Yoga Cures: Simple Routines to Conquer Over 50 Common Ailments and Live Pain-Free (39 page)

we can learn to be at ease with ourselves, to give ourselves a break from the grown-up at your shoulder

and lighten up. You can get all the serious work you need to accomplish in your life done and still have

a lot of fun. There is no rule that you have to have a frown on your face and be stern to be taken

seriously.

Anyone who has attempted a handstand or any other balance pose has probably taken quite a few

topples, and how can you not find the fun in that?

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REAL-LIFE CURES: Tara’s Smiles for Miles

I was driving to the airport in Los Angeles and having a “serious moment.” I was reflecting on yoga, thinking about the studio in New York, and, without realizing it, taking myself way too seriously. At a stoplight, a car pulled up next to me and through our rolled-down windows the driver looked over to me and said, “Smile, you should lighten up.”

Granted, it was an odd thing for me at the time. My instinct was to roll up the window, lock the doors, and gun the light. I was definitely taken off guard, mostly because I was so deeply into my serious moment that I would never have considered a smile, but he was right. I did smile, just a little, and it worked. I immediately felt better and was taken out of my stuck moment. You never know where you are going to find your yoga teachers! They might not

always be sitting in the front of a yoga class.

THE PARTY POOPER YOGA CURE

The cure for a party pooper is to shift balance, change perspective, turn the moment upside down, and have

fun while you’re at it. If we practice yoga in super-serious mode we are missing its joy. Finding, living, and
sharing joy is what yoga (like life) is all about. Joy is in you whether you deny it or embrace it. Ninety-three-year-young yoga master Tao Porchon-Lynch, my good friend, always says that nature is her encyclopedia. It

is always recycling itself, finding and expressing the joy of life with ease. Tao teaches us to remember that we
are nature. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves to find the ease and then get back to the joy and fun of

life that is the natural essence of our existence and the essence of yoga.

Fair warning: this routine is designed to show you a good time. Your first step is to be ready to have fun, or
at least open to the possibility of lightening your load just a bit. Try this routine a couple times a week to start,
and soon you may be having such a ball that you will want to do it every day!

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Dancer

Stand up straight, feet a few inches apart and parallel. Stack your shoulders so that they are aligned with the top of your hips. Close your eyes. Take a big inhale through your nose. Exhale out through your mouth.

Shift your weight onto your right leg. Bend your left knee and grab hold of the inside of your left calf with your left hand. Find something in front of you to focus on. Take two long, deep inhales and exhales while standing on the one foot. Begin to press your left foot into your left hand. The pressure of the foot into the hand will open up the back. Only press as much as you can easily, without a lot of resistance. Reach your right arm straight up.

Don’t worry about the shape of the pose. Keep your breath long, deep, and relaxed and allow your body to move

where it can with ease. Now if you haven’t already done so, simply tip yourself over and topple out of the pose. It’s good for you. Try the pose a few times playing with your balance. Don’t forget to smile and have fun.

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Standing Split

Bring both hands to the floor and touch your fingertips to the ground right under your shoulders. Allow the left leg and hip to open and release, as you lift it up behind you. Walk your fingertips back so they are in line with your toes.

Release your head and neck toward the standing leg. Take three long, deep breaths, favoring the exhales a bit more than the inhales. Repeat on the other side … and again feel free to fall if you need to here.

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Handstand Rocks

From your standing split press your palms firmly on the ground under your shoulders. Straighten your arms. Keep the left leg lifted and rock forward and back, trying to get your hips over shoulders. Keep breathing through the entire movement. Inhale as you rock forward and exhale as you release.

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Handstand L Shape

See if the bottom foot wants to leave the ground as you rock forward. Rest your gaze between your hands. Lift up in your belly as you rock forward to give yourself an extra boost to get some air. Try little hops on that right leg and lift the left leg up so your legs will be in the shape of the letter L.

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Handstand

If you are finding some balance in your handstand L shape bring the legs together at the top. Keep your arms strong and steady and your gaze focused but soft on the ground between your hands. There are a bunch of fun ways to

topple out of a handstand. You can cartwheel out of it, flip your body into a backbend, walk the hands a bit till you can bring the feet back to the ground, or make up your own way. Remember, yoga is experiential. It’s your

experience.

Make sure to breathe through the routine and repeat it on the other side, too!

PMS and Cramps

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