25 August 2012
I just rolled up my yoga mat ... just finished AaAaAaaaaAAaALlLll my hours required for certification as a yoga teacher !! (!) I did it! I totally did it :)! And I finished it all this summer ... all in one summer! All within two months and seven days! That's two months and one week ... I completed ALL my hours and requirements for certification! I am a yoga teacher! And the funny thing is that I feel like I now know enough to actually START REALLY learning about yoga. In two months and 200 hours I laid just enough of a foundation that I know what I'm doing, and just enough of a foundation to see that I am just on the cusp of really grasping this whole yoga thing. I feel like by accomplishing my 200 hour certification I hopped in a little canoe on a river and have rowed all the way to the ocean. I've become pretty familiar with water (figuratively) ... and having completed the 200 hours I have just arrived at the mouth of the river (or is it the tributary? ... I can't remember which connects to the ocean) where it meets the ocean. I'm looking back at my suddenly seemingly little stream realizing that I know just enough about water to start moving into and learning about/exploring the gigantic ocean. That's how I feel in yoga ... like I know just enough to be prepared to enter much deeper waters. It's a foundation that feels really fulfilling, filling, healing, grounding, and centering. I feel SO glad that I have been in the canoe. It's carried me back to myself. And I value my little canoe that I'll take with me now as I venture out from the ledge on which I stand, ready to jump in. Namaste little canoe and big (but now seemingly small) river. And Namaste ocean awaiting me!
Thanks Syl and Bodhi Yoga! http://www.gobodhiyoga.com/
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Benefits of Yoga in a Nutshell
I learned in yoga teacher training about the Twelve Physiologies of the body. These are the systems in our body that make us up and keep us going as a living being.
1-Integumentary
2-Fascial
3-Skeletal
4-Muscular
5-Circulatory
6-Respiratory
7-Digestive
8-Eliminative
9-Endocrine
10-Neural
11-Mental/Emotional
12-Pranic
I also learned that EACH ONE of the twelve physiologies of the body BENEFITS from yoga!
1-Integumentary
2-Fascial
3-Skeletal
4-Muscular
5-Circulatory
6-Respiratory
7-Digestive
8-Eliminative
9-Endocrine
10-Neural
11-Mental/Emotional
12-Pranic
I also learned that EACH ONE of the twelve physiologies of the body BENEFITS from yoga!
Benefits of Yoga in a Nutshell
Integumentary (Skin)
-Healthy glow
-Resilient skin
-Youthful, healthy looking skin
Fascial (Sheath inside that holds everything together)
-Releases fascial lock down
-Enhances fluidity throughout the body
Skeletal (Bones)
-Strengthens bone density
-Optimal range through joints
Muscular (Muscles)
-Strengthens
-Tones
-Lengthens
-Keeps muscles young and vibrant
-Structural alignment
Circulatory (Heart/Blood)
-Cleanses the circulatory system
-Tones the cardio-vascular system
-Oxygenates the blood
Respiratory (Lungs/Oxygen)
-Increases overall lung capacity
-Oxygenates, strengthens, and tones all systems of the body
-Natural body detox
Digestive (Digestive Organs)
-Oxygenates the tissues
-Stretch and tone tiny muscles of the digestive system
Eliminative (Releasing toxins)
-Proper functioning of the colon, lymphatics, kidneys and skin
Endocrine (hormonal)
-Balancing tonic for glandular flows
-Stimulates thyroid functiong
-Stimulates the Master Gland (pituitary)
Neural (central and peripheral nervous system)
-Increases nerve energy pathways throughout body
-Balances cerebral-spinal fluids
-Releases pressure on the nerves
-Soothes the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
Mental/Emotional (brain and emotions)
-Balances right/left brain thinking capacity
-Increases conscious awareness
-Increases concentration abilities
-Balances brain chemistry
Pranic (life force)
-Increases life force to overall system of
-Cultivates ability to direct energy to different areas of the body
-General sense of physical, spiritual, and mental well-being
-Caters to the electromagnetic field, the chakras, the nadis, and the marma points
With ALL of the benefits to our body, it's NO WONDER that yoga feels sooooo good!!!
With ALL of the benefits to our body, it's NO WONDER that yoga feels sooooo good!!!
**All information shared here was learned in the yoga teacher training taught by Syl Carson at Bodhi Yoga. http://www.gobodhiyoga.com/certification.shtml
Welcoming ALL Experiences Into Your Guest House
Asana, the word used to describe the poses in yoga, means steady joy. It's a good thing to remember when holding a pose. There you are in the middle of a strengthening pose that is testing your endurance to the max, with your body begging you to stop, and you remember that "steady joy" is what you're engaged in (even though it doesn't feel like joy, and may not be that steady). Remembering the purpose of holding the pose (steady joy) can help us breathe a little deeper and engage more fully in the pose. It may cause us to wonder how steady joy can be the name for something so incredibly taxing and tiring.
Once again, our perception shapes our experience. If I view the pose as hard and awful and something I can't wait to get out of, then asana will be much more of a mental and physical challenge. But if I understand that the pose is simply a tool for advancing the body, mind, and spirit connection (as taught by Ganga White), it makes it easier to view my pose and its intensity as an experience in steady joy. As I welcome the intensity, the discomfort, and the effort, I begin to understand what the challenge is doing for me: enhancing strength, toning, and focus. I realize that each challenge I face (mentally or physically) in yoga is there to teach me a lesson. My perception on the yoga mat can be a mirror to my perception in life.
How does a pose in yoga translate into the yoga of life? If in my practice I come to realize that I can hold a difficult pose longer than I expected, I realize that I have the capacity to sit with hard things. If I can stay steady in the discomfort of holding a pose (which feels difficult), I start to see that I can stay steady in the discomfort of life. Or if I find that I can actually do a pose the I thought I couldn't, I might gain a confidence to try things that I previously thought I weren't possible.
The poem "The Guest House" by Rumi illustrates this concept of welcoming what appears hard in order to allow growth.
Once again, our perception shapes our experience. If I view the pose as hard and awful and something I can't wait to get out of, then asana will be much more of a mental and physical challenge. But if I understand that the pose is simply a tool for advancing the body, mind, and spirit connection (as taught by Ganga White), it makes it easier to view my pose and its intensity as an experience in steady joy. As I welcome the intensity, the discomfort, and the effort, I begin to understand what the challenge is doing for me: enhancing strength, toning, and focus. I realize that each challenge I face (mentally or physically) in yoga is there to teach me a lesson. My perception on the yoga mat can be a mirror to my perception in life.
How does a pose in yoga translate into the yoga of life? If in my practice I come to realize that I can hold a difficult pose longer than I expected, I realize that I have the capacity to sit with hard things. If I can stay steady in the discomfort of holding a pose (which feels difficult), I start to see that I can stay steady in the discomfort of life. Or if I find that I can actually do a pose the I thought I couldn't, I might gain a confidence to try things that I previously thought I weren't possible.
The poem "The Guest House" by Rumi illustrates this concept of welcoming what appears hard in order to allow growth.
The
Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Here's to steady joy along our path of welcoming the arrivals at our guest house of yoga and life!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Today I Made a Modest Life Change
I would say that my entire life has been spent living in the mindset that seedless watermelon is better than seed-ed watermelon. The way I've seen it (as passed to me by those who I've eaten watermelon with all these years), a seed is a nuisance that gets in the way of fully enjoying the juicy flesh of the watermelon. Having to pick through and de-seed has seemed an annoying part of the process.
Today after yoga, I ate watermelon with Francis. I was picking through the pieces (not touching them, don't worry) to find the ones with the fewest seeds and I noticed that she was just plopping the pieces into her mouth without spitting any seeds out. I asked her about it, and she told me that she eats the watermelon with the seeds and that she likes it because it gives it a little bit of a nutty flavor. So I tried it, and I was taken back a little when I realized that it took the stress (small as it may have been) out of eating a piece of watermelon. When I viewed the seeds as a treat, something nutty and crunchy in my watermelon (much like crunchy peanut butter), the seeds weren't seen as a nuisance. I could eat watermelon without thought and effort. I liked it!
It made me think about how our perception so often really is JUST our perception. Our perception is often built on experiences that have created a false sense of reality. Thankfully, we can examine our perceptions and check in to see if they are working for us ... and if not, we can change the way we think about things and it can actually benefit us. For me, being on a yogic path has really been one big process of breaking down false perceptions and opening up to higher truth. I look at things differently as a result of learning yoga philosophy and connecting with my inner knowing. Yoga has enhanced my prior understanding of myself, life, the universe, existence, Divinity, and so on. I now live from what feels like an expanding perception, always open to consider that other way of thinking that could transform things for my good ... for instance, how I eat watermelon.
Learn a little yoga and the philosophy behind it (which often comes as nuggets of truth shared in passing by a teacher during class).
Join us on the path of awakening at Bodhi Yoga. http://gobodhiyoga.com/provoyogaclassesutah.shtml
Today after yoga, I ate watermelon with Francis. I was picking through the pieces (not touching them, don't worry) to find the ones with the fewest seeds and I noticed that she was just plopping the pieces into her mouth without spitting any seeds out. I asked her about it, and she told me that she eats the watermelon with the seeds and that she likes it because it gives it a little bit of a nutty flavor. So I tried it, and I was taken back a little when I realized that it took the stress (small as it may have been) out of eating a piece of watermelon. When I viewed the seeds as a treat, something nutty and crunchy in my watermelon (much like crunchy peanut butter), the seeds weren't seen as a nuisance. I could eat watermelon without thought and effort. I liked it!
It made me think about how our perception so often really is JUST our perception. Our perception is often built on experiences that have created a false sense of reality. Thankfully, we can examine our perceptions and check in to see if they are working for us ... and if not, we can change the way we think about things and it can actually benefit us. For me, being on a yogic path has really been one big process of breaking down false perceptions and opening up to higher truth. I look at things differently as a result of learning yoga philosophy and connecting with my inner knowing. Yoga has enhanced my prior understanding of myself, life, the universe, existence, Divinity, and so on. I now live from what feels like an expanding perception, always open to consider that other way of thinking that could transform things for my good ... for instance, how I eat watermelon.
Learn a little yoga and the philosophy behind it (which often comes as nuggets of truth shared in passing by a teacher during class).
Join us on the path of awakening at Bodhi Yoga. http://gobodhiyoga.com/provoyogaclassesutah.shtml
The Paradox of Giving/Receiving
I am exhausted. (Disclaimer: I am not complaining ... I'm stating facts.)
I'm in the middle of my last week here in Utah with my hefty goal of becoming certified as a yoga teacher by the end of the summer hovering over me. (Yoga teacher trainees at Bodhi Yoga are given 18 months to finish all of the requirements to become certified to teach ... and I'm three days away from finishing my certification requirements in 2 months.) I've been squeezing yoga into every nook and cranny of my life possible.
And now that it's the final week, any and all procrastination that occurred earlier in the summer must be taken care of now. Today I taught from 8:30-10:00am, then did personal practice for an hour, then taught three more classes from 3:00-9:00pm, and then worked on my yoga blog. Tomorrow I'll attend class from 8:30-10:00am, then participate in a special yoga video recording that Syl is doing from 10:00am-12:30pm, then do an hour and a half of personal yoga practice, study anatomy for an hour and a half, and write more blogs. And so it goes until Saturday. I'm saturated in yoga. And I really am exhausted because yoga is physically intensive.
BUT (note the caps to emphasize my point), surprisingly, even though I'm exhausted and doing yoga from dawn until dusk (actually past dusk), I feel totally content, happy, motivated, directed, purposeful, and fulfilled. Most jobs or work that I do all day long flat out tire me (including my mood). Yet yoga, as intense as it is, just keeps giving back to me. Despite my sometimes loss of physical and emotional steam this week, I feel really excited to be involved in something that is so personally fulfilling in both my own practice, and especially in sharing with others the things I'm learning. I LOVE teaching yoga. And although I'll be relieved when my certification requirements are done and I can just practice yoga at a more "normal" pace, I'm so totally okay with giving every ounce I have in me for now. My past year of grad school never had me feeling this rejuvenated despite the exhaustion. Yoga is unique in that it fills the cup even while it's being emptied. I give and empty my cup, only to look down and see my cup full again. At least that's how it is for me. Awesome. Final stretch ... hang in there ... whatever your final stretch is about, you can do it!
(Note: This entry was written at 4am when I would have thought my body would be recuperating from all the yoga, but, to my dismay, is wide awake thinking about things I want to blog about. Forgive any nonsensical writing... :)).
http://www.gobodhiyoga.com/
I'm in the middle of my last week here in Utah with my hefty goal of becoming certified as a yoga teacher by the end of the summer hovering over me. (Yoga teacher trainees at Bodhi Yoga are given 18 months to finish all of the requirements to become certified to teach ... and I'm three days away from finishing my certification requirements in 2 months.) I've been squeezing yoga into every nook and cranny of my life possible.
And now that it's the final week, any and all procrastination that occurred earlier in the summer must be taken care of now. Today I taught from 8:30-10:00am, then did personal practice for an hour, then taught three more classes from 3:00-9:00pm, and then worked on my yoga blog. Tomorrow I'll attend class from 8:30-10:00am, then participate in a special yoga video recording that Syl is doing from 10:00am-12:30pm, then do an hour and a half of personal yoga practice, study anatomy for an hour and a half, and write more blogs. And so it goes until Saturday. I'm saturated in yoga. And I really am exhausted because yoga is physically intensive.
BUT (note the caps to emphasize my point), surprisingly, even though I'm exhausted and doing yoga from dawn until dusk (actually past dusk), I feel totally content, happy, motivated, directed, purposeful, and fulfilled. Most jobs or work that I do all day long flat out tire me (including my mood). Yet yoga, as intense as it is, just keeps giving back to me. Despite my sometimes loss of physical and emotional steam this week, I feel really excited to be involved in something that is so personally fulfilling in both my own practice, and especially in sharing with others the things I'm learning. I LOVE teaching yoga. And although I'll be relieved when my certification requirements are done and I can just practice yoga at a more "normal" pace, I'm so totally okay with giving every ounce I have in me for now. My past year of grad school never had me feeling this rejuvenated despite the exhaustion. Yoga is unique in that it fills the cup even while it's being emptied. I give and empty my cup, only to look down and see my cup full again. At least that's how it is for me. Awesome. Final stretch ... hang in there ... whatever your final stretch is about, you can do it!
(Note: This entry was written at 4am when I would have thought my body would be recuperating from all the yoga, but, to my dismay, is wide awake thinking about things I want to blog about. Forgive any nonsensical writing... :)).
http://www.gobodhiyoga.com/
If at First You Don't Succeed...
Try and try again! (See title.)
It dawned on me tonight while lowering through a plank (pushup) that I COULD ACTUALLY slowly lower down correctly. This was cause for a small celebration (in my mind) because when I began my yoga teacher training on June 18 I COULD NOT lower through a plank slowly. I simply dropped to the floor quickly because my arm strength was pretty pathetic. I remember feeling a little discouraged at the time, recognizing the effects of not having practiced yoga for several months and seeing my body lacking in strength it once had. And so I modified appropriately by lowering my knees for each plank pushup. I don't know at what point I stopped lowering my knees, but somewhere along the course of this summer in the conglomeration of teaching, personal practice, and class attendance, my arms mustered up enough strength to lower me down through a regular plank. And tonight as I strongly lowered through a plank (or two, or three, or four ... I think I did 24 unmodified planks today) I realized that a transformation had unknowingly taken place in my biceps (awh yeah!). Consistent practice has some pretty thrilling results.
Similarly, a few weeks ago my nephew Caleb had an interest in learning how to do a headstand. He was having trouble getting up (his core strength needed a little work), so I taught him how to do a yoga handstand using the corner of the wall.
From there he tried on his own, surrounded by lots of pillows for support.
He took the headstand home and practiced over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. A week(ish) later he came back to me having improved his headstand, being able to sustain it for a couple of seconds.
He continued to practice working into his headstand and sustaining it over the next week or so, showing me his latest improvement every time I saw him. And tonight in our kids' yoga class he moved himself into his headstand and sustained it longer than I've ever seen him do before. His core is being strengthened through regular practice. His balance is also improving. What was unattainable to him just several weeks ago is now a pose that comes with great ease.
What often seems far off or even impossible in our yoga practice is actually often not far off. The power of a regular yoga practice is that through a sustained and consistent practice changes come about at all levels of our being (physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc.). So if at first you don't succeed, don't sweat it. Just keep at it, and your success will unfold before you.
http://www.gobodhiyoga.com/
It dawned on me tonight while lowering through a plank (pushup) that I COULD ACTUALLY slowly lower down correctly. This was cause for a small celebration (in my mind) because when I began my yoga teacher training on June 18 I COULD NOT lower through a plank slowly. I simply dropped to the floor quickly because my arm strength was pretty pathetic. I remember feeling a little discouraged at the time, recognizing the effects of not having practiced yoga for several months and seeing my body lacking in strength it once had. And so I modified appropriately by lowering my knees for each plank pushup. I don't know at what point I stopped lowering my knees, but somewhere along the course of this summer in the conglomeration of teaching, personal practice, and class attendance, my arms mustered up enough strength to lower me down through a regular plank. And tonight as I strongly lowered through a plank (or two, or three, or four ... I think I did 24 unmodified planks today) I realized that a transformation had unknowingly taken place in my biceps (awh yeah!). Consistent practice has some pretty thrilling results.
Similarly, a few weeks ago my nephew Caleb had an interest in learning how to do a headstand. He was having trouble getting up (his core strength needed a little work), so I taught him how to do a yoga handstand using the corner of the wall.
From there he tried on his own, surrounded by lots of pillows for support.
He took the headstand home and practiced over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. A week(ish) later he came back to me having improved his headstand, being able to sustain it for a couple of seconds.
He continued to practice working into his headstand and sustaining it over the next week or so, showing me his latest improvement every time I saw him. And tonight in our kids' yoga class he moved himself into his headstand and sustained it longer than I've ever seen him do before. His core is being strengthened through regular practice. His balance is also improving. What was unattainable to him just several weeks ago is now a pose that comes with great ease.
What often seems far off or even impossible in our yoga practice is actually often not far off. The power of a regular yoga practice is that through a sustained and consistent practice changes come about at all levels of our being (physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc.). So if at first you don't succeed, don't sweat it. Just keep at it, and your success will unfold before you.
http://www.gobodhiyoga.com/
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