Yoga Outreach

There’s a lot to love about Yoga District, but the main attraction that drew me in and kept me coming back is their awesome mission to bring yoga to the people—all people.  Not only are the donation-based classes super affordable, the donations directly support yoga outreach programs for trauma survivors and other communities in need, including the homeless, incarcerated persons, asylees, etc.  This mission is so ingrained into operation of the organization that the teacher training program at Yoga District requires its students to provide 5 free classes to a community that would benefit from yoga and would otherwise have very limited access.

To complete this assignment, I set off for a two week trip to teach yoga to a community of menopausal women in a small western Maryland town, about 75 miles outside of the city.  I chose this community because they live in a place where no yoga studios exist, and their only experience with yoga has been from video recordings.  If yoga helps restore balance, then there are probably very few times in a woman’s life when she could use it more than during menopause, as her entire being is shifting in every way imaginable—physically, emotionally, mentally, hormonally, energetically, and spiritually.  Integrating my two passions – yoga and natural health – I was excited to design a therapeutic yoga program, specifically tailored for women who are experiencing menopause.

I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into.  All the times I had previously taught and/or practiced yoga with a group had been among experienced yogis.  Even beginner classes almost always include a few somewhat advanced students, who generally know the ropes and understand the protocols, and new students tend to look to them for guidance.  Most of the women in my outreach classes, on the other hand, had never been to a yoga studio, chanted OM, meditated, or met Downward Facing Dog.

All of my preconceptions of what a yoga class is supposed to be were totally knocked down during this first yoga outreach experience.  For example, I always thought the number one “rule” was to show up on time, and if you are late, by all means do not disrupt the centering meditation at the beginning of class.  Ha!  Not so in this situation.  In fact, this was when the majority of the class trickled in, and all the other students stopped to greet each other and catch up with the latest gossip around town.  That broke the second “rule” — no talking during class.  There was plenty of giggling and chatting, but it actually turned out to be really fun! Toward the end of one of the classes, I was excited to teach “legs up the wall” pose, Viparita Karani, because during my training I had learned all about the therapeutic benefits from the pose.  I looked around and miraculously everyone finally had their legs stretched up a wall and appeared to be experiencing total bliss… so much that when I gave them the option to move into the final resting pose, Savasana, a few minutes later, no one even budged.  They loved it!

Teaching this group of fabulous women, I would not be surprised if I learned more from them than they learned from me.  They taught me how to let go of all expectations, have fun with yoga, and truly live in the moment.   It is true that our students are some of our best teachers.

Improv & Yoga

“The great thing about improv is that you do a scene – then it's over.”

I recently started taking a beginnier's improv class at The Washington Improv Theatre this week my improv teacher said something that I think parallels a lot of what goes on in yoga. In improv, you improvise a scene and characters to be in the scene. If the scene or a character doesn't work out – don't cling to it and try to make it work – just move on and create a new one.

Nothing is permanent – if you try a pose and it doesn't work out – it's over. Vinyasa yoga is the best example of this as one flows from one pose to the next through the sun salutations. Last week Iin Flow yoga Jasmine encouraged me to try side crow pose. It seemed totally impossible! I tried it, and basically failed – but I had to try. It was over and now I had one more attempt under my belt.

In life – if you're at a job you don't like, it's not forever. If you're experiencing pain or sadness, know that it will pass soon. I just discovered in googling “nothing is permanent” that Buddha said it. And then Charlie Chaplin said, “Nothing is permanent in this wicked world – not even our troubles.” Wise men.

Author: Margaret is a yoga enthusiast who just began practicing at Yoga District.

Naming Body Parts Is Hard

I know my body parts and I know my right from my left, so I assumed that cuing yoga poses would be a cinch. But somehow, when I get in front of a group of eager students, I’m suddenly at a complete loss. What’s that bendy thing that connects the lower arm to the upper arm? What are those wiggly things at the ends of my hands? And which leg is crossed over the other when I’m looking at a twisted mirror image? I don’t know what comes over me, but suddenly, English is a foreign language!

Of course, teaching yoga is more about love and compassion than it is about calling out the poses. But at the end of the day, you can’t have one without the other. So in teacher training, there’s equal emphasis on both the philosophy and mechanics of yoga. Communicating it all clearly, elegantly, and accurately is the challenging part.

Like everything else, it all comes down to practice. Only with practice do the jitters fade away, leaving space for the words to flow more freely and effortlessly; only with practice does the mind begin to calm long enough for the sequences to pour out with grace and eloquence. It takes time, patience, and dedication.

So next time your yoga teacher asks you to place your left head behind your right set of knees and clasp the back of your shoulder with your interlaced forearms, just smile, breathe, and take your best guess. That’s yoga!

Best Yoga Tweeters

So, I joined Twitter. The real reason I joined was to follow the Kardashians, if I'm being honest. I became addicted to the show via Netflix a couple months ago and have since devoured every season. The logical next step was to catch up with their every moves in real time via Twitter. Their appeal to me will never be understood. Anyhow, after following them for a couple weeks, I realized all they do is hawk the latest product they're promoting (Sketchers Shape Ups, Quick Trim weight loss pills, their specialty fragrances) and thus I quit them.

How does this tie into yoga? Well after quitting the K's I discovered that Twitter is good for other things, one of which is following yoga tweeters. I'll tell you about some of my favorites:

1. @tinybuddha is a frequent tweeter, sharing inspirational quotes and great articles from the tinybuddha site. One of my favorites: “How to stop obsessing over things you want.”

2. @YogaChrissy is a yoga teacher who posts some great, practical yoga tips. Here's a recent one: comfortable cross-legged seat should be, well, comfortable. Lifting pelvis up on blankets will help the thighs descend, relaxing groins.

3. @eclecticyogi is a yoga teacher in NY, she shares excellent news articles about new yoga trends and research.

4.  @Curvyyoga a self-described curvy yoga practitioner and teacher. @Curvyyoga is a great resource for the curvier yogis among us – myself being one! She’s big into loving your body and refuting stereotypes about what a perfect yoga body should look like.

and of course…

5. @YogaDistrict always keeping us up to date on all the hoppin’ happenings at Yoga District!

Yoga… the Secret to Balancing Stress

I recently heard my teacher say, “there is no such thing as stress.”  What!?  No such thing as stress?  How can she deny the wealth of scientific evidence that links stress to a person’s health?  Stress is strongly associated with a baziillion devastating conditions – depression, anxiety, headaches, insomnia, obesity, hair loss, skin disorders, weakened immune system, thyroid dysfunction, hormonal imbalances, gastrointestinal disorders, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer! – just to name a few.  I started to think my teacher was seriously losing it until she explained what she meant.   Stress is not something that happens to us, but rather it is something we do to ourselves.  The way we choose to perceive the situation determines the affect that it will have on us.  Hmmm… that actually makes sense.  Stress doesn’t creep up on you like a poisonous spider while you’re sleeping.  It’s something we create!

In yoga we often talk about letting go and surrendering.  Unless you have some sort of magical powers, the events that happen around you are totally out of your control.  However, you gain an incredible amount of power by just accepting this lack of control. Stress happens when we resist what has already happened or when we allow ourselves to worry about what may or may not happen in the future.  We become totally liberated when we simple let go.  Let go of resistance to how things are.  Let go of all expectations.  Relax your shoulders and the muscles in your face.  Ahhh… much better.

A stress-free life– sounds too good to be true?  We also learn by practicing yoga that balance is key.  Some stress is necessary and beneficial for our wellbeing.  Without any stress, we would be totally apathetic, have no motivation or determination, and never feel a sense of accomplishment.  The goal is to cultivate a balance between effort and ease – an extremely common phrase repeated by yoga teachers, but it is indispensable advice.

Think about waiting for the train at the Metro, especially during the times of dreaded “Scheduled Track Maintenance.”  If you, like me, have a tendency to start panicking, anxiously pacing, and worrying that you will be late for your appointment, you are causing undue havoc for your mind and body.  You might notice that your body temperature is rising; your heart is beating so fast it might pop out of your chest; you are sweating, breathing shallowly in your upper chest, or maybe not breathing at all…  It’s amazing how subtle changes in our thoughts and breath can have such dramatic effects on our emotional and physical states.  A healthier approach in this situation is just to breath (deep inhales and slow and complete exhales), relax your mind, and maybe even meditate.  Because lets face it – by stressing out, will we make the train arrive any sooner?  Absolutely not.  Rather, conserve your energy for when the train drops you off at your destination, and run like crazy up that escalator!  You can thank your yoga teacher later for holding you in Utkatasana for so long last week, building up those amazingly strong leg muscles.

Books Are Also Good Teachers

I was skeptical when I saw the teacher training reading list: The Bhagavad Gita, The Yoga Sutras, Autobiography of a Yogi, Chakra Yoga: Balancing Energy for Physical, Spiritual, and Mental Well-Being, and a few other New Age-y sounding titles. I had to consciously stop myself from running in the opposite direction. My Western brain had a panic attack at the first mention of “subtle anatomy” and “body energetics.” When I went on Amazon to buy my books, I almost added a Physician’s Desk Reference to the basket just for good measure.

Then I did some off-the-mat yoga and told my mind what I’ve told it before: “I love you. Be quiet.”

I wanted to enter into my teacher training with total openness and non-judgment, so I decided that I’d give it a whirl. I wanted to be a sponge and just soak it all up, knowing that, at the end, I could wring it all out if I wanted.

As it happened, I didn’t want to wring any of it out, even if that meant being a little soggy! Warning: this is about to get a little mushy.

Ultimately, it was the Gita which spoke to me. Despite being written thousands of years ago, I found it to be entirely relevant. The Gita contains so many beautiful descriptions of God: absolute Truth, infinite Joy, all Creation, total Love. And, we can experience all of this through a constant yoga practice that brings us closer toward Union. Of course, yoga is more than just the physical asana practice. We must have a practice of offering, of devotion, of meditation, of non-attachment. To live rightly with a sense of non-attachment and devotion will bring us ever-closer to full union with a God who is full of love, peace and joy.

My training at Yoga District has made me a good teacher, but it’s made me an even better student. And I’ve learned that some of my best teachers lived 5000 years ago.

Naming body parts is hard.
Always breathe.
Practice makes practice.
Everything I ever needed to know, I learned on my yoga mat.
The last one into a handstand isn’t a rotten egg.
Picasso wasn’t a cubist at first.
The three musketeers were right.
Keep your shoulders at elbow-height.

Being in the Moment

All day my mind is full of thoughts. On my walk to work I'm thinking about what I'm doing over the weekend, in meetings I'm thinking about what I should eat for dinner, and all throughout the day I think…how will I ever find a boyfriend?!?!

In yoga the goal is to be in the moment, feel your body in each pose, and try to achieve stillness in body and mind. This sets yoga apart from so many other types of exercise. It's luxurious to go into the studio and be able to leave everything else at the door. But of course it's not always easy. In fact this is one of the biggest challenges for me as a student of yoga.

I've found a method that works well for me to try to clear my mind before yoga. I try to get to class a bit early to lay in savasana and let my mind wander. Instead of willing my mind to be clear, I just let it go, let it follow every weird path it wants to take. After a few minutes of this, usually I can find a bit more stillness. I used to spend all of class scolding myself inside, “Don't think of work! Stop thinking of that guy you like! Stop thinking about how you're going to decorate your room!”

I find if I just let my mind do its thing, eventually it reaches the end of that road and it leaves me more able to leave those thoughts behind once yoga begins.

What do you do to keep focused during yoga?

Leggo My Ego

How many times have you heard yoga teachers talk about letting go of our egos?  It sounds good, but what does that even mean?  I remember thinking, “I don’t have an ego.”  I used to associate egoism with people who litter, butt in line, and talk excessively about themselves.

It wasn’t until I discovered yoga that I started to understand my own ego, the barriers that it creates in my life, and how to let it go.  Our egos are manifestations of all our attachments, desires, judgments, expectations, self-imposed limits, and imagined pain and sorrow.  It’s not who we really are, but rather a warped reflection.

Imagine your face.  Have you actually seen your face?  Unless you have had a clear out of body experience, then you probably haven’t.  Chances are you have only seen a reflection of your face via a mirror.  If the mirror had even the slightest bulge, concavity, discoloration, or other imperfection, then you saw a distorted reflection of your face.  Our egos are like the mirror, and the chatter of the mind (chitta vritti) creates the ripples or modifications in the reflection.   This is the same analogy that Sri Swami Satchidananda provides in his translation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.  The whole point of yoga is to overcome the mental chatter that prevents us from connecting with our true selves.

When it comes down to it, we create our own reality.  How awesome is that!? Seriously, we do.  The next time you’re in a difficult yoga pose (or other seemingly-binding life situation), try to notice the thoughts that emerge.  If you think you are suffering, then you’re suffering.  This is the ego talking.  Pain can be eliminated by simply changing how you think, swapping negative thoughts with positive thoughts.  Simple as that.  We tend to self-identify with the stuff in our life, looking to mitigate our pain and find contentment through things like alcohol, a new wardrobe, a bigger house, or the ability to touch our toes.  Once we attain these things, the excitement eventually fades, leaving our minds to scramble to fill the void—a continuous, unfulfilling ego-driven cycle.

In reality, it’s much simpler.  We already have it all, but our ego is the only thing standing in the way.  Practicing yoga, we begin to find liberation from our ego; we discover where we are holding tension and let go of all those things we don’t need.  We learn to cultivate a balance between effort and ease in our minds, bodies, and breath, realizing our true and complete selves.  If you have ever experienced that blissed-out feeling at the end of yoga class, resting in Savasana (ahhhh…), the feeling of ultimate freedom, peace and connection with everything, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.  Allow your yoga practice to transform your life, get in touch with who you really are, and carry that truly beautiful, radiant self off the mat.  Shine on my fellow yogis, shine on.

You’re Your Own Best Teacher

You hear it over and over, but it’s true: every body is different. A pose that makes me feel invigorated and free might make the next person feel anxious and vulnerable. Likewise, a pose that relaxes my neighbor might pinch my back, crank my neck, hurt my knees, and tweak my shoulder. This is why it is so important to listen to our bodies and let it lead us in our practices. Our bodies are our best teachers.

The really difficult part is making sure that when we listen, we’re hearing the body and not the mind. More often than not, when I find myself struggling in a pose, it’s usually because my mind is bored and restless but is tricking me into thinking that I’m in pain. Silly mind! With yoga, we can begin to train our mind’s chatter to fall away, leaving us with full body and breath awareness. When the mind is quiet, we can finally hear the heart. Our hearts are our best teachers.

In teacher training, we receive the tools to be able to start to still the mind. Through various yogic practices–scripture study, meditation, asana, pranayama–we learn to control the mind’s vices and move toward the union that is at the center of Yoga. Our Highest Selves are our best teachers.

So, there’s an irony in going to a class to discover that the best teacher is within. But if we don’t know that this teacher resides in the self, then she can never teach us anything. Sometimes you have to go to Oz before realizing that you already have everything you ever needed. But Kansas will never be the same.

Books are also good teachers.
Naming body parts is hard.
Always breathe.
Practice makes practice.
Everything I ever needed to know, I learned on my yoga mat.
The last one into a handstand isn’t a rotten egg.
Picasso wasn’t a cubist at first.
The three musketeers were right.
Keep your shoulders at elbow-height.

Burning off desire

“That which is to give light must endure burning.” – Viktor Frankl

One of my teachers, Mukunda Stiles, said to his students:

There is something holding you back from shining. Let it go. Do whatever it takes to have that veil lifted. Even if you have to do that practice a million and one times.

That practice for me is asana (yoga postures). During asana practice, I’m faced with physical discomfort and my inability to escape my own thoughts, so I’m left with no other option than growth. Hold the pose just one more breath… and then another…

So when a student told me on Sunday that she wasn’t finding a lot of comfort in the yoga poses I shared I wondered if it this was a good sign. Tapasya (austerities) often brings us to a place of discomfort from which progress is made. Yoga teaches us that we have tools to deal with our own discomfort in a productive way, rather than escaping sensations or situations. With these tools, we become skilled in managing discomfort and we start to burn our desire for comfort. We start to burn away desire itself. Like one of my teachers said last week, “Let it cook.”