Live Your Yoga

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adho mukha svanasana

trikonasana

trikonasana

utthita tadasana

salute!

utthita tadasana

om namah shivaya

advadanta sirsasana

surrender

balasana

Here’s the thing. At least, it’s the thing for me. A yoga class that lasts about an hour and fifteen, generally feels like at least 3 hours for the teacher. Not in a bad way. It’s just the energy expenditure that goes into it. So after a day of teaching 2 or 3 classes, I am absolutely exhausted. On top of that, I also used to spend way too much time planning my classes. You know, this particular sequence for the warm up, this pranayama exercise, this reading. W2 to W1 to Parvrita Trikonasana… and on and on and on.

I don’t plan my classes anymore. I made a comment to my husband this morning while gathering my belongings for class and my daughter for school, that it was good that I didn’t plan my classes anymore, otherwise I wouldn’t have time for anything else. Yes, this was an exaggeration. And yes, I do still plan my classes occasionally. When I mentioned this to Niko this morning, and also asked if it was terrible that I didn’t, he made a good point: if I take the time to plan, and then my student base is completely different than the class I originally intended, well, what really is the point? That is the point.

When I was in teacher training, the instructor said this: There is the class you plan to teach, the class you actually teach, and then the class you wish you would have taught. God was she right.

This is something that you learn only by practice. When you’re fresh out of teacher training, you spend countless hours with your pen and paper, your notes, your mat. You work on perfecting your class design. It’s necessary. Eventually, you begin to figure out that even without the plan, everything will be alright.

So when I got to class this morning, intending to at least make some sort of standing practice sequence, in walked 2 new students. The first, with a recently broken wrist, in therapy, and having only practiced yoga by video and not for a number of years. The second (husband of first) had been to yoga classes about a decade ago, and had no admitted experience. He asked if it was necessary that he take his shoes off.

So here is where my husband’s point was proven. I had to throw everything out the window. Here was my vinyasa class, minus the downdog, updog, and absolutely everything that puts pressure on the wrists. As well as most of the flow in itself, as I was breaking down most of the poses to allow for complete comprehension. The class turned into a beginner’s foundation. It was fun, and a great lesson for me as a teacher.

My noon class turned out to be equally spontaneous. With only 2 students, and both regulars, it allowed for a nice environment of intimacy. On top of that, we spent the first ten minutes or so chatting and giggling, our own brand of yoga. I practiced through most of the class with them, and used my own body to guide our next move. That is the real vinyasa, right? Letting the breath guide the body into its perfect form.

So the day was a great reminder that, once again, everything will be okay. There is no reason to doubt, or panic, if you don’t have the perfect class plan mapped out with extensive detail… Chill. And let the flow begin.

Annoyed. Bothered. Quite honestly on the edge of absolute pissiness.

What brings me to these feelings of negativity, you ask? Oh yogini of gratitude?

Need I say more?

Daylight savings time.

I’ve been dreading it for weeks. Compiling this momentum of passionate frustration into imaginary letters to my government officials. Knowing that it was going to come, and at least for this time around, that I wasn’t going to be able to do a damn thing about it.

Last night I agreed to fill in a last minute class this morning. I agreed, forgetting that I’d be waking up an hour earlier, before the sun had even made his appearance. I wasn’t upset so much about the loss of that hour of sleep, I was upset that it was so unnecessary. I was upset because once again, some other force, that of the material, not natural world, is trying to undermine the beautiful and rhythmic flow of Mother Nature.

Why?! So we’ll have longer daylight hours. Well here’s the thing. We do not have more daylight. Just because you “take a foot off the top of the blanket and sew it to the bottom, doesn’t mean you have a longer blanket”. Just because you change our clocks, hoping that we’ll use that extra hour to go spend our money on unnecessary frivolities, or you think you’re “conserving” energy by allowing us to think it’s 8:00 when in fact it’s 7. Maybe we won’t turn on our lights until later? No. But we’ll leave them on just as long as we did before. Because our bodies are trying to listen to the cycles of the earth- not your damn regulatory control on our pocketbooks.

And thank you for taking away my precious morning sunrise, as I send my daughter off to school just past the break of dawn…

Stop.

Breathe.

When I got to the studio this morning I carried with me my frustration. Before my students arrived, I sat on my mat and took in my breath deep from my belly. I filled my heart with that breath and used it to relax my shoulders. I felt the sensations in my body and mind. I watched the motions of my thoughts as they bickered back and forth, between steadiness and chaos and allowed this all to happen without judgment. When my students arrived, they too were experiencing frustration, so we let ourselves express our feelings- and as a group agreed to allow our practice to melt away that tension and lift us up above and beyond the constraints of time.

By the end of class, we all felt much lighter.

So yes, my breath and my practice helped me move through the matter with more grace, but I am still frustrated with the system itself.

I understand that because I live and function in society, I have to follow the rules. I have to get my daughter to school on time, show up for work, and make my scheduled appointments. In order to do this, I need to let go and flow. While some people will feel like they’ve gained something by setting their clocks ahead, I feel like I’ve lost something…

And while some people might feel that I am overreacting or expressing too much rage on the subject, oh yogini of gratitude, I feel like I’m honoring my path and living my yoga. To hold back emotion, when it is not necessarily harmful to others, is to suppress the self. I am breathing. I am carrying on.

Kripalu yoga teaches brilliantly: Breathe, Relax, Feel, Watch, Allow.

I’ve decided to start focusing on themes in my classes. A new project, if you will. Inspired by my “Grace Cards” by Cheryl Richardson, I’m going to pick a card a week and focus on that specifically for all 6 classes, with slight variation of course.

For example, this week I pulled “Mindfulness”. I’ll present the term as a thought process and allow students to come up with their own idea of what it is for them. The cards have a passage on the back, but I think I’ll leave that out so that each student can access their own imagination.

And on the subject, I want to be more mindful of bringing those things I care most about back into my classes. Also those things that I am still learning. I cannot let my teaching get stagnant with the same ol’ class plan time after time. I have to continue to stay inspired as a teacher, and as a student.

Peace & love, y’all.

Potatoes. Yep. You read it right. Here's why:

The week before last, my husband took our dog on his regular morning run through beautiful Red Rock canyon. On this particular day he happened to trip and fall. Our dog, being that he didn’t want to be the cushion to the landing, ran on… dragging my husband behind.

When he got home I tried not to panic. He tends to injure himself often. (Tis true, honey) He was pretty banged up though. A nasty deep gash on the palm of his hand and a leg that had definitely seen better days. So we cleaned the wounds and pulled out the ole staples: tea tree oil and what we had left of Egyptian magic. Normally we use Tamanu oil for EVERYTHING, and because of this we were completely out, as was our local health food store. I don’t know if it would have made a difference or not having Tamanu. Probably not.

Anyway, that day and evening he was helping out a friend in Denver, handling a lot of cash and merchandise and exposing his hand wound to all sorts of invaders…

The next morning we were having coffee and we noticed the wound on his hand was tender and red with an obvious red line traveling up his arm from the wound. Definite red flag! I knew some folks that had blood poisoning and knew that it was nothing to mess with. Immediately we started him on LDM and did research online and in our many holistic and medical books. Everything we came across said EMERGENCY!!! We opted at first to go to our trusted local herbalist and get her opinion. Well no sooner did she look at his arm then she declared: get to the hospital NOW!

He was expecting an antibiotic shot given the seriousness of the issue and the fact that the first emergency clinic sent him to another because they didn’t have the shot. So he sat at the “Urgent” care facility, a division of the hospital for almost 2 hours before anyone addressed him with any information. By that time his hand had just been soaking in some sort of soapy water solution and his ‘patience’ was wearing very thin.

When it finally came down to it, it turned out they didn’t have the shot (after they’d already told us they did), and prescribed him pills instead. Have you read the side effects of these things?! We were so frustrated by the time we left. They didn’t come through with anything they said when we got there, including giving us a rough estimate of the bill… nope, we have to wait a good month or two to see our outrageous hospital bill for absolutely NO service.

He got a tetanus shot. Didn’t want it, but he did it anyway.

I filled the script on the way home. But we weren’t satisfied. Between the LDM and reiki, the line had started to fade. We wanted to give Mother Nature one more chance before we pumped him full of chemical antibiotics.

Now let me state: I am in no way suggesting you ignore your doctor’s orders for such a serious condition. I am simply relaying a personal experience.

We found a story online about potatoes. We thought, okay, let’s just try this. We’ll monitor his condition, and if any of the symptoms get worse, we will immediately take the antibiotic. So on to the health food store for some organic white potatoes. We peeled and then shredded some of the pulp, and made a poultice type application for his wound. He kept it on there for a few hours, covered with plastic, then we let it dry out for awhile and followed it with an Epsom salt soak, followed again by drying and then more potatoes. We did this continuously for a couple of days. By the end of that first night, the line had faded dramatically. He continued with the LDM and also took propolis, ate LOTS of garlic and drank lemon and cayenne water.

No antibiotics later, he is superb. Wound is healing wonderfully AND he didn’t get this NASTY cold/flu that I seem to have caught (probably from being in the hospital). It is still beating me for almost a week now. I am very sure though that the propolis, vitamin C, garlic and LDM kept him from getting sick. And they are definitely helping me, too. Just taking a bit longer than I’d like… ugh. We are happy, after the fact, that they didn’t have the shot.

It was funny. We are not doctor people. We always trust in Holistic medicine, but we are not opposed to using conventional methods when they are deemed necessary. What was funny was that we ended up using our Holistic arsenal anyway.

Jai! and Blessed are we to live in such a magical, bountiful Earth! Heres to health!

Hello dear friends whom happen past these tidbits of thought. It’s been months since I’ve shared here. My daughter is out of school for the summer. The weather has turned warm and wet. Beautiful sunshine shines down upon us and my spirit is lifted. There is a part of me that needs to feel the sun on my skin. Part of growing up on the East coast, soaking in the mother ocean, warmed by father sun. I tend to experience the winter doldrums at times here in Colorado. The breathtaking beauty of the Rockies helps to sooth my soul and aids my patience for awaiting spring.

Now that it is here, and the soil is ready to share the magic of new life with us, I must learn to garden. I’ve always wanted to have the ‘green thumb’. Colorado presents a challenge for me though. Growing up in Florida, where there is sunshine year round and plenty of moisture, most everything grows fairly easy. But this challenge only presents an opportunity to become more connected with the earth, and I love to dig in the dirt.

I’ve a positive feeling for things to come. My husband and I are renovating our 100 year old home, attempting to increase its efficiency and possibly make room for a growing family. We are both learning something new everyday about the world we live in, and working to make it better. Sustainability is key, and that is the goal we work towards.

I was grateful to cross paths with a dear friend of mine yesterday in class. A fellow drifter in this world that shines light in the lives of those he encounters. If you have an adventurous spirit, you should check out www.familytreeboards.com. Aaron Mattley is the creator of these magnificent and innovative ‘yoga’ boards. They are truly phenomenal. My daughter and I and another friend got to play on Aaron’s board after class. We all had a fear of the typical skateboard. But this was different somehow. Watching Aaron ride was like grace on wheels. It was beautiful and we are hooked! We definitely need lessons, but have found a new sense of freedom on these commuter boards. Since we all live, work and shop locally, with this board it makes driving less seem much more feasible and fun. He’s also got a little demo video at www.myspace.com/commuterboards. Check him out and say hi for me…

Peace to all. Now go and do something brilliant.

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