Anusara Invocation

Check out one of my teachers from Salt Lake City Matt Newman, Co-owner of Prana Yoga. in this short video Matt teaches and translates the Anusara Invocation and then he plays his harmonium beautifully and sings this prayer.

I got a harmonium and have been practicing the SARGUM scale and the invocation. It is challenging for me to play an instrument and sing. Its like patting my head and circling a hand on my stomach. But I am loving feeling my home with these sounds. 

Refinments

Last night I took Matt Newmans class from Prana Yoga in Trolly Square, it was awesome. We talked a little about the gunas which are qualities of nature: tamas (not enough), ragas (to much), sattva (just right). We all have these gunas in us and they all very. It takes a lot of self inqury to notice where we might have to much where we might have to litte, and from this self study we can start to make refinements in ourself to create this more harmonious state of being.

At one point during the class he mentioned how none of us are perfect and we all have our “issues”, areas, or specific principles we need to work on to bring more balance to the pose. I remember when Matt would say something similar to this when I first started Anusara yoga, and although I knew my practice wasn’t perfect, I did not know what specific refinements I needed to make in order to create a more harmonious outer pose and create a more harmonious inner experience. When he said this last night (after lots of practice, dedication, and self study) I knew what my natural tendencies are so I was able to take specific refinements to create a more sattvic experience.

(The areas I am working with are side body length, taking my back bend into my upper back by rooting the tailbone more, and watching my right elbow because it has a tendency to hyper extend).

If you show up to Matt’s class for one of your first yoga classes ever and he says something like that you might think “I suck, I cant even balance in any of these poses…other people have issues…no. I cant do any of this…” Or something...

So the steps are, showing up, self observation, study, refinements = BLISS

I think we can learn how to create more ease in our life with this equation as well. At first maybe people don’t realize their life might not be in balance, because they haven’t even looked. But then once they take the time to look inside they might realize they might be experiencing a combination of ragas, and tamas and not very much sattva. Its like if you have never taken an Anusara yoga class you might not know that you have a tendency to collapse in your low back (although you might experience back pain). But once you show up on the matt and start moving around, and really feel the body, you might think hmm.. my back hurts in back bends… Then through more practice, more study, more personal awareness you will beginning to see that if you use the refinements of the principles and the loops you will beginning to see that these little adjustments create such ease in the body mind and spirit both on and off the mat.

(opps dont have time to finish off to a day of skiing!!)

Wednesday = fun day

Wednesday was a crazy day! I got a call from Matt Newman and was invited to a yoga class at his house. I was so excited. The problem was that I was to teach a class at the same time at The Yoga Center. I tried very hard to find a sub but I could not. I contacted the studio owner and I thought I would cancel my class so I could expand as a student and a teacher by attending Matts private yoga class.

After school I went and taught a class at Waterford. I teach weekly classes at Waterford for their faculty 345-445. This is one of my favorite classes. Such wonderful people and so open to whatever I offer. I have been working with this group for over a year and I truly feel that they have helped me grow into the teacher I am now. When I arrived I was a little late so I ran into the building leaving my notebook behind. I have a notebook where I outline the idea of the class along with the theme. I normally improvise off of the outline but I always, always bring it with me. It is like my saftey blanket as a yoga teacher. However today I ran into class without it. As I was running and realized I forgot my book I thought about recently certified Anusara teacher Maria Christina. She has been blogging about how she has stopped overly planning her class and instead is being present and is offering what is wanted. I thought I should do that today. When I entered the class I asked how people were doing. A few people said they had “homework neck” i.e. their neck hurt because they have been looking down to grade papers. One student came up to me and asked me to look at her chaturanga because her shoulders where hurting after a class she took previously that week. And another student asked me to go over keeping the shoulders integrated when reaching up. She said “there must be something wrong with me”. After receiving this information I thought shoulder loop, we will work on shoulder loop. This was totaly different then I planned. I don’t even know how I thought up the poses and the order but they all worked so well. We did partner work. It was so great. There were many ah ha moments for many of the students. Each student talked to me after class and expressed how much they enjoyed the class. One woman said I need this every class. It was really moving and helped me realize that I don’t need to overly plan and memorize the class I want to teach. That I have the knowledge and wisdom in me. I have practiced and studied a lot and that I can spontaneously teach what is needed in that moment.

After the class I also decided (I actually decided as I was running to Waterford) that I was going to teach my class at the yoga center. I knew Leslie (the studio owner) would be fine if I canceled. She is a wonderful woman and really wants everyone, her teachers included, to grow as yoga students. However I wanted to be responsible and dependable although I did have a feeling like no one would show up because my two regular students both told me they would be missing today. However I had four students show up. Three of which were new to me. Everyone loved the class, I think. Two of the new students where a couple, they had come to two other classes at the yoga center that week. The women had a hurt back and read my bio and thought I would be perfect. Though out class we had lots of fun, lots of laughs, after class the women pulled me aside and said this is what she had been looking for. That she REALLY APPRIACETED my personality. What a tremendous compliment. My heart melted.

GREAT DAY. TEACHING AND LIVING.

I also got a new hula hoop from my new friend Sara Bear Hogan! She is so wonderful. I love my new hoop. The colors are magnificent! It is light I can do many tricks I couldn’t do before. And it is collapsible. Please check her out. http://hoopology.weebly.com/

10 habits to avoid

I feel very fortunate to work at The Yoga Center in Utah. Wednesday 5:40-7 and Thursday 12-1. The center is owned by Anusara-Inspired teacher Leslie Salmon who is currently going through the certification process. Leslie encourages and helps her teachers to continue to study and grow. She has a lovely library that we can “check out” books from. It is so nice to have support as a student and teacher of yoga…

Anyways on Thursday I arrived early so I could do some light asana before teaching my class and instead I found myself browsing in the library. I came across: Textbook of Ayurveda, Fundamental Principles by Vasarly Lad M.A.Sc. I have been very interested in Ayurveda for the past 3+ yeas. I have taken many workshops from Arun Deva, Shiva, Andrejs Gailis…As I flipped through the textbook I came across a list “10 habits to avoid”. Seeing them all in a list was really interesting, I have heard of most of them before yet I definitely have a habit of doing many of these. This list motivated me to put more effort in creating balance in my life style. I wrote the list down and thought I would share it here.

1. Overeating
2. Eating without real hunger
3. Emotional eating
4. Drinking fruit juice or excess water or no water during a meal
5. Drinking chilled water at anytime (this one is super hard for me I love ice water but I also know the cold water puts out our digestive fire)
6. Eating when constipated or emotionally disturbed
7. Eating before 7am or after early evening
8. Eating too much heavy food or too little light food
9. Snaking on anything except fruit between meals (I hadn’t heard this one before)
10. Eating in compatible food combinations such as fruit with a meal
Very interesting.

I am so excited john friend is coming to The Shop in Park City Utah on Monday to teach immersion 3 which I will be volunteering and hopefully observing and then I am taking his intermediate/advanced workshop next weekend.

Other fun yoga happenings:

• Jen Hechti s teaching The Practice tonight at The Yoga Center 5:40-7:40 by donation
• Jen Hecht and Matt Newman are teaching The Practice tomorrow at Snowbird Cliff Spa 1-3 (could be off on the time) 20$ includes spa and pool.

Have a lovely day.

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