Namaste - Yoga is perfect for tweens
Hey GirlMoguls - it’s Lily here, and we’re so excited to
have another post in our Healthy Living Series from a true
GirlMogul, Kristin McGee. She is the Doce Vida Fitness
Pilates Ambassador. Kristin
McGee created Power Yoga and has been on MTV as their yoga
guru. She’s so into Yoga and thinks it’s a great exercise
even for girls like us that she just created a cool new DVD - Bendigirls
Yoga. This DVD provides a fun and approachable way to enjoy
this ancient spiritual practice while helping viewers ground
themselves and realize the positive virtues of yoga.
Now here’s Kristin
I really hope you decide to give yoga a try. I discovered
yoga when I moved from Pocatello, Idaho to New York City to
attend New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. We had
a yoga class in the morning before our full day of classes
because yoga is great for actors to warm up their bodies and
help them get in touch with their breathing for voice and speech
work. I fell in love with yoga the very first class I took and I
wish I had started in sooner. Now that yoga is more popular,
it’s easier to start at a young age. I developed Bendigirl
Yoga for younger girls so they could discover yoga and
do it with their friends. If you start working on your
flexibility when you’re young, you will remain stretchy and
healthy all your life. The best part of yoga is that you can do
it at any age. What a wonderful thing to learn so you can always
have something that makes you feel strong,
long, lean and confident. Yoga can also be done anywhere all you
need is a mat and there are over 900 poses so you never get
bored. I feel like I am constantly learning something new about
myself every time I do yoga. You can play music when you
practice when you want as well
and one of my friends who lives in Los Angeles loves her hip hop
yoga class. There are so many styles of yoga to experiment with.
Have fun and see what style you like best. I have met my best
friend through yoga, my fiance (one of my students set us up and
we’re getting married in
December!), my hair dresser and so many wonderful people. You
can build a community of yoga friends and combine yoga with
hiking, skiing, surfing, horseback riding, you name it! You may
even want to go on a yoga retreat with your mom or a friend or
two. You could have a yoga
inspired birthday party. The possibilities with yoga are
endless. For any questions and for more information you can
visit me at www.kristinmcgee.com. Namaste means peace in the
Indian language Sanskrit and we always end our classes by
bringing our hands together in prayer and saying Namaste.
It can also be translated as “i honor the light within me and
the light within you”. I hope you find your inner beauty and
let it radiate throughout as you venture in to this journey of
yoga. In yoga there are no judgments and no competition it’s
just about you becoming more connected to yourself and feeling
your connection with the rest of the universe.
Make sure you check out the first
post in our Yoga series.
Here’s Kristin:
If you are interested in trying yoga I recommend finding a class
to take or trying a DVD. I think books are great to look at and
study as well; but I prefer something more interactive. Even the
Wii Fit now has a yoga program that you can learn from. Check
out your local YMCA or google yoga studios in your area to find
a class or instructor. Every class and every teacher and every
style is different so I recommend calling ahead and asking a few
questions or researching the studio on line that you choose to
go to. Once you get to class, introduce yourself and let the
teacher know you are there for your first time. It’s best to
look for a beginner’s yoga class to learn the postures. If you
happen to go to an open level class just make sure to go at your
own pace and listen to your body. DVDs are wonderful because you
can watch them first to get an idea of the moves and the
practice before you even start. You can also pause the DVD when
you want to or start slowly and do just a portion of it at a
time. In my very first MTV yoga dvd we have a chapter that
breaks down the poses to watch before you even jump in to the
routine. If you can afford it, it’s also wonderful to take a
private session with a teacher to really make sure your getting
the proper alignment down and to get individual attention. Most
yoga studios have mats and props you can use. If you are
practicing at home you need to invest in a yoga mat. Yoga mats
and props are very inexpensive and can be found at any sporting
goods store or you can order on line from any yoga source such
as www.gaiam.com.
or www.manduka.com
or www.huggermugger.com
to name a few. I think the best thing you can do is go to a
class or do a DVD with a friend so you can share your experience
and not feel too uncomfortable the first time around. I love
meeting my girlfriends for yoga class. Every Saturday my best
friend Lisa and I do yoga and then go see a movie–it’s a
great way to spend the day.
Hi GirlMoguls, it’s all of us here. We’re kicking off
healthy living week here at GirlMogul Magazine, to remind you
that it’s always a good time to learn great habits to keep you
healthy. We’ll be featuring a series of post by Kristin
McGee of Power Yoga and Bendi Girls, plus other great posts
on how you can take of your body - after all - we only get one!
Win
a BendiGirls Yoga video by MTV’s Power Yoga guru Kristin McGee
- in Win a BendiGirls Yoga video by MTV’s Power Yoga guru
Kristin McGee - in BendiGirls, Kristin leads you through fun and
simple yoga exercises for any level. Join Kristin and her
BendiGirls to learn all about yoga. To enter, just post a
comment with your favorite yoga pose below (research allowed!).
Contest open until July 29th 2009. Good luck!
Living Series from a true GirlMogul, Kristin McGee. Kristin
McGee created Power Yoga and has been on MTV as their yoga
guru. She’s so into Yoga and thinks it’s a great exercise
even for girls like us that she just created a cool new DVD - Bendigirls
Yoga. This DVD provides a fun and approachable way to enjoy
this ancient spiritual practice while helping viewers ground
themselves and realize the positive virtues of yoga.
Even though yoga has been around for over 2000 years, it’s
really become popular in the last 10 years because it is so
effective and fun. Yoga is safe to practice because it
emphasizes strength and flexibility; and yoga relies on a
breathing method that makes sure you are always focused on what
you are doing. In yoga, we breath in and out through the nose
which is called ujaayi in sanskrit and can be translated as
victory breath. When you breath deeply through the nose, you can
relax the body and go in to a stretch without over doing it. You
also stay concentrated and discover when you hold your breath or
stop breathing. When you can learn to breath through a difficult
standing balance or deep stretch, you can then breath easier in
situations in life that are challenging. Yoga is a weight
bearing activity so it helps to build bone density and it also
helps us develop strong supporting muscles in our legs, arms and
core. We have to stabilize ourselves with our abdominal muscles
and we work our legs and arms in a variety of motions and
positions. In yoga class you’ll do things standing, sitting,
on your stomach, on your back, and even upside down. Yoga will
help you relax and it reduces stress. Yoga will help you gain
flexibility and it will strengthen your entire body as well as
you mind. Yoga will give you confidence as you breath and move
your way through challenging postures and relaxing stretches.
Yoga is my favorite exercise and can be done anywhere at any
time and at any age!
Make sure you check out the first
post in our Yoga series.
Kristin McGee - MTV Yoga Guru
What is Yoga? Yoga is a system that originated over 2000 years
ago in India. The word Yoga means “to unite” and when we
practice Hatha Yoga, the physical portion of the Yoga tradition,
we link our mind and our body through our breath. The yoga that
is most popular in the United States is Hatha Vinyasa also known
as Power Yoga. Vinyasa is a sanksrit word which means to thread;
and in vinyasa yoga, we thread the poses together–as if
swimming on land, linking the breath and the movement the entire
time. The flow of the class is active enough to raise your
heartrate and you end up getting a full body workout
incorporating standing postures, balancing postures, backbends,
forward bends, twists and inversions. There are many styles of
physical yoga. Bikram yoga is a set series of postures done in a
heated room. Astanga yoga is a set series of postures that flow
like a vinyasa class but is the same routine every time. In
Iyenger yoga you hold the postures for a long time to make sure
you are in the correct form and to build stability and strength.
Restorative yoga is very restful and uses props and blankets to
allow your body to relax in to postures. It’s great to explore
and find what style suits you best. In addition to the physical
aspects of yoga, there is mediation, breathing exercises,
chanting (kirtan) and cleansing exercises. In today’s fast
paced society, people love the way yoga helps them focus and
slow down and relax while also gaining strength, stability and
flexibility.
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