Making Yoga Work for You

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I can’t do yoga…I don’t have the time…I’m not flexible…I don’t understand  what is being said…People will look at me…Yoga is expensive…I don’t like the heat…Everyone will know I’m new…<insert your own excuse(s) here>…

These are all things people say to avoid doing yoga.  I’m here to tell you that EVERYONE can do yoga!

Yes, some yoga classes are 90 minutes long, but many are only 60 minutes, and yes there could be a drive to a yoga studio or gym to account for.  But there are alternatives – do you work in a corporate setting that could support on site yoga classes?  Do you have access to a DVD player or the internet to watch and practice along with videos? (note: always do this with caution especially if you are new to the practice).  Nobody says you have to practice at a studio to enjoy the practice of yoga.

You don’t have to be flexible to do yoga.  I know many people that practice that aren’t flexible, sliding down into the splits, yet they still practice yoga and get a lot out of their practice.  Everybody’s body is different and your limits and capabilities should be respected by any good yoga teacher. You need to know what you can do now and maybe with time your flexibility will increase – or maybe not, depending on your body.  Regardless, you’ll gain benefits from practicing yoga.

Yes, some teachers name the poses in Sanskrit.  Some teachers use Sanskrit a lot, some don’t use it at all, some use the Sanskrit name of the pose then the English name.  If you are new to yoga it may very well seem confusing.  The good news is, you’ll quickly be able to see the teacher demonstrating and other students moving into the pose.  So even if you don’t know that “adho mukha svanasana” is downward facing dog, you’ll figure it out from what’s going on around you.  As you continue going to classes the words will become more familiar.  But, if you really don’t like hearing the Sanskrit, look for other classes that you feel more comfortable attending.

People may know you are new, but that could be because the teacher asks at the beginning of the class is anyone new to yoga and you raised your hand.  Or they may realize that you aren’t someone that they recognize from attending this class previously.  Everyone is new to yoga at some point, so your newness might as well start now.

I don’t like the heat is not a valid excuse for avoiding yoga.  While Bikram and other heated yoga flow classes are popular, they are far from being the only options available.  There are so many styles of yoga available that there is no reason you can’t find at least one style that is right for you.

Yoga can be expensive, but you can make it fit into your budget pretty easily.  Many studios offer new student specials, such as a month for $40 – which could easily be the price of just 2 drop in classes.  Most studios offer class packages, if you buy a package of 10 classes and go twice a week, that’s slightly more than a month of classes.  If you are fortunate enough to live some place with a number of studios, you can studio hop fairly easily using new student specials, until you find the place you want to call your home studio.  Picking up deals on Groupon or Living Social for classes is also a great bargain, as is asking about work-practice share options in which a few hours at the front desk, gets you yoga classes.

Make yoga work for you by trying a variety of classes, studios and teachers until you find a perfect fit.  Remember that what is a perfect fit this month or this year, may be different as you begin to practice more.  Once you are comfortable with the poses of yoga, you can start your own home practice.  Shorter sessions can be just as valuable as a ninety minute session too, so don’t feel that if you don’t have at least an hour to contribute to your practice that getting in a short home practice isn’t worth it.

The benefits you can gain from yoga are  invaluable and include; increased strength, better posture, self-confidence and a calmer mind.  Let today be the day you open yourself up to these benefits and start a yoga practice.

Do you have an excuse for avoiding yoga that I didn’t list?  I’d love to hear it and help you find a solution to making yoga a part of your life.

Welcoming 2014

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I know plenty of people are busily getting started on their new year’s resolutions or goals, and recently talked with someone that decides on a word that they want their life to embody for the year, such as “courageous” or “accepting” or “generous” which I thought was an approach with a slightly different twist that could be applied to many aspects of life.  I’m not one for new year’s resolutions, as I believe if you want to make a change or adopt a challenge, the present moment is usually as good as any.  This year though, I’m starting the year pondering my yogic path and contemplating the application of the eight fold path in my life.

As I re-read the eight fold path of Patanjali’s sutras and think about them, I am considering how some of them can seem to be conflicting – such as “do no harm” and “truthfulness.”  I think we often think that if we are to do no harm, we can’t always tell the truth and need to keep things bottled up inside of us.  However, if we keep things bottled up are we really doing no harm?  We may not harm others by withholding that specific thought, but we are possibly harming ourselves, our relationships and ultimately not being truthful, which can create bigger problems.

Mind you, I am not advocating for running off at the mouth with every thought that runs through your mind without regard for consequence, but it is important to remember that we all have different opinions, different backgrounds and values so eventually we will encounter someone who is offended by our views and world stance, or at least sees takes exception with our position.  This doesn’t mean we need to become enemies, or that our friendship has to end.  We can express our truths compassionately and accept differences graciously, minimizing the harm we might cause and creating a greater dialogue, even strengthening our relationships.

The world is short one man who truly embodied much of this.  A high school classmate passed away unexpectedly earlier this week.  While I haven’t seen Mike since we left high school with diplomas in hand, we had reconnected through Facebook. Mike was the cheerful face I knew from 7th – 12th grades, who seems to have been everybody’s friend .  Being alphabetically right next to Mike in the list of our classmates meant I got to see him everyday at our alphabetically placed lockers and I don’t think he ever let me return his cheery good morning with a grumbled one of my own, instead repeating his greeting until I responded with a smile.   Mike’s Facebook posts could express his views on political and cultural issues and create a thoughtful and thought provoking  discussion, not a series of finger pointing.   With his gentle, friendly, caring ways it’s clear to see that Mike touched many lives with his own applications of do no harm and truthfulness and won’t soon be forgotten.  I’ll continue to think of Mike and his gracious, caring spirit each year on our shared birthday as I wish his twin, Bernie, the best.

Patanjali’s Sutras

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Yoga teacher training touched on the spiritual and philosophical aspects of yoga and specifically the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali.  Other texts were mentioned as well, but Patanjali provides a short and seemingly simple path.  I say seemingly because I’ve outlined the path below – eight things, you think, how hard could that be – as they are all items that deserve attention on their own.  This post will serve as a reference as more time is later spent on the various items and their interpretations and applications in my own life.

  1. Yamas – ethical standards, actions relating to external world
    1. Ahimsa – Do no harm
    2. Satya – Truthfulness, in word and thought
    3. Asteya – Non-stealing / coveting
    4. Brahmacharya – Abstinence
    5. Aparigraha – Non-possessiveness
  2. Niyamas – self-discipline, relating to ourselves
    1. Saucha – Cleanliness
    2. Samtosa – Contentment
    3. Tapas – Spiritual
    4. Svadhyaya – Study of vedic scriptures
    5. Isvara pranidhana – Worship of God
  3. Asana – the physical poses
  4. Pranayama – controlling the breath
  5. Pratyahara – detaching from senses, while remaining aware
  6. Dharana – concentration on a single point
  7. Dhyana – meditation
  8. Samadhi – oneness  with meditation object and  per Patanjali a state of ecstasy

 

Finding My Teaching Place

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What do I mean by my teaching place?  I am not referring to just the physical place I’ll be teaching, but also what I will bring to my students, the type of class I’ll teach in terms of type of yoga as well as what I have to offer.

When I first considered teacher training almost a year ago, I had a lot of uncertainties floating through my mind – would I be a good enough teacher, I’m flexible, but I don’t go to a power class and rock out in hand stand and six other arm balances and get all psyched.  In fact, most days I can’t even maintain  headstand.  When I realized YogaSource offered a Gentle Teacher Training track I knew I had found my training program and was excited to learn more about Yin and Restorative yoga.  I was certain, given my introverted nature and contentedness with silence, that those were going to be where I best fit as as a teacher and could offer the most.

Enter Level 1 of teacher training – 7 days, 10 hours a day, plus homework….no yin, no restorative, all “gentle” vinyasa.  I say “gentle” because our teacher knew we were all experienced practitioners and, while options to down level the poses were offered, they weren’t often taken.  As we began to practice teach segments of a full practice that week – core asanas, standing asanas, and eventually a full sequence, I felt drawn to the rhythmic nature of the gentle vinyasa practice. Inhales, exhales, detailed cues to improve the posture of the pose, a focus on moving with the breath.  This connection to teaching this practice wasn’t what I was expecting.

After teaching our final class, I had pretty much settled into the idea of teaching gentle with about 10 – 15 minutes of yin poses leading up to final savasana.

Enter this past weekend of Restorative Teacher Training.  I love it and think THIS is where I want to be.  So maybe I’ll teach a variety of practices.

But, when I truly think about what I want to teach and how I want to teach self-healing and self-acceptance, if I could design a practice for the general public that provides physical and mental benefits my ideal practice would be teaching what I’ll call a Gen-Yin-Torative class.  Ninety minutes of gentle movement, caring for the nervous and immune systems and being in a place of healing and peace.

Preparing this type of class would present a challenge in striking the right balance, yet would be exciting to continue to develop and modify that balance with time and as the energy of the class dictates.  Yesterday, as we taught and took a 60 minute restorative session, it felt like not nearly enough time.  Today, sitting in two restorative poses for a total of less than 30 minutes, was just what I needed.

Time will tell what type of practice I’ll teach and where, and I am excited for the journey, and to bring a calm oasis of peace to my future students.

Setting sun while waiting on flight out of Kona

Teaching My First Full Class

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Sunday November 24th was the big day, the day when I got to teach a full class with fellow teacher trainees present as well as my invited guests – AND got critiqued for my teaching!

I was nervous, but I wasn’t, but I was.  I was so anxious to complete the teaching and officially have taught the class and get feedback on how I did, that there were some nerves shining through.  I think it some of it came from not speaking smoothly while I was also moving through the poses.  Another part came from last minute changes that I thought about too much.  While I had invited everyone on Facebook, I’d also issued a few direct invitations.  I was expecting 4 friends to attend, but one didn’t end up confirming and another cancelled at the last minute.  One who was a definite was 8 months pregnant.

We didn’t spend much time in any of the classes discussing how to modify poses for pregnancy, but did talk about some poses that should be avoided.  My originally planned sequence had a lot of abdominal work and backbends – that should mostly be avoided or at least minimized.  So knowing that I was going to have a small class and Nikki assisting, but that I couldn’t spend my whole time focused on the mama-to-be, I decided to modify my sequence.  I didn’t write down my changes, I didn’t practice them, I just thought about it them in my head.

As the class progressed and my entire opening was different than planned, I realized that despite removing back bends, I was running out of time with my new sequence.  I managed to end up balanced on both sides and still get in three of the planned yin poses in my closing section.  I also changed my music because my original playlist was maybe to upbeat with the changes that I made to the sequence, which ended up making a very mellow practice.  The music was critiqued by different people in different ways, one current teacher thought it was perfect for the class, another that it would be great for yin or an evening flow class, but too mellow for a morning gentle class where you want to get people revved up for their day.

Important things that I learned: I was quite comfortable getting off the mat and walking around the room.  It made me feel more connected to the students, whereas on my mat, I felt a little bit removed from the class and that some students weren’t in my line of sight.  I also learned that I can modify on the fly and maintain a balanced, flowing sequence.  I also have plenty of room to focus on the detail cues and breath as well.  With just a week of practicing the specific sequence and teaching it twice (3 times if you count the final, heavily modified version), I can see great improvements.

And most importantly – I am VERY ready to start teaching regularly!

Practicing Teaching

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The only way I see to become a better yoga teacher is to teach.  As the saying goes “practice makes perfect” – although I would take the stance that focused, well intentioned practice results in improvement, not necessarily perfection.  Every class taught will provide the opportunity to improve some aspect of the class or overall teaching skills.  This week I ramped up my practice teaching in preparation for teaching a final class this weekend as part of my certification.

I began by preparing a sequence that I plan on teaching on Sunday for the final class.  On Monday I taught the sequence – leaving out a couple of poses on accident – for the first time to a friend who came over after work.  What I learned:

  1. Teaching to one person that is looking directly at you for an hour makes me very self-conscious
  2. I need to focus more on  breathing smoothly while I am talking and also moving through the poses
  3. Having a theme in mind will be useful in coming up with things to say that aren’t directly related to the breath
  4. I need to decide how important the music is to my class as some of it was very soft
  5. Figuring out how much I want to talk is going to take practice – and probably will depend on the class I’m teaching
  6. I didn’t feel like I talked about enough of the detail cues

The practice was well received by my sole student and it gave me things to focus on for my next class…which happened to be the next day.

This weekend on Saturday I will be assisting the final class taught by fellow teacher trainee Nikki, and on Sunday Nikki will be assisting the class that I teach.  We need to submit our sequences and playlists by Friday, so Nikki and I took the opportunity to practice teaching to each other.  I spent some time Monday night reviewing some of the detailed cues and thinking about incorporating them into the practice.

Teaching the sequence the second time went a little bit more smoothly, I felt more confident teaching the sequence, I felt like I talked more and used more detailed cues.  This time during the sequence I ended up skipping different poses than the previous night.  What was good is that despite missing poses each time, the practice lasted an hour, so I am right on track for teaching the class.

I’m definitely looking forward to teaching more and in front of more people.  There will be four “students” in the class that are part of the teacher training – perhaps more if other fellow trainees choose to attend.  I have also invited people to come to class and I hope at least some of them take the time to attend the class.

As I recognize that I look forward to teaching larger classes I am reminded that in college I preferred giving presentations to auditorium sized classes instead of classes of 20 people where I knew everyone by name.  This isn’t to say that I want to teach large anonymous classes, I want to get to know my future students and have familiar faces regularly classes.  As I teach more I am sure that the size of the class will matter less and I’ll be just as comfortable teaching a yoga class of any time at any size as I am teaching a training class for work.

Process Focused or Outcome Oriented?

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Reviewing the titles of recent blog posts, my answer to this question is even more obvious than it first seemed.  I didn’t doubt that I was more outcome oriented than processed focused, but when 3 of my recent posts have the word “complete” in the title it seems clear that I’m really concerned about the end goal and might want to shift my thinking it a little.

This isn’t to say that goals are bad or I shouldn’t care about the outcome, but that taking time to focus on the process to get to a goal or accomplish a task makes a difference.  One of the things I’ve been outcome focused on lately is the completion of my 20 hour project that caps off the 200 hour Yoga Alliance approved teacher training that I’m completing through Yoga Source Los Gatos.  I’ve been so focused on the timeline that I have set in my head to finish by that I haven’t spent much time thinking through the process of completion.

As I’m working through the project (almost half way there at this point), I’m focusing on the process of learning and enjoying actually experiencing the process and project.

Focusing on outcomes can really take away from experiencing and enjoying the  journey to get to the desired goal.  Something that I heard during the most recent weekend training about living in the moment really resonated with me and makes me want to enjoy the process more than focusing on the end goal – If you aren’t living in and thinking about this moment, you are worrying about the  unchangeable past or unpredictable future.

Yoga book one complete

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I had intended to start reading the book Buddha’s Brain first. However, the first night I started to read it I wasn’t in the right mindset and it seemed a bit too heavy of reading. The next night I read the introduction and first chapter of each of the other two books before making a decision on which one to start with.

I tackled Cope’s book first and liked the character development and to some extent could relate to each character and feel their emotions and needs come through. The book seemed to be very personal and it wasn’t the broader theory that I was anticipating, but I definitely enjoyed it more than I expected.

I began Ganga White’s book Yoga Beyond Belief next and was immediately struck by this quote which made me think this book could be my favorite of the pack

…yogic texts and teachings are so vast and so complex that we can find traditional support and authority for almost anything we want to do.

The next paragraph includes the following

we can learn from and use the tradition in an approach tempered by the realization that what we call tradition is truly our own, or another’s, interpretation of what something may have been in the distant past.

This really spoke to me, as I think in yoga, as in many other parts of our everyday lives we are too focused on rigid ideas about what “should” be or what we “should” do, all of which are based on beliefs, opinions and biases that may no longer be true for the person we have become and the life we currently live. It’s important to be open to different interpretations and needs and avoid any one size fits all approach – to yoga and to life.

Metric Century Complete!

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I finished a 67 mile bike ride around Clearlake!

It was a beautiful day, with temperatures ranging from 45-85 and plenty of great scenery. Yoga definitely helped get me through the ride. My regular home practice kept me limber and avoiding stiffness during my three weeks of training. The practice also helped me focus on different parts of my body during the ride and probably most importantly know which stretches I could do quickly at rest stops and have the most impact.

While I did struggle with a calm flowing breath on some of the hills, my yoga practice definitely helped me have a smoother breath than I might have otherwise had, simply due to my awareness of my breath and catching myself before letting my breathing get too ragged.

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Learning

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I’m overwhelmed and absolutely excited by the resources related to yoga. While nothing will improve my teaching more than actually getting the chance to teach, I am enthusiastically looking forward to the package of yoga books that awaits me. There are three books that are recommended readings prior to the level 2 training that starts in three weeks. Prior to getting the recommended reading list, I had gotten another book called “How Yoga Works” by Michael Roach. I was just a couple of chapters in before getting the recommended reading list and was really starting to get enthralled with the story of this young girl who is going to teach a middle aged man – who is actually her jailer – yoga. I am anxious to see where this story goes and how she leads this man, and herself, on a transformative journey. I put the book down before I got any further so that I wouldn’t be too upset about putting it down when the recommended books arrive on my doorstep. I’m eager to start the recommended books as well, which are:

“The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker’s Guide to Extraordinary Living” by Stephen Cope

“Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom” by Rick Hanson

“Yoga Beyond Belief: Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice” by Ganga White

Of these three the one that I think I will be least interested in and less likely to write in, refer to regularly and recommend / lend to others is the first one. I’ve purchased all three in paperback, instead of Kindle versions. In the fairly recent past, I pared down my book collection VERY significantly and had a bit of internal dialogue as I decided between adding to my physical vs Kindle library. My physical library of books has grown by seven yoga books now, and I’m pretty pleased with this, it actually makes me happy.

In addition to the books I’ll be reading, the number of electronic resources available is outstanding. From Yoga Journal online pose descriptions to various yoga blogs and training resources, not a day has passed that I haven’t seen at least one thing posted on my Facebook feed (thanks to all my fellow teacher training friends) related to yoga / mind / body posts, that has led me to read that link and other “recommended” articles.