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Challenge Yourself, Improve Your Health, Enhance Your Life!
 
July 2009
 
HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY BIKRAM YOGA WEST EDMONTON!!!
Lets continue to love our yoga for the next 89 years to come!
 
 

Bikram Yoga West Edmonton

 
Birthday Yoga
 
 
 
Happy 1st Birthday

Help us to celebrate our 1st birthday! Drop by for some birthday cake throughout the day on Saturday July 4th, 2009.

Thank you for being part of our yoga community and for your ongoing support! Bikram West would not be the same without each and every one of you! Please always speak with us directly or place feedback in our "Suggestions Box". We hold great value in knowing what we are and what we could be doing to better support your yoga experience.
 
 
Congratulations 30 Day Challengers!!
  
30 Day Challenge
Congratulations to all of the 30 Day Challengers! The challenge is a huge accomplishment and a great commitment to yourself and your practice. Make sure to take home your name- strip and your stickers. They are up at the front desk for you to pick up. It becomes pretty evident that the challenge would not be the same without the STICKERS!! We look forward to seeing you all in the next challenge.
 
 
 
Karma Class June 13th, 2008
 
Bikram West would like to thank each and every yogi who came out on Saturday June 13th to support our "Karma Class" in  support of Helma van den Bygaart and her "Ride to Conquer Cancer". As always, people's donations, time and energy was  tremendously kind and generous. It is the intention behind the action that makes good karma so powerful. Again, thanks for your great intentions.

Do you have a special cause that you are working to support? Please always share ideas for future Karma Classes with any of the staff. A karma class is a great way to practice yoga as a group, have some fun, and give back to the community.
 
"Good Karma" - Intelligent or skillful action. Those intentional actions,
which are beneficial to oneself and others, springing out from kindness, compassion, renunciation and wisdom. (web.signet.com)
 
BYWE's Featured Student
 
Bikram West would like to introduce Bruce MacMillan as this month's Featured Student. We would also like to congratulate Bruce on recently finishing the "Vancouver Marathon" in a "Personal Best" time. Thanks so much for being such a fantastik ambassador of yoga to the world of running. As one student says "Bruce... he is just always on the move, he just keeps going and going..."! Please enjoy reading more about Bruce.

Feature Student

I am a new student to Bikram yoga having taken my first class in March of this year.  I have been running for a number of years and it was starting to take a toll on my body.  I kept hearing the same thing from trainers, massage therapists, and physiotherapists,  'you need to stretch more! (hamstrings)'. I found myself caught between wanting to train harder to improve my time in races and needing to stay injury free so I could run at all.  I had heard of Bikram yoga and a friend had started to practice, she encouraged me to try it.
My first session was incredibly long, how many more postures?  Beyond that I was intrigued by the intensity of some of the postures, especially the locust and full locust positions.  My heart rate goes up like I am having a cardio workout which was a real attraction for me.  But it was the stretching that I was looking for.  I love the standing separate leg stretching pose and the release it provides for my hamstrings.  My lower back is finally starting to let go as well.                                                                          
Since I started yoga I changed my workout routine to run twice a week and do yoga 3 - 4 times a week.  My running buddies were worried about my training falling off, but I stayed with this for 2 months and ran a personal best in the Vancouver Marathon at the beginning of May.  One of the most interesting benefits has been my capacity to recover from long training runs.  Usually after a 25 to 30 kilometer run I am moving pretty slowly the next day.  With Bikram I find that I recover quickly and am ready to go the next day.  
I sense that I am just touching the potential of yoga practice.  I look forward to the incremental opportunities to grow and experience the changes yoga offers.  

 
Maintain your Summer Yoga Practice - Intelligent Cross-Training
 
This month's newsletter focuses on running and cycling and the benefits that are received through your yoga practice as a means of intelligent cross-training. It has been wonderful to see so many people maintaining such a consistent summer practice. Your body and mind will thank you 10-fold for your efforts. Bikram describes the human body as being very similar to the body of a car. "Both run along similar principles and are easy to fix if you know how... Practicing Bikram yoga is a complete overhaul for your body. Full service." (Bikram Yoga, Bikram Choudhury, 2007).
 
 Running 
  • Although running and yoga lie on opposite ends of the exercise spectrum, both can be of benefit to each other. They are not mutually exclusive! 
  • "During the course of an average mile run, your foot will strike the ground 1,000 times... The pain most runners feel is not from the running in and of itself, but from imbalances that running causes and exacerbates."
  • If you can bring your body into balance through the practice of yoga, you can run long and hard for years to come. Think prevention, maintenance and recovery!
  • "Tension is the athlete's downfall, and breath awareness is key to reducing it."
  • The body is the sum of its parts and impairment of one affects them all. A regular yoga practice will aid in creating symmetry in the body and mind allowing for rest and recovery from harder, longer runs. A bad back will affect the knee and the knee will affect the ankle. It is all connected.
  • "You learn through the practice of yoga that each day is distinct, much like each run... you don't power drive through every workout mindlessly but rather respect your body's limitations" 
Focus on Bikram's "Fixed Firm" pose to open up the connective tissue and joints in the lower body in a symmetrical fashion, and all of the "Forward bending" postures to stretch out the hamstrings and assist in preventing and relieving lower back tension.
 
For further information, link to http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/192
 
- excerpts taken from "Yoga for Runners", Yoga Journal (2009), Baron Baptiste, Kathleen Finn Mendola 
 
Cycling
  • "As a cyclist travels through one plane, he or she repeatedly overtaxes some muscles and underutilizes others."
  • All of the joints of the lower extremity - hips, knees, ankles should all be in one track. If any of these are "off track", the cyclist risks wearing down ligaments and tendons, and developing muscle imbalances.
  • "Even in intense effort, you want to connect the rhythm of your breath with your pedal strokes. As in yoga, your breath is vital to reaching those tight, restricted muscles that are in need of oxygen."
  • transfer breath awareness in postures to your bike riding. Efficient breathing will efficiently feed muscles during intense physical exertion.
Focus on Bikram's "Spine Strengthening Series" (Cobra, Locust, Full Locust, Bow Pose) to counterbalance the time spent in forward spinal flexion while on the bike.

For more information, link to http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/196
 
Quotations from "Yoga for Cyclists", Yoga Journal (2009), Baron Baptiste, Kathleen Finn Mendola 
 
Suggestions or requests for next month's sports? We would love to hear them!

Cool Down this Summer with Blackberry Yogurt Pops

 
Blackberry Yogurt Pops
 
A great way to cool down from the heat of the summer and add some extra calcium to your diet.

You will need popsicle molds and wooden sticks to make these.
 
2 cups fresh or defrosted frozen blackberries (about 10 ounces)
1 2/3 cups plain whole-milk or low-fat yogurt
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. In a blender or food processor, puree the berries. Pass the puree through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing the pulp with the back of a spoon to extract as much juice as possible. Discard the seeds.
  2. Gently whisk the yogurt, agave nectar, lemon juice, and vanilla into the berry puree. Spoon the mixture into 8 popsicle molds and freeze until firm, about 8 hours, or up to one week.
  3. To remove, dip the outside of the mold in warm water for a few seconds and then tug gently on the stick to slide each pop out from the mold.

Makes 8 servings     From "Eating Wisely", by Charity Ferreira, Yoga Journal June 2009.

 
Feature Posture - Dandyamana-Bibhaktapada Paschimotthanasana
 
What does Dandyamana-Bibhaktapada Paschimotthanasana mean? Posture #8
 
In Sanskrit, it means "Standing Separate Leg Stretching".

 
This posture is the one that makes your legs feel like they're going to rip apart; that tremendous stretching on the backs of your legs. You use your strength to increase or create flexibility. Notice the power you generate by pulling on your heels, it stretches the legs, hips, and spine. Remember to have thigh muscles contracted nice and tight like a rock to help you lock your knees. This posture stretches and strengthens the sciatic nerves and the tendons in the legs. It also massages the internal abdominal organs and the small and large intestines. Standing separate leg stretching increases the flexibility in the pelvis, ankles, hip joints and especially the last five vertebrae of the spine.

*An important tip for this posture is that if you are having trouble grabbing underneath your heels, grab anywhere underneath the outside edge of your foot., even if it's just your fingertips. And also keep your weight forward on your toes.