Cheryl Thomas, RYT
www.cherylthomas.com yoga@cherylthomas.com 415-308-3377 |
Rest and Weight Loss
There is no lack of contradiction in health studies. It's confusing. Take exercise recommendations. Do 20 minutes of interval exercise have the same benefits of an hour of conventional workouts? Is 30 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise? Is it fats or carbohydrates or sugar or Twinkies that's causing our weight problem? Is the Paleo diet the answer?
Let me add one more. Resting can help reduce the levels of subcutaneous fat. What, you say? I thought that required trips to the gym, boring diet food and no more Grande Starbuck White Mocha (470 calories).
High levels of cortisol, produced by the body in response to stress, contribute to weigh gain and specifically fat collection around the beltline(1). By reducing stress, can we reduce weight and corresponding belly fat. Here's where the yoga comes in. A branch of yoga, called restorative yoga, is the practice of using props to support the body in restful postures. These various postures often support the spine in flexion, extension and twisting. There may also be an inversion, like legs up the wall. Positions are held for an extended period of time, often 15 minutes or more. Resting flips the nervous system from the fight/flight to the relaxation state. Sorry, couch potatoes, binge watching Breaking Bad is not considered resting.
A recent study (2), reported in Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications(3) measured the effects of restorative yoga on markers that contribute to metabolic syndrome and specifically diabetes. The participants practiced restorative yoga for one year. Practice consisted of time with an instructor and 3-30 minute practice sessions at home 3 times a week.
Researchers collected data at the beginning of the study and at months 3, 6 and 12. At 12 months, weight had dropped almost 4 lbs, waist circumference decreased about 1 inch and fasting glucose and fasting insulin both went down. The group significantly improved their physical activity levels and decreased their total calorie intake (by 200-250 kcal/day). All from just resting.
Many people's lifestyles, whether by choice or not, is incredibly stressful. Additionally, different bodies react differently to stress triggers. It benefits us to find a way throughout our day to find the time to relax. It's healthy for the body and calms our monkey mind. In addition to restorative yoga, it can be many other modalities. For some, it's prayer or meditation or mantra. Regardless of what fits your lifestyle, find some time, preferably every day, to put down the iPad, cover your eyes, set a timer for 20 minutes, put your feet up on the couch and chill.
(1) Cut and Pasting from http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/reset-your-hormones-beat-belly-fat?page=2: High Cortisol: Persistently elevated levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, are very detrimental to your health as well as to your body composition. If you suffer from a mood disorder such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or exhaustion, or if you have a digestive issue such as irritable bowel syndrome, you can bet your body is cranking up your cortisol. Not only does it increase your appetite and cravings, it causes a loss of muscle mass, libido and bone density, and also contributes to depression and memory loss. In other words, chronic stress makes us soft, flabby and much older than we truly are! Study after study shows that stress causes abdominal fat - even in people who are otherwise thin. Researchers at Yale University, for example, found slender women who had high cortisol also had more abdominal fat. More results published in the journal of Psychosomatic Medicine in 2000 established a link between cortisol and increased storage of abdominal fat. http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/reset-your-hormones-beat-belly-fat?page=2
(2) I was either the assistant or lead instructor in 3 studies at UCSF Women's Research Center, including the study that resulted in this report.
(3) http://www.jdcjournal.com/ (recycled from last year)
Want to read some of my past articles?. They're archived right here. Enjoy.
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Graton Yogis! There is no class on 4/23 due to the Graton Flower Show. Why not attend the flower show and support the Graton Community Club. Also, I'll subbing for Denise on Monday, May 11.
Hey, Petalumans. . . Save the Carnitas Pork High Tech Burrito Bowl until after 1:00 on Tuesdays. Join me at the NoonTime All Levels Yoga class at Yoga One in Petaluma. One hour. Bring yourself, bring your friends. (Your burrito will be waiting.)
On April 24, Kashi at Devi Yoga Center is offering a workshop, Restful Postures, Breath Awareness & Meditation. It's in the evening (6:30 to 8:30) so you slide into night-night when you're done. Here's the site. Join the fabulous Barbara Fitzgerald for Early Bird Yoga with Monday and Wednesday mornings and Friday evenings for Happy Hour Yoga at 5:30pm. All at Yoga on Center in Healdsburg. More Tony Briggs.....Classroom Safety and Self-Care is a series of three workshops on Saturdays, 2:00-5:00 pm at Wellness by Design in Petaluma, May 16, June 20 and July 18. Keep yourself and your students safe. He will cover general principles of joint rehabilitation, safe variations of basic asanas, manual adjustments and the use of props. Info here. Kids Bollywood, Yes!! Kids 6-10 play with Illeana at Move2Change in Sebastopol on Tuesdays at 3:30-4:30. Check out move2change.com. Can I come too? Devote two days to discover your deepest desires and dreams with Nutrition and Life Coach, Monica Bravo. There will be some yoga, meditation, journalling and deep chats! Happens Friday and Saturday, May 22 and 23. Save if you sign up in advance. Go to monicabravo.com. Sarah Jenness is in Monte Rio offering "First Class Free" at the Monte Rio Community Center at 11:00 a.m. on Friday mornings. This is a gentle class to increase your strength, flexibility and peace of mind(!).
There are free download from YogaU: yogauonline.com.
My weekly schedule is below (scroll down or click here!). Or, you can always go to my website and click on the always up-to-date calendar to find where I might be.
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What's the Deal with Blood Types?
My new favorite buddies are Josh and Chuck at Stuff you Should Know. This week they cover Blood Types, you know, A-B-O. Did you know there were lots more? Before they even discovered different blood types, there were lots of experimenting with blood transfusions, including cow's blood, with bad, bad results. Wonder about the Eat for Your Type diet? They'll tell you all about it. Listen here. |
 Talking to Strangers
It's no secret I'm a fan of The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley and its spin-off Raising Happiness with Christine Carter. If you want to receive their newsletter, you can subscriber at their website at raisinghappiness.com. Their latest is about, literally, talking to strangers. Research shows that "even just acknowledging someone else's presence by making eye contact and smiling at them helps people feel more connected." and that "connecting with strangers has to make us happier. Research also suggests that that talking to strangers makes us luckier."
It's here. |
How to Make Stress your Friend
Aren't TED Talks amazing? Everyone is so entertaining, informative and polished, even the nerdy-techie type. I wonder how much coaching they get. Here's one from Kelly McGonigal on stress:
"Stress. It makes your heart pound, your breathing quicken and your forehead sweat. But while stress has been made into a public health enemy, new research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal urges us to see stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others." The link is here.
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 Those Pesky Hamstrings
If you've done yoga or tried to tie your shoes with straight legs, you've said "hello" to your hamstrings. They're the muscles in the back of your upper leg that bring your heel to your rear and control your descent when you fold forward. They can be tight. Do you care? You might if you want to keep your range of motion as you age or if you want to put your foot behind your head. Anyway, in yoga, and other movement modalities, tight hamstrings can be limiting. Here's an article by Roger Cole on stretching the hamstrings. Here's a bit. "The secret to lengthening hamstrings is to learn safe, effective ways to work with (or around) this reflex so it doesn't stop your forward bends prematurely. Like a mule, your hamstrings know darn well when they're being tugged. They sense how far, how fast, and how hard you're pulling them-and if you overdo it, they resist stubbornly. But like a mule, your hamstrings can be convinced that it's safe, even pleasurable, to let go and come along on the journey."
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 Tassajara Hot Springs I got a bit carried away in writing about my time at Tassajara Hot Springs Retreat Center last summer, writing 4 articles, which you can see here, here, here and here, (whew!). Many of you expressed interest in going to Tassajara. Well, here's your opportunity. I will be there again this summer for the Healing Power of Stillness assisting Britt Fohrmanfrom July 21 to 26. This would be a great time for you to come and you want to hang out with us!
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Schedule of Upcoming Classes
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Week of April 19, 2015
Monday
1:30 - 2:30
Sonoma, Private
Tuesday
Noon - 1:00
YogaOne, Petaluma
All Levels Yoga
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Healdsburg, Private
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Thursday (Cancelled Due to Flower Show)
8:45 - 9:45
Graton Community Club, Graton
Gentle Flow - All Levels 4:00 - 5:00 Healdsburg, Private Saturday (Subbed by Mia)
9:00 - 10:30
YogaOne, Petaluma
All Levels Flow
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Week of April 26, 2015
Tuesday
Noon - 1:00
YogaOne, Petaluma
All Levels Yoga
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Healdsburg, Private
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Thursday
8:45 - 9:45
Graton Community Club, Graton
Gentle Flow - All Levels
4:00 - 5:00
Healdsburg, Private
Saturday
9:00 - 10:30
YogaOne, Petaluma
All Levels Flow
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Graton Yogis Info:
Did you know your class pass (get these from your instructor) are accepted by all yoga teachers at Yoga in Graton?
We Gratonite Yogis have a place to call our own. It's www.
yogaingraton.com. There is information about current and new yoga classes offered in Graton.
Don't live in Graton? No problem. We want you to come anyway.
You cannot be lost if you don't care where you are.
Judith Lasater
When people ask me what equipment I use, I tell them my eyes.
Ansel Adams
"Not to have what we want is stressful; to have what we do not want is stressful." Buddha
Dalai Lama: "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
"Everything will be alright in the end. And if it is not alright, it's not yet the end!" The Magnolia Hotel movie
If your Food can go bad, it's good for you. If it can't go bad, it's bad for you. Originally pinned by Michael Leaming, Ed.D. onto Fitness, Nutrition & Wellness
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