Lower Back Bliss

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Today may not be the right time! Be sweet to yourself.

Review: Om Yoga Show 2017

It’s always a good feeling to be part of a great team, so I was thrilled to be asked to contribute to Brighton’s Unity Yoga stand at the Om Yoga Show this year.

Apart from being a yoga-obsessive and a big fan of Unity Yoga, I actually attended primary school just down the hill from the venue, Alexandra Palace, and I hadn’t been to an event at the top of the hill since the Sinclair C5* launch…in 1985!

For me, yoga definitely has its spiritual side, and skipping from the free shuttle bus up to the impressive gates of Ally Pally (as we called it at school), I was really excited to be spending a day working in the impressive building I’d been able to see from my old playground. It felt like I was coming full-circle from the kid I’d once been to the parent and yoga teacher I am today.

As I stepped into The Great Hall I was met with the sight of dozens of stalls peddling yoga-related products to legging-clad women and men in jogging bottoms. I noticed a series of penned exercise areas set around the perimeter of the hall for visitors who wanted to join a class (for some sessions there was an additional charge). These spaces were sponsored by companies such as Pukka and Tea India (tea was a big thing at the event – there were lots of smaller outlets there too), equipment brands like Yoga United, Yoga Studio and Yoga Matters, as well as schools of yoga such as Raja and Sahaja Yoga. There was even a Rainbow Yoga area set aside for kids – a great idea!

In the Tea India area I passed rows of people seated for a meditation practice, each wearing eye masks to keep out the distractions. I’m not sure how restful it could have been being barked at through a radio mike, but the students seemed happy enough.

Photo credit Abi Amber @ http://colour-yoga.com

Training yoga teachers is big money these days (it’s just a shame being a yoga teacher is considerably less of an earner!), and as well as the wonderful Unity Yoga in Brighton that I was helping to promote, there were a good few schools from Iyengar to British Wheel Of Yoga and beyond also canvassing visitors.

Yoga holidays are becoming increasingly popular as people look to escape the pressures of modern life, and as well as an impressive amount of stands advertising yoga retreats there was even one selling an actual bricks and mortar retreat – a very beautiful chateau in the South of France, complete with its own spring-fed swimming lake! I know what’s first on my Christmas list this year…

At the Om Yoga Magazine stand yogis were earnestly throwing shapes in front of a white screen in the hope of winning the magazine’s ‘Search For a Cover Star 2018’. Despite being a natural show-off myself, I thought it might have been more interesting for the magazine to seek out some of the more modest show attendants, who very Britishly may not have shouted the loudest – if at all.

I met some truly inspirational people working at the stalls, many whom, extremely experienced in yoga, worked with yoga in deserving areas of care or education. For example, as the mother of a (high-functioning) autistic child with ADHD, I was drawn to the Yotism booth – a yoga teacher-training school with the tagline ‘Inspiring Harmony In Autism’ – as well as that of Rainbow Yoga Kids Studio, which offered classes for children and their parents or grandparents (‘the family that yogas together’, etc).

The LA-founded but international team behind the Yoga Gives Back scheme would also make a commendable cover story. They raise money through yoga classes in the west to enable “small loans to women in India who are otherwise excluded from the conventional banking and financial systems. In the last ten years, YGB has grown to fund over 1100 mothers and children with micro loan programs and education funds with a minimum of five-year commitment to each person.” Special mention for UK-based aid goes to Yogacycle, where yogis can donate disused or damaged yoga mats for distribution to homeless shelters, refugee camps and animal shelters**.

The remaining stalls comprised insurance brokers, jewellery and accessory companies, skincare manufacturers offering items such as organic and ayurvedic face creams or hand soaps and big name brands like Riverford, Abel & Cole, Planet Organic and Biona trading speciality foodstuffs. Smaller booths selling liquid refreshments like smart drinks, vitamin drinks and juices vied for attention with a delightful array of cottage industries offering edible treats – raw, vegan chocolate being the standout trend of 2017 (perhaps it should have been called the NOm Show this year, nom-nom!).

Of course there were also a great many yoga clothing companies evident at the Om Show, with the most wonderfully bright and colourful Athleisure**** wear shops hawking their wares alongside the calmer muted greys, whites and beige sweats and shirts of organic cottons and ethical cashmere. It was refreshing to see a great many clothes on offer for the male yogis amongst us, with show sponsor Yogangster making its presence felt with cool urban togs, as well as Yoga Bloke featuring esoteric designs printed on hoodies and sweatpants.

Overall, I noticed that people seemed more interested in yoga retreats than teacher-training schemes, and a few people mentioned that last weekend’s Show felt quieter than that of the previous year.

On a personal level it was wonder meeting so many passionate yogis in one place. I was really pleased to bump into the lovely Ellen at the Independent Yoga Network, one of the UK Yoga governing bodies under which my training diploma at Unity Yoga Brighton was accredited.

Another standout meeting was with Tilly (AKA Louise) and her tirelessly enthusiastic helper at the Buttafly stall. The Buttafly is a foam wedge available in three heights that can be used as an alternative to a yoga block, bolster or meditation cushion to correct posture and support better alignment of the spine. Suffice to say, as someone who still finds Dandasana difficult after 20 years of practice (due to additional fused vertebrae in the spine than just the usual 5 in the sacrum), I was sold! I’ll pen a more detailed write-up on the Buttafly once I receive my review sample.

Apart from an entire collection of Buttaflies, a whole new yoga wardrobe (or few!) a yoga retreat (or few!), and a lifetime’s supply of raw chocolate, also on my wishlist from the Om Show was local (to me) Sussex yoga treat company Bhava Box. Following on from the popularity of beauty boxes such as Birchbox and Look Fantastic, Bhava Box offers monthly subscriptions of goodies such as organic skincare, deluxe samples, healthy snacks, essential oils and teas (of course!) all boxed up and sprinkled with lavender oil to be delivered straight to your door. Santa, if you’re listening this comes a close second to the retreat for sale in France!

* Nothing to do with the Om Show but I couldn’t resist this little reminder:

** Courtesy of Spectrum Magazine BWY:

*** The ‘Kiss My Asana’ T-shirt was funny and reminded me of another ‘80s fad: the ‘My Mum went to … and all she brought me was this Lousy T-Shirt’ souvenir. I didn’t buy this particular top for teaching my classes. Should I have?!

****yes, Athleisure fashion’s an acceptable descriptive term, and has actually been around as long as I have, first recorded as being used in a trainer advert in 1976. Reaching prominence in the last couple of years, according to Business Insider the trend is already on the wane, as discussed in their piece ‘Athleisure Is Dying’.

Coughs and Sneezes Can be Eased

The first few weeks of this new school year have flown by, and with them the last warm days of summer. The arrival of autumn brings with it its own special characteristics: a sense of impending jumpers and coats, of enforced cosiness from increased indoor living, and of course the inevitable onslaught of coughs and colds.

To counter this seasonal shift my classic hatha yoga class on Wednesday (27^th September) saw us work through a variety of chest-opening poses, each moving closer to an ultimate yoga asana towards the end of the class (more on this later).

One of Wednesday’s chest-openers was Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana, an energizing backbend that opens up the lungs enabling better breathing despite bronchial congestion, and releases any viral spinal stiffness or tension from the tailbone to the base of the skull (yeah, take that, chesty cough and endless snot!).

For the purpose of easing the symptoms of a tight chest due to coughs and colds, pay attention to these particular aspects of Cobra Pose:

• Roll and retract the shoulders (in anatomical terms, via circumduction of the ball and socket joint of each shoulder)
• Bring the shoulders back and down (depress them), so that the shoulder blades (scapulae) are brought closer together on your back, thereby
  • Bending back (hyperextending) the spine and
  • Bringing your chest forward and lifting it towards the chin (elevating the sternum).

Got that? Didn’t think so, so here’s a quick, extremely amateur sketch!

Remember I mentioned I designed Wednesday’s class to include a carefully selected collection of asanas, each a positional variation exploring chest-opening, each pose a step in the journey towards one of yoga’s ultimate examples of the theme?

Well, here it is, and it’s another dynamic backbend, the rather more extreme Camel Pose or Ustrasana. For those of you who have injuries or are less experienced yogis, worry not: Camel Pose can always be modified with yoga blocks and bolsters to become a gentler, less intense, and more supportive asana.

So, can you see how Cobra Pose might relate to Camel Pose? And could you apply the specific chest-opening instructions above for Cobra to Camel?

In tonight’s deliciously relaxing Sunday Yin/ Restorative Colour Yoga class I will continue to address which yoga asanas are helpful when we inevitably succumb to coughs, colds and seasonal sickness.

So, come and enjoy the perfect excuse to enjoy lovely long stretches while being supported by yoga blocks and cossetted by bolsters, proving that yup, if you search hard enough you’ll find a positive side to everything – even snot!

The Ultimate Yoga Glow

When teaching a Restorative Yin yoga class, there is nothing as rewarding as the moment at the end of the last, lovely long Savasana, when your students roll to one side and, after resting there a moment, slowly push themselves up to a seated position.

Rather than the pressures of daily life they inadvertently brought with them to the studio at the start of the session, little by little, asana by asana, the students have released the tension stored in their body.

The yogis in the class sit bleary-eyed and unfocussed, their skin shining, the lines on their face softened, looking newer somehow, and more fresh.

Shoulders once hunched up in desk-stress are now gently loosened and lowered. Body language speaks quietly of ultimate relaxation, of grounding and reconnection with the self.

At least that’s my experience of a successful Restorative Yin class from where I’m sitting. What’s yours?