Yoga For a Good Night's Sleep

Ok this workout is different from the other videos.
I'm a firm believer of this alternate breathing technique. (Somewhere at 6"27')

Bedtime Yoga

It's my favourite yoga teacher again!!!! The first workout is good for people who stand the whole day at work and want to rest your feet. This can help circulate your blood in the legs. The second workout is like the spinal twist. It looks pretty easy.

Yoga Cure for Insomnia and anxiety

I believe what she is practicing is called the Dead Man's Pose. I usually can never fall asleep doing this. Does it work for you.

Improving the saddle pose

Ok here is another eureka moment of ahhhh. I notice that there are actually 2 versions of the saddle pose. You can either do it on your heels or between your heels. I have been doing it between my heels and sometimes my knees complain about it. I find it better to do it while sitting on my heels with the block under the buttocks. I still lean back on a stack of pillows because I can't lean back well enough. I am aiming for a pain free yin yoga stretch. I want my knees and joints to be happy.

Inner knee pain and yin yoga

Last night I experienced a moment of ahhhhh....remember how I have been having knee pain I suspected it was one of the poses I was doing wrong. Well I watched Bernie Clarke's video on how to do the swan pose which is also known as the pigeons pose in hatha yoga and learnt how to do a modified version of it. I learnt I should not rotate the front leg too much so I used the safest method by sitting directly on my heel. i didn't rotate my front leg at all. I also used 2 blocks on each side to place my hands on because I can't seem to balance properly without them. I sat and held the pose for 5 minutes on each side without pain. When I came out of the pose I felt a relieve feeling. Today I woke up without any pain at all. I feel a sense of freedom as I walk. It's a eureka moment for me. I finally found the source of my knee pain. I must be tight at my hips, hamstrings and maybe back. Gosh I sit in the office all day so that could be the contributing factor. I am soooo looking forward to practicing it again. Do you think I will be able to get a bit more flexible and start rotating my front leg in a few months? I know I will have to practice diligently and that will be one of my targets. Wish me luck.

Yin Yoga For Anxiety, Stress and Dizziness

I love the practice of yin yoga because it is very relaxing and therapeutic but I'm having trouble leaning forward when I'm dizzy. :-( I'll skip that part and do the rest.

Yoga for Vertigo Cure

I've been experiencing what this guy has been experiencing. I've been feeling dizzy when lying down in a certain direction. I also suspect it's the ear. Unfortunately this video has no demo. It's just him driving and sharing about his dizziness.

Getting Back To Yin Yoga Again

After taking a short break due to joint and muscle pain, I got lazy and found it hard to get back to my stretch routine. But now I am back on it again. I was able to do the saddle pose with a higher stack of pillows and the dragon pose with a towel under my knee. I still haven't got any flexible because I wasn't consistent. So I am back to square one. Ha ha! Maybe my future blog posts will have positive results by next year.

Massage your lower leg with some tennis balls

This is another video on how to massage your legs with some tennis balls. Life is getting more interesting. Do you know massages are as good as working out?

 

All Weird At The joints

Is it possible that after long periods of stretching we can feel all weird and loose at the joints? Could it be that the body is not used to the extra feeling of looseness? I think I will take a short break of 1 or 2 days from yin yoga in case I tore anything.

My left knee has stopped feeling pain but this morning my right knee felt weirdly stiff. I'm not sure if the body is trying to adjust itself or is this a bad sign after years of tightness and inflexibility.

Knee Pain Again

My knee started hurting again as I was walking to get my lunch. The pain is on the inner left leg at the knee area. I think I have to give the saddle pose a break for now. I am not sure if it is safe to do the caterpillar pose still. I will keep my knees bent as I sit on the block and reach forward. I might do quart lifts just to strengthen the knee area.

The Saddle Pose with Knee Issues

One of the reasons why I want to be able to achieve the full saddle pose is to cure my digestion problems. In another school of yoga, this is known as vajrasana or something along that line.

Doing the saddle pose is painful. Maybe I am bony because I can feel my ankles and legs digging into the floor. So to solve that problem I do the saddle pose on the bed.

Then comes another problem. My knee screams at me. I have to pile up a stack of pillows and cushions behind me and rest my back on the pile. If I still feel knee pain, I have to raise the stack higher until I feel no more strain or pain. Great! I can now stay in this pose for 5 minutes! I have been practicing this for a few weeks now. No pain during the pose.

But there is another problem after that. Whenever I come out from that pose, my ankles feel stiff and painful. I have to slowly flex my feet to get the blood circulating again.

To go an extra step further, I tip toe around the room for one minute and then walk on my heels with my toes pointing up for another minute. My feet feel so much better after that.

To end it off I then do the tree pose for a minute in each leg. The tree pose has its own set of benefits. It trains your reflexes to balance yourself and break your fall faster. There is a saying that our reflexes tend to slow down as we age so the tree pose helps prevent this. The tree pose is also a good grounding exercise if you are into chakra stuff.

And now back to saddle pose. I always have this fear I might hurt my back. I am not sure if we can break our backs if we bend back too much. My pillows and cushions are there to assure me but still...sometimes the scary thought crosses my mind.

It's also been a few days since I modified my caterpillar pose or forward bend. I didn't practice last night as I was too tired. Not much progress there yet. Will I ever achieve my target? I don't know. What the gurus say about yin yoga, I can only confirm months or years later.

How To Massage Your Back With 2 Tennis Balls

If you have no one to massage your back for you and want to save some money, check out this interesting video on how to massage your back with 2 tennis balls. Interesting but it can be painful too because the tennis balls can be hard. I think it's ok to also use rubber balls too.

 

Tight hamstrings, a short lower back and the caterpillar pose

I have been trying forward bends for as far as I remember. Years with no results....I tend to lean back because my lower back may be tight and as I lean forwards, I get a back strain from arching the back. My hamstrings are also tight. I watched Bernie Clark's video on the caterpillar last weekend and have decided to change some things. Since a few days ago I have been sitting on a block with my knees bent and now I do feel the stretch on the lower back well. It's a better stretch. When I keep my legs straight my knees complain so I have to bend them. So far I have been holding this pose for only 2 minutes. It's already hard to sit relaxed in that pose. I think I will increase the time held once I get more comfortable. For my counter pose, I use the saddle pose. That pose itself comes with some challenges and modifications. I will blog about that later. I need to read another chapter of a novel before knocking off.

Yin yoga

I shall start documenting my progress with yin yoga in this blog from now onwards. My target is to archieve flexiblity and relax and sleep well. I want to be able to fold forwards fully and to do the saddle pose to heal my digestion problems. I also want to do more hip openers. I am not very flexible in many parts and I have the occasional knee pain whenever I stretch in the wrong direction.

I have read Paul Grilley's and Biff Mithoeffer's books. I have also been  watching Bernie Clark's YouTube videos as well. I also bought that book on Gravity Yoga from Lucus Roockwood. According to them you have to stretch for at least 5 minutes for each pose to get there. I am now at a lost on which poses to do with so little time every night. Each book has it's own suggestions too. I have been stretching for the past few months and I rely a lot on props like blocks and belts. So far I still hurt my knees and sometimes the back too.  I haven't become more flexible yet. Maybe I am too ambitious. This blog will record my progress. I regret that I have no original pictures to share at the moment. Perhaps when I am in the mood, I will draw with my tablet some of the poses. 

Yoga For Back Pain Part 3

Here's another video on how to relieve back pain again. The child pose is widely practiced in most yoga and pilates classes. Run through the whole video. There are also other poses too.

 

Yoga For Back Pain Part 2

This is a 39 minute video that focuses on yoga for backpain.  The poses are rather intermediate so don't rush it if you can't do it. Hey, the view in the backdrop is very nice. I wonder where she shot this clip.

 

.

Yoga For Back Pain

Esther here has a wonderful video on how to relieve back pain with these simple yoga poses. She's got so many videos online and I love how she teaches. Her explanation is very clear and easy to understand.

 

Yoga For Shoulder Pain Part 3

Oh look! It's my favourite yoga teacher again! Yes I've tried the stretch for my yin yoga practice with the yoga belt and holding it behind my back. I'm still not flexible yet and I can't make make my hands touch yet. I hope to reach that level some day. Check out the video below.

 

Yoga For Shoulder Pain Part 2

Whoah! I really love this video as I have tight shoulders. I prefer this video to the previous one that I posted last week. Ok...I did find this a little confusing at first. I thought I might get my arms tangled up. Hahahahaha! It's fun to do this exercise!!!!

 

Yoga for Shoulder Pain

I found this video by chance but I'm not too keen about it. I don't know why I feel like falling backwards when I try to lean backwards.

 

Yoga For Neck Pain

I guess you probably know by now that I'm a fan of Esther's videos. Hee hee! Here is a video by her on how to relieve neck pain with some very simple yoga exercises. Check it out.

 

How to Massage your foot with a tennis ball

This is a cheap and good massage which you can do at home. You just have to invest in some tennis balls and that doesn't really cost a lot. I went out to buy some tennis balls because of this exericse and yes, my feet did really feel good after doing this for a about 10 minutes!

 

Yoga For Knee Pain Part 2

Here's another video clip on how to prevent knee pain. It's quite similar to Rodney Yee's video but explained in a different way. Hope you enjoy this video.

 

Yoga For Knee Pain

This guy certainly has a point when he said that most of the time knee pain is due to the hips joints being tight. I know because I have knee pain from tight hips. I've done some of these poses during pilates classes as well. Rodney here is very flexible. Go slowly and stretch only to your maximum point. Don't force it or your knees will scream.

 

Yoga For Indigestion Part 2

I was so motivated by the earlier video on yoga for indigestion that I decided to go out and google for more of such videos. I found this one that is a slight variation of the first. Listen to her explaination of the health benefits of each sequence in the pose.

 

Here is a list of various other yoga poses for indigestions. The names are all in sansrit. There are English names for these poses and they are called differently in yoga and pilates. Those who are not familiar with these exercises may not find the diagrams so useful. Ooops.

 

Yoga for Indigestion

I'm a huge fan of poses that can cure indigestion. The first pose in the video is also known as vajrasana. It is extremely useful have you are having a really bloated stomach and when you feel like the food is not digesting at all.  My ankles and knees usually protest when I get in that pose so I have to use a towel and some pillows.

The second pose on the forward bend is something that I've been trying to achieve for a long time as I'm not very flexible. This pose is also a yin yoga pose and I try to hold it for 5 minutes again. The other pose on the spinal twist is said to be good as you twisting your digestive system. It is like twisting and squeezing a towel till all the water comes out and this pose works in the same principle.

How to Massage Your Ears

This is a video on how to massage your ear for focus and calm. I love how she does the v shape thing with her fingers in the first massage. It reminds me so much of Star Trek. One of the exercises on rubbing your hands together and putting them on your ears is a reiki thingy. I find the practice of reiki very closely related to yoga. Reiki is also another self healing and calming exercise to do.

 

Yoga for dizziness and vertigo

Nobody likes to get dizzy. It can really make you sick. I googled and found this video on how to cure dizziness while it is happening. For me, when I get dizzy I can't bend forward and have my head upside down. It will just make it worse. I'm a little skeptical of the video below. Maybe it might work for you.

 

 

Yoga For Headaches.

We'll try our best to update this site once a week where possible from now onwards. Today's video is how to cure headaches with yoga. I always get lots of headaches often so this is one video that I find really useful. I love Esther's video clip below. I tried it and found some relief doing this.

 

The video below shows us a healing hand mudra on how to cure migraines. It does not involve much effort. There is no exercise. You just have to sit and relax and position your fingers as shown in the video clip. I have not tried and tested this one yet.

Yoga Exercise to Relief Pain in Wrists From Too Much Typing

We spend a lot of time on the computer everyday because of the nature of our jobs. This video is useful for those who want to relief that pain in your wrists. The exercises are easy to do. The problem with this videow is ...the volume of this clip is rather soft.

I also love this video by Laura. This one is also easy to do. Check out her video here.

 

 

This is another video for the carpel Tunnel syndrome. It's very similar to the first video clip. This one is sweet and short. I can't wait to try this. I've seen this exercise in another clip but its done against a wall instead of on the floor.

 



How To Do The Saddle Pose

I've been so interested in Yin Yoga lately and the saddle pose is one of the most difficult poses to do. It's also one of the most beneficial poses to as I was told because it is good for stretching the back muscles. I've been trying it with props because I'm not so flexible yet. It is my target to be able to lie backwards without any props and pain.

When I first googled about yoga poses to help improve digestion and cure acid reflux, the saddle pose came up tops.Here are a couple of videos to use as a guide. Hope you find the saddle pose useful too.

And here's another one:

 

This is the half saddle pose for those who want to start with just one leg at a time.

 

This video describes the benefits of the saddle pose. (I bought this guy's book on yin yoga!)