Archive for May 2010

Paying attention to living

By Peter Fabian · Comments (2)
Sunday, May 30th, 2010

Life and Mindfulness

Yoga class today presented with great food for thought.

We consider life more fully when thoughts and images of not having life come to our attention.  It is interesting how many of us have friends and family who are close to their end of life or have recently passed.  Do we feel comfortable with our thoughts and feelings.  Why do we need to be “comfortable” at this time. Certainly there are no shoulds only coulds.

These moments do give time for taking time to reflect on how one manages their life in relation to their death.  Preparation for handling death is not often talked about and even thought.  Preparation for death can a morbid topic for some of us.

These times allow a perspective of life that celebrates the fullness of living in life.  Do we spend our time just getting through life.  Are our hopes and fears a main focus of the mind’s attention?  Is the celebration of life lived through our lives or just our dreams?

I believe these questions are begging to arise.  They come to the surface when the waves of our life get a bit rocky and rough.  Otherwise we might be just too busy plowing ahead to notice the life that is under the waves.  (These undercurrents are the bulk of the ocean of what shapes our journey of “riding the waves”.)

Therefore living life fully is great.  Living life with interest, creativity and good companions are great.  All this is often just the surface of life.  Therefore many living life with mindfulness creates a connection deep within.  The practice of meditation exercises this connection of the depth of what is on the inside.  Yoga is actually the bringing together of this life on the inside with this life on the outside.

Sitting quietly, closing the eyes and turning the mind’s attention away from the outside, into the inside introduces ourselves to ourselves.  Bringing together ourselves allows for a fullness of the “depth” of our lives to be lived not just on the surface of the up and down ride of life.

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Categories : Meditation
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Progressive Resistance Exercise

By Peter Fabian · Comments (4)
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

EXERCISE  FOR PEOPLE OVER 50


Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side.


With a 5-lb potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.

Each day you’ll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato bags.

Then try 50-lb potato bags and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. (I’m at this level.)


After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each bag

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Categories : Humor
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Feeling balanced today?

By Peter Fabian · Comments (2)
Monday, May 24th, 2010

Observations

Have you noticed that your balance may not be as good as it use to?  Is your assessment based on one leg, with or without eyes closed?

Testing one leg balance is quite popular in therapy, fitness and yoga–the repertoire in function and activities of exercise and asana often demand it.  What is surprising is to try it with the eyes closed.  Later in the post you can see a test the two physical therapist came up with.  I’m sure we have used these tests in the past, but take a look at the comparative performance scale–quite humbling for some of us.

I have been testing it more frequently in the clinic to see the range of different populations response–it is a definite eye opener (pun intended) for many.  Without that visual orientation our performance for balanced is generally and markedly affected.  Try it out!

Testing for Equilibrium

Marilyn Moffat and Carole B. Lewis, physical therapists in New York and Washington, respectively, agree with Mr. McCredie that “balance is an area of physical fitness that is often overlooked,” but they seek to correct that in their recent book “Age-Defying Fitness” (Peachtree Publishers). They define balance as “the ability of your body to maintain equilibrium when you stand, walk or perform any other daily activity” like putting on pants, walking on uneven ground or reaching for something on a shelf.

Dr. Moffat and Dr. Lewis suggest starting with a simple assessment of your current ability to maintain good balance. With a counter or sturdy furniture near enough to steady you if needed, perform this test:

1. Stand straight, wearing flat, closed shoes, with your arms folded across your chest. Raise one leg, bending the knee about 45 degrees, start a stopwatch and close your eyes.

2. Remain on one leg, stopping the watch immediately if you uncross your arms, tilt sideways more than 45 degrees, move the leg you are standing on or touch the raised leg to the floor.

3. Repeat this test with the other leg.

Now, compare your performance to the norms for various ages:

¶ 20 to 49 years old: 24 to 28 seconds.

¶ 50 to 59 years: 21 seconds.

¶ 60 to 69 years: 10 seconds.

¶ 70 to 79 years: 4 seconds.

¶ 80 and older: most cannot do it at all.

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Categories : Movement Evaluation
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Training into your later years

By Peter Fabian · Comments (2)
Thursday, May 20th, 2010

61 year old woman breaking world records in Olympic Lifts

You have to read some of these real amazing people’s web sites–like Dave and Laree Draper

Check out their page on this amazing woman (and amazing trainer–Glenn Pendlay) who just started learning Olympic lifts at 55 yo

Working towards being healthy, without injury and having a proper perspective of training goes a long way, it seems

(Maybe there is a place for yoga and it’s sister science Ayurveda.)

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Categories : Exercise
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Gentle social support increases exercise compliance

By Peter Fabian · Comments (2)
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

There is an interesting study done by Standford University on exercise.  It shows how social support can positively affect the outcome of someone maintaining their weekly exercise program.

There were three experimental groups:

  1. Human advice–Study participants received a phone call from a trained health educator every two weeks and then monthly
  2. Automated advice–where the group received a similar phone call but it was an automated computerized interface
  3. No advice–where they had the same initial contact as above but received no follow up

All three groups were studied over a year.  Significant improvement was made in increasing the average time spent exercising each week for both the human and computer supported programs.   Even the ones not receiving any advice improved by 28%, because it was thought that they improved as there was going to be a check, though only at the end.

Is this social support being helpful or just being involved in a study.  Definitely social support in this context by humans showed the most increase in maintaining ones exercise.  Just being involved in some way also was helpful.

We are certainly a social animal, er human.

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Categories : Exercise
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Good Saying

By Peter Fabian · Comments (0)
Monday, May 17th, 2010
“Yesterday is History,

Tomorrow a Mystery,

Today is a Gift,

Thats why it’s called the Present”‘
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Categories : Humor
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Pranayama Question

By Peter Fabian · Comments (0)
Monday, May 17th, 2010

Advancing one’s alternate nostril breathing practice

I was just asked a question about how to progress a Nadi Shodhanam (alternate nostril breathing) practice.  They already have progressed to doing 9 rounds (108 breaths), they were looking for more refinement now.

For most beginners (all of us regular folk)–all pranayama should be done from gross to more and more subtle.  All advancement of pranayama is at the subtle levels–the basics come first for many years  (just heard an interview-from 2005–by Terry Gross on NPR of Hank Jones http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4710791–he was 87 yo then and still practicing his scales or basics)

I usually start out with

  • ensuring diaphragmatic breathing–first from the belly and then later emphasize lateral costal and full 3-dimensional pattern
  • working towards deeply relaxing on each breath, more and more
  • 4 parameters of breath: Deep, Smooth, Noiseless, Continuous–no pause between breaths, most important–also you can spend more time at the beginning just observing these and later try encouraging and expanding your capacity more directly with each of them
  • same force of breath on inhalation as on exhalation
  • same amount of breath on inhal/exhale–this is a 1:1 ration later after all the above is natural then you can work towards 2 exhale:1 inhale ratio, which may just come naturally later on–but first ensure the above is solid

Each of the above bullet points can be worked on for months–the first three are in order of what i often teach, the last two bullets can be done in any order.  these are pretty much the same guidelines for working with diaphragmatic breathing in any basic centered asana.  Just apply these same guidelines to your Nadi Shodhanam practice.

Of course there is more–but practice is just that–practice

A key to practice is skillful use of your tools and skill comes through practice where one is paying attention and asking questions and progressing.  Otherwise we are just putting in time doing the same thing year after year.  Chronology doesn’t count–improving skills and capacity does.   Start slowly and let time and consistency be also your coach.

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Categories : Breathing, Pranayama, Yoga
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