Decoding Yoga

Today, Eli and Inga wrap up their four-week discussion on the breath and its importance in yoga and general health. They discuss some of the key takeaways from the previous episodes, including the fact that taking deep breaths is not necessarily better and that carbon dioxide is crucial to the effective use of oxygen in the body. They also emphasize the importance of holding one's breath and explain why it's a technique that should be practiced more often. Inga leads listeners through a practical exercise to measure their sensitivity to carbon dioxide buildup, and they discuss how this can be used to increase one's tolerance to carbon dioxide and improve physical and mental health. Overall, the episode aims to help listeners achieve a better and healthier life through a better understanding of the yogic perspective on breathing.

In this episode of Decoding Yoga, Eli and Inga continue their series on demystifying yoga and breathing myths. They discuss the benefits of holding your breath and how it can help restore natural breathing and functional breathing.They explore the production of carbon dioxide in the body and how it can be beneficial for healthy breathing. They explain how holding your breath after an exhale can help you understand how well your body tolerates carbon dioxide, and why this is important for breathing regulation. Join Eli and Inga as they decode the myths around holding your breath and how it can be a useful tool for restoring healthy breathing.

In this episode of The Decoding Yoga, Eli continues her discussion with Inga about the topic of breath in yoga. They discuss the misconception that big, heavy breathing is healthy, when in reality it can be correlated with health issues such as asthma, heart disease, anxiety, and panic attacks. In contrast, healthy breathing is subtle, inaudible, and always through the nose. Inga explains the benefits of breathing into a bag during a panic attack rather than taking a deep breath in and sighing it out. You will learn about the importance of healthy breathing and the negative effects of big breathing, and gain insight into how to breathe properly for optimal health.

This podcast episode is a conversation between Eli and Inga, where they talk about breath misconceptions in yoga.Inga, a yoga teacher, shares her experience of discovering the science behind breathing and how it blew her mind. The episode covers the importance of understanding the way we breathe, how our body adapts to our lifestyle, and the effects of chronic stress. The conversation also explores the impact of breathing on our mental and physical health and how the practice of yoga can help regulate our breathing patterns.

I hope that by now we all know that yoga is not only about postures. It’s one of the many methods we have to learn to live this life in the best possible way!Pranayama is the fourth limb of the Yoga system, but if you think that it’s only about breathing, I’ll invite you to listen/watch this episode and decode the real meaning, use and benefits of pranayama.

There is no doubt that Yin Yoga has gained popularity in recent years. And I believe it’s only the beginning!Today I share my top three reasons why yin yoga is the next big thing!Are you practicing Yin Yoga already? Yes? Awesome!No? What are you waiting for!

From the traditional yoga techniques (not only asanas, but kriyas, pranayama and meditation practices) of the ancient yogis, to ‘broga’ (brother + yoga = yoga for men), beer yoga, goat yoga, nude yoga… and beyond…We have seen an evolution, transformation, and deformation of the practice of this philosophical method throughout the years and the different cultures that become more and more ‘creative to attract followers and likes…Well, yin yoga hasn’t escaped from this madness… “Hot Yin”, “Yin only at Night”, and “Go-for-it Yin” are only a few practices I found questionable.

I started listening to podcasts when I started training in personal finances.And on one occasion, my mentor mentioned that once a podcast show hits 30 episodes, it depicts consistency.Well, guess what? Today we mark our 30th episode!And to celebrate -and thank you all for your support- I challenged myself to find 30 solid reasons to practice yin yoga!To many more episodes decoding the what’s, why’s and how’s of yoga!

Don’t get me wrong… I love Yin Yoga! But after so many years training people from all over the world to become yin yoga teachers, I only have one reason to explain why Yin has become Restorative Yoga; teachers play music during classes, and not everybody enjoys teaching yin yoga…And that’s because of the “ugly” truth about yin yoga!Let’s talk about it in today’s episode.

Today, I close this series named “Decoding Yoga Cues”. We have reviewed the cues most yoga teachers use over and over again, and have tried to explain the meaning of them -at least- from an anatomical perspective.In this conversation with Inga, we explore the possible connotations of this vague instruction.My hope is that, after these two months of decoding yoga commands, you will be able to practice from a place of awareness!

How do I move only my tailbone? Well, you can’t.However, yoga teachers keep repeating this cue while students have no clue!And the intention is good, but the outcome may not be the greatest.By instructing them to “tuck the tailbone”, the majority end up with an overly flexed lumbar spine rounding the entire torso forward.In today’s episode, I invite you to explore what this cue really means and how we can achieve its purpose without “hiding” our tail or hunching into a crooked position.

As yoga teachers, we're always looking for ways to help our students get the most out of their practice. But sometimes, it can be tough to know which cues to give....or more often, how accurate are the cues that we are used to giving?! In today's episode, I welcome back my dear co-host and anatomy geek, Inga, to discuss another common cue "relax the glutes (during backbends)".Should you really relax your glutes in a backend? Should you squeeze your bum? Should you contract your glutes? What does this even mean, and where could it have possibly originated from?Tune in to find out. And as always- don't forget to let us know what you thought about our insights on this cue/episode.

Before becoming a yoga TTC instructor, I was fully immersed in the practice and teaching of Pilates (and it’s still part of my physical activities!) Therefore, that quote stuck with me forever.Years later, I started practicing yoga and all the teachers I knew said: “keep your spine flat”, “straighten your spine.”As a yoga TTC instructor, I have also cued that thousands of times, until I saw a lot of my students lacking spine functional mobility.I invite you to unravel the consequences of that cue in our spine, where it went wrong, and how we can make it right!

“Shoulders away from your ears”, “melt your shoulders down”, “shoulder blades towards your hips”Ahhhh, this is one of our favorite yoga cues!And not because we agree with it, but because there are so many things to understand about it. However, once you see the illogic behind this cue, you will see how wrong we have been practicing arms-above-the-head poses.Inga and I can spend hours talking about the mechanics of asanas, but today -in 15min- we’ll try our best to decode the non-sense behind this very common yoga instruction.

Sometimes, yoga teachers use metaphorical cues to illustrate what movement to do and how to do it. But very commonly, this idea of “opening” or “melting the heart” doesn’t provide a clear picture of which joints and muscles have to work together in order to produce a more effective and beneficial posture.

As an anatomy teacher, this cue drives me crazy! It has become almost a mantra in asana classes. But nature is way smarter than we are… and it has equipped the knee with its own armor! So there is no need to treat this joint as crystal!Yes, the knee is in a tricky position. It has to deal with the adaptations of the ankle and the range of movements available at the hip joint, but we need to start focusing on moving from the joints that we are supposed to move and don’t expect the knee to compensate and move in ways that it’s not meant to move.Today, I have invited Inga, my friend, colleague and equal anatomy geek, like me, to free you from the need of protecting the knee!

“Engage your glutes”, “melt your heart”, “practice with awareness”... If you are a yoga teacher, or a regular yoga practitioner, these cues may sound familiar. But, do you really know the meaning behind them? As yoga teachers, do we really understand the purpose of them?This month, I’m starting to unravel some of the most common yoga cues, so hopefully we can practice -and teach- asanas in the most effective way!

Today, as we prepare to receive a new year, I’ve invited Prianca Sharma to talk about the importance of taking yoga off the mat and to live yoga in our daily life.Let’s take this opportunity to set goals for the new cycle that is about to start!From creating new habits, to improving our communication, practing empathy, and developing connections with others, we all should strive to become the best human being we can be! Then, and only then, we will truly live as yogis!This is my wish for you, today, and every day of every new year!

Unfortunately, and very sadly, this is one of the most common expressions I hear from my students. As their anatomy teacher, they come to me quite often to help them understand “what is wrong with them”...We all need to come at peace with the fact that our body has its own proportions, orientation, shapes of bones, degrees of mobility and elasticity, patterns of movement, and more, that make us unique and perfect in our imperfection!And therefore, we will never look like anyone else! And even if we do, we may never feel the same while doing the same posture!Today, as many of us celebrate Christmas around the world, let’s take a moment to practicecompassion towards ourselves as one of the best gifts you can ever give yourself!

Most yoga alignment books and courses teach the “aim”, the ultimate physical appearance of the yoga pose. And that’s fine, it’s needed! We need to have a point of reference of what a yoga asana looks like, so we can move our body -and mind!- in that direction.However, when that ultimate physical form becomes the only goal of the practice, we can become frustrated, feel inadequate, and even injure ourselves.By now, I hope, we know that yoga postures are only one of the many ways we can use to have a healthy and functional body that helps carry on through our spiritual journey.