"The calmness, clarity, and focus of yoga combines to
create a powerful stabilizing influence, useful in a variety of
everyday settings. As you proceed through your the responsibilities of your day, working at the office, dealing with family and relationships, traveling, yoga bits revive the sensory memory (and reward) of the yoga sequence itself."
Chapter 3:Practical Use
(This chapter contains several illustrations which are not included here.)
As you’ve probably already discovered, yoga is much more than just exercise – it’s a holistic program that generates a relaxed equilibrium in your physical, mental, and emotional states. This equilibrium is immensely “practical†because it enables you to approach any event with clarity and responsive attention.
Yoga’s sensible approach and philosophy reaches into every aspect of life. It helps counteract the physical and mental fatigue generated at the office. It establishes an emotional steadiness that helps you navigate through relationship anxiety. Yoga is especially suited to the rigors of travel, helping your body adjust to the many changes it must endure. Yoga also empowers you with the strength of emotional and physical authority.
The bad news is, you may not have time to do a full yoga sequence when you most need it. The good news is, yoga isn’t limited to a rigidly defined sequence of postures. Yoga can fit into any time frame – a little bit of yoga goes a long way.
Yoga Bits and Their Applications.
A yoga "bit" is quick one-minute (or less) physical and mental refresher that can easily slip into your schedule. It consists of a single yoga posture, part of a posture, or a simple stretch that applies the principles of yoga. For example, if you work at a desk most of the time, you can use yoga bits throughout the day to revitalize your energy and alternately stimulate and stretch your legs and back. Yoga bits are appropriate under any circumstances and can be modified to fit any physical constraints. Yoga bits work in the car, at your desk, on a long plane flight, in a bus, standing in a grocery store line, anywhere.
Combining yoga bits with regular yoga practice develops a sympathetic identification with your body. You learn to speak your body’s language. You experience how a relaxed body supports a graceful mental state and vice versa. Perhaps for the first time in your life, your body becomes your friend.
Yoga bits have two elements: the movement and the mind set. The first element, the movement, is the musculo-skeletal lengthening, opening, and releasing of body tension. This relieves body fatigue and helps prevent long-term strain. The second element, the mind set, turns a static stretch into a mental refresher. The mind set helps relieve the annoying anxiety that often accompanies a busy schedule. It also enhances and deepens the effectiveness of the movement.
The Movement
The movement is simple. Take a portion of a yoga posture and gently extend into it. It might be the overhead stretch from Step 1 of the Sun Salutation, or the Neck Stretches and Shoulder Rolls from beginning of the Standing sequence, or the sample yoga bits described later in this chapter.
The Mind Set
While the movement is happening, your mind is attending to the needs of your body. As you notice areas of tension, gently shift to relax those areas. Be mindful of your body’s messages. Use the BS, BT reminder to deepen your breathing, relax your mouth and throat, and keep it light with a smile. Ah, it feels so good.
YBP’s Sample Yoga Bits
Just as there are countless posture sequence variations, there is also an unending variety of yoga bits which you can modify to suit your body’s flexibility and skill level. The Shoulder Rolls and Neck Stretches from Chapter 2 are especially easy to do on the spur of the moment. As the principles of healthy movement become a natural part of your mind and behavior, you’ll find yourself inventing all kinds of new yoga bits. You’ll be sensitized to your body’s subtle needs before they become problematic and you’ll respond on the spot, creatively and effectively.
The yoga bits described below are basic; use this guide as an introduction to them. The order of execution (following YBP’s three simple steps) is as follows: 1) center your attention with a deep breath, 2) perform the yoga bit, and 3) release the experience. Use the BS, BT reminder to relax and attend to your body’s messages, movements, and the natural flow of your breathing.
Wrist Tendon Easers
Wrist tendonitis is a common problem for people who do repetitive hand and wrist movements. Untreated, it can pave the way for more serious problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Fortunately, yoga is an excellent way to help prevent and manage wrist tendonitis. If you have recurring wrist problems, see your doctor and research wrist strengthening yoga postures such as the Downward Facing Dog. A word of caution — be very gentle with your wrists. Over stretching can make them worse, not better.
The Wrist Stretch
To ease the everyday strain from repetitive wrist movements, try the Wrist Stretch and the Palm Stretch below. The Wrist Stretch lenthens the muscles and tendons in the wrist, helping to reduce tension created from small repetitive movements. It also stimulates blood flow to the area and increases the flexibility of the wrist.
The Palm Stretch.
The Palm Stretch opens up the wrist by stretching out the palm and thumb. In conjunction with the Wrist Stretch, the Palm Stretch relieves stress in the hand and increases the overall flexibility of the wrist.
Upper Body Relief
A busy person’s stress frequently becomes trapped in the upper back between the shoulders blades, and up the muscles in the neck. This tension seeps into adjacent muscles in the chest and constricts the flow of breath. The Chest Opener can help release tension buildup before it becomes a problem.
Lower Back Relief
You may have heard the saying that a chain will snap at its weakest link. For many busy people, the weak link is the lower back. Months of stress and a combination of weak stomach muscles, tight hamstrings and hours of improper sitting or lifting can take a heavy toll. If you experience recurrent lower back trouble, consider committing to a combined program of back, leg, and stomach strengthening and stretching (yoga). It can make an enormous difference in your everyday comfort and mobility.
Using Yoga Bits in A Variety of Settings
The calmness, clarity, and focus of yoga combines to create a powerful stabilizing influence, useful in a variety of everyday settings. As you proceed through your the responsibilities of your day, working at the office, dealing with family and relationships, even travelling, yoga bits revive the sensory memory (and reward) of the yoga sequence itself.
Office Yoga
As the conduit for our financial security and (often) the center of our anxieties, work takes on great importance in our lives. We spend more time working than we spend doing anything else. For most of us, this means little exercise and a lot of sitting. Even physically demanding jobs tend to be centered around repetitive movements, over extending some muscles and leaving others untouched. Modern day work doesn’t usually harmonize with the body; it unbalances it.
The problems of work are more than just physical. A sour combination of frustration and competition can cook into a stew of anxiety. This emotional ragout simmers for days until, one morning, you bend over to tie your shoe and the weight of it pours into your lumbar spine, sending you to the back specialist. Or you develop a nagging knot under your shoulder blade. Or, for so many computer users today, the tendons in your wrists inflame.
Many busy people value these disorders as the proud backwash of success. But body pain and its psychological counterpart, anxiety, is debilitating. It dulls your senses and ages you mentally and physically. It also weakens you, making your susceptible to illness and even injury.
Fortunately, for all of us, a little bit of yoga in the workplace can help reverse this unhealthy trend. For example, here’s how I use yoga bits while I work.
Relationship Yoga
Next to work stress, relationship stress is probably the most tiresome issue busy people encounter. And even though yoga won’t necessarily change your relationships, regular practice will build up a savings of emotional equilibrium that can serve you well if the going gets rough.
Most of us don’t emotionally detonate at the drop of a hat. There’s significant buildup. A bad day at the office makes us defensive. A stressful drive on the freeway adds to our frustrations. By the time we get home, we’re ready to do battle over the smallest annoyance.
Yoga bits counteract this emotional buildup because they reduce tension. Yoga helps calm the body and gives the mind enough of a focus to keep it from obsessing and overreacting. It’s difficult for the mind to remain upset when the muscles are quiet and the breathing is deep.
Travel Yoga
If there’s one thing a busy person needs to learn, it’s how to travel with minimal stress. Whether its the daily commute work, a trip across country to visit relatives, or a business trip lasting several days, travel is necessary and sometimes arduous. Physical constraints in planes, trains, and cars constrict the muscles in your back and neck. Legs quickly become fatigued as they’re forced into cramped positions with little room for movement. The mental and emotional agitation that often accompanies travel can be equally tiresome.
Travel contains three major stressors: 1) the physical stress of sitting for long periods of time in planes, cars, or buses; 2) the performance stress of attending business meetings, and family get-togethers; 3) the schedule related stress of tossing your familiar eating and exercising patterns out the window.
. . .
Everybody confronts obstacles at one time or another. It could be a relationship breakup, a financial problem, a health issue, anything that triggers fear and a sense of powerlessness. No where is the mind/body connection more apparent. As emotions ignite, the body tightens. As anxiety surfaces, the breath shortens.
When you feel powerless, you unconsciously look for ways to regain your sense of authority. Strong emotion is often a product of powerlessness because it fuels the body with a rush of adrenaline. Unfortunately, this power is capricious. It relies on drama to pump itself up, and it fluctuates with the ups and downs of your moods.
Yoga empowers you in the same way strong emotion does, but without the negative repercussions. Yoga balances your feelings so that the strength isn’t chained to emotional caprice and hormonal rushes. Your strength is resilient, proactive, and poised. Your thinking remains unobstructed and there’s room for a solution orientation.
Prove it to yourself. As you begin practicing yoga, using yoga bits throughout the day, watch your point of view change. Observe your options increase as your mind relaxes and your spine lengthens. When you experience a challenge in your life, take a break and do some yoga. Feel your horizons expand. Feel your alternatives emerge. It’s glorious.