Thrown Out of the Nest

Last week, I was at the studio helping with adjustments in the Mysore room.  Actually, I'm not sure I would say I was "helping" so much as "absorbing".   Absorbing like a porous open sponge.   There was a moment, as I learned different alignment rules, new ways of moving bodies, and how to support deep openings in the students that I felt overwhelmed.   I thought, "I feel like I've been thrown out of the nest".  It was a moment of realization, not that I needed to abandon all I had learned, but that I needed to be open to learning more.  That if I attached to the idea that I knew all there was to know already, I couldn't approach this new  information with openness and willingness.  Having a comfortable base level of knowledge and sense of pride in my teaching ability, I was required to be humble and not attached to what I "know" as I accepted the new information being offered.

Practice is the same.  We can get awfully comfortable with a practice that feels good, that doesn't challenge us to move into spaces that bring up discomfort or feelings of being weak, inexperienced or not knowledgeable about our practice.   In our comfort, we begin to feel ease and at times pride in our practice. When we get on the mat, even in a class setting, we work with the things that make us feel good and back away from the things that challenge us.   The nest is very comfortable, predictable and safe.

Each time we come to the mat, we need to approach our practice with "beginner's mind".  Cultivating a sense of newness and freshness with each breath.  We need to be willing to come to the practice as a bird being thrown out of the nest.   Today's practice won't be yesterday's practice or tomorrow's.  If we think of our progression as linear, we will begin to cultivate patterns of movement and thought that will pull us back into the comfort zone.  Our teachers, like a bird's mother,  are supporting our practice, encouraging growth and insisting we move into the spaces we may feel uncomfortable moving into.    Listening to their guidance, and trusting them will create a new safe space to begin to explore our practice more deeply.

Deepening a posture does not mean making it harder, or even expressing a more complex variation on a posture.  It means having a more cohesive approach to the concept of equanimity on the mat.   We feel less effort as we open ourselves up to discomfort and let the breath carry us through the posture.

Finally, as we end our practice we take rest.  We find stillness in savasana, allowing our bodymind to integrate the practice.   When we practice savasana, corpse pose, we die.   We've practiced and cultivated new patterns, and moved into some new spaces and then we detach.  Our body has memory of practice, but the ego mind lets go.   When we return to the mat, we return reborn and open to what will come.  Our body will flow with a sense of familiarity but our mind needs to feel fresh and new like this is the first time we've ever come to the mat.   This is the practice.

"Abhyasa-vaiagryabhyam tan- nirodahah"

Continuous endeavor and non-attachment are both required to constrain mentality.  Patanjali Yoga Sutras Samadhi-pada (12)

Community Center Yoga, 30 Day Yoga Challenge, Open House

Tomorrow night we kick off another session of yoga in the Argyle Park Community center.  The vinyasa flow class starts at 8pm January 21,2014.  We run for a total of 10 weeks and the cost is $50 plus your community membership.  This is an introductory class but it would be great if you had some previous yoga experience prior to joining.  The class is open to anyone, provided you have a community membership for the community you reside in.  You may register tomorrow night if you have not already.  The community center is located next to Dr. Hanna school in Argyle Park, north Regina.

The Level 1 and Continuing classes will begin on February 3rd.  Level 1 is an introduction to yoga and is good for anyone interested in checking out a yoga practice.  This class starts at 6:30pm and is $60 for a 10 week session.   Continuing students (anyone who has completed level 1 and is looking to deepen their practice a bit) can join the 8pm class.  Same cost.  You may also sign up for these on the 3rd, perhaps considering arriving about 15 minutes early to give yourself time to register.  

Community Center yoga is a great way to practice.  The costs are reasonable and the students are always supportive, kind and generous in their sharing of practice.  I look forward to teaching the Argyle Park students every week - we've got some dedicated yogis up here in the North End!

If you are thinking about a studio practice, come down to Yoga Mala on Saturday for the Open House.  There will be 2 free classes on that day (Astanga Basics and Sattva Basics, see online scheduler for time and to register), and an opportunity to tour the studio and meet all the great people who work there.   The open house is come and go between 9am and 12pm, and there is a great sale on new student 1 month passes.  Regularly $40, the passes will be $35 on Saturday.  An unlimited pass is a great way to dive head first into yoga.  It'll give you an opportunity to explore all the different styles of yoga, and you will begin to discover just how life changing a dedicated practice can be.

And, if you are feeling really bold, why not join me in Yoga Mala's 30 Day Challenge.   30 in studio practice in 30 days ( you can double up if you miss a day).  This will transform your practice, only good things can happen if you dedicate yourself to your practice in this way.   Day 1 was today, so it's not too late to join!  I will be posting photos daily on my instagram account @suryayogaregina featuring a posture from the practice I did that day.  Follow me on Instagram, and post your #30days30practices photos with me!  I'd love to see your growth over the course of the month.

The time is now!  The Regina Yoga community is getting stronger, bolder, and more diverse than ever.  Exciting stuff!

Namaste!

Desk job? Here's some help for you.

This morning I had the pleasure of joining Heather Anderson on Global Morning News for a new yoga series.  We have planned for 4 interviews, spaced 2 weeks apart.  Today's segment was about how to prevent back pain for those who work in desk jobs.

Before embarking on any preventative therapy, please consult your doctor, especially if you are experiencing any back pain.


Sitting Down

Notice how you sit down.  Most often, we sit down with a tucked pelvis, curving the tailbone under us resulting in flexion through the low back.  Sitting this way encourages poor posture habits, puts strain on the low back and will create shortened hamstring muscles.

Instead - try the Gokhale method of "stack sitting".




Hip Opener - Seated Pigeon

Desk jobs can create tightness in the hips, which, over time can contribute to back pain.   One of my favorite hip stretches is a seated pigeon.   This can be done sitting in any chair.  First, sit down using the stack sitting method, then scoot forward to the edge of the chair.  Cross one ankle over the knee with the supporting foot grounding firmly on the floor.  Lift your tailbone to find a stretch, or begin to fold forward in order to find a greater stretch.  Hold for 5/10 breaths and move to the other side.

video of seated pigeon - yoga glo

Cat/Cow

We often practice cat/cow in class.  This is a great way to feel movement in the hips and along the spine.  It is also a great core strength exercise if you are maintaining core awareness throughout the movement.



Salabhasana - Locust Pose

The last posture we talked about was, salabhasana or locust pose.  Some people refer to this pose as "Superman".   This posture is a supine back bend, so it is nice to warm up with some shoulder stretching and lunges first.   For this pose, you would move to your belly and then engaging the muscles along the spine lift your head and chest away from the floor with the shoulders relaxing down the back.  Feel length in the back of your neck gazing down at a spot on the floor just forward of your mat.   If you are feeling good here, you can opt to lift the hands away from the floor.  I prefer to have my palms facing down allowing some strength to move into the triceps.   From here you may also lift your feet away from the floor watching not to over engage your glutes.   Pressing your pubic bone into the floor, and rolling the thighs in will create space in the low back and keep the glutes soft.   Lifting your belly away from the floor will engage abdominals and protect the spine.

If you have a desk job, it is important to make sure that you are aware of how your job is affecting your posture.  Take movement breaks as often as you are able - visit Yoga Mala on your lunch break or check to see if your office offers noon hour yoga classes.   You can also check into alternatives to the traditional seated desk such as a standing desk or a treadmill desk.   

My next visit to Global Morning news will be in two weeks (January 29th) when we will talk about downtime, relaxing and meditation.   

Some yoga classes you could try: 

Yin (Emma)

Yoga Mala 

Fridays 12:05pm

Basics (me)

Yoga Mala

Saturdays 2:00pm

Flow (Johanna)

Yoga Mala

Wednesdays 9:30am 

Come to Yoga Mala's open house on Saturday January 20th!  There are two free classes running on that day, and new student one month unlimited passes will be on sale for $35.  A great way to start a yoga practice or check out my new home studio.   I will be there that day to show you around.   

Namaste.  

Change

The first day of 2014 was also a new moon.  The new moon signifies new beginnings.  As I was bringing 2013 to a close, I was met with a big decision.    The new year was marking the 2 year anniversary of teaching at the studio in which I trained.  Unbelievably, it was also marking the 3 year anniversary of the start of my 16 month immersive teacher training at Bodhi Tree.    

But, as I drew close to these anniversaries there was a decision to be made - one that I had been playing around with for a few months in my head.   I had a very comfortable teaching practice at Bodhi, and felt blessed in sharing in it's wonderful student community.  I looked forward to work every day, and loved seeing the growth of my many loyal and dedicated students.   I also felt like it was time to move along, to meander along my path with a little less comfort - perhaps taking a chance at something new.   

Over the first two years of teaching, I tried very had to dive into learning as much as I could about teaching and conveying the essence of yoga to my students.   I wanted to facilitate them in finding a connection to their breath, themselves and their bodies.    As happens to many teachers, this process found me practising more and more with the intent of planning classes and less and less with the intent of furthering my own practice as a student.   I attended Intermediate classes whenever I could, but often fell short on my day to day fundamentals practice.  I tried to work on this at home, but still found I needed the eye of an experienced teacher to look at my body and teach me.   

When I went to Wanderlust, I felt ignited in my practice as I flowed with classrooms full of peers whose practice held me up and supported me as I touched upon many edges and humbling limitations in my body.   It was a call to return to the mat again.   Upon my return, my teaching ignited but I didn't head back into the classroom setting again for a couple of months.  

Inspired by how the Sattva practice felt in my body at Wanderlust, I ventured into Yoga Mala one day to chat to the studio owner Emma, who encouraged me to come practice.  I was in class the next day for an astanga elements class that brought me right to my edge.  I continued practising at Yoga Mala, finding my groove in the Sattva, flow and yin programs.  I kept going to astanga elements classes - loving how it was making me feel strong, grounded, and challenged by my practice in more than just a physical sense even though I still hold a strong mental resistance to the discipline of the astanga lineage.   (Sometimes what we resist, we need most!) 

Emma planted the seed that she was growing her flow program, and invited me to join her studio as a flow teacher.   In discussing flow with Emma we recognized we were on the same page when describing how flow fits into the yoga paradigm.   I spoke about how I focus on the space between poses, movement with breath and how I want students to feel fluidity, grace and strength in their body as they mindfully move through transitions and postures.  It seemed like a great match for my growth as a flow teacher.  

I finally made the difficult decision to embark on 2014 with a big change, a big opportunity for growth and a determined dedication to commit to my own practice as a yoga student.   I'm beginning to rediscover my love for being on the mat as a student.   I've become keenly aware of my own practice, and as teachers we know that we must first and foremost be students of yoga.   

I'm looking forward to growing with the Yoga Mala community - something that truly does excite my spirit.   Of course, I will miss my Bodhi teachers, colleagues and students, but I know I will see them around the community and hopefully as a familiar face in a class once in a while.  The yoga community in Regina is just beginning to flourish and take hold, I'm so excited to be part of this growing vibrant movement in the Queen City.  I'm so grateful for every part of this journey so far, I can hardly wait to see what the future holds going forward.   '

One breath at a time.  

Here is my January schedule at Yoga Mala for those interested in stopping by for a class.   Take advantage of the $40 new student rate, unlimited yoga for one month for new students.  I found this pass to be a great way to kick start a dedicated practice plus check out the wide range of yoga programs offered at the studio. 

Mondays 9:30am Flow

Saturdays 2:00pm Basics  

Others for the month of January:

Friday January 10 6:00 Flow

Saturday January 11 3:30 Flow

Sunday January 12 3:00 Flow

Friday January 17 6:00 Flow

Friday January 24 6:00 Flow 

If you would like to receive my newsletter regarding future classes, schedules, upcoming workshops and other random interesting news, please click the link in the side bar to sign up.   

Namaste