Paying Attention

I love my practice on the mat, because it's TRAINING for paying attention. Because I spend so much time quietly exploring and investigating, it makes my interactions with the world that much more interesting. The SUBTLE aspects of life, the quiet things, the small things are fascinating and I find, totally worth my while.

I also think that this ability to PAY ATTENTION and openly investigate makes me a better friend, sister, partner, and person in life. The more I pay attention to my habitual patterns and frequent reactions on-the-mat, the more I can begin to tune in when they're happening in my off-the-mat life. And hopefully, through continued EFFORT, change my reactions as necessary. Perhaps even react with better integrity or more thoughtfulness next time.

Deborah Adele says, "When we open our eyes and see everything as an opportunity to explore and to learn, nothing becomes insignificant in its ability to teach us and to grow us."

How about that?

Postures Should be Grounded + Light

In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, sutra 2.46 reads: sthira sukham asanam

STHIRA: steadiness, firmness, settling, grounding

SUKHAM: ease, lightness, contentment

ASANAM: seat, posture

Postures should have the quality of steadiness + ease.

Simply that. Take your seat. Be settled but easy.

We make a great big deal out of putting our leg behind our head or standing on our hands. But YOGA practice is ultimately training for sitting. ASANAS (postures) are for cultivating an equal balance of settling and softening. The more often we practice that when we're in challenging shapes, the easier it will be when we take the SEAT.

Asana is the gateway to MEDITATION. Asana is not the means to flexibility or joy or a complete self. It is designed to improve your ability to SIT. Happy practice!

Transformation through Tapas

Sutra 2.43 says, SELF-DISCIPLINE in practice leads to the destruction of impurities and to the perfection of the body and senses.

Hm. Lofty goals.

The 3rd NIYAMA (practices for self-care) is TAPAS. Tapas can be translated in many ways -- regularity of practice, heat, fire, discipline, continued effort, transformation -- but the message is pretty much universal. The MORE you come to your mat with regularity, the more you will create positive change, leading to the likelihood that you'll keep coming to the mat. FUN!

In tapas practices, we build heat or INNER FIRE which is said to burn off impurities. These impurities may be due to what we eat, how we act, how much screen time we take in and/or environmental factors. And when we experience the transformational potential of our practice, it creates a positive neural groove to encourage us to come back again and again.

Seek out Inspiration!

There is nothing quite like a week with my TEACHER to reignite my passion for practice + teaching. Luckily, I generally operate at a pretty consistent level of commitment and discipline in my practice. But when I get to spend a week absorbing, learning and filling my own cup, I feel so clear about my journey on this PATH. I offer a deep bow of gratitude to Tias and the Prajna sangha.

We need teachers to guide us into deeper experience. I have had so many teachers on this yogic path and many others in my off-the-mat life. My hope for you is that in several aspects of your life, you have guidance from someone who is a master of their craft. I encourage you to seek out people who INSPIRE you, who move you to greater awareness, who encourage you to dig deep.

What I offer to you in class is simply the opportunity for exploration. My aim is to inspire you to go INWARD and SENSE. And then to continue your own investigation of YOURSELF as you move off the mat.

Yoga is the Antidote to Fixity

Over the course of a lifetime, through our various life experiences, we form some strong attachments and opinions. We dig a hole, set up camp, grow roots, and harden. Physically, psychically, opinionally.

Yoga is the antidote to fixity. Yoga practices of asana, pranayama, meditation and energetics bring PRANA (life force) into areas of holding, areas of stuckness. When we bring new fluid and awareness to long-held and tight spots, they open up. SPACE can occur and space lays the groundwork for healing.

My teacher Tias says, "The art of the entire yoga training is to be free of all kinds of fixation, not only mental and physical fixation, but to be free from cultural, linguistic, economic, racial or gender fixation."

So, as much as YOGA can free us up physically, the more SUBTLE implications are equally important. When we are loose and open, we can much more easily merge with the FLOW to let things play out as they will.

The pathways of the NADIS allow energy to flow freely through our bodies, hearts and minds. When we have blockages energetically, we are not functioning optimally. Yoga practice opens us up to SPACE and FREEDOM in all aspects of ourselves.

Newness in Each and Every Moment

Every day, every hour, every minute offers us the possibility of NEWNESS. But, how often do we see that potential?
How routinized is your every day, every hour, every minute?
The composer John Cage said, "I am trying to be unfamiliar with what I am doing." His composition style certainly reflects this sentiment -- he was an extremely innovative and provocative composer.

I myself am extremely routine oriented. I love a good schedule, and a finished to-do list and all the "good" habits that I've incorporated as I try to be a better human. But sometimes, life can feel like a series of morning meditations and brushing (and flossing!) my teeth. I don't mean to lose the spark, but the day-to-day grind can make it a challenge.

The same could be said for our ASANA practice, our time on the mat. Do you tend to always do things the same way? Can you approach each practice with an openness to NEW experience, NEW pathways, NEW information?

Yoga practice teaches us to be IN THE NOW. The more I practice, the more I'm interested in the SUBTLE nuances of my body, breath, heart and mind. The deeper I dive into meditative work, the more often I find myself IN THE NOW, taking a breath, enjoying the MOMENT.

Change is Inevitable

Ch-ch-ch CHANGES.

The sanskrit word for change is PARINAMA. Change is inevitable. Seriously. Everything that ever was, ever is and ever will be will transform from its current iteration. Sometimes we view the transformation is positive, sometimes we see changes as negative.

But let's all agree that we cannot stop them. It's much better to pull up the sails and ride the wave of change to its natural end.

The sanskrit word TAPAS means practice which creates positive change. The more often you come to your mat or cushion, the more likely you are to come again tomorrow and the next day. And (duh!) the more effort you put in, the more dedication you have, the greater the transformation will be. You're in charge!

I love a good internal dialogue. And damned if changes in life don't rustle up the VRTTIS to get the mind awhirling. That's why I need meditation and yoga! To meet the inevitable changes in life with a calm, abiding heart-mind.

Presence + Absence

No matter whether you're practicing on your mat, sitting on your cushion or just doing your life, there is always a fine line to walk between PRESENCE + ABSENCE. In meditative practices, we are continuously asking the mind to come back to NOW. Be here now, we say. And now. And now.

The practice of AWARENESS, much like any other practice, will have periods of non-awareness. And those are important too! Moments of lapse in practice, in meditation, in concentration can teach us to ENJOY and APPRECIATE the small blips that we do get of PRESENCE.

For me, there is a certain relief in knowing + accepting that I won't always be present. I will certainly continue to try, and try again, and try again. The more I can try to be HERE, NOW, the more I can take in all the aspects of life. That way it doesn't just slip right by without me ever having noticed.

What Will Be Will Be

What could be more pleasant than ALLOWING the world to come in to you?

There are 2 potential routes in life/yoga/being. 
In one, we try to push our agenda, try to control, try to dictate the outcomes. 
In the other, we accept things as they unfold, relinquish control to a cosmic source and do our best to be content with the outcomes.

I'm going for the second. The second path, the path of ALLOWANCE asks us to practice VAIRAGYA or non-attachment to outcome. It's darn hard, since we want things to turn out the way we want them to turn out. 
But, I happen to thing it's worth the effort (or non-effort!). Just to reduce a little bit the tendency to grasp, to desire something different, feels like the right direction for me.

Seeking out Santosha

My favorite of all the yoga lessons in all the yoga philosophy is that of SANTOSHA. Santosha is one of the steps on the 8-fold path of yoga. It's the 2nd of the NIYAMAS-- the 5 personal practices which promote positive change within.

Practicing santosha means cultivating GRATITUDE + CONTENTMENT for all of our circumstances, abilities, and bounties in our lives. The human condition suggests to us that nothing is ever enough. We can easily spend our time seeking out something different/better than what we have now.

BUT! what if we were just CONTENT to accept things as they are RIGHT NOW in this moment? Take our asana practice, for example. People often lament to me their difficulties in asana or how they compare themselves to other people's yoga practices.

For one, I think we should be pleased just to be able to do a yoga practice. And two, if we can think of our practice as a long-term approach, and vow simply to keep working at things as they come up, then PROGRESS will come. And I can be content with that.

TODAY, I am grateful for Lucas, for my parents, for Tuesday lunch with Grandma, for One Tree Yoga, for sunny days, for hamstring strengtheners, for cold brew coffee, and for yoga philosophy from Nicholai Bachman.

Yoga as Nirodha

The days when my yoga practice was achievement-based are long gone. I'm all for setting goals and intentions, but yoga poses are no longer my desired outcome. Sure, I think it's super fun to attempt challenging arm balances and inversions, but I am almost completely detached from the outcome of individual practice sessions.

Instead, I look to my yoga practice on the mat as training for life off the mat. This work will be my work for my entire life. The overall arc and process of yoga is that of moving from EXTERNAL engagement to INTERNAL experience. My mat practice is simply the set-up to sit comfortably in long-held meditation, it's the training-ground for quieting my mind.

Nicholai Bachman refers to this process as "yoga as NIRODHA." In other words, yoga is the process of calming down the heart-mind. Part of this work might be facing vigorous asana practice with a calm, quiet center. And part of it might be accepting my limitations on the mat, just as I hope to do in my day-to-day life.

In Search of the Midline

Yoga practice teaches us to find our MIDLINE-- physically, psychically, metaphysically and metaphorically.

Yoga ASANA teaches us how to draw into the midline PHYSICALLY in order to draw from our deep internal musculature. Practicing poses on and off the midline, teaches us to hone the CENTER point of strength and balance.

MEDITATION + PRANAYAMA teaches us to PSYCHICALLY find our center. We develop our ability to concentrate and return again and again to the source of THIS moment. The MIDLINE here is the balance between presence and absence.

Through continued effort and practice, we may begin to explore our experiences METAPHYSICALLY. What is your subtle body suggesting? How is your energetic experience changing according to different postures/breathing/meditation techniques? How does it feel in there?

And finally, the MIDLINE provides great metaphor for the TRUTH. Your center-line, your true authentic being is YOUR midline --your true north for decision-making, intuition and deep understanding. The innate sense of knowing that makes you who you are.

Bring on the Balance

"We know we are all connected, but we forget. We know mind and body are one, but we wake every morning with amnesia. This is why we practice. We use this practice as a tool to effect change internally and externally in this very imbalanced world."

-- Michael Stone from Awake in the World

The practice of yoga is full of opportunities to unite or to "yoke", which is the definition of yoga. We yoke the mind to the breath. We can yoke our bodily movements to our breath. We yoke our outer awareness to our inner awareness. We yoke our individual consciousness to the cosmic consciousness (if we're lucky).

We can also unite opposing forces or actions to find the middle ground. One way of doing things isn't always THE way. One way of moving the body to a peak place isn't always the only doorway in.

In asana, we have the opportunity to explore oppositional movements, such as flexion and extension of the spine. We can work with sliding and gliding and breath-connected-movements to sneak our way into interesting shapes that bring space and ease to our physical being. We can make a CONNECTION to the body + mind via the breath. We can find BALANCE in the in-between places. We can use our practice to find the balance between our INTERNAL realm and the EXTERNAL world.

Practice is absolutely essential for me to bring balance into my life. It's easy to always go in one direction --that of understood progress, or deepening, or beliefs. Through my own practice, I am increasingly interested in yoking, in uniting to find the connection to the middle place. Join me on the mat sometime!

Compassion and Connection

"When we maintain a close connection to the earth, to humility, to our humanness, we remain connected and compassionate toward others. Connection and compassion are essential qualities for leading a well-balanced and well-adjusted human life."

--Alanna Kaivalya from Sacred Sound--

The practices of compassion and acceptance begin on the mat. Working with your own mental + physical challenges regularly provides us an opportunity for deeper practice. I think it's much harder to have compassion for the limits of my body and mind + scale back accordingly, than it is to push too hard and compare myself to others. Thank god for practice!

We are bound to come up against limits. It's the nature of being. I am deeply limited in my FORWARD FOLDING work as I nurse hamstring injuries. This is MY week to accept my humanity, to practice compassion towards me. This is the time when I dig-deep into my well of acceptance and AHIMSA (non-harming). And through the cultivation of compassion toward the self, we can begin to turn it around and shine it outward. Compassion and connection starts with you.

Digging into the Sangha

Honestly, it feels odd to be posting a yoga photo amidst all the political turmoil. Part of me feels that my efforts should be directed toward a strong and loud stance. And the other part of me feels that my duty in this difficult time is to dig in deep and do what I do best; which is to practice and teach the art of yoga.

In my yogic practice and teachings, I try to embrace the full spectrum of humanity. Life is full of challenges and suffering and injustice. It always has been and it always will be. But there is great joy to be felt too, and we feel that joy most deeply and intimately in our human interactions.

Yoga can teach us to be BETTER HUMANS. Yoga teaches me to be understanding, accepting, patient, kind, contemplative, a listener, and inclusive of all beings. Yoga teaches me that EVERYONE EVERYWHERE is having a human experience in which they are seeking joy and contentment. EVERYONE EVERYWHERE wants freedom from suffering.

All that I can offer in this time of challenge is my DHARMA, my path as a yogi. I feel in the deepest depths of my heart and soul that this is my path, and it's my duty to share it with the world and with you.
If you join me on the mat this week, you'll be joining in a community, a SANGHA of people who are all seeking freedom from suffering. We can be together in practice to feel, sense, breath, move, settle and embrace our humanity.

Thank Goodness for Teachers

Every time I get the opportunity to study with my teachers, I feel energized and curious and excited to explore new material, new realms of yoga. I am so grateful to my longtime teacher and friend Theresa Murphy for her own depth of study, for her own continuous curiosity toward this lifelong practice. This weekend, under her guidance, I had to chance to dive in deep into PRANAYAMA practices.

Your teacher should inspire you to have your own intimate experience with your SELF. The yogic arts are an exploration of, a diving into, a scientific study of YOU. Of US. Ideally your experience isn't that of the teacher. It's yours, your very own and we as teachers are simply the vessel to help you get there.

Moving into the Flow

"If you don't become the ocean, you'll be seasick every day."
Leonard Cohen

Through dedicated and continual effort in the path of yoga, we begin to move in the flow of life rather than against it. Yoga is about accepting ourselves, our life circumstances and the everyday mishaps of being human. Through acceptance and perhaps even embracing the full spectrum of our humanity, we unite with our inner self. Yoga means to UNITE!

Yoga is the Search for You

YOGA has the amazing power to transform our awareness. The process of yoga is one of self-discovery and understanding. And along the journey, what we discover is not a NEW us, but the TRUE us. The US that always was and always will be. We shed the veils of ignorance and ego to get right into the very heart of us.

Each of us has a bright inner light of awareness called PURUSHA. This inner light is what makes you YOU. It is your true and unchanging self. And through a committed and regular yoga practice, we have the AMAZING opportunity to discover our true selves.

I'm in. For life. 

I'll Meet You in the Middle

Extreme points of view are generally the ones that get the most press. And in our culture, there's a really strong tendency to shout our views from the rooftop. Or rather, from the comfort of our computer screens via social media. But the idea is the same--everyone MUST know how I feel, because it defines me as a person. I have to set myself APART from the other people. My views are very strongly NOT theirs. Sound familiar?

Now believe me, I am prone to very strong feelings. I side politically distinctly on one side. I have a lifetime of religious guilt built up, which inhibits me from magnanimous feelings toward organized religion. I have a particular way of eating that I think is the right way. I have a certain way in which I present myself to the world that I think is correct. I think that the way I do asana practice is THE way to do asana practice. You get the idea.

I share my own experience of strong opinions to illustrate that yoga doesn't just make opinions go away;  I am also quite human. I am prone to my own particular views. But, I also recognize what happens when we insist on setting ourselves apart from groups of humanity. Viewpoints of "my way is the only way" can be really damaging to the people who we"re separating ourselves from and also to ourselves. The "my god is the one and only god" argument comes to mind. Why should we insist on a singular path for everyone? Does anything else in life work as a one-size-fits-all set-up? 

The definition of yoga is union. The root word of yoga is yuj which means to yoke, as in to yoke an oxen to a cart. So, generally in western modernity, we understand this union to be that of yoking the body to the mind. Or the breath to the body. I like to entertain defining yoga as the yoking of my individual consciousness to the cosmic consciousness. Or the unity of we as a people in the search for something greater than ourselves. For happiness and contentment and universal love. 

Now, I'm nothing if not a practical yogi. I don't posit that yoga will lead to everlasting bliss or automatic happiness. But what I do believe is that through the exploration of ourselves, as we TRULY are, opinions and all, we begin to understand our true natures. And when you get right down to the truth of the matter, everyone, no matter their opinions, is looking to be happy, content and offered unconditional love. So, if we could align even in just that small unifying thread, is it possible that we could meet somewhere in the middle? 

Staying True to You

Finding Your Own Truth

I desire to emulate the teachers who've had the most impact on me, and in turn offer my own experiences to my students in the yoga classroom. But occasionally I find myself in a yoga teacher struggle. Should I emphasize (perhaps even require?) strict + precise alignment in myself and my students at all times, or should I allow for them to explore sensing/feeling/joy of movement/freedom in their bodies? I know I have an obligation to keep people safe, which to my mind means aligning well. But is it restricting for the feeling body or the subtle body to tinker with alignment non-stop, while holding a pose? 

Everyone's body is a little bit different. Even if I have a similar body shape/type/medical history/athletic history/injury history as someone, their experience is always going to be a bit different from mine. And I can only teach from my own understanding and knowledge of how a pose feels in my body + mind + breath. I'm sure you all know that one teacher who just loves backbending or forward-folding and you always seem to be doing it in their classes? They have a felt experience which happens to be their favorite, and also which they are excited to share with you. But just because it feels a certain way to them, doesn't mean that you'll have the same experience. I think it's fascinating that a single class can land differently on all 15 people in the room. 

One way that I try to keep it fresh and applicable to everyone is to teach a different direction every week. In my new workbook, I outline the "planes of the body" or five ways that the body can move. They include side-bending, forward-folding, backbending, twisting + core engagement.  One benefit to working in a new plane each week is that it encourages me as well as my students to be comfortable with all the ways of moving. Full range of motion in the spine is a worthy ideal, achievable through working with all the ways of moving. There are seemingly endless possibilities of exploration within each plane. For example, forward-bending can focus on the feet, ankles, calves, hamstrings, hips, spine and neck. Within forward folds I can work with straight legs, bent knees, balancing, inversions, arm balances, seated forward folds, supine poses, and standing poses. See? Limitless possibilities. 

an excerpt from Sequencing + Stick Figures, The 5 Planes of the Body

Teaching Alignment Yoga

From the beginning of my own yoga experience, the principles of alignment-based yoga have always resonated with me. To me, refining your pose to create optimal structure for the bones/muscles/connective tissue is a no-brainer. Why shouldn't we want to make our poses more integrated, more expansive?

To keep alignment in mind, I always encourage the use of props. Some people think that props are just a crutch and only for people who can’t work in the full expression of the pose. I call bullshit on that. For me, props encourage deeper integration, strength building, integrity in the spine, and safety in asanas.

Let’s consider a shoulderstand (sarvangasana) and its need for props. In the full expression of shoulderstand, one stands on their shoulder blades with shoulders deeply tucked under. The hips stack directly above the shoulders and the chin draws in toward the chest (jalandara bandha). For many people, this extremely beneficial posture is just not accessible without props. Common misalignments are too much pressure on the head/neck, splaying elbows, pikeing at the hips, and sagging in the upper torso/spine.

How can props help?

To keep weight out of the head/neck and the neck safely in flexion, I encourage at least 2 if not 3 blankets stacked under the shoulder blades. This allows for maintenance of the cervical curve and the weight to stay primarily in the support of the upper-body skeleton. It takes a boatload of strength to get the hips over the heart in the position, so using a block as a “launchpad” can help some people by creating a sense of lift. This way they are less likely to “fling” themselves into the pose, sending pressure into the neck. The shoulders have a difficult time staying tucked under, so belting the elbows encourages that a shoulder-width distance is maintained. With the shoulders safely held in place, it is also easier to keep the weight balanced and to open up through the frontal hips. Other options for safe support are to place a chair under the sacrum and also to put the feet on the wall rather than trying to extend fully. None of these props diminish the integrity of the pose, they simply improve one’s capacity to hold the pose longer and with greater emphasis on safe alignment. 

how can props help your alignment?

Accepting Your Truth

So, while I can understand the potential for joy in free movement and dancerly-style yoga, what feels most true to me is to stay the course. My teaching style is heavily based in prop-usage, clear and concise cueing of body alignment, and progression to a peak pose for a reason. It's what feels the truest to me. I know that it won't land on everyone, I may not be the right teacher for you. But if you're looking to keep things sharp, safe + aligned, I just might be your gal.