How Yoga Compliments Other Forms of Exercise and Dancing.

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Originally written by Zara M on 27 March 2014

The Yoga4Tango class last weekend started off with an alignment exercise. We were asked to stand with our backs against a wall, feet flat on the ground and slightly apart, away from the wall. Then we aimed to lengthen and straighten the spine’s natural curve by pressing our backs up against the wall. We stretched our arms out to each side so that the shoulder blades rested flat against the wall too, and then we raised our arms up and down paying close attention to what our bodies naturally wanted to do. I think the idea was to consciously but naturally lengthen the body and straighten out the curves so that they were properly aligned and ready for the practice session. It was a nice warm-up and a great way to start the class, being an alternative way to stretching whilst lying on our backs on the ground. I also felt it gave me a peaceful moment to connect with myself, and bring my awareness to each part of my body before the class began.

I was a concerned that I’d find the class a struggle because I had gone out for a run that morning for the first time in many, many years. You look at people running, and some of them make it look easy as they spring along, whilst others look like they are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. I knew I wouldn’t be sprinting down the street on my first go, but I didn’t expect the experience to be quite as painful as it was. Carrying the weight of your own body in a way you are not used to is more work than you think! I was convinced that because my body and muscles were not used to running, that they would seize up, and that later I would not be able to take part in the yoga class. How wrong I was though!

The yoga instructor had certainly not chosen a time to be lenient with us. He pushed us to our limits. The pace was fast and he challenged the class with non-stop transitions and posture holds. But I found it so exhilarating! Despite the physical challenge of the session, I felt that I had suddenly acquired a restful sense of stamina, and for some reason my body as a whole felt more open and flexible. I moved into each pose of the Sun Salute sequence mindfully, and I found myself breathing into each pose in a far deeper way than usual. I had to ask myself whether the cardio exercise I did earlier had prepared my body or mind in some way or other so that I was more ‘up for it’ in the yoga session. I felt like my body was alive. By the end of the session I had started to flag, especially in some of the poses that required the muscles in my legs to work harder, my legs were beginning to feel like jelly by this point I must admit.

I was convinced that I would suffer the following day, but to my surprise my body felt good and my muscles did not hurt. I guess a good combination of the cardio from running and the muscle lengthening from yoga worked well together. I’m not convinced that I want to take up running as a regular activity because I have heard about it being a high impact kind of exercise, but my yoga instructor explained that if you take the time to figure out your body alignment first then you lessen the negative impact of certain sports like running because you don’t put unnecessary pressure on certain parts of your body as your weight will be more evenly distributed. Yoga is such a wonderful activity for getting to know, and also looking after your body, so that you can protect it while doing other things to benefit your health. I am looking forward to the new Yoga4Tango intensive back to basics course, which is upcoming; we will be exploring how you can apply basic yoga techniques to help improve the way your body works in everyday life. I am expecting the classes to focus on things like posture and weight distribution.

I have also been paying closer attention to how the muscles in my body work while I am dancing Tango. I am finding that I feel much more stable now that I seem to have discovered a proper Tango posture, and one that feels natural. I’m not sure when that happened, but I am feeling that my posture has improved in everyday life too. I am not hunching my shoulders as much and my body looks and feels more open, which is benefitting my dancing. Perhaps it has something to do with a change in the weather? It’s not as cold, and people are looking forward to sunshine after having a glimpse of summer a few weeks back. My newfound posture may also have something to do with improved core muscles, holding my upper body upright feels more natural because my core muscles are used to being engaged now. It’s a wonderful feeling.

I hope that the next few weeks in Yoga4Tango will have a strong focus not only on how yoga can benefit our everyday lives, but also give a closer examination of how we can apply yoga techniques to dancing Tango.

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Flexibility and Repetition: How to be Mindful in Yoga, Tango and Life.

Originally written by Zara M on 12 March 2014

I am always quite fascinated by the fact that every week I can go to the same Yoga4Tango class and practice the same yoga sequence pretty much over and over again, yet still be able to take something different away from each session. This doesn’t always happen, mind you. Sometimes it feels tedious and repetitive; but that is why I have to remember that what I take away from each class always depends on what I choose to bring to the class in the first place.

The same applies to every aspect of our lives, whether it is dancing with the same Tango partners or learning the same back-to-basics dance techniques over and over again, whether we are facing repetition in our jobs or daily routines, or whether we retire to bed with the same person every single night for the rest of our lives.

Last weekend a theme emerged in the class, which focused on ‘flexibility’, and I decided to link it to my thoughts on repetition, because the idea of ‘practice’ is linked to repetition and also to improvement and ‘reaching’ further into the task or action so that we get more out of it. When you repeat the same things over and over again; it could be a tune on the piano or a sequence of yoga poses, your aim must be to discover new things about yourself, and experience new feelings and watch your natural abilities flow and grow. Repetition is about learning and reaching your maximum potential. In order to do this you have to work on your physical and also your mental flexibility.

When I first started to practice yoga with Yoga4Tango I had a vague concept in my head about how practicing yoga can be a good way to improve your flexibility, and while I thought this was pretty cool, I wasn’t quite sure why it was necessary, at least for me. I can’t touch my toes, but then so what? I can’t bend backwards until I reach the floor in an arch, but then how would that ever be of any use to me in my everyday life? It might be nice to be able to say I can do the splits, but is that really going to benefit me in any real way? When am I ever going to need to know how to do the splits? I am now beginning to realize that yoga encourages us to be flexible in many different ways, not all physical, and that all of these ways can refer to and affect the ways in which we approach life. When you translate anything you do to the bigger picture, suddenly the potential benefits and possibilities become infinite.

During our Sun Salute Sequence in the Yoga class last weekend our instructor brought our attention, through his usual commentary and instructions, to how our muscles behave throughout the sequence. We were made aware of the constant contraction and expansion of our muscles, and the fact that in yoga, and also in Tango, we are never staying still or the same; even the mind has to be flexible in order to allow the muscle energy to transition into organic energy and flow naturally to increase the body’s flexibility and maintain it’s strength and stability. The instructor reminded us that yoga is about mindful movements, and not blind repetitions.

When you practice yoga in this mindful way, and you really pay attention and put effort into your movements so that each pose flows into the next, you can actually feel quite beautiful and enter a meditative realm of your own. This ethereal existence can be felt when dancing Tango or doing any activity in your daily routine. You should try it!

I had the terribly long and tedious task of copy and pasting clumps of text from an online script writing facility to the new software I bought for my macbook, because the content wasn’t compatible to transfer over in one go. I applied a similar mindset to the task to what I have been talking about, and soon I found that I was in a rather blissful state; not zoned out, but experiencing a mindful pattern of movement and thought. My brain was in sync with my fingers, and I became so naturally absorbed with the task; and even though it had all of my focus, I was still well aware of what was going on around me, and perfectly able to respond to the activity. I felt like I was melting into what I was doing, and that I was part of my environment. There was no resistance or clashing.

I know is sounds a bit abstract to compare something as mundane as computer work with yoga, but the same sort of thing happened when I went for a bike ride. I haven’t ridden a bike for a long time and so it was jolly nerve wrecking. I was so stressed and I felt like I couldn’t focus on the different elements of riding a bike all at once – there was balance, vision, working the brakes, steering, watching out for cars, and people, and dogs – my mind was in a state of chaos and I just wanted to get off the silly thing! But on the way back home, when I got the hang of it, I allowed myself to slip into that ethereal state of mind, so that suddenly the whole experience became enjoyable and relaxing. It felt more natural and right, like I was part of the bike and the road and anything else that happened to join me on my ride.

I think that if you can apply this level of positivity to the different areas of your life, you will stop your mind from closing up and making life seem more difficult or complicated. Look for ways in which you can help yourself, and ease yourself into a comfortable level of flexibility that feels right for you at the time. As you know I have been having trouble with the pigeon pose in my yoga class. Instead of feeling despondent about it or frustrated, I didn’t seek to put the problem at the door of my instructor. Instead I took onboard what I have learnt in the classes and through various conversations, and I attempted to connect with my own body to find out why I can’t seem to relax into this pose. Using a couple of blocks I managed to achieve an alignment in my body that felt good for me at the time, and I know that the more positive energy I put into this pose, the more I will encourage myself to discover what feels right, and the more I will get out of it.

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Connecting The Body and The Mind Through Yoga & Tango

Originally written by Zara M on 05 March 2014

I have been thinking recently about how much I have taken my body for granted over the years. Before I discovered Yoga and Tango I didn’t really think about how my body worked at all. It was just there, like something separate from me, which served only to get me from A to B, and make me look good when I dressed it up in nice clothes. My body was a hassle when it wasn’t well or functioning right, and I resented it when I had little energy to do anything physical, because it held me back from living my life the way I wanted to. I abused it by drinking too much alcohol, and I left my body to repair itself over and over again. I didn’t eat well and I stayed up late even when I had to wake early. I didn’t give it the proper exercise it needed to function, yet I expected it to function anyway. I was young, and my body was in its prime, or so I thought. I didn’t connect with it though. I didn’t work with it, respect it, or enjoy building a proper relationship with it. It was just there. I hardly thought about the part my body plays in my life at all.

As you get older you change the way you think about yourself though. I know now that my relationship with my body is more important because I know that it defines what sort of life I can lead; and forming a connection between my body and mind reminds me that I have the power to choose how I want to feel every moment of every day. The mind and the body must form a positive and equal relationship in order to walk harmoniously through life together. (You can quote me on that if you like.) I am now thirty years of age, and I have only just started to realize how special my body is. It is the only one I have.

The reason all of this has come to the forefront of my mind now is because recently I strained my neck and it was jolly painful for a few days. I wasn’t able to attend the Yoga4Tango class last weekend because I need to rest it. Don’t worry, I didn’t strain it while I was doing yoga, I think I must have slept wrong. The small but deeply incapacitating injury has seriously made me evaluate how much you can take your body for granted. It has also brought my attention to how useful both Yoga and Tango can be to help resolve the physical and mental ailments of the body and the mind, and also how important they both are in helping you to develop these special connections; mental connections, physical connections and sometimes even spiritual ones; they all work towards developing who you are and how you approach life and the people you meet.

During the Yoga4Tango class I attended the week before, the instructor made a reference to pain, which stood out to me because it made me giggle. “Why create pain?” he asked, “It doesn’t make sense.” His comments made me smile because they were true, why continue to struggle through something when you can take a step back to re-establish what your situation is, and then find a better way? Sometimes it is important to feel the pain though, because then you can use it as a sign to back up and re-evaluate things before proceeding onwards. Often we don’t stop; we continue to struggle through. This is a mistake we make most when we are young, and luckily our bodies are fit enough to handle it. When you get a bit older you must learn to listen to your body.

If we feel pain in a yoga pose, it is because the body is not properly aligned or there is too much compression, and we need to come out of the pose in order to focus on the distribution of our weight, and breathing more air in to expand the body and allow for more space and flexibility to stretch and twist into the pose. We use muscle energy to generate the strength we need to establish ourselves in the pose properly before transitioning to organic energy, which allows us to sustain the pose, and breathe deeper into it whilst allowing the muscles to relax just enough so that we are comfortable, yet still strong and stable.

I think it is always important to question anything that doesn’t feel right, and anything we don’t fully understand. How often when dancing Tango, do you struggle with your back ochos, without attempting to understand why they seem so difficult? If you attend a few Tango classes, and there are plenty in and around London, you can begin to understand how the rest of your body needs to work and behave in order for those ochos to flow smoothly. It is not just about learning where to put your feet; your body must move as a whole and the energy needs to flow all the way through you, from the music and your partner, it must fill your mind with emotion, and then surge through into your shoulders, chest and heart; spiraling down through your core like a corkscrew so that you have enough momentum to swivel on the balls of your feet and step back into your ocho. (Don’t quote me on all of that though!) What I am trying to say is that when something doesn’t work properly or feel natural to you, there is a reason you are struggling. Struggle shouldn’t be continuous.

Even when something works perfectly, make sure you understand why it does! I have attended all of these Yoga4Tango classes week after week and not once have I bothered to find out why we all say “Namaste” to each other at the end. Everyone just looks happy and blissed out, so I have followed the crowd, and felt good too. I have just looked it up though, and so when I say it at the end of the next class it will feel much better because the gesture will have meaning for me. If you want to find out what “Namaste” means, here is the link – http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/822.

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Pay Attention to The Journey: Mindful Transitions in Yoga

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Originally written by Zara M on 13 February 2014

If you don’t pay attention to the journey, how will you ever know how you got to your destination? What if you end up in the wrong place? Making the journey again would be pointless because you could just end up back in the same wrong place! I am of course, not talking about your journey to work or any other physical journey in life, although these could also apply; what I am referring to is the mental awareness of what it takes to get you from one place to the place you want to be; more specifically, the importance of making mindful transitions in yoga, and while we are at it, let’s also apply the theory and practice to dancing Tango.

Why doesn’t she just say that then? I hear you think, instead of waffling on in metaphor about “journeys”? If I began this article by jumping straight to the point, and if I basically told you what the essential message of this blog piece is before sharing my creative thought process, then perhaps your mind would just glaze over. The information would go in one ear and out the other, because when you arrive at a destination without enjoying the journey, suddenly the journey has no relevance to you because you didn’t mindfully experience it yourself.

Is this a mistake you repeat in your life, your yoga practice and your Tango dancing? Or do you have the patience, and take the time to enjoy the process, the learning, discovery and the journey as a whole? If you do, you are much more likely to gain a deep sense of satisfaction, not only in the activities you pursue; whether it is preparing dinner in the evening, pushing personal boundaries with a certain yoga pose, or perfecting that Tango move you want to lead or follow; but also in your personal existence and life as a whole.

Last weekend the focus of our Yoga4Tango class was all about mindful transitions. It was about aligning the body properly first before using muscle energy to transition into each pose, and then transforming this muscle energy into more sustainable organic energy by allowing our bodies to surrender to gravity and move deeper into each pose. We practiced the process several times using the Sun Salute sequence; flowing through the whole sequence with smooth, mindful and flowing transitions, and then holding each pose for five breaths, which allows us to consciously re-evaluate and analyze how our bodies feel in each pose, so that we can make adjustments in order to make the end results feel even better. Yoga is all about feeling good, after all.

I can forget the fact that yoga and Tango is about feeling good when I am not feeling properly grounded, and my body and mind are not connected at the beginning. If I don’t prepare both my body and my mind by arriving in the space on a mental and physical level before any action takes place, which means focusing on the present moment and letting everything else go, then I have already missed the first vital phase of the journey. Before any journey you take in life, you must prepare for it. If I do not take the time to align my body properly whilst I am transitioning in and out of yoga poses or practicing steps with a Tango partner, then I just end up feeling irritable because my body feels wonky, unbalanced and inflexible, and the whole experience becomes a struggle, because essentially my mind and body are not united; they are in resistance. It is like going on a physical journey somewhere but not really wanting to, so there is a reluctance that makes the whole journey unpleasant, and the destination becomes pointless!

Okay, I think I have talked enough in metaphor now, so let me tell you about my own journey in the yoga class last Sunday. I found most of the class a pleasure because I arrived with the conscious aim of wanting to improve on the previous week. I knew that my focus in the previous week had not been firmly situated in the here and now, and so I was not able to get the most out of the session; I had felt restless and my mind would not sit still. But the main thing is that I was aware of my shortcomings and so I was able the following weekend to approach the session differently, and address those issues to have a much more pleasurable experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the Sun Salute sequences, and I even took more pleasure than usual in holding the poses I often find more difficult, because I was mindfully moving into those poses and thinking consciously about where the tension was and what I could do to relieve it. It’s a rather lovely feeling when you independently figure out why you are struggling with certain poses; and then when you make the adjustments needed you feel your body accept the pose and that is when you really enjoy it.

My pleasurable experience of the class did not last the whole way through though. Perhaps this was because I knew that something was coming that I have a problem with, and I can’t figure out why yet. That something is called ‘The Pigeon Pose”. It is supposed to be a sort of resting pose that opens up the hips. We have started to do it at the end of the session. The body has been properly warmed up for the pose by this point. I don’t like the pose at all though. I feel uncomfortable in it; lop-sided, and misaligned like I am going to either topple over onto one side. I can’t relax into the pose or ‘surrender to gravity’ either, because most of my energy to focused on ‘holding’ my body in the position, so I am feeling tense when I know I shouldn’t be. Basically I am waiting for it to be over. There must be something I am doing wrong. Maybe it is something to do with how I am setting my body up in the position to begin with. Maybe I will ask for some extra help with it next week. I will let you know how I go.

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Yoga is a Way of Life

Originally written by Zara M on 05 February 2014

I think I am re-entering the ‘upward struggle’ phase in my yoga practice – I found it difficult to relax and stay focused in the class this weekend. I’d like to blame that on the sugary muffin I ate prior to the session, but I know that mostly it is due to me wanting to take my practice more seriously and grow; my conscious awareness is consequently causing me discomfort.

If you read my blog last week you will know what I am referring to. For those who haven’t, I explored why both yoga and tango can feel so easy and pleasurable at times when we are blissfully unaware of our flaws; and then it becomes less pleasant, because suddenly we find ourselves in a different stage of personal development; one that forces us to be aware of our incompetence, and we consciously have to work harder on improving ourselves in order to get back to that blissed-out, natural and flowing sense of enjoyment.

We did our three-part breathing exercise at the beginning of the class sitting up this week, which was a different experience for me, as I always do it lying down on my back. So this was the first thing that felt unfamiliar. The instructor has also been encouraging us to use the muscles in our backs as well as in the stomach muscles when breathing into each section of the torso, and to be honest I’m not sure if I am doing it right. When I use my back muscles I feel like my body is becoming tenser rather than relaxing as I breathe and move the air through it. I guess this is just something I need to continue to practice until it begins to feel natural.

The instructor pointed out that when we come to a yoga class we are not actually ‘doing’ yoga; we are just ‘practicing’ it. Apparently the real yoga happens when we take what we have learnt in the class away and apply it to our everyday lives. Yoga is a way of life. With this in mind it makes sense to take the breathing exercises we do in class away with us to perform in our own lives; and the more we do that, the more natural, and part of us, it will begin to feel. These breathing exercises are not designed only to do while lying or sitting down after all; you can benefit from them in a variety of situations. You may even find yourself hanging upside down and want to apply some yoga breathing to the situation – who knows? Last week I found myself concentrating on the alignment of my body and breathing to make the task of carrying heavy shopping bags home less of a struggle, and the difference it made was very surprising!

We also tried out a new breathing exercise in the class, which involves a weird ‘pumping’ technique. You have to breathe the air into your body and then use your core muscles to pump it all back out immediately; and you do this rhythmically for about two minutes in order to warm up the body. I quite enjoyed it, it was fun; but the unfamiliarity and strangeness of it all did make me feel a bit self-conscious, which I found slightly distracting. That’s just me though. I enjoyed how it seemed to raise my heart rate by the end, and I felt like I had really been working my stomach muscles. I thought about what my belly would look like by the end of the month if I did that regularly.

Another problem I found that I had throughout the class was that I was feeling areas of discomfort in some of the poses, which was perhaps magnified because I was paying more attention to everything I felt I was doing wrong. For example, there were certain poses where the bones in my knees or elbows hurt as they pressed into the mat. I have felt this before and I always put it down to me being slim and not having enough meat on my bones! We had a new person who started the class on Sunday though and I was interested when she raised her hand to explain to the instructor that her knees and elbows were feeling ‘bony’ in certain positions, and was this normal? It made me smile, because I have been suffering from this particular niggle pretty much ever since I first started my yoga journey, and I have never wanted to disrupt the flow of the class to ask about it. I think it is really important to talk about any issues we have during a practice though, because it may be something that several other people in the class are also having a problem with.

I think I will suggest to the instructor to carve out five minutes at the end of the class for any questions, so that we all have the opportunity to address the things we found difficult and get some feedback that the group as a whole may find useful. Everyone in the class may be at different levels and on their own personal yoga journeys, but at the end of the day we are all there experiencing the practice together and we can benefit from some form of collaboration and exchange. The energy in the room has felt really good over the past few weeks, with new faces appearing for the Yoga4Tango short courses. So we should make the most of the community we are forming.

One thing I really noticed this week was the absence of our second yoga instructor, who normally circles the room assisting and making physical adjustments to everyone’s poses in the sequence. Perhaps I felt even more aware of the fact that I may not be doing things correctly, and I felt more insecure about my flaws because there wasn’t any reassurance from the assistant to help correct my body alignment. Often I can feel that my alignment is a bit off because I know that I am struggling in a pose, but perhaps at this stage it is still difficult to know by myself what it is that I need to adjust. I am looking forward to her return next week; she has been missed.

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The Importance of Body Alignment in Yoga and Tango

Originally written by Zara M on 31 January 2014

I learnt a valuable lesson this week. It really is true that you get more out of something when you put more into it; and in order to reach the top of any mountain and enjoy that vast view it has to offer, first you have to climb it.

I came out of the Yoga4Tango class last Sunday feeling completely blissed out. When I have a small gap in between my yoga practices I tend to come back to the class feeling more eager, open-minded and relaxed, and so I feel that I enjoy myself more, perhaps because I have less mental resistance. I have often wondered why I also enjoy dancing Tango more when I am not attending Tango classes on a regular basis. In fact I often feel like I dance better when I have not been practicing. But surely this can’t be the case when they say that practice makes perfect? Am I an exception to the rule? As much as I’d like to think I am, it certainly isn’t the case.

After reading an interesting article this week on Tangofolly by Veronica Toumanova titled, Why We Suffer When Learning TangoI now understand what is going on. It is not that I dance better when I don’t practice; it is just easier and more pleasurable because I am not paying attention to my flaws. I am therefore less conscious of improvement, because I am becoming more and more settled into my bad habits. If you want to get the most out of anything though, you need to be in the ‘Improvement mindset’, otherwise you are simply reinforcing everything you are doing wrong and limiting the level of enjoyment and fulfillment you could be achieving. I suppose it boils down to what sort of person you are – Are you the sort of person who will stop half way up the mountain and enjoy the view from there, or will you push past your boundaries, face your fears and keep climbing to the top to enjoy the full 360 degree view you deserve?

We explored this idea too in the Yoga4Tango class on Sunday when we focused our understanding and attention on body alignment. The instructor explained that when we do not align our bodies correctly we make things more difficult for ourselves because then other parts of the body have to work harder to compensate and support the body in the pose; this is when we feel the struggle.

A telltale sign that you haven’t got your body alignment right is when you find that you can’t maintain your smooth-flowing three-part breathing when holding a yoga pose. For me, this was a golden nugget of information, because I regularly experience broken breathing when trying to hold certain poses; and these are also the poses I find the most difficult and I struggle to maintain. Often I break the cardinal rule and I stop breathing altogether because I find the broken breathing distracting. Apparently there should be no such struggle if you have taken the time and attention to align your body properly as you move into a pose, and the sequence should flow in a comfortable and stable fashion. It should feel natural, because your body is simply doing what it is capable of doing, no more and no less; which is why it is always important to be aware of your own pace, and do what feels right for you as an individual.

I was inspired by the image the instructor gave us of a skinny woman being able to hold certain poses for a long time without struggle, even when adorned with weights on either side, because it is not all about strength or muscle, it is about balance, even weight distribution, and getting the alignment right. Another visual example given was that of building blocks; when you stack them up correctly so that they are aligned, they create a stable and strong structure.

Breathing in three-parts is one way we can constantly bring our attention to the various sections of our core, which we have the power to lengthen and twist. It also helps to pay attention to where we are folding our bodies when we bend over or reach forward – Are we folding from the hip crease to create balance and enable the breathing to continue unaffected? Or are we curving the back and compensating by tensing other muscles in order to maintain stability, and therefore causing struggle and tension in the pose? Can you move your breath freely up and down the full length of your torso? This is such a useful tip, and one that I hadn’t really thought about before now. I always knew that it was important to keep breathing throughout the sequence so that you can move more deeply into poses, but I have never thought about monitoring broken breathing for signs that my body is misaligned because my breath can’t travel through it smoothly. I’m quite pleased with this discovery!

I also came to a better understanding of why I often struggle with my posture in everyday life when standing up straight. I have always thought that my poor posture was due to me being hunched over my laptop all day long; but something the instructor said in the class expanded my understanding of how the body behaves. When I stand up, I have noticed that I naturally stand with my hips slightly forward which results in a slumped back and hunched shoulders. This feels more natural and comfortable to me because it is a bad habit that I have created, which is caused by compensation in my body due to the misalignment and imbalance in the distribution of my body weight.

The instructor stood up in front of the class and demonstrated that when he does not stack up the ‘blocks’ of his body correctly, then his balance is compromised. When this happens we compensate by pushing our hips forwards. I recognized the flaw in his posture as it changed immediately, because it resembled my own; so I was very interested to learn that if I pay more attention to aligning my body correctly so that I am supporting myself better, then I won’t have to compromise for balance by standing with my hips forward, which will help to improve my posture overall. Of course this is bad habit that will take time to relearn.

Veronica Toumanova expresses in her article that “when learning a new movement or a new way of doing something, you will go through four phases: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and unconscious competence.” When I do not go to Tango lessons and when I miss yoga classes and come back feeling content and happy with my performance I am in a state of “unconscious incompetence” – I am comfortable. When I take the classes regularly, I lose this pleasure because I become conscious of my incompetence. This is just the part where I am climbing the mountain and feeling the burn though. Do I want to stop, give up, and always remain at that same level? Or shall I challenge myself to carry on to the top? Maybe I will just take one of my trusty yoga resting poses first, gather my energy and clear my mind, and then carry on. It is time to start taking all of this seriously. We are always capable of more, so let’s put our best foot forward.

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Carving Out Your Own Time and Space for Yoga

Originally written by Zara M on 15 January 2014

I have been thinking this week about how you can easily fit a bit of yoga into your daily schedule here and there when it suits, but unless you build up some sort of consistency and routine for your yoga, you are not likely to be able to benefit from it as much as you could be. Also, it is not as easy as you might think to fit yoga into your life without a little forward planning!

I began to think about all of this when I was working at my boyfriend’s place during the week, and after sitting hunched for many hours over my laptop, I thought about how nice it would be to have a quick break and practice some yoga. I didn’t have my mat with me, but I thought I wouldn’t need it. I was wrong. The carpet on the floor was too slippery to properly ground myself. I couldn’t hold the poses well, and I didn’t feel safe enough to repeat my sun salute sequence too many times, or with as much gusto as I would normally put into it, in case I slipped and did myself an injury.

Also, you might think, like I did, that all you need is the space a yoga mat takes up on the floor; but squeezing a yoga mat in between a bed and a chest of drawers isn’t quite the same as practicing on your mat in a gym where there is plenty of extra space around your mat allowing you to move your limbs about freely, without having to worry or think too much about what furniture you are going to collide into.

So I wondered if it was really worth trying to fit a bit of yoga in here and there during the day if the space or situation doesn’t really cater for it. I came to the conclusion that it was, because not all yoga involves lots of wide movement, or even requires a floor that you can spread out on, or a surface with enough grip so that you can push your palms and the soles of your feet into it without slipping.

For instance, what about yoga breathing exercises? They can be practiced sitting on a chair or kneeling on the floor. Practicing your breathing techniques at some point every day will greatly improve your yoga practice overall, not to mention help to provide some clarity of mind in the middle of the day or before an important meeting. There are also stretching and balancing poses that you practice just standing on the spot; for instance the ‘Tree Pose’, and that other one where you bend over at the hip crease and grip your toes These are poses that require very little movement, but they still work you incredibly hard! Also, because there is not much movement involved you don’t have to change into any yoga pants; you can probably do them in whatever you have on at the time.

There’s no better feeling though, than actually planning your yoga schedule and routine, and also having a dedicated area in your home where you go to do your practice. I think that this sort of ritualism adds to the whole experience and makes you feel like you are taking yoga seriously. Do you have a special yoga environment set aside in your house? It might not be practical for some people, especially if you have kids running about, or limited space and rooms; but I have been thinking about the ways we can all integrate yoga better into our homes, and how we can carve out a calming space in which to enjoy our yoga practice.

For example, how large is your bathroom? If you are lucky enough to have a spacious bathroom, this could be the ideal place for you to set up a yoga room. This doesn’t mean that you have to have your yoga mat laid out ready at all times, you can roll it up and prop it in the corner out of the way most of the time. You can make small preparations in your bathroom though, so that you don’t have to think too much about setting yourself up whenever you come to practice. How about arranging some candles on a plate or tray somewhere out of the way? Lighting candles during your practice can add to the sense of ritual and add a nice soothing and meditative atmosphere to your bathroom, especially if they are scented. Is your bathroom warm enough? Perhaps you could pop a small heater in there? What about a tiny CD player? Or an area prepared for you to safely place your smartphone or ipad so that you can have some relaxing music playing? A clock in a visible spot is also useful. The great thing about practicing yoga in a bathroom is that you can lock the door and you are guaranteed some time to yourself when there are other people in the house.

Another idea could be to use the underneath of your bed in your bedroom to store your mat flat, so that all you have to do is pull it out and get started, rather than faff about taking it out of it’s carrier and then unrolling it, and then rolling it back up again at the end of your practice and putting it back into the bag – all of which takes up time and can put you off if you are feeling lazy or procrastinating.

If you have no self-discipline at all and need the motivation of being in a room where others are practicing yoga too, then why not call a few yogi friends who live nearby? They might be up for a daily morning practice before work if one of you has the space in your house. Knowing that your friends are waiting for you in the morning so that they can start their own yoga practice may motivate you enough to fit more yoga into your life. Yoga4Tango offers this option with a free practice session on Wednesday and Saturday mornings at out instructor’s apartment in central London. Alternative a restorative session in the evenings could be more up your street, to wind down and relax. I have really enjoyed the Yoga4Tango restorative yoga sessions on Saturday evenings. In fact, I wonder what I am doing this Saturday…

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Happy New Year Yoga4Tango Friends!

Originally written by Zara M on 09 January 2014

It felt so wonderful after a few weeks of doing nothing but eat, drink and celebrate Christmas with loved ones; to finally come back and embrace the New Year with some much needed Yoga practice.

I have to say I was worried I’d find it a struggle as I missed a few Yoga4Tango classes before Christmas, and so I knew my body would be well and truly out of shape; but I was pleased to discover that my muscle memory was up to par, and I didn’t find the session as physically challenging as I thought I might. This may have been due to the fact that I spent my Christmas going for long walks across the rural open-skied and hilly landscapes of France, so my leg muscles have been in use much more than usual. No wonder I was experiencing more strength in my body during the class and was able to hold poses seemingly with ease. (Well, I always try to make it look like it’s easy by doing it all with as much elegance as possible, but it’s not always the case I can assure you – aren’t I vain?)

It wasn’t an easy session mind you; Yoga4Tango likes to push us to our limits, within reason of course. I suppose you have to remember that you are always in control of your own pace as an individual in the class, and so if you feel like you need to drop back, you can just slip out of the sequence and into a resting pose to recuperate your energy and regain grounding and alignment. These are the most important elements of yoga, because if you don’t put your energy into getting the grounding and alignment elements right (for you) then there is no point at all, because you are not taking control of your body movement, and there is no mind-body connection.

Now then, I always go on about how good I feel after a yoga class, what benefits I have discovered from the practice and how my flexibility and strength is improving each week; but this week I want to have a bit of a gripe first. There is one thing I really don’t enjoy during the class, and this is when we all have to stand at the top of the mat, bend forward from the hip crease and hook two fingers under each big toe, with legs bent and hamstrings taut. It really hurts my thighs! I can rarely hold this position for long because the muscles in my thighs begin to burn and my knees feel like jelly and I want to release the pressure to get rid of that feeling before I collapse into an embarrassing heap on the mat! It’s not a pleasant feeling for me at all. And then to top it all off, straight afterwards we do exactly the same thing, only putting the entire palm of our hand underneath the ball of the foot – I have to admit that I am getting quite irritable by this point, and every time I give up a few second before everyone else, I feel on the verge of a strop.

They say there is no gain without pain, don’t they? But I don’t feel this pose has improved for me at all since I first started practicing yoga. Perhaps it is my mental attitude towards it that is holding me back? Or maybe it is meant to hurt and I just need to toughen up? I don’t know. There are some you things that you may not like doing but you just have to get on with them. It’s a bit like getting up early in the morning; it takes self-discipline and dedication. I’m not always very good at that. Wednesday morning I forgot to get up early to write this blog for instance, and it completely slipped my mind that I had promised myself to go to the early-morning free yoga practice too!

The peril of working for oneself is that there is nothing and no one to motivate you but yourself. Maybe that is why I enjoy yoga so much; it reminds me that when I make the effort to do something that is good for me, I reap the rewards afterwards and the good vibes of success and achievement vibrate on into the rest of the day and week.

I am looking forward to the next four weeks, as they will be focused on going over everything that we have covered so far. It is to be a four-week intensive recap. So I intend to think about the things I would like to improve or understand better about how my own body works and feels during each practice. Often I go through the session with a high level of self-analysis, which would be great if it didn’t border on self-criticism! One of the wonderful things about our instructors though, is that they observe each of us during the sessions and take note of the improvements they see. Last weekend after the class we all went for a drink and a bite to eat, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear from both of my instructors that they had noticed how much stronger I looked in the class, and how much care and precision I put into moving in and out of each posture during a sequence. I suppose my private inner-monologue of self-criticisms translates to outsiders observing as me being dedicated and taking a pride in what I am doing.

In the spirit of the New Year I am making a resolution for 2014 to practice a little bit of yoga every day; even if it is only assuming downward dog for a few minutes while the kettle boils or speeding through a Sun Salute while my bath water is running! I also want to sort out my posture by sitting properly at a desk to do my work when I am working from home, because I have noticed recently that I have been suffering from a few unwanted twinges and pain in parts of my back, shoulders and neck, which worries me. I hope you have integrated some yoga resolutions into your goals for 2014 too!

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My Yoga Revelation: The Spine is curved!

Originally written by Zara M on 11 December 2013

It sounds obvious, doesn’t it? The spine is curved. Yet all this time, in each yoga class I have attended, for some reason I have aimed for a flawlessly straight back in my yoga postures, because that is what I have always assumed ‘sitting up straight’ meant. In tango too, when I am dancing and focusing on my posture I have always thought that the right way is the straight and tall way. But I’ll tell you what, maintaining an inflexibly poker-straight back is exhausting. After a while it even starts to hurt. So I’m very, very happy to discover that my suspicions have been right all along – the spine curves naturally, and there is a reason it doesn’t feel natural when I attempt to force it straight for longer lengths of time; it’s not designed to be that way! What a relief.

I really love it when I have these ‘aha’ moments in my yoga classes; when something is explained logically and suddenly everything clicks into place. At the beginning of the class last weekend we were shown a little trick to help us sit up tall when sitting cross-legged on the mat. They always say, “sit up tall, back straight, shoulders down”, and it is the same when dancing; in every basics tango class I have attended I have been given the exact same instructions. Mostly I feel like a soldier standing on duty whenever I try to make my back completely straight, and my shoulders have a tendency to do the opposite of relax. This is because in my mind I am trying to imagine my spine completely straightened, which isn’t natural, and so obviously it doesn’t feel natural when I attempt it, it’s hard work. To me “straight’ relates to “stiff”, and if that is the way my mind interprets it, then that is the effect it will have on my whole body when I attempt it.

The trick though, is not to imagine your spine straightening per se, because it is not designed to do that; but to visualize the way your spine behaves in a more realistic way, and focus instead on feeling each part of it lengthen rather than straighten. Often in yoga I want my body to look right in each pose, which is understandable in this modern world where vanity in society dictates that appearance is often more motivating than health or what feels good, but this is the wrong attitude. In yoga we should not be striving to look beautiful or “correct”, because there is no one right way; only what is right for you as an individual. In certain poses there will be those people who can straighten their legs out completely, but the point of the pose may not be to having beautifully straight legs, it is more often than not about being able to feel a certain stretch somewhere else in the body, perhaps somewhere you are not expecting. For example, when I sit up tall with my legs straight in front of me I cannot bend forward enough to reach my toes without bending my knees and curving my back, but the emphasis of this pose is in fact to feel the crease at the hip joint working, which doesn’t require me to reach forward fully, certainly not at this stage. I may not look like everyone else in the class who is practicing the stretch, but I am still feeling the benefits of it, just as they are. Nobody looks exactly the same in yoga anyway.

Now about this trick for sitting up “straight’ – You take a deep breath in through your stomach and up to your chest so that the upper part of your body inflates (this is what sitting up straight actually refers to, nothing to do with having a poker straight spine!) Then you assume a wonderfully clichéd yoga posture in which you touch the tip of your thumb and middle finger together and then place them facing upwards on your knees so that your biceps rotate and your shoulders are naturally pulled downwards, allowing you to lengthen the upper part of your spine and the back of your neck. The spine is beautifully stretched out, and you have the appearance of a straight back, but of course the spine is not necessarily straight, you are just sitting up nice and tall, in a relaxed and natural manner. It is actually quite comfortable!

The best part of the yoga class was the demonstration. I think we should have at least one annotated yoga demonstration in each session. It really helps to see a professional yoga instructor act out a sequence of poses slowly and with a running commentary, bringing our attention visually to what we are learning in the session and how the natural anatomy of the body behaves. The demonstration showed the Yoga4Tango Sun Salute sequence, and the body was paused at specific points in the sequence to show the different curves of the spine working. Seeing the whole sequence in this fractured fashion really opened up my mind to the flexibility of the spine, and what an important part the different curves play. The spine is in fact a very beautiful part of the body, and the natural curves are what make the body look so elegant. Seeing it in action, like a wave in the sea, sort of freed my mind from the mental block of imagining my back as a straight and rigid thing.

There was even a part in the sequence demonstrated, just before the lunge I think, when the instructor paused and it was pointed out that this was the posture we all aim for when dancing tango. The spine was not fully straight at all; but it was lengthened, and the upper part of the body was inflated with inhaled air, with the shoulders down. The whole body was curved but beautifully poised at the same time, with no slump, and nothing collapsing inwards. It looked to me like the body was a sun with rays of light bursting outwards from all directions, a bit like that scene in The Lion King where the lion stands on the edge of a cliff and roars up towards the sky, and then all the other animals below do the same thing! It is an open posture that exudes power, strength, courage and pride.

Our instructor pointed out that for some people sitting or standing up tall and open with relaxed shoulders is more difficult because this is a part of the body where many people hold their emotions. Psychological fear or a timid nature that has been ingrained over time is often physically manifested as tension and retained in the shoulders, naturally closing the body up. I think that I am a naturally introverted person, I was a shy and studious child and I didn’t have a generous flow of confidence; I have always been very cautious, and so I find it challenging to open up my body. I have to do so consciously now.

It feels great when I can achieve this sense of openness, especially when dancing. I usually revert to being closed up again afterwards, when the yoga session or tanda is over. I suppose this is why both yoga and tango are life-long pursuits. They are journeys of personal self-discovery, and it is only over time that these natural changes will take place. I am looking forward to discovering the ‘whole new world’ our instructor describes; “When you embrace change and allow it to happen, the whole world will seem different.” He was talking in literal terms; because standing up straight and tall allows you to see everything from a different visual perspective, and you become equal and level with your environment. What he says also has mental relevance though, because yoga brings the mind and body into unison.

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Pranayama: My Experience of Yoga Breathing in Yoga and Tango

Originally written by Zara M on 04 December 2013

When I pay attention to my breathing during a yoga practice, the sensation I experience after inhaling and then exhaling is almost akin to melting into each yoga posture. Consciously breathing allows me to move my body deeper into the pose, and this is what we were exploring in the yoga class last weekend as we flowed through our sequences.

Breathing is often thought of as one of the most important aspects of yoga, yet it is something that I often forget to pay attention to, because my mind is preoccupied with other things; like perfecting a physical posture, keeping up with the class, or trying to remember whether I should be inhaling or exhaling at any particular moment. The thing about breathing in yoga though is that it actually helps to clear your mind, it helps your body to relax into each pose, and it helps to energize the body by bringing in fresh oxygen. So if you are not breathing properly, you are in fact working against your self.

I have also read that it can be useful to use your breath when practicing yoga sequences as a kind of metronome that guides you in and out of each pose in the sequence. When I practice this in the class my sequences flow much more smoothly and feel more natural because my body is being prepared at each stage with my inhalations and exhalations so that it is not tense and I am not struggling against my own muscles. I can flow through each pose with ease. Our instructor also calls out instructions as to whether we should be inhaling or exhaling. If we are paying attention and following, there is no need for confusion, and the breathing provides structure and rhythm for the sequence as a whole.

I talk about breathing like I’m a pro, but the reality is a little bit different. Conscious breathing isn’t something that comes naturally, especially when you are a beginner yogi. A lot depends on your state of mind and the way you approach the session. Sometimes I feel much more receptive to the yoga class because I have entered in a peaceful and focused state of mind, and other times I feel that I struggle. I think that being able to clear your mind through the breathing exercises at the beginning of a session helps to bring your mind and body into the ‘present’ state that is necessary for practicing yoga.

I have been thinking about how a yoga session may actually begin, in a mental sense anyway, before you have even arrived at the class! Often I don’t give myself enough time beforehand, and so I find myself rushing which does little to help calm the body and mind. I will be on the bus filling my mind with negative thoughts about being late, and then I will be rushing down the street towards the gym and speeding up my heart rate, which is counterproductive to relaxation. When I arrive at a yoga class early on the other hand, I eliminate all of this, plus I have time to get myself into the right state of mind by sitting on the mat in quiet contemplation while others are arriving. This doesn’t happen very often! It may all sound obvious, but when living a fast-paced city lifestyle, slowing down can be a somewhat alien concept.

Breathing is also an important part of dancing Tango. Sometimes we are so focused on getting our dancing technique right that we forget to pay attention to our breath. It is when we stop breathing that things begin to fall apart though. It is important to maintain steady breathing when dancing because you are moving and using all the energy you are taking into your body. If you don’t breathe properly then you get breathless which will inevitably affect your dancing, your grounding and the connection with your partner.

I find that when I lose my connection with a partner during a dance I have to slow down and reconnect – whether my partner is in the middle of a fast little number or not. If I don’t slow down and take the time to re-ground and reconnect, then I usually end up tripping over myself, or him, and I only become even more jittered. I slow down by taking a deep breath in and out until I feel unflustered, comfortable in the embrace and ready to resume. The same applies to yoga. When you find that you are struggling to hold a pose because it is uncomfortable, you are unbalanced or your body is not relaxed enough, taking a moment to either breathe into the pose to relax the muscles which are tense, or alternatively coming out of the pose altogether to re-establish your breathing and alignment does wonders. You should never feel rushed in yoga or tango. It is all about savoring the moment.

I think that it is easy to put too much pressure on oneself and think that if we don’t get something right the first time that we have failed, or that if we don’t maintain some thing we perceive as success, such as dancing to the end of a song without losing the connection with a partner, that we are not good enough. Then we only end up struggling. Struggle is not what yoga or tango is about though. It is all meant to be about enjoyment and feeling good, and there is nothing wrong with pausing to focus on the quality of what we are doing rather that pushing ourselves through to get to the end. There is no end, only the present. Breathing is what brings us into this present space.

I noticed while dancing at a Milonga recently, that when I pay attention to my breathing during a dance my movements feel much more organic, and I feel more connected with my partner. It is quite surprising, when you start to pay attention, how often you end up holding your breath while dancing! You can use your breath to assist in extending your movements though, especially dissociation and twists. I discovered that paying attention to my breathing brought my attention more to establishing a much firmer, solid and yet flexible chest-chest and body-to-body connection with my partner, which is something I often, struggle to maintain. My boyfriend is always telling me to be ‘Superwoman’ and give him more ‘chest’ in my embrace, rather than cowering away, and I have always found it quite difficult. Perhaps the difficulty has stemmed from feeling like I need to hold my breath to maintain the physical connection once my chest is filled with air. I feel that the yogic breathing exercises have provided me with a bit of an ‘aha!’ moment though, because when I exhale all the air out of my body I have learnt how not to let my chest collapse at the same time by releasing the air from my lower stomach first, which helps with posture. I don’t know if he feels the difference, I haven’t asked him for fear of it all being in my imagination, but I certainly do!

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