Living the Wisdom of Yoga in Modern Times

Happy Memorial Day: How To Find Freedom in Your Yoga Poses

Merriam Webster Dictionary Definition on Freedom: The absence of constraint in action;being released from something onerous;ease;boldness of conception or execution;unrestricted

To have freedom in your yoga practice means that you feel unconstrained,at ease & unrestricted. This allows you to be your boldest, brightest and best self on the mat and in the world. Below are tips on how to do this.

Learn Proper Alignment Then Play With Its Boundaries- When the body is in good alignment, it is safe for you to express your poses fully. When the bones are stacked & you are using the leverage and support of firmly engaged muscles, poses become available to you with very little effort.  The basics of alignment apply to all poses. When you know them, you can look at a pose in any book, magazine or yoga class and be able to figure out how to execute it. This gives you more options on the mat.

Muscle Engagement-Not engaging the muscles is like trying to make a wet noodle stand up. When there is no support in the poses your body looses its ability be stable. Without stability, many poses are not accessible and injuries frequently occur.

Practice 4-6 Days per week-"Doing something 3 days a week = maintenance, 5-6 days a week = transformation." Antonella. Think of your muscles like your favorite pair of jeans. The more you wear (use)them the softer & more pliable they get.  When you throw them in the washing machine, they tighten up and you have to start the process all over again.  The washing machine is equivalent to inconsistent and infrequent practice. The muscles tighten back up. When the muscles are tight, your movements are constricted which takes away from your freedom

Be in Good Health

• Eat healthy
• Stay Hydrated
• Keep Stress Low

When the body feels good & is in good health, it works more efficiently and you have more energy for your practice.

Body Weight-the lighter the body, the easier it is on your joints & the easier it is to get in an out of your yoga poses.  When the body is at a good weight, binds, floating, jump throughs, jump backs, and arm balances become more accessible. I have seen students practices transform by losing as little as 5 pounds. They can immediately do the deep binds in Ashtanga, their chest comes closer to their thighs in forward folds & their sun salutes have more of a floating quality. They have the freedom to move.

Deep Breathing-Your breath supports your practice and the poses in many ways

• Increased Stamina-many studies done on this
• Calm Mind-you don't battle your thoughts so you can be free to.....
• Focus- on your practice
• Supports movement in and out of poses-Many arm balances, floats, forward folds and twists are made accessible through proper breathing. Inhalation and exhalation have energetic and physical effects on the body. For example, if you exhale before forward folding, your belly pulls up and in created an inch or so or more space for you fold. 

Bandhas-engaging the muscles below the bellow button through the pelvic floor creates stability & strength in poses allowing you to move freely.

Consistency in Style-You don't necessarily have to practice only one style, but try not to chose too many and to consistently practice the styles you choose several times a week. Even though Ballet and Hip Hop are both styles of dance and there are transferable skills in both, they are so drastically different that in order to master them you have to practice each one with devotion. The same goes with many yoga styles.  For instance,  Power Yoga, &  Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga both use  similar poses, however they are drastically different in execution and many poses that are in one are not covered in the other. They are different enough that in order to feel freedom in both methods, they both would have to be practiced consistently. It is the only way for the body and mind to get used to the practice so that soreness and difficulty go away.

Consistency in Poses-I have students ask me how to do complex poses all the time and I always ask them, "how often do you practice them?" One of the negatives of Vinyasa's every changing sequences is that there is no consistency in poses. A teacher may work on handstand today and may not include it in the class for another 3 months which makes it incredibly hard to perfect it and find freedom in it. If there is a pose that you really wish to master and feel open in, I recommend practicing it every time you get on your mat. Many teachers are okay with you adding it somewhere in their sequence or you can stay after class and practice it. You can also adopt a home practice which insures that you work on everything you want.

 

Video of the Day: Here is a pose you would want to feel free in!

 

Is Ashtanga to Blame For Yoga's Movement to Complete Physicality?

Many yoga studios, classes and styles have been built on the belief that you don't have to study the spiritual side of yoga. That by physical practice, the student eventually will want to know more & will intrinsically turn inward.  This belief may have been birthed from Ashtanga. It is commonly believed that Pattabhi Jois taught this and many modern westernized forms of yoga are based on it. What if this is not true & just a misunderstanding birthed from Jois's limited English?

I have always postulated that Pattabhi Jois would have taught more philsophy and theory if his English would have been better. An interesting artcle released from one of his earlier students seems to suppor this. Below is an excerpt from, Reflections on "Guruji: A Portrait"-Interview with Elise Espat- Part I. 

When I arrived in Mysore in the early '90s Guruji used to give regular theory classes, but his ability to communicate was often thwarted by language problems. 

Guruji spoke a little English but he had a strong accent which was often hard for English speakers to understand and mostly impossible to understand for non-native English speakers when he started to talk about philosophy. 

In the first few years I was there, there were 15-20 students at his theory classes. We were French, German, English, American, Dutch, Swiss… a jumble of languages with varying limitations on the grasp of Guruji's broken English and Sanskrit. So his efforts were often mired in frustration. I felt for him (and for myself - I was also frustrated we were unable to learn more from him in this forum).

There were also increasing numbers of students who did not want to think too deeply. For them being in India with Guruji was perhaps a bit of a lark and not an opportunity to absorb the fullness of what he had to offer. Often they turned Guruji's theory classes into a bit of a circus.

Guruji was a scholar and had the desire to share the gems of the Upanishads or the Yoga Sutra with his students, but as time went by, the quality of the interest was often brought down to a lowest common denominator by questions such as "Guruji, what is the best kind of yoga clothing or mat to use?" or other perhaps important, yet mundane subjects. 

In the end Guruji would often shake his head in frustration and resignation and say "You don't understand! Just do your practice and all is coming!" This was accepted by increasing numbers as a motto, and for some, as an invitation not to question any deeper. But I felt it was said in the context of frustration that direct teaching through the mind was not possible.

According to this article, it was frustration that led Guruji to drop the philosophy. I have also taken workshops from Guruji's earlier students that support that he did have these types of conversations and they were dropped later. 

Recently Gregor Maehle, arthor of two popular Asthanga books, 

broached this subject on his Facebook Page.  

"much of todays Ashtanga Vinyasa culture is lost in physical prowess, acrobatics and athleticism. Don’t get me wrong, I do practice asana (posture) daily (including Advanced A if my body let’s me) but after practising one form or aspect of yoga or another for over three decades I feel that asana makes up about only 20% of yoga total. Now the belief that you actually get to the other 80% merely by practising asana I consider a myth. In my practice life I found that you get to the other 80% by practising them. 

 
Another myth of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga that I would like to dissect is the belief that any practitioner, if they only would practise enough, could progress through to the Intermediate and Advanced series and from there straight into yoga heaven. After having taught thousands of students including being able to observe their progress I have to say that the single greatest determinant factor of your progress is your genetic make-up (including shape and articulation of your bones) followed by the age with which you start (the younger the faster the progress). Only after those two factors come things like the frequency of your practise and your ability to technically improving your practise either through your own insight or input from your teacher. Additionally the practitioners that look the most flexible are often not even the most healthy as there flexibility is often linked to ligamentous laxity deriving from a liver and metabolic imbalance. Often these very flexible people have greater instability problems later on and their flexibility represents imbalance.

Through my 10 years of practicing and my 4 years of teaching, I am starting to see this as so. As more and more people come to studio just for a workout, I have been discouraged from speaking about the higher limbs of yoga in my classes. I am told that, "The students just want to move. They are not there to hear you talk. They will naturally progress to the other limbs on their own." I bought into it because I am an Ashtangi and Ashtanga classes are not about theory. After all, I did started to study yoga philosophy on my own, so it must be true, right?

However when I started to look back on my years of practice, my most influential teachers managed to get some philsophy into a highly physical practice. My first Ashtanga teacher, Adele Gail, used to always so "Yoga chitti Vrritti Nirodha, yoga is the cessations of the fluctuations of the mind".  While I was attempting to bind or stand on my head, these words were sinking into my mind. If it wasn't for her and many other teachers, giving little nuggets of yoga philosophy throughout class, I am not sure if I ever would have seen my practice as more then exercises that help me with stress and focus. 

For this conversation, over the years,  I have taught two different classes.  These are Strictly physical & Physical with philosophy thrown in. The Strictly Physical group usually stays that way. Their yoga evolution usually takes them to harder more intense forms of physical yoga. The group that gets a little bit of philosophy either heads down the intensely more physical path because the philosophy is not for them or they continue wanting classes that include philosophy and eschew classes based on physicality alone. 

Don't get me wrong, if people want to teach and take yoga just from a physical standpoint, it is fine. There are still alot of benefits to be gained. I am also not saying that I will starting incorporating sutras into all my current classes either. However, the argument that a strictly physical class will take you into the spiritual realms of yoga is a little flawed.  I know yoga teachers who just call out poses and talk about anatomy and alignment.  They barely talk about breath & they would never quote from the sutras. It is hard for me to believe that if the average student looking for a good workout only took from that person, that they would eventually start asking questions about the other limbs.

 The idea that Guruji felt that physical practice is enough, which actually may not be true, may have set the foundations for our strong physical yoga culture today. It let teachers, studios and wanna be yoga Gurus off the hook. Filling up a studio or class  with the same rhetoric you would use to fill a gym aerobics class  is much easier then getting  students to listen to you talk about the sutras. Is it a coincidence that once Guruji went more towards the physical side that Ashtanga took off? Reading the book, Guruji or talking to his older students will reveal that his classes were extremely small in the beginnings. Now Mysore is so packed that people are now doubting if there is any real benefit to going.  I am no Ashtanga scholar. As a matter of fact, I have never been to Mysore to study with him, Sharath or Saraswati. I am however an avid scholar of yoga. What do you think? Weigh in below.

 

Video of The Day

 

 

5 Questions To Keep Scandal and Drama Out of Your Life

I have written about this ad nauseum, but after the whole  Anusara Yoga Wiccan Sex Cult crap lately, I had to comment on it again. When practiced as a system , yoga balances us out and makes us better people.  When the focus is just on the physical, the ego continues to grow. Some teachers even speculate that  the energy transfer that happens in Yoga actually compounds everything that is jacked up about you.

You don't have to spend hours in meditation, chant Hare Krishna or get rid of your strong sweaty hot yoga practice to miniaturize your ego. Lucky for you, Patanjali, wrote the yoga sutras and laid out  the Yamas to keep you sane.   The Yamas form the universal morality code for yoga. By practicing just these 5 observances, many unpleasant situations in our lives can be avoided. Below are 6 simple questions , based on the Yamas, to keep you from doing something stupid.

1. Will This Harm Myself or Others? (Ahimsa)

2. Do I Know This to be the Truth?  (Satya)

3. Am I Taking Something That Doesn't Belong To Me? (Asteya)

4. Am I In Control  of  My Emotions or Are My Emotions Controlling Me? (Bramacharya)

5. Will Having This Make My Life Better or More Complicated? (Aparigraha)

 

Video of the Day

 

 

Yoga Fables and Cautionary Tales: Tammy & the Great Yoga Burn Out

Tammy and the Great Yoga Burn Out

Once upon a time there was a girl named Tammy. One of the best yoga teachers in the world opened up a yoga studio right down the street from Tammy's house.  Tammy hears that yoga is the happening thing. Madonna and Sting do it. It is how celebrities loose baby weight. Whats not to love!!

Tammy purchased her Manuduka mat,  monthly unlimited auto draft studio membership, a couple of Lululemon outfits, a Yogitoe and a BPA free water bottle. She is ready to go. She is super strong. She does not want to be spoon fed. She wants it now. Tammy looks at the schedule. She picks two of the most challenging classes  to start with; Hot Yoga and Primary Series Ashtanga Led.  Tammy nods her head as the teacher talks about modifications, taking your time and child's pose but she is not listening.  She just did a half marathon & that does not apply to her. She finds the story of Pattabhi Jois quaint, sweet and colorful. Who cares if he taught one pose at a time, she is going to rock this Led primary and she can't wait to try led secondary.

As weeks progress, she has sets her mind on handstand, jump backs, jump throughs, & full lotus. She will absolutely do the full version of all the poses. No matter how jagged her breath  or how many stars spin in front of her eyes, she will not take child's pose or modifications.

After giving Ashtanga a go for awhile, tweaking a muscle and still not being able to do jump throughs, jump backs and full lotus, she determines that it is the devil and must not be for her. Her teacher tells her to practice Mysore style & focus on breathing & proper technique but she is not interested in memorizing a sequence or practicing on her own. The self deprecating moments she has as she watches the 90 pound girl beside her, who just started last week, effortlessly float through poses is not something she wants to deal with.  It is absolutely Ashtanga's fault that she limps a little bit when she walks.

To take her mind off of Ashtanga, she arranges her schedule to take a few more Hot classes a week. The heat masks the fact that she still limps when she walks so the hotter the better. That way, she can't feel the pain in her body or mind. Hotter,Harder, Faster, Stronger. That is the way to go. The classes soon replace her workouts.  She notices that she is still limping a bit. She asks a teacher what to do and is told  to slow down ,to focus on alignment & **gasp*** even consider taking a break from physical yoga.  Perhaps she should focus on meditation and pranayama for awhile to quiet her mind & speed healing.  Tammy mentally reminds herself to avoid that teacher's classes because that person is definitely not for her.  She is totally glad she did because, score for yoga, her limp goes away! Then a few months later, she injures her shoulder. It is definitely Chaturanga's fault. Hotter, harder, faster, stronger....but with a few less Chaturangas. She heals that and hurts something else.

She continues to come to class and notices  people who started at the same time as her, are surpassing her in strength and flexibility. She still can't do that handstand. To take the focus off her own issues and thoughts, she starts to focus on everything that is wrong about each teacher, class and the studio as  a whole. She is almost positive she saw the 9:15AM instructor smoking a cigarette outside of Wal-Mart and the 11AM instructor is definitely sleeping with the 12:30 PM instructor.  The 1PM instructor talks too much. Terry already knows how to get into poses & who cares about the Yoga Sutras . The 4PM instructor makes her hold poses way too long. That is for beginners. Advanced students do it hotter, faster, stronger.  She searches for the teachers & classes that make her feel good about her conflicted thoughts & behaviors and avoids those who make her face them. Her favorite teachers just call out the poses & the choreography is masterful. This works for her.  The cool kids are starting to talk about Cross Fit. There is one opening down the street. As her current choreography based teacher starts to mess up yoga class with talk of breathing and meditation, the cross fit class is starting to sound real good.....

Video of the Day

 

 

Whatever You Are,Yoga Brings It Out: Why Studying All The Limbs is Critical

One of the many jewels Rod Stryker laid on us during his recent trip to Charlotte is that yoga has the ability to multiply the current energy  & issues that the practitioner currently has. If a neurotic person starts coming to yoga class and the neuroticism is not addressed, they just become a bigger neurotic. Without practicing the other limbs of yoga, the emphasis stays in the physical & the fires of the ego are stoked.

This conversation came up when Stryker touched briefly on scandals in the yoga community. He said they didn't surprise him because whatever a person brings to their practice only gets bigger when the internal work is not done.  Now that physical yoga has become increasingly popular, these occurrences will become even more prevalent. 

Many people come to yoga through the physical. It is tangible and they can easily relate. It is the perfect doorway to the mind and it keeps the body healthy so the practitioner can spend energy on greater pursuits. When people stop here & don't take yoga study further, the mind they see is the ego. The layers are never pealed back enough to see the pure being beyond that. 

I came to yoga through Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga which is very physical. My early teachers constantly dropped jewels on me  to remind me that the poses were not the end of the road. The name Ashtanga itself, which means 8 limbs, alludes to the other parts of yoga & is a constant reminder that there is something else to be found.  My first teacher, Adele Gale,  would always  say " Yoga Chitti Vritti Nirodha" which roughly translates into "yoga is the cessations of the fluctuations of the mind".  That line kept me focused on the bigger picture and reminded me that the definition of yoga has to do with the mind and not with the body. The body is just the tool.

Without constant Study or Svadyaya, the ego always reasserts itself. The road to hell is paved with self help books and little slogans that people speak but don't live by.  The yoga world is also full of ego maniacs who don't practice what they preach. The key word is "practice". When the darker parts of ourselves make themselves known, we recognize them & quickly get back on our paths. Everyone is human and perfectly imperfect. Through studying the more spiritual side of yoga, balance is brought to the practitioner. 

 

 

The 8 Limbs of Yoga

Yama(Ethical Standards)

Niyama(Discipline)

Asana(Physical Yoga Poses)

Pranayama(Breathing Practices)

Pratyahara(Sense Withdrawal)

Dharana(Concentration)

Dhyana(Meditation)

Samadhi(Ultimate Bliss)

Video of the Day

 

The Road to Hell is Paved with Self Help Books

The road to hell is paved with good intentions many of which came from A New Earth, Abraham Hicks & the Yoga Sutras. They were laid down by well meaning people looking for spiritual & mental growth only to get side tracked by the hard knocks of life.  When it was time to make the hard decisions from a new place of awareness, they faltered. They fell back on old egoic patterns but this time they covered them in flowery words. Bits and pieces of things they picked up on their spiritual journey. The parts that bring true change are buried deep. In order to make decisions from total open awareness, spiritual study & mental preparation  has to be a daily practice

Without daily reinforcement, our old decision making patterns stay dominant. When situations arise that require action, we fall back on them. Fear also keeps us rooted in these old patterns. Many spiritual teachings are so prolific, that to live by them,  would render our current lives  unrecognizable. The person we spent 30, 40, 50 years building would no longer exist.  That is scary. It can seem to be much easier to just dabble in the self help section & use the teachings sparingly, then to radically change who we are and how we think. This is an illusion because the unhappiness or need for change that prompted us to delve into the world of enlightenment in the first place, just comes back putting us on a roller coaster of unfortunate events & we wind up in hell...figuratively. 

Svadyaya, self study, is one of the five Niyamas, observances,  laid out in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. 100% of the crazy events that happen in the yoga world(any world for that matter)  like lying, cheating, philandering, guru worship, mistreatment of teachers and staff,  happen because there is no study of self. Decisions are made based on fear, attachment & instant gratification. It is not that these people don't know there is another way, they just take the easiest path which is usually the same one they came to yoga trying to get away from.

Anyone who is serious about change, has to engage in Svadyaya, self study, daily.

 

Daily Svadyaya, Study & Reminder Practices

The World Wide Spirituality Web -Subscribe to inspirational  blogs ,You Tube channels  Twitter streams etc. Every day, little reminders will be dropped into your e-mail , Google Reader, Facebook page & Twitter Feed that will help keep you on track.

Meditation-meditation helps us to make decisions from a clear place

End of The Day Review-Lay in bed and look at the decisions you made that day. Were they in line with  your deepest desires and the person you really are deep inside?

When Making Decisions, Ask Yourself This Question-

• What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?

 The pure consciousness within you has no fear. The answer to this question is usually the real you talking. This is what you really would do if you lived outside of conditioning and self limitations. You also discover what it is that you are afraid of that is keeping you from making decisions out of awareness.  

This does not mean that you should go full throttle with the answer. If you are not prepared for the result of your actions, you will have disaster. For instance, if you know that you really hate your job and want to leave it but you know that you would be terrified if you did, then you should sit tight because you are not in a place to accept the decision and more internal work is needed.  

Daily Contemplation Practice-Pick a book that brings you inspiration, read a paragraph a two a day and contemplate the words

Surround Yourself With  Like Minded People & Make a Pact With Them to Be Brutally Honest-Many times, it is my husband who lets me know when I have lost my mind. Sometimes when we are in the midst of the storm, it is hard to see events objectively. Like minded friends and family can keep us on track by pointing out our illogical emotional behaviors. I recommend designating a code word or phrase that keeps emotionality out of it.  Eckhart Tolle uses "pain body". In my Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga training, we would say "past" to signify that we were making statements grounded in past events. Agree that when the code word or phrase is given by a friend, that you will immediately step back and reevaluate where your actions are coming from.

When Disturbing Thoughts Pop Up In Your Mind, Ask Yourself:

• Do I really know this to be true?

A few days ago I was reading a Facebook notification that was a bit snarky &  I swore it was about me. There were some key phrases in it that sounded like something I had said a few days previous that the person was privy too. Before my mind went crazy, I stopped and asked myself, Do I really know this to be true? My name wasn't on it. The person didn't inbox me, call me, e-mail me or stop me after class to say it was about it me. It was not a direct quote. The answer was no. I didn't know without a shadow of a doubt that it was about me so I took a few deep breaths & let it go.

You will find that 80% of the thoughts in your mind cannot be proven to be true. You should let those go.

Choose the Right Teacher/Pastor/Imam/Guru- I am not saying you need a teacher, but if you want one, pick one that brings your ugly bits to light and forces you to work with them.  They are usually not the most convenient, fun, or exciting choice but they are the one that you need. I recently wrote a post on practicing with Rod Stryker & how he prepared my body for meditation. What I didn't write about was how difficult it was for me to get to that place. It is much easier, convenient, exciting and fun for me to go to a Power class & do a straight physical practice. I also believe in the value of Asana practice for spiritual development but that is another blog post. I would be a lier if I said that, if Rod Stryker would to move to Charlotte, I would only study with him. Lets face it, I love the feeling of just moving my body, loud music and intensity. However, Rod Stryker is what I needed. If he were closer, I  would definitely consider possibly making him my "teacher".

In the west, we use the word teacher really loosely.  Many times, they are just the instructor. They tell us how to do it and keep us safe but they don't really change or effect our daily lives. They are replaceable.   A good teacher, often like a good parent, gives you what you need which is not necessarily what you want. They aid in  self study by using teachings and practices to show you where you need work & what you could become if you applied yourself. They are such a strong part of our daily lives that they are not easily replaceable & their wisdom is invaluable.

Video of the Day: The Top Ten Most Mispronounced Sanskrit words

 

 

 

I Almost Forgot How Yoga Was Supposed to Feel....Thank You Rod Stryker

  Charlotte is the home of "get your ass kicked & handed back to you by your teacher" yoga.  There are a few souls who don't roll that way, but when you mention the big names and the successful studios, their bread and butter is ass kicking.  I enjoy a good ass kicking mysef and I was trained by my mentors to hand them out to my students on a daily basis. 

Before I moved to Charlotte, I was a die hard Ashtangi. Ashtanga allowed me to experience moving meditation & to challenge my body at the same time. I left class feeling rejuvenated and like I could take on the world. Yoga in Atlanta was my first experience with the feeling of getting high off yoga.

I didn't realize that I had totally lost that feeling until I practiced with Rod Stryker this weekend at Yoga One. We did about 2 hours of about 10-15 of the most basic yoga poses known to man...over and over and over and over....2 hours.  There were no standing splits, handstands, or flip dogs. There was no Kanye West, Snow Patrol or even Krishna Das playing over the speakers.  The room was not at a sunny 100 degrees, as a matter of fact, the doors to the studio were open &, gasp, fresh air was blowing in.

I left there feeling so high that I didn't even need my afternoon cup of coffee. I practiced with him at 9 :30AM that morning and the feeling lasted all the way until I went to bed that night. Shoot, I still feel it now just writing this post. I felt burst open. And it wasn't just me, I spoke to one of my fellow yoga teachers later that day who attended and she said she felt the exactly the same way.

Why did it happen? Intelligent Sequencing+focus+pranayama. We literally did pranayama, breath work,  for the full two hour practice. I am not talking about Ujjayi either. I am talking about breath retentions, Kapalabhati, & lengthening of the exhales. We did algebra with our breath. We did two part inhale, two part retention, two part, inhale two part retention to 6 part exhales.  My head is spinning right now thinking about it but he made it so seamless and fluid that when you reached that state of emptiness, stillness and meditation, it was spontaneous and unexpected. It was like driving down a smelly, crowded, grey  interstate and then unexpectedly  passing a field of beautiful yellow wild flowers  that take your breath away.

The poses were just a tricky way of getting to the pranayama. The practice was about riding the breath to full consciousness. I had to focus so intently to do the breathing that I experienced almost two hours(I got distracted during a few points, I won't lie) of no mind. The total relief of it burst forth as euphoria. I didn't know that my thoughts had weighed me down to that extent!

Rod Styker reminded me that yoga was a science. That every pose,breath and technique effects the body & mind in a way that can be scientifically documented.  The yoga is then sequenced to get the desired effect. He explained to us that the Saturday morning practice was not about strengthening, or toning. He was not there to give us our normal kick ass Charlotte variety class.  That it was about placing us in a place where we would be open to a state of meditation & that is exactly what he did.

 The ultimate goal of Yoga is to go beyond our conditioning and self imposed roles and get to the stillness that lies deep within us all.  This is our true nature. To do that, we have to go beyond physicality. Beyond chair pose, the play list, the thermostat, & cool yoga clothes. Instead of using yoga to reinforce our current patterns, we have to go beyond what we think we know & use it to burst through to higher realms of being. 

I am thankful to Rod Stryker for giving me back my yoga high & reminding of what yoga truly is.

Ashtanga is Not an All or Nothing Practice

I recently had the pleasure of practicing with authorized Ashtanga teacher David Keil, and the most profound thing he said was , "It is not all or nothing".  Whenever I mention my love affair with Ashtanga, the following statements start to roll from people's mouths:

I cannot practice Ashtanga because I cannot do:

• Jump Backs
• Jump Throuhs
• Binds
• Chataraungas
• Marichyasana
• Lotus

I cannot practice Ashtanga because:

• I have short arms
• I have tight hips
• That is for flexible people
• I don't have the correct body type
• I don't know the sequence
• It is only for advanced practitioners

Because they have created a story around one issue, the baby gets thrown out with the bath water. 
Even during his workshop, I overheard people saying, "I would practice Ashtanga if the teachers in Charlotte would break it down this way." These same people skipped all of the practices and only came for the afternoon skills workshops. Again... all or nothing.

The myth is that Ashtanga yoga is a rigid system but the reality is that it is highly customizable. While the sequences  and the poses therein or set, there is room to customize each pose to fit an individual's body and needs. The myth originates in the proliferation of led or guided Ashtanga classes in the West.  Traditional led classes were never meant for newbies. Mysore style, where a student is  taught the sequence pose by pose, is the primary way of practice and is where newbies should start.

Ashtantaga is a Vinyasa system that links poses with breath in a way that is more precise then the average Vinyasa class. A led class is all about learning how to move on the breath using Ashtanga's traditional counting system.  If the instructor constantly stops to break down poses and give instruction, the rhythm of vinyasa is lost. Unlike many vinyasa systems such as Baptiste Power Yoga where the poses are fairly simple and need very little explanation, Ashtanga is not.  Even non-traditional teachers give very little instruction because it would just be too confusing to the students. Also, if a student needs that much instruction, it is possible that they should not be performing the full version of the pose anyway. So many students who are unaware of Mysore style practice,  leave class feeling like, since they cannot do the poses, they shouldn't do Ashtanga. All or nothing.

What do you do if your yoga studio only has a Led class or if Led is what fits your schedule?  Listen to the teachers cues and do not go any further into poses that you don't feel comfortable with. Talk to the teacher after class about ways to make the poses accessible to you. Even better, schedule a private with the instructor and go over specific poses so you know what to do during the Led practice.

PS: Customizable does not mean changing the poses, leaving the poses out or modifying to the point that they are unrecognizable. Please consult with an Ashtanga teacher that you trust to figure out what would work the best for you.

PSS: If after reading this article you are still falling back on the excuses mentioned above, you should check in with your ego.

Bonus: "I don't know the sequence." Of course you don't know the sequence.  The teacher is there to teach it to you!!!!! Please, put that excuse to rest.

 Video of th Day

 

 

If You Think This Yoga Video is Sexual, You Are The One With The Problem

 

 

There has been some buzz in the yoga community about the video above being sexual. I watched the video awhile back and that did not even come to my mind. I was mesmerized by the beauty of her movement instead. Yep, I noticed she was in underwear, but it is no different then the sports bras and shorts, bikinis, leotards and tutus that other people wear when practicing their craft.  Shoot, I wish I had the confidence to do a yoga video period even much one with just my underwear on.

Yoga teaches us that we see the world through a mirror. If the mirror is dirty, the reflection is tainted. When the mirror is clean, the reflection is pure. If you watch this video and your first thoughts are on sex, you are the one with the problem not her. 

This same crap came up with Kino MacGregor because she practices in shorts. I have heard people  say that they have heard her speak of wanting to look nice and that somehow makes her a bad person.  Why is that a problem? Yeah, its yoga but you should still brush your teeth, comb your hair, put on deodorant,  wash your butt and that skanky yogitoe that smells like ammonia and pee....wait that is another post.

Anyway, when is being confident and loving your body and wanting to look nice been considered bad?

 

 

10 Reasons Why Ashtanga Mysore Style Rocks

1. You don't have to be on time. Most teachers give you a window of time and as long as you arrive within it, you are fine.  You can sleep in and still get your practice on.
2. You can move at your own pace.  You don't have to move with the class so you can move with your breath and take time getting into your poses
3. Personalization for your body-the teacher assesses where you are and works with your body accordingly. 
4. You learn a practice that you can take anywhere-Once you memorize the sequence, you can practice it at home, on vacation, or in your office. You can join any Ashtanga community in the world at any time because they all follow the same traditions.
5. Community- Everyone is sharing the same experience which builds camaraderie and friendships
6. You can get all the help you need-Unlike a led class where the teacher has to keep the group moving,  the teacher works with each student one on one.  Any poses that you don't understand or are stuck on, the teacher will take their time and work with you.
7. Assist, Adjustments, Massage, oh my!-You get lots of hands on attention. 
8. You are not held back for the sake of the group-In led classes, certain skills are not addressed for fear that people who are not ready for it my get lost or hurt themselves trying. In Mysore style Asthanga, your progress is your own. Poses are added as you are ready.
9. You are not practicing poses you are not ready for -In led classes, new students are often rushed through poses and lack a foundation in the basics. In mysore, a foundation is established over time.
10. You leave when you are done-In the same way there is not start time, there is no exit time. When you feel that you have done all that you can for that day, you can leave. In many led classes, poses are added to fill up the time and you wind up over worked and actually deplete prana/energy instead of gaining it. In Mysore Ashtanga, however long it takes for you to complete your practice is personal and different for everybody.

Video of the Day: