Uddiyana -- ZIP IT UP!

Well, I haven’t written in a long time.  Busy with research and work all over the country, but I have been practicing the 52 health habits religiously.  I still have my favorites like daily oil pulling, meditation, wellness journaling and so on.  I’ve learned much about eating and worked quite a bit in the past month on portion control, rewiring my own appetite for over-consumption.  I would say that one of the most important principles I’ve learned this year is from yoga – Uddiyana.  This is core stabilization.  It is zipping in your gut as a regular practice, not letting it hang out, and learning to breathe deeply still in the diaphragm as you pull it in. 

I watch people at the gym, I watch people walking around, and they are definitely just letting it hang, and what will ensue is damage to the lower back, serious damage because the core is not engaged.  Want to avoid back injury?  Zip it up!.  Pull that belly button to your spine every single minute and it will become habit.

What will this do for you?  Well, let’s look at what it’s done for me.

First, it has seriously helped my lower back injury and piriformis syndrome/sciatica that developed from that.

Second, it improves your posture in all areas – sitting, standing, walking, running, yoga, etc.  Everywhere.  And this will help your entire back.  And this will help your self-confidence in life too.

Third, it burns calories constantly if you make it a practice, whether or not you exercise in other ways.  Uddiyana engages your core so that you are consistently keeping that center of your body contracted and yes, it will burn more calories when you do anything.

Fourth, and this is HUGE…it will give you a present center.  Ever seen someone who just seems really centered and confident in herself so that she wants for nothing.  This is what Uddiyana does for the body.  It yields presence in the body itself that communicates and radiates outward to others. 

So, please, give this one a try.  I recommend taking yoga or pilates to really develop it, but you can also just do it on your own.  Try it running if you run, swimming if you swim, cycling if you cycle, and definitely do it during weight lifting, ab-work, etc…it will boost those activities and the muscles will develop faster. 

Other things going on with my health?  Well, I have been reading quite a bit about running because after my piriformis injury, I was forbidden to run by my physio-therapist.  Sooooo….now I am back at it, and trying to do it healthy and safe.  Core stabilization seems to be the thing I need to work on the most to improve my running.

Definitely been working on flexibility.  The front of my body is not so flexible, nore are my inner legs, so I’ve been dedicated myself to getting that to open up, working on hip openers from all angles.

It seems that we carry much of who we are in your hips, and so you may find that as you start to allow them to open, you experience more emotion.  This is interesting, and I’ve definitely experienced it on my yoga mat – where a profound sense of anxiety seems to be released when I let my hips ease open in various poses.  Try it.  See if it works for you to relieve anxiety and stress.

Right now I am in NYC working and I’ve taken yoga from a couple studios while here, but mostly I’ve been practicing on my own. 

Now remember – Uddiyana.  Zip it up!