This Ground, This Breath

Have you ever attended a yoga class during which the teacher only used the Sanskrit terms for the poses and wasn't demonstrating? I have, so I know it can be very intimidating. Even with 14 years of teaching under my belt, I don't remember all the Sanskrit names. After all, I don't speak Sanskrit, and there's a part of me that's always felt it wasn't my place to use it since I'm not Hindu, Buddhist or Jain. So for the most part I don't use it, except  when cuing "Savasanah" (corpse pose), which we do at the end of class, (i.e. final relaxation), and in closing with "Namaste" (greeting, honoring the divinity or light in all). There are many opinions about whether Western yoga teachers should or should not use the Sanskrit. I've always opted not to do so, but with time and learning and reflection that could change. In the meantime, know that you can come to my class and not only will you see me demonstrate every pose, I wil...

In the late 90's, as I moved beyond the socially acceptable smoking culture of college life, I surprised myself by continuing what had become a daily habit. I would explain to my love, who gently prodded me to stop, that I enjoyed the quiet ritual of going outside alone after a meal, sitting down and having a smoke break. It was true. I loved the time for reflection and for communing with nature from our front porch, even as the smoke coiled ar ound my face, polluting the air within me and beyond. While it may seem ironic to non-smokers, it felt like a good excuse to sit. Fortunately, yoga found me in the early 2000s and reminded me that I really preferred fresh air (I was the kid who would roll down the car window in mid-winter whenever my dad smoked) and did not want to pollute my lungs and endanger my health any longer. Yoga granted me lots of opportunities to "break" from the world and go inside. I learned that I was a human being, not a human doing, and that ...

I had the rare pleasure of seeing an adult movie this weekend instead of a children's movie, and it turned out to be a lesson on mindfulness! Brad's Status, starring Ben Stiller, is an excellent study of the activity of the mind--how it changes moment to moment and can impact one's life for better or worse. The viewer observes the main character, Brad, create his own heaven and hell repeatedly over the course of a two-day trip visiting colleges with his son. I won 't give away the ending except to say that mindfulness really saves the day. Go see it!  http://m.imdb.com/title/tt5884230/

Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day, Nothing gold can stay. ~Robert Frost This poem, especially for us Westerners, can seem depressing, but a deeper look transforms it into a call to live fully right now. One of the foundation practices of Mindfulness Yoga involves recognizing impermanence in all things. As we hold a yoga pose, we can observe changes in the breath, physical sensations, the overall feeling tone (pleasant, unpleasant or neutral) and the activity of the mind. Expanding awareness of the constant changes within us on the mat can help us let go of attachments off the mat as well as help us to know that "this too shall pass"--"this" being a difficult thought or feeling, day or phase of life, and beyond. The result is greater freedom and peace.

Yesterday I experienced a lot of ickiness, frustration and discomfort, stemming from a number of things: maggots in my compost bin (eeeek!), vomit on the dog bedding I'd just washed (ugh!!), a recurring, unresolvable argument with my child, the burning awareness of friends unable or unwilling to see others' pain, and a hard look at myself after being confronted with an old pattern. And then today, on my solo walk home after taking my kids to school, a lone leaf twirled silently, slowly to the ground in front of me. The moment struck me with such incomprehensible awe that tears filled my eyes. I then noticed a trillion leaves fluttering, rustling in the soft, fall breeze. They seemed to beckon, "Look up! See the beauty all around you, right here, right now." And once again, just like that, peace...