Monday, September 3, 2012

iGoogle

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http://lnkd.in/KXnmZB Serge Prengel interviews Dr. Lynn Somerstein, PhD, RYT, on his radio program, Somatic Perspectives.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Awake

For people who can't sleep.
http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/sleep-disorders-fear-anxiety-0416125/

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Upward-Facing Soldier - NYTimes.com

Upward-Facing Soldier - NYTimes.com:

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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Airplane Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style

Monday, April 9, 2012

Teacher Training, Yoga for Arthritis

Last weekend I was a member of the advanced yoga teacher training, Yoga for Arthritis, presented by Steffany Moonaz and Nancy O’Brien. I mentioned this training previously and several people told me they would like to hear more about it. One reader decided to take the class.

The training was a 30 hour Intensive Training for RYT level teachers, held at the Integral Yoga Institute on 13^th Street, in NYC. This is where I did my teacher training, as did many other members of the class, but people who had trained elsewhere were also welcome. Integral Yoga is my home institute- the first yoga classes I ever took were with Swami Satchidananda’s students, who had a small ashram in an apartment building on West End Avenue, which is where Integral Yoga began.

Several years ago Yoga Journal did a review of the main schools of yoga, and Integral Yoga was found to be the safest. It is renowned for its authenticity, quality, and dedication to service. Dean Ornish trained at Integral Yoga, and in consultation with Swami Satchidananda created the famous Dean Ornish Program, the first lifestyle program proven to reverse heart disease. Mala Cunningham, another student of IYI, created the medical cardiac yoga program. Steffany Moonaz and Nancy O’Brien hope to make similar contributions in the care of people with arthritis; Steffany is connected with the Arthritis Foundation, and may make a film with them about yoga.

Many people probably don’t believe you can do yoga movements if you have arthritis; the myth is only really flexible people can do yoga. This is backwards. People get more flexible if they do yoga. Beginner yoga classes build strength, balance and flexibility- just what people who have arthritis really need. Over 75 scientific trials examining the benefits of yoga have been published in medical journals; these studies show that yoga provides safe exercise and has important psychological benefits as well; yoga reduces bodily aches and pains, depression, anxiety and aggression; it increases muscle strength, flexibility, respiratory capacity, balance, alertness and enthusiasm. I have arthritis myself- so I know first-hand how a yoga practice helps. All I have to do is remember what my mother looked like, and how frozen she became as she aged.

I thought yoga’s benefits applied only to osteoarthritis, and not rheumatoid arthritis, but I was wrong. People with RA benefit from yoga too, as do people with fibromyalgia and those who are dealing with the Lyme disease.

On Friday morning we started the training with a Hatha Yoga Class which included references to arthritic students and ways to help them. Steffany led the class; she has an arthritic wrist, cannot bend her hand in a right angle to her wrist, and so often rests on her fists, rather than on her palms, in cat/cow, for example. A few years ago I took a yoga workshop with Tao Porchon Lynch, who was still demonstrating peacock pose at the age of 92. She told me to tent my fingers rather than rest on my flat palms, another alternative hand position.

We used different props- chairs, wedges, straps, bolsters, rolled up blankets- all familiar to me except for the wedge, made of cork, which can be used under the hands or the heels. For several years I’ve suffered from extremely painful Achilles tendons, which after a lot of work have improved considerably, but my life would have been a lot easier if I had known about that cork wedge. I tried rolled up blankets and yoga blocks when my pain was at its worst, but nothing felt as comfortable as this wedge, made by Huggermugger. Resting my heels on the wedge provided a less acute angle which was more comfortable, and also supported my heels so that my ankles were able to relax.

Steffany has created a 16 session syllabus of hatha classes of progressing difficulty. These twice weekly yoga classes and one homework class encourage people to establish a home yoga practice for when the classes end. She includes in her Teacher’s and in her Student manuals clear illustrations and explanations of poses and their modifications.

We practiced the positions and their modifications ourselves- yoga is always a body learning experience- taking turns as teachers and students. The atmosphere was collegial, warm, and supportive. I was tired the first night, but as the weekend continued I became more energized, so I was ready to go back to work on Monday, my toughest day of the week.

Thanks for asking to hear more. I hope I’ve answered your questions and piqued your curiosity. And I would like to know your reactions.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Yoga Therapy | LinkedIn

BALANCING ON THE HEART:

A THREE SESSION WEB BASED TRAINING FOR THERAPISTS ON THE USE OF

MEDITATION IN TREATMENT.

APRIL 19, 26, AND MAY 3, 8:00 TO 9:30 pm EST.

OPEN TO ALL MEMBERS OF GOODTHERAPY.ORG.

DR.LYNNSOMERSTEIN@GMAIL.COM FOR DETAILS

Monday, April 2, 2012

Yoga for Arthritis

Advanced Yoga Teachers' Training- Yoga for Arthritis- at Integral Yoga Institute.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

101 year old yogi - YouTube

101 year old yogi - YouTube:

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Monday, March 26, 2012

Yoga for Arthritis

On Friday I begin an intensive teacher training to help people with arthritis. The course is offered by Integral Yoga Institute, my alma mater. People are often surprised to learn that I have arthritis myself because I'm very flexible--but that's because I've been doing yoga for 50 years, and, believe me, yoga helps.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Organ Cleansing Practice « Himalayan Institute

Organ Cleansing Practice « Himalayan Institute:

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Sunday, March 18, 2012

To Cut The Risk Of A High-Fat Meal, Add Spice : The Salt : NPR

To Cut The Risk Of A High-Fat Meal, Add Spice : The Salt : NPR:

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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The Enlightenment Ideal on Vimeo

The Enlightenment Ideal on Vimeo:

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The Enlightenment Ideal on Vimeo

The Enlightenment Ideal on Vimeo:

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Starting Therapy—And Ending It, Too
Lynn Somerstein, PhD, RYT - There are good reasons to seek out a therapist rather than just talking to friends and family about problems, and it's important to ...
www.goodtherapy.org/.../starting-therapy-ending-it-0313124/

Monday, March 12, 2012

Yoga GURU -- B. K. S. Iyengar - The Ultimate Freedom Yoga [1976] 1/6 - YouTube

Yoga GURU -- B. K. S. Iyengar - The Ultimate Freedom Yoga [1976] 1/6 - YouTube:

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Thursday, March 1, 2012

America's Obesity and Diabetes Epidemic: Junk Food Kills

America's Obesity and Diabetes Epidemic: Junk Food Kills:

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Monday, February 20, 2012

A medical yoga class with Dr Geeta S. Iyengar.mov

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Life's Cafe

Life’s Cafe

March 10th, 2011 |

By Lynn Somerstein, PhD, RYT, Object Relations Topic Expert Contributor

Click here to contact Lynn and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

Release
This past month was filled with the normal spectacular events of life- birth, death, and the spaces in between. My mother-in-law died at the age of almost 99; held by someone close to her; it was reported that she ate a bit of dinner, and that as she began the process of dying her last words were “thank you.” She was in a mostly vegetative state for many years, and her death was a blessing. I’m amazed that she was able to speak at all, and thankful that she was feeling grateful. Family and friends created a loving space for all of us to heal.

It feels a bit strange to say what I’m thinking about next. It’s about my cat, Bella. Perhaps a cat’s death mentioned next to a person’s death is an uncomfortable pairing, and some people may object. But these two deaths happened one on top of the other, paired in time. During the mourning period for my mother-in-law, my cat Bella developed a sudden, rapidly growing spreading cancer, untreatable. She stopped eating and started to decline; I brought her to the ASPCA to have her painlessly euthanized. She died in my arms, her nose buried in the crook of my elbow. My ache was alleviated by the lovely holding sensitive response of all the workers and doctors I met on the way as we travelled toward her death, and I returned home without her. She had been mine to care for since she was a kitten, and her calm aware energy was a gift.

My mother-in-law’s death, though expected, was nevertheless a surprise when it finally happened, evoking the memories of our complicated relationship, calling up my feelings about my own parents’ deaths, and heightening my awareness of the growing fragility of the many older people whom I love. We’re all transients, myself included. These thoughts led me to think about reification- how we humans make our attachment figures, human or animal or otherwise, into unchangeable permanent things we can cling too, and that seem to cling to us and tell us who we are. This is an illusion, clearly, both Western and Eastern psychology would agree to that. It’s how we delude ourselves into believing that nothing will ever change and that we are immortal. I found comfort in the different levels and interpretations of reality of the two psychology/philosophies.

Spaces In Between
Freud wrote, in “Mourning and Melancholia,” that normal mourning is the gradual letting go of the relationship that has ended with death, a painful and necessary psychic process. Each of the myriad links to the beloved is gradually weakened and rendered less painful. Contemplative psychotherapy holds that the mind’s contents are malleable, and we must be present to our hearts’ contents. Yoga has given me many years of experience of meditation, relaxation and softening. I was fortunate; I had at least three perspectives to help me deal with my grief.

I remembered that, just as I always tell my students and patients, the first commitment is to the self. I gentled myself. I went out of the way to do nice healing things, lots of yoga and meditation, music to listen to; I got a massage, bought myself a present. Cried when I needed.

February is also my birthday month; I didn’t feel much like celebrating, but others did and I went along to please them and found myself having a pretty good time. I enjoyed working and playing with others but for a while decided to forego the petty torments of bureaucracy. Paperwork could wait for a bit.

Embrace
Two weeks later the event my family and I had been waiting for- my fourth grand child was born. “Release that which is going out and embrace that which is coming in” was the motto of the day. The baby embodies possibility, a new round of attachment and loss, new opportunities- joy! He is a good sleeper, eater and cuddler. He was a big baby- 8 lbs 7 oz, and already has juicy fat cheeks.

On my desk I have a yellow strip of paper that says: “Release that which is going out. Embrace that which is coming in. Leave alone that which has not yet come. Want nothing, and embrace everything.” written by Anonymous, and found in my favorite restaurant, the Ayurveda Café.

If you like this article, please bookmark it or share it with others using any of the following services:

©Copyright 2011 by Lynn Somerstein, PhD, RYT, therapist in New York, NY. All Rights Reserved. Permission to publish granted to GoodTherapy.org. The following article was solely written and edited by the author named above. The views and opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by GoodTherapy.org. Questions or concerns about the following article can be directed to the author or posted as a comment to this blog entry. Click here to contact Lynn and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

A Picture of Lasting Love

A Picture of Lasting Love:

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Monday, January 30, 2012

3 Things You Should Do as Soon as You Wake Up: Healthy SELF: Health: Self.com

3 Things You Should Do as Soon as You Wake Up: Healthy SELF: Health: Self.com:

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Friday, January 27, 2012

http://www.wellandgoodnyc.com/2012/01/26/yoga-by-equinox-parody-behind-the-scenes-with-michael-stusser/

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Watch the Trailer

Watch the Trailer: Yoga Woman

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Mysore Magic: yoga at the source - ashtanga yoga documentary film

Mysore Magic: yoga at the source - ashtanga yoga documentary film:

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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Friday, January 13, 2012

#Yoga on #Facebook

#Yoga on #Facebook:

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My 2 Cents about "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body" - YouTube

My 2 Cents about "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body" - YouTube:

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Thursday, January 12, 2012

Eden G. Fromberg, DO: Yogi Glenn Black Responds to New York Times Article on Yoga

Eden G. Fromberg, DO: Yogi Glenn Black Responds to New York Times Article on Yoga:

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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Bent out of Shape

I've been practicing yoga for over 50 years and I'm a graduate of the Integral Yoga Institute, which, according to a survey run by "Yoga Journal" holds the record for the safest yoga school in the U.S.

I have accrued untold mind/body benefits, but a few sore spots too- like my Achilles tendons- so I baby them and take care of my 67 year old body by paying attention and giving myself what I need.

I know how to protect myself; but often the people who need yoga the most are also the least knowledgeable and most liable to injury. They are likely to take "open classes" which are billed as OK for everybody. They are not. If you're new to yoga take a class for beginners, or study privately with a competent teacher.

What everyone needs to remember is that yoga is not only exercise. Yoga is a philosophy and a psychology that stresses mindfulness and compassion to oneself and to others.

This means:
1. Pay attention.
2. Be open to learn.
3. Don't force yourself or let yourself be forced into anything.There is no place for coercion in yoga.
4. There isn't any room for competition, either.
5. Follow your breath. If you're breathing is ragged, take a rest.
6. Bring a refillable bottle of water with you. A small sip of water might be helpful at times.
7. If something hurts, don't do it.
8. Leave your ego outside the yoga room.