Tag Archive | Religion and Spirituality

Different Strokes

Apr2

I don’t know about anyone else who is going through / went through teacher training, but it is interesting to me that there are SO many different viewpoints.  Some yogis believe that anyone can teach yoga (and actually should not get certified) because yoga is such a personal experience.  Some teachers give the direction that you should keep directing students with their breath, so that they focus on it.  Others say that including breath direction is too many words.  Some say to create a sequence and to stick with that one sequence for the first year or so of teaching.  You should not get bored teaching the same sequence (because you are a YOGI gosh dang it) and your students should not get bored practicing it because they need it and it helps them build strength.  Others take the more varied approach.

For instance, today in Gwen’s class, we did peacock pose.  For those who care – Mayurasana.This pose is a little nuts. You get into it by:

  • kneel/crouch on the floor
  • holding your arms in front of you, elbows bent, palms up
  • place your hands on the floor in front of you, fingers pointing towards your feet, keeping the forearms and hands less than torso width apart
  • put your weight onto your hands
  • engage your core
  • squeeze your legs together and lift them off the ground

It looks impossible. Legitimately impossible.  But, you know what?  It is not.  I ALMOST got it. Not that I am saying I am amazing or anything, I am not.  I just want to point out that you can learn to do things when you already have the alignment and strength down.  I agree 100% that people cannot just jump into poses safely and that new teachers should not be teaching potentially super-dangerous poses.  However, I do think that once you have the experience and knowledge of your students enough, that it is great to challenge their bodies as well as their minds.

Personally, I find a new level of focus and lack of thought when I am struggling in a particularly difficult pose.  The part that REALLY helps me in life is that I struggle through difficult poses / sequences in yoga (whether it is a large number of sun salutations, or a pose I think is impossible).  When you are spitting in gravity’s face on a regular basis, problems at work seem like nothing.  Well, maybe not nothing, but less awful than they did before.

So, I think what I am trying to say here is that, when you are teaching, take your favorite parts from each teacher and ignore the parts that do not resonate with you.  Unless, of course, the part that does not resonate with you is, “Give your students the tools to help them keep their practice safe.”  That’s an important one.  But, once you feel comfortable and knowledgeable enough about tougher poses – go ahead!  Just be present, be observant, and take care to keep your students as safe as possible.

I left the picture of peacock pose until the end, because in my searching for a picture of it, I got so distracted by the beauty of Rafael Lazzini (the hot Brazilian doing yoga below) that I forgot that I was writing a post. If you can believe it, he looks even better in his other pictures. Google him. You’re welcome.

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Sutra Saturdays (Book 1, Sutra 1)

Mar31

Happy weekend yogis!  I have something a little new and different for you.  Usually my posts are a bit ego-centric.  I justify it to myself that it is showing how everyone has similar stresses, struggles, and successes… However, I would like to start a weekly post that will (hopefully) pass on some of the valuable information that I am learning through this process.  There is a bit of background information you need to know before I get into the details, though…

I generally classify myself as agnostic.  Many people believe that since the existence of God (or an analogous omniscient/omnipresent/omnipotent life-force) cannot be scientifically proven, then He/it cannot exist.  I actually take it a step further, and believe that since science has also not proven that He/it does NOT exist, then there is no way I can know one way or the other.

So, not surprisingly, when I started doing yoga, I was 100% NOT into the philosophy/spirituality behind it. It all seemed pretty crazy to me before I got into it more.  During teacher training, we have had to read/digest the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. I rebelled against this a bit.  Not only did I start off being quite cynical of what I perceived to be the religious side of yoga, but I was also very resistant to the study of its philosophy.  (I may have said this before, but I have always hated philosophy, since I see it as just conjecture.)  Anyway, the more I got into yoga and the sutras, the more I realized that it actually makes sense to me.

The Yoga Sutra is not a strictly head-in-the-clouds philosophical text.  It provides practical instructions on how to practice yoga to find your true self.  (Now, when I use the word “yoga” in reference to the Yoga Sutras, I do not mean Hatha yoga, otherwise known as the popular yoga we see today, with all of the postures.  This is actually just one of 8 sections to yogic practice.) They are broken up into four books:

  • Book 1 – Portion on Contemplation
  • Book 2 – Portion on Practice
  • Book 3 – Portion on Accomplishments
  • Book 4 – Portion on Absoluteness

I NEVER thought I would say this, but the sutras have actually helped me a lot.  I can feel myself becoming much calmer and better able to deal with the stresses in my daily life.  So, I thought that I would start posting a sutra every Saturday with an explanation of the meaning in the hopes that someone else could benefit as well.  It may help you out, it may not. :)   But, it cannot hurt, right?  So, without further ado…

1. Now the exposition of yoga is being made.

The first sutra in the Portion on Contemplation simply states the purpose of the book.  Not so deep, right?  Patanjali wanted to ensure that in the very first sentence, he stated that the Yoga Sutra is not some philosophical text with no practical application.  With the dedicated practice of what is described in this text, one can achieve anything they set out to achieve.

Psoas – Pso Psore!

Mar26

My psoai (plural of psoas muscle – and yes, I looked up what the plural of that word is) are killing me.  Along with just about every muscle I knew I had, and some others that I was not aware existed.  Holy moly.  The more amazing part is probably that none of the soreness is bad soreness.  It is all the good-sore that comes from a really great workout.  4 hours of yoga on Saturday, plus an hour of hula hooping, and 3 hours of advanced practice yoga on Sunday = Kate’s muscles are “wicked tired”.  I went to a friend’s class tonight, which I knew would be calming, because I think my muscles would have shaken right off the bone if I tried my usual class.

So, Saturday was an open house at my favorite yoga studio (Shiva Shakti).  The lineup was great – hula hooping (it is actually a great workout if you try to keep that crazy hoop moving), restorative yoga, 2 Anusara classes, and a short vinyasa class. I went into it kind of thinking, “each class is pretty short, so how crazy can it be?”  I should know better.  The two Anusara teachers are amazing at tailoring the class to be great for both beginners and advanced practitioners… so as usual I felt the need to push myself far.  I was super excited, though.  I don’t know if you remember one of my goals from when I first started teacher training.  Basically I want to be able to do the full expression of dancer’s pose.  I still cannot do that.  However, I am slowly starting to pick away at non-standing versions of this pose, such as eka pana rajakapotasana.  I can get one hand on the foot, and the foot up to my head.  I will have this within the next 2 weeks or I will go crazy.

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Then, on Saturday night, I taught a few of my friends, all pretty much beginners, a class.  I love teaching, but it is definitely tougher when you know the people in the class, and especially when the class is at a non-standard location (aka my living room, as opposed to a yoga studio).  It is just very weird, and conversation tends to disrupt the flow.  Good practice for a community class, that’s for sure!

Sunday… what can I say about Sunday?  If you ever get a chance to take a class with Charlotte Clews (http://wildopenheart.com/), do it.  Do. It.  In addition to an amazing advanced practice, centering on deep hip openers and arm balances, she gave us great advice about things to do to remain injury-free.  These are the little tips and tricks I love.  I never want to cause injury.  She gave us great tips for wrist and shoulder health that I have never heard before.  Unfortunately, it is really hard to explain in writing.  I will try to figure it out, but for now, you will have to trust me.

All in all, an amazing weekend. I am sad it is over, but will take the things I have learned with me through this yogic journey. Namaste.

Courage-Freedom-Happiness

Mar7

The secret to happiness is freedom. The secret to freedom is courage. – Thucydides

We talked a lot about freedom during the yoga class I went to tonight. The more you push yourself to experience a pose, the freer you are in it.  Almost exclusively, this takes a huge amount of courage.  Think about a handstand or a headstand.  If you are like me, you are terrified of flipping over. However, if you never face that fear, you will never attain the pose.  You will never be free, because your fear is holding you back from your true potential.

Now, even if you do not do yoga at all, this is a useful practice for everyday life.  Yoga is merely a metaphor for life. We need to be courageous in everyday life.  How many times do we hold back in relationships because we are afraid that the other person will not like the real us?  And how often do those relationships last?

Be courageous today, yogis, if only in a small way.  If you do one thing that scares you each day, soon it will become second nature. Once you can be consistently courageous, you will be free.  And as Thucydides said, you must be totally free in your mind, body, and spirit in order to achieve true happiness.

Namaste.

Connections

Mar5

As with any community; whether it is a religious group, job industry, college, etc; making connections is everything. These are like-minded people who are motivated by the same principles and probably even have some of the same goals that you do. It amazes me that the yoga community is not only incredibly driven, but also that it is the most welcoming, helpful, inspiring community of which I have ever been a part. (And I have been part of some pretty legit communities…. err, not leper communities. Is it weird that this is where my mind went..?)

Anyway, a few things that have happened recently are worth sharing, because it warms my heart so much. I have come into contact with so many amazing people during this journey and really cannot believe how blessed (or non-religious equivalent of such) I am.

  • I showed up to a class run by one of my favorite yoga teachers (read: role model) the other day. She looked at me and said, “Want to teach the [90 minute] class today?”. I had zero plan. Terrifying. But you know what? I did it. And there were some snags along the way, but did anyone notice, point, and laugh at me? No. Of course not. The fact that I even filled the entire 90 minutes (and I repeat, with no sequence prepared), boosted my confidence SO much. My teacher gave me some really great feedback after the fact as well. The best part about this is – I would LOVE to teach at this studio. If I were ever to open my own yoga studio, I would model it after this one.
  • One of my YTT friends runs her own business, doing boot camps. She will start offering yoga soon, too, and let the class know that we should let her know if we ever want to sub or anything.
  • Another YTT friend knows people who are certified to teach CPR and they will come and teach us for a reduced fee. Yay!
  • Yet another YTT friend currently works as a yoga instructor and asked for subs. A few of us replied and went with her to the studio to watch the class and also meet the owner. Apparently this facility opened in January, and they are getting to the point where their clients are asking for more classes. So now he is happy, because he was introduced to 4 more yoga instructors, and we are happy, because there is job potential there.
  • Oddly enough the woman who already teaches yoga also graduated from NYC’s Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Before I decided to do YTT, I was thinking about getting a degree from there as well. I just chose to do yoga first because it was a quicker program, and I figured I would be paying for a crapload of yoga anyway. :) Crazy!

If you want to become a yoga teacher – I would really suggest that you take a teacher training course that has the full 200 hours and has a larger number of participants. Honestly, I was nervous about how big my YTT class is. I thought that it would be better for it to be intimate, since there would be more one-on-one time. False. The larger number of people in the course (17!!) has allowed me to come into contact with some great people who have shared amazing gifts. This includes both some of the stuff I talked about above, but also – everyone has a very different style of teaching. The large number of people in the class has provided me with invaluable information on what I like, what I do not like, and general ideas about teaching.

I am truly overwhelmed with all of the love, caring, and helpfulness of this community. Love, light and happiness to everyone.

Yoga Therapy

Mar4

I may be a bit guilty of wanting to practice/teach a specific type of yoga every time I go to a class based on a new style or have a YTT workshop.  I get excited, what can I say?

Today, though, we had a workshop on Yoga Therapy, specifically middle-aged individuals (defined as anyone between the ages of 40-70).  It sounded interesting enough on the syllabus, but holy cow.  When you practice yoga therapy, you choose postures that will help your student based on their dosha (mind/body type), their current medical status, and their long term goals.  This is exactly what I want to do.  I mean, I want to teach group classes, too… but I really think that this is the thing that I am passionate about. To me, it seems like the same sort of idea as yoga for trauma, but with an even closer human connection, and can be more of a physical nature, depending on the individual.

In the workshop, groups of us were given cards with a case study on them.  Each was about a student with some sort of issue (menopause, stroke with one-sided weakness, etc) and we had to come up with 3 postures to teach them that would both help them with their issue, as well as mesh well with the dosha we thought they had.  So, my team got the case study of a a stroke victim.  It made life challenging, because every posture had to be majorly modified in some way, and we needed to use poses that she would be able to do, but would also build strength back. It seems like this avenue is a great blend of serenity, helping people out individually with real problems, and critical thinking.

I do not know where this yogic path will lead me, but this seems like it could be a very promising avenue.  I loved every second of it, and apparently my team was fairly good at it as well.  Things to think about! :)   Happy Sunday, yogis!

 

 

So apparently I have joined a sex cult…?!?

Mar2
English: John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga,...

Image via Wikipedia

New York Times – you have published another utterly ridiculous article about yoga.  Shame on you.

It all started earlier this week (no idea how I missed until today), when John Friend (pictured above) stepped down as head of the Anusara school of yoga.  Apparently, he was boinking his students… and basically anyone else who would have him.  And he was cheating people out of money.  (Side note – I will not comment on this second allegation, because it is what I would consider to be a valid problem.  This was also not the main focus of the NYT article, either, interestingly enough.  Sex sells more newspapers than stealing, apparently.)

Major story in the world of Anusara.  However…. as they like to do with yoga, the New York Times has blown this out of proportion.  (Cough cough, interesting that the author has book that JUST came out… Hmm.)  Read the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/health/nutrition/yoga-fans-sexual-flames-and-predictably-plenty-of-scandal.html   Some of the more interesting points from the article:

  1. Yoga teachers have, on occasion, had sex with their students.  OH MY GOD!  The HORROR!!!  While I agree that if the teacher is using their charisma to force or trick the student into bed – they should be flogged.  (Not in a sexy way though… that does not solve anything.)  Otherwise… these are consenting adults. Who cares what they do?
  2. Yoga is a sex cult.  Well duh, why else am I doing it?  (KIDDING)  This bozo is a big fan of misreading yogic doctrine and misleading people into believing that the basic tenet of yoga is the Kama Sutra and other such things.  And not even just crazy two-person sexcapades – orgies up the wazoo.  Up. The. Wazoo.  Yoga does mean “yoke” or “union”… so to get better at it could only mean that you should add more people to your sexy times.  In the words of GOB Bluth, “COME ON!”
  3. Yoga releases chemicals in the body that mimic those released during sex!  Wow – he has opened my eyes. His next article should be about how runners masturbate a lot, since running also releases these same chemicals in the body, but it is more of a solitary activity.  Then, the follow-up could be – “Boning During Bear Attacks: The Fight, Flight, or F*ck Response”.  Yeah – the chemicals released when you are terrified?  Same ones, too.
  4. Some major yogis were basically rapists, using spirituality to corner their prey.  Yes, that is awful.  I agree.  But, gurus are only men, not gods. They make mistakes – it doesn’t mean the entire yoga community should get the heat for it.

Yeah, I can see this upsetting Anusara devotees.  It sucks when you put your faith in someone and they do not live up to your expectations.  He founded Anusara yoga.  The way I see it, though, Anusara is (or at least SHOULD be), more than the man at this point. It is still a great and uplifting form of yoga to practice – why should that all fall to pieces because of one man’s indiscretions?

So, as I have said, I am agnostic at best, an atheist at worst.  However, to quote the Bible (in some cases a relevant text, even for non-believers), “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. – Matthew 7:15. Be careful of who you trust and who you put all of your faith in.  But what we have to remember, as practitioners of anything (yoga, religion, life), our role models are human.  That means that they make mistakes, just like everyone else. You make mistakes, too.  (Hopefully not illegal ones, though…) Just do your best to be a good person, and surround yourself with other people who are also trying to be good.  That is all.

Enjoy today

Feb22

The first sentence of my horoscope for today: The tendency towards impatience is very strong right now, dear Aquarius.

Alright, obviously this is pretty vague.  It is interesting though, that during yoga tonight (prior to reading this horoscope), I was thinking, “OMIGOD-I-CANNOT-WAIT-UNTIL-I-CAN-TEACH-FOR-REALSIES”.  Yes, I am actually really excited to have my “RYT” behind my name and teach at a reputable studio (as opposed to teaching my friends in my apartment).  However, I have to keep reminding myself that I do not want to miss my entire experience of teacher training while I am looking forward to getting a job teaching.  Teacher training is amazing.  There is much less practice (except for last night, when we did 18 Sun B‘s in a row… holy moly that is a LOT of Sun B’s) than a normal class.  However, we get such a broad depth of knowledge about every aspect of yoga, that it is really helping me out.  The workshop this past weekend was particularly helpful in showing some of the incredible benefits that yoga can have on certain populations.

I would not give up the experience of getting to this point in yoga for the world.  Every day practicing has been better than the one before.  I feel more powerful, flexible, and alive than I have in a long time.  I just need to keep that in mind while I am simultaneously looking forward to the next phase.

Sad face!

Feb2

I haven’t posted for a bit.  Nor have I gone to yoga for a bit. It has been sad.

First, my car had issues and I was afraid that it would blow up on the highway.  I figured, better to be sad without yoga, than to go to yoga and then be blown up.  Side note – I tend to be a worst case scenario kind of gal. Case in point: one of my friends kept feeling dizzy.  When he did not show up to a meeting on time one day, I got a little nervous.  There had recently been an incident when the pipe coming from the bathroom broke in a storage room at work.  (Yeah – totally gross and unacceptable.  One of my clients was in the building as well.  Yikes.)  Anyway, OBVIOUSLY, when my friend did not show up on time, I had visions of him dead (from fainting) in a puddle of urine.

I brought my car to my uncle (who has an awesome auto shop in Worcester MA) and they had to keep it for a few days.  No car to drive to yoga.  Sigh.  So, I find out after two days that I am getting my car back (yay!) but I promptly got sick (boo!).

I went to teacher training on Tuesday .  Sadly, it was the first time since loving yoga that I was miserable.  What’s worse is that I knew that if I did not feel so sick, I would be loving every second of it.  When I left my apartment, I looked longingly at my bed and thought, “Gosh I wish I could stay right here”.  No amount of awesome yoga-ing (or eating delicious treats, fun excursions, anything) was going to change my mind.  I was in a state that I wanted to wallow in my unpleasantness and just lie down.

I just wanted to write a post about my bad yoga day to highlight the fact that it is not always going to be easy.  Yoga, in general, makes you feel great.  However, there are certainly days when it will be hard.  Don’t get down if your practice is difficult one day – there is always tomorrow.  The important part is that you got to your mat at all.  With yoga, as with life, the hardest part is taking that first little step.  On the days that you are truly miserable, be proud of yourself that you took that first step.

Love and light. :)

Feast from crumbs

Jan10

Today in Teacher Training we started talking a bit about the sutras.  These are the practical instructions for how yoga (all eight limbs of yoga, rather than just the asanas, or postures) should be practiced.  Right off the bat, this appealed to me.  I was pretty sure that this book with all the Sanskrit in it was going to be all philosophy with no real practical application, as much of philosophy is.

I am going to digress for a second here to give you a little bit of historical information about me – I hate philsophy.  So very much.  I had to take it in college and I am actually pretty surprised I did not fail.  I had to write every paper with my finger constantly on the delete key because of how often I wrote variations on “Who the eff cares?!?!?”  I think (hope) I ended up deleting all of those…

Aaaaanyway, the discussion began with the assistant talking about how her sutra book was her constant companion. Anytime she needs guidance or is feeling down, she opens the book and reads whatever it opens to.  Like people say happens with the Bible, the passage she happens upon somehow always has some implication for her life. Oddly enough, the same kind of thing happened to me with one of our assigned sutras tonight.  One of them discusses the belief that the way we see the world colors our entire perception of the world.  Duh, you say.  Of course our own personal thoughts and beliefs affect how we see the world.

However, we do not always think about the fact that we can change our perception of the world at any time.  You think nothing is going your way?  You have no luck with relationships?   You feel gross today because your butt looks fat in those pants and your shirt clings in all the wrong places and you are bloated and your hair is greasy and you have 16 pimples on your face and you have a black eye and your camel spit on your white shirt you on your way to work and then you fell in a pile of hippopotamus poop.  Ew. I know it is hard (and in some cases nearly impossible) to change one’s own perception of things, but it is the only way for anyone to truly be happy.  Just let go of your judgments and make the best of what you have.  It can’t help but seem at least a fraction better.  With the short amount of time we have on this earth, wouldn’t you want to make it as pleasant as possible?  Kris Allen (or the dudes who write his songs) said it well -  Our hearts are hungry for a food that won’t come / And we could make a feast from these crumbs.

Love yourself, love your neighbors, namaste.