Apr 24, 2012 |
prac·tice/ˈpraktəs/ Verb: Perform (an activity) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or regularly in order to improve or maintain (or dare I say perfect) one’s proficiency.
Throughout my life, the word “practice” has taken on many meanings and evoked many different emotions. In high school, the practice of track was fun and exhilarating, but not always a picnic. It was a great way to let off steam after school while flexing my competitive spirit. The practice of piano was another story altogether; I not only loathed it, but I lied to my mother and teachers about how long I had done it. Of course, now I’m kicking myself that I did not apply myself to practicing piano, because my repertoire of piano playing consists solely of a crappy version of Chopsticks.
They say practice makes perfect, and to most people I think the word conjures up duty, commitment, hard-work, struggle, and time spent doing something they wish they could master a hell of a lot quicker than all this damn practice is taking. Like me, are you a little guilty of wanting the perfection and wanting it now?
Well, in comes this thing into my life – this yoga thing – and guess what? It’s affectionately referred to as…
Yoga Practice
I showed up to my first practice with a flimsy mat, crooked back, and curious beginner’s mind and knew immediately that there was no way I was going to perfect this practice. I may have been, oh hell, I’ll admit it, I was definitely the most inflexible student in the class, afraid to try more advanced poses, and was definitely not pushing myself to my edge. But something totally foreign was happening to me on my yoga mat; this yoga stuff never felt like “practicing” to me. I wanted to show up on my mat. It didn’t matter if I couldn’t get my heels to the floor in downward dog; I looked for ways to carve more time in my schedule for it and for more ways to bring its teachings into my life.
Funny how this word “practice,” when mashed up with yoga, takes on a whole new wonderful meaning.
Sirsasana II (tripod headstand) – one of my 2011 Yoga Victories
Every time I come to the mat, I get the gift of practicing yoga. If I had perfected it, how fun would that be? Never having anything new to learn, never that thrill of making it into a pose for the first time, never that satisfaction of holding an extra challenging pose for longer than I thought I could, never reaching that blissed out state I can get to when I really allow myself to let go and be present. I’m addicted to all those small yoga victories and can’t imagine what my yoga journey would be like without them.
I think one of the most important things to remember as students of yoga is this simple fact – Yoga is a practice. You have the rest of your life to practice and grow in it. No need to beat yourself up if you can’t touch your toes or do a handstand. Instead, repeat this mantra: How cool is it that there’s still so much to learn about yoga? I have the rest of my life to go on this amazing yoga journey.
Take your time, learn to breathe, turn off your internal critic, turn up the corners of your mouth, smile, be curious, explore, and embrace your yoga practice.
Piano Photo: Ben Goerz
Apr 12, 2012 |
Just putting it out there to the folks at Cirque du Soleil: when you need an aging, experienced aerial acrobat, I’m available! And, I’m here to tell you that you may just feel the same way after you attend your first aerial yoga class.
On my recent visit to Phoenix, I was fortunate to visit my first yoga studio that is not only totally donation based, but that also offers yoga hammocks that provide an anti-gravity asana-based experience aptly named FLYoga. Ra Yoga, in the heart of downtown Phoenix, offered the perfect setting for my virgin aerial yoga experience. The studio is just a few blocks away from the US Airways Center and is housed in a cool warehouse building that looked to be inhabited primarily by artists. After walking up some stairs and a maze of hallways following the ra Yoga signs, I finally stepped inside the urban-chic studio with an exposed brick back wall, hardwood floors, and windows overlooking mountains kissed with a gorgeous pink sunset, all offset by the ominous flowing red silk hammocks hanging from the ceiling. Only one thought crossed my mind: what the hell was I thinking when I signed up for this class?
As with all my virgin yoga experiences, I have a confession to make: I was pretty damn intimidated when I walked into that studio and saw a group of energetic yoginis flying from the ceiling performing a few warm-ups. Hell, these were not warm-ups; they were full Cirque du Soleil acrobatic moves. My hyperactive imagination kicked into full gear, and all I could picture was my ungraceful crash, how loud the thud would be when I hit the floor, and if the embarrassment on my face would be redder than the color of the aerial silks. There was no way those silks were going to hold me, and worse than that, I had invited my awesome editor Dominique* to attend the class with me, so there would be someone I knew to witness my yoga demise.
It didn’t help that the waiver you have to fill out at ra Yoga is about ten times longer than any waiver I’ve ever filled out at a yoga studio! On the upside, the fact that they didn’t require me to wear a helmet or any protective gear gave me a small sense of comfort.
As the fear was starting to get to me, I heard this funny voice in my head, the voice of Kathryn Budig gently prompting me, “Maria, are you going to approach FLYoga from a place of fear, or a place of love?” I figured if Kathryn could overcome her fear of jumping from a plane at 20,000 feet, I could handle climbing up into the aerial silks for a yoga pose or two.
DeLene Kettleson, Flight Instructor Extraordinaire and Maria
DeLene Kettleson, the FLYoga instructor that evening, did an awesome job of easing my fears and getting me set up for the class. Thankfully, she started us off seated with some breath meditation that was aimed at calming the nerves of newbie white-knuckled flyers.
We then proceeded to go up into the hammocks and just hung out for a while. It seemed like an inordinate amount of time to just hang there, and not knowing what to expect, I was having a bit of a hard time letting go and adjusting to my anti-gravity state. In fact, I started to get a tad bit of motion sickness, so I was really glad when we put both feet back down on the ground and did some asanas with the assist of the hammock to allow us to get deeper into the stretches. The motion sickness subsided, and I’m told that when you become a frequent flyer it goes away completely. I’m very prone to motion sickness, so I was not surprised that it had an effect on me, especially in light of the fact that I had not drank enough water that day.
Like my experience with wall yoga, downward dog with the assist of the hammock allowed me to go deeper into the pose than I’d ever been. We went through a really cool flow of warrior poses, triangle, and then half moon pose to warrior 3. In those last two poses, I typically have trouble keeping both my balance and my hip from screaming at me, but those silks magically supported me and transformed the vinyasa flow into a flying dance. If you want to see a few pictures of what the poses look like with the aid of the silks, check out the Pictures page on the ra Yoga website.
Want a great workout for the abs? Plank and reverse plank with the aid of the silks is awesome. The ra Yoga website states that the class is centered to work your whole body, to develop strength, flexibility, motor dynamics, spinal alignment, endurance, reflex sharpness, and balance, and that it does! What they don’t tell you is that the class is a hell of a lot of fun. I really loved the sense of play that was evoked during the class, like when we just swung in our hammocks like kids on a playground. I don’t think I have ever laughed more during a class and felt totally comfortable doing so. We all need to embrace our inner-child a little more often, and FLYoga is an excellent way to get you to the playground.
I think that being a FLYoga instructor might be one of the most challenging yoga teaching positions. You need to possess a great deal of strength and confidence to assist students into the poses, especially the anti-gravity feats. Let’s just say that DeLene more than earned her due that night, and I can’t tell you how grateful both Dominique and I were for her help. I actually felt a little sorry for the rest of the students because she was in the back corner (yeah, I picked the back corner of the room to place my mat, imagine that) throughout most of the class to help us newbies.
About halfway through the one and a half hour class, we got to one of the first truly aerial poses. It was a pose where you hang upside down with your legs wrapped around the silks to hold you up. I tried it once, chickened out, and just figured I would wait out the pose for the next one. DeLene was not having any of that and channeled just the right amount of chutzpah to build my confidence. After three attempts (she has patience of gold), she finally got/hoisted me to this place.
DeLene explained to me after class that she can tell by the student’s body how tense they are and how she can best help them into the poses. I was afraid to ask her what my body was telling her. I’m sure it was laced with fear-based obscenities, but once she got me upside down there was no stopping me…
Maybe I’m not quite ready for the Cirque yet…
One of the most unique poses of the night was Dracula pose. I can’t quite remember how we got to this place, but basically you are hanging face down with a red silk cape flowing back behind you like a fierce-flying Count Dracula.
No, my feet are not touching the wall, I'm flying like a bad-ass vampire!
Savasana, aka Cocoon in FLY-speak, was quite simply sublime. We climbed back up into our silks and wrapped them around us to form a tight cocoon. As DeLene came around to still the hammock so we wouldn’t be swaying, her playlist just happened to land on my all-time favorite savasana song, “Be Here Now” by Ray LaMontagne, to perfectly set the mood (BTW DeLene’s entire playlist was kick-ass, and I’m gonna have to get her to share it so I can post it here on The DDD Cool Yoga Music page). During cocoon DeLene gently placed her hands on our shoulders, temples, and our third-eye, which made for an incredibly grounding experience.
We were gently awakened from our cocoon and found a comfortable place on the floor for the closing of class, which DeLene delivered with one of the most touching and heartfelt messages I’ve ever heard at the end of a yoga class.
I got to chat up DeLene after class, and after thanking her profusely for her support (literally and figuratively) throughout class, I asked about her yoga story. She explained that she was at an unhealthy stressful place in her life when she found yoga. After only two classes, she was hooked enough on the practice and the benefits it was bringing to her life that she signed up for yoga teacher training. She worked full-time for five more years as she began her teaching and has just recently taken on yoga teaching full-time. Her yoga story was definitely an inspiration to me as I hope to get to a place someday where my work is totally centered around yoga.
I have to say that I am totally in awe of ra Yoga. The fact that they provide their classes for free or donation blows me away. They suggest a $5 donation for the FLYoga classes, and from the website, it appears that they donate the proceeds to benefit local Teen Program charities and for their own non-profit Feed the Homeless Program where they get up bright and early every Saturday morning to feed the homeless.
This is the quote you will find on the homepage of their website:
Guruji: “Yoga is possible for anybody who really wants it. Yoga is universal. Yoga is not mine. But don’t approach yoga with a business mind, looking for worldly gain. If you want to be near God, turn your mind toward God and practice yoga.” (Anderson, Yoga International)
If you live in the Phoenix area, please check out and support ra Yoga (follow ra Yoga on Twitter and Facebook) and maybe even become a frequent flyer! If you are interested in taking one of their FLYoga classes, you have to sign up in advance through the website as space is very limited. If you live in the Cleveland, Ohio area and want to take flight, I’m happy to report that The Studio Cleveland offers aerial yoga classes and Synergy Sports Massage in Berea has just started aerial yoga classes as well.
Thank you DeLene and ra Yoga for helping me take my first yoga flight and for all the seva work that you do! I’m truly inspired by your efforts.
Is your yoga Super Fly? If so, let me know and leave a comment below.
*Dominique is a talented editor that I can highly recommend. If you would like to get in touch with her for assignments, you can reach her at dominiquechatterjee at gmail or check out her profile on Elance.
Mar 27, 2012 |
Do you remember coming back to school after Spring Break and dreading that question? Most of my friends had tales to tell about beaches and parties, and they had the tan skin to go along with it. I always came back sporting my pasty white skin, obvious to all that I had not made it outside the great state of Ohio.
Well, this year there were still no beaches or partying. Instead, I took a little trip out to sunny Arizona to catch a few baseball games, do some mountain climbing, and have a few cool yoga experiences along the way! Oh, I forgot to mention that I took my 78-year old mother along for the fun too.
In March, Phoenix is home to the Cactus League for Major League Baseball spring training, and since my mother just so happens to be a huge Cleveland Indians fan, we ventured out to Goodyear, Arizona to check out a few of the Tribe games. Needing to balance out all that baseball with my daily yoga fix, I made sure to check out the yoga scene in the area so I could hit a few classes.
While in town, I could not miss the chance to meet up in person with Sanskrit teacher extraordinaire Cheryl Hall. If you are not familiar with Cheryl, she offers Sanskrit lessons via Skype* and also teaches yoga and Vedic chant. I had the opportunity to take one of her Skype classes a while ago, and it has helped me tremendously with my pronunciations of the Sanskrit names for yoga poses. Cheryl offers a two-hour Vedic chant class on Sunday morning, and I thought this would be the perfect way to do a little yogic bonding with my Mom.
We headed to Dave’s Ashtanga Yoga in Scottsdale to attend the class and were greeted with huge hugs from Cheryl. I pulled up a meditation cushion, joined the group of fellow chanters, and jumped right into the lesson. Cheryl is so knowledgeable on this subject and did an excellent job of explaining the meanings behind what we were learning, how to properly enunciate the Sanskrit words, and what all the transliterations (those lines and dashes above the letters) mean. Cheryl has the voice of an angel to guide the chanting along, and it was always a little bit of a bummer when she would stop singing to check on our progress. She made up for that by telling us we sounded fantastico!
The very first chant we tackled was called Saha Navavatu, and I really loved it because it is meant to be used to bless the interaction between the teacher and the student. I’d like to share it with you.
Saha Navavatu
Om saha navavatu
saha nau bhunaktu
saha viryam karavavahai
tejasvi navadhitamastu
ma vidvisavahai
Om santih santih santih
Which translates to:
Om. May It protect us both (teacher and student) together.
May It nourish us both together.
May we both work with strength together.
May our study have brilliance.
May we not be antagonistic towards one another.
Om. Peace. Peace. Peace.
We sang this verse together, and as both a yoga teacher and student, the sentiment really spoke to me. I need to practice singing this so perhaps someday I can share it with my students.
Thank you, Cheryl, for such a lovely morning full of learning, brilliance, and peace.
Stay tuned – I’ll be writing more this week and next about my cool yoga experiences in Arizona, which included climbing and hanging from the great yoga wall and aerial yoga, otherwise known as FLYoga!
*If you want more information about Cheryl’s Sanskrit lessons, please read my review of her online training sessions (done via Skype), and then contact her direct (azvedicchant at gmail.com or by phone 480-216-2602) to set up a class. Mention the Daily Downward Dog, and Cheryl will give you $5 off the 45-minute class (which is normally $35).
Mar 2, 2012 |
During the week of Valentine’s Day, I honored the holiday in my yoga classes with a theme brimming full of love. It wasn’t girlfriend, boyfriend, or significant other love; I was celebrating that full-on unabashed love we all need to give ourselves. This love shouldn’t just be commemorated on Valentine’s Day, but each and every day of the year. I’m talking about letting go of self-judgment, taking care of yourself physically, mentally, spiritually, and believing in yourself.
I found the perfect poem to convey a loving affirmation to my students and shared it with them when they were coming out of savasana. Well, I should say I shared it with some of my classes. Yeah, I have a little yoga teacher confession to make. During an evening class, I turned the lights down in the room so the students could settle into savasana, and the room was pretty darn dark. I sauntered over to the only light source, sans glasses, and started to read the poem. About three lines in, I realized I was screwed because my blurry eyesight was not registering the words. I fumbled through the poem, and luckily no one laughed.
My words of wisdom to all you yoga teachers out there are: Don’t be afraid to wear your glasses when reading materials in class, and go out and invest in a miniature flashlight that you can shine on your reading material when in a darkened room. And, one more bit of wisdom: Admit your mistakes to your students, and you will get a lot of love and compassion, not to mention a good laugh from them. I’ll just add this to my list of embarrassing yoga teaching moments and learn and grow from it.
But I digress, back to the poetry….
I’d like to share this poem with you. It comes from The Poetry of Yoga, an incredible anthology of yoga poems written by modern-day yoga poets. If you are yoga teacher seeking yoga poems to read in class, or are someone who wants to deepen their spiritual practice, please check out my recent review of The Poetry of Yoga for more details about how the collection was compiled and to order your very own copy.
One Love
By Jana Dvorska, from The Poetry of Yoga, Volume 1, Page 132
Come into the light
Hold each other’s hearts
Keep a tranquil mind
Full of hope and serenity
Believe anything is possible
Imagine yourself where you want to be
It will become reality
Limitless imagination will change the world
Set your intention and accomplish
Believe it and you will live it
Come together
Unite as one love
The universe is infinite unity
Universal is love
Be love
Feel love within your entire being
Let it radiate out into the world
Touch everyone you meet with your light and love
And if that poem was not totally yoga-loving-licious on its own, here’s a little musical accompaniment to bring the love full circle.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdB-8eLEW8g[/youtube]
Win a FREE copy of The Poetry of Yoga
The Daily Downward Dog has been given two copies of The Poetry of Yoga to give away. To enter for you chance to win one of the copies, leave a comment below to let me know how much you love the mash-up of poetry and yoga. I will randomly select one winner on Monday, March 5 and another on Monday, March 12 at noon EST from all of the comments left on the posts that include excerpts from the anthology.
If you are loving this poetry as much as I am, please consider purchasing a copy of the book, which is available at thepoetryofyoga.com, and help spread the word about this book to the yoga lovers in your life. For every book that is purchased, a donation is made to One Common Unity, so you get the gift of poetry and the warm fuzzies of helping others. You can also follow the creation of the second anthology on the website and on their Facebook page.
One Love Music
Love – it’s not just for Valentine’s Day.
Thinking of incorporating a love theme into an upcoming yoga class? Here are a few non lovey-dovey songs about loving yourself and others, which are perfect for any yoga class playlist.
“Give Love” – MC Yogi (you can download a free copy of this song at www.yogafriends.com)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpVUih5nY9g[/youtube]
“Could You Be Loved” – Bob Marley
“Put a Little Love in Your Heart” – There are many recordings of this song, but I used the collaboration from Al Greene and Annie Lennox that is available on iTunes.
“True Colors” – Cyndi Lauper
“Have a Little Faith” – Michael Franti & Spearhead
“Seeds of Love” – Tears for Fears
“Seasons of Love” – From the Rent Soundtrack
“All You Need is Love” – The Beatles
I’m sure there are a ton more, so if you feel so inclined, please share some love and your favorite love-themed songs in the comments below. I would LOVE to hear from you!
Join me for a week of Beach Yoga Bliss in Aruba April 11-18, 2015)….our mantra for the week is I AM LOVE!
Feb 27, 2012 |
A few weeks ago I received a book in the mail, and as I started to scan through the pages, I felt like I had won the lottery! Like a beautiful asana, each page contained words perfectly aligned to lift my soul. I had been given the gift of a book of yoga poems that I know will provide inspiration for my life and my yoga classes for many years to come.
The Poetry of Yoga is a new anthology of contemporary poetry that was edited and pulled together lovingly by community organizer, peace educator, author, spoken word poet, yoga instructor, and artist HawaH, who wanted to create a body of current yoga verse written by modern, living poetic voices that would reflect on how yoga continues to shift the landscape of human consciousness and civilization.
Back in October 2010, HawaH launched a call for submissions for this book (which, through the power of social media, became a worldwide poetic movement) and received more than 1,500 submissions. He called upon master teachers and writers from around the globe to offer submissions as well.
So, how cool of a job would that be to read all of those submissions and then get to pick which ones made it to the anthology? HawaH joyfully did this task without seeing the names of the authors so that he would have an unbiased view. He was able to narrow down the submissions to 450 pages, too much for one book, so the decision was made to offer two anthologies. The first was published on November 11, 2011 (11/11/11).
“Poetry and Yoga…as inseparable as ocean and sand. Together they create a mirror glass reflecting the enlightenment inside of us. Yoga turns us inward as we discover the graceful flow of our bodies interacting with breath and spirit; poetry channels expression outwards, pouring in the shape of words onto paper. Letters bend as a yoga asana, creating paragraphs with our lives. Feelings unravel in the form of sentences buried deep inside.” – Hawah, from the Prologue of The Poetry of Yoga
As you go through the poems, you will find diverse voices from all around the globe, and if I have not piqued your interest yet, you can also check out the poetic stylings of yogis like Shiva Rea, Erich Schiffmnn, Sharon Gannon, Judith Hanson Lasater, Swami Ramananda, and Krishna Das.
One of the missions of this work is to help raise awareness and money for a non-profit organization called One Common Unity, which supports a movement for peace education and the building of a non-violent culture through music and art. In other words, they bring arts-based health and wellness, conflict resolution, and nonviolence education for inner-city youth. Fifty percent of the proceeds of each book sold is donated to One Common Unity.
If you are looking for uplifting poems to share with your yoga classes or are simply seeking a spiritual lift, you will find it in the pages of The Poetry of Yoga. Visit thepoetryofyoga.com to watch videos of the authors reading their poetry, get details on how to submit your work for the second anthology (which will be published on 12/12/12), and to purchase your very own copy.
I’d like to share with you one of the poems from the book. I got a huge smile on my face when I found it because it is the poem that I read when I taught my very first yoga class. I was leaving behind my stressful days working in corporate America and choosing instead to teach yoga. The words in Aaron’s poem speak to how I lived my life for so many years, and they celebrate the decision I made to live a more peaceful, fulfilling, and healthy life.
Too Busy to Relax by Aaron Hoopes
From The Poetry of Yoga Volume I, page 95-96
Too busy to relax they say
Complaints, excuses everyday
They sound so weak, so stressed, so tired
A mundane world in which they’re mired
No time to sit and just be quiet
Their mind’s a rush of thoughts, a riot
No chance they have to hear the sound
Of nature’s wonder all around
Of birds and trees and clouds and air
Too much work, it’s just not fair
This really seems quite sad to me
So much to do, no time to be
Breathe I say and move a bit
Then after that we can just sit
And watch the world at its own pace
There is no rush, it’s not a race
And if it were, what is the goal?
Where are you going mind, body, soul?
Too busy to relax I hear
These words seem like they’re based in fear
Tired, weak and too much stress
How did our lives turn such a mess?
We don’t need to look above
To find a place that’s based in love
Turn instead and look within
Find your self, it is no sin
Forgive, let go, open your heart
It is the only place to start
Think on that and you might find
Throughout your life you have been blind
Breathe I say and move some more
Run, walk, jump, stretch on the floor
Move your body, get up and go
Feel the energy, let it flow
Don’t get caught in negative
Habits that won’t let you live
Too busy to relax? Not true!
This hoax must end, it starts with you
If all you do is just the same
You never will escape this game
Do something new, do something Zen
Begin right now, not ‘if’ or ‘when’
Do one thing different, or two, or five
Change how you live, become alive
Do or do not, there is no try
Step off the cliff and start to fly
Begin with this, you won’t go wrong
Remember to breathe, deep and long.
I think I need to read this poem each and every day as a reminder to slow down and RELAX! Thank you, Aaron, for the insight and wisdom this poem provided.
Win Your Very Own Copy of The Poetry of Yoga!
To celebrate and share this lovely gift I received, The Daily Downward Dog is giving away two copies of The Poetry of Yoga. Leave a comment below to let me know how the poetry of yoga speaks to you. I will randomly select one winner on Monday, March 5 and another on Monday, March 12, 2012 at noon EST. In between now and then, I may just share a few more of my favorite poems from this awesome anthology.
Please spread the word about this book. And, you can follow the creation of the second anthology on the website and also through the Poetry of Yoga Facebook page.
Thank you, HawaH, for making these two copies of the book available to my readers and for your hard work and dedication to create such a marvelous and awe-inspiring collection of poetry about yoga. I may just have to get busy and create some poems to submit for the second anthology!
