Yoga Emergency

2010-08-06T09:37:00.000-07:00

Greetings from NY! The hot, sweltery days in Manhattan are actually rejuvenating me in Spirit. I love the energy and vitality of this community- so different from the laconic LA way.......

I am delighted to share an exciting contest sponsored by, one of my favorite partners, Yoga Journal

Yoga Journal is holding a contest to choose the favorite covers for the past 35 years & I hope you will pick mine!
Go to this link and click on the "VOTE" button below. http://covers.yogajournal.com/gallery.html?cover=2004_0910

and as you may have read in my last posting, iVillage has included my submission for the Top 10 Summer Workouts -
(check out the link below to read them all & perhaps it will inspire some summer moves of your own?)

http://www.ivillage.com/why-wait-treadmill-10-best-workouts-summer/4-b-229466#229472

I hope you are all most well & are enjoying your summer where ever you may be!
Sat Nam-K.

2010-07-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

I Village- 10 Best Workouts for Summer

I am honored to be included in IVillage's best recommendations for Summer fitness!

Fun-in-the-Sun Salutations-

Yoga poses and deep, cleansing breaths can help you beat fatigue from the heat while keeping you centered. And you don't have to practice yoga in a studio. "When the gym is just too sticky, the lake or ocean in the morning is still peaceful enough to allow your mind to meditate and your breath to expand," says Kristen Eykel, creator of Yoga Emergency DVDs, all available for download onto your iPod or MP3 player.

Check out the story's link HERE

Pain Relief & Labor Support- Cat/Cow to the Rescue!

2010-02-23T10:50:00.000-08:00

I know you have done Cat/ Cow before. Hands and knees on the floor, pressing your heart upwards as you exhale and as you inhale, pulling up through your tailbone & arching your heart skywards. Maybe you've done it in a yoga class or after an aerobics class at your gym. But doing Cat/ Cow during pregnancy has a whole new dimension to add to you and your baby right now.

When you have to get up yet again for the 3rd time in one night, try a few minutes of this pose on the floor. Keep your eyes closed & lights out and watch how your little soccer player leaves your bladder alone and settles back down, letting you relax enough to go back into sleep.

Not only does this posture relieve back pain & pressure and give you a nice stretch along your entire spine, but when the baby gets heavy, and it will get very heavy, this posture might become your best friend.

Because, this posture, my friends, will help you to give birth.

As you get closer to term, and you feel the head begin to engage deeply down into your pelvis, simple things like getting in and out of the car become more of a challenge. By getting down on your hands and knees and flexing the spine & pulling the heart up, not crunching in your low back, you can help alleviate some of this pressure.

Notice that when you rock up through the tailbone, you can actually open your hips too, flaring outwards to open up your pelvic girdle. This opening action becomes especially important while you labor as you really, really want your pelvis to open up from the inside to it's greatest extent. You can feel here how the baby falls forward with a little gravity, relieving pressure on the cervix. Cat/Cow also allows you to bear down more easily and with more power on your hands and knees than you ever could dream of lying on your back. Midwives worldwide recommend mothers to labor in this posture to help move the baby into proper birthing position (with the baby facing towards your spine) & to relieve the pain of back labor (so called when the back of baby's head is pressing into your tailbone. Excruciating, trust me!).

On your hands and knees you are actually helping to relieve pain & pressure not only in your body, but also for your little one. You are creating space in a tiny place where centimeters count.

Need another reason to get down on the floor?

Birth is hard on both of you and the more you can do to keep both of you oxygenated, relaxed and moving, the better you both will feel and the easier labor will be on you and your baby.

Be well & Sat Nam- Kristen

2010-02-02T17:19:00.000-08:00

Following up on the last post, Leg cramps are excruciating, and are all too common during Pregnancy. If you wake up with them, flex your feet upwards & stretch through your heels, NEVER point your foot. This will only make the cramp worse.

A super simple stretch that might also be useful for you, is to place the balls of your feet on the edge of a thick phone book. Go up high onto your toes, then come back down again all the way past the edge towards the floor. This counter stretch should feel pretty amazing. Keep going up and down on your toes to strengthen your ankles & calves and enjoy a deep stretch all the way into the tendons.

Make sure to stretch your legs out well before bed if you have been on your feet all day or done lots of walking.

Add these few practices, & I think you will sleep much better tonight!

Sat Nam- Kristen

2010-01-15T16:25:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year to you All. I have found that, despite my best intentions, I do not update my blog as often as I had hoped. As a result, I resolve this new year to do better & write more.

To that end, I was inspired by the ladies in my class today (thank you Amanda!) to repeat here what we speak so often about in class- yes, our least favorite subject, painful hips and cramping legs. Hooray for the new normal!

I give you now the beginning of a series Top Tips for Pregnancy & Beyond.

Perhaps not the most inspiring title, but truthful nonetheless. These babies are the real deal and will help to get you through some tricky spots and perhaps have you feel better at the same time. Oh, and if some of these ideas inspire you to come up with more & even better ones? SHARE them. I always look to pass on the good info.

A to B Calm- This Calcium/ Magnesium supplement is a blessing. Taken as a small spoonful dissolved in hot water, add to your juice or tea before bed and you will not only sleep like a baby, but say goodbye to leg & hip cramping as well. You can buy it here.

During Pregnancy you need more calcium than you can absorb from just drinking milk & as much as you love your dark, leafy greens, you probably just can’t eat one more salad. I like mine Juiced for that reason. Skip the fruit altogether unless you are a real newbie to juicing.

If you just can’t swallow it without a bit of the sweet stuff, add a small amount of carrots, or 1/4 beet or apple. Your body & your baby do NOT need the sugar and your taste buds will adapt to the new flavors pretty quickly.

However, have someone who really drinks juice to make it for you in the beginning. The difference between delicious and disgusting is a pretty thin line. Too much ginger or parsley can ruin the whole balance. And I’m not a big one for a lot of pulp either. Eeeww.

Try a light one to start off- some cucumber, spinach, carrot and a tiny bit of beet. Work up to the kale and parsley with wheatgrass & ginger number. They take a bit more tolerance, and the goal here is to add some yummy vitamin & minerals to your diet that are easy to assimilate in your body and are less trouble to digest than all that roughage. Your body will begin to feel as if it is really absorbing the nutrients from these drinks. That’s because, it really is.

Leg cramps will go bye- bye if you add more of the Cal/ Mag to your diet as well as some Potassium. Add a banana to your daily diet too and you’ll feel better. Also recommended is a bit of Tonic water, you know the one with Quinine in it? Quinine, in addition as an aid for Malaria, can also help with the cramping and I’ve even used it for my boy and his growing pains.

I have lots more where this came from, and I promise to share.

I really do appreciate your feedback & experiences. Let me know what you need & if I don't know the answer, I swear I will try to find out.

Be well, feel better & do YOGA!

Sat Nam- Kristen

2010 Pregnancy Calendar & Mug

2009-10-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

I am excited to announce the addition of a gorgeous new 2010 calendar to my line of products!

This is a 12 month wall calendar filled with moving voices of wisdom combined with outstanding photography of pregnancy. As well, I have a mug with one of my favorite images available as well. These items are currently being added to the site, but for all who are interested, let me know soon for any pre-orders and get a SPECIAL price for these items.

The calendar will be 12.99, but if you order early, I will offer it to you for 7.99.

The mug will be 7.99, but for pre-orders, the price is 5.99.

These are an inspiring way to celebrate the growing life of a woman, her Spirit and her new baby.

Blessings to the many new lives that are evolving right now!

Sat Nam- K.

LA Weekly names Yoga Emergency "LA' Best Exercise RX for Injuries"

2009-10-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

"Less expensive than a chiropractic session and more addictive than a Vicoden (in a good way), the healing vibes of Kristen Eykel's Yoga Emergency class at Inner Power Yoga releases hunched shoulders, lessens back strain, and soothes the aches and pains of pregnancy. And if you are just a neurotic mess, the soothing incantations of this model- beautiful instructor with 20 years experience in Shamanism, Reiki and Kundalini could calm even the suicidal.

Her candelit class is taught with subtle strains of Indian music playing in the background, accompanying her easy-to-follow instruction; Eykel guides you through relaxing postures that even the tightest of truck drivers can follow. She emphasizes that this is not a "sweat class" ( although you will probably sweat) but a class to make you feel better.

"It's purpose is to bring into your day an energy that you would like to accentuate, or to release something that no longer serves you emotionally or physically," Eykel explains. Occasionally, a particular movement can release so much emotion that it's not uncommon to witness a student burst into tears during the practice. " -Heidi Dvorak

(Thanks LA!)- Kristen

Kristen's Quote in the latest issue of Health Magazine!

2009-08-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

I am honored to be quoted by Health Magazine.

In an article regarding everyday things you can do to lose weight & bring more consciousness to your eating, I was quoted for Saturday's tip-

"When hunger strikes, try this exercise from Kristen Eykel, creator of the DVD series, Yoga Emergency- The 12 Minute Workout. Rest your right thumb near your right nostril, ring finger and pinky by your left nostril. Close the left side and inhale through the right for four counts, then close the right side and hold for four counts. Open your left nostril and exhale through that side for four counts. Repeat cycle again on other side; continue alternating for at least a minute. You'll relax in no time- and may even forget about that cookie you longed for."

Keep reading, as I have loads of ideas to help you get fit & fabulous everyday!

Sat Nam

-Kristen

Get Off The Beaten track!

2009-05-20T12:27:00.001-07:00

Every day presents new opportunities for discovery- will it be energetic loss or renewal? How will you spend your finite energy today?

Will you fritter away your vitality on petty arguments or by repeating worn out modes of behavior? Or will you consciously straighten up your spine (maybe literally as well as figuratively!) and decide to spend your mental energy on the upliftment of yourself, or better yet, the world around you?

Our thoughts guide us and lead us down a thousand different trails daily.

Some are like fantasy pools that may cause us to linger and swim- or perhaps drown inside of them. Others are hard worn trails of determination- like a challenging hike through refreshing woods, or maybe more like a hot, dusty track beaten through a desert.

Some of these meanderings bring us to the sandy shores of infinite knowledge that may expand in scope out to the clear sharp horizon, like say a Hawaiian beach in summer. Or they may end up depositing us into a murky bog saturated with mist & the sucking mud of our buried psyche, holding us by our boots.

You get the picture. We can, you know, at any given moment simply use our internal compass and get off of these pointless and meandering tracks that take us in seemingly random concentric circles. Always moving, yet never quite reaching any resolution. Wouldn't that be great? Aren't you tired? I am.

A simple breath pattern or posture can be all it takes to gve you a breather- even if it is just for 5 minutes. Use that 5 minutes wisely, to end the trail that you may be on that is, in this moment, not taking you anywhere. Then, afterwards, when the fog of emotion has cleared, you can get your bearings straight, so to speak. Take stock of the terrain around you and the choose to go into another, perhaps much more promising direction.

Navigation is funny that way. Sometimes we just can't see the forest for all those trees.

Try this posture to get off the track-

Start sitting in easy pose on the floor, or upright in a hard chair. Close your eyes and roll them upwards and inwards to focus on the middle part of your mind. Inhale through the nose as you lift through the top of the spine straightening your back. Rest your palm near your knees. Exhale as you roll down the spine & feel your pelvis tilt, bringing your tailbone under the curl of your spine. Stretch the spine into a curved "C" shape. Inhale, roll upwards stretching tall once again, and using the gently rhythm of the breath, flow and curl upwards and down once again. Do not stop. Become more fluid. Allow the entire spine to become flexible and soft. Imagine each vertebrae moves independently from the others. Continue to rock in the lower part of your body for as long as you can. Your spine will become more flexible and fluid as the muscles warm up and the body relaxes. Image that you are pumping fresh cerebrospinal fluid back up to nourish your brain, to refresh your thinking and clear away tensions. Feel the lungs breathing ever more deeply as you move- opening the lungs to greater capacity, and then naturally letting the air be compressed out as you roll down once again.

Practiced daily for at least 5 minutes at a time, you will noticeably improve your mental states and clarify your direction.

Good journey to you!

Breath is key to our life.

2009-05-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

So basic, so common-place & so unconscious. Even our cliché about how easy something is to do, is referred to “as natural as breathing”. And yet, conscious breath is an untapped well- spring of enormous benefit.

By regulating breath, one can stimulate the balance of powerful hormones in our bodies. For example-Dopamine buildup can lead to depression and an increase in appetite. As a result, we seek to eat as a way to comfort ourselves. Or, we might eat simple carbohydrates as a way to make up for a drop ofSerotonin in our bodies. However, when Serotonin levels increase, replacing the Dopamine, we feel alert & happy. This in turn assists in the production of Melatonin, which allows us to sleep better, and proper sleeping patterns help curb our hunger cravings. Sufficient sleep too, plays a vital role in appetite regulation. Not enough sleep =more food consumption to keep the body awake and moving.

It is not to say that Breath Control will help you to curb all desire to eat, but this cycle assists in the proper balance of what is nutritious and helpful vs. a desire to “feed the lack” that we can all feel at times. Breath can balance these vital hormone levels, increase organ function and improve digestion & elimination.

In Kundalini yoga, we address the mental & the physical states of wellbeing simultaneously. One simple and effective way to do this is by following this breath pattern to relax the body & decrease your stress levels, yet energize your mental state.

Alternate Nostril Breathing

From sitting in a comfortable position, lengthen the spine upwards and downwards simultaneously. Feel your tailbone reaching into the earth as the top of your head lifts to the Infinite as if suspended by a string. (You may wish to sit on the edge of a pillow or blanket to assist this posture if you are unaccustomed to sitting straight for any length of time.)

Gently close your eyes and bring your right hand up to cup your nostrils. The right thumb will be resting near the right nostril, the left ring finger and pinky by the left nostril.

Close the left side & inhale through the right nostril to a slow count of 4 to start with. At the top of this breath, close the right nostril, retaining the breath for a slow count of 4. Open the left nostril, exhale out of this side on the same 4 count, and then inhale on a 4 count, closing the left nostril, and retaining the breath for a count of 4 before opening the right nostril and exhaling through this side. Inhale and repeat the cycle. When you can, gently increase the count to a 6 or 8 count- only going as high as you comfortably can.

Breathe in this manner for at least a minute initially, but work up to several minutes for maximum benefit. Your capacity will improve with practice.

As you become proficient in this form of breath, you can find your breath deepening to the point of much longer inhales, exhales and holds. But the important thing is the BALANCE of the breath. This is not an endurance race!

This balance is what assists in proper left/right hemisphere brain functioning, your body’s hormonal regulation and ultimately will give you a deeper sense of alert relaxation and calm.

Be aware- do not practice this breath with extreme congestion as forcing the breath is a no-no. And, during pregnancy, breath holding is not to be practiced at all. Instead, follow the pattern without the holds. Simply count the breath in, switching sides to exhale to this count, inhaling in this side, and switching nostrils as you exhale. Simple, safe & oh so effective.

Sat Nam!