And if they consider an at-home practice, they only have to peruse the numerous selection of yoga DVD’s to notice that their shape is nowhere to be found.

Perhaps it is their intention to become toned, flexible and lithe just like all of the teachers in the magazines. Or to simply improve their posture, strengthen muscles, or relieve stress and tension.  And just like anyone else, they are looking for a role model, who has some consideration of their proportions and who just might “have some weight on them” as well.

It is understood that it is not the responsibility of the general exercise or yoga world to “fix” someone. But why are we lacking in quality DVD’s, clothing and optional classes for plus-size people? How are their concerns being addressed?

As I began to research it I quickly found that the field is nearly empty. Although we have not yet viewed this video it was the only one listed on Amazon with lots of supportive and enthusiastic reviews. Megan Garcia’s has two offerings:  Just My Size with Megan Garcia DVD and her book MegaYoga.

This community has increased in numbers and is ardently seeking a way to balance their lives through alternative means. Yoga has proven to be adaptable, let’s see if we can begin to plant more seeds.

If you have come across a book, DVD or class for a larger community please send us the information and your comments.

Tags: yoga practice, megan garcia, weightloss and yoga, yoga teacher

In Ojai, California we find Suza Francina and her updated and upcoming release of her book entitled The New Yoga for People Over 50. As a certified Iyengar yoga instructor she has extensive experience working with senior communities as well as in home health care for convalescing people. With 30 years of practice and experience she has transferred that knowledge into several publications ranging from healthy aging to menopause.

Praise for this book speaks of her as inspiring, exciting, and comforting. In addition the photos show a clear demonstration of the poses by “real” people. It is also a great resource for adapting certain poses for people with limited mobility or ailments.
Lilias Folan comes of age with her most recent yoga instructional book entitled Lilias Yoga Gets Better with Age. Recognized as one of the most familiar yoga teachers since her instructional daily yoga practice on PBS in the 70’s and 80’s. Although this book was first released in 2005, students of any age, and new to yoga are continuing to seek out the gentle and supportive nature of this book. Today Lilias is continuing to tour, and conduct workshops throughout the U.S and abroad.

“In this exquisite book, Lilias has deftly communicated both the essence of yoga and the essence of Lilias. The book is so inviting that one just wants to fall into it – and into the warmth and wisdom of Lilias’s teaching. This kind of work can only be the fruit of a life time of dedicated practice – and we are enormously grateful to have it, and to have Lilias.”
Stephen Cope, director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living and author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self.

Tags: yoga for seniors, aging and yoga, Iynegar, yoga books

I was familiar with this and had already done some research on what might help because I had lived with a boyfriend who experienced chronic debilitating back ailments – a man who otherwise was healthy and athletic but was heading into his late 40’s in constant agony.

So what was up with men and their backs? If you believe in what yoga (and other mind/body/heart practices) has to offer, then you know it’s not just a pain in your back. And why did it affect so many men during their mid-life transitions?

In the chakra system, the lower back is part of the energy of the muladhara, the root being connected with issues of survival, security and, particularly for men, their sexuality. All issues that get tossed around for men leaving their youthful virility, perhaps dealing with how to support themselves and others. No wonder the back starts signaling!

All this came to mind because as I was stooping down to make my bed today, I felt a riveting surge of pain all along my lower back. A pain I’ve only felt once before in my life, when I injured myself while traveling in India grabbing a heavy suitcase. (Interestingly, it was also while with this boyfriend I just described- and during the trip I came to the painful decision of ending the relationship with him.) So it all instantly came flooding back to me. Fortunately, I have never had problems with my back. This incident was so unusual that it remained etched in my own body memory.

I did something that I knew would help right away. Got down on the floor, hugged my knees to my chest, back flat and just gently swayed from side to side. No abrupt moves or tall stretches. Just this releasing movement with back to the ground supported and tucked-in knees protecting the back.

I swear by it- so to our sweet menfolk with “bad backs” – try it, for the physical relief, and keep asking what fear or burdens are lurking in those strong back roots of yours!

Tags: back pain, chakra, yoga and men, yoga and health

I can only hope that my work as a teacher, writer and theater artist has helped to alleviate some of the emotional, mental and physical turmoil that still cripples women in our life’s work.

I have focused on women for obvious reasons. I’ve experienced or witnessed many of the atrocities women all over the world are still subjected to: physical violence, sexism, bodily harm and trauma, poverty and systemic neglect and lack of support. Unfortunately the list continues to be long. I figured the boys are doing just fine taking care of their own through the “age-old” systems (law, medicine, politics and even in art) that still value their lives more than ours. Synchronistically, one of my sisters has posted on this very subject of female lives being devalued in her June 12 entry of her blog, written from India.
So it’s rare for me to linger on the problems of our menfolk. Today, however, I read an article in The New York Times that haunted me as I thought of many of my male friends, specifically men who experience depression, something more often associated with women. And I’ve already written about the way yoga may help women.
The New York Times article reported on a study showing a high correlation between men suffering from depression and ruptured relationships with siblings. Apparently, not even losing a parent in your youth was as significant a factor in later depression as not getting along with your brothers and sisters.

I started thinking about a couple of my ex-boyfriends who wrestled with depression and were at a loss what to make of it. I remembered fellow artists and male colleagues whose work was deeply affected by depression. And I thought about why the brotherly- sisterly thing might be such a key factor.

Was it just the usual explanation of females being more relational-centered in general? I’ve been fortunate in that, despite our less than ideal childhood and some rough spots in our early adulthood, my sisters and I have been good to each other. And I’ve often considered my bond with them to have been stronger than my bond with my parents ever was. So if our yogi brothers are missing out on this, might they truly feel unconnected?

Perhaps there’s real medicine in the old cliche about living in peace with your brothers and sisters?

Tags: men and depression, yoga and depression, yoga and health

When I began teaching yoga immediately after completing my teacher’s training in 1990, I also began formulating many questions about what and how I was teaching that could not be answered within the yoga community. It required reading multiple translations and interpretations of sacred texts, commentaries, historical analysis and critiques – materials not usually offered in a yoga training program which focuses on the experience of the practice – usually as explained by one guru.

My decision to go back to graduate school in 2001 was partly to create the necessary time to do this work, with the support and resources available in an intellectual environment. Academic approaches to yoga can offer additional ways to better understand and teach the complex system of yoga. But even as a yoga practitioner, I wanted to know more about how others have experienced the body, the mind and spirit in their practice.

It’s these questions and this desire to know and be able to articulate what I have experienced (and therefore also know) that brings me into this larger community of religious studies scholars which includes historians, anthropologists, philosophers, feminists and authors on Indic, Buddhist and Tantric spiritual practices. Although I cannot claim to really feel like a fish who has found her “school” (or a bird who has found her “flock”!), I am swimming in a large and open ocean of knowledge with many possibilities of understanding what I practice and what I teach.