L.L. Kirchner's Blog, page 114
February 16, 2015
We are all stars, literally. Also, that dust bunny? It’s exactly as menacing as I feared…. http://ift.tt/1JlXY6A
We Are Dead Stars
“What is human existence? It turns out it’s pretty simple: We are dead stars, looking back up at the sky.”
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Automated post from Lisa Kirchner – http://ift.tt/1BfV8vm
February 16, 2015 at 08:08AM
February 15, 2015
Our Hole in the Wall: An Oral History of the CBGB Scene
This was a New York that scared the crap outta me — “It was like an endless loop of Kojak” — and the New York I fell in love with. Just like all great loves. Bonus, the article tells you what everybody’s up to now. It’ll surprise you.
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February 9, 2015
Using the Wall in Yoga, So Wrong it’s Right
For years now it feels like in every class I’m encouraging my students away from the wall. After all, you can’t take the wall with you without creating some serious new blockage. However, this past winter I injured my hand (tore ligaments flying into crane pose), and it’s forced me to completely change my practice. I’m taking this as an opportunity to work on something that always felt like I’d have to work so hard to get there it couldn’t be but about striving and ambition–scorpion with toes touching the head (as beautifully demonstrated by the woman pictured above on the left, rivkayoga, whom I “know” through Instagram).
With the injury I’m always on my forearms instead of my hands. I wanted to start playing with that balance. Sure, I can drop into a kind of scorpion (a backbend from forearm balance), but when I saw the picture above, with its perfect squares, I realized the wall would be a wonderful tool for taking the pose deeper. It’s important to note: I can already balance in forearm stand. This is not how I’m finding balance. I’m physically using the wall to open in my chest and shoulders and quads. I have a long way to go, click on the video and see my first attempt–complete with scratching my nose while I think about it and a flying iPad…
What I realized is, I’ve been missing out on a whole world of help! Much as this path is not about the destination, it is about the journey. Accepting help from a place of appreciation rather than fear is very different. I am grateful to my many teachers, whether they were in a traditional teacher role or not (yes, I mean my students, too). Not that it’s always clear if I’m in fear or gratitude mode while it’s happening. The question I’m learning to ask is whether I feel depleted by help, or empowered by it. And then I know.
To prep for this pose, when you are warmed up enough, from a low lunge, drop the knee to the floor and press the hips forward to open in the psoas on each side. Open in the hips using pigeon and split pose on both sides. Open in the shoulders with bound triangle on both sides. Finally, go to the wall, get as close as you are able, and walk your hands down the wall into wheel, inching your chin ever closer to the wall.
WARMUP TIPS:
Come into dolphin plank (plank, but with your forearms on the floor), and walk your toes toward your nose. 5x
From dolphin dog (I think I just made that term up, but you get it, right, butt lifted like in down dog, with forearms on the floor), looking past your fingertips, edge your head forward and back, forward and back. 5x. Hold forward for 5 breaths, then pushed back (with shoulders over the elbows) for 5. Rest in child’s pose.
Standing split balance, 5 breaths, then bring the leg parallel to the floor, hold for 5 before changing sides.
Stretch the quads by connecting your sitting bones to the floor, with the shins parallel to the thighs, ankles away from the hips, knees together. Sit on a block if it hurts the knees.
What is wrong in this attempt:
I’m too far away from the wall. However, I’m not open enough to be closer yet. Slowly, I’ll inch closer.
The hips are square.
What is right in this attempt:
The hips are not consistently square.
The maneuver is all about pressing the hips forward while slowly moving the legs back.
And stay tuned, I’ve obviously got a long way to go on this…
January 9, 2015
7 Habits of Highly Fit People
I wrote this piece a while back for a magazine that went under, so I used my writing mentor Susan Shapiro’s top tip for writers and repurposed it for Huffington Post! If you’re looking to keep your New Year’s fitness resolution, check out these tips!
December 24, 2014
Six Practice Tips For Winter Yoga
In the winter it can be an enormous challenge to keep up your asana practice. This isn’t excuse-making, your body goes into hibernation mode. Unless you make excuses year-round, in which case I’d be surprised if you’re reading this, though you might enjoy this! Still here? Great. Because these 6 yoga tips are about taking into account the reality of the season. Yoga decreases the stress hormone cortisol — associated with weight gain, high blood pressure, and heart disease — improves sleep, and lessens depression. In other words, a winter yoga practice is the exact antidote for the ills of the season. That said, this is a time to make yourself ready for the coming year, which means finding ways to rest within the poses.
My practice is pretty vigorous year-round. This is what I do to keep it that way. Now, side note, I do wish I had pics of myself doing these poses, but it’s almost Christmas and I have guests so it’s not going to happen this time. They’re sleeping in the other room!
Adapted from flickr creative commons.
6. Incorporate a restorative pose.
Slowing down physically signals the brain to rest, which makes you more focused and effective when dealing with that crazy relative. Try supta baddha konasana, reclining goddess pose, for your svasana.
5. Modify your shoulder stand.
What better way to furrow the soil and make it ready for new life than with plow pose? Hold it for an extended period, 20 slow breaths. Then I take viparita karani, a variation on shoulder stand often used to mean legs up the wall. This is how I learned it. You see? It’s not a shoulder stand, you’re holding your weight on the entire upper arm.
4. Support your head with a block in forward folds.
Blood pressure elevates in the cold, so you might find yourself getting dizzy when you practice. Put a block under your head in down dog or other forward folds, and if the dizziness persists drop into balasana, child’s pose.
3. Learn a crazy arm balance.
Right now I’m working on jumping into crow from down dog. I may never be able to do it. Not the point. When the world is spinning faster, nothing helps me process it better than absorbing myself in engaging postures. Seriously, try it.
2. More standing poses
They aren’t called warrior poses for nothing! Also triangle. And side angle. You get the idea. I do more standing poses in cold weather because it heats the body up and lets my body tell my brain I’m strong. Also it just takes more work to loosen up the hips for the seated poses and there’s only so much time in a day. Once I was watching this video on YouTube and the woman’s practice was beautiful. Then she shared in her voiceover about her four-hour practice sessions. I mean. What?!?!
1. Breathe!
Of course this is number one. It’s also the easiest and you can do it at any time. Well, not in standing or challenging asanas. But otherwise any time! Ready for this complex pranayama? Lengthen your exhale. That’s right. Long, slow inhale. Longer, slower exhale. Prescribed in the Yoga Sutra (though I first heard about it from my meditation teacher), this style of breathing quiets the nervous system, encouraging the body toward a more restful state of being.
December 22, 2014
How the Winter Solstice Affects Your Yoga Practice
The winter solstice has brought with it a divine child since the beginning of history—in ancient Egypt it was with the birth of Horus; in Persia, the birth of Mithras; the Druids celebrate a divine son at Alban Arthan; and in Christendom, the birth of Jesus. The consistency of these beliefs across disparate people and time demonstrates a universal spiritual principle—transformation can come from darkness. So how does this affect your yoga practice?
Just as the winter sun is at its weakest, your body is likewise more delicate at this time of year. For one, blood pressure generally is higher in the winter. Lower temperatures cause your blood vessels to constrict, which increases blood pressure needed to force blood through your narrowed veins and arteries. There’s a mental component as well, with the shorter days decreasing serotonin levels in the brain, causing an increase in sleep and depressive disorders. And so, when you need to move the body most, your brain and body go into hibernation mode. Put simply, your motivation is lower and your body is less open. This can and must be regarded as an opportunity. These traditions offer the savior as a child. Likewise, this is a chance to nurture ourselves and prepare for the coming transformation.
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
Anonymous
We must be ready to change. You can hear the same message over and over, but until you’re ready to listen it means nothing. And then, like magic, boom! Everything changes. Nowhere is this more true than in your spiritual practice, and nothing complements your spiritual practice so well as making your house (your body) ready. You can’t listen if you’re sleep-deprived, you can’t be still if you’re in pain. Maintaining your physical practice will release feel-good hormones and improve sleep.
This Is Not About Lying Around On Blankets
Slowing down often leads to pondering. This is not the time to ask yourself, “why am I doing this anyway?” Too often the answers will take you to dark places. Instead, stick to your routine. Go to class, get to your mat. Once you’re there however, keep in mind the physical realities of winter. When your winter yoga practice takes into consideration the colder temperatures and shorter days, you are giving yourself the gift of renewal.
Next…Practice Tips For Winter Yoga.
November 26, 2014
Gratitude Made Easy, Promise
At this point in November you may be sick of this topic. But guess what, here’s one practice that’s guaranteed to move you from where you are now to where you want to be. Best of all, it’s easy.
You’re doing your morning pages? The pages are an indispensable way to get in touch your patterns, your Top 5 recurring hit thoughts. This practice also will bring you into direct contact with your details.
To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic
in the insipid details of everyday life,
is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
But most of us hate journaling. Now what? How to avail yourself of the greatest benefit of all, perspective?
There are times when I’m embroiled in a story so deeply, even WITH pages I can’t get perspective. To put it simply, when I’m hating one someone, I can get pretty convinced I’m right. Spiritually I know, I’m the one who truly suffers. And intellectually, I know I need to wish the other person all the best. But emotionally, when I try to think happy thoughts for that jagoff*, I can’t. What I can do, is visualize.
Let’s face it, hate is a pretty strong feeling. It’s not generally directed at people you don’t know well enough to know their happy face. There! That’s it. Put that picture in your mind and hold it until you start thinking about whatever the story is and then drop it. Run through the list of pictures and end with someone you’re able to love unconditionally, even if it’s Mother Theresa or your dog. And when you find yourself going over the details of the story, call that picture back up. Try it! And let me know how it goes here.
If you’re asking, what does forgiveness have to do with gratitude? That’s a great question. Getting rid of resentments will open up energy for other things. Like gratitude.
November 25, 2014
Kapotasana: Like Doing a Shot of Tequila!
This kapotasana variation is wonderful for not only a shot of energy, but also a boost of courage. Total chakra opener, this one. If I’m not feeling quite open enough for a strong backbend, I like to throw this into my practice. Sometimes I do it instead of wheel if I’m pressed for time. To do:
Set up for bridge pose with your feet as close to your bum as possible. Place your hands flat on the floor, fingertips facing your waist.
On an inhale, press into your palms and lift the heels and hips simultaneously. As the hips lift, press the head and shoulders up and off the mat, aiming to bring the crown of the head onto your mat. The ultimate expression is to bring the knees together onto the floor, and the hands in prayer behind the head with the arms straight.
HOWEVER, this is one of those poses that teaches us about the breath.
If your knees don’t hit the floor in one breath, stop moving on the exhale, then on the next inhale press again while expanding through the ribs. It’s not about forcing the knees down, rather opening up the chest and collarbones. Yum. Now, you try!
October 21, 2014
Tears, People!
This is a beautiful video short with Jane Goodall, whose work I cite in my talks on dealing with culture shock. She was among the first to document relationships in the wild, by virtue of being willing to see them.
“Only when our clever brain and our human heart work together in harmony can we achieve our true potential.” Jane Goodall
Too often in my life I’ve failed on this score. Particularly when it comes to efficiency. I’ve really had to work to get beyond favoring the efficient over the empathic response. And I’m sure I still fail a lot there, but if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that awareness is the first, messiest, most painful and often the slowest step toward change.
October 16, 2014
Getting Over It on FOX NEWS
Carol Alt’s “A Healthy You’ feat Lisa Kirchner’s “Yoga for Getting Over It.”
One of the things I love about yoga is, built right into what you call it, is the idea that it’s something ongoing. A practice. There is no one and done. Some days you hit your mat like a rock star, other days you long for svasana. That’s all part of the process, and part of what I had to learn. After two days without any, yesterday I could barely get in a half hour of practice, but as always, it worked anyway.
So that’s me up there, really wanting people to know you can heal yourself physically, mentally and emotionally. The simple truth is, the better you can be with yourself, the better you can be with others. Especially when you’re not getting what you want. (Or think you want!)
I’m writing this from Pittsburgh, because my mom is back in chemo and it seemed like the right thing to do to come back for a while. Not what I want at all, not any of it. But after a pretty shit day yesterday, movement and meditation totally reversed that and I had an amazing evening. Because no day is 100 percent anything. The more in touch I am with that truth, the easier it is to be open to the possibility that exists in every moment. Because time and again I sell myself short. My plans and designs just aren’t nearly as big or grand or terrifying as what the universe has to offer.
Getting over it, whatever “it” is, is incremental. Change can be radical, but mostly it’s really really small. We get way more opportunities to do little things differently. Every day in fact. What did you do differently today? I’m taking this to Facebook.
