gopoweryoga

vinyasa yoga, mindfully.


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A Reply to Maya Georg: Not just “Tits and Ass” in those clothes…

Let me preface this entire article by saying this: I am a feminist. A Sheila Jeffreys, Caitlin Moran, Simone de Beauvoir type feminist. I believe in gender equality. I believe in sexual freedom. My heart breaks for the women all over the world who live in fear, poverty, abuse, terror, and inequality. I am against the pornography industry and the trafficking of women and men and the selling of sex for exploition.

Credit: Jay Morrison on Flickr, under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

That being said, if you’ve been on Yoganonymous lately (no, I’ve never heard of the site either…this was a facebook find for me) you may have seen a new article with a catchy title, “Tits & Ass in a Mala: Yoga in the Media”. Of course I clicked on it right away, ready to raise my fists and nod in agreement alongside a fellow feminist, dismayed by the mass-media takeover of scantily clad women as the face the American yoga industry. Sadly, I was more than disappointed.

Yes, every other page in Yoga Journal is of a thin, attractive woman in highly flattering, if not revealing yoga clothes. It’s kind of crappy, yes. Can’t they find better ways to make money? I bet putting Jon Stewart in some lululemon would make for a pretty lucrative ad campaign. But no, of course they can’t. We’ve been selling sexualized images of women and labeling it as “good marketing” since print media was invented!

But let us pause for a moment and consider some of the points in Maya Georg’s article and why they undermine actual feminist thought:

1) “Years ago, as a new teacher I remember thinking “I’ll make it as a yoga teacher with my clothes on!” “

  • My problem with this: Okay, Maya. Go ahead! I applaud you! However, nearly every single picture on her facebook, and her teaching website,  feature her clad in nothing but a sports bra and skin tight yoga pants doing incredibly challenging asanas that show off her tits and ass. And who cares!? I wear lululemon wunderunders too… I just don’t try and pretend that I hate them while I teach in them. Women should be free to wear whatever they please. Just because a woman doesn’t show up to your class wearing a brown paper bag doesn’t mean she “could not be taken seriously or have anything other than [her] appearance to offer. In my eyes, they lost all credibility, and were merely reduced to their parts.” (another Maya quote)

2) “Wearing next to nothing and pouting in pigeon pose to shill the latest yoga accessory is exploitation.”

  • My problem with this: see above. Maya, wearing next to nothing, in hanumanasana, dhanurasana… Just because she wasn’t paid to do it as a part of an advertising campaign makes it kosher? She actually replied to one of the people who left a comment on her blog that because she’s not white and not “pouting” while doing it, nor trying to sell something, that means she is exempt from this discussion. Hmm….

3) “The feminist perspective on this should be one of abhorrence.”

  • My problem with this: feminists hating on other feminists. Are you trying to tell me that you’re more “feminist” than the rest of us if you write blog entries hating on women everywhere because of the fact that they are white and wear mala beads while dressed in tight clothes doing yoga? You just hated on a LOT of women in this country. Who CARES? Let them wear mala beads. The fact is that much of what we call yoga in this country is SO far from a tradition or a lineage anyway. And who are you to tell people WHY they should be going to yoga, or what they should be seeking from the practice? Do I wish that people who came to my classes weren’t there for a “sweaty workout”? Yes. Do I wish they were all interested in learning how to sit, how to slow down, how to become aware of the basic subtleties that govern our bodies? Yes. I wish I could convince the world that yoga shouldn’t be just another form of our American fitness obsession. But the thing is, you can’t tell people they can’t do yoga unless they believe in the same system you do. And you can’t say that the people out there practicing asana and meditation and pranayama are worthless if they don’t study ways to awaken their kundalini and fire up their internal shakti and praying to Lakshmi?  That’s like saying you aren’t allowed to enjoy any of the benefits of electricity unless you understand all of Newton’s laws of physics.  You cannot force someone to get the same things from the practice that you’ve gotten. 

4). “Let us celebrate our minds, our capacity for love, and our strength as women! Because our strength does not lie between our legs, it lies within our hearts.”

  • My problem with this: In this one sentence, you assume that anyone who practices yoga dressed in the clothing you’ve described in this article finds their strength “between her legs”. Shame on you. 

5). The photograph you used:

  • You can imagine how shocked I was to recognize the picture of the woman she uses in her article – it’s a friend of mine that I did my teacher training with in California. Yes, I can recognize it even though it’s been conveniently cropped.  She is an intelligent woman, and a fantastic yoga instructor, and in no way does she attempt to sell her sexuality by posing in a tank top and jeans. 
  • **Update: Since publishing this article, and contacting my friend, Denise, whose photo was used on the original article  by Maya Georg, the Yoganonymous site administrator has since taken her photo down and replaced it with a new one.**

I don’t normally write articles like this, but this one just rubbed me the wrong way. This is why there are people out there, WOMEN included who are scared to identify themselves as feminists! Because of the hateful, condescending, holier than thou people out there who market their ideas as “feminist”. Feminism means respecting ALL women, and believing that women deserve equal treatment in society. It doesn’t mean bashing some while glorifying others.


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Yoga in schools promoting Hinduism? I think not…

This blog post is long over-due – I’ve been busy with the Eastman Opera Theater’s production of Orlando (my first major role!). Now that the show is over, I’m finding the time to catch up on the website and finally post a reaction to this story that was heard on Morning Edition on NPR at the beginning of January: Promoting Hinduism? Parents Demand Removal of School Yoga Class.

I must admit that I was in disbelief when I first read this, as I’m sure many of you were as well. There is a growing body of research that supports yoga as a positive addition to the school classroom, helping children to concentrate, relax, engage with peers, reduce aggression, and even improve test scores. (One of many studies: Effect of yoga on attention and concentration in children) Yoga promotes healthy physical activity in a population of children that is growing more and more sedentary, even obese, or sick with Type I diabetes and other tragic health concerns. But I don’t need a research study to know that yoga can help provide children with a non-competitive, non-intimidating way to move their bodies in a safe environment.

(Photo credit: Kyla Calvert for NPR)

(Photo credit: Kyla Calvert for NPR)

But to claim that the yoga that these children are practicing in California is promoting Hinduism? I’m sorry, but that is simply untrue. How can a parent say nothing of our schools promoting religion while children salute the flag as “one nation under God” each and every morning, yet label thirty minutes of deep breathing, tree poses, sun salutations and savasana as Hinduism?

Can we really allow the absurd dual position that some American’s have on the separation of church and state, and the fear of anything labeled as “other,”  remove yoga from our schools? Just ask the children how they feel about doing yoga:

At the end of the half-hour class, 8-year-old Jacob Hagen says he feels energized and ready for the rest of the day. “Because you get to stretch out and it’s good to be the first class because it wakes you up,” he says.

I feel very lucky to have taught yoga for children. At the first studio I worked at here in Rochester, I was asked to sub for the kid’s yoga teacher on a few occasions  While I am not specifically certified in kid’s yoga, I consulted some teacher friends of mine who are, and did some research on how to modify my language and sequencing to fit a kid’s imagination and physical ability. The response from the kids in the class was extraordinary. They were laughing, they were moving, they were calm and not aggressive or competitive. And in savasana, they allowed their body to REST. One of the girls told me how much she loved the “baby lion pose”. But instead of actually listening to the children, there are parents in California who claim that practicing a sun salutation is a religious ritual:

They were being taught to thank the sun for their lives and the warmth that it brought, the life that it brought to the earth and they were told to do that right before they did their sun salutation exercises,” she says….Those looked like religious teachings to her, so she opted to keep her son out of the classes.

My reaction to the above quote is this: We should be thanking the sun for our lives! Not because Hindu texts, or any other religious texts say so, but because the sun’s light helps grow all the food that nourishes our bodies, and because without it, we could not survive. It has nothing to do with Hinduism, Catholicism  Judaism, or any other kind of -ism. It’s about humanity and feeling connected with the Earth and all that supports you. If we are too terrified to allow our children to express their gratitude to the sun for thirty minutes every morning, well, I don’t know what can be done reform the education system in this country.

Yoga in our elementary schools is a positive step in the right direction to providing a calm, safe, and nurturing environment where our children can learn and allow their creativity to inspire them to take risks, explore new ideas, and follow their instincts. I hope that in my lifetime I see the introduction of yoga in public schools across the country.


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When all you need to do is do nothing…

I’m writing today out of a sudden realization that I intended to update my website over the Thanksgiving holiday, and, well, didn’t. Those that know me as a friend know that I am always busy: I pack my days with as many rehearsals and meetings as possible around my classes to try and fit everything in and get things done on time. I usually manage all of it well, but this has truly been the most stressful semester I can remember. I’ve been in fifth gear for months, with no slowing down in sight. Those of you who know me as a yoga instructor might be reading this in a bit of disbelief. It sounds contrary, doesn’t it, to teach the art of slowing down when I in my own life am going a mile a minute?

Well, nobody is perfect, and I certainly don’t claim to be…

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a student of mine after my morning yoga class. She has been suffering from a foot injury for a while now, and experiences various levels of pain both during yoga and in daily life. After class she mentioned that she just started acupuncture, which has given the most relief she’s felt in weeks. But this morning, however, the pain was back. I said to her, “You know, you really might just need to give it a rest. I mean, total rest. Do nothing. Stop going to the gym, even stop coming to asana classes for a while”

I could see how the thought immediately saddened her. She told me that she had taken four months off of training entirely, and that she’s being careful and modifying all her exercises. She told me, “I can’t just do nothing, this is what I love”. I thought I understood what she meant, but still held on to my conviction that she needed to rest the foot and really let it heal. I thought to myself, “it’s a simple solution.”

Over the years my yoga practice has taught me that slowing down is important; that transitions and the spaces in between are equally as valuable, if not more valuable than end-results. It has taught me that pain is our body’s greatest method of communication, and not something to be ignored. It has taught me that pushing past our perceived “edge” yields no results (except broken egos and hamstring injuries). It has taught me that it is okay not to overcome a challenge, but we absolutely must try. It has taught me that silence, is in fact, golden.

And now, my student and her foot injury have taught me how hard it is to “do nothing” – to live day by day not doing the thing we love the most. For her, it’s CrossFit, for me, it’s singing.

Thursday, December 20th, was my last day of the semester. I had my last voice lesson in the morning, followed by my Italian final exam. I woke up with a scratchy throat, but shrugged it off: I really didn’t want to cancel my voice lesson. I showed up to sing, but my teacher could tell that I sounded a little off- “muted,” she said. I didn’t have the strength in my sound that I had even a few days before during our full run-through of the opera. I thought to myself, “I better not be getting sick…”

Well, over the course of that day, I lost my voice completely. I mean 100% gone. When I woke up on Friday, I couldn’t even find the strength to whisper. A few people at school had laryngitis those past few weeks, and I knew that’s what I was getting. I’ve never had laryngitis, and I’ve never lost my voice before. I haven’t even had so much as a cold since last October.

The days went on, and I still couldn’t speak. Finally, on Christmas Eve, I decided to see a doctor to make sure it wasn’t an infection. “It’s just laryngitis,” he said. JUST laryngitis? I’m an opera singer and I can’t sing! Or speak! He put me on a round of steroids and cough syrup with codeine. That should do it.

Image

It’s been 10 days now, and I just got my speaking voice back on Friday. I still can’t sing. Nothing even comes out when I try to hum above middle C (new career as a bass, anybody?) The opera opens in 30 days, and I can’t even hum. I’m trying to be optimistic, really, I am…  But yesterday I finally broke down. I just started crying out of nowhere. Never have I wanted to sing so badly in my entire life.

And then today, after getting off the phone with my boyfriend, I realized, I am my student now. That look in her eyes when I told her to stop coming to yoga, to stop going to CrossFit; that look of disbelief and sadness, now I know. Our passion is what sustains us each and every day. When you find something you love, and you put your whole being into developing that passion, it feels impossible to do anything else.

I thought I understood the value of rest, of doing nothing. I mean, I embrace savasana as the greatest of all yoga poses! But I admit that doing nothing in this moment has been the hardest challenge I’ve faced all semester. Thousands of hours of yoga practice have prepared me for this: to accept my situation without attachment, to let go, to observe, to take this opportunity for self study. But it still is hard.

So what do you do? When all you need to do and are supposed  to do is nothing? You find other ways to do what you love:

In the past few days I have been listening to Joyce DiDonato‘s new albums Diva, Divo and Drama Queens (a Christmas gift from Steve) non-stop. I’ve been basking in her warm, coloratura glory and marveling at her Baroque ornaments.  I’ve spent all morning studying the score of a work I’m programming on my recital, listening to metronome markings, conducting myself, and silently mouthing the words to tricky sections. I’ve been copying the stage directions of the opera into my shiny, new photocopied score. It feels like I haven’t been practicing, but I have.

Practice doesn’t always come from doing…both in Yoga, and in life.


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Upcoming Event: Yoga for Musicians @ Tru Yoga in Rochester

I know it has been quite a while since I’ve updated my blog, and for that I apologize! I’m so looking forward to Thanksgiving break so that I can make time to write and update the site.

Quick self promotion: This coming Saturday, November 17th, from 2-4 PM I will be teaching a workshop at TRU Yoga called “Yoga for Musicians”. We’ll be covering a wide range of topics including: the effects of different types of sound/music on the breath and on body awareness, common injury prevention, performance anxiety reduction, visualization techniques for practicing and preparing performance, breath work to enhance playing/performing experience. Tell your friends and see you there!

Caroline Yoga for Musicians Fall 2012 Flyer


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Francois Raoult and “The Sound of Music – Nada Yoga”

I feel honored to have been able to conduct this interview with one of my current teachers, Francois Raoult, the director of Open Sky Yoga Center in Rochester, New York. On March 22nd, 2012 from 6:15 – 8:15 pm, Francois will host the first in a series of three events of guest speakers and performers, called “The Sound of Music – Nada Yoga”. (For more information and to download a PDF registration form, click here). Here Francois discusses what exactly nada yoga is, and how it relates to our physical and spiritual practice.

C: We are approaching the the first event in your series, “The Sound of Music – Nada Yoga” on March 22nd. How would you describe Nada Yoga to the student or musician who is new to this concept?

F: Nada yoga is deep listening to all sounds–the inner sounds of our bodies, breath, heart, etc.; sounds of the environment; mental sounds; sounds of the Universe; and of course what we call music. It is a practice of meditation, being the sound of life itself, yoking to the nature and essence of each sound.

Francois Raoult, Director - Open Sky Yoga Center

C: Can you describe your first experience with Nada Yoga for us? How you discovered the practice and when you really began to make it a part of your life?

F: Listening to great concerts as a teenager–Yehudi Menuhin, Jean Guillou, Heinz Holliger. The sounds of nature. Vibrations of the lower organ pipes in cathedrals. Chanting mantra in Nepal. Playing music at the top of mountains. Recreating wave sounds with a synthesizer. Taping skipping stones on frozen lakes. Listening to “Stimmung” and “Aus den sieben Tagen” by Stockhausen all night. John Cage’s “Musicircus” in Paris. Sonny Rollins in Mumbai. Great Nada Yogis of India, like Pandit Jasraj, where you cry, dissolve, and prana is moved deeply during the singing of ragas. Experiences of synesthesia…sculpting the silence….I have to stop here….

C: What do you hope to develop within the Rochester community by making Nada Yoga a part of what you teach at Open Sky?

F: A deeper interest in appreciating the introverted side of yoga practice. Humming/chanting. Deep listening to all sacred music. Yoga is a state of consciousness. It is not tied up to postures or anything in particular. It is a way of receiving/perceiving–inter-being as Thich Nhat Hanh would say–with the world.

C: How accessible is learning the practices of Nada Yoga to those who wouldn’t call themselves musicians, or “musically inclined”? Is this an awareness that everyone can learn to access?

F: Yes, anybody can have an innocent way of receiving the sounds. Actually, non-musicians may do better, as they are not tempted to label/name/analyze. Erasing all tapes of previous belief systems is a prerequisite, so the less data/vrttis to erase the better. Most yoga students don’t know where the music is. They are delighted to be exposed to exciting stuff beyond Krishna Das, yoga pop with a groove and relaxing New Age junk.

C: Last weekend you began your 2012 Essential Teacher Training at Open Sky. How large a part of the curriculum will Nada yoga play for this year’s students? Do you believe this is something every teacher should be starting to explore?

F: In the teacher training not much, as we learn to See primarily; to read the body in asana as sacred architecture. We look at compensation patterns to minimize pathology and regain our humanness in posture and breath. The Pranayama Teacher Training (Aug. 31 – Sep. 3, 2012) following the essential one will begin to dive into sound, coming up next september for already certified teachers.

C: The first event features a guest speaker, Dr. Ellen Koskoff, Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Eastman School of Music. Do you hope to have a continuing relationship with the Eastman School? What other collaborations would you like to see in the future?

Dr. Ellen Koskoff, PhD

F: Yes, the world of yoga and the world of music are both so ethnocentric. I hope more teachers will come out of academia and share their passion, research, and their views on sound and music. Ellen Koskoff has done great work by hosting that show on the radio–simple, concise, but showing that there are so many “classical” musics, not just “ours”! It is an honor to have her opening the series…

C: You yourself earned a Master’s Degree in Ethnomusicology: how did your studies in music shape the way you approached teaching yoga?

F: Well, my master’s degree took me deep into the Himalayas to record Tibetan rituals in remote monasteries. It just happens those places are not far from where early yogis were meditating, like Mount Kailash. Also, the curiosity and desire to know where everything comes from is part of a spiritual quest…is there a Source (or Sources) from which we are still drinking?! It may also be that practicing music or an art is yoga. So the connection is obvious, personal practice and discovery being number one, not being addicted to taking classes. Teaching gives the signs.

C: Your second lecture, “To Drone or Not To Drone” will explore deep listening from Gregorian Chant all the way to Steve Reich. How do you introduce chant in your regular classes to students who have never done it before, or feel self conscious about making sounds as part of a group?

F: Well, it is a leap of faith. Just chanting open vowels, simple mantras like om, non-denominational humming, etc. Then in deep relaxation we listen to a wide range of compositions. Nothing pushy or extreme. Nothing systematic either… Most students enjoy the group resonance, the sympathetic resonance, the potential overtones, the energy of joined voices without the need to be a singer. Everybody has a voice and a need to come out!

C: Do you see this lecture series evolving to a regular “class” that is offered at Open Sky? Is weekly nada yoga in the future?

F: I hope so. A few times a year. Maybe also live performances with the audience in sitting and lying down yogic meditation….no casual listening! I am bringing David Darling here for a “Music for People” seminar in 2013, so non-musicians can improvise in a group. It’s a little bit like Bobby McFerrin (out of reach) but he already went to the Eastman voice department. That is one direction…. open the sky of yoga to all frequencies!! If life was a movie, could you be acutely aware of the soundtrack? Differences between what we call art or music and life vanish eventually. It’s the same between labor and play, sacred and profane. It’s all good! I hope this series of lectures/concerts will be a good beginning.

**Open Sky Yoga Center is Located at 5 Arnold Park, Rochester, New York 14607 (Behind the Zen Center)**


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The Benefits of Sirsasana: Why you should (and shouldnt) go upside down

Inversions are some of the most important yoga poses. If I have only 15 minutes to get on my mat, headstand and shoulderstand are what I’m practicing. Iyengar calls headstand “the basic posture” – it is essentially tadasana, upside-down. The effects of headstand and shoulderstand are extremely beneficial, not only physically, but psychologically and emotionally as well. However, all inversions should be practiced with extreme care, patience, and proper alignment. They are advanced asanas. The first part of this article will deal with sirsasana exclusively. There are many reasons to not practice this pose, which will be discussed later in “Contraindications for Practicing Sirsasana”.


Standing on Your Head: the Benefits:

Salamba Sirsasana, the headstand, is traditionally known as the king of all asanas. Swami Sivananda called sirsasana “A blessing and a nectar” in his book, Yoga Asanas. The brain is the control center of the human body, supporting the nervous system and all bodily and sensory functions.  Standing on our heads effectively reverses the normal pressure of the blood, which is naturally higher towards our lower extremities below the level of the heart, and naturally lower above the level of the heart. Sirsasana directs the blood that is pumping out of the heart towards the brain, allowing oxygen-rich blood to flow freely through the blood vessels that surround it. The pressure in the feet reduces to nearly zero as the pressure in the head increases. (The pressure at the level of the heart should remain at about 120/80) This is logically extremely beneficial for anyone suffering from swelling in the ankles or legs. In addition to blood circulation, tissue fluids benefit from sirsasana as well. H. David Coulter’s phenomenal book, Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, cites that “tissue fluids will flow more effectively into the veins and lymph channels, and this will make for a healthier exchange of nutrients and wastes between cells and capillaries.” This is an important indication that no matter how clean of a diet you consume, you still need to support the system that absorbs the nutrients in the food you consume.

While the cardiovascular benefits may be the most obvious, there are other physiological benefits which may or may not be discussed in your average yoga class. Standing on your head increases the blood-flow to the pituitary and pineal glands, both important members of the endocrine system. The pituitary gland is responsible for secreting nine different hormones into the body, among them growth hormone, and thyroid-stimulating hormone, both vital to maintaining homeostasis in the body. The pineal gland is of equal importance: it produces melatonin, a hormone that is involved in regulating our sleep patterns and elevating mood. Being inverted challenges the lungs in breathing, ultimately making them stronger and capable of a maintaining higher vital capacity. It also makes it nearly impossible to breathe shallowly: because of the increased pressure, “chest” breathing is difficult, and one finds it almost automatic to engage diaphragmatic breathing with a low-belly release.

Balance increases through a regular practice of sirsasana, as one learns to maintain stillness when the wall no longer becomes involved in the pose. The neck muscles that support the skull are strengthened as are are the muscles in the core of the body and all those that attach to the spine.

Psychologically and emotionally, sirsasana is one of the most powerful and beneficial poses you can do. Iyengar describes under his effects of sirsasana the brain as “the seat of intelligence, knowledge, discrimination, wisdom and power…It is the seat of the Brahman, the soul…the human body cannot prosper without a healthy brain.” Sirsasana improves mental concentration and focus and allows for greater ease when practicing seated in meditation. Practicing headstand has been frequently cited as a pose to counteract the symptoms of depression. Headstand elevates your mood, and there are many, many people who can attest to this, myself included. It is as if someone is lifting a great weight off your chest – that wonderful feeling of being suspended simply increases the spirits! More and more scientific evidence is being published that would support the correlation of a regular sirsasana practice and lower levels of depression.

For more information on a clinical study of the effects of yoga on depression, please see Yoga as a Complementary Treatment of Depression: Effects of Traits and Moods on Treatment Outcome, a study lead by David Shapiro of UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavoir and published in 2007, which involved 17 patients that were being treated for depression and provided them with three series of 20 yoga classes led by senior Iyengar instructors. Half of the group focused on inversions and the other half on back-bending postures. “Significant reductions were shown for depression, anger, anxiety, neurotic symptoms and low frequency heart rate variability in the 17 completers…Moods improved from before to after the yoga classes. Yoga appears to be a promising intervention for depression; it is cost-effective and easy to implement.” This is an absolutely fascinating, and inspiring study and the fact that there are more like it is a huge step in the right direction towards alternative care and treatment in mood disorders.

Contraindications for Practicing Sirsasana:

1.) The first, and most obvious contraindication to practicing headstand is high blood pressure. A normal blood pressure at the level of the head is 100/60 (Coulter). But someone suffering from high blood pressure will already have a level higher than that while standing. Sirsasana increases the pressure in the head to about 150/110, but in those students who have high blood pressure, going upside down can increase it to a dangerously high level. It is advised that the teacher mention this prior to instructing sirsasana if there are new students in the room.

2.) Another obvious reason to abstain from practicing sirsasana is if the student has suffered a recent neck or back injury. If the structures of the cervical spine have gone through a trauma, there can be no advisable reason to invert into sirsasana. Even though the forearms are on the ground, they are primarily used for support, and considerable weight is placed in the head. If the muscles and structures in neck are weakened or compromised due to injury, sirsasana becomes a risk.

3.) Excess weight: this is something that is often not discussed in yoga classes. Unfortunately, it has become somewhat of a taboo for people to express concern for overweight individuals, even if they are our friends and family. It is a yoga teacher’s duty, however, to advise a student that is struggling with being overweight not to practice headstand.  First of all, excessive weight increases the risk for high blood pressure, so that alone would prevent you from doing the pose. It also increases the pressure on the muscles and structures of the neck, increasing risk of injury. There is also more weight on the spine, which can compress the vertebrae and take the integrity out of the pose. A much better recommendation for a student who is overweight but wants to invert would be dolphin pose. Encouraging the student to strengthen the shoulders and arms is a more positive way to discourage sirsasana. Ultimately, the yoga classroom should be a safe environment for all students, and even if a teacher feels uncomfortable, as though they are “singling out” an overweight student when the rest of the class is practicing headstand, it is ultimately more beneficial to that student to get the proper assistance they need as opposed to ignoring the issue.

4.) Fear: for me, this is the BIGGEST contraindication to practicing headstand in those students who are otherwise physically ready for the pose (meaning they do not suffer from the above three conditions). I think fear is not addressed enough in yoga classes, and students that are fearful of inverting may not be willing to speak up in front of the class and let the instructor know. When fear takes over the body, sympathetic nervous system takes over and the “fight-or-flight” response is activated. Heart rate can increase, blood vessels can constrict (bad for a pose that increases blood pressure), and the body can involuntarily shake. All of these are bad news for going up into headstand. Fear therefore becomes a huge risk for injury and should be genuinely discussed in the class. Instructors can offer techniques to minimize a student’s anxiety about inversions, such as seated meditation or pranayama before inverting, sustaining the preparatory posture without actually lifting the legs, asking them to visualize the pose instead. This can help the student get used to the feeling of being inverted, while still being grounded.

5.) Menstruation: I will not discuss at length about this, mainly because there is a wealth of conflicting information out there and very little scientific evidence that either confidently supports, or firmly cautions practicing headstand while menstruating. I myself feel comfortable doing it, whereas many women do not. I think this is ultimately a personal decision, and many traditional views on why not to practice are not rooted in scientific reasoning.

6) Pregnancy: My opinion is to err on the side of caution and don’t practice sirsasana. Many sources will tell you to consult your doctor, but not all doctors are experienced yogis. I have known a women, who had a very strong practice prior to her pregnancy, who continued to practice headstand well into her second trimester without complications. I have also have known pregnant women in one of my classes who said inverting was uncomfortable even in her first trimester. Again, I say go with caution: there are plenty of other phenomenal asanas out there that are perfectly safe to practice during pregnancy.

Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for Part II of this article: Sarvangasana, Shoulder Stand (to be published later this week!)

~Peace~

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