3 Things to focus on other than your breath

Good day Yogis! Hope you are finding your mat well. Today's post is going to be about three things you can focus on during yoga class other than your breath. The inspiration for this topic came to me the other day during my practice when I just couldn't stay connected to my breath. I tried concentrated on my breath in the postures, but I felt utterly defeated. My thoughts just wouldn't stop coming. The goal of yoga, if you want to apply one, is to still the constant flow of thoughts (Yoga Sutra 1.2). I found myself bored and far too familiar with my breath during practice. On one hand, I felt like if I couldn't focus on my breath, then I was failing and not staying present. On the other hand, I knew beating myself up about not being able to stay concentrated was completely counterproductive. So the clever little yogi in me, who is in everyone, decided to improvise and focus on some other objects.



Here are the other focus objects if the breath just isn't cutting it:



1). Dristana (dristi) Point: The dristi is a steady point that you focus on with your eyes. Yogi's believe that wherever your eyes are directed, so follows your attention. Here's a really great article by Yoga Journal that goes a little more in depth about the dristi:



http://www.yogajournal.com/article/philosophy/the-eye-of-the-beholder/

The most important thing about finding your dristi point is that it should be a soft gaze; no straining of the muscles in the eyes.



2). Mula Bandha: "Mula" translates to the word "root." "Bandha" translates to the word "lock." This practice is the locking of your root, which is your pelvic floor. To activate mula bandha, squeeze and lift the area that is right between the anus and the genitals. If you've heard of kegel exercises then this won't seem that foreign to you. The difference is that you hold this contraction instead of pulsing the muscles like in kegel exercises. This lock is especially encouraged during standing postures, balance postures, and if trying to activate the first chakra (Muladhara Chakra).



3). Grounding your feet: This focus object really helps me during my topsy turvy standing postures. Sometimes we don't fully appreciate that anytime we are standing, we are balancing. When I'm in a standing posture, and my thoughts start to dominate my practice, I literally cultivate a voice in my head that says, "ok, whatever is happening in here, STOP and go back to your feet. You need a solid foundation in this posture, and you can't have that when you're in your head." I then re-direct my concentration on all the tiny muscles in my foot that are working hard to keep me upright. I also like to concentrate on the feeling of connection to the earth in each individual unit in both of my feet.



Additionally, you can apply breath to all of these focus objects and the combination of the two will definitely help you stay focused. When you apply breath to a part of your body, you're breathing prana (energy) into that space. Moving more into the pranic body helps to propel us into a higher consciousness and helps to navigate us to our truthful, blissful selves. It's a pretty great feeling. But you'll only know if you experience it- so enough computer time. Go try these tips on your mat!



Thanks so much for reading! Please share and comment any thoughts or questions you may have!



Peace.Namaste.

The Adventures of Teaching Yamas and Niyamas

Cheers! Welcome to Yogic Matters…part two. My blog has been on sabbatical so that I could focus all my energies on things that needed extra focus-- teaching, learning, dancing, watching my boyfriend get crazy with Grand Theft Auto 5, etc. But now I’m back and promising to make more of an effort to blog about my yogic findings.  My first matter (let's call it my comeback matter) is my 32 hour project for my 500 hour teaching certification. I decided that since the yamas and niyamas have become such a vital part of my practice, and my life, for the past couple of years, I wanted to step up my teaching game by integrating the yogic behaviors (yamas) and attitudes (niyamas) into my classes.   http://www.yogaoutlet.com/guides/the-yamas-niyamas-in-yoga

 I approached this project as an experiment.  I decided to work with four classes, all of which were at a gym.  Since this is strictly gym yoga, I had been grappling back and forth for a long while debating whether gym yoga classes are targeted to be more rigorous and “work out like” vs an integrated journey of self contemplation for which yoga was originally designed.  It seemed as though the fuller classes were full of strong, young, viral people who could not get enough chatarunga and hand balances.  Those parts of a yoga practice, although very beneficial in their own way, is such a small part of what the tradition of yoga has to offer. Studies are showing that yoga lowers cortisol levels, helps to lower blood pressure, and encourages self acceptance.  So why in the gym yoga classes were people begging for sweat? Was the general goal of a gym yoga class purely physical  or was I being too prescriptive in my head?  I sought to find the answers by changing up the routine and bring ancient yogic wisdom to my classes. (For the record, the inspiration  for this project was based on the fact that it was in a setting designated towards working out/physical exertion.  It was NOT  based on personal character of my students or any mentioned preference).

I decided that on Mon/Tues, I would talk about the Y/N (yamas/niyamas) in a physical sense, emphasizing how the Y/N applied to the students' asana practice. Wed/Thursday I tried to relate the Y/N to real life situations, emphasizing how the principle could be applied to the students' everyday actions. I would spend about 5 minutes at the beginning of class to talk about the Y/N. Ultimately, what I wanted to convey to my students was that yoga is much deeper than just the asana practice, and that they could be practicing yoga all the time if they integrated the yamas and niyamas into their lives regularly. 

Here is some of the feedback that I received:

1) Some students volunteered to fill out surveys explaining their yoga experience before the experiment and after.   On the before surveys every student said they had not heard of the Y/N, but 100% of surveyors said that they believed that yoga is something you could use in your everyday life.  I concluded from this that yoga, even on its most superficial level, is unanimously agreed upon to be a pretty wonderful practice…something they would practice everyday if they knew more of the tradition.   

2) Some students did approach me to talk about how they felt about the experiment. Some liked the deeper explanation of the ethical observances in yoga.  What I found interesting, however, was how of those people who told me they liked it most were retired school teachers or principles. So basically  people who spent their career educating and sharing knowledge. On the other hand, some students said they didn’t like me talking about the Y/N.  I noticed with these people they came only once in a while and told me that they had very busy lives. One woman in particular said she felt that I was stealing her time by taking 5 minutes to talk instead of starting the yoga practice. I told her I  understood how precious time was since she was very busy, and I appoligized if she thought I was stealing her time but  I couldn’t help to  notice she appropriately understood and applied the concept of asteya (non-stealing) to a real life situation--even if I was the accused thief. Conclusion: people that didn't like it were busy, multi-taskers.  Ultimately, I decided to change my approach of communicating the Y/N, but I wasn’t going to kick it entirely because it was obviously cultivating some brain stimulation IE contemplation IE planting the seeds of self awarenes.   From then on I started the asana right away and weaved in the Y/N throughout the hatha yoga practice.

3) Class sizes did get a little smaller. But this was also during summertime, so I can’t determine if they got smaller due to people not wanting to hear about the Y/N, or if they were at the beach all day. I’d like to think the latter.

Ultimately I learned a lot from this experiment. I figure it was about a 50/50 split as to whether students just wanted the physical stuff or if they wanted the deeper wisdom stuff. The lesson I took from this personally was that I wanted to share the deeper stuff, whether it was being processed or not.  Yoga is a long tradition,  and I really don't want to contribute to its simplification just because its now popular in a culture that extracts "good" or "bad" qualitifacations based on physical traits. I learned how to refine what I wanted to communicate to my classes so that they can get to an illuminated place in their bodies, mind, and spirit. Conclusively, I stand firm in my incorporation of the Y/N to my classes, but I also agree that I should not be giving speeches in a hatha yoga class unless they are warranted.   I think I will continue to slip in words of yogic wisdom, but during the time they hold the poses and have nowhere to go but to receive their own satya (truth).  

In the end, it comes back to your intention. If you want the practice to be completely physical, I trust that you’ll find a way to tune me out. Which is fine, do your thing. But if you’re interested in going a little deeper into the wisdom of yoga...maybe tip toeing into the pool of true transformation, I will continue to offer a path to that direction as well.

Thanks for checking it! Find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/roxy.yogs and lets be friends! Yay! Peace and blessings to all.

Namaste.

roxy

 

You Have to be Able to Trust in the Possibility of Something New

"You have to be able to trust in the possibility of something new" was a quote my teacher said the other day in class. I don't know if she had gotten this quote from somewhere else or if she made it up herself, but really it wouldn't have matter either way.  A dog could have said these words, and the wisdom would have been just as great.  This quote's brilliance lies in what it advises, in what it supposes, and its cue for a successful practice (for life and for yoga). So lets break it down shall we.

First: Trust. Its what you have to do, according to this quote. So whats trust?

TRUST

 [truhst] Show IPA

noun

1.

reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.

2.

confident expectation of something; hope.

3.

confidence in the certainty of future payment for property or goods received; credit: to sell merchandise on trust.

4.

a person on whom or thing on which one relies: God is my trust.

5.

the condition of one to whom something has been entrusted.

And thats called copy and pasting from Dictionary.com.  Bam.

To trust  means that you have to be able to have confidence in the weight of your belief. So, to make this concept something we can all relate to, have you ever felt that you trusted someone? Something? Somewhere? Some belief?  And how exactly does that trust feel? Sometimes scary, sometimes reassuring....but almost always heavy in credence.  Heavy in faith.  Heavy in "know how"... almost to the point of predictability. This is a very good thing to have in your life. This is also something we can expand into many different aspects of our lives...just takes a little bit of mindfulness. Trust that your practice will grow, that you will feel things that you've never felt before.  Trust that you can return to your breath and trust that your breath enhances your life force and consequently enhances a fuller awareness of yourself. This can be intense, but many things in life can be intense.  The scintillating thing about practicing yoga is that we learn how to choose to respond to life's intensity vs letting it take over our everything  (mind, action, perspective).  TRUST: Let the magnitude of the word set in, and once it does apply it to things you know about and to things you don't. Consider the range of this word too; conversely you can trust that you don't trust some or something a great deal. But know what you trust and have a strong constitution to back up the way you feel. Finally, take a moment to appreciate that by simply thinking about the things you trust, you've just practiced mind expansion, creativity, and confidence.  Good JOB!

So lets relate how trust is inwoven into the Yoga Sutras. (just for nerding out sake).  We can start with the fifth niyama, Ishvarapranidhana. (yamas and niyamas being the ethical codes in Ashtanga Yoga). In English, ishvarapranidhana means self surrender, or devotion a higher power.  Do you agree there is a higher power? When you see natural changes in weather, seasons, and disasters...would you not agree that it is not you controlling these things but another power? If not, comment below and we'll talk. But I'll go ahead and assume we're all on the same page that there is a larger spirit that plays a huge role in our lives. Try to accept the fact that a higher power presents us with new opportunities, new thoughts, new inspirations..etc. When faced with the "newness of life," see if you can trust that these new things will serve us.  Maybe we receive a positive opinion about this new thing, maybe its negative..but ultimately its mental growth.  Trust that the higher power is not working against you, but with you. To make you more whole. The more you trust in that belief, the more you'll be able to recognize the influence of the higher power in your life.  

Ok...we got the niyama down, so I think we can start working on the "something new" part of the quote.   Can we agree that change is inevitable? Yes, good that was easy.  How do you feel about embracing the changes of life verses fighting them? For me, I naturally fight changes. I fight, I coerce, I adapt, and I settle just to avoid change. When change comes knocking on the door, fear is usually not too far behind.  We don't know what change can bring; you roll the dice and sometimes you hit sevens and sometimes your roll snake eyes.  Either way the dice are going to get thrown. So why not be aware of this? Accepting everyday that change could very well be right around the corner will actually emancipate us from fear and we can grow to learn so many fun new things when fear isn't in the way!  So what I took from this quote, is that change is inevitable so don't be surprised or thrown off when its finally does come.  Instead accept the situation for what it is and do your best to do whats right for you. 

Lastly, I'd like to expand on the first part of the quote, :"you need to."  For the longest time I have hated this statement. How you gonna tell me what "I need to?" (insert ghetto head whip and finger snap).  But over time, with a lot of practice with patience, I have come to understand that yes sometimes we do "need to" do things. It kinda falls in line with the whole Higher Power, Smaller Power calculation. Me and my ego being the smaller power. So I've decided that I'm going to just up and do what I'm told.  Sometimes that's the right thing to do. (sometimes) 

So there you have it, a little piece of inspiration that I found to be valuable and I hope you do too. "you need to trust in the possibility of something new."  Let go of the anxiety of the unknown future, and instead replace with your confidence of your stable presence.  Trust in yourself and your years of experience to prevail over any obstacle that may come your way, or to appreciate any gift you may receive.

Peace

Roxy

You Don't Have to Like the Medicine, You Just Have to Take it

The title of this blog was once said by a man that works at the gym that I work at. He's a really sweet guy that works at the food counter, and every time I walk out of class he asks me "How did it go?" To which I answer depending on how it went. One day I said, "I gave them a lot of core work and I think they got a little mad at me." And then he said compassionately, "Well, you don't have to like the medicine, you just have to take it."

The other day I took a huge dose of my own medicine, and it was quite bitter. 

The other day I was driving home and on the off ramp of the freeway to my exit there is a merge lane that merges over to the right. As I got off, I was in the merge lane and the lady to my right wouldn't let me over.  More realistically she didn't see me. So being the little Californian brat that I am, I sped up to beat her, but couldn't and alas had to honk my horn so that she wouldn't hit me. All in all...we were both pissed off at each other via road rage. We got to a stop light, she was behind me, and in the review mirror I looked at her and she lipped to me with a cold grimace, "NICE."  Holy smokes I was mad. I got home, turned off my car, and was still mad. I kept replaying the incident in my head, and although that woman had driven off and I will probably never see her again, the situation was just playing over and over and over. In grander perspective, this minor incident didn't matter, but for whatever reason it just kept re playing in my mind; I really wanted to stay clinging onto it. Finally I pushed it over enough to make room for my yoga practice.  I had to consciously stop and say to myself, "its over move on".  For about an hour after that my mind was completely on my practice and not that incident. Breathe, alignment, deepening...these were the only things that occupied my headspace for a good hour.  By the time shavasana (corpse pose) came around, I was lying there as per usual, palms up to receptivity...and suddenly this direct instruction came into my head that said to me, "offer love, forgiveness, and peace to this woman you were mad at earlier."  Let it be known...I really didn't want to.

But sometimes you don't have to like the medicine, you just have to take it.

 It was medicine for me to open my heart and offer love and compassion to this stranger. So I did. I took a moment, a deep breath, and softened myself to the thought of this woman; to wish her happiness and personal wealth.  After I made that very difficult choice to wish her happiness I felt this huge weight lift off of me. That's when I came face to face with the burden of holding grudges.  Pride, ego, and self entitlement are so easy to indulge in with us humans. This incident has come to me to demonstrate the medicinal benefits of forgiveness. It cures us from tension and mental stagnation.  After I crossed that very rocky road towards forgiveness, empathy started to play in.  Maybe she had a bad day; maybe her neck hurt her and she didn't want to twist to look in the mirror; maybe I was being the brat that sped up when really I should have slowed down.  All the maybes are important, but only in that they are the building blocks to the triumph of forgiveness and compassion. By the end of my practice I felt blissful.

From this experience I understood how hard it is to forgive and wish well for another that you felt harmed you.  But it is so essential for your personal growth!  Upon further reflection, I remembered the exact meditation technique that deals this this type of situation.  This technique is called Metta Meditation. I'll post an instructional video below:

So there's my story of being cognitive of anger.  Do you have one? Is there some person in your life, maybe a stranger or close acquaintance that has stirred up a tornado of emotion in you? Next time this happens, explore a yogic approach.  I personally chose to do a hatha practice first because I felt that it calmed me down, but whatever you choose...either meditation first or hatha...try to be strong and practice compassion and sympathy.   Also, try to remember this is a practice.  If it doesn't resonate at first, try again until it starts to kick in. I bet it will.

Well I guess that's all I have for today's post. Comments are always welcomed, so please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section. Hope the day finds you well. Until next time my little yogis and yoginis =0).
Peace. Namaste.
Roxy

Staying with Your Practice

The other night I was finishing up a private yoga session at the gym I work at.  At this gym the client buys a set of training sessions at once, and when they run out the client decides if they want to "re up" or if they want to stop the sessions.  Jackie, my client, had just finished her last session when she turned to me and said, in an almost self indulgent tone, "oh, I re up'd. I just can't help myself."  Jackie told me that during our sessions her husband misses her at home, and there's work that she should be doing at her office. But she just "can't help" practicing yoga.  At the time I thought this comment to be meaningless and it passed by just as quickly as it came.  But today, about five days later, that comment came back to me as a huge inspiration. Why? Because I can help it. Practice lately has become more of an obligation to me than a pleasure. Today I came up with every excuse to myself as to why I can't practice; from PMS to "I'm hungry" to if I eat now I'll have to wait until my stomach is empty to practice, blah blah blee bloo blah blah.  I'm a pretty creative person, so the list went on and on.  But you know what ultimately happened?  I became depressed as the day went on and I didn't practice.  I became stuck in a place of unhappiness and ennui. Ultimately I made a choice; instead of allowing myself to fall deeper and deeper into that feeling of depression, I stopped and asked myself, "why are you depressed?"  To which I replied, " because I feel sluggish, stuck, fat and like a failure."

"And why's that?"

"Because I've been starring at the computer screen for hours and haven't left the couch. I didn't want to practice."

"And why didn't you want to practice?"

"Too much work."

"Is it really?"

Right then I peeled myself off the couch and had a delicious restorative/gentle hatha yoga practice.  It was only 45 minutes, but when the practice is sincere and pure, time seems to matter less and less.  You see, my practice actually began when I started asking myself questions. Digging deeper.  Why am I doing what I'm doing? (or rather not doing).  Am I ok with that decision? Is there anything I think I can do to help my situation? 

Digging deeper.

Looking closer.

That's practicing Yoga.

Jackie's words rung truer to me than I had originally realized. I guess I can't help it either. In fact, I could have skipped the hatha pracice and just meditated on what going on on the inside and THAT would have been an exquisite practice.  ( But I really did need to shave my chunky butt of the couch).  The point is, your practice really doesn't have to be physically exhausting or work.  It can be as simple as noticing your natural breath or turning in and asking your self the real questions.  

After my practice, I felt inspired, energetic, and out of the depression mode.  Just a tip for those who are "tired" of practicing yoga: don't ever attach a presupposed idea of what your practice should be (stupid ego).  Practice everyday? Yes. Practice the same way everyday? No. I'd say not. Turn in, see where you are in that present moment and go from there. While your at it, try to skip the opinions about yourself because of your inaction (they're a waste of time. Trust me). And guess what, if you decide not to practice after all of this, the mat is there tomorrow also.

Don't Worry Be Happy

Hello and Welcome one and all!  Thanks for stopping by. I've been away from the blog for a minute there, but a world goes on and sometimes it rolls fast. I'm sure you understand.  Just now I got struck with a bit of yogic inspiration washing dishes...so obviously I stopped doing all my responsible chores and hopped on the computer. As is tradition.

I was listening to Pandora, and the song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFarrin came on. This song is probably one if not the most notorious "happy" songs in the history of modern music. Honestly, it was so popular that even Bobby McFarrin admitted to being sick of it. True story. But for some reason, this time after hearing this song so many times bebore, I really heard this song. Sometime around the second time he told me to "don't worry, be happy" I came to realize that one of the greatest benefits of practicing yoga (not just hatha, but exploring the other areas as well) you are given the tools to give the power back to you when deciding to be happy, and not to worry. I wholeheartedly admit that life throws a lot of "curve balls your way."And sometimes shitballs get tossed in the mix as well.  I think we can all agree that obstacles are a big part of life, but really what good does worrying do? I will say one thing about worrying...its easy.  But much like in a hatha yoga class where you have to balance letting go and firming/engaging your body, in order to have a centered life, you have to learn how to balance thoughts that should be let go (worries) verses thoughts should be meditated upon.

I'd like suggest a couple of things that have helped me to balance my thoughts.  And for the record, yes I still worry.  Its a natural thing.  BUT, with a consistent yoga practice, I have made a lot of progress filtering thoughts that don't serve me, and to rationalize why these thoughts should be thrown out.  With a crazy woman brain, these filtering tools have made a much happier person.  So here are some yogic tips to deal with your life matters:

1). Think about what is consuming the mind. Money, relationships, confidence...the list can go on and on. Instead of allowing emotions, assumptions, and fear to take over...simply accept what you're worrying about.  Money? Health? Relationships. Target the topic and stay with it. No judgments..they're just going to get in the way.After you zone in on what you're thiinking about, catagorize these worries in columns of "things in my control, and things out of my control."

2). Once you've decided whats in your control and whats not, start taking action for both. If you have it in your control, what exactly is in your control? Do you have the option to get to a gym? Do you have access to the internet, thus access to infinite information? Do you know someone who might know someone who knows someone that could maybe kick you down with what your searching for? Get creative, and look at all angles of how you can move up and away from a mind consumed with worry.

If the topic at hand is not within your control, well then I have to say, is this really worth thinking about then? Or at least, keeping it at the front of the thought list? Think about it like this: think back to when you were a child and you first realized that this world is "less than perfect," to put it tamely. I mean like, learning about or even when sometimes you're better at something than someone else, but you're never going to recognized as the "best" (PS: F U elementary softball all star choosers. Not that I'm still bitter, cuz I'm yogic now, bitches).  These realities are very important life lessons.  They teach you that there are big things in this world that you can't control.  And to those things, I think it would be in you're best interest to just let it go.  Not let it go in the sense that it doesn't matter and can't be influenced, but let it go in the sense that its bigger than you, and you're going to have to make a plan----be strategic----where each step gets you closer to making the situation in your control again. But worrying with no action...its a waste of time.

Again these are rationalities that I have found to help comfort me when my mind goes amuck. They just make sense to me, and a large part about understanding yoga is that it should make sense to you...that's why its such an individual and universal practice.  Another thing that I like to turn to when I'm stressed out is to do a quick go over about all the things I have that I be appreciative for. I call them my "appreciatives." Now, don't get jealous, because I pretty much have a kick ass life, but I'm going to list the things I treasure in my life to give you some examples:

• I live in Santa Cruz, Ca. By far one of the most beautiful places on earth.
• I have a job and steady income. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm broke..I strive to make the poverty line. But I do have enough money to keep me alive.
• I have the ability to use motor skills, to use my mind, and have all 5 senses
• I have people in my life who I love and who tell me they love me back
• I have the freedom to walk out my door with a sense of security that I will come back safe
• And, probably one of my most favorites, I have the ability to listen to music. I love music, and its a gift to have it in my life. 

So those are my appreciatives and I hope they give insight to what you could consider an appreciative that can combat those incessant thoughts that just bring you down.  What are some of yours?

Whelp, looks like that's gonna sum up this entry, I hope something at some point encouraged you to think.  Thanks for checking in, and of coarse questions comments and concerns are welcomed.

Cheers and Namaste,

Roxy

Some amazing stuff

Here's a brief video of some amazing hatha yoga moves. A friend of mine posted it on facebook and I thought it was definitely worth blogging...if for nothing else so I could find it easily later.  So here it is, hope you enjoy!