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Samin Nosrat

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Jessica Berger Gross

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The other day, my sister’s friend invited her to a different yoga studio for a class.  “I can’t do it”, said my sister. “I’d love to, but I’m not good enough. I suck.”   Fear shows up in funny ways. Tory pictures an entire class pointing at her and sneering.   This made me laugh for about four seconds. Then I realized that whenever a new challenge comes my way – going back to class after weeks away, trying a new kind of yoga, going to a different studio – my immediate, insane response is, “I can’t, I’m too fat.” This is obviously absurd. There is no sign posted anywhere in yoga that says Stay Out If You Think You Are Pudgy .  Nor have I met a yoga mat that hasn’t welcomed my solid thighs. (Oh my god, the mats are too small for my lardy bum! I’ll have to put four of them together!)  Nor, come to think of it, have I ever encountered a yoga teacher who raises one eyebrow and says, “Oh, you think so, do you? If you were enlightened enough to be in my class, you’d be thin.  Now stop crying. You can come to my Class For The Fat and Unenlightened .”    Absurd, excessive, twisted, completely un-constructive, I know. But these are the trolls that leap up from under my bridge when I’m facing something new and scary. Or old and scary for that matter. I like stating my fear out loud. It looks more ridiculous than ever that way. Gives it a loving kick in the head. I suck. I’m too this, too that. Do you have a fear that yoga brings to light? Would you like to kick it in the head? Thanks to yoga for showing me where and how I’d like to be more fearless, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (about All Things Wonderful) from North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd or on Twitter at kristinwonders.

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Yoga Trolls

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One of you wrote a kind note to me recently in which you encouraged me to discover my “inner teacher” during my home practice. This might involve veering off the straight path I’d been on. What a beautiful idea! Originally, my home practice was basically whatever I remembered from class, in much the same order we do our asanas in class. Not much imagination involved. All hell has broken loose, since. This morning I thought, I’ve got to reign this in a bit or I’ll never be able to go back to class. Today’s practice looked like this: I’m in flannel pajamas, which are far more comfortable than my yoga clothes. I sing show tunes during my Sun Salutations. My secret desire (not so secret now, I guess) is to star in Big! Musicals! I picture some Famous! Broadway! Producer! driving down my very quiet street in Northern Ontario and hearing my voice Soaring! out the front windows, singing, Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better, from Annie Get Your Gun. It’s a tough fantasy to maintain given that I am terrified to sing in front of anyone but my dog. I maintain it nonetheless.   I put henna in my hair today for the first time. It’s mucky, it stinks, and the instructions say keep it on for hours, so I do my entire practice with a goopy head. Toward the end of today’s practice, which includes some completely invented dance moves (in case that Producer needs a Dancer!, not just a Fabulous! Singer!), I find myself saying, “Oh, yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah”, with each forward bend and each spinal twist.  How did my practice become so loud? Savasana, at the end of all this, is a quiet relief. Is this my inner teacher at work? I don’t know. I understand that there is no mention of show tunes in The Upanishads, but something in my practice feels freer and more creative these days. Lighter. Do you have inner teachers?  Are they serious? Funny? Creative? Are they dancers? Singers? (Do you want to do a musical together?)    Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

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Inner Teachers

If you’ve been reading my blog regularly this summer, by now you know I’m more than a little obsessed with taking my son Lucien swimming. Being in the pool with him is a joy. The cool water, the feel of his body intertwined with mine – it’s delicious. For months I’ve been looking forward to the opening of a new neighborhood pool here in Vancouver, part of the deal the city made with its citizens for hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics.   Vancouver already has some amazing city pools, and this new one promised to be the largest and best yet, and just a fifteen minute walk from my house. (Not to mention affordable, as it’s part of the city parks and community center system.)  I crossed my fingers that Lucien would like it and not be overwhelmed by the sprays and jets and water cannons and lazy river, not to mention the 70-person hot tub. To my surprise and delight, Lucien loves the new indoor pool paradise. So here we were in the pool, having a mommy baby pool party. The first time we visited we spent a record breaking (for us) two hours in the water. On this, our second visit, it seemed like we’d be there all day – fine with me. I noticed though that even in moments of mommy-son bliss in the shallowest end of the hot tub (more like a hot tub river) I kept asking Lucien if he wanted to go see the next big thing in the pool – journey down the lazy river or back to the bubbles or waterfall area. But Lucien was perfectly happy just to be. To sit in the shallow end of the hot tub and look at the families playing, chat with me, sing his repertoire of songs, and be one with the warm water lapping over us. Looking at Lucien, I remembered what had drawn me to yoga asana and philosophy back when I was an ever-searching twenty-something. As Ram Dass famously wrote, “Be Here Now.” I didn’t need to explore the rest of the pool, or teach Lucien how to swim that morning, or even go into a deeper section of the hot tub. I just needed to follow my yogi-in-training’s lead and be here now in that hot tub. And so I did. And it was a time-stopping moment of peace and oneness and through-and through-contentment. Until I noticed them. Tiny brown pieces of toddler poop bubbling up from Lucien’s diaper and into the 70-person hot tub river. Yikes! I felt a wash of panic and then shame come over me, but tried my best to stay calm. I gathered Lucien, ran to a lifeguard, and rushed a howling don’t-want-to-ever-get-out-of-the-water-and-certainly-not-to-change-a-dirty-diaper toddler to the change room and shower. I felt horrible for the other patrons of the pool that day. It’s one thing to deal with your own child’s poop, but nobody wants to encounter other children’s poop while relaxing in a hot tub.  Oy. Needless to say, everyone in the hot tub was evacuated with a whistle as an entire section of the pool was closed off, drained, and cleaned. Once he was clean and dry, Lucien was un-phazed by the events of the day. He just figured he had a dirty diaper – not realizing the hot tub had become a HAZMAT scene. On our way home, I heard employees talking about the “emergency.” Triple yikes.   Enlightened Motherhood Lesson of the Day: Be here now and take each situation in stride. Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Be Here Now

The other day at the swimming pool I overheard a conversation that made my heart break. A dad, who seemed well intentioned enough, was trying–at all costs –to get his five-year old son into the water. Now, I understand where this father was coming from. As I wrote about in a recent post [link to swim camp post?], I’ve had my own challenges this summer getting Lucien comfortable with swimming pools.  I’ve tried everything from talking to him about his fears, using music and games, and, I have to admit, even the inducement of a trip to Whole Foods with promise of a wheat free muffin after a swim excursion. But this dad, after offering his own food related reward lost what little patience he had left, and told his son, “Just get in the water! Don’t be a baby!” Needless to say, it didn’t work. I saw something similar at bike camp last week. (Bike camp = three and almost three-year-olds practice on their tricycles or balance bikes for an hour a day for one week, taking lots of breaks for coloring and playing helmut hide-and-seek.) Lucien’s camp mate did not want to get on her bike. The first day she was with her nanny, an older woman who seemed nonplussed by the situation and let the girl be. The next day, Mommy came. And Mommy was bound and determined to have her daughter get on that pink tricycle and take it for a spin. She began with positive inducements (how proud Mommy would be) but quickly went downhill, so to speak, from there.  “If you don’t ride your bike,” she said, “Mommy is going to have to leave you here all by yourself.”  The bike camp counselor and I (she happened to be a young yogi and massage therapist) bit our tongues. I felt awful for both children and was reminded of a yoga class I took in a foreign city that shall remain nameless. Fresh off the plane on my first day in said city I hightailed it to a yoga center in the style I study. Instead of finding a home away from home and relief from tight shoulders post flight, I found an instructor who cajoled, prodded, intimidated, and even occasionally raised his voice at his students. I remember in particular one exercise at the rope wall where I couldn’t quite figure out how to arrange myself. (I’ve never been good at math or driving or spatial relations and my big yoga challenge is arranging my props!) This “teacher” made fun of me to the class–I was shamed, horrified, and though I should have left right then and there, I stayed for the two hour session, feeling worse and worse every minute. That evening, I came down with the flu. Enlightened Motherhood Lesson of the Day: Intimidation and name calling never ever ever work. Should I have said something to that father at the pool or the mother at the bike camp? Would there have been a gentle, yogic, way to offer alternatives to threats and name-calling?   Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Don’t Be a Baby: And Other Things Not to Say to Your Child (Or to Your Yoga Students)

Uh oh. Who would have guessed that 10 months into my yoga life, I’d lead a class? Well, a small class. Three of us and a dog named Emma. At a cottage. I may not know what I’m doing when it comes to yoga, but neither did they, and we all felt certain we’d come to no harm. So we gathered on a deck looking over Big Marten Lake on a gloriously blue Saturday morning. We started with a few Sun Salutations, followed by variations on Sun Salutations. We flowed gently from posture to posture, plank to Chattarunga to upward dog to downward dog. I gave them every tip I could remember (shoulder blades down, inner thighs rotating backward, rooting through hands and feet) and made up several extra. More than once, Jenni said, don’t you mean my left leg forward? And isn’t it the right foot pivoting this time? (I am far more dyslexic than I imagined.) We moved onto slower poses, a ridiculous rendition of yin yoga – ridiculous given that I have not once attended a yin class.  I watch my lovely man do his poses at home and thought they’d be fun to try with my friends. Class was a rousing success. Until day two. During our Sun Salutations, neither Sue nor Jenni can move gently from plank to chattarunga. Not even the first time. Sue says, I don’t remember doing this yesterday. We did, I tell her. We did exactly the same thing. “It didn’t hurt like this,” Jenni says. “Hurt like what?” I ask. “Like hell,” she says, “pointing to her chest and arms.  It hurts like absolute hell.” “It’ll get better,” I tell them, hoping it’s true. And through every Sun Salutation (and we only do five), they collapse like big bags of potatoes from plank to Chattarunga. Smack. Slam. Thud. Thwack. Bang. Crash. The new sounds of yoga. We laughed so hard I thought I’d blow a bhanda. Great lessons from chattathwack yoga: 1.  Yeah for the shoulder and arm strength that comes with practice!!!! 2.  I adore sharing yoga. My only goal in leading the class was for them to want to do it again the following day. They did. Sort of. 3.  Yeah for real teachers, who know right from left, how to start slowly, and how to let us laugh. Have you taught, those of you who aren’t teachers yet?  I’d love to hear about it. Thanks to yoga, for fun on vacation, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

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Teaching!

There are days – pushing my stroller up a steep hill, scooping dog poop while answering the phone, trying to meet writing deadlines while Lucien plays at my feet, managing outings and baths and meals and schedules, not to mention making time for my yoga practice-when I could almost forget. How hard it was getting here. It was hard for me to become a mother, excruciatingly so. (Now, in comparison, is the easy part.) Neil and I married when I was 30, and though it seemed prudent to wait to try and have a baby-for our careers to become more stable, to have more of an income, to settle down in one city -I wanted to get started right away.  Maybe deep down I knew. After six months of trying, I became pregnant. We lived in Los Angeles at the time and immediately I changed everything. My diet: Goodbye coffee, hello egg salad sandwiches. My asana practice: so long Mysore series, hello Iyengar. Even the way I thought of myself changed in the instant I saw that plus on the pregnancy stick. In a flash I went from struggling would-be writer to contented mom-to-be. That pregnancy was seven years ago. At eight-and-a-half weeks (that half week was as important to me then as Lucien’s “half” a year after his two years is to me now) I went to the doctor for my first ultrasound. In that fancy office in Beverly Hills I sat feeling out of place but confident in my impending motherhood as I flipped the pages of the magazines laid out in the waiting room. And then the exam. There was no heartbeat. What followed was an everyday nightmare that I know many of you reading this have been through-the blood work and waiting, the D & C, the endless and unexpected free fall of grief. It took a long time for me to heal. One thing that helped was working on my first book, an anthology I edited, About What Was Lost: 20 Writers on Miscarriage, Healing, and Hope . I wrote my story and collected others.  Hearing women’s stories, immersing myself in them, steeled me as I spent the next several years determined to become a mother, but not sure how or when or some days, if, I would. Yoga helped too. In class I felt cared for and comforted, and on good days I felt that everything would be all right. (On the bad days I stared in envy at the gorgeous pregnant women in class, on the really bad days I cried at home on my mat, and on the worst days I stayed in bed.) Now, all these years later, I have my beautiful boy.  As he sings to me and as we snuggle and make believe, and even when I get so exhausted from keeping up with him that I need to collapse in front of hours of reality television in a pop culture coma, I remember, and I feel for all the women (and men) out there struggling-whether with IVF cycles or adoption waiting lists or simply the monthly still-negative pregnancy tests. I’m sending love to all of you and prayers that soon you’ll be with the children you are meant to parent. And believe me, I know how lucky I am. Do you have a story to share? Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Remembering

I know there are branches of yoga. I know most of us are focused on the physical branch. Some multi-branched yogis don’t love our primary focus on the physical. I think it’s all right. Here’s why: I began with Hatha yoga. But it doesn’t take long before I realize, without any teaching, that yoga has at least a second branch for me. Let’s call my two branches outside yoga and inside yoga. The physical is outside. I love its strength and flexibility, its warmth, love the physical buzzy calm after my practice. At some point on the trip, outside yoga introduced me to inside yoga, a kind of calm, accepting, eyeball-dissolving something, so often accompanied by huge sighs the end of class. And just as the physical branch teaches itself to me, class by class, the inside branch works its way through me, too, telling me a thing or two or twenty that I didn’t see at first. Like the fact that I don’t feel inner peace after every class. In fact sometimes I’m as relaxed as all get out during class and then my head races during Savasana. Go figure. And sometimes I find that lovely, floaty peace without doing a physical practice at all. Sometimes it shows up out of nowhere, while I’m driving or eating or scratching the dog’s belly. Today I saw an old man sitting on a guardrail, watching traffic go by while he picked something from the sole of his shoe, and my heart melted as though he were my grandfather.   Somehow, my yoga practice helps this inside thing happen, even when they don’t occur together. So. There you go. I have two branches, now. Who knows what will show up next, and what kind of tree I’ll be in the end. How about you?  How many branches?  What kind?  What’s your current growth? Thanks to yoga for such gorgeous growth, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

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My Own Branches

My vegetable garden is officially off the charts. It’s all thanks to two people: My good friend Lise who inspired me last summer with her backyard garden, and my green-thumbed next door neighbor Ellen who taught me what to do–from getting my garden beds together, to planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting.  I’m hoping it’s not just beginner’s luck–and that Ellen will help me again next year–because Neil and I are getting seriously spoiled by eating out of our backyard. “The farm,” as we have taken to calling the plots, is ripe with peas, kale, broccoli, lettuce, beets, carrots and cucumbers and scallions and zucchini, with the very beginnings of tomatoes and corn peeping through.  The process has amazed me, reminding me both of motherhood (seeing those tiny seeds blossom into full grown plants) and yoga (with a little time and attention every day, and some   patience, you’ll start seeing results). How does your (yoga) garden grow? Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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In Season

My office was burgled (what a lovely sounding word! It sounds like water pouring over rocks in a cool stream) on Friday, while I was in a back room speaking with someone. For the first two hours afterward, I thought, oh, this is just like trying to find the toothpaste on my bathroom counter. That substantial amount of cash is here somewhere. I just can’t find it. When the reality of it sank in, my gut writhed for a few minutes. Until–and this is the yoga part –until I realized this is what is. It is exactly like my hamstrings. They are short. No whining about that helps. No gnashing of teeth, no “why did this happen to me”, no “I should have done this or that”. My hamstrings are short. The money is gone. Can’t do much about it. Except. Except that I can look at the situation gently, and positively, and with a lot of love for myself. I can soothe my gut by contemplating the good things that might come from this. I can dwell on how lucky I am to be safe, happy, and engaged in work that will never land me in jail where the food is bad and my yoga props might be confiscated. A sense of humor comes back to me. Which, strangely, helps me wish my burglar friend well. For him (it turns out I met him before, which is why I know he is a him), I wish peace, well being, a relaxed gut, and good life choices ahead. In fact, I’ll go all out and say I wish long hamstrings for him. Somehow I know my own flexibility on this point will help both of us. Here’s what yoga is teaching me: What is, is. I do better when I let go. Looking at everything with peace and love makes it all better. It turns a burglary into water pouring over rocks in a cool stream. How cool is that? Has yoga done this to you, too? Thanks to yoga for the alchemy in this, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

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Burgled!

The other day, my yoga teacher said something I keep thinking about. “In class,” Louie said, “we practice how to practice. But at home, we practice.” Of all things, this made me think of my date night with Neil this past weekend. On Friday night we went all out–hired a babysitter, made a reservation at a Japanese tapas place by the beach, dressed cute (in a summery dress and sandals for me and a striped button down and jeans for Neil). We had a great time – talking and eating and planning and dreaming – but the bill and the babysitter added up. Then on Saturday, we had a no fuss date night at home. We put Lucien to bed early and I set the table and gathered vegetables (lettuce, kale) from the garden while Neil made black bean veggie burgers and yam fries. We wore shorts and t-shirts and were sweaty from a day out and about in the summertime sun. For dessert, we ate raspberries from the garden. Guess which one was more fun? As important as it is to be out in the world – or in the yoga center – at home with the ones you love is where true practice begins. Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Date Night

Summer is busy. This week, my lovely man did a yoga session on a sheet of plywood covered by a raincoat. He said it was great. I have done handstands in my office, downward dogs on an enormous rock by the lake, and side planks at the public library while waiting for a meeting to begin. I sneak yoga while waiting for my car to be repaired. And I would do it in the park and I would do it in the dark and I would do it on a rock and I would do it on a dock Yesterday I hung in a forward bend at the grocery store while looking at cans of tuna on the bottom shelf. No one said a word. I was there for ages. Where will yoga show up next?  Where is your favorite place to sneak it in to your day? Thanks to yoga for being so delicious that we want to sneak it here and there, we want to sneak it everywhere, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

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Yoga Here and Yoga There

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Testing Top Five Tuesday

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Parent-baby and parent-toddler yoga classes seem to be growing in popularity, but does it really help the children find their center? Shivani Vora from the Wall Street Journal reports. “A growing number of classes around the U.S. and DVD programs insist kids can reap all the benefits of yoga–but in a less-structured format. They say that yoga is calming for children, teaches them more awareness about their bodies and even helps with their development. But Punam Kashyap, a senior developmental and behavioral pediatrician at the Institute of Child Development at the Joseph Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, N.J., says there is very little evidence that the practice can have a positive effect on young children. “It’s a theory, not a fact that yoga can calm babies,” she says. “That said, as long as your child is having fun in a class, it’s not going to harm them in any way.” As parents, we were curious if yoga would do anything to mellow out our small children. We tested three classes and a DVD for comparison. (Read the entire blog for the details of the “experiment.”) Our daughter paid attention for at least half of the DVD before her attention started to waver. She attempted a few of the poses and was fascinated by the animal and nature sounds like a hissing snake and barking like a dog. We aren’t sure if it made her any calmer, but she did have a good time and now keeps asking to “do yoga” to her disc. While the children didn’t seem noticeably more chilled out in the end, yoga did amuse them and introduce them to a practice they can use to de-stress when they’re older. For us, that makes yoga for kids a keeper.” What do you think about kids doing yoga? Are they old enough to reap the benefits?

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Is Yoga for Kids any Good?

Before I move to Austin on Monday, I thought it would be a good idea to pop up to Boston to teach a couple of workshops on Saturday. Why? Because I’m a glutton for punishment! No, actually, and perhaps strangely, I’m considering it a mini-vacation. A moving vacation, more specifically, since I get to ride a train and have nearly 8 hours to myself to do with what I wish. That’s about 6.5 hours more than I’ve had in a long time. On the trip so far, I’ve slept, read a magazine, planned classes, written this blog, caught up on emails, and simply stared out the window, enjoying the passing views of the verdant Hudson Valley.  This may sound like a lot, but these were all things I felt like doing, and they’ve brought me heartfelt pleasure. Virginia Woolf once said, “A woman must have money and a room of her own, if she is to write fiction.” I think that sentiment extends to both genders. No matter who you are, in order to create, you need resources. And one integral requirement of creative freedom is space. This doesn’t mean just a physical space, but some kind of spiritual “room”–an expanse within. This is where your spirit can dance with abandon as you gift yourself the chance to decide what to create next, instead of having your next move dictated by the pressures of time, relationships, and responsibility. The funny thing is, we yogis learn that in order to expand, we must first draw inward. We have to contain ourselves, plug our pranic leaks, and stop existing solely in other people’s rooms if we are to truly live in our own. This practice of self-regulating the balance between giving and receiving helps us stay focused not only on sharing with others, but on keeping what we need. In this way, we cultivate moksha , or being free from stress and suffering, but to me, also means having the freedom to access the soul, and from there, to express oneself completely and without regret.   This is often what stepping onto the mat means to me. It’s a magic carpet ride to new adventures as I remember and reveal the most vital parts of myself. No phones ring, no flight times loom, no partners or students need my attention. Sometimes I feel guilty for wanting this time to myself, this room of my own. After all, I love my loved ones and enjoy my job. As a centered-living teacher, I should be able to exist in peace within the chaos and pull of the outer world, right? Well yes, and no. I find that in order to give the quality of attention that my projects and interactions deserve, I simply must take physical, mental, or emotional retreats at regular intervals. Otherwise, I risk burnout. Whether it’s a nap, a walk in the park, a long bath, or a train ride, I’m careful to immerse in the luxury of being totally Self-centered. Then, once I’m ready to re-engage with the world, I have all the more to offer the next time an offering is called for.      All too often, we wait until we are at the end of our ropes, frazzled and spent, before we’ll use those vacation days or get a massage. Sometimes it takes illness or fatigue to force us to pause and get some much needed rest. As practitioners of a conscious path, I invite each of us to do better than that. Let’s look for daily opportunities to invoke freedom: to withdraw, conserve, and nourish our bodies, hearts, and minds. If chances for restoration are lacking in your life, build a room of your own with the tools gathered from your yoga practice: the wisdom to know when to go and when to stop, and the inner strength to create the boundaries needed to literally make peace with–and within–your life. Core Pose: Ustrasana (Camel Pose) with Arm Stretch Here’s an asana that helps me invite moksha into my day by shaking off the constrictions of tension in my body or on some other level. Kneel at the front of your mat with your knees slightly separated. Reach one hand back onto the floor or a block. Exhale fully and firm your belly. As you inhale, press your fingertips into the mat and circle your other arm up and back beside your ear. At the same time, lengthen your tailbone and pull your navel in and up as you lift your hips (a little or a lot, depending on your flexibility) and wave your spine towards a heart-opening backbend. Refrain from dropping your head back; keep the neck curve naturally long and supported. Exhale, return your hips to your heels, and bring the opposite hand behind you to repeat on the other side. Aim for 5-10 repetitions of this pose then fold forward into Child’s Pose for one minute.      

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A Room of One’s Own

1.Do your hamstrings become close to the same length at any point? 2. Have you found clothes that contain your gut while doing Downward Dog? (Perhaps you don’t have a gut anymore.) 3. How long did it take you to get the bandha thing going? 4. (This is directly related to #3) Can you lift your bum and legs off the ground when doing Uttitha Padmasana? How long did it take you to learn that?  (Are your arms disproportionately long by any chance?) 5. Has anyone ever snapped a hip in two doing Pigeon Pose?   6. Do you like yourself more, now, than you did before starting yoga? (I do, for the most part. Something to do with the daily determination to be kind to myself, I suspect.) 7. Do you fantasize about teaching yoga? Classes at sunrise? In temples? In India? (If you currently teach yoga in temples in India, do you fantasize about teaching yoga at sunset in Machu Picchu?) I do. I have long, flowing hair and long, flowing hamstrings in these fantasies. 8. Does yoga elbow its way into all of your conversations? (For example, your dentist says you need to replace a crown. You say, that reminds me of forward bends in class today. Your dentist doesn’t understand.)  Most of the people in my life hope this wears off at some point.  9.  Do you still love it?  As much as you did when you were new? That last one is the one that matters to me most. I’d love to hear that it’s possible to love this for the rest of my life. Thanks to yoga for inspiring questions, and thanks to you for the conversation.

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Questions for Yogi Experts

  Now that Lucien is two-and-a-half, friends and acquaintances are starting to ask me whether we’re planning to have another baby. It’s something I’ve been thinking about at least five times a day-okay, maybe ten. Lucien is growing up, already more a boy than a baby. No more nursing, no more carrying him in a carrier like my newborn kangaroo.  Lots of mothers I know with kids Lucien’s age are already pregnant, or home with new babies.  In Lucien’s music and art classes several moms are on maternity leave with their infants, juggling toddlers and newborns. Mothers in his morning daycare (that just ended) are starting to show, too. Each time I bring another bag of Lucien’s clothes upstairs to the storage closet, I wonder if I’ll ever need these baby things again, or if I should give everything away now.   It was difficult for Neil and me to have Lucien. A miscarriage, years of trying, an international adoption application process, acupuncture, fertility treatments…. I know there are many of you out there who can relate. Dare we test fate and try again? Could we handle the disappointment if it didn’t work out? Could I handle going through it all again and this time with an energetic toddler? In yoga we learn will full intention without concern for results, but it is really tough to apply when talking about offspring. And it’s not just that. As much as I love spending most of my time with Lucien, there’s another part of me. The me who wants to start writing another book, the me who wants to delve deeper into my yoga practice-maybe even study with the Iyengar family in Pune, India in a few years-the me that wants to travel the world.  These are all things I can imagine doing with Lucien, but I’m not sure if I could manage making these dreams come true with two children. Dreaming big is important, but so is being practical, and Neil and I have only so much in the way of energy and emotional, not to mention financial, resources. Besides, we both feel more than santosha , contended, by our band of three. And then I think of babies…. And how Lucien’s presence in our lives is the very best blessing, the most meaningful experience imaginable. Much more precious than any book, trip, or retreat.   Maybe it’s ultimately a question of being in the moment. Perhaps now is my time for young children and bathtub Saturday nights, for early morning wake ups and squeezing in my yoga practice and writing when I can. There will be time later for books and India, for work and alone time, for sleep. And yet, I can’t deny the side (is this what it means to hold the opposites in yoga?) of me that’s ready to move on from babies and into the world of three-and-four-year-olds, with kindergarten looking like a finish line of sorts. (Free childcare!  Six whole work hours a day!) On many days, one feels like the perfect number for us.   At age 38, with a history of difficulty getting pregnant, I can’t help but feel like it’s now or never. Can I make a decision and embrace it, either way? Or do I allow myself to remain ambivalent and process these feelings for another few months or year?    How did you decide to have — or not have – one more?  And how, if at all, did your dedication to yoga play a part in the decision?   Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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One More?

  I’m writing this post from Fairburn Farm on Vancouver Island, a working farm and guest retreat where Neil and I have brought Lucien for a week-long summer holiday. The farm is a bucolic, heavenly spot just a ferry ride from our house in Vancouver. The views of forest and mountain and sky from the windows of the cottage we’re staying in are spectacular, but the real reason we’re here, for our third summer in a row, is the food. The guest operation is run by chef Mara Jernigan, sometimes called the Alice Waters of Vancouver Island. Meals here are a true farm-to-table experience. Breakfast is a two course affair starting with to-die-for homemade granola and berry compote, followed by omelets (with eggs and herbs from the farm, and cheese by local artisans) or frittatas or light-as-air pancakes. Dinner stretches out for hours, with each plate a celebration of local, fresh ingredients: sockeye salmon cakes with lentils and greens and green goddess dressing; rich risotto or homemade pasta or fresh from the brick oven pizza; strawberry tarts and (if it’s hot) refreshing sorbets. For lunch (which Mara doesn’t serve) we stop at a bakery in town where they mill their own grain, and bring the bread to the cheese shop next door for sandwiches that we take on a walk into a nearby park.   It’s an idyllic week, and I’m so glad I’m at a place in my life where I can enjoy it. It’s taken me a long time to get comfortable with food indulgences like this. As mentioned previously, I struggled with food issues, and my body image, for years.   When I got serious about yoga in my late twenties, I lost the weight I’d accumulated over the course of my unhappy childhood, and finally learned to eat and like healthy foods. My diet came to consist of brown rice, tofu, vegetables, black beans, and fruit–great stuff. But I soon came to be overly attached to healthy eating. If I was traveling and what I normally ate wasn’t available, I freaked out. If I gave in to temptation and ate a chocolate chip cookie, or a scoop of ice cream, or a slice or two of pizza–even if these were made lovingly with high-quality ingredients–I felt that I’d slipped, and worried that I’d backslide and return to a regularly scheduled program of unhealthy eating and ten to forty extra pounds.   This made travel-and even eating out at new places-hard. It was no fun when I showed up at Thanksgiving dinner or a Passover Seder or even a dinner party petrified of three quarters of the menu.  Or when I’d have a panic attack about “getting fat” on an otherwise romantic (and of course bread filled) trip to Paris with my husband.   As a new mom, I resolved to approach food differently. I didn’t want the scale, or my fears, to rule my life anymore–or our family vacations.  As I practiced more yoga, and studied yoga philosophy, I came to realize that my food fears weren’t in keeping with yoga after all.  The Yoga Sutras say moderation is key, as is non-attachment (in this case to the precise number on the scale.) Becoming nearly phobic about fattening food was embodying neither principle. Through a process of self-study, and the help of a good therapist, I changed. Now I eat healthy most of the time–and enjoy to the utmost the occasional treat.   What indulgences make your life a pleasure? What do you still struggle with when it comes to food and body image? And, how do you model a healthy relationship with food for your child/children? Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Food Loving Yogi

I’m in Austin, Texas, and last night took a lovely yoga class at Black Swan Yoga. Hillary, the instructor, said something so simple, it was profound. After a difficult Eka Pada Koundinyasana (Pose Dedicated to the Sage Koundinya) variation, which we were attempting during heat and humidity that created a slip-n-slide situation, we returned to a democratic Downward-Facing Dog. As we recovered, Hillary said, “If you were struggling in that last pose, then it’s good it’s over. You don’t have to think about it anymore, because it’s not happening now.” I know that I’ve said and heard countless variations on that theme in yoga classes I’ve taught and attended. Yet something about the straightforwardness with which Hillary spoke made it seem so simple to just let go of the past and along with it, all the weighty entanglements of suffering, guilt, and instant replays. Trying to change the past by keeping it running on a constant mental and emotional loop can end up frittering away your prana , or life force. Likewise, when you jet off into any scenario–imaginary or already played-out– than what is really happening in the here and now, I call it time-traveling.  We time-travel on the mat too, like when you mentally tell off an ex-boyfriend while in Crow Pose or go over your grocery list in Savasana. The danger in always traveling into what has been or what might never be, is that you lose the sensitivity it takes to stay in communication with your core wisdom. That root awareness can only reveal itself when you drop the baggage you’re carrying and turn all your attention toward accessing the tools you have right where you stand. At first when Hillary made that statement, I thought, “Yeah, easy to say, Sister, but try doing it.” Then I remembered one day a few years back. I was standing in the subway, having recently gone through a major breakup, and my heart was hurting. The world seemed colorless and tasteless, and still, everything stung. For no reason at all, I wondered why I was feeling so bad. Was it inevitable? Or was it a choice I was making?  I decided to see if I could put my broken heart on hold, enjoy a day out in the big city, and come back to the processing part later on. In literally one instant, my pain disappeared. Gone, nada , zip. I felt free, light, and happy to be alive and experiencing all that was in front of me. I had a wonderful time before, a little while later, I decided to re-enter the growth process, a sensation that would never again be as cutting or make me feel as helpless as when I thought I had no control over it. I didn’t know that it was possible to allow myself to step into the present so fully as to be immune from the poison of confusion and regret. I’ve employed this skill many times since, and you can, too. It’s as close as a decision, as gentle as an allowing, and as natural as relaxing into being who you want to be, right this minute. Yogis call this process dharana , or concentration. It requires pratyahara , sense withdrawal, another yogic skill of reigning yourself in from obsessively poring over the past or future, and from leaking your chi, or energy. I also call it core power, and when you practice using it to become victorious over the time-traveling mind and tidal heart, you will see more clearly, and without judgment, how you wish to proceed in the only time period that you can do anything about–the one you’re in. Sometimes even teachers need teachers to remind us of this. Here’s a pose variation that can quickly return you to the present; one that gets you grounded plus gives you a taste of all the strength and vitality you hold at center. From there, no matter how life comes at you, you can choose to come right back out at it with compassion, wisdom, and grace. Core Pose: “Core” Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose) Stand with your feet about two fists-width apart. Bend your knees and reach your right fingertips diagonally out away from your right foot, wider than the right shoulder, and press them into the mat. At the same time, press your right foot into the ground strongly. On an exhalation, draw your left knee into your chest using your low belly to draw in and up toward your sternum. Begin to stack your left hip on top of the right and unfurl your left arm to the sky. Inhale as you maintain the tone in your abdominal muscles, and begin to lengthen your bent, left leg out behind you until it is parallel to the floor. Your bottom leg can remain bent or, if your flexibility allows, straighten it. Keep your standing leg firm and foot rooted even as you draw into and express from your center in the pose. Do 3-5 repetitions on this side then bring both feet back down into the starting position. Take a gentle forward fold, clasping opposite elbows. Find your Earth-to-core connection and repeat the pose on the left side.  

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Stop Time-Traveling

Two fantastic things occurred over the last 24 hours. 1. We experienced an earthquake yesterday. Very exciting. It lasted 26 seconds. The dog growled for a few seconds, and the antennae on the TV shook for a full minute. In fact, the quake shook much of the province, which was wonderful, because it led to phone calls with my mother in Ottawa and my sister in Toronto. It’s the kind of thing everyone wants to talk about.  2. I tried naked yoga this morning. My goal was to last longer than 26 seconds. There is no doubt I was shaken more by the naked yoga than the quake. If you haven’t tried it, if your dad is British, say, and you’re uneasy in short sleeves, if you wear flannel clown pants to bed every night and peel your socks off during the middle of the night as you become unbearably hot–if you do all of that–well, we can talk. (If this isn’t you and you’re the type who goes naked to the movies, you have no idea what I’m talking about. In my next life I’ll be just like you.) The first 26 seconds are spent dismayed by the complex surface of my thighs, which look as though they have undergone several earthquakes of their own. Then I forget about them, perhaps because it is hotter this morning than it’s been all summer, and as humid as cottage cheese. My first forward bend makes me sweat. I make it to 40 minutes, naked. I put my clown pants back on for seated postures, to avoid rug burn, I say to myself. I conclude that this naked thing is no big deal. And then something unexpected happens. I move off the rug and onto the wood floor for Savasana. And, oh, oh, oh, the floor is as cool as ice cream on my poached back, so cool that I take my clown pants off again for the last couple of minutes. I press my low back into the floor and when I relax it makes a deep, suction-y, rumbling, farting sound that is the best thing I have EVER heard during my practice.  A soft, funny earthquake of my very own. I am CERTAIN you have things to teach me about your naked (or not) home practice. My ears are quaking. Thanks to earthquakes, to cool floors, and to you for the conversation. Join Kristin at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at http://kristinshepherd.ca

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An Earth Moving Experience

As our nation turns to backyards, barbecues, burgers, bright colors and explosions in the sky, it seems appropriate to celebrate independence in a personal way as well. Perhaps with some yoga? Independence. Freedom. Liberation. Moksha. Most cultures take time to celebrate a form of letting go and feeling open and alive to possibility, and it seems the height of summer is the perfect time for this expression. Your pores are open and warmed by the sun, encouraging your body to release, the days are long and, in most places, the weather is inviting.  What do we, in this modern day, need to do to disentangle ourselves from our oppressors?  What are our oppressions anyway, and why do we feel tangled in the first place? Yoga can help answer all of the above. I woke up with Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” in my head: “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.” This will be my mantra in practice this weekend. Any obstacle I perceive has been placed there by me, and I can also choose to remove it. My morning yoga practice, of course, will be my revolution. Today I celebrate independence from the mind stuff, vritti .  I will not allow myself to be worried about the extra traffic caused on a Friday before a holiday weekend…or the longer lines at the grocery store, or the wait at the bank or how crowded it will be at the park and the beach. These things are fun and they are choices. I will enjoy my liberation with breath, movement, and maybe a little reggae. How will you liberate yourself this weekend? Check out the accidental yogist if you’re in SoCal and looking for studios that are celebrating their independence. Erin Chalfant is a writer, yoga teacher and the Web Editor at Yoga Journal.

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Independence Day

I was out at lunch with a friend in Brooklyn the other day. She’s Israeli, and she enjoys teaching me Yiddish words that seem random. (Like the word for suspenders, or shleykes .) I was telling her about my decision to spend the rest of 2010 engaged in a hugging practice. For the first half of the year, I toured like crazy, a rewarding yet hectic experience of meeting students and studio owners across the country. For the next few months, and into 2011, I’m going to hug in, or streamline and focus as much as possible, on what positively serves my goals of teaching Core Strength principles to people. And I intend to limit the things that drain my energy unnecessarily so that I have more quality instruction to share when I do teach. “Gurnisht!” my friend interjected. “What?” I replied. She explained that in Yiddish, this word means “done” or “a decision made.” That’s it, that’s all, that’s all she wrote. Gurnisht is what we do whenever we choose not to participate in something in favor of doing something else. Yogis go a step further, We aim to bring a consciousness and compassion to our choices, so the decisions we make end up helping us to stay healthy and balanced, with energy to give to the important projects and relationships that nourish us in return. I know that, for me at least, it’s much easier to say yes than to say no. It’s uncomfortable to disappoint people. It’s also intense to keep energy inside that could have gone out to something or someone else, as anyone knows who has ever held Chair Pose for what seems like an eternity instead of running screaming out if the room. The key to balance is to know when a yes or a no will best serve your highest good. Often, my students express anxiety about saying no, because it feels like a negative thing. Well, it inherently is, and yet when we realize that a boundary can be as positive as an offering, our perspective of saying gurnisht might also shift. After all, without banks, a river becomes a stagnant swamp. If we truly want to move anything forward in our lives, it’s important to first identify the areas to which we want to give our commitments. Then, the borders we build with the solidity of our focus around those agreements encourage our energy to flow forward into action. Over time, these positive habits carve a path toward our preferred creations, careers, loves, and life choices. This sounds great, but it is supremely challenging to do, whether you’re saying yes to a wonderful opportunity or no to participating in relationships or responsibilities that take you off track of what you wish to cultivate. Understanding when to employ agreement or denial is a skill we use each time we step onto the mat. In our asanas, in any given moment, we get chances to hug in or expand in infinite ways: Do you want to express outward into Full Wheel or back off in Bridge Pose to protect an injured shoulder or to save energy? Through refining our choices based on what we think will empower our ultimate harmony of sthira-sukha , or steadiness and ease, we learn how to more easily navigate the constant stream of requests coming from within and, once we move off the mat, from the outside world. One could even say that sthira is our no, and sukha is the freedom and joy of our big yes that sthira helps to make possible. After all, there can hardly be one without the other. In our poses and in our lives, we employ not only conscious yeses, but conscious nos. Yoga teaches us that when you choose your dharma, and step into the current of your highest expression of health and happiness, freedom and delight, you undeniably serve the highest good of everyone else around you. Think about that for a moment. We yogis know that even though good is served doesn’t mean it will feel good to say no to drama and yes to our dharma. At times, moving toward our own truth can cause anger, fear, insecurity, and pain–for others and for ourselves. When your heart and your core tell you that it’s time to hug in, and say “no more” to leaking your attention and prana (life force)–instead making room for freedom from suffering and freedom to be yourself–remember the principle of gurnisht and don’t do it! Core Pose: Half Chaturanga Dandasana Just because this is half a Chaturanga doesn’t mean it’s not fully challenging. I see so many students rushing or collapsing through full Chaturanga, and they flirt with shoulder, elbow and wrist strain, instead of reaping the core and arm-strengthening benefits of the pose. This variation will help you back off to go deeper. Coming into effective alignment and generating the freedom of more power and safety means you have to create boundaries all around the pose. Begin in Plank Pose, fingers wide, palms and fingertips grounding. Place your knees down on the mat, not under the hips, but farther back. Remain lifted at the navel with a long tailbone and spine. Reach your chest forward between the upper arms without sinking toward the floor and winging the shoulder blades; they stay firmly on your back. Hug your elbows in, not squeezing the ribs but also not leaking energy by opening too wide. Keep the elbows directly over your wrists. On an exhalation, float your heart forward to maintain the vertical line of your forearms, push the floor with your hands, pull up the side waists and lower belly, and begin to lower, by about 2 to 4 inches. Resist the urge to go to as far as full Chaturanga. Staying higher will keep you working from the belly, or center, of your muscles, so you gain tone instead of stressing connective tissue and joints. Try 3-5 repetitions, holding each Half Chaturanga for 1-3 breaths. Press back into Child’s Pose and rest for 1 minute after your last pose.  

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Hugging in–and saying No

The sigh with the first sip of coffee. The click of my mug when I set it on the coffee table. The grunt when I realize my left hamstrings are still half the length of my right hamstrings. Ujjayi breathing, when I remember to do it. Seagulls squawking outside. The yeah! yeah! yeah! I say under my breath with my handstand and anything resembling a back bend. Heaving groans that ease their way into regular breaths during side twists. The big, fat sighs that settle me into Savasana. Shanti, shanti, shanti, which I whisper to the lake (don’t know why I whisper at home). The tickety-tickety-tickety of Rosie, my dog, who hears me whisper and comes to join me after her own upward dog, downward dog series. It’s worth it just for the sounds, isn’t it? What are your favorites?   Thanks to yoga for the sounds and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, writer, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Please join me at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. KristinShepherd.

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The Sounds of Yoga

Yesterday morning, sitting at my desk, hard at work, I would have never predicted that by late afternoon I’d be sitting on a boat with Yogic Arts creator Duncan Wong, eating watermelon and floating down the Hudson River. But that’s exactly what happened. That morning, my manager, Ava, called, inviting me to hop aboard the meditation and reiki cruise that Captain Ike and his Spirit Seeker Journeys crew does weekly. “Get to the boat basin at 79th Street,” she said. “Life awaits!” At first I said no. I had far too much business to attend to, I was comfortably at home with my tea, my computer, and Google, and it seemed unfathomable to peel myself out of the chair and make such a big trek. Not to mention that getting from Brooklyn to some uptown Manhattan dock during rush hour is an almost impossibly long journey. When I hung up the phone, though, I began to reconsider. I could always work, but a boat, a willing captain, and an available body of water is not always as easy to find.  I took a deep breath, got up, and went to find my sunblock. When I got to the boat, I was pleased to see Duncan and Ava there, along with some new friends and yoga teachers I looked forward to getting to know. And bond we did. The day was gorgeous, our ravenous yogi appetites cleared out Captain Ike’s cupboards, and we had so much fun that a scheduled 7:30pm return became 11:30pm!  It was a special day, magical even, and lying on the deck watching the moon hide and reappear between skyscrapers, I was so thankful I’d chosen sailing over Googling. I realized that as yoga practitioners, we have more choices than we might think about the quality with which we live our lives. It’s so easy to fall into our samskaras , mental and emotional patterns that can drive the habitual actions and default settings we’ve been doing for so long. Sometimes it’s like we’re on we’re on autopilot, and that the way we’re living is the only reality there is. But once in a while, we get the opportunity to choose again, to broaden our perspective of what our day could be like, or how our lifestyles, our relationships, careers and ways of perceiving the world could be brighter, more abundant, and could serve us in the absolute best ways possible.  Sometimes I hear myself saying “no” to the unknown adventures that might be found on a different track, because I think, “I can’t possibly do that.” My rational mind then proceeds to tell me why. Well, what if, just once in a while, we let our spirits answer with the big “Yes” born of the question: “Why not ?”  Doing exactly that yesterday, instead of returning phone calls a little faster or making my deadlines a little earlier, manifested a memory I will cherish for a lifetime. After all, life isn’t always going to give us the peace and happiness we want. Sometimes we have to create it from the inside out by doing something revolutionary. So, next time you find yourself deep in a samskara that might be comfortable but not pushing you to be as powerful and vital as you’d like to be, see if you can jump out and say “Yes!” to something radical, exciting, and new.  After all, life awaits. Core Pose: Shakti Kicks I call these Shakti Kicks in honor of the creative fire they spark at your center. If you want to bust out of a rut, this energetic pose is a fast-track to transformation! I use it to help students strengthen the upper body for arm balances and inversions as they practice courage and the hugging into center it takes to re-track towards power and grace. Note: You don’t have to kick this high. I encourage you to start very mindfully, going slower and lower than you might think you can. All my asanas are built from the ground up, specifically to give you the best chance to remain in the integrity of your body’s healthy structure and respect your individual process, even as you’re moving and growing in the pose. So try little hops, and chip away at this pose until you are going farther but still in full alignment. From Down Dog, firm your fingertips into the floor and walk your feet together. Press your big toe mounds into a bandha , or lock. This activates your inner thighs and keeps your legs hugging in for more control as you hop. Bend your knees on an inhalation and look forward between your hands. Draw up through your lower belly as you take small or larger hops. If you’re building strength, or if your wrists or shoulders won’t support hopping, then pretend to hop, grounding the hands down and lifting your hips higher with the low and mid abdominals on each exhale. Otherwise, aim your heels for the sitting bones and land with bent knees. As you hop, exhale strongly for more core support, and keep your shoulder blades naturally down the back even as your hands press into the floor.   Eventually, your hips may hover over your arms and you’ll be able to tuck your tailbone and lift your belly as you root down through your hands and set your feet down lightly. However, even if you’re kicking low, you can still find the dynamic earth-to-core connection that allows you to lighten your landings as you float between the hands. Try 5-10 kicks then fold forward for a few back-body stretching breaths in Uttanasana.      

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Saying Yes

I’m about to do something radical. Something I’ve never done  before. I’m about to pack my yoga mat, board a plane, and leave Lucien for five whole days while I go on a yoga retreat.  He’s two-and-a-half and we’ve never spent a night apart. Until a few months ago when we finished breastfeeding, going away without him wasn’t even an option. (I never managed to get the hang of pumping.) I can count on both hands the days we’ve been away from each other for more than seven or eight hours.  My husband Neil has been out of town a dozen times or more.  Not jetting off to a man spa or anything. But every month or two or three he gives a talk or has an academic conference or meeting to attend in Ann Arbor or Sweden or Atlanta.  Lucien and I hold down the fort here. Now it’s my turn. Thanks to my husband (and morning day-care plus a  babysitter) I’ll be studying for five days with one of my favorite  teachers, Marla Apt, at the Feathered Pipe Ranch in Montana. I’m elated–and scared, too.  Sure, Lucien and his dad are as close as can be, but will my baby be okay without his momma? As much as I want to go on the retreat, as eager as I am to study with Marla, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing. The day I signed up for the trip I practically had a panic attack and needed Neil and  two of my best friends to convince me to buy my ticket. The truth is, while I’m worried about leaving Lucien and how much we’ll miss one another, I know he’ll be fine, more than fine with his dad. They’ll have a great time. And I’m longing for the chance to rediscover my yoga practice-and myself-while on the retreat. I love being a mom and I love the pace of life with a young child, but  I need a break. What I’m most looking forward to is the stillness, the alone time, not having to run to catch a bus after Savasana. But I’m going to miss my boy like crazy. I’ll let you know how it goes… What was it like the first time you spent a night or two away from  your child or children? Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.  

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Feathered Pipe Retreat

All this World-Cup-inspired team spirit reignites the debate about yoga as a sport. Bikram has been lobbying for a Yoga Olympics for ages. One need only watch the New York Regional Yoga Championship video from New York Times to conclude that yoga is VERY challenging and amazingly beautiful and fun to watch. There are of course pros and cons to having all this attention in the yoga world. Those opposed say yoga cannot be judged and that doing so misses the point entirely. Supporters say exposure inspires children to get involved at a young age.   What do you think about yoga as a sport?  And what about some of these crazy poses…is that even good for you? More advanced poses here: Extreme Yoga Poses Join the debate: Can that be Good for You?!

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World Cup Yoga?

What’s with the naked theme? I write a blog about loving home practice, and you, some of you, write in that you love naked yoga. I write a blog about favorite poses, and you write in about naked yoga. I write a blog about meditation or chanting or acting, for goodness sake, and some of you (is it the same people? The Naked Yoga Alliance? I don’t know!) write back that you love naked yoga. Billy Connolly, the marvelous Scottish comedian, writes that he loves an ordinary love life with his wife. A meat-and-potatoes kind of lover, he is.  He’s all about comfort. It takes some self-assuredness to admit that. I feel that way about yoga. I love yoga in my flannel pajama bottoms. I start with two t-shirts and peel one off as I warm up. Sometimes I start in socks. This naked thing? I don’t know. It’d be like grocery shopping while naked, or bowling while naked, neither of which is ever going to happen, so don’t feel you should write in about those. Besides, where I live, anyone in a canoe can see me unless I downward dog in the dark.   All right, all right! I’ll try it. I’ll try it in the dark (by the park, for a lark, with a shark. I’m going all Dr. Seuss in my nervousness.). I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the conversation, I think. Kristin Shepherd lives in North Bay, Ontario. She is a chiropractor, workshop facilitator, actor, writer, and parent of two grown children and a perpetually infantile dog.  Check her out, fully clothed, at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd. 

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Why Naked Yoga?

Yesterday I was a part of the world’s largest yoga class–10,000 yogis all neatly and peacefully arranged on the Great Lawn in Central Park. I was also fortunate enough to be behind the scenes for the two days leading up to the event, and I’d like to give you a peek inside! I was there to be included in a documentary about the day, as well as filming a scene for a TV show, and would be one of the lucky yogis practicing onstage along with my good friend and leader of the park’s practice, Elena Brower. I arrived Monday at the Flavorpill offices to pick up my practice outfit (hello, Addidas and corporate sponsorship!) and be prepped by Ava Taylor, my manager and founder of Yoga Artist’s Management Agency (YAMA). Sascha Lewis, Flavorpill co-founder, was the mastermind behind this event, just like the massive yoga class at the MoMa in January. The office was abuzz with last-minute organization, yogis streaming in an out to get their assistant outfits, and film crews coming to set up their Tuesday with us. I thought the stress of last-minute responsibilities would be crushing. But still, the mood was buoyant, and everyone had a smile on their faces, even and especially Sascha, who was taking a moment in the midst of the melee to make an avocado and almond butter smoothie. I can report that everyone held their centers even when no one was looking. On Tuesday, I got to the Carlyle Hotel, where the yogis who would be on stage, including Duncan Wong, Maya Feinnes, Angela Clark and more, were invited to have our hair and makeup done  (I think Duncan passed on that last offer). It was a moment of Zen in the shampoo chair, then back into the fun, as 20 amazing yoga instructors and personalities shared their perspectives and lives with one another.  We laughed, we learned, and most of all, we gave one another heartfelt support as we walk the path of teaching this healing practice to the world. Our smiles got even wider when we arrived at Central Park (after a full day already of meetings, filming and more organizing) to see the thousands of brightly-colored yogis flooding into the park. I saw so many people I knew from years past, it was like a karmic family reunion!   Dharma Mittra was gracious and wise as I interviewed him for the documentary, telling us that he wasn’t nervous to teach, because he doesn’t look out and see 10,000 people, but rather, one beautiful soul ready to receive his knowledge—and it’s easy to teach to one. Yes, there was a huge thunderstorm that coincided with our first, thunderous OM, and yes, Elena was only able to lead us through one partial Surya Namaskar, making it not only the largest yoga class on record, but perhaps the shortest too, but let me tell you something–it rocked nonetheless. As yogis, we’d been in alignment far before we ever stepped on those mats. I witnessed first hand how from the office to the hotel to the park, people were working together, seeing the good in any setback, and handling it all with grace. I was there as teachers from wildly different belief systems bowed to each other and respected their differences even as they found common ground. And thankfully, I was there as our community at large swept over the Great Lawn in a flood, covering what was a baseball field earlier in the day it with mats and bodies and hearts open and as excited to be there together. The storm couldn’t ruin our yoga–the day was the yoga, and all the days before. The postures were just extra credit. Here’s a pose we did yesterday that you might recognize. When you enter it, remember to let gratitude expand the heart, for all the opportunities, support, and love you do have all around you, and inside. Then after you practice, hold on to that aspect of you that is perfectly capable of being the change you wish to create in yourself, and in your world…whether it’s behind the scenes, or standing up there in the spotlight. Namaste! Core Pose: High Cobra   A teacher friend used to call this “Teenage Cobra” because it’s more grown up than Baby Cobra, but not quite as much as a full Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, or Upward-Facing Dog. From Plank Pose, you’ll lower yourself to the floor slowly, knees up or down. Make sure your elbows are directly over your wrists, and shoulders lifted. Your low belly and front thighs should pull towards the sky as you lower to provide more stability and less dropping out of the posture as you transition. Once there, do an alignment check. Your palms are by the low ribs, preserving the right angle of your arms. Let’s start from the ground up: firm your pointed feet into the earth, carve your tailbone toward the floor, and on an exhale, draw that lower belly in and up the spine as you press into the mat with your palms and begin to rise to your spine’s capacity. Think not of jutting the ribs forward to achieve the open-hearted look of this pose, but rather, as you ground the hands downward, wave upward along the front of your spine as it moves back into the body and up towards your crown. This will generate the movement from your pelvic core, a place of inner power and support that can sustain that open heart from a safe and healthy root. Once your chest opens, you should be ready for your inhale–let it flare your ribs wide in all directions. Roll your shoulders back naturally and take the shoulder blades down the back slightly to support your chest lifting like two helping hands behind the heart.   Your head slides back and up with a natural neck curve, completing the graceful curve of this asana without risking cervical (neck spine) compression. You’re free, open, and available for life in every moment. That’s the yogi way.  

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The Great Rain-out

by Kathryn Budig I was so excited when Elena Brower, Goddess of yoga, invited me to demo at the maha event–Yoga in Central Park–but once I added up my financial sum for taking off, my numbers were looking dangerously high. Dismayed, but happy to stay off of a plane and knowing all is as it should be, I decided to watch the live stream from the genius boys at Yogaglo .  Soon after, thanks to the my home-away-from-home (aka my Facebook page) , I saw that Flavorpill was hosting two simultaneous events. One in Miami and one in Los Angeles with Tara Stiles. I shot Ms. Stiles an email and was RSVPed for some yoga poolside at The Standard hotel–yes, welcome to LA! I began my day at 4:30am; disgruntled to find that my green tea canister was empty. I chugged two glasses of water and took out my angst in the form of a Facebook update. The Om-tastic New Yorker, Cyndi Lee, comically replied, “5:30am? — green tea? — this is when I realize I don’t live in LA. Good luck!” I chuckled to myself thinking of the contrasts between this day in NYC vs. LA. Green tea, albeit healthy, does sounds a bit wimpy next to the vibrato of a black cup of coffee.   Then I thought of the yoga events.   Ten Thousand yogis gathering in the vast and majestic Great Lawn of Central Park, and where is the Los Angeles equivalent? Clearly, amongst scantily clad poolside peeps at a posh West Hollywood hotel. Hey, you’ve got to accept a person or place for exactly who or what it is, and Los Angeles–you certainly are pretty. Everyone was so pretty, in fact, that I wondered if the hotel hired True Blood physique-worthy people to lounge next to their pool to make it look good. Let’s not forget, Tara Stiles –our teacher for the event–is a Ford model. Very apropos. That said, Tara is a good midwestern girl who now resides in New York City with her studio, Strala.  Any midwesterner is a friend of mine, and upon meeting Tara in person, I was very pleased to feel her instant geniune warmth, love and goofiness. A true down-to-earth girl. We strolled gracefully (okay, I lugged my Manduka) past the pool, took off our sunglasses and decided whether we wanted sun or shade.  The group of roughly 30 people placed their mats, applied sun block, and the practice began. Tara led us through a well-rounded hour class with sun salutes, lunges, gentle twists, standing poses and time for inversions, backbends and some good hip loving. The initially too-hot sun felt amazing as we opened our hearts to a refreshing rooftop breeze to balance out the heat.   The facade of this event was tres LA, but the heart of the event was pure yoga. There is nothing more powerful than a group of people uniting to breathe with intention, to soak up the sun and learn how to light up from within. The irony is that the New York version of the solstice celebration of light was rained out. One big OM and a round of salutations was all they squeezed in before the show was shut down due to lightening. My intital reaction was sympathy for how frustrating that must have been. Then I laughed. Here I was, comparing Angeles to New York all day long.   Green tea verses black coffee.  A hip West Hollywood pool verses the vast green of Central Park. Sunglasses verses reading glasses. US magazine verses The New Yorker. Sun verses rain. What have I learned? Balance. We are all connected. Rain or shine, we are all yogis unified, coming together to show the world that yoga has the power to heal and change the world. Anyone can do yoga–in the park, at a pool, or even from a computer at home. All it takes is the will and intention to do so, and let me just say–10,000 yogis–that’s a pretty sight. Kathryn Budig is a Los Angeles yoga teacher and writer. Kathryn is an arm balance rockstar who teaches challenging vinyasa flow classes at Yoga Works.

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SoCal Solstice Celebration

One of the world’s largest yoga classes proved also to be one of the shortest. An estimated 10,000 people showed up for yoga in Central Park on Tuesday only to find–mid Surya Namaskar–that lightning and rain would cut the solstice celebration short. Legendary yoga teacher Elena Bower lead the mass of yogis. Participants on the scene say even the rain and thunder could not dampen their moods or destroy their inner peace. One of the greatest things about yoga–and New York City–is its ability to unite young and old, and people from all parts of the city proudly waited in long lines for a chance at this great coming together of community in the park. As they waited, they did what yogis often do: yoga. In the end, the day will be remembered as yet another lesson in willful intention with non-concern for results. Aerial image by Geoffrey Goodridge / Michael O’Neill Photos by J oe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan

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The Faces of Yoga in Central Park

Lucien and I made a trip to the naturopath a couple of weeks ago. Being in a doctor’s office for two hours with a two year old was quite a challenge, but it was worth it. (At my urging, Neil went a few days later.) Within days we’d each changed our diet pretty dramatically (no dairy for Lucien, no sugar for Neil, a liquid iron supplement for me, and much more protein for all of us) and added a regimen of pro-biotics, protein smoothies, and the like to our run of the mill multi-vitamins. We felt better almost immediately. In addition to the dietary changes and supplements, the naturopath (Kristen Brown at the Crossroads Center in Vancouver) suggested that one of the reasons we kept getting sick, as I described a couple of weeks ago, might be that we were all doing too much. Neil needed more sleep, she said. And my system seemed depleted from a three year period that included an IVF cycle, a pregnancy and c section, and two plus years of breastfeeding–all while writing a book, teaching classes, and providing most of Lucien’s daytime childcare. Not to mention moving to a new country. (Although props to Canada for making it possible for us to afford to see the naturopath; the visits will be reimbursed by our health insurance at an incredible 80%.) Was my body trying to tell me something?  Have I been doing too much?  Have we all been? On the drive home, I thought of the David Sedaris essay “On the Kookaburra” where he discusses the idea of the four burners. Think of your life as being like a stove top, says one of the people he encounters on a trip to Australia, where each burner represents a key component: family, friends, health, and work. In order to be successful, the theory goes, you need to turn one of the burners off, and in order to be really successful, you can only have two burners on. Trying to do too much means you’ll suffer in all areas.   The word success is an interesting one. To the yogi, success can, of course, mean fulfillment and inner peace, as much as worldly accomplishment. Either way, I think there’s something to this theory and I’m having a hard time deciding which one–or two–of the burners I’m willing to turn off, even temporarily. Do we all need to readjust our stove tops? Do I? And how to go about making the choice of which burners to turn off, even for a time?  Or is it better–more yogic–to keep all the burners on a moderate flame?   Which burners do you have on high?  Which are you willing to shut off?  And does anyone know where I can get a seriously discounted Viking range with six burners, which would solve the problem completely? Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.  

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The Four Burners

Hundreds of fellow yogis celebrated the Solstice in Times Square , and Yoga Journal was on the scene. Dana Flynn from Laughing Lotus and Alanna Kaivalya taught to hundreds of eager yogis in the heart of the city that never sleeps. If one can yoga here, one can yoga anywhere. Here’s a preview of some blissful yogis…stay tuned for more updates in the coming days. Did you go to this event? Share your thoughts below and post your images to our Facebook page.

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Solstice Yoga in Times Square

Last night in New York City, I met my manager and a few others for a business meeting and afterward we went to visit a friend whose band was playing in Tribeca. It was a French bistro and they were playing Latin music.   When we arrived, no one was dancing, a contrast to every other place in the city where they pack the dance floors. The music was good enough to make a meditating monk get up and boogie. Yet still, according to the band, it’s dead like this every week despite their efforts. So my girlfriends and I, yogis all, did what we had to do. We put our purses down and created a dance floor of our own. Within 10 minutes, 20 other people came out there with us–the same ones who supposedly never dance–filling the space, and having a great time. It stayed like this for the next 2 hours until a grateful and sweaty band was packing up to go. Where as the restaurant manager was telling them to keep it down earlier in the evening, he was clapping and supporting the party by the end. He was even up there with us at one point, shaking it like a Polaroid picture. One of the band members approached us afterward and said, “It’s so much better for us to have an energy exchange we can draw from. Thank you for being in such a state of perpetual celebration!” That beautiful phrase struck me, and I realized that in order to create fun, adventure and magic wherever we go, we can each cultivate our lives into becoming constant expressions of our vitality and gratitude. The yogi understands that their innermost state is one of perpetual celebration, and then sets about doing the work it takes to keep themselves readily available to that source of love and light. If we are always dancing on the inside, then why is it so incredibly challenging to access that feeling? After all, life doesn’t always provide us with a bistro and a great band. We are sometimes asked to seek our vibrant center in the midst of heartache, grief and the stress of uncertainty. How can we find the beat when there doesn’t seem to be music at all? We can look to the yoga asanas for a clue. Our teachers ask us to enter into intense situations–like holding Warrior Two for what seems like an eternity. Then we are directed to channel the big energy of those sensations into something that lights us up, and moves us towards sparking more transformation instead of less. We do this in part by learning to understand our satya , or truth, at its most distilled essence. A more superficial reaction might tell you that your burning quads are uncomfortable, and that could be true. But it’s not your ultimate Truth, which, upon reflection, might help you see that besides being uncomfortable, that Warrior Pose is also giving you the opportunity to be powerful. Yogis don’t run away from the fire of our existence. We walk straight through. And sometimes, if we lack outer support, like that night on the empty dance floor–we simply have to go first. I remind my students that they are more than exercisers. They are conduits, channeling the heat of their inherent life force, prana, toward their most passionate expressions of who they are. This results in a strong, supple body, a mind able to focus on what matters, stories that we re-write to be empowering, and engaging in one of the  foundational practices of yoga–dissolving resistance to our greatness wherever we find it. In this way, yogis face down any fear, any difficulty and endure the sensations of suffering until they find a way to use it to their advantage. Even if no one else is on the dance floor with you and you feel alone, your heart is breaking or people are disappointing your expectations, you can dive into that perpetual celebration inside, and even through your tears, bow to your next doorway to wisdom, integrity and living out loud. Say “thank you” first–then, get to dancing! Core Pose: Dancing Fan Pose This is a favorite variation on Fan Pose, one I use whenever I want to loosen up my legs, and access my creative source energy that can too often become constricted by tight hips. Come into Fan, feet parallel, and spaced wide enough apart so you can bring your palms to the floor or onto a block. Begin to bend one knee, and stretch into the inner thigh of the straighter leg even as you build heat in the bent one. Make sure to maintain healthy alignment with your knees always facing the same direction as your toes. You can get more wild and free with this movement, swaying from side to side as one leg bands, then the other, or try a longer hold if you’re loving the stretch. This will help you remove obstacles to your inherent sense of play, freedom and ability to dance  anywhere, any time. Do Dancing Fan for one minute or more.  

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Perpetual Celebration

When I began practicing yoga, I studied at a beautiful, inspiring, and decidedly glamorous yoga center in downtown New York City. The students saluting the sun beside me were often dancers, actresses, and models-including some big name celebrities like Russell Simmons, Woody Harrelson, and Christy Turlington-all very nice, but I couldn’t help but be intimidated.   Celebrities aside, I used to compare myself to the glossy women in my classes. They were skinny; I wasn’t. They wore high heels, designer clothes, and carried expensive handbags; I wore Converse sneakers and thrift store dresses, and ported my stuff around in a $5 Strand Bookstore bag. More important to me, they had their poses down. Handstand? Headstand? Five wheels in a row? No problem. I was struggling to simply follow along. Now I look back with compassion on the 20-something me. I must have looked cute in my bargain finds. And so what if I didn’t have my asana practice down to a science! It’s called being a beginner, right? These days, I don’t compare myself to others very much in the yoga room, but I do have to stop myself from making comparisons when it comes to Lucien and other children his age. It’s a mind game, and no good for anyone to compare where each child is at when it comes to the particulars of developmental stages. Last year at this time, moms and nannies would come up to me in the playground looking really worried. “He’s not walking yet?” they’d exclaim, as an eighteen-month old Lucien crawled up the stairs and down the slide. And my mind would race with all the worries I had about my slow to walk, not yet toddling toddler.  Nowadays, when people on the playground hear him go through his musical repertoire-don’t get me started on how many songs this boy knows by heart-I get questions about his crazy verbal skills. No, I am not drilling him with flashcards, he just happens to love language and all things musical. Of course, secretly, I can’t help but feel something like pride when mothers and nannies are impressed by Lucien’s rendition of “This Land is Your Land” or “Three Little Birds” or “Seasons of Love” but then I realize that’s a false reality.  The minute I let myself buy into the praise, is the minute I have to also buy into the fears. Is Lucien “too” shy and bookish? How are his motor skills as compared to the other kids his age? Should he be racing down the sidewalk on his balance bike rather than slowly investigating it in the backyard? All of a sudden I’m back at my glamorous yoga center, beating myself up for not yet mastering those advanced poses, rather than embracing the beauty of that 20-something me.   One of my early teachers, this one in Cambridge, Massachusetts, liked to tell us to keep our eyes on our own mat, to not compare our practice to anyone else’s. Great yogic advice-and it works just as well on the playground, too. Next time someone on the playground makes a comment about Lucien-whether praise or a concerned worry-I’ll try and smile graciously, and then let the comment go and get back to some quality time with my boy.   Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Monkey Bar Mind

I used to think asana practice required a yoga mat, sweats-or maybe even “yoga clothes”-a quiet indoor space, and time. (Lots of it.) Lately, Lucien has been teaching me that none of these are necessary. Thanks to my two year old, I’m starting to realize-after more than ten years of consistent practice-that yoga can be practiced in spurts, a pose here and a pose there.  Yesterday we were in the backyard gathering vegetables from our garden for dinner. I noticed that both Lucien and I were in Malasana pose as we clipped and gathered the kale and spinach. Later that evening during Lucien’s bath, my husband Neil and I were amazed to see Lucien sitting in Virasana for twenty minutes straight while he played with his rubber duck and wooden boat.  This morning, when Neil and Lucien came to wake me up, Lucien put one hand on a laundry hamper temporarily stashed in the bedroom, and stretched the opposite side leg onto the bed, inadvertently coming into a beautiful Utthita Hasta Padangustasana. (He’s a natural.)  I’ve decided to take a lesson from Lucien and add a pose here or there into my daily activities-a shoulder stretch while I’m at my desk working, a triangle pose while hanging out with Lucien in the kitchen. The other day Lucien skipped his nap-a bummer for me since I’d been going all day. He wasn’t sleepy, but I needed a break. While Lucien played on the floor in the living room with his trains, I laid down next to him in a bare-bones Savasana.  It was just a minute or two or three, and I was in my jeans, but you know what? It was bliss. What poses do you mix into your day?  What has your child taught you about yoga lately? Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Malasana in the Garden

My Tuesday noon class follows a morning of work for me, work which involves reasonably serious conversations with reasonably serious adults. Then I whip into my office at 11:30, change into my yoga duds, and drive over to the studio, arriving ridiculously early for my 12:15 class. In fact, when I arrive, they’re still sweeping up Cheerios from the floor.  Moms carry babies on their hips, all of them completely relaxed after a moms-and-tots class. I love this. I put my mat down in the back corner, and dream about being a yoga baby. In this dream, my body has no resistance. I flop forward and sweep my hands across the floor. My head turns like an owl. I do somersaults for the fun of it.   In this dream class, I laugh whenever I feel like it. I also sing: This Little Light of Mine, or Baby Beluga, or You Are My Sunshine. I dance while I sing. We all do, in this class. I eat the odd raisin or Cheerio off the floor.  I drink hot chocolate out of one of those sippy cups.I hang out in Child’s Pose when I get tired.  I have a nap if I feel like it. And someone carries me out at the end. I like that part the best. I am so into this dream that by the time my real class starts, I am about 4 years old. Do you have a dream class? I’d love to hear about it. Thanks to all of you yoga moms and yoga babies for the inspiration,and thanks to you for the conversation.

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Yoga Babies

One nice thing about being sick a couple of weeks ago was that I had time to finish a wonderful book, Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting , by Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn.  Normally I tend to avoid parenting books–when I have time to read I want to read “adult” material such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Yoga Journa l (of course), a novel, or a new smart and funny memoir like Meghan Daum’s Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived In That House. Luckily, I found my way to Everyday Blessings.   Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn (the well known mindfulness meditation teacher) lovingly weave together their takes on parenting and spiritual practice, illuminating how much each can add to the other.  They describe parenthood as an 18-year spiritual retreat–complete with a live in meditation teacher.  (My teacher’s name? Lucien.)  In chapters about each stage of childhood–from birth to toddlers to teenagers–they offer concrete ways to bring consciousness and connectedness to parent-child relationships. Much of what I read in this beautiful book was in line with what Neil and I have naturally been doing with Lucien–making time for the precious in-between moments of daily life by dancing in the living room, singing songs and making music, drawing and creating, listening and hugging, taking walks in nature and around the neighborhood, reading the same story five times over, without complaint, surrendering to the rhythms of childhood in all sorts of ways.  Before reading Everyday Blessings , I’d done these things because I sensed they were good for Lucien, and because the moments just felt right. After reading, I realized that these moments of connection with my child are my spiritual practice. Time to go dance. Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Everyday Blessings

For the rest of my life, when the subject of PopTarts comes up, I’ll either have to tell shifty-eyed lies or I’ll have to tell the truth. I’ll start with the truth right now. I’ve been away all week at a theatre festival.  This means hotel beds, hotel roommates, late nights, and crazy food–meat or soy balls covered in sweet sauces, served on toothpicks that really add up on your plate. More cheese and crackers than you’ve eaten in your life, and the kinds of sweet squares we all serve at weddings, funerals, board meetings–you know these things. Day One. I begin the week like an angel.  An hour of yoga at 5:30 am in the hotel gym.  I grab a corner of the room, squeeze myself between two treadmills and a wall-to-wall mirror, and do my best on a concrete floor covered in stained indoor-outdoor carpet.  It isn’t class, but it’s okay. Day Two. At 5:30 am, I do 45 minutes of yoga, which is pretty great given four hours of sleep and a really puffy face. (Is it the salt?  The meat/soyballs?)  It’s no fun staring at a bloated version of your own face in a mirror the size of Canada.  And all those people thumping on treadmills, jeez.  Not to mention CNN on the TV. Om. Day Three.   At 5:15 am, because my roommate is snoring and I can’t sleep anyway, I do 30 minutes of yoga in the hallway outside my room on the 10th floor of the hotel.  The carpet is thicker here, and I’m not up to the social thing with the weightlifters, the runners, and the mirror. My face is the puffiest yet.  I’ve been eating sauce balls at midnight for three days.  Why don’t I stop eating them?  I have no idea. This was a good morning of yoga.  I prepare for a wee Savasana at the end.  I lie down. Suddenly a man emerges–naked–from the room across the hall to retrieve his newspaper from the floor outside his door.   He yells.  I yell.  Then he screams: “I’m sorry!” and flees back into his room. I am too rattled for Savasana.    Day Four. I don’t do any yoga this morning. Instead, I sit in the hallway at 5am and read bad news from the newspaper outside my door.  I open and eat the first PopTart of my life.  (It was in a goodie bag we were given on arrival.  I laughed at the absurdity of PopTarts then.  I’m not laughing now.)  It is not my finest moment.  Not my finest day. Day Five.  At Home. Here’s the lesson for me: I’m human.  I do well on some days, and some days I forget everything I’ve learned about yoga, decent food, and kindness to myself. I can hardly wait for class tomorrow. What reminds you to get back to your practice? Thanks to PopTarts, naked men, and meat/soyballs, which help me understand, again, how beautiful yoga is. And thanks to you for the conversation.

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PopTart Yoga

My absolute favorite color for summer is turquoise, so this week I thought I’d put together a cheerful outfit for you with my love of the blues in mind. I’m also still in bargain hunting mode, so this entire outfit is again just a little over $100.00. Is there a color you like to wear that cheers you up? What’s your absolute favorite color for summertime? the details: Straw Bag from H&M–$19.95 New Wave V-Neck Icon Tank by Marika from Target–$19.99 Striped Sports Bra from Forever 21–$6.80 Fitted Bootcut C9 pant by Champion from Target–$19.99 Gaiam Wisdom Yoga Mat Bag from Target–$19.99 Scarf from Forever 21–$7.80 Lotus and Koi Earrings from Forever 21–$3.80

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Wish I was Wearing: Thrifty Turquoise

I’ve had a really busy week. It involved cramming four days of work into one day–today. I ran around this morning not very like a Buddhist monk with her head cut off. By the time I got to yoga class at noon, I was disappointed with myself and my roller coaster relationship with the world. This is no time for me to be social. But. But it is my only chance to get to class this week, unless I can find one while traveling over the next few days. And it’s a drag chanting om by myself. So I climb the stairs, get changed, and put a mat down. I don’t look at anyone. Class starts, I hang over my feet, and I breathe.  I can’t tell you how this saves me on a day like this. Before too long I look at my teacher, I begin to smile at the way his count of 5 is far more like 39, and I hear the breathing all around me. Toward the end of class, we’re in a sitting spinal twist. I’m enjoying it. It’s easier than it was last week. I glance up and meet the eyes of the woman on the next mat. “Turn the other way,” she says. “What?” “You’re turned the wrong way,” she whispers. She has no idea how right she is. I turn the other way and find the twist exactly as difficult as it was last week. Then I take a second to glance around the room at these people who are kind enough to share a room with strangers in the pursuit of something kinder, stronger, and more flexible than the rest of the day. And I belt out om like my life depends on it when class ends. Thanks to my neighbor for turning me around and thanks to you for the conversation.

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Turning me Around

Though I sometimes wish I could splurge on the many outfits I put together for my blog and here at Yoga Journal , the reality is that it is not always possible. In these tough economic times I like to be a serious bargain hunter. I challenged myself this week to see what I could come up with on a budget. This entire outfit, shoes, bag, and yoga mat are just a little over $100.00 combined. the details: Funnel-neck Active Zip Jacket   oldnavy.com $15.00 Sports Bra   forever21.com $11.80 Fold-Over Yoga Capris  oldnavy.com   $16.50 Washed Small Cross Body Bag  topshop.com $36.00 Damask Gaiam Yoga Mat   target.com   $19.99 Silver Metallic Gladiator Sandals   oldnavy.com $17.99

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Wish I was Wearing: Bargain Hunters

I’d love to thank a couple of Yoga Journal readers who commented on a blog I posted about morning practice. Both Ty and Kelly said things about wishing they could summon the discipline or the inspiration to do morning practice.  I found myself shouting back to them when I read their lovely comments.  Turns out they can’t hear me when I’m shouting. So I’ll say this in writing. First, there are experts to listen to.  So don’t listen to me unless it inspires you. I’m a yoga weenie.  So new I squeak. But here’s one weenie’s thought on the subject of building a home practice. I started my home practice in three minutes one night on my living room carpet. I did it because I found Friday tough.  I loved my Tuesday class but I was doing drive-bys on Fridays. Do you know about those? You drive to class and your car goes right by.  You drive by again and you end up at home, eating S&V chips and wishing you had some willpower. I was up to it on Tuesday but not at the end of the week. So I did two Sun Salutations one night. I liked it. It grew slowly, slowly from there. Three Sun Salutations. Four Sun Salutations and a quickie Warrior II. Five Sun Salutations, Warrior II, and Savasana. And so it went.   One of the huge reasons I’m so into yoga is that it is DELICIOUS. In my home practice, I follow delicious as it gets bigger and longer.  It’s like following a trail of chocolate brownies, but better. To Ty and Kelly, I hope this is helpful in some way.  If not, keep looking and you’ll find the answer that inspires you.  In the meantime: thanks to all who comment for your thoughts, and thanks to you for continuing the conversation.

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Following Delicious: Build Your Home Practice One Bite at a Time

We’ve talked a lot about helping provide access to yoga for under-served and at-risk youth. But there’s another population equally in need of yoga’s healing and meditative benefits: the elderly. Physically and economically challenged seniors often can’t swing $15 a class–or keep up with the vigorous vinyasa flow. Frank Iszak knows this. The 78-year-old yoga teacher and founder of Silver Age Yoga in San Diego has made it his life’s mission to get grannies and grandpas on the mat. He goes to them (in senior centers, libraries, and churches), keeps it simple, and tailors his classes to help offset some of their common health issues: osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, weight gain, and poor circulation. Best of all, his classes are totally free! Iszak, who escaped to the U.S. from forced labor camp in communist Hungary in 1958, lives for seva, tirelessly working to improve the lives of others. “Our basic goal is to make their lives better–for whatever years they have left on planet Earth,” he says of his students. Sangha, too, is an important part of the Silver Age formula: Lonely seniors get a chance to connect physically, mentally, and spiritually with a community focused on feeling better in the world. Want to support Iszak’s work? You can donate to Silver Age, a 501(c) (3) organization , directly. Or, better yet, you can sign up for one of Iszak’s online teacher trainings and get busy bringing yoga to the seniors in your hometown.

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Good Old Yoga

We love Donna De Lory . The former pop princess–sidekick to Madonna, no less–has refashioned herself as a cooing, crooning kirtan chanteuse. Her sweet, ethereal renditions of “Om Namah Shivaya,” “Hare Krishna,” and “Aham Prema” leave you feeling that’s she’s an instrument through which flows the very breath of god. Tune into her good vibes on albums “The Lover and the Beloved” and “Sanctuary” . Better yet, catch her in person this summer at Lilith Fair , Wanderlust , or Bhakti Fest. Until then, tide yourself over with a music download, just for YJ Buzz Blogistas.

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Sonic Sanctuary

I used to meditate.  I’d sit up in bed with my dog Salem cuddled next to me, trying to watch–and then release–my thoughts for ten or twenty minutes each morning.  It wasn’t easy finding the discipline to sit. Every morning I struggled to get myself to meditate before making coffee, but meditation left me feeling clearer, less anxious and slightly less attached (in a good way) to what would happen to me that day. Then I had a baby. Photo: My dog Salem keeps me company while I meditate. While it took me six months to return to asana practice, it was two full years before I could even think about renewing my morning meditation practice.  Finally, a few months ago I read Dani Shapiro’s new spiritual memoir, Devotion .  Her descriptions of starting a meditation practice inspired me to want to sit again. To be honest, I was equally motivated by the exhaustion-induced headaches I was getting most afternoons, which I hoped meditating could help alleviate. I realized I was craving peace and quiet–two things not exactly found in abundance with a toddler running around–and with no spa vacation or silent retreat in my immediate future, mediation seemed a cheap and relatively doable option. Nowadays, I sit for twenty minutes in the morning – in Virasana (Hero’s Pose), perched on a wooden block in my yoga corner first thing after brushing my teeth.  Something about starting my day calmly changes everything else that comes afterward.  While meditation used to feel good, now those few minutes of quiet feel essential. Of course, meditating with a lively two year old in the house is a challenge.  Finding the time to meditate has meant getting up a little earlier, changing our morning routine, and bargaining with my husband Neil about what time he leaves for work. And there are times–when we’re sick, or when Neil travels for work–that meditating in the morning seems impossible. On those days, I try to make child care my meditation.  (Here I am reading my son a book, here I am changing a diaper, mindfully…) But now that I am once again meditating most mornings, my life truly has changed.  Well, my life hasn’t changed, but the way I feel about my life has: I’m calmer, happier, more free. I’m less exhausted by the evening, and I find myself making saner decisions all day long. If you would like to start or re-start your meditation practice, my advice is to start small: Try two minutes of quiet sitting a day.  (You can gradually add on from there, but the key thing is to just get started and get into the habit.)  If I don’t meditate first thing I never will, but this won’t work for everyone.  Maybe your two–or eventually twenty–minutes will be in the evening after you put your baby to sleep, or right after dropping your child off at preschool, or at your desk right before an important meeting. Don’t worry about technique.  Just find a comfortable seated posture and let your thoughts go.  Keep bringing yourself back to the present, to the feel of the chair or block or cushion beneath you, or perhaps remember your breath.  (I like to focus on the sounds outside my window: rain, birds, wind, even a car driving by.)  Allow yourself the freedom to take a break for a sip of water, or a stretch.  There are no rules.  On the best days, maybe just for a moment you will feel your consciousness lift. Are you a mom who mediates? How do you carve out the time?  How does it change the rest of your day? Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer   (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Making Time to Meditate

It’s 7:30 in the morning, and my phone rings.  It’s my sister sounding like an undercover cop on surveillance: whispery voice, hand cupped over the phone, shifty eyes. “I really love yoga,” she says. “You have no idea how much I love yoga right now.” She’s a new yoga junkie. It happens. We arrive here from other sports, other pastimes, other loves, and we fall into yoga like matter into black holes. I’ll bet you’ve had these hushed conversations.  “What about running?” I asked a yoga friend when he first fell. “I dunno,” he said. “I don’t want to run as much. It doesn’t help my yoga.” This, from marathon runner to marathon runner. “I’m supposed to ride tomorrow, and all I want to do is go to yoga,” my sister continues. “I know,” I say. “I know the feeling.” “I can jump through to a seated position,” she says. “Learned that last night.”  “Oh yeah,” I say, knowingly. “That’s good.” “And I’m starting to get that thing about lifting my heart without sticking my front ribs out. You have no idea how good that is.” “Oh yeah?” I say. “Oh yeah,” she confirms. “And another thing: did I mention that my knees don’t hurt when I’m walking to work, now? Did I mention that?” Yeah, you did, but that’s okay. “You have no idea how good that is,” she persists. I don’t want to scare anybody, but this is the way you begin to talk to the people you love. You can go on running, cycling, and all the rest of it. No one’s going to stop you, but you might love this yoga thing more than you thought. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Thanks to yoga for the inspiration, and thanks to you for the conversation.

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Yoga Junkie

Celebrate the summer solstice by unrolling your mat in the world’s most serene, sun-drenched environment: Times Square. No, really. Join hundreds of fellow yogis on June 21 for Solstice in Times Square , a massive group yoga experience taking place at the intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue between 46th and 47th–right in the heart of the square. The point, according to organizers, is to find tranquility and transcendence even in this, the world’s busiest, noisiest place. It’s true what they say: If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere! The event is free, but registration is required. Sessions begin at 7:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. Sign up fast–there’s a 6 p.m. class, too, but it already has a waiting list.

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Mind Over Madness

Photo: Blissed out in my favorite restorative.  It’s Lucien’s nap time, 2:30 in the afternoon, and the house is blissfully quiet. I’ve been going all day, in full productivity mode–writing, work emails, laundry, and a few hours of Lucien-care.  What I really want to do now, in this precious hour before afternoon playtime and dinner and bath, is curl up on the couch and watch Oprah. But it’s time to do yoga. (Lucien’s nap time is the only time of day I can consistently fit a home practice in.)  I wish I could say I bound off the couch and into my yoga corner every afternoon, but the truth is that most days I have to drag myself there. More often than not, my practice is a restorative sequence done wearing wool socks.  Some days I rally for standing poses and active back bends. Usually, though, I take a “yoga nap,” as my close friend Kristen Rentz Lewis, fellow mom and author of  YogaNap: Restorative Poses for Deep Relaxation,  calls it.   My absolute favorite restorative pose right now is Ardha Halasana , Supported Half-Plow Pose with a chair.  It’s helped me with everything from headaches to exhaustion, from anxiety to getting over a cold.  The catch is–I can’t get into the pose comfortably without doing several other poses first.  And so, I begin my practice.  Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose), Ado Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose), a headstand, a shoulder stand with the chair.  My baby monitor is on, and yes, I confess that at first I do check my iPhone in between poses for incoming emails!  But twenty minutes in, I’m always glad to be practicing.  Most days I manage to practice for an hour, and sometimes even more.  And then, if Lucien is still sleeping–fingers crossed–I get on the couch and see what’s on Oprah. Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom with a never ending to-do list, or at the office all day and need every moment at home to take care of your household and connect with your children, give yourself the gift of at least a few restorative poses done at home, in a quiet place, each week. Here are some great resources for developing a restorative home practice: The Woman’s Book of Yoga and Health: A Lifelong Guide to Wellness   (see the chapter on restoratives) by Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times   by Judith Lasater YogaNap: Restorative Poses for Deep Relaxation   by Kristen Rentz What’s your favorite restorative pose?  How do you spend nap time?   –Jessica Berger Gross Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer   (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Yoga Nap

I mentioned I was visiting Toronto on the weekend, going to a new yoga studio for the first time, and doing a class with my sister (and my nephew, it turns out). I was nervous about venturing away from my home studio, and I wanted to share a few things I learned from toeing my comfort line: 1. Sun Salutations are not so different from place to place. This makes me very happy. No matter where I travel–now–I can find a home. Makes me feel warm all over, thinking that. 2. Speaking of warm all over, the studio I visited was a few degrees warmer than my home base. It only mattered when I stood up from one of those hanging my head poses (just a second, I’ll look it up – aha!) when I stood up from Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Forward Bend), and came the closest I’ve ever come to fainting. Maybe that’s peri-menopause. Maybe it’s a surge of some fantastic yogi energy. I don’t know; it’s a new yoga mystery. 3. The chanting was completely different in this class. And it was fast. It was like trying to sing the Italian national anthem. 4. Bandas. What are they? I think I understand the idea of Bandas, but I do not have any control over them yet. Foolishly, I asked our teacher Oliver to pick a pose for our photograph (see above). This pose (I’m not looking this one up. I’ll look it up when I’m 76, when I might be able to do it!) requires some Banda control. It’s his favorite pose. It’s my least favorite pose. I just sit on the floor and make faces. 5. Speaking of faces, my head was recently shaved for a theatre production. I look like a 13-year-old boy at the moment. It’s not my favorite look. It occurs to me that I may never end up on the cover of Yoga Journal. 6. I love my sister Tory and my nephew Stefano. There’s nothing like doing a yoga class with people you love.  7. I learned again that I adore yoga. Thanks to everyone and everything that brought me here, including Tory, Stef, and Oliver. I’d like to know who would you love to do yoga with, if you could do it with anyone? Thanks to yoga for helping me grow, and thanks to you for the conversation. –Kristin Shepherd

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Cover Girl

Just when you thought there wasn’t any good news flowing forth from Washington…it’s time for Yoga on the Mall ! The event–happening on Saturday, May 15–is basically a ginormous group class led by teachers from participating D.C. studios. Yoga Week  organizers say no experience is necessary; just show up with your mat and some snacks, and join the flow. The practice will be broken into consecutive 20-minute sessions that become progressively more challenging as the day wears on.  Since YOTM starts at 1:00 and ends at 5:00, you can make it your experience a quickie or a real marathon. (And oh yeah, superstar teacher Shiva Rea will be on hand to give you adjustments!) Hopefully the positive energy generated will spill out toward Capitol Hill. Couldn’t we use a little more love in our political environment? –Hillari Dowdle

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Capitol Idea

The other night in class, a student came up and said, “I thought I was coming for a workout and I ended up getting life lessons, too!” Turns out he needed to hear what I was offering in order to understand the way out of a specific struggle he’s been dealing with. Like we say in yoga, when the student is ready… Before we begin our physical poses, I always gather the class for a Karma Talk. This is when I lay out my intentions for the practice and encourage students to set their inner dedication so they can align with it as they move on the mat. My talk that night was about how we all say we want good karma, but we might not realize that the outcome of any situation that is most beneficial to us is also one directly created by us, through the choices we make in each moment. In other words, we don’t just follow our dreams, we make them happen. What we do now, and more specifically, how we do it and from what intention, can either create harmony or discordance with who we really are. Have you ever heard an Om at the beginning of class that sounded like each person chose a different note on purpose, but by the end of class, it’s become united? This happens when we all pay attention not only to the outside but the inside as well; to know ourselves better in that place of sattva , or calm equilibrium. As a teacher, I see so many students straining towards the external look of a pose, going too fast, leaping at the wall in handstand, not breathing mindfully. When our confidence and life’s meaning rests only in the way we look and what others think of us, and our sense of security forever shifts with the things we have (money) or don’t have (money), we have lost sight of one crucial thing: Our core connection. Yogis might call this satya , one’s ultimate truth, or even atman , the soul within us. Other philosophies say it’s hara , a state of living from center, or simply, coming home to oneself. This isn’t accomplished by having one huge, enlightened experience in meditation and then being set for life.  You have to get your hands in the dirt now and do the work it takes to plant those seeds of action so they may come to fruition in their own, often in surprising ways. The beauty of yoga, or the practice of living out loud, is that you don’t have to worry about what kind of flower or tree your seeds will become. If you practice the three steps to transformation–make space, go inside, then take actions that best represent you–then the rest is coming just as it should. How freeing to know we can just spend our time cultivating the courage to dissolve old limiting blocks and stories, listening to the core connection we make with ourselves, and then trusting our inner wisdom enough to follow through with actions that we know are coming from our best self. So, what’s your next core action? Better yet, how will you undertake it with integrity, grace, and without placing the burden of needing to control the outcome on the featherlight power and magic inherent in pure doing for its own sake? Let us know! Core Pose : Siddhasana Side Stretch and Forward Fold Siddhasana pays homage to those who have transcended their external fixations and returned home to a state of calm awareness.  You can make space, listen in, and choose as wisely as a Siddha when you take time to practice from this intention. Come into Siddhasana (Adept’s Pose) with one foot in front of the other. Place your right palm onto the floor to your right, and with a long spine and lifted side waist, reach the left arm over your ear. Bend your right elbow and breathe new space into any constriction you feel around the lungs and chest. If your neck feels uncomfortable, turn your gaze to the floor or right ear to right shoulder and let the head gently drop for a sweet stretch. Take 5 or more breaths, and then switch sides.   After completing both sides, inhale and sit up tall. Exhale and fold forward with palms or forearms on the mat. Take at least one minute here, bringing breath into your back body and releasing past habits and beliefs that block you from accessing your inner wisdom and truth. Then listen to that subtle yet powerful voice within for your next direction.

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Creating Good Karma

I stare at my feet at the beginning of each class. We hang for a bit before we chant ohmm and get peaceful. It’s while we’re hanging that I look at them. I love my body. After ohmm, we spend a few minutes contemplating how we’re standing on our feet. Our teacher tells us to put our first toe down, then our fifth toe, and then try to lift the middle toes. I can’t do this. My middle toes head off toward the big toe–gripping the floor like drowning swimmers hanging to the side of a lifeboat for their lives.  So far, I am unable to convince them that we’re on dry land. Relax, I say to them. Ohmm, for God’s sake. I love my body. My right foot is in a brace. It’s a long story, but I’ll be in that brace for a while longer. It means I don’t hop anywhere on my mat. I shuffle. Underneath the brace my right lateral malleolus (the outside ankle bump) looks like Mr. Potato Head. I’ll paint eyes on it for Halloween. I love my body. The truth is that there are perhaps ten things about my feet that aren’t gorgeous and that don’t behave in the manner in which I’d prefer. And here’s the thing. I could easily say the same about my hips (What do you mean, open? Open my hips?), my arms (My elbows won’t turn that way unless I break them.), my hamstrings, which are shorter than short, even my face, which has completely relaxed about four times in my life. And on and on. Today, hanging over my feet, it occurred to me that love is a decision. Things are beautiful or not, loose or not, strong or not, potato-heady or not. So what. Love is a decision. I love my body. Thanks to yoga for helping me love me, and thanks to you for the conversation. –Kristin Shepherd

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I am a Beauty

Image by Wisdom 2.0 How do you reconcile your quest for inner peace with your Facebook habit? Can you stay mindful while dealing with the 200 e-mails in your in-box? These questions–and others like them–were pursued in lively conversation this past weekend at Wisdom 2.0, a conference in Silicon Valley hosted by Soren Gordhamer . A former technology junkie, Gordhamer believes technology and wisdom practices can work together for the well-being of humanity. “What does it mean to live wisely and also stay connected with technology?” he asked a series of panelists and speakers, including executives from Google and Twitter, as well as spiritual thinkers such as Zen Abbot Roshi Joan Halifax , and Yoga Journal’ s Editor-in-Chief Kaitlin Quistgaard . No one at the conference claimed to have the ultimate answers, but it was inspiring to see leaders in the technology industry deeply considering how the tools they create impact mind and soul. Should we Unplug? Attention is a finite–and invaluable–asset according to Bradley Horowitz , who manages Google’s communication products, including Gmail, and who speaks openly of his own 25-year spiritual practice. “You may not be able to turn Gmail off,” he said (although, he joked “in my case I can turn all of Gmail off!”) “But you can step away from the computer and create space for yourself.” Consciously managed technology offers positive opportunities for connection, says Chris Sacca , a venture capitalist and strategic advisor at Twitter. But, Sacca, who has 1.3 million followers on Twitter, chooses the time and manner in which he wants to be available online. Rather than responding to every message, he asks himself: “How am I going to be most useful in a macro sense?” Stay Connected, Stay Flexible Meditative practices are making their way into the offices of many of these companies. Twitter’s Chief Technology Officer Greg Pass leads a class at Twitter that he calls “Twittiokinetics,” where employees participate in a form of qigong. And at Google, Gopi Kallayil leads a weekly yoga class for a group of students he calls the “Yoglers.”  He suggests trying to meditate at least 20 minutes a day. But, he said–quoting Google’s Meng Tan, who leads the company’s personal growth classes–”if you can’t meditate for 20 minutes, do it for one breath.” The Most Important Connection While no one denied the marvel of connectivity that technology allows, the conference discussion underlined the challenge of staying present in this hyper-connected environment. No matter how many online friends or followers you have, Google’s Kallayil reminded conference participants, “The most important connection each of us needs to have is the one with ourselves.” –Carmel Wroth

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Wisdom 2.0: Seeking Authentic Connection

Photo: On the subway in Brooklyn, New York with a 6-week-old Lucien. As I posted the other day, practicing yoga was the furthest thing from my mind when I brought my son Lucien home from the hospital. By six weeks post-partum, though, I really started missing asana. The doctor who’d performed my c-section gave me the OK to exercise, so I gathered up my energy and my son’s overstuffed diaper bag and ventured out to our first mommy and baby yoga class. This was something I’d dreamt about for years. How fun to teach my baby yoga! Too bad Lucien didn’t see it that way.  He cried from the moment we entered the yoga center until we left an hour later. He pooped twice in the first 45 minutes–I spent half the class in the tiny Brooklyn-sized bathroom changing him–and the rest of the time he wailed while I tried to put him down on the mat long enough for me to get in a couple of poses.  I ended up leaving the class in tears and feeling like a complete failure. All the other moms and babies seemed to handle the class fine.  What was wrong with me?  With us?  I felt isolated. I felt like a freak. (And honestly, with twenty-five pounds to lose, I felt fat.)  Would I ever practice again? Would I ever feel like myself?  Would I ever get my favorite jeans back on? Have you tried Mommy and Baby classes?  How do you make it to your mat?

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We Flunked Mommy-Baby Yoga

I’m getting ready to go to Toronto to see my kids. My sister has lightly suggested we go to one of her yoga classes while I’m there. I’m nervous. I’ve been at my home studio for about seven months. It’s all I know. What if Sun Salutations are different in Toronto? What if I’m dying half way through the class, and I have to spend 45 minutes in Child’s Pose? What if my pants won’t stay up and my shirt won’t stay down? (Granted, this happens in every one of my own classes, but it’s different in a room I know.) Argh, it’s like starting all over. Holy Mackerel, the phone rings. It’s my sister: she says she just finished the toughest yoga class of her life. Her hair gel poured into her eyes, she was sweating so hard. A little ominous, perhaps? Ok, slow down, maybe try some yoga. I walk into my home studio and a woman puts her mat down beside me and says, “I’m new, and I’m nervous–is there anything I should know?” I almost cry. In this second I realize I’ve been at this yoga business for a few months, and that feels good. I am absurdly happy to welcome her and to assure her that she’ll be fine. I am a welcome-wagon maniac. I spent the first two months of yoga avoiding eye contact, too worried about my pants, my shirt, and my uncooperative body to let myself relax into things. I am shocked to see it can be done differently. So, this weekend I’ll try to go in this foreign studio as an aspiring yogi: breathing, present, willing to play with others. And I will humbly do Child’s Pose the entire time if I have to. I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks to yoga for the lesson, and thanks to you for the conversation.

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Home Sweet Yoga

Photo caption: New mommy kale, tofu and rice When I got pregnant, I’d been studying yoga for more than a decade. I vowed to have a yogic pregnancy and birth experience. I attended prenatal yoga class faithfully. At nine months pregnant I was doing headstands and chair shoulder stands. I imagined my labor would be like a very intense weekend yoga workshop–really hard, but something I’d get through with breathing and the proper motivation. Afterward I’d leave the hospital with my baby, feeling like myself again in no time, ready to practice yoga at home while my son napped.  Could I have been any more naive? Of course, plenty of women do have wonderful baby-in-the-bathtub births, but my labor lasted for more than 24 hours, included an antibiotic drip from the beginning, and it was so excruciatingly painful that I couldn’t say no to the epidural. At the last minute, I had to have an emergency c-section. Recovering in the hospital, my baby spent 48 hours in the NICU, resulting in major problems with my milk supply.  And one day after returning home with my son Lucien I had to be rushed to the ER because of massive swelling in my legs. When I finally got set up at home I couldn’t feel sensation in my midsection, and my postpartum doula had to practically stage an intervention to get me to stop taking Percocet.  For the first six weeks, every ounce of my energy went to nursing Lucien, recovering from the surgery, and trying to grab some sleep when I could. I didn’t unroll my yoga mat once–and to be honest, given how much pain I was in, and how insanely tired I was, I didn’t really see how I was going to anytime soon. Looking back on it now, the most important step I took during those first few weeks was totally re-conceiving my idea of a yoga practice. Although I’d studied yoga philosophy, asana had always been at the core of my practice. As a new mom, I came to think about practice more broadly, in terms of self-care. Since I was breastfeeding, the most yogic thing I could do for my baby and me was to take several minutes three times a day to eat a healthy meal.  If I couldn’t sleep for more than a couple hours at a time, at least I could get energy from good food.  On mornings when my doula came over, she’d prepare me a protein packed salad with a sliced hard-boiled egg and chick peas. In the evenings, my husband Neil often made me a bowl of sauteed kale, baked tofu, and brown rice.  It wasn’t the same as a downward dog, but it was a start. Are you a new mom hoping to rediscover your yoga practice?  Are you feeling guilty because you haven’t gotten back onto your mat or dusted off your meditation cushion?  Why not start simply, by asking your partner or best friend or mom to make you a special, healthy lunch or dinner? Take a few minutes to eat in peace and quiet, away from your baby.  Definitely don’t nurse while you’re eating! Savor the prana from the food on your plate, and relish the loving way it was prepared for you. Know that with this small step you’re on the (long) road to recovering your yoga practice. Share your favorite new yoga mom meals here!

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The Yoga in Tofu

Our star blogger Sadie Nardini has been blogging with Yoga Journal since February. As we add more bloggers to our Yoga Diary line-up we thought it was best to give Sadie her own blog home as well. You will still be able to find her posts on Yoga Diary but if you want all Sadie, all the time, you can tune into her new blog home of Core Values . To read more about Sadie check out her introduction .

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Introducing Sadie Nardini’s New Home

Jessica Berger Gross is one of our newest bloggers. Join her as she embarks on her yogic journey into motherhood: — Who has time for yoga? That’s how I felt when my amazing son Lucien was born two years ago. I went from having a daily meditation and yoga practice to losing both and starting from scratch.  In my new blog Enlightened Motherhood , I’ll chronicle how one mom (part-time writer, part-time college teacher, part-time stay-at-home parent) struggles and attempts — and sometimes  manages — to stay sane and live a yoga-inspired life in the real world of diapers, deadlines, and toddler meltdowns. — Jessica is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse).  Originally from New York, she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

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Introducing Jessica Berger Gross

I’m in Sedona this week filming my next two DVDs. I’d heard that this area is ideal for spiritual quests and uniting with your source energy, which is why I wanted to shoot here.  In addition to completing the videos, I have a goal: To find my spirit animal. On my time off, I’ve kept my eye out for the symbol of my spirit in animal form, something that the indigenous North American cultures hold sacred. The first two days, all I saw were ants and flies. I began to wonder if it was possible to have a spirit insect instead. Then today, while I was out walking, two jet-black ravens suddenly appeared and stood in my path.  One was tearing apart someone’s old sandwich and the other stood silently looking at me. We studied each other for a long moment, and then the sandwich-free Raven flew away, gorgeous and free, and the other remained to finish its dinner. I was both disgusted and awed by these creatures, and though I’d been hoping for something cool like a wolf or a scorpion, I realized how perfect these spirit guides were for me. Ravens are believed to be keepers of wisdom and secrets, and one of their jobs is to help those they are linked with become better teachers. Plus, since my take on yoga is that it’s found everywhere, both in the ugliness and the beauty of life, these two ravens taught me to remember to not only seek my lessons in comfort and ease, but also in times of discomfort and even when I don’t make myself proud. Like anything, spirit guides may or may not be “real,” but anything that leads us into a deeper awareness of ourselves is a tradition I can get behind. In yoga, we say that self-recognition in seemingly external sources is another way to practice svadhyaya , or study of the sacred and of the Self. Whatever leads you to directly contemplate your highest inner nature and use your actions to create a lifestyle of integrity is sacred study. Your svadhyaya might be a rock song, a Pablo Neruda poem, the Yoga Sutra, or a quiet walk in the woods. My ravens are only me, introducing myself to who I really am. Today, I invite you to keep your eyes open for your animal spirit and your ears tuned for voices of wisdom that may come from any and all directions. Maybe you’ve already got one speaking to you or maybe your guide will meet you along your path in an unexpected way. When we walk with presence and an open ear, we’ll receive our teachings that much more easily. So, who’s whispering to you–from you–right now? Core Pose: Eka Pada Galavasana (also known as Flying Crow) It’s as close as I could get to the raven, and it’s a great pose for teaching svadhyaya in action: moving from Earth to sky using your deep core connection. At any step along the way, if you find yourself losing integrity, back off, check in, find the pose variation that brings you to your personal edge of transformation, and play there.  In time, you might go farther physically. But either way, you’ll be accessing your source of presence and wisdom right where you are. 1. Come into Utkatasana (Chair Pose) and cross one ankle over the opposite knee.  Bring your palms together at your chest. Stay evenly grounded on your standing foot and begin to hinge forward from the hips. If possible, place your elbows in front of your standing leg’s shin, lift your belly in and up to lengthen the spine, and breathe. 2.  Bend forward and plant your hands on the floor shoulder-distance apart. Spread your fingers wide and parallel your wrist creases to the front of the mat. Dig deep to hook your top foot snugly around the opposite arm, and press your knee into the same arm. Lean from your heart and gaze forward as you align your elbows over your wrists. Root down through your hands, press your arms into your shin, and lift through your belly as you raise the standing foot off the floor. 3.  When you can hover in step 2, float the heart forward and simultaneously lengthen the back leg for a full flying variation.

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The Animal Within

Photo by David Lauridsen for The New York Times Did you see the story about Demi Moore in Sunday’s New York Times Arts & Leisure section? It was a stylish, if perfunctory, update on her career. (She’s back! She’s better than ever! But now she’s playing the mother!) But what drew our eye was this aside, in which writer Jennifer Steinhauer explains a fallow period in Moore’s career, a time in which the actress disappeared from the Hollywood radar to focus solely on family: “It was not that she retired, as was widely reported, she was just resting, a career Savasana.” End of sentence. No long-winded explanation–or short-winded one, for that matter–was offered. This surely is a cultural turning point–we have reached such a level of yoga saturation that Savasana has become a common-usage term, in need of no definition, no parenthetical aside, no translation–even in a mass-market newspaper of record. Will the moment be memorialized by Ben Zimmer in an upcoming On Language column? We can only hope so!

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Corpse Bride

I’ll admit it: I’m an Ayurveda geek. I think you should be, too. Ayurveda is the healing wisdom of yoga, a profound technology for carrying the balance you’re achieving on the mat out into the rest of your life. And even if you never get into the super-detailed nitty gritty (it is a science after all), even the most cursory of explorations is likely to expand your self-knowledge, and may even lead to an AH-HA! Now’s a good time to delve into Ayurveda, especially if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area: The seventh annual meeting of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (or NAMA) takes place in San Mateo this week. If you’re nearby, consider nabbing a day pass–there will be yoga (of course), meditation, panel discussions, seminars, and even shopping. And there will be the chance to hear from and hobnob with the greats of American Ayurveda: Robert Svoboda, David Frawley, Vasant Lad, Yogini Shambhavi, Mark Halpern, and David Simon, M.D., among others. Even if you can’t get to the physical space, taking a virtual tour of the conference schedule can give you a good feel for what Ayurveda is, and how it might be useful to you as you work to deepen your practice, heal your body, and expand your spiritual vistas. (At the very least, it will give you plenty of fodder for further Google exploration of the subject.) In many ways, this “science of life” is life–completely relevant to you whether you choose to use it or not. But then, an Ayurveda geek would say that.

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NAMArama

(photo by Jon Ewing ) Salutations to the Washington Monument and 1,700 people enjoying the freedom of yoga. Rising up into Warrior I, my eyes took in the tip of the Washington Monument piercing a cloudy sky, and I offered my Sun Salutations to independence, freedom, and all that makes me proud to be American. After a couple of days in Washington DC brushing up on our national history at the American History Museum (seeing an Edison lightbulb, the flag that inspired “The Star Spangled Banner” and President Lincoln’s top hat), it’s hard not to feel a little patriotic. And after seeing the sea of yogis stretched across the National Mall on Saturday morning, it’s hard not to feel ecstatic about how our nation is embracing yoga. The event, organized by Lululemon Athletica as part of Washington’s National Cherry Blossom Festival, drew a great crowd–the unofficial count was 1,700 people. It was a site to behold! And so cool to be a part of this moment in history, when yoga is becoming as American as apple pie. In an hour-plus class led by Peggy Mulqueen , we breathed together through everything from Hanumanasana (Full Splits) to Bakasana (Crane Pose) to partner Navasana (Boat Pose). Onstage, local teachers, including Yoga Journal’s May cover model Faith Hunter , and a few guests like Ashtanga yoga teacher David Kyle treated the crowd to an impressive display of power and grace. Beneath giant American flags, and on top of a rainbow of sticky mats, there was a spirit of freedom–and a lot of free spirits!–in the air. 

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History in the Being

I had every intention of writing my blog first thing this morning, after running out for a quick breakfast. Three hours later, I’m back at my computer after a super adventure I never could have predicted. I’m in Toronto, preparing to present at a yoga conference this weekend, but today I’m completely free. After a healing hot chocolate, I wandered the streets for a while. I stumbled across St. Andrew’s Church, a gorgeous structure that’s also home to the 48th Highlander’s Museum, Toronto’s first and only Canadian Highland Regiment. Yep, kilts and all. Lucky for me, it was open and I was greeted by a lifelong member of the regiment, W.O. Ron Denham, C.d. (Ret’d). Ron was pleased to show me around, and brought the uniforms, flags, and pieces of history alive with his profound knowledge and storytelling flair. I heard about his meeting with two queens, a king, his love of tartan, single-malt, his country, his heritage and his respect for Lieutenant General Arthur Currie, who bucked convention by refusing to grow a moustache, being less-than-stellar on horseback, and developing a reputation for expending ammunition before his men’s lives. He wasn’t popular with the other by-the-book officers, but he was a leader among his men, and went on to become the Commander of the Canadian Corps. Now, war and its aftermath makes me sad. But I couldn’t but feel reverence for the men and women who bravely went off to fight for something they believed in. I felt enveloped in the weighty cloak of their choices. My time at the museum brought up so many yogic themes and questions that I will offer up to my classes and students over time. What struck me most today was how life’s surprises are waiting for us around every corner, where we might not think to look. Today I invite you to make space for what you might not know. If you’re in your millionth Downward Dog, and you think you “get” this pose, the very next time you do it, you might be surprised with a revelation. One of the defining characteristics of a yogi is the willingness to let go of the preconceived plan or judgment and allow new experiences or perceptions come to you. Prana, or life energy, doesn’t like to be controlled. In fact, the secret of life and yoga is that life energy cannot be made to do anything. We can only remove obstacles like stress, tension, and clouded ways of seeing, thereby creating the space necessary for life force and insight to flood into us. And it will. As Robert Frost says in his poem The Road Not Taken: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I– I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” Sometimes, when we stop micro-managing every step, and instead allow prana-invoking moments of sweet surrender, we begin to nourish the sthira (spaciousness) side of our poses and ourselves. Only when we can release our grand illusion of control, step off our beaten paths, be still and ask,”What’s next?” will the most thought-provoking moments of inner inquiry appear, and rise to meet us. Core Question:  How will you make space for your next Super Adventure? What happened when you did? Core Pose: Five-Minute Yogi’s Choice During your next home practice, your teaching, or perhaps even right now in your chair, take five minutes for an unplanned pose or flow to arise from within. How does your body need to move? What is your breath teaching you? Instead of doing the pose from your mind, try being the pose more, listening to your inner cues, and letting your energy and breath dictate the movement. Even if it looks nothing like a classical yoga asana, go with the flow anyway. It’s your Super Adventure moment!

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My Super Adventure

I taught an eight hour Core Strength Immersion in Vancouver this weekend, and two day worth of workshops before that. Suffice it to say, becoming a student again and taking a yoga class this morning was a sweet relief. Today I get to relax and recharge before heading to The Yoga Conference in Toronto tomorrow. Then it’s 18 more hours of teaching in four days for good old Sadie. And I will rise to the challenge. But today: hot chocolate, yoga, lunch, a stroll by the water, and then whatever the heck I feel like for the rest of the day. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do. But I give everything I have while I’m leading my intensives. So after that, I need to simply be . After a strong, sweaty Anusara class with my friend and fabulous instructor Christine Price Clark, she blessed me with a foot massage in Savasana. Tears came to my eyes–a total surprise to me, since I wasn’t emotional before that at all. I realized that I wasn’t sad, but rather, my cup of happiness had runneth over and begun to come out of my eyes. I was full. As I walked home from class, gingerly, as if to keep the cup from sloshing around and spilling my bliss, I thought of you, the community I adore. I wanted to remind you, as I was reminded by the humble gesture from my teacher, that the practice of ahimsa, or nonviolence, also applies directly to the relationship between you and your Self. If you don’t regularly pause along the cycle of giving to nourish yourself properly, it begins another cycle: one of fatigue, resentment and an existence characterized by just barely getting by, instead of living large from your inner reservoir of prana. Yes, ahimsa is a yama, which means that we’re encouraged to participate with the world around us in a loving way. But one thing we must not forget is that each of us is also part of the world to which we’re supposed to be offering! As a yogi, you can absolutely include yourself in the relationships you have to navigate every day and practice brightening. In addition to filling other people’s cups through respectful actions, it’s perfectly appropriate, and in fact crucial, that you take the time to regularly pour goodness into your own. If I was dating someone who said to me ,”Wow–you’re so fat! I can’t believe you’re eating more of that birthday cake. Make room for Queen Cellulite! I’d break up with them. However, on a more regular basis than I’d care to admit, that same old critical voice creeps in again, trying to tip my hand and dump my self-esteem down the drain. Often as yogis, we seek the light, striving to offer positivity towards those around us, but we neglect and hurt the longest-term partner we’ll ever have: ourselves. Today, look within yourself. How is your Core Connection? Is it a love match, or so dysfunctional you’d be perfect for the Jerry Springer Show? In this moment, I invite you to become your own soul mate again, and start acting, thinking, speaking and acting in ways that reflect your newfound love affair. Namaste, Sadie Core Question: Is your cup full or empty? Have hurtful inner voices and outer actions caused you to exist in a state of depletion? If so, what actions will you take to pour the energy, life and self-love back inside? Core Pose — Waterfall Pigeon: This pose lets you experience the fluid balance between giving out, and giving i n. From Down Dog, come into Pigeon with your right knee behind the right wrist, and foot forward somewhere between the left hip crease and left wrist where your knee is comfortable. Stretch your back leg out long behind you. Maintain the level sit bones and hips centered in space. Walk your hands back beside your hips as you ground the legs down for support. Inhale, move your spine, shoulders and head back and up as you offer your heart higher. Exhale, cascade your spine forward as you lower your forehead towards the earth. Support the low back with your low abdominals as you inhale and wave back up again. Repeat the flow 5-10 times, then rest in Low Pigeon with head on your hands or a block for one minute. Breathe and receive the new energy you’re unlocking! Move to Down Dog and repeat Waterfall and Low Pigeon on the left.

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The Loving Cup

We just love hearing news about schools introducing kids to yoga. And it seems that Canadian schools really understand the many benefits that yoga practice can offer students and are leading the way in making time on the mat an accepted part of a curriculum. Now, thanks to  Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Board of Education,  Vancouver’s  school district 41 in is approving yoga  for school credit. Other  Canadian schools  also offer high school credit. We want to know: Do schools in your area offer school credit for yoga? 

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Yoga Earns School Credits

I left Brooklyn and arrived in Vancouver yesterday, to teach a weekend Core Strength Immersion. In five days, I’ll fly to Toronto for the Yoga Conference. I’m not a fan of being away from home for long periods of time, but the smell of freshly cut grass (lawns! How quaint!), the view of the Vancouver mountains, the cherry blossoms,and the fireplace in my hotel room have almost made up for it. No matter where I travel, the students meeting me on the mat all have one thing in common: they’re trying to make a change. Whether it’s learning something new, improving their strength and flexibility, accessing more of their inherent centeredness or a combination of these, no one I’ve met shows up to a yoga intensive with a burning desire to stay exactly the same. After all–shift happens. We’re all in constant state of flux, from our cells and thoughts, to our outer environments and relationships. Your experience is as transient as a hobo on a country railcar. The question is–in what direction do you want that train to roll? If you allow life, and the external opinions, requests, and demands of others take you where it wants to go, you’ll spend a lifetime getting steamrolled from the outside. Enough of that, and your heart will feel as flat as a pancake. If you want to fill your mind, body and spirit with the goodness of inspiration and transformation, you’ve got to do one thing for certain: Get to work. Remember: intention without action is just a beautiful pipe dream. In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali offers clue about how to change things according to your intentions. It begins with ishvara pranidhana. This word literally means “love of God,” but like so many other concepts in the yoga teachings, it has alternate meanings. Ishvara pranidhana can also mean “to take your highest action.” Have you noticed that in any moment when you’re called to make a choice –Do I go to yoga class or skip it? Should I yell at my partner or take a time out? Should I take the job I hate for more money or the one I love for less?–there is usually one that will serve your highest good, and one that will, well…not so much? When you take action that helps you express who you most want to be in the present, it will keep you on the road toward goals you want to reach later. I’m certain of this, because it’s taken me from a dysfunctional practice and stressful life to inner strength and outer abundance. It will work for you too–but you have to work it. Yoga is not a spectator sport. It asks for your full and unflinching participation. It can be scary, constantly facing down the unknown, but if you can go there–whether by hugging your thighs more in that Crow Pose, taking a deep breath when you want to say something hurtful, or choosing the high road in a situation where your habits and fears conspire to make the low one an attractive option–all your hard work will absolutely pay off. In fact, the beauty of yoga is that it pays its dividends instantly, with a rush of prana, or empowerment, and the personal satisfaction of becoming more of yourself in the moments that you focus, intend…and try. This is the offer of Kriya Yoga, the yoga of action, and it’s something that we can practice both on and off our mats. After some ginger-green tea (instead of my old nemesis: coffee!), I’m off to teach this afternoon with a group of teachers, most of whom I’ve never met. I will take my own advice, and instead of holding back, I’ll fully share from my spirit, which is always a vulnerable process. I’ll let you know what happened in my next post! Namaste, Sadie Core Question: What actions can you take, this week, to start making your intentions a reality? What has held you back before this? Core Pose: Earth to Sky Triangle Here’s a pose I use to teach my students the power of conscious action as they build Trikonasana (Triangle Pose). It can help you access deeper core strength and maintain a safe stretching point by building the posture from the ground up: Step 1: Come into a Utthita Parsvakonasana (Side Angle Pose) and place your bottom fingertips beside the outer foot. (Beginners: Bring your forearm on your knee.) Draw your navel in and up towards your chest as you lengthen the tailbone. Now lift your free arm to the sky. Wrap your top arm around your back in a half bind, and press the hand into your back ribs or palm into the thigh. Roll your top shoulder open, then look down to stretch the neck and shoulder. Step 2: Keep everything you’ve created, but begin to move your front hip crease back and ground into the big toe mound to straighten your leg (Beginners: Place the bottom hand on the thigh, shin, or ankle). If you lose your core connection, bend the knee slightly and play the edge of integration and expression here. Step 3: Unfurl your top, bound arm into full Triangle Pose. Now you’ve removed the obstacles (tight shoulders, compressed hip joints, a stiff neck) to your pose, let the freedom of your energy move through your entire body with each breath.

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You Better Work!

On Saturday, Seane Corn came to teach at my home studio: YogaWorks in SoHo, NYC. I’ve taken one workshop with her before and really enjoyed it. Plus, we see each other around on the conference circuit. So, since she was right in my ‘hood, I decided to enroll in her weekend classes on vinyasa sequencing. When I arrived on my mat, multiple people, some of them my regular students, came up to me with baffled looks on their faces. “Why are you here?” someone said, as if I had nothing left to learn. My answer was the same as it always is at moments like this: “I know what I know. I want to find out what I don’t know yet!” And I learned a lot, or as Seane might say, I remembered more of what I already know in her daylong sessions. I’m proud to show my students that my role as a teacher doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped being a student. Knowledge is fluid and always evolving, just like I am, and my teaching will mature and shift as I do. I refuse to hide my process of studentship for fear that my students will think I’m less of a teacher. I’m confident in my abilities and my unique perspectives on yoga, so I rest in my truth, and let others think what they will. It reminded me to remind you that life gets so much easier when you stop seeking approval from those around you and instead focus on accessing your deepest truth, or satya. If you lose your center the moment someone else has an unfavorable opinion of you, you’ll become everything for everyone, but very little of yourself. When I began teaching yoga, I would change the way I taught based on every student’s critique. In one month, it led me to teach faster, teach slower, talk less, talk more, make it easier, make it harder, and on and on. It was maddening, and my truth was lost in the quest to please everyone. Nowadays, I come into a workshop, speak my truth (which is not the only truth), give them a million percent of what my spirit is directing me to offer, and then I go home. Most people love it, a few think it’s pretty good, and there’s almost always one who can’t stand me.   And you know what? That’s OK. It used to bother me for days if I got negative feedback from someone. But as I teach more, I see that will always be the case, no matter how I change my message. So I stick to my core. Finally, I’ve learned to go into any classroom with one intention: I’m not here to cater…I’m here to teach. In your life, you can spend all your time and energy shape shifting to accommodate everyone’s needs or you can focus on living from your center. This is the exact moment when taking it personally transforms into the practice of giving it personally… …and you need no one’s stamp of approval but your own to do that. Core Question: Have you ever over-compromised your truth to please those around you? What happened when you decided to be fully yourself? Core Pose : Crossed Navasana with Fists of Fire This is one of my signature Core Poses. It’s meant to draw you out of your head and down into your center. Come into a cross-legged position like Sukhasana (Easy Pose). Place one foot in front of the other. Inhale, roll forward as you reach up, and lift the hips a few inches off the mat. Exhale, roll onto your sitting bones, engage the navel and low back in and up as you lift knees and feet higher. Repeat 5 to 10 times, then end in a forward fold from Easy Pose.

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Living Your Truth

On Saturday, Seane Corn came to teach at my home studio: YogaWorks in SoHo, NYC. I’ve taken one workshop with her before and really enjoyed it. Plus, we see each other around on the conference circuit. So, since she was right in my ‘hood, I decided to enroll in her weekend classes on vinyasa sequencing. When I arrived on my mat, multiple people, some of them my regular students, came up to me with baffled looks on their faces. “Why are you here?” someone said, as if I had nothing left to learn. My answer was the same as it always is at moments like this: “I know what I know. I want to find out what I don’t know yet!” And I learned a lot, or as Seane might say, I remembered more of what I already know in her daylong sessions. I’m proud to show my students that my role as a teacher doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped being a student. Knowledge is fluid and always evolving, just like I am, and my teaching will mature and shift as I do. I refuse to hide my process of studentship for fear that my students will think I’m less of a teacher. I’m confident in my abilities and my unique perspectives on yoga, so I rest in my truth, and let others think what they will. It reminded me to remind you that life gets so much easier when you stop seeking approval from those around you and instead focus on accessing your deepest truth, or satya. If you lose your center the moment someone else has an unfavorable opinion of you, you’ll become everything for everyone, but very little of yourself. When I began teaching yoga, I would change the way I taught based on every student’s critique. In one month, it led me to teach faster, teach slower, talk less, talk more, make it easier, make it harder, and on and on. It was maddening, and my truth was lost in the quest to please everyone. Nowadays, I come into a workshop, speak my truth (which is not the only truth), give them a million percent of what my spirit is directing me to offer, and then I go home. Most people love it, a few think it’s pretty good, and there’s almost always one who can’t stand me.   And you know what? That’s OK. It used to bother me for days if I got negative feedback from someone. But as I teach more, I see that will always be the case, no matter how I change my message. So I stick to my core. Finally, I’ve learned to go into any classroom with one intention: I’m not here to cater…I’m here to teach. In your life, you can spend all your time and energy shape shifting to accommodate everyone’s needs or you can focus on living from your center. This is the exact moment when taking it personally transforms into the practice of giving it personally… …and you need no one’s stamp of approval but your own to do that. Core Question: Have you ever over-compromised your truth to please those around you? What happened when you decided to be fully yourself? Core Pose : Crossed Navasana with Fists of Fire This is one of my signature Core Poses. It’s meant to draw you out of your head and down into your center. Come into a cross-legged position like Sukhasana (Easy Pose). Place one foot in front of the other. Inhale, roll forward as you reach up, and lift the hips a few inches off the mat. Exhale, roll onto your sitting bones, engage the navel and low back in and up as you lift knees and feet higher. Repeat 5 to 10 times, then end in a forward fold from Easy Pose.

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Living Your Truth

Everyone’s favorite supermodel, Brazilian beauty Gisele Bundchen, practices Anusara Yoga. She talks about how yoga kept her fit during her pregnancy in the April issue of Vogue. You can read part of the article here . In it, you’ll learn that her son Benjamin Rein Brady was delivered at home in a water birth, her new line of natural skincare Sejaa (“seja” means “to be” in Portugese) is launching today, and that

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Supermodel Gisele Bundchen loves life and yoga

Actress Chloe Sevigny must really love yoga because she is talking it up all over the place! We aren’t sure what style she practices or where she places her mat. But this winner of a Golden Globe award for best supporting actress in a TV series graces the April cover of Elle UK and talks about her new three-times-a-week yoga practice, which makes her feel “strong” and “limber.” (She also credits yoga with boosting her libido.) In a recent interview with NPR , Sevigny talks about how yoga helps her with her scoliosis so she feels straightened out. Check it out: Our friends at YogaDork found some morsels of the interview here . Which celebrities have you noticed taking up the practice of yoga?

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Chloe Sevigny Loves Yoga

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell signed a

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Historic Legal Decision

Today I awoke to find that I’m sore in every single muscle of my body. I know. I checked them all. Pinkie toe? Check. I undertook a photo shoot yesterday at a studio in SoHo, where my husband works. He took over 500 images of me in every conceivable pose, so that I can use them to create visual sequences for online sources, magazines, and of course, my loyal readers. After all, you deserve high resolution too! I did yoga for 3 1/2 hours straight. It was intense, but I wanted to do it for myself, and for my Tribe, those yogis, past, present and future, who might get a spark from something I teach that lights their inner fire. To continue giving so freely, which means finding more free time, I recently did what some yogis consider to be the unthinkable: I recently signed with a yoga talent agency. Here are a few more reasons: * Way more people want me to come teach at their studios, conferences, or events, than I can handle communicating with by myself and still stay sane, much less focused on my classes. * I want to be free to continue doing what I do best, which is to create and teach my beloved practice, not emailing 20 people a day about booking arrangements. * My life’s purpose is to teach the healing benefits of yoga to as many people as I can, not teach less people because I think being on TV is “unyogic”. *I seem to have the right combination of things that makes me attractive to the national level, and that level requires a skill set of negotiation and organization that is not my strong suit. Don’t even ask me to balance a checkbook! I’m proud of the direction in which my 15 years of study and commitment are taking me. I also love that people pay me to do what I love, so I don’t have to do anything else. Most of all, I adore connecting with so many students. In all of this I want to be represented as accurately and with the same level of integrity as the photos I worked so hard to create this weekend. YAMA , started last year by Ava Taylor, a lifelong yogi, is changing the paradigm of what an agent can be, from greedy to generous, from competitive to conscious. I’m incredibly happy that Ava is there for those of us who want more help, and like their representation to come with a dash of good karma. Some in the community aren’t feeling it, yet this yoga-life-money balance is possible, it’s happening . . . and I hope the yoga world will embrace it more and more as a part of the practice–not separate from it. Sometimes, though, when it comes to making a shift, you can’t wait for everyone around you to ‘get’ it. If you believe in yourself, and you feel called to what is a right action for you, then you will simply have to go first. This is the first step towards leading by example. Core Questions: What do you think about this direction of yogis in the mainstream? Do you think we can hold our ground while dealing with the entertainment world and money, or are we just seeking fame for its own sake? When have you had to lead by example, and what happened? A Core Tip: To get more grounded, try my free Slow Hip and Leg Stretch Flow video for a great root energy release using the earth for support! See it here .

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For Success . . . or Sanity

I’m in Boston today, wiped out but happy after a day of teaching two back-to-back workshops at the fabulous South Boston Yoga . I taught for nearly five straight hours, and it was glorious. Teachers of all styles were there, alongside beginners, and yogis of all ages and abilities. They breathed together, stuck their tongues out for resounding Lion’s Poses, and even laughed freely at my silly jokes. Example: “Why is the pelvic floor like Elvis? Because it always leaves the building.” (insert groan here). At the end of class, we sang the following Bon Jovi Chant as one rockin’ voice. (Come into Easy Seat, Hands at chest in Namaste, then fingers interlaced): Whoa….We’re halfway there Who-oh! Living on a Prayer Take my hand, We’ll make it, I swear, Who-oh! Living on a prayer (repeat 3 times, and after the last verse, immediately sing the following line) Living on a prayer. . .OM. See it here . For a moment in time, a bunch of people who were strangers just three hours before were transformed into a kula, or community of the heart. It’s something I’ll never forget. Even the studio owners, the immensely knowledgeable David Vendetti and Todd Skoglund, planted themselves in the front row, and practiced next to their students, as students themselves. Though I was a new presence in the studio, and the SBY students are very loyal to their teachers, they received my instruction with a gung-ho excitement to try something new. Instead of meeting resistance as a foreign yogi in a new land, I felt like I’d come home to the wild welcome of yoga brothers and sisters I didn’t know I had. Yoga gives us all a chance to find a family of like-minded souls, and to share the experience of moving to and from Center together. When we embrace that family of choice, it enriches our personal yoga journey far more than just going it alone. As Jon Bon Jovi says, “Take my hand . . . we’ll make it, I swear.” To me, Core Strength starts with making a connection to your deepest Self, and from there, developing the courage to offer your truth to others. Receiving their offering of love and respect in return makes the challenges (burning thigh in Warrior 2, anyone?) you endure to get there so completely worth it. So thanks, Boston Family, for reminding me of that. Core Question: Where is your yoga family? Tell us how you knew you’d found a home! Who can you recognize with gratitude for welcoming you as one of their own?

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Boston Family

I’m going to go ahead and admit it: some days I really, really don’t want to teach. I know–I’m always supposed to be a bright, happy yogi who would rather chop off an arm that have to miss a yoga class, let alone miss the opportunity to make someone else’s day brighter through teaching–but, you know what, some days the natural light and love that brought me to yoga teaching in the first place just cannot find a way to shine through. On those days I grumble and complain and wish I didn’t have to teach and then drag my sorry little behind to the yoga studio. And then a funny thing happens. As my students start to walk in I find my mood lifting. I start to teach and I completely forget all of the reasons I really didn’t want to be there in the first place. And by the end, I almost always leave feeling lighter, happier and wondering why I don’t teach a whole lot more often. That, to me, is the power of teaching. Hopefully my students gain a thing or two from a class but I know that I always, always gain so much from them. Now all I have to do is remind myself of that each time I get the teaching grumps.

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For Those Times When You Just Don’t Want to Teach

After visiting the clinic, we spent the next 2 days at the construction site of the new birthing center, the very center each our donors contributed to when they donated to this project! It was very exciting to participate in building the center and to know that these women were going to have a beautiful place to go with plenty of clean water, brand new supplies, proper medicine and a comfortable place to rest while they are in labor and after they give birth. We learned how to make bricks and lay them. It was extremely hard work. They don’t have equipment like we do at home…everything is done the HARD WAY. My most touching moment at this sight was witnessing a 90 year old woman show up to hoe the garden. She didn’t speak any English but she came and sat down next to me, placed her hand in mine, and spoke to me. I learned that she had fallen down and hurt her leg. Her knee was swollen. She walked all the way from her home to the site and back every Wednesday to participate in this project. To put things in perspective, I was tired after working there for 2 hours and we were able to take a bus back to the hotel. This woman walked all the way back to her home with a hurt leg and in the intense heat after she worked all day. I was beside myself. I couldn’t help but to break down in tears. It has taken me 3 full days to move past that moment. Experiences like this challenge you on every level. They bring forward emotions like gratitude, joy, sorrow, grief, hope, shame, guilt, and so so so much love. I was absolutely humbled…and so thankful to have shared that time with her.  One of the most important parts about this trip is the yoga our group leaders Seane and Suzanne so graciously lead all 23 of us through first thing each morning. Many of you are wondering how I can be exposed to such circumstances day after day and be able to handle and process it accordingly. The answer to this question is the yoga practice. Each morning we are led through a series of movements which enable us to open our bodies, minds, and spirits. This is done in such a way that we are able to release our stored tension and bottled up emotions so that we are able to move into our day clear and open to the new experiences in store for us. At the end of most days we reconnect for group processing, which consists of 1-2 hours of sharing our experiences about what we are witnessing. The morning and evening gatherings are designed to help us work through our internal issues so that we can be as effective as possible out in the community. There are a lot of tears but with them an unfathomable amount of support available at all times. On February 13th we went to the New Hope School and Orphanage. I painted flouride on all of the kids teeth and it was adorable how willing they were to accept the treatment. There were about 80 kids at the orphanage, all HIV positive and from ages 7 months into their teens. The money raised for the orphanage went to new mattresses (all of the kids slept in stacked up bunk beds 3 high in one small room), a new water filtration system (because they had no clean water)…as well as a garden to grow food. We brought them tons of activities including paper and crayons, frisbees, books, soccer balls, stickers, jump ropes, etc… they were SO HAPPY and excited. They sang to us and played with us. We read them books, took and printed pictures for all of them, painted a mural on the wall, taught them yoga, and educated them about dental care. $150,000 of our fund raising went into that orphanage…money well spent. The interesting and very moving part about the orphanage was the manner in which the children engaged and disengaged with us. They wanted to be part of our group and the activities which we offered, but they were careful not to get too close to us because they are used to abandonment and the pain associated with it. In addition, they are used to a high turnover in teachers so they really don’t have a constant caretaker in their lives. Anyone who shows up eventually disappears. One child came and held my hand as we were walking through the grass. She looked up at me with hope in her eyes and asked if I was going to come back again. I had to tell her “no”. She looked down at the ground full of sadness. The children had blank stares on their faces when we were packing up to leave. We gave them a short burst of extreme love and happiness, only to have to leave them as they have been left many times before. This was very difficult for me to process. I contemplated whether or not our visit did more harm than good and it reminded me of the saying, “better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all”. All in all, I decided it was definitely better to have loved them for the short time we had!

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Shanti Uganda/ New Hope and Yoga by Jennifer Silvestri

I can barely feel my hands.  Today I helped birth a baby girl. I feel a very deep vibration. The image of 5 women holding one as she was going through the process of bringing a life into the world is one that is going to stay with me forever. The following is an excerpt of an email I wrote to my mom…I hope she doesn’t mind but its probably the most real reaction I am going to get down… I helped birth a baby today.  It made me want to talk to you. and when I say I helped birth a baby I mean I saw everything and was holding her leg when the baby came out.  It was the most intense thing ever.  I cried. It was so weird – there was no baby and then there she was all slimy and gross and crying and being manhandled and held upside down by her feet. The mom who was 17 years old and named Myriam was 8 centimeters when we arrived at the birthing center (um, I thought we were just going to be getting a tour) and she was in labour and we helped.  Sarah who is on the trip with us is an actual doula and there was a lady getting a c-section so she went in to help in that room and we (me heather and amanda) worked with our mom.  We held her hands and helped her walk around outside, tried to get her to stretch and squat, drink water. She was scared. Sarah had a wicked bag full of tricks…lotion and oils and stuff that really seemed to help but when it was time, well, right before the time time, she was on the floor and I had her head in my lap and my hands under her shoulders and there were 2 women on either side of her and we were all basically holding her.  She didn’t know us and we didn’t know her but I felt so connected to everyone…and everything.   It wasn’t pretty or easy but then there was a baby…I feel like my soul is vibrating a little. When we left mama was doing okay – she asked for a coke The whole thing made me think of you and I hope that you felt supported and safe when you were going through and that someone was holding your hand.  And that someone gave you a coke afterwards. So, I can’t seem to stop crying.  The reality of giving birth in Africa has many shocking things but I am going to leave this one here…

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There was no baby and then there was a baby by Davian Den Otter

When I filmed my first videos on YouTube, on location in my tiny Brooklyn apartment, I had to put my couch in the kitchen to make room for my mat. Then, I began a process that, three years later has blossomed into over 165 free videos and counting–everything from full-length classes, short meditations, and even parts of my teacher trainings and workshops on the road. When I began posting these yoga videos to the public domain, some teachers and friends told me it was a terrible idea. “No one will come to your classes if they can get the same thing for free!” one said. I appreciated their concern, and worried for a second that they were right, but then I realized that holding back from an offering that made me happy would be bowing down before lack, and not abundance. I’d be the demon of doubt under Nataraj’s foot instead of the Cosmic Dancer I aspire to be. Aparigraha , or non-possessiveness, is sometimes overlooked in our yoga practice. We know it means not to hoard possessions, but what about ideas, talents, and our truth? Whenever we hold back from expressing ourselves out of fear–of failure or judgment–we’ve fallen prey to one of the biggest causes of dukha , or suffering: straining to hold back something in you that needs to be released. Good old Pat (Patanjali) told us that “One who is not greedy is secure.” Sutra II: 39. If you give away what you can–whether it’s your truth, your art, your material stuff or your love–from a place of passion, you will gain a corresponding rush of freedom as life energy rushes to fill the space left from an offering of the heart. Yes, there is a point at which you can and should keep whatever you need to stay balanced and happy, but it’s hard to trust the process enough to really let go to that extent. Yogis learn to get more sensitive to that inner equilibrium that tells us when we’re ready to give out, or give in, respectively. Tree Pose , Warrior 3 , and Half Moon Pose are great teachers in this respect. It’s far more worth it to try and reach out your hand than to keep your fist closed, and not share your gifts freely with the world. If doubt is an obstacle in the way of offering who you really are to the world, then drag out your own figurative Nataraj and stomp on that little doubt demon by doing it anyway, and seeing where it goes. Regret, for the yogi practicing Aparigraha, is not an option. I’m pleased as punch that I have done something that has turned more people on to yoga and that they choose to support my teaching by sometimes buying things I’ve made. But the process began with my excitement over a new computer and camera, my own unique ideas about yoga, and a burning desire to share them with anyone who cared to take a look. Since I can’t create a DVD every day–I figured, let’s run these up the flagpole and see who salutes. I remain totally fired up to film them, and I will keep giving until that fire goes out inside. (I envision that to be a very long time from now.) Part of the practice of non-greediness is to keep letting go and freeing yourself even when you don’t have to . . . but because you want to live immersed in the ever-moving stream of Prana, and this energy reminds you that you still want to. Keep the flame lit underneath your offerings, don’t be afraid to release your ideas into the community and you’ll replace resentment with joy. This is true security. Teachers: Let us know where we can see you in action! My videos are here . Core Question: Has fear caused you to hang on too tightly to something? In what ways do you practice letting go?

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Giving Away My Teaching

“Souls don’t have races or sexes or religions. They are beyond artificial divisions.”  Beliefs separate, loving thoughts unite us.  Today started off with intrigue, curiosity, excitement and ended with joy, yet sorrow.  The orphanage was built first with a vision, then came the passion, then it took strength to reach out and New Hope School and Orphanage was born.  The man who started it was Godfrey in 1997.  He started New Hope on his own.  The kids are street kids with no mothers or fathers and all have HIV.  New Hope provides a safe environment to educate, learn and thrive.  In order to do so it takes visitors like us, OTM, to raise money and support these children so they have clean water, food, shelter, and education.  OTM has helped this year by creating a water filtration system, supplying mattresses, school supplies and left a mural so dreams and the magic will and can continue. Leaving the school was hard for most of us. A feeling of sadness loomed when asked when will we return? The children of New Hope are thriving for love, support and just a hug. I hope I can go back and give each of them a hug.  I hope that other volunteers continue to build on this wonderful foundation. I am so humbled and honored to be part of these children’s lives.

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New Hope School by Carrie Herscovic

Today our OTM group left our hotel at 7:30 to head to below the mouth of the Nile to go river rafting.  As we headed out on our two hour drive, there was plenty of talking before most people settled into their own space.  The towns market signs kept me entertained during our journey. “Tasty Smokies”,”Ultimate Secretarial Bureau”, “Not for Sale, You Do it At Your Own Risk!”, “Yo Choice Restaurant”, “Open Happiness” (Coca-Cola), “Paint the Price and We Paint Your Dreams”,and finally, “We Strip the Facts Bare”, (The Independent) When we arrived at Adrift White Water Rafting, everyone was in high spirits as we signed our lives away legally and heard the safety lessons.  We then divided into groups, “Wild” and “Mild”.  Within our group there were definitely strong feelings on which group each of us wanted to be in. We each got a life jacket, a helmet, and an oar and met our guides.  As we descended to the edge of the Nile, some individuals confidence level did the same. We were directed to get into the boat and Suzanne and I took the helm,water warriors. Once in our boat, Sudu gave us instructions on how to steer the boat and prepare for different types of rapids.  We would be experiencing Class 2, 3, and 5 rapids.  When our group of learned the boat could tip over us and we could be under it, some of our group’s fears began to rise.  As we headed to the rapids, we fought the fears by describing other areas in our life that gave us strength: Mountain biking, sky diving, and being Yoga instructors.  Vulnerability played within us and one another’s devotion won.  We began.  On the first class 5, two of our teammates flipped out and we retrieved them quickly.  We enjoyed the class 2 and 3 rapids and endured the class 5’s. While our boat of women tackled the Nile white waters, one thing we couldn’t tackle was the dam that was being built in the very area we were riding through. We were told a man from Italy is buiding the dam to “give water to the entire country of Uganda” which is hard for our group to believe.  We were also told the World Bank is behind it from a financing standpoint which also saddened us.  None of us can understand how a group of men can consciously decide to destroy one of the world’s greatest rivers and the communities that depend on it.  Not an easy part of our journey to process.

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The Nile River by Tracey Campbell

We started the day with an inspirational yoga practice on the grass outside of our volunteer house.  We formed a circle with our mats and did a few sun salutations, standing poses, and backbends.  Seane called on some participants to bring their intention for the day into the circle.  Spirit flowed through each speaker.  At the end, we did call and response chanting with Suzanne.  I think the locals must be proud of our ability to sing and dance freely, with passion.  Most Ugandans believe that “mzungus” don’t know how to truly express themselves and are very entertained when they see us doing things like hard labor or walking in our barefeet. After breakfast we headed out to the new birth house.  We rode motorcycles there!!  The ride was INCREDIBLE!  I’ve never been on a motorcycle before and it was one of the best times of my life.  Here, they call the motorcycles “bodas,” and it’s the best way to travel around the villages.  People will often say, “I’m going on a boda boda.”  It’s my new favorite thing. When we arrived we were split into small groups to rotate around the facility, learning about the different aspects that go into creating the birth house.  We literally laid the brick.  This is exactly what I told my donors I would be doing, so I was very happy.  We stomped in the dirt and water with our bare feet to make it soft and muddy, and then we laid the mud thickly on the foundation and stacked bricks on top.  We left a little space between each brick for more mud, and really packed it all in.  I marvel at the fact that just a few months ago, this land was covered in jungle.  Now buildings stand half finished and roads are cleared.  There were no bulldozers to do the job, simply strong hands.  I am still grasping the fact that our money is funding the creation of this sacred place. When we took a break for lunch, I split from the group to sit with Joseph, our driver.  I really love talking with Ugandan people.  Joseph is so nice and welcoming, always a big smile on his face, happy to see us.  We talked about the differences in Ugandan and U.S. culture.  I’ve found that no one really judges the U.S.; they are simply interested and often surprised.  Joseph asked me how many children I want to have and I said, “One.  Or two at the very most.”  He thought that was crazy and asked if there was a law in the U.S. that said people couldn’t have more than two.  He thinks I should have 5 or 6!  He asked how many siblings I have and I said I was the only one.  He was shocked and said it must be harder for me to get married.  I asked why he thought this and he said, “Since you are the only one, it will be hard for your parents to give you away.”  In Uganda, men still pay a dowry for their wives and own her as property.  Joseph told me his father died when he was young, and when his mother re-married the new husband kicked Joseph out of the house because he was another man’s son.  He moved to Kampala, but still considers his village home.  His mother’s husband recently passed away, so Joseph can now go back on holidays to visit his mom.  Joseph says I should stay and live in Uganda.  He has become a great friend in only four short days.  He is always making sure I’ve had enough to eat, and always concludes that I never eat enough. After lunch we went on a walking tour with Sam, a neighbor to the birth center.  His family owns a lot of the land surrounding the site.  He showed us his home, his father’s home, and his grandfather’s home.  In 1982 there was a war in this part of the country that lasted for five years (separate from the war in the north) and Sam’s family was forced to leave.  When the war ended, they returned and all of their homes were still intact.  He showed us his family’s graveyard–at least 20 long tombstones populated the area.  Sam explained that Ugandan’s take burial very seriously.  People must be buried with their families, and a woman is always buried with her husband’s family since he bought her.  Sam does not necessarily believe that this is the only way things should be in the world.  He simply states that this is the way it is in Uganda and has always been.  He was a very loveable man. After our long day of work at the site, I was feeling EXHAUSTED!  I was dangerously close to not going back for the evening party with the women due to a severe headache.  I drank three bottles of water, took some ibuprofen and was good to go.  As soon as we arrived, there was singing and dancing.  The children were shaking their hips like mad and skipping around in circles with us.  There was a big bond-fire in the center of the site and as the sun slowly set, it became our only light.  The sunset was absolutely beautiful- exactly as I imagined it should be- sinking slowly beyond the African trees as the stars came out, one by one.  The night sky is brilliant in the middle of a remote village, and it brought tears to my eyes.  I had one of those “I-can’t-believe-I’m-in-Africa” moments. I played with an adorable little girl most of the evening.  My tongue was red from the powder I added to my water for hydration, and she wanted a red tongue too, so she took the second half of my bottle and drank it, sticking out her tongue periodically so I could confirm her mouth was red too.  I tried to teach her to touch her tongue to her nose, but she didn’t quite get that one.  She walked around with my bottle for the rest of the evening, proud of her red mouth. Tonight is our last night in Kasana.  Mosquito net here I come.

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Shanti Uganda Day Two by Megan Ridge

It’s just after Valentines Day, and I got two bouquets of flowers. One from my husband, and one from Sadie Nardini. That’s me.   While at the flower store, ordering a nice bunch of orchids to honor the longest-term relationship I’ve ever had—with myself, I noticed that many people were more focused on what to get or do for their significant others, or what they were getting done for them, than how to celebrate their own selves. In fact, out of the 20 or so other people who were there, not one of them were wrapping up blooms from them, to them. When they found out I was, it was like a kitten had popped out of my jacket pocket. Ohmigosh–Thats SO cute!, they said, eyes wide with the sheer quaintness of it all.   It struck me then, how weighted we can get towards our external offerings and relationships. It’s more rare indeed to see someone taking themselves out for dinner, and choosing the nice restaurant over the quick fix, or taking the time to appreciate themselves with a love letter, a kind remark or even the simple beauty of flowers.   I’d like to see this trend reverse. I began turning it around personally a few years back when I realized I was speaking to, feeding and loving myself abysmally. If I was dating me, I would have been well on the road to a break-up or a breakdown.   It’s the same with yoga. When I say I teach Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga, people usually point to their bellies and say, “Yeah, I need some of that!” or “My roommate does Pilates!”   As we progress in our practice here in the West, I see many students and teachers are beginning to get so outer-body strong that they have begun to freeze themselves out of the deeper power that lies in their internal core. I was one of them, until my too-tight abs and back muscles began compressing my spine and causing me pain. I knew I had to find some length, and let go of my ego-driven tendency to want to get into the advanced poses at all costs. It’s easy to get externally-focused, and use the outer body too strongly in the asanas, which can harden it into tension or put added strain on the joints, instead of using our outer selves in balance to support a much more profound inner strength.   It’s not serving us to practice with a focus on our external bodies only if we want our yoga practice to be a balance of Sthira-Sukha, or stability and mobility. There are a whole lot of things the core is, and one thing its not: just the abdominal muscles. Your spine and pelvis, taking in Prana (life energy), your inward attention, and the muscles that support your skeleton all comprise my idea of the deeper core connection we can each make happen more profoundly in yoga and in our lives.   In my teaching, I focus on our Deep Core Line, or the series of muscles that line your legs, pelvis, spine and skull, and I invite students to release any death grip on the poses, and instead focus on a softer strength at the level of the superficial body (Think Rodney Yee’s abs vs. the cover of Muscle Magazine) in order to access the support at true center.   This experience of diving inside has a bunch of happy side effects, including empowerment, self-centering, and the ability to rock your Handstand much sooner than if you try to just power into it.   In my view, the abdominal muscles should serve the underlying structural strength, not the other way around. When you can move your poses from the outside in, some of the pockets of tension found at the legs, hips and lower back, shoulders and neck will start to dissolve as your inner takes over for the outer, and they both begin to move back into harmony.   Best of all, when you move from center as your practice on the mat, you’ll begin to experience vijnana-maya-kosha, a state of all-pervading recognition that who you are is strong, capable, and worth nourishing on all levels. And one day, I’ll be in the flower store, peering into the case to see what Sadie might like best of all, and someone will say “pardon”, and reach past me to grab their favorite tulips.   I’m betting it will be you.   Core Questions: Where are you on the journey to cultivate your inner relationship as much as your outer ones? And how do you practice this in your yoga poses? Do you think it’s harder to give in than give out?   Core Pose: To try moving from your inner body: Next time you’re doing handstand preparations, no matter how low or high you’re hopping now, keep your top leg straight but bend your bottom knee into your chest as you lightly jump. As you kick, pretend you have a golden egg at the pit of your belly, which you’ll squeeze around as you exhale. This will bypass the tendency of your lower back to arch and take the pelvis out of alignment. It will activate your low belly and still let you practice pulling the stacked hips up with the squeeze of your deeper pelvic muscles.

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What’s Your Core Strength?

Big breath . . . sigh . . . from the moment this journey has begun, information, people, projects, landscapes, laughter, songs, and tears have been rushing at us a mile a minute and at this point it feels like a hurricane in my head, thoughts and emotions are blowing past, over, around, and through me every couple of seconds. I just keep saying to myself breath. Inhale the thick African air. Inhale the sounds and flavors deeply. Inhale the smiles and sincerity. Inhale the hope, pride, and optimism. Hold, drop the shoulders. Exhale. Exhale my fear. Exhale the grief. Exhale the guilt. Exhale the repression. Exhale the anger and frustration. Let it go . . . and let the most honest and joyful smile of a dancing child dressed in rags embrace you. Tule omu, we are one.

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Breathing by Galadriel Rael

Hi yogis, Sadie Nardini here. I’m the founder of Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga, which is a set of anatomical, energetic and core living principles I offer to teachers and students of any style, in order to bring the yoga practice back to true center. This year, I’m joining the yoga touring circuit, which means I’ll leave my New York City apartment, three cats, and hubby for half of every month to lead workshops and trainings at conferences and studios across the country. I love being home, and luckily, I adore adventuring to meet new students and share my take on yoga with my community.  I’ll be writing some blog posts here at YJ to share my experiences as a teacher moving onto a more national stage, and offer you ideas on how we can all access the inner strength we hold in our poses, and in our lives, to make our yoga goals more attainable and our present moment more empowering and effective. All this, and more, I will do… … But right now, I’m freaking out. It’s 10:44 pm on Friday, and I’m sitting on the bed here at Kripalu, writing out my three hour “Core Strength” session for tomorrow by hand. After tonight…I have no choice.    I was teaching my first session ever as a faculty member here at this huge and impressive hub of mind/body education, and I quickly realized that 20 pages of notes for an hour and a half class was slightly over the top.   So I had to close the book halfway through, and wing it.   It went better than expected. In fact, I didn’t really need the book at all. Tomorrow is 3 hours, and I have 30 pages of typed notes. I can’t read and teach. What was I thinking? Here’s what: It’s my first time here as an instructor, there are a whopping 40 people signed up for my weekend, and the over-preparation I’ve been exhibiting is due to one main factor: I’m nervous as hell. Yes, I’ve studied, prepared, taught thousands of hours, teach at the Yoga Journal Conference and others, have two DVDs out and a third one on the way, thousands of students each week in person and online–and yet I still believe that writing every sentence down on paper is going to serve me better than trusting my own knowledge, and going with the flow. This is how I began teaching yoga 15 years ago: me, a mat and 10 sheets of laminated paper spread out in front of me with every pose written on it. Font size: 22.   I must’ve looked insane (and nearsighted) sitting there, surrounded by a sea of huge notecards, yet the students kept coming back for more. Eventually, I gathered the courage to shelve the big type and write some new classes in a journal. These days, I just quickly jot down a few main points on the subway while traveling to the studio, and I’m good to go. Every new level of experience I reach is another doorway into Center, yes, but my doorway always has a really tall bouncer standing at the threshold asking me, “Are you sure you know enough? Are you really good enough for this?” My first answer, from years of self-conditioning, tends to be, “no”.   But I know, from years of yoga conditioning, that’s not the whole truth. I love what I do, I have a unique teaching to impart, and I offer everything I have to my students, yet it’s not until I can relax past the fear, draw deep inside, and allow myself to access Satya, or my inner truth that the answer the bouncer hears becomes a resounding yes.   This circling into who we really need to be, then taking action from there, instead of from that fearful ego-self cowering in the corner, clutching all her notes, is a centerpiece of core strength, the one that helps us go that extra inch into handstand–or back off an inch–because we know it’s how we really need to express the pose.   Next time you find yourself at that doorway, ask yourself, “WWCD” (What Would Center Do)? And make your move from there. The fastest way to let out my inner voice, which at times like this threatens to stick in my throat, is to take a deep breath in, all the way down to my belly, and then HAAAAAAAAH!   Stick out the old tongue, and roar like a lion .   I do it until I laugh, and then I know I’ve gone deep enough.  Now, it’s back to my writing project, only this time….it won’t be nearly as many pages. I’ll let you know how it goes this weekend! Wish me…well, not luck, but to express the most of me.  Namaste! Update: Well, I have to say, the Immersion was a resounding success (I know, because they let me read the comment cards)! Every session was easier than the last, and tonight, as my week-long teacher training gets underway, I feel confident that I can totally represent. Now…I just have to tell that to The Bouncer when I’m writing out the Immersion for YYoga in Vancouver next month! Core Question : Do you ever have trouble speaking your truth? Teachers, how do you overcome your nerves in class?  Everyone: How do you find the courage to express yourself even so? Share your victories and strategies, and inspire us all to express from Center today!

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Nerves and Namaste

Some people thought it was a stretch that yogis have started including their dogs in some classes. But now animal lovers have even found a way to share the practice with their barn-dwelling four legged friends. That’s right! Yoga for horses! Tucson yogi Gloria Hester uses her expertise in yoga, horses, and Hanna Somatics to help heal injured horses, reports the Tucson Citizen . While the yoga Hester teaches to horses is not the same kind of asana-focused yoga you’d see in a yoga studio, it has helped at least a few horses deal with pain. “If yoga is a practice of consciousness, (and I believe it is), then in that sense, the horse is definitely practicing ‘yoga’ in the truest sense of the word,” Hester told The Citizen . The article doesn’t really explain the method and how it works, but it does sound like a neat idea. Do you think horses are really capable of practicing consciousness? Have you ever tried yoga or alternative healing methods with any of your pets?

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Horse Stance?

It’s incredible. We are once again on an airplane, flying to Uganda from all parts of the United States and Canada, in preparation for what will be a life changing two-week adventure into the heart of sacred service. Just like last year, when our SEVA Challenge took us to Cambodia, we put out a call to the yoga community to raise significant funds. We asked that people use their creativity to find new ways to motivate their local communities. And once again many yogis rallied, creating auctions, donation classes, selling products, holding arts events, yogathons, and more. Keep in mind, this was no ordinary year. Seva Challenge participants faced a stressed economy and a harrowing fiscal environment. But the participants pushed themselves beyond perceived limits: 21 women raised at least $20,000 each due to the support of hundreds of yogis. Collectively, we raised $574,000.   As a result, we will soon be arriving in Uganda. Together with Shanti Uganda, we will build an eco-birthing center for women with HIV/AIDS. We will also help support the education and training of the midwives and nurses there in hopes of creating a place for women–who might otherwise die in unassisted childbirth–to have a loving and safe environment to bring their babies into the world. We will be collaborating with Building Tomorrow and, along side the members of a local community, building a school for 150 to 400 children, brick by brick. We will be learning about the specifics of HIV/AIDS prevention, education, and the latest advances in treatment from YouthAids. We will visit the offices of Invisible Children to hear about the 350,000 child soldiers abducted in Uganda as well as the stories of how some of those children are being lovingly rehabilitated and reunited with their long lost families.   We believe that, as sacred activists, our task is to practice love and compassion, even as we work for change. Even when we encounter children and families who are without the basics needed for survival and who face the devastating long-term effects of AIDS, we are charged with the task of staying present in our breath and in our bodies. We are asking ourselves to witness honestly and profoundly what is happening in this community, using all the tools that we have acquired in our yoga practice on the mat. We will witness honestly and profoundly what is happening in this community, using all the tools that we have acquired in our yoga practice on the mat. We will simply show up and be willing to respectfully connect to every woman, man, and child that we meet. By connecting to each other and to all that we encounter with fierce compassion and strong hearts, we will be changed. There is no doubt.   We are profoundly grateful to be a part of this growing community. We are thankful for the vibrant creativity, leadership, and love that has been called into action in such a powerful way at a time when it is so crucial to our global evolution and awakening. We look forward to sharing our stories and inspirations with you over the next two weeks.   With Love, Seane Corn and Suzanne Sterling

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About the Seva Challenge and Bare Witness Tour

Submitted by Sofi Dillof Today was my first day in Uganda and we went to visit the Acholi slums located outside the Kampala, the capital of Uganda. We had brought with us lots of clothing and supplies from home to give out to the families living there. Like so many other times in my life that I have faced the new and unknown, the experience I had there was much different than I had imagined it would be. The first thing that struck me was the strong sense of community that I felt there. It was truly inspiring. We gathered with many of the women in a meeting house of sorts which was no more than a large dark cement structure with some make shift wooden benches. There they welcomed us with a song that was filled with so much joy and gratitude that I felt my heart open up and soak it in like a sponge or like a thirsty dessert animal who had stumbled upon a cool stream and was drinking in the life affirming water. This was not the vibration of sadness and despair that I had imagined would be so palpable in the slums that I wouldn’t be able to breath. We answered their song with our own rendition of Amazing Grace. I had never offered a song as a gift before but it felt like such an honest exchange of loving vibration. It was powerful to say the least. The second part of the day involved splitting up on our own and going to visit the homes of two families and delivering to them what we had brought. This part was challenging for me. For starters, where as most of the other members of my group were paired with two women (one from each house hold), I ended up two men. At the first house, and I use the term ‘house’ lightly as it was no more than a two room shack which housed 6 family member, no english was spoken. Luckily, the four children with who lived there were of the ages 2-6 and I was equipped with a bottle of bubble’s … need I say more? The second house, however was a very different scene. Nine boys (who were a mix of brothers and cousin) lived there along with 1 baby girl and a Mom and Dad. The house was, again, only two rooms and I can’t fathom where they all slept. I didn’t ask because I was afraid it would be somehow embarrassing for them. The father spoke only a little english but explained how his brother was gone and that he had taken in his 3 nephews. He was working to support all 10 kids and when he couldn’t think of the english words to express his situation I offered some help. “Hard”, I said to him. He looked me in the eyes and said, in a deeply burden ridden voice, “Hard”. Then there was a silence that lasted for so long that I felt my whole body contract with uncomfortableness. No one was speaking. The teen age boys (ages 13 – 18) had the same vibe as my teenage step son and his friends – totally great kids but probably were being forced to be home and hang out with their parents and me when all they really wanted to do was to go out and hang with their friends. At least this is what I imagined. The scene felt tense. I felt stupid just sitting there but couldn’t think on anything to say. We all just sat there. Time seemed to drag on forever. When the father explained that the boys new english very well but were just to shy to say anything I looked at them and told them that I was feeling shy do. They smiled and though I could have imagined it, I can almost swear that we all shared a big group exhalation. I felt my muscles loosen, my breath began to flow again. We had found our common ground. They were nervous and I was nervous and it was okay. At first I felt disappointed in myself that I had frozen up in their home but now I feel okay about it. It’s where I was at the time and I am just so happy that my heart allowed me to be vulnerable enough to express what I was feeling to them. They say a smile is a language that we all share but so are songs, tears, hardships and even moments of shyness. Whatever it may be that allows us to connect is Sacred and today, in a place where I had imagined that I would feel so different and separate from those whom I would be meeting, I had a taste of that first hand.

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That which allows us to connect is Sacred: My day spent at the Acholi slums

I loved this post from Chicagonow.com’s BrokeAss Blog about how to get your yoga in without emptying your wallet. Of course, the suggestions are specifically for the Chicago area, but I think we can take their ideas and make them work no matter where you live. Yoga is expensive if you’re willing to pay the fancy studio prices, but if you’re a little creative you can get all (or at least most) of the studio benefits for a fraction of the cost. 1. Take advantage of new student specials. If you live in an urban area with a lot of health clubs and gyms, you can get your yoga on for free for a LONG time by simply trying out something new and taking advantage of the introductory offers. Many studios and teachers offer their first class for free or reduced rates, and gyms sometimes offer free weeklong passes for anyone who wants to give them a try. Does this compromiseyour comittment to asteya , non-stealing? I think not! Teachers, studios, and health clubs offer free trials to get you through the door and they know you might not come back.  2. Look for yoga in non-traditional venues. If you do a little research, you might discover there are affordable yoga classes at your local parks, libraries, or community centers. Ask a yoga teacher you know who is involved in the local yoga community, or just pick up the phone and call the city to ask. 3. Seek out work study programs. Many studios will agree to let you take classes for free if you agree to man the front desk, sweep the floors, or neatly organize their props at the end of the class. 4. Trade Your Services for Classes. Even if your local studio doesn’t have a work trade program, you might be able to barter with individual teachers in exchange for classes. Are you a trained yoga teacher? Maybe you could offer to assist one class a week. Do you have marketing skills? Maybe your teacher needs help promoting himself. The possibilities are endless! 5. Practice at home. A home practice (whether you use your own sequence, a DVD, or a an online video) is not the same as getting guidance from an in-person teacher, but in a lot of ways it’s just as important. Test your own boundaries. Really pay attention to your body’s signals. Empower yourself to listen to your intuition and the practice you need. What ways do you save money without compromising your yoga practice? Are there any creative programs in your area that offer yoga at reduced prices?

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BrokeAsana Yoga

Long time yoga blogger, YogaDawg, announced yesterday that he is calling it quits to pursue his passion for painting. For years his blog, My Itchy Third Eye , and website, YogaDawg.com , have provided us with hilarious yoga satire that  reminded us not to take our yoga too seriously. We’ll miss you, YogaDawg! You are a true ARTIST in every way.

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So Long, YogaDawg!

Much like the members of the panel, I don’t know where to start with this one.  Each member of the panel (Sianna Sherman, Rod Stryker and Sally Kempton) was packed with valuable knowledge and adept at sharing this information.  Below are a few highlights, paraphrased because the good quotes were coming in such rapid timing. Briefly, what is Tantra? Any moment of awe, wonder, embrace.–Rod Also: tapestry, weaving of spiritual experience into the fabric of everyday life, scientific system or method, freedom and the thread that unites all the aspects of yoga in one. How does one become initiated or find a teacher? Only he who becomes mad with the idea will truly see the light.–Rod Wet log or dry log?  The wet one cannot be lit, but the dry one is ready to be ignited.–Sianna A teacher’s role is to guide transformation, creating space for this kindling.–Sally How does one do the work of tantra? You can overcome any obstacle. You can achieve almost anything, if you can only learn to harness your power. –Rod Dissolve the elements that restrict freedom…emotional indulgence, etc.–Sally (As a follow up)  Where is the best place to start? Find a powerful mantra, and believe in it whole-heartedly.  Mantras are very transformational.–Sally

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Panel Discussion-Tantra

This was my first class with Seane Corn, and it is easy to see why she is such a yoga superstar.  Her sequencing is scientific and her personality is magnetic.  Seane, with her distinctive east-coast accent, has a way of conveying large amounts of information in digestible segments:  at the end of two hours I knew she grew up in and idyllic town in Jersey, why she was passionate about the environment (dumping in a local stream and high cancer rates in her town), all the causes she supports (Haiti, Aids, Africa and urban areas in the U.S.), that a whiff of styrofoam makes her homesick(her family owns a styrofoam plant), emotional eating patterns (sugar addiction and lonely cravings for perogies), religious background (Jewish mother and catholic father) and even a little about her digestion (lets just say traveling screws it up). I also know how to sequence a strong detox flow class (open, compress and twist), why I need to detox in the first place (chemicals, pollution, processed food), and I have a new diet plan to improve every realm of my life (more energy, less headaches, emotional stability). Also, after she explained some of the places she visits, I am curious to learn more about the Seva Challenge and Off the Mat, Into the World . I was breathless after this one.  Her passion and efficiency was inspiring. 

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Detox Flow with Seane Corn

Today did not go quite as planned for me. I slept late, missed my train, forgot my notebook. Heck, I didn’t even have time to wash my hair. By the time I got to the Hyatt, I was beyond flustered. Let’s just say, I wasn’t exactly in a peace, love, and yoga kind of mood. When David Life came in to lead the class, I didn’t know what the topic was. (I had been so rushed this morning, I didn’t have time to review the schedule.) You know how people say the universe gives you exactly what you need when you need it? The class was appropriately called Time Warp. When you really think about it.. time doesn’t matter so much. It’s all relative, David said. You know how some classes yoga that aren’t going so well seem to drag on forever? And others that you’re enjoying seem to finish up really quickly? Well, this one flew by for me and really brought me out of my funk. I had so much fun practicing a playful sequence that felt more like a dance (I just loved clapping along to the music in Warrior 1 and snapping in Warrior 2!)  Peace, love, and music are as relevant today as they were in the 60s; yoga is thousands of years old but it’s wisdom lives on; and it doesn’t really matter if I get to the conference at 8 or 10 am. Amazing.

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What is Time, Anyway?

This year, Yoga Journal worked in collaboration with the Green Yoga Association to greenify the conference. One of the biggest initiatives was making sure that there was less paper waste from all of the fliers and brochures people sprinkle around the halls of the Hyatt. To address this problem, the Green Yoga Association set up a wonderful wall of organized flier holders that you’ve all probably seen when you enter (it’s right on the first floor). If teachers or businesses want to flier, they pay the GYA a $20 deposit and secure one of the flier slots for their business. Then, at the end of the conference, they get the $20 deposit back when they collect all of their left over printed materials. (If they don’t, the GYA ships it back to them using their deposit.) What this means is that nothing gets thrown away! It also means a way better organization of materials, and an improved promotional presence for all involved. In all: a win-win. Learn more about the GYA at its Website: www.greenyoga.org.

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Greenified!

Master teacher Aadil Palkhivala opened his class on twists and backbends by saying “they have nothing to do with yoga.” What he means is that asana, which he says is “not important but utterly necessary,” is the first step in the path towards greater freedom. Because the body is the vehicle for the spirit, we must take good care of it. This is why we do asana. What can I say about Aadil? I love him as a teacher and human being. He is meticulous, hilarious, kind, and precise. He is a big, burly laughing redwood tree of a Buddha, so grounded in his practice that his spirit can fly big and free. We did some intense twisting, including variations of matsyangasana (hello quads!), and explored how to keep the vertebrae between S1 and T5 safe in backbends. Here are some tidbits from the Master himself, in no particular order: “Our practice must serve our individual dharma.” “Through the consequences of my past actions, I can make decisions about my present.” “There is great comfort in mediocrity. I urge you to rise above that to find your potential.” “You are creating your body of tomorrow now.”

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Twists & Backbends with Aadil Palkhivala

Take an Iyengar gal and throw her into a Shadow Yoga class and what do you get? Lots of sweat and joy! Scott Blossom taught an hour and a half intro on Shadow Yoga — a form of yoga that mixes asana, martial arts and dance. All of Shadow Yoga’s movements originate from the hips — deep squats, lunges, twisting spirals, as well as hand mudras combined with attention to the breath. It is a beautiful form and inspiring to do and watch.

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Shadow Yoga with Scott Blossom