Yoga Tips – Yoga Upload with Maris Aylward

Yoga, Yoga Practice, Yoga Q & A, Yoga Tips

How Do I Get My Partner To Do Yoga With Me?

October 12, 2017 Yoga Upload with Maris Aylward

Note: The entire video has captions/subtitles so you can watch it without sound if you need to. It’s only 5 1/2 minutes 🙂

The question for today’s Yoga Q & A is:

“How do I get my partner/loved one/significant other to practice yoga with me?”

When you fell in love with yoga and became consistent in your practice, you probably felt so good and noticed positive changes in your life. It’s natural for us to want the people we care about to experience the same benefits we’ve received from yoga. Here, I share my thoughts on the most effective way to encourage those around us to start practicing or at least begin exploring the idea of practicing. Also, what do you do when you finally get what you want? If you’re successful in getting your loved to go to yoga class with you, I have an important tip for you! 🙂

Yoga, Yoga Practice, Yoga Tips

How to Relieve Stress and Relax Deeply

April 23, 2017April 23, 2017 Yoga Upload with Maris Aylward

We live in a time when frenetic activity is the norm. We jump out of bed and immediately check our phone, take a shower while mentally running through our to-do list, and rush through our day to get things done. Some of us do physically demanding work, while others have jobs that are mentally and emotionally draining. We rarely take the time to rest, enjoy a meal or connect with loved ones. At the end of the day, we’re exhausted but unable to relax and get a good night’s sleep.

This way of living can negatively impact our health in a myriad of ways. Chronic stress is associated with heart disease, digestive problems, anxiety, depression, weight gain and many other issues. Now more than ever, it’s important to be proactive in managing stress and preventing disease. Integrating a regular yoga practice into our daily life can help us move towards true relaxation of the body and the mind.

Restorative Yoga is a unique yoga style designed to aid us in dealing with the stresses of modern life. “We work very hard in our lives, and while we may sleep, we rarely take time to relax. Restorative yoga poses help us learn to rest deeply and completely,” says Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., PT, world-renowned yoga master and author of Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times. In a restorative yoga class, all poses are fully supported using various props to encourage deep relaxation. Poses are held for a few minutes to still the body and the mind. The emphasis is not on achieving the pose but on being comfortable and allowing yourself to surrender.

Here are 3 Restorative Yoga Poses you can do for stress relief. Use a timer and hold each pose for 3-5 minutes. If you don’t have a yoga bolster, use a stack of blankets. Find some wall space for support. Set up in a quiet room with a comfortable temperature where you will be undisturbed during your practice. Make sure you unplug all your devices and eliminate distractions. While you’re in the pose, focus your wandering mind by paying attention to your breathing. To help you calm down, lengthen your exhales more and soften your face. Keep your eyes closed and use an eye pillow or small towel over your eyes.

1) Legs Up the Wall Pose

Lie on your side and move your hips towards the wall. When your hips touch the wall, bring your legs up. If your hamstrings feel too tight simply bend your knees a little bit. Experiment with placing a blanket or stack of blankets under your hips to test which version feels better.

2) Supported Child’s Pose

From an all-fours position, place your bolster (or stack of blankets) in front of you between your knees. Sit your hips back towards your feet then rest your belly, chest and face on your bolster. Add more blankets if you need more height. Notice your hips, knees and ankles. Relax your arms on the floor. If it’s more comfortable for you, rest one cheek on your bolster then switch sides halfway through the pose.

3) Corpse Pose or Savasana

This is the most important and sometimes most difficult yoga pose. Lie on your back with your feet more than hip distance apart, arms relaxed by your sides and palms facing up. If you feel discomfort in your lower back, slide your bolster under your knees to bring your lower back closer to the mat. Keep your forehead slightly higher than your chin by sliding a pillow or blanket under your head if needed. Relax your tongue and let it fall away from the roof of your mouth. Let go of controlling the breath and allow it to flow naturally. Feel every part of your body softening and melting into your mat. Be as still as possible.

As with any skill we learn, relaxation takes practice. We all start out with tense bodies and chattering minds. That’s okay! Be patient with yourself and be consistent in your yoga practice. Soon you will reap the benefits of restorative yoga and you will know how to truly nourish your body, mind and spirit.

*I wrote this article for the Front Door Fitness website where it was first published. FDF is a wonderful personal training company in Kansas City; and I am proud to be part of the team. Check out the FDF blog for more free articles on fitness, nutrition, and healthy living.

Yoga, Yoga Practice, Yoga Tips

Yoga Tips: How to Start and Sustain a Home Yoga Practice

March 6, 2017March 7, 2017 Yoga Upload with Maris Aylward

No matter how much you love yoga, you know it’s not always possible to attend your favorite class. Yoga studio or gym passes can be expensive. The class schedule doesn’t always accommodate your busy life. Sometimes, the sheer effort of getting ready and driving to the studio is just too much work.

That’s why it’s important to cultivate a home yoga practice. If you truly want to reap yoga’s enormous benefits, you must be willing to do the often difficult task of going solo. I remember falling in love with yoga when I was still living in Manila and making the rounds of all the yoga studios in the area. I could only afford the “new student special” so I ran out of places to go pretty fast. Thanks to free yoga on the internet and cheap back issues of Yoga Journal magazine, I was able to start practicing at home. To be honest, it was not as fun as I thought it would be! Eventually, though, I got over the awkwardness of doing yoga by myself in our tiny apartment. Here are a few tips I’d like to share with you to help you start, and hopefully maintain, a home practice.

1) Let go of expectations
I guarantee your self-practice will be nothing like your favorite yoga teacher’s class. The studio ambiance, your instructor’s familiar guidance, and the energy of fellow students will obviously not be there. The one thing that is there is you. YOU are there. You are all you need for yoga: your body, your breath, your focus, and your intention. It might feel strange at first because you have to decide what sequence to do, how long to stay in poses, and how intense the practice will be. Give it some time and let yourself get used to that freedom. Let go of what you think you should do and simply be open to whatever arises during your practice. Be okay that your yoga at home will be different from your yoga in class. This is your time to explore! You might just surprise yourself.

2) Be flexible
At home, there will be distractions. The phone will ring. Your kids will need attention. Chores will be waiting. Adapt your practice to suit your schedule and your environment. Do whatever you can with the time and energy you have that day. You won’t always have an hour for a vinyasa flow with all the bells and whistles. You might have days when you can only do gentle poses for 30 minutes. Sometimes all you can do is a few sun salutations for 15 mintues. That’s ok. The duration and intensity of your practice is completely up to you.

3) Do what you know and enjoy
A common obstacle to practicing at home is not knowing what to do. Start with what you know. Practice the poses that are most familiar to you. The beauty of a home practice is you get to do your favorite postures! Remember that you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.
As you get more comfortable in your self-practice, you might want to add poses that you struggle with. This can be a time to work on challenging asana that you are too self-conscious to attempt in public. Practice safely, of course!

4) Seek guidance and support
Talk to the yoga teachers you know or your fellow students who have an established home practice. Ask them to give you some tips or a simple sequence you can start with. You can also find free yoga videos on YouTube (here’s my channel Yoga Upload with all my free videos) and paid online subscriptions on various yoga websites. It might take a while to find online classes that suit your needs and preferences so be patient. Take your time researching and exploring the different offerings available. For beginners, I recommend my yoga class videos for All Levels. Also, try checking out yoga books at your local library. These will enhance not only your physical practice but also your knowledge of the different aspects of yoga.

5) Dedicate a space for practice
Organize a dedicated practice space in your home. It can be an entire room or just a corner with enough space for a yoga mat. You can also have more than one designated spot for yoga if you want the flexibility of unrolling your mat in whichever room happens to be conducive to practice at any given time. For morning and evening gentle yoga, you can even practice in bed! Keep your yoga mat in view if you know the sight of it will encourage you to practice. If you don’t have any blocks or straps at home, you may use common household items as makeshift yoga props. (I have videos on How to Use Yoga Blocks and How to Use Yoga Straps where I also show substitute items.)

Practicing solo without a teacher’s guidance and the energy of fellow yogis might seem intimidating at first. The key is to make that commitment to yourself to practice even if it’s only for a few minutes at a time. It doesn’t have to take long. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t even have to be quiet! Right now, my home practice consists of getting a few poses and stretches in whenever my 8-week old baby is on his play mat for tummy time. I unroll my mat beside his and just flow through a simple sequence. It’s fun to be on the floor together! I’m not always successful in my attempts to weave my yoga practice into the chaos of daily life; but whenever I am able to practice, I’m always glad I made the effort.

Yoga, Yoga Practice, Yoga Q & A, Yoga Tips

Yoga Injuries and How to Avoid Them

February 17, 2017February 27, 2017 Yoga Upload with Maris Aylward

In this Q and A episode, Dilge Aydin asks, “Is there any way to get hurt doing yoga? If so, how should we make sure that we are doing it right?” I share my thoughts on yoga injuries, body awareness, ego-driven practice, competitiveness, use of mirrors in yoga, and more.