Adrenal Help through Yoga

What are the adrenal glands, where are they located, and how does yoga help revitalize and tone the adrenals? The adrenal glands are located on top of each kidney and they are tiny organs that perform important roles in the body. The adrenal glands produce several hormones that effect our development and growth, they help regulate kidney function, and they influence our capability to deal with stress in our lives.

The body’s reaction to stressful events is regulated by the adrenals “fight or flight” response. The adrenal glands also produce hormones that affect our blood pressure, blood sugar levels, growth, and sex drive. When the body is chronically stressed, cortisol is continually release from the adrenal glands in response to the stress, which can damage body tissues. Stimulating the adrenals long-term due to chronic stress can lead to high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, and increase your risk of infection by depleting white blood cell levels.

So how does yoga help? Yoga asana practice, breathing techniques, and meditation can help to calm your mind, breaking the “fight or flight” response. This eases the burden on your adrenals because you learn to better deal with your stress. Practicing slow, deep breathing techniques like ujjayi breathing and extended exhale breathing can calm your mind and slow your heart rate. When you synchronize your breath and movements in asana practice you also help calm your mind. You can think of meditation as a deliberate practice to achieve a calm state from intense concentration on a single object until all other thoughts vanish. All that is left is an intense awareness of the object. Meditation reduces stress and anxiety.

In addition to the general support that yoga asana practice provides to help the adrenal glands, there are many poses that specifically help the adrenals. A mini-sequence of five poses that I will highlight through individual posts is:

• Eka Pada Rajakapotasana in a supine position (Pigeon Pose)
• Tiryaka Bhujangasana (Twisting Cobra Pose)
• Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Pigeon Pose)
• Setu Bandhasana (Bridge Pose)
• Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)

You can apply this mini-sequence to your practice in full or in part to help revitalize and tone your adrenal glands!

Namaste,
Leslie Ottavi

Medical Community Supports Nasal Wash

I have been an advocate of nasal washing with a neti pot for some time. I went to the doctor the other day at Kaiser Permanente. I noticed that in addition to medical treatment, they advocate caring for sinusitis in adults at home with a nasal wash. “Use saline (saltwater) nasal washes to help keep your nasal passages open and wash out mucus and bacteria” – quote from home care instruction sheet. Now you can clean out your nasal passages several ways with a solution:

• saline nose drops,
• use a bulb syringe with a saline solution (very gently in one nostril out the other),
• use a neti pot with a saline solution.

My personal preference is to use a neti pot. Nose drops don’t get a good flow going that clears the passages very effectively. A bulb syringe can easily be pressed hard so the flow is too strong pushing mucus where you don’t want it to go. The neti pot is a natural flow in one nostril and out the other. In my experiences, the neti pot has proven more effective and safer.

I also find that using an aromatic salt that has essential oils provides additional benefits including relieving my allergy symptoms and rinsing away germs before they lodge in the lining of the nose. Plus I love the aroma. My favorite aromatic neti salt is by Into the Scented Garden. If you haven’t tried using a neti pot, there is great information on their site to get you started! Check it out at www.intothescentedgarden.com.

Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose)

Let’s open the side body, strengthening the thigh, knee and ankle muscles. In addition, you can reduce the fat around the waist and hips with this pose, helpful during this holiday season. It can also help relieve sciatic and arthritic pains. The full expression of the pose places the palm flat on the floor outside the leg to achieve the fullest opening. There are several variations and we present two variations: arm on knee and using a block. If you are new to the pose, start with the arm on knee variation, then progress to the block variation, and then try the full expression once your side body feels ready.

Full Expression

• Inhale bend your knees and jump or step your right foot back 4 to 4 1/2 feet.


• Exhale your right hand to the floor on the outside of your right foot. Keep your right knee directly over your right ankle and in line with your right sit bone. Your right thighbone is parallel to the floor. Avoiding sinking through the right hip.


• Inhale the left arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep lifting the arch of the back foot. Rotate your left ribs towards the ceiling, press your right knee into your right arm and extend through the left side of your body. Energy moving is from waist to fingertips and from waist to outer edge of your left foot. Opposing forces of energy on the left side of the body create this pose known as extended side stretch. As you extend through the left fingertips, to position your neck correctly, pull your nose into your armpit. Then create space between your left shoulder and left ear by pulling your armpit away from your nose. Without moving your neck, take your gaze to your left hand. Keep pressing your right knee into your right arm as leverage to open the left ribs towards the ceiling. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to outer edge of back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths. ** Note ** Students often compromise their alignment in this pose for depth. When this happens they lose the direct alignment of right sit bone to the right knee and the left ribs are unable to make the rotation up towards the sky. If you are practicing full pose and you are feeling this mis-alignment, start high and in proper alignment and move from here into full pose.


• Inhale coming up with straight arms and straight spine. Use breath and bandhas.


• Exhale and switch your feet and move into the left side. Keep your left knee directly over your left ankle and in line with your left hip. Your left thighbone is parallel to the floor. Avoid sinking through the left hip.


• Inhale the right arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep the arch in your back foot. Open your belly towards the ceiling so that the ribs start to open up. Your right shoulder is down and away from your ear, gaze palm of hand. Keep pressing your left knee into your left arm as leverage to open your belly. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths.


• Inhale and come up slowly with straight arms and straight spine using breath and bandhas.

Variation with Arm on Knee

• Inhale bend your knees and jump or step your right foot back 4 to 4 1/2 feet.


• Exhale your right forearm to your right knee. Keep your right knee directly over your right ankle and in line with your right sit bone. Your right thighbone is parallel to the floor. Avoiding sinking through the right hip.


• Inhale the left arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep lifting the arch of the back foot. Rotate your left ribs towards the ceiling, Energy is moving from waist to fingertips and from waist to outer edge of your left foot. Opposing forces of energy on the left side of the body create this pose known as extended side stretch. As you extend through the left fingertips, to position your neck correctly, pull your nose into your armpit. Then create space between your left shoulder and left ear by pulling your armpit away from your nose. Without moving your neck, take your gaze to your left hand. Keep opening the left ribs towards the ceiling. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to outer edge of back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths.


• Inhale coming up with arms outstretched. Use breath and bandhas.
  Exhale and switch your feet and move into the left side. Keep your left knee directly over your left ankle and in line with your left hip. Your left thighbone is parallel to the floor. Avoid sinking through the left hip.


• Inhale the right arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep the arch in your back foot. Open your belly towards the ceiling so that the ribs start to open up. Your right shoulder is down and away from your ear, gaze palm of hand. Keep your left knee and left hip in line. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths.


• Inhale and come up slowly with straight arms and straight spine using breath and bandhas.

Variation with Block

• Inhale bend your knees and jump or step your right foot back 4 to 4 1/2 feet.


• Place your block on the floor outside your right foot. Exhale your right hand to the block. Keep your right knee directly over your right ankle and in line with your right sit bone. Your right thighbone is working to be parallel to the floor. Avoiding sinking through the right hip.


• Inhale the left arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep lifting the arch of the back foot. Rotate your left ribs towards the ceiling, press your right knee into your right arm and extend through the left side of your body. Energy is moving from waist to fingertips and from waist to outer edge of your left foot. Opposing forces of energy on the left side of the body create this pose known as extended side stretch. As you extend through the left fingertips, to position your neck correctly, pull your nose into your armpit. Then create space between your left shoulder and left ear by pulling your armpit away from your nose. Without moving your neck, take your gaze to your left hand. Keep pressing your right knee into your right arm as leverage to open the left ribs towards the ceiling. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to outer edge of back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths.


• Inhale coming up with straight arms and straight spine. Use breath and bandhas.


• Switch your feet and place your block outside your left foot. Exhale your left hand to the block. Keep your left knee directly over your left ankle and in line with your left hip. Your left thighbone is parallel to the floor. Avoid sinking through the left hip.


• Inhale the right arm up extended over your head. Your back leg is long, strong and straight. Keep the arch in your back foot. Open your belly towards the ceiling so that the ribs start to open up. Your right shoulder is down and away from your ear, gaze palm of hand. Keep pressing your left knee into your left arm as leverage to open your belly. Visualize an extended line from waist to fingertips and waist to back foot. Hold for 5 Ujjayi breaths.


• Inhale and come up slowly with straight arms and straight spine using breath and bandhas.

Better Yoga Poses

As the year winds down and a new year begins, I find myself contemplating the nature of the concept to practice a yoga pose in the “correct way”. As a practitioner in a Mysore Ashtanga class, I have on more than one occasion observed or been the recipient of an adjustment by the teacher that is accompanied by the words “a better way to do this” or even “the correct way to do this.” When this opportunity to adjust my practice in a specific way occurs, I try to assess my own body, mind, and energy level at the moment as to whether or not it is a better for me. As a teacher, it is important for me to guide my students to listen to their own bodies when given an instruction and to determine if they need to do a variation that better suits them. I try to encourage my students to try easier and glide through their practice. Find a variation of the pose that feels good, use props as needed, and push gently to a comfortable edge. Forget looking at the person next to you or across the room who can easily move themselves into the full expression of the pose. Of course, there are wrong ways to do yoga poses that can cause injury at a specific time or over the course of repetitive practice. These are corrections that are important for yoga teachers to notice and to guide their students to understand and change. For instance, in Utthita Parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose), you can place the palm of your hand flat on the floor on the outside of the bent leg. Some may not be able to place the palm flat on the floor and so they bend their hand with just the fingers on the floor. Over time, this can overstretch the tendons in the hand causing stress and injury. It is better to use the fingertips or to make a fist placing the flat space between the second and third joints on the floor or to use a block.

There is also the challenge that each style or lineage of yoga (Ashtanga, Iyengar, Bikram, etc…) has its own guidance on the specifics of the full expression of a yoga pose. In addition, each teacher through their own personal and teaching experiences may find adaptive nuances that they develop as a teaching preference. For instance, an example is the differences in instruction for a simple squat. One approach is to instruct the student to have his toes and feet in a straight ahead parallel position with heels down. For some students, this works for them anatomically and if they have not had any knee injuries. For many students, it is better to keep their toes and knees in alignment which is easier on their knees and simpler to put the heels down. One of my favorite differences is whether or not your toes are pointed or flexed in a pose. In Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana D (standing extended hand to toe pose), I have been trained by my Ashtanga yoga teacher that you can point or flex your toe. However, I have been told by some Ashtanga yoga teachers to point the toe and some to flex the toe. Obviously, there are some different muscles engaging, however, every time I am instructed on a specific direction on pointing or flexing, I find myself smiling and adjusting to the instruction.

The full expression of a pose is beautiful to observe and is an expression to help guide the direction of one’s practice. However, for many of us, due to previous injuries, anatomical uniqueness, or age, we may never achieve the full expression of the pose. It’s not the goal to achieve the full expression of a pose, it’s the journey. Learning to understand ourselves, discipline ourselves, and find balance between us and the world are key events in our journey. Uniting our mind, body, and spirit is a learning process and because each of us is unique, our journey will be unique. Better yoga poses come from a practitioner’s growing awareness of themselves. Listen to your internal guidance and make your own recipe.

Virabhadrasana II to Utthita Trikonasana Flow (Warrior II to Triangle Flow)

I found through my personal and teaching experience that this flow can help energize you and open the body laterally. My students have often commented that they would like “to do this in class more regularly”. Warrior II strengthens and tones the leg and abdominal muscles. It also creates flexibility in the leg and back muscles, and develops poise, confidence and endurance. Triangle Pose strengthens the legs, feet, ankles, knees and chest. It opens tight hips and stretches the lateral muscles along the spine and side body.

You can repeat the flow 2-5 repetitions. Let’s break down the steps for this wonderful flow:

Begin in Samasthiti.

Now, inhale, bend your knees, and jump or step your right foot back 4 to 4 1/2 feet (about one leg's length distance apart). Your right foot points directly to the back of your mat and the left foot turns in 45-degrees. Bring both arms shoulder high parallel to the floor with your palms facing down. You can flip your palms to the ceiling to get your shoulders to go back and down. Then keep your shoulders back and down as you turn your palms back to the floor.



Exhale lower your right knee down over your ankle. Right knee is over the right ankle at a 90-degree angle with strength in the back leg. Look over your right fingertips. Your spine is straight from tailbone to top of head. Hold for 1-5 breaths. ** Note ** to practice the correct alignment of Warrior Pose II, we focus on a straight spine from tailbone to top of head. To practice this correctly open your hips to the long edge of your practice mat. If there are neglected muscles in the hips that are holding you back from a straight spine, release the depth of the lunge and work with opening the hips first. Remember that alignment is more important the depth. As we learn how to hold our hips correctly, we can then practice moving into full pose.



Inhale push straight up by straightening your bent leg.


Exhale through the hips reaching the right hand out and then down to your foot or shin. Your left hip comes slightly around. Extend the left arm up to the sky. Your shoulders roll back, keep your neck long, tuck in your chin, and there is a slight rotation of your left ribs towards the sky. You should feel the lateral muscles supporting and lengthening your spine, tailbone to top of head. We are trying to create a straight spine and take it parallel to the floor. Avoid arching your spine. For this to happen there has to be a movement through the hips, where the left hip pushes to the back of the mat and rotates slightly forward to the long edge of the mat. There is a deep crease forming at the right hip and a straight spine extends out of this foundation. If you were against a wall, your shoulders and tailbone would be touching the wall. Hold for 1-5 breaths.

Inhale come up slowly with straight arms and straight spine. Switch your feet.

Exhale; go right down to the other side in Warrior II pose by bending your left knee. Look over your left fingertips. Your left knee is over the left ankle with a straight spine. The back leg is strong and straight. Hold for 1-5 breaths.

Inhale push straight up by straightening your bent leg.

Exhale; move into the Triangle pose on the left side. Remember, it's a shift through the hips that takes you into pose and not an arching of the spine. Extend your right arm up to the sky. Your shoulders roll back, keep your neck long, tuck in your chin, and slightly rotate your torso. You should feel the lateral muscles along your spine lengthening. Hold for 1-5 breaths.

Inhale; as you come up slowly arms outstretched by pushing straight up and straighten your bent leg.

Exhale back foot to front foot. Samasthiti. Now repeat the flow as desired.

Commentary on Healthcare and Aparigraha

The debate about America’s health and the state of America’s health insurance system continues to make headlines. Our own experience has been one of surprise and frustration. Our company has a small group plan whose premiums were increased this year by 25.6%. The breakdown of the percentage increase was quite revealing, 9.31% is due to a “medical trend factor” and 14.91% is due to the group getting one year older. That’s right; the insurance company is increasing our group rate by almost 15% just because we are a year older. No significant illnesses in the group over the last year, just a year older.

Now, our group can live a healthy life style watching what we eat, meditating, and practicing yoga daily, but we cannot do anything about getting older. This made us think about the public health care debate including how to control the cost of health care and to ensure coverage. We add our voices that something needs to be done. Perhaps what is being legislated is not the ultimate solution, but getting started with legislation that will help control the cost of health care and to ensure coverage, providing all Americans with options is important and must be done now.

Why now? Assuming the intention of our current health provider is to continue to raise our premiums for every year we get older and beginning with an average of $300 for an individual policy, then in ten years the premium for just getting older will increase from $300 to $1214 a month. If the rate of increase includes the “medical trend factor” (25%), then it will increase from $300 to $2794 a month. We don’t know many people whose income is increasing by 25% a year, so having health care increase at that rate is devastating. What will the increase be if someone actually gets sick?

The last yama (discipline, restraint, attitude, behavior) is aparigraha. Parigraha means “to take” or “to seize”. Aparigraha therefore means something like “not seizing the opportunity”. T.K.V. Desikachar states that aparigraha means to take only what is necessary and not to take advantage of a situation. From a personal perspective, we shouldn’t take more than what we have earned because if we do, we are exploiting someone. From a business perspective, like that of the health care industry, aparigraha could be interpreted to mean that there must be a balance between profit and benefiting a broader community, our society. One way that balance could be achieved is by not exploiting Americans who want to maintain their health, get treatment when necessary, and still live a responsible and reasonable life. We hope that the concept of aparigraha can be understood and practiced by not only individuals, but by legislatures and businesses.

Salamba Sarvangasana – Whole Body Pose (Shoulder Stand)

I went with a friend to her yoga class today and while I was in Salamba Sarvangasana I began to reflect on the pose and its benefits. Salamba Sarvangasana is known as the Mother of asanas. The translation begins with “alamba” which means a prop or support. Combined with “sa”, which means together or accompanied by, Salamba means supported or propped up. Sarvanga is the combination of “sarva” which means all, whole, entire, or complete and “anga” which means limb or body. The name “whole body pose” is appropriate since the whole body benefits from this pose.

The ancient sages bestowed upon the world a pose that strives to achieve harmony and happiness in our human system, just like a mother endeavors to have a harmonious and happy home. It has been spoken of it as a “panacea for most common ailments”. The thyroid and parathyroid glands in the neck region are stimulated so that they function properly and help to balance and develop the body and brain. The pose increases circulation of blood and lymphatic fluid around the neck and chest which can help people who suffer breathlessness, palpitations, asthma, bronchitis, and throat ailments. It can help to soothe nerves and ease headaches and colds. Insomnia and constipation can be relieved. If you regularly practice Salamba Sarvangasana you can feel renewed vigor and strength as the energy flows in your body and your mind. People who suffer from high blood pressure however, should not do this pose.

As I came out of shoulder stand, I experienced that sense of balance and energy flow that I have often told my students about in class. I was at peace, happy, and energized for my day. It was a fabulous reflection of how each pose we do in our yoga practice brings benefits to our body, our mind, and our spirit.

Below are some variations of Salamba Sarvangasana. If you have not practiced this pose before, be sure to get some direction from a yoga teacher who can help you find a beginning variation that is suitable and who can then help you to progress through other variations to whatever expression of the pose is best for you.