Jun 12, 2012 |
As a girl growing up, I loved doing things with my dad. He was a busy guy running his own business and raising five kids, but when he had the time, it was always extra special to do things with him. I used to love to go on hikes with him, go skiing together, and help him dig up the soil when he went treasure hunting with his metal detector. And when I got older, I loved hanging out and having a beer with him.
A couple nights a week, my dad would stop off at a local gym for a workout. I’m not quite sure what it was that Dad did at Vic Tanny’s gym, but he always felt great after he did it, and I imagine he got the same kind of high that I get when I finish a yoga practice.
My Awesome Dad!
If my dad were still alive today, I would invite him to do yoga with me. It might have taken some coaxing, but I know he would have loved the stretching, and it would have done wonders for his back. It would be a special time for us to spend together, a way for us to grow together both spiritually and in good health.
I see a lot of mothers and daughters come to yoga class together, and it always makes me smile. But, in the whole time that I’ve been teaching yoga, I’ve only twice seen a daughter and father practice together and have never seen a father and son together in a class (except for this awesome pic of Elephant Journal Associate Publisher Bob Weisenberg and his dad practicing yoga together on Bob’s Facebook page).
The lovely Thais @InnerLightTG really hit the jackpot – practicing yoga with her mom and dad! That’s Dana Flynn of Laughing Lotus Yoga NY with them after an awesome yoga class at the NY Yoga Journal Conference!
So, why not consider asking your father to practice yoga with you?
I’m here to tell you: he’s sick of getting boring old ties or tools for Father’s Day. Give him a yoga mat, or a five-class pass to a local studio, and then set up a yoga date with your Dad. If you suspect you may get a few objections, here are a few articles to read up on so you’re ready to fire off all the answers to those excuses of “I’m not flexible enough” or “I don’t want to be the only man in class”:
“Yoga for Men – What Could be Stopping You” from the VancouveYoga.com website
“First-Timer’s Guide to Yoga” from Men’s Health
“Let’s Get More Men on the Mat” from The Daily Downward Dog
And, remember my motto – Yoga, You Don’t Have to be Good At It!
This year, ditch the golf balls (BTW, yoga can help improve your Dad’s golf game), show your Dad you really care about his physical and spiritual health, and go for these great Father’s Day yoga gift ideas:
Real Men Do Yoga: 21 Star Athletes Reveal Their Secrets for Strength, Flexibility and Peak Performance by John Capouya – Satisfy your Dad’s fascination with sports with interviews from more than twenty pros, all of whom are enthusiastic yoga practitioners: football’s Eddie George, Shannon Sharpe and Amani Toomer; baseball pitchers Barry Zito (2002 Cy Young Award winner) and Al Leiter, star hockey goalie Sean Burke, and NBA superstar Kevin Garnett, to name a few.
Beginner’s Yoga with Rodney Yee or Back Care Yoga with Rodney Yee – Any yoga DVD from Rodney is going to be a great gift, but these are two of my faves (read my review of Back Care Yoga with Rodney Yee)!
Give him the Cadillac of yoga mats – A Vernice Vita comfort foam yoga mat always make a great gift.
NamaSTAY Yoga Towel in Chaturanga Charcoal
Guys sweat a lot and you want you dad to be safe and skid free on his yoga mat, so give him a NamaSTAY yoga towel, available in the man-friendly chaturanga charcoal.
Dad Beach Photo: Denise Clark
May 30, 2012 |
On my quest to try out the many flavors of yoga, I had no doubt I would find some new ones to try when in Los Angeles for the Tadasana Festival. My search didn’t take long as I soon happened upon the lovely yoginis from Yoga at the Raven, offering Acro Yoga sessions smack dab in the middle of the Tadasana Festival grounds.
For those of you unfamiliar with Acro Yoga, also affectionately called “Thai and Fly,” it is a joyful practice that combines therapeutic Thai massage with acrobatics. What? Yeah, I know it sounds like an unlikely mash-up, but I’m here to tell you that the two elements make an awesome pairing.
A typical Acro Yoga class is 1.5 hours and includes partner acrobatic yoga work followed by Thai massage. At the festival they were offering 15-, 30-, and 60-minute sessions. I was short on time in between classes, so I opted for the 15-minute experience.
Since this was my first foray into Acro Yoga, my incredible yogini partner Sarah Yovovich did most (who am I kidding – she did it all) of the work as she took me through some foundational acrobatic partner moves. I just held onto her wrists and leaned back, and she flew me up and through the air. As soon as I went airborne, I felt like I was 8 years old, playing, flying, and getting a kick-ass stretch throughout my back.
Now That's a Supported Back Bend
As she gently and skillfully maneuvered me through more poses, I began feeling a little like a rock star, and I was laughing and smiling, all of which, by the way, are elements I strive to achieve in every yoga practice.
I’m spotting a trend. Once again in the course of just a few months, I found myself in an inverted supta baddha konasana, and just like when I did this asana in the aerial and wall yoga formats, it felt amazing in a levitated state!
The coolest part is that I never once was afraid I would fall. I had only met Sarah a few minutes prior to this session, yet I knew she had my back.
If you want to see what Acro Yoga is really supposed to look like, check out this video of Sarah and Lara Catone demonstrating a few “simple” moves.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrlZ1O_dK-o[/youtube]
Acro Yoga is the yoga of relationship. You get to connect with your partner to bring him or her a sense of centeredness, trust, mutual support, and joy.
When the circus-like acrobatic moves were done, Sarah began the Thai massage part along with one of her colleagues, so I was basically lying on my back with the hands of two women all over me.
The Thai Massage portion of my Acro Yoga Experience!
Normally, I would be melting into this ultimate massage experience, but being outside with festival participants looking on, I was not letting myself 100% go. Sarah urged me to relax and proceeded to give me some really great advice. She explained that it’s really tough for some people to receive, and she asked me to think about how good it feels when giving a gift to someone who totally loves that gift. “Remember how great it feels, and then be that person loving the gift when you get a massage,” she said. I love simple analogies like that, and next time I’m on a massage table (or am the recipient of a gift), I know I will recall Sarah’s words of wisdom.
If you want to build strength, love to fly, and want to cultivate a practice of trust and connection, then Acro Yoga is for you! It’s playful and fun, with the added benefit of therapeutic stretching and massage.
Namaste Sarah! Totally Blissed Out After Acro Yoga
Thankfully I was wearing my performance MPG Sport Serene jacket that moved with me during this flying acrobatic practice and kept me warm on that chilly day at the beach while I was getting my Thai massage.
Sending big thanks to Sarah for taking the time to explain the aspects of Acro Yoga and also for sharing her story of how she traveled the globe for over a year teaching Acro Yoga, bringing together all of her passions – yoga, gymnastics, and healing – to find her bliss. I received a lot of messages from the universe about following my bliss while at Tadasana Festival, and Sarah was yet another shining inspiration.
I don’t know of any studios in Ohio offering Acro Yoga (if you do, please let me know), but you can get an awesome Thai massage from Tracy Rhinehart at Yoga Bliss Akron.
Mar 30, 2012 |
When is the last time you dove into a really deep, juicy downward dog?
When you take a wall yoga class, you get to do just that—dive into downward dog—with the aid of a wall and straps securely fastened and hanging from said wall. If you don’t believe me, watch this expert (ha ha) demonstration of me diving into a downward dog from the great yoga wall that I happened upon at Blissful Yoga Studio on a recent trip to Scottsdale, Arizona.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH43idaO3LM[/youtube]
On my quest to try all the different flavors of yoga, this recent vacation afforded me the opportunity to try out two newfangled types of yoga, FLYoga and wall yoga, and I don’t think I have to say this, but yes, they both fall into the category of awesomely cool yoga experiences. I’ll save the Circque du Soleil—I mean FLYYoga experience—for my next post and today will focus on hitting the yoga wall.
I arrived at Blissful Yoga early so I could meet my fellow Twitter yogini buddy Stephanie Spence, who introduced me to the owner of the studio, Rosa Rendon, and gave a little sneak preview of what was to come. Rosa gave me a quick demo of a hanging inversion pose and then helped me up into the strap for my first taste of wall yoga. I will admit it was a bit scary coming into my first pose, and mind you, there was a camera on me recording the whole experience, so I couldn’t help but think, “Holy crap, why did I agree to be videotaped doing this!” It wasn’t a bad scary; in fact, I was pretty confident I was going to love the way it would feel, but the first time you do something that involves hanging upside down, it’s pretty normal (I think) to have a bit of anxiety.
I tried to remember all the things I always tell my new students: let go of the fear, come to the practice with a beginner’s mind, breathe slow and steady. I realized I’d better practice what I preach as I let myself lean backwards, completely trusting the strap, brave smile on my face, ready to enjoy the ride.
From the moment I hung from the wall in reclined supta baddha konasana, it was an inverted love at first hang.
The beauty of doing yoga with the help of the wall is that you can come fully into an inversion to extend the spine and align every single vertebra. When I was hanging from the wall in supta baddha konasana, I felt like a rock-star yogini, because, in essence, I was doing a handstand, which is something I haven’t quite tackled off the wall in my yoga practice. A full handstand! And let me just tell you, I felt completely invigorated and exhilarated.
The other thing I felt while hanging from the wall was the gravity doing some amazing work on my neck and face. I couldn’t help but think that this kind of an inversion has to be good for reducing wrinkles, and it turns out that inversions have all along been labeled a fountain of youth. All those blood cells flowing down into the brain assist with energizing the mind, increasing memory retention, and uplifting the spirits. It’s kind of like a natural high for the brain, and who doesn’t like a good natural high!
If that is not incentive enough, wall yoga can be very therapeutic for people with scoliosis or disc disease. In fact, Rosa told me a success story of one of her students who, over a period of two years, had the angle of the curvature in his spine decrease due to weekly wall yoga sessions.
When you first walk into a wall studio, the first thing you notice are the straps hanging from the walls with metal devices. Although you see all the normal yoga studio accoutrements (blocks, straps, bolsters, and blankets), you can’t quite take your eyes off the wall and wonder what the heck is going to happen.
Before my class began, I went up to introduce myself to the instructor, Rasoul Sobhani, and let him know I was new. He was a little nonchalant about this announcement and whisked me away back to my spot on the wall, assuring me that he would take good care of all the first-timers. And that he did. With a calm, soothing voice, Rasoul took his time to show us how to do the asanas with the aid of the wall and strap, always demonstrating proper alignment, and then he went around ensuring we were set up properly in the poses. I think we all rested more assured when he clued us in to the fact that the straps can hold a weight up to 1,500 pounds!
The class flowed similar to a yoga class, starting with some breathing to get us grounded (and also to calm the nerves) and warm-ups, and then we moved to downward dog done four different ways! Downward dog with a strap to support you is really cool. You can lean forward, almost as if you are diving forward into your dog, and then the strap allows you to extend your body deeper into the pose. In fact, each of the standing poses we did – extended side angle, triangle, warrior 2, forward fold – all felt amazing with the aid of the wall and the strap to keep the body in proper alignment as we moved deeper into the stretches. The poses just felt yummier, and although there was no flowing vinyasa movement, I worked up a sweat and felt all the same benefits I do after attending a vinyasa flow class.
Rosa demonstrating an inverted version of Tadasana
I looked around the room several times and noticed the smiles on students’ faces. We were all going places we had never been on our mats. I think that teaching yoga on the wall not only aids immensely in teaching proper alignment, but also helps to boost confidence. If you get the opportunity to attend a wall yoga class at Blissful Yoga Studio, I can highly recommend Rasoul. Any man who can gracefully get 19 women to hang from a wall with smiles on their faces is a rock star in my book.
I’m feeling a little musical inspiration coming on. To quote (well, I guess I should say song parody) Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall”…
Better do it now before you get too old
‘Cause we’re the yoga people, night and day
Livin’ crazy, that’s the only way
So today
Gotta leave those blocks and bolsters on the shelf
And just enjoy yourself
C’mon and hang
Let the madness in the wall straps get to you
Yoga ain’t so bad at all
If you do it on the wall!
And, if you live it off the wall!!
I’m back in Ohio now, desperately searching for a studio with wall yoga so I can keep working on that awesome anti-gravity, wrinkle reducing, yoga high!
Check out my fifteen minutes of fame in this video demonstration of wall yoga at Blissful Yoga, and leave a comment below if you’ve tried wall yoga and want to share your experience.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMwoMwShQNo[/youtube]
Thanks Stephanie for helping me navigate the yoga studios of Scottsdale! Please take a trip over to Stephanie’s One With Life website to be inspired and there’s also a bunch of cool videos of her demonstrating yoga poses. Big shout outs and thanks to Rasoul and Rosa as well for an awesome virgin wall yoga experience. I hope to make it back to Blissful Yoga someday soon (maybe for some wall yoga teacher training) and I would love to take another class with Rasoul.
P.S. If you like my rock star yoga capris and tank top, I picked them up from the awesome folks at MPG – Mondetta Performance Gear.
Feb 2, 2012 |
“A Yogi should always keep this in mind: Teaching yoga is not like teaching history or geometry. The teacher must impart a life force—a little current—into others.” –Sri Swami Satchidananda from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Hip openers have always been one of my favorite poses, primarily because I have been taught that we hold a lot of tension and stress in our hips, and when I do hip opener poses like eka pada rajakapotasana (one-legged pigeon pose), it allows me to let go of some of that stress I’ve been hoarding in my hips over the last few decades. I’ve got an active imagination, so I picture years of pent up stress just oozing out of my hips, and the release always feels pretty damn good. When I teach a class, I always prompt my students to breathe deeply and, with each exhale, to let go of whatever it is that they are holding in their hips.
During a recent yoga class I attended, while in the throes of pigeon pose, the yoga teacher, Ron White, explained that we hold a great deal of energy in our hips, and when we stretch and open them in poses like pigeon, we are releasing energy or chi. Humm, I thought, this is a little different than what I’ve been taught, but I kept listening with a beginner’s mind. Ron tipped us off to not let this invaluable energy just escape into thin air, but rather to redirect it to another part of our body or mind. He offered a few suggestions: to either send our chi to a part of the body that was sore or tight or to an area that needed some extra loving care.
This yoga class fell the night before I left for vacation, and because I had been trying to cram in as much work as I could before I left, my neck and shoulders were paying the price. They were tight and crabby, so I picked up what Ron imparted and sent my hip chi directly to my neck and shoulders. After a few deep breaths, I felt a flutter of energy tickle down the vertebrae in my neck and through my shoulders. Holy crap, Ron was not kidding; I had transported my chi, and it felt terrific! We held pigeon pose for a while, so I kept my focus on redirecting the chi flow to heal my neck and shoulders and even sent some up to my brain to help with focus. And, the coolest thing about redirecting the energy during a hip opener is that you get to do it all over again when you switch to the other hip.
I made sure I told Ron about my cool yoga experience after class and thanked him for educating me on the fine art of chi. He was responsible for sending a little current of life force into everyone in the studio that night, and he gave me back an enthusiastic smile and thanked me for letting him know.
I love learning new things when I practice yoga. Sometimes it’s something as subtle as getting in better touch with my body and my mind, and sometimes it is a major revelation, like how to channel and transform the precious chi that is leaving my body. This is recycling and green yoga at its finest.
Got a story about how a teacher has left you with a little extra current? Leave a comment below and share your chi!
Recycle Image: Ivan Prole
Jan 17, 2012 |
I love it when I go to a yoga class where something the teacher says really speaks to me. A few weeks ago, I attended a class taught by Jennifer Bishop and experienced quite the yoga epiphany.
While reaching our arms up and overhead in utthita parsvakonasana (extended side angle pose), Jennifer talked about the fact that we spend so much time during our days stressed out and hunched over our computers and steering wheels that our bodies get closed up. She went on to explain that the postures in yoga help us to open up the body, letting go of stress and creating space to counteract all those hours tied to our i-[you fill in the blank]s.
In a nutshell, Jennifer had described a typical day for me. Yeah, I get away from my desk and spend a lot of time doing yoga. But, I spend a lot of time sitting at my desk not always with the best posture, and I know that my neck, shoulders, and back pay the price for me doing so.
This message was reaffirmed when I recently attended a yoga anatomy workshop. The teacher, Gina Schatz, explained that we have fascia* that connects all of our muscles together, and this fascia runs from the crown of our head to our toes. Gina explained that fascia – and our body in general – does not like to sit for long periods of time. There are studies that show that if you sit for 45-49 minutes, you should counterbalance that time sitting with hip openers for 20 minutes to undo the kinks and tightness that was created. Here’s the really wild thing: If you sit for 50 minutes or more (hello, this is me!), you need to move and stretch for 3 to 4 hours to erase the effect of the sitting. Our bodies are not designed for a sedentary life.
Yowza! As if I needed another reason to practice yoga, there it is.
I always knew I loved yoga, but now I know that one of the reasons why I was called so deeply to the practice is because my body has the wisest mind of all and was telling me, “Yo Maria, what up with all this computer time? Go find your yoga mat again, stretch, breathe, relax, and give us a break.”
Thanks to Gina and Jennifer, I’ve set a little alarm on my iPhone that I turn on daily. It goes off every 45 minutes to remind me to get up, stretch, move, go for a walkasana, break out a few downward dogs, hug my husband (also know as hugasana), or do anything that lets me decompress and keep my body and my fascia happy.
*Stay tuned for a full report on my yoga geek-out weekend of anatomy!
