OCTOBER YOGA JOURNAL/YOGA MEETS DEFY GRAVITY WITH FUNCTIONAL FITNESS

As I’m just compiling workout routines and have no training in fitness at all, have found new research into yoga which is exciting to me and a bit different.

Fit Quick talks of not touching your toes or getting on the floor to do Yoga as gravity is already doing this too us.

At the same time it does actuaully use Yoga Tecniques so is obviously supporting Yoga.

Personal Yoga practice

I used to do this before covid even though I got into an argument with a yoga teacher in New York about it.

I didn’t argue with her so it was all one sided; I don’t do arguing ~ hate arguing.

Maybe she put me off doing my yoga journal.

Good time to set it up again.

The argument was about how to get into crab.

I used to do it in junior gymnastics so did it that way.

She said I should actually do it her way which was really complicated.

Anyway forgetting a stupid argument about nothing ~ the crab pose has helped my understand the Gary Gray method.

grayinstitute.com

I tried out his idea in My Thursday 1/2 hour yoga practice and wrote up my findings.

I’ve decided to try this in October to see if I get results.

Backwards and Forwards Poses and balance

In yoga I remember for private practice you have to always balance one pose by then bending the other way and so forth.

If you bend forward ~ you then bend backward.

What Gary Gray might be saying then is do the pose, but only 1/2 way or 3/4 way but not all the way down.

Thinking about it to be perfectly symmetrical balanced maybe you should only bend forward as far as you can bend backward.

I can’t bend back that far, but can bend a much further way forward.

This does actually sound correct and might be why I am stooping.

Not sure if Gary Gray is right, but I get his point.

If you imagine yourself as a matchstick man drawing, you therefore want to create a symmetrical Y shape with your forwards and backwards bends.

Also seated poses if you can’t bend that far back don’t bend that far forward.

Why did some ancient Yogi master teach us to do Yoga if it doesn’t defy gravity

If you could find him, to be fair to him I think he would argue he designed Yoga for men who don’t have the same problems with gravity as women.

One of my yoga teachers in the past told me Yoga was actually invented just for men, even though western women have taken it over in the West.

She learnt Yoga in India so I presume she was right.

If you have a grouse the fault actually lies with whoever brought Yoga to the west and told women to do it.

If Gary Gray at the Gray institute is correct he has salvaged Yoga for women anyway.

If he is right, really glad I discovered this.

Yoga Playlist

Review

How different is Yoga when you incorporate functional fitness?

It is early days, but I did feel a new sense of balance.

A lot of the moves you can still do like face yoga obviously.

It is a bit like doing the corpse move with your head; you have to adjust your head with a slow gentle rocking movement till you find your perfect balance and straight posture.

Some ancient Yogi’s were like contortionists, so maybe they could bend a long way backwards, you bend quite a lot in crab.

Interesting ideas to mull over and try out.

Thought I’d write this up as inspiration and add it to the October Workout which is Defy Gravity centered.

Have to admit I don’t want to be a Yogi so the functional fitness idea makes Yoga easier to do. I just want a good posture.

Yoga keeps you flexible and loads of other stuff.

Started doing the Fit Quick cooldown again and realise Yoga is just sort of flat like paintings of yore and fashion before Mary Qwant.

It doesn’t take into account round movements our bodies make.

Gary Gray does incorporate yoga into functional fitness.

I’m still going to do yoga but put the emphasis on symmetry and stretching.

I Qwan do it and I Qwant to.

Have to say my small yoga session worked really well when I added the Gary Gray technique.

Now I have wall mirrors I could see how far I bent backwards and only bent forward the same amount.

The result was I stretched upwards further and felt the tension leave my waist and abdomen, which it didn’t before.

I’m just in my own little world doing this.

If you stumble on this like the other Yoga teacher you need to go to Gary Gray,com to learn more or check out his technique.

Functionally Fit Science applied to computer hunching

I have started to try and change my stooping habits by studying advice I have found

Tried this before but didn’t get anywhere.

Hopefully using functionally fit techniques might work.

So far what I am is aware of is reactions I make when I am on the computer.

If it takes longer than I thought to do an action I stoop my head forward

Instead I stretch backwards or better still just try and sit up straight and not react.

If something on the computer stresses me out I stoop forward and put my hand on my forward.

Instead of this take your hand off your forhead and sit up straight.

Have a deap breathe, look away from the computer and leave it a minute or two.

Not sure if this will work but worth a try.

In fact stress in free pictures is always about stooping and grasping your forehead.

Here the stressed person is leaning back so sitting straight seems a better solution.

If you get this type of computer stress might be better just to walk around a bit, I possibly do this ~ the key is to be aware you are doing it ~ then think how to address it.

Caught myself doing this so took my hand off my face, took a deep breath and stopped.

Conclusion

I love my yoga and intend to keep doing it, but functional fitness has answered a question I was trying to work out in my personal practice Yoga Journal.

Further more I now realise my stoop is from stress.

I work really hard on the computer trying to create some sort of life for myself that has gone since covid.

The deep rooted underlying problem is Covid.

Since Covid my life hardly exists.

All I want is my life back, but what created my standard of living isn’t there anymore.

If life as we used to know it ever comes back I will do more yoga and be on the computer less.

On the bright side I suppose I’m getting back on track with my Yoga journal and how to use yoga to combat stress.

I’m also now aware of stress body language.

Hopefully now I’ve arrived at this discovery I might be able to adjust my posture.

If you do a yoga journal too hope this offers inspiration.

Saphire