Light

There is a light inside of us that is always shining that can never be diminished and is NOT dependent on anything. I often think that my past behaviors have lessened or extinguished my light, but that is not the Truth. Nothing I could ever do could lessen the light inside of my heart. This is one of the many gift the practice has given me. I can now see that I have a light that is always shining peace, bliss, and love. I know that the light is within me even on my most depressed horribly tragic days. I have yet to be feeling miserable and say to myself "how about you just shift to feeling the peace and bliss inside yourself" and than I whala! am happy, however I do remind myself of this although I still experience the variety of emotions I still know what resides inside of me.

Christina Sell used a great example of money, "You can take a dollar bill, crumple it up, stomp on it and even send it through the washer, and still that dollar bill maintains its value. So, too, as we examine our own history and the ways we may have been crumpled, stomped on and put through the rinse cycle more than a few times and still we remain valuable." This brings me comfort!

I used the example of a lamp while teaching this week. The light bulb shines light and emits a radiant brightness. There is a shade to cover the bulb which makes the light appear less bright. I like to think of the shade as my mood. What commonly happens is I miss my light and connect instead with my mood. When I am sad I connect with that sad feeling. When I am happy I connect with that happy feeling. When I just see the shade my mood bounces around like a ball in a pin ball machine. I am learning to see that the light is always present shining behind my mood, and to recognize and start connecting with the light more. When I am practicing this I remain more stable because instead of hoping around from lamp shade to lamp shade I am connecting to the essence of the light bulb that shines behind any color of shade.

This reminds me of the last two lines of the Anusara Invocation + translation from JF:

Nisprapancaya Shantaya

Niralambaya Tejase

Is never absent, full of peace

Ultimately free and sparkles with a divine luster

Hanumanasana

I watched a you tube video from Certified Anusara teacher Christina Sell (http://www.christinasellyoga.com/) in which she pointed out how students often get upset when they cant do a pose. When they haven't really been putting enough studentship into it. Her example was kicking up to handstand. Having students get frustrated when they cant kick up, but the only time they practice is when they happen to be in a class when a teacher instructs handstand. She laughed, you need to put in an effort, try to kick up to handstand ten times every she said
I thought about how this is applicable to my practice. Hanumansana, a pose I have tried to avoid the past six year.. Hanumanasana. I have never felt like I had "good splits". I didn't enjoy doing them in class and I would even get upset with myself for not getting fully into the pose. From the practice I have gained more flexibility but splits still seemed out of my grasp. "I will never be able to do full hanumanasana" was a story that I kept telling myself.

Christina's video was a great reminder. For the past few weeks I have been working into hanumanasana almost every day. It is a nice experience to just get into my body, to see where my limits are, and watch myself gain patience. Once you get an 2-4 inches off the floor I really think it is a mind game.

Another pose I have been working on regularly is handstand.The steadiness I am starting to feel is unreal. Handstand was another pose that I thought would always undo able. I was happy to see Amy Ippoliti 30 day challenge for October which is to do a timed handstand everyday starting at 30 secs and then increasing the time increase every day. The eco challenge is to set your phone off to air plane mood during practice and sleep.

week 3 mentorship homework

Life has been pretty crazy lately with my birthday, xmas, yoga studio shifts, school ending, new school starting, health problems... One of the things that feel to the side was some of the Christian Sell mentorship homework. This afternoon I had some free time I quickly did an aassigment (heads up this is not perfect just wanted to do it). I havent taught this class yet. but i did teach a class this morning with a similar theme that i kind of expanded off of for this assignment

Personal-> universal: I have been thinking about what I want to cultivate in myself for 2011. I want to create more space around my heart so I can live in my heart and respond from my heart and with practice I hope to keep my heart open no matter what situations, issues, poses... I face
The Anusara yoga philosophy: tells us that every moment and every experience is an opportunity for us to live in our heart.
Define concept: Space “three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space) Patience “Patience is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patience)
What it means to me: Space is very important to me because when I create this expansion in my chest I can more easily live in my heart and I can respond with patience in more appropriate ways then if my chest was closed and constricted.
Chit Ananda: When we create space around our heart we can express patience in any situation.
Refining chit ananda: “when we know this expansion (state of spaciousness) we can express our self with patience (feeling quality) because we can reside in our hearts through any situations”
Tie into UPA: Opening to grace creates space up the sides of our body and into the front and the back of our heart creating a quality of patience for us to move through this practice being very aware and connected to the heart
Tie into upcoming class: Today we will practice creating space around the heart with patience as we face difficult poses while keeping our awareness in our heart and working toward urdhva danurasana.
Verbs: Open, length, broaden, expand, lift
Adjectives, verbs and feelings: Patience, endurance, softness, fortitude, calmly, constancy, perseverance, enthusiasm, compassion, aspiration
actions and heart feelings linked:
• Lengthen from your waist up toward your armpits with enthusiasm
• Expand the circumference of your heart in all directions with perseverance
• Lift the belly away from the pelvis with softness
• Soften the skin to the bone with patience
• Move the thigh bones back with fortitude

Definitely feel like I am struggling linking up to adverbs, adjectives and feelings. But am really enjoying how these homework assignments are inviting me to think in new ways (so much so that my brain hurts :D)

heart based theme mindset

For the past two weeks in the mentorship program Christina Sell has been teaching us how to cultivate heart based themes going from the universal to the personal, or the personal to the universal. She encourages us to take a challenge in our life, any of our experiences, definitions of words, and poems to help us take a big idea (universal) and make it more relatable to our students (personal). She said that what is so great about Anusara is that it is a philosophy of totality. So really anything!!! can be turned into a heart based theme if you keep looking. She said because it is a system of totality anything can lead you back to the heart even the deepest sadness.

At first when I learned how I could use all these different aspects of my life to develop a heart based theme I felt overwhelmed. But now I feel like part of my brain or maybe it is my heart is getting rewired toward “heart based theme”. Now multiple times throughout the day something will happen and I naturally go “ah ha this could be a theme”. This is really cool because it reminds me of the universal, of the non-dual life affirming philosophy of Anusara yoga. I then run it through the 5 principles thinking how I could relate that experience to each principle. It makes me wish I had more classes to teach. I feel like themes are pouring out of me and I don’t want them to go to waste.

Last night I was with a good friend and he told me that mosquitoes when they bite you they also inject an anticoagulant/lubricator as part of their saliva. This keeps the blood moving and you don’t die. And that the bump and the itching sensation we get from mosquito bites aren’t actually from the bite but from them injecting there saliva into us in order to save us. He told me that and I thought, this could possibly be a theme. Haha haven’t thought the theme through and as I write this I don’t know how accurate it is that this injection it to stop us from dying, but thought it was funny that this random fact(?) he told me made me think heart based theme and remember my inner divinity! Leslie Salmon told me when she did this mentorship program with Christina Sell she felt like she had been given the keys to the kingdom. I feel like I have been given a key to look at everything as a reminder of Spirit and of the heart.

"Guru" heart based theme

On wednesdays class at the yoga center this is the theme I used.

Recently one of my teachers, Christina Sell, has been talking and writing a lot about her Guru. She often writes about her Guru and when I hear about her or anyone’s Guru I feel myself contract with jealously. Thinking how rare a relationship is between a physical guru and a chela (disciple). Not even John Friend founder of Anusara yoga would be considered a Guru. But then I remember the Sanskrit world “Guru” which is comprised of 2 root parts. Gu= darkness and ru=light. So Guru= is anything that leads you from darkness to light. We remind our self of the Guru in the first line of the invocation when we sing gurvea. One of my favorite translation of gurave is “this teacher can reside within you and/or around you”. The Anusara philosophy teaches us that there is wisdom that resides within us, and when we draw into that wisdom with honesty we can express more skill, patience and stability in our life. We will work with outer spiral today in standing poses to skillfully create more stability and strength in our practice.

It was a really great class pretty full of students who seemed to really connect to the inner guru aspect of the class. Recently in my life there have been lots of shifts and changes that are being cultivated and in order for me not to get lost in shifts or fall into bad habit I need strength. Lately I have been drawing alot of strength from this idea that I have a guru within me!


One of the new studio owners (how crazy) Lindsey took my class which created a few butterflies in my belly but I tihnk I did a good job and stayed true to myself as I taught. Hope we liked it :)

heart based theme idea

Christina Sell week two.
wow this week Christina explained a few more ways to start developing a heart based them that goes from the universal  (a big philosophical teaching) and bringing it to the personal and connecting it with chit ananda and the UPA's. She gave us so many my mind keeps day dreaming about all the many heart based themes i could create form my experience, challenges, word definitions, and poems. Because I have all these new ways part of me is hesitant to fully dive in. (hence to recent blog posts but lots of stuff in my head). Figured I needed to dive head first in so thought I would post a short idea.

Courage. The root word for courage is “cour” = “coeur” which is heart in French. In Latin being courageous translates to be heartful. When we are trying to find the strength to do something courageous we should remember to draw into our heart. In the Anusara Philosophy there is the idea that we are all intrinsically good. When we remember that naturally pull into the heart and we find strength to express our self courageously and with joy. In tonight’s class we will play with some balance poses that will require us to draw into the mid line (ME) and into our heart for the strength to express these poses fully and with delight.
As I continue to build the theme throughout the class I would mention that in Sufi-ism the heart is considered the ‘house of the divine’ they say if you completely connect with the heart you are promised a state of no fears, and no worries.
I also might try to think of some link btw wizard of oz and the lion with courage.

more heart based themes to come.

on another note there have been many exciting changes and shifts about to happen in my life. I am going to go to massage school in January which is going to turn my world upside down and really challenge me and my normal teaching and practice yoga schedule. AND the yoga center got sold!!!! but i am confident the new owners are going to continue to cultivate it  and they continue to bring more anusara love and teachers to the space.

more soon

assignment #1 Heart Based Theme

I am just starting the mentorship program with Christina Sell. I am so excited. Here are some of my thoughts and theme ideas from our first assignment which was to build a theme going from the Personal to the Universal and then apply that one theme to each of the UPA's or to some aspect of each of the UPA's.
What is a challenge you have faced in the last year?
Over the last year I have struggled with what I want to do in my life. I felt tremendous pressure from my family and friends that I should be going school, but what I was studying no longer felt right to me. I didn’t feel like the direction my life was going was where I wanted it to go.

What lessons did I learn from this challenge?
I learned and hope I continue to learn is to come back to my heart and reflect on the actions I am taking, and on the path I am on to make sure that it is making me happy and is making the relationships I am in more fullfilling. (other lessons I learned: it wasn’t my family and friends that were putting pressure on me but I was creating it and adding more stress to an already intense situation. I learned I need to be honest with myself, do what makes me happy but also surrender to the flow of Grace.)

How does this tie into the Anusara Yoga philosophy?
The Anusara Yoga Philosophy teaches us that one of the purposes of life is to have revelations of our intrinsic goodness and a sense of unity with each other, the world and Spirit. Following our heart leads to these revelations.

Tie it into Chit (consciousness) and Ananda (bliss)?
When we know what’s in our heart and what makes us happy we can express more delight, courage and joy.
Apply the theme to the UPA’s:
1st principle Open to Grace: Focus on foundation of hands and feet. When we use good foundation with care and intention we protect the body and put more meaning into our practice. We also do this as we decide what we want our life to look like and what path we want to take. If we use care and continue to check back in with our foundation, actions and where we are on our path we can maintain the integrity and the intention of our practice and our life. (Class type ideas: backbends)

2nd principle Muscular Energy: Focus on the midline. When we are thinking about what makes us happy it is important that we draw into our self, that we come into the core of our body. Muscular energy also creates strength and it requires a lot of strength to create change in your life if you are no longer happy, and it also requires strength to continue on a path that your heart wants. Muscular Energy also creates steadfastness and a commitment to doing the work necessary so to create the kind of life you want (Class type idea: handstand work and inversions)

3rd principle Expanding Spiral: Focus on the inner thighs going in, back, apart and wide. When we really listen to the heart and when we look inside of our self we expand into our self and into our potential. When we choose to take a path and act in ways that reflect the heart we touch our self, our relationships, and the world in a deep way. This looking within, this inner widening allows to come into our self and really contemplate what we want, taking in all the possibilities. It is the expanding spiral so we are looking at all the options possible. (Class type idea: hip openers)

4th principle Contracting Spiral: Focus on scooping the tailbone and the lift of the low belly. When it comes to following a path that makes us happy we need to be specific and steadfast. You have to be specific and have a strength in your decision. What exactly makes you happy? How specific can you get? What activities can you do to allow you to experience more happiness? It is the contracting spiral it is getting specific and doing the action. When we scoop the tail bone under we create stability and engage the core. You could say being specific and doing it takes guts (haha) (Class type ideas standing poses and forward folds)

5th principle Organic Energy: focal point, root to rise. We need to come into our self and see what makes us happy and we have to have integrity and use effort, but there also needs to be a surrendering and a celebrating. An attitude of “I have done all that I can and now I am going to enjoy the ride and shine.” This surrounding takes the energy from the focal point into the foundation creating a strong base (root) and then from this base, from all this work we have done through the other UPA’s we extend from the base and raise high to the sky (rise) in a celebration of the heart. (Class type idea: backbends or inversions)

the Yoga Convo

I am SUPER EXCITED about this.... Check it out....http://yogaconvo.blogspot.com/

Two of my faovorite certified teachers Christina Sell and Elena Brower both are passionate, and honest. Christina and Elena are thrilled to bring their conversations to you.


Yoga Convo is dedicated to helping people access an authentic connection to the truth of who they are through thought-provoking conversations about yoga and yoga practice as it pertains to all aspects of life.