Yoga

Disciplined Yoga

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Years ago I took a self defense course. While practicing my kicks with my instructor we spoke about my daily yoga practice.  He told me that my yoga was extremely disciplined which was not a way in which I had ever thought of it before, although at that point I had been practicing multiple times per week for about two years.  This was before I became a teacher.  I practiced so much because I enjoyed it so much, and still do, and suppose that I always will.  I had found my thing. 


In the years since that moment I have continued with my regular practice, although it does ebb and flow.  Currently with being home more often than in the past due to all of my prior indoor yoga classes being cancelled indefinitely from Covid, I have more time than ever to practice.  That does not mean that I am doing two hour Ashtanga practices, rather I practice anywhere from 10-60 minutes roughly 4-5 times a week.  


I view my yoga practice as a form of bodily maintenance, I don’t mean in terms of appearance, but in terms of mobility and functionality.  I also continue to practice and to push my edge in order to sharpen the saw and be able to teach new poses, sequences, and variations to students whenever I am back in a studio.


Discipline Tips

Roll Out Your Mat


As is often said, the hardest part about practicing yoga is rolling out your mat.  Once you have taken the time to clear a space and roll out your mat you are almost halfway there since it is so easy to keep binging Netflx instead of practicing.  One of the best things you can do, if possible in your space, is to have a dedicated yoga room or area so that it is that much easier to practice.  

Consider Your Opportunity Cost


There are often times when I’m at home alone after work considering what to do with my time.  First I try to get some work done in the house or garden and I usually walk Fred for both of our health and enjoyment.  Then, when tasks have been done I weigh the choices of practicing yoga, reading, watching TV, or some other option.  


I then consider the time commitment of practicing.  I usually practice with Glo, a subscription platform that I have been using for a few years, it offers a variety of styles and teachers and the option to search for classes based on filters like length of time, teacher, area of body, etc.  If I’m planning to do a 30 minute class then I tell myself how 30 minutes of my 16 hour waking day is nothing and that I owe myself that time and will feel better after practicing.  Plus, with the search option, or if I’m doing a self practice without video guidance, I can choose to practice a chill hatha class if my energy is low or a challenging vinyasa class if I’m energized.


Don’t Get Down if it Doesn’t Happen


Whether you are a teacher or  not (all yoga teachers ought to consider themselves yoga students) try your best to get on your mat and to not have negative self talk if you do not.  Sure I feel annoyed with myself when a few days have passed and I haven’t done my asana practice, but I push those negative thoughts out of my mind and look towards tomorrow to get back into my practice.  For years, early on in my yoga journey I would practice yoga in studio, for a week or so, or with a VHS (it was a while ago) and then I would fall off the wagon and wouldn’t do yoga for a few weeks, or months even.  It wasn’t until a few years into doing yoga that I started to really practice very regularly and that was after finding a teacher and style that was a match and seeking that style out. 


Don’t be overly strict with yourself.  Maybe doing yoga once a week is perfect for your schedule.  Once a friend asked how often I did yoga as a teacher, I told her 3-4 times per week and she said that made her feel less guilty  about not doing it much, I suppose she didn’t think that that was very often, which made me feel slightly guilty that maybe I should be doing more, but I’ve accepted that there is no perfect amount, it depends on so much – time availability, energy level, mental health, etc. 

And maybe yoga isn’t your thing in which case I would be very surprised that you read this far in, maybe your thing is running or swimming.  Try to get into a regular habit of doing your thing that makes you happy and provides you with benefits for your physical and mental health.  The world would be a much better place if all of us did that.

Thoughts on Teaching During Covid-19

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Life has been different in New York State since mid-March 2020 when we were all directed to stay home and quarantine for the safety of ourselves, our oved ones, and our community. A few days before it was made official that gyms and studios would be closing, my studio, Samsara Yoga Center, made the decision to close our doors and move classes to a screen. Our small studio in Jamestown, NY as well as studios all over the country and world quickly had to adapt. These are some of my reflections of teaching and practicing from home.

 

Where is Everybody?

Going from a room of students to staring at myself teaching to a camera was initially awkward and uncomfortable, and still is, to be honest. As a yoga teacher I never practiced while I taught, meaning I didn’t plan a thoughtful, progressive class so that I could practice for 75 minutes with everybody else. Instead, I warmed up with the class so that I could demo new or challenging poses, but I also walked the room checking alignment and giving verbal and physical adjustments. Teaching yoga was not my time to practice yoga, it was a kinesthetic communication.

Now I have no students to feed off of, I have nobody to teach. I have no idea the level of the student who is practicing with me during the live filming and of course nor the level of student choosing to practice with the filmed video at a later time. Therefore, I have to include a lot of modifications just in case, which I do in a studio class as well, but this time it feels more overwhelming to give all modifications (which is impossible) just in case the person practicing has wrist issues, tight hamstrings, low back pain, or any other number of countless ailments.

One option to change all of this would be to alter this experience so that I could see  students would be to switch my classes to Zoom instead of FB Live, but I like the open schedule that filmed classes provide for my students who are mothers or busy and like many of us, whose schedules have gone out of the window and now can practice whenever they want, not just at 6pm on Thursday. Another reason I am not going with Zoom is because my ego does not want to cope with a screen of no-shows. It’s damaging enough to watch people come and go on a Live Stream on FB, but at least some people click on the live stream now and again to check it out and there are some dedicated students (my awesome sister) who practice with me week after week.

Maybe I should Just Quit

I have been practicing and teaching for a eleven and seven years, respectively, I have taught in many different locations as I moved around the world and traveled. My classes are sometimes full and sometimes only one student shows up and we have a 1:1 private class. I roll with the ebbs and flows of student population in class, but recently during virtual teaching I honestly considered calling it quits for a while. It felt futile. That I wasn’t reaching many, that I couldn’t properly teach, couldn’t react to students and give them modifications, that nobody was tuning in. And to be honest, I have lost the bulk of my yoga income due to the virus. I will be ok since yoga is my side hustle, but as well as being a primary passion in my life, I also teach yoga for an income, which has not been reduced to almost zero.

Then I listened to a couple of podcasts on adapting to this time and my creativity was reignited. Knowing that every other yoga teacher is also struggling right now didn’t necessarily make me feel better, but it made me realize that my dark thoughts are probably common. You really put yourself out there teaching a class and it doesn’t matter how many themes I teach on letting go of the ego, it is always there nagging me constantly. We all feed off of our surroundings, interactions, and increasingly more and more off of social media, all of it feeding our egos for better or for worse. Not having many watch my live stream, no privates, no corporate sessions, and no income was quite the kick in the gut.

Seeing the Bright Side

Thankfully, I have pulled myself out of that sense of defeatism and am switching my perspective from a place of feeling futile to feeling inspired  to be creative and work with our current situation. Now is a good time to try new things, to create the content that has floated around the back of my mind without ever being fully formulated. Now I have the time to bring my ideas into fruition. In fact, I did just that when I taught an Earth Day Yoga class, which was a blend of my two passions – environmentalism and yoga. As I mentioned in the class and a post, the more you learn about very real situations in our environment the more depressed you may become, yoga is a necessity to curb those feelings of sadness and to bring us all together to make the changes that are needed.

I can’t deny a truth that teaching online makes my yoga more accessible to people everywhere. Students that I taught years ago in Korea can now practice with me if they wish. I can practice with my old teachers and discover new teachers around the world. As much as I was hoping that people would donate, even something very small like $2 or $3 for a class, I no longer hold on to that thinking, because I don’t only teach for money (although I know that my skill is monetarily valuable and am not arguing that teachers should not be paid) but to spread the mental and physical benefits of yoga, especially when needed such as now.

There will come a time when I will be back to teaching in person. Until then I will develop more content that I haven’t been brave enough to teach, and if nobody watches, well, I can handle that. Maybe it will reach the one person that needs it and it will have all been worth it.

50th Earth Day!

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Today is April 22, 2020 – the 50th Earth Day since the first in 1970 and what a good day it has been.  All day I have been watching performances, panel discussions, and experts speak on the realities of the dangers that we face in climate change and creating a sense of community although we are extremely separate during Covid-19.

Just minutes ago I completed teaching a 45 minute, all levels yoga class for Earth Day; teaching about climate change, climate action, and climate grief has been a goal of mine broadly since 2016.  Not long ago I was meeting with a fellow yoga teacher and a nonprofit, nature preserve organization to organize my goal into a reality, but of course that is no longer going ahead, so it was so beautiful to be able to teach virtually and combine my two passions of yoga and environmentalism.

Yoga and environmentalism, activism, and climate justice have such a link to yoga.  In my opinion they are one in the same, because yoga is mindfulness and in order to care you have to know.  It is so easy to bury our heads, plug our ears, and look away, but it is brave and necessary to seek more information, educate ourselves and make changes in our lives as well as encourage those around us and pressure businesses and governments to shift to be greener.

Other ways that I celebrate the day were going for a couple of walks with my dog and husband, watering my plants and seedlings, and spending time working in the garden.  If you are looking for inspiration on Earth Day, then visit: www.earthday2020.org for live streams today, April 22, through Friday, April 24.  If you are reading this at another time in the year, then seek out organizations that speak to you and that are pushing the change that you want to see in the world.

If you would like to practice my Earth Day yoga, visit my FB page and search in videos.  If you’re interested in hosting your own Yoga for Climate Grief classes via Zoom, please send me a message on my FB page.

Happy Earth Day!!!  What a beautiful place we live in, I am so grateful.

Blue Yellow Quote Earth Day Poster

Managing the Ego, Part II

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The last post on the site began as a general musing on the ego and quickly morphed into a commentary on social pressures primarily on women by media and social media as well as thoughts on pressures to show a lot of skin simply because I am a woman and also a commentary on how often yoga images also tend to . This second installation moves more specifically into the ego in the yoga world, where there is much discussion and emphasis on quelling the ego when it inevitably creeps into asana practice.
Both as a student of yoga and also as a teacher of yoga, I constantly work to balance fear of judgement, pressures to push further, and suppressing my mind’s reaction to successes within my practice.
When I am a student in a studio there is a human instinct to compete with others in the class as well as with the teacher. Competition many would agree, has no place in a yoga class, but it undoubtedly shows up. Another word for this is the ego. An example – in an intermediate class the teacher cues a challenging pose such as Parsvottanasana (Pyramid Pose.) My choice to use Pyramid pose as an example may have surprised some of you, thinking an even more difficult pose like Side Crow would be more of an obvious choice for a challenging pose (pesky ego,) but both poses are challenging for different reasons – Pyramid for flexibility and Side Crow for strength and flexibility.
An example, many students who attend yoga classes and many people who live in the modern world (ahem, all of us) have tight hamstrings, more so if the student is an athlete or physically active with running or biking, generally more so for men, but to the point, tight hamstrings is common.
Back to the scenario – the teacher cues Pyramid Pose (an intense forward fold) and you’re in a class full of students who seem to have hamstrings made of puddy, they’re folding forward, touching the ground with their hands, head to shin, the full works. A version of the classical pose. You however, have tight hamstrings and the floor seems miles away. But, the ego creeps in, and it’s loud. Your mind is illogically telling you that you’re just like them, you’ve been coming to class longer than thew new girl, therefore you should be able to do the same. If you act on this thought process a couple of things may occur:

1) you might reach for the floor without blocks and/or keeping a gentle bend in the knee and this could cause damage (tearing even) of the hamstrings at their connection points. 2) This is the much less severe reaction, which is that blocks may be used, the front leg may be safe form injury, but there may be a need to get the forehead to the shin in which case extreme rounding in the back will occur. This is not going to be an instantaneous injury and may never lead to an injury, but it may cause discomfort in the back and does not display integrity of the pose.

Now, I am a yoga teacher and have been a student of yoga for many years, so I hypothesized all of that in roughly 20 seconds. Some students however who do not have the same knowledge of yoga or the body, and not even the knowledge yet of their own body, will put their muscles and tendons in jeopardy in a matter of tenths of a second because they’re giving into the pressure of the ego and attempting to do what others are doing; teachers are by no means immune to this, let me be clear.
In fact this brings me to how the ego gives me trouble as a teacher. It happens every time I teach and I have been teaching for over six years, anxiety. Much less than when I was a new teacher, and dependent on the day, size of class, all sorts of factors. Somewhat negative thoughts run through my head before and during class, and they’re never the, “Man, I’m good” sort of thoughts. Never have my nerves or doubts been debilitating, but it’s also never not been there to some degree. Another teacher friend of mine who had more experience, and drew many students to her class confided that she also felt nerves before teaching every workshop. I’ve heard on Yogaland (podcast with Andrea Ferreti & Jason Crandell) that Jason Crandell did get nervous before teaching but no longer does (he’s been teaching for over 20 years.) This form of the ego is not as dangerous, maybe it’s even healthy, a sign that teacher’s are concerned with the job that they’re doing, and we can’t forget that teaching is a vulnerable position – to be in front of a a roomful of students, to be in front of a handful of people in general and to speak to them, guide them and teach them for over an hour would be nerve-wracking to pretty much anyone.  I’m not ashamed or embarrassed by my nerves as a teacher, just another example of my ego and self doubt creeping around in my thoughts.

Teaching Beach Yoga

Sunset Yoga at Gwangan.

This leads me to my final thought on the ego (for now,) which is that for all of us in our practice there are big and small wins, poses that have been worked on for years and years and one day are achieved. When this happens the ego is inflated. There is celebration, Instagram posting, and sheer joy at the success. This ties into the last post, the ego is what pushes us to take and post the yoga picture (guilty as charged,) to show off our most advanced poses on social media, but this is also a lesson of the ego, another way for it to be managed. Kathryn Budig said in a Yogaglo class that she did a handstand for the first time years and years ago and she came out of the pose with a big smile in an obvious celebration, and her teacher came over to her and said something to the effect of, “Ok, good. Now let it go.” That story has stuck with me and comes to mind every time I have a small yoga success, I consciously let go of the ego inflation to not further feed the ego.  It is a never ending balance to the management that I work on every day and in every single yoga practice.

Managing the Ego

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Initially this was going to be a single post, but as I began writing I realized that there was no way that it was all going to fit into one. There is a lot to say as a woman and as a yoga student and teacher about managing the ego. Mindfulness through my practice has made me more and more aware of how the ego permeates my life every single day.

It’s a constant job, managing the ego, one that I have become more acutely aware of thanks to my yoga practice. As a teacher it is a reoccurring theme in classes that I teach. As a female it is a lifelong struggle, not to say that it isn’t for our counterparts, men, trans, etc., because of course it is, but I believe it becomes a permeating issue for young girls much earlier than it does for boys. Specifically I am referring to body image issues.

Young girls and women are bombarded with sexualized images of women in fashion magazines, on TV and movies, in music videos, commercials and advertisements. There’s a cultural pressure to be “pretty”, to wear makeup and expose skin. Although it may not be realized by those that it effects, there is a never ending expectation on American women and women world wide, that leads to low self esteem, eating disorders, and in some cultures, such as Korea where I lived for five years, a massive beauty products industry and even thriving plastic surgery industry.

Think about it for yourself, imagine the last pop culture/mainstream entertainment that you last saw. Ask yourself how the women and girls were portrayed. Men as well can be portrayed with shirts off for example, but it is far less common. Red carpets are a prime example of the disparity. Fashion is something that I enjoy, so after big events I like to look at images of what people wore. The women’s dresses tend to have ridiculously plunging necklines (a-la J-Lo’s green dress at the 2000 grammys), very short skirts, cut outs or sheer fabrics over nothing more than what may as well be underwear. And what do men wear to these events? Three piece suits. They literally could not be covered up more unless they wore gloves and scarves.

The yoga world is unfortunately not immune to this norm. Google the word yoga, select images, and scroll. Most of the images will be of fit, thin, muscular women, some of whom are not wearing shirts, majority of the images will be of white women.

I have to pause and have a brief interlude to say that I somewhat hypocritically, and contrary to the main theme of this writing, believe that if you work hard on your physical fitness and are proud of your body and it’s capabilities through whatever means of your choice, yoga, running, cycling, zumba, and you want to show off your hard work and are a confident, proud adult, then please by all means practice yoga in your sports bra and short shorts. In fact this is the Ashtanga way and even B.K.S. Iyengar wore little shorts while doing yoga his whole life and I completely respect him for that. What I am arguing here is that marketing relies on sex selling which leads to a cultural pressure to be what is seen everywhere and I do not believe that it is healthy or necessary.

Iyengar

Although yoga clothing is often sold with images of women in their bras and leggings, or exposing more skin in their bras and short shorts, there are some brands that do better than others of purposefully having more realistically sized models and plus sized models, that should be recognized, but it certainly is not the case for all brands. In fact, in writing this I looked up one of the  biggest names in yoga gear and surprisingly discovered that the line that they’re featuring on their website at the moment of winter 2020 is actually quite modest full of long sleeves, turtlenecks, and drapes of excess fabric.

I had an experience at a studio in a tropical location in which the teacher taught in just her bra and leggings. I don’t want to sound overly puritanical, but I believe that to do so as a teacher is distracting to our students and will more than likely lead them into negative self talk because that is our default as people and primarily as women. As I said before, practicing yoga in little clothing is in some lineages traditional, and I think that women should have the ability to practice in a hot yoga studio or hot climate without a shirt on the same as men, but for a teacher in a place of authority and power I believe that it is not the most responsible decision that we could make.

It is for this larger cultural reason that I purposefully do not often post pictures of myself in my sports bra doing yoga or in my bikini (I only practice so scantily clad at home when very hot in the summer, to my best knowledge there are a handful of shots on my Instagram feed, it is certainly not a common way that I post.) For many young women there is a pressure to post sexy Instagram posts, to get more likes and because that is what the broader culture glorifies.

In a similar manner, Instagram posts of beautiful women performing difficult yoga poses in however many levels of yoga hype up the ego in yoga practice, making many of us feel less than for the inability to do the same. The next post will delve more into the work of the ego in wanting to achieve the perfect pose and how that mindset can in fact be detrimental.

 

 

Studio Review – True Yoga Vermont, Rutland, VT

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At the end of June 2019 I traveled with my husband to Vermont, for me it was for the first time, to attend a training for work. We extended my work trip into a little mini-vacation, renting an adorable Airbnb on a lake, riding bike trails, visiting farmers markets, and of course going to yoga classes. The first studio I visited in Vermont was in Rutland, a small city south of Burlington by about an hour and where my work training was held. I found True Yoga Vermont online and signed up for their new student deal which was just $20 for a week of unlimited classes.

There is something that you should know about True Yoga Vermont before going – it’s a hot yoga studio. They have hot pilates, Bikram, and flow classes. It’s my opinion that hot yoga is not for everyone, but many people love the experience of doing yoga in a very hot room. True Yoga Vermont certainly believes that hot yoga is for everyone as they outline in their FAQ section. Just know that hot yoga is demanding, so take it at your own pace, even experienced yoga students will likely struggle with the stress of the heat if not used to it. The heat may also cause some to feel dizzy, be sure to rest if you’re feeling fatigued – trust me, teachers don’t mind at all if you rest in child’s pose for a while or a long time, we understand that you are listening to your body.

Regardless of the heat, or because of the heat?, True Yoga Vermont is a fantastic studio in a old renovated bowling alley with tons of character. The owner, Liz, does a great job of making new students feel welcome whether they’re just new to the studio or they’re new to yoga in general. The studio’s website has guidelines of what to expect, how to make the best of your new yoga practice, and how to safely see results from practicing in the heat. Better than just a great website, True Yoga Vermont’s staff are friendly once you arrive and there’s even a sweet little goodies bag for new students after their first class, a detail that gave me the warm fuzzies.

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As mentioned, the studio is in an old bowling alley on the second floor. There are two studios in the space and a spacious welcoming area complete with merchandise for sale – clothes, mats, and more. There is also a big changing area that has two showers which are vital after a class in which simply entering the space makes sweat bead on the body. Honestly, during the flow class I attended I saw sweat on my arms where I’d never noticed sweat before, it was quite interesting and obviously a detoxifying and purifying experience. For sure it felt effective.

Liz’s welcome statement on the homepage of the website states that it’s normal to feel nervous and excited when trying yoga or hot yoga for the first time, but that the studio is there to support and guide through the experience and that there is no need to know what you’re doing or to be flexible in order to attend. She also says that True Yoga Vermont is a community, I love that. It is a ethos of mine to learn my students’ names, to learn about their lives outside of the studio and to mold unique classes that will aid them on and off the mat, clearly Liz and everyone else at True Yoga Vermont have similar sentiments. I definitely noticed during class that Liz knew her returning students and gave them coaching throughout their practice. She spoke to me before class as a new student to gauge my level, not out of judgement, but to see how much aid I would need. What every good teacher should be doing.

Unfortunately I did not get to maximize my new student special of a week of unlimited classes. I was planning to return the following two days that I was in Rutland, but I can’t have all of our vacations revolve around yoga, so spent quality time on bike trails and eating ice cream with my husband instead. If you live in Rutland I encourage you to try the new student special and to get to as many classes as you can. If I’m ever back in quaint Rutland, I will for sure be returning to True Yoga Vermont.

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No Pain, No Gain

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This past week I started class by telling students that they were going to work hard and for them to remember that old adage- no pain, no gain. I admit that it sounds contradictory to what I teach as a theme in many of my classes which is to use the breath as a tool to protect the body so that you don’t go past your edge, but really what we should be doing in order to advance is to push ourselves just beyond that edge to a safe level of improvement.

Yoga asana is a practice of learning the body. In my practice that is quite possibly the primary benefit. The skill that I have to know where my hips are when I’m in an inversion and if they’re not forward enough to hold the balance is a skill that I learned though lots and lots of practice. Through injuries I have learned a lot about the limitations of my body from side to side, left and right, and how to modify my practice to make sure those injuries heal instead of inflame. And because of the mindfulness of breath and body work I can better detect when I’m getting sick, when I require more sleep, and when it’s a good time to push myself physically.

20160121_182214.jpgThe majority of my practice involves ‘basic’ or common poses – the warrior poses, lunges, sun salutes, forward folds; only a small portion of my personal practice involves arm balances and inversions, but I do incorporate them in almost every practice in order to evolve. Of course those common poses are the poses that build strength and awareness in the entire body which enable the core to lift the lower limbs overhead in sirsasana/headstand. Those basic poses are extremely beneficial. Lying in savasana for 20 minutes is beneficial. Skipping asana practice to recuperate is beneficial.

 

But it’s the gentle pushes and hard nudges beyond the body’s limitations that cement new challenging asanas. That being said, it is so important to learn proper technique and alignment because injuries in yoga occur and will occur more frequently without proper support and guidance. You can’t do an inversion without a killer warrior II. You have to know how to read that the back foot is engaged and the back hand is in the midline to also know that the legs are engaged when upside down. Sure those are totally different body parts and skills, but the proprioception skill is the same.

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In one of Malcolm Gladwell’s books he wrote that the Beatles were so good and changed the music scene not because of how much they played and practiced, but because they challenged themselves and the industry as musicians. I believe that the Beatles reference came from ‘Outliers‘ a book that Gladwell wrote about how the best of the best came to be at the top and no surprise a big secret was practice and dedication. A study was done at one point to say that the secret number was 10,000 hours – put that much time into anything, time in which you’re constantly pushing yourself into an area of gradual difficulty, and you will become great.

Sometimes when I post a fancy yoga pose on my social media I’ll get comments and questions such as, “Oh my gosh, that was so amazing, how can you do that?” My response is always to say that I did that with a lot of practice and dedication. A good week for me is to put in 5-6 hours of yoga practice on top of my 5-6 hours of teaching. That might seem like a lot (I’m sure many teachers put a lot more in than that, but I also have a full time job) but yoga is my passion, it’s more than a physical practice, it’s a lifestyle. It permeates into all aspects of my life and I will be doing some form of yoga until the day that I die.

Challenging my body into difficult positions is rewarding. I no longer think of my falls or poor attempts as failures but rather as the effort needed to one day make the impossible possible.

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Teachers Should Be Beginners

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Most adults don’t try new things very often, that’s dependant on the adult of course, but in general we seem to stick to our routines. It has been told to us for years that failure is bad, and more recently that you shouldn’t post it on Instagram unless it’s perfect. Fear of failure is often felt when being courageous and attempting something new, say,  a yoga class.

Emotions such as frustration, comparison, jealousy, anger, and other similarly negative emotions are felt when our foot slides off our leg in tree pose and there is someone else in the class who looks like they could knit and do tree pose at the same time. I know this because I’ve felt it and I’ve seen it in my classes. In fact, it happens in pretty much every single class that I teach, I can’t speak for the emotions felt, but certainly not every single person can do every single pose in every single yoga class, myself and all teachers included.

That is why I remind my students over and over again to move out of the negative emotions and into a spirit of playfulness. Negative self-speak almost always creeps into our heads when unable to do something new and while witnessing someone else do the same challenging thing in a seemingly carefree manner.

Personal examples of things that I have tried in the past few years in which I have felt down on myself for struggling with include: learning to drive a standard drive, learning phrases in new languages, handstands, running, learning to swim better, learning to sew, etc. Luckily, most of those things I have learned with the guidance of my supportive husband. Sure, there were arguments, most notably during the teaching and learning to drive a stick shift, but mostly there was encouragement.

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As a yoga teacher I value those new experiences, even those outside of my yoga practice, because they put me into an uncomfortable state of fear, frustration, anxiety, stress, and doubt in my abilities which are the same sorts of sensations felt when trying half moon for the first time and during crow pose at almost every attempt. Facial expressions in class give me insight into what emotions my students are feeling and I try to lead them to positive optimism. I also remind students that difficult yoga poses are just that and take many hours of training and practice to achieve until the right muscles are built, awareness is learned, and technique is taught, then one day a pose will just click and will be felt for a microsecond until balance is lost, but the aha moment exists and suddenly the pose seems less evasive.

If you are a yoga teacher, or a teacher of anything to anyone – teaching your partner to salsa, your child how to read, you daughter how to knit; remember that trying new things is challenging and sticking to them is even more difficult. Walking into a yoga class and being unable to do 25% of the class might put people off from ever returning, which is why as teachers we have a duty to warmly reassure those that trust us to teach them that while many yoga poses seem impossible, with dedication and commitment the challenging can possibly one day become our realities.

Yoga teachers must be able to empathize with their students, but most yoga teachers have been doing yoga for a long time so forget just how much the thighs burn and shake in warrior two because it’s such a common pose that it can feel as easy as sitting in a chair to teachers. That is why being a beginner in other arenas or pushing your practice with new challenging poses for yourself is one of the best ways to improve your teaching skills. Empathize with your students in warrior two the same way that you would want empathy in tortoise pose.

Having fun in tree pose.
Assisting an event participant in sphinx pose.

 

 

 

Do Yoga for Your Mom, Your Neighbor, & Your Dog

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I have heard it said, I have said it to classes, and I strongly believe that a yoga practice not only benefits the person practicing, but also every single person that they have contact with, in person, daily, now and again, passing by, or via a screen. This is not a truth just for yoga, if you do what brings you joy, then that joy will shine for others to see and benefit from.

In my case, and for many that I know, that thing is yoga. When I teach beginners I tell them that the difference between yoga and a general exercise class such as Zumba or Spin, is the link between breath and body. That’s usually where I leave it. I don’t dive into the mind and body connection right away. That comes with time and practice, but breathwork is from day one on the mat. It is through an elongation of the breath and concentration on breathing that the mind can slightly settle and calm. A deep exhalation releases tension in the muscles and the mind. By making inhales and exhales as long as possible your nervous system moves from the sympathetic nervous system into the parasympathetic nervous system, or from the fight or flight setting to the rest and digest setting.

You may be thinking that you never get to that fight or flight state of being because you have a typical life – work, kids, house, etc., but anyone can find themselves in stress, and I probably don’t have to say this, but we all live stressful lives even if a tiger isn’t staring us down in the jungle. Simply driving to the yoga studio and experiencing some road rage can get your heart rate up and quicken the breath, not to mention larger stressors such as financial troubles, work situations, or health issues. In general, our lives have become very comfortable and many of us have enough to eat and a rough over our heads (of course, not all of us though,) but our modern lives are still stressful.

There’s no denying that I am an advocate of yoga. As a teacher for more than five years there haven’t been many (or any?) students that I have taught yoga to and that have left high-strung. They may enter the sidewalk and encounter something that annoys them and go right into a state of annoyance and stress, but right after rolling out of Savasana they’ve all been pretty well relaxed. Concentration on breath is a skill that can be taken from the yoga mat to everyday life, a way to manage stress. The gentle and slow movement of a yoga class is also rejuvenating for most. If you’re someone that’s already on the yoga boat then you’ve probably seen those memes about yoga, for those of you who don’t primarily follow yoga accounts on Instagram, they read things such as – Yoga, because punching people is unacceptable.

Sunset Savasana

So, how does going to a yoga class benefit those around you? Well imagine a scenario of a disagreement between you and your loved one, a shop attendant, coworker, etc. and imagine that you have been practicing breathwork and discipline through a yoga class. Hopefully you will think to utilize those skills in the argument. Also, when you are happy and care for yourself you are better able to make those around you happy and to better care for them. Selfcare is not just good for the self, it is good for the whole. Even your dog. One way that yoga benefits my dog is through empathy. There are times when it’s cold out and I don’t want to go for a walk with him, but then I think how happy it makes him to go for walks, the same way that doing yoga makes me happy and I don’t want to keep happiness from him (not to mention the bodily need he has for a walk!)

There’s never been a time when I thought, ‘ugh, I wish I hadn’t gone for this walk with him,’ the opposite is true – I generally enjoy the walk, get fresh air and more movement in my day. Likewise there’s never really been a time when I’ve left a yoga class and thought –  ‘ ugh, wish I wouldn’t have done that.’ My yoga’s good for my physical & mental health and good for my dog.

teachingyogagwangan

Celebrate & Balance

/ karabemis / 1 Comment

The holiday season has come and gone and it breezed by like the wind. Parties, festivities, friends and family, and loads and loads of treats in the way of delicious holiday cookies and plenty of alcohol and toasting to the new year. I sincerely hope that you were able to celebrate and let loose as much as possible, but I also believe that for the sake of health there should be a balance of enjoyment and restriction. As a yoga teacher I teach people how to stand on one foot and put their arms in the air and how to balance on their forearms and top of their heads and put their legs in the air, but balance in life goes beyond being able to do impressive feats of gravity.

Adults tell children to eat their vegetables (hopefully) and we ought to remember that rule ourselves, especially at the holiday season when almost every vegetable in site has been corralled and buried in pounds of cheese and some sort of oil. Did I eat those tempting casseroles? Absolutely, but I also practiced yoga regularly during the holidays and continued to eat salads and drink a lot of water. I did not sacrifice one for the other, I thoroughly enjoyed eating three cookies for breakfast and sweating on the yoga mat in the afternoon. Waste not want not, we had a lot of cookies around, but during the other 50 weeks of the year we don’t.

The ball dropped in Times Square people and people around the world set intentions and resolutions, goals for the new calendar year. Often for women those goals are diet and weight based, which I have mixed emotions about, but if phrased in another way, say like this: Often for women those goals are health based, then I am all for it. Self worth and confidence should not be defined by a number on a household scale, but instead making goals to move more and feel better for the new year are great ways to move into the new year.

The way that I have chosen to stay healthy and physically active has been yoga. It consumes a lot of my life because I love the way that it makes me feel and I dislike the way I feel when too many days go by without practicing yoga, so much so that not doing yoga is not a part of my life anymore, I make time for it multiple times through my week. However, I recently went for a run with my husband and instantly realized that I am not exercising my heart enough. In yoga I teach students to not push their bodies into a state of aerobics and to use their breath as a tool to keep their practice safe and that is how I practice as well, therefore I hardly ever move into cardiovascular work. My form of physical fitness is very imbalanced.

When the weather is nice enough I commute to work by bike, so twice a day, five days a week I ride my bike to work pedalling hard up a small incline to get to work on time which makes me breathe hard and sweat, but now that it is winter I drive to work and am now lack cardio. My goal for 2019 is to incorporate more cardio into my life, even though I pretty much hate it.

Having a fitness and health goal for the new year, or at anytime of the year is a good thing in my opinion as long as it is a healthy goal and is not developed from guilt, but from a healthy consideration for one’s own longevity and quality of life. I know that the heart is a muscle that needs to be strengthened just like the quads and glutes and that it plays an extremely important role in my health, a vital role you might say, so although it is a struggle for me to decide to go for a run in a way that doing yoga isn’t a difficult decision but rather a happy one, I will still strive to do so, not out of guilt, not to shed pounds, but as an investment in my own future and so that I am able-bodied enough to hike mountains with my husband and our dog.

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May you create joy, love, happiness, success, health, and balance in 2019 and every year to follow, Namaste.