Live well: Local yogi elevates workout step at time
- Details
- Created on Friday, 18 June 2010 19:28
- Written by Nathan
BY JEN MULSON, THE GAZETTE
You’ve heard all the benefits. Your friends love it.
But you still think yoga’s not for you.
It’s too hard. And there’s no way you’ll ever get your leg over your head.
Local yoga teacher Karen Gale has recently written and self-published the book for you: “Stairway to Yoga.”
In it, she moves beyond the usual props used in yoga class, like blocks, straps and chairs, and takes practice to the staircase.
“Two years ago I quit working out, was frustrated, putting on weight, and I couldn’t touch my toes,” she said.
“I wanted to stretch so I did pigeon pose. It was easier to do on the stairs.”
She’s upfront in the introduction to her book, relating how she lost her yoga and fitness mojo, packing on 20 pounds that quietly taunted her from below, until her staircase epiphany.
The book is aimed at newbie yogis. It’s ideal for older folks who might appreciate that she doesn’t ask you to get up and down from the floor, or for pregnant women, or those with an injury.
As you begin your practice, you start a little higher up on the staircase, eventually moving down one step at a time until you’re practicing on your mat.
Next thing you know, you’re taking a class, Gale suggests.
I like the concept, with her non-threatening approach of modifying the yoga postures this way.
It also allows an opening for those who don’t see themselves reflected in the popular image of yoga in our culture, with its predominantly female, lithe and uber-flexible spokespeople.
She uses plentiful black and white photos throughout.
Gale, her mom and her husband demonstrate the beginning, intermediate and advanced variations of almost three dozen postures, both on and off the stairs.
There are detailed instructions along with the therapeutic benefits of each posture, plus the contraindications and cautions. At the back of the book are a handful of sequences, including a sun salutation.
Gale earned her yoga teaching certificate here in town from Yoga Imaging in 2004 and has taught at Bally Total Fitness and Progressive Insurance.
She has been a massage therapist for more than 26 years.
You can buy her book for $20 at her website: massagetherapyextra ordinaire.com.
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