Raw Beauty

Lately I have been thinking about what beauty really is. Who defines beauty? What defines beauty? With it being the 21st century where did I turn to have this question answered? None other than Google, of course. I hopped on my computer and typed in "what is beauty" the first response I got was this:

"A combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, esp. the sight. A combination of qualities that pleases the intellect or moral sense" - Wikipedia

Not being satisfied with the answer I began to make a mind map of what beauty is to me. (There is a picture of it below). The words that I connect with the most are highlighted in blue signifying a primary connection and yellow as secondary; although, all resonate with me on a large scale. The words that pop out the most to me are fluid movement, simplicity, oneness, energy, nature, innocence, love and loyalty. Going with Wikipedia's answer, there is no doubt a combination of qualities that create beauty and I don't think there are any hard fast rules to this definition.

I have tried endlessly to write a post on "Raw Beauty" or even just beauty but everything I wrote didn't seem quite right and went off on tangents about the complexities of beauty in our world today. I think the reason why I can't write about it is because it is not describable but rather, it is simple, pure, raw something that can't be expressed through an explanation but has to evoke a feeling, it tickles all five senses. This inability to truly describe beauty in a raw form led to the creation of a list of things that I think raw beauty is. The combinations of the letters below, I believe evoke different feelings and therefore are beautiful -- in words and in experience. Enjoy this list of "Raw Beauty." 
(of course there are a million other words -- this is just a start)

Raw Beauty:

The emotions that a good song create at the base of your belly. The ability to watch a seed blossom into a vegetable or flower. The sacred feeling of being on a mountain peak as snowflakes fall around you. The sounds of a paddle in calm waters. The feeling of a cool lake water surrounding your body. The comfort of being in your own skin, free - free of expectations. The change in your heart beat by the touch of a lover. The feeling evoked by seeing joy in someone else.  The melding of body and breath. Community. The taste of a really good meal. The wonder of mountains. The complexities of How this world functions in the most simple form. The crashing of waves against the shoreline. Children's laughter. The ability to express yourself without fear of judgement. The unity of breath and movement. The connection of friendship. The beauty of a newborn baby and its' mother. The tenderness of age old love.  The sound of heavy rain hitting the earth. The sound of carving through powder. The feeling, sound and smell of a wood burning fire. The aromatics of a good wine. The simple feeling of breath filling your body.

Connect with yourself on a pure level, a raw level and find freedom -- lightness in your heart and actions.  Take time out of each day to savor the qualities of the raw beauty within yourself and your surroundings and you will feel ever comfortable in your own skin. Be raw, be real.

~Liz 

Yoga Photos By Jessica Butler!

A while back I got in touch with Jess about the possibility of doing some yoga photos with her. After many schedule conflicts and rescheduling we finally made it happen -- it was super fun! Jess is a Squamish local who has an amazing eye to create the perfect picture and is really nice to work with. I highly recommend you check her out if you ever need any professional photos taken, she is your girl!
To get in touch with Jess you can find her on her facebook page at JB Candid Photography:)

Below are a few of our favorites.

Are You in Touch With Your Deep Connective Tissue?

Do you spend your time rock climbing, mountain biking, swimming, running, playing golf,  caring for your babies,  in the garden? I could list every and any activity -- a  regular yoga practice will benefit your body, really!  I love yoga but I also enjoy many other types of physical activity. When I partake in other activities I am quick to notice a tightness in body. When I come back to my mat after a day of hiking and mountain biking the simplest stretches have me bliss.

Why does it feel so good to stretch? When you stretch the same muscle group for an extended period of time you allow for a release in your fascia (one of the many types of connective tissue in the body). Fascia consist of two proteins elastin (~75%) and collagen (~25%) these two proteins envelope muscles to create one bundle of muscle.When you exercise your muscles contract (the muscle shortens) and does not fully release back to a relaxed state when you finish your workout, until you stretch. If you don't stretch after a workout your muscles stay in a shorten state. This is also true if you have an office job  or are in school where are constantly hunched over books or a computer. Your muscles begin to mold to the "hunched" form, unless you counteract it with stretching in the opposite direction. Over time lack of stretching will decrease the range of motion of your joints and will pull your bones out of alignment -- causing your skeleton to deviate from its' optimal position. When your bones are not in optimal alignment it can cause pain which results in chiropractic, massage and physiotherapy bills.

 
To counteract the contraction and "molding" of connective tissue that surrounds your bone (fascia) in a non-optimal position, stretches need to be held for an extended period of time. This is where yoga comes in handy. Studies have shown that stretching for 30 seconds can be useful to release some tension but longer holds (greater that 60 seconds) are required to allow for a full release, maintain a healthy range of motion in your joints and keep your bones in anatomical alignment (JB. Feland et al, 2001 and SL Herman et al, 2008). This is where yin yoga really comes into play. Yin is a style of yoga that is much slower than other forms of yoga because the asana are held for 3 - 5 minutes. What is interesting about holding the asana for this amount of time is that you can see and feel your body begin to release. After 90 seconds you are able to go deeper into the posture, the science speaks for itself.

People who are very active -- take part in high endurance sports or train for multiple hours a week often experience injuries and the injuries tend to reoccur -- I am no stranger to this world. When I was a gymnast it was either my back, may shoulder, may hamstrings, my groin, my neck, my wrist...I could go on to list every part in the body! While a gymnast is very flexible the type of stretching a gymnast does is not the healing type experienced in yoga. My muscles were being built up and then torn to gain more flexibility. It wasn't until I started doing yoga that my chronic back pain went away and my physiotherapy and chiropractic bill went to nothing. 

I encourage you to begin to think of yoga as a compliment to any activity you do. Once you begin a regular practice you will see how much it improves the other activities in your life. Give it a whirl!

~Liz

*photo by Carly Esplen

Eat Local

Two weeks ago I was taking a teacher training in Vancouver (taught by the lovely Kristin Campbell, also a Squamish local) and was able to make a handful of new friends. We laughed, we joked, we got serious, as most girls do.

As with many conversations we diverted to the topic of food. The first question about food that arises with yogis is meat consumption. I call myself  a quasi vegetarian because I only eat meat if it is local, grass fed and has not been injected with hormones or antibiotics. I had just finished telling one of my fellow trainees this and she asked if I knew where the feed for the organic meat was coming from. My heart immediately sunk, oh no, the feed! After a momentary feeling of betrayal I asked my friend, "what about the feed?" Many of you may already be aware of this and I suppose I may be last to know of this "secret" but I feel it is important to share the knowledge.

My friend began to tell me how the animals are not fed organic feed but instead are fed genetically modified corn based products. She also said  that organic farms that have fully organic (non-genetically modified crops) can be in close enough range to non-organic farms that the seedlings from the non-organic farms travel (by wind) to the organic farmland where they land and germinate. This causes issue in the authenticity of the organic farm crops as well as issues of who truly owns the crops, the organic or non-organic farmer, but I won't get into that. The issue of natural seed dispersal is the biggest problem for corn and soy crops as these two crops are the world's most prominent non-organic crops. Here I thought when I was eating soy it was better than eating conventional meat!

 Of course this rolls over into the garden, surprise, surprise. I have been excited for years, yes years, to have a garden of my own. Living in Squamish allows me to bring this excitement to life. I went out and bought a bunch of different seeds to start growing inside and they have sprouted up nicely. When I got home from training and gazed over at my beautiful little buds poking out from the soil, curiosity got the best of me, and I started to research where my seeds had come from. I should have guessed! They were coming from the crop tycoon of the world and were anything but natural. The realization hit hard, my home grown little sprouts would produce veggies that were no better than the conventional grocery store products. Luckily, I have a garden savvy neighbor and she told me where she gets her organic (non tampered with) seeds. I quickly did some research on the company and decided to go get some more seeds from the "West Coast" seed company. Their seeds are grown in Canada are organic and are not genetically modified (yipee!).

If you like to eat organic, natural food it is important to do your research, as I have learned! Buy local and grow local. We are lucky here in Squamish, as we have the "Squamish Farmers Market" every other weekend during the winter and every weekend in the summer. Not only is the Farmers Market a great place to buy local fruits, veggies and personal care products, but it is a great place to meet the community!

Below are some links about different non-organic and organic foods and the issues with the seedlings. Happy reading:)

Feel free to leave any comments or insight to this topic. 

~Liz




http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1599110,00.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/life-video/video-debunking-myths-about-genetically-modified-foods/article4360365/?from=7018634
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19584953

SPRING - Fresh, New, Exciting

With the "spring forward" time change now effect, less rainy days, warm sunshine, a carefree puppy and some new freckles on my face it is beginning to feel like spring -- especially with all the tulips that are being sold around town (I caved and bought some today!)

Spring is bitter sweet for me as I love Winter in the mountains. Being able to fill my free time snowboarding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and taking part in other glorious winter sports can make it hard to be happy for those rays of sunshine to be beating down on the mountain face; however, Spring/Summer brings a whole smattering of activities that are also loaded with enjoyment.

  
As the days become longer and the sun shine begins to greet me wherever I go I begin to feel fresh, renewed, excited. I think it is because there is something enchanting about Spring. In the morning there is dew on the ground but as the sun comes out the dew is turned into natures glistening crystals, bringing a magical sparkle to the lawn. New life begins to grow as I prepare my garden box, my tomato seeds have already sprouted (I have pre-planted inside!) The birds begin to sing filling my ears with up-lifting tunes, the flowers begin bloom and there is an unmistakable smell of spring in the air. All of these things are familiar but each year spring pops up I feel a sense of wonder -- an excitement to explore new things. As I was thinking about this I thought how this is very similar to one of the reasons why I love yoga so much.

Every time I come to my mat it is familiar, the smell and the feel but it is never exactly the same. Some days my body is more flexible than others, some days my balance is off, some days I am impatient with my practice and just want to get it over with, some days I love my practice and want to stay longer. Even though I know my mat and my body well each time I practice I have a different experience. Each different experience allows me to learn and grow and keeps my practice exciting -- enchanting -- a lot like Spring.

As the flowers begin to blossom, the birds begin to sing and the sun shines for an extended period of time try to embody a feeling of lightness, of excitement, approaching all experiences with an open heart -- whatever they may be. 

~Liz

Sea-to-Sky Yoga Photos

A few weeks ago my very talented brother-in-law (Jesse Bueckert) agreed to take some photos of me doing yoga while capturing the beauty of the Sea-to-Sky corridor. Here are a few of our favorites!

Jesse has been taking photos since high school when he took a class in photography in grade 12. He is  a SCUBA instructor and has spent the last three years in Turks and Caicos diving and capturing pictures of exotic sea life and beautiful landscapes. He has a passion for the outdoors as he is on a constant search for gnar while diving, snowboarding, and surfing (gnar = powder, awesome waves or an amazing dive). This passion can be seen through his photos with his insightful eye for nature's beauty. You can check out his adventures and more of his amazing photos at his blog here: http://gnarinc.blogspot.ca/

Building Strength While Creating Space

The last few weeks have been a little crazy. I have had the opportunity to work with teachers I very much admire and have soaked up as much of their knowledge as possible, it has been wonderful! Nick and I also got a cute furry friend -- we named Franks! He is a boarder collie x lab and has been the sweetest puppy thus far.


As I get back into the groove of my day-to-day work and thinking about my classes (with Franks sleeping at my feet) I feel as though I should share the importance maintaining proper alignment when doing yoga (or any activity for that matter).

In Yoga there are seven important "loops" starting at the ankles and moving up to the head. The alignment of these loops helps to protect the joints while strengthening and stretching the body. A loop refers to energy that moves from one anatomical land mark to another and returning to the land mark of origin -- creating a circle of energy. This energy can only flow freely when our bones are properly positioned in our sockets and our muscles are free from pain. Having energy move freely through all loops allows us to nourish our body with prana and remove physical and emotional blockages.

What does proper alignment mean? It means the ideal placement of the bone in the joint socket so that a central axis of gravity within our body can be created. 

I am going to describe the loops that are most important during back bends and ab work, in light of my up coming classes; however, all loops are important to create a full body opening.

The "loops" that are most important to keep the back safe and to support the abdominal muscles are the thigh, pelvic, kidney and shoulder loop.

                                                                                      image from beyourselfbeautiful.com


1. The thigh loop: The focal point here is the base of the pelvis, bringing attention to the tops of the thigh bones (the head of the thigh bones) to create a muscular lift from the ground up, without hyperextending the legs. The thigh loop has a strong attachment to the hamstring (back muscle of the thigh) and rectus femoris (one of the four quadriceps muscles) which affect the position of the thigh in the hips socket as well as the position of pelvis. When these muscles are tight they pull on the pelvis taking it out of alignment causing pain in the hips and lower back. 
Physical action of thigh loop- takes the tops of the thigh bones back and internally rotate the thighs, allowing for alignment of the hip joints, releasing the hamstring and and rectus femoris. 

2. The pelvic loop: Important to bring space and support to the lumbar spine (the lower back). The alignment focus starts at the center of the abdomen, just below the navel and extends down the lumbar spine to the base of the sacrum, connecting the thigh loop and pelvic loop. Therefore, a proper alignment in the thigh loop provides and an excellent foundation for the pelvic loop. When the energy of these two loops align it creates a "Maha loop." This loop lifts the front body and grounds the back body.
Physical Action: Bring the tailbone toward the earth, to lengthen, and forward while bringing the belly in and up, away from the thighs. This action is referred to as "scooping" the tailbone to create length from the waist without pulling on the muscles of the buttocks.

3. The kidney loop: This loop is very closely connected to the pelvic loop. The two loops together open the back body, supporting the lumbar spine -- preventing crunching of the spine when performing back bends.  The kidney loop also affects the front body where the upper abs contract at the solar plexus (where our 3rd chakra, manipura is located) by drawing the navel down allowing the back body to open.
You often hear in classes, "avoid collapsing in your spine" when you hear this teachers are often referring to the upper back, the most mobile part of the spine. This loop begins at the center of the abdomen, just below the navel where it connects with the pelvic loop. From here it moves up the lumbar spine (lower back) to the bottom tip of your shoulder blades. It then moves forward to the diaphragm, heart and sternum and back toward the navel. 
The kidney loop creates a firming action and lift below the navel -- supporting the expansion of the upper body while maintaining the tone to the upper abs, allowing the diaphragm to move freely so that full awareness can be brought to breath.
 Physical Action: extend the spine towards the sky -- maintaining the natural curve of the back and lift the low belly up and in. The side body will lengthen with these actions and expand the back body, the area of the kidneys. 


4. The shoulder loop: The shoulders are a primary place of injury for many people because there is not proper knowledge on how to keep the integrity of our bones and muscles. The focal point of this loop is the upper palate (roof of the mouth).
Physical Action: Bring the upper palate back, head back, allowing the ears to following bringing them in line with your shoulder -- increasing the natural (cervical) curve of your neck. The energy will being to move down to the bottom tips of your shoulder blades and up towards you heart to the  base of the sternum to expand your chest.

The shoulder loop works in opposition or in conjunction with the three previous discussed loops to create a full body opening without compromising the integrity of the body. 

The kidney loop creates expansion in the back body and toning of the solar plexus in the front body. Equal expansion in the front body and toning in the back body is created by the shoulder loop. The pelvic loop works in similar opposition to the shoulder loop, allowing the front body and back body to open. These oppositions prevent any over arching or crunching of the spine.

The thigh loop brings the heads of the thigh bones back to bring them into alignment with the pelvis, opening the front body. The shoulder loop brings the heads of the arm bones back also bringing them in line with the pelvis. These alignments create a "central axis of gravity at the core of the body" pulling energy into the mid-line out to the peripheral while creating internal space.

Maintaining the actions of these loops is important not only from an energetic perspective -- allowing energy to move freely through the body but also from an anatomical perspective to keep the body safe and use yoga to strengthen, stretch and heal without causing injuries.

Come join me Friday mornings, 6:30 am - 8:00 am to learn more about alignment of the body while building strength and creating space!

~Liz 


*Information adapted from "Hatha Yoga in  Anusara Style" by Doug Keller

Identities

We are all very aware of the roles people play. It begins from a very young age when we see our mom and dad (or whom ever is our main care taker) observing the rolls they play in our life and we build a perception of them, subconsciously. When we begin to attend school we gravitate towards a certain type of person because we identify with them more than others. We also fall into various identities within our lives and have a perception of our self that is different from the perception people have of us.

"Life is suffering" - Buddha

Because this quote is from Buddha it may cause resistance due to the religious or mystic connotation that is associated with Buddha but take a moment to take in the words, separate from who spoke them. 

When I first saw this quote I was a little taken a back and was thinking, "wow, what a morbid thing to say, life is beautiful, life can be a challenge but grace and beauty can be brought to us through these challenges." It wasn't until I dove deeper into the meaning of my identity and role that I began to understand this quote and found it to ring true.

What I found in these words is that life is suffering because human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in. These imperfections cause us to suffer as we find attachment to physical objects and perceptions of who we are, our identities. Our identities are our roles, our perceptions of our self and of others, our ego, our small self. However, in our essence we are nobody. When we don't find attachment with our roles and understand it is a mask we wear, we meet our essence.

When we identify with our ego or small self we create separation. This is true in all aspects of life from religion, race, education, professions, etc. These identities cause us to say "their" religion, "their" children, "their" theories and so on. This idea of "theirs" causes separation and leads to suffering because we are seeing things in duality.

 A perfect balance between fulfilling our roles, taking responsibility in the world and understanding that these masks are not who we are but simply a role that we play needs to be found in order to remain grounded.  Everyone  creates their own reality and perceives things differently, there is never one true you. We are all nobody, an essence, an energy who has been given a beautiful gift to experience this world in bliss, if we choose to. Letting go of our identities allows us to find freedom and move toward oneness. This letting go allows us to experience life but not be affected our experiences -- all experience can be perceived in the same way, blissful.

All of this is much easier said than done! I am still in the beginning stages of trying to reach my essence. I often catch myself becoming attached to things that I believe define me or find myself creating separation. When this happens I have to take a step back and observe what my small self is thinking and remind myself that the attachments are only a part of my perceived reality, not who I really am because I am no one, which sometimes can be hard to swallow!

When we find our essence we are in bliss, a state of consciousness that is not touched by circumstance and we are removed from suffering. -Shakti Mhi

Take the time to practice stillness, observe your thoughts, allowing for non-attachment.

Just some food for thought:)

~Liz

Build Strength - Create Space

Come join me Friday mornings, 6:30am - 8:00 am starting March 1st for some abdominal strengthening and back bending series. There will be half an hour of delicious yin after.

*All levels welcome!

Why Practice Yoga? 

A few basic explanations.

Stretch, stretch, stretch and get deep into the fascia. Our physical body is composed of many different types of tissue one being connective tissue which is also segregated into different types. One type of connective tissue is deep fascia; this surrounds individual or groups of muscles. When we tense our body, initiating the fight-or-flight response by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system, we cause our deep fascia contract. If we continue to create contraction and don’t stretch, the composition of fascia becomes thick and rigid, loosing elasticity. The loss of elasticity moves our bodies to a less flexible state, inhibiting the range of motion in our joints. By holding stretches for a longer amount of time we get into the fascia allowing for release, creating an increased range of motion in the joints. However, it is important to keep joints engaged to be sure not to stress the joints during this process.

The endocrine system is a system of glands that extends along our midline responsible for the release of hormones. When yoga asanas (postures) are performed different glands are massaged and stimulated. This stimulation regulates the function of the gland and may release or inhibit the release of hormones to bring the physical body into balance. For example, bridge pose (image below) stimulates the thyroid gland, located at the back of the throat. The thyroid gland is responsible for regulating metabolism. It is not uncommon for people to have hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism where the thyroid is out of balance and cannot regulate the release of hormones. Massaging the thyroid gland is a therapeutic approach to bring balance back to the body.

As much as yoga is about strength and flexibility it is also about the control of breath. In traditional styles of yoga in India the physical aspects of yoga were only learned once one could control the mind and breath. When we practice a difficult posture our breathing rate tends to increase. The challenge of yoga is to keep our breath steady and long, even in difficult postures. In yoga, we inhale energy, prana, the live force. When we exhale we breath out apana, toxins, things that don’t serve our body. Each exhalation should be three times as long as our inhalation to allow for a full cleaning of the body, physically and energetically. In all postures we need to come to our breath and ask, am I inhaling and exhaling too quickly? Can the sensation of the belly expanding, the rib cage moving up and out be felt, is there an awareness of space and time? Breath is the nectar of life providing energy and healing qualities to the physical and energetic body.

There are an endless amount of benefits and reasons to yoga and many much more complex. Stay tuned for another post on "Why Practice Yoga." Feel free to leave questions or comments or ask about other benefits.


~Liz

Image from Asana Photo Gallery @ itsyouryoga.com

Observe, enough said.