Use Your Eyes
By Gail, 15 April, 2010
Have you ever noticed how often your teacher makes reference to the use of your eyes in a Bikram Yoga class ‘look in the mirror’, ‘keep your eyes open’, ‘look up’. In Bikram Yoga you learn to focus your eyes, instead of allowing your eyes to be soft you learn to direct your gaze with purpose. Looking in the mirror not only helps to correctly align your body in the postures, your gaze can help direct the energy of a posture and help you stay mentally clear. Your gaze can help in many postures. In balancing postures setting your gaze straight ahead in the mirror can help keep you upright. You can deepen you backward bends by focusing your gaze as far back as possible, in spine twisting your gaze can help you turn further and in the spine series you can use your gaze to lift yourself higher in the postures. Remember where your eyes look your body follows.
The next time you are in class, notice how you use your eyes. Are you sharp and precise in your focus, or do your eyes seem to wander? See if focusing your eyes more carefully can improve your postures and also focus your mind.
Bikram Yoga benefits everyday life
By Gail, 29 March, 2010
The ability to breathe, stay calm and centred during challenging situations is an invaluable tool in life. Bikram yoga practise allows us to develop life skills, such as patience (learning to master a difficult pose), honesty (to do the pose honestly and not try to fake it, or change it so it is easier) dedication and commitment (coming to class even when we would prefer to sit on the couch), hard work (being prepared to go beyond our desire for the easy way, and submit to working hard in the poses, fearlessness (some parts of the class can bring up emotions and limitations that require bravery to move through), as well as just taking the time out of our lives to spend 90 minutes with ourselves, to get to know ourselves and all that we are. This teaches us that we are responsible for ourselves, our health, our thoughts, our feelings and provides us with a tool through which we can develop this responsibility. It gives us the chance to deal with our emotions, thoughts and even pain and discomfort in a safe and caring environment where we are not being asked to be anything other than what we are today.
The Benefits of Sweat
By Gail, 29 March, 2010
When it comes to detoxifying your system and improving your cardiovascular health, nothing beats sweating it out. Your skin is the largest organ in your body and it is every bit as active in maintaining your health as your liver and kidneys. In Bikram Yoga you learn to love the sweat as you develop a greater understanding of the benefits it brings your body.
Besides helping to regulate your body temperature, sweat has two other functions. Firstly the removal of toxic wastes, detoxification through your skin means toxins do not have to re-enter your bloodstream with the potential to do further damage before being excreted through your kidneys. We are exposed to toxins daily, through air, food, water and substances we apply to our skins. The release of toxins through sweat creates a healthier body from the inside out. Secondly sweat keeps the skin clean, supple and free of disease. One of the most common benefits of Bikram Yoga is the changes to your skin, students discover their skin becomes clearer, more supple and younger looking.
The heat not only cleans you body through sweating, it also enhances your endurance, increases your cardiovascular health, strengthens your immune function, increases weight loss and relaxes your muscles. So learn to love the heat, make sweat your friend not your enemy.
The meaning of ‘Namaste’
By Gail, 11 September, 2009
Ever wondered what it means when your teacher finishes the class by saying Namaste. The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgement of the soul in one soul by the soul in another. “Nama” means bow, “as” means I and “te” means you. Therefore Namaste literally means “bow me you” or “I bow to you.” Between teacher and student it is a sign of mutual respect.
What’s that smell?
By Gail, 11 September, 2009
Written by Sarah Fardy, Bikram Yoga Geelong student
If you, like me, are new to losing what feels like every drop of fluid from your body, every time you take a Bikram class, then you might be wondering...what is that pungent odor seeping from your pores and embedded in your clothing and yoga mat? Well, your cat didn't wee on you, you haven't been lathering your body in cleaning products and (hopefully) you haven't put too much toner in your hair. So what could it be? According to an article published by the European Journal of Applied Physiology, that nasty smell is ammonia. During prolonged exercise your muscles use energy from a stored form of carbohydrates, called glycogen. When glycogen stores are depleted, i.e. you feel the 'burn' right after Utkatasana (Awkward pose) and you can't wait for you next Savasana, then your muscles are screaming for energy from somewhere, that's when things get interesting. To keep you sweating it out for the rest of class, your muscles start to use proteins as an energy source. A by-product of protein metabolism is nitrogen. Nitrogen is stripped away from amino acids (building blocks of protein) and the remaining amino acids are converted to a useable form of energy for your hard working muscles. So, now you've got plenty of energy, even if you can't imagine how you're going to get through the second set of Trikanasana (Triangle pose) or Dhanurasana (Floor bow pose)! Your body has to do something with all that excess nitrogen floating around, so, to get rid of it, your kidneys process what they can into urea and it is excreted in urine. By now, you're working so hard (and your teacher is definitely against toilet breaks) that the nitrogen which can't be processed in the kidneys is excreted as stinky ammonia in your sweat. If you're particularly pongy one day then you might consider some other factors that can affect ammonia production. A low carbohydrate diet lowers stored glycogen levels and your muscles metabolize proteins sooner, contributing to increased ammonia production. Also, if you're coming to class without being fully hydrated, the ammonia smell may appear to be more concentrated, this is due to the lack of water available to aid in ammonia excretion. The answer: get hydrated to dilute your ammonia production in sweat, you might smell less.
