I’m always searching for new ways to demystify yoga and find definitions to some of the key Sanskrit terms to help new students understand and feel at ease with the practice. One of my favorite posts I’ve ever written is Namaste 101, which provided an awesome definition for Namaste.
Now, I’m pleased to report that I have another simplified definition for Namaste, courtesy of my Street Yoga teacher-trainer Katie Arrants. As Katie was finishing a class she taught, she ended in the customary way, but replaced the word Namaste with the word Respect. In lieu of honoring the light that shines within every soul, the same concept was made crystal clear through the simplicity of one word — respect.
Katie explained that respect was a two-way street. Not only should the students honor and respect the teacher and everyone in the class, but they should also respect themselves.
Short, sweet, succinct, and brilliant all in one!
When teaching a class of at-risk youth, the concept of respect can really come into play. The phrase is emphasized to ensure that students make their best effort in class, to respect each other by not talking, by keeping on their yoga mats, and by not making fun of each other.
But I love the fact that the concept of respect can be emphasized in any yoga class. We should all come to the mat with our best effort, full of respect for our yoga community, full of respect for our bodies, which ultimately leads to the ability to quiet the mind and go within. To be fully present in our body and our breath is truly the essence of yoga, the union of the body and the breath. I don’t think you can get to that place in your yoga practice if you don’t first practice a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t!
Jennifer, Katie, and Sarah a.k.a. Yogini Godesses
I’ll write more about my Street Yoga training experience when time permits, but I wanted to send out a few shout outs and much more than a little respect to Katie for such a fantastic workshop, to Sarah Cheiky and The Studio Cleveland for providing their beautiful studio and the Saturday evening Thai Vinyasa Flow class with Lyz Bly and Kevin Lynch (it’s a Yoga ‘n Thai Massage all in one), and to Jennifer Atzberger and Urban Lotus Youth Yoga for sponsoring the Street Yoga training.
Take me out Aretha….
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB
When I first picked up Regina Brett’s book God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours, I have to admit I was intrigued but also a little put off that it might be too religious or preachy. I gave it a chance, and I’m so glad that I did because this little book is jam-packed with wonderful nuggets of inspiration and lessons on how to live life.
Just to give you an idea on some of the topics Regina covers, here’s a few of the titles from the 50 life lessons:
Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save anything for a special occasion. Today is special enough.
Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick, but your friends will. Stay in touch with them.
The most important sex organ is the brain.
Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting for you to discover.
Breathe. It calms the mind.
Hummm, I think Regina may be a little more in touch with her yogic side than she knows! Some of these lessons are sounding strikingly similar to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Regina is a northeast Ohio gal; so, if she’s not already a yogini, I’m gonna have to get her to one of the awesome yoga studios in this ‘hood.
Regina Brett wrote these lessons based on the extraordinary life she has led. At 21, she was an unwed mother; at 30, she graduated from college; for 18 years, she was a single mom; at 40, she got married; at age 41, she found out she had breast cancer and fought it; and at 45, she decided to put all of her life lessons down on paper. These lessons were first published in her column in the ClevelandPlain Dealer. They became hugely popular and went viral, being e-mailed and posted on the Internet around the world. Regina took these lessons and expanded on them to create this book that made the New York Times bestseller list. Congrats, Regina!
In terms of role models, I would have to say that Regina is on my list. If winning the battle against breast cancer was not enough, Regina ventured into the male dominated newspaper world and has become a successful writer with her own column previously at the Akron Beacon Journaland presently at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She also hosts a weekly talk radio show on Cleveland’s NPR station, writes a blog, and supports many charitable organizations.
I recently put one of the lessons from the book to good use when I did some spring cleaning. In regard to getting rid of things that are not useful in your life, ask yourself these four questions: “Is it useful? Is it beautiful? Does it add meaning to your life now? If this item were free at a garage sale, would you take it?” Try asking yourself these four questions the next time you clean out your closet. Get rid of some of those attachments. You’ll be amazed how many trash bags you fill, or better yet, how many bags you can donate to an organization like Goodwill!
This book is perfect for developing themes for yoga classes; it’s full of short reflections on life that you can read at the beginning or end of class. There’s something for everyone, and I’m sure you will find inspiration, laughs, and some great tips on how to navigate through life off the yoga mat, especially when it sends you off on one of those interesting little detours.
I’ll leave you one last nugget from the book: Figure out what makes you feel young, and do it! Thankfully, I’ve got that life lesson nailed. Yoga is the thing in my life that makes me feel (and look) youthful, and I plan to embrace the practice of yoga for the rest of my life.
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.
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.
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.
If you’ve been to one of my yoga classes, you know that I’m a big fan of setting an intention at the beginning of class. I always say that when you direct your mind and heart in a new direction, it can be a very powerful thing. Setting an intention before you start a yoga practice can help ground you and guide you throughout your practice.
I’m also a big believer in sending your dreams out into the universe, as I’ve been the recipient of many dreams coming true. I even have gone so far as putting together a vision board. My fellow yoga teacher and friend Juli Hicks turned me on to the vision boarding concept, and I have to say that the one I created is pretty damn cool. It captures all of my dreams and wishes and where I want to take my career and spiritual life over the coming years. I won’t tell you everything I pasted on my board – but some central themes are continuing yoga education, travel, writing, and meditation.
One of the dreams I set out for myself in 2012 was to continue my yoga journey by attending one of the “yoga festivals” like Wanderlust, and/or attend one of the Yoga Journal conferences. To me, traveling to a destination to study with well-known yoga luminaries, hear awesome yoga music, and hang out and do downward dogs with hundreds of other yogis all in one place is my idea of going to Disneyland. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to make this happen, but I figured if I saved my money and believed in the dream, I’d make it come to fruition.
I entered a couple of contests to try and win free tickets to these festivals, one of which was on the lovely Roseanne’s It’s All Yoga, Baby blog. She held a contest to giveaway passes to the Tadasana Festival, an international festival of yoga and music held Earth Day weekend (April 20-22) in Santa Monica, California. I entered the contest, and then rather than be quiet about the contest in hopes of increasing my chances to win, I did the exact opposite and started tweeting and telling all my yogi buds about it so they could enter too. If you’ve never visited Roseanne’s blog, please go over and check out the yoga information, interviews, and conversations (and if you need some help with your blog or writing, check out her freelance services).
I found out on Friday, March 9 that I WON the tickets! Woo Hoo!!!* I feel like the poster child of setting intentions.
If Intent.com needs a spokesmodel, I’m available. You put something out there in the universe – it may just come true! Just saying.
So, check out some of the people I have the opportunity to practice with at Tadasana Festival: Seane Corn, Shiva Rea, Amy Ippolito, Kia Miller, Elana Brower, Guru Singh, Bryan Kest, Baron Baptiste, and Jennifer Pastiloff, to name a few. And, I’ll get to hear MC Yogi play and attend some classes where Wah! is going to provide the music live. I’m like a kid in a candy store trying to pick out which classes to go to. The festival is three days and there are 50 master teachers offering 70+ workshops with live, in-class musical performances by artists from around the world, lectures, cool yoga stuff to purchase, organic food, and to top it all 0ff, the location is right at the edge of the beach facing the Pacific Ocean. Somebody pinch me!
If you are going to Tadasana Festival, please leave a comment to let me know. I’d love to meet up with some of my fellow yogis and yoginis and would also appreciate any recommendations on which classes to attend.
I also purchased my tickets today to attend the Yoga Journal conference in New York. It is going to be a busy and yogalicious month of April, and I can’t wait to share all of it with you! Stay tuned.
* I originally used six exclamation points, but my editor noted that six might be excessive, so I cut it down to three. 😉
Spectacular design, outstanding light-weight engineering, and phenomenal handling precision are combined with unparalleled comfort. No, I’m not talking about the newest Porsche 911, but the brand new compact Vernice Vita Studio Yoga Mat. Racheal Ennis, the founder of Vernice Vita Yoga Mats has done it again, introducing a sleeker, modern interpretation of Vernice Vita’s popular, successful, and original three-layer memory foam yoga mat.
If you’ve been to a yoga class with me recently, you may have noticed my extra-large, cushy yoga mat. I get a lot of stares at the yoga studio when I roll out the original 28 x 72 inch Cadillac version of the Vernice Vita yoga mat, but once my curious fellow yogis check out how cushy it is, they know why I love the riding style and comfort of my Vernice Vita. You can’t beat the luxury or the performance of this engineering marvel.
I got my first test ride of the Cadillac version back in September of 2011 and have been singing its praises ever since. The beauty of the mat is that the bottom layer is skid-proof to stabilize it, the middle layer is ½” memory foam to provide yogalicious comfort for your body, and the top layer is textured and water resistant to stabilize your yoga practice. I have not had any pain in my wrists since I began using my Vernice Vita, and my savasana and meditation times are pure bliss.
My only real issues with the original Cadillac version are that it is a bit unwieldy to carry around to the studio and my NamaSTAY yoga towel wouldn’t fit it. Poof…issues gone! The new studio version is ¼” thick and 4 inches smaller in both width and height. At 24 x 68 inches, my NamaSTAY yoga towel will fit snugly on top when I decide to sweat it all out with my Bikram or hot yoga friends. The studio version is made with the same high quality and patented three-layer construction, so it more than exceeds the exacting standards of my yoga practice.
The Cadillac version caters to taller yogis, injured yogis, athletes who need extra cushion because of joint pain, and pre-natal yoginis, and it’s awesome for Pilates classes. The new studio mat provides the same comfort and is the perfect mat for more advanced yogis. Really, anyone who’s seeking extra support and cushion in their yoga mat will benefit from either of these premium yoga mats. If you don’t believe me, check out some of the testimonials about the Vernice Vita products. Here is what a fellow DDD reader had to say about her purchase.
“This is the best mat EVER.
No more sore wrists — AND I feel more stable. I could totally nap on this thing.”
– Dominique
Give your body the comfort and support it deserves and purchase your very own Vernice Vita mat from The Daily Downward Dog. Order now for special savings.
Add a Vernice Vita strap to any order for only $10 more, a $5 savings!
Just click the Buy Now button below to order and pay securely through PayPal or your credit card. Or you can order direct from the Vernice Vita website and use offer code MARIA10 to get the savings!
The Kind Mat
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.
