anusara immersion 1 part 2

So happy for my second section of Anusara immersion to start. I am learning so much about the principles of alignment, which are fabulous because they apply to every pose. in other traditions i have practice i needed to learn the alignment for each pose differently. i learned what alignment to do I virabhadrasana (warrior 1), the alignment in virabhadrasana 2 (warrior 2), Trikonasana (triangle pose), Succasana (seated position)...but in Anusara you use these five principles: open to grace, muscular energy, inner spiral, outer spiral, organic energy. and you apply these five principle in a dynamic way to every pose. Then there are more refinements that include the seven loops and shins in thighs out...it is fabulous...My practice, my teaching, and my life is changing. I am so grateful for learning this wonderful practice of Anusara. I am learning to CHOOSE to align with grace, with Shri (beauty) and with the divine. This makes my happier, my mind calmer, and my relationships better.

Anusara Immersion #1 part 1

What an amazing weekend.
This weekend I took the first part of the Anusara immersion from Adam Ballenger, the owner of Kula studio. I learned so much. Its funny, I would say for the past 8 months I have been practicing Anusara yoga daily, and reading about the principles, watching the John Friend teacher training DVDs and I actually thought that I was getting a grasp on this wonderfully full and amazing system of yoga. Then I took the immersion, I smile and I realize how little I know and how much there is to learn. I feel humbled and empowered to learn more, study more, and practice more. I know this past weekend was just a tiny taste of what Anusara has to offer…and I am salivating.

Whenever I have free time I find myself drawn to my matt. Haha, instead of finishing my many finale projects and papers and studying, as school is wrapping up :)(although I am studying), I can’t help but want to practice all I have learned…my foundation of hands and feet, opening to grace, all the loops. Now I am very aware that I rely on hyper extending my knees (not doing shin loop) in most of my advanced poses, again so humbling. I love that this humbling experience doesn’t make me want to cry and hide under my bed sheets, but instead it is a motivation to keep practicing.

It’s funny how I found Anusara after practicing and teaching more Iyengar vinyasa flow for many years. When I started doing Anusara I was always thinking “how can I take these wonderful principles of alignment and flow with them”. But now the more I learn (and this might change my flowy friends, no worries) the more I enjoy holding in the asansa going over my new mantra…open to grace (foundation, inner body bright), muscular energy (hug muscles to bones, periphery to midline, periphery through core lines to focal point), inner spiral (expanding), outer spiral (narrowing), organic energy (shining out from focal point along core lines and out through periphery, expanding away from midline, and shining out through skin), loops (ankles back, tops of shins forward, top of thighs back, scoop tail bone, expand kidneys, shoulders back and behind heart, top of ears back), and shins in thighs out…ahhhhhmazing!! So if you are coming to my class we might be holding poses longer… To top it off I learned John Friends reason for studying yoga that I have absolutely fallen in love with. This new intention, which isn’t really new. I think it has always been my intention but now I can just articulate it better, makes holding these poses for minutes and going over the mantra even more enjoyable…Are you ready: to know more (chit) and to be happy (ananda)! Isnt that great! We practice and study yoga so that me may know more and to be happy! Does chit, ananda sound familiar? in the Anusara invocation “sadchitananda murtaye”.

(another blog will probably follow shortly about this intention chit, ananda…but teaching two classes today, tons of homework, and then there is that energetic draw to my matt that I can’t resist…

Twists...its spring!

Spring has sprung!! Spring is a time of manifestation of planting seeds that we want to blossom.

This week I thought it would be great to focus on twists. Using the action of a twist is similar to weeding the garden before you plant your seeds and flowers. When we twist we massage and tone the entire visceral system, and bring great circulation to the spinal disks and muscles. We also increase the mobility for the lungs allowing us to breathe more fully. John Friend writes in the Anusara teacher training manual that “when the twisting action is completed and the organ is returned to its original position, fresh blood surges into the organ flushing out wastes and purifying the organ.…It is a natural and powerfully effective way to detoxify the organs and glands, thereby boosting the health of the whole body.”

As humans we cling and attach to so many things. We tend to attach to things that bring more suffering into our life out of habit. We cling to fights we had a day, week, a year+ ago. We cling to limiting ideas and thoughts…we don’t think we are good, or strong, or special enough…

I like to imagine when I twist (or weed my inner garden) that not only am I letting go of physical toxins but I am also letting go of limiting ideas, inner hostility, negativity, self judgment…as if twisting was a way to let go of anything that no longer serves me. If we can twist out toxins, ideas, thoughts, stress and tension, we can create more room and space to plant new seeds of love, happiness, patience..anything that we want to bloom in our life.

Can we use the physical action of a twisting in our asana practice to help remove any “weeds” in our garden so we may plant new seeds with an open heart.

Akshaya Tritya is on Friday...a very auspicious day

(I have learned about Akshaya tritya from Flow Yoga SLC, to learn more about Vedic astrology check out their Vedic Lectures www.flowyogaslc.com)

Akshaya tritya is approaching. Akshaya tritya is a very auspicious time according to the Vedic calendar when both the sun (Surya) and the moon (Chandra) are both in certain positions together along with the Shukla Tritiya tihi (third day after new moon). This year Akshaya tritya is from Friday April 16th at 1:15pm until saterday April 17th 6:15am.

There are many legends on this day, but two most popular ones are from Mahabharata.
1)When Pandavas on a 12 year exile, Lord Krishna gave a bowl to Pathram on the Akshaya tritya. This bowl was a Akshaya (that which never ends) Pathram and every food put in the bowl was never ending and she could feed everybody.
2) Sage Ved Vyasa is considered the one who wrote down the Mahabharata, but while he was writing he understood that he thinks faster then he can write, so he asked Ganesha to help him write down Mahabharata on this Akshaya Tritiya day.

Akshaya tritya is a great day to start anything new. …Just like spring. What seeds do you want to plant so you can cultivate and experience the beautiful flowers.

Muscular Energy, Organic Energy and The Focal Points

In Anusara yoga we focus on focal points within the body. These points lie on the central energy axis along the spine called the sushumna channel. We use these focal points as an inner drishti (gaze) to draw energy and collect energy in (muscular energy) and then to expand and extend energy out (organic energy).

There are three focal points: the core of the pelvis, the bottom of the heart, and the pallet of the mouth. In every pose we do, there is an active focal point.

The focal point of the pelvis is located at the bottom of the sacrum and the top of the coccygeal process. This focal point is activated in standing poses, seated poses and by default whenever the three focal points are in one line, like chaturanga dandasana and plank. So in these poses we draw energy and strength into the low belly. We find inner stability and then from the core of the pelvis we root down and extend out.

The focal point of the heart is located at the bottom of the heart and the top of the diaphragm. This pose is active in most arm balances and in AMS*. In these poses we draw energy into our heart. We find our inner strength and then from the heart we share and shine our beauty and energy from the inside out.

The focal point the palet is located at the upper palet. We draw our awareness to this point whenever the head is in contact with earth including sirsasana, sarvangasana, sethu bandha… In these asanas we draw into the roof of the mouth finding strength and balance and then we organically extend out through the crown, out through the toes, the skin, the eyes… sharing our radiance.

When we draw into a focal point it is called muscular energy. We draw in from the periphery toward the active focal point. We hug the muscles to the bone. I like to think of this drawing in action to be an opportunity to check on ones self. Am I honoring my body in the pose? Am I being healthy in my life? Am I taking me time? Am I doing things that make me happy? Through muscular energy we connect and remember our innate goodness, our inner radiance, and our authentic self.

From drawing the energy in, from connecting to our self, we then extend back out. This energy extension is called organic energy. Just like muscular energy is about uniting with the self, organic energy is about sharing our self and contributing to the whole. It is sharing and radiating our beauty with the whole. It is our way to play with the universe and add our unique beauty. It is connecting to our inner radiance and shinning back out from the focal point out through the limbs and through the skin.

We want to create a dynamic balance between muscular energy and organic energy. We don’t want just to be one but to have harmony. When we create this harmony between effort and ease, strength and flexibility… we can fully connect to our heart. If we are just muscular energy, just strength, stability, effort, steadfast we become ridged. If you imagine a big, dry, hard rigid tree and something stressful happens or a big gust of wind comes along the tree will snap and fall down. If we have too much organic energy, if we are to flexible and soft we get limp. Like a baby tree, a young sapling with shallow roots, when stress or wind blows the sapling will flail in the wind until it gets uprooted and falls over. This metaphor is a good example that we can’t just have one we need balance. We want to be like bamboo, strong yet flexible. Remember, however, that this balance is dynamic it will change and shift from pose to pose and day to day.

May we always remember to connect to our self, to remember our inner beauty and then choose to share our beauty and heart with the whole.
Om SHANTI

*Audo Muka Savasana

Smile with your eyes

Your eyes express the energy of the whole body physically, emotionally, and spiritually. With this reasoning, changing your eyes can change the energy of your whole body. When we get upset or sad we hold our eyes with tension, this creates a negative energetic expression that moves throughout our whole being. When we are happy or excited we shine through our eyes and we can feel the energetic shift it makes throughout our whole body. Whenever I am sad and/or just feel horrible I try to smile because I know when I smile my eyes slightly twinkle and that little twinkle helps bring more happiness into my body even when I don’t feel happy.

The other day I heard a fun statistic….”the eyes expand up to 45% when you see something beautiful” the pupil expansion is the physical response to us experiencing Shri, which is the essential beauty of life.

Whenever we are in an asana pose we create Shri, we make beauty with our body and we can add even more beauty energetically by twinkling our eyes. The eyes shine with magical radiance. This cultivates a feeling tone of total bliss. Like we are saying with our eyes “I know I am intrinsically good and beautiful and I want to share my unique beauty and goodness with the whole world”. We can do this with our eyes.

When we sit at a desk all day, look at a computer… or are stressed out a natural response is furrowing our brow and tightening the muscles around our eyes. This cultivates and spreads the feeling tone of tension throughout our whole body. Not only do we then experience this tension that we created but we take this tense, stressed out energy into the world. By the action of the eyes we are choosing to contribute negativity, stress and fear into the universal energy. Why would you choose to contribute that energy to the whole instead of choosing to add a blissful “life is great, or maybe even fabulous!!” energy to the whole! I say choose because it is our choice. No one is making us hold our eyes in a certain way…that choice is ours. It can be hard to choose to create positive magical eyes when life is hard, but we can still make that choice.

So choose to bring more beauty into your asana practice and into your life by softening the tension around your eyes and shining and smiling with your eyes.

I CAN!! more on manipura

I subbed Jami’s level 2 class this morning at Flow Yoga SLC and it was fabulous! The students rocked it!

I continued to focus on the manipura chakra creating strength, connecting to our sense of self and personal power. I also learned some more about the manipura I wanted to share. The manipura is where we get humor from, I think this is great so in class today I encouraged the students to remember their humor and remember it is okay to laugh and not take our self too seriously, especially when we are working on handstands.

(Like I mentioned in the previous post) We use the strength from our manipura chakra to remember…Today in class we were working on remembering our intention and our heart throughout the whole practice to keep coming back to our intention. This is the cycle, we forget our intention, we notice we forget and we comeback. We also worked on remembering our shoulder alignment (shoulder loop). We have the tendency to curl our back and bring our shoulders off of the back body in a position of self defense. When we practice yoga with our shoulders held in this position we not only avoid opening the heart but we also build the muscles of our back to continue to hold our shoulder like this. This is a negative self perpetuating cycle. We do yoga because we want to open our chest, but we continue to hold the head of the arm bones forward in our asanas which builds strength in the shoulders in a way that keeps them rounded forward. So our chest doesn’t get more open, so we practice more yoga…And round and round you go. That is not what we want, we don’t want to shield and protect our heart. There are some circumstances when protecting the heart is a good thing..but mainly NO! We want to share and express our heart. We choose to strength the back so we may hold our heart open. When we physically do this should alignment we are energetically choosing to express and share our heart/love. So the cycle to remember the shoulders is very similar to remembering the intention. We hold the shoulders in alignment, we let the shoulder integration go, we realize our shoulders have rounded forward, and then we engage shoulder loop…We do all of this remembering with compassion and non-judgment.

Another great thing I learned about the manipura chakra….the verb phrase is “I can!” How empowering…Today we cultivated this mantra with these asanas…I can float forward from my down dog! I can do handstand! I can link balance poses! I can do full dancer!…
Manipura Symbols and correspondences
Meaning: lustrous Gem
Location: Navel, solar plexus
Element: Fire
function: will, power, strength
Inner State: Laughter, joy, anger
Body Parts and Glands: digestive system, muscles, pancreas, adrenals, plasma
Malfunction: ulcers, diabetes, hypoglycemia
Color: yellow
Seed Sound: RAM vowel sound: All (like in father)
Planets: Mars, Sun
Verb: I can
Gemstones: Amber, topaz
Sense: sight
Guna: rajas
Symbol: ten petals of blue, downward triangle, with Hindu solar crosses (svastikas). At the base a running ram
Deities: Agni, Surya, Rudra, Lakini
Operating Force: combustion

I read parts of this poem during class today, I got this from Wheels of Life, By Anodea Judith

It is dark and cold.
We are still and we breathe in…and out…in…and out…
We are cramped with lack of space.
We are stiff with lack of movement.
We are cold with lack of warmth.

In the darkness we long for life.
And we breathe in…and our…in…and out…
Each breath opening to each and every cell.
Each breath igniting a tiny spark of fire, of warmth of light.
Effortlessly.

We are still, yet we sense a growing warmth within us.
We are alone, yet we sense others around us, trapped in the cold and dark, longing to break free, longing for warmth and light.
There is a form here, but it is empty.
There is life here, but it is still.
There is awareness here and it is awakening.

From a place of stillness, we call forth movement.
Slowly reaching out, expanding, breathing, stretching, flowing.
Into form, we invoke life.
Its spark from the fire of the place between…
Between ourselves and others, between past and future,
Between the known and the unknown.
We move and dance, please singing through us as the dance of life burn its way through our fears and our pains. Feel its warmth melting tension, pulsating, growing—the rhythms lifting and moving, healing and soothing, warming and cooling.

From a place of infinite movement we call on the self. We call on the self to awaken to another part of the journey. We call upon the self to awaken to the sun, the fire, the warmth, the transformation. We call upon the self through our will, and it rises to our call.

We reach for the sun and call upon the yellow ray. The ray of life, the ray of creation, the ray of consciousness, the spark of fire…We call upon the flame to burn within us and temper our passions into strength. With strength we fight the dark, pushing and straining, to realize it is part of ourselves, part of our strength, part of our fear. We laugh, and put down the fight, merging, becoming whole, becoming stronger. We pass between the pillars of light and dark, honoring both…
And find ourselves in a new and glorious land.

A land of bustling activity, teeming with life, sparkling like stars with shining rivers of light reflecting the sun. The sparks catch our eyes, we turn toward their glow and they move and dance, connecting and igniting all that they touch. They touch something within, igniting strength, will, action. Sparks fly, igniting other threads, other fires…they explode…and are gone.

We are lifted, we are lightened, we are laughing. We feel our bodies sway with the rising heat, hot tongues of fire moving within us, expanding, contracting, but growing ever wider, yet returning always to its source within us. Our bodies now burning, radiating heat and light and strength and will. Power pulsating through us, from above, below, around, and running though, transforming all that is within and without, our bellies bursting with joy.

Feel this energy deep within your body, burning with the fire of your own life. Feel it pushing deep into the Earth, down through the Earth, to the hot molten center of Earth. Feel it return from the Earth, rising up from the heat below, though your legs, your pelvis, your belly, moving up through your body, through each part of your body—your arms, your hands, your checks, neck and head. Feel it flowing out of you, connecting with other sparks, filaments of energy, other fires of life. Feel it connect with the thoughts inside you, your constant sparking neurons, interconnecting filaments of energy, lines of thought, patterns in a web, ebbing and flowing in pulsing flames, burning with the glow of activity.

You are an intersection of energy, merging, combining, exploding, radiating. Extend your awareness without and within, making connections, weaving a web of power, like a fire, growing higher and brighter.

Think of the times when you knew this power. Times when you felt connection, vitality, importance and strength. Think of the times power flowed effortlessly through you, like warmth from the sun. Think of those times and feel them now. Feel your body radiate their purpose, dance with their majesty, sing with their strength.
In this fiery world of activity you are a channel for power around you. You open to it, you burn with it, you drink it in and you pass it on…easily, effortlessly, willing, joyfully.

Your power peaks and returns, feeding the fire within—a molten core, feeding your body, silently charging, ready to expand again, when next your purpose calls.

The fire has burned high, and the coals now glow with warmth. Exhilarated, your body relaxes. A smile plays upon your lips, your hands are at peace with the strength they have carried, and you again return to the gentle breathing…in..and out…in…and out…in…and out.
Satisfied, you rest. (Anodea Judith)

May we always remeber our own strength, our own passion, and our own beauty! Having deepened our strength in the maniupura chakra we now have a greater capasity to hold the enrgy of the heart...to dive into the energy of the heart, and to share and express it with others.

thanks again flow yogis for letting me sub and take seat of your teacher.
Sources : Wheels of Life, by Anodea Judith