Living the Wisdom of Yoga in Modern Times

Why Becoming A Better Version of Yourself Is Not Always Good

I often hear that yoga will make you a better version of yourself. This is supposed to be positive but is becoming a better bitch, jerk,womanizer, racist etc a good thing? 

The part that gets "better"  &  stronger is usually the ego. All our roles and titles are a part of an image that we have built for ourselves called the ego.  The screen on which the ego's movie is played is consciousness.  Consciousness does not get better or worse. It is what is hidden behind the self imposed roles & titles we have picked up. The real you watches all.  The purpose of yoga is to still the mind enough to make us aware of pure consciousness.

When we came into this existence, we essentially agreed to play dress up.  When a child plays pretend, they put on a pointy black hat and become a witch then a few minutes later they change into a pink poofy dress & becomes  a princess. The roles we choose and our self image are a sophisticated version of this game.   Branding ourselves like Oprah Winfrey or taking on the title of teacher, mother, bitch or jerk, opens us up to different opportunities and experiences.  Role playing is a fun, exciting, &  enjoyable part of human experience. It is how we play with life here on earth. It only becomes an issue when the game of pretend gets so complex and vivid that we soon forget that it is not real & that the princess costume can actually come off.

When a person is fully connected to their ego, they don't see the separation between the hand moving the chess pieces and the chess pieces themselves. They can only relate to their body and the roles. So when they become a better version of something, it is a better version of what they believe themselves to be which may not necessarily be good.

Yoga teaches us that who we think we are doesn't matter. Everyone is pure consciousness. Some people refer to it as the energy that cannot be destroyed. Some say the soul. Some say the God within us. If we can reconnect to the pure consiousness, all the roles that are destructive to ourselves and others will fall away. Our past no longer binds us and the future no longer concerns us. We can play dress up freely while knowing that it is not truly us and we can take off the custom with no fear of what is underneath.

 

Video of the Day

 

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

 

 

The Universe is Giving You Signals But Are You Listening?

"As long as you think that the cause of your problem is 'out there' —as long as you think that anyone or anything is responsible for your suffering—the situation is hopeless. It means that you are forever in the role of victim, that you’re suffering in paradise." ~Byron Katie 

 

The path of self destruction is self laid one brick at a time.  Every decision we make leads up to NOW. When the life we are creating doesn't match up to the life we want, signs arise in the form of problems.  If ignored, the problems get bigger and bigger. If the root cause is weeded out, they subside.

The first step to changing our lives is to take total responsibility for it. As long as blame is placed elsewhere, we give up control. Without control, their is no change, only reaction. Even if we react positively, the same problems will continue to arise. By accepting responsibility, we can end the problem all together. For change to happen in our lives, we have to first have change in our minds. We have to believe that what we want is possible and strive for it. We can't take no for an answer. We must be vigilant in clearing our minds of thoughts and our lives of people and situations that don't serve our vision. You are meant to be happy, at peace and abundant!!!  Don't wait for life to happen, create it now!

Train yourself to notice the small signals now. Don't let a warning from your boss turn into walking papers. Don't let shortness of breath turn into a full blown heart attack. Life first throws a pebble, then a brick and then a mountain lands on us. Don't wait for the mountain!!!  Often we can't let things go until we have no choice. I was recently speaking with a yoga teacher friend who wanted to let go of some classes to simplify her life but she loved the classes.  Her life was throwing pebbles letting her know she was doing too much.  However, instead of leaving on a high note with love in her heart for her students and job, she was waiting for the brick.

 Sustainable peace in our lives happen when we don't wait for the brick. We make changes while things are still good. This goes against most people's modes of thinking because "why fix what isn't broken?" However,the realty is that everything starts in the mind. The seed of discontent has been planted so your situation is not going to go anywhere but down. Why wait for that?

Video of the day: Ashtanga Yoga w/a broken leg

 

Are You On the Way To Yoga Burnout or Yoga Enlightenment?

The popularity of  Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Power Yoga, and  Hot Yoga are at an all time high.  These styles use vigorous and powerful  sequences to impart health to the body as well as the mind. They bring peace and well being to practitioners helping them to be a better person and live a more fulfilled life.   Because they provide such a great physical workout, many people approach them like a gym aerobics class and rely on brut strength and will power to move them through the practice resulting in an overly aggressive yoga practice that looses steam really fast and is not sustainable.  Practicing without incorporating the more subtle concepts of yoga such  as breath,non-harming, focus and non attachment, opens the door for stress, injury, ill health and an uneasy mind. Essentially you cultivate all the traits that you were trying to use yoga to cure.

 Look at the list below and see where you fit in. Are you on the road to burn out or enlightenment?

 Gym Mentality                                             Yoga Mentality

Barely Breathe                                                                  Deeply Breathe        

In the mind throughout practice                              Practice takes you out of the mind

Obsessed with attaining poses                                    Enjoys learning new poses

Labels practices "bad" or "good"                               Sees all practices as good

Compares themselves to others                                Focused on themselves

Always seeking more intensity                                   Time & place for everything

Sweat is generated from external heat                   Sweat is generated from internal heat

Snaps into poses                                                              Moves with breath into poses

Only uses mirror for alignment                                 Knows how poses feel in the body

Stares at themselves in mirror                                   Uses Dristhi(gaze points)

Mat has to be in same place or miffed                    Cool with whatever spot they can get        

Does advanced poses to show off                            Poses for their benefits and fun

Judges others practices                                                Non judgemental

Has to be in the studio in crowd                               Has friends but not about popularity

Compares current practice to previous               Practices from the present moment

Pushes through pain                                                     Pays attention to pain  

Breaks are a sign of weakness                                    Breaks when needed

Constantly seeking short cuts                                    Slow and steady wins the race

Worships those with "advanced" practices          Every body's human

Searching for Yoga body  for vanity                       Understands the effect of weight on health

Expects teachers to look a certain way                 Value teacher for what they teach    

Sequencing should be for intensity                         Sequence focused on well being

Leave class feeling broke down                                 Leave class feeling energized

Has a post yoga recovery ritual                                Feel good when you leave

Has to dress a certain way                                          May like clothes but not there to be seen

Hates anything spiritual                                             Open to other aspects of yoga

Depends on their teacher                                           Understand their own body

Can't stand silence                                                        Loves it

Can't be still                                                                     Strives to be still

Wants something for free                                         Understands the value of yoga

Pushes into poses                                                         Breathes into poses

 Only sees yoga as a workout                                   Total Body wellness system

Chooses studios based on popularity                   Chooses based on what they have to offer

Pushes through poses  using muscles                    Moves from the core and breath

 

 Video of the day: Yoga as a spiritual practice

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hot Yoga: How Hot is Too Hot?

I have been practicing yoga for about 10 years now and I notice that what was hot then is not hot now. 85 degrees was hot. Then it moved up to 90. Then to 95 degrees.  Now there are studios that have temperatures between 105-110.  People are getting used to the heat and are requesting even higher temperatures.  So even if the room is heated to 99 degrees,heaters are being brought in to get it even hotter.   How Hot is too Hot?

The two innovators in Hot Yoga are Bikram Chodhury and Baron Baptiste. Both claim that Hot Yoga flushes out toxins and warms up the muscles so that injury is prevented. Bikram rooms are heated to 105 degrees and the poses are fairly simple and repeated twice. In Journey Into Power, written by Baron Baptiste, he recommends that the room be heated to 90 degrees and many of the Baptiste affiliate studios are heated to 95 degrees. Though his sequence is  more complicated then Bikram's, it is still accessible to all levels and allows for more innovation.

Some people try to use Ashtanga as  a model for hot yoga. They say that Mysore India is hot so this justifies that yoga should be done in warmer temperatures. The reality is that in Mysore, practicing in the hottest parts of the day are avoided.  Sessions are conducted  early in the morning and late in the afternoon when the sun is at its coolest.  To the Ashtanga research institute, there is definitely an understanding of when hot is to hot. 

Is their a point where it has gone beyond therapeutic and into extremism? Is this based on the individual? How Hot is Too Hot? I would love to hear from you!

 

 

Video of the Day:  Self & Mind 

 

 

A Yogi's Response To Hurt

Our first response after pain is often to shut down. Our wide open hearts have been trampled and it seems that iron bars are a necessary protection against further damage. We spent days, months, years giving, giving, giving while others were taking, taking, taking. We soon discover that what we gave just wasn't enough. It wasn't enough for them to totally accept us into their hearts or to believe in our potential. We don't want that to happen again, so we shut down.  Who does this response benefit?

The brick wall we erect, not only blocks out the beasties, but also ruins our view. The sun cannot shine through it. The Good cannot open it. We block off all possibilities hoping that we are smart enough to know when to take down a brick and let someone or something in. But how can we be? All our future experiences are now colored by the pain that we refuse to let go of and we no longer see clearly.  How do we get off this roller coaster?

The reality is that everything we perceive starts within and is subject to our labeling. Things we find inconvenient to our current reality is "bad". Rain at a picnic=bad. Red light when we are late=bad. Sickness=bad. However, from another perspective, all of these are good. Without rain, there would be no life. The person who got the Green light while you were at red is ecstatic.  Doctors would go out of business if no one was ever sick.

It is the same for the situation that brought us pain. Though hard to hear, someone or something else actually benefited from it.  Shutting down doesn't change the fact that there is a flip side to every situation. The roller coaster stops not when we realize this concept but when we internalize it.  We have to choose which side we will respond to and use for growth.  There is no good vs evil. Me vs them. Love vs Hate. They are all just flip sides to the same quarter. What side of the quarter will you focus on? Can you take the bounce to the other side and get back on your feet?

 Video of the Day: Yoga as a Spiritual Practice

 

 

The Wayne Gretzky Yoga Principle that Can Help You Overcome Fear

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. -Wayne Gretzky

OR

You will never be able to do any of the poses you never try.-Shanna Small

 Choosing to work on poses that scare the crap out of you is an exercise in overcoming fear and false limitations created by the mind.  Most people make all their decisions in life based on fear.  We stay in jobs we hate or treat our employees as less then human because we are afraid of not having money. We stay in relationships that make us unhappy because we are scared of starting a new life.    We let our kids run our lives because we are scared to say no.  As long as we make our decisions in life based on fear, we never realize our true potential.  We sign our lives away to mediocrity. We die without ever living.

 The result of a shot taken and missed is growth. We dust ourselves off, learn from it and evolve. Everyday moving closer to our highest potential.  The repercussions of a shot never taken are inertia and stagnation.  Without facing your fears, you decide that the cards you have been dealt are the ones that you will keep. That you or your life will never be any different then today.

 I recently attended a yoga class where we spent the whole time preparing for Pincha Mayurasana(forearm balance) but we never actually did Pincha Mayurasnana.  Fear also keeps you constantly preparing for things that never happen.

How many times have you went through a long conversation in your head in preparation for an upcoming confrontation, salary review or discussion to only have the conversation be something totally different? Did you calculate the time you wasted having this loony mental conversation?   The insurance industry is totally based on fear. How often does the average person really go to the doctor compared to the money shelled out every month to pay for policies? 

Because of fear, we save money to prepare for disasters that never happen. We spend hours preparing for opportunities we never take.  We do hundreds of planks and chaturangas building strength for handstands we never try.

Using your yoga practice to overcome your fears, allows you to strengthen your mind for even bigger boogie men that are outside of the mat. It also allows your save your practice and life from boredom and stagnation. Do at least one pose that scares you every practice and watch your irrational fears start to dissipate. 

 Video of the Day: Pema Chodron on Troublemakers

 

Spiritual Teachers on Why Bad Things Happen

Today all eyes are on the tsunami and earthquakes in Japan and Hawaii.  Many questions surface about why bad things happen, death and the meaning of life. Below are some videos from some amazing spiritual teachers who have unique positive views on change and seemingly insane events that happen in our lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Happy New Year!!

Successful People Who Were First Rejected & What You Can Learn From It

 Failure comes with many lessons that are often missed because our feelings are hurt. Failure is a natural part of all growth processes. It lets us know what we can do different to ensure further success and also when timing is just not right. I wish our society would talk more about failure. The media is full of stories of people raising quickly to the top. It is not good entertainment to talk about their little falls on the way which makes for an unrealistic view on success.

 
Success is more like hills and valleys then one big incline.  If we use the stairs to get to success, falling is safer.  You have walked these steps before and can easily overcome them . If a helicopter drops  you off at the top of a mountain, you get their quicker but if you slide, you have no idea how to get back up and the emotional scaring will be even worse.  

 
I always find these list of famous peeps who were first rejected to be inspiring. It shows the value of perseverance and gives a more realistic view of success.

Writers Who Were Repeatedly Rejected. For the full article, go here.

 

1. Dr. Seuss: Here you'll find a list of all the books that Dr. Seuss' publisher rejected.
2. William Golding: William Golding's Lord of the Flies was rejected 20 times before becoming published.
3. James Joyce: James Joyce's Ulysses was judged obscene and rejected by several publishers.
4. Isaac Asimov: Several of Asimov's stories were rejected, never sold, or eventually lost.
5. John le Carre: John le Carre's first novel, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, was passed along because le Carre "hasn't got any future."
6. Jasper Fforde: Jasper Fforde racked up 76 rejections before getting The Eyre Affair published.
7. William Saroyan: William Saroyan received an astonishing 7,000 rejection slips before selling his first short story.
8. Jack Kerouac: Some of Kerouac's work was rejected as pornographic.
9. Joseph Heller: Joseph Heller wrote a story as a teenager that was rejected by the New York Daily News.
10. Kenneth Grahame: The Wind in the Willows was not intended to be published, and was rejected in America before appearing in England.
11. James Baldwin: James Baldwin’s Giovanni's Room was called "hopelessly bad."
12. Ursula K. Le Guin: An editor told Ursula K. Le Guin that The Left Hand of Darkness was "endlessly complicated."
13. Pearl S. Buck: Pearl Buck's first novel, East Wind: West Wind received rejections from all but one publisher in New York.
14. Louisa May Alcott: Louisa May Alcott was told to stick to teaching.
15. Isaac Bashevis Singer: Before winning the Nobel Prize, Isaac Bashevis Singer was rejected by publishers.
16. Agatha Christie: Agatha Christie had to wait four years for her first book to be published.
17. Tony Hillerman: Tony Hillerman was told to "get rid of the Indian stuff."
18. Zane Grey: Zane Grey self-published his first book after dozens of rejections.
19. Marcel Proust: Marcel Proust was rejected so much he decided to pay for publication himself.
20. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen: Chicken Soup for the Soul received 134 rejections.
21. William Faulkner: William Faulkner's book, Sanctuary, was called unpublishable.
22. Patrick Dennis: Auntie Mame got 17 rejections.
23. Meg Cabot: The bestselling author of The Princess Diaries keeps a mail bag of rejection letters.
24. Richard Bach: 18 publishers thought a book about a seagull was ridiculous before Jonathan Livingston Seagull was picked up.
25. Beatrix Potter: The Tale of Peter Rabbit had to be published by Potter herself.
26. John Grisham: John Grisham's A Time to Kill was rejected by 16 publishers before finding an agent who eventually rejected him as well.
27. Shannon Hale: Shannon Hale was rejected and revised a number of times before Bloomsbury published The Goose Girl.
28. Richard Hooker: The book that inspired the film and TV show M*A*S*H* was denied by 21 publishers.
29. Jorge Luis Borges: It's a good thing not everyone thought Mr. Borges' work was "utterly untranslatable."
30. Thor Heyerdahl: Several publishers thought Kon-Tiki was not interesting enough.
31. Vladmir Nabokov: Lolita was rejected by 5 publishers in fear of prosecution for obscenity before being published in Paris.
32. Laurence Peter: Laurence Peter had 22 rejections before finding success with The Peter Principles.
33. D.H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers faced rejection, and D.H. Lawrence didn't take it easily.
34. Richard Doddridge Blackmore: This much-repeated story was turned down 18 times before getting published.
35. Sylvia Plath: Sylvia Plath had several rejected poem titles.
36. Robert Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance faced an amazing 121 rejections before becoming beloved by millions of readers.
37. James Patterson: Patterson was rejected by more than a dozen publishers before an agent he found in a newspaper article sold it.
38. Gertrude Stein: Gertrude Stein submitted poems for 22 years before having one accepted.
39. E.E. Cummings: E.E. Cummings named the 14 publishers who rejected No Thanks in the book itself.
40. Judy Blume: Judy Blum received nothing but rejections for two years and can't look at Highlights without wincing.
41. Irving Stone: Irving Stone's Lust for Life was rejected by 16 different editors.
42. Madeline L'Engle: Madeline L'Engle's masterpiece A Wrinkle in Time faced rejection 26 times before willing the Newberry Medal.
43. Rudyard Kipling: In one rejection letter, Mr. Kipling was told he doesn't know how to use the English language.
44. J.K. Rowling: J.K. Rowling submitted Harry Potter to 12 publishing houses, all of which rejected it.
45. Frank Herbert: Before reaching print, Frank Herbert's Dune was rejected 20 times.
46. Stephen King: Stephen King filed away his first full length novel The Long Walk after it was rejected.
47. Richard Adams: Richard Adams's two daughters encouraged him to publish Watership Down as a book, but 13 publishers didn't agree.
48. Anne Frank: One of the most famous people to live in an attic, Anne Frank's diary had 15 rejections.
49. Margaret Mitchell: Gone With the Wind was faced rejection 38 times.
50. Alex Haley: The Roots author wrote every day for 8 years before finding success.

 

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