A few things we are digging this week.
Hi LSYers,
Every time we visit Colombia we fall more in love with this beautiful country. Each city and location gives you a good dose of cultural activities and spectacular natural beauty. We at Love Surf Yoga can’t get enough! And personally, since I grew up in its neighboring country of Venezuela, Colombia feels almost like home.
Here is a really easy to follow itinerary to one of our favorite cities in Colombia, Cartagena. We have visited Cartagena for retreats and also for family for my sister was married there. This four day itinerary is pretty legit! The Getsemani neighborhood is our favorite place to stay, just a few minutes walk away from the walled city, with an incredible market on the way into it. Everything in Getsemani is just slightly less priced than the markets and restaurants within the walls. There’s also way less people in Getsemani, which I prefer. To me, it feels like Brooklyn, my longtime home.
Have you been to Cartagena? Do you have tips to share?
xx!
patricia
By Guest Blogger Emily Elfassy
Both Productivity and Stress Levels can be linked to sound. Lets take a deeper look at how to create the right audible experience for the right moment to make the most of your day.
It often feels like sounds happen to you; horns honking, car alarms, jackhammers. Those noises strike the system, raise cortisol and immediately send the body into a state of stress. It’s powerful. Quantum physics tells us everything is in motion, everything is vibrating, creating continuous movement and continuous sound. Even as we sleep, the heart beats and the breath enters and exits the nose. All of the things that we hear cause resonance inside us: deep, full and reverberating with the power to change our mood, productivity and even our actions.
Close your eyes and imagine the sound of your best friends’ voice at the end of a hard day, the song of the summer your senior year of high school or the sound of a dripping sink when you’re trying to sleep. Now, imagine running a 5K to a soundtrack of lullabies, an entire workday of silence or having a baby who doesn’t cry. Sound has the power to evoke memories, emotions and even a visceral or physical response. Clearing sound can clear your mind and choosing the right music for the right moment can give you a clear advantage.
MOTIVATION
Morning Routines are all a buzz right now. Adding a soundtrack to start your day can, especially the same song or the same artist can subconsciously tell your body its time to get moving. News, television or talk radio is usually too much information in the morning. Try keeping at least the first hour of your day free of any noise that could create anxiety. This includes phone alerts, email pings and anything political.
Personal Power and confidence is increased when the third chakra is activated. Rap & Hip hop music hits you right there. On the way to an important meeting or a first date listen and channel your inner rapper. Intense beats in the gym can take you to the next level or help push through low energy to make your fitness goals happen. LSY Favorites: Rhianna, Cardi B, Kendrick Lamar
FOCUS
Distractions are increasingly difficult when work requires your full attention. Some people perform best in complete silence. Noise cancelling headphones are an investment but standard earplugs can also work wonders. For those who like music in the background, something ambient with few lyrics or subtle chanting is best for complex tasks or creative work. Classical, Jazz or Kundalini music are great options. LSY Favorites: Claude Debussy, Phillip Glass, White Sun, Tithai Too
Repetitive tasks that require efficiency are best done to your favorite music. This will cause the brain to release dopamine, the mood-enhancing chemical, and make tedious tasks more enjoyable and quick to finish. Weather its Reggie, techno or pop, if you’re chained to a computer or folding endless laundry listen to makes you most happy.
RELAXATION & MEDITATION
Dropping into your own inner voice and intuition is the best way to unwind, heal and recalibrate. Wind chimes, humming & vibrational sounds induce a quiet stillness in the mind. Sitting on the beach with the sound of waves crashing is the best place to balance and make big decisions in your life. Relaxing sounds can cause stress hormones and blood pressure to decrease and immunity to increase.
The universal yogi OM which to your ear sounds like AUM, Awe-oo-mm is heard at the frequency of 432 Hz which is the same basic vibrational frequency found in all things throughout nature, acknowledging the connection of each individual to the universe and creating a calming effect similar or in preparation to meditation. Tibetan Singing Bowls, Sound baths and Gongs all tap into the theta brain waves and create a harmonizing effect on the mind, body, and spirit.
LSY Favorites: "The Healing Power of Sound." By Dr. Mitchell L. Gaynor
SLEEP
While sleeping we continue to register the small noises around us and may even be jostled awake by outside sounds without even realizing it was the cause. White noise creates a soothing ambient blanket of sound neutralizing what you hear so that sharp sounds have less of an effect. This works extremely well for anyone who has trouble falling or staying asleep. White noise machines are relatively inexpensive but the same effect can be achieved with a fan, space heater or even humidifier as long as it creates a soft continuous sound.
LSY Favorites: Muji Ultrasonic Aroma Diffuser
Emily Elfassy is a Brooklyn based writer whose content, copy and creative work looks to focus and blend lifestyle, wellness, culture and motherhood. She also has super sensitive hearing and is as such a great listener.
Post Injury Hip Stabilization
I (Patricia, founder) recently pulled my hamstring while teaching an advanced variation of revolved triangle. I immediately put my knowledge to work- I rested, I did acupuncture, I took Advil to relieve the inflammation, I did Pilates at my own pace.
Now that it feels 90 percent back, my focus is to strengthen all the hip stabilizers so that my hips don’t tilt and create all kind of problems. Using a band is an excellent way to strengthen the muscle attachments. For this exercise, start with a side plank variation with the band on the mid shins, place a hand on a block or the mat, and keep your extended leg’s foot flexed. Using the extended leg, push your heel up and out with the until you feel resistance from the band and the foot comes off the mat. Repeat 50x. This exercise strengthens the abductors of the extended leg while the grounded leg provides with overall support.
This is part of a hamstring rehab sequence that I’ll break down in the next few days.
Pigeon Pose
Yoga for Surfers
One legged Pigeon pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana) is an excellent outer hip opener, providing with release of this tight area to help with overall mobility and stability of the pelvis. It releases your hip flexor muscles (psoas, rectus femoris) and your groin muscles, opens your hip rotator muscles (gluteus medius and minimus) and provides length to the abdomen. Although it is said to relieve sciatic nerve tension and ease chronic low back pain, I have to disagree- sometimes this pose can hurt me for I suffer of both, and can make my lumbar spine feel sensitive, so as with all poses, do proceed with caution if you suffer from these as well. You may support this posture with a block under your flexed hip, or with a blanket across both sit bones.