Aug 2, 2012 |
Sharing a little TV love today with a video clip from the July 27 New Day Cleveland show on Fox8. David Moss visited Vermilion, Ohio, and along with the entire production team behind New Day Cleveland, put together an incredible show that showcased Vermilion as a road trip and vacation destination. It’s less than an hour away from Cleveland and Akron and is a great place to escape for some beach time, great food, shopping, and beach yoga!
I was thrilled that New Day Cleveland decided to include a segment on the Daily Downward Dog beach yoga classes that take place every Monday and Wednesday morning at Main Street Beach in Vermilion.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/aNxuCvVa7Vg[/youtube]
Woo Hoo, my 15 seconds of fame! At least my mother got to see it, and I think she’s pretty proud of me.
Sending a big THANK YOU and shout out to my yoga students who appear in the video, David Moss, New Day Cleveland producer Kristen Wunderle, and to the real stars of the show, the beautiful city and people of Vermilion, Ohio.
Beach yoga classes at Main Street Beach will continue through the end of August and are free and open to the public. My full schedule of summer beach yoga classes can be found below and you can find additional details on locations, class description, and fees at: https://dailydownwarddog.com/beach-yoga/
2012 Summer Beach Yoga Schedule
Mondays
8:30 – 9:30 AM | Main Street Beach, Vermilion | All Levels Hatha Flow (through August 27)
Tuesdays
7:30 – 8:30 PM | Linwood Park Beach, Vermilion | Sunset Yoga (through August 28)
Wednesdays
8:30 – 9:30 AM | Main Street Beach, Vermilion | All Levels Hatha Flow (through August 29)
Thursdays
7:30 – 8:30 PM | Firefly Beach Resort – Huron, OH | Sunset Yoga (through August 30)
Fridays
8:30 – 9:30 AM | Firefly Beach Resort – Huron, OH | All Levels Hatha Yoga (through August 31)
Saturdays
8:30 – 9:30 AM | Firefly Beach Resort – Huron, OH | All Levels Hatha Yoga (through September 1)
There’s just one month left of Lake Erie summer beach yoga, so plan your road trip to Vermilion today and go from stressed out to blissed out with the Daily Downward Dog.
Jun 21, 2012 |
I can’t take credit for this, but I’d like to share these simple, straightforward steps to happiness from Jason Wachob over at MindBodyGreen.com, who originally found them on happinessinyourlife.com. Hey, when you find a little happiness, you gotta keep paying it forward.
Think Less, Feel More
Frown Less, Smile More
Talk Less, Listen More
Judge Less, Accept More
Watch Less, Do More
Complain Less, Appreciate More
Fear Less, Love More
After I read these seven simple steps, I couldn’t help but think that these same seven steps can easily be applied to the practice of yoga, providing guidelines to a deeper, fulfilling, and definitely more joyful yoga practice.
Think Less, Feel More = Let go of the thoughts and chatter in the mind and start feeling more of what is happening inside your body.
Frown Less, Smile More = This is the perfect mantra for those difficult yoga asanas like utkatasana (crowd pleasing chair pose) or paripurna navasana (boat pose). Just wipe the frown off your face and plant a big ol’ smile on your face and see what happens.
Shining Happy Smiling Fruit
Talk Less, Listen More = Turn off that internal dialogue about how inflexible you are, and listen instead to your heart and the sound of your breath.
Judge Less, Accept More = So what if you can’t touch your toes in uttanasana? Take a deep breath, let go of the judgment, and accept exactly where you are today.
Watch Less, Do More = Keep your eyes off the mats of those around you and focus your attention on your practice. This is your practice, not theirs, so let go of the comparison and do more, blossoming into your very own yoga practice.
Complain Less, Appreciate More = Don’t complain or curse your yoga instructor when they take you into asanas that work the abdominals. Instead appreciate the opportunity to strengthen your core, knowing that the difficult poses bring so much benefit and strength to your body. And, if all else fails, you can always fall back on frowning less, smiling more.
Fear Less, Love More = Whether you are new to yoga and attending a class for the first time or are a seasoned yogi faced with a challenging pose, try letting go of the fear and coming to the practice or the pose from a place of love. Kathryn Budig originally turned me on to this concept, and it has become a mantra I embrace in everything I do.
Seven simple steps to happiness. Short, sweet, and no messing around, these steps get right to the point. Use them excessively both on and off the yoga mat. Take a few baby steps today and come along with me – we’re gonna get HAPPY!
Jun 18, 2012 |
Two Trips, Two Yoga Mats, Two Tales.
I bet you all were anxiously waiting for the second tale and thought I forgot! Ha ha, not to worry—my problem is that I have too many tales to tell about my awesome experiences at the NY Yoga Journal Conference and Tadasana Festival and not enough time to get them all written down (which is a good problem to have).
For my trek out for my first taste of West Coast yoga, I didn’t want to lug a yoga mat through the airport. This time there were no worries about that because I had made arrangements to pick up a new lightweight Studio Vernice Vita (VV) yoga mat from my good yogini friend Racheal Ennis.
Vernice Vita translates to "Paint Life" and at Tadasana Festival there were incredible artists painting life through the inspiration of the yoga community.
Racheal is the genius behind the ultra-comfortable Vernice Vita yoga mats that have a patented layer of memory foam to give your wrists, ankles, and all the joints in your body the support and cushion they need. I have been a long-time fan of the Cadillac version of her mats, which is wider and longer than a conventional yoga mat. This mat has done so much to help relieve pressure points during yoga postures and to assist me in improving my balance postures. I really wanted to take this extra comfort along for the marathon three days of classes that is Tadasana Festival, but rolled up, this mat is not going to make me a lot of friends as I try to carry it onto a crowded plane across the country.
I knew the new studio version of the VV yoga mat would be ¼” thinner (the size of a conventional yoga mat), lightweight, and easy to pop into my yoga bag for the stroll down the Venice Beach walkway to my yoga-filled days of adventure at Tadasana Festival.
I think the rule of thumb when you buy a new car is to take it easy on excessive use and speeds for at least the first 500 miles. It’s a good thing there are no guidelines like that for yoga mats, because I put that Studio VV mat through one hell of a test drive over the course of my Tadasana Festival three-day weekend.
I have to admit that when I signed up for the festival, I was wondering how my body was going to handle three 2+ hour classes for three straight days. Plus, being the yoga festival geek that I am, I dropped in to one or two extra classes per day. That’s a lot of chattarangas, downward dogs, and standing asanas for any yoga body. Could my wrists handle it, could my thighs power through it, would my knees be screaming at me, and could I let go of all that mental chatter to fully embrace the experience?
I've got happy wrists and knees in Sara Ivanhoe's class at Tadasana Festival!
Yes, Yes, and Yes – thanks in big part to my super supportive Studio Vernice Vita yoga mat. I was amazed at how great I felt all three days of the festival. Yeah, a lot of it was the abundance of energy, love, and community that was present everywhere, coupled with the fact that I was practicing yoga with some of the best instructors on the planet. But, a big part of it was due to the added comfort and support that my mat provided me.
If you ever get the chance to go to a yoga festival – go for it! The energy of practicing yoga with a few hundred people is one of the coolest experiences I’ve had. If you can’t imagine what it feels like, here is the view off my VV mat for a class with Tadasana Festival co-founder Tommy Rosen and his lovely wife Kia Miller.
The last chapter of my tale is that, quite simply, you must try savasana on a Vernice Vita yoga mat. The phrase “let yourself just melt into the mat” takes on a whole new meaning, transforming savasana into savasanaaaaahhhhh!
The name “Vernice Vita” (which is “Paint Life” in Italian) is a positive approach to how much more you can add to the world and the people around you when you’re at one with your own mind, body, and spirit. Your mat is your canvas, so how will you paint your practice and your life?
Vernice Vita yoga mats are perfect for beginners as well as advanced yoga students and are suitable for all types of yoga including Vinyasa Flow, Power, Bikram, Hot Yoga, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Gentle, Kundalini, Yin, and Pre/Post-Natal Yoga. Whatever type of yoga you practice, Racheal has generously offered a special deal for Daily Downward Dog readers – $10 off the purchase of any Vernice Vita yoga mat! You can order by selecting which size Vernice Vita mat you want to purchase and clicking on the Buy Now button below, or visit VerniceVita.com and use offer code MARIE10 when you purchase to pick up the savings.
The pricing for shipping and handling that is applied in the PayPal transaction is only for standard shipping within the United States. If you live outside the United States or need expedited shipping and would like to order a Vernice Vita Mat, please contact me, and I’ll provide a quote to handle your order.
Need more info…please read my reviews of the Cadillac and Studio Vernice Vita Yoga Mats!
Jun 7, 2012 |
Back in December of 2011, I put a stake in the ground and proclaimed that bakasana (crow pose) was my 2012 dream pose. And if that wasn’t good enough, I even went as far to proclaim that by the end of the year I was setting my sights to master parsva bakasana (side crow) as well. This was quite ballsy for me, mind you, because in the past I haven’t been one to herald my New Year’s resolutions.
The cool thing, though, about having a blog and a community of yoga followers is that I have a vehicle to invite my readers along for the ride and nudge them to publicly proclaim their very own dream poses. When I did, I was blown away by the honest and courageous comments about where they wanted to take their yoga practices in 2012.
I promised to check in with them and with you on the progress, so here is my official mid-year dream pose check-in.
On May 14, this is the update that I sent out to everyone who left a comment:
“I have made some small steps in improving my crow pose. Unfortunately, I experienced some pain in my left wrist, probably as a result of too many chaturangas (and maybe a little arthritis), so I have been nursing my wrist back to good health, which meant no arm balances. I’m still working on building up my upper body and core strength so I can hold the pose longer, but I have had a few small yoga victories where I’ve held the pose longer than I ever had, and that has felt great!”
Here is my update from June 6:
I rose early to a gorgeous morning and decided to do my yoga practice on the beach while enjoying the beautiful sunshine and the sound of the rolling waves. As I was doing my practice I thought to myself, “Maria, let’s give that crow pose a try. The wrists are feeling good, and you need to check in on your progress, so go for it.”
I got my hands in position and started to bring the knees up on the arms and just kind of gracefully flowed into the pose. No wobbles, no “oh shit, I’m never going to be able to hold this,” and no fear that I was going to land on my head. Instead, it magically felt like the way crow pose is supposed to feel. I focused on my breath and started to count how many long steady breaths I could actually get through while still holding the pose. The count was…SEVEN!
Surely, this must be a fluke, I thought. So, I rested for a few breaths, tried it a second time, and nailed my crow pose again! Now, I was really embracing my inner yogini rock-star mode!
I went on to another pose with a big honking grin on my face and decided that I needed to go back to the crow pose one more time, just to make sure I really could hold it that long—and because it felt so damn good.
The third time was not only a charm, but it got me officially hooked on bakasana. Now I know why so many yogis and yoginis love this pose!
The moral of this story and why I’m going to such great lengths to tell about the repeated attempts is to make this point: We’re All Stronger Than We Think We Are! I probably could have held crow pose this long for quite a while, but I avoided it, or maybe even psyched myself out of being able to do it.
Now that I know I can hold the pose, there’s no stopping me!
Wow – I love these yoga victories. They come in small doses and eventually add up to a really joyous feeling, and I got to experience a major yoga victory today. Side crow, here I come.
I’m not the only one with a yoga victory under her Lululemons; check out the progress some special DDD readers have made on their very own yoga dream poses.
Cathy
Cathy doing a headstand - another one of her 2012 yoga victories!
I am excited to report that I have made great progress on my goal…which was to do handstand. At least I am quite sure that is what I wrote or maybe I didn’t write it, but that was my goal! I CAN DO HANDSTAND! Yay! Against the wall, of course, but I don’t need the wall once I am up. I DON’T DO IT EVERY TIME I try. It doesn’t always happen. I’m learning that my breath does affect getting up. I’ve always thought my wrists were weak; they are (I had an injury two years ago), but they seem to be doing better now, though still wish they were stronger. The strength has to come from the core and pecs for handstand. I LOVE it when I do get up. I can EASILY now do HEADSTAND in the middle of the room, which was probably also a goal of mine, but the handstand really gives me an amazing feeling of freedom, I think because the head is completely off the floor.
Maria: WooHoo, Cathy, that is awesome!
Susan
I haven’t really decided which one to focus on. I’ve been trying to incorporate more yoga into my workout routine in general.
Maria: Hey Susan – it’s all good! Keep practicing yoga. That is a great intention to put out there.
Danielle
What a lovely idea to follow up on dream poses! Sorry to hear of your wrist injury, but glad to hear you’re making progress!
I have kind of an unusual follow up, feel free to use as much or as little of it as you like…Full camel! So I spent the first few months of 2012 training for a yoga asana competition (usayoga.org). Thanks to a regular training routine that included 30 – 40 wallbends/day (walking the hands down the wall to the floor, then pressing the chest up against the wall in a bridge, then walking back up), I was able to build enough flexibility to get into full camel two weeks before nationals. Unfortunately, two weeks of full camel wasn’t enough to overcome the nerves onstage, so I let my hips sink backwards too much, scrabbled around for my ankles, gave up, and grabbed my toes. Oops… a little embarrassing, but we live and learn!
If you’re curious, you can actually watch it here (full camel is about 2:25 minutes in):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LuAibhYdEg[/youtube]
Full camel achieved nonetheless. My next dream pose, to be accomplished by February 2013, is…one legged wheel!
Maria: Wow – Danielle that video blew me away! Your routine is beautiful. I’ve never been a fan of turning yoga into a competition, but it looks like it has been a great experience for you. For those of you who live in the greater Cleveland area and want to try out Bikram yoga, Danielle is one of the awesome instructors at Bikram Yoga Cleveland.
There’s still time to start working on a dream pose for 2012. Just remember not to take on too many poses, but rather, just focus on one or two. It doesn’t even have to be a more difficult pose. Maybe your dream pose is to be more present in your practice and during savasana.
Wishing you happy headstands and fulfilled dreams, and I’ll be sure to check back in again with my parsva bakasana updates. If you have a yoga victory to share, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear about it.
May 17, 2012 |
So you’ve been to a kirtan and enjoyed the experience. Maybe you listened in at first, then got the courage to sing along, and enjoyed watching the crowd of dancers in the back of the room let go of their inhibitions as the music moves them.
Kirtan, call-and-response chanting of Sanskrit mantras done with live instrumental music (or, as I like to call it, a yoga sing-along), has been around for ages. Well, hold onto your Sanskrit song sheets, because this age-old tradition just got a shot of spiritual, soulful, and gospel roots from the divine C.C. White. To quote C.C.:
“Kirtan Feels Good…So Good”
Last year C.C. released a new CD titled This IS Soul Kirtan! and brings it with her incredible set of pipes and a brand of kirtan that will stir you, lift you up, open your heart, and maybe even move you to shake your booty. C.C. believes in miracles and in blessings, and her music is truly a blessing to the kirtan aficionados of the world.
I’ve always loved it when a singer rips open a song with their deep, rich voice and nails their performance, and C.C. did just that when I got to hear her live at a Tadasana After Dark concert last month when I attended Tadasana Festival. C.C. put on a spirit-filled 15-minute set that rocked the house and left us all dancing and wanting more. I immediately headed to the merch table and picked up a copy of This IS Soul Kirtan! Take a listen to this video, and you’ll want to do the same.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHe8NCiE9q4[/youtube]
Luckily, this was not my only exposure to C.C. at Tadasana Festival. After sweating through an incredible yoga practice led by Shiva Rea, she brought in C.C. to serenade the community of over 100 assembled yogis through our savasana. I can describe the experience in one word: yogaliciousness.
C.C. White, Shiva Rea and DJ Fabian Alsultany LIVE at Tadasana Festival
On the liner notes of her CD, C.C. asks her fans to help spread the message of “Soul Kirtan” all over the world. She in exchange will send her Blessings of Love. So, that is exactly what I’m doing – spreading the word – and you can be sure that C.C. White will definitely be showing up on my yoga class playlists so I can share her Blessings of Love with my students.
