What’s your calorie burn?

If you are interested in weight management and cardiovascular health, try wearing a heart-rate monitor during active times (like housework!) and fitness classes. Here’s some of the data I collected over the last several days and what I observed:

When I lead an active Hatha Flow Yoga class, calories burn!! 270 calories in 75 minutes.

When I take other teachers’ flow classes, I burn 30 – 50% fewer calories. Hmm. I think our styles are different.

Personal Data Collected:

• Fitness Barre Class, 60 minutes, 248 calories
• Slow Flow Yoga, 75 minutes, 92 calories
• Hatha Flow Yoga, 75 minutes, 90 calories
• Kids Yoga with me, 45 minutes, 148 calories
• Hatha Flow Yoga with me, 75 minutes, 270 calories
• Stationary bike, 30 minutes, 130 calories

To lose one pound per week, reduce calories by 500 per day through diet and exercise. To lose two pounds per week, reduce by 1000 calories. Physical fitness is measured in muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility and body composition. How much fitness do you need? Click here to learn more>>

Lately, I’ve noticed an uptick in yoga selfies in social media, especially professional photo shoots of yoga teachers. I turned to JP Sears for some humorous insight.

The USDA just released new dietary guidelines for Americans. Their suggestions are based on the latest scientific research from top health organizations. The new guidelines promote disease prevention and better health through nutrition. The full report is available online. Or, read the summary below.

Top 10 Things You Need to Know About the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans

For more information, visit Choose My Plate.

Dine out wisely. Check the restaurant web site before you go. If they publish their nutrition information, you can plan ahead to “eat this, not that.” Avoid dishes with excessive calories, saturated fats, trans-fats and sodium. Just because a dish sounds healthy, it may not be. For example, some signature salads are loaded with fat and calories.

As I’ve grown an interest in Iyengar yoga, I’m paying more attention to alignment. I love Iyengar alignment cues offered in so many postures! However, I don’t suggest following all of the pictures in his book, Light on Yoga. According to Dr. Roger Cole, an Iyengar teacher, “Mr. Iyengar himself demonstrates the pose [Shoulder Stand] without shoulder support in his classic book, Light on Yoga. So why does he insist that most students do it with their shoulders elevated? There are lots of good reasons, but the most important is that it can protect the neck from injury.” Dr. Cole suggests that instead of lifting legs completely vertical in this pose, go for less than vertical and balance on the back of the shoulders, or use the support of blankets. Read his article,”Protect the Neck in Shoulderstand” for more details.

BKS Iyengar in Shoulder Stand

This month’s Yoga Journal magazine takes the same safety approach. Their featured picture sequence includes shoulder stand and plow pose. They demonstrate it supported with blankets. Notice the extra space beneath the neck and how the chin doesn’t press into the chest. Every Iyengar class I’ve experienced so far offers blankets, bolsters and backless chairs to get us into a safe position for shoulderstand. According to the Yoga Journal, headstand should only be practiced under the care of an experienced yoga teacher. It’s true unless you’re well trained in this posture. In my own practice and teachings, I’m now exploring alternative inversions, like Legs up the Wall pose, Forearm Balance, Handstand and even Three-Legged Dog and Standing Split, to enjoy the benefits of inverting without risking injury to the neck.

I woke up early this Sunday to experience the 8:15 AM hatha flow yoga class with Bella at Golden Path Yoga in Coral Springs, a relatively new yoga studio that offers Yin, Hatha, Hatha Flow, Broga and Kundalini classes. I met Bella in the small retail lobby which featured mala beads and clothing. She checked me in, then led me through to the practice space, which was adorned with back-lit drapes in yellow, orange and red, lighted fabric circles, two multi-colored lamps, and a smooth dark wood floor. I could feel the good energy in this space and I liked it. Bella taught from an altar featuring a symphonic gong and singing bowl nearby. I was unfamiliar with her pop music selections, but the stereo was excellent, providing a lush soundscape of music, soothing voice and supportive words. Our vinyasa moved at a slow and even pace, which I liked, and she gave us a full-length savasana at the end. She treated us each to some essential oil spray and a few taps of the gong as we rested. Great job, Bella! Thank you. 🙂

My birthday came again. Reflections on 45 started with 45 symphonic gong strikes, building luscious vibrations, one after the other, crescendos and reverberations. A wonderful, rich sound that ended too soon. It made me feel like life goes by quickly. Today, I attempted a 45-minute meditation. I planned to guide my mind through each year of my life. I started as a child and moved forward, as well as I could remember, but it felt more like reviewing phases of my life than actual years. With very little internal dialogue, I experienced presence and focus with some hunger distraction. Lunch would come soon. I saw colors, pictures and video clips. I heard a soundtrack as well– an ongoing, personal selection of popular songs meaningful to me at various times in my life. I sang along in my mind as matching pictures and videos played. My meditation concluded at 38 minutes when my family called out to me it was time to leave, but that’s okay. Tomorrow, I’m planning to practice 45 sun salutations. Last year, I performed 44 full sun salutations. It took me over an hour. I expect the same this time. Reflections on 45… and manifestations for the coming year. I should probably write down 45 things I’m grateful for, too.

It seems that Pura Vida Yoga is the closest Iyengar studio to Coral Springs at 17 miles away, so Kim and I chose this studio for our first re-visit. With rush hour traffic and delays, it took us 45 minutes to arrive at the 9:30 AM class. I wish there were Iyengar teachers closer to home! Nevertheless, today’s experience was wonderful. We received 90 minutes of friendly, articulate instruction and observation from Susie, the studio owner. She was so friendly and approachable, we each decided to buy a 5-class pass. Once again, I was totally humbled. We worked on only a few postures today, but they were so much different than the way I perform them in other classes. I’m used to finding a pose, correcting any major misalignment, holding for a little while, then moving on. In Iyengar, that’s just the beginning. Each pose is refined through a slew of detailed instructions for muscle engagements, internal rotations, external rotations, lifting, pulling, letting out, shifting the weight… making each pose a practice of concentration and effort, but the reward is strength, length and space! I was sweating for sure and sometimes reminding myself to breathe.

Susie stopped the class three times to gather us around one student for demonstration. For the first two, she highlighted their poor alignment, which was educational, but I felt bad for those students called out for their wrongness. When I suddenly became the third person put on display, I was nervous because she’d already corrected me a few times in other postures. To my surprise, she wanted the class to look at my Gate Pose because I was doing it “beautifully,” “without ego” and in my “cute pants” it was easy to see my muscles engaged optimally. Yeah!! Afterwards, I asked her about Gate pose because she instructed the foot of the extended leg perpendicular to the short edge of the mat, not parallel like I have been taught and teach. This was new and challenging for me! But apparently my hips liked it. I’m thinking Iyengar might even solve some of my chronic tightness and occasional aches and pains. We’ll see!

I’m still a little curious why Iyengar teachers push bodies into poses, and don’t offer modifications more often. As the teacher manipulated one student on display who was doing something wrong, she pushed and pulled until the student said, “hey, stop, you know I could break.” Wow. I know that Iyenger is generous with props, but what about postures that can’t use a prop? For example, in Warrior 2, she insisted that we all sink our bent knee to 90 degrees, thigh parallel to the floor, and even told us how her Iyengar teacher would sit on that thigh to make sure it was parallel to the floor. Yipes! We all sunk as far as we could, even the elderly in the room, and she didn’t sit on anyone. In the opening of class, she brought us all into a seated pose with hands in prayer gesture behind our backs. Ouch! I could only grasp my wrist today. Luckily, I told her my right shoulder was in discomfort today so she didn’t insist that I connect my palms back there. Good, because I just couldn’t.

Regardless, I’m looking forward to coming back to Pura Vida Yoga. I really like Susie & Kerry and have enjoyed both of their classes. I like the students, too.