The No OM Zone

Chapter 1

Head

Getting Out of Your Head

So when you think of yoga poses for the head, what comes to "mind" (pardon the pun)? Probably Headstand, right? Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to stand on your head. Well, at least not yet! Headstand is an advanced pose and shouldn't be done until you have been practicing yoga for a while. We are going to first focus on the mind-body connection, which includes what is called "breath work." Breath work is a great place to start because it is one of the main components of yoga that differentiates it from other forms of exercise or stretching. Some types of yoga, like Kundalini, are actually more about breath work than about doing the physical poses.

Now some of you may think, "I already do some stretching. Why do I need to do yoga?" Well, yoga is more than stretching, mainly because of its mind- body aspect. The mind-body connection makes yoga a more appealing workout for me because I'm getting two for one. When we think of "fitness," most of the time we just think of our bodies. In yoga, as with life, the mind and the body are connected--as any athlete knows, the mind can actually help your physical performance. I have always believed in the power of the mind over the body.

So how does yoga connect the mind and the body? Well, one of the main ways yoga affects the body, and in particular the head, is through the use of breath work. In a yoga class, the teacher will usually start and end each class with breath work. The practical application of breath work is that it will help with just about any sport, be it running, cycling, basketball, or swimming. All of these activities take good breath control, but a large part of athletic ability and performance is mental. I think running a marathon is mostly mental. When you go into "the zone" in sports it means you exceed your normal physical abilities; this is when the mind and the body connect. Part of this is caused by controlling your breath, which keeps your body and mind operating at peak efficiency. Yoga uses your mind to help you build a healthy body, and in return it makes you an allaround better athlete/parent/boss/person in general.

While every chapter in this book addresses muscle group-specific yoga poses, the mind-body connection is a part of each of these. Every section will start with a little breath work, which brings the mind and body together. That way it becomes a more "mindful" workout. It's not like lifting weights; you don't just grab a dumbbell and go at it without thinking. You want to stay focused on what you are doing to the point where yoga becomes a moving meditation.

So what exactly is meditation? Well, as with yoga, there are a lot of different schools of "thought," no pun intended, on meditation. I don't know about you, but I find that life can be pretty stressful. We "go go go" from day to night. Plus we are overloaded with information, almost to the point where we cannot think at all. So I gravitate toward things that are simple, straightforward, easy to do, and, of course, effective. In this chapter, I go into the different forms of meditation so you can see which one you like or will work best for you.

I started meditating because when I was taking classes, most of the yoga instructors would talk about meditation. Being the typical type A personality, within the first month of starting yoga I not only took my first yoga teachers' training class but also a course in meditation. There are tons of different theories, so I tried a bunch of different practices. I did what I consider one of the more "extreme" versions of meditating called Vipassana. That's where you sit for 10 to 12 hours a day for 10 days straight and just meditate. It's a silent meditation, and for me the silence was the best part. I was a lawyer at the time--just the thought of not having to talk to anyone for a week was heaven. Now, the sitting for 10 to 12 hours part was a whole other ball game! I can still remember it as if it were yesterday. You just sit and don't move at all. The only thing l could think about for 10 hours a day was, "Oh my God, my ass hurts." I know, I know, it's not very enlightened of me.

Vipassana was originally used for drug addicts in India; they would be locked up in a box for 10 hours a day. I took the course in northern California, and though they didn't lock you up, I did get blocked in. Someone parked behind my car, which, unfortunately, I found out when I was trying to escape in the middle of the night. How embarrassing to admit that! But I couldn't ask someone, "Can you please move your car so I can sneak out?" It was a silent retreat, which means even if I asked, no one would answer. So I was forced to stay there the full 10 days.

The type of meditation that I found was best for me--Ms. Type A--was Transcendental Meditation (TM). This practice became famous when the Beatles started practicing it back in the 1960s. It is very logical and is backed up with scientific proof that it helps reduce stress and lower your blood pressure. Celebrities such as Russell Simmons and Jerry Seinfeld use TM to help them relax and get focused. It gives you the sense of "restful alertness," and who wouldn't want that? In a stressful society, where we feel tired all the time, meditation and yoga calm you down and give you energy at the same time. I know none of us have any extra time, and I know I am asking you to find the time to do yoga and meditation. But the benefits you will get from it--by having more energy, thinking clearer (no more "brain fog"), and decreasing your stress--will, I promise you, be well worth the 10 to 20 minutes per day.

How Does the Head Work?

Your head weighs around 11 £ds. So let's start from the outside of your head, aka the skull. There are 22 bones in the skull. The upper part, the cranial skull, protects the brain and is composed of eight bones. The other 14 bones make up the structure of your face. The brain itself is extremely complicated and accounts for about 2% of your total body weight. However, it takes 20% of your blood supply to keep it functioning. When you sleep, your body is resting but your brain stays active.

Common Injuries/Issues with the Head

Stress: Probably the number one comment I get from my students who start to do yoga is, "I don't feel stressed out any more." So how does yoga help with stress relief? We all deal with stress, and I'm sure you have heard of the "fight or flight" response--that's when your adrenaline starts pumping through your body. Breath work helps calm your body. Think about it. What do you do when you get stressed or angry? You stop breathing, right? As you are reading this, I want you to take a deep breath in through your nose and then exhale it out through your mouth. Repeat this a few times and I promise you that you'll start to feel a little calmer. I live in Los Angeles, California, so I find myself using this technique when I am driving; if you have ever driven in LA you know what I am talking about! Once you learn breath work, you can use it all throughout your day. I have students who tell me that instead of going into "road rage," they thought of my yoga class, took a deep breath, and found themselves calmed. They heard me in their heads saying "breathe." Try this and you'll be amazed by how quickly you will calm down.

Yoga helps with stress in numerous ways--not only by calming your mind but also by making your body strong, flexible, and resistant to injury. Injuries can be stressful for anyone because they take you out of the game and they require healing.

We all experience stress in our daily lives from several different sources: Jobs, relationships, and finances are at the top of the list. Stress can take a significant toll on you both physically and emotionally. And, as most doctors will tell you, stress manifests itself in many different ways:

* Headaches/migraines

* Frequent colds or flu

* Sleep disorders

* Anxiety

* Not feeling clearheaded (brain fog)

* Feeling frustrated

* Lowered libido

Stress in smaller doses can actually give you energy, makes you more alert, and helps you focus. Many people work well "under pressure," and this type of stress can actually be a good motivator. When you are at this level of stress, you might feel pumped up or wired. As the level of stress increases, it becomes harder to cope with certain situations and you begin to feel stressed out, burned out, and tired all the time. It's important to be aware when this begins to happen so you can find positive and productive ways to deal with the stress. We all handle stress differently, and the symptoms of stress manifest themselves differently in each person. Yoga is an amazing equalizer and a definite "stress buster."

Migraine headaches: From what I have read about migraine headaches, they seem to be caused in part by changes in the level of a chemical called serotonin. Serotonin plays many roles in the body, and it can affect the blood vessels. When your serotonin levels are high, blood vessels constrict. When serotonin levels fall, the blood vessels swell. It's this swelling that can cause pain or other problems. For those of you who have had one, you know the pain of a migraine headache can be intense. It can actually get in the way of your daily activities. Yoga can help relieve migraines by bringing blood supply back to your head and releasing tension in your neck (see Chapter 2, Neck). Migraines aren't the same in all people. Possible symptoms of migraines include the following:

* Intense throbbing or dull aching pain on one or both sides of your head

* Nausea or vomiting

* Blurred vision or blind spots

* Sensitivity to light, noise, or odors

* Feeling tired or confused

* Stiff or tender neck

* Light-headedness

* Tender scalp

Vertigo: Vertigo is the feeling that you or the room around you is moving or spinning. There are numerous causes for vertigo, and yoga can help with the stress-related ones.

Poses to Help Your Head

Meditation

Benefits: Meditation is a big part of the practice of yoga. One of the benefits from meditating is that you don't need as much sleep--you can get by with 5 hours of sleep a night instead of needing 8 to 10 hours--and of course you'll still feel great. I read once that Deepak Chopra gets up at 4 a.m. I thought, well, if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me, so I started getting up at 4 a.m. People think I'm strange when I tell them that I get up that early. I don't tell them it's because I meditate; I just say, "I'm on East Coast time." Since I live in Los Angeles, everyone says, "Oh, that's cool." I guess that's better than people thinking I'm a weirdo!

One of the most fascinating facts I found on meditation is that after the age of 35, our brain cells start to die off at a rate of 100,000 per day, and they don't come back--scary! Meditating will help reduce that rapid rate of declining brain cells. That little fact alone would get me into meditating if I didn't practice already. People who meditate "regularly," meaning daily, not just once a year, start to develop this calmness. I can walk into a room and know who meditates and who doesn't. If you don't believe me, just try it for a month and see what happens.

Now, the same principles apply as those we talked about in the introduction: No one is perfect, and doing a little is better than not doing it at all. Don't judge yourself; don't think, "I'm not meditating correctly or doing it right, I don't feel enlightened after meditating for 5 seconds, what's wrong with me?" I'm not judging you for feeling that way-- our society rewards people who take on high-stress jobs, the overachievers. We want to make sure every minute counts. I want you to do yoga and meditation so that you use your stress in a positive way by fine- tuning your mind, so it works efficiently and you are able to concentrate and focus. You can also hit your "zone" in meditation, as you do in sports. It's called Samadhi, a Buddhist term that means a higher level of concentrated meditation. Samadhi is considered a precursor for enlightenment--that is, Nirvana, also known as "yoga bliss." When athletes are in "the zone," they have reached their peak performance. The same with meditation: Your mind is thinking quickly, sharply, and accurately. This happens because meditation reduces stress, helps reduce headaches, energizes you, and calms your body all at once.

Types of Meditation

All meditation techniques can be grouped into two basic approaches:

* Concentrative meditation actually focuses your attention on the breath, an image, or a sound (mantra) in order to still the mind and allow a greater awareness and clarity to emerge. TM or Transcendental Meditation, which we talked about earlier, would be classified under this type of meditation. The easiest form of concentrative meditation is to sit quietly and focus the attention on your breath. When you do yoga, there is a direct correlation between your breath and your state of mind. For example, when you are anxious, frightened, agitated, or distracted, the breath will be shallow, rapid, or uneven. On the other hand, when the mind is calm, focused, and composed, the breath will tend to be slow, deep, and even. Focusing the mind on your inhalation and exhalation provides a natural and easy way of meditating. As you focus your awareness on the breath, your mind becomes absorbed in inhalation and exhalation, or at least that's the goal. As a result, your breathing will become slower and deeper and the mind will become calm and aware.

* Mindfulness meditation involves opening one's attention to become aware of continuously passing sensations and feelings, images, thoughts, sounds, smells, and so forth without becoming involved in thinking about them. You just sit quietly and witness whatever goes through the mind, not reacting or becoming involved with thoughts, memories, worries, or images. I personally find this more challenging because I want to engage my thoughts-- you know, talk to myself, which I have to admit I do all the time. The goal of this type of meditation is to gain a calmer, clearer, and "nonreactive" state of mind.

Meditation Pose