Holiday Acceptance

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No overbearing research, quotes, statistics, or facts this week just a few simple words of experienced truth.

It’s December 17th already and the holidays are clearly in full force. This can be seen in various avenues of life, including the holiday hustle and bustle busy-ness, and holiday stress. Even the most enthusiastic Who from Whoville has experienced the overwhelming aspects of the holidays.  We have seen it in our ventures at the Studio currently, and experience it daily in our own personal lives as well. Holiday stress abounds and multiplies and truthfully lets up only when you let it.

The trick is to find some sort of peace, a “happy place” if you will, and a form of acceptance. The holidays are what they are regardless of whether you panic over Aunt Suzy’s gift exchange, or baking enough cookies to satisfy the masses. The days and the time will still pass exactly the same whether you stress over your present budget, or worry about finding the time to wrap sixty items, or freak-out about the holiday feast preparation, or not.  The only thing that separates these special days are the importance and the stress that we impose upon them. Realistically, they are just as long and pass just as quickly as any other day.

There is a passage within the “Twelve Steps” programs (appropriate for the holidays?) that asks for the “courage to accept the things [we] cannot change” and it seems that holiday stress is a perfect thing for the application of such a message. Accept the things you can not change. Accept that the holidays will always be the holidays, that Uncle George will never appreciate the phrase “it’s the thought that counts,” or that Grandma Lucy dislikes your recipe for cranberry stuffing. You will never be able to change the thoughts and actions of people, you can only ever change the way you react.

This year, give the holiday stress a break. Accept the few and short hours of the year as any other. Remember to smile, it will all be over soon.

Keep Your Body Hot in the Cold Winter Months

Winter is officially upon us in Minnesota, as this week has brought our first big snowfall (and negative temperatures too!) All of this winter weather has had me thinking about cold-weather fitness and ways of keeping workouts outdoors instead of staying inside all winter long. There is a lot information out there about cold-weather fitness, here is a collection of some of the best advice, tips, and facts on the web:

When working out outside in cold weather the number one rule is to dress in layers. The Mayo Clinic notes “one of the biggest mistakes cold-weather exercisers make is dressing too warmly.” They go on to explain that “exercise generates a considerable amount of heat — enough to make you feel like it’s 30 degrees warmer than it really is. At the same time, once you start to tire and the sweat dries, you can get chilled.”

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The solution to this problem, of course, is to dress in layers so that clothing can be removed and put back on as needed. The Mayo Clinic suggests to “start with a thin layer of synthetic material such as polypropylene, which draws sweat away from your body. Avoid cotton, which stays wet next to your skin. Next, try fleece for insulation. Top this with a waterproof, breathable outer layer. A heavy down jacket or vest will cause most people to overheat. If you’re naturally lean, though, you’ll need more insulation than someone who is heavier. If it’s very cold (about 0 F or -17.8 C) or you have asthma, wear a face mask or a scarf over your mouth.”

Other important layering tips include avoiding all cotton clothing, even socks! and avoiding street clothes that are not water resistant. These and other vital tips can be found on Sparkpeople.com

All layered up and still afraid of sickness and hypothermia from the cold? A common misconception is that it is harmful to the body to work out in cold temperatures, this in fact is false. Taletwins.com writes “As long as core body temperature is maintained, and sufficient insulative clothing is worn, it is rarely too cold to exercise. By the time inhaled cold air reaches the lungs it’s already warmed up to a safe temperature…As a general rule, use caution when headed out with wind chill index of less than minus 20° F. Anything under minus 70° F is considered too dangerous to exercise.”

To avoid dangerous health risks such as hypthermia or  frostbite it is important to be aware of  preventative steps and symptoms. Symptoms for frostbite include burning, numbing, and tingling of skin. The best way to avoid frostbite is to keep skin covered and warm.
Hypothermia symptoms include  violent shivering, difficulty speaking, mental confusion, stumbling, and depression. Preventing Hypothermia can be done through appropriate and effective layering, keeping dry, and staying hydrated. For a more comprehensive list of symptoms, treatments, and preventative measures go here.

Of course, there will come a point during the winter months when it simply feels too cold to be motivated to go outside. Luckily, we are in an age of indoor gym and fitness facilities, which provide a plethora of options for keeping the holiday weight at bay. If this proves to be too costly, there are always plenty of workout DVDs, and even podcasts to satisfy all of your winter fitness needs!

This winter, don’t just sit inside making resolutions for “when the weather warms up.” With the proper information and equipment exercise in all weather is possible!

This Thanksgiving I am Thankful for Writer’s Block

 

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In preparation for this entry I read a lot of other “Thanksgiving and Yoga” themed blogs, many of them spouting off about thankfulness and gratitude, aparigraha, and awareness. I found lots of blog entries about Thanksgiving yoga and fitness activities, from Thanksgiving day retreats, to Yoga food-drives, to stretches to ease digestion! Alas, none of these things gave me the inspiration that (I think) is needed to adequately blog.

And so here I sit, on the eve of Thanksgiving, still unsure of what sort of message to relay. The truth is, most of these messages have already been said; We often forget that thankfulness should take place every day, and so we have devised a single holiday to make up for a common 364 day cycle of unthankfulness.

My message is simply this: Break the cycle. Be Aware, Be Thankful. Yes, enjoy family, friends, and turkey too, but most importantly remember to remember to be thankful.

Letting the Tea Out of the Bag

Tea, the ancient health elixir and companion to scones everywhere, is also a friend of fitness. Despite popular claims that tea dehydrates the body, it is actually the perfect hot beverage for exercise enthusiasts, and wellness advocates alike.

So just what is tea? What are the different kinds of tea? and do all of these kinds really benefit health and fitness?

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Tea is made from the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant. Different types of processing of tea leaves result in the various types of tea, including black, green, oolong, white, and puerh. Another type of “tea” is herbal tea which is not made from the camellia sinensis plant at all, but rather from herbs, flowers, roots, spices and/or other parts of  plants.

Leaves for black tea are  withered and then fully oxidized which result in darker  brown or black leaf with a robust flavor. Green tea is slightly withered, slightly oxidized, and fired which results in a lighter, more subtle flavor. Oolong tea leaves are partially oxidized and extremely fragrant. White tea uses very delicate, hand processed leaves which are not oxidized at all. This results in a sweet and subtle flavor. The last type of tea, Puerh, is an aged black tea with a very strong and rich flavor. Additional information on kinds of tea can be found on the TeaSource website.

What makes tea so healthy? Tea contains high levels of antioxidants which take on the “free radicals” in the body and prevent them from harming healthy cells. Free radicals are side products of damage done to the body by pollution and the natural aging process. In the body’s cells, free radicals are extremely unstable and tend to react negatively with important molecules such as DNA. This causes cellular malfunction and injury. The elimination of free radicals (via antioxidants) may therefore prevent diseases such as heart disease and cancer.

Some conditions which have been known to be benefited by tea are heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, and arthritis. Visit here and here for a more comprehensive list of the medical benfits of tea.

So why tea and fitness? Associated Content notes that tea and exercise are a powerhouse combination. They write, “The American Journal of Physiology in January 2006 showed that green tea extract increased exercise endurance 24 percent in mice over a ten week period. Researchers found that the tea extracts stimulated the use of fatty acids by muscle, which may help to explain the tea’s weight-loss effect. About four cups of tea daily would emulate the effects of the experiment in a human athlete. The effects were not shown after a single use. This led the researchers to believe that regular exercise, combined with tea consumption, over an extended time frame, enhances the body’s ability to preferentially utilize fats rather than carbohydrates.”

In other words, tea isn’t just for your grandmother anymore! Tea is a delicious way to keep yourself healthy, and a wonderful way to increase overall fitness.  In fact, tea and fitness are such a great match that here, at MGayle Studio, we have decided to partner with a local tea company (the TeaSource) to give away free $10 giftcards to all new clients and to all existing clients with a new client referral. What could be better? More details about our new promotion can be found on the MGayle Studio facebook page.

For more fascinating information on tea please visit the teausa, and teagenuis webpages, or the tea wikipedia!

Peaceful Pregnancies, Meditative Mamas, and Nirvana-Reaching Newborns

Did you know that yoga is for everyone including young, old, women who are pregnant and even newborn babies? That’s right, women who are newly pregnant or even very close to their due date, and new mothers and their newborns can participate in the relaxing and strengthening practice of yoga!

Prenatal yoga programs emphasize building and strengthening core muscles, learning breathing techniques, and connecting with your baby while he/she is still in the womb. All of these things prepare the expectant mother for childbirth and allow the body and mind to reach a state of blissful peace.

Warrior II Pose (credit: yogajournal.com)

Some ideal poses for the expectant mother are hip openers such as Pigeon, Warrior II, Triangle, Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose,) Baddha Konasana (Cobbler’s Pose,) and Knee to Ankle. These poses will help create flexibility in the body that will make giving birth easier.

Other yoga positions, such as Cat – Cow can help get the baby into the optimal position for birth (head down, back to your belly.)

Creating flexibility and optimizing the position of the baby are only two of the wonderful things that yoga can provide for a mother during pregnancy. Yoga is an excellent aid in preparing mothers for the physical demands of childbirth through breathing techniques and muscle strengthening. It is also a great way to relieve common ailments that are sometimes experienced during pregnancy such as aching neck and shoulders, fatigue, and the loss of endurance. For a more complete list of ailments and their yogic solutions go here.

Cat Pose (credit: yogajournal.com)

In addition, a more complete list of recommended prenatal yoga poses can be found here. Always remember however that it is important to take extra caution during any form of exercise while pregnant. Naturally, because of this, there are a few poses that should generally be avoided during pregnancy. Some of these poses include forms of twists or inversions. More on yoga poses to be avoided while pregnant can be found here.

Postnatal yoga programs, especially those which incorporate the baby, are growing in popularity as the benefits become more well-known. Postnatal yoga, while beneficial for the mother in restoring strength and peace of mind, is also extremely helpful to babies as well. I know what you are thinking, how can my baby do yoga? It just so happens that several common yoga poses, such as Bridge and Downward Facing Dog, are part of a baby’s natural movement repertoire!

Vani Devi, MGayle Studio Yoga Director, with baby Sara (credit: Heidi Gayle)

Yoga for infants helps in releiving discomforts such as gas or colic while also allowing for the discovery of cordination and balance. According to yogajournal.com, “Yoga movements help babies chart a more direct path of growth and development. Babies who have the opportunity to explore movement have greater confidence and ability when it comes time to sit, crawl, and walk. Babies who move with freedom as well as intentional guidance learn early about relating to gravity and relating to people.”

Some good, basic yoga poses for mom and baby are shoulder rolls, Downward Facing Dog, and Child’s Pose. More poses can be found here.

Peaked your curiosity bout pre and postnatal yoga classes? Luckily MGayle Studio is now offering two brand new Yogini Baby Yoga™ classes for the expectant mother and mother and baby. For more information about our new class offerings please visit our website or facebook page.

Don’t live in the area? Don’t worry, pre and postnatal yoga programs are popping up all over the country. A good resource to locate nearby studios is the yogajournal directory. If these options are not available to you fear not, there is never a bad time to start practicing yoga on your own!

The Gifts of Life

At MGayle Studio we have been gearing up for an award nomination through the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, which will be honored at a red-carpet, gala event tomorrow evening. The award nomination (which is for the Duebener Award in the  family owned business category) has gotten all of us at the studio thinking about awards, gifts, and thankfulness. Appropriate now that it is November, no?

The idea of a gift or an award is pretty arbitrary, some people think that only those things that are glitter and gold are gift-worthy, or that only tangible things can be considered gifts. At the studio we would argue this logic. We see gifts everywhere every single day.  We see them in the changing autumn leaves, and the return of pumpkin in our diets, and most importantly we see gifts in our bodies and in ourselves.

The body in and of itself is the most basic and most important gift to a human being. It allows us to be human-doings rather than just human-beings, and it is the “doing” which creates so many other vital, life gifts. In the studio we often see the gift of time; the ability to devote a single session’s worth of time to oneself with attentiveness to individual needs.  We see the gift of (self) respect, the gift of (self) confidence, and the gift to set goals. Through these things we gain the gifts of success, and of achievement in reaching these goals. Most importantly, at the studio, we share in the gift of family and friends. We proudly call all of the amazing and strong individuals that we work with family, and we are continually humbled by how incredible they are.

At MGayle studio, we are truly blessed with many, many gifts and awards. Because of this, while we have great faith that we will receive the Duebener Award tomorrow night, we also know that it isn’t necessary. All of life’s most important gifts are the ones that we already have. It is so important to remain aware and thankful for all of the gifts in life, what gifts are you thankful for?

Remember to Breathe

Monday morning the alarm goes off at 6:00am, the kids need breakfast, the dry cleaning needs to be picked up, the telephone is ringing, and the dishes are still dirty from the night before. A million things are running through the human brain per minute, and a million and one things are running through the human brain on a Monday morning. 8:00am, the family is fed, the dishes are clean, the grocery list is safely in your pocket and not forgotten on the kitchen counter – every detail for the daily “task list” has been checked off, you’ve even remembered to take out the frozen chicken for dinner, but have you remembered to breathe?

Life ceases to exist without breath, it is the single, most important thing that enables us to live, so then why is it that we so often forget to breathe? According to thehappyguy.com, “breathing correctly is critical in maintaining the level of oxygen for energy, keeping the correct pH levels in the body, and allowing enough carbon dioxide for bodily functions. Healthy people make 93 percent of their energy aerobically (“in the presence of oxygen,”) but poor breathing habits can reduce the amount of energy made aerobically to 84 percent. Seventy percent of the elimination of wastes from the body is through breathing.”

Thinking that your breathing might need some work? The good news is that there are many ways to improve your breathing, whether it be basic breathing techniques or exercise methods that have a foundation in breathing techniques such as pilates or yoga.

In pilates a large amount of focus is on the breath because it is the basis for all movement in the human body. Within the practice of pilates, breath releases tense muscles through oxygenation (oxygen flows into the blood stream and is pumped into the muscles, allowing them to relax,) heightens concentration, and activates stabilizing (deep abdominal) muscles. Good pilates technique starts with a “three-dimensional”  type of breath in which the ribs expand laterally (left and right) and into the back. It is also important to always remember to inhale and exhale completely, improving the exchange of good and bad air.

Proper breathing benefits the respiratory, circulatory, urinary, endocrine, digestive and nervous systems, and also aids in relaxation, relieves muscular tension, increases flexibility and joint strength, and helps to recover faster from stress and exertion. In closing, although Mondays (or Tuesdays or Wednesdays or any days) can be hectic and stressful, it is important to include “breathing” into your daily priorities. Always remember to breathe, your life depends on it.

Good resources on proper pilates breath can be found here:
Breathe Some Life Into Your Life
The Importance of Correct Breathing
Learn to Breathe Deeply

So Just What the Heck is Pilates Anyway?

If you’re anything like me (a 22-year-old recent college graduate and East Coast transplant) then perhaps you too may be unclear about the term “pilates.” And since at MGayle Studio the top name of the game is pilates, it is probably important for us to set some ground work about what this elusive exercise method is.

Surely you’ve heard the word “pilates,” with its soft “p” pluck, and the slight flick of the tounge as it rolls over the “l” and the “a” and it sounds familiar, like a hollywood fad or a yogurt-based diet product. Maybe you’re even slightly more learned on the topic, or at least you know that it has something to do with fitness. But if you’re anything like me, with the constant inventions of new exercise regimes and “south beach diets” and power yoga hoopla whizzing about, then you know that it often gets hard to decipher what is what. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that prior to college I was under the impression that pilates recruited weight lifting techniques and body building methods. I thought that pilates was all about a good, sweaty, work-out. Boy, was I wrong.

So just what the heck is pilates anyway? In summary, pilates is an exercise method founded on core strength and stability which was developed by Joseph Pilates in the early 20th century. It was originally developed for the rehabilitation of prisoners of war, however Joseph Pilates soon figured out that his methods would also be of benefit to anyone  seeking a higher level of fitness. Much like yoga, the methods of pilates aid in making the body stronger, longer, leaner, and more graceful. Pilates incorporates six key principles which are centering, control, flow, breath, precision, and concentration (look for future entries for a more in depth look at the six principles,) all of which are covered in Joseph Pilates’ books, Return to Life through Contrology (1928) and Your Health: A Corrective System of Exercising That Revolutionizes the Entire Field of Physical Education (1934).  These principles are then enacted through various sets of strengthening and stretching exercises which are performed on a mat or on specialized exercise equipment which utilizes pulley and resistance mechanisms. Naturally, over time the pilates method (originally called Contrology) has been changed, improved upon, shaped, and developed into various strains of the original Joseph Pilates method. All of these strains, including the original, aim to connect and improve upon mental and physical health.

In short, pilates is somewhat of a cross-product, pulling inspiration from both yoga and rehabilitation fitness techniques, as well as many other sources. Pilates is not only an exercise method, but a life enhancement method. Now that you know more, give pilates a try!  And please, please remember not to confuse it with exercise fads or trendy hollywood diets. Pilates is here to stay, give it the respect that it deserves.