Anusara-opening to servitude

 Anusara Invocation said at the beginning of practice. 

Last night I practiced the art of grace and servitude. I opened my heart shining and bright toward a cause that is greater than myself. Something bigger. More complete. All-knowing. 

It was my first Anusara inspired class. Anusara yoga was started in 1997 by a man named John Friend. It is a form of Hatha yoga that is practiced based on a set of alignment principles used in everything we do. 

When I asked my teacher Meaghan to describe what Anusara was all about she gave the following answer; 

Anusara yoga is based on several principles of  alignment that we use everyday  in our lives without really realizing it. It’s about using those principles to open our hearts and shine brightly from the inside out. It’s based on  a tantric  tradition,  that everything is good, all things are conscious and that we are continually present. 

 From my great and detailed research I’m still learning more about this style. To the left is the man himself: John Friend. He previously was a financial analyst. Can you picture that? He was also a renowned Iyengar yoga teacher.

Anusara uses more of the hindu religious and devotional connections than other forms of Westernized yoga. 

In fact, upon entering the Heart Flow yoga class at my regular studio I was handed an invocation card that is directly related to Anusara. We opened our practice with this invocation. It was very healing and invigorating when surrounded with the sound of this invocation.

Following the invocation there were asana that specifically related to grace and servitude. With the recent passing of our official leader of the opposition to the government, Meaghan read from some recent remarks he had made about giving his life to serve the people of this country. We opened ourselves up to service and maintained strength and softness through poses.

We worked on several poses. We also learned two of the principles of alignment. They are openness to grace and muscular energy. We also did some preparation for a shoulder stand, see below.

I didn’t make it to this perfect right angle. I have yet to build up to this point but learning the feeling of being upside down can be quite intimidating.

I wouldn’t necessarily say I was scared. I felt a bit too close to the wall. I also found that it was difficult to keep my hear soft while keeping my arms strong. 

I intend to get to this point. It may take time but eventually all things will come together. 

I enjoyed this practice immensly. I felt I had come away with a new way of thinking. My mind clearer I went forth. I found out more. I look forward to the upcomming workshop with Robin Golt in the fall. 

A quick drawing of warrior 1.

Energy: Exchange and Breathing

Last week I was able to take in 3 whole classes at Shakti. I took Hatha Flow 1 three times. The first on Monday with Beth. The second on Wednesday with Grace. Finally, with Meaghan yesterday. All three so variated in style and teaching method. 

Grace was surprisingly athletic. I found it incredibly aerobic to participate in her class. Meaghan was very spiritual and rejuvenating. 

I also found out about the Energy Exchange program at Shakti. It’s a program where you trade your adequate cleaning master skills for 2 hours a week in exchange for unlimited yoga classes there. Being that I am poor-ish and trying to save up money to do Yoga Teacher Training next year I am hoping this program can give me a little extra in the way of my practice and saving financially. I think it’s great actually. 

I’ve run out of my asthma and allergy medication this past couple of weeks and it’s only now that I am noticing my breathing is becoming affected. I’m trying to remedy this ASAP. 

Pigeoning Forward.

I went to Hatha Flow 1 last night with Beth instructing. I am beginning to feel myself settle into the ease of Hatha Flow 1. I’m preparing to enter into Hatha Flow 2 very shortly. 

Last night though I was able to perform most all of the asana, I found it hard. Yoga stretches you in more ways than that of the physical. Instead, I am beginning to stretch mentally and spiritually in my practice. It’s challenging and rewarding. 

Last night during lizard and pigeon poses I felt my emotional self want to run away from all of this stuff that I my body was allowing me to release. I didn’t cry but I had extreme feelings of both anger and fear in these poses. 

Yoga allows us to push through this experience using our breath. My breath saved me last night more than ever. The last thing I really want to do in a yoga practice is fall apart emotionally. But then again maybe that’s the point. Complete surrender.

Lizard Pose.

Commentary on the John Friend Link

I just listened to an excerpt from a Wonder Lust Fest. interview with John Friend (founder of Ansura Yoga). It discussed the economics of being a yoga teacher. 

I think primarily outside of Newfoundland (and the St. John’s Area) this problem exists much more commonly than within. I get it. It makes sense to me. 

I have an interest in doing yoga teacher training, should this discourage me? I think not! John goes on to talk about places where there are more yoga teachers than students. That is not economical. You don’t need to be a teacher to deepen your practice necessarily. You must being doing teacher training, not only to further your yoga experiences, but to help those in demand of practicing yoga. 

John speaks about practicing for 7 years before he began substituting for his teacher. I understand that not everyone should be a yoga teacher. Not all of us want to teach because it’s a cool thing to do or that they aren’t happy in their job. 

It’s like I was reading about today. The yoga sutra discusses a principle where we act humbly and submit to the divine. That’s not to say one has to be religious but we should act in a way that it is about the quality of the act and not the fruit that is bared. A yoga teacher (like other teachers) hopes to plant a seed into the students. That the quality of their actions may then be passed on. Not to see people progress because you are the best at teaching. 

So that’s where I am with this interview. There’s good points. I agree with many things but I am also at war with the underlying message that is not intended but sounds a little “there are too many teachers I don’t get it, go away”. In a space that requires a teacher then training is beneficial. 

My personal intentions with YTT is to further my knowledge to a point where, when I no longer live in St. John’s, and I’m in an area where there is a demand I am prepared to teach to my peers the thing that I have loved for so long. I am aware that there is very little money in teaching (generally and in yoga) and that is not the purpose. It is not yogic. It’s spreading, that’s good. 

Interesting article on the Economics of Yoga Teacher Training

Interesting article on the Economics of Yoga Teacher Training

Adho Mukha Savasana- Yoga Journal Link

Adho Mukha Savasana- Yoga Journal Link

This is the link I was referring to in my frequent post.

Adho Mukha Svanasana= Freedom

I took a Monday Night Hatha Flow 1 class last night. Beth was instructing it. I always enjoy Beth’s classes because she allows us a bit of input into what we need to work on in our practice. Last night I wasn’t really feeling like doing yoga. But I knew in my heart that yoga would bring me what I needed if I could just make myself get to practice. So, I did and as usual once I got there I was so much happier than I had been coming through the door. 

The car ride to the studio was filled with much doubt and anxiety which was in a way how I had been feeling much of the day. I walked through the studio door to see Beth smiling with a warm and gentle hello. That changed me. I quietly sat waiting for the class ahead of us to finish and I started to relax into myself. I began to let go of those feelings that were eating me up. 

When we began practicing Beth took us through a very in-depth practice that focused on Pranayama. Our breathing technique that is key to all yoga. If your breath is off then you must stop what you are doing and regain control over the breath. You are not ready for an asana if you cannot properly maintain mindfulness over your breath. This loss of control/awareness of the breath always happens when I am in a vinyasa flow from downward facing dog (adho mukha savansana) to low plank, to cobra/upward facing dog. This is always for the first and second sets then once I am used to the vinyasa I am able to do this without disrupting the breath. I am aware now that this transition is disrupted due to my overly quick or tense movement from one to the other. I am focusing on the difficulty my body is facing through the vinyasa and not on my breath. If I instead, focused on my breath then allowed the vinyasa to happen I would be able to properly maintain awareness. NEXT TIME! 

Despite this challenge I really got to enjoy “Down-Dog” last evening. I have been building towards comfort in this position since returning to the class setting. I managed to find a nice towel that I lay over the top edge of my mat (Blossom) that gives me enough traction. I open in my heart centre and lengthen through my sitting bones when in “down-dog” now. I am feeling it’s wonderful effects as a slight inversion. Pushing my agni upward toward my heart centre and riding my body of avidya (wastes). 

According to Yoga Journal here are the major benefits of Adho Mukha Savasana:

Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression

Energizes the body

Stretches the shoulders, hamstrings, calves, arches, and hands

Strengthens the arms and legs

Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause

Relieves menstrual discomfort when done with head supported

Helps prevent osteoporosis

Improves digestion

Relieves headache, insomnia, back pain, and fatigue

Therapeutic for high blood pressure, asthma, flat feet, sciatica, sinusitis

After going to a local wicker store looking for a papasan chair, seeing yoga asana cushions (which I bought) and discussing the meanings of the words on the pillows. Wicker Lady: So do you teach yoga? Me: No, I have been practicing for years and intend to teach when I do yoga teacher training. Wicker Lady: Well please send me an email when you start teaching I’d love to do a class with you. Me: Why thank you. I certainly will.

After going to a local wicker store looking for a papasan chair, seeing yoga asana cushions (which I bought) and discussing the meanings of the words on the pillows.

Wicker Lady: So do you teach yoga?
Me: No, I have been practicing for years and intend to teach when I do yoga teacher training.
Wicker Lady: Well please send me an email when you start teaching I’d love to do a class with you.
Me: Why thank you. I certainly will.

On Detoxification in Yoga

I’m still cooling from my most recent yoga class. I have been contemplating all day whether to take a class tonight or to forgo it and do another 2 hour session on thursday. I decided to go to the Detox Yoga class with Bobby. I’m so glad I did. For as much as I loved her Gentle Yoga class (and God knows that I needed it last week) I got so much more from tonights session. 

I’m warm, I’m comfortable. I’m feeling a released from all of those things that life has given me stress about. At least for this evening. I plan on carrying this feeling through the evening. Holding onto myself. As I am Present. 

I did find the detox yoga challenging but I was able to make my way into comfort with the poses and relaxing. Learning constantly to stay within the flow of my breath through the cycle. So much heat and warmth and wringing out through my inner body. 

I also learned lion breath and it’s almost as nice as humming bee breath. I will do this class again. I feel so much better about my own practice. But I have to mention that upon coming out of class I felt as though I should be much gentler on my body for the evening. Everything is loose and flexible and jarring movement may take me out of this pleasant mode. 

Namaste. 

Frog Pose Keeps Hips Healthy

Frog Pose Keeps Hips Healthy

Emotional Moments in Yoga

Emotional Moments in Yoga

2 Hr. Yoga Marathon & Weekend of Sun

This past Thursday evening I was getting my weeklong Jones fixed at Shakti Yoga Studio on Torbay Rd. I had been craving a good yoga session all week and I just hadn’t found the time to do a class yet. I had been planning since last week to go to the 7:00pm Thursday Hatha Flow 1 class and on the day I said what the heck and decided to take the 5:30pm Gentle Yoga class too.

Bobby taught the Gentle yoga class. As a teacher she was very warm and inviting. I really enjoyed that she connected with every single person in the room. That she sought to combine her voice with the experience of the practice. I valued that and as a future teacher I’d like to be able to take some of that experience with me to use later. 

Upon walking into the class however, I got to see yogis from all walks of life come into the same space and practice together. Unify. That was my first clue that gentle yoga would be a wonderful experience for we were all different shapes, attitudes, and skill levels all coming together in practice. 

For those of you who have never had the loving experience of gentle yoga there’s one thing I’d like you to know: Gentle Yoga is not just for beginners or old people. Instead, gentle yoga works the mental body more than the physical. Anyone can go to a Hatha Flow class, work up a sweat, and go home. Not everyone in the more physically demanding classes can take home the message of yoga. In gentle yoga, you have no choice other than taking the message.

It’s about staying in poses longer, learning to communicate with your body, and letting yourself release into the pose. 

It’s also about breathe. I found that I connected very deeply with my body during this practice. I grounded. I stretched my boundaries. I learned to breathe with my whole body.

After taking this class, I waited and took Beth’s Hatha Flow 1 Class. Before we began practice Beth asked if there was anything in particular that we would like to focus on in the class. I valued this as I was running a little Pitta all week and could not possibly be happy if she’d decided to do a heat induced practice. I asked if we could work on cooling postures so I could go deeper into practice without becoming frustrated by heat. 

I remember being stressed out by my slippery hands during downward facing dog but pushing through into positions that opened my hips and let all of the tension out of my body. 

I went home that night and by the next morning I was sore. My body felt weird and loose: see Dangly. I took a break over the weekend and after my hooping class tonight I’d love to take advantage of the next practice. 

Namaste.

Not a Yogi? Think again.

Not a Yogi? Think again.

Reducing Stress by Causing Stress?

Today’s home practice was brought to me by the emotion of stress. 

Actually, all of this started earlier when I came home from work and just felt like crawling under the covers and staying there for the rest of life. Well maybe just for the rest of the day. Alas, I wanted to fight this feeling back with compassion, love, and serenity instead, I had a craving for an honest to goodness yoga nidra session. Now for those of you who like me are either noobs or have been away for awhile meditation can be very difficult. There are so many things going on at once. For one you have the focus on breath (pranayama), for two you have to focus on emptiness when you have all of the buzzing from the day running around in your head, and for three you have your own body bothering you to get up and keep tense. 

I find my friends at Fragrant Heart Meditation to be very helpful to those newly learning to meditate or for oldies who are working it back into their daily routine. Meditation is a part of yogic life. It’s wonderful to be able to connect with yourself and disconnect from all of the noise (not literal) that occurs from day to day. 

Half an hour later re-awakening with a new light and a fresh soul after drifting away from all of that stress I was ready for a light meal an the evening ahead. I enjoyed some mushroom couscous with a cup of edamame for my dinner and headed out to one of my new and favourite activities HULA HOOPING. I practiced an hour of hoopFIT with Cyndi Butt from Wild Lily Dance Centre at Harbour Side Park in Downtown St. John’s. What a beautiful night with a bunch of wonderful ladies, rocking music, and the gorgeous view of the narrows. 

Upon return from my class I was still warm and ready to go. I was by no means ready to settle down for the evening. What could I possibly do to calm my system? YOGA! A few years ago I was a starving student and spent a few of my valuable dollars on some Yoga Zone DVD’s so that I could save some money by practicing at home. In that set was an Evening Stress Release Yoga Series. Now there are two 20-minute practices on the DVD and I was feeling uber chipper and decided that it would be best to do both of them. There were two key differences between the two practices.

The first session was about causing stress through strengthening poses to allow the tension release in your body. That’s not pushing yourself to the point of discomfort but rather breathing into a stressful posture to open yourself and relax into each pose. This practice opened me up to an idea about stress itself. That is, stress builds and builds unless we stop pushing ourselves against it. If we stop and let it stretch out a little the stress doesn’t seem nearly as monstrous as we first thought. Step back, take a second, and breathe. 

The second practice was more about grounding out through your breath and focused on opening the chest through backbends and twists. Wringing the body out from the inside to the surface. This practice was slower and more cooling to the typical Pitta furnace that I am. (Note: Pitta is a dosha) I settled more in this series and it allowed me to wind down even more than the first. Savansana became very relaxed and open. 

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back!

The title is from a comedy show that was aired on television before I was born but was re-runned on the old cable and I grew to love it. Anyway, I just got back from my first yoga class (with people in it) in over 3 years. I’m sipping on my water and I just cleaned down my new Manduka Prolite with a distilled water and green tea oil mix. 

I’m blissed out. 

I met the sub-instructor Kathy and she was very open and welcoming. After a few titters about the weather (as we all have in NL right now) we went in and I got all fixed up for my 10 session pass with Bobby, one of Shakti Yoga Centre’s owners. 

The class opened with breathing exercises (called pranayama) then Kathy began to open the class by a chant of 3 ohms. Beautiful. From that very moment I felt at home. I was one with the moment and the voices of both the instructor and students rang out into the universe filled with compassion. 

-side note: if you’ve never done yoga or meditation using ohms just open your mind and try it. I garuntee you’ll feel silly at first but if you allow yourself to experience the sound then you will get an idea of what I’m talking about. 

We built upward to mountain pose, into a series of energy creating planks, dogs, and mountains. Then we simplified by stretching and lengthening outward into various forms of warrior. Upon cooling down, we revered back into a comforting series of planks and backward bends from the floor. Eventually, we made our way back to pigeon and the breath. Savansana (or Corpse pose) brought us back to pranayama techniques where Kathy walked gently around to everyone and stretched the shoulders. We then made our way up to siting position and closed the class with 3 ohms. 

Sending gratitude is a big thing in yoga. In home practice, I’ve often forgotten about it. But now that I have just finished my first class in awhile. I realize that gratitude both before you begin your practice and after creates the right mind necessary to appreciate your practice. 

So until next class… 

Yoga Journal- 5 Benefits of Yoga

Yoga Journal- 5 Benefits of Yoga

Back to Class! But Mom, I haven't got all my supplies yet.

Today is a big day for me. For my closest family and friends know who I am and they alone know that I’ve been a bit of a yoga-holic since my early teen years. The thing is that I’ve become a bit of a closet yogi. I trail around from place to place and I always take my beloved mat with me practicing alone when I am in times of trial or tribulation. 

When you grow up in a community with about 3000 people there’s not a lot of choice in how you activate your body. You have a grand total of about 6 options. Walk. Run. Ball sports. Hockey. Curling. Figure Skating. So when I was about 14 someone brought home one of those at-home yoga kits for me with the VHS included (DVD was newish then). I became hooked. I’d say I watched and did that yoga video about 200 times on the same old cheap, chemically infested, rag of a mat. Despite what I know now. I thought yoga spoke to me from that early point. 

When I eventually got through the first disastrous semester in college I joined a class in the Humber Community YMCA. I practiced with Maureen Barry for two years in the group form. She was an amazing person who introduced me to the pranayama and meditation of the yoga life. 

Since then I’ve finished two degrees and continued home practice although I did pretty much give up on practice for about a year while living in St. John’s Newfoundland. The reason was that my apartment (still my apartment) is very low ceilinged and I’m about 6ft tall so doing the standing poses can be challenging. But despite everything I’ve finally found enough balance to re-enter my full time practice in yoga. 

Unfortunately, I’ve come to a realization. That I’m going to go into a Hatha Flow 1 class at a local studio and have very basic control over my body and breath. In short form, I suck. I keep telling myself that suckiness isn’t a factor with yoga. And I know it isn’t but I’m re-entering my practice by starting off in a group structure which can be very intimidating. I have to fight today to keep my affirmations positive throughout the day. Then when the time comes I get to enter a bright new space with a brand new (and not chemically noxious) mat and a brand new attitude towards my life. 

It’s important to remember that my goal is to be on a path again instead of waviering like I’ve done in the past year. For a point of interest, I’ve given my mat a name: Metis which means “wisedom, skill, or craft”. Metis is a goddess. So is my relationship with my mat. 

Change is not something that we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom, and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they’re meant to be.

Change is not something that we should fear. Rather, it is something that we should welcome. For without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom,
and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they’re meant to be.
http://www.yoga-magazine.net/quote.htm