December can be a fun and exciting month, but also a very busy and exhausting one, culminating in a few emotionally loaded celebrations. In order to stay centred and energised, it’s important to make time for yourself. In this blog I explain how you can do this with simple restorative yoga. When you feel tired and overwhelmed, or you need a short rest before a long night, most effective and easy is to lie for 15 to 20 minutes in one of the rest positions explained below. Resting for 15 to 20 minutes a day in a restorative yoga position counters the effects that stress can have on your body and mind and restores your energy. Finally, these rest positions suit this time of year, when the winter invites us to rest more and turn inward.

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Unless your computer screen is on eye level and you are paying attention to sitting straight, you are likely to adopt the easiest position in front of your computer, with a rounded back and forward neck. This “computer posture” is very common in our times and, apart from tightening or overstretching muscles, has a snowballing effect on our health. Below I explain why we should avoid this way of sitting and describe 3 yoga poses to counter computer posture.

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I once asked a friend how she managed to get through a particularly difficult time in her life. She said she focused on looking after herself and eating healthily. It is an important start when life for some reason has ground to a halt and you don’t know immediately which way to turn. As in the cliché, you then have to “put your own safety mask on first”. I am always reminded of her in times I have to be brave, for example when I lose someone dear and I have to think of a strategy to go forward with strength.  Apart from nourishing my body and walking or exercising in nature, I also use my yoga practice to make me feel better. Practising yoga can stimulate the endorphins, our “feel-good hormones”, and promote an inner sense of contentment. When we need a mood shift, uplifting yoga poses can help. Yoga also offers the space to centre oneself, to feel quiet and “re-group”. This blog will take you through poses and breathing exercises that have an uplifting effect. Use the sequence whenever you need some extra support.

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The health of our neck is often taken for granted, until it hurts. In this time when many of us work at a desk, slouch on a sofa, bend our head over a book or phone, or drive long distances, our posture habitually puts the head forward of the shoulders. This requires more work from the neck muscles and disturbs the natural alignment of the neck vertebrae. Neck care can help prevent muscle pains and strains, neck tightness, upper back pain, shoulder pain, degeneration of the cervical discs and neurological pain. Having had to manage a forward head myself, and having woken up numerous times with a stiff neck, I know I have to include daily neck care to prevent any chronic condition from developing. This blog discusses four ways in which yoga can help to keep your neck healthy.

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As a child I had a poster in my room of a shepherd and sheep in an early morning field, with the text “It is not the great heroic acts that demand most of our courage, but the small tasks we have to perform every day”. Looking at the man in the freezing morning field, I saw the point. Thinking back at your New Year’s resolutions, you may agree that the daily disciplines, however promising the results, require most effort. The more regularly we stick to them, of course, the easier and more rewarding they become. It is probably most manageable to stick to one particular discipline for a few weeks, until it becomes a habit. For all of you with back pain, each of the next few blogs will give you a short yoga sequence to focus on for a couple of weeks. Today, we start with a morning routine for a healthier back.
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Back pain is not just one symptom that can be cured by one particular remedy. It is a generic term for different kinds of pain in the upper, middle or lower back, which can have a variety of causes, and require different approaches to heal. For example, the dull ache in the lowest part of the back caused by sacroiliac joint derangement, demands a different yoga therapy intervention than the sharp, electrical pain shooting down the leg caused by a nerve impingement. Nevertheless, there are a few yoga poses that can benefit most causes of back pain. If you have back pain and you would like to try yoga therapy, practise the mini session below and let me know how you get on…

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Many helpful stretches for the back are done on all fours: it feels wonderful to arch the spine in cat pose, rest in child’s pose, loosen the hips by circling them around on hands and knees. These are all simple and beneficial movements, especially if you want to release tight lower back muscles. But what if you can’t kneel easily? What can you do, for example, if your knees prevent you from putting weight on them, or if this position with the head looking down is counter-indicated for glaucoma? There are many soothing yoga poses that you can do lying on your back, but mobilising the spine in a seated position can be beneficial too. Today I am looking at how you can stretch your spine in a cross-legged position or seated on a chair.
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For my third blog this summer I promised to tackle true core strength. Abdominal strengthening is a necessary part of any back care programme, but incorporating it into a yoga regime can offer a different and effective approach. Strengthening abdominal muscles in isolation is not necessarily the best way to create core strength. Likewise, it is not healthy (or possible?) to hold your abdomen in all the time. Both lead to holding patterns that do not facilitate free breathing, easy movement or relaxation. This blog looks at true core strength from a whole-body perspective: demonstrating movements that engage core muscles in coordination with other muscles, the aim is to show you how to lay the foundation for a healthy back.
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A few weeks ago one of my students came into the group class and declared: “I want a beach body by August.” An unusual request in a back-care yoga class, so there were a few seconds of stunned silence. Then I thought “great!” A beach body presumably has shapely arms, firm glutes and a toned abdomen. Strong Glutes, arm and abdominal muscles also happen to be important for back health, so beach body and back health work together very well. My blogs this summer will focus on these three muscle groups, toning them to support your back health, and making them ready for an active summer. If we also do these exercises mindfully, they can have a positive effect on stress levels, and cultivate a healthy approach to our body. We are starting with the glutes today.
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