Sunday Yoga!

I can't wait to get on my mat later today.  My legs are exhausted (instead of going to the gym yesterday, I got my exercise by speed-walking about 4 1/2 miles in less than 40 minutes.), and the only two times I've been on my mat this week have been to lead other yoga students.  That's not to say that I mind teaching yoga - quite the contrary - it is so much fun to challenge my practice and my experience by thinking of interesting ways to make the poses flow.  I have a lot to work on in terms of finding the right language to give direction, but it is a welcome challenge, and practicing on my own at home enables me to put together a sequence and see if it "works".
The fact that I can do a home practice speaks volumes to me in terms of how far I've come in my yoga practice.  It used to be that I couldn't practice on my own at home.  I didn't have the patience to center myself and slow things down for a warm up.  I didn't know which sequence of poses to follow.  I didn't want to bother with a cool down or savasana.  This was troubling because I couldn't conceive of how to lead others on the mat if I couldn't lead myself.  It seems all that has changed...
I am looking forward to a warm up, knowing that I should focus on my legs because they are so tired.  I know I can work on a standing pose flow, and I have a new "Challenge Pose" to work on, courtesy of Kathryn Budig, and of course, there's the lovely pose above.  I'm confident that I can do some semblance of Budig's pose, but I'm not so sure I can do the pose above.  If it doesn't work, I will try it against the wall, and if that modification is successful, I'll have yet another pose in my arsenal to play around with!  Wait until my students get on their mats on Wednesday!

"Moksha, or 'Freedom', is the pinnacle of your yoga practice...  You want 'freedom from' and 'freedom to' " - John Friend

Take it to the Ropes!

Upon entering the Yoga Haven2 studio in Scarsdale, NY, you will undoubtedly notice the wall of ropes hanging from loops along one side of the studio.  Beginning yogis, unfamiliar with yoga, might feel a little apprehensive:  "Will they be tying me up to the wall in this class?"  On the other hand, those who are a little more familiar with yoga become intrigued by the possibility of practicing with the mythical "ropes".

Just one of many props invented by B.K.S. Iyengar to improve alignment and support your asana practice, the ropes can bring your practice to a fun, new level.  Anyone who has ever sat on a swing and enjoyed the almost weightlessness or swaying back and forth, being suspended from above can appreciate the fun you have when practicing yoga with ropes.  As soon as I saw YH2 was offering a "Ropes Workshop", I signed right up!

The workshop was led by Jill, who, in addition to being a well-established Iyengar teacher, was also the instructor for the History and Philosophy portion of our teacher training.  She is a serious student of Sanskrit, and quite skilled in chanting - at least far more skilled than I can ever hope to be - various mantras and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.  She is also rather well-known for being extremely precise in her instruction.  This is typical for Iyengar teachers (Erich Schiffman recounts being cuffed on the chin by Iyengar himself during practice for not keeping his chin precisely level during a pose), but for the yoga student who is less humble, this precision can be frustrating.

Jill began the workshop by reminding us to practice Ahimsa (non-violence/non-harming), Svadhyaya (self-study), and Tapas (discipline) while doing our work.  This was not a "yoga class", so there were no warm ups, no savasana, just 2 1/2 hours of perfecting postures, feeling the difference with ropes and without.  This was the chance to study our practice and notice how the ropes support our work in the postures, and perhaps encourage more perfect alignment.  We needed to know our limits and not work past our edge, avoiding injury (non-harming).  We also should approach the practice with discipline, at least giving everything a try, no matter how impossible or acrobatic it looks. (Who am I kidding? This was a level 2 class, and everyone in there was after the acrobatics!)

We were able to experience subtle variations on postures, and perhaps work smaller muscle groups that we might not normally have access to without the ropes.  For instance, in a simple Adho Mukha Svanasana, we push down equally with our palms and balls of our feet to lift our hips into the "inverted V" shape.  With these props, your hips are lifted by the ropes, so a different group of muscles in the upper arm are isolated and worked.  With regular ropes work, I can envision it making a real difference in the sculpting of the arm.  Trouble is, workshops like these don't come around often, and when they do, they are a little pricey ($45 would be hard to cough up every week).

By the end of the 2 1/2 hours, my hands were sore.  I had a touch of rope-burn, and complained a little, to which Jill replied, "Oh, well, you're building strength in your hands, and when you're 80, you'll be able to open that jar of pickles on your own."  I also had done some wacky iterations of Warrior 1, Warrior 2, Wheel, and even Childs Pose with the assistance of the ropes.  The proverbial jewel in the crown was the final posture of the session, an inversion:  We did Sirsasana (headstand) on the ropes.  This is the pose you can see in the photo above, with the students' legs in a diamond shape, the ropes suspending them upside down from the wall.  It was great!  After the long workshop, it felt like no time at all had passed, and despite working my muscles for 2 hours solid, I wasn't tired.  I felt limber, invigorated, and ready to go throughout the rest of my day with a feeling of lightness and strength.  I guess that's what happens when you get to fly a little from the ropes!

"Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you really are." - Jason Crandell

When is the best time to practice? (Part 2)

As alluded to in an earlier post (click here), yoga is not all about the Asana.  Yoga is a practice...something you do to connect with your inner self.  A yoga practice asks you to slow down and notice.  This is fairly difficult for many of us who are pre-programmed to be "busy" all the time.

Yes, I am one of those people who has a hard time just sitting.  There's always something to do, some chore to complete, some place to be, some person to assist with some task or another.  I find that yoga is good for me because it forces me to stop "doing" and just start "being"...but just sitting there will make me feel like I'm about to jump out of my skin, so the asana (moving my body into and out of specific postures) helps focus my attention on the present moment.  For someone who is somewhat proficient at multi-tasking, when I start moving on the mat, it requires my undivided attention to keep these ol' bones from falling.  I am forced to focus exclusively on balancing myself, moving gracefully, living solely in the present.  This is common with a lot of people, so it's worthwhile exploring when the best time is to practice ASANA.

You can "practice" yoga at any time, but depending on the time of day, you might need to make a decision about which type of Asana is best...but this of course, depends on your body, your mood, and your level of experience.  For example, upon waking, many people feel stiff and wouldn't even think about hopping right onto the mat for a sun salutation (or two).  Other people notice the stiffness, and think a few rounds of sun sals will work it right out and get the juices flowing.  The morning is a good time to slowly warm up - perhaps doing more warm-up poses than typical and gradually progressing to a few standing poses to build some strength for your day.  The afternoon, when most people are already well into their day, and energy levels are up, might be a good time for a more vigorous asana practice; something with more vinyasas and a little hopping and/or jumping (although I must say that an early morning practice never stops Kate from throwing some hops and jumps at us!).  The evening is when the majority of people are winding down for the day.  I know there are a few night owls out there, and they want a peppy pm practice to get their energy levels up for a long night, but I'm not one of those kinda birds!  An evening practice can be more restorative and gentle, with perhaps more of a cool down and longer savasana than is typical.

The take-away is that it really is up to you  - or should I say your body, because ultimately, the flesh and bones are what Asana is about.  It's important to honor the limitations (and requests!) of your body when choosing the type of yoga practice that best suits you.  If a practice is too vigorous for you in the middle of the day, your body will let you know - open your mind to listen to it.  If your limbs are up for more of a work out in the morning, go for it.  A yoga practice is about SO many things, including finding your edge, and know that there is no perfect time or place to do yoga, other than the present.

An Apprenticeship

When you want to become a classroom teacher, you quickly realize that it is a fairly involved process.  There's the History and Philosophy of Education, there's Best Practices with which you should become familiar, and there's even the "anatomy of a school" - how administration is organized within the district, the school, the department, and even down to your classroom.  There are also endless hours of observation that you undertake, carefully learning under the guidance of a "master teacher" - or at least one who, hopefully, has been teaching for a good number of years.  Finally, you enter your "student teaching" phase - one where the master teacher hands over the proverbial "reigns" to a class or two - allowing you to craft a lesson, execute it, and with the teacher's help, assess how everything went.

In the yoga teacher training program, we hit upon every bit of these aspects of a traditional classroom teacher training, except one.  We learned the history and philosophy of yoga, we learned to dissect the foundational postures of yoga, and we learned the anatomy of the human body.  We read, we practiced, and we observed.  We wrote up lessons, we demoed lessons, and we took tests.  What we didn't do was "student teach".  Is this a necessary component?  Perhaps it might be.

Student teaching is a valuable part of a classroom teacher's training.  It allows you to craft lessons and execute them, but if something isn't quite right or needs adjustment, your cooperating teacher is right there to help you out of a jam.  There might be situations that arise where you are unsure of protocol or how to handle them.  Having that experienced teacher there with you, as another pair of eyes, ears, and sometimes hands, can lend a security to your lesson delivery.  "Master" teachers know how to think on their feet, they know how to quickly shift gears and guide a lesson to meet the needs of their students - and this is something that is gained only with experience.

This ability to "read the room", "problem solve", and "go with the flow" can't be taught in a classroom - it is learned on the job, and it's so much easier to pick up when you're an "apprentice" rather than a newbie tossed into a situation.  For this reason, I think a "student teaching" of sorts might be a valuable part of a yoga teacher training, especially when you have such a varied background of experience, body-type, and ability in a yoga classroom.

Luckily, I've found a "seasoned", heck, I'll even say "Master" yoga teacher to apprentice under.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity - not because I'm too chicken to undertake my first yoga class on my own.  I'm honored that another teacher is willing to share her craft with me, letting me learn the subtleties and nuances of a class while she's there as "backup".  She can help me dissect my lessons and help direct them in a positive way, simply because she's likely seen it before and been in that situation.  Truthfully, I think apprenticing is a good way to gain positive teaching experiences and help me to become a better-rounded teacher.

So, for those of you who are local, I'll be beginning my Apprenticeship at Prasanthi Studio, 136 Fifth Avenue in Pelham this Saturday - teaching a Yoga Foundations: Beginner Series, from 11am to 12.  Hope to see you on this next part of my yoga teaching journey!

Namaste.