my restorative life

This is a guest post I wrote for Sara Duke, of Do Restorative Yoga.

I first became interested in Yin Yoga, and then Restorative shortly after that, two years ago when my friend and yoga teacher mentioned it to me as a possible way to relieve muscle tension and the stress that causes it. She loaned me a book by Sarah Powers, "Insight Yoga," and a DVD by Paul Grilley, "Yin Yoga: The Foundations of a Quiet Practice." I fell in love with the long, slow poses and the quiet contemplation they encouraged. For my birthday, she gave me Richard Miller's book & DVD, "Yoga Nidra: The Meditative Heart of Yoga," and I immediately incorporated that and yin into my weekly rotation of asana practice.

Life is so YANG! With sons in the military and college and another one in high school (where I also work), a husband whose job demands travel and long hours, it seems like I'm often struggling to catch a long, slow, deep breath! Throw menopause in there and my brain and body are often caught up in a confusing, spinning vortex of activity and fatigue. I have found that these practices are helping me to cultivate a calm, positive energy. Indeed, that is the heart of my sankalpa...that intention I set for myself... when I lie down for a restorative session.

When Sara of Do Restorative Yoga took on her 40 day challenge to rest and restore every day, it encouraged me to find time for a little every day, not just once a week. I jumped in with her around day 25 and enjoyed reading about her experiences and sharing impressions of the different personalities and styles we encountered in the recordings. I found that even on my busiest days I could fit in a 15 - 17 minute session with Katie Meehan or Vicki Hansen after work before running to a late afternoon Jazzercise class. In fact, I found that short lie-down to really give me the energy for the dancing and weight training we do in Jazz. On days where I stay in for the evening, I'll choose a longer session by Amy Weintraub, Richard Miller or Winter Robinson.

I attended a weekend workshop at The Asheville Yoga Center in February about using yoga to manage your mood. The workshop was led by Weintraub and she explained that she does yoga nidra every day without fail. She usually does it while still lying in bed in the morning. She just reaches for her earbuds and ipod and switches on one of a few different recordings she has. She explained that doing it in the morning is nice because it's easier to stay awake. I've found that to be the case, too. My favorite mornings are those where I rise at 4:30, do a short kundalini morning warm-up, 11-minute meditation, and then end with a 20-minute yoga nidra recording. I find myself energized and ready to greet the day.

When I began my meditation practice, my mentor said, "It's 11 minutes! Everybody can find 11 minutes!" She's right. And now I find that I also feel that way about Yoga Nidra. Everyone can find time for a short practice. You just have to keep your mind open to those little spans of time where nothing is going on. And then? When you find it? Lie down with a recording and do nothing!"

yoga nidra & autogenic training

So as I've been doing yoga nidra twice a day for the past several days, I've tried out many different recordings. One of them has been an album by Dr. Louise Montello called "Relax into Wellness." She has a track on there called "Progressive Relaxation," which I didn't care for at all. It involves a lot of scrunching up of your muscles and then letting it all go. Just didn't do much for me.

But she has a track called "Autogenic Training" that I've tried twice now. I don't remember my first impressions, but last night I listened again while in bed and I found that I had a wonderfully sound sleep...no tossing and turning like bacon in a pan, which I've been doing for about a week. I don't remember any dreams, either. I've been having some wild ones since I started YN.

Here is a Wikipedia article on Autogenic Training. I may try some other recordings, too.

yoga nidra

So I've been adding yoga nidra into my life more and more and I'm really liking it. It gives me a lot more energy and emotional balance.

In the morning I've been doing shorter ones...around 20-25 minutes. This gives me time to do some asana first. And doing it in the morning is great for my brain because I don't fall asleep. One morning, however, I picked one that was 17 minutes when I actually had about 30 minutes of time. I felt ripped off when it was over and I still had 10 minutes to relax before taking the dog for his morning constitutional. My friend Sara Duke of Do Restorative Yoga mentioned that those short ones might really come in handy at one point.

And she was right. I slipped in the 17 minute one today before leaving for my Jazzercise class after work.

But I like the really long ones for days when I come from from work and don't have someplace to be that evening...like Mondays and Fridays. I usually nap, which leaves me all warm and cozy and lazy and not wanting to cook supper. But YN leaves me relaxed and awake.

I'll mention some of the recordings I'm using in another post later.

asana & yoga nidra

So I could tell I was starting to feel well enough to go back to getting up early again. But whenever I set the alarm to get up at 4:30, I'd wake up, advance it an hour, and then go back to sleep.

I refuse to feel guilty about this. What makes early morning yoga, or any commitment like that work is that I won't feel guilty if I break the commitment. Or tweak it. I'm a pretty disciplined person. If my body or mind wants to change something I've previously decided on, I figure there is a reason. And I allow myself to go with it. If it's important enough, I'll go back to it. Or some form of it, anyway.

But I wanted to get up at 4:30 again. I wanted to wake refreshed, do some asana, some meditation, walk my dog and start my day clear-headed and content. So I just lay in my bed Tuesday night and said, "God, I'd really like to wake up refreshed at 4:30 in the morning. But I'd like to just wake up without an alarm. I'm going to let you and my body tell me when it's time to get up."


And so I did. 4:22 a.m. And the next day too. And the next day. And I've had some really nice, calming mornings.

I've been doing some Yoga Nidra in the morning to cap off the practice instead of meditation or svasana. I'm rotating through several practices I have on my ipod. And I'm getting ideas from Do Restorative Yoga, a blog by a yoga teacher in Duluth, Minnesota. She's on a 40-day Relaxation quest. Read about it. It's good.