Jun 30, 2011 |
“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.” –Erma Bombeck
I do love America! And I really love the Fourth of July. I think one of the best inventions ever was the summertime three-day weekend from work. It is the savior of nine-to-fivers nationwide who are yearning for just a few more hours of summertime fun and freedom.
This year the Fourth of July is going to be very special, as my home gets a friendly invasion of out-of-town family, and I’m going to take a few days off to relax and hang out with them, play in the sand, and do a few downward dogs on the beach.
I’ll be kicking the weekend off on Friday with a waterfront yoga class at the Vermilion Boat Club and beach yoga classes at 9:30 am on Friday and Saturday in Huron, Ohio. If your yoga studio is closed on the fourth and you want a special yoga treat, cruise on out to the Firefly Beach Resort in Huron, Ohio, this Monday for a beach yoga class at 9:30 a.m. I’ll be leading both of my outdoor yoga classes on Monday morning and hope to see lots of friendly faces.
Most of my life it has rained for some portion of the Fourth of July weekend, so here’s hoping the holiday weather gods look kindly upon Ohio or wherever you live and bless us with an amazing weekend of food, fun, family, friends, fireworks, beach yoga, and lots of sparklers (sparklers may just be the second best invention ever!).
If you log on to The Daily Downward Dog over the next few days, you won’t find any new posts, as I’ll be officially commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the glorious gift of the federal holiday three-day weekend. Enjoy the fun and I’ll be back at some point next week, sunburned, bloated, and happy.
You can find all of the details about The Daily Downward Dog summer beach yoga classes at http://bit.ly/beachyogarocks.
Jun 23, 2011 |
I just recently finished reading A Life Worth Breathing by Max Strom as part of the Twitter Yoga Book Club (#YOBC). I don’t typically read nonfiction, but when someone tells me a book is life-changing, it tends to pique my interest. I have to admit I felt a few portions of the book seemed like common sense, but I can also see how this book can be a really awesome handbook for a person who is new to yoga or someone looking to live a more fulfilling life.
I originally checked the book out from my library, and by about the third chapter, I knew I was going to have to buy my own copy so I could underline passages. I can always tell if a book has resonated by the number of page corners that I turn down, and my copy of A Life Worth Breathing has its fair share of dog-eared pages. Max uses the power of story-telling to provide vivid examples of his teachings and then drives them home with exercises you can execute to put them into practice.
So, how do I write a review about this book when there were so many cool messages I would love to share? I guess the best review I can give is that you should read this book. I guarantee there will be something that speaks to you, and, if anything, you’ll definitely learn how to do ujjayi breathing.
Here are a few key messages that I absolutely loved from the book.
Choose Happiness
“It is time to stop asking for certain things or circumstances to make you happy.
Why not just choose happiness.”
Wow. That is a really simple concept. Like I said, a lot of the book just smacks of common sense. But how many of us think that true happiness will only come when we get the perfect job, the perfect mate, or just win the lottery (I know that is one of my favorite fantasies)? Max poses the question: If you are praying for things to come into your life to make you happy, why not just pray/ask for happiness?
What is True Abundance?
“Let’s quit thinking about abundance. Stop asking for abundance. Instead, focus on healing, focus on gratitude, focus on forgiving; these things lead us into the state of pure love. Practice and live this way and true abundance will come, and we will love ourselves and others more deeply and joyfully.”
This passage has santosha written all over it. Santosha (one of the niyamas) is all about being content with what one has and where one is instead of wishing for things you don’t have or daydreaming about the future. It is about living in the present and feeling true satisfaction. I love how Max weaved this concept into a new way to focus our lives through healing, gratitude, and forgiveness.
Two Very Important Yoga Practice Tips
“Avoid the trap in your practice of looking ahead for the posture to be over. This is a syndrome that will cause you to look ahead, again and again, never being in the moment. This keeps you forever focusing on a future that never arrives. It never arrives because it cannot, for when the future arrives, it is by nature now the present…”
Okay, totally busted on this one. Who hasn’t sat in a pose like chair and just wished for it to be over. Next time this happens to you, try putting a smile on your face, focusing on your breath, and feeling gratitude that your body is supporting you in the pose. The pose is over before you know it, and you will have had a lot more fun with your yoga practice.
For new yoga students who are worried what other people will think about them during class, I absolutely loved this quote: “Remember that you are surrounded by friends, people of like mind, who are focused on growth and kindness. They are not judging you; they are wishing you well. They know what it’s like to discover the power of yoga.”
So, there you have it, a few servings of Max Strom nuggets of wisdom. You can get the super-size order of nuggets when you read A Life Worth Breathing. Did the book change my life? No, but it did inspire me, made me rethink some of the priorities in my life, and definitely helped improve my breathing practice. To me, those are all signs of a really good book.
Jun 21, 2011 |
I’d like to start a little discussion here and get some feedback from my fellow yoga teachers and students on the use of Sanskrit versus English for the names of yoga poses during class.
I will go on the record to say that I primarily use English names for the poses when I teach. I lead a lot of basic and beginner classes, and I just feel it makes the class more accessible to all students. There is already a lot to digest during a yoga class. Why throw another component in there? My goal is to demystify yoga and allow the students to go inward as they relax into their poses. I don’t want them to worry about memorizing words from an ancient foreign language.
However, I do tend to weave in a few Sanskrit words here and there. For example, it just wouldn’t seem right to call the final relaxation at the end of class anything else but savasana. And I love putting students into reclining bound angle pose, otherwise affectionately known as supta baddha konasana. I just love saying supta baddha konasana; it sounds so fun rolling off my lips. Come on, say it with me: soup-ta bah-dah ko-nass-a-na. It sounds like it should be some bad-ass tropical drink instead of a super relaxing (and always a crowd favorite) yoga pose.
I recently attended a workshop given by Max Strom (author of A Life Worth Breathing), and he advised yoga teachers to pick one language and stick with it. Either conduct your class in all English or all Sanskrit, but don’t mix and match the origin of language for your yoga-pose names. I guess I never really thought about it, but if I was learning something new, I wouldn’t want someone jockeying around, teaching it to me in two different languages. Good point, Max!
I know there are yogi purists out there who live and breathe by the Sanskrit terms, and, don’t get me wrong, I totally respect that. In fact, I’m a bit jealous that I am not the Sanskrit-language aficionado that I should be.
I guess, for me, it’s really all about the students and helping them grow in their yoga practice. So, please weigh in, students and teachers alike. Do you like to hear/give the yoga-pose cues in Sanskrit or English? And why? What makes you most at ease and helps you get out of your mind and into your body during yoga class?
Let the battle (this is a love battle, not a vicious battle) begin! Hmmm, maybe next time I’ll do a battle of the yoga poses—Warrior 1 versus Warrior 2.
Jun 16, 2011 |
I just recently finished reading A Life Worth Breathing by Max Strom. Well, actually, I plowed through the second half of the book in record time in order to finish before attending live workshop sessions with Max at Inner Bliss Yoga in Ohio. I read the book as part of the Twitter Yoga Book Club (#YOBC) and have been tweeting my thoughts while enjoying the tweets of my fellow Twitter yoginis over these past few weeks.
A Life Worth Breathing is full of little nuggets of wisdom aimed at helping us live a meaningful and happy life, and reading the book got me super excited to not only hear Max speak, but also to practice yoga with him live and in person right here in Cleveland, Ohio.
Max encourages note-taking in his sessions and, like a yoga teacher with really awesome verbal cues, makes a point of telling the audience when to write something down. I attended three of the four planned workshops and have to admit, my head was spinning when I left (in a good way, not The Exorcist way). I took a ton of notes and have distilled them down to this Reader’s Digest version of my key takeaways.
1) Yoga is a breathing system accompanied by movement and postures.
2) Max Strom can breathe! Holy cow, I’ve never heard a person breathe so beautifully and for such a period of time. It was quite an inspiration. While Max took us through ujjayi breathing exercises, we practiced inhaling and exhaling to a four-count. I had no trouble with the exhale but found (much to my surprise) that my inhale is very shallow. I’m so glad this came to light and now that I’m conscious of it, I will begin the journey to improve it. Next time you are in yoga class moving through asanas, try this exercise and take note of your breathing.
3) The ego mind is our worst enemy and will not hesitate to rear its ugly head on our yoga mats. Maybe telling you, for example, that you are not a good person if you can’t touch your toes in forward fold. When this happens you need to call on your internal bouncer and kick that ego right off your yoga mat.
4) Based on all the new technology and medical advances, if we can stay healthy for the next 15 years, we may just have the ability to live decades longer than we thought we ever would. This is a really cool concept but one that also left me wondering how I will ever have enough money set aside for retirement.
5) We’ve lost the value of having nothing to do. I know this is true for me, as I’m always trying to fill every moment of every day. I think I need to schedule in a little nothing time each and every day.
6) Killing time is not an option; live as if you only had a few years left to live.
7) Demand that technology simplify your life, not make it more complicated. Ask yourself, Does this i-[fill in the blank] really help me save time, or is it a total time-suck?
8) Make a list every day of everything you are grateful for.
9) Yoga does more than just open our hips. It opens our eyes, our hearts, and our ears. It has an impact on how we live our life, what we eat, with whom we spend our time…it initiates great change in our lives. I guess you could say I am the poster child of yoga initiating great change, having been a stressed-out workaholic VP who somehow morphed into a blissed-out yoga teacher.
10) How we decide to react to situations and deal with them is the only thing we really have any power over. Are you going to choose to be Norman Negative or Paula Positive?
11) Teaching yoga is a privilege. I knew this but hearing Max talk about it really hit home. I never really thought about the fact that my students listen to me for 60 minutes. I need to make sure I use this time effectively and use my voice to help them grow in their yoga practice and hopefully convey a message they can take off their yoga mats.
Just to add some perspective to how tall Max is...
My final takeaway is a little embarrassing to admit, but I promised a while back to be honest and confess the silly things I do. I arrived at the workshops with not a minute to spare and was rushing into the studio to find a place for my yoga mat in the already-crowded room. As I reached the door, a very tall man came right up to me, put out his hand, and said hello. The man looked somewhat like Max, but I wasn’t sure because the man in front of me was a lot bigger than the one on the dust cover of the book I held in my hand. Totally surprised by the height and presence of this man, I looked up as I shook his hand and said, “Are you Max?” The man quickly responded with a smile and said yes, he was Max Strom. Then, like a huge dork, I proceeded to say, “Wow, you’re really big.” Thankfully, he just laughed as I backpedaled to explain my comment in light of his headshot on the book cover. So, write this down: If you ever get the chance to meet Max or any well-known author or person you admire, take a deep breath, smile, and try not to say the first absurd thing that spews out of your mouth.
Jun 7, 2011 |
A few weeks ago I shared my latest yoga theme song, “You Get What You Give,” but never got around to sharing the yoga class playlist it was a part of. So, without further delay, here’s the music that embellished the mudras and mantras of a few of my May yoga classes.
Opening Grounding and Warm-ups
“Like Rain/Radhe Bolo” · David Newman/Mira
Still high from my virgin kirtan experience, I’ve been exploring the world of kirtan and stumbled upon David Newman. I’m going to a Krishna Das concert later in June, so I’m thinking there will be some more kirtan tunes showing up in my playlists.
“Freedom” · Jim Brickman
“For the Summer” · Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs
Ever since I heard “Be Here Now” (which happens to be on my all-time top savasana songs list), I’ve been a huge fan of Ray LaMontagne. I love Ray’s story. He was working in a shoe factory and heard “Tree Top Flyer” by Stephen Sills as he was waking up for work one morning and decided to shuck the job and pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. Worked out pretty well for him!
Standing — Sun Salutations and Flowing Sequences (e.g., yoga-mat dancing)
“Light You Up” · Shawn Mullins
This song from Shawn’s CD titled “Light You Up” pretty much sums up my goal in every yoga class: I just want to light you up! When I first heard this song, I knew I had to plug it into a playlist. Favorite line: Everybody wanna lick a your ice cream!
“F**kin’ Perfect” · Pink
Before you get all freaked out that I was openly dropping the f-bomb in my classes, rest assured that I picked up the PG version with the f-bombs conveniently dubbed out. The song still rocks without the profanity and conveys one of the core teachings of yoga: to love and accept yourself and your body.
“Pretty pretty please, don’t you ever, ever feel like you’re, less than, less than perfect. You are perfect to me.”
Sending a big thank-you out to Dave Frenz (@Frenzy36) for offering the suggestion to add this song! I loved the message that it sent out to my students.
“You Get What You Give” · New Radicals
The song title says it all. This song was my yoga theme song and the theme of the class.
“Waiting for the World to Change” · John Mayer
Floor — Back Bends, Heart Openers, Hip Openers, Abdominals, and Twists
“Daydreamer” · Adele
Adele’s gorgeous voice accompanied only by a strumming guitar = nirvana! This song is from Adele’s CD titled 19, aptly named because she wrote the music when she was a mere 19 years old. Her CD titled 21 is equally impressive. I highly recommend both.
“Fields of Gold” · Sting
Actually, I’m surprised I have not had more Sting popping up on the playlists. I need to get on that. Would really love to include “Roxanne” on a playlist, but not so sure a song about a prostitute would evoke good yoga vibes.
“The Sweetest Gift” · Sade
“Antes de las Seis” · Shakira
This song by Shakira is sung completely in Spanish. I had no idea what the lyrics meant, and, to be honest, that didn’t really matter to me. I just love the feeling and emotion that flow out of Shakira. My curiosity got the best of me, though, and I looked up the translation for the lyrics online as I was writing this post. Bugger; I have to admit I was a little disappointed to find out the real meaning of the song.
“Bolo Ram” · Wah!
Savasana
“Purnamadah” · From Putamayo Presents: Yoga – Shantala
I highly recommend the Putamayo Presents: Yoga album, which includes 14 yoga playlist-worthy songs. Shantala is the music of duo Heather and Benjy Wertheimer. Take a listen and you’ll know why this song makes a perfect background for savasana. I’m digging the flutey/lutey instrument in the background. I need to research what this sacred chant means, but, meanwhile, it is taking me to a heavenly place.
“Sammasati” · Deva Premal
If you are a yogini, you gotta love Deva. No words in this one, just lots of ooh, ooh, ooh, oohs and a yogalicious savasana wake-up call.
Candle Image: Sabina Graczyk
Love to get your feedback on my playlists. Tell me what you like to listen to in yoga class or if you prefer silence?
