YogaIowa: The Yoga as Medicine Issue

WINTER 2015

Yoga as

05 yoga therapy 06 yoga as medicine 07 transformative travel: thailand 08 road to recovery 17 mudra for healing 22 winter greens for the winter blues

Exquisite malas, made from sacred rudraksha seeds, steeped in tradition, full of contemporary beauty and bliss.

ARE YOU PASSIONATE

about teaching yoga?

I am, too. I can’t imagine doing anything else for a living.

That’s why it bothers me when I hear people say that yoga is a bad career choice. It hasn’t been for me.

I started teaching yoga professionally in 1997 when I was 26 years old, and I haven’t done anything else since.

It hasn’t always been easy. It took me years to figure out a better way to build a sustainable income. But I found that the better I served my students, the better I was taken care of.

I created Adamantine® Yoga for two reasons: to empower yoga practitioners with a better way to practice, and to give yoga teachers a new business model that would allow them to thrive.

I’ve spent the last two years in a new community, Des Moines, Iowa, attempting to prove that my methods worked. I started out with only four members and my studio was in my living room. In less than one year my business had grown to over 50 members and just two weeks ago I opened the doors to the first ever Adamantine® Yoga studio.

Bali Malas

www.balimalas.com

My name is James Miller and I am the Founder of Adamantine® Yoga. I believe that if you’re not making a living teaching yoga it’s not yoga’s fault, it’s the way you’re teaching it.

Let me show you a better way.

YO U R N EW H O ME F O R

Learn more by attending one of my upcoming 521 E. LOCUST · IN THE HISTORIC EAST VILLAGE • WINTER 2015

FREE COVERED PARKING JUST SOUTH OF THE STORE ON E. 6TH 515.323.3338 · WWW.FLEETFEETDESMOINES.COM

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SH O P FL EET F EET A L S O F O R

ADAMANTINE® YOGA IMMERSIONS: January 24-25 or May 30-31 · Des Moines, IA

*Attendance to an Immersion (or Adamantine® Yoga Intermediate Practitioner status) required before applying for Level 1 Yoga Teacher Training ADAMANTINE® YOGA TEACHER TRAINING IS A YOGA ALLIANCE REGISTERED PROGRAM

AdamantineYoga.com

How Yoga Helps Heal here’s hardly a week that passes without new studies backing up yoga’s positive qualities. I can attest to yoga’s effect after having cervical epidural steroid injections in 2006 and 2007 to ease the excruciating tingling and numbness from a disc protrusion. While the injections provided short-term relief, the only long-term solution presented at the time was surgery. To me, that wasn’t an option until I explored holistic treatments. I discovered yoga (and community) and have been pain free since.

The nine people whose personal and powerful stories are featured in this issue credit yoga, too, as an important tool for healing their health challenges and saving them from deep despair. From cancer and scoliosis to Parkinson’s disease and chronic pain that threatened to immobilize, each went on from living half a life to experiencing joy and freedom, thanks to their yoga practice.

One category to which yoga has been particularly relevant is emotional trauma. Inside this issue you’ll learn how one woman is feeling empowered after being abused as a child and about the local service providers who are dedicated to helping others embody their full potential.

Yoga therapy is an emerging Yoga teaches us field in America. Two Iowa to cure what need natives, Matthew Taylor and not be endured Jeff Wright, who are known for and endure what their vast working knowledge and cannot be cured. extensive studies on this topic, share with you a sampling of the – B.K.S. Iyengar growing evidence for yoga as a therapeutic intervention. According to the trade group International Association of Yoga Therapists, membership has more than tripled in the last three years, and the number of schools offering training has doubled over the past two years.

My hope is that by better understanding who and how yoga helps heal, we may one day see it fully integrated into our health care system. Without question, everybody should be seen by a medical professional first as there are some situations when medication is essential. But outside-the-box strategies, such as yoga, acupuncture, massage therapy, and other complementary therapies, could offer a low-cost, viable approach.

We value your feedback on how we are doing and invite you to email us at editors@yoga-iowa.com with your comments, suggestions, or a topic you would love to see featured.

May you have a wonderful and fulfilling 2015.

Meet Ron Klipfel, Advertising Account Executive

I am thrilled to welcome Ron Klipfel to the YogaIowa staff. His strong knowledge of communication and problem-solving skills best support our advertisers’ needs. He has spent most of his professional career in either the marketing/communications industry or building relationships to grow and expand businesses.

He grew a small three-person ad agency to a full-service marketing communications firm specializing in consumer, business-to-business, insurance, financial, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail clients. Ron’s first job out of graduate school was as physical/aquatics director for the YMCA. He has always enjoyed working out and discovered yoga to be a great addition to his workout schedule.

On the Horizon

Are you looking for fun and renewal? To inspire your practice? Deepen your yoga knowledge? Here’s your roundup of spring and summer fests in the Heartland: • Central Iowa Yoga Retreat March 7 • Minneapolis Yoga Conference April 24–26 • Dubuque Yoga Festival May 1–3 • Bhakti Fest Midwest June 26–28 • Iowa Yoga Festival August 28–30 New dates and location...details coming soon!

On the Cover

We turned the camera on YogaIowa photographer Doug Smith on the Bill Riley trail at WaterWorks Park in Des Moines. Following a severe cycling accident, yoga helped Doug find balance, both physically and spiritually.

Read his profile on page 11.

Photo by Sally Cooper Smith.

Leaving chronic headaches and the corporate world behind, Lisa Acheson, RYT 500, has yoga to thank for her new life of ease.

Lisa is a Level 3 Certified Adamantine® Yoga teacher, sharing this practice in the Beaverdale neighborhood in Des Moines, IA.

Leslie Klipsch is a writer and editor who frequently explores topics of faith, family, and healthy living. When she’s not writing or reading, she’s likely exploring the Quad Cities with her husband and three children. Read more of her work at www.LeslieKlipsch.com.

Sheree Clark, M.Ed., AADP, CHHC is a holistic health and nutrition expert with a private practice she calls Fork in the Road (fork-road. com). An inspiring author, television show host, teacher, motivator, and raw vegan chef, Sheree works with clients to help them get the most out of life by improving their health.

Olivia Kvitne, the “Lois Lane of Yoga,” RYT 500, is program director for the Give Back Yoga Foundation’s “Yoga for First Responders,” and specializes in classes for veterans, military personnel, and first responders. She’s also the assistant editor of LA Yoga magazine.

Follow her on Twitter: @OliviaKvitne.

Sandy Eimers is a pharmacist, yoga therapist, and owner of balance yoga lounge and balanced breath school of yoga in Ankeny, IA. She works with clients in search of health through unity, and partners with health care practitioners interested in learning how therapeutic yoga can assist in managing chronic dis-ease.

Mary McInnis Meyer, MS, RYT 500, is a conspicuous yoga teacher, writer, and mechanical engineer.

She says it like it is in her teaching and her writing. Yoga cred: 500-hour certification in yoga and meditation + master’s degree in mechanical engineering = unique change-making. More at realisthenewgood.com.

Ryan Esdohr’s fascination with the human body prompted him to specialize in sports massage and yoga. Ryan began his career in Atlanta, GA, where he worked with some of the best sports therapists and professional athletes. Ryan now owns Superhuman Lab in Urbandale, IA (mysuperhumanlab.com).

Sara Stibitz has been practicing yoga for ten years and became a certified RYT 200 in 2012. She has written for the Des Moines Register, YogaIowa, Juice, Spoilage Literary Magazine, and other publications.

Sara teaches yoga and works regularly as a freelance writer and editor.

Laura Gentry is the director of the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga in Marquette, IA. She hosts the annual LaughFest Conference and has pioneered the laughter movement throughout the United States and around the world. She is the first woman in America to become a Master Trainer of Laughter Yoga.

Learn more at www.LaughingLaura.com.

Mary St Onge, E-RYT 500 and yoga therapist, lives in Des Moines, IA. In addition to weekly yoga classes such as yoga+recovery at Fitness by Design, Mary offers grief workshops and monthly kirtan at Radiant Om Yoga. She’s offered private ayurvedic consultations and yoga therapy since 2009.

Visit mary-st-onge.com.

An educator for more than two decades, Jules Green, M.A, M.M.I.C., A.C.C., is a certified meditation teacher specializing in mindfulness and mantra-based practices and the study of consciousness. She’s also a certified holistic life coach specializing in life fulfillment, life purpose, and relationships, and a certified Reiki practitioner.

Matthew J. Taylor, PT, PhD, RYT, is an international leader in integrative rehabilitation and frequent textbook author. In 1999, he launched yoga programs at both hospitals in Dubuque, IA, and is the past president of the board of directors for the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Learn more at www.drofyoga.com.

Toni Jacobson, owner of Zen Stone Yoga Company, is a certified yoga teacher and Cardio and Core Barre teacher. Toni also received certification in therapeutic yoga for seniors from the Duke University School of Integrative Medicine. She teaches at a variety of locations in the Des Moines, IA metro.

Jeff Wright, BA, MA, and E-RYT500, has taught yoga since 1986. He and his wife, Tracey, operate People’s Yoga (www.peoples-yoga. com) specializing in group Hatha classes, individual instruction, and meditation practice in Platteville, WI. Jeff is also on the yoga teacher training staff at Body and Soul Wellness Center in Dubuque, IA.

YogaIowa’s Managing Editor Tracey L. Kelley, RYT 500, teaches at her boutique yoga studio in South Des Moines, IA, and specializes in working with beginning students. Tracey is also the founder of re: communications, a firm focused on improving communication through mindful listening. Learn more at recommunicationsmedia.com.

• WINTER 2015

E DITOR ’S LET TER

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Second Annual • April 24 - 26, 2015

Annie Carpenter

Jules Febre

Matthew Sanford

Dr. Indu Arora

Hilton Downtown • Minneapolis, MN

Faith Hunter

Max Strom

Mas Vidal

Toni Bergins

Join us for this weekend of deep learning, growth, healing, community and fun.

Whit Hornsberger

Michelle Pietrzak-Wegner

Study with these nationally renowned teachers! PLUS: Minnesota Master Yoga Teachers, Opening Night Keynote with Max Strom and Yogi Social Hour with Special Guests, Expert Panel Discussions, Ecstatic Dance, Yoga Marketplace and more...Register Now!

www.minneapolisyogaconference.com YOGAIOWA IS DISTRIBUTED QUARTERLY THROUGHOUT IOWA.

P U B L I SH E R / E DI TO R

WINTER 2015 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1

Angela Banowetz Ossian MA N AG I N G E DI TO R Tracey l. Kelley A DVE RTI SI N G AC C O U NT EX ECU TIV E Ron Klipfel P H OTO G R A P H E R S Doug Smith, Kerri Hays A RT DI R ECTI O N Cooper Smith & Co. C O P Y E DI TO R Becky Langdon A DVI SO RY B OA R D Sheree Clark, holistic health and nutritional coach Diane Glass, facilitator, Tending Your Inner Garden Denny Kelly, founder of Yoga in the Park— Des Moines Ann M. York, PT, PhD, E-RYT 200, RYT 500, Associate Professor, Des Moines University

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• WINTER 2015

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Send comments, story ideas, calendar submissions, press releases & public announcements: editors@yoga-iowa.com • 515.979.5585 FIELD EDITORS: Central Iowa: Linsey Grams thehumblehedonist@gmail.com South Central Iowa: Brandi Kastler kastlermonte@centurylink.net Cedar Rapids: Kim Reed dancingbuddah@gmail.com Western Iowa: Trishia Gill trishia@evolvesiouxcity.com

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Comments & submissions

PRACT ICE

BY MATTHEW TAYLOR

I understand yoga reduces the stress response, which is good for the nervous system. How else can yoga help people with conditions such as MS, Parkinson’s disease, stroke recovery, and spinal cord injury? he human nervous system is a fascinating marvel of all five levels of the koshas, which are our physical, bioenergetic, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual experiences. Western medical practitioners are realizing what the sages believe: it’s all connected, and yoga is the practice that stabilizes the nervous system. A yoga practice designed for conditions that affect the nervous system can be a tremendous benefit. Unfortunately, an inappropriate practice can also hamper someone living with such a condition.

When someone develops a long-term neurological condition, he or she first deals with it as a spiritual issue, as the diagnosis can threaten to annihilate the small self’s identity. This vulnerability is a perfect opportunity for a yoga therapist to support the student in re-examining all the old illusions about identity, what he or she should/could be doing, and what matters most in life. Instability at this level has direct and profound effects on an individual’s ability to think, dream, emote, breathe, and sustain physical mobility and function. A good therapy program addresses and supports these issues first. Asana may be a tool within the program, but first and foremost is acknowledging this spiritual level with the student, because it tends to be overlooked in conventional care.

Listen, ask clarifying questions, and let a student know that the physical condition can be viewed as a doorway to spiritual practice. My friend, Matt Sanford (MatthewSanford.com), describes disability as the ultimate spiritual practice. So let your student know yoga is a psycho-spiritual practice according to the late yoga scholar, Georg Feuerstein, PhD. We now know that our thoughts and actions rebuild and alter the physical and functional structure of our nervous system via neuroplasticity. This doesn’t mean someone can cure a disease process, but it does offer the possibility of improved function and quality of life where traditionally there was only prognosis of diminishing quality of life. While loss of function and ability may advance, wellbeing can still be experienced through a quality yoga practice.

WHY consider yoga as a complement to medical care?

• Yoga has been proven to decrease the hypervigilance of the central nervous system, improving balance, flexibility, and strength.

• Yoga elevates mood and can ease the depression that is a common problem for people with neurological diseases.

• Yoga is a powerful self-care tool for family members and caregivers who are often adversely affected by burnout.

• Yoga can be adapted to any level of mobility through the end of life.

• The tools of yoga include not just postures, but also breathing exercises, hand positions (mudras), guided imagery (bhavana), meditation, prayer or devotion.

• Slowing down, and emphasizing “listening to/sensing” the altered feedback within an

individual’s “new” nervous system creates better body awareness and the very important positive regard for self that brings ease in life.

• Yoga can provide critical social

interaction and engagement with peers in a fun, interactive process to balance the isolating effects of the diagnosis.

• Yoga improves the quality and quantity of sleep.

• Yoga has been shown to improve balance and gait after a stroke.

Share this list with your healthcare team and local yoga teacher if you or someone you care about is considering a yoga practice.

Matthew Taylor will teach at the Dubuque Yoga Festival (www.dubuqueyogafestival.com) in May 2015.

Yoga Therapy TEACHING YOUR BODY TO HEAL ITSELF

BY JEFF WRIGHT

Yoga teachers may prefer to call themselves simply one-on-one instructors rather than yoga therapists when helping a student with medical issues. The term therapy implies giving healing treatment, whereas teaching provides the afflicted with techniques by which they can heal themselves.

Furthermore, it is quite rare that a yoga teacher would have access to the sophisticated equipment or have the considerable training in such modalities as medicine, physical therapy, or psychotherapy required to make the responsible diagnoses or give the appropriate treatments we should expect during therapy.

As individualizing yoga instructors, we usually proceed from the following beliefs. One is that problems, both physical and mental, are often the result of tension patterns, often quite subtle, that an instructor has learned to detect in all their subtlety.

Also, we believe in the body’s amazing capacity to heal itself when unobstructed by those tension patterns. Finally, we believe that the discomfort a student is experiencing often has a source in an area of either tightness or instability at a distance, often a considerable distance, from the pain. Working at that source rather than the site of the symptoms ensures a gentle, painless experience conducive to a continuing habit of self-treatment, to ending the cycle of tension/instability and pain, and above all, to safety and the prevention of further damage by more direct treatment.

This approach to healing sometimes counters the more intrusive modalities of surgery, allopathic medicines, or physical therapy. This is not to say such approaches are wrong or ineffective, only that individualized yoga instruction is a unique and valuable modality as well.

For example, I have worked with cancer patients who had been successfully treated with surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation but were then suffering from the side effects of those extremely valuable protocols. I taught them how to rest effectively, restore healthy breathing patterns that undo psychological traumas accompanying severe illness, and provide an internal environment that would allow damaged tissues to restore themselves. I have also taught people with autism very physical activities that encourage complete, rhythmic breathing, consequently allowing them to ease the negative effects of neural/cognitive overload. More specific problems such as students with foot pain were helped by attention to underactive core muscles and other factors of body alignment.

Conversely, back aches were relieved by attention to unnoticed tensions in the feet.

A yoga instructor has a larger assortment of tools than do therapists. We pay attention not just to bones and muscles, but also to organs, breathing, and neural/ cognitive activity, and to the interconnectedness of these systems. Activities range from physical poses to self-massage to diet to stillness practice.

Success is occasionally immediate, as in traditional therapeutic modalities, but is more often the gradual result of developing habits of daily selftreatment, honed occasionally through one-onone instruction. Such results are durable, often generalized beyond the original issue, and above all, cultivate a confidence that we can be successfully in charge of our own health most of the time.

• WINTER 2015

Ask the Yoga

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L IFE+HEALTH

integrated doctors’ perspective on

yoga as medicine MANY PHYSICIANS HAVE A FAIR AMOUNT OF SKEPTICISM ABOUT THE USE OF COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES IN THE PRACTICE OF WESTERN MEDICINE. HOWEVER, SOME HEALTH PRACTITIONERS USE PERSONAL EXPLORATION AND PATIENTS’ TESTIMONIES TO ENCOURAGE FURTHER STUDY INTO VARIOUS MODALITIES THAT MAY PROMPT MORE THOROUGH CARE AND TOTAL WELLNESS. BY TRACEY L. KELLEY

r. C. Rajan Narayanan is the executive director of the Life in Yoga Institute and Foundation, a non-profit based in Silver Spring, Marlyand. He cofounded the institute featuring a team of medical experts with the intent to “counter the distortion of yoga through scientific understanding.” Many members of the organizational team used yoga to recover from chronic health issues.

Narayanan believes conventional medicine doesn’t have good answers to chronic medical issues. “Invariably, a person is on a lifelong drug regimen to manage an illness and unable to reverse the condition,” he says. He and his colleagues recognized that a vital step to help physicians integrate therapeutic alternative techniques is accredited continuing medical education (CME). Narayanan says, “Physicians are the licensed providers of healthcare in society, and hence, we felt it was important they bring this to patients.”

“One of the main Medical professionals who take a twenty-two-hour advantages for patients CME course to improve their practices learn the basis of yoga and the research conducted for therapeutic is these therapies give purposes and health maintenance. “Such knowledge them an opportunity to potentially prepares a physician for considering have some control over entirely different forms of treatment that may be less invasive and less subject to side effects than their treatment and conventional medicine,” Narayanan says. Life in Yoga symptom management.” is independently accredited and also partners with Howard University College of Medicine.

Dr. Andrew D. Nish is the medical director of John Stoddard Cancer Center at UnityPoint Health in Des Moines, Iowa. He’s studied some of the science and papers on alternative therapies and now understands how they can enhance patient wellness in the appropriate setting. “Complementary therapies are beneficial when used in conjunction with traditional medical treatments,” Nish says. “While not a substitute for treatment of a patient’s cancer, complementary therapies can be tailored for his or her specific symptoms, such as yoga and meditation for management of anxiety, or acupuncture for management of pain, nausea, and vomiting.” In 2015 the Center will join other notable medical institutions such as MD Anderson and the Mayo Clinic when it offers patients yoga and meditation programs. “One of the main advantages for patients is these therapies give them an opportunity to have some control over their treatment and symptom management,” Nish says.

Nish is a new practitioner of yoga and meditation and believes he’s personally experienced the benefits, so when his patients give him specific examples of how alternative therapies help them, he’s more inclined to pay attention.

He says it’s encouraging that there’s now a Society of Integrative Oncology with guidelines and standards for the use of complementary therapies in symptom management of oncology patients.

Narayanan says psychiatrists use their training from the CME course to help patients become more acutely aware of stress symptoms and recommend relaxation techniques. He believes physicians trained in the program create more meaningful relationships with patients. “A family medicine doctor sent me an email recently that said, ‘I personally taught twenty-one patients one-onone the breathing and stretching exercises, and they were so receptive. What an incredible feeling to pass the message forward.’ If this happens with more physicians, we’ve taken a giant step forward.”

can Meditation be used as medication?

WE’RE FORTUNATE TO LIVE AT A TIME DURING WHICH THE SCIENTIFIC MEDICAL COMMUNITY IS ABLE TO VALIDATE SUCH CLAIMS IN MEASURABLE, QUANTIFIABLE STUDIES, IN SOME CASES WITH ASTOUNDING RESULTS. BY JULES GREEN

• WINTER 2015

Meditation and mindfulness have been shown to complement medical practices and, at times, are even effective on their own to reduce stress on the cardiovascular system, improve the immune system, treat depression and anxiety, regulate hormones, improve digestion, reduce symptoms of ADHD and ADD, and treat migraines.

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In November 2014 researchers at Alberta Health Services and the University of Calgary found a change at the cellular level in breast cancer survivors in a twelveweek study that compared patients who practiced meditation and yoga to a control group who attended a stress management seminar. Linda E. Carlson, PhD, of the Tom Baker Cancer Centre reported, “We already knew that psychosocial interventions like mindfulness

meditation will help you feel better mentally, but now for the first time we have evidence that they can also influence key aspects of your biology.”

Dr. Peter Coventry, lead author of a study published in Behavior Health in May 2014, reports on the effectiveness of a six-week meditation and mindfulness program for patients with diabetes and coronary heart disease. Aimed at studying the effect on patients with long-term chronic conditions, the researchers discovered that meditation and mindfulness skills helped patients experience improved sleep, greater relaxation, and healthier, more-accepting approaches to managing their illnesses, thus impacting their ability to improve their symptoms and the experience of their illnesses.

In November 2013 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center studied patients with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, with impressive findings. In just eight weeks, patients practicing mindfulness meditation for a mere fifteen to thirty minutes per day showed less cognitive decline than the control group in the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for memory, emotions, and learning.

It’s commonly understood that most illnesses have a basis in the accumulation of stress. So when the mind is at ease, the body restores, regenerates, and heals. It’s encouraging that the medical community recognizes the potential of integrated healing techniques, and the more we speak of our successes with meditation and mindfulness, the more everyone benefits.

T RANS FORM AT IVE T RAVEL

East Meets

BY MARY ST. ONGE

When my son moved to Thailand to teach English, I was intent on leaving Iowa and visiting him in Bangkok for the holidays. I also couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go to a yoga retreat while there. After reviewing retreats in Southeast Asia, I chose Blooming Lotus Yoga because of its emphasis in Ayurveda and yoga philosophy.

Bangkok is a study in contrasts: the serenity of the Buddhist wats and the chaotic cacophony of traffic; delectable aromas from food carts and the stench of life in a city of nine million; the gentleness of the people and an unrelenting assault of consumerism from street vendors and mega-malls. My senses were on overload, and I anxiously looked forward to leaving the chaos of the city and traveling to an island for a week of relaxation and yoga.

The adventure began with an hour-long flight, a ferry to the island of Koh Phangan, and a water taxi on a long-tail boat to a white sand beach flowing out of a cragged shore lined with bamboo huts. It was so stunningly beautiful I couldn’t believe I hadn’t stepped into a painting. After a steep and sweaty climb up the hill, I checked into my simple, rustic wooden bungalow with a double bed, a fan, mosquito net, a forty-watt bulb hanging from the ceiling, an Asian style bathroom with a bucket flush system, and no hot water. My nerves were jangled from travel, and I had second thoughts about a week of austerity, no matter how beautiful.

Thailand Most Memorable moment

On Christmas morning, we hiked through the jungle in the dark to a secluded beach to experience a sunrise meditation and observance of the raising of the “thin veil.”

Three Greatest Gifts I Brought Home

• A stronger body. After a week of yoga and hill climbing, I left with toned glutes and quads.

• A more open heart. Connection with people from all over the world reminded me we all have the same hopes, dreams, wants, and fears.

• An appreciation of the yin and yang of life.

Beauty and peace can be found amidst chaos and austerity.

Blooming Lotus Yoga is a jungle hideaway, consisting of a thatched roof, screened structure with beautiful dark wood floors, and a Ganesh sculpture guarding the entrance.

I was joined by six other travelers from United Kingdom, South Africa, Holland, Germany, Australia, and Canada, all who admitted they were there that week to escape the commercialism of Christmas.

The entire Southeast Asia experience was a study in yin and yang. And after all, going on retreat means removing oneself from your current comfort zone and entering into a new state of being, leaving behind those things that are familiar and looking at life and the world we live in anew.

For more information on Blooming Lotus Yoga Retreats visit www.thailandyoga.net

have a yogic trip to share?

E-MAIL US AT EDITORS@YOGA-IOWA.COM

• WINTER 2015

Photos courtesy Mary St. Onge

Our yoga teacher, Francie Fishman, embodied the knowledge of yoga in a playful, heartcentered, joyful expression of love and acceptance. The retreat offered two daily asana classes, lessons in ayurveda/kirtan/philosophy/meditation, and Thai massage. The food served at the nearby Bamboo Huts Restaurant was the best I experienced in Asia.

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From survive to

• WINTER 2015

NINE INSPIRING STORIES BY LESLIE KLIPSCH PHOTOS BY SALLY COOPER SMITH, KERRI HAYS, AND FEATURED YOGIS

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DEB MURRAY

EMILY LEWIS “While psychosocial therapy and traditional medication have and continue to provide some necessary relief, it’s my yoga practice that has given me the desire to live well again—and this is something that doesn’t come in a bottle,” says Emily Lewis, a twenty-nineyear-old who has struggled with anxiety and depression throughout her life. In fact, mental illness seemed to follow Lewis everywhere.

Whether manifesting through eating disorders, closing herself off from loved ones, or being unable to function normally in a large group of people, the illness was pervading, she says, to the point that at times she felt it defined her.

It wasn’t until college when an academic advisor at the University of Iowa suggested Lewis try yoga that she had considered beginning a practice. She recalls the conversation as a pivotal moment because, for the first time, someone with whom she had limited interaction could feel the anxiety and anger emanating from her body. In that moment, Lewis realized these issues were not something of which she had control. Today, Lewis feels fortunate to live in Des Moines where a variety of studios offer many different types of yoga. “The body wants different things at different times,” she says. “Sometimes I need a high-cardio class to release some stress and to increase my heart rate, and other times I need a more restorative practice to acknowledge where my body requires healing.

The key is listening to my body, challenging it, but being patient with its growth,” she says.

Though she admits to have struggled in being patient with her body and mind, she has found relief through embracing various avenues of healing. “While medical professionals have truly offered their sincerest suggestions for growth,” she says, “I have learned throughout the years that my desire for betterment has to come from within.”

“I knew yoga would strengthen my body, and I knew it would help center me. I hadn’t considered that it would give me real and true

—MELISSA HARRIS

MELISSA HARRIS “Yoga has changed, even saved, my life. I do not mean to be melodramatic by saying that. Was I going to die without it? No, not likely. But I certainly wasn’t living,” says Des Moines resident Melissa Harris, forty-four, who was first diagnosed with severe episodic depression at the age of thirty-four. Her diagnosis came in the midst of a nearly yearlong period during which she couldn’t work, didn’t function socially, and spent most days in bed. Depression has played a significant role at different points throughout Harris’s life—her earliest recollection of struggle came at the age of twelve—and she recalls a lifetime of diligently watching and waiting for the next episode, trying to decode triggers, dreading darkness, and even wondering if “the next one” would be the one she wouldn’t recover from. “In my diligence,” she recounts, “I lost freedom in life. I could never escape my mind, and I was living in fear.”

Though she had practiced yoga intermittently for nearly sixteen years, she began attending regular classes in 2012 and in 2013 signed up for teacher training. “I was looking for some way to get deeper into yoga. I didn’t have any picture of what I was headed for. I had no grasp of how healing it could be for me and no idea it would change who I am,” she recalls. Her motivation for continuing her practice is twofold. First, Harris wants to move forward toward feeling better and better. Secondly, now that she is aware of the changes prompted by her practice, she wants to see where she can go. “The potential,” she says, “seems limitless to me. The world is wide open. It is no longer a place to fear. And neither is my mind.”

• WINTER 2015

In 2007, Deb Murray was riding her bike south of Ankeny when she was struck by a truck. After years of surgeries, doctors’ visits, and physical therapy, Murray was given the diagnosis of chronic regional pain syndrome, muscle and nerve damage, and was left struggling with intense knee, back, neck, and shoulder issues.

After struggling with pain management for nearly half a decade after the accident, the fifty-two“I hope my story inspires year-old decided something had to other people, just as the change. Despite taking the maximum amount of prescribed narcotic pain story of others inspired me medication, she continued to live to start practicing yoga.” with relentless, uncontrolled pain.

Though she had the option of traveling to the Mayo Clinic to explore other medication or surgeries, in 2014 she turned to yoga.

“Yoga has been one of the key players in my recovery over this past year,” explains Murray. “When I have pain, I practice yoga instead of reaching for that pain pill and, most often, I never have to take it. I don’t think I could have recovered and gotten off of pain meds without yoga.”

“I realized through breathing in yoga that when I was in pain, I was often holding my breath and tensing up my body,” she relates. “Now, even if I’m somewhere where I can’t practice yoga, I can breathe and concentrate on relaxing that area of the body.” Murray also finds that the stretching and relaxation innate to yoga help relieve the muscle tightness that causes pain.

Murray experienced a light-bulb moment this past July when her regular yoga practice lapsed. “My pain got worse, and I started having to take more pain meds,” she recalls. “Once I started practicing yoga again, my pain decreased, and my need for pain meds decreased again. I quickly realized just how important yoga really was and the big difference it was making in my life.”

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JULIE POORE Julie Poore was shocked when she was diagnosed with lung cancer this past May. After battling colon cancer in 2009, the fifty-sixyear-old Osceola woman had to complete cancer treatment for the second time in her life.

Though most would view this as an enormous challenge, Poore embodied a different approach. “I was gifted with the ability to accept this as a part of my journey,” she reflects. “I learned ”I believe that what the process would be for treatment.

I pondered other options and was guided remaining centered

by Spirit to pursue traditional medical and grounded was a treatment along with my yoga practice, spiritual direction, meditation, music key element to moving therapy, prayer, and dance.” through the cancer Throughout her treatment, Poore continued a daily yoga practice and found treatment with grace that part of her healing came through and without anxiety.” keeping her daily life as “normal” as possible. “I continued my work as a pastor and a yoga instructor...I asked my friends, family, and parish to not offer me sympathy, but to surround me with prayers, laughter, and stories filled with joy and rejoicing in life,” she recalls. “All of this has had a huge impact on my healing.”

Poore, who leads workshops, encourages others living through major health events to find a way to experience yoga, breath meditation, and/ or spiritual experiences. Regardless of a person’s individual beliefs, she trusts that a person can still benefit from such practice. “I discovered through my last course of cancer treatment that even when I could not move through my daily practice of Adamantine® Yoga, there were other modalities of yoga that would help sustain me, give me strength, and bring me peace.”

Poore believes the ability to nurture a peaceful heart has played a huge part in her healing. “That calm, grounded center allowed the other parts of my physical, mental, and emotional self to heal and expel the cancer.”

“I would encourage [others] not to be intimidated when they first attend classes and not to give up on yoga.

I have learned that some days, I can barely stand on one leg and the next day I can do it with ease.”

MARY ADKINS In 2009, Mary Adkins of Ankeny was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The news, she recalls, felt like a death sentence. She joined a support group and read about people living with the disease, and learned that various forms of exercise, including yoga, helped delay symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. At the recommendation of both her neurologist and her massage therapist, Adkins gave yoga a try.

Today, she finds that yoga is a gentle exercise that works all areas of her body. “The breathing practice,” of which she says she still has work to do, “brings us to be in the moment and makes us aware of body areas that need stretching.”

Parkinson’s disease causes stiffness and rigidity in various muscles, but Adkins has found that yoga has helped her become more flexible and has helped build strength. Though she still struggles with balance, she says she feels both physically and mentally better after she attends yoga class.

“Especially a morning class,” she relates. “I feel energized to complete the tasks for my day.”

The sixty-two-year-old says that before she started her own yoga practice, she had doubts about whether or not yoga was really “exercise” and admits to believing it was for people who were a bit “out there.” Now she not only benefits from her practice, but has also made new friends through the classes she enjoys. “Now I know how challenging yoga can be,” she says, “and how good you can feel by doing it.”

a physical yoga practice is very helpful in leading us into a state of meditation, and the benefits of meditation are endless.”

• WINTER 2015

—RACHEL JENSEN

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RACHEL JENSEN

SUSAN RENFRO

As a young ballet student, Rachel Jensen of Windsor Heights suffered from anorexia. At the most severe time of her illness, she was engrossed by the ballet world where she felt that her eating disorder was supported—even encouraged.

Today, the thirty-two-year-old believes that yoga was the catalyst that set her healing in motion.

“Yoga was the first movement I had experienced that made me feel truly good about my body,” she says, noting that yoga has been the most influential part of her healing process. “My yoga practice empowers me and encourages me to improve myself from within.”

Jensen was introduced to yoga in a body-conditioning class while studying dance and was pleased to find movement that worked with her body, not against it. After practicing on and off for years, in 2011 she decided to get her teaching certification. Since then, Jensen has found yoga to be essential in maintaining a positive body image. “As long as I practice regularly,” she says, “I don’t worry about what I eat or burning it off. I feel strong and body confident and comfortable in my skin.”

As a dancer, Jensen recalls feeling as if she were “fighting” her body, but in changing her method of movement from ballet to modern dance and yoga, and meeting some good (health-conscious and athletic) friends, Jensen says she learned to enjoy food again and began to feel more secure.

Jensen is honest about still struggling with body-image issues and finds that when going through a particularly stressful or emotional life event, she loses her appetite. “Once I drop a few pounds, I enjoy it, and I want to lose more,” she says. However, she now recognizes the pattern and is able to stop it. “Yoga and meditation are key in this recognition,” says Jensen. “My practice forces me to be clear-headed and strong and deal head-on with my emotional responses and my weaknesses.”

“I thought yoga was all about achieving flexibility,” says Susan Renfro of Sioux City. “Little did I know strength would become my goal—not only in body, but mind and soul as well.”

Renfro, fifty, was diagnosed with S-curve scoliosis at the age of twelve.

As a child, she was put in traction for four years, twenty-three hours a day.

By the time she was in her twenties, the curve in her spine had progressed to more than fifty degrees. Renfro’s case was so severe that her x-rays were taken to a world scoliosis conference.

Throughout the challenges of scoliosis, Renfro has tried to take a conservative approach to her medical care and avoided a surgery that would place rods in her back, embracing instead the concept of well care.

Yoga has been a large part of that. “From my very first yoga class I was hooked. I felt so much taller and lighter,” she recalls, crediting her first teacher, Connie Reynolds, for being pivotal to her practice.

Renfro would like to see our nation make a shift to preventing disease, rather than treating disease, noting that her own doctor has witnessed the flexibility and strength she has gained through yoga over the last eight years. “I think Iowa is on the right track with the Blue Zone challenge,” says Renfro of the state’s community well-being improvement initiative.

“More and more businesses and campuses are being added each week.

My chiropractor and my family physician are very supportive of my yoga practice; they also know my first avenue of treatment is holistic.”

Renfro’sadvice to others: “1. Start slow and find a class that’s right for you. 2. Visualize what you want to be. (Susan visualizes a beautifully aligned spine.) 3. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.”

CATHY CORKERY

DOUG SMITH

When Cathy Corkery, fifty, had a hysterectomy in 2004, her life irrevocably changed. She woke up from the procedure with burning, searing pain and began a long journey of searching for relief and answers.

She endured painful tests and procedures, frequent and specialized treatment, and debilitating, chronic pain. A year after surgery, unable to walk, run, bike, or swim, Corkery decided to try yoga. “Through physical therapy, yoga, and therapy, I got about seventy percent better, and my team of providers suggested I should be happy with that,” Corkery recalls.

“But I wasn’t ready to give up. I didn’t know what I needed to do, but I felt my healing was not complete.”

In 2012, Corkery completed a yoga therapy intensive and found the missing piece. “When I learned to move in a range of motion appropriate for me and my abilities, I rapidly got completely out of pain!”

Since then, Corkery has built a therapeutic yoga business and endeavors to help people find Favorite quote for difficult freedom from pain. “I know that going through what I did was times: “And the day came essential, and that companioning people through chronic pain is my when the risk to remain tight dharma,” she says. in a bud was more painful Corkery believes that yoga provides than the risk it took to something to hang on to when pain blossom.” ~Anais Nin is overwhelming, and feels that getting the body into a comfortable, supported posture and then simply breathing can be an enormous relief.

“I remember clearly the first time, after three years of yoga classes, that I actually found ease and comfort in savasana,” the Manchester woman says. “When class was over, I didn’t get up. When my teacher came over to see if I was okay, I asked if I could just stay there because it was the most pain-free I’d felt in a long time. I wanted to savor that feeling.”

“Ten years ago if you had told me I would practice yoga for sixto-nine hours a week, I would have said you were crazy. I was a hardcore cyclist—not an ‘incenseand-breath-work’ kind of a guy,” says fifty-two-year-old Doug Smith of Des Moines. “But now I rely on yoga as an important part of my training. It helps me build strong, flexible muscles and lung capacity, but also the mental strength I need for ultra-endurance cycling.”

Smith discovered yoga after the severe cycling accident he suffered while on a training ride in 2009, during which he was struck and run over by a truck and trailer. The accident left him in a wheelchair for several weeks. Through intense physical therapy, he regained the ability to walk with a walker, then a cane, and finally, on his own.

“Though I looked healed, my body felt completely different after the accident,” Smith recalls. “I had tremendous stiffness in my back and hips as scar tissue formed. My legs tingled continuously as nerves reconnected. Though I could walk, my gait was unbalanced, and standing on one foot or jumping was completely impossible.”

In a restorative yoga class, Smith recalls being able to access areas of his body he hadn’t since his accident. Not only did he feel relief from the constant pain he endured, but he was able to rebuild balanced muscle.

Through it all, Smith says that the most difficult part of recovery was mental. “As an athlete, I could tough out the pain,” he says. “But the mental challenge of starting over and doing what at the time seemed like pointless exercises every day was brutal. Physical therapy, including yoga, taught me how powerful consistent effort—no matter how small— can be.”

Smith’s advice to others: “Do it. Just start and practice as consistently as you can.”

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• WINTER 2015

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“ONE OF THE MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED AND UNDERESTIMATED ACTIONS THAT WE CAN DO TO BETTER OUR LIVES, EVEN IF IT IS JUST FOR A MOMENT, IS TO

IN THE PRESENT.”

—EMILY LEWIS

PRACTI CE

Laughing for Health HOW MUCH DO YOU LAUGH ON AN AVERAGE DAY? WHEN WE DON’T LAUGH MUCH, WE ARE MISSING OUT ON A WHOLE HOST OF HEALTH BENEFITS. BY LAURA GENTRY here is an emerging scientific field called gelotology, which comes from the Greek word “laughter.”

THE BEST MEDICINE Gelotologists are very serious in their exploration of Why laugh? It’s good medicine. what happens to our bodies when we laugh. They’ve Studies say that laughter does all of the following things: discovered that laughter improves the function of blood vessels, helps prevent heart disease, reduces pain naturally, • Improves overall sense of well-being • Deepens inner peace boosts the immune system, reduces levels of stress hormones, • Boosts happiness • Breaks social isolation and fosters and makes people feel more hopeful, connected to others, • Strengthens the immune system new friendships and blissfully happy. Laughter is the miracle drug we’ve been • Decreases the level of stress hormone • Develops self-confidence waiting for!

• Lowers blood pressure • Releases endorphins to naturally relieve pain So yes, laughter is good for us, but what can we do when life • Reduces risk of heart disease • Alleviates the discomfort of specific isn’t that funny? Laugh for no reason. That’s what a family • Floods the body with a natural physical challenges doctor from India discovered in 1995. “happy hormone” • Cultivates your childlike playfulness When Madan Kataria realized people in his care weren’t • Helps manage and overcome depression for a happier you laughing much and it was compromising their health, he created a laughter club. People would gather in the park to tell we writhe around on the floor, gasping for breath. The jokes and laugh, which was fun until they ran out of jokes. Drawing upon research laughter mysteriously taps into our true inner joy. that says our bodies don’t know the difference between real laughter and fake, Kataria After about twenty minutes or so, the laughter subsides tried having people laugh without jokes. The giggles quickly became real, he found, and we enter into a deep silence. Peace fills our hearts because laughter is extremely contagious. along with a feeling of unconditional love for the group and Kataria’s wife is a yoga teacher and suggested that pranayama breathing be added to the whole world. In my opinion, it’s as effective as more the laughter workout. They discovered this is an excellent combination that enhances traditional forms of meditation. Though the body is active, the spiritual and physical benefits of the practice. They branded it “Laughter Yoga.” the mind is still. Any ordinary thoughts are tabled as the Though this term sometimes confuses people who expect that it will involve hatha whole mind surrenders to laughter. poses, it does get at the heart of yoga. The goal is oneness—deep and beautiful I’ve laughed with tens of thousands of people around the connection that sets you free from your monkey mind. state and beyond. It constantly amazes me how life changing There’s a practice in Laughter Yoga called laughter meditation. In it we sit on or lie this simple practice is. So don’t laugh at Laughter Yoga. It’s down on the floor and laugh. It’s not forced and begins with nothing but a snicker. serious business.

Soon, however, the laughter sweeps through the group. We end up laughing so hard

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BEFORE HITTING THE SACK. CREATE A FIVE-MINUTE YOGA BEDTIME RITUAL. BY MARY MCINNIS MEYER Your body’s systems follow an Ayurvedic clock: 24-hours segmented into the best times for activity (vata), productivity (pitta), and settling in (kapha).

Bedtime is kapha time, but often we have some excess vata and pitta messing with us. If we miss the Ayurvedic bedtime of 10:00 p.m., we run into the pitta zone, when we can expect a fiery mind to kick in. Ayurveda divides the seasons, too, and we’ve been in vata season for a while now (fall to mid-winter). Add to that partaking in vata vices in the evening, like dry crunchy snacks and computer screens (guilty!), and we’re too wired to settle in.

The four poses below can help. The focus is forward bending–“tucking” yourself in. The result? Our nervous system settles, and so do we. Hold each pose for ten breaths with a lengthened exhale.

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cap your vata with a variation of Prasarita Padottanasana, wide-leg forward fold. Resting your forehead adds grounding.

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Rest your legs up the wall. To enter Viparita Karani, take a tuck position on your side and scoot your sit bones up to the wall (for tight hamstrings, a bit away from the wall).

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Diamond pose is an open-kneeangle variation of Baddha Konasana, or butterfly pose. Do this with your chest and head supported by pillows or stacked folded blankets.

Finally, bind up all that vata in a variation of Balasana, child’s pose, with your knees touching. If not appropriate for your knees, hug knees to chest on your back.

In addition, a consistent full-purpose yoga and meditation practice will tone your nervous system so you can get in sync with the Ayurvedic clock. Place stronger practices early in the day, make meditation a priority, and sync in.

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trauma recovery through yoga HEALING POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER THROUGH

Angela Clark lived with nightmares, anxiety, depression, and general dysfunction in her life for years but never knew why. It wasn’t until four years ago that memories of horrific abuse she suffered as a child began to surface, and there was a name for her symptoms: post-traumatic stress disorder. With that newfound knowledge, Clark summoned her courage and began to seek ways to heal her body.

She found healing through trauma-sensitive yoga.

Trauma-sensitive yoga (TSY) is a specialized practice developed by Bessel van der Kolk, MD; David Emerson, E-RYT; and Jenn Turner, LMHC, RYT. TSY invites mindful moving and breathing that enables survivors to reclaim their bodies and emotions.

Students are directed in ways that allow them to experience the present moment, take effective action for themselves, and practice making choices.

Clark learned about TSY when she was introduced to the woman who would eventually become her teacher, Sara McMillan, at a Christmas party. McMillan teaches TSY through the Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center (DMPCC) and Polk County Crisis & Advocacy Services.

The DMPCC takes a mind-body-and-spirit approach to healing. When the opportunity arose to offer TSY alongside talk and other traditional methods of therapy, Michele Lukasik, director of clinical services at DMPCC, welcomed it. McMillan is particularly qualified for teaching this kind of yoga; she’s a psychotherapist, a RYT-500, a former student of Bessel van der Kolk, and a trauma survivor. McMillan works for the county full time and teaches at the center on a contract basis. des moines pastoral

Counseling Center

According to McMillan, “TSY focuses more on the sensation the student experiences than the form the student takes.” Teacher language during the sequence is different; poses are referred to as forms or shapes for the simple reason that many victims of sexual abuse were made to pose. “Instructional cues are about invitation and options, and the student is made to understand they are in charge of what happens to their bodies,” McMillan says. TSY teachers generally avoid physical assists and instead invite students to move and adjust themselves in ways that feel safe. TSY focuses on reconnecting students with their bodies and seeing them as a vehicle for healing.

“TSY focuses more on the sensation the student experiences than the form the student takes.”

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In the beginning, Clark didn’t give TSY much weight at first, but after a few months she started to notice major shifts. She’d always known she had choices over big things and little things, but what she understood on an intellectual level had never sunk in.

“It just hit me deeper, hit me to the core. I get to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to everything in the world. Everything,” she says. Safety and choice in body movement was emphasized and encouraged in TSY in a way she’d never experienced in another class.

Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center 8553 Urbandale Ave, Urbandale, IA 50322 www.dmpcc.org (515) 274-4006 Polk County Crisis & Advocacy Services (515) 286-3600 www.traumacenter.org

• WINTER 2015

TSY classes create a space that is ideal for emotional release without the concern of attracting attention from teachers or other students in the classroom. “We didn’t have to know each other’s stories. We all knew we had something that made us eligible to be there. It was okay if someone burst into tears,” Clark says of the experience.

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Through TSY classes, Clark has healed her sciatica, lost weight, developed better sleeping habits, and discovered newfound emotional and physical awareness. TSY has been so life changing for Clark that she’s contemplating becoming a teacher so she can help others heal from post-traumatic stress disorder. “We have to honor healing on all levels of who we are,” she says, “And yoga truly addresses that.”

Britt Ripley www.brittripleyphotography.com

TRAMA-SENSITIVE YOGA BY SARA STIBITIZ

PRACT ICE

mudras for healing MUDRA IS A TERM WITH MANY MEANINGS. GESTURES MADE WITH THE HANDS, EYE POSITIONS, BODY POSITIONS, AND EVEN BREATHING TECHNIQUES ARE CALLED MUDRAS, SOMETIMES ALSO REFERRED TO AS HAND YOGA. BY SANDY EIMERS hese symbolic gestures can vividly depict certain states of consciousness, and placing your hands in a specific position can lead to the states of consciousness that they symbolize. You make a decision and physically through your hands and breathing allow something to happen.

No one knows for sure where mudras originated, but these natural gestures were adapted by different cultures over many centuries. Hand yoga is accessible to nearly all, and a very powerful vehicle for transformation within the subtle anatomy. Mudras are used in yoga and meditation because of their ability to calm the mind. They can be used to relax or energize and when practiced regularly, become valuable tools for self-care.

Gestures have power just as sounds do. We harness the power of gestures to transform how we think and feel, just as we can use the power of sound to impact our energy and emotions. Before we learn to talk, we learn to communicate with gestures. There are more than a dozen mudras that we are hardwired to do, including waving goodbye, shaking hands, and crossing fingers for good luck. Many times when teaching mudra, I have overheard the comment, “That’s funny, I already do that!”

Mudras affect how feelings move through the body and release feelings that have become stuck. When you release feelings that are stuck (for example, anxiety, fear, depression, or anger), you create room for the expression of new feelings of trust, calmness, and abundance. Simple hand movements change how you think and feel.

The effects of mudra can be intensified with the addition of conscious breath. In addition to carbon dioxide, we also discharge expended energy on the subtle level when we exhale deeply. Be sure to exhale vigorously several times at the beginning of practicing mudra, and make room for what you want to achieve! Additionally, the affirmations that may accompany mudra are just as powerful as the hand gestures. Speak them with faith, fervor, and serenity. Even the great masters cannot agree on the length of time a mudra should be practiced. Begin with holding the mudra for three minutes and then increase or decrease the time depending on how you feel. Gradually, your hands will become more responsive to the energy of mudras. Using mudra, you create little experiences of success and plant the seeds for success on a much larger scale.

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Gesture of the Lotus For balancing the fourth chakra

Place the heels of the hands in prayer position in front of the heart. While keeping the base of the palms and the little fingers and thumbs together, open the index, middle, and ring fingers wide apart in the shape of an unfolding lotus.

Affirmation: “As I awaken my heart’s essential qualities, unconditional love blossoms naturally.”

Resources for learning Mudra • Mudras for Healing and Transformation

by Joseph & Lilian Le Page

• Yoga in Your Hands by Gertrud Hirschi • Healing Mudras - Yoga for Your Hands

by Sabrina Mesko

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Padma Mudra

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COM MU N I TY + FAM ILY

Yoga for men THE MOST HULKED-OUT MEATHEAD, WEEKEND WARRIOR, OR COUCH POTATO CAN DO YOGA. BUT SOME MEN WASH OUT WHEN THEY REALIZE HOW HARD YOGA CAN BE, OR CONVERT AND FIND A PERSONAL REASON FOR THEIR PRACTICE. Yoga prepared Ryan Esdohr for the serious challenges of GORUCK, a grueling 42-hour athletic event in Des Moines.

Photo: Betsy Rudicil

BY RYAN ESDOHR

In the first class I had full of athletes, I noticed many guys struggling in child’s pose, fidgeting like five-year-olds with sweat already beading off their heads, trying to figure out a way to be still. Some men got better each week, and others simply quit. Just in child’s pose there were a number of factors inhibiting them: limited range of motion, obstructions in the joints from the trauma of sports, and the will to want to be still.

What we get out of yoga is accessible What we get out of yoga is accessible to to everyone, but everyone, but how do you begin if you’re recovering from an injury, aren’t flexible, or how do you begin if you’re recovering just don’t know where to start? from an injury, Hulk Out aren’t flexible, or The first guy I ever taught yoga was a just don’t know linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers. This where to start? super athlete could run, jump, and hit with the best of them, but if I asked him to do Warrior II, the amount of effort he poured into it was an overdose of tension.

Instead of trying to calm it down, we worked with it and spent that energy on breath. So try this, and when you’re ready to move, your body is already warmed up.

Wax On, Wax Off

Bruce Lee said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” If you only practice it two or three times a week, that’s a far cry from 10,000 kicks.

• WINTER 2015

If there was one thing to learn 10,000 times it would be standing, or Tadasana. Most people are trapped in the sitting position all day adding unnecessary pressure to their joints and ligaments.

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Every pose starts from Tadasana: torque, pressure, and activation. The pressure of your feet against the floor is the beginning of initiating torque, that feeling of screwing yourself into the floor. This does two things: keeps your knees from creating a tibial torsion, which is a huge contributor to ACL tears, and activates the quads, glutes, and abdominals. Before every class I teach, we press into the floor, torque our feet in, and awaken the muscles.

So practice, even off your mat.

The best yoga is the yoga you actually do. If you’re a former athlete trying to get off the couch, just show up! If you teach yoga and aren’t sure how to connect with the big meathead who always parks his mat by the door, just encourage him to come back.

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Yoga Nidra: A Meditative Practice for Deep Relaxation and Healing by Richard Miller, PhD Tap into the power of Yoga Nidra with guidance from the founder of the Integrative Restoration Institute and cofounder of the International Association of Yoga Therapy.

Moving into Meditation: A 12-Week Mindfulness Program for Yoga Practitioners by Anne Cushman Cushman is the director of the mindfulness yoga and meditation training at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. In this book she demonstrates how to deepen asana practice with mindfulness meditation and enhance meditation practice with asana.

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BY LISA ACHESON

Several years ago I turned to yoga in an effort to find relief from migraine headaches I had battled since age six. Trips to my doctor’s office offered minimal relief, and it wasn’t until I developed a steady yoga practice nearly twenty-five years after my first migraine that I was able to truly understand how to manage my headaches.

Through a consistent practice I’ve nailed down what triggers my migraines and how I can avoid or change my response to those triggers, reducing the frequency and severity of my headaches. A book prompted me to explore yoga as an adult, but I’m certain I would have benefited from the introduction of yoga much earlier in my life.

Do you think yoga should be further integrated into modern medicine practices?

KATE CONNELL

MARSHA NIELAND

I think yoga should be incorporated in modern medicine and see evidence of this happening all the time. There are postures in medical settings for rehabilitation; meditation as a mindfulness practice for individuals suffering from depression and anxiety; and breathing practices used for focus, stress, and a counter to general dis-ease. We’re on our way to yoga going mainstream in the medical world!

I do believe that yoga, meditation, and pranayama should be integrated more. I think our healthcare system relies too heavily and quickly on medications. Many times patients are given alternatives like breath work or meditation and then witness the body’s amazing ability to self-regulate and heal. I do private yoga therapy sessions, and many times my clients have exhausted all options in the medical world and turn to yoga as a last result. They often say, “I wish I would have known about this or tried this earlier.”

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Over ninety percent of chronic disease includes a stress component; therefore, simply altering the body and mind’s response to stress can directly influence perceived suffering. When we’re stressed, the sympathetic nervous system activates, which initiates the fight or flight response. Deep stretches, mindful movement, and balanced breathing activate the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing relaxation and rest to occur. The sympathetic nervous system is the gas pedal, and the parasympathetic nervous system is the brake. The systems aren’t designed to operate simultaneously.

Modern lifestyles that focus on “faster is always better” keep us running in sympathetic mode much of the time, and without brakes, the only way to stop is to crash! Chronic dis-ease creates imbalances and separation within the physical and subtle layers of the whole human being. Yoga and meditation activate the parasympathetic nervous system to support unity and to promote healing.

in the spring issue: how does your practice of mindfulness bring joy to others?

Email your answer to this question to editors@yogaiowa.com. Your response could appear in the next issue.

Opening your heart to a more fulfilling life • WINTER 2015

Kevin Thoren • (515) 577-7847 banyantreetherapy@gmail.com

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www.banyantreetherapy.com Massage • CranioSacral Therapy • Qigong Healing Therapy Far Infrared Bio Mat Distributor • John of God Crystal Lights

YOGA PILATES BARRE ZUMBA CARDIO 1555 SE DELAWARE SUITE J ANKENY • (515) 306.6700

DebClarksYogaExperience.com

COMM U N I TY + FAM I L Y

GET TO KNOW TONI A. JACOBSEN

Where do you teach?

YMCA of Greater Des Moines, Broadlawns Medical Center’s employee wellness program, and Wesley Retirement Community.

Something you splurge on:

Shoes! I love shoes and have several hundred pairs. Ironically I’ve chosen to walk a path for the second act of my life’s performance that requires no shoes.

How has yoga made a difference in your life?

I discovered my passion for yoga by coincidence. I was at a crossroads, soon to be celebrating my sixty-fifth birthday, and knew I needed a change. I had been “slaying the dragon” of the business community for many years and was growing weary, ready for a new adventure.

My retirement planning involved taking more time for myself and paying closer attention to my health and wellness. I joined a health club and signed up for a yoga class, not sure if I could even do yoga. I had been living with years of significant and chronic shoulder pain, a result of two rotator cuff surgeries—one on each shoulder.

Much to my surprise, I was able to modify poses to accommodate my limited shoulder mobility, and eventually my chronic shoulder pain began to disappear. I enjoyed my yoga classes so much I began to practice at home.

After only three months of yoga practice, I decided to take yoga teacher training so I could share my “fountain of youth” with others. Trying to persuade a yoga teacher-training program to accept me with such little yoga experience wasn’t easy, but as I told Ann York, who ran the training program, “I’m old and don’t have time to waste.”

I became a 200-hour certified yoga teacher. Then I attended Duke University’s School of Integrated Medicine and earned my certificate to teach therapeutic yoga for seniors. I also recently completed Cardio and Core Barre teacher training.

What did you find most challenging about learning yoga?

The first day of yoga teacher training! I’m a sixty-five-year-old woman with very little experience practicing yoga walking into a class of young, beautiful, dynamic, and physically strong women.

Because everyone deserves a fresh start!

MAGGIE Z SPELLMAN (515) 205-6475

ZsFreshStartCleaning.com

4715 Grand Ave ~ Des Moines

515-277-9721 www.FitnessByDesignDM.com Let us guide you on your Fitness Journey!

Visit our website for a Complimentary Class Pass for a Yoga, Strength Training, or Pilates Mat class.

GONG FU TEA

®

140 LOOSE-LEAF TEAS | ACCESSORIES | GIFTS

Yoga is for everybody and every “body.” A regular yoga practice is ideal for prompting both spiritual and physical transformations, helping people safely gain and maintain strength and flexibility while reducing pain. Scientific studies support the evidence of yoga’s benefits on the body and mind, but these benefits don’t happen after a single yoga class. Regularly attending two to three classes a week allows you to enjoy the best benefits of yoga.

I’ll tell anyone who will listen, “Yoga is the magic bullet when it comes to a long life of health and wellbeing.”

RETHINK YOUR DRINK

• WINTER 2015

What advice would you give to someone new to yoga?

414 EAST SIXTH STREET, DES MOINES, IOWA 515 288 3388 WWW.GONGFU-TEA.COM

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L IFE + HEALT H

winter greens to Fight the Winter blues WHILE THE SALAD DAYS OF SUMMER ARE STILL SEVERAL MONTHS AWAY, THERE ARE PLENTY OF WAYS TO MAKE SENSATIONAL SALADS ALL YEAR ROUND.

Basic Vinaigrette

BY SHEREE CLARK

inter dishes are a perfect excuse to use all the fabulous kohlrabi, carrots, beets, and other sweet vegetables available during colder months. Want your creation to feel more substantial? Try adding some crunch with things like nuts, slices of radish or carrot, or pieces of fennel—anything that will work your teeth and jaws a little bit. Round out your creation by adding winter fruits, such as pears, oranges, apples, or dates. And for the finale? Dried fruit, such as raisins, cranberries, or blueberries, add texture and a welcome bit of sweetness.

The foundation for many salad recipes is the green component. Usually we think of lettuce, but there is a world of other greens to explore, especially when you want a salad with a little more substance. Consider these: • CABBAGE. Go beyond coleslaw and sauerkraut with this tried-and-true winter veggie. Different colored cabbage adds beauty and variety to your salads, as well as sweetness and a crispy texture.

• CHARD. A relative of spinach, chard has a thick middle rib that comes in a rainbow of colors like green, white, red, and yellow. Select young, smaller leaves for salads, and sturdier stalks for cooking.

• KALE. Kale has a strong taste and a rigid texture, but with a little massaging it can make a satisfying, salad. There are several varieties, from the common curly green to beautiful purple. Just like apples, each is slightly different.

Experiment with them all.

cup extra virgin olive oil cup apple cider vinegar tablespoons dijon mustard tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons fresh thyme 2 tablespoons shallots, minced 2 teaspoons garlic, minced Unrefined salt and pepper to taste

In a blender, add all ingredients except oil, salt, and pepper, and pulse until incorporated. With blender running on low speed, slowly pour the oil in a steady steam while the vinaigrette starts to emulsify. Season with salt and pepper. Store in refrigerator for several weeks in a sealed glass container. Makes 1 cup.

Some winter salads don’t involve greens of any sort. Look for classics, such as citrus and winter vegetable salads, celery root salads, or hearty slaws. Look for recipes that use grains and legumes, such as wheat berries and lentils, to provide bulk.

You can dress ‘em up

Making a vinaigrette from scratch is probably the easiest and healthiest salad dressing option, and you can customize your recipe to make your own “house” dressing. Packaged or bottled vinaigrette—in addition to being expensive—will often contain additives like MSG, as well as unnecessary additional sugar.

Yoga for everyone from young to young at heart B BALANCED · B YOU · B POWERFUL B RESTORED · B SCULPTED · B A KID · MOMMY TO B B3 - BREATHE, BODY & BEING

1830 SE PRINCETON DRIVE · GRIMES facebook.com/studioBiowa studioBiowa.com

B

STUDIO

Come B whatever you want to B. Just B You.

YOGA

YOGA

Be foolishly in love because love is all there is

*

-Rumi

{gormanhousephoto.com}

Engagements, Weddings, & Portraits

• WINTER 2015

STUDIO

B

1 ½ 3 3

Cindy Hick 515.720.5060 www.cindyhick.beautycounter.com, @abeautycounter

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RE STAU RAN T REV I EW

pleasures at the table

FRESH CAFÉ AND MARKET • DES MOINES

BY OLIVIA KVITNE

I walked into this independently-owned, all-vegan café and was immediately attracted to a big bowl of hot curry potato squash soup and a plump burrito. The smells of the café are subtle and inviting, and the ambiance is kind.

Fresh Café and Market 1721 25th St. #110 West Des Moines (515) 440-4700

Menu includes glutenI had the pleasure of being served by the owner free, dairy-free, and herself, Kerri Rush, who kicked off my meal with soy-free options a shot of homegrown wheatgrass and an orange Catering available wedge chaser. You may have seen Kerri before, because for the last eight years, she and her family Second location have operated a popular booth at the Des Moines opening in 2015 in Downtown Farmers’ Market, doling out raw tacos, South Des Moines veggie wraps, aronia berry bowls, and fruit and veggie juices. They also own a wheatgrass farm south of Des Moines.

In addition to wheatgrass shots and fresh juice, the café menu consists of seasonal specialties and daily soup specials. This winter, expect to see dishes containing squash and root vegetables. The soup specialty during my visit was French onion. As a longtime vegetarian, this is one dish that I miss most, as it’s normally made with beef broth. Once again, I enjoyed the tangy, savory goodness of French onion soup. I could have ended my meal there and already been in love with this restaurant!

It felt like the local vegetarian “Cheers,” where everybody knows your juice order.

The raw tacos and fresh veggie burger were running neck and neck to be my favorite. The tacos have a lettuce shell for that desired crunch and are topped with fresh avocado and a mound of sprouts. The fresh veggie burger was listed as one of the top eleven veggie burgers in the United States by VegNews magazine, and it is pretty obvious why: it has a unique blend of flavors, with ingredients such as mushrooms, carrots, beets, and more, served with aioli sauce on the side.

And don’t leave without the black bean brownie: a creamy, chocolate, decadent pillow of pleasure in your mouth.

The quick service, calm environment, and outstanding variety of flavors are a vegetarian’s dream come true. The staff of Fresh is on a first-name basis with many customers and knows their favorite meals. It felt like the local vegetarian “Cheers,” where everybody knows your juice order.

offered at eaCh branCh inCluded with a Y MeMbership Certified instruCtors gain phYsiCal and Mental foCus aChieve gains in flexibilitY, MusCle strength and joint MobilitY

Classes offered for all levels 10 Convenient des Moines loCations MeMbership rates based on household inCoMe finanCial assistanCe available

Insta

• WINTER 2015

If comfort food is what you’re after, dive into the gluten-free kale mac and cheese.

Another unique dish is the coconut BLT, with spiced coconut strips substituting for bacon. It’s crispy, filled with flavor and complemented by an amazing spicy tomato jam.

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Strengthen Your Studio

• WINTER 2015

Tula is the best software in the world for independent yoga studios.

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www.tulasoftware.com