Claudia Azula Altucher's Blog, page 9

Yoga Podcast Ep# 1: Fun And Useful Yoga Anatomy with David Keil

If I could study anatomy for yoga it would be with David Keil.  

[If you cannot see the podcast photo with the play button underneath click here to listen ]
Let me give you some perspective so you see how special he is...

David attended a workshop with the legendary  John Scott  as a student back in the early 2000s, and was chosen to return to Scott's workshops as a teacher of anatomy  for all subsequent teacher trainings, which he continues to do today, year after year.




He has a gift, which is to make anatomy interesting and specific to yoga.    

Anyone who has watched his DVDs knows that he keeps the boring stuff to a minimum, and gets to what is really important from the point of view of the poses.
He also has some very unconventional ways to motivate you, he'll say something like: 

"What? You have been practicing this posture for 8 years and nothing? ...Don't you think it might be time to change your approach?"
And he is right.  

Maybe it is time to change approach in things that are not working for us.  

Anatomy helps, enormously.
After reading David's most recent book my practice was completely transformed.  

I would step on the mat and have constant realizations, I'd go: "Oh... THAT is how you do triangle pose"!  or "Ahhh, THAT is what he means".  

WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT
1)   I have a ‘bone’ to pick with David

2)   Common misalignments that he sees as he teaches all over the world
3)    David’s revolutionary idea, backed by Patanjali, that asana has the power to transform people physically mentally and emotionally, and why.
4)   His Million Dollar tip on how to ease wrist pain – He gives it for free
5)   Why is it better for women to stay away from pointed tight toed high hells?
6)   David’s notes on back pain
7)   Anatomical tips we can use today
       8)   And finally, David shares what is his favorite yoga book, which he keeps re-reading again and again, and the author is Pattabhi Jois
9)   David’s special way of teaching workshops to only 5 people at the time
       10) The ONE thing that took him a long time to understand
BOOKS THAT DAVID RECOMMENDS HERE
Healing Back Pain: The Mind Body Connection  By John Sarno Mind Over Back Pain  by John Sarno  7 Setps to A Pain Free Life: How To Rapidly Relieve Back and Neck Pain  by Robin McKenzie 7 Steps to A Pain Free Life: How To Rapidly Relieve Back, Neck and Shoulder Pain  by Robin McKenzie Yoga Mala  by Sri K Pattabhi Jois
Books and DVDs by David Keil:Functional Anatomy of Yoga: It's cheaper at David's site  here , otherwise you can get it in  Amazon .  My  review of the book is here Hands On Adjustments DVD   I wrote a review about this DVD which you can  read here Yoga Anatomy DVD Volumes I and II    I also have a review of these  here

ABOUT DAVID Website  Twitter Workshops Facebook
YouTube
LinkedIn Pinterest
TRANSCRIPT OF  THE PODCAST
Claudia Azula Altucher:  Hi.  This is Claudia Azula Altucher, your host of The Yoga Podcast, and I am thrilled that for this very first episode, I have none other than David Keil for a guest.  He has just released a book that is called  Functional Anatomy of Yoga:  A Guide for Practitioners and Teachers .  David started practicing yoga in 1989 as a suggestion from his Tai Chi teacher, and then he was also an instructor of kinesiology at Miami's Educating Hands School of Massage.  That was from 1999 to 2003, and in between those years, in 2001, he met John Scott, whom he recognizes as his own yoga teacher.  And the funny thing is, when he met John Scott, John Scott actually asked him to keep coming back to do a portion of his own yoga teacher training on anatomy, and David did that and continues to do that to this day as well as teaching workshops all over the world.  Also, in 2002, David did his first trip to Mysore to visit Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, who is the founder of the Ashtanga vinyasa yoga system, and since then, he has returned many times with his wife, Gretchen.  David, welcome to the show, and thank you for joining me.
David Keil:                      Oh, thank you for such a great introduction.
Claudia Azula Altucher:  So at the risk of sounding a little cheesy, I'm gonna say I have a bone to pick with you.
David Keil:                      Okay.  Pun intended, right?
Claudia Azula Altucher:  Yes.  Here's the thing.  After reading Functional Anatomy of Yoga, my practice has slowed down a lot because every little thing I do now, I'm thinking, oh wait, that's what he meant.  And then I go, oh wait, wait, wait.  Oh yeah, I feel it now.  And so, as a consequence, is so long I don't have a life anymore.  So what do you have to say?
David Keil:                      Well, I think it's a good thing if you're slowing down and thinking about what you're doing and how you're doing it, and even more importantly, why you're doing it.

Claudia Azula Altucher:  That's right.  I agree with that.  The why is very important, and there's so many aha moments that I've been having.  It's actually incredible.  So let me ask you, would it be fair to say that you have a super power of x-ray vision when you look at students?

David Keil:                      Yes.  I purchased that at Walmart about ten years ago. Wow.  Yeah, I – you know, definitely I think one of my skills is to observe and to sit back and watch and see how people are moving and where they're moving from and how they're moving, and then work with that.
Click Here To Read The Complete Transcript

Check out this episode!

Choose Yourself | James Altucher | TEDxSanDiego

James at TEDX Sand Diego talking about "Choosing Ourselves"



If you can't see the video here is the link

My List of 10 Ideas For The Past 10 Days...

I am an idea machine, not an "atomic idea machine" nor a "super nova idea machine"  those are levels that come after being a simple, humble idea machine for a couple of years... 

But right now, I only list 10 ideas a day, every day.
In fact I just released the book  Become An Idea Machine: Because Ideas Are The Currency Of The 21st Century
That is how much I BELIEVE in writing 10 ideas a day, and it does not matter if they are good or bad...  see the slideshare presentation to see more about it... Become an Idea Machine
But in the meantime, I can tell you the 10 IDEAS Lists I wrote in the past 10 days...
THESE ARE NOT IN THE BOOK, so consider them a bonus:
10 Ideas to declutter your home And live in the place of your dreams10 books I could write10 gifts I can give my husband for his birthday (it's coming)10 gifts ideas for our fifth wedding anniversary (I am in luv, what can I say?)10 places I found silence in a stressed out day10 ways to promote a book10 top music band or performers I like10 Excellent, IRRESISTIBLE "first lines" for a blogpost Should I die: 10 things my husband's new wife should know10 best written books or pieces (even posts) ever
Come idea # 7 I ALWAYS FREAK OUT
It is the moment that changes you from an "ides are cheap" to an IDEA MACHINE
Try it for yourself, come up with ten ideas a day... see how it goes


Get it here

10 Ideas To Declutter And Live in The Home Of Your Dreams

My book, Become An Idea Machine, is about to launch, and I thought, what best way to share the joy of the message than to show my ideas...  You may be seeing quite a bit of these posts...  


It's coming!
Here is my list for today on which I am thinking of ten ways to declutter and live in the home I want:

1.- Throw Things Out: 

I want to go through my house and look at all the things that "don't bring me joy", as Marie Kondo, author of the book " The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing ", says. 

I want joy!  

I want to declutter

I never put it together that perhaps joy = declutter

home room = mind room...

She is onto something. 

Reading her book opened me up to new ways of looking at things around me and I highly recommend it.  All ten ideas are inspired by her.

2.- Visualize What It Would Look Like:  
There is a closet at the entrance of my house that has so many things is ridiculous.

I think it has old rackets we never use, for a game we never played, a kite, five umbrellas, old shoes from people I don't even know, a bag pack I never used, an old computer, blankets, and on and on.  
I did this visualization and I saw it as a beautiful closet, with decorations on the wall, nice lighting, and just two blankets on top, two umbrellas in a nice umbrella holder and a few coats.  Then empty hangers.  It looks beautiful, spacious, huge, in my imagination.
3.- Donate Things to Charity:
The Vietnam Vets are great in the north east, they pick up from your doorsteps any appliances or clothes, or things, in working order, which you don't use anymore.  I think it would be good to give things in good condition to them.
4.- Clean up: 
A while ago I used an organic liquid to fend off spiders.  Unfortunately the organic side had a bad side effect, which is that it got the walls looking darker, with lines of liquid glued to the wall.  I'd like to clean that.
5.- Organic cleaners:  
I've been getting into vinegar later.  I see a lot of people use it to clean and I wonder if it really does clean... I am so used to chemicals it might be time to consider this.  
6.- Books out:  
I've been thinking that some books I need to keep for research and that is true, but some others I don't.  I guess I could do a giveaway of my books to the audience of the Yoga Podcast, after all I have read so many books in prep that they may serve others as well... They may have markings though, in fact there is one book I read so many times I don't think anyone else would even want it ( it was this book )
7- Replacing Lights And Anything That No Longer Works:  
There are many lights around the house that don't work, it is time to get them all working so any switch I turn on actually turns on.  I think this is philosophically important as well as practical.
8.- Using/Freeing Loose Change:  
There are several jars in my house with loose change, hair bands, pencils and other stuff. I want to get rid of the stuff, which clearly has been there for years and I won't touch it, and use the change, start getting those quarters out into circulation again, respect the value of money.
9.- Once The House Is Empty, live it once: 
Yes I am aiming for empty.  For space. Being in a few Airbnbs during the winter gave me that great feeling of extra space.  So I want to be in this house and feel it in all its emptiness.

I want to live one day in no-thing.  See what that even means. 
10.- Start with the living room:  
I think if I had a smaller coffee table in the living room it would help with not crowding it with stuff as it usually happens.  I think I will start there...
This is the book that inspired the list, highly recommended...
Click here to look inside
--

10 Unusual Places I Found Silence on a Frantic Day

I like to write in secret. Always have. I cozy up to the page and tell her everything.  But what I like most about the intimate act of writing is the silence.
James asks what am I writing.
Nothing, I say. 
Not satisfied, he wants an example, a line, a tip of a thread that might lead him to know exactly what my pen is deploying through the ink.  Makes me mad.
Just journaling, I say. 
It works.
Silence is a luxury, a precious commodity, and impossibility. It is that thing we never get, at least not the kind I like. The kind where there is a whole forty-five minutes of uninterrupted quiet. THAT kind.
James means no harm.  He is different than me DNA-wise, he had his own room growing up. He does not mind sharing what he is writing about. 
I hoard my silent privacy and resent interruptions.  My DNA is traumatized.  Silence was never part of the equation. I shared my bedroom with two siblings that turned into roommates and then noisy neighbors in Brooklyn.
But this week we are in a far away house.  And there are no neighbors that I can see.
Someone on Twitter made a pretty page of the “NO Bill of Rights” from my last book . I recognize my own writing, I can tell my own lines: 
“you have the right take your time”.  
Even though we co-authored, that was me.  I want that.
When words melt out of my mind, there is a sudden instant of peace. 
Whole worlds vanish, and there is that elusive, instant moment of peace.
Here are a few places where I found silence as I observed a rather difficult period of 24 hours in a big silent house, juggling unruly teenagers, travel arrangements, anxiety over money, book deadlines, and James asking me what I am writing about.
ONE) Cooking a lovely meal.
I read a recipe for a vegan pumpkin pie and I want to try it for two reasons:
One is that it looked great on Rich Roll’s photo, I mean, look at that! The other reason, because I would like to get more pure in the foods I eat.


I find silence in knowing that I need to bake two WHOLE pumpkins on the oven for over an hour. 
Who even does that anymore?  Make your own pumpkin puree?
Anyone who can find quiet. That is who.
Pumpkins just came out of the oven, now.  
Next step is in order.  Every time I walk by the kitchen I approach it with a stopping of the breath, something that feels like a little prayer, like an acknowledgement of something sacred.
2) Beauty Treatment
It starts with the oil bath when I get to it, which is, when the silence finds me. 
And the bathtub with the natural salts, the ayurvedic oils afterwards, the manicure and pedicure, the feeling of feminine, the cleansing and beauty process, the connection with what makes me feel good.
I find silence in taking the time for the ritual, in ensuring that the hands will be moist, the touch will be soft, the smell will be subtle, the feeling: one of self-love.
3) Pollution Free
I felt the silent touch of wisdom in the sleepover at my friend Tina’s house last week in Miami.  
She uses no chemicals in cleaning her house.  None at all.
I can’t even conceive of how hard it would be for me to stop everything I am doing and go through the things I use to clean, and find mixes and walichos and concoctions and old recipes to do it on the clean, to use just natural stuff.
I am a chemical addict, a product of the fast paced world of writing a book, translate it, edit it, get it done,  produce a video, shoot it, edit it, make some money.  I want it all.
But sleeping in that bed, I felt the silence of someone who thinks chemical free all along, even in the midst of life and work.  I slept well. 
4) The Call
I felt the call of the pen the moment I entered the house where we are staying for New Year’s Eve.  
The sofa in the living room is new, comfy, and huge.  As I sank into it I cannot help but notice how clean the house is.  Every corner, every wall.
The place is tastefully decorated.  There is a Japanese woman brushing her hair in one of the frames, and then... 

On the little table, to the side, there is a Japanese abanico, a fan.  I feel as if it fell from her hands. I grab it and flap it about my face.


No matter where I look something seduces me into wondering. 
Why is that Buddha’s skin so white as he sits straight up facing me on the desk that could have been my grand fathers’? And why are his eyes one pointed yet looking rather stressed, his third eye slanted a bit to the right of his forehead?
But more importantly, why is there a magnifying glass next to him?


The furniture seems solid, expensive, long-lasting, firm, grounded. 
Unlike me.
Red, purple, black and yellow.  Bright colors blanket the whole house and the theme gives me a warm feeling, which reminds me of the intelligent choice notto be in the north east at this time if possible, and possible it was, thanks to work things.
I don’t like the brutal cold or the snows of NY or NJ. Nor do I like the gloomy, decrepit and frigid December January and February skies.
I wish I had the power to declare I will never be there again, but I know better not to make plans.
I got the joke about how we make plans and God, or whoever it is… laughs. She does.
Not being in the cold is what makes my FIFTH silent touch.
I find silence in the impermanent warm I feel right now, however long it might last, I drink of it to the last drop.
I smell something subtle and nice.  It’s the little sticks half sunk in aromatic liquid-filled bottles that lie randomly throughout.  They infuse the place with a slight scent, not so much that you would notice, but enough for a person with open nostrils to notice there is the intention of a scent.
I grab one of the little bottles.  I notice it has a little blue elephant hanging around its neck.  Who thought of that?  Who brought me the 6th?
I strike a handstand against one of the many wall spaces. And my silence 7 surfaces. 
Between the end of the orchids painting and the Japanese lady there is enough for my feet to go up against, hands down finding balance, feeling the tremor of what it means to have the whole body on them. 
I am interviewing Kino today, and she is getting me to believe I can do arm balances.  
She says thinking that guys are stronger is just gender stereotype.  Something clicks.  She is right. Look at her:


I do one, then two.  On the third one I count to six in full balance, away from the wall.
It may take a while (8 years of daily practice so far for me) but it can happen, man or woman.
I am always amazed by the power of the asana.  How I look at the world differently when I come out of a handstand, how the blood has gone somewhere and it wooshes back in, and the eyes are refocused as I level the horizon again.
I keep doing asanas throughout the living room, the kitchen, and by James' desk while he is talking to JetBlue negotiating Mollie’s seat on the plane.   Through the poses I find mysilent 8 all around.
Every time his 'on-the-phone walk' brings him back into the room I am in a different pose.  
Triangle, extended wide-open legs forward bend, headstand.  I love the feel of the carpet.  It is thin enough to be soft to the touch and prevents me from feeling the hardness of the tile floors.  I get why old yogis practiced on carpets.
I find silence in releasing the grip from my sternum knowing full well that no tension there, or mind dexterity will make things go my way.
There is no way but the way of what is, as is.
As I relax the ninth silence of my body I open into a quiet stream of flow, striking a pose, talking to James, finding the confirmation number, squatting down to create a new pose, one that no-one has head of  before. 
I co-create asanas, a-la Shiva who is said to have designed all of them... They just come, they have no name, they are silent poses.
I find silence when I notice I am up to ten ideas and it happened just like that, as I got out of the way.
This being ten.
And they came from morning pages, from streams of consciousness, from a garland of allowingthoughts to thread.
I have a book coming out January 9th... “Become an Idea Machine”. 
It's about coming up with 10 ideas a day.  It has prompts so that it makes it easier to start listing. 180 of them.


Guess I am one now. 
An Idea Machine.
I got my ten. I wasn't even trying.

The One Yoga Posture To Ease/Prevent Back Pain

This will help if you sit in a computer for long periods or if you drive a lot...



Try it once an hour, Let me know.

Back Pain costs us in the United States about 85 billion dollars per year. It is a huge industry.

When the time came to investigate it for a workshop on prevention and yoga I was surprised to see that there are a ton of alternatives, movements even, that have been healing back pain in different ways since the 1950's.

For example, there is Robin McKenzie out of Australia whom in the fifties discovered "by mistake" that extending the front of the body can help relieve back pain.

He had a patient come to see him, and this patient was sent to wait in a room that had the examination table at a 45 degree angle.

And he laid down on it, face down, with his lower back at 45 degrees, and relaxed.

When McKenzie came to see him he was in shock... he was scared! that was NOT a good thing as per his medical training.

And yet, when he asked the patient how he was doing the man said he was better, the pain had receded from the leg and was only in the lower back, and he could bend forward (which he had not been able to do before)

p.s.: that is a good sign, when the pain is radiating all the way into the legs and returns to just the low back, is progress

You can read that story in the book:  7 Steps to A Pain Free Life How to Rapidly Relieve Back and Neck Pain.

He made the remarkable connection between the posture we have most of the time, and how it has an effect on back pain, rather than the events we mentally associate them with.

So for example, if you are driving for hours in a curved position, neck sticking out, or if you are sitting at a desk for hours, or lifting things out of the trunk of the cars with a bent spine (instead of squatting to leverage the weight onto the legs) then you are likely to experience more back pain.

McKenzie came up with a series of exercises (just 7) to relieve back and neck pain.

They are all about stretching, and extending the FRONT of the body, and then doing some counterposes, which we normally do as we sit at a desk.

"Respecting the normal curvature of the spine, both at the lower (lumbar) area and at the neck (cervical) area is key to keeping a healthy back"

The exercise I propose here helps anyone who is sitting most of the time.

This particular exercise is the first sketch of a very advance posture on the primary series of Ashtanga Yoga.  In its full form we attempt to drop onto the floor.  But that is not necessary, just the slight dropping back and breathing there is helpful in OPENING THE FRONT OF THE BODY.

The exercise is at towards the end of the book for McKenzie.  He starts with laying down flat, then lifting the trunk into a cobra position, then into an upward dog (with tights on the floor), then he does some counterposes and finally the pose you will see here.

BUT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE,  the EDGE that yoga brings is the BREATH.

In yoga we pay very close attention to how we breathe, and this is not something I've seen in the methods of alternative healing like the Mayo Clinic or McKenzie.

Leveraging the breath makes the practice a lot more powerful and effective.

Make sure to pay attention to the counter-intuitive "INHALE AS YOU COME UP".

FINANCIAL PROBLEMS ARE LIKELY TO CAUSE BACK PAIN

Anything that mentions back pain must refer, of course, to John Sarno's book: Healing Back Pain: The Mind Body Connection

It is a great book.

When we are stressed about financial matters, the mind might choose to cut the oxygen supply to certain muscles rather than deal with the issue, which in turn starves muscles that are key in supporting the back.  That is roughly what the book says.

And our back "goes"

But really at the core of it is the inability to deal with financial problems.

I get it.  It's scary to have no money.

I never thought the finance-back pain connection was real until...

When my father died the issues that came up were and still are distributing.  They had to do with money, with the house he left and some other moneys  (which was not a lot, believe me).

I did learn by now that it is never about the money, for me it was about loosing my sister (which I did, because of all the trauma around it) and maybe loosing my brother as well.

Because when there is money around, even if little, people get crazy, or scared, or both.

All the emotions around money are the hardest thing to deal.

In my own training through yoga, I had to read a book by Rudolph Ballentine called Radical Healing .

What I like about the book is that he has "phrases" or "intentions" or "initial thought patterns" that can lead to disease.

For example for Alzheimers he has "I don't want to see this" as a first thought that leads towards the disease.

Guess what he has for back pain?  -  He says it relates to financial issues and to go read John Sarno

KEEP THESE IN MIND FOR A HEALTHY BACK

- Respect the low curvature of the spine (don't slouch so much)
- Respect the cervical (neck) curvature of the spine
- Invest in good sitting chairs for your office
- Use a lumbar roll ( I use this ) or a  cervical roll
- Watch your posture when you sleep, at least before you fall asleep
- Be careful while driving as cars are not well designed
- NEVER use a phone between your ear and neck while you do other things (neck pain will follow)
- Address financial matters as soon as you can, and the emotions around it
- Be mindful of posture when doing things like vacuuming or strenuous activities with machines
- Squat to lift heavy objects so that some of the weight is absorbed by the legs
- Try yoga... Within any decent yoga class you will find a ton of postures that use breath and that move the spine gently into flexion and extension as well as releasing the hips
- Talk to a doctor if your pain is intense, always take care of you and your back

WARNING #1

Do not do this exercise sitting down because a friend of a friend of mine did that and woke up in a pool of her own head's blood.

The mind can trick us into thinking that it's OK to do this sitting down because we "don't have time".
Beware of its foxy temptation.  If you drop back on a chair you can fall back, and that is not a good thing.

WARNING #2

I am not a doctor, visit one if you are having big troubles with this.

Other Recommended Books:

Pete Egoscue is in vogue these days and his videos are all around as well as his clinics.  These are his books:
Pain Free: A Revolutionary Method For Stopping Chronic Pain
Pain Free for Women
The Egoscue Method Through Motion

Also by John Sarno:
Mind Over Back Pain
The Mind Body Prescription: Healing the Body Healing the Pain

And more by John McKenzie:
Treat Your Own Back
Treat Your Own Neck
Treat Your Own Shoulder

May you have a healthy back and neck!

P.S.:
I answer questions at  AskClaudiaYoga.com