Today’s Yoga Lesson: Physical vs. Mental Homeostasis

 I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. However, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE! 

 

(This blog was originally posted on September 20, 2016)

 

 

 

I noticed something very interesting during yoga this morning. As I stood tall and still in the “mountain” position with my feet flat on the floor, I could just detect the tiniest of swaying motion of my body as my muscles and tendons worked to maintain my balance. These movements were so miniscule as to almost go unnoticed. But they were there: constant adjustments of the various muscles, tendons and internal organs to keep the body completely balanced and ready for anything. I could imagine the lightning-fast neural (subconscious) communication between my brain, inner ears and the muscles in my legs and abdomen as I consciously worked to hold this position.

This experience was just one example of how my body strived to maintain physiological homeostasis (balance) during the class. Other examples were increased breathing and pulse/heart rates or adjust my stance when transitioning between poses or when I had to work harder to maintain more intense positions. And then something really interesting happened. About halfway through the class, even with the more intense positions and exercise, my breathing and heart rate seemed to return to a more normal rate for me.  Even though I was still working hard, but it was like my body had become used to this work and was compensating for/working more efficiently to achieve those positions.

Achieving mental/emotional homeostasis during the class was more challenging for me. Once I made the initial observation about how my body was working to stay in balance, my mind started racing. Wow! This is so interesting! I know what I will write my blog about tonight! It took a few breaths to get focused on what I was doing, and supposed to be doing: practicing yoga, not writing about it! Unlike my physical body, which automatically made adjustments to achieve homeostasis, my conscious mind had to intervene and bring my thoughts, emotions and focus back to what I was supposed to be doing in class.

Ultimately, I did learn a very important lesson today: Even when my body (and mind) is completely still, it is always moving.

 

 

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Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. Sara has been voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California, four years in a row (2019-2022). For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit my website. 

© 2022

 

 

Using the Dristhi While Riding

(This blog was originally posted on February 2, 2017)

Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

When we practice balance poses during my yoga class, the teacher reminds us (the students) to focus on our drishti to stay in-tune with the work and control our body. Recently I asked one of the instructors about this concept. She explained that the drishti refers more to looking inward with the third eye to control behavior/habits and attention in daily life, not just focusing on a random spot in the near distance to maintain balance in the tree pose. This made complete sense to me and reminded me of something that horseman Chris Cox frequently reminds students and attendees at his training clinics.

“Ride with your eyes.”

It makes sense that when we look at something, even for just a few seconds, our attention is focused on it. The physical body makes tiny adjustments to maintain balance and mobility (even standing still). Unless you make a conscious effort to stay perfectly still or in one position, it is natural to lean toward or into the object of your fascination. Next time you have a conversation with someone, notice if you or the other person leans or moves slightly closer to each other.

If you ride horses, you are probably familiar with the warning that looking down at the ground is like picking your spot to land when you fall. Indeed, looking four, five or even six feet down from the back of an animal can disrupt balance our proprioception (body awareness) as the muscles in the body alternately tighten and release to stay on the horse. While you are distracted by what is going on the ground, you are more likely to miss what is going on around you that the horse perceives and reacts to. Before you know it, you’re on the ground wondering what just happened.

When Mr. Cox advises to ride with the eyes, it is a great way to focus (softly) on the environment around you as well as the specific direction where you want to go. This kind of focus widens the periphery of your visual field to nearly 180 degrees—the closest humans can get to being able to see the same kind of landscape horses perceive. In a way, this experience creates a kind of subconscious overload as the mind scrambles to process the various message units (perceptual stimuli) to create—you guessed it—a state of environmental hypnosis. The wonderful thing about this state is that it is actually a state of heightened awareness of environmental (and physical) stimuli even as the physical body becomes more comfortable and relaxed. When you are so focused, breathing begins to slow and the physical body relaxes while the subconscious mind remains aware of what is going on around you. You remain completely aware of your surroundings so you can communicate with and respond to your equine partner’s reactions and behavior during the ride.

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2018

Today's Yoga Lesson: Physical vs. Mental Homeostasis During Yoga

(This blog was originally posted on September 20, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

I noticed something very interesting during yoga this morning. As I stood tall and still in the “mountain” position with my feet flat on the floor, I could just detect the tiniest of swaying motion of my body as my muscles and tendons worked to maintain my balance. These movements were so miniscule as to almost go unnoticed. But they were there: constant adjustments of the various muscles, tendons and internal organs to keep the body completely balanced and ready for anything. I could imagine the lightning-fast neural (subconscious) communication between my brain, inner ears and the muscles in my legs and abdomen as I consciously worked to hold this position. 

This experience was just one example of how my body strove to maintain physiological homeostasis (balance) during the class. Other examples were increased breathing and pulse/heart-rates or adjust my stance when transitioning between poses or when I had to work harder to maintain more intense positions. And then something really interesting happened. About halfway through the class, even with the more intense positions and exercise, my breathing and heart-rate seemed to return to a more normal rate for me.  Even though I was still working hard, but it was like my body had become used to this work and was compensating for/working more efficiently to achieve those positions. 

Achieving mental/emotional homeostasis during the class was more challenging for me. Once I made the initial observation about how my body was working to stay in balance, my mind started racing. Wow! This is so interesting! I know what I will write my blog about tonight! It took a few breaths to get focused on what I was doing, and supposed to be doing: practicing yoga, not writing about it! Unlike my physical body, which automatically made adjustments to achieve homeostasis, my conscious mind had to intervene and bring my thoughts, emotions and focus back to what I was supposed to be doing in class. 

Ultimately I did learn a very important lesson today: Even when my body (and mind) is completely still, it is always moving.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2017

Me, Dressage and Yoga 2.0

(This blog was originally posted on August 10, 2016)

Image courtesy of Flickr

 When I first tried yoga around 1999, my initial goal was to increase strength and flexibility, and maybe chill out a little bit. I continued to take classes for a few years with waning enthusiasm. Some instructors (and the classes they taught) were more energetic; others were so laid back that the class felt more like meditation than any kind of exercise. Eventually I got bored, lost interest and dropped out of the class altogether.

Now I’m back at the yoga studio, more enthusiastic than ever. What changed? I bought a horse.

I had long known that practicing yoga is an excellent way to increase fitness, strength and flexibility for riding. My trainer initially suggested I take up Pilates, and I took classes on a reformer machine for about a year. But that was a different kind of work-out which, I felt, wasn’t the best fit for me right now. Scheduling classes was always tough with my and the instructor’s respective schedules. I also found that the workouts fatigued my muscles as much as they strengthened them. A few weeks ago, my sister told me about an introductory offer at my old yoga studio, which was offering unlimited sessions for one month for a very reasonable price. I decided to join her for one class—she swore it would be a good abdominal workout—and immediately became hooked. I’m at the studio at least four days a week and can honestly say I am becoming a yoga “junkie.”

In addition to the great stretching workouts yoga offers, just about every position requires good balance, strength and, of course, regular and deep breathing. Like riding, you can’t do yoga without breathing. The body just can’t sustain the energy and strength you need to take and hold the positions unless you breathe. My riding instructor constantly has to remind me to breathe; now, I have a yoga teacher telling me the same thing. I know from my hypnotherapy training and practice that repetition of a behavior is the best way to create new message units and change an unwanted subconscious mental script. Now I have several different instructors, including my trainer, reminding and coaching me to inhale and exhale. I know I’m getting better at this because they are pointing this out less often.

The other thing I noticed about yoga that is so helpful for my riding is its emphasis on holding the upper body still while moving the legs or arms into various positions, such as the Warrior poses (my favorite). Over the years, my current and previous trainers have reminded me to sit tall and still with the chest open, head up, hands quiet, breathing, etc., while I applied appropriate leg and seat aids.

Every time a yoga instructor comes over to help adjust my body position so I can stretch longer or taller, the equestrian in me is grinning from ear to ear. My favorite class, Vinyasa flow, entails transitioning between various yoga poses fairly quickly. I like this training because it reminds me so much of my dressage training, transitioning from basic movements such as circles and basic lateral movements such as leg yield in both directions to shoulders-in and haunches-in, etc. Sometimes I get confused and sometimes Galahad does, too, when our trainer introduces a new pattern or combination to add to the repertoire: you want me to do what? For me, the yoga equivalent is when the instructor stretches and raises her leg to what seems like an impossible angle and encourages the class to just try a balance pose that I can’t imagine ever being able to do. But as my flexibility, strength, balance and breathing improve I am able to stretch that leg a little more and hold the position a second or two longer before placing the limb back down with control.

Fifteen years ago, I almost resented being corrected about my position in yoga; now, I practically can’t wait for the teacher to make a needed adjustment. I am not a professional yogi; I don’t know what I need to do or how I should look as I practice the various poses. But I want yoga to work for me to help me be a better, more relaxed and flexible equestrian. These days, I approach yoga classes as an opportunity to do just that. I can’t wait to start doing sun salutes with my horse one day!

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2017