Shoulder Work + Self Love for Vday

My ruff notes from this mornings class at Metric yoga:

'Tis the week of LOVE. With valentines day being on Friday. This holiday has become very commercialized with all of the focus on your relationship (or lack there of) between you and your significant other. However I like to use valentines day as a reminder to look at all of the relationships you are in. The practice of yoga asana is a great opportunity for you to look at the relationship you have with your body and with your Self. I was talking wrh my husband the other day and we were discussing qualities that make up a good relationship. Some we said were awareness, acceptance and appreciation. Let's apply this to Anusara yoga and the work we do on the mat. First you have to be aware what's going on. Are you in a good relationship or a less then awesome relationship with your self? What is really good and what needs work? Where are your strengths and weaknesses? Based on what your awareness tells you, you implement changes. This could be something like spreading your pinky toes because your knee hurts or drawing your arm bones back because you get headaches a lot. Then you need to appreciate the heck out of yourself because no matter what is going on at your core you are spectacular and nothing can make that not so. However we can enhance our relationship with our rocking self. Lastly accept that we will not ever be perfect. And if we are waiting until the day we are perfect to fully love ourself then that will never come. One thing I dig about Anusara yoga is that there is always refinements. Give me the best yogi in the world and I will give her/him a refinement. This is because we are never perfect.

Principle of emphasis: shoulder loop. Focusing on moving collarbones, arm bones, scapulas back and pressing heart forward (melting heart)

Standing L hands on wall 3x
Strap in hands urdhva hastasana lower strap behind without bending elbows pausing at the sticky parts cone back up shorten hands on strap and lower again.
Wide leg forward fold clasp hands strap
Handstand timed 2x to warm up shoulders
Utt slide to the side (make space ad widen opst direction you slide)
L.l quad stretch
Shalabasana hands behind head
Anjaneyasana clasp hands behind head curl head into hands lift heart then stretch arms
Shalabasana hands behind head
L clasp hands behind head. Curl then stretch -vinyasa
Dolphine (sbl, mh) shoulders vertical
Pincha manyurasana lift head look forward melt heart
Child's fulancy to curve in spine. The capacity to open up the thorastic spine so we can open or heart
Danurasana 2x
Bridge.2x Use head pressing down (collar bones, arm ones, scapulas press down to lift heart)
Urdhva danurasana 2x wall (if you experience pain in low back lift heels inner spiral thighs scope tail bone lower heels back down)
Hanumanasana
Root femur bones

A better world

I like to think when I practice yoga I make the world a better place. Because after practicing yoga I act that much nicer to those around me and I like to contemplate how that sweetness ripples throughout the world in a positive way. 

 "entering the Heart is like coming into the centre of the sun. There is no more you; there is nothing except the iridescent force of that light. When you are in the centre of the sun, there is no way to block its light. It streams through you and around you. So by entering your own Heart, you make the whole world a better paradise." GURUMAYI CHIDVILASANANDA

So next time you are debating if you should practice yoga think: do I want to make the works a better place. If the answer is yes get yourself to yoga :)

Choose To Make More Beauty

Being on modified bed rest has been a great opportunity (looking for the good) to go through old yoga notes. Yesterday I was reading my notes from the Anusara-Inspired teachers gathering in Tahoe during Wanderlust, during it John Friend said, “Every day we get to choose to make more beauty, to make more light, to bring more love into the world, or not”. This really stood out to me. We have a choice! Meaning we can choose to bring more beauty + light + love into the world or we can choose to bring more ugliness + darkness + hate into the world. I hadn't thought about the flip slide of this before. I just thought laa dee daa I am bringing more beauty into the world. I didn't think that all those times I don't feel good, don't hold the door open for someone, flip someone off driving, make rude judgemental mental comments in my head at the market, gossip with friends about someone, be in self pity, or just leave the house in a bad mood. In all those examples I am choosing to negatively impact the world we live in and share.

This made me think about emissions. We are all emitting energy all the time, it is often called our aura or the energy field that surrounds our body. Think about what it feels like to be physically close to someone who is happy and how it makes you feel to just being near them. Now imagine what it would feel like if that person was sad, or angry. The energy they are emitting and you are experiencing just from being in their field is drastically different. In this way just by choosing our attitude we are choosing to either add more love + joy + enthusiasm to the world or we are choosing to add more  hate + sadness + angry to the world. (Not to say we should never experience these feelings it is healthy to experience the full spectrum of emotions but not healthy to stew in it... another topic for another post.)

When I think of things that emit in a way that brings more beauty and love into the world I think of the sun, artists, flowers, happy dogs, color full leaves, rainbows... when I think of things that pollute the world I think of smoke stacks, cars, oil spills, garbage, cigarette smoke.... Which do you want to be? I want to be a bright flower that makes people smile + feel better.

WHAT ARE YOU EMITTING?

 OR...

This simple yet profound teaching has struck a chord in my heart and now I am so much more aware every time I open my mouth to speak (or sometimes too late, and I notice it after I have already spoken...change comes at first with awareness).  I am a big fan of the gratitude practices, of writing in my journal, often at night, a list of things I am grateful for. I do this especially when I am feeling sorry for myself. Well I am starting a new practice! A Shri (beauty) practice! I write down how I added beauty + light + love to the word for the day. It has been making me feel really good to look at the list and brings happiness to my heart as participate in creating a happy earth for all. I invite each of you to become more conscious of the ways that you contribute more beauty to the world each day.

Look, touch, speak, and breathe beauty!

Definitions:
E·mits: To give or send out (matter or energy).
pol·lu·tion: The presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects.

Inner Spiral Class + Gratitude

I had a request for expanding (inner) spiral for my class at Sugar Space.

Principle of emphasis: muscle energy, inner spiral, outer spiral
Inner spiral is a rotation that happens on the vertical plane that creates an expansion on the horizontal plane. In Anusara we incorporate heart qualities and feelings into the alignment based practice.  In the beginning of today's class I encouraged my students to reflect on three blessings in their life for which they are grateful. So as they experience the expansion and widening that is created from the action of inner spiral they can fill themselves with the feeling of gratitude. At the end of the class I had them again think of three blessings either the same or new whatever came to mind first and I asked them to add themselves to the list. It was a great class. I had 2 students that were new to me and one of my students had a birthday so she demoed + rocked a handstand and we sang her happy birthday.

Dd-utt-urdhva hastasana-dd-vinyasa (lift one leg inner spiral pinkie toe to floor repeat)-cobra
Through utt:
High runners lunge- parsvot
High runners lung twist
Anjaneyasana
L.L twist quad
L.L quad - half hanumanasana
Pigeon (Inner Spiral to square off hips)
1/2 hanuman twist- twisted trik variation [block]
Anjaneyasana
W1
Handstands at [wall]
W3- twisted W3 foot on [wall]- s.s
Partner S.S - handstand
Twisted trik at [wall]
Twisted trik
Virasana/Supta Virasana
Hanumanasana
Partner janusirsasana [strap]
symmetrical pose
Shavasana

Poerty how I LOVE thee

I love using poems in my yoga class time to time.  In Anusara Yoga all classes have a theme, antidote, heart quality, and an alignment principle of emphasis. Brilliant poetry that speaks to my heart inspires me to weave all these elements together. I don’t use poems all the time, I think they can become over used and I try to use them sparingly so they stay extra delicious and not something that is expected.

Some of my favorite poetry books:

·         Your Other Names, by Tara Sophia Mohr

·         The Gift, Hafiz (I like the translation by Daniel Ladinsky)

·         The Essential Rumi, Rumi

·         The Prophet, Khalil Gibran

·         How We Became Human, Joy Hario

·         Why I Wake Early, Mary Oliver

·         The Leaf and the Cloud, Mary Oliver

·         Love Poems, Pablo Neruda

Meditate on the pathway between the heart center and head

This meditation it to bring you into the midline of yourself, focusing on the pathway between the heart and the center of the head.
Start by chanting AUM making out each syllable: AHhhh- resonates in center of heart, Uuuuuu- resonates in your throat, MMmm- resonates in the third eye center above the soft palate of the mouth. Repeat the sound A.U.M until you can feel this pathway well I will normally chant 10-15 times.

Then tune your awareness to your breath. With your inhale breathe down into the heart behind the breastbone and with your exhale breathe up the throat into the third eye center, just above the soft palate, between the ears. On the inhale breathe down into the heart  and on the exhale flow up into the ajna chakra of the third eye.  Keep your awareness and your breath in this subtle channel that runs between your heart and the third eye. With the inhalation as the breath comes down into the heart have the thought “I AM” a decollation of being! Feel that resonance dropping into the heart  and with the exhalation let the " I AM" resonate in the third eye center. In this act of pratyahara (focus) follow the breath with the thought I Am into the heart and up into the third eye space.

 

Notice any place in your body that feels tight and let part of your awareness go there (keeping the rest of your awarness of this inner pathway). Let your breath release any tightness that you find arising. Notice any thoughts, any feelings that are coming up. Just note them with the recognition “thought”. Let your attention continue to flow inside the inner body keeping the breath moving on that string of from the center of heart to middle of head and notice that as you do this there is a restful inner feeling that you can maintain as you follow the string of the breath.

One of my Favorite sutra's comes from a classic Kashmir Shaivism book translated as The Heart of The Doctrine of Self Recognition: “by unfolding the center the bliss of the highest consciousness is attained”.

 

Chit! Ananda! Chit means intelligence and knowledge and Ananda means joyfulness and bliss. This sutra tells us that by focusing on the inner channel (shushumna nadi) we can tap into these feelings. The meditation I described above is focused on one segment the center channel. I like focusing on this part of the channel that links my heart to my head brain. I find my attention can easily hold this midline and I can access this blissful awareness pretty easily.

What Seperates Us Connects Us

http://www.skillstat.com/heartscape/chambers.htm

I took a wonderful class from Adam Ballenger this morning. He used an example of an anatomical heart, talking about the walls that separate the heart into four chambers (right atrium, right ventricle, left atrium, left ventricle). He pointed out that these wall that separate also connect these chambers together.

http://www.things-to-make-and-do.co.uk/fabric-and-sewing/

I liked this example of how what separates also connects. I thought about patches sewn together. The stitching does separate the two patches but it also connects the patches together.

I once heard John Friend talk about how it is normal for us to look around and see what separates us from others. That is a stage in child development, being able to see what is different from me and you. See that person is black, that person is tall, that person is male, that person is has an accent... These things also connect us too. We all have a color, we all have a size, we all have a sex, we all make speak.

Yoga can be defined as union.

Separation Connection

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/

Holiday Present

Here is my holiday present to you! (Possibly a present you can give to others) I hope if helps you find different ways to connect back to you heart on your path. 

Here is a list of main heartfelt qualities/ intentions that we want to cultivate in our self and our students. (I got this list from The Anusara Yoga teacher Training Manual)
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Kindness Playfulness Joy Non-clinging

Spaciousness Gratitude Yield Devotion

Discrimination Willpower Compassion Steadfastness

Courage Patience Contentment Sensitivity

Endurance Resilience Gentleness Concentration

Mindfulness Surrender Humility Softness

Acceptance Enthusiasm Forbearance Love

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Use these intentions to connect more fully with your heart. They are heart-based feelings that can provide guidance.

Enjoy and many smiles to you,

Kimberly Achelis Hoggan-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copy these words into a word document and insert a table around them (so you get nice squares, couldnt ge the format to work in blogger) print these out on thick colorful pieces of paper, cut out the words and put them in a cute little sack along with the instruction card. This is my gift to you since I can give you one in person. They also make great mindful presents to hand out to others during the holidays.

 

I keep mine in a little box on my alter and draw a card almost daily.

 

Many blessing, lots of love and smiles
Ho Ho Ho
Kim

Gratitude

Its thanksgiving week so I have been cultivating, thinking, talking, and teaching about Gratitude. I taught a few classes focusing on an aspect of first principle, side bodies long. Having long side bodies gives us more room to fill our self with thanks (and thanksgiving food). We also did some refinement work in the shoulders. One thing I often see is when students lengthen their sides they also take the shoulders up toward the base of the head. This fires the upper trap muscles and adds to stress and tension. We worked on keeping the side bodies long while keeping the neck long, cultivating and holding our self full of gratitude while not adding more stress to our life.

The Velour Music Group and WAnderlust Festival sent an email out that included statements from some of my favorite teachers sharing their thoughts on Gratitude. It was such a pleasure to read I wanted to share:

"When I count my blessings over the last year I always consider who and what helped me to know myself more clearly, including that which has helped me to see my shadow because it empowers me to more effectively transform myself. Even some of the painful events of the year can be seen as gateways to connect to the very essence of my heart. I see all of these as blessings, as the revelatory power of Grace, as the principle of the Guru. I give thanks to all of my teachers, to my students, to the full spectrum of my friends, and also to the challenging people in my life."John Friend

"Gratitude is a state of being. When I'm in the state of gratitude, I'm in my heart, I'm focused, I'm open, and ready for everything. I'm able to give so much more of my listening and my attention, and I feel heard and received. When I'm grateful, I feel connected to myself, my kid and especially my parents. Plus Dr. Emoto has proven that the sentiments of Gratitude and Love together create the most symmetrical and beautiful water molecules(!). Consistent levels of gratitude might be my proudest feat this year." Elena Brower

"Gratitude is one of the greatest healing emotions for bringing your brainwaves and heart rhythms into unison. It can melt the toughest situations and heighten the ordinary moments to profound realization. Gratitude opens the chambers of our heart so we can really feel while we are alive - our beloved, our kids, friends, each morsel, where we rest our head, the beauty, the transforming difficulties, our teacher's grace. The passing moment is the soil of gratitude that helps us wake up and appreciate what we have now before it is gone. That is why Thanksgiving is such a favorite holiday. As the earth goes into its fertile retreat, let us take time to remember, celebrate and taste the core of all that we love." Shiva Rea

"I'm grateful for all the ways that my yoga practice continues to inspire and amaze me. The global yoga community is a growing presence of peace on the planet, I give thanks every day for all the yogis, students, teachers, artists and musicians who are helping to usher in this emerging renaissance of Love and Spiritual Understanding. Peace." MC Yogi

Courageous

I just stumbled upon this flyer of a workshop I taught last year at Lifted Life Yoga Center in Alpine, Utah. I love finding something that reminds me of a past moment. Looking at this flyer, remembering the theme of the class reminds me where I was last year. I was so trying to life from the center of my heart, to cultivate qualities of strength, openness, joy and love while letting go of all the “stuff” that prevents me from being heart centered. It took me 5 years to get to that place last year where I could say intellectually understand the qualities I needed to cultivate and the qualities that got in my way. But now through hard work, pain and a lot of growth I now feel more deeply rooted in myself and in the flow of Shakti staying open, courageous and aware.

This flyer also reminded me of the studio owners of Lifted Life where I taught this courageous flow work. Linda is taking the immersion with me. How awesome! One of my favorite things about yoga trainings is that I always make the most wonderful bonds with my fellow students. I am very excited to get to know Linda more and the other wonderful yogi’s and yogini’s in the Anusara immersion.

Courageous Workshop
led by Kimberly Achelis Hoggan

Date: Saturday, March 6 2010
Price: 15$ in advance 20$ drop in
Time: 10:30am-12:30pm
Location: Lifted Life Yoga Center
60 W main street court Alpine, UT 84004
Register: in person, or call 801-492-3689
Level: all level welcome with modifications for the beginner or advanced practitioner

Courage comes from the French word that translates to: live in your heart. In this workshop we will cultivate qualities to help us better live from the center of our heart (strength, openness, joy, love..) as we let go of the qualities that prevent us from being heart centered (fear, anger, tension, stress..) We will explore opening our hips, shoulder, and heart as we flow dynamically while focusing on alignment, as if we were a child playing on a playground. This workshop will be lighthearted, and filled with smiles.

Yoga= invitation to unite Body Mind Heart

I have been looking at parts of myself that do not seem delightful and I have noticed that the areas I run into pain are conncted to my emotions/feelings coming from my heart as well as my habbits/behaviors that are and associated with my mind. There seems to be areas that do not line up and when my heart and mind are not moving toward harmony life does not feel as good as it could. That is the wonderful invitation of yoga which root word ‘yok’ means to join or unite. Through asana (yoga postures) we use the physical body as a way to access the mind and heart so we may better align and thus experience the pulse of Shakti more sweetly.  

reflection on a yogi tea qoute, i dont agree

Yesterday I updated my facebook status to:

‎"the purpose of life is to enjoy every moment" Yogi Tea

I kept thinking about these words throughout the day. I love the “the purpose of life is to” “every moment”. But throughout the day I kept rubbing up and finding resistance with the word enjoy. Lately I have been trying to cultivate some shifts to bring about health transformation in my life and in my spiritual practice. As I do this, I would have to say there is a lot of stuff that is coming up that I am NOT enjoying. However as I make these shifts and make little changes here and there I am able to stay more mindful and more aware of every moment.

I think this yogi tea quote would have resonated with me in the past. I think when I thought that I could ENJOY every moment what I was really doing is not being mindful almost numbing myself out to the moments that were not enjoyable. I have learned that some moments are full of incredible sadness, hurt, frustration, fear, loneliness, tiered, and confusion. The key is to not put these in a box and push them away so that you can enjoy every moment. It is about being aware, present and mindful during every moment. So no matter what is happening whether it is ecstatic joy, deep pain or somewhere in the middle, When we are present to the emotion that is present, and allowing that emotion to deepen your relationship with yourself and others… that is the purpose of life!

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 :)

yoga= skill + action. Dont just react choose how to respond!

One thing that was reaffirmed for me over the weekend with john friend was the power of yoga. That what we do on that mat can help us make huge shifts in our life. Our practice can help shift our perspective and gives us tools to not just react and fall into our habits/addictions but instead to choose how we will respond. Yoga helps us make these shifts by fostering awareness, intention, and skill.
We all have tendencies. We all are inclined to react to situations in certain ways. Just think how you react when a car cuts you off…Our reactions are our tendencies which become habits that can become addictions. For example, when you get sad your reaction is to have a cigarette. This reaction soon becomes a habit and the more you do this habit the more likely it is it will turn into an addition. If we cultivate awareness we can notice our tendencies. We can begin to observe that when we get sad our tendency is to have a cigarette. But instead of reacting and going with our tendency we can skillfully choose how we want to respond which can reinforce our intention. Maybe skillful intervention includes taking deep breathes, reciting mantra, going on a walk, journaling...
What is important is that we don’t just throw away the habit; instead we shift the energy so we can turn it into something productive that helps up lift us. That helps make us a better person. Our tendencies are based off a reaction that was triggered by an emotion, which was a reaction to some stimuli. Our tendencies are triggered from these reactions, smoking a cigarette was just one example other include alcohol, over eating, under eating, taking out your emotion out on someone else, self pity/hatred, gambling… The main negative emotions that trigger these tendencies include sadness (I am not good enough), anger (you are different then me) and fear (I want to control everything, and I am afraid of loss). The more we cultivate our awareness the more we will be able to notice when something triggers one of these emotions and then we can start to notice what tendesnisies we have based off these emotions. If we can witness these emotions and learn how to be with them we can shift them with our skill and our intention. Yoga gives us the skills to choose how we respond instead of reacting out of instinct, habit, or addition. When we choose how we respond we can shape our life and use our actions to make us a better person, more generous, more patient, more companionate, more stable, more uplifting, more calm, more grounded….

We can start building our ability to notice our inical reactions and tendencies in our yoga asana practice. What happens when you come into a pose that you are awesome at? What happens in a pose you can’t do the full expression of? What happens in warrior two? What happens in pigeon? What happens when you hold a forward fold for a longer time? If we start to notice the feelings that arise in a pose for example anger, fear, sadness. Then we can begin to follow that emotion and see what tendency it trigger, drifting off with thought so you don’t have to be with it, or facing fire with fire and trying to dominate the pose, telling yourself you suck. When we notice this we can instead of reacting out of our tendency we can choose a different way (love, patience acceptance and compassion). One that helps us shift our life for the better. Our yoga practice allows space for “rocking shits in our self and everyone around us” (JF)
Look at your tendencies:
• Where do you tend to physically place yourself in a yoga room?
• Where does your mind tend to go in each pose?
• How do you tend to react when someone cuts you off in traffic?
• How do you tend to feel when someone says something nice about you?
• What is you reaction when someone you love yells at you?

Highlights from my diary

(recently moved into a new apartment with no internet yet, so blog posts might be less frequent till I get connected)

I just got back from The Uncle Uncanny’s Music Festival. It was a wonderful experience full of shri (beauty) and Lila (play). I danced to music, made new friends, played/ got stung by a bee, taught yoga, hula hooped, reiki, swam in a river, smelled the earth, smelled flowers, watched the sky….
Once I returned home to my new apartment I arranged my books on my bookshelf and came across my journal from a few months back, that I had temporarily packed. I looked through some of my entries and thought I would briefly share (these are just highlights from some of the topics I have been studying, if one interests you leave a comment and I would love to elaborate more fully.)

1. Yoga Sutras 2:3 discusses the 5 Kleshas (pains/blockages to spirit)
a. Avidya: ignorance (a =not, vidya=truth) associated with tamas
Asmita: “I-ness” “ego” a false sense of self. The person you think you are is not the person others think you to be. Makes it hard to learn from karma.
Raga: attachment. It’s not nessisarily your physical possession of something it is that things possession of you. Attachment of the mind (I find this kleshas fascinating, it is very interesting to observe)
Dvesa: repulsion, fear of the new/unusual/different (closed minded, judgmental)
Abhinivesah: fear of loss, clinging to one’s life

Thinking of maya reminds me of the freedom we have in our life. I heard Douglas Brooks say (roughly) its great we have freedom! The problem is everyone else has freedom too. This freedom allows us to fully enjoy life and choose our perspectives. We can choose to be negative; we can choose to pick at everything, point out and notice the bad. We can choose to see the darkest side of every situation. I think most people choose these perspectives because it is easy, it is easy to notice the bad. We also are free to choose another perspective. We can choose to be positive, we can choose to see the goodness in life we can even choose to see that everything in its essence is imbedded with goodness, everything is intrinsically good. We can choose to look at the brightest side of every situation.
Question: How can we use the kleshas to see the beauty and goodness in life?

2. The 3 A’s of Anusara yoga and Karma, Jnana, Bhakti...

a. I have been re reading the Bhagavad Gita and reading other translations (which is always fascinating to look at someone else’s perspectives). I think Krishna’s main teachings in The Gita are the Three Ways to “God”. Krishna tells Arjuna that you can connect with the heart and with God through Karma (action), Jnana (knowledge), and Bhakti (devotion). What I love to much about Anusara yoga is that it offers an invitation not to pick one of these ways to know and connect more fully with your heart, but Anusara yoga is an invitation to practice all three of these ways at once, we call these the 3 A’s of Anusara yoga. The three A’s and how they relate to the three forms of yoga:
• Attitude (the Will to be, know and to do)= Bhakti
Alignment (knowing the Will) = Jnana
Action (manifesting the Will) = Karma

3. The Highest purpse of Anusara Yoga
a. CHIT: Self-Knowledge to know oneself
b. SHIVA: Awakening, recognition, remembrance, self-realization, enlightenment
c. ANANDA: Creative expression, to enjoy the freedom of being
d. SHAKTI: Make beauty, serve the increased joy of the whole, exulting in the Goodness, celebration, flowing with the heart

4. Pranayama is formed by two Sanskrit words. Prana= Life force energy, Yama= The control of. Pranayama is really cool because when we use and control our breath we can conrol our life force energy.

a. These are five main movements of Prana:
• Prana: rising in-drawing energy, from foundation and extending up
• Apana: downward rooting energy, rooting into foundation
• Samana: contracts to the core, hugging into the midline
• Udana: Rises and moved outward, extending out from midlife, organic energy

b. These five movements of Prana underlie every movement we see around us. Everything is an extension of Prana…The way we move, a tree grows, a car moves, the planets swirl, our heart beats… Prana this vital life force energy is marvelous because it is the fabric of everything. It is like the oneness we can merge and experience our self with. Through the experience and control of our breath we can begin to experience our pranic body. This experience opens us up to something bigger. First principle.

c. “All that exists in the three heavens rests in the control of Prana. As a mother her children, oh Prana, protect us and give us splendor and wisdom” Prashna Upanishad 2.13

how are you feeling? How can we move toward the sattvic spot

I took Matt Newman’s Anusara-Inspired class last night which was the first class he taught (I believe) since he got back from Wanderlust. He was on fire and the class was full of great presence, pulsation, clarity, passion and some laughter. One thing I especially loved was how he started the class. He had us come to our mats close our eyes and noticed how we feel. He even said (in my ruff translation) that this isn’t the same as when someone asks you how you are doing, and you respond automatically saying good or okay. He asked us to really notice how we are feeling with compassionate non-judgmental awareness. This was a great way to start class, giving us an opportunity to not only tap into the heart but to listen to the authenticity that is there. Thanks Matt, I will be borrowing this approach. Our awareness is so awesome because it is like a huge bowl and can hold whatever we put in it be it anger, jealousy, greed, self pity, love, excitement. When Matt or a teacher encourages us to put into our awareness whatever we may be feeling we can be comforted knowing that our awareness can hold it, and our attention can help shift it, expand it, and learn from it.


It is important to check in and notice how we feel, because if we don’t know how we feel/or where we are we can’t get to how we want to feel/where we want to be going. I like to use this metaphor of being in a canoe or a raft (I did just get back from a rafting trip). We are all in our little individual boats in the middle of this vast ocean called life and we are trying to get to this specific spot. I call this spot the sattvic spot. Sattva is one of the three gunas (qualities of nature) that is a state of harmony, beauty, vitality, ease, joy and intelligence…We are all trying to get our boats toward this place, toward this experience. In our boat we have some paddles. We have the freedom to choose to move our boat toward or away from this sattvic spot. Sometimes we get closer toward this spot passively; it’s the currents and the winds that with a sense of ease move us closer with little effort on our part. It just seems like good things keep happening. Sometimes it is really hard and requires a lot of effort, dedication and we have to row our ass off to move more toward sattvic. Same goes for moving away from this sattvic experience. We can move away passively and sometimes we even pick up our paddles and we put effort into rowing away from this harmonious experience/spot.

In this ocean there are also waves that rock our boat. Patanjali says in his second sutra of The Yoga Sutras "Yoga chitta vrtti nirodah" the traditional dual translates is "Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind." I like to look at this sutra with the non-daul, life affirming point tantric point of view. No matter what we are doing in our boat, what direction we are going, we are going to experience some waves (vrtti). I purpose that instead of trying to stop them, can we instead lean how can we ride these waves? How can we use these waves as an opportunity to move closer toward the heart, toward this sattvic spot/experience? I think one of the ways to do this is by authentically listening to our heart and noticing where we are. This applies on and off your mat. On our mat, ask your self, is taking full expression of ardha chandrasana helping me experience more radiance or will having my hand on my hip allow me to access and express my inner beauty more fully?

How can we allow every breath, every adjustment as a way to align with our heart more fully so we may paddle ourself and ride the currents of grace toward this sattvic spot in the ocean we are floating on 

Theme: listen to your heart and your breath and use what comes up as a map to help you enjoy a more sattvic experience.

Sequence idea:
AMS, UTT, tadasana
Surya A 5x
High runner lunge
Parsvakonasana
Ardha chandrasana, vira 2, ostrich
Vasisthasana
Prasarita padottanasana
Scandasana

Virrasana (hands on head skull loop, organic extension)
Sirsasana
Childs
Pinca mayurasana

Anjaneyasana + quad stretch
Pigeon + quad stretch + mermaid
Matsyendrasana/ Setu Bandha
Double pigeon
Upavist konasana
Parvrta upavista konasana
Baddha konasana
Shavasana

about the two classes I taught today, and the bilboard add I saw on the way home

I taught two classes today:
My first class at flow EMC 9:15-10:30 we worked on cultivating qualities of perseverance, acceptance, and patience. We did lots of forward folds (remember forward folds are any pose in which the hip is flexed forward, so we did lots of deep standing poses), and some fun arm balances including playing with linking different bakasana poses.

My afternoon class at Kula 12-1 we talked about how the studio is going through some shifts, and how this shift provides an opportunity for us to look for the good. I used a pretty funny metaphor about a TV antenna and how we can use our asana practice as a way to adjust our antenna so the goodness/bliss “channel” comes in really clear. Haha we did some hip opening and back bends. I kept encouraging the students to soften their eyes and become sensitive to the way they feel inside. Becoming so sensitive that they can be aware of the inner goodness that is within them.

As I was driving home I saw a billboard Coke add, that read “open happiness” (I couldnt find the same billboard add I saw but here are two that provide the same message):


The society we live in which is based off of corporations and consumerism tells us over and over, that we are missing something. We are lacking something (their product)., and until we get it (their product) we cant be happy. This leaves us to think that we always need to be seeking something external from our self in order to feel full, and feel happy.

Here are just some of the things society is trying to sell us with the promise that it will make us happy:
•Beer
•Weigh loss
•Make up
•Cigarettes
•Soda
•Candy
•Plastic surgery
•Tampons
•clothes
•…….
Those anti-smoking commercials are correct when they say “You are a target for Big Tobacco”. But it isn’t just big tobacco, we are a target everywhere because we are surrounded by signs, commercials, magazines….that are telling us that we are not ENOUGH.
This is one thing I love about yoga. When we practice yoga asana, when we step onto our mat it is us saying that instead of seeking happiness from outside, I am going to go within and REMEMBER that inside of me is all the happiness, bliss, and peace I could ever want. Our society and the way many people live their lives has caused us to forget. And yoga is a process of remembering our goodness, and our worth.
So the next time you see an add, that is in some way saying buy my product and you will be happy, laugh and know that you already have everything you need to make you happy inside your own heart.

this morning class I taught, and a students comment after :)

This morning’s open level class I taught at flow yoga SLC EMC was lots of fun. People have been telling me my classes have been steadily getting more challenging. I am not trying to make them harder but I am teaching the universal principles of alignment more and that does require that you are totally present and totally working the pose. (last week some called me and thanked me for teaching them to engage their muscles, and that they feel stronger and more confident now. How awesome!) This morning my husband was coming to class and he asked that is not be hard and requested some twists because his back hurts (I think it is his SI). I thought what a great opportunity to offer the universal principles in a more gentle and therapeutic way.

Theme: the muladhara chakra and the svadhistana chakra. The muladhara chakra has to do with the earth and grounding and the svadhistana has to do with fluidity, sexuality and sensitivity. We used the muladhara chakra to help us get grounded and connected to the earth, and we used the svadhistana to become sensitive to what is happening with in us. Can we be sensitive to the breath, the alignment, the prana, the quality of the mind….
Sequence included: standing poses, squats, twists, hip opening, and forward folds.
Main teaching focus: keeping the femur bones back, inner spiral and outer spiral of the legs.
Meditation/ cnetering: we started and ended the practice with pranayama and a seated mediation where we visualized the chakras.

After class a student asked “Does Anusara Yoga only draw happy people do the practice? Or is it something you cultivate..Because ever Anusara teacher I have had has been genuinely happy?”

I think the answer is: it is a combination of both. I think people who are happy enjoy the practice of Anusara yoga because the practice is a celebration of the heart and is a way of fully being present with yourself, your Shri, and your happiness.

We all have bliss in us (annamaya kosha), we all have this inner light that is real, conscious, and bliss (sat- chit- ananda) however we forget. The practice of Anusara yoga is a practice of remembering our greatness.

In Anusara yoga we learn how to move through many different kinds of poses (twists, forward bends, backbends) with different levels of challenge (easy, intermediate, advance) and as students we learn no matter what the pose, or how difficult or easy it is can we stay connected to our heart. Even if it is a pose we don’t practically like. I think this is happiness training. If we can learn to stay in the pose, stay with our self, with our breath, with an awareness of our intrinsic goodness, and with our heart. Then when we step off our mat and we go into the world whatever situations come at us (personal, work, family, global) we know how to stay with our heart. And no matter what situation we face on the mat or off the mat what matters is we recognize that life is a gift, and we are so lucky to be just where we are.