the sweet spot of yoga

I was happily in student mode this weekend, participating in a virtual yoga workshop. For five hours Saturday and Sunday, Sarah Bowker, Meghan Skirha and I virtually joined our teacher in California, a student in Virginia, and another in Europe. Technology is amazing, yes?

I wanted to share something with you that I believe is a great skill for your yoga on and off the mat. In the Yapana methodology we explore holding patterns in relation to breathing, asanas, gravity, and movement. 

These are propping, collapsing, and yielding.

When we are propping in a yoga pose we are being overly rigid in our body. You might think  of a big giant boulder, or a big piece of furniture. It is hard for the breath to move through the body. In fact, students often are holding their breath when they are propping in their pose. Typically, when this happens a student is relying on his/her strength alone to hold them in the pose. 

When we are collapsing we are dropping the weight  of the body into the earth without maintaining a connection to the structure. There is little structure and stability in the body and the breath is more often shallow. Typically, when this happens a student is using too much flexibility and not enough strength.

The Yoga Sutras speak very little about actual asana (postures). What the sutras do tell us is that we are cultivating  effort (which equates to strength) and ease (which equates to the sweet feeling we get from a juicy stretch). It is the balance between those two that creates a healthy posture. A posture that enlivens and awakens. One that can bring more balance back into body, helping us to grow stronger in some areas of our body while opening up in other areas. 

This brings me back to the the third holding pattern, yielding. When we are yielding in a pose, there is a beautiful balance between strength and flexibility. When one is yielding in a pose you can almost see their whole body pulsing with breath. This is the sweet spot.

Does this show up off the mat? Yes, most likely. 

Do I have any Type A personalities reading this note right now (if you even have time to read it ;) ? We are the strong, dedicated, focused ones that can will our way through most anything and everything. Effort is a superpower.

Do I have any totally carefree, "it'll happen when it need to happen" folks reading? You might be a bit scattered and not so focused (and boy, I bet people adore you for it too). Ever feel like you are floating away, mentally or even physically? Ease is a superpower.

It is the combination of the two and the ability to yield, that gives such beauty, shape, and form to ALL the postures of your life.

What do you think? What is your natural superpower and could you benefit from cultivating the opposite energy a bit more? 

Lastly, here is a photo from our virtual classroom this weekend. Pretty cool, right?

steadiness and ease

Misty Pittman has a bit of an obsession. Read on Friends.....

Sthira Sukham Asanam.  Asana is a steady, comfortable posture.
~ The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

If you have taken any of my classes in the past month, you are all too familiar with my fascination surrounding this topic.  In fact, it is starting to become a bit of an obsession.

Patanjali tells us that any posture that allows us to feel steady and relaxed is a yoga pose.  Say what?  Yes, absolutely.  It is as simple and difficult as that. 

Meditators practice the yoga poses with hopes that physical ease and suppleness will be achieved, so that they may sit for extended periods of time in meditation, without having the distractions of physical discomfort.

But what about the rest of us?  Those of us new to yoga that find awkwardness and resistance in every pose?  Those of us with injuries and cranky bodies?  Those of us who push past our limits, trying to achieve perfection, bypassing steadiness?  And why is it so important to be aware of this concept? 

Because if our aim is not steadiness and ease (both on and off the mat), then we are only struggling and resisting.

As yoga practitioners, where do we start?  We know that in the course of a 75 min yoga class, many opportunities will come up that will challenge us. 

Begin by honoring your body.  Don't ignore pain.  Keep your ego in check.  Keep it simple. 

Stand in tadasana and feel the four corners of your feet pressing into the floor.  Lift your kneecaps and firm up through your hamstrings.  Feel that energy lift your spine tall, open your heart, and close your eyes.  Even as your body sways, can you feel stable through your feet?  Can you feel the lightness of your upper body?  Can you feel the fullness of your breath?

Of course, not every pose is this simple.  Many poses will challenge our strength, our balance, and our flexibility.  I experienced this myself in a recent class.  I couldn’t even hold my hands together in prayer without them trembling.   I took my attention to my breath, and even though my body shook uncontrollably, I found that I could detach and find steadiness through my inhales and exhales.  Not easy, but amazing to feel that ease amidst the chaos of my tired body.

I encourage you to play with this.  Pick a pose that is mildly challenging for you and then ask yourself how you can invite both states of steadiness and ease into the posture.   Maybe you simply loosen the grip of your toes and soften the muscles around the face.  Maybe you imagine reaching your tailbone down into the mat, as your spine effortlessly grows tall. 

The possibilities are endless.

creating conditions for feeling good

In the Yoga Sutras there is this inspiring AND challenging practice known as brahmacharya. My favorite translation is:

Conservation and regulation of energy.

Energy being the general state of aliveness, or lack thereof, you experience at any given moment.

We all bring ourselves to our yoga mats with a very different "feeling." What's been happening in your life over previous days, weeks, and even months? Have you been sick? Are you in the midst of a major transition? Are you celebrating something big in your life? Are you knee deep in grief (hello, been there)? Have you been eating ice cream and fried foods most days?

All of these and more, they affect us. Certainly something to consider when we roll our mat out and take our seat.

This morning in class I invited students to get curious about ways they could be in their practice AND generate more energy. What would that look like?

Holding a pose longer that you're comfortable.
Taking more time to rest in child's pose.
Transitioning from pose to pose, place to place, with ease.
Expanding the breath.
More acceptance, less judgement.
Breathing in a different way.
More love. Less fear.
Actually smiling during class.
Taking the easier option of a pose.
Taking the harder option.

Learning how our yoga practice can generate energy OR deplete energy can help us to take the practice off the mat.

How do you create conditions throughout your day that help you to feel good?

Start the day slowly, intentionally.
Give yourself extra time to drive to work.
Savor a cuppa coffee or tea.
Move your body in a way that feels good.
Stay in the shower longer.
Eat delicious foods that you celebrate.
Gaze at the sky.
Have that difficult but needed conversation.
Engage more with people that elevate you.
Do something nice for someone.
Appreciate nature.
Do one thing you thought you couldn't.
Breathe deeply.
Make eye contact. Bonus points for smiling.
Take a nap.
Clean your house.
Prepare a meal while listening to music.
Snuggle your kids, your kittens, your dogs.

I'm curious, dear Friend, what are the conditions you create that help you to feel alive?

What depletes your energy?

What generates more energy?

making space for All of it

Sher, Kris, Megan, and Misty at training in Outer Banks

Hopes
Goals
Resolutions
Intentions
Dreams
for the future

Not at the expense of, but in conjunction with

Acceptance
Presence
Permission
Imperfection
Joy
Gratitude
for the moment

That's what I'm curious about right now.

Wondering how is that we can make space for All of it.
How we can hold the intentions of our year with acceptance and gratitude for where we are now.

Which is yoga, right?

Atha yoganusanam....Now we begin the sacred practice of yoga.

evolution doesn't move backwards

 

 

There's no such thing as

"the way things used to be."

Evolution doesn't move backwards.

 

Atha.

That's the very first word in the book of Yoga Sutras.

It means "now".

 

Yoga is all about being in the present moment. It's taken me years to really get that. For a realllly long time I thought it meant that yoga is about being in the moment AND it means showing up, being in the moment in a joyful, peaceful, perfect way.

 

You know, the yogi way.

 

Early this morning I was walking in the cemetery. It was the time just before the sun was rising. The air felt cool, brisk. The trees looked different. You could smell fall lingering in space all around.

 

In the moment I checked in and thought to myself, "I feel good. I feel happy."

It was true.

 

With that single thought I realized I'd been pushing down the reality of my very first tri-mester during this adventure called pregnancy. The truth is all that many times I said I felt good, when I really didn't.

 

It's no secret that I prefer to have my face in the sun like a flower blossoming towards the sky. I'm an optimist (many times to a very annoying degree to Andy, family and friends) and always choose to see the glass half full. Aren't all so called dreamers like that? ;)

 

That has served me in amazing ways throughout my life. In fact it's one of my superpowers. And I love that about myself. You give me most any situation and I can find the silver lining. I'll tell you exactly where the rainbow is.

 

The downside of this, the shadow side is that I have a tendency to skip over the true nature of my feelings at times. Sadness, anger, grief, low energy, loss of focus. Nope, they've had little place in my adult life. I've restricted that space. I'm really good at being upbeat and positive, yet grounded and in control.

 

After this morning I realized I've been doing the same, not fully feeling my feelings all the way through over the past couple of months.

 

When I felt a loss of focus and motivation, I tried to will it, to force, to make things "the way they used to be". The way I used to be.

 

When I felt sad or confused, or emotional for any reason any newly pregnant mama might be....

I summoned gratitude. Joy. "There, that's more like it", I would think to myself.

 

The truth is, I believe we are powerful human beings who are fully capable of generating the feelings we desire. Awesome, yes?

 

But there is a place for confusion, sadness, and anger. They too have lessons to share. A voice to be heard. Ways to help us grow in the ways we most need.

 

If yoga is truly about being in the moment, isn't it about being with what presents itself in the moment? {Within reason, of course}.

 

The above quote has been my mantra since I read it a few weeks ago. I'm sorry, I don't even know who the credit goes to (but I thank them immensely).

 

It's my constant reminder that life is always moving forward. Regardless of what we have to say/think about it.

 

This isn't my first go round with this idea. I've felt myself clinging to the past in a variety of ways over the years. Wanting to re-live that awesome vacation Andy and I had. Wanting to relish in that retreat again. Wanting to experience that particular training, that moment, that meal, that conversation again and again.

 

Feeling a sadness hangover when I couldn't make it so.

 

I am learning today, perhaps more than ever, the power of the present moment. I'm getting that on a whole different level.

 

I can mourn the parts of me and my personality that are literally dying, while at the same being ecstatic about what's happening in the moment, and what's yet to come. I can make room for all of it.

 

I'm feeling a willingness to grow and stretch in all parts of my being, as my belly does the same. See above photo. :)

 

I'm wondering what you think? Not about me (I promise I don't need anyone "fixing" how I feel) but how you make space for all feelings and emotions? If you find yourself clinging to the way things used to be? If you feel you have to be any certain way as a yogi?

 

 



on change & how it leads to suffering

The Yoga Sutras even tell us that suffering is a part of life. Even the wisest of the wise are subject to suffering simply because they too are in a body. Having a body and being a human being means that some things are out of our control or we have little control over. Some suffering is inevitable. We all experience hardships, trials, and tribulations.

Shit happens.

It is during these times that yoga provides us with the necessary tools to deal with and lessen suffering.

For thousands of years yogis studied the mind. They discovered that most of our suffering is a result of the workings of the mind. In the Yoga Sutras Patanjali tells us there are three reasons why we suffer:

1. Parinama – change in a perceived person, place, or general object.

2. Tapa – a thirst or a desire to repeat pleasurable experiences even when we suffer as a result.

3. Samskara – habits, patterns, effects of conditions from the past that continue to inform the present.

This information has provided me much relief and contemplation in the last month specifically in dealing with my Mom’s diagnosis and treatment of cancer and being in Mexico for our annual yoga teacher training (and eventually evacuating during said training).

I’ve been sitting, writing, and living with these three reasons for suffering. I love that one sutra, one thread, one little nugget from the sutras has provided with so much to contemplate and practice.

Of the three I've noticed that the first one, parinama has recently been my greatest source of struggle. Change is certainly the name of the game with parinama.

Interestingly enough, parinama is listed as one of the three cause of dis-ease in Ayurveda. In the Ayurvedic sense parinama is in reference to physical and mental change.

Even thousands of years ago the wise yogis were saying that if you can't get your mind under control, if you can't reign in the flow of your thoughts dis-ease will follow.

What do you think? Intriguing? Can you relate to any of the three?