Hi! It's beetee here. Hope your week has been fantastic so far.
First thing first, thank you so much for taking the time to go through my first Yoga Quick Dive last week! I really appreciate your precious time, comments and suggestions to make it better.
This week's quick dive: Standing Forward Fold (Uttanasana), the Eight Limbs of Yoga and the my Friend Hamster the Crypto Portfolio Manager.
(I know some of you expressively favour the Life section of this newsletter so here is the link to go straight to it. What? It doesn't work?!? Just kidding! Please read through the whole thing! 😂)
Yoga Pose of the Week - Standing Forward Fold (Uttanasana)
As you settle into this pose, you'll feel it: the purpose of this pose is to stretch your whole posterior chain from the legs to the upper body. In Sanskrit, "ut" means intense and "tan" means "lengthen".
Most important thing to remember? All shapes are accepted! Either you're touching your calves, or toes, or knees, or just hanging your hands in the air half way through, or your knees are bent, it doesn't matter. As long as you feel the stretch or the lengthening on the calves, hamstrings, glutes and back muscles. As you're back body is stretched, remember to engage (or shorten) the front body to create a counter balance and protect your muscles.
How to practice safely? Keeping the knees slightly bent to protect the lower back. I have tight hamstrings. Some of you who have been practicing yoga with me and listening to my ramblings about stress management, you know I store stress in my hamstrings, which make them tight at times. Tight hamstrings increase the pressure on the lower back when you fold forward. Remember those stories you always heard about someone getting a back spasm just by bending down to pick up something on the floor? Keep the knees slightly bent and stay safe! Read more about this here.
Mental benefits of this pose? As somebody famously said, it's not about touching your toes (or calves). It's about what you learn (or how you smile) on the way down.
The Eight Limbs of Yoga
I'm sure you have heard somebody say "Yoga is not just a workout". For most of us and how we spend time doing is, it is. However, yoga offers so much more than just a way to move our body. The Eight Limbs of Yoga is an example. They are the eight-step guidelines on how to live a meaningful and purposeful life, according to the yogic traditions. It is compiled in the early centuries CE by the Indian sage Patanjali within the Yoga Sutras (which I will write about another time) from much older traditions.
The yoga we usually know in modern days is just one part and the third step of the Eight Limbs: the asanas (or the physical yoga poses).
The first two steps elaborate on your moral, ethical conduct and your self-discipline (yamas and niyamas), even before you step on the mat for your yoga poses.
The fourth step is about your breathing (pranayama)
And the last three steps relate to concentration, meditation and intellectual realisation.
My principle in studying yoga and walking the eight-step yogic path: Be patient. Take one thing at a time. I will write a bit more about them later. But for now, should we move on to something more fun?
Anything above the Earth and below the Sun is Life. Hopefully something useful to you, or at least something that will bring a smile to your face. 😊
My Friend Hamster the Crypto Genius
What do hamsters do in a cage all day? Lots of them run on a wheel, and a German one manages his own independent cryptocurrency portfolio by just doing that. His "intention wheel", or so he calls it, spins around and chooses a cryptocurrency. Then, he scampers through either a "buy" tunnel or a "sell" tunnel, triggering purchases or sales. His portfolio is up more than 16% since June, outperforming Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Wanna replicate? Follow his livestream trading on Twitch and Reddit. Hey, play fair and don't forget my introduction fee, will ya? Send me my well-deserved fee here.
Thanks for reading! But don't leave just yet!
Ask me TWO questions or leave me TWO comments below. I'd love to hear from you.
Until then, take a deep breath and keep your worries away!
Love,
beetee
Yoga Quick Dive is a series of weekly newsletters that should take no more than 5 minutes of your reading time. Let's deep dive quickly into 3 topics: Body, Mind and Life.