Monday, May 16, 2005


back to yoga

there's nothing like a good yoga class to cure jet lag. seriously.

after this trip and also the recent scaa conference in seattle, i dealt with the time differences effortlessly by yoga.

there's just something about a nicely choreographed yoga class i find that instantly resets the body clock -- i'm not sure which poses might do this, but some sources suggest that a series of inversions does this trick.

i know a lot of people remain skeptical that yoga pose combinations can have these deep effects, but i have to say that while i myself am quite an empirical and even materialist person, my personal experience and that of many others i know simply show that for some things yoga works really well.

jet lag appears definitely to be one these things. . .

for example yesterday at my regular sunday night yoga class with mary beth at yoga people, we did a 5 min. supported headstand at the wall. traditionally, yoga describes jet lag as a condition caused by too much vata, so poses that act to reduce or balance vata should be helpful.

headstand of course will do this, as would boat poses, supine spinal twists, and chanting mindfully while meditating on the sound. also pranayama that focuses on lengthening the breath.

mary beth's particular class yesterday just happened to include all these elements, so my jet lag instantly vanished and i felt as right as rain!

it's just amazing how much i missed my yoga practice while i was away. it was wonderful to come back and find my sadhana waiting for me like a good friend!

posted by fortune | 9:15 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments