New Year

I learned two mantras from Adam Ballenger that I always come back when I am trying to let go of something and make room to cultivate something else.

Mantra to let go of: Om Pat Swaha Swaha Swaha

Mantra to cultivate (something specific): Namah Shivaya Namah Shivaya Namah Shivaya Namo Namaha

The changing of the year is always a time when I am reminded of this as everyone talk about setting resolutions. I have stopped making resolutions after so many years of making them and then breaking them or forgetting about them. Resolution can be defined as having a firm decision to do or not to do something. So when I break or forget about this firm decision that I resolved to do I am disappointed with myself. Now I set intentions. Intention can be defined as a course of action that one intends to follow; this gives me more flexibility and instead of having strict rules or guidelines that might be in set for a resolution an intention is more of intentional aim that guides my actions.   

Last year my intention was to work on the first principle of Anusara Yoga, Open to Grace. (I wrote a blog about this 12/31/11). My intention was to open up to something bigger then myself. To trust in this bigger source of energy and give up being in control all the time and courageously stepping into this flow of Grace. Ways I did this was with meditation, journaling, asana practice, exploring nature, and getting together with like-minded individuals to go deeper with this idea. As I look back over the year I didn’t mediate every day, I didn’t remember my intention every day, I didn’t practice yoga or journal everyday (which is probably what I would have wanted if I was doing a resolution). But over the year I continued to come back again and again to creating a better relationship with a power greater then myself and I made great effort to keep an open dialog with this higher power may it be through words, movement, silence…

Since last year my intention was first principle I think this year I will focus on second principle. Since the principles build upon each other I will continue to work this first principle as I begging to cultivate second principle more and more into my everyday life. Practicing first principle is this giving up and surrendering. Taking a big breath acknowledging that I am not in control and that by trying to be in control I create more chaos in my life, so instead I will let go of and trust in the universal. (When I do this in a yoga asana class I lengthen my side bodies after surrendering with new trust in the Universal) Building onto this the second principle, muscular energy, is the invitation of what I going to bind on to. After creating the space and willingness what am I going to attach myself  to in order to create more stability in my life. This can go 2 ways. I can bind onto things that will sink me and keep me feeling low and weigh me down (not what I want). Or I can choose to bind onto things that will stabilize and draw me more and more into my heart and into my truth (this is what I am after). Ways I plan to practice this is on my yoga mat binding onto the principles of alignment that keep my body feeling so well. In meditation being a little more bound to it and incorporating it into my daily life because binding to meditation ultiminately helps me stay much more calm, patient, and happy. I will also be binding onto goo interpersonal relationships, surrounding myself with people I respect, who inspire me, who share this heart longing of living in my fullest. I will continue to be bound to and support my loving husband and best friend. I will work hard at showing up for myself in my fullest and showing up for my students. I want to be bound to my own light through the choices I make and through skillful action. I want to practice the techniques, behaviors, attitudes that bind me closer to Grace. Christina Sell says when we use are discrimination and skill full action that “Grace carries us, Grace showers its blessings on us”.

“Yoga is not a path of Freedom. Yoga is a path of Exquisite Bondage” Douglas Brooks.

Douglas says this teaching on Exquisite Bondage is paradoxical. Once bound, we do experience a greater freedom but it’s often not what we imagined it would be nor is the cost quite as cheap as we might have hoped it would be.

Say "YES"

I wrote a blog yesterday about leaning into life relating it one of the brillant techniques of Anusara Yoga called shin loop. I just say this video one of my favorite teachers did, certified Anusara Teacher Tiffany Wood that reminded me about leaning into life. So wonderful, she just melt my heart and teaches me so much through sharing her truth.

 

if the video doesnt play click here

Optimal Blueprint

I know what my experience has been through practicing the system of Anusara Yoga, I love to hear others express their experience. I was teaching a private this morning to a regular private client. We have been practicing every week for five weeks. She is a beautiful creative yogi with a lot of flexibility and has been having pain in her joints from years of double jointedness. Today while in trikonasana pose she says "It's cool. The poses don't hurt me anymore like they use to!" she said"I have to work and exert effort but its not pain. I'm realizing that before when I did yoga I was always in pain." We continued to talk about this and she said that "When I use alignment and I get into the right place it feels REALLY good." I shared that when a pose is held with good alignment, when the muscles and bones are placed in a particular way all the energies of the body flow btter. On a grosser level the blood, lymph, hormones, neurotransmitters, enzymes and breath circulate through the body better. On a subtler level the prana, chakras, nadis, vayus all function and flow more optimally.

Oh this melted my heart. Its so nice have confirmed that this style of yoga that is so universal creates similar experiences to other people across the world offering the same gifts that I have learned through this practice of yoga.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Looking forward to another year 2013 of expanding my mind and melthing my heart through this sytem of yoga and learning from wonderful teachers that educate me, inspire me and make me laugh. Happy New Year

Ankle and Shin Loop

I have been going tele skiing once a week this winter and it has been such a treat to get out into the winter wanderland of winter here in Utah. One of the techniques I have been working on to improve my tele skills is lower leg work, manipulating my feet and shins so that I am physically and mentally more calm.

What my tendency to do while skiing is straighten my legs completely while leaning back puting my weight my calf muscles into the back of my boot. When I take this lower leg alignment I am a disaster. I throw arms and polls in the air trying to keep balance and my mind parasymethetic (flight or fight) responnse kicks on becuase I feel unsafe.

The "proper" leg work is to weight into the four cornors of your feet, bend the knees enough to weight the shins into the front of the boots. This is what the gracefull skiiers do, and as a result their legs can be doing so much twisting, turning and bouncing but the upper body looks poised and calm. This reminds me of yoga so much and how we do various alignment to support our inner body better.

So why dont I always bend my knees slightly and weight into the front of my boots and experience that gracefullness? Becuase it is scary! I start like this but then I gain more speed, have the deluded thought that ill shift my weight back to gain more control, which ultimitely leads to me being even more outof control. However when I am using the good skiers alignment not only does my torso stay lifted and calm but my mind is so content and relaxed.

This technique is something that I am reminded of everytime I go skiing and everytime I think about Anusara Yoga and how much this relates to the brilant primary and secondary principles that founder John Friend created. More specifically shin loop.

Shin loops starts at the base of the shin goes up and lifts up the claves, presses the top of the shins forward, and then flows down the front of the leg to the starting point and the base of the shin. This is the same action you do while skiing. It reminds me to take actively engage, participate and lean into my life, as oppsoed to leaning back, doing the minimal amount of work and in a way leaning back and away from life.

I taught a class with a focus on shin loop at Sugar Space on Saturday. We shin loop in conguncture with tons of ankle loop since ankle loop preseeds shin loop and we always start and the foundation and move up.

Sequence:
Tadasana
Uttanasana (with blanket)
AMS
L
Low L quad
Mod. Parsvak -> scandasana
Utthita Pada A Prep.
Tad. Quad Stretch- Natarajasana
Trikonasana
Ardha Chandrasana
Ardha Chandrasana Chap.
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana
Baby Craddle -> Angi Stambasana
Uptivista Konasana
Shavasana

I wrote a blog about this two years ago: http://authenticselfyoga.blogspot.com/2010/12/tele-skiing-and-anusara-shin-loop.html

Relationships

One place I see pulsation (spanda) of change is within inter-personal relationships. It is wonderful to watch them grow and expand when they are cared for and how they wither and contract through neglect.

I love gardening and I see the same sweetness and beauty with in the pulsation of the flowers. Its not all sunshine and unicorns for planted flowers. They have to withstand storms, drought, and neglect (at least in my garden). However when some attention, care, and nourishment is given to them they grow unfolding their petals and smelling of joy! I think the flowers might blossom with even more beautiful ferocity as a result of the hardship they had to endure.

This can also be compared to the body. Through over use, abuse, neglect, and misalignment the body can get in a lot of pain, dis-ease, discomfort and even loss of function. But with time, attention, alignment awareness and some work that hurt (fill in the ______) shoulder, back, knee... Can be filled with health, vitality, and function-ability.

I have bee seeing this within my family. When I was younger I didn't realize that things change. I thought the dynamic in interpersonal relationships were permanent. Now I can see that relationships are always changing and depending on the time, attention and care give them they will grow and blossom like the most beautiful flower or they won't. Just like the plants that grow stronger as a result of stress put upon it I believe that interpersonal relationships blossom with more beautiful ferocity as a result of the hardship it had to endure.

Wishing you all happy holidays spend with loved ones.

Sent from my iPhone

Loving Kindness

I wrote about the 4 Divine States of Mind in a post yesterday. The first one is loving kindness so I thought it would be appropriate to share a loving kindness meditation with you.

 

This loving kindness meditation is a 2,500 year old meditation which uses a repeated phrase which will cultivate feelings of loving kindness to yourself and others. Begin by repeating the phrase over and over for 15 minutes once or twice a day. Don't get defeated if this meditation seems heard, awkward, or brings up frustration. Be patient and kind to your self and continue with gentle persistence.

Sit down comfortably. Take breath into the parts of your body that are in contact with the earth. Allot yourself to get connected as you plug back into your self. From this connection create length up the spine as you lift the pallet of the mouth and bring the top of the ears slightly back, chin parallel to the floor. Allow the shoulders to roll onto the back but don't lose the length in the side body as the hart opens and radiates outward.

Let your body relax all unnecessary tension and holding, consciously allow yourself to be at rest, let the mind be quiet letting go of plans and preoccupations. Enjoy the silence and stillness in the mind and body.

Begin this meditation with yourself because without the ability to cultivate loving kindness for yourself it is nearly impossible to do so for others.

May I be filled with loving kindness.

May I be well.

May I be peaceful and at ease.

May I be happy.

Continue to practice this meditation for days or weeks until the feeling of loving kindness radiates out from you. Just this is a wonderful practice for you to cultivate a loving relationship with your own sweet self. Then you can begin to introduce others into your loving kindness meditation. The practice is the same. You sit and become still. You repeat the same phrase about yourself for a few minutes and the you can choose someone in your life you love very easily. You picture them in the mind and repeat the phrase to them. May _____ be filled with loving kindness....Again practice this for a few days having your meditation include people who it is easy for you to cultivate loving feelings for. Then you can continue to expand the people in your meditation including: friends, neighbors, people you pass on the street, everyone, animals, the whole earth, all beings...You can even practice this meditation with people who you find it very hard to get along with.

This is a great meditation that can be developed to practice anywhere sitting, driving, walking, waiting in line at the grocery store, and in many other situations.

This loving kindness meditation brings love and calmness into your life keeping you connected to your heart.

Thai Massage



After the first 10 hours.....I was in Thai Massage bliss.

This weekend I was fortunate to take a 20 hour massage seminar at Myotherapy College. It was fantastic! This has been my favorite massage modality that I have learned yet. I think one reason I connect to it so much is that it comes from India and it is based off the Ayurvedic system which I have been studying through yoga for the past 8 years.

Thai massage is considered a sacred work and really integrates mind body and spirit. One important aspect is the 4 divine states of mind that is the goal of life, spirituality and this form of body work. These are emotional states to be strived for. Practicing and developing these divine emotions, will cultivate a peaceful and patient daily life practice.

4 Divine States of Mind (from Anguttara Nikaya 3.65):

1. Loving Kindness(Metta):  is a soft, gently affection and care for all others and YOURSELF. 
2. Compassion (Karuna):  caring for everyone. Trying to understand where another person may be coming from.
3. Vicarious Joy (Mudita): the ability to be happy when you see others happy. Their joy becomes your joy without jealousy.
4. Equanimity (Upekkha): seeing everyone is equal. Their is no one who is more important then another. We are people among people.

Benefits of Thai Massage:

Spirit:

• Deepens spiritual insights.
• Helps client feel spiritually at home in their body.
• Balances the Pranic flow between the Spiritual countenance and physical body.
• Gives a feeling of oneness with Divine!

Mind:

• Relaxes obsessive thinking/worry, relieves mental fatigue.
• Can assist client in the release of emotional blocks.
• Usually induces theta brainwaves.
• Connects Mental, Emotional, Spiritual aspects of the psyche.

Body:

• Deep myo facial release.
• Stimulates circulation and lymphatic flow (I can't think of any system of the body that Thai Massage does not benefit).
• Increases range of motion. Releases joint pain and soreness.
• Improves the digestive function.



Connection!

The election is over! and I can breath again. The political escapades remind me that we are ALL connected (although our minds might disagree on some topics). When I think of our interconnectedness I am reminded of the Trembling Giant. Whats that you might ask?...

It is one of the largest single living organism. Nick named Pando it is made up of aspen trees that are connected by one massive underground root system located in South-Central Utah (ahh a local treasure). The Pando is a clonal colony of a single male Quaking Aspen estimated to be over 80,00 years old, spanning over 106 acres and weighing in at 12 million pounds! Within Pando there are around 47,000 tree stems that are continually dieing off as new ones are renewed, the average tree stem is 130 years. The Pando is the second largest organism the first being a mushroom "field" in Washington, this fungus covers 1,500-acres. 

When I think about these astonishing numbers and that are connected I naturally feel my feet on the floor, I stand up taller take a deep breath and expand from the inside out. These are the same actions in  first principle open to Grace:

• Side Bodies Long
• Foundation (4 corners of feet/hands)
• Inner Body Bright
• Outer Body Soft

This morning I talked about the Pando and we did hip openers and vrksasana, tree pose. We did a group tree pose where students lined up, interlaced hands and did a back bend variation of vrksasana. A variation that is much harder done alone and much easier and more enjoyable to access when working with others. We focused on first principle and it was so beautiful to watch the students brighten, lengthen and smile.

Enthusiasm

I like to nerd out sometimes...err.. pretty often when it comes to yoga class planning. One tool I learned to frequently is a dictionary. I love looking up the definitions of words when coming up with heart themes. I continue to be blown away by how beautiful these words are.

For exampled: the word « Enthusiasm » comes from the Greek language and breaks down to entheo= The God and iasm= Inside or Within. How fantastic is that!! Definitely fuels the fire of themeing to know the definition.

Here are some qoutes I like on topic:

"The Kingdom of God is within you" -Jesus Christ

 

“Who is an authentic seeker, but someone who has understood that there is nothing else to do but practice? Enthusiastic or discouraged, he or she continues, no matter what."-Lee Lozowick

 

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm" -Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

 

 

The Loops... a refresher

One of the refinements we use in Anusara yoga has to do with loops. The loops are a series of specific, interconnected trajectories of energy in our bodies starting with the feel and going all the way up to the skull. I like to think of them as bike gears that intersect and move in opposing directions from one another.

The seven pairs of Loops are:

Ankle
starts at the base of the shinbone just above the ankle. It moves down the back of the heel,forward along the bottom of the foot, then back up through the center of the arch to the front of shin base.

Shin
starts at the base of the shinbone just above the ankle. It moves up the back of the calf muscle to the top of the shins just below the knee, forward through the top of the shin, then down the front of the shin back to the base of the shin.

Thigh
starts at the top of thighbone in the core of the pelvis (pelvic Focal Point). It moves down the back of the leg to the top of the calf muscle, forward through the top of the shin, and then up the front of the leg through the lower abdomen back to the Focal Point.

Pelvic
starts in the core of the abdomen in line with the middle of the lumbar and a place just below the navel. It moves down from the middle of the lumbar to the middle of the buttocks in line the bottom of the sacrum, forward through the floor of the pelvis (pelvic Focal Point) to the top of the pubic bone, then up the lower abdomen to just below the navel. The Pelvic Loop has the same direction of rotation as the Thigh Loop. However, they have opposite effects on the alignment of the body. The Thigh Loop moves the top of the thighs backward, while the Pelvic Loop moves the top of the thighs forward.

Kidney
starts in the core of the abdomen in line with the middle of the lumbar and a place just below the navel. It moves up the back from just below the kidneys to the bottom of the shoulder blades, forward through the top of the diaphragm (heart Focal Point) to the base of the sternum, then down the solar plexus to just below the navel.

Shoulder
starts at the center of the upper palate (skull Focal Point). It moves down the back of the neck and the upper back to the bottom of the shoulder blades, forward through the bottom of the heart and the top of the diaphragm, then up the chest and throat from the base of the sternum to the upper palate.

Skull
starts at the center of 7. the upper palate (skull Focal Point). It moves back and up along the back of the skull, forward over the top of the head, then down the face back to the upper palate. The Loops interconnect with each other and so influence each other as they are independently activated. For instance, as you Outer Spiral the legs the Pelvic Loop is activated, which in turn will help to increase the Kidney Loop.

As we get older our body through bad alignment starts to go against the loops. Coroners used to identify the age of a dead person by looking at these loops and the more they were out of alignment the older they are. After learning about these loops it is very interesting to people watch. I am a student and one of my professors has the loops way out of balance I want to go to go align he all class.

Reference:
Anusara Teacher Training Manual
Anusara Master Immersion
Awesome loop photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharonfrost/26593683/

Siva Sutra 1.2

I've been contemplating 1.2 sutra from The Siva Sutras:

 

1.2 jnanam bandhah

 

Knowing differentiatedly is bondage and not knowing undifferentiatedly is bondage.

 

Knowing is bondage and not knowing is bondage. "So knowing individual consciousness as one's own nature and not knowing universal consiousness as one's own nature, are both bondage".

 

Lots to digest on this one. Here are some qoutes I like on topic:
 

I am not bound to win,

I am bound to be true.

I am not bound to succeed

but I abound to lie up to the Light I have.

-Abraham Lincoln

 

 

Yoga is not a path of Freedom. Yoga is a path of exquisite Bondage. - Douglas Brooks





Matsyendra Myth

A long long time ago a young boy was born in a fishing village and nobody knows quite sure why this young boy was unwanted in the village, so the village people through him in the sea and this little boy was swallowed by a huge whale and the whale takes him down down down to the bottom of the sea. at the bottom of the sea is a secret cave and in this cave the teachings of yoga are being song every single day. It is the cave of Shiva and Shakti and the teachings go something like this: Shakti will come to Shiva and say "Shiva what is the secret of the universe?" and Shiva looks at his beloved and says "Shakti you are the secret of the universe, you are the point the universe was trying to make" and their conversations turn into love songs. And sometimes Shiva will come to Shakti and ask "What is my nature" and Shakti will look at him and say "your nature is vasudava you are the dwelling place of light itself. deva is light and vastu the dwelling place".



 http://www.yoganarayana.com.br/?attachment_id=707

During this time the little boy is in the belly of the whale and he keeps asking the whale to keep him close to this cave I want to hear these teachings. For 12-16 years the boy stays close to Shiva and Shakti by that sacred cave learning the teaching of yoga. The boy overhears Shiva and receives a transmission of the teaching, and in this way becomes a student of yoga. For the next 12-16 years, Matsyendra lives in the belly of the fish, practicing yoga, and finally emerges as an enlightened master. Then one day the whale raises up to the surface of the water and spit this now 16 year old boy and he is half man and half fish (hence ardha= half matsyendrasna= fish the common yoga pose) and he is now Matsyendra the lord of the fish and he is a great great great teacher of yoga.

Seven years prior to this there was a women doing all these practices trying to get Shiva's attention because she wanted a son. So Shiva came to her and he walked by her in his beggers form and he put a pile of ash into her hands and he said take care of this pile of ash and it will become your son. She was so insulted by this she throw the pile of ash into a big pile of cow dung. Seven years later Matsyendra goes to the women and says "Where is your son, because he is going to be a great teacher of yoga". She looks at him and says "what son, I have no son". He said "yes the pile of ash you were given". She was shocked he knew that and said " I was given no son I was just given a pile of ash which I throw on top of cow dung because that's where it deserved to go". Matsyendra just smiled and said "can you tell me where that pile of cow dung may be?". Matsyendra finds this pile of cow dung and brushes away the accumulated cow dung and there is a young boy, who is a perfect yogi because he has been practicing sadhana there since birth. Matsyendra sprinkles him with ash and names him Goraksha (Go-rakh or “cow ash.”) This little boy name Goraksha becomes Matsyendra's first student and also becomes the founder of modern day hatha yoga. Matsyendra.

I took a class from Tiffany Wood this evening which was part of the Anusara Immersion she is leading out of The Yoga Center. She told this story and she talked about how the things we throw away can be our biggest blessing. Tiffany said at the end of class that it is embracing our biggest challenges that lead to the biggest change rather then throwing away are challenges and/or trying to avoid them. She lead a class with lots of twisting and deep forward. I feel so fortunate to be surrendered by such wonderful studios + knowledgeable teachers and that the teachings of yoga are available to me.

References:

http://www.lorinroche.com/yoga/yoga/matsyendra.html

Sianna Sherman

Tiffany Wood

Class Planning

I was talking to a friend and fellow teacher and she was asking me how I do my class planning and asked if I would share my thought on this blog.

Before teaching a class I like to know what main alignment principle or secondary alignment principle is that I am going to be focusing on, a heart quality to theme off of and an apex pose to work toward. I come up with these in different orders. Sometimes I know the heart quality I want to use, then I think about a universal principle of alignment that links well to the heart quality and then think of a peak pose that would let the students really work and connect with the upa and the heart feeling during. Or I will know what apex pose I want to use, then I look at the structure of the pose and see what upa works well with it, and then connect a heart quality with it. Or I know what upa I want to focus on, and link it with a heart quality and a apex pose. After I have those three main elements of the class I will also write down some other poses that will sequentially lead toward the apex pose while helping the students figure out the actions of the principle of emphasis as well as feel the heart quality in the poses. I will also write down some poses to help ground and relax them before shavasana or seated meditation (things like twisting, rooting the thigh bones, pranayama).

 With all the planning I do I go into the class knowing that what I planned might not be appropriate and I might have to ditch aspects of the plan or the whole plan. Ultimately I want to serve the students as much as I can so if what I had planned doesn't ultimately serve all the students I will figure something else out. I also want to mention how much I managed to stress myself out in my early days of teaching with trying to come up with the perfect class plan, and every once and a while now i will experience anxiety as I come up with a plan. When I see this happening I try to remind myself that the reason I am planning is to be prepared it is NOT to create more stress in my head so I try hard to soften and stay grounded. I am a much better teacher when I am not worrying about my class plan.

Here are some examples below.

UPA: open to great, emphasis melt heart Theme: surrender Apex Pose: Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm Balance)

UPA: muscle energy, Theme: commitment, steadfast Apex Pose: Lunge

UPA: expanding (inner) spiral, Theme: Faith Apex Pose: Hanumanasana (splits)

UPA: contracting (outer) spiral Theme: Apex Pose: Vriksasana (tree)

UPA: organic energy Theme: celebration Apex Pose:Eka Pada Viparita Dandasana (one legged inverted staff pose)

 

I hope this was interesting or helpful for you.

Happy class planning or class practicing to you.

Walking the Talk

Last week I was themeing on how facing challenges on and off the mat is one of the quickest ways to grow a habbit stronger. I talked about how if you can apply the universal principles of alignment (UPA) in a challenging pose you will get stronger at being able to apply those principles, so when you are in a pose that is less challenging you will be even stronger at using the UPA's. However, if when facing a challenge you use unhealthy habits or on the mat if you lose your alignment you will be instead strengthening the misalignment's making the misalignment's more prevalent in other poses and in your posture off the yoga mat.

After themeing on challenges this week I have been faced withe a challenge oppurtunity to grow. This week I started teaching at a new location, a gym (Steiner Aquatic Center). I haven't taught at a gym in about 4 years and when teaching at any new place I get nervous. My brain tries to tell me "I'm not good enough" "the students wont like me"... So showing up and practicing my confidence and believing that I am good enough, that I know my stuff, and that I have something to offer is hard for me. But I know facing this fear but still cultivating confidence will help me be more confident in all areas of my life and make me a better teacher. But just like the example above, I also know that if I listen to the negative self talk in my head and when facing this challenge I tell myself "I am a piece of crap and am no good", I will be strengthening that negative self talk, which would show up in other areas of my life, making me feel miserable!

One of the gifts of teaching yoga is I get to share really awesome wisdom for facing the ups, downs and oppurtunities in life, and then when life's ups, downs and opportunities appear in my life I get to choice if I am going to walk my talk or if I am going to not take the advise I teach in class. And boy does it feel good when I am walking the talk.

Change happens

My husband and I bought our first home, which is definitely a fixer upper, four months ago. Saturday is a house improvement day for me. So today I focused on the dinning room: sanding, patching, painting.  It is very fun to watch the change that happens to the house as we both slowly but steadily chip away at home improvement projects. Its really reminds me that CHANGE IS POSSIBLE.

One of the comments I hear most frequently in response to me teaching or practicing yoga is "I cant do yoga, I am not flexible enough." This always makes me smile. In my head (and sometimes out loud) I think, well duh! Flexibility is NOT a requirement of yoga instead it is one of the side effects of yoga, so if you haven't been practicing yoga chances are you are not going to be flexible.

I like to share a personal example of this. When I first started teaching yoga 7 years ago to show his support my boyfriend at the time (now my hubby) came to at least one class of mine a week. He was a very stiff, strong biker who did not stretch. In his uttanasanana (standing forward fold) his hands were about level with his knees as be tried reaching for the floor. I being an inexperienced teacher would push on his back thinking that would help his hands get closer to the floor but he didn't even budge, he was that stiff! He has continued to take classes from me over the years and now he can fold all the way forward and put his hands under his feet and bring his forehead to his knees. Also his posture is more upright making him 1.5 inches taller then before he practiced yoga. He sells bikes and he loves educating his costumers on alignment and the benefits of yoga. (VERY COOL!)

My point is one does not need to be flexible in order to practice yoga. I was not flexible when I first started practicing and the majority of students arnt flexible when they start practicing. But the cool thing is that having a consistent practice + good alingment = flexibitlity will come. So if you or someone you know has been using the line "I'm not flexible enough to practice yoga" come give it a try.

Teaching schedual this week:
Sunday 10:15-11:45AM at Steiner Aquatics Center
Monday 10:45-12:00PM at Steiner Aquatics Center
Monday 4:15-5:30PM at The Yoga Center
Monday 7:00-8:30PM at Steiner Aquatics Center
Tuesday 8:30-9:45AM at Avenues Yoga
Thursday 8:30-9:45AM at Avenues Yoga
Friday 4:15-5:30PM at The Yoga Center

Mandalasana + Tic-Toc from Sirsasana

Yesterday morning after teaching at Avenues yoga I had a fun two our heart opening side bending practice on my back porch. My apex was mandalasana and tic tocs from sirsasana. It was the first time I have attempted to jump back and forth over my head. It was quite fun and definitely required me to work hard and use effort but meet that effort with surrender so I could stay melted in my heart. After this I did some restorative held poses. Including rooting my thigh bones using some weights to help them stay grounded, bound supta baddha konasana with two blankets + strap + two blocks, supported twist with a bolster + block... It was fun

Shiva Sutra 1.1

I am still contemplating the fist sutra from Shiva Sutra's

1.1 caitanyamatma

The independent state of supreme consciousness is the reality of everything.

 

I am using this as my theme tomorrow morning at Sugar Space. We are going to work strong expanding spiral in the arms and the legs. When I am feeling really closed off to the world and closed of to supreme consciousness my body will contract and I will tuck my tailbone under and round and narrow my shoulders. This physically shows that I do not feel connected or a part of supreme consciousness. This sutra is telling me that supreme consciousness is everywhere and is constantly flowing through me and is me! But since I have freedom of choice I can choice to close my self off and disconnect. But by broadening my sit bones, my collarbones and creating space in my torso I am expressing my wanting to participate in the flow of supreme consciousness. This posture also makes me feel more confident, worthy and helps me trust that I am part of something bigger then my finite self.

We are going to do lots of hip openers tomorrow and play with the chair so we can work on some of the refinement's of inner spiral.

 

 

Lymphatic Drainage

This weekend I took a 20 hour Lymphatic Drainage massage seminar. It was really interesting to feel the lymph flow in my body and in fellow students.

Lymph is part of the lymphatic system, it is similar to blood in the cardiovascular system. Although there are some differences for example blood is pumped by the heart and as a result is able to pump around 8,000 litters of blood a day. Lymph has no pump and passively flows through the body and has a much lower volume of 1.5-3 litters a day. Blood is responsible for collecting and distributing oxygen, nutrients and hormones to the entire body where lymph is responsible for collecting and removing waste products left behind in the tissues. Because the lymphatic system has no pump this massage modality can be very helpful to improve the health of the body by removing accumulate toxins. This modality is incredibly helpful dealing with problems with the lymph system for example, lymphedema.

The main purpose of the lymphatic system is to move excess fluid away from the cells that the blood system cannot reclaim, to detoxify the tissues, helping the connective tissue retain its function and integrity, regulate fluid volume and pressure in the tissues and transport immune cells and other substances such as hormones.


Benefits of Lymphatic Drainage:

1. Activates fluid circulation and assists in the re balancing of tissue fluids.
2. Calms the sympathetic nervous system while stimulating the parasympathetic system, diminishing the "flight or fight" response and promoting deep relaxation.
3. Improves digestion of fats.
4. Drains toxins, macromolecules, proteins, and fats away from the tissues.
5. Stimulates the immune system by increasing antibodies and antigens.
6. Reduces pain and muscles spasms.

Sometimes in meditation I will focus on the flow of my blood. Now after this class I've been experimenting with being sensitive to the flow my lymphatic system.

Siva Sutras 1.1

I am going through my Siva Sutras again and I am in awe how each sentense carries so much wisdom. I have to pause and re-read as I try to understand something my heart already knows but my mind gets confused. The ideas expressed sound like familiar truths yet my mind tries to complicate it. I plan one studing one sutra a week.

1.1 caitanyamatma

The independent state of supreme consciousness is the reality of everything.

"The first sutra of the Siva Sutras explains that the reality of the universe is the real self. This self is not false. This is contrary to the theories of those philosophers who argue that the individual being is always individual being and universal being is always universal being. For these philosophers, universal being will never be united with individual being and individual being will never be united with universal being. This first sutra, on the other hand, states that individual being is one with universal being. The reality of this whole universe is God consciousness. It is filled with God consciousness."

To me this paragraph nicely describes the difference between dual and non-dual traditions. I have written about this before in this blog. In the beginning of my meditation practice I was taught basically that I was the individual being that I would never be united with the universal being and the closest I could get is through stilling my mind enough and withdrawing and renouncing my individual being enough that I might be able to comprehend the universal being. This was so challenging and seemingly impossible for me to do.

I love what this first sutra is saying. That everything is God. That when I sit to meditate and my mind isn't still, I am still in the pulsation of the divine. When I move in to to yoga postures I get to experience the physicality of God that comes in this Kim package. And that everything I experience from a honking car to a colorful butterfly...everything in this world is within the pulsation of supreme consciousness.  

"This universe, which is a world of consciousness, is filled with and is one with the supreme state of God consciousness. God consciousness is spanda, a unique reality of supreme movement filled with nectar and an outpouring of the supreme bliss of independence"

Quotes from: Siva Sutras The Supreme Awakening Revealed by Swami Lakshimanjoo

Thankfull....Two Milestones

Last week was terrific. I hit two milestones on my yoga teaching path.

1) My teacher Adam Ballenger submitted my Anusara Inspired paper work. I have been working toward that for almost four years. So this makes me SMILE BRIGHTLY.

2) I track my teaching hours on an excel spreadsheet and as of today I have taught 1003 hours of yoga asana. I am a registered yoga teacher (RYT) through yoga alliance at the 200 level. Now (I still need to submit my paper work) but I will be an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (ERYT). Which makes my heart feel so full. With the ERYT I can also lead and assist teacher training which is super exciting.

On my journey teaching yoga I don't always get a lot of support from family, some times I will doubt my ability to teach, and often feel like things are at at a plateau. Not improving, and not getting worse. But this teaching me forbearance, which is patience over a period of time. I see now that I don't always see the changes because they are small but over a lot of days, months, and years and with lots of training and practice I am now a much stronger, confident, and compassionate teacher.

I remember when I was starting yoga and after a class that I loved I would be bubbling with joy and I would tell the teach just how amazing the class was and how grateful I am for them teaching. Now students will come up to me smiling and starry eyed and say thank you for the great class. That touches my heart deeply.

I am so grateful to my many teachers, students, friends, family and blog readers that have and continue to support me. I feel so blessed to be able to pass along these teaching of yoga that have touched my heart and transformed my life so powerfully.

With a full and happy heart
Thank you for reading,

Kimberly Achelis Hoppan

vulnerability

When I am stable in my truth I can be vulnerable which is a really expansive feeling to me, and it takes guts and courage. Part of being vulnerability is telling the truth. Which can be scary, we need to be brave enough to reveal our true self, without doing all those things we do to try to look good, to conceal our imperfections, to make ourselves seem like we have it all together. I have noticed when I read other writers/bloggers who are vulnerable in their share, I find myself incredibly drawn to them,my heart connects to the authenticity and honesty of others.


Class plan idea:

Theme: letting go of our perfectionist (thighs out) and finding courage, integrity and stability inside ourself (shins in).


Heart Quality: Purnatva = perfect fullness, which is separate from perfectionist rather it is the idea of being complete.


Antidote: I have struggled with perfectionism. Not to say that I was perfect but I did hold my self to such high standards. Perfectionism is thinking when all these things happen and my ducks are in a row my life will be perfect and I will feel complete. And when I am complete I wont have to face feelings like shame, guilt, vulnerability . This is a false belief. However I found that when I established stability in myself (shins in) then i could broaden (thighs out) and release some of those thoughts that were not serving me.

I think I got my addiction to wanting to be perfect when I was a kid. I equated being perfect with being loved… and I think I still confuse the two. I often find myself doing what Brene Brown calls “the hustle for worthiness.” That dance we do so that people don’t see how incredibly flawed and human we are. But I am learning life is messy and I cant and don't do it perfectly. But I show up and try my best (which looks different on different days). I see it in my yoga practice too. When I first started practicing yoga I thought I could perfect these poses but now I know there will always be refinements and I wont do it perfectly. I just honestly try my best and try to accept it and acknowledge that I am perfectly complete and worthy. Mess and all.

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Kindness

Putting the highest first is one of the teaching of anusara yoga.

Kindness is one of the highst heart intentions I have. To be kind to others and to be kind to myself. However I forget sometimes, fall back into old habbits and I find myself gossiping, being critical and judgmental about myself and others. My intention is to be kind tolerant and compassionate but if I do not continue to remind myself to put the highest first many times through out the day I forget. The more frequently I put the highest first the more space I create for compassion. Just like it can be easier to see the bad then the good. It can be easier to gossip, compare, judge, and shame.

But, as a teacher of mine says this doesnt "help us level up". Instead these actions keep us stuck in a rut. In sanskrit this is called a samskaras which are cycles that occur over and over again many times during our life. For example, you keep getting in trouble with the law or the same problem keeps coming up in your relationships. Repeating samskaras reinforces them, creating a deeper groove that is difficult to resist. A samskara can be rudeness to others or to youself.

Samskara is universal; it's one of the elements that define the human condition. We are, undeniably, creatures of habit, and the physical, mental, and emotional places we often gravitate toward are the well-navigated galaxies of negative samskara.

Here is a beautiful qoute from Elena Brower "Found out that every time I’m about to talk about someone else, I’m coming from a place of lack. I’m either scared, or I’m comparing myself to them in some subtle way, and it’s never beneficial for me. I am starting to be able to feel it in my cells. So let’s all stop gossiping and start saving our energy instead. Let’s shift the world."

Orchid seedlings

I have been thinking about change lately and have been themeing on dedication, patience, forbearance, trust... On Friday morning I was happily surprised when I was reading about flowers in the garden and I stumbled upon the orchids. The general rule of is that orchids take 3-5 years to seed and sprout. However the stanphopoea orchid takes over 7 years of care to germinate and sprout.

I loved this. As I have been thinking about change I think of how much change can be happening without us noticing it until over time the change becomes so full it blossoms into our life and it becomes obvious to us and others.

I wrote about this a few posts back. But how many times have you felt stuck in yoga? you show up and practice but it doesn't feel like a ton is happening? I have had a few of these "plateaus" but it turns out that during these plateaus I didn't stop growing, instead the growth was happening on the inside and I continue to see new aspects in my life that are a direct result of my practice that I didn't have before (patience, wiliness, courage, openness).

This magnificent orchid may appear like nothing is happening on the outside, but that does not mean a TON isn't happening on the inside! All flowers to me are a visual reminder of grace. Grace is that force which reveals to us our true nature. This seedling just sits full of grace, although we might not think that at first since we can not see the insides, but it is always there, until one day years later it reveals its beauty to us and I connect with that beauty as grace and it helps me remember that the same beauty and grace in the flowers resides in my own heart. Grace is always there. It is a force that lives in us, that is us. We all experience it and we are all it.

Nameste to the flowers, to the people, and to you my friend.

Saturday Yoga 9-10:30 BY DONATION

I took over a class from my main teacher Anusara Certified Adam Ballenger. One of the awesome kind thing Adam offers is that the price is by donation. Its very laid back you just drop some cash in a box before leaving class and then he pays for the space that he rents at a small community art building called Sugar Space. I continued doing that when I took over the class. Which I love because it makes you more accessible for more people. I have some people leave 5$ and some people leave 20$. When I started teaching the attendance fell off a little. I totally understand because I came to that class every Saturday to take a class from Adam. Anyways I made a flyer to hang around at local coffee shops and other local stores hoping to inspire some new students to come and check the class. Here is what it said

Saturday Yoga!! 9:00-10:30 BY DONATION Weekly all level public yoga class that builds both strength and flexibility. Kim’s yoga classes include a heart based theme, alignment, knowledge of kinesiology, modifications for healing injuries, and smiles.

Kimberly Achelis Hoggan has been teaching yoga for over six years and is currently working toward being an Anusara-Inspired teacher. Often the physical body has to get to a place of less pain so the mind can become more still and the heart more open. In her yoga classes you move your body into therapeutic yet often challenging poses to get the body to experience “awe” instead of “ouch”

Where: Sugar Space 616east Wilmington Avenue (2200south)

For more information visit AuthenticSelfYoga.com

Changes happen... Its part of nature

On Saturday I taught a class at Sugar Space (9-10:30). I talked about how often I close my mind and I think that things will never change and instead always stay the same. A very fatal way of looking at the world and one that is totally inaccurate because this universe is fluid and is always changing.

For example, I've been staring at a hole in the ceiling of our new house, sigh, thinking this is always going to be here. Or its the middle of summer here in SLC, UT with average temperatures around 95 degrees. I assume that's how it will always be (until fall) and then I wake up to go on a hike and it is pouring rain and thundering. Or ill be in a fight with my husband over something stupid and I think this is how our relationship is going to be now, and a few hours later every thing is fine, Or ill be in a yoga class trying to do a pose which I believe is entirely impossible for me to do.

When I instruct certain poses in class I swear I can hear some of my students eye balls rolling around in their heads and their minds saying well I wont ever be able to do this pose...and it is sooooo cool and an amazing gift to see those students continue to practice regularly and see their skill ability and confidence improve and see them perform the pose that before made their eyes roll and now they maybe can or can not do the pose completely but they have improved and are strong and stable and proud.

One thing I love about the yoga practice is it is called practice. It isn't called perfect. Or "if you arnt good when you start you never will be good". Its called practice. As long as you show up to your mat on a regular basis and push yourself but not to hard you will be able to do poses that before you could only dream about.

I used to find myself in awe and in some jealousy when I would admire the strength of some yogis and their dedication. Not to mention their ability to fall upside down into a handstand or forearm balance. I say fall upside down because they did not kick and hop around to get inverted instead they would float up and it looked like they were falling upside down. I thought that would never be me! I would never be strong, stable, dedicated. I would always be weak, off balance, with my mind racing at 100 miles per hour. However now a few years later I am much stronger, stable, and focused. Now I can kick up to handstand in the middle of the room and hold it for a minute or two. I NEVER thought I would be able to do that.

Take a moment to pause and breath, maybe even close your eyes. Think about your practice and whether you have been practicing for 3 days or 30 years think about how your practice has evolved for example how poses that you thought you would never be able to do are now doable. Or feelings to have in a pose which you never thought would come like feeling flexible, or strong now are a part of your practice. Remind the deepest part of your heart that everything is fluid and everything is in a flux of chance so when the thought comes that "it will always be that way" "or I will never be able to do that" remember if you continue to practice or work toward something or patch the hole in the ceiling you'll get more in the direction of the change you want to see. In my experience the changes I see are always slightly different then the way I plan them in my head but they are wonderful never the less.

Shri

I was in Tiffaney Wood's Anusara immersion this weekend At The Yoga Vented. Tiffaney talked about shri a Sanskrit word often translated as divine beauty. Tiffaneys definition which I love so much is: when you meet a moment or situation with the appropriate amount of effort and surrender.

I love how this can so easily be applied off of the Tog mat. I can also see that when I can skillfully choose to use more effort or surrender that it does add beauty to my life and the situation I am in. In this way every minute every breath is an oppurtunity for us to create beauty/shrill by consciously dancing with our effort and surrender.

Thinking about surrender I am reminded of ishvara-pranidhana meaning a wholehearted openness to Grace. I can sometimes find myself thinking I am surrendering when in fact I amjust being lazy. However real (nit just lazy) surrender for me is when I can let go of my will, my wants, my presevied needs and instead merge my will with gods will.

"By voluntarily dropping your identification with the limited concept of yourself, you are able to realize your fullest potential. When you offer your heart to God, you won't lose individual power. In fact as you empty out in an unconditional offering, the ocean of Consciousness fills you up. By surrendering, you actually become vastly more powerful than the limitted person that you usually identify with." Anusara Teacher Training Manual

Just like I would be lazy instead of surrender,I would also overly effort which leads to a hardening and percents grace from flowing through me.

I can tell a huge difference and I can feel the shri when I am not being lazy or over efforting and instead have met the situation with balanced effort and surrender



Its always such a pleasure to practice and learn from tiff.

Spiritual Awakening

When I started practicing yoga 7 years ago my mission was to heal my broken body, quite literally a broken back and a hurt knee. Yoga healed me right up. But it also started to plant some seeds in me about being more connect with myself, with others, with nature, with spirit. After my body healed instead of going back to my extreme sports where I continued to hurt myself I started practicing more yoga, and being more loving toward myself and others. Instead of being extremely competitive and jealous of others. A few years later I found Anusara Yoga.

Anusara yoga is a very physical practice. I learned to really use my gross body (gross as in muscles, bones, solids mass of the body). I learned how to squeeze my muscles and become more solid, how to broaden my hips and shoulders, how to tuck my tailbone, how to lengthen and extend out. I learned how to layer these physical commands, for example hug in here, rotate this up, scope this down reach from here to here all at the same time. So yes, the practice of Anusara yoga can be a very physical experience.

One reason having such a physically based alignment practice is so beneficial is it address injuries, areas of pain and tension. When we have these feelings in the body it is harder to connect to spirit and to experience all the beauty in the word. This kind of practice helps bring our body into a place of ease allowing our awareness to move from say, the throbbing pain in your stick neck to the pretty your breath and the mountains that surround you.

In Anusara the first universal principle of alignment is Open To Grace. When I do this I remind myself that this is so much bigger then what is happening on my yoga mat and in my muscle bodies. That I am so connected to this one source of power call it Grace, God, Great Out Doors, Science.... what ever you want to call it.

Looking back I smile  at how I started practicing yoga to fix my back and now I practice because I want to be a better person to myself, to others, to serve the earth, and connect with my higher power. I also see it happen other yoga students. They start practicing because they are in pain or want to lose weight and they end up practicing for so much more.

I found this on facebook and thought it was funny and I can see a lot of these changes happening in my life.

A Day In The Garden

Wow my body sure adapted to gardening, as in my psoas is super tight and my hamstrings are extremely over stretched as I dance around the garden either in a forward fold (uttanasana) or a squat (malasana). Looking for the good, a forward fold places the head below the heart which makes it an inversion. Inversions are said to have many benefits including a literal change of perspective and benefits the cardiovascular, lymphatic, endocrine and nervous systems. I have also heard argument's that inversions can help heal depression. Basically I am in an inversion for many hours of the day. It is hard to not get frustrated as my body gets tighter and I struggle doing poses that used to be so available to me. Although I have been feeling more confident and stable in my practice, wonder if its from spending so much time outside with the flowers.

 

To prop or not to prop…That is the question?

I had a student ask me the other day about her prop use. She was concerned she might be using her prop to much, her example was for ardha chandrasana (1/2 moon pose). She wasn’t sure if she was using it appropriately. I just love comments and question. In class I talked about this I let go of my original class plan, theme, heart quality, principle of emphasis and instead wove this prop conversation throughout the class.


I think props can be a hindrance. When I first started teaching I was told that you want to move past the prop as soon as you could hold the general shape of the pose without needing any additional support. Reason being that the body will stop gaining flexibility and won’t get the opportunity to create more stability. However, I now challenge that argument. Because even if I can assume the general shape of the pose, lets say in ardha chandrasana, but in order to get my hand on the floor I sacrifice the alignment say I lose the muscle energy in my standing leg, my top leg might be turn down keeping my pelvis more closed, and my shoulders are rounded on my back. But when I use a block, I get more stable, I can firm my muscles for even greater stability giving me more ability to rotate my leg, hip, torso, head towards the ceiling, and I can extend out from the focal point with a sense of “aww”.


In the example above using the prop was still helping me to get into the general shape of the pose with some alignment. However I still believe in using props at time to refine one of the alignment principles, even if it aids just a small adjust. That small adjustment can make a huge difference. For example, let’s say I can do a perfect parsvotonasana (runners stretch both legs straight). I can even fold down and get my forehead to my shin. I can be doing the 5 Anusara universal principles of alignment in pretty good balance and get my hands on the floor. Yet, if I prop each hand up on a block (my ego might hesitate like “I don’t need blocks for this pose buddy”) I get the ability to adjust my sacrum position with more ease, even if the sacrum moves just a little bit (this is part of pelvic loop). But getting that sacrum to go in and up really benefits the body and ensures that you are gaining flexibility in the hips and legs instead of in the low back which doesn’t need more flexibility in the Charley Chaplin tucked tailbone position.


My stand now is, don’t use props like a cane and if you do try not to get that habit going for long. But do use props if it helps to refine your alignment and your practice. I used to think props were for sitting on and making poses easier. Now I know that props can make you work so much harder it’s just the way you use them.
I looped this into my theme by commenting on how many things in this world we can lean on and use as props. For example prescription drugs can be fabulous and can help your body heal injuries and diseases however if you lean on them to much it because a hindrance and a handicap. You can apply this to anything, the relationships you have, your diet, your behaviors… It is good and healthy when you are refining yourself and the way, in which you behave and serve the world, it is a hindrance if you over lean on it to much and get hooked on the crutch, or get addicted to it, or get lazy…

Fun fact: Sartorius

It has been a while since I have posted. I just finished my second term of massage school which kept me very busy, and my computer broke down. I have also been avoiding the web because it hurts my heart to see some of the Anusara stuff unfold. I think everyone in this situation has been responding withy good intentions but it is always hard when things change.


I have been loving massage school. One of the classes I took functional anatomy we covered over 400 muscles: where thee attach, insert, what they do, how do you lengthen them, how do you strength them. We learned about there spinal accessory nerve. It was so wonderful I felt like a child in a candy store but instead I was a yoga teacher in an anatomy class. We also got to palpate all these muscles and were tested on being able to find all of them which was stressful but am so thankful we did because now I feel so confident and finding peoples muscles and trying to figure out what might be going on if someone is in pain.


Here is a fun fact for you about Sartorius:

 It is the longest muscle in the body

 It attaches at the anterior superior iliac spine, which I the top front of your hip bone and then runs down to the pes anserin tendon which is on the medial tibia.

 Pes anserin mean goose foot shape, I believe, and it got that name because three muscles join together and link onto the anteromedial proximal tibia and when they join it looks like a goose foot.

 Sartorius comes from the latin word sartor, meaning tailor and is called tailor’s muscle some times. It was named after a tailor because tailors used to sit in a cross legged which is similar to a pose I loved to teach. I call it standing pigeon or standing figure 4 but it can also be called pre galavasana. To get into this pose that resembles the tailors sitting posture you have to flex your thigh, abduct your thigh, laterally rotate your thigh, flex your knee, and anteriorly tilt your pelvis. These actions are the actions that Sartorius does…. Pretty COOL!

Have a nice day!

Sciatic pain

I haven't blogged in forever. I'm writin today because I had such a freaking wonderful experience teaching today at avenues yoga.

My plan was to do some shoulder loop work and side body work leading to full urdhva danurasana. However I asked the students if they had any specific requests and a gentle man said sciatic nerve stuff because he has been getting sciatic nerve pain. Then other groined and nodded. One women said she just saw a massage therapist because her sciatica was bugging her so bad. Right then I throw out my class plan and my brain was going wild with universal principles, secondary principled of alignment we could do and the different mucles that are probably overly tight or weak that was could be happening, as well as range of movements that I know help lengthen or tones those muscles to create more balance.

I'm in my second semester of massage school and it is so freaking awesome or this stuff to come together in my understanding. John Friend is a serious genius I know there has been negative talk going around about Friend but my hat is off to him. The principles he created are amazing. I share some of the upa stuff with my anatomy and sports massage teacher and they say it is all very sound information.

Anyways continuing on with my class. We focused on the loops or the lower extremity: ankle loop, knee loop, femur loop. Most of te students had there thigh bones going forward, were hyper extending and some had the majority of their weight on the inner/medial edge of foot. So we worked leg loops, spreading the toes, tops of shins forward enough not to hyper extend and tuns of femurs rooting back to the hamstrings. We also did lots of inner spiral. I learned in massage school that  our sciatic nerve is the size f your pinky and it gets pinched when you laterally rotate thigh so medial rotation of thigh is amazing thing to do.

I told a silly story I've made up about the love life of my quadriceps femur bone and hamstrings. You see ms.Hamstrings is married mr.femur However mr.femur has a little afair going with ms.Quadriceps. So he likes to go get with her (moving the head of the femur bones forward) and that is an atrocity. It ruins everything. Everything being your body and that is probaly a little exateration but you get the point. So in yoga we get to really practice rooting the femurs back. It's marriage counseling!!!
Got to go to shook


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