Introspective

Greetings Yogis,

I am slowly creeping back into this blog, tossing around a few ideas for new entries and rebuilding my atrophied writing muscles. It’s going to take some time but in the meantime I’ve been really enjoying broadening my musical horizons and rediscovering old music I used to love (spoiler: look for a blog soon tentatively called How Sound Cloud Saved My Home Practice). So to compliment last week’s post about reexamining my teaching here is a play list I’ve been rocking this week. I call it my Introspective Flow Mix, enjoy!

1.       Rugla: amiina

2.       Madrugada 8: Twinkle Engine

3.       Someday Soon: KT Tunstall

4.       Gone Traveling: Ganga Girl

5.       Jahta Beat: DJ DREZ

6.       Anjali: Cheb I Sabbah

7.       Hard Times: Gob Iron

8.       Where Will I Be: Emmylou Harris

9.       One Heart To Prove

10.   Yah Devi: Krishna Das

11.    It’s A Fire: Portishead

12.   Reprise: Ani DiFranco

*NOTE* I am trying to find a way to upload this so y'all can listen to it. I'll post a link should I be successful!

These Boots Are NOT Made For Walkin'

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a show at my tiny town's sh*tty music venue. WAIT! did that yogi just dis her town's music hot spot? No, I did not. See the venue is a barn, a barn that was kind of falling down till some very groovy folks but a little money and a lot of time and sweat equity into it and then invited some groovy musician folks out to the middle of nowhere and asked them to play music in it. I can only guess the name was something of a running joke that stuck but check it out, Sh*tty Barn.

Ok shameless Community plug over, on to the blog, so I was at the Sh*tty Barn, listening to the singer ramble on aimlessly, and quite frankly adorably, about how he didn't have anything to ramble aimlessly about. So he told us about his shoes and how when I was walking his dog 4 years ago he thought they were the most comfortable shoes in the world but today, 4 years later while walking his dog before the show all he could think about was "these are the most uncomfortable shoes in the world!" And we the audience giggled because like I said this guy was adorable, I think I even heard the term "man crush" a time or two.

Not that shoes automatically get me to thinking about yoga but this morning I was driving through the hills I was thinking about my own 6 year old boots and how they are kind of wearing out but I keep wearing them and that's when I thought about yoga. I remembered a teacher of mine saying that we live our day to day lives in the "illusion of comfort." He was teaching us some anatomy and what he meant was that instead of using our muscles to hold up our bodies we arrange ourselves so that we stack our joins on top of each other and "sit" in them, or we over extend out joints and rely on our connective tissue to do the work. This is bad for a few reasons:

1. When we "sit" in our joints the connective tissue (ligaments and tendons) is slack which over time will lead to the tightening of that tissue causing limited range of motion and flexibility. It can also put pressure on the fluid filled sacks (bursa) in our joints that help keep the joint lubricated so that it moves easily and also keeps the bones from grinding on one another. When we put pressure on these sacs the fluid can start to inflame or worse seep out of the membranes.

2. When we "align" ourselves with our hips popped forward or to one side, or hyperextend our knees what we are doing is stretching our connective tissue to its max, creating a sort of tendonous "hammock" for our bodies to rest in. This is bad because while the one side is over stretched the opposite side is retracting, this over time creates major imbalances in our bodies. In massage school we call is compensatory damage, where one side over works to correct the injured side.

So why is this an illusion of comfort? Because there's no work involved, it feels good because we are making little to no effort to hold ourselves up right. But, over time we develop aches, pains and possible injuries because we've relied on parts of our bodies to do the work of the muscles. That's why so many people in a yoga class discover they can easily go into a pose on one side of the body and find terrible discomfort and limitations on the other side. Which is also why yoga is so good for us, it helps us find and correct these imbalances but it also teaches us to be aware of how our bodies get like that.

Once you are steeped in your asana practice you begin to notice your posture when do everyday things like; filling out your back deposit, or doing the dishes, or leaning against a wall listening to a great singer/songwriter perform in barn in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin. But not only do you notice you start to alter your faux comfort into a little effort that soon becomes effortless; you stop rounding your shoulders down at the desk, you pull your hips off the rim of the sink and when you look down and realize your shoes are hurting your feet you throw them out and get new ones!

Maybe I could get Dietrich Gosser to write a song about that...

Indie Pop Flow Playlist

My friends and students are WAY cooler than me. Seriously, I can speak most asana names in Sanskrit and a few mantra and prayers but they have endless knowledge of bands, solo acts and symphonic experiments that might as well be a foreign language to me. So a few of my super cool yogis have given me music to check out over the years and this is the playlist that has finally been born from it.

Lozenge of Love- Raidiohead
Manha- Thievery Corporation
Wilhem Scream- James Blake
Nude- Radiohead
City Middle- The NAtional
Islands- the xx
How Low- Jose Gonzalez
Fog- Radiohead
Heart and Lungs- Beach House
Home and Somewhere Else- Mimicking Birds
Don't Let It Pass- Junip
All Things Must Pass- Yim Yames
With Lightening In Your Hands- Damien Jurado
Beloved- (Thievory Corporation remixed) Anoushka Shankar

See WAY cooler than me. Download and give it a listen and if you are super cool too then leave me a few suggestions as a comment and I'll plug your awesomeness.

Yoga Teacher Juggling Lesson

When teaching a yoga class your single pointed focus is, of course, the class; however the class is only the sum of many different parts. A yoga teacher must juggle many different variables to ensure her students have a good time on their mat. Here are a few things that I try to keep my eye on when teaching a class.

First: me. Who has ever had a day when they just didn’t want to go to work? Or felt just ill enough to consider calling in sick? Or had maybe a little too much fun the night before? I think we all have, being a yoga teacher is no different. No matter how much we love our jobs sometimes it’s just hard to get there. And like with many other jobs when you are a yoga teacher people depend on you and look to you as an example. You may feel like death warmed over but to your students you need to show none of it, you may be just not in your groove when that student (yes, you know which one, that one) walks in and you have to suck it up and make them welcome. Because really, you know it’s that student that needs yoga the most. And as much as yoga tells us that we should love our bodies no matter what you still have to help that body look like you belong in front of people. I’m not saying you have to buy $80 pairs of organic wicking cotton yoga pants (virtually all of my yoga clothes came from Goodwill) but you need to look like you didn’t just roll out of bed or worse out of the bar (by the way my studio is located right next door to the local bar). Just wear clothes that fit, especially if you do a lot of demonstrating in your class, brush your hair, and speaking of hair it is a personal pet peeve of mine when yoga teachers let their hair cover their face and shoulders while teaching. I for one connect with people by looking them in the eyes and if you want me to keep my arms plugged in show me what that looks like. Ok mini-rant over. And if you are a little sick or didn’t sleep well, it’s ok that that shows, but toss some cold water of you face before students get there or even a little, dare I say it, make up to soften the redness around the eyes. No matter how humble you are your students are going to look to you for and at you as an example you don’t have to meet those expectations but they’ll appreciate the effort.

Next: climate. Ok anyone who has been to my studio knows that it is climatologically challenged. Seriously! But I make it work, or at least keep it with the margin of forgivable error. And things that annoy the crap out of me like the sound of a the furnace blasting (yes blasting!) or the constant hum of an air conditioner, students will forgive because if they are too hot, they will lose energy on focus before class is over and if it’s to cold they will have to layer up to Nordic degrees to keep from shaking their asanas. Or worse their muscle won’t heat up properly which puts them at a great risk of injury. I worry about this but I try to keep an eye on my students’ body and layers and adjust accordingly. It’s not perfect but they stay comfortable.

Third: body language. This is as important as alignment in my opinion. Watching a group of students as a group rather than individuals, you’ll always have the yogi maven who plugs extra chaturangas and core work in just like you will always have a yogi who is 3 sun salutes in before hitting balasana. But if you notice that over all chaturangas are getting a little sloppy, or skipped all together or Navasana legs are slipping down then maybe the class is getting tired; and really how important is that third really cool arm balance you had planned. I’ve had classes were I demonstrated an arm balance and literally every student just sat there before doing something else or going right to child’s pose. Not fun for a teacher! So tone it down maybe or give them an extra few minutes in Savasana. On the other side of the coin if you notice students fidgeting in poses or a general glaze of bordem over their faces you may want to step up your game. One of the very first things I learned out there was to have a class plan you are completely prepared to scrap on the fly. You never know where the energy of the collective group will take you.

Lastly: music. I adore a well structured yoga mix! However not as many teachers take the John Cusack, High Fidelity, neurotic stance on building playlists as I do. Fine, to each his musical own. But let me just express (since this is my blogger and I’ll rant if want to-sung to…ok really you should get that reference) few things I feel all yoga teachers to take into acoustic account. The “random” button is unacceptable. I can no longer even count the times I’ve been in a yoga class where the energy was waning, starting either too cool down our practice or doing some inner awareness exercise when some crazy dance mix, or insane sitar leapt out of the speakers and poo pooed all over my groove. I for one am also a fan of mixing genres, I’ll throw a little Bob Marley, Sigur Rois, Lucinda Williams, or any other artist I like onto a mix but like with all yoga I do it mindfully. Using songs with lyrics is tricky, I’ve had students break down because a certain song came on, I myself have gritted my teeth though certain ones I’ve heard. So my advice is to stick to a theme and leave all “romantics” off. You can rock a “jammin’” flow with some reggae, and Caribbean sounds, or a blue grassy flow with some banjos and folksters. Or maybe even find some dare I say, uplifting songs by people you wouldn’t classify as yogis to spice up a mix. But keep it simple, keep it flowing and try as hard as you can to have the music match the pace and vibe of your class. If you should find yourself having technical difficulties try to keep music corrections covert or admit to your students you music has gone AWOL and practice in silence. Some people can ignore back ground music, I can’t, so what and how I rock my classes i take very seriously and I have had more than a handful of students ask me to burn them some of my playlist because they enjoy them so much.

So those are just a few of the things a teacher needs to keep in mind while here are as many as 20 sets of eyes upon her. We can’t nail all of them every time but a little effort goes a long way. And we find, just like in our practice, our very own teaching style and groove which morphs over time and circumstance. But again, just like in our practice sticking to the main principles of the discipline can lead to remarkable results.

a musical post for a cold rainy day.

Ok Yogi's after some online research I have decided that I am not able to post this entry the way I would like to, either because it is not possible or that I am not internet savvy enough to figure it out. So if you will bear with me, might I present to you: There Will Be Sun; a one hour play list for day’s you feel you will never be warm again.

1. Nya Sky: DJ Drez

2. Life is Beautiful: Amy Correia

3. I Was Made For Sunny Days: The Weepies

4. Blessings: The Dum Dum Project

5. Girl That Does Yoga: Damien Rice

6. My Sweet Lord: George Harrison

7. A Sunday Smile: Beirut

8. O-O-O Child: Nina Simone (Nickodemus Remix)

9. Bhakti Boombox: MC Yogi

10. Three Little Birds: Bob Marley

11. Devi “Rave”: Krishna Das

12. Sun Dance: John De Kadt

13. Gayatri Mantra: Deva Premal

(I was hoping to have these as links to the songs or better yet a playlist you could play while reading, but that proved beyond my blogging skill level)

So why a playlist today in all simplicity because it’s a yucky day here in my tiny town and all the motivation I had last night for projects I was going to do today is about as soggy as the leaves I haven’t racked yet. All I could think today while staring at my scraps of fabric and freshly clean craft/yoga room was “man, I need a pick me up.” So I made one and now I’m blogging about it.

I actually love making new yoga play list, I love pondering the intention of a class and rummaging through my digital milk crates (child of mix tape generation) and finding the right songs to fit. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine when yoga teachers just throw on any old cd or hit random on their mp3 players because I am a strong believe in the power of music. I feel like music can elevate, it can motivate, it can evoke and sooth so to be in a really great flow and then the music takes a crash into moody or worse sad tunes it kind of bums you out. Or the opposite when you’re in a very introspective class and suddenly there’s dance beats or chipper guitars strumming along. Granted yoga is fluid and the class you think you’ll be teaching often takes a turn so having “appropriate” music can be tricky. But today I made a go at it, below I’ve given a little blur about each song on the list and why I chose it maybe you can have better luck finding them in the cyber world…

1. Nya Sky. I love DJ Drez! I’ve met him at a few yoga conferences and be honored to have him spin live in some of the workshops I took. I chose this track because it is a little funky and engaging but not to strong as you warm up for some sun salutes.

2. Life is Beautiful. Hopefully this sweet track will make you smile as you start to move your body and help you affirm how great things are!

3. I Was Made For Sunny Days: this song keep the beat hopping while those sun salutes get alittle quicker and more heat building, and lets face it some of us just aren’t winter people, we were made for warmer climates (or were born in Alabama!)

4. Blessings. A little instrumental ditty as you start to get more focus in class and maybe start attempting more difficult asanas. But still groovy and keeping the energy up

5. Girl That Does Yoga: I love this song, it makes me smile and talks about orange trees is there a better fruit to remind you of warm climates and coastal breezes when it’s down right cold out.

6. My Sweet Lord: Shout of some happy for your lord, Krishna or so other named because we’ll be praying for 5 months (give or take) to them for a break in the snow and to please please please bring spring anytime now.

7. A Sunday Smile: remember strolling around on Sunday afternoons in the park barefoot? That’s what this song makes me think of and that makes me smile.

8. O-O-O Child: This song kind of speaks for itself but with a new beat to grove your asana to.

9. Here Comes the Sun: the sun will come back, it will and you will wear flip flops again one day. The Beatles promise.

10. Bhakti Boombox: I challenge anyone, yogi or not, to listen to an MC Yogi song and not be entertained on some level. I triple dog dear you.

11. 3 Little Birds: I like to think of Bob Marley as anti-anger music. I cannot stay mad when I’m listening to him. And if that doesn’t work than close you eyes and pretend your on a beach. And if that doesn’t work…well Marley has some other suggestions which I will not publicly condone.

12. Devi “Rave”. It took me a little while to get into Krishna Das, he just seemed ‘too much” for me. But sometimes I just want good music to yoga to that doesn’t sound all sacred. Let go and let flow with this one.

13. Sun Dance: Starting to bring it down now, a little instrumental song to help release any tension left over from your practice.

14. Gayatri Mantra: sit back in your Savasana and listen to one of the most sacred mantras known, giving thanks for the life giving light of the sun and the divine.

Namaste yogis and rock on!