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Who are you

May 13, 2010 in jnana, writing, Yoga | 2 comments

"I know there's a place you've walked where love falls from the trees"  -the who

Who are you?

Parent, Student, Teacher, Runner, Boss, Worker, Friend, Yogi, Golfer, Lawyer, Human, American… We wear so many hats (masks?) that we can lose sight of who we really are.  We are not just these aspects we project into our world.

We are how we do, what we do… We are how we play these roles.

Our practice shines the light of awareness on all parts of ourselves. If we have the courage to look clearly at how we are doing what we do, we can see our weaknesses, fears and doubts, along with our greatest strengths.  

Only when we embrace the whole of ourselves, with equanimity, can change begin to happen.  

I came to Yoga to integrate the scattered parts of myself, Engineer, Yogi, Vegan, Teacher, Student, Human Man, Brother, Son… It just took too much energy to switch between roles.  

With practice, I get a clearer view, and gain perspective.  I wear less hats now, I keep simplifying, unbecoming,   looking forward to just being…  Unconsciously conscious.

How to mend the gap between how we are, and how we'd like to be:

The teachings are clear and simple, we become what we think and what we do. Set a clear intention of how you'd like to be, and practice living that way.  Start on your mat, and don't look away when you dislike what is revealed.

When you feel yourself squirm with resistance… that's where the juice is. The bigger the resistance, the bigger the potential breakthrough.  

Listen carefully, to your body, to your mind, to your breath, and to your emotions.  When they conflict, you can't hear your Ananda, your bliss trying to shine out.  When you get these aspects of yourself all inline, integrated with your intention… there's a profound clarity there. 

Yoga tells us: If you don't like what you're thinking or doing, to practice the opposite.  Stay the course. Breathe calm and acceptance into the discomfort.  On the other side is that clear glimpse of your true nature.

Lasting change comes from filling yourself to the brim with the antidote to how you don't want to be anymore.

Be steadfast and keep going.  Your efforts will shine-out into your other roles, your practice will radiate out to others… They're counting on you, and we're all in this together.

Om Shanti,  I'll see you in class.

-j

p.s.  A special treat!  I've arranged for Irene, a music therapist, to come play Live music for our Yoga class.  See the events page to meet Irene and get the details.

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Signs of Life

March 14, 2010 in Yoga | Add Your Comment

Namaste.

Since way-back we have used seasonal changes to mark the passage of time. Creating rituals to honor what has passed, and welcome what's to come.  

Spring Equinox Yoga Class

Long ago, I adopted the Spring Equinox to welcome change in my life, in a way it's my 're-birthday.' (I see a new line of hallmark cards…)

I take time to notice the past year, and welcome the new one.  Not like a resolution, but more in the way of where am I coming from, and what am I doing with this gift of life?

Making space for ritual brings texture and depth to our lives.  For me, the best rituals are simple, like taking a pause to notice and appreciate my connection to nature.  

It's no accident that our Yoga postures are named for what the ancients saw daily in their lives.  It's actually the first of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. YS 1.1:  Atha Yoga Nushasanam.  "Here is Yoga as I have observed it in the natural world."

We 'do' the tree pose to awaken the qualities of tree in ourselves. Strength and suppleness, our ability to reach high, from a very grounded place… Our ability to selflessly provide food and shelter for others.  

If you're blessed with trees in your yard, go to a window, stand on one leg and reach out.  Better yet, give your neighbors something to talk about.  Go outside and get up close and personal with your tree.

If the police drive by really slowly, it's just a test of your focus.

On Saturday the 20'th we'll gather for our annual Spring Equinox Yoga class and outdoor – silent walk to the sacred circle. There we give thanks, and offer something old to the puja fire, making room for new growth:

This daylily sprout is the essence of Surya Namaskar.  We can do this. Ground down, and reach high, through your obstacles, and come into the light.

Hope you can join us for Spring Equinox at Yoga and Nia for Life in West Concord, Saturday March 20th, 12:30 to 2:30pm.   You can find out more on the 'events' page, or Click here to email an RSVP to john 

Om Shanti,

-j


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Motivation

February 24, 2010 in creativity, Yoga | Add Your Comment

Making time for practice

Whatever it takes to get us to the mat…

The busier life gets, the more important Yoga becomes, and while crib notes may work for politicians, there are better ways to get your Om on.  

Sri Brahmananda Saraswati would say "Practice 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the evening, how hard is that?" When a reluctant student said "I don't have 10 minutes in the morning!"  he replied "oh, then you need an hour!"  

1. Make it a priority.  Remember how good you feel after your Yoga.  Plant the seeds for a daily practice.

2. Mark the classes you plan to attend on your calendar.   Go ahead, turn ahead to next month and write those classes in too!

3. Some people like to have a Yoga buddy.  Take turns driving to class, and now they're counting on you.

4. Technology can help,  Nowadays it's very-easy to send yourself a class reminder. Set it once and it will remind you every week.  Check out one of these free email and text message reminder services:

ReSnooze:  - Quick and easy to setup. The simplest of the bunch.

Time Cave:   –  Many more options,  precision timing.

My Email Reminders:  -   Highly configurable.

5. If you can't make the time for a full practice, 10-15 minutes of Yoga can really help keep the peace.  

If that's a challenge, Individual sessions really shine here, where we work together to develop a personalized home-practice.  

Hope this helps, I'd love to hear your ideas on making time to practice, just click on comment link and let us know how you get to the mat.

Om Shanti, I'll see you in class.

John

P.S.  check out the First Day of Spring countdown timer!, scroll down the left hand side of my website.  We'll be gathering for our special spring equinox class.  email me your rsvp.  -j   

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The Journey and the Destination

February 18, 2010 in Yoga | 1 comment

Yoga doesn't care about where we are from.  Yoga cares about where we are going.

And how we get there matters…

Yoga is a journey and a destination

The teachings are clear, and very simple.  We tend to become what we do all the time.  Whether that is good news or bad, depends on how we practice. How much of life are we really present for?

Skim the surface, and the benefits of class are fading before we even reach the parking lot.  Dig a bit deeper. and we experience lasting benefits, benefits that we can share with others… That's the Yoga that counts.

The recipe is simple.  Set a clear intention, then follow through with a steady and focused effort.  Don't succumb to the tyranny of  a superficial practice.  

No, you don't have to become a sadhu, Just focus. One thing at a time.  It's that easy, and that difficult.  Therein lies the practice, the returning to – right now.  Slow down, live deep. Practice.

Change that old saying.  Say no to the either-or.  We can have both, The Journey, and the Destination.  

You're closer than you think, Keep going.  

I'll see you in class,  we'll keep it simple, we'll focus, and we'll keep it real.

Om Shanti.

-John

P.S.   A great post on Snow Shoveling Backache Yoga from Diane at the Everything Yoga Blog.  Great job Diane, thanks!

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Yoga and Art

February 8, 2010 in creativity, video, Yoga | 3 comments

Namaste. 

For me, Yoga itself is an art form, the multi-dimensional sculpting of a whole-life.  I also have the great pleasure to know many artists who call Yoga their muse.

One of our fellow students is currently preparing a study on Yoga and Art, how Yoga practice can expand creativity and expression. I'd love for some our very-own artists and Yoga students to participate! let me know if you'd like to hear more about her vision.

Here's an example of living Yoga:

Aaron L. Jones, a local artist, musician, and very-humble yogi, has been painting and drawing since he was a child. His passion has been to imbue his images with the subtle nature of ethereal energy, and his latest paintings express this vibe. I've just got to share this video with you. He's painting Virabhadra, Warrior I pose with his music playing in the backround. Enjoy!

We're bringing Aaron's work to Lumina, where they will be on display, and for sale as well.  He accepts selective commissions for custom pieces, and does Yoga portraits too! Now that's one great way to check your alignment huh?  

Contact Tara at OmRachel@hotmail.com for more information about Aaron's work.  Or talk with Aaron as he headlines our Open Mic Kirtan on Sat Feb 20th.  6:30 at Yoga and Nia for Life in West Concord.  I'll ask him to bring the painting!   By request, I'll be telling a few stories of my India travels. 

Om Shanti,

John

P.S.  The next few weeks are busy, with a special Valentines Day Heart Opening Yoga class on the 14th, and I'm teaching the next few Saturday 8am classes at Yoga and Nia for Life in W. Concord.  Kirtan on the 20'th, Global 5:45pm on the 26th, and Restorative Yoga returns on the 28th.  The Events page has the scoop.  

Don't miss posts like this, you can subscribe in the upper left hand corner.  -j

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Happy New Year

December 30, 2009 in Yoga | Add Your Comment

Namaste.

I'm taking rest in Chennai, after visiting the southern peninsula of Rameshwar, and the temple towns of Thanjavur, Madurai, Chidambaram, Trichy, and Arunachala.  I was able to visit the ashram of Ramana Maharishi, who's teachings of reverence for all life, even the simple blade of grass, I resonate with.  

Internet and phone have been very scarce, which can be a very good thing, thanks for all your messages and well-wishes.  I send all these blessings back to you all.

I've been challenged in my travels, there are so many lessons and opportunities to practice equanimity and letting go….  but my hardships are nothing compared to what the majority of beings who live here face every day.  Life is difficult, yet, joy abounds.  When I can put myself in their place for just a moment, I can realize how abundant I am.  Empathy is our awareness expanding to include all.

Sending you all the best for the new year.  I've got a few more places to cover, and have a pending appointment to see Sri Desikachar at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandir here in Chennai.

I look forward to seeing you all very soon.

john

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Enough is Enough

November 26, 2009 in abundance, ahimsa, Yoga | 1 comment

Thanks to all who came out for Thanksgiving Yoga practice this morning.

Our theme was Enough,  the prequel to Gratitude.  Our vehicle was flow, or Vinyasa.

Smoothing out, and honoring the transitions between postures tells ourselves at many levels, that in-between is a valid way to be. We don't have to know everything.  We don't have to do everything.  Flowing into postures can helps us get to where things seem to fit.

Our life is like a jigsaw puzzle, but we never get to see the picture on the box.  Keep going, slide the pieces in where they fit, and trust in the process.  If a piece doesn't fit, let it go.  It must be for another puzzle.  Trust that the bigger picture will become clearer in time, and resistance slips away.

When our mind drifts during practice, it's an expression of more, when we can focus our mind in practice, it's an expression of enough.  Continually returning our focus to right now strengthens our ability to remain there for longer periods of time.

                   The door to meditation will swing open on easy hinges.

We start out with just a glimmer of enough, an ember of content.  Each breath fans the flame.  Contentment, (Santosha) is like a big 'ol warm sweater on a cold day.  When we embrace enough.  We can turn down the thermostat of more… 

look around you, find two things.  Experience the space between them.  Carry that practice into all your actions and you'll need less to make you happy, guaranteed.

I am blessed with so many caring and earnest students.  You make it possible for me to teach and share, and I take your blessings with me to Asia.  

I resolve to see enough, and to soak up enough teachings to share on my returning.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Om Shanti, to all beings.  

John

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Downward Facing Dogmatic

October 23, 2009 in jnana, Yoga | 4 comments

You've forsaken all other activities, and taken the time to get to class.  You unroll your mat, setup your space and: 

a: Go through the motions, muscle on through, and hope some of the Yoga sticks to you.

b: Focus, Flow, and seek to understand how the teachings relate to you, and how you relate to the teachings.

Taken at surface level, some of these teachings can seem superficial, trite, or yes, even dogmatic.   "Open your heart, Draw energy up the back of your leg,  Set a clear intention."  What does it all mean?  Better put, what does it all mean to you? 

One of the beauties of Yoga is it's pure potential to be what you need it to be. Need to stretch, strengthen, de-stress? Then yes, Yoga practices can help.  

But when practiced that way, it's like applying a band-aid.  The benefits are fleeting. Feel bad – get to Yoga – feel good for a while, then feel bad again.  

A small intention will get you just that, and that's all your Yoga may ever be.

When we approach our Yoga practice like we do everything else, we become more of who we already are.  I think the world has had enough of us all doing that.

We've got to dig deeper, scratch below the surface and get to the roots of our issues.  The bad feeling is there to show us a change is needed.  dare to look.

Shift your perspective

Yoga asks us to set aside what we think we know, and to vary our perception. We hone the ability to zoom our awareness in on a particular sensation, or zoom out and gain perspective on the whole of our lives.  In each moment, would the micro, or the macro view be best?  

The question becomes: How can this posture, this very breath, help me to become a better person, neighbor, parent, friend, partner, or spouse? 

Spice it up

When we practice this way, our efforts are concentrated, It's like a strong spice, say Saffron, it's sacred, and a little goes a long way towards the color and flavor of how we experience what's in front of us.

Unmake your mind

The teachings are a map, left by the anicents, a map to our freedom.  Each pose, each breath, is potentially a step closer.  In class we create a model of how we could live,  and after class shows how we could feel all the time.

We need to remember why we fell in love with Yoga in the first place, and be sure our Yoga is about, what our Yoga is about.

Om Shanti.  I'll see you in class.

John

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Vinyasa Yoga Defined

October 8, 2009 in jnana, Yoga | 1 comment

 What is Vinyasa, anyway?

by Daniel Dale

Many experienced yoga practitioners who have studied in other Hatha Yoga traditions, have shared with me that on the whole their experiences taking classes labeled “Vinyasa” have been very frustrating.

These are folks who approached me after taking a class I taught, and told me that they loved how we moved at a pace that allowed them to breathe. Some have literally reported that in all the “Vinyasa” Yoga classes they had taken previously, the pace was so frantic that they hardly had time to take a breath. 

It seems there is a widespread conception of Vinyasa Yoga as being fast and aerobic. And that is how it is often presented. One might ask, is it appropriate to refer to aerobics, even aerobics that is done as a sequence of classical Yogasanas, as “Yinyasa Yoga?” 

We can infer that there is disagreement over what constitutes Vinyasa Yoga, since such a wide range of approaches are given this common label.  America’s most popular Yoga magazine said of Vinyasa Yoga, “This American innovation is more freeform than its progenitor, Ashtanga Yoga.” (Yoga Journal, Feb. 2008. p.75).

I disagree with 3 assumptions that are embedded in this definition, so I ask you to question:

€ Is it “freeform?” How freeform can a genre be without it being impossible to define? 

€ Is vinyasa yoga an American, and not an Indian, innovation?

€ Is it, as Yoga Journal has called it, “derivative of Ashtanga Yoga?”

A good deal of the sequencing found in many vinyasa yoga teachers’ repertoires, does draw heavily on the Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series that was taught by the late K. Pattabhi Jois, who was a student of T. Krishnamacharya. And in many Vinyasa Yoga classes, one encounters a tendency toward relatively high speed that seems to have the same inspiration.

(Of course, not all Ashtangis are speed demons on the mat, but as a whole they tend to move faster than most yogis.) 

On the other hand, it is said by Srivatsa Ramaswami, author of The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga, that Vinyasas are to be executed with a maximum breath rate of 6 per minute, possibly as slow as 2 breaths per minute for advanced practitioners.

Ramaswami studied for 33 years under T. Krishnamacharya, and says that as he learned it from the master, vinyasa yoga was “the antithesis of aerobic exercise.” He has also taken a stance on what parameters exist that limit what one might call Vinyasa Yoga.

I have made an attempt to address these elusive matters coherently in the article Vinyasa: about this form of Yoga,  I’ve posted to my website, the Om Again Yoga Pages.

 Much love to all of you who frequent Yoga With John — an excellent port of call for yogis sailing the seas of the blogosphere— and many  thanks to John Calabria for inviting me to share this with you. -Daniel   

Yoga teacher / somatic educator Daniel Dale is a student of yoga in the tradition of T. Krishnamacharya. He offers yoga workshops internationally, offers private yoga lessons and teaches weekly Yoga classes in New York City.

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Yoga Retreat

October 6, 2009 in abundance, Yoga | 1 comment

 I’ve got a great guest-commentary about Vinyasa yoga coming from my friend Daniel, a NYC Yoga Teacher and writer.  I’m in the midst of formatting it, and will share as soon as I can. 

Just back from our annual Fall retreat.  Many thanks to those who could join us.  Sprit Fire is amazing. Not an austere event by any means!  in between focused classes and workshops we feasted on gourmet vegetarian food, Much of it organically grown on site. Yes, there’s coffee in the morning, and decadent snacks in between classes.  It was a joy to teach, we had a great group.  A full house, sorry for those on the waiting list, but as-promised, you’re first in line for our retreat in May, There’s been a tremendous response to the pre-invite and I’m doing my best to arrange for a second spring weekend to accommodate us all.  

I’ll get that Vinyasa article up very soon.

In humble gratitude, it’s so great to see you all in class.

John

 

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