Friday, January 27, 2012

New Year's Yoga Inspirations - Holly Meyers

2012 Intention: There is No "On" or "Off" the Mat

Life's ironies are entertaining, no?

At the beginning of each class, I invite students to set an intention for their practice. "This 'Sankalpa' is a positive reflection, affirmation or dedication that brings purpose to your time on the mat," I say. At the end of each class, I encourage students to live their Sankalpa in everyday life. "Make a gentle intention to carry this purpose off your mat and into the rest of your day."

As a DC-area Community Builder for nonprofit Off the Mat, Into the World, I use "yoga off the mat" terminology frequently. To be frank, however, I am not comfortable with the idea of dividing my yoga practice into two separate entities - "On" or "Off" the mat.

To me, yoga is life, and life is yoga.

It wasn't always this way. In the early 90s, my messy life was emotionally painful. Yoga was something I did to feel better. I didn't think about how the practice might affect me after class – much less how it might affect the world around me. My 1st style was Kundalini (funny thing - there are no mats in Kundalini yoga!). Although I may not have realized it then, our closing song planted a seed about yoga's potential beyond the room where I was practicing: “May the long-time sun shine upon you, all love surround you, and the pure light within you guide your way on.”

Around 1999, I started practicing Hatha yoga and the teacher's closing dedication said, "May our bodies and minds be healthy, may our thoughts be filled with love. May our practice be free of obstacles, and may we carry its benefits into the world." This same teacher talked about yoga’s Eight Limbs, which I understood as a process of growth from intention, through action, and to manifestation. That seed planted in the early 90s? It started to sprout conscientiousness about my responsibility to somehow share the gifts that I had so generously received from this healing practice.

In November 2008, I completed my Yoga Teacher Training at an Ashram, where for four weeks we were immersed in yoga – everything we did with our bodies, hearts and minds came from ancient origins. The trainers’ primary advice as we ran off into the wild blue yonder of teaching yoga? “Be a yogi.” And the seed grew into a tree whose cycle of life would organically nurture its own needs and nourish the earth from which it came.

At my very 1st teacher meeting at my very 1st yoga studio job, we were asked to introduce ourselves, describe our yoga style, and then say what we do "off the mat." In other words - what do we do in our non-yoga life? I was stumped. Because it’s all yoga – whether I’m practicing flexibility in a studio or with co-workers…whether I’m practicing balance in a pose or in planning my commitments…whether I’m practicing compassion for my own pain or for unhappy people around my neighborhood…or whether I’m practicing presence in my breathing or with a loved one.

So my 2012 yoga intention is to nourish the roots that stem from my early days of practice, and re-commit to living yoga day-in and day-out. No mat required.

Monday, January 23, 2012

New Year's Yoga Inspirations - Trisha Nakano

What does the New Year mean to you on and off the mat?

I have given up making resolutions. They tend to make me feel bad when I don’t stick to them. For me, the new year offers a time to re-calibrate, to come back to a deeper intention. It is a time for me to think about how I want to step forth into the new year.

A few months ago, I was working with a particularly ornery 3 year old. I asked him, “Do you want me to help you clean up the blocks or do you want to do it yourself?” “I want to do it myself!” “Awesome. Here’s the bag.”

With choice, brings empowerment. Recently, one of my mantras has been, “At any moment, I can choose to wake up.” I can choose to be grumpy or I can choose to laugh it off. I can choose to become obsessed with material wants or I can appreciate the many, many blessings in my life. In recognizing that at every moment I have a choice, I begin to understand that I am responsible for the life I create.

It so happens, that my birthday is the day after new years, so folded into my reflections of the past year is a recognition of the passage of time. Over the holidays I was at my parents’ house sorting through boxes and boxes of childhood memories. I found cards that read, “Wow! 17! We are getting so old” and “Wow! Can you believe we are 25?” I can bemoan the fact that I am no longer 17 or 25 or I can choose to relish my progression in my 30s. I can choose to love this life, or I can choose to reject who I am. It is all a choice.

The days when I could luxuriate in a 2-hour practice on my mat are a distant memory. Now, I gingerly sneak asanas in during naptime or while playing on the floor with a 1-year old crawling on, over and under me. I practice pranayama to calm my baby down and dharana when I focus on the overwhelming love I have for the tender soul in my arms. The two hour asana practices (and a full night's sleep) will re-enter my life at a later date. For now, I choose to embrace a multidimensional yoga practice and wake up to the beauty that is my life.

Sending many, many blessings to you this new year...

Thursday, January 19, 2012

New Year's Yoga Inspirations - Gracy Obuchowich

One of my favorite Buddhist sayings is "How you do anything is how you do everything." The idea of this is that the way we approach the smallest, seemingly-unimportant tasks of our life is a perfect way to look at our entire relationship to life itself. My yoga practice reinforces this by showing me that the way I approach my practice is the same way I am living my life.

On the positive side of this, I am really consistent in how I show up to my practice. Most weeks, I go to the same 2-3 classes and make sure that I get a little home practice in as well. In my life I also see this consistency. I've maintained amazing friendships for decades now and have many repeat clients in my professional life. I can see that I also take myself out of a pose when I feel too much strain or any kind of pain. I am happy to rest in child's pose until the moment when I am ready to rejoin the class. Similarly, I am good at giving myself rest when I see the tell-tale signs of stress in my life (racing thoughts, short breath, sensitive emotions). I've found that the retreat of a hot bath or an hour of my favorite Netflix series (I am watching Felicity again right now--it's just as amazing as it was when I was in high school) does wonders to relax me so I can interact with the world again.

However, I can also see how easy it is for me to slip into my ego while I am on the mat, just as in the rest of my life. I can have a hard time accepting adjustments from other instructors, thinking that because I am also a teacher, I really know best. As much as I don't like to admit it, this is also indicative of my personality. After working in two different non-profits, I saw how much I struggled with being managed. It forced me to make a big change and now I've worked for myself for more than three years. Although I've love my work and schedule, I can also look deeper and see that some of this independence could have been born out of a fear of being wrong and the shakiness of not knowing.

I've been aware of this for a while now which has helped me to be much better at acknowledging my triggers. I breathe through these vrittis (fluctuations of the mind) as they arise on the mat and then choose to lovingly accept the feedback in the spirit it was offered, because there are a lot of awesome teachers who know things that I don't and that is okay. As a result my practice continues to deepen and I can see this reverberate off the mat as well. Last year I planned a yoga retreat to Costa Rica with another friend which involved lots of collaboration and feedback and I found myself being loving the experience of connection and growth.

How does your practice relate to the rest of your life? Do you compare yourself to others? Do you come out of a pose as soon as you start to feel uncomfortable or push your self past exhaustion? If you look deeply, your whole life will be there. Decide what works for you and what you would like to change. Your mat will help you listen to the wonderful teacher within.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

New Year's Yoga Inspirations - Bonnie Foote

My winter practice steals in on me. The frozen trees outside the window pull my gaze in and preach silence. My morning energy practice becomes just sitting, just breathing, just letting the shoulders fall. Just letting the energy fully settle in my heart takes an hour and is completely absorbing.

I tried a stillness practice over Thanksgiving, for the second time, just me, my cat and 48 hours of Savasana. It’s not boring. The thoughts swirl and swirl and swirl, like snowflakes (remember snowflakes?), and you learn how much you can sleep, which is a lot. Then just as the thoughts start to settle the last hour comes from nowhere with a gold light that slams you to the ground you were already lying on, arms splayed and totally happy, like a silly carpet angel. After that I didn’t practice for a while; my body really liked being still.

Coming back to the practice after more stillness is embarrassingly revelatory. It should have been obvious to begin with: when I’m steady, when I can let go, when I’m not tight and shaky from my day, my poses go further. So that’s what I’ve been working on: not building up the tension in the first place... taking my time, not overstuffing the day, letting the transitions and the travel take as long as the transitions and the travel need to take, maybe longer. I think of Thich Nhat Hanh, who enjoys getting to airports early and waiting, and try to emulate him. This doesn’t always work. I think the Metro god thinks it’s funny. Sorry, Saturday’s Intermediates... When I remember, I attend to the pauses between poses. I try to speak calmly and try not to beat myself up when I don’t--as still happens every time I teach a standing sequence. You can notice this in class, but promise to take pity! I think I will be working on all this for a very, very, very long time.But also, other things will come in. A few bulbs are sprouting, to tell us so. It’s going to be an interesting year, decade, century. I’m looking forward to spending 2012 with you all. Please feel free to remind me, sometimes, as things get more and more intriguing, to be still!

Lots of love, Bonnie

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

New Year's Yoga Inspirations - AmyDara Hochberg

New Year's Yoga Inspirations #1
by AmyDara Hochberg

What does the New Year mean to you, on and off the mat? Do you perceive a year as linear or cyclic? Do you replace the previous year's calendar with days filled with events and milestones, with a new one whose blank days glow with hope and anticipation?


Do you perceive your yoga practice as linear or cyclic? Does chanting OM at the end bring your practice to full circle? Or do you perceive your practice as starting with centering and ending with savasana? Is your practice an ongoing journey, or do you wonder why your hips feel tighter than the last time you were on the mat, or are you wishing that you could already attain that elusive asana?


Can you let go of the past and the future, and focus on your breath in the present moment? Notice how deeply you can inhale, and how slowly you can exhale. Notice the small sensations in your body's movements following the breath. Notice where you feel the breath in each asana. In savasana, observe the softness of your slow, deep breath while your body absorbs the effects of asana practice.


What is your typical day like? Do you start off with a stretch and a big yawn, gauging the temperature and the light beaming through the window? Or do you blast out from under the covers into the shower, throw your clothes on, and rush to your tasks? Likewise, how do you approach bedtime? Do you have a ritual that acknowledges the conclusion of your day?

Listen to your body, your mind, and your heart. The answer lies within you.


Approach life off the mat the way you would like to approach your yoga practice on the mat. Try small changes. Light a candle or burn incense in the bathroom during your shower. Or turn all electronics off and sit with a hot cup of tea, and think of ten things that you're grateful about your day. You will discover that, no matter how frustrating your day was, it went better than you thought.