The Leg Work [of Shoulder Work]

This past week, my classes have revolved around the same theme - that yoga offers us an opportunity to learn (and observe) how we can support ourselves through challenging and strenuous experiences.

Hatha yoga is all about the experience. I feel that people who are drawn to this leg of yoga are drawn in part because they need the visceral effect in order to have a shift in perspective. To help facilitate this, I've been working up to a variation on the plank -chatarunga dandasana-bhujangasana sequence, focusing on alignment in the upper back and shoulders. Especially challenging for women because we lack an upper body strength privy to men, this sequence clearly demonstrates how empowering it can be to find support against the weight of gravity. When we are standing (mostly) on our hands, it's easy to feel how much weight we carry in ourselves, and what a relief it can be once we learn how to support it properly.

What I've been seeing is that many people 1.) forget to breathe 2.) don't go forward far enough because they believe they'll face-plant on their way down or 3.) both.

Here's the thing: we need breath to support the physical body and we need to move forward in order to move through challenging things.

This quote comes to mind from Rainer Maria Rilke in "Letters to a Young Poet," where he is speaking about being alone on a difficult journey:

" And you should not let yourself be confused in your solitude by the fact that you want to move out of it. This very wish, if you use it calmly and prudently and like a tool, will help you spread out your solitude over a great distance. Most people have (with the help of conventions) turned their solutions toward what is easy and toward the easiest side of the easy; but it is clear that we must trust in what is difficult..."

It is fascinating for me to watch this take shape for my students, and to hear their responses...one long time student of yoga told me this past weekend that of all the times she has done these poses, she didn't know that she could feel better in them. What an opening for her!

How many times do we find ourselves in an experience (a conversation, a circumstance) that we have been in many times before, and sense that it can be more simple, that it can feel better, that we can breathe easier if we knew how to do something differently?

May we all trust to move forward in our journey, and do the difficult work of learning how to support ourselves.

On the Yoga Mat: Find New Limits

A regular yoga practice lends itself to a lot of newfound self-knowledge [svadyaya]. As a first time student once told me after she had finished class, “It made me aware of all these parts of my body I don’t use enough, and the ones I use too much.” What you do with this knowledge is up to you! If you apply it to an observance of "santosha" [honesty] and "tapas" [perseverance], an ever-evolving practice of self-discovery and enhancement will unfold for you! I think this is one of the most alluring and exciting parts of being a yogi.

We show up to the mat with the knowledge that the work we set out to do is life-enhancing for ourselves and as a model for others. Then, we study. We breathe and we move and we open and we release, and we make room to let our limits be revealed. As we move from a place of honest observation, we see where we are on the physical and mental planes of our practice.

An obvious benefit to a regular yoga practice is an increased cardiovascular endurance as we train our bodies to breathe more completely. Yoga teaches to accept current limits and understand them so that we may move beyond them. This discovery can happen in our posture where we explore how to come into a handstand or back-bend safety, and may happen in our attitude when we discover how it is to maintain composure in gridlock traffic.

Regardless of how long you have been practicing yoga asana [postures] or pranayama [breath exercises], there are always limits to explore and expand. The poses we hold on the mat train us for the poses and positions we find off the mat. It is our beautiful challenge to move through each of them with the honesty, the perseverance and the self-love that permits us to do so graciously.

In the words of Oliver Holmes " A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to it's old dimensions."

Have a beautiful week, readers!

Take a Look at Your Sole

I've been going to a chiropractor for a few weeks now and have discovered some completely new information about my body and how I hold it in space.

Today, during my chiropractic appointment, my doctor tells me that my right foot tends to pronate, or hold my weight more on one edge rather than an even distribution across the 3 major points of the foot [namely, the mound of the big toe, mound of the pinkie toe and center of the heel - creates a triangle] I have the unhealthy habit of wearing [cute] ballet flats which have no way of supporting or enhancing my standing and walking habits. He could tell by the wear on the sole of my shoe that I was a pronator! As I did some research online, I found that I actually "underpronate," which causes stress on the lower leg...maybe the reason I used to get shin splints?... I don't know :)

So in yoga, [think Mountain pose] it is essential to bring the physical body to neutral, and do our best to bring our mental focus to neutral. When we do this, we communicate to the nervous system that we are safe and can begin to restore and repair on both planes. From this place of neutrality, we can then begin to condition specific aspects of the mind-body that we know [through self-study] are our challenge.

Take a look at the link above for some interesting self-study. I'm not really promoting self-diagnosis here, but maybe the information will lead you to discover a small detail worth considering next time you step on your mat, or buy a pair of shoes.

Why Athletes Need Yoga

Many people who grew up playing sports were taught stretching and exercise routines that are harmful to the body and philosophies that may actually create barriers for success. Yoga is a holistic physical practice, meaning that the practice restores and optimizes the entire human system (including the bones, ligaments, joints, muscles, mind)in a complimentary fashion.

Often, athletes are coached to value winning, competition and physical pain which can result in long term injury or overuse. In fact, yoga can rehabilitate many of the effects of an old injury through its dynamic movements and focus on undoing physical and mental blockages.

Also, there is no “yoga body” - the physical practice enhances the individual frame and composition, so there’s no prototype to strive for on the physical level. Yoga teaches from a place of non-injury, and values self-study as a way to prevent damage and pain, so that each person who practices yoga develops their own individual pace for advancement.

There is nothing to win in yoga, even though the benefits of the practice feel like a reward.

Breathe on!

A reason 2012 needs Yoga

Overcome Electronic Overload -

Texting, web surfing, gaming, blogging, streaming and sitting put a lot of repetitive wear-and-tear on our spine, wrists, fingers and eyes. Practicing yoga not only gives you the experience of being aligned in your body, but also enhances your self-awareness, so when you are squinting, hunched over your keyboard taking shallow breath after shallow breath, a moment may come where you realize you need to sit up straight and breathe deeper.

Take a break from the sedentary routine of being on the computer and help yourself undo much of the mindless misalignment we do while checking our Facebook page.

Try these while you wait for the Hulu commercial to end:

Bound Angle Pose
Extended Leg Squat
Extended Supine Hand to Toe Pose
Wide Legged Forward Bend

In Joy!!

Niki

Ever seen an angry buddha statue?

Recently I've been challenged by a flow of emotions that have been difficult to keep breathing through with a clean consciousness. At one point, I even asked my teacher how to deal with anger because i feel "out of yoga," when I'm like this. She responded with the idea that our practice is not meant to take us out of our life, it is meant to put us into it with a presence that serves us to experience it with ease.

This idea really resonates with me...unlike other coping mechanisms [drugs, exercise, sex, drama, entertainment, food, shopping], yoga does not offer an escape from reality. Yoga offers an opportunity to remove the tangles of untruth and distraction so that we may get to the root cause of why we want to escape altogether. Yoga demands that we let go of the stories we tell ourselves, to drop the judgements and assumptions and expectations. The practice requires that we leave all of this and instead exercise thinking patterns and physical habits that actual support our nature.

A few nights ago an old high school friend had a layover in LA, so he and another old high school friend who lives in LA met me for dinner. As we sat and caught up about the last few years, I recognized that we were each at very distinct parts of life. One was beginning a new career and ending a serious relationship; another maintaining a career while raising 2 children; and the other adjusting to living in a new city with only a small network of people to rely on for support, ready to travel the world alone and without commitment. Inclusive of this variety, there we were laughing about old memories as if we were 16 again.

Somehow this kind of variety coexists with an ease that can be enjoyed without distaste at the dinner table. So this leads me to think that the same must be true within the individual - that I can be at different stages of process with regard to several aspects of being and still be in my yoga . For example, how often do we find ourselves enduring the end of an important relationship while maintaining a stable career and continuing to challenge ourselves in our fitness?

So I guess my reason for writing about my recent challenge is this: When you get into the study of yoga principles, it's easy to create this inflated image of what it means to be "a yogi," and to then battle with yourself about your progress toward becoming that image. Yoga, while it explains a process which leads to a state of "enlightenment" and "inner peace," in every step also conveys a message that being yoga is not about being perfectly joyous forever. Yoga itself is a process that unravels many aspects of ourselves as we open up to it.

cheers to the continuum of emotions that we are challenged and gifted with!

Teaching Schedule Update

SUNDAY: Aeriform Arts 8:30 am-9:45 am Foundations
Black Dog Yoga 1:30-3 pm Yoga for Beginners

MONDAY: Aeriform Arts 8:30 am-9:45 am Foundations

TUESDAY: Aeriform Arts 8:30 am-9:45 am Foundations

WEDNESDAY:Extreme Fitness 10-11 am Foundations

FRIDAY: Aeriform Arts 8:30 am-9:45 am Foundations

SATURDAY: Black Dog Yoga 3 pm-4:25 pm Basics


Check out the studios here: BlackDogYoga.net ; AeriformArts.com ; ExtremeResultsFitness.net