Ashtanga Insomnia?

Dear Yogis

Do you ever have trouble sleeping after an evening Ashtanga practice? I usually hear the exact opposite but it is widely written that Ashtanga is stimulating and energising so it would be no surprise if it felt like a coffee at bedtime. If this is the case for you, you might need a much longer Savasana after practice – perhaps with legs up the wall for extra restorative effect. Leave out any backbending poses as they are said to be particularly stimulating. Traditionally, Ashtanga is practiced in the morning before the daily grind.

I put the question to an Ashtanga Discussion Group. Here’s an answer from one person which echoes other responses: “I think it negatively affects my sleep if I practice after early afternoon. On the whole though, years of steady practice have generally helped improve my quality of sleep while reducing the number of hours I need”.

Here’s another question which might shed some light on this... what is your Ayurvedic type? If you are a Vata type, then perhaps your evening needs to be particularly concerned with grounding and winding down. Here’s an article about the right yoga practice for your Dosha type.

Greek Yoga Retreat

There are plenty of places left on my yoga retreat for all levels, September 9th – 15th. Take a look at my website page for Greek retreats in September. Check out the Devon ‘Complete Wellbeing Retreat’ in October too.

Home Studio

Every now and again we take a look at angle strength and stability in our sessions. It helps in all the standing postures. Here’s the Physio department of the Australian Ballet to give tips.

There are plenty of places to book for next week in my little Home Studio.  I have a new booking system. Payment is now with Timely (debit card), not Paypal. If you have any problems, let me know. I have ‘data inputed’ with abandon this morning so that current bookings are transferred. If you have been inundated with confirmation emails, that’s why.

Yoga in the News

Here’s a lovely article in The Telegraph: ‘Should our children be learning yoga in the classroom?’ The thrust of the article is that yoga sharpens their developing minds and increases short attention spans.

GQ is telling its pump iron readers that Yoga is the New Rest Day and that it helps with purposefulness and mindfulness. Here’s what the writer entertainingly says about his introduction to yoga: ‘During the first few times I went, I would have been extremely self-conscious about how profusely I was sweating, if not for the fact that I was already extremely self-conscious about the fact that I resembled a stiff, spindly-legged newborn deer while trying to contort myself into each successive position‘.