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Bikram Philadelphia Newsletter
August 2009
Welcome to the first Bikram Philadelphia Newsletter! In this first edition, we have information about our upcoming Ayurveda Seminar, our new 30-Day Challenge, as well as our "Posture of the Month" Pranayama (Standing Deep Breathing). Stick with us - over time we will make this Newsletter better and better!
Fundamentals of Ayurveda
Special Class - Sunday, 30th August 2009
You’re invited to attend an introductory class on the Fundamentals of Ayurveda. The class will be held at the Bikram Yoga Studio in Philadelphia on Sunday, August 30th from 10:00 am - 12:00 noon. See the flyer here.
Ayurveda is a 5000 year old medical science and sister science to the practice of yoga. Recognizing that not all body types are the same, Ayurveda thus analyzes individuals to give personalized dietary and lifestyle advice to keep your specific needs in balance.
The class will be taught by Dr. Shekhara Annambhotla, BAMS., Ayurveda MD, R.Y.T., C.M.T. Dr. Shekhara, an Ayurvedic Specialist, consultant and educator since 1988, first began his eight-year course of study in Ayurvedic medicine at the age of 17, and earned his Doctor of Medicine in Ayurveda at the Gujarat Ayurveda University in India. He travels extensively throughout Europe, the West Indies and North America, practicing and teaching Ayurveda and is also a Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance.
Following the class, Dr. Shekhara is offering personal consultations (not included in ticket price). Limited quantity. Call or email for more information and to reserve your appointment.
Advance tickets are $45 and tickets at the door will be $55. Free parking at the garage across the street from us, valid only with paid ticket.
For tickets, personal consultations or for more info, email bikramphiladelphia@gmail.com.
30 Day Challenge
Help us kick-off Bikram Philadelphia's 30-Day Challenge with a BANG!
Bikram says that if you do 30 days of yoga in a row, your life will never be the same; we decided to put this into action at Center Siddhi Yoga. We're challenging our students and teachers to do a class a day for 30 days. During your challenge month you will experience amazing and unexpected things and feel absolutely amazing when you finish. To begin this life-altering experience, just let us know at the desk so we can tell you the rules and get you signed up today!
Students must declare participation on the first day of their challenge in order for us to recognize this accomplishment with a special commemorative stainless steel water bottle.
Not quite ready to jump into it? ...Get inspired by following and encouraging your fellow yogis on the challenge board (located on the wall opposite the 3rd floor women's changing room, left of the window).
Pranayama - Standing Deep Breathing
Posture of the Month
This month, our featured posture is Pranayama - Standing Deep Breating.
What is Pranayama? Pranayama is the careful regulation (yama) or expansion (ayama) of the breath, or the life force sustaining the body (prana).
Directions:
- Stand feet together, legs and hips strong, body weight in the heels, toes relaxed. Interlace your fingers under the chin and keep your elbows together. Keep this knuckle-to-chin contact the whole time.
- (1st Inhale) Keep your mouth closed, inhaling deeply by way of the nose, but actually breathing through the throat. Simultaneously, as you inhale to the count of six, slowly raise your elbows to the ceiling. Hold it at the top.
- (Exhale) In a fluid movement, at the top of the inhale, open the mouth, and slowly exhale, again by way of the throat. Simultaneously, as you exhale to the count of six, slowly drop your head backward, keeping the knuckles with the chin, bringing your palms, wrists, forearms, and elbows forward and together. Hold it at the bottom.
- (All other Inhales) In a fluid movement, at the bottom of the exhale, close the mouth and slowly inhale, through the nose by way of the throat. As you inhale, slowly bring your head down to look forward as you open and raise your elbows towards the ceiling. Hold it at the top.
- In total, do ten cycles of the inhales and exhales.
Tips:
- Except for the first breath, where you start with your elbows together and down, your elbows should stay raised off your chest, opening and closing pretty much on the same horizontal line depending on your shoulder flexibility.
- Keep your body weight in the heels, legs and hips strong, stomach in, and upper body lifted, especially for the exhales, where the tendency is to collapse and/or backward bend. For the exhales, think "chest up, heart up, elbows stretching forward and up" and that will help counteract the tendency to collapse backwards.
- Try to synchronize the movements of the head and arms with the breath so that everything starts and stops at the same time - the idea is for this breathing rhythm to be soothing and relaxing.
- You are inhaling through the nose, exhaling by the mouth, but always by way of the throat. In other words, the nose and mouth are just passageways for the breath - really the breath rides on the back of the throat the whole time so that when inhaling there is a sweet "hum" sound, and when exhaling there is a light but full "haaa" sound. The movements for Pranayama are soothing, and so is the sound.
- Relax your shoulders. I know its hard, but try. Do your best to keep your shoulders down and relaxed instead of bunched up around your ears - for the inhale and the exhale. This will really help the shoulders open up more and more.
- Look back even more than you think you can on the exhales - with your eyes, not your spine (noat a backbend)! It's amazing how stretching your eyes back just a little bit more can open up your cervical vertebrae just a little bit more....
Benefits:
- Essentially wakes up the respiratory, circulatory, and nervous systems.
- Creates heat in the body.
- Normally, throughout the day, we take shallow breaths, so Pranayama forces you to use the 90% of your lungs you don't normally use. It increases the lung capacity to four times that of an average person, in turn giving you more energy and power. Also, it increases the elasticity of the lungs.
- Moves oxygen into the blood stream and increases circulation to the body, basically waking the body up for class.
- Right away, you are engaging through the legs and hips while stretching your spine upwards, in preparation for the Half-Moon Series. Remember, Bikram Yoga isn't just 26 postures, it's a sequence of postures, and every posture builds upon the previous. Pranayama doesn't just set you up for the Half-Moon Series, it sets you up for your entire practice!
- Helps to release tension in the cervical vertebrae and shoulders.
- According to Bikram, good for circulatory/blood problems including high blood pressure and anemia, and repiratory problems, including emphysema, asthma, and shortness of breath. Also good for problems in the nervous system, including insomnia, nervousness, and irritability.
- Any time, any place you are tired and need energy, do this breathing exercise and your vitality will come back!
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