Blog: Insights from our Staff and Students

How I Got My Groove Back! The Importance of Movement and How Gosh Darn Simple It Can be. by Ashley Hackett

12/4/2018

Movement has always been a major part of my life. When I was young, I was always outside in the yard helping my father and through my schooling I was busy with sports and marching band (Yes, it’s a sport!). Then a scary time came when I had to obtain a job that would sustain the lifestyle I chose. This meant paying this person “Bill” every month, who had other Bookies named “College-Loan”, “Rent”, “Insurance” … you get the picture.
I eventually found an amazing job! But it was a desk job. I was always on the move, and now would be glued to a desk, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I started to panic about how my body would handle the transition. IT WAS AWFUL. I felt tight, stiff, achy, inflamed; I couldn’t bare the aches and pains. But then, one day in a yoga class, a few instructors bestowed upon me information that was as clear as day. “Why not try some warm-up exercises before a class to help the joints lubricate?” “What??” I thought to myself. I’ve been running for the past 12 years, practicing yoga for 10, and that didn’t occur to me? That “Aha” moment hit me hard and ever since, I have been incorporating it into my own home practices AND at my job! That achy body isn’t as stiff and grumpy! HALLELUJAH!

Just these simple movements have helped me:

Not lose my mind!
Keep my body moving, joints lubricated and feeling like I’m still

moving like I used too. **(See Photos at base of blog)

Neck Releases: Depending on your body or the time of day, you may want to try something as gentle as releasing your ear to the same side shoulder and hold. Repeat on the other side. This could also include looking side to side and up and down-bringing your chin to your chest.

Wrist Circles: Make fists with the hands and circles with the wrists will help open up the wrist joints. If you have a job where you use your hands, fingers and wrists a lot, this will help you relieve some of the tightness. It will help get into the connective tissue of the hands/wrists. Also, try to bring the wrist joints together and make circles outward in front of you, then switch and go inward toward the chest.
-Ankle circles can be done with flexed and pointed feet, also!

Cow/Cat: Start with a neutral spine, relaxing the stomach-letting it move toward the floor, having a U-shape in the spine, gazing upward. This will also have a nice opening of the chest! Slowly move the gaze toward straight then downward, pulling in the stomach and rounding the spine upward toward the sky, like a cat. Make sure to actively ground down through the hands, round the spine, and engage the core!

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My Life Force: How yoga helped me with postpartum depression- by Yoga Educator Daniela Hosier

11/23/2018

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About four years ago I was in a depression. I had just had my second child, and my life was falling apart; in my mind- I had nothing. I spent my days trying to make everyone else happy. By nature, I’m a people pleaser, it makes me feel good to serve others but somehow, I lost myself. Who was I?

My doctor recommended I try exercise, but I didn’t know where to start. While up late on a 2am breastfeeding call I saw an infomercial for a fitness program. I ordered it hoping to lose some baby weight and of course obey doctors’ orders. The program came, and I started right away- it was 5 days of solid HIIT and body weight training and the sixth day was active rest- yoga.

I had never done yoga before, but I was sore and figured why not try. The instructor said close your eyes and breathe-I smiled and chuckled to myself. Didn’t she know that my newborn was sitting in a bassinet right next to me and her secret power was screaming whenever I closed my eyes? I followed along, like a good student, doing what I could, and I liked it though I didn’t fully reap the benefits as my heart was not 100 percent in it. I was rushing through hoping my youngest daughter wouldn’t stir and my toddler wasn’t destroying the house.

I continued through the program and as time passed, I looked forward to my active rest recovery days. I even started to close my eyes and I started to focus on my breath- pranayama. Focusing on my breath allowed me to relieve my stresses and increase my mental clarity- I felt so good. Poses started to get easy, I flowed, it began making sense. A weird thing happened almost in tandem- my life started to make sense. I got the hang of two small children, and I found myself again.

Months passed, and I gained an incredible peace and I started to pursue my practice. I listened, I closed my eyes and practiced breath control and knew my world would come together not fall apart.
New moms get so much advice from sleep training to breast feeding, but nothing for mental health or self-awareness. I wish someone would have given me yoga in my darkest moments- but I’m thankful yoga somehow found its way to me. I hope it finds you too- new mom or not. Try it with an open mind and heart, close your eyes and go on the journey to find your best self. Not only will it make you a better person, but also a better wife, mother or friend.

Years later I started yoga teacher training, I look forward to the part where I get to close my eyes and practice pranayama (directed breathing)- my life force. It is in the moments with my eyes closed tight that I remember how lost I was with my eyes wide open.

Daniela Hosier is currently registered n the Boundless Yoga Teacher Training Program and is set to Graduate in May 2019.

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Supported pigeon pose- Feel like a swan!

10/22/2018

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Breathe into open hips with support. These pigeon pose variations will open up the whole body. Remember what ever chair you might try to use should be stable. This is NOT for a rolling office chair.

Foundation(s):
Option 1- Face the back of the chair. Place a blanket over the edge of the chair. Step back 1-2 feet away from the chair. hold onto the back of the chair.
Option 2- Face the seat of the chair. Place a blanket on the seat of the chair.

Action(s):
Option 1- Lift one knee up onto the chair and externally rotate the hip until part of the shin and thigh rest on the
Option 2- While holding onto the back of the chair, bend one knee and as you externally rotate the thigh place the shin and thigh on the seat of the chair. Slide your free leg long behind you until it is fully extended. You may choose to keep the toes tucked to get more of a calf stretch or place the top of the foot on the floor for a deeper ankle and shin stretch. If you keep the arms straight and lengthen the spine you will get a deeper hip flexion stretch and a back-bend. If you bow forward and rest on the back edge of the chair you can focus on the stretch in the outer hip of the bent leg.
Details/ Notes:
In the first option students with a longer stride may feel more stable if they turn the foot out slightly.
In the second option is a student is taking the back-bend variation be sure that they elongate the spine and add some firmness to the belly. It is common for students to simply push back too far too fast into compressing the low back. While a mild compression is fine we do not want students to overdo it where they may cause strain in the low back.

This is for informational purposes only. Students should check with their doctors before beginning any exercise program and instruction is always best when under the direction of a qualified professional.

Model- Chris Loebsack
Blog by- Amy Annonsen and Chris Loebsack
Want more Chair Yoga? Join Amy on Tuesday night at Boundless Yoga in Stroudsburg PA at 7:15pm
Learn how to practice chair yoga sequences for your self or to teach others: Chair Yoga Advanced Studies with Amy and Chris November 2-4, 2018

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Office Warrior- Take a power pose break

10/19/2018

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Warrior One: Essential- Full Body Pose

Take a break in your day or work into a full chair yoga practice. Either way you can feel great after this amazing power pose. Warrior one opens the spine and shoulders. The deeper variation stretches the hips.

*The seated “L” Shape is a great adapted position for the warrior poses or for any seated pose that requires a straightened back leg. It is also a good starting point for students to assess their hip flexibility and to familiarize how their body corresponds in relationship to the chair.

Foundation(s): Begin in Seated Mountain with “L” Shape legs with length in spine slide the front leg with bent knee and torso to face sideways on the chair straighten through the back place the sole of the back foot on the earth. Take hand positioning of choice: hands placed somewhere on the chair, at hips, heart center, bent elbows, overhead, or touching palms.

Action(s): Preparing the foundation first which may be a variation of sideways L-stance or any degree of a straightened back leg being mindful to keep the sole of the back foot in connection to the earth in whatever position is chosen. Selecting the arm position that best serves.

Details/ Notes: Pressing though both soles of the feet concentrating on bringing energy to the outer edge of the back foot. Find length in spine, soften the shoulders, relax the face. Breathe…. and rock your new warrior energy!

Model- Chris Loebsack
Blog by- Amy Annonsen and Chris Loebsack
Want more Chair Yoga? Join Amy on Tuesday night at Boundless Yoga in Stroudsburg PA at 7:15pm
Learn how to practice chair yoga sequences for your self or to teach others: Chair Yoga Advanced Studies with Amy and Chris November 2-4, 2018

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Delicious Rest in Child’s Pose by Chris Loebsack

8/11/2018

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Setting Up for Child's Pose aka Balasana:

Foundation-Begin in table top. You may choose to have the knees together or have the knees wide with the big toes touching.

Action- Send the hips back to the heels and place the belly over (or between) the thighs. Arms rest along the sides. Forehead rests on the earth

Boundary- This pose has many potential points of tightness that may need to be supported with a prop such as a blanket block or bolster. Be careful in this posture if the knees are not generally happy in deep knee flexion.

While You are There: Breathe, listen, feel yourself settle into the pose

Modify- Tight shins/ankles/tops of feet: Place a rolled blanket under the ankles; Tight quads or tissue approximation in the posterior leg/thigh connection may require a blanket under the hips; Head can’t reach the floor place a block under the forehead.

Deepen-The legs together encourages more rounding of the back and compression of the front body which sends the breath capacity deeper into the back ribs and superficial spinal muscles. The knees wider sends the belly and ribs between the thighs which shifts the stretch deeper into the hips. Walking the arms out in front of you will give a different stretch on the shoulders.
Transition out of the Pose: Either use your hands to support your rise to seated or shift forward into tabletop and take a few slow cat/cow motions to release.

Why (benefits)

Posture of turning inward for introspection
Stretches the spine, hips, shins, ankles and tops of feet
Knees together variation compresses and stimulates the internal organs

When to Avoid (contraindications)

If knee issues cannot be supported with the props named under modifications the pose should be avoided.

Yang Variation: The yang variation is exactly the same and is typically used as a resting posture between more vigorous asanas.

About Chris Loebsack
Chris Loebsack, 500 E.R.Y.T, fell in love with yoga in 1995 and began teaching in 2003. Chris uses the power of yoga to create a space for students that cultivates trust, playfulness and Divine connection with themselves and with community. Living by her mantra, Clarity, Integrity and Love, she draws upon her partner yoga practice to share the healing power of touch and safe intimacy. A passion for discovering subtlety in movement has lead Chris to deepen her education with the Anatomy Studies for Yoga Teachers® kinesiology program. Her playful yet focused classes are filled with user friendly gems of applied anatomy leaving students with a greater understanding of how to find comfort and space in their bodies and smiles beaming across their faces. She encourages teachers to set a higher standard of excellence through knowledge and has become a valuable mentor to many upcoming yoga educators.

Chris teaches privates, classes and workshops across the globe. She is currently the director of the Boundless Yoga 200 hr and 500 hr Teacher Training programs and an Adjunct Teacher Trainer for the Om Factory® School of Yoga NYC 200hr, BambooMoves, Bhakti Barn Yoga, Just Plain Yoga, and NearMe Yoga 200hr Teacher Training Programs. She has also been featured in Fitness Magazine®, Yoga Journal: Yoga Mentor, Good an Well, Local Flair Magazine and the New York Times. In addition to yoga you are likely to find her laughing with friends and family or quietly meditating with her cats (Sukha, Fuzz-butt, and Squirrel) or traveling and teaching with her husband Brian M. Davis as Boundless Motion.

Restorative, Yin Classes and More at BYS:

Mt. Pocono: (1444 Pocono Blvd, Suite 106, Mt. Pocono, PA)
Sundays 6 pm Flow and Restore w/ Tracy Gross
Tuesdays 6 pm Yin Yoga- Slow Stretch w/ Chris Loebsack

Stroudsburg: (823-F Ann Street, Stroudsburg, PA)
Wednesdays 8:15 am Yin Yoga- Slow Stretch w/ Tracy Gross
Thursdays 7:15 pm Body, Mind, Meditation- Restorative Yoga w/ Karen Iracane
Fridays 8:15 am Yin Yoga- Slow Stretch w/ Tracy Gross
Sept 14-16th, 2018 Restorative Yoga Advanced Studies Weekend Training w/ Tracy Gross and Jessica Batha

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<<Previous

How I Got My Groove Back! The Importance of Movement and How Gosh Darn Simple It Can be. by Ashley Hackett

My Life Force: How yoga helped me with postpartum depression- by Yoga Educator Daniela Hosier

Supported pigeon pose- Feel like a swan!

Office Warrior- Take a power pose break

Delicious Rest in Child’s Pose by Chris Loebsack

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