the perfect posture.”

He had me at “powerful vinyasa flow!” This is exactly what my body needed at that moment in time and as I read on, I felt recognition in the rest of his description. I always encourage students to tune into their mind and body and advise them to ease into postures and do what feels right for them.

What feels right for one student may not feel right to another student. Yoga is non-competitive and you should work within your comfortable limits rather than striving for a posture your body may not be able to achieve.

Instinct and intuition assured me this was the class for me to start my final day at the yoga show.

We began with a short meditation then quickly moved through a vinyasa flow that gradually got faster. My heart rate was elevated within the first few minutes and energy was soaring through my body. 

In between each vinyasa flow, Dylan instructed us to add arm balances such as side plank and crow, twists and leg balances. He structured the 30 minute class very well to incorporate a lot of postures. Dylan wanted us to leave his class full of energy so we ended the practice with bridge pose and then 4 consecutive wheel poses. 

After breaking my back I really struggled with backbends and to this day have to be careful with them and make sure I am fully warmed up first. For many years I thought I would never be able to do upward facing dog again let alone wheel and camel poses. Poses like this petrified me as it brought on a hell of a lot of pain. 

I practice wheel and camel poses very rarely but today I was feeling strong and in tune with my mind and body so I decided to look fear in the face and go for it!

I stayed up for the full duration of 8 breaths and then we took a very brief savasana. To my surprise as I released from wheel pose, I felt the posture most in my wrists. Listening to my body, I gave my wrists a little rest and chose to do bridge instead. I managed to lift much higher in my second wheel pose as one of the lovely yoga assistants lifted me higher opening my heart even higher to the heavens. 

I lay in savasana to bask in the achievements of overcoming one of my fears. It felt so good knowing that after all these years of not being strong enough to practice backbends, I can now practice poses that I always thought were out of my reach and unattainable.

Anything is possible if you put your mind to it! :)

xXx Namaste xXx 

The Face of Yoga

I was very eager to get to Olympia on the Saturday morning as I was so excited about gathering information to start planning my retreats.

Always keen to be early, I was the first one there so fortunately I got a seat at the front of the conference room, I wasn’t missing a thing!

After reserving my seat I ran down to the cafe to get some water and saw this gorgeous yoga outfit I saw the day before. I briefly told the lady I would be back later on in the day to buy the outfit but she assured me it would probably be gone as she didn’t have many.

I had 10 minutes before the conference was about to begin so I decided to quickly try the outfit on.

It looked great, just my style. Nicola said she loved how it looked on me and asked if she could take a picture of me in the outfit to promote her clothing line. I was very flattered and honoured so I happily obliged.

The pant are a lovely style and are very comfy, there were many other styles and colours to choose from.

I loved how the top fitted so perfectly without the need to wear a bra! I loved the top that much I went back and bought a leopard print one the next day! :)