Feb 28, 2011 |
Thanks to everyone who rolled out their red yoga mats, put on their finest black stretchy pants, and cast a vote for the 2010 YOGAR nominees! Unlike the actual Oscar telecast, I’ll keep these announcements short and sweet.
Best Asana
Salamba Sirsasana (Supported Headstand): Yes, the ego pose pulled off a huge upset and took home the coveted Best Asana award. She wowed the crowds last night when she walked down the red yoga mat wearing a sexy-rexy fuschia racer back tank with a peek-a-boo open-front yoke design from Mondetta Performance Gear (MPG). The fashion police gave her a huge thumbs up for the bold color and just the right amount of cleav.
Best Supporting Asana
Vrksasana (Tree Pose): Last year was all about balance and vrksasana helped so many people spread their branches and blossom in their yoga practices, that she was selected hands-up as Best Supporting asana.
Best Director
Everyone was a winner in this category! Clara, Freia, Deirdre, Kreg, Jan, and Judi, thanks again for the amazing work you did this past year. We all have the ability to hand out affirmation each and every day, so remember to award the teachers in your life with a smile and thanks for the work they do.
Best Seva
I really want to thank those of you that commented and clued me in to the great work that is being done by Seane Corn and Off the Mat Into the World. I’m excited to learn even more about this organization and I plan to write about their work this year to thank and support them in their efforts. Take your yoga off the mat this year and into the world!
It was our inaugural year for the YOGAR awards and based on the response, and amount of fun I had with them, they’ll be back again next year!
Jan 25, 2011 |
Very early this morning (5:30 a.m. PT) a handful of talented (and lucky) people will get an extremely cool call from their publicist, letting them know they have been nominated for an Oscar. I’m sure for most of them, it will be a dream come true. As vapid and socially insignificant as award shows are, I can’t deny my guilty pleasure and love of the Oscars. Every year I go see all the nominated movies and throw an Oscar-night party for my friends and family, with food and drink themed around the nominated movies.
This is what they call Red Carpet Season in Hollywood, and I thought I would bring a little of that red yoga-mat glamour to the Daily Downward Dog and put out my very own nominations for Best Asana, Best Supporting Asana, Best Director, and Best Seva Artist for the coveted YOGARS!
After a great deal of self-reflection and careful review of my past year of cool yoga experiences, the Daily Downward Dog is pleased to announce the 2010 YOGAR nominees.
Best Asana
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Pigeon Pose): Pigeon proved itself again and again in 2010, with awesome hip-opening performances.
Salamba Sirsasana (Supported Headstand): Always a risky asana to take on, this ego-pose could just pull off an upset in the best asana category.
Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog): Last year the downward dog ran away with the votes and took home the YOGAR. This year the heels touched the ground, making the dog a huge contender and the critics’ choice to take home a repeat win.
Best Supporting Asana
Vrksasana (Tree Pose): It takes a lot of tree poses to gain your balance. If it weren’t for tree pose, we may never have achieved garudasana (eagle) or utthita hasta padangusthasana (extended hand-to-big-toe pose).
Balasana (Child’s Pose): Who hasn’t gone to child’s pose for support during a difficult class? You know this asana always has your back, providing a safe haven to relax and catch your breath.
Savasana: Giving tree and child’s poses a run for their money, the always formidable savasana gave a year of truly awe-inspiring and restorative performances.
Best Director
The Best Director YOGAR goes to the yoga instructor who pulled it all together to lead an incredible yoga class experience.
Deirdre Sargent: Yoga instructor extraordinaire (Yoga Lounge and LifeSource Yoga), great music, innovative classes, responsible for providing my first yoga meditation instruction in 2010 and challenging me in a supportive way to get into my first tripod headstand.
Kreg Weiss: The cofounder of MyYogaOnline, who also happens to lead some kick-ass classes like Deep Energy Flow and Cycling Energy.
Clara Roberts-Oss: My go-to video gal on MyYogaOnline. Clara has incredible flows and verbal cues all wrapped up with a great message and voice. I’m especially fond of the Moving Meditation Vinyasa Flow and Swimming in the Stream classes.
BTW, all the nominees are winners in my book. I think the best award any yoga instructor can get is a kind word expressing how much you enjoyed their class or letting them know they have helped you on your yoga journey.
Best Seva
Okay, help me out here; I’d like to get some nominations for the person or organization that is truly practicing seva. If you are not familiar with seva, it is the spiritual practice of selfless service and the desire to uplift and assist people, giving help and compassion to others with no thought of what is to gain or what is to be lost by doing so. The practice of seva becomes a path to self-realization, which is the essence of yoga.
Cast Your Vote TODAY!
The red yoga mats have been unrolled, and I’m opening up the YOGARS for additional nominations and votes, so please leave a comment below and nominate or vote for your favorite asana, supporting asana, director, and seva artist. The results will be announced on Monday, February 28.
All this YOGAR talk has got my creative head spinning, and now I’m thinking I really could take this a yoga mat farther and nominate in the categories of Best Playlist (musical score), Best Costumes (yoga gear), Best Picture (style of yoga), Lighting, Choreography, and a Lifetime Achievement Award. Hmmm, stay posted…
Oct 12, 2010 |
I just had a pretty amazing savasana yoga experience. I was in a class at Lifesource Yoga with Deirdre Sargent, and she led us through a fun practice with lots of stretches and hip openers. She has a great way of structuring the class so it is challenging for some and restorative for others. It was one of those classes that I enjoyed so much that when it was time for savasana, I was surprised that the class had gone by so fast.
Once I stretched out on the floor in savasana position I noticed right away that my back was comfortable. This rarely happens and when it does, I’m ecstatic. Typically, the curve in my back makes it uncomfortable to lie in savasana, and I have to shift around to get comfortable or use a prop under my legs. When my back doesn’t hurt in this position, I know the instructor has taken me through all the right moves to stretch my back.
The song playing was “Aqueous Transmission” from Incubus, a smooth, calming song that perfectly set the mood for the dreamy nap to come. Deirdre started off with a few nuggets of wisdom to set us on our savasana journey and said something to the effect of (it’s hard to quote someone when you are lounging in a state of relaxation, so, Deirdre, I hope I come close to what you said), “Lose your expectations for today. In fact, forget about your expectations for the rest of your life and just relax, breathe, and let your body rest and renew itself.”
This message really hit home for me. I spend so much time worrying about what I have to get done each day and what I need to accomplish this year that the thought of just putting all the angst aside for a few minutes and focusing on renewing my spirit and my body was totally freeing. I did it too. Forgot everything and just lay there in utter bliss, with a cool breeze coming in from the window, listening to beautiful music, my body warm and tingling from the amazing stretches. How amazing to just let it all go, even if only for a few moments.
At the end of savasana, Deirdre sang to us in Sanskrit, and it was a beautiful way to be awakened. I don’t know what she sang to us, but whatever it was resonated with me for the rest of the day. I was thankful for the practice of yoga for not only opening up my body, but for opening up my mind to all of life’s possibilities.
Here’s hoping you have an amazing savasana meditation experience this week. Have you had an amazing savasana experience? If so, I’d love to hear about it!
Sep 2, 2010 |
If you’re one of those yoga aficionados that can do all the crazy poses, like headstands and bird of paradise, this blog post will either bore you or amuse you, but if you are a yoga nerd like me and still working on the basics, hopefully this blog will encourage you to keep plugging away at your yoga practice.
I have a couple of yoga instructors who always ask at the beginning of class if there is a pose we would like to work on. I really appreciate this gesture, but, inevitably, the pose that always comes up is the headstand. I’m afraid to try a headstand because I don’t think my core and upper body are strong enough yet and, to be quite honest, I have a really hard head and resting all of my body weight on it really is not appealing to me. That and hearing the thud when class members fall out of a headstand is a little unsettling.
So, I always dread the part of class when we work on the designated pose because it forces me to go out of my comfort zone. I’ll try a few basic steps of the pose but always go to something more safe, like childs pose or goddess pose, to hang out and look busy until the rest of the class is done experimenting. I always figured one day I would get up the nerve to really try it out.
Well, that day came yesterday.
My yoga instructor must have known I needed a nudge, and she gave it to me. We were practicing tripod pose, and I got myself into the basic position just to see what it would feel like when she came over and pointed out the proper way for me to place my head. I had been doing it wrong all this time, and once she got my hands and head in the right position, it felt totally natural to pick my legs up and rest them on my arms.
I got into tripod pose (pre-headstand) with the help of my yoga instructor, Deirdre Sargent, and it felt amazing! I let out a little Woohoo! because this was a big deal for me. I was one step closer to a headstand. Hell, I think I probably could have raised up my legs with a little assistance, but I wasn’t going to push it; one yoga victory for the day was enough to put a smile on my face. I even got a few high fives from other class members. I’ll keep practicing the base tripod pose; my goal is to get those legs up in the air before the month is out for tripod headstand!
Thanks, Deirdre, for giving me the push I needed and doing it in such an encouraging way! I really appreciate everything you have taught me about yoga and myself.
