You're So Vein

Dear Yogis,

At the end of a class you have the option of shoulder stand and, if that’s not your thing, legs up the wall or just legs up in the air, held by a belt. Elevating the legs is the point. Apart from the often-recounted benefits to the lymphatic, endocrine and nervous systems and possible relief for back ache, I particularly think of the legs when teaching inversions at the end of a class. Here’s why:

1. Vein health: when do we ever talk about things that go wrong with the veins?! Veins feel pressure and our one-way valves might break down. Gravity has something to do with it but also sitting or standing for long periods of time mean your legs are getting the rough end of the deal. Doctors often tell people to put their feet up for lower-leg swelling or vein problems.

2. A healthy circulatory system: this refers to blood’s adventure through the mind-boggling map of veins and venules, providing oxygen and cleaning up carbon dioxide and cell waste. The crimson stream travels out from the lungs and heart, circulating back to the heart and lungs. It’s that return journey that depends on healthy veins with healthy valves and a strong blood pressure to combat gravity and make the uphill climb! Turning yourself upside down helps the return journey. Did you think the return journey didn’t need help?

The Yoga Journal has this lovely description of the effects of gravity on the body: ‘gravity slowly but surely weighs us down and saps our strength. We stand, sit, or walk with head above the heart, legs and pelvis underneath. As the years rack up, so do the damages. Subcutaneous fat sags. Varicose veins and haemorrhoids erupt. Weary of incessantly pumping blood through its vast circulatory network, the heart falters. According to Payne, (coauthor of Yoga for Dummies), the ancient yogis called gravity "the silent enemy." The yogi performs a martial-arts sleight-of-hand: upend oneself and enlist gravity's power to arrest the ravages of that self-same force.’ (Nice article!)

Training

My teacher, Valentina, is doing a Nutritious&Delicious 7-Day Plant Based Cleanse Challenge. She says (perceptively!) that unlimited access to the fridge might have you fearing a slightly wider waistline and lockdown metabolism is probably a bit lazy! A cleanse might be just the thing. Her detox program will be free to the first 5 people to sign up. Otherwise, she has a half normal price offer of £87. Book for the Thursday start. I’ll send you an email of details if you’re interested.

See the attached for details of Alain's New Body Ball Fascia Release Online Classes. You’ll love this! There are so many pleasant surprises when you feel the effect of the release techniques. You’ll need two tennis balls, blanket and a cork block.

To celebrate International Yoga Day this Sunday, the Tara Yoga Centre has a day of free events; Yoga In Daily Life has morning yoga, midday salutations and evening meditation, free; here’s a 90 minute donation class with Isis du Jour; and there’s more if you research online.

Zoom Classes

I love seeing you all on my wall in my little studio. Thank you for joining up. Book an evening class here: goodtimesyoga.co.uk/book-online. The Class Pass and Pay-What-You-Like are on goodtimesyoga.co.uk/livestream-yoga-price-options. Let me know if you would prefer my bank details. No problem. Classes are a fiver or £12 for the week or a donation of your choice or, if you fancy private classes, £30.

Yoga in the news

Yoga Journal has: How Restorative Yoga Can Help Heal Racial Wounding. The article explores the effects of racism, “from the stress and trauma of the daily lived experiences of racial wounding that people endure, to ‘white fragility’—“a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive reactions”.”

Times Now has: Ahead of Yoga Day, here's all you need to know about sage Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga and its benefits. The article says: ‘The Yoga Sutra has classified yoga into eight forms and each, when performed with utmost precision and dedication, helps in attaining a state of calm and bliss. These are called ashtanga or the eight limbs of yoga’.

Nast Traveller India has: How Kundalini Yoga helped me cope with anger and stress.  “Three packets of cigarettes a day, gambling five days a week, drinking alcohol (I was considered a connoisseur of single malt, actually), a decadent lifestyle, lack of routine and any form of physical exercise all led me to a point where I was staring into a deep and foreboding abyss which looked so formidable that at one point, I thought that I would never be able to climb out of it my entire life.”

The sweetest thing I heard for a long time is when a yogi wrote to me this week and asked if I’d be OK on Father’s Day. I’m passing this sensitivity on to you. If Father’s Day is different for you this year, an internet hug to you.