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By Grace Huseth

Looking for a fresh perspective on yoga? You might just find it by hanging upside down.

Traditional yoga classes of stretches and balancing poses can be flipped with the aid of wall ropes. No, the ropes don’t offer a Cirque du Soleil aerial experience, but they do deepen stretches and introduce practitioners to inversion poses.

On one of the coldest mornings in January, I tried my first inversion yoga pose at Stillwater Yoga Studio. I was hooked – not only securely to the wall, but by all the blood flowing benefits of inversion.

“Yoga is all about an experience and observing where your consciousness is,” said Stillwater Yoga Studio director Kathleen Pringle. “All yoga is for the mind, but in Iyengar yoga, the body is used as a portal to look at the more subtle effects.”

Yoga poses performed with ropes are common in Iyengar yoga studios. In short, Iyengar yoga was developed by B.K.S. Iyengar, the father of modern yoga, who emphasized precision and alignment in poses. Common yoga poses like downward dog become transformed when ropes allow for an extra backbend and for fuller shoulder rotation.

With Pringle’s gentle instruction and eye for slight adjustments, beginners like me are able to hang in rope sirsasana, or rope headstand, completely relaxed. Once upside down, my consciousness turned to my breath in a way I had never experienced before. When inverted, there is a pause at the end of each exhalation due to the diaphragm being flipped from its natural state, an extra note offering unique peace.

Inversions also aid in blood flow back to the heart and the increase of oxygenated blood to the brain, sensory organs and face to benefit clearer thinking. It’s also credited with strengthening the cardiovascular, lymphatic, nervous system and endocrine systems of the body.

Pringle has been practicing yoga for more than 40 years and opened up her Midtown Promenade location 17 years ago. Over the years, the rope wall has served for a variety of poses, as well as physical therapy the yogi way.

“Alignment in the joints focuses the attention on what’s going on in the body. It’s basically educating yourself on your habits, helping you adjust and create more space in your own body by becoming conscious of what your patterns and habits are,” Pringle said.

Since Iyengar yoga stresses body alignment, the practice attracts many in the medical world, including physical therapists and physicians. Those with injuries, whether it’s a spinal injury or a herniated disk, can adapt poses with the ropes so they can get the benefits without pushing their limits –unless it’s necessary.

A few years ago, Pringle suffered from a frozen shoulder.

She had painful restriction of motion in her shoulder that progressed from stiffness to a calcified joint. When an orthopedic surgeon suggested she go under general anesthesia and have the arm manipulated for her, she turned to yoga instead. Pringle said the pain she endured in each session was nothing in comparison to the relief she felt afterwards. Today, Pringle works with other clients suffering from frozen shoulders by using backbends, poses that open the chest and hanging from the ropes.

“We teach how the body should be for the best health of the organs and how it impacts the mental state,” Pringle said. “Similar to how smiling releases different chemicals in the brain to make you feel happy, we put people in postures to create different physical, organic, emotional and psychological impacts.”

For more information, visit stillyoga.com.

Atlanta Track Club bids for Olympic marathon trials

The Atlanta Track Club has announced its intention bring the 2020 Olympic Team Trials Marathon to the city.

ATC, the nation’s second largest running and walking organization, notified USA Track & Field that it will bid to organize the race, which will determine the three men and three women who will represent the United States at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

“Atlanta is a city with an Olympic legacy and an Olympic future,” said Rich Kenah, ATC’s Executive Director. “This is a place where national champions are crowned. From the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship to the 2019 Super Bowl and now possibly the 2020 Olympic Trials Marathon, sports fans know they can count on Atlanta to host world-class events for our country’s best athletes.”

The 2020 Olympic Trials will be held between January and March of 2020. The winner of the bid will be announced by USA Track & Field at the end of March 2018. Atlanta is one of four cities to announce their intention to bid for the event. The other cities are Austin, Chattanooga and Orlando.

Atlanta hosted the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, making it the last American city to host the summer edition of the sporting spectacle. Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Pet Briefs

Pet Pick

King is a handsome, bright-eyed boy who is loyal and loving. He is also very playful in a goofy sort of way. He welcomes treats from his admirers, and enjoys leaning in for a reassuring pat or hug. True to his breed, King is a strongminded working dog who looks to people for his cues. He would make an excellent addition to an adultsonly home that offers kind and consistent leadership. To adopt King or any of the other available pets available from PAWS Atlanta, visit pawsatlanta.org or the shelter at 5287 Covington Highway in Decatur.