Kelly Chan

Sarvangasana, also called as shoulder stand which often referred to as the “queen of all yoga postures,” with Headstand being deemed the “King.”

The benefits of shoulder stand are,

- balances hormones for thyroid and hypothalamus glands which allows proper hormone production
- strengthens the heart and respiratory system, reduces strain on the heart when the body is in an inverted position so healthy blood can easily circulate around the neck and chest
- combats the common cold
- soothes the parasympathetic nervous system
- reduces constipation
- strengthens the upper body, legs and abdomen.
- opens the chest and stretches the neck, shoulders and upper back muscles.
- drains old blood from legs, pelvis and abdominal area
- ignites the Visuddah (throat chakra) which associates with creativity and self-expression
- reduces wrinkles from the increased blood flow to the face
- aides in restful sleep

*excuse the armpit sweat :P

You are the books you read,
the films you watch,
the music you listen to,
the people you meet,
the dreams you have,
the conversations you engage in.
You are what you take from these.

You are the sound of the ocean,
the breath of fresh air,
the brightest light and the darkest corner.
You are a collective of every experience you have had in your life.
You are every single day.
Drown yourself in a sea of knowledge and existence.
Let the words run through your veins and let the colors fill your mind.

Read, question, and educate one self.
Seek and ye shall find.

Food for thought: The instruction manual for the human body is called yoga but how often have you read the instruction manual for anything?

When we stop to listen to our bodies; when we pause to care for ourselves; when we treat our hearts with gentle kindness - that's self-love.

Gave my students a little surprise and treat this morning. Instead of doing yoga in front of the mirrors, I have their backs facing the mirrors instead. This way, they will do yoga without distractions by looking at themselves or others in the mirror, feel their body movements as they move into postures and increase the awareness of breath when coming into postures. I personally find it's better to do yoga without mirrors and it's a healthy way to deepen one's practice. This is nothing new and don't be surprise if you walk in into a yoga center without any mirrors on their walls. Keep an open mind and increase the awareness of listening to your mind, body and soul.

Peace, love and kindness.

Here's another link to read on sleeping positions and how these positions can effect your health.

On the side note, if you're experiencing random coughs at night while sleeping or under the weather and having a bad cough/flu/cold, elevate your head pillow higher by stacking 2 pillows or placing a folded blanket/towel (to mimic it as a pillow) under your head on top of the pillow. This method will help and ease your sleep. The idea is to elevate your head, not too high to a point where your neck is hanging because you would end up injuring your neck and waking up with a sore neck. You need to make sure that your neck is being supported on the pillow as well after elevating the head.

This helps to keep your nasal passage open, tickling in the back of your throat at bay and relieve congestion when you are experience random coughs at night (nighttime coughing), stuffy nose or under the weather with a bad cough. If that doesn't help much, prop your torso up too with a pillow so it would look like you're sleeping on a reclined bed at 10-15 degrees angle. I personally find propping the torso method does a great job for sleeping when I'm under the weather with a chesty cough.

I would like to emphasize, please remember to SUPPORT THE NECK when you are elevating your head. This is very important to avoid neck injuries. If the head pillows are too high and your neck is HANGING WITHOUT SUPPORT, please position yourself better on the pillows by pushing yourself up (in other words, go north) so the neck lies on the pillows too and NOT HANGING WITHOUT ANY SUPPORT. You could also adjust the pillows lower or ELEVATE YOUR TORSO with a pillow too.

Find Out Which Are Best and Worst Sleeping Positions And How They Can Effect to Your Health! Getting a good night’s sleep is pivotal for our health, body, mind, and our mood, especially since we spend one-third of our lives asleep. Both too little and too much time dozing has been linked …

Why it is important to always sleep and lay on your left side.
Click on the play button below to know more about the benefits and the reasons to this.

I NEVER Knew Sleeping On Your Left Side Can Do THIS To Your Body. Did YOU Know About This? I Didn’t Know About This Before!

This week highlight topic will be on sleeping. On average, human beings spend 33 % of their lives sleeping therefore we need to educate ourselves on good sleeping postures and the benefits of it. Don't fall asleep just yet, stay tuned for more posts about it. :)

Om Shanti.

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I've been sleeping with a paper tape over my mouth since September last year. I am not a snorer or a mouth breather, however I do notice in the past that I mouth breathe sometimes when I speak; inhaling through the mouth before speaking. Therefore I decided to try mouth taping to overcome this habit. With the help of Buteyko breathing method, mindfulness and meditation, I have relearn to nose breathe when I speak.

Mouth taping for me started out as an experiment to deepen my yoga practice; to be more aware of the quality of my breath and to restrain myself from mouth breathing while doing asana along with other benefits it brought into my daily activities. Taping my mouth has now become a routine and a part of me before bedtime. Going to bed with a tape on is like going to sleep as a caterpillar and waking up being a butterfly. I wake up feeling like I just experience being reborn - restful, full of energy, and knowing that I had a peaceful sleep.

I was introduced to Buteyko breathing method by Shilpa, my guru, when I did my TTC. I was a doubter at first about taping my mouth and didn't see how it would help me since I am not a snorer. Also the thought of having a tape over my mouth while sleeping intimidates me. My housemate who was doing the course with me, Matthew, a spiritual brother, has been practicing Buteyko method and taping his mouth for a very long time before I was introduced to it. He advised me to give it a try and overcome my fears with it so I decided to keep an open mind about it and tape my mouth anyways.

On the first night, I only managed to keep it on until I was about to fall asleep then I pulled the tape off. This took me a few nights of tries to get used to it and I still can't overcome the fear of sleeping with it until the next morning. I was at the midst of giving up sleeping with it until Junko, one of the other TTC students, my spiritual mother, told me her mouth taping experience. She told me that she tapes her mouth during the day when she's on the computer or reading then takes naps with it. It sounds less terrifying when she described it and it makes more sense to me with this subconscious approach. So I approached Shilpa and spoke to her about my taping problems and asked for permission if I could tape my mouth during TTC hours since the training was from 7am to 3pm, that's half of my day spent in the yoga studio. She likes the idea and allowed it.

I kept the habit of taping my mouth when I'm awake for the next few days and slowly grew more comfortable by taking naps with it and while doing yoga nidra. Now I tape my mouth every night before going to bed and it feels awkward if I don't tape it.

Taping my mouth has brought me many benefits and got rid of many health problems such as,

- the habit of mouth breathing during speech has stop
- got rid of sinus
- don't experience migraines anymore
- calmer
- wake up feeling restful
- do not get bitten by mosquitoes as much as I used to

Speaking about getting bitten by mosquitoes, most of us face that issue when we are out at night and there's a funny story that happened to me. When I was not taping my mouth previously to bed and living with Matthew, there was one night where I was a blood feast to the mosquitoes. I woke up in the middle of night with 18 mosquito bites, literally scratching my skin off and smothering Mopiko all over myself. Matthew and I, in separate rooms across from each other slept with our doors open and I thought to myself, he must be getting bitten badly too that night. The next morning I gave him Mopiko and he asked me what is it for. I assumed he got bitten plenty as well, but it turns out that he didn't even have a single bite on him and was sleeping peacefully like a baby he said. I thought to myself that was very odd because I ended up with heaps of bites therefore there must be enough mosquitoes to feast on him too. Why was he free from getting bitten by mosquitoes? All because he was sleeping with a tape on containing his carbon dioxide in his body and I didn't. Lesson learnt.

Schedule a class with me to learn more about Buteyko breathing method and why your body needs carbon dioxide. You can email me or message me in my inbox. If you have been sleeping with a tape on or familiar with Buteyko breathing method, I would like to hear about your experience and thoughts in the comment section below.

For further read, here's an article by Jonathan Fitzgordan about his mouth taping experience. http://corewalking.com/sleeping-mouth-taped-shut/

A surgical paper tape roll can be easily purchase at any pharmacy. The paper tape that I use is 3M (1 inch x 10 yards) Nexcare Micropore paper tape which cost RM 3.20
Prices vary at various drugstores, usually less than RM 5.

Sleeping With My Mouth Taped Shut Sleeping with my mouth taped shut is the latest in my endless attempts to improve the effectiveness of my sleep.

I agree with this.

But I Thought All Yoga Was Therapeutic? Yoga is largely regarded as a healing art, but is all yoga really therapeutic?

I feel so blessed that I could access clean water, have a roof over my head and other necessities in this life. Cooked a simple dinner tonight. Also, my mom made me some green beans chinese dessert.