Yoga Interview With Ellen Serber
We all love to be stress-free, don't we? Yoga is the way to go. Just ask Ellen Serber. Certified with the Iyengar style of Yoga, Ellen shares a true passion for this art. Just visit her Daily Yoga website, and you'll see her knowledge of yoga! She proudly takes a leading role in conducting workshops devoted to stress management. Better yet, Ellen is a contributor to The International Journal of Yoga Therapy, so I think it's safe to say "she knows what she's talking about!" Please take some time now to visit her website, My Daily Yoga. Enjoy! Hello Ellen, and thank you for sharing your time with us. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your website. I've been teaching yoga since the 1970's, certified in the Iyengar tradition. I also began studying Tai Chi Chu'an and martial arts in 1974, from Sifu Kuo Lien Ying. In 1996, graphic designer Daniel Will-Harris and I created a website about computer use and repetitive strain injuries. The website consisted of very simple animations because many people didn't have Broadband back then. I wrote the text and designed the exercises, and Daniel did the animations. We got a huge response world-wide from many people. At that time information about overuse injuries and computer use was not well known, so we provided an appreciated service. You've got a very informative article about yoga and the stress response. In the article, there is mention about K.N. Udapa, author of "Stress and Its Management by Yoga". He suggests combining the physical postures, breathing and meditating of yoga in order to get the best effect. What's your view on this? Do you think there is one aspect of yoga that works better in relieving stress? If so, what is it? Well, yoga doesn't necessarily relieve stress. In fact, it depends on how you do the exercises and your intention. If your intention is to relieve stress, and you focus on breathing and meditation, it may prove to be very helpful. However, if your intention is to outshine everyone at the yoga class, or to push yourself to keep achieving advanced postures, then yoga can create a lot of stress. Stress is both a mental and physical state. For example, one can experience stress as physical problems such as a rapid heartbeat, digestive problems,or sleep difficulty. These symptoms are linked to the mental state, not separate from it. Therefore it is productive to use a system that involves both the mental and the physical to relieve stress. Yoga practice requires us to breath deeply, pay attention and also manipulate the body into different shapes and actions. Basically we are training the mind to observe, to unlink from the agitation which brings us so much suffering. Shavasana involves making relaxation a habit. You wrote that it doesn't help everyone. From an experience perspective, do you find exercises that induce sweat to be more helpful, or simple meditation to relax your body? If you ask a person undergoing anxiety or depression to simply lie down and relax their body, it may be very difficult. So for some people it might be more productive to go jogging or take a hike or a swim. Each person is different and therefore the route to relaxation is very individual. A good teacher can be a great help in seeing what works best. On a side note; you also teach Tai Chi Chu'an. For the beginners out there, what makes Tai Chi Chu'an different from yoga and does it relieve stress? Ideally Tai Chi is practiced outside, in the fresh air, around trees and greenery. It's very gentle on the joints and spine. Tai Chi is very good suitable for mature people. It helps with balance and coordination. The idea is to learn a set and practice it every day, delving deeper into it as the years go by. It is very calming to repeat the moves, breathing deeply, observing the movement of thoughts each morning as a ritual. Finally, what advice would you give to those who are skeptical about yoga? You don't need to do extreme postures. Even the simplest of stretches and moderate breathing can be beneficial. Just dip into the practice a little bit and see if it benefit
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