Camping for a Cause

On Saturday I taught a workshop at a fundraiser event for Girl Scouts of Utah, called camping for a cause. I have lead workshops for this cause before in the past and I always have a blast. The event is up at the girl scouts Camp Cloud Camp that is off guardsman's pass nestled between big cottonwood canyon and park city. It is so beautiful and untouched up there surrounded by wildflowers, tall trees, and many lakes. When I arrived and checked to see how many people had signed up for the workshop I was very happy to see that 22 women would be practicing with me.
I talked about community. About how great it is that they are supporting the girl scout community in this way which in large affects salt lake, Utah, and the world. We did lots of back body work as I reminded the students that the back body represents the community and the front body represents the individual self and the ego.  In my life I have faced more then one big challenge where at first I was so determined to solve this problem by myself, I didn't need any one's help. I didn't even think I should tell them I was suffering. Ultimately I asked for help and I was so shocked by how tremendously loving and supporting they were. We can practice this in our asana practice by breathing into the back body, moving into the back body (for example: taking the head back, shoulders, kidneys, thigh bones... toward the back body) These movements into the back body cultivates support and we can go deeper into the pose from this strength.

The class went really great, adjustments, jokes insights, and lovely asanas. There were multiple times through out the class where students said "wow this is the best stretch ever". We did lots of community support in the poses: supporting our neighbors hearts in tree poise so we can open our hearts and look toward ski, held hands while transitioning from stork to warrior 3, helped support neighbors in different variations of shalabasana... It was really fun lots of laughter, yet still sincere offering of heart. Practicing and/or teaching in outdoor secluded settings move me so deeply.

After finishing I was thanked by so many students, staff members, and attendees who didn't take the workshop. So much gratitude received it touched my heart. I am so grateful for the Girl Scouts of Utah, the students, and everything that allowed me to be a part of this event.

in the flow of Shakti

I am so grateful for my continued ability to follow my passion, my interest in yoga and my spiritual union with god. Since I began my love affair with yoga six years ago I have faced personal, internal, external, and spiritual challenges as well as put a lot of time, money and dedication into this ancient practice. Standing where I am today, I think back to the person I was when I did my first downward facing dog pose I am shocked at how different my life is on so many aspects Now the relationship I have with myself is of compassion, acceptance and understanding. The relationships I have with others are more meaningful and genuine. The relationship I have with the world around me and the way I step into the current of life/grace is one hundred percent different. Because of my yoga and studentship I am continuing learn how to align and flow with the sweet flow of Shakti through life’s ups and downs.

The Practicum with Arun Deva

Yesterday I went to a wonderful workshop that Arun Deva was leading at The Shiva Center. The workshop was called The Practicum: Exercises in Identifying Doshic Imbalances in Asana & Pranayama with emphasis on Marma Points. I absolutely love attending Arun’s workshops he has so much wisdom and experience and he is so good and humble when sharing it with others.

Highlights and notes: The focus of this workshop was on the doshas and how the constitutions express them self through our asana practice. We also focused on identifying doshic imbalances and ways asana and pranayama can cultivate a more sattvic experience. Lastly we worked with marma points (phenomenal!) to help adjust students.

Vata

• Movement, composed of air and space 
• Typically better at backbends at revealing
• Restless, anxious, typically hyper flexible or hyper tight
• Tends to have weak joints and crackling joints
• Cold, dry, light, mobile, ruff, subtle, clear
• Pranayama: typically better at exhaling, should focus on improving inhalation
• Pranayama: nadi shodhana
• asana practice should be: warming, held poses, balancing poses
• How to teach a vata: vata receives the most through touch. As a teacher continue to lie you hand gently on them throughout the class to help them ground and slow down.  
• What would pacify Vata is Sweet, Sour & Salty

Pitta

•   Arun shared as story from his teacher saying, if you are married to a pitta and you get the pitta angry, if you get angry you won’t win, no one can get angrier than a pitta. But pitta doesn’t know what to do with sweet, so instead give your pitta partner a hug. (I love that). Never walk away from a pitta because they won’t like that (so true)
•  Transformation, good at engaging bhanda (women need to be carefull for menstal problems), acess fire in there system
•  Typically better at forward folds at concealing
•  Focused and determined, thinks they are always right, pushes themselves really hard (maybe to point of injury), likes showing off being the star of the class, very driven.
• Pranayama: kapalbhati pranayama
• Pranayama: typically better at inhaling, should focus on improving exhalation 
• Asana practice: needs to be constantly coming back to the idea of not trying or pushing oneself to hard.
•  How to teach a pitta: be sweet and compliment them and then offer a suggestion. Example “Bonnie what a wonderful virabhadrasana, try rooting the back femur bone back a little bit more”. Another way of teaching pitta is challenge them. Example “I bet bonnie can’t maintain the foundation of the hands throughout class”.  

Kapha

• Stability
• Loss joints have joint flexibility and mobility in every direction, can exhibit beautiful postures and maintain them (padmasana).
• Carries weight in shoulders and belly (makes handstands easier (luck kaphas :))
• Inertia, problem with motivation for practice, being lazy in practice and in poses, can become addicted to certain poses that allows for laziness (balasana/child’s...), they might not have a good time in class, appear bored.
• pranayama: bhastrika pranayama
• How to teach a kapha: be a drill sergeant, they need the encouragement. Motivate them. Make them sweat.

Arun talked about the yoga sutras mentioning that only 3 of all ~195 aphorisms. The yoga sutras tell us that our asanas should be effortless, stable and the breath should be long smooth and slow throughout the whole practice. You can see how these qualities come from a harmonious cultivation of all three constitutions (vata=movement, pita=transformation, kapha=stability)

Marma points= energy points in the body that you can touch and the student will find the alignment just by these energetic touch. It is like an energetic invitation to align so you may celebrate the pose more fully.

We got the opportunity to partner up and I got to work with the beautiful and talented Stephanie Engelbrecht. Some of the marma points we used were:

• The back of the heart which helped elongate the spine
• The crown of the head which help lengthen the spine and neck
• The front of the thighs which helped root the femur bones back
• The inner thigh and outer shin which helped create stability in the lower legs and expansion up into the pelvic bowl (shins in thighs out)
• The fronts of the shoulders which was amazing at helping establish shoulder loop
• The tops of the traps which helped lengthen the neck removing addition stress and tension in the traps
• The point between the big toe and the forth toe knuckle of the foot that helped ground
• The inner and outer ankle bone that helped ground student
• The front of the knee which helped set femur bone into pelvis
• The front of the hip which helped stack the hips and root the femur bone out

The tops of the sitting bones toward the lumbar spine which helped lift sacrum in and up

I am sure they were many more and they all have names that I didn’t get a chance to write them down. But it was amazing to see how just these simple touches helped the student make these amazing alignment adjustments. So beautiful!

I have been talking a lot to people lately about how yoga is passed down from teacher to students. And the students gather around the teacher around the guru to learn and gain this knowledge. I am grateful for this opportunity I had to gather around Arun and take in his wisdom and advice.

Om Shanti!