All I have to say is whew right now. I’m at JFK airport waiting to board to LAX, on my way to yoga teacher training, the final 100 hours to complete my 200 hour certification. Just finished another event on behalf of MINDBODY and there is no rest for the wicked, or so I hear. I literally taught and met with clients all the way up until getting into a cab for JFK. Then I started feeling car sick in the cab, all that stop and go, and he wouldn’t turn the AC up and the Turkish music was very surreal while I suppressed my nausea. At the airport my luggage was 4 pounds over so I had to be one of those people pulling shit out of my bag, but tell me how you pack for 2 weeks of travel, business, yoga, and casual clothes required, without going over 50 pounds! That’s one reason to like US Air over United, I think their weight limit is 60 lbs not a measly 50. The guy at United negotiated with me, “just get 2 lbs lower and you’re ok.” Then I get through security, get my food for the plane, and the CEO of MINDBODY calls. “Roxanne, I need the presentation I’m supposed to be teaching right now.” F@#! So I whip out my laptop on a counter top, get online, send the presentation, remember I have 5 more things I need to do online for MINDBODY before I’m in teacher training land and who knows when I’ll come up for air, shit my plane is about to board. Whew!
Will be back online as I’ll try to document teacher training and maybe even a tidbit or two from my week in NYC. It’s amazing how you find energy when you like what you’re doing (apologies for grammar, typos, and incessant rambles)
I leave for New York City this Sunday so this week is my last week at home to prepare for my ten day yoga teacher training with Shiva Rea which starts May 21st. I am more than a little excited. This is the first training I’ve done where I’ve been able to nerd-out a bit and prepare before hand. The process has taught me how much I enjoy learning on a daily basis, and how I should make it more of a priority than I have.
My pre-training yoga challenge has been great. I have mostly practiced yoga every day for the last month leading to the training, although Sundays I have mostly taken off. I have really enjoyed the benefits of just 15 minutes of yoga practice wherever I can get it. Last Sunday I did it in the grass at a friends house. Why o’ why do I have to make things so much bigger and harder than they have to be? Yoga doesn’t have to be the hardest pose, 90 minute sweat-a-thon I sometimes make it out to be.
I have been reading The Subtle Body by Cyndi Dale and this book has made me feel like it’s cracking my brain open. I am reading about Energy Fields. “Because of fields, reality is both local (here and now) and nonlocal, which means that everything is interconnected. In many ways, the future of healing and healing modalities that link allopathic methods and complementary practices lies in the area of fields, simply because they are found both inside and outside of the body. We are not isolated, closed circuits; we are interconnected brilliant beams of energy.”
Sutra 2.33: When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite (positive) ones should be thought. This is pratipaksha bhavana.
Sutra 2.34: When negative thoughts or actions such as violence etc. are done, caused to be done, or even approved of, whether incited by greed, anger, or infatuation, whether indulged with mild, medium or extreme intensity, they are based on ignorance and bring certain pain. Reflecting thus is also pratipaksha bhavanam.
While you practice yoga, live life, climb mountains, ride waves, remember to turn that frown upside down and stick to the positive. It doesn’t have to be that hard.
Today while teaching yoga I taught a Mandala Namaskar series from Shiva Rea’s Fluid Power DVD and it was super fun! Well, at least I thought so. I got all sweaty, red in the face, and my sinuses started draining all over the place just teaching it. Just imagine what the students felt like. Oye. I thought, “I better not adjust people, they probably think I have snot on my hands from blowing my nose so much.” I asked the class “yay or nay” to the sequence and I got at least one nay. I just smiled and said, “Sorry, I’m the boss, deal with it.” Haha. Maybe I wasn’t that blunt.
It did get me thinking. I have often felt that way in yoga class, when I first started road biking, when I’m trying to figure out some obscure technology. That feeling of not exactly liking where you find yourself. It reminds me of road biking in Boise when I almost threw up once when trying to climb monstrous hills. It makes me smile to be able to experience this with my yogi friends on the mat. You may not like where I take you, but that’s life. Sometimes we don’t like where we end up. Sometimes we don’t need it, don’t want to be there, try to avoid it, or don’t understand it, but there we are none the less. These are my favorite parts of yoga, the life lessons that are buried in the difficult moments. If you continue to feel that uncomfortable in the situation, you can change it, but usually I find I get over it. I find something to enjoy. I breathe.
My Yoga Challenge is rocking along. I’m on day 11. Yesterday, I practiced like 10 minutes, but I also rode my bike, worked, and cooked dinner for friends. It’s not that hard to practice every day, if you stop putting crazy pressure on yourself to make every practice an epic one. Sometimes life just doesn’t have room for it. I’m really enjoying the process of learning before my training. Sometimes I just need to give myself deadlines to help me focus. I’ve got the two books that are suggested reading for my teacher training, they are intimidating me from my shelves right now, The Subtle Body by Cyndi Dale and Chakras by Harish Johari. I have been sick for a week and have had a mild sinus headache for about 3-4 days. I am not one of those people who go to the doctor for a cold, unless it lasts longer than 2 weeks. I feel like it’s best to let my body heal itself on it’s own time frame. I’m planning on going to Circuit Training tomorrow at work and I’m sure it will be one of those moments where I won’t like it, won’t feel like I need it, and will try to avoid working hard during it. I know I’ll be glad I did it though. It will help me be strong for Sheevs in a few weeks!
Life is marching along. May we all do something we are uncomfortable with on a regular basis. It’s good for us. Kind of like eating broccoli when you’re a kid.
My favorite pose of the day: Forward Fold. These are some of it’s benefits. Do it.
Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
Day 8 of my 30 day yoga challenge found me coughing so hard I almost threw up and praying to my netty pot for peace and forgiveness. I’m not terribly sick by any means, but my sinuses are a little funky, and they keep draining into my throat and doing that little tickly thing back there that makes me keep coughing. Just annoying enough to make me not want to work or do yoga. But…I hit the mat with “Sheevs” (that’s my recent nickname for Shiva, my fearless yogi teacher). I did the Hip Opening sequence on her Fluid Power DVD. It was good. I like Fluid Power much better than the Shakti DVD.
Moving Meditation (A circular kind of jiggy warm up)
Fluid Sequence (Non-traditional sun salutes, with lots of planks and pulsations in the poses)
Another Fluid Sequence. Unsure of the name but this was a sequence I’ve practiced with Shiva before and LOVE. Lets see if I can describe it. From downward facing dog. You inhale right leg to the sky, exhale step it through between your hands, inhale turn both feet and body toward the right, left hand planted, right hand stretches parallel to the ground over the right leg. Next, exhale shift over the other leg for half squat hamstring stretch, inhale turn to back of mat, left knee bent, right knee planted on the mat, inhale into supine crescent lunge. Next, exhale hands to the floor, facing the back of the mat, step back into half-plank, left foot lifted, lower through chaturanga, inhale upward facing dog, exhale downward facing dog, BOOM start over on the same leg facing the back of the mat. Magical it is!
Handstand Flow
Backbend Flow
Meditation
Shavasana
It’s really hard to write out a yoga practice. I’m going to keep practicing this sequence this week and try to teach it in my classes so join me if you want some fun.
This is what my yoga challenge has looked like so far:
Day 1 – 90 min/Shiva DVD
Day 2 – 50 min/taught and practiced vinyasa
Day 3 – 60 min/Shiva DVD
Day 4 – 75 min/taught vinyasa, flu attacked me, sinus headache nonsense, but did a few poses on floor
Day 5 – 75 min/taught and practiced vinyasa
Day 6 – poi and hula hooping. yes they counted.
Day 7 – 10 min vinyasa in the warm sunshine. Until interrupted. ‘Tis life.
Babies are all around me these days. I’ve been blessed to have been close with my brothers when they were babies and I’m excited to see so many great friends start down the path of parenthood as well. I spent most of my youth baby sitting my brothers, then later being scared of everything being a parent implied. Now I am more in awe of the journey of life and am excited to experience it in whatever ways it touches me. I am excited by the opportunity to learn and share health and wellness with people of all shapes, sizes, and phases of life, including my fearless mama friends on the mat. I found the following articles that were pretty good. Here it is ladies:
Stay off the mat for 6-8 weeks, no joke. I have heard of women working out too quickly and the abs never get a chance to heal correctly. Let your body adjust. It took 40 weeks to grow the baby, give your body a chance to recover on it’s own.
Don’t forget to take care of yourself a little bit. Even though you’re responsible for a helpless little cutie pie and very driven by their schedule, it’s good to remember to take care of yourself a little bit. This is a great article with miscellaneous poses for mom and baby while adjusting to parenthood, Conditions and Cures for Both Mama and Babe, from Yoga Journal.
Here’s another article for teachers, but I think it’s got really great info for new mamas. It explains how exactly the body is recovering and what we can do to make it as painless as possible.
I also found some DVD’s. Although I’d rather practice in the studio, DVD’s can be a great resource. My girl Shiva even has a Post Natal DVD. You can search Amazon for Pre/Post Natal, I was shocked at the number of DVD’s or Check out this list from Amazon. It’s a list of yoga resources from a mama herself.
I have exactly 28 days until I go to Venice Beach, CA to participate in a 10-day immersion with Shiva Rea to complete my yoga teacher training certification. I am on a yoga diet consisting of practicing yoga at least 20 minutes a day every until my training, 30 days of yoga. I started this week doing a practice from Shiva’s Yoga Shakti DVD, a basic solar flow. I practiced about 30 minutes the rest of the week. The basic practice went like this:
Sun Salute A x3
Sun Salute B x3
Dancing Warrior 1 (insert 3 rounds of warrior 1 into salutation)
Dancing Warrior 4 (insert 3 rounds of warrior 1, 2, reverse, extended side, warrior 2 into salutation)
Ha Kriya (standing in a yoga squat doing an arm movement for a while)
Standing Pose Sequence (interesting combo that I can’t quite wrap my head around yet)
Backbending x2
Handstand
Shoulder Openers
Supine Poses
I am going to try to practice and memorize the Fluid Power DVD and also read the manual from my first training. I have already begun to realize that the best yoga happens each day and week that I work, teach, and practice on a continual basis. Trainings and intensives are great, but If I can’t figure out how to bring it home and get it to really sink in and share it, it’s all kind of pointless. I enjoyed my training with Shiva last year, but I’ve noticed that I have a hard time remembering it all and teaching from it. I get so busy it’s hard to take the time to learn anything new. I guess this is the case with life, it’s all about the tiny changes and dedication you can have each day to growth. It’s about the present moment. Cheers to 30 days of yoga.
I keep writing these short, cryptic descriptions of my experience at the Yoga Journal Conference Boston on Facebook and playing phone tag with my loved ones trying to feel connected and grounded. Spending time in Boston with yogis, some of whom are trying to start businesses and spread the health and wellness that yoga brings, has been grand indeed.
The Business of Yoga Conference is always an amazing experience. I taught a group of 70 people Online Marketing strategies and techniques. Online marketing is one of the best guerrilla marketing strategies you can employ to help spread health and wellness to the world, to get your message out there efficiently and effectively. That is my favorite thing about marketing and sales: you’re not trying to push something people don’t want on them, you’re trying to share something that you believe in and encourage others to experience the joy and benefits that you experience. Coming from a math & software background this was something I didn’t really understand until now. It feels good to share your passion, thoughts, and true self with others, and more likely than not there are always a few people who resonate with what you have to say, if you come from a place of truth.
We discussed e-newsletters and e-blasts, online advertising, online analytics, using blogs as websites, website design, social networking, and more. Many of the students were enthusiastic and had great questions, it was a great forum for yogis of all technical abilities to connect and share.
Last night I took a hip opening class with Natasha Rizopoulos of YogaWorks. I really enjoyed her description of the actions of the hips: external rotation, internal thigh stretching, pelvis neutral so your bowl isn’t spilling, front hips coming towards bottom ribs, tailbone descending, bring the floor to your hip in pigeon so the weight isn’t in your knee, your knees are expensive. She adjusted me in Warrior II and I’m really not sure what happened, but it felt totally different than my usual stance. I was on my right leg doing a lunge, back foot flat, back leg straight, and she pushed into my left hip crease forward toward the front of my mat and immediately my front knee caved in towards the center of my mat to alleviate the stretch in my tight ass hips. What’s funny is that I really love Warrior II and the stretch it gives and it was interesting to learn that I have been totally taking it easy in the pose. Now the hard part will be to figure out if I can do it again. Two actions for me to remember: back hip crease moves forward, tuck the tailbone down towards the floor, pray to god your hips don’t detach from your legs and that you don’t fall over or grunt from the force of Your Tight Ass Hips. I also really enjoyed doing Crescent Lunge with my back knee bent and exaggerating the same actions of the tailbone descending, front pelvis towards bottom ribs. Ahhhh, try it now while you’re sitting. Feel your core engage? Feel your shoulders come back? (not you Kristen
Today I took an Anusara Vinyasa Yoga class with Desiree Rumbagh. Anusara means “flowing with grace”, “flowing with nature”, “following your heart.” Anusara yoga teaches a few basic principals of alignment that you bring to all of your yoga practice which were kind of difficult, but felt really good the few times I got it. In general you are always: “hugging your shin bones in, take your hips back and apart (kind of like you’re sticking your butt out in reality), tucking your tailbone under.” Does that make any sense at all? It sort of does when you see her incredibly strong body exaggerate the movements. I have to say that all of my poses felt better and my body and mind felt great after class and I probably only “got it” half of the time. I really liked her personality, she was having fun and it was just the right amount of yoga babble and asana to connect with. Anusara is a style I’ll definitely try again.
Then I came back to my hotel room to enjoy lunch to ponder my practices. While I was in savasana or relaxation I noticed how my mind was alternating between pointless chitter chatter about past memories and this desire to create drama in my life. I have been trying to create drama while traveling! I noticed it twice this weekend, once when work got a little stressful. The next time was when I still couldn’t connect with my loved ones over the phone. I noticed both of these negative and frustrated reactions where I was angry and upset and thought, “what is this? what am i really feeling? how do i want this to change? what can i do to change this?” In both situations I was quickly able to take a breathe and realize that the stress of travel has me reacting in ways that maybe aren’t my usual or most loving self. I wanted to take the stress of travel out on my loved ones for not being there when I wanted them to be, during the few moments I had to myself. I wanted to force my work habits and expectations on others. I wanted to take others stress and internalize it and make it my own. The density of yogis in this hotel must have helped to clear my mind. Yogi-ness must be permeating through these walls, I can feel the ooooommmmms resonating, or maybe that is the elevator making noise again.
I had a lot to say! If you made it to the end of this you get a Gold Star! May you find a little breathe in the drama and stress of life this weekend. Xoxoooooo. Oh, and I encourage you to open your hips in thread the needle. Do it. Right now. Hold each side for 2-5 minutes and use a pillow under your neck if you need it. It will make you feel better, I swear.
This morning I awoke to an amazing sunrise over the Charles river in Boston, MA. I put my kicheree on my hot plate, cleared my sinuses with my netty pot (this saves me after flying), meditated for 10 min while doing yin yoga poses, vinyasa yoga for 20, then started my day with breakfast while watching Boston come to life. Life is good when you can enjoy your routine and the tiniest sliver of time to practice yoga.
Here is a good mini practice that I did this morning. I did exactly what my body asked for once I hit the mat after flying across the US yesterday. I held the poses for 5-8 breathes.
Surya namaskar a x 2
Surya B x 1
Warrior 1
Warrior 2
Big toe hold forward fold
Standing thread the needle
Bridge
Headstand
Supine twist
I have been having an identity crisis lately. I want my pretty flowing flowers to be stars. I wish my beautiful interface worked on all browsers including the droid. I want to come up with the most genius logo that will reflect me and my little yoga teaching living life business perfectly. I want people to understand that when I say my website is ROXTARYOGA.COM it’s not rockstaryoga.com. They don’t even hear when I spell it out. Sigh. All of these things aren’t really a big deal, and I’ve accepted that perfection is often the enemy of good enough. So, I am going to work on this blog as time permits, I’m going to forgive myself for not having the most perfect website/blog, yoga practice, or eating habits, and I’m going to change the name of this blog to Roxy Yoga instead of Roxtar Yoga. Don’t worry, those of you who know my true roxtar roots can still call me roxtar and I will always own the URL, but it’s time my friends. It’s time to make my blog have an easy name so people can easily remember it and they don’t get confused. And, even though yoga isn’t all about me, this blog is all me. It’s time for me to evolve from my roxtar roots. I will always have a little roxtar in me though. If you have any input, let me know.
I have added a cool feature so you can subscribe to receive my posts via e-mail and I finally joined twitter too. You can be so connected to me you’ll get sick of me!
Today I taught a pretty standard vinyasa class, but focused a bit more on balancing postures including two sets of eagle, standing bow, and tree. It felt good to clear the mind and laugh a little while wobbling all over the place. Balance poses demand breath and focused gaze. The breath brings you to the here and now and concentrated gaze steadies and centers you, streamlining your attention to a single beam of energy. This added dimension makes every balancing pose a true mediation in motion. Balance poses also tone your lower body. They balance the left and right sides of the brain, and restore and stabilize your equilibrium. Go ahead, pose like a dancer, tree, or eagle, just for a few moments of balance love.
This weekend I took yet another yoga workshop, this time with Kira Ryder of Lulubhanda’s Yoga Studio of Ojai, California. Yes, yoga is taking over the world muwahahaha. Rumor is that Kira has given a lot of herself to to the yoga community in Southern California over the past six years and is one of our favorite “teacher’s teacher.” In fact, this weekend was designed with yoga teachers in mind and those seeking to broaden their perspective of the yogic arts and develop the ability to communicate from the heart. What does that even mean you wonder?
We started by grounding into the earth with a yin (or more gentle, restorative) style yoga class. We shared a little bit of info about each of ourselves and where we’re at with our yoga practice and/or teaching. I found myself sharing how sick I have been of hearing my own voice lately. Have you ever been sick of yourself? Not that I don’t love myself, I’m just trying to find new words and inspiration in sharing myself and yoga with people. I feel like I’m a solid teacher, but I want to get better, I want people to leave my class with that kind of yoga high you can only get on the mat. Similar to how I feel after Shiva’s class when I’m all gooey and I don’t even know what happened in class, but I know it felt good. It got me inspired to document why I teach yoga in the first place and what kind of class I’d like to lead. Have you ever thought about why you’re doing the things you’re doing, be it your job, relationships, or lifestyle? I think it’s good to take stock of that reason every once in a while. If I don’t hear a reasonable response maybe I should dig a little deeper or make a change. I teach yoga to help people become healthier, in body and mind. I teach to help people enjoy a few moments without coulda shoulda woulda thoughts. I teach to help people feel connected and inspired. Amongst other things.
Kira is an avid reader and I really enjoyed her sharing of reading recommendations and various information that related to yoga and life. Saturday we conversed about The Effort Effect by Marina Krakovsky amongst other things. It’s a great article on research done by psychology professor Carol Dweck which attempts to answer the question, “What makes a capable child give up in the face of failure, where other children may be motivated by the failure?” Dweck posited that the difference between the helpless response to challenges and it’s opposite – the determination to master new things and surmount challenges – lay in people’s beliefs about why they had failed. People who attributed their failures to lack of ability versus those who thought they simply hadn’t tried hard enough. I think that I often waiver in the face of challenges, more often than not I try harder, but I’ve definitely taken it personally and given up in certain scenarios as well. In college I tried harder, when it’s something not so natural to me, I tend to take it so much more personally.
How does this relate to yoga? It relates more to who we are as human beings and the fact that this is what we have to face every day on the mat and in our lives. Challenges aren’t easy, but they can be manageable if we learn to look at them as opportunities for growth. We have to enjoy the learning process more than the results.
To be honest, I was feeling a little overworked and tired this weekend and didn’t want to commit to yet another thing to do on my schedule, even if it was yoga. Yet as I predicted, I didn’t regret it once it was over. I’m feeling pretty good for a Monday. Kira is a wonderful teacher and she had me at her beautifully printed manual which I’ve been carrying around like a little puppy dog in my commuter bag. I will continue to share thoughts from yoga workshop land. For now, I have to prepare to ride my bike home from work. The wind is blowing fiercely outside, at about 18 miles per hour. That means that my leisurely ride home from work will be more like an uphill climb in my granny gear.
Thoughts from yoga workshop land. This one is for Kira and my fellow yogi friends sharing the mat with me this weekend at the dog.
Never underestimate the sneakiness of yoga.
Yoga has taught me how to live. I never realized that before.
Learn how to feel grounded so that when what supports you changes, you can still feel safe.
Acceptance is the dance partner of change.
(apologies for grammar, typos, and incessant rambles)
