Yoga and Lifestyle Medicine Principles to Be Your Best in Each Pose, On & Off the Mat

Paula Youmell, RN Functional Medicine RN, Herbalist, Sacred Circle Wise Women Mentor PaulaYoumellRN.com

Yoga Lifestyle Principles to Be Your Best in Life’s Poses, On & Off the Mat

Healing Lifestyle: Humans are a part of the Great Web of Life, Nature.

We are meant to live in flow with all of Nature, with all other Beings that make up Nature – Our Great Home Earth.

Humans have taken themselves outside this flow of Nature.

We have been socialized to dominate and use Nature for our own benefits and profits.

RE-Learning to live with the Flow – Rhythm – Heart Beat of Nature is a Self Healing Act and an Earth Healing Act. We are a Microcosm of the Macrocosm. We are the Earth and Universe; the Earth and Universe are us.

Whole Foods Heal Our Body.

Whole foods heal the Earth. It is a win-win for all Beings on the Planet. Whole foods are exactly where I start with one on one clients. When we learn to feed the body to be in Flow with Nature, healing action happens.

Whole Health Lifestyle Medicine Habits are the Whole Foods for BodyMind-Spirit.

Health Creation To-Do List: This self healing information is similar to my Whole Health Lifestyle Medicine above. It is from my School of Applied Functional Medicine. It gives you a little different flavor on my information and something in it may just spark your Heart and Soul.

The above links, to educational materials, are the foundational principles of Self Healing. We will build upon this Whole Health Lifestyle Medicine in Sacred Circle with Functional Medicine/Nutrition/Movement for our body systems, herbs, and Nature’s Rhythms to infuse our self healing with Energy Medicine principles.

Yoga Pose & Breath Work Principles

Set your intention at the beginning of a yoga session, every AM, to create the energy you want to infuse your day with: Peace, Gratitude, Calm, Compassion, Joy, and Love.

Tips that builds strength, flexibility, & balance in Body-Mind-Spirit: Yoga creates strength, balance, and flexibility in body, mind, and spirit. We cannot separate our body, mind, or spirit. All three are part of self. We cannot separate strength, balance, and flexibility either. Yoga works on all three physical aspects; some poses and methods in yoga focus on one area of physical embodiment more than another. When we open up the body’s energy channels, we cannot help but affect our entire being.

Yoga is great Movement Magic to strengthen body, mind, and spirit if we pay attention to the process, not the days “to do” list. The building physical strength, through the yoga pose work, is meant to keep the physical body strong and capable to do the mind and spirit work of yoga.

Breath: most important for relaxation with Yoga and connecting body, mind, and spirit -deep breathe to fill your belly then fill your chest, slight pause after inhaling and exhaling Inhale: with expanding motions: standing up, back bends Exhale: with contracting motions: forward bends, spinal twists, and side bends of spine

Yoga is coming home to the breath/spirit/life force energy. When we can stay steady in breath, in challenging poses, we strengthen our ability to stay steady in breath (calm) in the thick of life’s challenges.

Yoga is about the breath. Whether you do poses standing, in a chair, lying down on your mat… Yoga is about reconnecting you to your breath, calming the reactive / reptilian brain, and toning the vagus nerve. With Yoga, we will calm and tone the Vagus Nerve so we can function, daily, from a space of rest and digest. This is our natural birthright: peace and calm.

The vagus nerve has been described as “largely responsible for the mind-body connection,” for its role as a mediator between thinking and feeling, and I’m tempted to think of it as something like a physical manifestation of the soul. Also: “When people say ‘trust your gut,’” as one Psychology Today writer put it several years ago, “they really mean ‘trust your vagus nerve.” Click to read article here.

*Secrets to How Poses Impact Your Physical Body: Strong vs. “lazy” yoga (**please see page 9 for strength vs. relaxation in Yoga poses) 1. Stand strong, use your muscles and bones for strong support, good “posture” body alignment in every pose 2. No sagging of pelvis.

3. Root your body down through feet like the roots that steady a tree (or down through your hands if in hand supported poses such as the 'push up' plank pose) and lift yourself up towards the sky.

4. At the same time relax your body (Yup, sounds crazy but it is true: be strong and relaxed at the same time). Watch for areas of tension, such as shoulder blades. Keep your shoulder blades down and not up around your ears.

5. Push yourself, gently, just past the comfort point to create a slow increase in flexibility. Pain is not a part of this body-mind-spirit process. We want to bring conscious and gentle attention to the areas of our body, and life that need to open, change, and grow. *The real fun of the secret is realizing the poses transform body, mind, and spirit!

Example: dolphin lower plank pose with incorrect posture alignment and correct posture alignment.

Strong vs. lazy yoga.

Use your muscles and bones with awareness: This is the embodiment of Yoga. Yoga poses are efficient and elegant, your muscle tension pulls on your bones creating stronger, denser bones and muscles. This pull helps to lengthen the muscles and connective tissues, gently, so you become more flexible over time and attention to self.

Create “balance” in your poses by paying attention to one side being tighter than the other, etc. When you do a pose that requires one side of the body (forward bend over the left leg, warrior pose with left leg out front, etc.) always repeat the pose on the opposite side of your body… for balanced building of strength, flexibility, and tone. Also, yoga requires balance in the breath (your vital life force “electrical” energy), moving through the chakras, which creates balance in emotional and spiritual clarity and calm. This is the work of toning the Vagus Nerve. Nice, eh?

Perfect postures (poses) are not required: Do poses from right where you are now physically, with practice you will get stronger in each pose.

-all movements slow and thoughtful, this is not aerobics dance class -visualize yourself in the postures, internalizes the process -collaborate with your body, do not fight it -do not be a hero: when you have had enough, relax -do not try to hold poses longer than is comfortable for you -look like you in the pose, do not try to look like your neighbor/teacher in the poses, we all are in different places with our body’s physical capabilities: strength-balance-flexibility -be where you are in the pose (No Pain, No Gain does not work in yoga) -modify poses to meet your body where you are at in regard to strength, balance, and flexibility. Slowly you will build all three to do the pose in its full expression in your body. Your full expression of the pose will, again, not necessarily look like your neighbors on the mat next to you.

Example of modifying a pose for your level of strength:

Adjusting students in Yoga pose is a hot topic in Yoga. I do not move around the room “adjusting” students. I prefer to teach you good use of the body, bio-mechanics, and allow you to self adjust for your body. Me, pushing you into a pose the way I think it should look, seems dangerous to me and opens students to injury. I will watch to make certain students are not doing obviously poor biomechanical movements and assist us all to understand our bodies better. I also love finding ways for each of us to do a pose, within our personal capabilities and limitations, so we can all express the pose individually. Sometimes this means some students are standing in the pose while others are sitting, using a chair, or lying supine or prone in the poses. It is all just fine and we can all find ways for our bodies to express the poses.

But… perfect spinal posture, what is perfect for you at this time and space in your life, is required.

Practice Mountain pose, standing straight and tall with arms at side (shoulders down and relaxed, not up around your ears). Lift your heart towards the sky and tuck your chin slightly downward & inward; smile!

As you strengthen your body; you will notice your posture improves. You will notice it is easier to stand straight and tall without muscle and body fatigue.

Good Posture: 1. Stand tall.

2. Feet close together but not uncomfortably close.

3. Visualize a cord coming out of your head pulling your spine up straight and tall.

4. Visualize roots coming out of your feet running deep into the ground to root, ground, and stabilize you.

5. Tip your pelvis ever so slightly forward. This is a gentle thing not over exaggerated. If your pelvis is tipped backwards it strains your lower back. Tipped too far forward and you flatten out the lower back curve. Play with this when you are standing by slowly and deliberately rocking your pelvis forwards and backwards. Notice how your spinal position changes, where you feel stress / tension and possible back pain.

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With that, let’s now talk about safety: Important to remember with bone, muscle, and whole body health Always avoid forcing the body to go farther than is comfortable for you. Remember: No Pain.

Pain is stress and sympathetic nervous system activation. We are here to soothe, stimulate, and tone the parasympathetic nervous system. Vagus Nerve.

You need to find the balance between pushing yourself just far enough to get stronger but not so far you are doing damage (this is true of physical, emotional, and spiritual growth).

Move into and out of the poses with control and strength; do not just let your arms or legs drop like they were made of lead. Remember yoga is a graceful movement magic.

The best way to build strength is a daily practice, even 15, 20, 30 minutes.

It can be 5 minutes 4 times a day. Make it work for you. I do yoga poses while doing dishes or making dinner just to move my body in a different plane and stretch out fatigued muscles.

AVOIDING DAMAGE: Always avoid jerky and sudden movements. An example of this type of movement is the old school method of forward bends where you continually bob up and down to push yourself further into the forward bend. Do not do this because you can tear and damage connective tissue. Slow, gentle, and steady motion is always best.

Balance poses: creates emotional/spiritual/physical balance -pick a spot on the wall or floor (depending on pose) to gaze at to keep yourself balanced

Tree pose is a balance pose

Core muscles (your abdominal and lower back muscles): creates core strength at your vital center, keeping them strong helps to prevent lower back problems.

-strengthen core muscles by doing abdominal work and lower back poses (cobra, locus, etc.)

Boat pose is for core strength. Most yoga poses build core strength.

Inversions: brings your blood/lymph to brain: invigorates, rejuvenates, anti-aging.

-dead bug pose-happy child pose, legs up the wall pose, hand or head stand, shoulder stand

Five Motions of the Spine for Vagus Nerve Toning & Supporting Lymphatic Fluid Flow

Extension of spine upwards and downward: This supports the lengthening of the spine, healthy posture, and the creation of space between each vertebra. Space gives your disks room to breathe and circulate blood-lymph-nerve impulses-life force energy.

Feel yourself lift your spinal column up and out of the pelvic cavity. Feel the sacral area (tailbone) open up. Practice this extension of your spine as you move into every Yoga Pose including seated poses and Savasana.

Forward bends: bend from your from hips not from your waist, keep back flat in forward bend poses.

-You will not bend as far over your legs but that is OK. Notice when you do bend further down over your legs how your lower back rounds out in a C shape. That C shape is pushing your spinal disks in the wrong direction, making them bulge and opening your back up to damage.

Back bends: Go gently into the back bends, no need to force beyond what is comfortable. Your spine needs regular exercise to keep the muscles supporting it healthy and strong and to prevent back pain.

-Keep shoulders down, not hugging your ears.

-Pull shoulder blades towards the front of your body, like trying to pull the bottom edges of your shoulder blades through, internally, to the front of your body, this creates back bending using the entire length of the spine, not just bending through the lower back.

-Gently pull in your abdominal muscles to support your lower back.

-Keep your neck in alignment with your spine. I catch myself over extending the neck backwards when in backbends, like Sphinx below, and have to realign my neck every time.

Overextending the neck, backwards, can create repetitive strain issues (like carpal tunnel syndrome with typing).

Take Away: make your Movement Magic movement that is body smart. Work the body but relax it at the same time. Muscles and bones in alignment can be strong but relaxed. You will feel this dynamic in play after getting in touch with your body. Yoga poses help us learn to move in a conscious way, pay attention to internal happening, and relax the mind and spirit while doing so. This way we can be the breath that flows through ourselves, toning our Vagus nerve, to put us in permanent Rest & Digest Mode (as opposed to chronic stress / fight or flight mode). What a Self Healing gift!

Lateral bends and twists of the spine: If you have bone health issues Do Twists Very Gently and Do Not Try and Twist Too Far, make the twists subtle and gentle. Yoga is about kindness, not competition (even self competition). Remember to lift the spin up: extending the spinal column out of the pelvic cavity and lengthening the spinal column from both ends.

Our spine's most common move is forward bending. Back bends, lateral bends, and twists of the spine help to keep the spine young, supple, and flexible in the spine’s entire range of motion. When we are 90+, we will be grateful for your spinal flexibility.

Above images references:   

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1 and 3 image: http://www.geronet.ucla.edu/yess-poses/411, this is a wonderful site page with a gentle yoga series, the above two images being part of that series.

Series 2 is here: http://www.geronet.ucla.edu/node/40 Center photo: http://www.frank-answers.com/frank-answers-about-christians-practicing-yoga/

All Yoga stick figure poses are compliments of Yoga Flavored Life by Charlotte Bradley

Some Questions to ask self in poses: • Am I lengthening my spine and creating space between my vertebrae, giving my spinal disks breathing room • Where is my head in the pose? Is my neck neutral and head supported directly on the spinal column?

• How am I bending my body: from hip joint or my waist? Hint: waist bending is hard in low back, bulges spinal disk.

• Am I leading from the heart ♥ space to maintain beautiful posture, take the angst of my low back, and engage my upper back fully in twists, lateral bends, and heart ♥ opening back bends?

• Are my joints stacked one on top of the other fir good support? Obviously, in down dog this won’t work.

• Am I using my core muscles to support my body in proper alignment & posture?

• Am I breathing slowly, deeply, and with conscious thought to where I’m sending breath in my body?

• Are my feet planted firmly on the ground, all 4 corners taking equal weight, so I’m well supported?

Same idea with hands if they are my pose’s main support.

• Do I need to use my fist, in upper plank pose, to protect my wrist?

• Is my head just a “touchstone” in poses like Fish or child’s pose, not putting the weight of my body on my head/neck?

•Am I doing poses for strength or flexibility, to create energy in my body (invigorate) or to relax? **If relaxation is your focus, then make this happen by using props (**referred here from page 3):  Blocks  Bolsters  Blankets rolled to support hips, knees, back, shoulders, etc.

If relaxation and opening the body is your purpose, learn to support your body well so it can relax, release, and let go.

Suggested Flow for a Daily Home Practice Make this work for you. If you have 15 minutes, not 30 or 40, do what you have time for that best supports creating ease of Body-Mind-Spirit for your day.

If this means doing a “little bit here and a little bit there,” so be it. That was my life for years with babies and toddlers. They are 17 and 20 now and it can still be this way. It is life, on and off the mat.

I do not always do this in the AM. Sometimes it is Noon before I get around to it. Sometimes it is 4-5 o’clock and I am in the “oh my Goddess, it is time to start getting dinner… better get to my daily Yoga poses.”

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Sit on your mat or in your chair. Set an intention for the day. Think about the Moon Phases: are we in a building to Full Moon or releasing to Dark Moon phase. Use this natural Lunar energy cycle to either build / create or release / let go of things in your own life.

Seated breath work to activate and tone your vagus nerve. Examples: deep belly breathe or alternate nostril breathing.

Read a Sacred Scripture or inspirational quote / reading from a book that sings to your heart and soul.

Yoga pose work on the mat or in your chair.

Savasana: relax into deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation (feel where there is tension in your body), or a Yoga Nidra. You can find many guided progressive muscle relaxation and Yoga Nidra options online. YouTube has free ones. Down Dog app has a monthly fee.

Sit again and breathe deeply.

Meditate for 5-10 minutes, even just 2-3. Work with the time you have.

Read something inspiring. You can re-read the opening inspiration and really embody it for the day.

Walk through your day with your Yoga mat under your feet, metaphorically speaking, all day.

Peace, Gratitude, Calm, Compassion, Joy, and Love

All information contained in this educational PDF is from my many years of learning and experience over the 55 years of my life and I am grateful for the much more life and learning to come.

I tend to approach the physical pose work as a strong and dynamic means to strengthen my bodymind-spirit.

I know I am also creating amazing balance and flexibility of B-M-S. Poses can also be a very laid back, relaxing experience to open the body-mind-spirit. This would be more like a Yin or Restorative Yoga experience.

Some days, I do this more Yin type Yoga. Each day, each pose, is about listening to your body’s needs in each moment.

My education & experience:  human being observing life and using my common sense, a life-long learner  Registered Nurse trained in Functional Medicine-Nutrition-Movement  School Health & Physical Education Teacher  Yoga practice 29 years  Yoga Teacher: I completely realize my style of learning Yoga & teaching Yoga is from my experiences with my teachers and my own body-mind-spirit experiences. Use it only as a tool to create your own experiences and wisdom around your body-mind-spirit.  Strength Training Fitness Coach at Syracuse University  Herbalist – Plant Spirit Medicine  Energy Medicine – Reiki Practitioner  Shamanic / Earth Medicine workings, which is Energy Medicine, still learning…  Years & years of immersing in Earth – Nature Based Spiritual teachings, even when this was not considered cool and I had to hide my way of being. ; )

Feel free to check over my website “resume” and ask me any & all questions that speak to you. When you choose to work with me, I want you to be comfy in your choice of the growth & transformation space you are trusting yourself to go into.

As with all Self Healing work, the responsibility lies in our own hands.

Self Responsibility Info: https://www.paulayoumellrn.com/self-responsibility

Educational Information Copyright © Paula Youmell, RN, Wise Woman Nurse ® Sacred Circle Wise Women™ Mentorship