Want to make your Yoga practice a safer and more balanced physical practice? Add Core Fusion, a safe core strengthening and flexibility program. Over the 30 years of teaching this technique, I have seen many students with back issues find healing from these core bracing exercises, improve their yoga practice, and of course develop awesome abs!

Core Fusion blends Pilates, Lotte Berk Method, core conditioning, yoga, and advanced physical therapy. In Core Fusion, you find your core through bracing and stabilizing the abdominals using supported ballet bar or the floor. Instead of using momentum like a crunch or sit up (where the core muscles release/contract), in Core Fusion you hold the working strengthening phase of the abdominal wall and work the legs and arms around the braced core. There is also an emphasis on a balanced strengthening and stretching both the front abdominal core and back/spinal core muscles.

All physical movement comes from a strong central core. Your anatomical core is the area around your middle torso where the muscles that support the spine are located including the shoulder girdle and pelvis. The core muscles also include the abdominal wall muscles and the erector spinae muscles of the back.

In yoga, the core is where you find the bandhas. Bandhas are “locks” to help direct and regulate prana or energetic flow. Of the three bandhas the only two that are a part of the core are uddiyana and mula bandha. When you have awareness of these bandhas in conjunction with your core muscles, you will be able to find physical and subtle inner energies that enable you to develop your yoga practice to a safe mind and body experience.

A strong and flexible core will benefit your practice, health, and prevent injuries. If a muscle group is tight, it can hinder movement or cause injury. If a muscle group is weak, the joints, ligaments, and tendons will take the strain of movement. The ideal muscular development is long and lean, not bulky. When the abdominals are strong and balanced they give you support for standing and balancing postures plus give you added support for the bandhas needed for a “jump through” and inversions.

When you have a strong and flexible core, it enhances your alignment and posture. When your body is in the correct alignment, it uses energy more efficiently, removes stress off the spine and other muscle groups and helps you stay relaxed so you can more out of your yoga practice.

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With major holidays just around the corner it’s the time of year where our focus comes to helping others, spending time with family, making our deadlines and creating new goals for the New Year. It’s a lot of stress to put into such a short amount of time. The risk of failure is huge.

But if you take a few minutes to plan out your week ahead, it will be a lot easier to keep your head, weight and happiness in check.  Avoiding any possible mental meltdowns, weight gains and unnecessary tension at an already stressful time of year.

This is not the time of year to make any life changing goals.  Rather check in with yourself and see if you are achieving the health and happiness you need.  Make a list of small goals that you want to achieve or improve.  Anything from drinking more water,  adding 20 minutes to your workout routine, eating more fruits and vegetables, or adding positive affirmations to your day can go a long way in achieving your overall goal…of a healthy mind, body and soul.

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When the seasons change and holiday time arrives, it always seems like a challenge to stay grounded in our body and daily lives.  These times, as always, are a great opportunity to practice vrksasana, the tree pose. To do so, just follow these steps:

• First, stand upright while grounding down equally through your right and left foot.
• Balance both feet. Try to avoid leaning forward, back, left or right
• Engage all the muscles of your left leg.  Feel them wrap around the bones.
• Lift and place your right foot onto the top of your left inner thigh with your toes pointing down.
• Hands move to heart center in prayer and then rise towards the sky.
• Hold this pose for several breathes. Remember trees bend and sway. Enjoy the subtle movements.
• Switch sides and repeat the steps.

Practice this pose in the morning for a few moments or whenever you are feeling a little off center. Most importantly, take time during your busy day to be still and strong.  This pose will help strengthen your legs and keep your mind and body steady.

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My voice is raspy. Doctors labeled me a “screamer” from babyhood and apparently this created “nodules on vocal chords.” Many people say I sound like Lauren Bacall, which might be a compliment, but not for a 4 year old.

After teaching yoga, I discovered Kirtan music. This type of devotional chanting is said to heal and even bust open your heart. It all sounded too California for this East coast gal. Then I was given a CD. Good stuff! Mellow yet rich with feeling, warming to my heart.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I attended a Kirtan Camp.  At first I did feel out of place, with no music background and definitely NOT a singing voice.  45 minutes would pass, simply chanting, SITA RAM. It was fulfilling and fun for both the baby and me.  The added bonus was a new comfort with my voice, and a true desire to share it. WOW!

The final day, all students were invited lead a12-hour Kirtan, open to the public. Super nervous and questioning, how would people respond to me? This isn’t about me though, it is about sharing the divine. So, I leapt and led – eyes closed of course – a large group, some friends, mostly strangers. After camp, life with a new baby took over and my singing audience was the safest, my son. Singing became moments of freedom for me.

Now chanting is a part of my yoga classes and household. It is sunshine when my children run thru the house chanting. My students say, “it is like a lullaby in shavasana when you sing to us.” Me, with the one with the hoarse voice, really?

SING OUT!!

- Rebecca “Bex” Urban

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My sons were playing hard the other day, they were running, jumping and dancing around the house. The shirts are off and one says, “we are really sweating mom.” I began to wonder, “when did playing hard become working out?”

For the past 9 years, I have been fortunate to train clients in Pilates and teach group yoga classes. It always amazes me to see the transformation in the students’ posture, face and energy in just a few moments of conscious motion.  Could this really be play? Everyone always seems to feel better after shifting the shape of the body from being still to dynamic. Just remember how great a simple twist feels after a long car ride.

I decided to include this lesson/message into my next group yoga class and with private clients.  As we sat in meditation I invited the students to recall a time when they were having fun in space, letting go and freeing their bodies.  Immediately, I observed a shift in the majority of the faces.  They quickly softened, relaxed and some smiled.

The entire class focused on a strong flow with reiteration of each new asana, pose, as a new part of playing on the mat.  The questioned I posed for the students was, “are you playing hard or working out?”  How does one feel? Rejuvenated, depleted, excited, energized or exhausted?

My final words were, “perhaps we most often think of exercise as a workout.  Is it possible to remember, we really might just be playing?”  Several students came directly up to me with enthusiasm and said, “I feel amazing.  Wow, my body feels great.  Moving is wonderful.”

Before your next, “workout” I really encourage you to remember, is it possible that you are just making time for PLAYing hard.

- Rebecca “Bex” Urban

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