Judith Hanson Lasater

If you are curious about Judith Hanson Lasater's new book on restorative yoga, then this video is for you.

Wed Dec 27 - Overview of 30 Day Challenge coming in January

January - 30 day challenge

On December 26, 2017 Shambhala will release Judith Hanson Lasater´s brand new restorative yoga book, Restore and Rebalance, Yoga for Deep Relaxation. This book comes 22 years after her original publication, Relax and Renew. For those yoga teachers and yogis who are wondering if this new book is simply an update of her first restorative yoga book or a rewrite then we can take a collective 3-part yogi-sigh of relief, because this is actually a new book and not just an update. YAY! The poses in Restore and Rebalance are different from Relax and Renew, but as Judith Hanson Lasater says the concepts and techniques of restorative yoga are based on the same principles.

Resources:

New Book - Restore and Rebalance: Yoga for Deep Relaxation

Original Book Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times 

The book promises to help those of us who are suffering exhausted from stress in our time-pressured, constantly connected world. The book is accessible for all ages and levels of health, especially those who are recovering from injuries and illnesses and those who want to stabilize their mood. The book offers poses and sequences for the reader/yogi and yoga teacher.

So, the book does an excellent job of laying out 20 restorative yoga poses for yoga students and teachers alike, including five variations on savasana. I was particularly interested in Judith Hanson Lasater´s organization. She began with 4 head above heart poses to transition the restorative yoga student and as a way to disconnect from their outer world and reconnect with their inner one.

Each pose includes the benefits, some special instructions, especially contraindications for the pose, the props you will need, how to set up the pose, how to be in the pose, how to come out of the pose and some notes for teachers.

The bulk of the restorative yoga poses are 11 poses that are head below heart poses that include backbends, inversions, forward bends, and even some standing poses. There are 5 variations of savasana.

Part three includes various sequences from a 20 and 60 minute practice to therapeutic practices for anxiety, children, depression, fatigue and stress, lower back pain, menopause, pregnancy, and postpartum. This book is a clear, concise road map to setting up, coming into, coming out of and teaching these restorative yoga poses. The photos are clear and also contribute to the roadmap of how to come into the poses. Judith Hanson Lasater steps back to let you have your own experience in the pose.

I think the book does a good job of offering the body a chance to rest deeply and revitalize. I especially love the attention that Judith Hanson Lasater gives at the beginning of the book to head and neck support and the use of a blanket to support the head and neck for your nervous system relaxation. She spends 3 pages on this and I think this is my biggest takeaway as a teacher, practitioner and my favourite part of the book.

I often have two complaints about restorative yoga books and the way restorative yoga is offered to the world. One is that what is displayed in the book is not generally realistic for the average person at home or even the fledgling yoga studio or yoga teacher. The use of props is luxurious, but it is not unusual to see 3 bolsters and 8 blankets in one pose. The first pose in the book for example lists 5 separate props in addition to 8 blankets. I just do not think this is realistic in terms of resources for the average individual, yoga teacher or yoga studio.

Best Bakeries and Ice Cream

To finish off our Festive Guide to Victoria BC we are going to share with you our favourite festive treats in Victoria BC. We will start with my absolute favourite, the best ice cream in Victoria BC. Kid Sister ice cream closes from November through March, however they are open from Thursday through Saturday the two weeks before Christmas serving up Christmas treats and I could not be happier.

My first stop on the Festive Guide to Victoria was Kid Sister ice cream for some Festive Flavoured ice cream. I sampled the egg nog ice cream and I have to say the owner really likes his boozy ice cream. I settled on a pint of candy cane, butter tart and rum and raisin for the freezer and my belly.

The next day we took a short trip downtown to see what we could find at Fol Epi, Crust and Dutch bakery. I think because we went late in the day things were quite picked over. Fol Epi had one lonesome gingerbread politically correct person. In hindsight I probably should have picked ¨it¨ up. I did pick up a beautiful minced tart from crust. I decided to skip on the baked goods from Dutch Bakery. I am not a fan of everything red and green for Christmas.

On Saturday I went to Ottavio Italian Bakery and Delicatessen and that is where I found the Christmas baked goods motherload. I was so happy with what I found at Ottavios. The cookies were so festive and pretty. They looked fantastic in photographs and let's face it, in the age of instagram, isn´t that what matters?

On Sunday we went to our final bakeries: Murchies and Patisserie Daniel. At Murchies I got two little cakes with beautiful iced paintings on top and at Patisserie Daniel we got stollen and a white chocolate florentine which were delicious.

I hope you have enjoyed the vlogs this year. We are taking Christmas day off, which means we will be back in the New Year with our vlog from Salt Spring Island.

Happy Holidays,

Love, Tim, Melissa and Trinity

YouTube Rewind

Every year YouTube Rewind does their year in a review through a video recap of their year´s most viral videos, events, memes and music. This year I thought I would do a YouTube Rewind of my own channels for 2017, going back over the top 10 videos of 2017 on both Yoga with Dr. Melissa West and Yoga Lifestyle with Dr. Melissa West exploring the most viewed videos of this year on both channels.

Hi I’m Melissa from Yoga with Dr. Melissa West, we´re all about We are all about connection, connection to a teacher and teachings that allow you to connect with your True Nature and a community of people that are dedicated to a genuine path of spiritual transformation.

If you are new here, be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss a single video. I put out a brand new vlog every Monday at 9 am PT and a video like this answering your questions on Wednesdays at 9 am PT. I have some great content coming in the next few weeks:

Wed Dec 20 - Review of Judith Hanson Lasater´s New Restorative Yoga book

Wed Dec 27 - Overview of 30 Day Challenge coming in January

January - 30 day challenge

What was your favourite yoga class on my channel this year?

I thought it would be fun to do a little YouTube Rewind on my own channel as we come to the end of this year. Here are most viewed videos on my Yoga with Dr. Melissa West YouTube Channel in 2017.

BTW, thank you to the nearly 6K new subscribers this year! I appreciate each and everyone of you who have subscribed to my channel.

#10 Restorative Yoga Full Class YwM 71

https://www.melissawest.com/yoga-with-melissa-71/

This was the first restorative yoga video I made for my YouTube channel, 6 years ago back in 2011. Filmed back when we lived in Toronto.

This marks to a big turning point in my Yoga with Melissa YouTube channel this year. We decided to really niche down and focus on what we were about. We realized that we are quite different from other channels and instead of fighting that so much we decided to embrace that and make our channel a place where people could come to restore their energy. This led to releasing almost 10 new restorative yoga classes on our channel this year, including restorative yoga collaborations.

#9 Kids Yoga with special guest Mai Meret YwM 31

https://www.melissawest.com/namaste-yoga-31-kids-yoga-with-guest-instructor-mai-meret/

Mai Meret and I did our Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Level 1 and 2 training together. She filmed this for me 7 years ago in 2010. It continues year after year to be one of the most viewed videos on my channel. If you are a yoga teacher and you love kids, niche down to kids. If you are a yoga teacher and you love kids and you want to start a youtube channel - make it a kids yoga channel. That is my advice to you.

#8 Yoga with a Strap YwM 223

https://www.melissawest.com/223/

This was filmed in April of 2014 just before we moved West to Victoria BC. It was one of those one off classes where I was just having fun. I think everybody picked up on that fun. It wasn´t even really a class, in that I just show you move after move where you can use a strap. It continues to be a most watched video.

#7 Healing Pilgrimage Hanuman Series YwM 217

https://www.melissawest.com/217/

This one is another anomaly, part of a series filmed before we left for the West coast in February of 2014. The whole series did ok, but this one, for some reason people seek it out.

#6 Yoga for Beginners YwM 101

https://www.melissawest.com/yoga-with-melissa-101/

My beginner classes continue to be my calling card. Yoga with Melissa 101 was my first beginner class back in October of 2011, 6 years ago.

Gingerbread and S'mores

Over the next few weeks we are going to be sharing with you are favourite festive traditions in Victoria BC. One of our favourite things to do each year is to go to the Gingerbread Showcase. This event brings together professional and amateur bakers from all over Vancouver Island. The event is put on by Habitat for Humanity. Last year the gingerbread house event raised more than $50, 000 to build a home for a family in need.

Because Canada is celebrating her 150th birthday this year, the theme for the Gingerbread Showcase 2017 is Celebrating Canada. All of the bakers took this theme to heart and brought forward many iconic images from Canada including the beaver, our incredible wilderness and of course things like Tim Horton´s coffee and maple syrup.

Following our enjoyment of the Gingerbread Showcase we hung around the lobby to take some photos for Dressember.

While we were sitting in the lobby I noticed a sign out of the corner of my eye that said you could go up to the rooftop to roast smores on an open fire.

Tim asked the hotel staff if this was just for guests of the hotel or if anybody could go up to the rooftop and make smores. Well, turns out anybody can go up to the rooftop and enjoy s'mores.

The staff were incredibly accommodating and made the experience so special for us.

The rooftop experience at Parkside hotel is beautiful. The firepit was just gorgeous.

Tim and I had so much and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Thank you so much Parkside Hotel.

With gratitude, Melissa and Tim

 

Lower Back Pain

Hi I’m Melissa from Yoga with Dr. Melissa West, we´re all about We are all about connection, connection to a teacher and teachings that allow you to connect with your True Nature and a community of people that are dedicated to a genuine path of spiritual transformation.

If you are new here, be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss a single video. I put out a brand new vlog every Monday at 9 am PT and a video like this answering your questions on Wednesdays at 9 am PT. I have some great content coming in the next few weeks:

Wed Dec 13 - Winter Reading

Wed Dec 20 - Winter Solstice Reflection

Wed Dec 27 - Overview of 30 Day Challenge coming in January

So be sure to subscribe.

I have a question from Helen today. Helen says, I'm new to yoga and am really enjoying yin yoga and your videos! I am curious if you have any suggestions or which stretches may best help my lower back, simply laying flat as in the ending causes pinching so I have to bend my legs.

One thing I always like to make sure is that those people that experience low back pain do bend their knees or place a bolster or folded blanket or cushions under their knees in savasana. This will ease the pain or pinching that Helen describes in her low back in savasana.

In fact, it is always a good idea to check with your medical doctor, but generally, straight legs in forward folds are a contraindication for people with back pain.

Back pain can be caused by a number of things from the shapes our bodies take sitting long hours in cars or in chairs hunched over our computers and laptops, strained muscles and ligaments from lifting a heavy objects or a sudden movement during a sports activity, to whiplash damage from a car accidents. No matter the cause, back pain can be debilitating and it can be helpful to have a yin yoga pose to find some relief.

Bernie Clark, one of the foremost teachers in the world of yin yoga has a fabulous article on yin yoga and lower back pain explaining the connection between lower back pain and stress.

He explains that it is always a good idea to get checked by a medical doctor, however, studies show that people with low back pain have no structural issues with their spines. What Bernie suggests is that it is the chronic tension from stress that seems to cause back pain. Our fascia, the shrink-wrap of our body has 10 times more nerve endings than our muscles. When psychologically stressed, our fascia contracts. This chronic contraction of our fascia can lead to lower back pain. Of course yin yoga can help to release chronically tight fascia.

Yin Yoga is a genre of yoga that focuses on the deeper connective tissues wrapping around the joints, particularly in your hips, pelvis and lower spine. This is quite different from most forms of yoga which focus on the muscles. With yin yoga we hold yin yoga poses for longer periods of time, usually about five minutes rather than the typical five breaths

When we come into a yin yoga pose, we come into the yin yoga pose (remembering that this is not an aesthetic practice and it doesn’t matter what your pose looks like) and find an appropriate edge. Edge is not sharp shooting pain, burning or electric, but it may be a dull ache or uncomfortable.

Then we resolve to be still. This is to allow your muscles to soften, let gravity take the weight of your body. We want the energy to pool in the deeper layers of the bones and the joints.

Finally, we stay for awhile. The reason we stay for longer in a yin yoga practice is to affect the deeper connective tissues that wrap around the joints and bones.

There are many yin yoga poses that are good for back pain.

Christmas Truck Parade

Over the next few weeks I want to share with you my festive guide to Victoria BC. These are our favouite things to do in Victoria B.C. at Christmas. Victoria really gets into the holiday spirit every year with lots of parades, decorations and fun things to do for the holiday season. So we will be sharing with you the best things to do in Victoria BC lleading up to Christmas.

Victoria BC is a destination city all year round and Christmas time is no exception. There are so many fun things to do around Victoria BC at Christmas time.

Tonight is one of my absolute favourite, the annual lighted truck convoy and food drive (website). The locals know it better as the annual Christmas truck parade. This is one of the most fun Victoria BC Christmas events. It starts every year just around the corner from our neighbourhood at Ogden Point and travels all the way to Langford. The Christmas truck parade 2017 was one of the biggest and best ever.

If you want to drop off a non-perishable food item you can do that here:

Thanks so much for watching. Let us know in the comments if there is anything in particular that you want to see this Christmas season in Victoria.

Happy Holidays, Melissa

Music: https://www.bensound.com

 

Back Pain Relief

Today we have a special guest on Yoga with Dr. Melissa West, Jodi from Shima Flow Yoga. Jodi is going to take us through a 28 minute yoga practice with poses to relieve lower back pain. Lower back pain affects millions of people every day and can be caused by many things including, sitting for long periods of time, tightness in your hips and/or hamstrings or not stretching after your workouts.

This practice will take you through several poses to open your hips, stretch your hamstrings and relieve tension in your lower back and spine. Do this video 2-3 times a week and you are sure to see a decrease in back pain!

​Maybe you sit for long periods at a time because of a desk job or commuting back and forth from work and this contributes to your low back pain. Maybe you work out and you don't stretch after you work out and this contributes to your low back pain. ​​​Did you know that tightness in your low back is often caused by tightness in your hips?

Jodi begins this sequence with a centering in reclined baddha konasana or reclined bound angle pose to help you come into your center, find your breath and bring relaxation to your inner thighs and hips. From there she brings the knees into the chest for knees to chest pose and a nice stretch in the low back. The next pose brings you into those tight hamstrings with hand to big toe pose or suptapadangusthasana which is known to help with low back pain. Afterwards Jodi brings you into cat pose or marjaryasana to release your spine. From there you will come into head beyond knee pose or janu sirsasana, with modifications given. This pose is known to stretch the spine.​ Following cat pose you will come into lunge pose or anjaneyasana ​ and variations ​to release your hips. Modifications are given for knee issues. This pose not only releases tension in your hips but also relieves low back pain. ​ Pigeon pose is offered with the support of a block for tight hips or movement of your front leg to make the pose more challenging. ​Squat pose is offered with a props, this pose offers a deep stretch for your low back. From squat pose you will move into standing forward fold or uttasana offering some modifications with bent knees. From there you will come to the ground to release your spine in reclined twist or jathara parivartasana both with dynamic movement and then a longer hold as well. You will finish your yoga class for back pain with savasana or corpse pose.

Throughout the practice Jodi reminds you that it is not about what the poses look like, but what the poses feel like in your body. What matters is that you are feeling the pose in your body. It is also important not to compare ourselves to anybody else when we are in a yoga posture. Each body is different. Remember with video you can always press pause and stay in the poses for as long as you like. Jodi encourages you to challenge yourself in throughout this class.

Jodi offers some great tips for back pain like remembering to move. The less we move the more pain we can experience so Jodi reminds us to keep moving throughout the day.

​Yoga Poses or Asanas: Reclined Bound Angle Pose, ​Knees to chest pose or Apanasana, hand to big toe pose or suptapandagusthasana, marjaryasana or cat pose, lunge pose or anjaneyasana, janu sirsasana or head beyond knee pose, pigeon pose or eka pada rajakapotasana, squat pose or malasana, standing forward fold or uttasana, reclined twist or jathara parivartanasana, savasana or corpse pose

Props Needed: Yoga Strap​, block, blanket

STAY CONNECTED

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/shimaflow/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ShimaFlowYoga

INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.

4 Days until Dressember

With only four days until Dressember I joined my friend, fellow Dressember team member, Sherry Scheideman (and clinical counselor here in Victoria BC) and we headed to Ola Dubois pop up shop.

My husband, Timothy West was the photographer for the event.

Dani from Ola Dubois www.oladubois.ca combines her passion for vintage style, thrifting, fashion, creativity and a desire to make a positive impact on the environment with her dresses.

She makes dresses out of reclaimed fabrics and sustainable fabrics. Her dresses are upcycled and one of a kind.

Whenever I am on camera I feel like I have a difficult time articulating the horrors of fast fashion. Hopefully I can do it a little more justice here.

Our cheap clothes come at a cost to the other human beings that are being enslaved to produce them.

The children that are producing your clothing are not given time to drink water or go to the washroom.

Families are lured into sending their children to garment factories with promises of food, shelter and fair wages and their children are met with horrible working conditions, long hours and no time off.

Your cheap clothes mean horrific work conditions, including unsafe buildings, buildings that literally collapse and are frequently destroyed by fires with the workers in them.

If you watch this video, you will see one 18 year old woman who miraculously survived after being buried in the rubble of the April 24, 2013 Rana Plaza factory in Banglades collapse for 17 days.

She was lucky, the Rana Plaza factory collapse of April 2013 claimed 1, 100 lives.

Fast fashion has taken us from two seasons to four seasons to releasing new clothes every week. One research study showed that simply doubling the wages of sweatshop workers would only cost the end consumer 1.5% more per item.

The international labour organization estimates that 250 million children between the ages of 5-14 are forced to work in sweatshops in developing countries with 120 million of these working full time.

You can make a difference:

1. Join Our Team

We would love to have you join our team and wear a dress everyday in December to raise awareness and stop human trafficking.

https://support.dressemberfoundation.org/team/team-ola-dubois

2. Make a Donation

Our team is offering incredible prizes for those who support us through donations.

Sandrine is giving: https://support.dressemberfoundation.org/fundraiser/sandrine-thinnes

5 USD - a big heartfelt virtual or real hug depending if we are to meet

10 to 20 USD - You get a painted and handwritten postcard by me

20 to 50 USD - You get a mixed media painting by me

50 to 100 USD - You get a knitted/crocheted hat or cowl/scarf (or a skein of handspun wool if you like to knit/crochet yourself)

100 to 250 USD - You are awesome, I love you, you get socks!

250 USD - You are beyond, you get a knitted top or sweater!

Peige is giving: https://support.dressemberfoundation.org/fundraiser/peige-rosales

5 USD/Euros -- A HUGE, smiley hug from me, in person or on the virtual platform of your choice;

10-20 USD/Euros -- A photograph me holding a sign thanking you, from one of the many beautiful locations here in Italy;

50-100 USD/Euros -- A custom-made 10-15 minute yoga routine for either morning or evening;

100-250 USD/Euros -- An afternoon of my time donated to you to do yoga,

Menstrual Cramps

Do you experience throbbing, cramping, intense pain in your lower abdomen? Menstrual cramps or period cramps? A dull or constant ache? If so, this video with a yin yoga pose for menstrual cramps is for you.

Make sure you stay all the way to the end so I can tell you how to get my 7 days of yoga for hormonal balance including full length yoga videos, 5 minute how to videos with quick yoga demos to regulate your hormones and glands, recipes and quick self care routines

Menstrual cramps are a throbbing or cramping pain in your lower abdomen. Period cramps can be a dull, constant ache or an intense throbbing or cramping pain in your lower abdomen. You may also experience pain in your lower back. You might experience it as an aching pain and a feeling of pressure in your lower belly or a pain in your hips and lower back.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, where there is free flow of qi (energy) and blood there is no pain. It is the liver in Traditional Chinese Medicine that maintains the free flow of Qi in the body. When there is a restricted flow of qi through the liver, blood stasis occurs and we can experience those painful menstrual cramps. Liver blood stasis also contributes to the emotional disturbances associated with our periods from depression, frustration, irritation, anger, and crying for no reason.

Today I am going to show you one yin yoga pose to help the free flow of qi for the liver meridian. Your liver meridian runs along the inside of your ankle, along the inside of your leg, through your groin and goes inside your body towards your liver.

Yin Yoga is a genre of yoga that focuses on the deeper connective tissues wrapping around the joints, particularly in your hips, pelvis and lower spine. This is quite different from most forms of yoga which focus on the muscles. With yin yoga we hold yin yoga poses for longer periods of time, usually about five minutes rather than the typical five breaths

When we come into a yin yoga pose, we come into the yin yoga pose (remembering that this is not an aesthetic practice and it doesn’t matter what your pose looks like) and find an appropriate edge. Edge is not sharp shooting pain, burning or electric, but it may be a dull ache or uncomfortable.

Then we resolve to be still. This is to allow your muscles to soften, let gravity take the weight of your body. We want the energy to pool in the deeper layers of the bones and the joints.

Finally, we stay for awhile. The reason we stay for longer in a yin yoga practice is to affect the deeper connective tissues that wrap around the joints and bones.

Dragonfly or Straddle Pose in Yin Yoga accesses the liver meridian line along the inside of the legs. To come into the pose, elevate your hips on a folded blanket, open your legs wide until you feel a tugging on the tissues of your inner thighs and groin, fold forward and rest your head on a bolster. We will hold the pose for 3-5 minutes.

While we are in the pose we can enjoy chocolate that is actually good for you during your period. This dark chocolate from Chocolate Tonic, has herbs that will help with cramping, breast distention, mood, and menstrual headaches.

If you live in Victoria BC you can get these chocolates at Mother Nature’s Market and Deli on Cook St.

Let me know in the comments what kind of chocolate you like best around your period.

If you like chocolate around your period press the thumbs up button.

If you know somebody who could benefit from this video, please feel free to share it with them.

Subscribe for more videos like this every Wednesday at 9 am PT.

Related Videos:

Photo shoot Abandoned Church

This week I tagged along with Tim on one of his fashion photography photo shoots to get some photographs for Dressember. We drove to the Cowichan Valley to an abandoned church for our amazing on-location photo shoot. This abandoned church provided a beautiful backdrop to be able to take photos for Dressember.

Dressember is a fundraising event I love to participate in every year. Our team, Team Ola Dubois is wearing a dress everyday in December to raise awareness and money to stop human trafficking.

40 plus million people in the world are trapped in human slavery in the world today. Children as young as 4 years old are being exploited as slaves. Cybersex human trafficking, trafficking boys and girls for sex and slavery of young children for fashion are some of the forms of slavery I am most passionate about ending, but there are unfortunately many other forms as well. Please join our team, wear a dress everyday in December and help us to end human slavery.

I would love to have you join us for our Team Ola Dubois this year for Dressember. We have a goal to raise $10K to stop human trafficking. Dani from Ola Dubois makes beautiful dresses from reclaimed and sustainable material. I am grateful to have her support this year and look forward to introducing you to her in future vlogs and through her dresses.

More Info on How to Join the Team Here

If you are new here I will be putting out more vlogs about Dressember and sustainable fashion in the coming weeks, so if that interests you, be sure to subscribe.

With so much gratitude, Melissa