Somehow the holidays always manage to sneak up
on me.
One minute it’s flip flop season and the next, Halloween and
Thanksgiving have already passed. Do you guys feel this way?!
Regardless, I’m excited for December. I love seeing all the festive lights and getting cozy and wearing slippers and having hot chocolate. I love wearing scarves and boots. And I love how awesome it feels to be in the heat during yoga. Such a relief from the cold, and such a light, almost magical sense in my body by the end of class.
My intention this holiday season is to hold onto that feeling of release and lightheartedness throughout each day. To give myself the gift of yoga. To connect with those I love.
And not to get caught up in the whirlwind; rather, simply to enjoy each moment as it happens.
This weekend was wild! Dancing... hanging out with friends... hula hooping... staying up super late and talking... sitting by the fire... checking out a new bar... dancing to the DJ's beats... meeting new friends... hanging out in Oakland for ecstatic dance, brunch, and a walk by the lake... All the while, I felt very active and alive and connected. I gave myself the freedom to move, to express, to seek my highest joy.
I gave myself permission to change my plans at the last minute, and to listen to my body. And I must say, I danced more than I have in years and it felt so good!
After such an active couple of days, I'm feeling very satisfied, grateful, and ready for some rest and relaxation. It is beautiful to transition into solitude and quiet after being active and social. Tonight I took a bath, ate meditatively, wrote in my journal, reflected on the upcoming yoga class I'll be teaching, and allowed myself to be instead of do.
According to Ram Dass, “[The] distortion comes from defining ourselves in terms of doing instead of being. But behind all the doings, all the roles, you just are – pure awareness, pure consciousness, pure energy. When you reside fully in the present moment, you are outside of time and space.”
Trungpa Rinpoche notes, “Our lives awaken through ordinary magic.” It’s in everyday things that the miraculous happens. If we practice being here now, we develop the sensitivity to perceive and appreciate the daily miracles of our lives."
My invitation to you tonight is to slip effortlessly into just being. Turn off your phone for a few minutes. Light a candle. Let the attachments and stories and fears recede into the background of your awareness.
If you feel like dancing, dance.
And if you dance for hours, rest.
And in all you are doing or not doing, simply allow yourself to be.
You came over for yoga class yesterday. When you got to my apartment,
I gave you a big hug. I could feel you smiling as I pulled you close.
I looked at you in class and I wanted to squeeze you again. I
just felt so proud of you for being present in your practice, for being so
strong. I wanted to hold you as a way of saying you are beautiful. Maybe to be held by you a little bit, too.
Sometimes a hug is like saying thank you.
In savasana, I massaged your feet for a few moments; this
was its own way of hugging.
After class, I was saying farewell and gave you a big hug on
your way out. We kept talking for a second and then had to have another one. I
didn’t mind.
I’m holding space for students and rock climbers at Granite
Arch in Rancho Cordova at 7pm on Tuesday, November 26. I’m super excited to do
a one-hour vinyasa flow with a gratitude theme in honor of Thanksgiving.
Join
me – bring a friend and a mat, dress in layers (it’s cool inside), and climb
afterward if you like! I recommend getting there a few minutes early so you can
fill out a waiver.
My goals for this first class are to:
•Get grounded.
•Be present for my students.
•Connect—body, breath, spirit.
•Allow myself to be seen.
•Be gentle with myself if I get nervous or make mistakes.
Ujjayi calms the mind and body. The breath allows you to go
deeper into your practice. It also increases lung vitality and respiratory
efficiency. I think my favorite part about the ocean-sound breath is that it tends to inspire the yogis around you to meet their edge, to be present.
I think next time I teach, I want to wear these wild pants... simply as a way to inspire students to breathe deeper.
Lately I have been reflecting on my tendency to seek outwardly for happiness. I achieved my goal. I feel connected to my
friends and family. I feel validated in my relationships. I feel good about
what I do. I am happy that I took the time to practice yoga today.
Yet there is the possibility of something much deeper:
happiness from within.
I am happy simply to
be. I am who I am. I accept and love myself. I am able to sit with myself
comfortably in silence. I am OK alone.
My intention this week is to seek peace and contentment from
within—not based on external circumstances, experiences or attachments. This
week I will be gentle, loving and accepting with myself, creating happiness
from the inside out.
Gather friends through various conversations, text messages, and hugs. Invite them to a 1-hour yoga class at my apartment.
Get really, really excited thinking about the group of people who’s going to gather in my living room. Imagine their mats set up next to each other, and all of them sitting in child’s pose.
Spend the entire day at work thinking about the Baptiste flow, envisioning the postures, mumbling the transitions and cues to myself. Spend several days leading up to class
reciting the flow
out loud in my car on the way to and from work.
Put together a playlist of my favorite songs, and smile at the thought of rocking out to some of my favorite songs while watching some of my favorite people do yoga.
The day of class, write down the flow and some ideas for teaching I want to share. Consider the theme for the class, or a quote or message to share. (For my first class, I read a passage from
Meditations on the Mat
about letting go of attachment during savasana. For the second one, I discussed ujjayi breathing and mountain pose as foundations at the beginning of class, and then spent a while in the middle breaking down the Warrior poses.)
An hour before class, practice the flow I’m about to teach. Feel it in my body.
A few minutes before anyone knocks on the door, light candles and turn on peaceful music. Feel my stomach do flips as I set up my mat at the front of the room. Ground into my feet and feel my heartbeat, generating positive energy and clearing the room, making space for the practice that’s about to take place here. Release my attachment to the outcome. Devote my practice to my students, bringing love into my heart.
Say hello and give hugs as everyone walks in.
Breathe deeper.
Teach. Connect. Assist. Allow each student to have their own experience on the mat.
During savasana, offer energy, healing, light and love to each person in the room. Notice the feeling of calm in the air, and the look of peace on their faces. (The first time I looked, it literally took my breath away. My heart
soared
.)
End class humbly, in gratitude, and do my best not to squeal and yell joyfully at everyone about how stoked I am.
And then do it all again. :)
Do you teach? What was your early yoga career like?
PS Next on the list: teach private one-on-one classes and lead a gratitude-themed flow at my local
In crow, my arms, wrists and hands are and steady and
strong. I can stay for eight breaths instead of three.
I’m working on bringing my torso down onto my forearms in
wheel.
Last night I moved effortlessly into Eka Pada Koundiyanasana
II (Pose Dedicated to the Sage II), both feet hovering off the ground, my body
resolute to hold the posture. Instead of falling out like I have so many times,
I felt weightless, resilient.
I can hold handstand off the wall for a few breaths, and I recently
tried handstand-ing forward from downdog into forward fold, and it worked. I hovered for a moment, feeling
the thrill of the inversion, before I continued in my flow.
It is exciting to experience my practice deepening, my body
unfolding, my heart opening.
It is beautiful to witness the beauty and power of change,
to ask: whose body is this?
Do you consider the lines of energy in your body when you
practice?
In each pose, we draw energy through the body along
different meridians.
I discovered these photo illustrations via Wanderlust and love how they provide a beautiful representation of the shifting of energy that happens in yoga.
Each asana is like a painting with its own color, texture, richness.
Stiff and tight areas of your body inhibit the free circulation of energy and thereby strangle your internal supply of nourishment. These are the areas where you experience pain or discomfort to one degree or another. They are undernourished - crying for help. When clenched tightly this way, they remain separate, constricted, unrelated to the whole. As they open, they begin to receive nourishment once again. Physical discomfort and pain will disappear as healing occurs. When you restore lost movement to these tight areas of yourself, you rejuvenate them, bringing life to more of yourself.
As you open the physical meridians in the body, enlivening these energy channels, you are able to embrace life more fully. Body, mind, and spirit are all connected through these energy lines.
Become aware of them in your practice, inviting more space for transformation.
Aging is something that nobody can prevent – even as much as everyone in the world would like to. However, there are some things you can do in your day-to-day life to help slow the process of aging and stay healthy. The most obvious of those being simple things like eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep each night.
Yoga, despite its popularity and generally accepted health benefits, isn't something people always think of when considering ways to slow the clock on aging. Surprisingly, it turns out that it may actually be a beneficial weapon in the fight against time.
Even if you’re not in your senior years quite yet, or aging isn't the first thing on your mind, taking steps to stay healthy and feel young can benefit everybody, and starting early is always better than starting late.
Image courtesy of Flickr .
Increased Flexibility Men and women are born with the same amount of flexibility, but as they age, that flexibility decreases. While the decline typically occurs faster in men than women, adults over the age of 35 are generally much less flexible than they were in their 20s.
Yoga, which puts the body in a variety of unique positions, helps improve flexibility in a way that isn't overly uncomfortable or painful. Over time, doing the poses can make it easier for you to do daily tasks. This can help you tremendously as you age, as many injuries for adults and seniors come from doing everyday activities.
Image courtesy of Flickr .
Improved Joint Strength Like flexibility, joint strength tends to diminish with age. Yoga is beneficial for building or restoring some of that joint strength, however, as many types of yoga incorporate poses that require you to support your body weight. In that way, yoga is much like strength training, which also helps improve joint strength.
Of course, the positions you use that require you to support your body weight also aid in building muscle. More muscle mass also helps reduce injuries and keep your body weight down. Better Sleep Aging adults tend to have more sleep problems than younger ones. Not getting enough sleep can result in serious health problems and more rapid aging.
Doing yoga regularly can help you improve your quality of sleep since the asana practice combines both exercise and relaxation techniques – two things we know are essential or a well-regulated sleep schedule.
If you have trouble sleeping at night and it’s causing problems in your daily life or making you feel run-down, taking a few yoga classes could go a long ways toward curing your problem.
It’s impossible to stop the aging process completely, but that doesn't mean that you can’t slow it down a bit. Although eating right is what you hear about most when the topic of aging comes up, exercise and relaxation are both a close second.
Luckily those are two things that yoga can provide for you, making it an almost ideal anti-aging activity.
Tara Heath is a freelance writer in Southern California. She enjoys practicing yoga regularly, finding that it is very beneficial in helping her to relax and unwind after a long day. As a health writer, she contributes to the Presidio Home Care blog.
Are you learning to teach a Vinyasa flow yoga class? Here are some tips for memorizing the sequence of poses, and tips for getting a rhythm down when you teach.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of practicing a vinyasa flow
class with live music from Steve Gold, and then attending his workshop on
Mantra and Manifestation. Both were incredible yoga experiences!
It was so powerful to sing during class, to be freely
encouraged to make noise and to express from the heart. The studio was
jam-packed, yogis lined up like little sardines. There’s always something
exciting about a full room and I was inspired by the energy created by all of
us moving and breathing together.
And I have to say it was pretty magical singing So Much Magnificence and feeling the
voices resonate in the room during savasana. If you haven’t heard that song,
you should definitely check it out.
During the workshop, Steve dove into an exploration of
mantra.
We sang om namah
shivaya, a mantra close to my heart. You may remember, I have it tattooed
on my right ankle :)
Though the Sanskrit words are hard to translate, some
interpret the phrase as “I am that I am.” The breakdown of each word can be explained
with various definitions:
Om: the universal sound; an exuberant roar of joy; “yes!”;
verily; so be it; amen
Namah: to bow; “I invite this energy into my heart”
Shiva: that which contains all things; all possibility;
maximum expansion; the destroyer of ignorance
When chanting om namah
shivaya, I acknowledge my higher Self. I acknowledge all aspects of my
being, and all possibilities for what may come. I ground myself, considering
the path I walk. I see the path clearly before me. Om namah shivaya. I am that I am.
The words have such power, and for me personally, they
conjure up a lot of memories of the past year when I chanted as a way to invite
strength into my life. When we sang the first time during Steve’s workshop, I couldn’t
help but tear up.
Om namah shivaya, Om shanti
Om namah shivaya, Om shanty
The words felt like such a relief, and the collective sound
of the chant brought me into a space of light, peace, and comfort.
After explaining the meaning of the mantra and letting us
experience it firsthand, Steve launched into a compelling story about moving to
Hawaii in his 20s. His goal was to cast aside physical and material
attachments, to detach from society in pursuit of enlightenment. He encountered
several wise mentors and spiritual texts along the way, and was surprised to
find that while the adventure was initially very appealing, he couldn’t sustain
this simple life of living in a hut, spending days by a waterfall with his
guitar, and doing yoga and meditation.
Perhaps most surprising was finding confirmation that his
path toward enlightenment didn’t have
to look like that of a monk.
He was struck by the words in the Gospel of Sri Rama Krishna that stood in stark contrast to the
lifestyle of his spiritual quest:
As long as you have desires, you must exhaust them.
Later, another teacher put it in this way: All
of us seek something to do, and someone to love.
Why not discover what it is you seek, and run after it
exuberantly?
So often in yoga and spiritual circles, we hear about the
ancient masters who sacrificed a so-called “normal” life and retreated to the
caves to do the “real” yoga, meditation, praying, fasting, and other sacred
practices.
I found it refreshing to be reminded that we each have
spiritual gifts, and many of them involve worldly connections. For Steve Gold,
fulfilling his dharma means being a conduit for spontaneous spiritual connection
and transformation through musical gatherings. He travels, connects with people
up close, and shares his music in a very visceral, immediate way.
He’s had to overcome fears and self-doubt in order to do so.
Again and again, he returns to his heart’s truest desire in order to find the
motivation and inspiration to keep playing his songs and speaking his truth.
I am grateful to Steve for sharing his wisdom and his
powerful music, and for challenging me to be clear about my desires – to be
conscious of them, and active physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually
in pursuing them.
Be curious about the present. Instead of dwelling on the way
your body, mind, heart and spirit felt yesterday or an hour ago, sit with where
you are now.
Perhaps you’ve tried a challenging posture (like an arm
balance or an inversion) a hundred times. Perhaps every one of those times you
fell out. Today, you are ready. Your body moves into the pose effortlessly. Or
your mind releases resistance to the teacher’s words. Instead of trying to
control, you relax and let go.
Forget what you think you know. Learn to be OK with not
knowing what will happen when you try. Be open to possibility, receptive to
what is.
Leave behind the comfortable. Find a way to make it harder to
go back to what you’re used to than to go forward into strange, exciting, but
uncomfortable new territory.
Get rid of the possibility of comfort, so that the scary
journey you want to take is your best choice.
My heart did a little
flip in my chest while reading these words over at Zen Habits today. As my
vinyasa teacher training goes on, and as I grow deeper in my practice and more
connected to my yoga community, the question arises: where do I want to go from here?
And my soul calls with a
resounding and startlingly simple answer: farther down the yogic path!
I so want to teach, falling more and more in love
with yoga and all it has to offer, the way it opens me and brings peace. I am
called to share.
I met up with one of my
most inspiring teachers last night to chat about the path toward teaching. At
one point in the conversation he turned to me and asked, “So where are you in your yoga career?”
And I laughed. “Um, two
weeks in to my first training?!” I said, and he nodded in a way that told me he
knows what it means to be in that place of beginning
and to see the horizon in the distance.
I couldn’t help but
smile because all of a sudden, I could imagine the wonder and thrill of
realizing my passion, of having a
career in yoga. I can picture it. I can feel it happening already.
I am living it now, embodying
my voice as a teacher, making connections and considering the possibilities of
where I will teach.
He also asked me this: “What do you want to do with yoga?”
And as I’ve turned that
question over and over in my head, I see that the answer is simple: give it away. Let it fill me up. Let it
allow me to serve.
Yoga draws me deeper to
that place of truth, of inner knowing, of spiritual connection. Yoga humbles
me. I want to do whatever I can with it. And I plan to.
When we are vulnerable, we can embrace any experience, whether we perceive it as positive or negative. We take it all in, allowing what is.
Commit to being present with those around you. Connect. Stare deeply into their eyes; witness them. Allow yourself to be witnessed. Listen. Even if there is a moment that feels awkward or uncomfortable, stay. Do not abandon this person who you love, who is just like you.
The edge is where we come right up against ourselves and what we can do and be.
It is the boundary between where we are and where we grow, the place of comfortable discomfort, where all growing and healing happens.
The edge is the point in every pose when you are still within your capacities but are challenging yourself to go just a little bit farther. Stepping up to this edge and daring to leap is how you break through and thus break with old ways of being.
- Baron Baptiste, Journey Into Power
Last night I practiced falling in love with my yoga practice. The path there was simple: finding my edge, over and over. There was something electric about the work I did on the mat. I felt the energy present between my hands in samasthiti as we chanted om gam ganapataye namaha, my heart filling up. I could feel myself connect with the other yogis in the room, with the teacher, with a collective oneness in that first om.
Even during the warm up postures –core work while lying on my back, and a few rounds of cat/cow—I kept asking myself,
Where is my edge? What does it feel like to be gentle in the process of finding that place where I am reaching for something more?
Flowing through sun salutations allowed me to move deeper. Each repetition felt like an awakening, a compassionate unfolding, an expression of my Self in the moment.
When a pose became hard, I focused more on my breath. Instead of backing away, I allowed myself to feel into the sensations – the physical burn of muscles working, the emotional release of surrendering to the moment, the cognitive clarity of becoming wholly focused on only the breath.
Something clicked. I held side crow on each side for 5 breaths. I rose into bird of paradise fluidly, feeling ease and space in the posture. Headstand was a relief, a breakthrough into peace, simply a chance to breathe. During the third round of wheel pose, I straightened my elbows and knees. And when the teacher told us to come down, I still wanted more.
As I settled into savasana, I could feel energy moving up and down my spine with each inhale and exhale.
Sushumna Nadi, the center channel.
I could feel new space, new light.
I pushed through my edge last night. I trusted the words of my teacher, not resisting any moment or any pose. At the moments when I wanted to give up or allow myself to fall out, I stayed. I breathed deeper. I felt the heat in my body, the feelings of curiosity and elation. I noticed the thoughts coming and going, not attaching myself to them; instead, I stayed present in the body.
Today as you practice, I challenge you to challenge yourself. What are you holding back? What more can you give? What more can you soften?
At the moments when you want to give up, stay. Give yourself the gift of finding your edge.
Discover the transformative power of yoga core power exercises in building physical strength and mental resilience. This guide explores how core-focused practices improve posture, balance, and emotional well-being, empowering you to unlock your inner strength.
A post all about the Earth Goddess Retreat in the Santa Monica mountains, a rejuvenating women’s retreat featuring yoga, nourishing cuisine, and a sacred connection to your inner spirit.
women’s active and yoga wear fits all of these categories. Their products are the kind of athletic wear that makes you feel like a million bucks, and that gets out of your way so you can focus on your practice.
I am so grateful I connected with their savvy, passionate team. They sent me an awesome new outfit to try:
Both fit wonderfully—the material is soft, stretchy, and snug without being bunchy. The capris are the perfect length for a hot yoga class, and I love the fun printed waistband. And I love that the print on the shirt looks like a heart, but every time I wear it someone comments that it looks like an owl! :)
And my favorite part about this new outfit?
Not only have the tank and capris been perfect for yoga class, but I’ve worn them
skydiving
and
rock climbing
, too! And I’m pretty sure I could pull off wearing the top under a hoodie at work, or out to dinner with friends (which makes for an easy transition if you’re in a hurry to get to the studio for class, by the way!).
If you’re looking to find high-quality yoga wear from a stellar company with great customer service, add
A little re-introduction post about my background, why I write this blog, and the things I’m most passionate about.