by Eve Grzybowski | Mar 11, 2017 | Age, Health, XToolKit
Insomnia: The Night Prowler
There was a time when I slept the sleep of the innocent. That was in the dim distant past.
Menopause first threw a spanner in the machine, with its 3-4am wake-ups. Once I was wide awake, too bad, that was it for the night.
Man-o-pause sleep, I’ve heard, isn’t any better. No matter what our gender, eventually we all succumb. What is it? The influence of waning hormones?
Recently, my husband went to The Sleep Clinic to investigate the cause of his brand of insomnia. Its likely cause is sleep apnoea. […]
by Eve Grzybowski | Dec 29, 2014 | Yoga practices
The End Always Sounds So Final
Here we are, just a couple of days from the end of 2014. For some of us, we might be saying, ‘Pshew…I’m so glad I got through that one!’ Others might be resisting the end, thinking, ‘I’m never going to have a year as good as this one.’ For most of us though, the year has more than likely been a mixture of victories and defeats, wins and losses, ups and downs.
Endings are a necessary part of life. […]
by Eve Grzybowski | Aug 9, 2014 | Health, Mindfulness Meditation, Pratyahara, Restorative, Yoga practices
via pinterest – calmdownnow.com
There’s a reason meditation is recommended as a tool for training a busy mind to become quiet. Because, if you give meditation a go and stick with it, like yoga, it works.
I’ve had a patchy history of the sticking-with-it part of the equation, although I have tried doing meditation on and off over the years. […]
by Eve Grzybowski | Jun 4, 2014 | Yoga practices
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by Eve Grzybowski | Apr 27, 2014 | Health, Video, XToolKit
via pinterest
Every now and then, I fall off the wagon. I recognise that I need to re-incorporate corpse pose into my yoga practice. Writing a post about this pose will inspire me, and you too, if need be.
I first learned about corpse pose (savasana) from one of my yoga teachers, Martyn Jackson. As Martyn explained it, corpse pose isn’t meant to be in any way considered a morbid notion. It defines the ultimate state of letting go.
When we do savasana, we may rise from the pose feeling we’ve slept the sleep of the dead. […]
by Eve Grzybowski | Aug 28, 2013 | Health, XTeaching, Yoga practices, Yoga teaching
Generally speaking, I think people (including myself) don’t know how to be tired.
Think about it. Do you recognise when you are weary and stop and rest?
First of all, you have to be in touch with your body and mind to notice when fatigue symptoms are arising. But often, we are out of our bodies when we are driving ourselves to get a job done. […]
by Eve Grzybowski | Aug 7, 2013 | Anatomy, Mindfulness Meditation, XAnatomy, Yoga practices, Yoga teaching
The miracle that our human body is goes unnoticed most of the time. A yoga teacher has the privilege of bringing people home to their bodies in the way she conducts classes – and hopefully to a sense of wonder and appreciation about our embodiment. Over the years I’ve done several studied of anatomy and physiology. One of the reasons I love those sciences is that they present a map for one way of understanding our bodies. […]
![When Your Back Needs Rebooting – Restorative Yoga]()
by Eve Grzybowski | Jun 23, 2013 | Healing, Health, Yoga practices, Yoga Therapy
Sometimes my body does my bidding without complaint, and other times she is just 68-years old cranky.
After 2-1/2 hours of weeding, shovelling, and mulching in the garden, my lower and upper back and hips were demanding some nice treatment.
Thank goodness I had a few of these restorative poses up my sleeve. […]
by Eve Grzybowski | Apr 21, 2013 | Gardening, Humour, Upper back & shoulders, Yoga Therapy
I hear countless conversations, read articles and hear lectures about how yoga is not just a physical exercise system. We’ve all heard them. We’ve even said such things ourselves.
Still, it’s a hard habit to break, that is, considering yoga as a way to improve fitness, flexibility, and strength. Of course, those are great benefits that asana practice (postures) can provide.
However, it’s far easier for me to go into the Yoga Shed to do an asana practice than sit down and do pranayama (yoga breathing) and meditation. Sometimes I even have to make myself do savasana. […]
by Eve Grzybowski | Apr 12, 2012 | Healing, Yoga practices, Yoga Therapy
Here a couple of poses for your yoga tool kit whenever you are plagued by hay fever or sinusitis.
The first one comes via the California-based yoga teacher Donald Moyer and is a version of savasana. In the photo, you see Heather lying on a long double-folded blanket, with a triple-fold blanket under her shoulders. A tightly rolled yoga mat is covered with a soft cloth and supports the occiput (base of the skull).
The second pose pictured shows me in sarvangasana supported on a bolster placed about 25 cm. from the wall. […]
by Eve Grzybowski | Feb 29, 2012 | Health, Yoga practices, Yoga Sequences, Yoga teaching
Oh my, it’s been hot here! This extreme humidity feels like it stacks on tons of degrees to the temperature.
I tell the yoga students who venture out on sultry days that they get extra yoga merit points in heaven for attending class when our brains are feeling like they’re simmering in their juices.
Here’s 5 Tips on What to Teach…when it’s 30 plus and 90% humidity.
1. Chest openers of any passive variety – You can’t go wrong with something that promotes breathing when the lungs are approaching pneumatic apathy, block pose, for instance:
2. […]
![When Your Back Needs Rebooting – Restorative Yoga]()
by Eve Grzybowski | Jan 17, 2012 | Anatomy, Families of Poses, XPoses, Yoga practices
Like the family of poses called inversions, back bending poses can elicit a love-hate relationship with yoga practitioners.
