Gentle Yoga
Welcome to the practice of Gentle Yoga.
What is Gentle Yoga to you?
“A gift to the world!”F. Furrer
“You didn’t push me, but combined gentleness with warmth/fire.”Carole Cline, yoga teacher, South Carolina
“Gentle Yoga just seems more doable and approachable to me. I’d been taking some individual instruction for a few months when I first went to Kripalu for a weekend. I was very nervous about practicing yoga with a group of people, all who would be “better than I was at it. I soon saw this was a ridiculous way to think about it, that no one cared in that way.
The class I took with Rudy was a revelation and beautiful experience. I purchased some of his CDs, Gentle II and III, and have been doing them on and off for some time. Now, maybe more on. In the past year I have had two knee surgeries and am slowly coming back and regaining strength and flexibility in my knees and legs. I sometimes think I should branch out from these CDs and learn some new postures. So, now I am looking forward to ordering the new CD.
I always end my practice by saying “namaste Rudy.” I am grateful for your teaching, the times I have taken classes at Kripalu with you and on your great CDs.”M. Simpson
“Through the gentle approach the ego is not directing affairs. I feel gifted so wholly that I am amazed by the deep contact I feel with my body, myself. From the gentle approach I find the broad range of my being’s potential. Very satisfying. “Fenton, temporal and very happy R&R visitor to Kripalu!
Intention
The intention of this type of yoga practice is to relax and rejuvenate the body, increase range of motion, integrate emotions, and bring a calm stillness to the mind.
Benefits
The benefits of yoga are available with regular practice. The best yoga practice is the one that you can integrate into your life. I encourage you to practice regularly even if for only 15 minutes.
A regular practice of yoga will increase body awareness and improve overall health and well-being. I recommend that you enter into stretches slowly, deepening your breath as soon as you feel a stretch; and trust that a gentle stretch will provide the benefits you expect from yoga. Yoga helps release energy blocks in the body. Mild stimulation of the circulation, and a deepened state of relaxation profoundly rebalance and rejuvenate the entire organism.
As you move into postures you will inevitably encounter tensions and the resistances of the physical body. You will begin to discover different degrees of comfort and discomfort. A sensation that you might initially call painful with greater sensitivity may occur as a discomfort that you can breathe and relax into. Some sensations you can breathe easily into, some you can’t.
With practice your sensitivity will increase. Then you may begin to notice sooner when you are tensing up and be able to sustain more relaxation and ease throughout your practice.
Self-Observation
Everybody’s experience is unique. Take time to notice the specific effects of each posture and of each practice session. Yoga embraces the consciousness of moment-to-moment awareness.
As you gradually become aware of subtler sensations in the body you will increase your sensitivity to your emotions and thoughts as well.
With compassionate self-observation you can calm the mind, relax the body and reconnect to your true nature. Using a compassionate attitude you can learn how to make your practice an act of self-love.
Precautions
General rule of thumb: if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. Also, please consult with your physician to insure that yoga practice is appropriate for you.
Yoga is not just about feeling better. It’s about feeling more. Yoga will reveal where the body is tight, where mobility is limited and where energy is blocked. Yoga is an invitation to relax, breathe, feel, and where possible let go and relax.
It is best for the stretch to be in the belly of the muscle. However, if you experience sharp sensation (particularly around the joints) please, back off. Sharp sensation usually signals the over-stretching of tendon or ligament tissue.
Yoga stimulates the circulation. If there is an injury or inflammation anywhere in the body, it is best not to stimulate that area with movement or stretching.
If you have osteoporosis or low-bone-density it is contraindicated to round the spine. Best to keep the spine (and torso) straight during forward bends and back bends. During twists it is best to reduce the weight of gravity on the vertebrae, therefore, twists lying on the back are safer than seated twists.
Discrimination
One of the goals of yoga is to calm the mind. Through reducing the speed and restlessness of the mind you can learn how to better focus on your experiences in the moment. In this way you can actually know yourself better and develop the discrimination necessary to makes choices that work better and better for you.
Attunement to breath and inner experience
Gentle Yoga is a practice led in the Kripalu Yoga style, emphasizing attunement to ever-subtler inner-experience. That attunement begins with body awareness, closely linked to the next subtler level, breath awareness. Through awareness of physical sensation and the quality of breath this practice can be done with little risk of injury or strain. Explore moving in and out of the posture at progressively deeper increments to discover your pain-free range of motion. Feel free to release any pose at any time.
The main precaution in yoga is to avoid sharp sensation in the joints.
Quality of breath is the best barometer of appropriate degree of challenge. During sustained holdings of poses follow these general guidelines:
- Create smooth, easy breaths.
Lengthen inhalation and exhalation. - Relax wherever you can.
Avoid gripping. Hold the body’s weight with the breath, attention and a relaxed effort. - Focus your attention in the field of sensation. Build concentration and steady the mind with meditative effort. As often as possible bring the attention right into the present moment. “This breath. These sensations.”
Whenever the sensation increases, deepen the breath.
“Yoga is about changing our habits.” Rodney Yee
It is our habit to shorten the breath when sensation increases. This is a coping mechanism. A wonderful defense of the human organism to ward off the shock of traumas large and small.
In yoga practice the possibility is to feel more. Yoga helps us increase sensitivity and awareness. Ultimately this helps us make more skillful, conscious choices and allows us to create greater fulfillment in life.
And it all starts with the breath. Inhalations help us feel. Exhalations help us relax. There are a number of powerful yogic breathing techniques. The basic ones are useful in everyday life as well.
The initial yogic breathing technique is Dirgha pranayama (pronounced Deer-guh). This is also called the Complete Breath or Three-part Breath. It is fully inflating the lungs in the three regions of the abdomen, thorax and cavicle or belly, ribs and upper chest. The full inhalation is followed by fully relaxing, allowing the breath to spill out. A simple approach is to experiment with lengthening the inhalation and exhalation. Let it be an exploration. Notice how it feels. Avoid creating tension. Notice the effect. Practice regularly. Remember inhalations help us feel. Exhalations help us relax.
May your journey in yoga be easy and pleasurable.
You may begin from wherever you are.
Practice CDs
