Living Yoga

If you take a yoga class there’s a good chance you’ll hear the word “prana.”  The definition for prana on Wikipedia is: a Sanskrit word that refers to a vital, life-sustaining force of living beings and vital energy in natural processes of the universe.

My take is that prana, also sometimes called Chi or Qi, is your life force, life energy, which on some days is good and flowing freely, and on other days low and blocked (if you’re ill for example).  Now I’ve never been to sure what I believe in terms of prana as I think everyone must have their own personal interpretation of it.

The breath exercises, or pranayama as it’s called in Sanskrit, according to Wikipedia are “used to control the movement of these vital energies within the body, which is said to lead to an increase in vitality in the practitioner.”  Most of my students certainly have reported feeling more vital after breath exercises and I do myself.  So is that prana?

After all my years of practicing yoga, I’m still not sure myself.  I think it’s best to go with your own personal idea about it, like many aspects of a yoga practice. Because it’s so personal, I choose not to talk about it when I teach yoga classes, the same way that one would choose not to talk about God at the office meeting.

But hey, that’s what blogs are for!

A former ballet dancer took my yoga class last week and asked me why she can’t feel any stretch in the poses. “Uh…because you’re already crazy flexible,” I responded.

I used to think that naturally flexible people had it made in yoga class. I mean, to be able to grab your foot behind your head in a standing balance is the purpose of taking class, right? Well, if you’re not flexible then I guess it is, but naturally flexible people have a different purpose or goal in yoga class, building strength.

If you look around at the different body types in class almost always less flexible people tend to have more muscle mass than the super flexible type. Now I have met some exceptions to this, but nevertheless those with natural flexibility should focus on building their muscle strength in the stretches. For example, in a seated forward bend stretch folding over the legs, flexible people should flex their feet and engage their thigh muscles to build strength rather than think about getting the stretch in the backs of the legs because that probably won’t happen anyway. The same principle applies to downward dogs, wide leg forward bends, triangle pose, etc. Focusing on the strength building aspect will make yoga practice more challenging for the already naturally flexible yogini.

It’s kind of a relief to know nobody has it totally made in yoga class.

Thanks to http://www.bmsa.cz/powerjoga for the photo.

There are no such thing as girl push ups.  Summer is almost here, work out that upper body…

The word Namaste, traditionally spoken as a closing greeting in every yoga class, has many translations all amounting to generally the same thing, “That which is of the Divine in me greets that which is of the Divine in you.”

Some people hesitate to say it at the end of class because they think it only means something spiritual, but it is also translated as, “All that is best and highest in me greets/salutes all that is best and highest in you.”

Pick your own meaning and honor your instructor, student/client and your self for taking the time to practice.

Thanks to http://healing.about.com/od/prayersblessings1/ss/namaste_2.htm for the photo.

With all the pressures women have nowadays juggling careers, taking care of the home and family, let alone finding peaceful time to spend with a partner, it’s no mystery that infertility is a problem.  But with the expenses, stress and lack of results from traditional infertility treatments, more and more couples are turning to yoga for help.  Yoga Journal had a great article about yoga and fertility, click this link; and the book Yoga As Medicine has a chapter dedicated to increasing fertility.

Yoga helps women (and men too) bring energy (prana as it’s called in yoga) and openness into the hips and pelvic area through hip opening postures.  It also encourages awareness to the hips and pelvis in all postures, even in a simple, seated position or lying on the floor in savasana.

The biggest factor yoga plays in helping couples conceive is by reducing stress with breath awareness and meditation.  After all, the stress of trying to conceive in addition to every day life only makes matters worse.

So if you and your partner are adding to your family, yoga might just be what you need.  It might also be what you need when your little one is in the terrible twos, but I’ll save that for another post.

I’ve noticed lately the thing I hate most about being a blogger and a video podcaster is having to “market” myself.  As a yoga instructor teaching for a health club or as an actress getting hired for a project, somebody else is always in charge of promoting my product.  Well, for the most part anyway.  But when it comes to producing my own work and getting the word out, it’s all on me.  And that’s always been tough, even embarrassing, for me.

But it’s tough for most women as I’ve been finding out lately when the subject of self-marketing comes up with other female professionals.  That got me thinking why women have such a hard time with it.  Is it because we’re brought up not to toot our own horn?  Or is it because we worry people (both men and women) will think we’re conceited for bragging about our accomplishments?  Yes and yes for me.

So this year my mental mantra has been, “I don’t need anybody’s approval.”  This has helped me a lot with allowing my personal happiness not to rely on external circumstances I can’t control (which is approval from others).  Which is not to say that I don’t care about other people’s feelings, wants, needs but that as long as I’m living by my principles and focused on what is in my control, then I can be satisfied with my life.

Therefore, if you’re in a great mood, you look sexy, you got that promotion, raise, dream job you’ve been wanting all of your life, shout it out loud and proud!  You have my permission…not that you need it.

So the hot dog vendor makes the hot dog and gives it to the yogi and says, “That’ll be four dollars.” The yogi hands him a ten dollar bill and the vendor starts to walk away. The yogi yells, “Hey, where’s my change?” To which the vendor replies, “Change must come from within.”

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So, a yogi goes to a baseball game and sees the hot dog vendor in the stands. He calls the vendor over and asks for a hot dog, telling the vendor, “Make me one with everything.”

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Yoga police: “You have the right to remain silent!”

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Two men meet on the street.
One asks the other: “Hi, how are you?”
The other one replies: “I’m fine, thanks.”
“And how’s your son? Is he still unemployed?”
“Yes, he is. But he is meditating now.”
“Meditating? What’s that?”
“I don’t know. But it’s better than sitting around and doing nothing!”

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A student went to his meditation teacher and said, “My meditation is horrible! I feel so distracted, or my legs ache, or I’m constantly falling asleep. It’s just horrible!”

“It will pass,” the teacher said matter-of-factly.

A week later, the student came back to his teacher. “My meditation is wonderful! I feel so aware, so peaceful, so alive! It’s just wonderful!”

“It will pass,” the teacher replied matter-of-factly.

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**Thanks to swamij.com & cxsteven.blogspot.com for the jokes.

Get balanced breathing, nostrils and brain function with this calming breath exercise.

Recently I read about The Hugging Saint, Amma, and had to find out more about her.  She has a website, amma.org, that details her life, teachings, and humanitarian efforts.  Amma is known to embrace people one by one with such stamina that those who have seen her in person believe that that kind of energy must be some divine gift.  She has been known to hug over 50,000 people in a day for over 20 hours.  I thought I was in good shape with all my yoga, spinning and running but apparently I’ve got nothing on Amma!

Amma tours regularly and is now in North America over the next two months.  Check out her tour dates here http://www.amma.org/tours/amma-tours/n_america.html

Last week a friend told me she decided to finally take yoga after a long time off only to try a new studio and be groped by the male instructor throughout the whole class.  Now I’m only going by what she told me and how she felt.  This may not have been the instructor’s intention at all as yoga instructors have to make hands-on adjustments a lot of the time, but she was very uncomfortable and felt that it was too much and directed towards her.

Now I’m sure there are some yoga instructors that are taking advantage and others are not.  Either way, if you ever feel that you’re being inappropriately touched in a class, speak up.  Being a female, I myself feel somehow guilty about speaking my mind in situations, worrying what others will think of me, afraid to start any conflict when I can just silently walk away from the issue.  But doing that is a disservice to anyone else put in that situation.

By speaking up you’re saving others from going through the misery of being harassed in a yoga class which should be time dedicated to your health and peace of mind.  If you ever feel harassed please tell the manager of the studio, gym or health club and you can report the instructor to the Yoga Alliance at http://www.yogaalliance.org/

And if an instructor touches you in a way that makes you uncomfortable, you can always say, “I would rather not be adjusted, thank you.”