Thank You God For Egg Nog And Yoga

YES IT IS

The first candle was lit on the Advent wreath yesterday in mass. I love the purple and pink candles against the dark greens. Thinking about it makes me calm… Of which I need frequent gulps right now.  All of a sudden in a mere few weeks my world is stormy seas like I haven’t felt for years. Challenges abound  in all directions of completely different qualities and ingredients. Maybe its just plain old stereo-typical holiday frenzy turned uber-stress. Maybe it’s the buzz (valid or not so) about the end of the Mayan calendar. Maybe it’s a mid-life crisis. Yeah, I’m that old now.  Which is why I have some good tools for this season of challenge. 

To find stillness amidst the places and times of confusion, anxiety, and over-whelm is a gleaming  gift of a consistent yoga practice. Sometimes so much hard stuff happens at once, it is understandable why people break down—get sick, get depressed, give up on intentions, or give up in general. I  believe that now would be one of those times for me but for my yoga practice and the immediate clarity it provides. The efficiency of entering the yoga zone is my pillar right now. My practice is keeping my spirits high, and my awareness tuned to the knowing that there is always Light. And I do believe that with the tasty treat of egg nog in my afternoon coffee, things are already looking up. PEACE JOY & LET THE HOLiDAZE BEGIN. OM SHANTi

Kirtan Happens

Birdsong brings relief to my longing. RUMI

The first incarnation of the Yoga Birds Kirtan Choir just happened at the studio! A huge thanks to all who participated.  It was a sincere endeavor into the unification of breath, voice, tone, vibration, and mantra. We did breathing and simple movement exercises to warm up the body. We did humming and singing long tones supported by the harmonium for vocal warm ups. The highlight was singing a complete song, Ganesha Sharanam, in traditional call and response Kirtan with harmonium accompaniment. All judgements about our voices and  blockages to the harmonious radiant inner Self were dissolved by breathing well and singing the words and melodies. It was so good! For me in kirtan, the real magic happens in the potent silent spaces between songs. The high vibration created by the voices and music is a tangible slice of the transformative powers of bhakti yoga. 

We are vibration and we are all one.

We will be doing it again next Sunday.

Press 'play' on the video above to sing Ganesha Sharanam kirtan with Jai Uttal.

JAYA GANESHA!

Ashtanga Yoga Resources

Marichyasana D

We have been having a great time exploring the Primary Series of Ashtanga Yoga at the studio. I found some super valuable resources, or 'cheat sheets' in PDF form on the internet at AshtangaYoga.Info. The sheets have the opening and closing invocations, all of the poses of the Surya Namaskars, Primary Series poses, 2nd Series poses, and finishing poses. I copied them front/back and then laminated the sheet. It's the perfect companion to my practice.

Use This Link To Go To The Cheat Sheets

PEACE PRACTICE & ALL IS COMING

Sr. Immaculata Chimes In

Free Your Voice! Fill The World With Your Positive Energy

This has been a year of new and exciting exploration into other styles and practices of yoga. The consistent Ashtanga practice is still going strong, making me stronger. It’s real gifts are in the subtle domain. I feel more in control of maintaining focus off the mat. This is good because I am hyper distracted otherwise. What freedom!

As I contemplate the end of the calendar year and start thinking about 2013 I feel great transformation on the horizon. There is so much challenge and suffering in everyone’s life, yet beauty and goodness always seem to save the day. This life is so much more manageable ‘one day at a time’. And when each day includes a few moments of pause and inner connection life’s preciousness is even more readily evident.

After a weekend of singing in kirtan with my friends in Prema Hara, I am all the more pumped about bringing the harmonium and singing into my yoga classes. At Christ The King, Sr. Immaculata used to say to us “Singing is praying twice.” I could not agree with her more.

This Sunday I am psyched to explore vocalizing breath and practicing some singing and chanting exercises from other cultures in the Vocal Yoga class at Yoga Birds. It is a three part series but drop-ins are welcome to join.

Come out and sing in community. Lets make some magic in Fairhope.

Peace Y’all 

Sketchy Yoga : Beautiful Art

“Any action done with beauty and purity, and in complete harmony of body, mind, and soul is art. In this way art elevates the artist. As Yoga fulfills the essential need of art, it is an art.” B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga Sketch Artist

At the beginning of August I embarked on a 'new' yoga project. I committed to daily practice of the Primary Series of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Way back in the earliest days of discovering yoga, it was Ashtanga that I was drawn to. I stared in wonder at all of the beautiful people flowing and floating their beautiful bodies as if they were swimming above ground.

Frankly, no matter how hard I tried, it just NEVER worked for me. I felt like a body of cinder blocks flinging, crashing, sinking, straining, huffing and puffing to keep up with the class. I love to flow  with my breath. But the tempo of Ashtanga…one breath, one movement never made sense for me. It was hard and hard on my body. Yoga should not hurt or leave one feeling defeated. At least I knew that from early on.

I have spent almost 17 years in the yoga rooms where alignment is primary and the poses are treated  like sculptures that are chiseled and refined ad infinitum.  I know lots of poses pretty well now. I know them for their physical benefits, therapeutic purposes, and as well as for their ‘editorial’ qualities. I love alignment based yoga for a zillion reasons. I am familiar with it and fascinated by it. I will tinker with asana forever.

Last month I needed to clear some negative energy in my life and make some changes. As a yogi knows…I had to start with shifting inside.  Literally my head hurt from thinking too much and from my ‘monkey mind’ taking over.  In my yoga practice I REALLY needed to get out of my head and my tendency to hyper-focus on ‘details’ of alignment. So. Tired. Of. Details. Ugh. The alignment approach, for the first time ever made me feel stuck.

Knowing that some form of asana practice would guide me to a lighter place, I revisited my old acquaintance, Ashtanga.  The Ashtanga Primary Series is essentially a very simple practice that requires less ‘thinking’ and more flowing. It is  a set sequence of poses that trains the student to concentrate awareness on BREATH BANDHAS and DRISHTI.  That’s it. Period. It’s more about awakening and harnessing energy than creating pretty poses. With practice, the poses do become light and fluid. But the only way it happens authentically and internally is with practice. 

The biggest hurdle for me in this practice is letting go of the ‘asana as masterpiece’ mentality—which is purely an exercise of checking my asana-ego. There is no time for refining, and sculpting.  I have to let the pose be what it is and move on.  Luckily my body ‘knows’ the poses on a deeper level.  Most of the forms are familiar to my body/mind so, the consistent and relatively fast paced transitioning from pose to pose does not agitate my nervous system. As my friend and Ashtanga teacher Chuck Frenkel said "You really do need to know what you're doing if you're getting into Ashtanga".  The more I practice, the more I want to practice. Not because I want to get better at the poses, but because I want to become more fluid in my breath, more steady with my gaze, and lighter internally from activating bandha awareness. And not just on the mat...

After a month of consistent practice, the energy has shifted. The necessary changes in my life have happened without much fanfare. Ashtanga Yoga...I think I am starting to get it. In yoga I feel like a brand new beginner all over again. Everyday I can not wait to get to my mat. What an amazing gift! 

 The artistry in the Iyengar and Anusara methods treat poses as a work of art forever in progress.  In Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga the poses are like a series of quick charcoal sketches threaded together to weave a story of vinyasa.  Sculpt, weave, paint, sing, or sketch your yoga. It all makes this world a more beautiful place.

OM is where the art is.

Free To Be

Vegan Iced Chai Latte. YUM OM

It has been an excellent Firecracker Day. We had a completely full house this morning for the July 4^th special flow class. The opening 34-voice OMx3 was super rich and resonant. Total chills just thinking about it. The studio is CHARGED with great energy! 

The chai tea party after class could not have been more pleasant. We hung out for almost an hour in the newly spruced up ‘bamboo’ picnic area behind the studio. The blooming hibiscus and shade of the giant live oak tree are a perfect ‘apres yoga’ gathering place.

So, you might notice on the online class schedule that the name of my classes has been updated to ‘Flow & Form’. Lately I have been teaching a lot more flow in my classes. We still definitely keep good form and alignment in sharp focus. But weaving vinyasa through it has become more fun and interesting than ever.  Hence the new name.

Since I have the honor of teaching four mornings this week (which is a lot of teaching), I am offering basically the same class sequence every day, with a different theme and music playlist. Yesterday was ‘The Mountain’. Today was ‘Free Your Breath’ and tomorrow is ‘Ocean of the Heart’.  Saturday morning will be …well I haven’t gotten that far yet ;). The class is based liberally on the Primary Series of Ashtanga Yoga Vinyasa which is designed essentially to be an everyday (with a few exceptions) practice. Now, when I say liberal, I mean it! I’m having great fun mining my 30 year old record collection for gems and also indulging in some birthday iTunes gift cards for new music to rock out the vinyasas to.  

I am totally loving everybody’s singing along with the support of the harmonium to open and close the classes.  The vibration is wonderful and it really 'marks' the class as something special.

Things are changing, shifting, taking new form and shape. It’s beautifully and appropriately Flowing with Form. ‘In yoga as in life’, as my friend Augusta Kantra says.

We Are Blessed To Be Free

I wore my FREE TIBET shirt today. Our class was dedicated to all who are not free. We are incredibly fortunate to live and breathe in Fairhope Alabama USA, aka Eden.

I am grateful to my yoga practice for helping me stay present to the blessing of every breath here and now. I am grateful for challenge, for I will never be without a teacher. 

Here’s a challenge for you….come to as many yoga classes as possible this Summer. And watch it shift and change your body, your breath, and your life towards vibrant awareness, skill in action, and deep contentment. Keep on rockin’ yoga in the Free World.

OM SHANTI

Well, Obviously A Blog Post…

Yoga Birds Meditation Workshop 'Group Photo'

The meditation workshop was a great success. We explored and practiced traditional basic seated meditation which is always a joy to share in a group setting. It’s so much more challenging than it seems, the group dynamic is very supportive. Second, we indulged in coloring mandalas in a 30-minute meditation.  Check out the ‘group photo'.  Colorful expressions of the hearts of seriously beautiful souls!  Third we explored the basics of the Zen practice of walking meditation. We started walking very slowly around the perimeter of the studio for a five-minute guided walking meditation that gave directions as to where and how to use our feet and our steps as the object of our attention. Thich Nhat Hanh’s classic book and most famous quote “Peace Is Every Step” is at the essence of this meditation. After the intro we took our peaceful strides out on the street where they REALLY matter. Everyone slowed down and connected with their surroundings, and most everyone reported that it was challenging. Yes, slowing down, becoming mindful, and staying connected to peace is a practice. We ended the day with a guided yoga nidra practice. I led a meditation through the body during a 20 minute savasana. Most everyone felt like the time went faster.  The general consensus is that the day literally flew by.  As happens when Birds have fun!

Cherished Possession. Thich Nhat Hanh Original Caligraphy. 'Peace is Every Step'

In a nutshell, meditation connects us to our essence of Being which is peaceful, and wise. Regular practices like asana (yoga poses), pranayama (breathing exercises), seated meditation, or any moving meditation where you come into a zone of single pointed focus helps to sustain that connection to our higher state of consciousness. Moving and living from this clear state, our actions (the mundane to the grandiose)  become more graceful, we rise up with dignity to meet challenge and unfair situations, our steps become more peaceful upon the fragile Earth, and best of all we are fully present when the ‘good stuff’ is happening.  Today was especially good at the studio.

My vision and intention for Yoga Birds has always been to raise the bar on hatha yoga offerings in this community.  Every class, workshop, and teacher training I have offered has been in service of the vision. Modeling this studio after others like Yoga Works in Los Angeles and Swan River in New Orleans (which were my ‘home’ studios when I lived there), teachers must maintain a practice (1x/week) at the studio and maintain continuing education (I do not require the continuing-ed to be a Yoga Birds training). As much as I teach, I am twice that in unwavering studentship—both at the studio and in trainings with other teachers. One of the many reasons I hold myself to high standards in the realm of teaching yoga, is so that I may ask the same of all of the teachers at Yoga Birds.  It’s REALLY hard being the owner of a small business. I will leave it at that. So that I may continue to revel in the last few minutes of this gloriously enlightening day.

Just got home from the picture show where we saw the most fantastic 3-D movie….’Brave’. The gist of it is that everybody has dharma, and we must be courageous enough to follow our Path. Oh it could not have been more perfect.  

 

Please check online for changes to the July Class Schedule and  read about the upcoming beginners series, and advanced studies series on The Bhagavad Gita I am teaching. I hope you will come and practice yoga and sing to the harmonium with us some this Summer.

Thank you all for supporting Yoga Birds. 

OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI