Living Yoga

I love the internet nowadays.  Anybody that has anything to say can have their own show.  Which was exactly what I did with my own yoga and exercise podcast.  Some people think that it’s a bad thing.  That not just any regular Jane without credentials should be able to broadcast themselves all over the world, but I think it’s a wonderful way to discover new things as a viewer and podcast creator.  Besides, when even Oprah is on You Tube, you know that podcasting is not going to go away any time soon so why not get in on the action, too?

If you have a passion whether it’s yoga, fashion, make up, a particular TV show, politics, you probably love to talk about it, so talk about it on a podcast!  If you’re shy about being on camera, do a voice only podcast.  If you love to ham it up on camera, do video.  Everyone wants a little information on the go and your knowledge can add a little special something to a commuter’s subway ride or leisure time with iTunes.

All you need is:
- A computer w/video editing or voice recording/editing software.
- A camcorder or webcam for video.
- A show hosting site like iTunes, Blip.tv, You Tube, Metacafe, and countless others.
- And…wait, that’s it.

Other Tips:
-Your show subject should be something you’re truly passionate about.
- Be consistent with your content and release dates.  If a new episode comes out on Thursday weekly, it should keep coming out on Thursdays.
- Use Tubemogul to distribute to many sites all at once for a larger audience.
- Have fun and smile (video and voice).
- Just do it.  Don’t wait for perfect, it won’t happen if you’re trying for perfect.  Pick up the camera, play, edit and release it.

Creating content for others to be inspired and entertained can be very rewarding and I encourage you to go for it.  I’ll be seeing you later on iTunes!

As I go through life and get older (ah, but wiser and sexier ☺) I notice that my life is a constant balancing act with my priorities changing through all of my ups and downs. Much like a yoga practice being divided into sun salutes, standing postures, balances, twists, stretches, relaxation, my life can be divided into sections such as: work, relationships, family, friends, exercise, me time, fun, giving back, etc. Work can be broken down into: fitness classes, acting, promotional modeling, podcast, blogging, business ventures, etc, as the other categories can be broken down as well.

At any given time one section can really take over. For example, when I first began making Get Exercised videos I was so absorbed in that my other priorities shrank. If I begin a new romantic relationship, that can take priority and everything else…well, you know how that can go. And it usually isn’t a good thing.

When one category or section takes too much mental and physical time out of you, life becomes unbalanced and you start to “need” that job, relationship, family member, hobby, whatever it is. We’ve all done it. It can be as simple as going to the gym obsessively or it can take form as dependence on a drug. Either way it is a dependence that is destructive to your overall happiness. Of course, if we get fired or that relationship ends, it is devastating to our whole being.

So make sure that you’re contributing your time and energy into all areas of your life. I suggest making a chart or a Mind Map to write out which areas you’d like to include as part of your balanced life. For each area, write out how you plan to give to that part of your life and check back with your chart/map regularly to make sure you’re making progress and to make any changes or add new categories.

Happy balancing!

P. S. I do Mind Maps every few months or so and have found them to be very helpful in writing out my goals. Check out the link for more info.

You know I love to read self-help books and my current subway read is Feel the Fear…and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers. Classic books like this apply to any area of life whether it’s career, money, relationships or…yoga!

This morning I was reading the chapter that talks about going out of your comfort zone by expanding your experiences.  Jeffers says that any time you do something to venture out of this comfort zone you will experience fear but the only way to get over that fear is by doing it.  Soon your fears become your new comfort zones and it’s time to tackle new fears and create new zones.

With this in mind I decided that when I practice yoga every day I’m going to throw in a pose I don’t like.  I can continue to keep working with that pose but once I become too comfortable there I have to throw in something else uncomfortable.

To keep your yoga practice interesting and your body fit, I highly recommend adding in exercises, stretches or even different types of group fitness classes into your routine.  It will keep you, body and mind, on your toes.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Time to tone up your outer abdominal muscles with the three-part exercise.

A few months back I posted a blog about sexual harassment from instructors in yoga classes (http://twoliablog.com/living-yoga/2008/06/03/felt-up-in-yoga/) and I feel the need to mention it again. Inappropriate touching by a yoga instructor is NOT okay. Ever.

In the last post I mentioned a friend of mine who went to a new yoga studio in NYC that got felt up quite a bit by the male instructor beyond the normal adjustments that instructors usually make on students. She never went back to that studio but last week I was chatting with a former male client of mine that now goes to that studio and I told him what my friend said happened to her. He replied, “Oh my God! I can’t believe what that guy gets away with all the time! In every class he’s touching the women, he even puts his hands right under their breasts.” This is NOT okay.

When even my male friend is appalled at this guy’s behavior, there is NO question that it was sexual in nature.  Not that you have to wait for a man to agree.  Ladies, if any touching or adjustments makes you feel uncomfortable, please speak up and tell him firmly and directly, “Don’t touch me.” If he thinks you’re a bitch, even better. He’ll probably respect you for it and he certainly will think twice about doing it again to you or someone else. And then report it to the manager/owner of the studio. If he is the owner of the studio (which is very often the case) report him and the studio to the Yoga Alliance. Most importantly, don’t give him or the studio your business again and let them know why.

A yoga class is not the time nor place to be touched intimately and a stranger is not a person that should be allowed to do it. I don’t care if the instructor is Sawyer from “Lost.” That is NOT okay. Ever.

The best part about teaching yoga (or anything) is that when you try to form words to explain to other people how to do something you naturally just love to do, epiphanies will appear seemingly out of nowhere. It can make you look really smart in front of other people, too.

This week, and I don’t know why, I discovered that by lengthening my lower back in back bends (as opposed to bending it) it actually deepens the back bend. What? It sounds contradictory, right? Take a look at this picture of me in Camel Pose…

My lower back is naturally very bendable and it doing most of the work in this pose compared to my upper back, which looks comparatively flat. What I now realize is that if I work to lengthen my lower back instead by tucking my butt or tailbone under and making space between my seat and my rib cage, it frees up my upper back by giving it space and more room to back bend.

Try it in any back bend that you can think of. Bridge, Wheel, Upward Dog to name a few. Whenever you focus on making more space in your lower back by tucking your butt under a little, your upper back will free up to go deeper into the pose.

Have fun with them, let your back bends flow…and epiphanies cometh forth!

Recently a friend asked me what my favorite yoga asanas (postures) are.  That’s a very interesting question because my favorite poses keep changing as much as the rest of my life changes.  My body changes along with my mind, my attitudes and my accomplishments.  Poses that I abhorred when I first began practicing yoga I now love.  Keep this is mind the next time you’re holding an extended side angle with a bind for eight slow breaths. ☺

In the past year and a half back bends started feeling good to me (oh I used to hate them so much) and in the last six months I really start enjoying forward bends as well.  Currently my favorite poses are:

Downward Facing Dog

This was my least favorite pose for about five years.  Now my back and my legs absolutely crave a down dog every day.

Camel Pose

Again, used to hate it.  Now I love it.  It’s still very challenging but feels liberating to come into it.

Seated (also Standing) Forward Bend with feet together or wide

I used to be so inflexible that sitting like this was tough but once I began to embrace it as a back stretch as well as a leg stretch, it began to feel delicious.

Wheel Pose

Admittedly, I still don’t enjoy holding this for an extended period of time but much like Camel Pose, it is thrilling to be able to pop up into this one.

So keep in mind that your favorite poses will change with time as your body and mind change.  After all, change is what keeps yoga and life fun.

Another weekend is here and I thought I’d leave you with another sutra from Nischala Joy Devi’s The Secret Power of Yoga, a feminine interpretation and guide to the ancient yoga sutras.

Today the sutra that popped out at me was at the very beginning in Book 1, number 1.  It says,

“With humility (an open heart and mind), we embrace the sacred study of yoga.”

This is such a beautiful reminder for me because the attitude of humility applies to my yoga practice, meditation practice, producing my podcast, teaching, acting, family, relationships, getting chores done or anything I do in life.  It reminds me (and boy do I need reminders about this) that my ideals and expectations about anything I do are just that…ideals.  It’s okay for me to only practice five minutes of sun salutations and skip a headstand.  It’s okay if one of my yoga classes wasn’t flowing as smoothly as the one yesterday.  It’s okay if loved ones get angry with me.

Life, like yoga practice, isn’t always going to go as planned but we can always be present in it by embracing it with humility.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Two simple steps to help make jump backs with ease…

Unlike Warriors One & Two, Warrior Three is a standing balance on one leg.  Unlike the grounded comfort of being planted on the mat for One & Two, Warrior Three invites you to be a little bit daring.  So be daring and don’t hold back.

This biggest mistake I see beginner yogis make in my classes in a Warrior Three is holding back by not going forward enough.  This is one of those poses that I say is 75% mental because you don’t have to be especially strong or flexible to do it, but confidence and trust in yourself is essential.

To come into this pose: start in a lunge position and shift your weight over to the front leg as you lift the back leg up.  As you lean into it to get your back parallel to the floor, really extend through the back leg and foot as if you’re stepping on an imaginary wall behind you.  If you’re afraid of falling forward, don’t worry!  The worst that can happen is that you’ll put your hands on the floor out in front of you to stop that from happening.

For a detailed description of the pose and some helpful tips, check out this article from YogaJournal.com and see their photo below.