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You can do it anywhere, you can even do it in a chair!

11/28/2022

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If you're like me, the first thing you think when you hurt yourself is "I'd better get to yoga!" Because Bikram Yoga is a therapeutic practice, it's designed to be safe and beneficial no matter what condition your bod is in! When injured all you need to do is gentle stretching without causing any strain or pain.

When you break a leg (like my mother-in-law, pictured below) or have another injury where you can't bear weight on a leg or foot, the standing part of class can be performed in a chair with tons of benefit to the whole body.
Chair Yoga
Here's how to do it:
  1. Get a chair: Ideal is a simple folding chair with a back but no arm rests. In a pinch though, a plastic lawn chair like the one shown above will do! Mainly you want it to be sturdy and also have a back you can grab onto.
  2. Whole standing series: Keep feet about hip distance apart instead of "toes and heels touching" This is a more relaxed position for the hips and back while seated.
  3. Pranayama, Half Moon & Backbend: Sit with a straight spine and move only the head and arms. 
  4. Hands to Feet pose: Bend forward and hold behind the calves. You won't get a leg stretch with bent legs, so the focus instead is on relaxing and gently stretching the back.
  5. Awkward pose, Eagle: Begin with a straight spine and move only arms and torso.
  6. Standing Head to Knee: Depending on the injury. If you are able to, grab your foot with fingers interlocked and stretch the leg forward until it's straight. If that's too much pressure on the foot or ankle, simply sit up straight and extend your leg forward, flexing the foot and locking the knee.
  7. Standing Bow: Hold the back of the chair to stretch your shoulders in opposite directions.
  8. Balancing Stick: Perform the upper body part of the posture as instructed.
  9. Separate Leg Stretching: Open your legs, keeping knees bent and fold forward, much like Hands to Feet pose. 
  10. Triangle: Keeping your bottom on the chair, set up your legs and perform the posture to the best of your ability.
  11. Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee pose: Open your legs and perform the posture to the best of your ability. Your front leg will need to stay bent. The focus here is getting a good frontside compression by touching your forehead as close to your knee as you can.
  12. Tree pose, Toe Stand: Tree pose is a good time to make your way down to the floor as you may need a bit of extra time. Once you are laying on your back, you can perform Tree pose as usual.
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Science says: 6 reasons to yoga in the AMs

9/22/2021

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As a mom of two (and 2 businesses too!) I know my day may not always (understatement alert!) go exactly as planned.

That's why I'm a big proponent of "gettin it while ya can" -- which often means being up before the sun (and the son) in order to squeeze in my daily practice. 

Did you know that traditionally yoga was practiced in the morning?

Maybe it had something to do with avoiding the hot sun of Indian afternoons, but really it just makes sense. Your mind is at its most relaxed in those wee hours, and the rest of the world hasn’t sent you any emails yet.

There are fewer distractions and there just seems to be more... peace. Physically, stretching is a body's natural urge in the morning, helping loosen up your joints in preparation for movement as you start your day.

It turns out modern science is also a huge fan of movement in the morn!

Here are just a few of the reasons (and the research that supports them!) to wake up early with us and yoga:
Science backed reasons to do early morning yoga
  1. Feel less "bleh." Yoga improves blood flow, oxygenating the body-- which increases energy levels and reduces fatigue. Plus, the release of exercise-induced hormones dopamine and seratonin will mean you start the day feeling high on life. Especially good if you don't identify as a "morning person." ​
  2. Wake up your brain. Morning workouts have been shown to improve cognitive function including decision-making, throughout the day.
  3. Eat better. Sweating it out in the morning results in reduced food cravings and helps curb emotional eating. Yummmm.
  4. Burn more fat. Overweight men in this study who exercised before breakfast burned 2x the amount of fat than those who exercised after. This had ‘profound and positive’ effects on their health because of improved insulin response, which keeps blood sugar levels under control and potentially lowers the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
  5. Be happier! Yoga has been found to have even more mood-boosting power than other forms of exercise. Participants who practiced yoga for 12 weeks in this study experienced greater improvements in mood and anxiety, as compared to the participants who followed a walking regimen. 
  6. Avoid diabetes. This study found that early morning exercise on an empty stomach resulted improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity (translation: reduced risk of diabetes, yay!) to a greater extent than doing the same exercise after eating.

You deserve all of the above in your life. 

So sign up for an early Zoom class today, or pick a recording from our library.
And if you're not a member yet (wha??) click here to join. See you in the morning!!
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Why is nasal breathing a thing?

12/2/2020

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“If we could master breath, everything after that is going to be handled a bit better.”

That's a quote from James Newbury, an athlete who completed the entire 5-hour bike ride and 4-hour run of an Ironman race, breathing only through his nose.

​“We’re going to live at a higher level.”

Living at a higher level sounds good.

​Here is my nose:
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Maybe you’ve been here:

Huffing and puffing through the first few poses in one of your first hot yoga classes, your face turning bright beet-red. The more you try to breathe, sucking air in through your mouth- the harder it seems to get.

From somewhere in the distance, you hear the instructor’s calm, encouraging voice:
“Close your mouth, breathe through your nose.”

You try it.

It works!

Nose breathing is the way

Many people have been taught or just naturally start breathing through their mouths while exercising, especially when it gets intense. But emerging research suggests nasal breathing (like we do for about 80 out of the 90 minutes in a Bikram Yoga class) is actually where it’s at.

That’s no big surprise for yoga practitioners, who have been harnessing the power of breath for centuries! (But we always love when science backs up what we do!)
 
Breathing by the nose helps athletes perform better

For example, this recent study looked at runners who used nasal breathing and found their maximum rate of oxygen consumption was unchanged compared to mouth breathing.

At the same time, their respiratory rates (breaths per minute) and ratios of oxygen intake to carbon dioxide output decreased, which means they didn’t have to work as hard to get the same amount of oxygen! 


Researchers believe the lower breath rate caused by breathing through your nose (a much smaller opening for air than your gaping maw) allows more time for oxygen to get to the bloodstream.

That means you get more oxygen to your cells from each breath, which allows you to breathe less.

Wait a sec? Is breathing LESS a good thing?

Don’t worry: no one is telling you not to breathe. It’s about being efficient.

By breathing through your nose "you actually can perform your big physical tasks – running, cycling, things like that, you can perform them using less oxygen because you're not having to breathe as much to perform them,” says researcher George Dallam. “Which turns this not just into a health thing, but also into a performance thing too.”
 
Nose breathing helps with daily wellbeing too
 
I recently read a fascinating book called Breath, by James Nestor. In it Nestor “explores the million-year-long history of how the human species has lost the ability to breathe properly and why we’re suffering from a laundry list of maladies—snoring, sleep apnea, asthma, autoimmune disease, allergies—because of it.”

One thing Nestor did as part of this book was an experiment where he plugged his nose completely for 10 days, forcing himself to breathe only through his mouth. Spoiler alert: the results were disastrous!

Other spoiler alert: everything got better when he began breathing through his nose again.

Among other things, it turns out people who breathe primarily through their noses have:
  • Better posture
  • Straighter teeth and better facial bone structure
  • Less sleep apnea and snoring
  • Less stress and anxiety
  • Lower rates of heart disease and diabetes
  • Less asthma
  • Less ADHD
 
Nasal breathing calms ya down
 
Breathing slowly through the nose is associated with the parasympathetic aspect of your nervous system, known as the “rest, digest and reproduce” state. (You probably know that one from yoga class!)

Breathing fast, through the mouth, or too much (hyperventilation) activates the sympathetic nervous system, putting you into a state of “fight, flight or freeze.” (You know that one from if you’ve ever been stressed out.)

That’s because nasal breathing activates the lower part of the lungs, which is associated with the parasympathetic nerves.


Oh hey, we made a video about that!

“You’re dealing with what is called a vagal response,” Dallam says. “You’re actually activating your vagal nerve to do the action of the lung itself when you breathe that way. That’s why a relaxation breath is a deeper breath. If you breathe deeply and activate the diaphragm well, and activate the lower portion of the lung, then you create some immediate relaxation.”
​

It ain't always easy, but it's worth it

As James Nestor and James Newbury found, breathing by the nose during physical exertion isn't necessarily easy.

The key, whether in a Bikram Yoga class or training for a triathlon, is to only challenge yourself as much as you can while maintaining nasal breathing. This means you may need to back off on intensity at first and be patient with the process.

(Helloooo, psychological benefits!)

When you breathe calmly through your nose, you take charge of your own nervous system

The more you practice, the better you'll get at nasal breathing and the more your health will improve as a result. 

Don't take my word for it though! Try it in class today ;)
2 Comments

Update: COVID-19 vs. Heat & Humidity

10/20/2020

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Over the summer we published this blog post discussing existing research on heat and humidity in relation to COVID-19. (Hint: it was good news for Bikram Yogis!)

A new study came out this month which has even more to say on the subject. Where back in May, scientists observed that areas with higher temps and humidity experienced less spread of COVID, the recent findings suggest it's not quite that simple.

Wait... can we still do Bikram Yoga??

YES.

**CAVEAT ALERT**

Before I dive in any deeper, I'd like to point out that in no way am I claiming that being in our yoga room will guarantee that you do not catch the novel coronavirus. The truth is that
any time you leave your home or are around other people, you are at some risk of catching COVID. This post is addressing the scientific findings that some environments pose more risk than others. 

Here is what the science says:

​"Our research shows that the viability of coronavirus is higher at low air temperature values below or equal to 75 F (25°C) and at high relative humidity values greater than or equal to 65%," says Prof. Dimitris Drikakis, one of the new study's authors.

"Therefore, countries with the above weather conditions or indoor places with the above environmental conditions (at those conditions) are more at risk."


Check out this chart (circle added for reference) from the study showing the concentration of airborne contaminated droplets:
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The study found there was less risk of catching COVID at temperatures above 75 and humidity below 65%.

Hooray: that's US! (See the red circle on the image above.)

​
We keep our hot room at a perfectly sweet spot for sweating: 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) with 40-60% humidity (In most classes, especially now with our limited capacity, humidity actually remains between 40-50%.)

Scientists now understand that how well COVID spreads in the air is due to a combination of factors which include not only heat and humidity but also (when outdoors) wind and (when indoors) ventilation.

For indoor spaces, proper ventilation is advised, as well as the use of air purification systems to help reduce concentration levels of any contagions in the air.

Here at Home we've always been fans of good air quality.

Yogis who've practiced in stuffier hot studios often remark at how much better they breathe in our room! That's in part because of our Demand Control Ventilation system. 

The DCV maintains indoor air quality by automatically adjusting the amount of outside air coming into the hot room when the CO2 reaches a specific level.

In order to further increase the flow of outside air in keeping with current recommendations, this setting is currently at “0” which means we are bringing in the maximum amount of outside air (around 50%) during class. The air which is recycled is constantly cleaned by the iWave air purification system.


"We should also avoid places of low temperature," says Drikakis.

We've been saying that for years! ;)

​Check out this post for a rundown of the many benefits of heat for all kinds of reasons. And read this if you have any concerns about "handling" the heat. Most importantly, join us in Home's hot room: we're here 7 days a week.

​Click here to book your class!
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Upleveled cleaning & safety @Home!

10/5/2020

8 Comments

 
We're really excited to welcome you all Home on October 17!!

Because the wellbeing of our Homies is our top priority, during our closure we made some important updates to our already freakishly clean studio! 

​Here's a sneak peek at the changes you'll see when you return:
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Cleaning processes
  • All high-touch surfaces sanitized with EPA-approved all natural disinfectant Force of Nature after every class
  • (NEW!) NewAire Hydroxyl Generator will run in the yoga room day & night
  • (NEW!) iWave air purifier in the hot room ducts
  • Antimicrobial Flotex yoga room flooring deep-cleaned after every class
  • (Coming soon!) Matsana UV sanitizing mat cleaning machine

Tools for you
  • (NEW!) handwashing sink at main entrance
  • (NEW!) touchless water bottle filler
  • (NEW!) disinfecting wipes in restrooms & lobby
  • Hand sanitizer available throughout studio

Protective measures
  • (NEW) Mats spaced 6+ feet between people
  • (NEW) No rental mats or towels
  • Touchless check-in & sales
  • (NEW) Bottled kombucha instead of on tap
  • Face coverings required

Staff safety
  • Plexiglass shield at desk
  • Personal cubbies
  • Training & PPE
  • Working from home (theirs) when possible
Got any questions about this stuff, or anything related to reopening? Check out our Reopening Plan! Or drop us a line here.
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    Author

    HHY Founder, Yoga Business Coach, yoga-doer and life-lover, Kay Afif!

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