Monday, October 14, 2013

Beating Cellulite with Yoga.

So after a month away I have had a chance to reset my daily habits.  Which is good as before I had my second child I was a prolific Yoga person, not always going to classes as I taught myself Yoga and Qi Gung at home from books.  I was an avid traveler so going to classes just wasn't an option.  But over the years I replaced my Yoga with running, instead of walking, personal training instead of stretching and my diet had become more meat focused.

So on my travels I had a change of diet and managed to loose some weight but had failed to manage to develop muscle tone and noticed the presence of cellulite, well more of it I'll be honest it's always been there just at varying degrees of intensity.  So whilst wearing a skirt that I would normally feel quite confident wearing the hail damaged rampant usually happy with thighs caught my attention.  Mmmm need to manage that look and rather than it all be superficial I thought back to how toned my legs were when I was practicing Yoga regularly.  Not only was it great exercise for my body it helped my mind focus on my goals and my general place in the world.  So after a bit of research online I found some Yoga postures that were good for cellulite in the legs, superficial I know but it was a big enough motivator to get me going so I will run with that. 

Now I have this rule when I am doing Yoga to not always wear super loose tops as it usually falls over the place so I love those cotton/spandex knit singlets that offer body support, especially around the tummy region as that goes all over the place in down dog.  That helps me to not look at my body and have negative thoughts. 

To be able to demonstrate the poses I like, I was going to draw some stick figures, which could create misinterpretation as my hand writing is a bit scratchy at times, and then I found this table above had most of the postures that I regularly do.  It is a Bikram sequence, not a Yoga practice I am fond of as it is good for a certain body type, trends always see people overlooking the fact that it may just not be good for me, and the guy behind Bikram has all kinds of ethics that I am not in align with.  But as a demonstrative table it's good. 

Now the postures I would exclude are 6; this can be done in a more gentle pose as shown below.
Yoga Pose King Dancer Steve Williams
and 12 as I find that if you are new to doing Yoga this pose can be a little hard to get your body into. 

What Yoga styles I like is the blend of the Hatha poses with the Iyengar instructions on how to activate the muscles in each pose.  This after 12 years of Yoga was the best not only for my mind to engage in each pose but for the effectiveness of my body to adapt these positions without fear of mismanaging the pose.  My body can't get past the Ashtanga warm up poses let alone the actual Yoga sequences, so Hatha it is.  My mind is crazy active so I need activities that allow my body to chill and nourish whilst getting fit.  That's also why Supping, Stand Up Paddle boarding, is also another activity that is good for me.

Now I haven't found anything that will give you Iyengar instruction on how to get your body in and out of these postures but I have found a site by a New York based Yoga Teacher which I found very informative.  Michael Taylor happens to be married to Tara Stiles and it was her Yoga sequences that I was practicing overseas with a little of my favourite poses mixed in there. 

Now I am a big fan of supporting your local Yoga teachers so if you are a classed based Yoga person then go to a class.  For me I need to streamline my time so I practice it at home and have convo's with my kids and hubbie whilst doing do.  The weblinks above are just a little find on my part to do Yoga from home within a space that will be supportive of how I want to do it.  So find your way, and even if you can't do a lot each day, Yoga teachers always profess it is better to do 10 mins a day rather than none at all. 

So sit on the floor in front of the TV to start if you have to, we all have reasons to do it and it is not always Zen monk inspired and that is totally cool.  From my perspective my body has never run smoother than when I walk my dog regularly and do Yoga.  I find when I stretch my body regularly I think about things differently so it works for me in keeping positive.

Enjoy..

Irene xo