Monday, July 29, 2019

Yoga & Ayurveda: Two Sides of the Health Coin

Two Elephants, Amrita Sher-Gil, 1940
By Ram Rao

Thanks to Swami Vivekananda, Yoga came to the West in 1893 and was embraced by a receptive audience. In contrast, its counterpart, Ayurveda, got left behind in India despite the fact that both yoga and Ayurveda are two very similar paths sharing a close relationship––so closely related that they are often described as two sides of the same health-and-wellness coin. Both these sciences have their origin in the Vedic texts and address health and health practices. If Ayurveda is the healing aspect, Yoga is the spiritual/practical side of the Vedic teachings. Together, they emphasize a complete approach to the well-being of the body, the mind, and the intellect.

Both sciences have a common underlying goal: the well-being of an individual at the level of body and mind and to help an individual reconnect to their true nature through direct and personal experience (pratyeksha in Sanskrit). While Yoga prepares the body and mind of the individual for the eventual liberation and enlightenment, Ayurveda involves numerous ways to keep the body and mind healthy. Both sciences emphasize our close relationship with the environment and provide us with tools to alter our environmental surroundings in a manner that is harmonious with our innate Self.

In today’s world, Yoga is thought of as poses mostly (asanas), something like a stretching tool to keep the body limber and agile. People are drawn to Yoga as a way to keep fit even though the idea behind the physical practice of Yoga is to help the mind become clear or pure and, thereby, develop deeper mind-body awareness. A clear mind is not affected by stress and a clear mind produces a healthy body, thus creating a greater connection with one's own pure, essential nature.

Similarly, Ayurveda brings with it the knowledge of how to keep the physical body healthy and how it relates to an individual’s spiritual journey. It addresses our entire lifestyle including diet, sleep, physical, mental, and intellectual exercises. However, Ayurveda is highly individualistic; it sees each individual as unique and an individual's path toward perfect health as a unique path. Hence, what is right for each individual is unique to that individual alone. This is akin to a person’s unique genetic background or constitution––or dosha, in Sanskrit.

An individual’s constitution describes who the person is at the most fundamental level. This concept is remarkable because as a result of this understanding, Ayurveda prescribes a unique “tailor-made” program for each individual based upon his/her constitution and the nature of the imbalance––and avoids the "one size-fits all" concept that is followed in many other systems of healing. Thus, Ayurveda is based upon understanding an individual's needs and what is right only for that individual and not the masses, and fulfilling those needs to bring complete harmony.

Along with diet, herbs, colors, and aromas, Ayurveda sheds light on which specific Yoga asanas are best for each individual based on his/her constitution. With the knowledge of Ayurveda, a practitioner of Hatha Yoga can refine his/her practice so that it is in harmony with their internal balance of energy. Some Yoga postures are best for one person while others can cause greater imbalance. By knowing one's constitutional balance, an individual can use constitution-specific asanas to reverse their imbalances and improve their health and well-being. Indeed, if we can understand our constitution, we can control our choices and choose only those that will lead us toward optimal health.

How does one get to know their inherent constitution? There are several health journals or web sites that analyze your constitution based on your replies to a specific set of questions. However, don't rely solely on this analysis–instead take it with a grain of salt. Before jumping to any conclusion about your constitution and changing your diet, asanas, or lifestyle, it is always best to consult with an Ayurvedic health professional who will help to determine your constitution, help you to understand the nature of any imbalance, and establish a plan to bring you to balance thus providing guidance toward success in establishing a disease-free lifestyle.

Thus, both Yoga and Ayurveda are inherently joined. While Yoga shows us how to realize our true Self through a path of continuous practice, Ayurveda too has its own set of tools to allow us to discover our true Self. The connection between Yoga and Ayurveda is deep rooted and it is beneficial for us to know how to use these sciences together in order to lead a harmonious life that allows us to discover our true nature.


Rammohan (Ram) Rao comes from a family of Ayurvedic practitioners and Vedic teachers in India tracing back to the illustrious Vedic-acharya Rishi Kaundinya (although Ram admits he cannot do the Eka pada or Dwi pada Kaundinyasana). With a doctorate in Neuroscience, Ram was a Research Associate Professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. He focused on various aspects of age-associated neurodegenerative diseases with emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, Ram completed the academic training at the California College of Ayurveda (CCA) and received his certification as Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist. He has been a faculty member of the California College of Ayurveda and teaches in their Nevada City location. Ram is also a dedicated Hatha yoga practitioner and is a Registered Yoga Teacher from Yoga Alliance USA. In his spare time he offers consultations in YAMP techniques (Yoga, Ayurveda, Meditation & Pranayama). Ram has published several articles in major Yoga/Ayurveda magazines and has been a featured speaker in several national and international meetings and symposia. He is a member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA) and is on the Research Board of the Association of Ayurvedic Professionals of North America (AAPNA).


This post was edited by Patrice Priya Wagner, co-editor of Accessible Yoga blog and member of the Board of Directors.


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To preorder Jivana Heyman's forthcoming book Accessible Yoga, go to AmazonBarnes and NobleIndie Bound (for independent bookstores), or your local bookstore.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Featured Video: Zelinda Yañez's Sequence for Limited Mobility



In this video, Zelinda teaches one of her students a half-hour sequence that gives someone with mobility issues—whether temporary, such as a due broken, sprained, or injured ankle or foot, or permanent due to other conditions—access to a well-rounded practice. Practicing on a platform provides a really convenient way for you to move from seated to reclined positions. If you were practicing at home, maybe you could use a low table, such as a coffee table, the same way. —Nina


Zelinda Yañez founded The Yoga Room in Round Rock, TX, in 2010, with the mission of making yoga accessible for all kinds of bodies. Zelinda teaches in the Krishnamacharya tradition, having completed the 500 Hour Yoga Teacher Training Programme at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai, India. She specializes in customizing the yoga practice to suit the student’s needs, and teaches small group classes as well as private instruction. The Yoga Room’s YouTube Channel has recently been recognized for Best Yoga Video by healthline.com and Self magazine. Zelinda is currently a student of the 500 Hour Yoga Therapist Training Programme at KYM.


This post was edited by Nina Zolotow, co-editor of the Accessible Yoga blog and Editor in Chief of Yoga for Healthy Aging.

° FOLLOW Accessible Yoga on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and YouTube

° REGISTER here for our next conference. 

° DONATE here to help us bring yoga to people who don't have access or have been underserved, such as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, children with special needs, and anyone who doesn't feel comfortable in a regular yoga class.

To preorder Jivana Heyman's forthcoming book Accessible Yoga, go to AmazonBarnes and NobleIndie Bound (for independent bookstores), or your local bookstore.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Accessibility in the Yoga Alliance Standards

By Jivana Heyman

Just a few weeks ago, Yoga Alliance USA (YA) announced long-awaited updates to the basic, 200-hour yoga teacher training guidelines. I was involved in two of the working groups that YA convened to offer ideas for these new rules – the Inclusion and Code of Conduct groups. I found the conversations within these groups to be compelling and incredibly interesting. And I knew that YA would have to work hard to integrate the feedback from these groups, as well as their public survey, with the rules that they currently have.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the new standards go far enough to address accessibility for people with disabilities, seniors, students with larger bodies, or anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable in a traditional yoga studio. I do see the beginning of some really useful changes, but I’m not convinced yet. My main concern is that accessibility is not woven into the way that yoga teachers are being trained. How much flexibility will schools have to cover whatever they want? YA needs to add specific training to the core curriculum about making asana accessible. This isn’t a topic we can leave to teachers who happen to be interested in serving people with disabilities. It’s an essential aspect of creating equality in yoga.

On the positive side, I’m excited that YA is going to release a new Code of Conduct, which I believe will address the way that people with disabilities are being excluded from the practice. But until I see the final language, I have no idea how far this document will go. Also, how much impact will a Code of Conduct have? While I feel strongly that clear and powerful ethical guidelines will be an essential tool for yoga students to be treated fairly, I’m also realistic.

Since yoga is not a licensed profession, YA has limited authority and is in an awkward position. They don't certify teachers, and they can’t take teacher’s certifications away for abusing the rules. I keep hearing them say, "No one wants us to be the yoga police." But is that true? Don't we need someone to be looking out for the students who are abused, disenfranchised, or injured?

I’m also happy to see that YA is requiring a new ten-hour “Equity in Yoga” course, which will address ways in which yoga is currently not equitable. There are essential issues around racism and cultural appropriation that need to be addressed, and I’m excited that accessibility will be included in that training. But there is an additional aspect to contemporary yoga that still needs to be considered: modern postural yoga is basically a discriminatory practice. Modern yoga is 90% asana – and there is a hierarchy of “advanced” practices that are taught by most major yoga schools.

Isn’t it time we asked ourselves some serious questions: What is the relationship between “advanced” poses and inner peace? Does someone fail at yoga because they get older or injured? Is someone advanced at yoga because they have hypermobile joint syndrome? Isn’t yoga really about coming home to yourself, calming the mind, and finding some peace? If so, does a focus on performance and appearance move us away from the goal of yoga?

There is another way to teach yoga. Asana can be taught without this hierarchy of “more is better.” Instead, asana can be taught in an inclusive, accessible way. This means poses are offered as a spectrum of possibilities, focusing on the essential benefits and exploring ways to find those benefits at any level of practice. Poses can also be taught at multiple levels at the same time, so that students with different levels of physical ability can be integrated into the same class. Teachers need to be highly skilled to teach this way, but isn’t that a worthy goal?

By nature, yoga is accessible. It is the way we are teaching asana that makes it inaccessible. Teachers need to learn how to adapt practices to any student who comes to them. People with disabilities shouldn’t be required to find a yoga therapist if they want to do yoga. Shouldn’t anyone be allowed to go to a yoga studio just because they want to practice? Do people with disabilities have to go to special classes? Isn’t that a form of segregation?

To me this is similar to the question of “special education” for kids with disabilities. Study after study reveal that kids with disabilities perform better when they are mainstreamed rather than segregated into “special” classes. But American yoga is more segregated than most other activities, and this seems to be the approach that YA is supporting.

The only way to address ableism is through education and integration. All public yoga classes should be accessible yet teachers are constantly telling students with disabilities that they aren’t welcome in their classes, either explicitly or implicitly. This is actually illegal, and yet it happens all the time. These changes to the YA standards actually reinforce cultural norms around segregation by allowing schools to continue to teach their same curriculum without mandating specific training in making asana accessible.

Accessibility also means considering that most people have had trauma, and therefore training around consent also needs to be a required aspect of all yoga teacher training. My recommendation is that YA consider adding specific modules within the new “Professional Essentials” category addressing accessibility and consent. I appreciate the hard work that YA administrators are doing, but I think we need to look into the future to imagine a different yoga landscape that offers a welcoming practice for anyone who is interested in participating. Then we can plot a course to get there through improved awareness and education.


Jivana Heyman is the founder of Accessible Yoga, co-owner of the Santa Barbara Yoga Center and an Integral Yoga Minister. With over twenty years of training and teaching in a traditional yoga lineage, Jivana has specialized in teaching the subtle practices of yoga: pranayama, meditation, as well as sharing yoga philosophy. His passion is making Yoga accessible to everyone. Accessible Yoga has grown into an international advocacy and education organization, and now offers two Conferences per year, trainings around the world, an ambassador program and online Network. Jivana has taught with the Dean Ornish Heart Disease Reversal Program through UCSF, California Pacific Medical Center’s Institute of Health and Healing, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He has led over 40 Yoga teacher training programs over the past 16 years, and created the Accessible Yoga Training program in 2007. On December 3rd, 2015, Jivana taught Accessible Yoga at the United Nations in Geneva for their International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Jivana’s strengths are sharing esoteric and complex teaching in a readily accessible way, and applying the ancient teachings of Yoga to our day-to-day lives.

This post was edited by Patrice Priya Wagner, co-editor of Accessible Yoga blog and member of the Board of Directors

° FOLLOW Accessible Yoga on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and YouTube

° REGISTER here for our next conference. 

° DONATE here to help us bring yoga to people who don't have access or have been underserved, such as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, children with special needs, and anyone who doesn't feel comfortable in a regular yoga class.



To preorder Jivana Heyman's forthcoming book Accessible Yoga, go to AmazonBarnes and NobleIndie Bound (for independent bookstores), or your local bookstore.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Featured Pose: Aqua Yoga Cobra Pose

Aqua Yoga teacher Camella Nair sent us this gorgeous photo of one of her students doing Cobra pose in the water. Camella says that when Cobra pose is practiced in the water you are supported by buoyancy and hydrostatic pressure, so this tends to be a very accessible backbend pose for many people. In this photo the student's hands rest on the deck and she is taking advantage of buoyancy to lift and open the heart center and draw the shoulder blades down the back. From here, she can step the feet back and press her hips back into Water Dog pose (which is a Half-Downward Facing Dog pose with hands on the deck), bringing the spine back to neutral once again. —Nina



Camella Nair (Swami Nibhrtananda) has been practicing and studying yoga for decades and experienced how the practice of yoga changes over time or through illness or injury. She is certified in Aquatic Therapy and Rehabilitation as well as being a Yoga Therapist and Ayurvedic Health Educator and home funeral guide. She has authored two books on yoga and developed an accessible Aqua Yoga training program that caters for diverse populations. She is on faculty at Atri and bridges the gap between yoga and aquatic exercise. As a female swami, she shares deep mystical Kriya yoga concepts with humor and enthusiasm and a female perspective. Find out more about her at camellanair.com.


This post was edited by Nina Zolotow, co-editor of the Accessible Yoga blog and Editor in Chief of Yoga for Healthy Aging.

° FOLLOW Accessible Yoga on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and YouTube

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° DONATE here to help us bring yoga to people who don't have access or have been underserved, such as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, children with special needs, and anyone who doesn't feel comfortable in a regular yoga class.

To preorder Jivana Heyman's forthcoming book Accessible Yoga, go to AmazonBarnes and NobleIndie Bound (for independent bookstores), or your local bookstore.

Monday, July 15, 2019

Core Qualities of Yoga, Part 3: Attitude of Gratitude


This post is part of a series that explores a variety of core qualities and suggested practices to consider for inclusion in your classes and private sessions (whether on a mat, in a chair, or a combination of both).

By Elizabeth Gibbs

Gratitude is defined as being thankful and appreciative for something or someone. An attitude of gratitude helps us live with a greater sense of well-being in spite of challenges, difficulties, and disappointments. Research shows that gratitude can activate the production of dopamine and serotonin in the brain, the "feel good" chemicals, resulting in deeper feelings of contentment. That’s good news! 

How long do those benefits last? The answer is: it depends. Just like exercising, healthy eating, or living a healthy lifestyle, developing a consistent gratitude practice can keep the benefits flowing.

If we choose to work with gratitude in our yoga practice, we will find ways to take it off the mat, out of the chair, and into our daily lives to keep those "feel good" chemicals flowing.

There is a concept in the niyamas, the second limb of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, that sheds light on the practice of gratitude. It’s santosha, often translated as contentment. Not surprisingly, gratitude and contentment are closely related. They’re like two peas in a pod. Gratitude can be seen as a subtler aspect, or shade, of santosha. In her book, The Secret Power of Yoga, Nishala Joy Devi offers this example:

“In South India, there is a heartfelt way of expressing one’s appreciation. Instead of saying 'thank you,' they say Santosha (I am content).”

In spite of our challenges, difficulties, and disappointments, an attitude of gratitude can help us find a measure of contentment with who we are, what we have, and how we can live with more clarity and resilience. An attitude of gratitude helps us remain centered and peaceful; not getting too upset when daily glitches and messy life situations show up (and they will) and not getting too excited when things go 100% the way we hoped (and we always hope they will). Finding the middle ground is not always easy but practicing gratitude is one way to find it consciously and more often.

A quick search on the Internet offers many ways to practice gratitude. I found some sites with seven, 25, 29, 31 and 40 suggestions. These include waking up in the morning and naming five things that you are grateful for before getting out of bed, making daily entries in a gratitude journal, or choosing affirmations to repeat as you brush your teeth or make your breakfast smoothie.

You can do your own search or try out the following suggestions that you can do on your mat, in your chair, or anytime throughout your day. I practice all three.

Gratitude for the Breath

When we are dealing with illness or physical limitations, it can be hard to feel or experience an attitude of gratitude toward the body. However, as long as we are alive we have a way to consciously experience gratitude for the act of breathing. Consciously coordinating breath and movement is a deep practice. Taking a deep breath in as we raise an arm or a leg can feel empowering. Exhaling while we lower an arm or leg can bring a restful release. We can be consciously grateful for each breath and movement accomplished. If some or all of the body is unable to move, we can focus on moving the breath, feeling grateful for each inhalation and each exhalation.

The Upanishads are a collection of Vedic spiritual wisdom writings from India. They are over 2,000 years old. The Taittiriya Upanishad recognizes the importance of being grateful for breath as seen here.

“Man and woman, beast and bird live by breath.
Breath is therefore called the true sign of life.
It is the vital force in everyone
That determines how long we are to live.
Those who look upon breath as the Lord’s gift
Shall live to complete the full span of life.”
—The Upanishads, translation by Eknath Easwaran

In The Breathing Book: Good Health and Vitality Through Essential Breath Work, Donna Farhi give us another reason to be grateful for breath: “Breathing affects your respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, gastrointestinal, muscular, and psychic systems and also has a general effect on your sleep, your memory, your energy level, and your concentration.”

Breathing happens whether we pay attention to the process or not. When we point our awareness and attention toward the breath, we can use it to deepen an attitude of gratitude. Here is a powerful practice.

Gratitude Breath Practice

1. Bring yourself to a comfortable position, seated or lying down.
2. Place your full attention on your breath.
3. Begin to notice the four parts of your breathing process:
    · The inhalation and slight pause before you exhale
    · The exhalation and slight pause before you inhale
4. Let the breath come and go naturally.
5. Silently say “Thank you” on the inhalation and again on the exhalation.
6. Spend three to five minutes watching the four parts of your natural breathing process and consciously practice gratitude.

Affirmations

Affirmations are positive statements that help us reinforce helpful, productive states of mind and well-being. When repeated often, they help to encourage a positive outlook. You can think of affirmations as exercise for the mind. Affirmations are short and stated in the present tense: “I am” as opposed to “I will.” 

Here is one that cultivates an attitude of gratitude: “Thank you for everything, I have no complaint whatsoever.” This affirmation is attributed to Sono, a female Zen master, who lived about 150 years ago. I use it because it helps me feel grateful and content.

Gratitude Popcorn

This is one of my favorite daily practices. When I take a moment to tune in to my surroundings a few times during the day, no matter how busy I am, something that I can be grateful for almost always "pops" into my consciousness. Here are a few examples.

After days of cold weather and rain, the sun comes out, the sky brightens, my mood lifts, and I experience a sudden onset of gratitude for sunshine. I smile and whisper “Thank you.”

As a recovering perfectionist with a long daily "to do" list, my mind says "Do it all!” When that happens, I feel anxiety creeping in. If I take a moment to tune into my body, I can hear it saying "Edit! Edit! Edit!" If I follow through (I don’t always but I’m a work in progress, as are we all) I will take skillful action and choose three items for the day. Anxiety eases. I smile and whisper “Thank you.”

While watching the news, I see a story about someone struggling with a serious health condition. I reflect on my health, which is good in spite of aches, pains, moody blues, and minor chronic stuff. I smile and whisper “Thank you.”

To get your own bag of gratitude popcorn, remember to tune in to your surroundings a few times a day. If you do, something you can be grateful for will "pop" into your consciousness. Then smile and whisper “Thank you.”

Here is a quote that reminds me to practice being grateful:
“A contented heart is a calm sea in the midst of all storms.”
— Anonymous

Let an attitude of gratitude be your boat. Santosha.


Elizabeth (Beth) Gibbs, MA, C-IAYT, is a certified yoga therapist through the International Association of Yoga Therapists and is a guest faculty member of the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy. Her masters’ degree in Yoga Therapy and Mind/Body Health is from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. She is the author of Ogi Bogi, The Elephant Yogi, a therapeutic yoga book for children. For more information please visit her website at: bethgibbs.com


This post was edited by Patrice Priya Wagner, co-editor of Accessible Yoga blog and member of the Board of Directors.

° FOLLOW Accessible Yoga on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and YouTube

° REGISTER here for our next conference. 

° DONATE here to help us bring yoga to people who don't have access or have been underserved, such as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, children with special needs, and anyone who doesn't feel comfortable in a regular yoga class.


To preorder Jivana Heyman's forthcoming book Accessible Yoga, go to AmazonBarnes and NobleIndie Bound (for independent bookstores), or your local bookstore.

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Interview with Dr. Timothy McCall About "Saving My Neck"

Nina: Your new book Saving My Neck: A Doctor’s East/West Journey through Cancer is a very personal memoir about your experience of being diagnosed with and treated for oral cancer. Can you tell us a little bit about the type of cancer you had and the dangers it posed to you?

Timothy: I had squamous cell cancer in my mouth caused by HPV, the same virus that causes cervical cancer. As is often the case with this cancer, by the time I noticed a slight enlargement of one of my tonsils, it had already metastasized to lymph nodes in my neck. The biggest risk, as with most cancers, is that it might kill you. But I came to realize that the other big risk was to the tissues in my head and neck due to the toxic effects of the radiation and chemotherapy used to treat it. That’s what led me to the title "Saving My Neck," because I realized that I didn’t just want to save my neck figuratively, that is survive the cancer, but also literally save my neck, by trying to minimize the short and long-term side effects of the treatment.

Nina: As a Western-trained medical doctor, a yoga therapist, and a student of Ayurveda, when it came to your own cancer, you decided to combine evidence-based Western cancer treatments with holistic Eastern treatments. Can you briefly explain the thinking behind that?

Timothy: While there are no guarantees, the cancer I had is potentially curable with conventional medical treatments. I felt I was unlikely to get cured just by using yoga, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, and other holistic approaches. But many patients who get treated conventionally for this kind of cancer wind up with lifelong side effects, like a persistently dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, rotting teeth, mouth pain, and other nasty symptoms. I felt that by skillfully combining conventional and holistic approaches, I could potentially both increase my odds of getting cured and lower my risk of side effects, particularly some of those unpleasant aftereffects.

Nina: Although you used a whole range of different Eastern treatments and techniques, I’m going to focus on yoga because this is a yoga blog. So, tell us a bit a bit about the yoga practices you chose to support you through your treatments and recovery.

Timothy: I’ve had a daily yoga practice for more than 20 years that includes asana, pranayama, chanting, and meditation, which to the extent possible I continued through treatment and into recovery. This helped me at every stage of this process, though I often had to modify what I was doing in response to what was going on. 

For example, I became anemic due to the treatments. With a lower red blood count, not as much oxygen could be transported to the tissues, so I needed to back off some of the strong breathing practices I had been doing which require holding the breath for many seconds at a time. As I recovered though, I was able to reestablish these pranayama practices, and eventually go even deeper than I had before. That proved to be incredibly helpful to helping me calm the “twitchy” nervous system I’ve had my whole life (probably due to early childhood trauma). Beyond making me feel better, I feel like it can only improve my odds of the cancer not recurring.

Nina: At your very lowest points, when you were terribly ill from the chemotherapy and radiation treatments or at an emotional low point, what kind of yoga practices were you able to do and what helped you the most?

Timothy: A few weeks into treatment I barely had enough energy to lift my arms over my head. Some days I was too weak to sit up to meditate. All I could do those days was restoratives, but even there I had to modify. Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall pose with the butt on a bolster) has been my go-to restorative pose for years, but that position caused fluid to back up in my throat, which caused me to cough. My mouth was so sore at that point that coughing was unbelievably painful, so I had to give up the pose and was only able to reintroduce it many weeks after I finished treatment.

The restorative pose that proved most useful to me was Supported Bharadvajasana. It was restful and caused a beautiful stretch of the tissues of the neck. One of the bad aftereffects of radiation therapy is that is can lead to a stiffening, so-called fibrosis, of the neck. I felt by stretching the neck this way (with my head pointing in the same direction as my knees), I might also be helping to prevent that, too.
Nina: Now that you have recovered, how has your understanding of yoga and your own practice been changed by your experiences?

Timothy: I very much feel the experience took me much deeper into my practice. Beyond my own life, I can see those benefits have had ripple effects on my teaching and practice of yoga therapy. 

Nina: Our readers include many people who have or have had cancer, people with chronic diseases of all kinds, people with chronic pain, and so on as well as people who teach these populations. What would you say to them—as someone who has been through it yourself—about the value of yoga for these conditions?

Timothy: One of the main reasons I wrote this book was that I felt like I’d learned so much along the way, I just had to share it. This is not a how to book. What I wanted to demonstrate to readers is how a holistically-minded physician goes about figuring out what to do at every step of the way when you are presented with decisions for which there are no clear answers. 

In the case of holistic approaches like yoga and Ayurveda, it’s not that there are studies that suggest it does or doesn’t work for what I was dealing with. In almost every holistic treatment I was considering, no studies had ever been done. This is the reality most of us face. We have to make decisions based on incomplete information. I opted to try things that there was some reason to believe might help as long as they wouldn’t interact in a bad way with any of the conventional cancer treatments. So, I fasted before chemo (which completely eliminated nausea and vomiting). I did yoga and acupuncture. But mostly stayed away from all megadose vitamins and dietary supplements, which are more likely to interact adversely with drugs.

Nina: Is there anything else you’d like to say to our readers?

Timothy: One of the ideas of holism is that whatever stage of health you’re at, you can always do things to try to improve it. In Western medicine, doctors just try to bring people back to being free of a disease (or at least control its symptoms) to a point where their scans or blood tests are good. But in yoga and Ayurveda and other holistic disciplines, we aim much higher. 

Many people talk about getting back to the life that they had before they got cancer. I feel like I took the challenge of cancer to go deeper into my practice, deeper into my psychological and spiritual work — which has been part of my yoga practice for years. The goal was not just to survive but, if possible, to thrive. And it has worked. I am more balanced and stronger psychologically and physically than I was before I was diagnosis. My life is better now in so many ways.

As a yoga therapist, I want to help people to feel better, find joy, gratitude, and connection in their lives, to live a life with purpose, and to take advantage of however much time they get on this planet as best they can. That kind of healing is possible, whether you are cured or not. And the more you stay with your practice, the deeper that healing can go. 

Nina: That's so very well said, Timothy. Thank you so much for this interview!


Timothy McCall, MD is a board-certified internist, Yoga Journal's medical editor since 2002 and the author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing. He practiced medicine in the Boston area for a dozen years before devoting himself full-time in the late 1990s to yoga therapy. He has studied with many of the world's leading yoga teachers, including BKS Iyengar and TKV Desikachar. In 2005, Timothy began his studies with a traditional Ayurvedic doctor, Chandukutty Vaidyar, and spent more than a year at his clinic in Kerala, India. His latest book is Saving My Neck: A Doctor’s East/West Journey through Cancer. For more information see DrMcCall.com.

This interview was conducted and edited by Nina Zolotow, co-editor of the Accessible Yoga blog and Editor in Chief of Yoga for Healthy Aging.

° FOLLOW Accessible Yoga on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and YouTube

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° DONATE here to help us bring yoga to people who don't have access or have been underserved, such as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, children with special needs, and anyone who doesn't feel comfortable in a regular yoga class.

Monday, July 8, 2019

Interview with Brina Lord on Accessible Yoga's New Membership Program

By Patrice Priya Wagner

I recently spoke to Brina Lord, Accessible Yoga's General Manager, about the launch of an exciting new membership program that gives rewards to participants and helps sustain Accessible Yoga. Here's what Brina had to say about it.

Priya: What is the purpose of the Accessible Yoga Membership Program?


Brina: Our Membership program is a way to engage our community of supporters, who are invested in the mission and vision of Accessible Yoga. With the membership program, we are seeking new ways to empower and connect our community and support the operational stability of our organization. Our program will sustain Accessible Yoga with ongoing revenue and help us build an international community that supports our work. Sustaining members will receive many benefits, including a listing in the Member Directory, a new feature on our website that we are very excited about.

Priya: If I'm an AY Ambassador, do I have to become a member?

Brina: Ambassadors are not required to become members, but they may be interested in enjoying the many benefits of becoming a sustaining member, such as a listing in our Member Directory – a searchable map that will help grow their own network and visibility. Members will also receive great Accessible Yoga gifts and, at certain levels, discounts to conferences, and access to special programs, such as Amber Karnes’ Chair Yoga Program. We are going to be launching a new Accessible Yoga Ambassador program soon that will ask Ambassadors to commit to an annual action item; becoming a member would be one of the many action item options to choose from!

Priya: Is it just for individuals or can a yoga studio join too?

Brina: We have a special membership level just for yoga studios! With an annual gift, yoga studios can become an Accessible Yoga Supporting Studio and will receive a featured listing in our Member Directory, a window decal to display to the public, a social media and blog post highlight, and more!


Priya: Has the program already started and how do we get more info about joining?

Brina: The program was officially launched at the St. Louis Conference this past June 2019. You can join by going to the Membership page of our website https://accessibleyoga.org/membership/and selecting the level that is right for you.

Priya: Is there anything else you would like to tell people about this exciting new program?

Brina: Memberships are tax deductible and your support will play a key role in the sustainability and growth of Accessible Yoga. We are so proud of the work we have done in the past few years and are overwhelmed by the support of our community. We hope to continue our mission and expand our service in the coming years, and we can only do it with your support. We are so grateful for your part in making yoga accessible to all people!



Brina Lord lives in Brooklyn, NY and serves as General Manager of Accessible Yoga, with much of her focus on project management for the Accessible Yoga Conferences. She holds a 200-hr yoga teacher certificate from Integral Yoga Institute in New York City, where she also serves as part-time staff in various roles of administration. She has specialty training in Accessible Yoga and Kidding Around Yoga with experience teaching at Integral Yoga Institute and the NYC public school system. Before moving to New York, Brina worked in Chicago as a Stage Manager for multiple non-profit theatre companies. She was born and raised in a small town in central Minnesota, where she enjoys escaping the city and communing with nature at her family’s lake cabin.


This post was edited by Patrice Priya Wagner, co-editor of Accessible Yoga blog and member of the Board of Directors.

° FOLLOW Accessible Yoga on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and YouTube.

° REGISTER here for our next conference.

° DONATE here to help us bring yoga to people who don't have access or have been underserved, such as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, children with special needs, and anyone who doesn't feel comfortable in a regular yoga class.

To preorder Jivana Heyman's forthcoming book Accessible Yoga, go to AmazonBarnes and NobleIndie Bound (for independent bookstores), or your local bookstore.

Thursday, July 4, 2019

Featured Video: Donna Noble's Well-Rounded Mini Practice for All Body Types



We are excited to share this video with you today because we know how much our community enjoys accessible mini yoga practices that you can practice on your own or teach to others. This 13-minute practice combines reclined, seated, and standing poses in a well-rounded sequence. Donna designed it to be accessible to people with a range of body types. —Nina


Donna Noble is the Founder of CurveSomeYoga, which is about helping to make yoga more inclusive and accessible. Her passion is sharing the transformational benefits of yoga and showing that everyBODY is a yoga body. She is a Body Image Ambassador and is about all things body positive. You can find out more about Donna at www.thenobleartofyoga.co.uk.

This post was edited by Nina Zolotow, co-editor of the Accessible Yoga blog and Editor in Chief of Yoga for Healthy Aging.


° FOLLOW Accessible Yoga on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and YouTube

° REGISTER here for our next conference. 

° DONATE here to help us bring yoga to people who don't have access or have been underserved, such as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, children with special needs, and anyone who doesn't feel comfortable in a regular yoga class.



Monday, July 1, 2019

An Evolving Ego

By Jivana Heyman

We generally define yoga as a noun rather than a verb. But, it’s not a thing that can be bought and sold, not a commodity at all. When you pay for a yoga class you aren’t paying for the yoga. You are simply paying for time to practice with that teacher. You can buy time in a yoga studio, you can buy yoga pants, yoga tea, yoga props. But you can’t buy yoga.

Yoga is an action, a way to be in the world. It’s not just the perfect alignment of Triangle pose (Trikonasana)–should the back hip be forward or back? Instead, it’s aligning the heart and head. In fact, you can’t look at someone and tell if they’re doing yoga. It is an inner, personal experience (until the ego evolves to understand the value of community). It’s not a thing, not an advanced asana or an adapted one–not even Downward Dog or Headstand! It’s the integration of all the different parts of ourselves into a larger whole.

Specifically, yoga is transcending the ego’s power trip which keeps us lost and confused. Usually I don’t know what part of my mind is ego and what is spirit. My mind is more like spin art, a mess of colors, images, and worries. But I do know what it feels like to notbe in my ego: an active stillness that comes during Corpse pose (Savasana) or occasionally in meditation. It’s that lightness I feel after I practice.

Last year, I read a study from the University of Southampton that showed that yoga and meditation may actually increase our ego. It was the devastating outcome of an intriguing experiment, and unfortunately, it makes sense. The study was entitled, “Mind-body Practices and the Self: Yoga and Meditation Do Not Quiet the Ego, but Instead Boost Self-enhancement.” The team of psychologists explained:

“Yoga and meditation are highly popular. Purportedly, they foster well-being by 'quieting the ego' or, more specifically, curtailing self-enhancement. However, this ego-quieting effect contradicts an apparent psychological universal, the self-centrality principle. According to this principle, practicing any skill renders it self-central, and self-centrality breeds self-enhancement.”

In other words, focusing too much on ourselves increases ego.In the end it makes me wonder, have we stumbled on the very obstacles that Patanjali described so succinctly in his Yoga Sutras? In the second chapter, his teachings on how to practice yoga, Patanjali describes the obstacles to our enlightenment. He begins with ignorance–forgetting that we are spiritual beings and that the universal consciousness dwells within us, as us.

Next, he explains that because of this forgetfulness we have an ego which takes responsibility for things it’s not responsible for. In Sutra 2.6 he says, “Ego is (to consider) the nature of the seer and the nature of the instrumental power of seeing to be the same thing.” (See: Bryant, Edward. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, North Point Press 2009, page 185)

I remember one night some years ago when my son was very young, and I let him help me cook dinner. He was very proud of himself when all he had really done was make a big mess. I think I gave him a job like tearing up lettuce, while I was running around doing everything–and cleaning up after him! When dinner was served, he proudly announced, “I made dinner!” Our egos are like children, taking responsibility for things that we really have no responsibility for.

“It is a confused state of consciousness, unsure of its true identity. Its intentions and actions are smeared with confusion. As asmita (ego) matures, its belief in its distorted understanding of itself also matures, until it altogether overshadows the experience of our true nature. This is how a new reality–asmita–emerges from avidya (ignorance).” (See: The Practice of the Yoga Sutra, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, page 34)

I recently watched a Lululemon commercial (they are the largest seller of yoga clothing–over a billion dollars a year!). It had the expected inspirational imagery with a relatively diverse group of people represented–although disabilities, large bodies, and seniors were not included. The ending message of the commercial was their commitment to “everybody reaching their potential.” The image that was associated with this phrase was someone proudly standing on a mountain top alone.

Something about this imagery didn’t sit well with me, and I wasn’t sure why. It finally dawned on me that the potential they were talking about is the potential to climb that mountain, to overcome physical, exercise-oriented obstacles: to stand on your head or touch your toes. Is that the goal of yoga, or is that self enhancement, an orientation which leads to further confusion and deepens our ignorance?

Much of the history of yoga is a tradition of asceticism–of transcending the body through force. Hatha Yoga literally means ‘yoga with force.’ But there is a subtler theme in the history of yoga. A theme of overcoming ego and selfishness through service and love. Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion, Jnana Yoga, the yoga of wisdom, Karma Yoga,the yoga of service, all teach us another way. They teach that reaching our potential can only come when we transcend our own selfishness and allow our lives to become a vehicle for the energy and wisdom of the universe to flow through. Can we allow yoga to help us transmute the energy of the ego into service, or are we too tangled in spandex?

Service can be a confusing concept, because it’s often wrongly defined as volunteering. While I think all yoga teachers should be paid for their work (after all we need to eat too), we can still offer our teaching as service. Service is really about seeing ourselves in others, and acting from a place of love and compassion.

Another way to understand service is to think of it as community. To focus on the collective is to raise our awareness above the ego/mind and to be with others. Some people are naturally service-oriented and nurturing, and often they’re not supported by a culture that values ego-driven success. To move against this cultural selfishness, it can be helpful to think of those people in your life who are focused on the collective and consider how you can support them.

Community is one of the great revelations of yoga practice. It’s a dialectic. While yoga is an individual, inner practice, it’s also about community. The energy of the group inspires us and supports us. In a group setting meditation is contagious, and we can find a stillness that may be illusive when we’re on our own. The true healing power of yoga is unlocked in shared practice. Just as we have understood that the body is not separate from the mind, we need to learn that the individual is not separate from the collective. We know that isolation is deadly, and yoga literally brings us together.

Occasionally, it’s important to stop and ask yourself: why am I practicing? What is my goal? Then consider if your practice is taking you there. Of course, you can allow your ‘why’ to evolve. If you started practicing for physical reasons–to reduce back pain, to get more flexible, or to get stronger–can you now allow yoga to excavate the truth of your ego? Can your practice reveal the part of your mind telling you to do more, get more, compete with others? Does the strength you find in a vinyasa flow translate into the power of discrimination between ego and spirit? Can you allow your yoga and your ego to evolve?


Jivana Heyman is the founder of Accessible Yoga, co-owner of the Santa Barbara Yoga Center and an Integral Yoga Minister. With over twenty years of training and teaching in a traditional yoga lineage, Jivana has specialized in teaching the subtle practices of yoga: pranayama, meditation, as well as sharing yoga philosophy. His passion is making Yoga accessible to everyone. Accessible Yoga has grown into an international advocacy and education organization, and now offers two Conferences per year, trainings around the world, an ambassador program and online Network. Jivana has taught with the Dean Ornish Heart Disease Reversal Program through UCSF, California Pacific Medical Center’s Institute of Health and Healing, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He has led over 40 Yoga teacher training programs over the past 16 years, and created the Accessible Yoga Training program in 2007. On December 3rd, 2015, Jivana taught Accessible Yoga at the United Nations in Geneva for their International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Jivana’s strengths are sharing esoteric and complex teaching in a readily accessible way, and applying the ancient teachings of Yoga to our day-to-day lives. 


This post was edited by Patrice Priya Wagner, co-editor of Accessible Yoga blog and member of the Board of Directors.

° FOLLOW Accessible Yoga on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and YouTube

° REGISTER here for our next conference. 

° DONATE here to help us bring yoga to people who don't have access or have been underserved, such as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, children with special needs, and anyone who doesn't feel comfortable in a regular yoga class.


To preorder Jivana Heyman's forthcoming book Accessible Yoga, go to AmazonBarnes and NobleIndie Bound (for independent bookstores), or your local bookstore.