Alignment of knees = more Harmony

In massage school I learned that the joints of the body represent our flexibility in certain areas of our life:

• Feet: Your ability to move forward in life.
• Knees: Your willpower.
• Hips: Your ability to stand and hold yourself up in life.
• Shoulders: Your ability to handle difficult situations.
• Hands: Your ability to handle the details in life.

I thought this was interesting. Lately a lot of new students have been coming to my classes with knee injuries as a result of lateral movement or hyper extension of the knee. In my Friday 4:15-5:30 class at The Yoga Center I focused on knees this week. When the knees (or any part of our body) are in pain or discomfort it is distracting and makes it much harder to experience harmony. However by using our will power to align our knees (or any part of body) optimally over time we will experience more and more agreement in our body/mind/spirit.

http://www.womentalksports.com/items/read/651/1269909

The knee is a hinge joint and thus only meant for extension (straightening the leg) and flexion (bending the knee). A hinge joint does not assist in lateral moment of the knee. We do not want our inner or outer knees to get flexible, and that is what happens when we move the knee joint medially (to the mid line) and laterally (away from the mid line.)Me and my sister both played a lot of soccer and so many friends have blown out there knees (ACL, MCL..)  In the picture on the left you can see that if the girl in the red kicks or moves the blue players knee to the right that lateral movement will most likely tear her ACL ligament.


One of the many cool things about asana practice is we can use our will power to align our bodies to move in optimal therapeutic ways and practicing these alignment principles over time will retrain the body to function. Harmony is different than instant gratification. Although I often feel a little better and less stressed after a yoga class. I think when we practice steadily over a long period of time with alignment and intention that we expeirence more harmony to our body/mind/heart. For example, taking one yoga class might not make your knees feel instantly better or if it does that feeling wont be permanent, however if you tend to laterally rotate your knees and you work strong Shins In Thighs Out in your practice to stabilize your knees, over time with this your knees will feel better more often and for a longer amount of time. Same goes if you hyper extend your knees letting them bow backwards past optimal extension. If you practice strong Muscular Energy especially in the back of the legs (I like to press into the ball of my foot like I'm pressing on the gas pedal this engages my calf muscles then I isometrically lift and curl my heel up towards my sit bones, the heel doesn't move but the back of my knee and hamstring engage). When the back of the leg is toned you learn to straighten the leg keeping the stability and over time this alignment will probably make your knees feel better more ofter and for longer amounts of time. Since the knees contribute to the positioning of feet, hips, and shoulders all these joints will either find more optimal alignment or less optimal alignment depending on the position of the knees. (this stuff fascinates me) 


Harmony
When tones, thoughts, or feelings, individually different, combine to form a consistent and pleasing whole, there is harmony. Harmony is deeper and more essential than agreement; we may have a
Synonyms: harmony, accord, concurrence, consistency, uniformity, accordance, conformity, consonance, union, agreement, congruity, symmetry, unison, amity, consent, unanimity, unity, concord
Antonyms: antagonism, contest, discord, hostility, schism, battle, controversy, disproportion, incongruity, separation, conflict, difference, dissension, inconsistency, variance, contention, disagreement, disunion, opposition, warfare

Beginners Mind

This week in my personal practice I have been working with a beginners mind. Every time I place my hands on the mat, squeeze my legs, lift my rib cage, breath... I imagine I am doing it as a beginner. After practicing for so many years it can be a habit to just move through the motions, actions and poses. With this "expert mindset" I miss so much. And although I have probably done over 10,000 second warrior poses, not one of them has felt identical to the other. Although my clever mind tells I've been there, done that so instead of paying attention I can tell myself little stories during my practice. But when I use my beginner mind I am in a place of receiving and I can learn so much about myself and this practice.


"In the beginner's mind there is no thought, "I have attained something." All self-centered thoughts limit our vast mind. When we have no thought of achievement, no thought of self, we are true beginners. Then we can really learn something. The beginner's mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless. Then we are always true to ourselves, in sympathy with all beings, and can actually practice." Shunryu Suzuki-roshi
"All self-centered thoughts limit our vast mind. When we have no thoughts on achievement, no thoughts of self, we are true beginners. Then we can truly learn something" Shunryu Suzuki-roshi
"Strive to achieve a beginner mentality at all times. Because in the beginners mind all things are possible" Buddhist Teaching
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." Buddhist Teaching

I taught a yoga class at The Yoga Center yesterday using some of this information. The class was great. Slow moving, the students were very open, and there awareness was present and full of curiosity.

Curiosity

I love reading but I haven’t read a purely fiction book in quite awhile. The closest book I haven’t gotten is The Prophet, The Gita, The Buddha, and Siddhartha…That was until last week when I bought The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It was so fascinating I finished it in a few days and bought the second book of the trilogy Catching Fire, which I finished last night. I loved that when I was reading these books my attention was so focused. I was so curious, interested, and fascinated that I read and read for hours.

When I taught at Avenues Yoga on Thursday we talked about this (more than half of the class also read this pre-teen trilogy and were very excited when I referenced it).  These qualities of curiosity are wonderful for getting me in the moment fully with attention. We can use the same qualities same qualities in our asana practice to help cultivate attention. Being curious if the body is doing what we are asking it to do. Inquiring to see what will happen in the next breath. Being sensitive to our experience noticing the difference of stability and erratic. This was a great get to know and feel your body class as the students worked toward trikonasana (triangle pose). The principle I focused on was muscular energy and it is so fun to watch students as they examine and feel their muscles to see the slightly let down look on their face when they realize their muscles are not engaged (been there done that) and then see their delighted face after poling their muscle and finding it firm.

I taught lots of hip openers leading up to trikonasana. I explained the importance of using muscle energy when working hip openers because if the muscles aren’t engaged the part of the leg that will be getting flexible is the knee, we don’t want to get our knees more flexible. But when the legs are engaged and you rotate the leg it is the hip that will be getting more flexible. This is particularly important if a student has a history of a injured knee.

Beauty and The Beast

Last weekend I went to see Beauty and The Beast in theaters re-released in 3D. (I laughed as I paid 8.50 for a matinee movie that I own in VHS.) I love this classic Disney movie. I love being remind of the teaching that beauty is inside. That I should work on connecting to the beauty that is inside of me instead of on the surface. That I should look for this inner beauty in lovers, family, friends and strangers. I am reminded that my yoga postures and my students have so much beauty inside even if it isn't the full version of the pose.

In the movie the beast is so disconnected from his own inner beauty that he can not even look at himself in the mirror without flying into rage. Being a lover of alignment I made a few observations... The Beast is hunched over, with his shoulders rounded forward and unplugged from his heart. However when he can love someone and they can love him and he becomes a prince again, he stands up tall (side bodies long) his shoulders are drawn back (head of arm bones back) his shoulders are broad (inner body bright) and his heart is lifted (shoulder loop).

I used this as a theme for a few classes. Doing strong shoulder work leading up to some big heart openers. Lots of side bodies long, head of the arm bones back, tips of shoulders into heart, and hyoid bone back. In my Monday class at The Yoga Center we partnered up for Urdhva Danurasana holding onto ankles. In my Tuesday class at Avenues Yoga. We went a bit deeper in Urdhva. After watching and observing the students urdhva's, I showed a quick demo on how rolling further forward onto the forehead (after pressing up to the top of the head) gives a greater ability to lengthen the side bodies, plug the arm bones back, and shoulder loop. This combo takes me into such a powerful place to press up. I let them know they were all doing the actions of lengthening and plugging the arm bones back, they were doing it so well I offered another refinement.

Images: http://www.usdvdsale.com/Beauty-and-the-Beast-Special-Edition-DVD-(Disney)-107.html

http://www.mousecomedy.com/2010/10/beauty-and-beast-return-of-curse/

Awareness: Looking For The Good

One of the many blessing of a yoga practice is just that, practice. We get to roll our our mats or meditation cushions and practice for life. One quality we can cultivate is awareness. I have been thinking about awareness a lot this week (and wrote a few blogs about it). I remember when I first started cultivating awareness on my mat I started to notice everything I was doing "bad" or "wrong". My hips lowered to fast in chataranga, my mind couldn't stop thinking, I kept collapsing in my back... Then I would leave my mat and my awareness was still turned on for looking for the bad around me, in my relationships. and in myself.

To me this is a cop-out in awareness training. Our society is almost trained to look for the bad, just take a look at the newspaper. It is a lot easier to say 5 things your don't like about yourself, your relationship, your job... then it is to say 5 good things. But it doesn't have to be like that. We can train our awareness to look for the good, just like we can strength an muscle. A great place to do that is on the yoga mat. As I practice now I work on bringing my attention to all the things that feel so sweet, My hands feel strong, i feel such a great opening in my side body, my breath is flowing smoothly, my muscles energy in my legs are helps me feel stable...I can see the ripple effect that this practice has on my life. Now I notice the good things in nature, in my relationships, and in myself.

Looking for the good is one of the teachings that informs Anusara Yoga. Adam has been teaching us in teacher training, to always be looking for the good in our students and to learn how to articulate what they are doing good before offering a refinement.

Last night I taught a class at They Yoga Center with this theme idea. It was a great, 12 students! Studio owners Lydnesy and Sheldon took my class which gave me a few butterflies in my stomach but I was so happy they came to support me. They gave me some great feed back as well.

Immersion with BJ Teacher Training with Adam

So blissed out from this amazing week surrounded by such great souls. I was so lucky and won the scholarship to take BJ Galvans Immersion 2 at The Yoga Center. It was great to take the immersion 2 a second time from a different perspective. I took it the first time from Adam Ballenger both certified Anusara teachers did a phenomenal job presenting the information to my heartmind and body. My understanding deeps so much as I continue to hear the same teaching over and over and in different ways. Anusara's philosophy of intrinsic goodness touches my heart and influences my practice deeply. Being able to learn/feel these virtues through the gross body is amazing. I wasn’t able to finish BJ's full immersion because I took Adam Ballenger’s teacher training. It was quite a switch going from being immersed in yoga from the aspect of the student to learning to teach this method. However BJ shakti-fied me up so much going into the TT was really lovely, I felt anchored in my center where the heart qualities come more easily.

The immersion was great opportunity to spend more time at The Yoga Center. The owners Lyndsey and Sheldon have created such a great community and have such a great vision for Anusara yoga in SLC and I am so happy to be a part of this community. I also treasured making immersion friends from TYC. When you go through any intensive training where transformation happens you bond strongly with each other in a really sweet way. I will be reviewing my notes and will post another blog about immersion/TT.

I just got back from lunch with BJ before she got on the air plane. Its nice to bond with a teacher and see then not just in the yoga class room. I normally get shy around other teachers who I admire and don’t get to know them better as a result and I am so happy I got to spend more time with BJ. I think I will even be assisting her on her tour next year, possibly Costa Rica (which would be a dream come true)

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA to all the great teachers I humbly bow.

to learn more about these rocking teachers check out their websites:
http://www.heartcoreyoga.com/ BJ Galvan
http://www.adamballengeryoga.com/ Adam Ballenger

Illuminated Heart

This  is  the essay I wrote trying to win a scholarship for BJ's second immersion at The Yoga Center. The essay question is to write in 500-750 words about the potential to reveal  the Illuminated Heart.

YOU ARE THAT WHICH YOU SEEK

Yoga, most definitely, has the potential to awaken the illuminated heart. In this easy I will touch on the definition of the word illuminated and point out how appropriate the illuminated heart is for explaining the outcome of a committed yoga practice. I will also reference yogic practices and philosophies that help with this process.  

The word “illuminated” means, to brighten with light, to make lucid or clear, to decorate with lights (as in celebration), and to enlighten (as with knowledge). This is the invitation of yoga so we may expand and shine out our intrinsically divine essence, to see our self beautifully and clearly, to celebrate this embodied gift by expressing beauty, to know we are connected and to experience vibrancy and ease. We practice yoga to unveil the illuminated heart so we may know more (chit) and be happy (ananda). I don’t think every yoga student would identify this being their reason for practicing yoga, when I first started practicing it was to rehab from an injury and possibly lose some weight. However the practice of yoga helped me connect to my heart.

Yoga unveils the truth. The truth is that we are connected, we are loved, we are whole, and as John friend puts it a part of this “big ball of pulsating bliss” (describing Shiva-Shakti tantric). The truth is we already have an illuminated heart. This awakening in my experience has not been like turning on a light switch, but more of a steady practice of showing up with an intention to see the heart clearly. To make clear is an aspect of an illuminated heart.   Through the practice we begin to see and feel that all our stories, all the bull shit is just various coverings (daksha, cloaks, kleshas and maya) that make it hard to see that ultimately we are an embodiment of spirit. As we remember this we start to see and experience the world and our self as being made up of absolute goodness, consciousness, bliss, pulsation, self-awareness, ultimate freedom and perfect fullness. These are the attributes of the divine and we experience these qualities in our self and in the world around us because we are all part of the divine.  

Yoga’s potential for unveiling an illuminated heart, I think really comes in the face of obstacles. Even the physical postures we put our self into on the yoga matt is a challenge. We are taught to stay in the challenge, feel the intense sensation, connect with the breath, feel a sense of ease and feel supported. My practice for a while was learning to face challenges and feeling supported by grace. Now I have been working on learning the distinction between what is satisfying and what is gratifying, again this can be learned on the mat! My point being, the potential of unveiling the illuminated heart through yoga is so high because yoga offers so many different teachings that can be applied to your body and can shift your life. Yoga’s potential for unveiling an illuminated heart comes in its dynamic ability to meet people where they are and help them with their struggles.

The illuminated heart is like a muscle, because we don’t always think we are bright, beautiful, and intelligent. This doubting makes the muscle weak. But when we overcome these challenges by cultivating heart qualities we strengthen our illuminated heart muscle. So, even when we are off our yoga mat and shit hits the fan we still feel this inner illumination, it is not based on external situations.

In conclusion, we already have an illuminated heart. Yoga is one of the great ways to unveil that illumination.  Throughout life we are filled with bliss, yet there are many ups and downs that come along with it as well. Just know that at your core you shine with the divine. I want to bring these ancient practices into my life, deeper into my heart, and to refine my asana and move beyond the asana, to awaken more fully into my own illuminated heart. You are that which you seek!

Connect to Illuminated Heart + Twist Out Negativity

This past week I spent a lot of time thinking about and writing an easy for The Yoga Center for a chance to win a 100% scholarship for BJ’s upcoming Immersion 2. The easy question was write (in 500-750 words) the potential for yoga to unveil the illuminated heart. Illuminated means: to brighten with light, to make lucid or clear, to decorate with lights (as in celebration), and to enlighten (as with knowledge). My main focus on the essay was that we all already have an illuminated heart however we doubt our self and this makes us forget, yoga is the invitation to awaken to the heart and start removing the varies cloaks.

Tonight I am teaching at The Yoga Center 5:45-7.In We will focus on muscle energy drawing into this place of luminosity that is always present and we will also work with twisting our the self negativity, doubt, and fear.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Succasana greet yourself here as a radiant blissful being, notice any negativity your have toward yourself, doubting, fear of failing, and allow your breath to get that unstuck.

Wall work plug into heart

Shoulder stretch hands on wall frwd fold

One hand on wall humorous parallel to floor plug in and twist fill in back body

Interlace hands side stretch switch fingers repeat 4x

Tadasana

Sun A

L

Mod Parvakonasana -> rev w

Parsvak -> rev w

W2-> rev w -> rev trik

Wall work

L at wall -> frwd fold against wall

L at wall -> frwd fold against wall

Wallonasana (hanumanasana up wall)
matsendrasana twist

DD twist

L.L twist one hand on ground

L twist

Parvritta ½ moon

Rev trik

Pigeon elbow down twist reach, reach back for foot

Bow pose roll to one side, roll to other side, middle

Wide leg forward fold

Root thigh bones 
Shavasana hands on belly

monday

I had such a lovely day. After a week of being envious of my yogi friends studying with John Friend my plan is to go soak up their inspiration in their public classes. This morning I took a class from Jen Hecht at Prana which was so great. Later in the day I took a class from Lyndsey Marie at The Yoga Center. Both of these ladies where beaming with shakti and I got some really great instruction and wisdom that I am very grateful for.

So this is what is getting me even more excited. After taking Lyndsey's class we got a chance to chat and I think I might be getting another opportunity to teach there! I started teaching at the yoga center over 5 years ago when it was run by Leslie Salmon and I was 18. I feel like I have grown up so much in the yoga center and my heart and smile is beaming from the joy of this opportunity.

I will be subbing a class at The Yoga Center this Thursday 5:45-7:15. I will be subbing for a certified Anusara teacher Tiffany Wood and I am super excited and honored to be able to teach in her space.

"What Makes Your Heart Sing" a playshop with Tiffany Wood

My heart feels so full of joy after taking Tiffany Wood's "What Makes Your Heart Sing Playshop" at The Yoga Center. This is the first of a series of 5 or 6 workshops she will be offering at The Yoga Center each workshop focuses on each universal alignment principles.

Yesterday we dove into the first principle: set your foundation and open to grace. I absolutely loved Tiff's approach to help each student really feel 1st principle in his or her body and heart. She helped us create our own joy and humility, she helped us dive into the things that make us happy to see at the core what brings us joy is our underlying oneness we share that pulsates with joy.

She is such a skilled teacher of weaving a theme. The whole class she encouraged us to think of what makes our heart sing. Things that I thought of where: my husband, my dog, family, the garden, yoga, sunlight, love, smiles, hugs, snowflakes, biking, relationships to name a few.

Half way into the workshop Tiffany also offered a dialogue meditation partner work (I guess you could call it). We partnered up and asked the question. "What makes your heart sing" the partner responds "_________ makes my heart sing." the listener then says "Thank you. Why is that important to you". ".........." this is 1 level down, keep going down and you will get to this sweet soft place of connection and love.

Here is my dialogue with my partner Jenny

Jenny: "what makes your heart sing?"
me: "The relationship I have with myself"

Jenny: "Thank you, why is that important to you"
me: "Because it has improved so much and that is a really good thing"

Jenny" "Thank you, why is that important to you"
me: "Because it sucks being at war with yourself. Now I feel like I am on the same team with myself and that feels fabulous"

Jenny: "Thank you, why is that important to you"
me: "Because when I am in good relationship with my self I feel this deep connection to my heart."

Jenny: "Thank you, why is that important to you"
me: "when I feel love and softness for myself my relationship with the whole universe feels more full"
Jenny: "Thank you, why is that important to you"
me: "because it reminds me how silly it is to get wrapped up in my own drama, get to tied up in the mind. When I treat me with love I remember that life really is a pulsating ball of bliss there will be challenges in life but when I am in a good relationship with myself my ability to align and recognize the goodness in life becomes much easier"

This conversation was scary but fabulous to have as the words came out of my mouth in not the best sentences but levels and levels down I found a place to rest in my heart.

(Just got home from a mountain bike ride with the family. Both my my dog Dharma and my husband Tyler made my heart sing)

we are powerful

I will keep this short and sweet just wanted to update my blog with the class I taught tonight at the yoga center.
Theme: I have been working on some of my “stuff” lately and it has been hard and sometimes I don’t think I have the strength to do it. Then I remember that I am full of Shakti, the creative power of Universe that moves through the things around us and through us. I remember that I have so much power and strength! I just sometimes forget. In the class I talked about how yoga can build strength, but yoga also provides us with the opportunity to tap into and access the tremendous amount of strength we all reading processes. Sometimes it takes facing a challenging situation, or a challenging pose fully for us to experience this abundant source of power.

in class we focused on ME hugging into the midline. The class was very playful and seemd more like a workshop with the students asking really wonderful questions. We did lots of unique variations I have been trying at home to help me refine aspects of ME and it was fun to try it out on these students (ginue pigs). I think they really enjoyed it.
This is one of the many things I love about Anusara yoga. It has given me an attitude to look for the good. Instead of going this, sucks, my life sucks, why does the universe keep throwing curve balls at me… I can say, wow this is really hard, but what a great opportunity for me to dig deep and access this power and strength, and what great things will I learn when I face this challenge fully.

leading the practice. stability during holidays with OS

Yesterday I taught the practice at the yoga center. It was pretty exciting because as I walked into the center, and as I looked out over my mat at the layout of the studio and the carpet floor I realized this would be my last practice in “this” space. The doors to the yoga center close Monday for the start of renovations. There will be lots of exciting changes being made to the space. The ones I am most looking forward to is new bamboo floor and raised ceiling. The renovation will start on Monday December 13 and be completed by January 3. We will continue to have all of our regularly scheduled classes during this time at a temporary location just down the street at 2101 East Murray Holladay Road. Maps are at the studio but it's easy to find!

For the practice I talked about instability. How during the holidays life can seem more chaotic and we can feel a sense of instability. I mentioned how when I experience this instability I feel more connected to something on the surface that is more superficial and I experience feeling like anxiety, fear, and judgment.

The Anusara philopshy is non-dual meaning that we are connected to something very profound and more eternal. You can call this whatever you like God, Shiva, Nature, Breath, Yourself, Nature, Science (enter your _______________ here). In order to connect and remember this eternal aspect of our self I need to draw into myself away from the drama of things that happen on the superficial and move deeper into my core and heart. Here I experience more compassion, joy, softness, and acceptance. Although with the craziness of the holidays and life sometimes when I draw in and connect to this higher essence I can loss the connection quickly.
So I need to not only draw in and remember this more eternal part of myself but I need to find even more stability by anchoring myself into this more eternal place that can still handle the drama but in a less reactive way.

We worked on muscular energy (muscle to bones, core lines to focal point, and midline) this was a really nice way to cultivate and remember the strength that we have.

Then we started to introduce outer spiral with lots of partner work and questions and clarifications. Oh yeah how could I forget. And some pretty phenomenal metaphors and similes. As we talked about outer spiral I really wanted to explain that it is more than tucking the tailbone (although that is a part but if you just tuck the tailbone that is closer to pelvic loop) but that contracting spiral has this wrapping aspect to it that narrows the back of the pelvis and expands the front of the pelvis. This wrapping of the iliac crest I was talking about like a clam shell. Toward the end of the class. One of the students mentioned a pearl inside our clam shells. I went nuts. What a wonderful connection. I haven’t completely refined it but I like this idea that through wrapping our clam shells around the head of the femur bone we create stability to open up our clam shell (which even makes sense because contracting spiral creates an opening in the front of the hips) and this opening of the clam shell reveals the pearl which is the opportunity to experience more length up the spine and the shashumna that leads to organic energy. (I am just adding to this as I write so again not totally refined).
We had lots of fun. Really great students. One who student whom I have known for a while and I was even her student at one point was there so it was really fun to share that with her.

tele skiing and anusara shin loop!

Today I went tele skiing with my husband at Alta. It was a wonderful day! the sun was shining, no clouds, fresh powder, just wonderful. Now I am not a skier I was a professional snowboarder for awhile but I kept getting hurt (broke my back and hurt my knee). These injuries are what motivated me to start my asana practice. Anyways thats a different story. After my body heeled I could still snowboard and still do ticks but through all the yoga I was getting into the “completive mindset” no longer interested me. So last year I switched to tele skiing.

Today was my 4rth day skiing this year and I was still trying to get the hang of it. One thing I always struggle with is putting weight into the front of my boots when I ski rather than leaning into my heels and putting my weight back on the ski. As I was working with this today I was reminded of shin loop in Anusara yoga. Shin loop 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. (this helps you not hyper extend your knee). This is the same action we are creating when we put weight into the front of our boot.

When you ski like this with shin loop you are taking a very aggressive attitude, “I am in control, and can choose where I want to go”. When you don’t do shin loop and lean into the back of the book and collapse onto the heel, although you think it is less scary, it says “oh no! Where am I going? I have no control! I might get hurt, AHHHH!”

I feel this way in my life too. If I shift my weight forward and have an aggressive attitude that I want to take control of my life. I want to be in the driver’s seat. I want to be making actions that serve me fully. I want to consciously respond to situations I am in, instead of reacting impulsively. When I have this attitude I can control where I want to go with more skill. However sometimes (just like in skiing) I think if I just lean back, let things happen, blow things off it will be easier. That is when I start to make bad choices. I start to hurt the people I love. I get way off of the path I want to be on.

Today was really fun because I was working with dropping my knee way low in powder and turn. In each turn I could feel myself lean back into of my boot and I would think, take control of your life, take control of your turn. I would shift my weight forward and it was like magic. I have never done such nice pow-pow turns. Made me smile big, and remember that Anusara freaking rocks! The principles, the loops, the philosophy, isn’t just to be practiced on that mat but can be applied to anything or situation in your life.

I see this a lot in students feet when they practice. They naturally shift their weight back and collapse on their heels. I remind them we actually can create more health, and stability in the body if we distribute the weight evenly and creating the calf energy of shin loop.
FUN FUN DAY!

**I am teaching the practice this week (Friday)at the yoga center 540-740 by donation. I am very excited**

"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

thanksgiving eve class

I taught a class at the yoga center on thanksgiving eve.

I like thanksgiving because it is a day where we are consciously grateful for the many blessing we having and the many teachers, friends, family and strangers who share compassion with us and support us. I think we should be grateful everyday for all that we have but thanksgiving is a nice day to come together and consciously acknowledge the beautiful souls and many blessings in our life.

The Anusara philosophy teaches us purna. Purna is one of the six attributes of the Absolute and means fullness or perfect completeness. Meaning that the universe is perfectly full it has everything it needs and each one of us is perfectly full. We have everything we need to be happy and content. We are full of beauty, blessing and supportive loving teacher, friends, and family.

When we acknowledge how full we are of blessing and have gratitude for all that we have we can express more generosity and love to each other and our self.

I handed out paper and pens to the students at the beginning of class and gave them all a moment to write a few things that they are grateful for and had them put it under their mats. I encouraged them to bring this purna, this fullness into their asanas by bringing to mind what they are thankful for maybe even imagine people’s faces or whatever it is that makes them feel full inside. This is what I love about asana. It isn’t just a pose we are holding with good alignment but it is the bhava, the heart quality or feeling that we cultivate.

The class had a wonderful energy to it. Some people even had a few tears.
I also started and ended the practice with a reiki inspired meditation that I saw Elena Brower do on yogaglo where you rub your hands together creating heat and then place the hands gently over closed eyes allowing the heat of the hands to help the eye balls and eye lids soften. I even used the quote she used from Dr. Douglas Brooks “We don’t live with the way the world is, we live with the way we see the world”. I encouraged students to choose a soft loving gaze this holiday season full of compassion and generosity instead of dry stressed out not blinking stare full of to do list and potential family drama.

I am thankful for my loving husband who makes me smile everyday! I am thankful for my many teachers whom I am inspired by and learn so much from. I am thankful for my students who laugh with me and help me grow as a teacher. I am thankful for my friends and family who give me so much love and support. I am thankful for the beauty of the world and the kindness of stranger. I am thankful for myself, for wanting to see how I can grow so I can show up the fullest (purna) in all my relationships.

I am interesting...thats what I was told today

Today I taught a yoga hour at the yoga center. I love that the yoga center offers this yoga hour. It is so affordable. Even at studios that offer pay what you can, I never would pay only four dollars so I love that this class is only four dollars. Recently more than ever I hear that the price of yoga classes is stopping people from starting or continuing their practice. This four dollar yoga hour allows everyone the opportunity to practice yoga without feeling guilty for spending too much money.


Today in class there was a man who was new to me. He was older and he started to talk about how much he loved inversions because he heard that it turns the off switch to the brain. I told him that inversions are also cardiovascular. They actually strengthen the hard and tone the heart because the heart has to pump hard to get the blood all the way up to the feet. Inversions also bath the brain in blood while oxygenating it.

We then had are asana practice which was really fun. It was a very big range of students and I felt like my teaching style slightly changed to get on to the students level. I am a very passionate and fiery teacher and I feel like that comes out a lot when I teach. Today I felt much more grounded and calmer teacher and I think it was well received by the students. Of course I still was light hearted as I taught and we shared some good laughs.

At the end of the class as the students were rolling up their mats this man announced that he had a riddle. He said “what is the difference between Kim (me) and a rubber band?”…..”Nothing” he said. I replied with a big smile…”a heart, hair, toes….I can think of lots of differences between me and a rubber band”. After he put his props away he came up to me and looked into my eyes and thanked me for learning all that I have learned and for taking the time and putting effort into sharing it with the students and him. As he said these words I felt my inner body get brighter and my heart open more fully. What wonderful words to hear as a teacher and a student passionate about yoga. Then a few minutes later as he was leaving he looked at me again with those genuine eyes, and he said “you are very very interesting”. I paused not knowing what to say and then replied “err I’d rather be interesting then boring”. He continued to look at me began to shake his head and said “very very very interesting” walked down the stairs I hollered ‘have a beautiful day” and he was gone.

What an interesting experience.

Focus on shoulder loop and inversions

The main theme of the class was chit ananda. The reason we or at least I practice is to learn more about myself. In this learning about myself I see what my strengths are and what my weaknesses are. I see where I need to make a shift in my life with regard to my habits, behaviors, people and situations. These shifts allow me to align more fully with the flow of life and as a result I experience more happiness and bliss.


Shoulder loop
We tend to roll our shoulders either forward and down or forward and up. Try this. You’ll notice your heart sinks away as the shoulder blades disconnect from the back of the heart. Keeping this position take your hands to your trapezius and feel them...Do they feel hard? Engaged? Yes they probably do. When we hold our shoulderes in this position we are actually cultivating more stress, pain, and tension in our neck, head, and life. When we hold our shoulders like this we also strengthen our trapezius which I also call the “disconnect from heart muscle” because the traps pull the tips of the shoulder blades away from the neck.

This is the chit part of chit ananda. We learn about our self “oh yeah. I do hold my shoulders in this position a lot and that explains why my neck always hurts and I have pounding headaches”

Then we apply the knowledge. Now lengthen the side body, draw the shoulder blades up to your ears take the head of the arm bones straight back and slide the tips of the shoulder blades toward the heart. The tips of the shoulder blades actually assist in curling the heart more open. Do this and feel your trapezius muscles again. Wow! They aren’t engaging, the neck feels long and lengthened. How cool. When we do this we are working and strengthening the rhomboid muscles which I also call the “connect to the heart muscle”.

This is where the ananda comes in. Ananda is bliss. SO from learning how to align the physical body in a way that doesn’t cultivate pain leads to us being happier...CHIT ANANDA!

We did lots of fun little exercises that helped the students feel this plugging into the heart and using the rhomboid muscles we also did this in contrast of unplugging so the students could feel and compare the difference. I really enjoy being able to teach a skill with a few simple steps in multiple poses like tadasana, uttanasana, plank, chaturanga, AMS, AMK... I saw the light bulb go on in many of the student’s heads.

Inversions
Inversions are any position where the heart is over the head. Really common inversions that are in just about every asana class include Down Dog and Standing Forward Bend. More advanced inversions include handstand, forearm balance, headstand, and some backbends. I really enjoy inversions because they allow me to find another perspective and another vantage point. When I feel stuck in my life, or have a problem, or just need more clarity I find holding some of these inversions for a longer period of time to be very beneficial. After inversions I feel more clear, grounded and more ready to respond appropriately to the situation that life hands me at any given moment.

The Practice…my plan

I was planning on leading the practice at the yoga center tonight; however my voice was still absent and my head felt like it was full of mucus so I had to find a sub. I was very disappointed because in my day of silence (see previous post) I had so many sequence ideas and theme ideas pouring into my mind. Although I didn’t end up leading the practice I thought I would share my plane:
Theme: dhyana, part of the eight fold path. Being able to concentrate on something with very focused awareness and at the very same time being able to observe everything else. We will work with the step by steps of the practice taking things one step at the time (this is observing everthing the whole of our practice, every practice that has happened overtime that has lead us to this moment) we will also focus on the bindu. The bindu is a Sanskrit word for hitting the point or the mark.

I really love leading practices because “the practice” is an opportunity to play with friends and work into some really fun challenging poses.

I wanted to focus on playing with/on our hands. We will do lots of hand/arm balances. In order to do arm balances it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of practice. You can’t just do these arm balances one day. IT takes steady practice over time. I have multiple “peak poses” in the sequence. I view a peak pose as a pose that is super challenging and requires a lot of prep poses to get into. All these peak poses have a wonderful build up to them for the body, mind, and spirit ready. Fun Fun Fun. This step by step and practice over time is the big view of dhyana it is taking multiple things into consideration. The poses we will be working with aren’t easy they take time, and practice. At the same time if we are going to be playing on our hands we need to be VERY VERY careful and diligent with alignment. When we weight bare on bones with good alignment it is very beneficial and actually strengthens the bones. However if we weight bare on bones with bad alignment it causes des-stress to the bones. And when this happens on the hands/ at the foundation it travels up the body. So if we are in alignment with our hands it strengthens the wrights, forearms, elbow, biceps, triceps, and shoulders. When we weight bare on our hands out of alignment we harm our writs, elbow, shoulders….

One point of this laser focus, of hitting the bindu is going to be on the foundation of the hands, really making sure that all four corners of the hands are planted (mound under the index finger, inner heal of the hand, mound under pink finger, outer heel of hand, and then clawing the earth with the finger tips). (I find in my own practice I struggle the most with the mound under the index finger, I need to use focused attention so that mound stays grounded). It is especially important to have good foundation of the hands when we are doing multiple, multiple, multiple, hand balances.

(I always like to take what we do on the matt and apply to life off the mat. I think that is what makes yoga so wonderful is that it is more than an activity but that it touches every aspect of our life. Normally when I teach a class I have a theme like the one I have above and a brief idea of the connection but the full connection comes live as I teach (so mind that this isn’t fully developed). I wanted to take about how our life is made up of multiple steps and of the big picture. There are steps in our life that we have to do, like shower, brush our teeth, go to school/work, be compassionate to one another…But we can at the same time within doing all these things we have to do, there is still the bindu. There is a mark that we are trying to hit, a goal, something we are working for. The ability to take in our daily life, living up to our responsibilities, yet still working toward the mark the point the bindu. That’s the idea.)

The sequence (idea):

Personal warm up (10 mins)
Invocation 3X
Tadasana (I wanted to talk about hand foundation with a cool carpel tunnel experiment to have students understand the importance of good foundation)
Surya A 7X
DD, plank (focus..Kidney loop), push up 5x (don’t forget about hand foundation)
Childs -> table->foundation of hands (wrist crease parallel, 4 corners, outer shoulder to center of wrist…)
Uttanasana-> ardha uttanasana 3X
high runner lunge, hands to knee, kidney loop, reach
½ hanumanasa
AMS->wild dog (keep foundation of hands)
Parsvakonasana
Ardha chandrasana->vira 2
AMS practice jumping
• Straight legs (imagine your sequencing a piece of paper, perhaps it says “your awesome”, keep squeezing feet (hugging midline) as you hop keep legs straight remember shoulder loop)
• Continue squencing feet this time hop shoulder over wrist and suck knees into your belly a few time
• Repeat step above but hover in handstand with knees pulled into belly
Move to wall
• Hand stand (AMV) at wall, hands about 2 inches away from wall
• Once up push back of head against wall (skull loop) and push bum against wall. Then open legs wide and lower feet down to about hip level and then back up. Repeat several times
• A step further is to lower the feet wide and as close to the ground as possible and then back up. You have to really work kidney loop, pulling the waist line back for this.
• Forearm balance (use wall if needed)
Hero pose. Pause. Root femur bones. Close eyes and breathe. “listen to your breath, attune to your breath. Feel that your breath is important. Feel that this practice, what you are doing on the matt is important. You came here, you showed up. THIS IS IMPORTANT)
• Head stand with forearms down hands clasped with toe touches. Legs together (imagine squeezing paper between feet keep legs straight…lower toes touch…lift)
Childs..Pernam
Tadasana
Tree
Tree while balancing on block
Utthita pada B
Utthita pada B on block (move groins back, inner spiral)
AMS (Down Dog)
Side plank
Side plank with extended leg
Low lunge with forearms on ground -> high runners lunge, shoulder under thigh, hug mid line, straighten arms
High runners lunge->arm under thigh->extend leg->high runner lunge->Parsvakonasana bound->bound ardha chandrasana ->bird of paradise
Uttanasana->titibasana prep->variation between malansana and vistvamitrasana
Bujipidasana->titibasana
Wide leg standing forward fold-> optional tripod headstand with wide leg toes touches
Malasana wrist stretches
Forearm crow
Crow
Pigeon
Ashtavakrasna
……..
Wide leg seated forward fold, side stretch, and forward fold
……

I hadn’t finished formulating the sequence when I realized I was too sick to teach. However I really wanted to share. I am not one to teach a class or theme twice it loses its energy and I out so much though and was so excited by the sequence idea and theme that I didn’t want to lose it completely so I thought I would share

Day of Silence & the 3 A’s of Anusara

I have had a sore throat and a runny nose for the past few days and it all culminated today. I can’t talk. I can move my mouth but no sound came out. Last night I was getting a little anger about this. I wanted to talk, I knew I had class to teach and I didn’t want my sore throat to prevent me from being able to teach my class. I then paused and realized that having a soar throat and not being able to talk was the reality of my situation. I was actively misaligning with the situation which was not resulting in the attitude that I wanted. So as I paused I acknowledged that I couldn’t talk, that my throat really hurt and I decided to accept it. I found a sub (thank you Merissa and Obet) and instead when to Divas coffee shop and did some homework. If you haven’t been to Divas it is a beautiful coffee, tea, and café with a beautiful green house full of trees and a gentle fountain. It is a very peaceful place to work in silence. After enjoying some tea and finishing up some assignments I made a few phone calls and as I talked (or tried to at least) I relized it was the first time I had spoken. I then went back to the house looked over some books I have been reading, started thinking of my plan for leading the practice tomorrow night at the yoga center.

I am thinking about talking about how the practice takes time, its multiple steps and consistent practice that leads us into the ability to do some fun poses. I also want to talk about how yoga the practice of yoga allows us to know our self more fully. Sometimes as we discover more about are self the experience is pleasant and enjoyable and sometimes we rub up onto uncomfortable parts of our self. Through the practice we are given the possibility to know are self more. Each pose and each breath and each step we take in the practice is an opportunity to know our self more, to express our self more, to celebrate our self. I also want to talk about how the practice is important, how what we do on the mat and what it does internally for us is important. These are all just thoughts and hopefully by tomorrow night they will come together and come out of my mouth in a nice theme which will be linked through the whole class.

Anyways…Tyler and I then went to the front to go bouldering which was super fun I was able to do some problems that I couldn’t before. All of this was in silence. Tyler and I exchanged glances and high fives. The silence of the day was wonderful. In the beginning of the day I felt like I had all these things I wanted to say and was frustrated that I couldn’t communicate them. But as I continued to align with the soar throat it became a gift. The ability to not talk was a great opportunity for me to reflect of some life ideas I have been pondering as well as enjoy the silence of myself.

It was a really nice day of silence and reflection where I got lots of stuff (homework, reading, thinking, climbing, meditating, dog walking…) done. It continues to amaze me that when we align with the reality or the situation we are presented with and act accordingly it helps cultivate the attitude of love, compassion, and bliss. When we align it feels like the universe is working with us instead of fighting against us. “Align with your heart”.
I am hoping to have my voice back by tomorrow night to lead the practice at the yoga center 540-740 :)