Posts Tagged yoga
“If yoga was easy, it would be called stretching”
Posted by fratellic in Asana, Life Happenings on February 22, 2012
One of my friends asked me the other day, “Do you ever worry about people coming to your yoga class, thinking it was too difficult, and then never coming back?” My first reaction was “no of course not, because I just assume that if they like my class then they will be back, and if they did not enjoy it then they would seek out another easier class.” But then I began thinking (oh yes, now all barriers disappear with great thoughts; can you smell my brain burning?)…Someone leaving my class with a feeling of difficulty goes far beyond someone not liking my class.
I am a teacher. I am a teacher of yoga. Most students do not come to my class to get a workout (or at least in my mind they don’t). I believe students come to my class because they are called consciously (or subconsciously) to face their lives and their yoga practice with deeper meaning; they seek me out to help guide them along their journey. Okay this may sound a bit egocentric but what I am meaning to get across is that not every teacher is for every student, so I encourage you to find that teacher that speaks to your heart. For example, the teacher that offers the gentlest form of yoga practice just may be your most difficult class, but the teacher that offers the easiest class may not be teaching you anything but a bunch of stretches. As my teacher, Gina Caputo, once said, “If yoga was easy, it would be called stretching.”
So NO, I do not ask my students to stretch in the yoga practices that I offer. I ask my students to reach; reach beyond all their wildest expectations. I ask them to call upon themselves to find their evolutionary edge, and then dive deeper then they had before. Are my classes easy? I hope that most of my students would say “no.”
During every practice, I ask my students to go beyond their physical beings into their energetic selves; this is not an easy task. Sometimes during this journey inward, we discover and uncover things that we never knew lived beneath our skin. some of it may be great, and we gladly ride the pranic wave of excitement, and at other times we fight the fires of transformation, shutting down and closing ourselves up. The students who close down and shut themselves up are most often those students who leave thinking they are not going to return to my class. But I have confidence that when they are ready, these students will return, and they often return with a gusto in their hearts. They are stronger than they know, and when they find their edge; I think for them the taste of embodiment becomes so much sweeter.
So I would recommend not finding the easiest yoga class in which to practice, but find the yoga class that pushes your evolutionary edge and takes you to those places and spaces that you never knew resided inside.
~ Blessings on your journey ~
Un-defining Myself
Posted by fratellic in Meditation, Philosophy on February 1, 2012
Last week, I asked my students to ponder the question: “Who am I?” I asked them to dive beyond the obvious, beyond their names or the names of the cities where they reside or the states they originally came from, into the layers beneath the surface of their identities. Of course I didn’t want them to answer me verbally, but I wanted to give them the opportunity to reflect on themselves.
What happened for me was much more unexpected…
I never give my students information or a reflection that I would not also take seriously, so I too have been reflecting on the question: “Who am I?” What I found myself doing was listing paths to an end, such as scientist, school teacher, yoga teacher, mother, and wife. First, I got frustrated with my inability to dive deeper when I asked myself: “Who am I?” But then I realized that I needed to figure out why I could not release my mind from these “positions” of myself. What I decided was that I have been defining myself by what society dictates as acceptable social practice. For example, when you meet someone new at a party of many unfamiliar people what is usually the first question you engage someone with? Hmm…could it be “what do you do for a living?” (I can see you all nodding in agreement right now, maybe even picturing yourself in this situation.) Knowing this, I finally figured out why I kept answering my own question of who I was with career positions, like scientist, teacher, etc; it was because in social settings everyone defines themselves by what they do, not who they actually are!
Okay, let’s put the ego aside for a moment, and dive beneath the layers. Who are you…as a person, deep inside your soul? Can you be more than what society dictates (or judges) you should be? This contemplation is NOT about what society says you should be, but actually who you are?
I sat for periods of time thinking to myself who am I underneath all these layers of skin and bones, I searched my soul to define myself. I am not a scientist, but I am a living breathing soul that is curious about the world in which I live. I like to ask questions like “why” and “how.” I am not a school teacher; rather I am empathetic to those people needing help. I am not a yoga teacher; instead I find myself part of a collective of minds who likes to search deeper into our beings where not even philosophy can satisfy its own desires. I am not a wife or a mother; rather I am someone who can fall ever so deeply in love with the creation of life.
Instead of defining myself by asking “Who am I?,”
I unraveled the mysteries of what is means to BE – my un-defining self.
Take Flight!
This year is off to a running start, but many of you who know me also know that running is not my forte. So instead of running, I chose to take flight. Just as the wind may be whipping through your hair as you jog the Boulder Creek path, I sense the wind as I rise up into Bakasana, or Crow Pose. As if I am growing wings, I find the grace and strength to rise and fly.
For some novice yoga students, Bakasana may be the first arm balance they learn. But for those of you not willing to venture (just yet) into a yoga class, how can you practice Bakasana safely? The following steps guide you through Bakasana, but before you begin to fly remember to check with your doctor before beginning any physical exercise!
How to Fly…
1.) Place your feet a few inches apart, and lean the torso forward, between your inner thighs. Place your hands on the floor. Separate your knees wider than your hips.
2.) Bend your elbows slightly and begin to snuggle your shins into your armpits. Lift up onto the balls of your feet and lean forward even more, taking the weight of your torso onto the backs of the upper arms. (HINT: in Bakasana you consciously engage the core muscles. In yoga, we call this Udyana Banda; lifting the navel in and up toward the spine).
3.) As you exhale, lean forward even more onto the backs of your upper arms, to the point where the balls of your feet leave the floor. Now your torso and legs are balanced on the backs of your upper arms. As a beginner at this pose, you might want to stop here, perched securely on the bent arms. (HINT: remember to keep the head slightly lifted with the gaze 3-4 inches toward the front of your mat). For more intermediate and advanced students, begin to lengthen through the arms.
4.) Challenge: Can you remain in this pose for 3-5 yogic breaths?
5.) How the heck do I get down without crashing? To release, exhale and slowly shift your weight back in order to lower your feet to the floor. Remember gracefully exiting the pose is just as important as mindfully entering the pose!
