Need a quick energy fix? Do a couple of rounds of these easy breathing exercises. Beware: They can make you look ugly.
Breathing Exercises
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Category Archives: Fitness
Reclining Big Toe 1
Here’s Angi’s take on Supta Padangusthasana, Reclining Big Toe Pose.
Do it in three positions—with the strap around the ball of the foot, then around the arch, then around the heel.
Hold this stretch
Place the strap around the ball of your foot first. Bend the strapped leg and slowly extend it. Pull down on the straps. Imagine that each foot is pressing against a wall. (You can even press your lower leg into a real wall.) Keep feet parallel, not turned out.
If your back hurts, bend your leg.
Make sure your lower thigh is pressing into the ground. If there is a big gap between the back of your thigh and the floor, take a cushion or blanket and place it underneath.
Don’t crunch your shoulders, like Angi is doing here.
Baby Toe Up
Big Toe Up
Point your baby toe up, then point your big toe up. Keep alternating, moving smoothly back and forth. Then point and flex the foot a few times. You should feel the stretch all up and down your leg. Now do your other leg.
Point Toes
Flex
Here’s Angi’s take on Supta Padangusthasana, Reclining Big Toe Pose.
Do it in three positions—with the strap around the ball of the foot, then around the arch, then around the heel.
Hold this stretch
Place the strap around the ball of your foot first. Bend the strapped leg and slowly extend it. Pull down on the straps. Imagine that each foot is pressing against a wall. (You can even press your lower leg into a real wall.) Keep feet parallel, not turned out.
If your back hurts, bend your leg.
Make sure your lower thigh is pressing into the ground. If there is a big gap between the back of your thigh and the floor, take a cushion or blanket and place it underneath.
Don’t crunch your shoulders, like Angi is doing here.
Baby Toe Up
Big Toe Up
Point your baby toe up, then point your big toe up. Keep alternating, moving smoothly back and forth. Then point and flex the foot a few times. You should feel the stretch all up and down your leg. Now do your other leg.
Point Toes
Flex
Strapped with Angi
Grab a yoga strap, and stretch out your kinks with Angi Bloom, www.yogabloom.ca, a yoga teacher in Mt. Tremblant, Quebec.
Reclining Big Toe 2
ARMS Place your hands in the strap, palms facing each other, and extend your arms above your head. Lift your head, gently drawing your arms backwards. Don’t hike your shoulders.
LIFTED LEG Press your lifted leg into the strap and away from your body. Gently move the femur of your raised leg to the back of your thigh so that you feel space in the groin. You can then draw that leg as close as possible to your core as long as you maintain the space you’ve created in the groin.
GROUNDED LEG Keep the thigh on the ground moving downward (grounding your femur) and press that foot into a wall, real or imaginary.
FEET Make sure they are parallel, not turned out. Keep both feet active, toes spreading. Imagine you have toes in your heels, and spread them, too.
Reclining Big Toe 3
Open the leg to the side of the body, keeping the center of both knees in line with the center of the toes. Keep the other thigh pressing into the ground. Try to keep both sides of the sacrum evenly pushing into the ground, although that will not be easy. Imagine that the hip bones, where Angi is touching, are moving in towards each other. Spread the toes, and imagine your feet are pushing through walls.
Very gently bring the raised leg to the opposite side. Keep your other thigh pressing into the ground. Pause at various spots along the way that feel they need releasing and gently sway your leg, drawing it towards and away from your shoulder, to lubricate the hip joint. Then hold the position and breathe into the sensation.
When the sensation softens, you can move your leg further, into the next layer of tension. You don’t want pain, just “delicious discomfort”—Angi’s signature expression.
Roll over on your hip a bit towards your extended leg, and rest your foot on a block or on the ground. Imagine that both feet are pushing into walls.
Turn your head towards the other side. Keep your shoulders on the ground, although that’s not always possible. You can always place a blanket o
Legs Up the Tree
This posture is good for stretching hamstrings, releasing the back, calming the nerves and improving sleep. Don’t do it on your own if you have high blood pressure.
Bring one hip close to a tree or a wall.
Swivel the legs up, and lie on the ground.
Keep the feet active. Push through the heels and spread the toes. To stretch all three hamstring muscles, keep your legs straight. Straighten the knees by drawing your femurs towards the tree, but don’t strain the hamstrings. If need be, move further away from the tree.
You can do this with or without a block under your sacrum. The sacrum should be evenly pressing into the block to build stability and a strong foundation in your sacral area.
You can also do this with straps, placing one around the tops of your thighs, one a little lower and one just above or below your knees.
Gym Wisdom
What must you take off before going to the gym?
Psst, gals. This one is obvious:
Remove your make-up beforehand. Sweat opens pores, allowing you to release toxins. Imagine what happens when all that muck stays caked on top.
Preservatives, colorants, retinyl palmitate (in lipstick), phthalates (in fragrance), petroleum distillates (petroleum-extract commonly used in mascara, produced in oil refineries, “often contaminated with cancer-causing impurities”)…We women use on average 12 personal care products containing 168 ingredients each day.
And how safe are the ingredients? Nobody knows for sure. Many are considered endocrine disruptors, meaning they act like estrogen in our bodies, and have been associated with breast cancer and reproductive problems in males as well.
Fortunately, a large American non-profit, the Environmental Working Group, has gone to bat for us, analyzing products, studying studies and testifying before government investigators. In 2004, it launched Skin Deep, a huge database that rates cosmetics and personal care products according to safety. You can easily search the list.
Unfortunately, EWG is not always privy to all the info it needs to draw conclusions. Indeed, science may not yet have all the answers. We, the consumers, must take a leap.
If I learned one life lesson in law school, it’s to balance risks– likelihood of risk AND gravity. Decision in this case: I’m not waiting for more evidence. The gravity of the risk is sufficient enough to warrant the personal decision to remove make-up before sweating. It’s simple to do, and the rewards could be life-saving.
Oh yea, you’ll need to rinse off the make-up remover as well. Parabens, used in watery products such as make-up remover, are estrogen-mimicking preservatives and have been found in many breast tumors.
Noodles
Make that swim noodles.
I know they’re not what you’d call environmentally acceptable, but they’re so darn versatile—and cheap—that everybody should have two of them.
One you’ll use traditionally. Bend the long piece of foam into a semicircle, and hold it in front of you as you kick your legs in water. Keep it far enough away so that you engage your abs. Then lounge on the deck with it, supine, placing your noodle under your neck for support.
The second noodle you’ll carve with a bread knife into matching sets of foot-long (or so) baby noodles.
Take two and go for a swim–one in each hand, doing breast stroke, working your way up to crawl.
Or lie down and place one under your head horizontally. Make sure you’ve placed it properly so that your chin drops down toward your chest..
“This is a great stretch for the soft tissues and muscles at the back of your neck,” says physiotherapist Shelley Alper. “Most of us sit all day at computers, with our chins jutting forward. The muscles and soft tissues around our necks get really tight,” she explains. Baby noodles are a yummy relief
Down Dog Physio
What’s so good about downward dog? Here’s physical therapist Shelley Alper’s long list of how this yoga position helps. Next, you’ll want to find a yoga teacher who can make sure you’re positioning yourself correctly. Ask her to pull your hips back and stretch you out some more.
Open Your Heart for V-Day
Here’s the best gift you can give yourself and others this Valentine’s Day: Open your heart. Continue reading
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