Prana Journal

Too tired

2010-02-06T21:38:00.005-05:00

I had all these grand ideas of what I would do because I was isolated by the snow storm -- revamping websites, reading books, taking online classes, writing some reviews, backing up my data, archiving my music collection, etc. etc. What I did not count on was the physical exhaustion from wrestling with the snow for hours. In the morning, I shoveled because I did not want to get overwhelmed by the snowfall. In the afternoon, I shoveled because I wanted to get newly purchased book (The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama.) out of the car. After dark, I shoveled because the snow had stopped — finally — and I needed to finish digging the car out from under the snow. There was at least 24 inches on the ground, though it could have been more because the bottom layers were getting more compacted as the snow kept falling

In between those episodes of physical exertion, I laid around on the sofa focusing on the dull ache in my back, the soreness in my hips, the dead weight of my arms. Who can engage in intellectual activities when corporal sensations are so amplified? I need to do a session of yoga nidra to heal.

In the end, we were digging out to go nowhere because the snow plow was unable to get into our neighborhood because a tree fell on the pavement. By the time the tree was removed, the plow could not get up the slope because it got stuck in the snow and ice. So we have not seen a snow plow in 24 hours, and have no idea of when the contractor will get back to clean up the street. For that matter, we have a serious problem of where we are going to put all the snow. Just doing the sidewalks has piled up the snow to more than six feet tall.

I was too tired to even pick up my camera and take some shots of the snow, like most other people enjoying the blizzard.

Yoga class before isolation

2010-02-05T21:49:00.000-05:00

I took advantage of the unscheduled leave option and early dismissal at my job due to the looming snow storm (my employer, an international organization, follows the lead from the Federal Government) to get in one more session of yoga at Thrive before being trapped in my house for the weekend. Between fitting in a couple of hours of work and getting some time on the mat, I'll take the yoga this time. Next week, probably, I'll have to give priority to work.

Stephanie gave another hot vinyasa session at 9:30 and it was about the same as last night. The only difference was that my muscles were showing signs of fatigue. I had not had enough time to recover from the exertion of the night before. The room was full so there was plenty of energy to carry us along so it was not hard to let the sequencing take me through the process. I just had to take a break once in a while to allow my breathing to catch up. I noticed that I was able to get into lizard pose (Utthan Pristhasana) much deeper than I had in the past, a sign that my hips are opening up. I can get both forearms down to the mat without having to compensate.

After class, I ran around making grocery purchases to get us through a long weekend, checking on my parents, filling up the gas tank and other errands. In the evening, the snow started to pile up and I did two rounds of shoveling sidewalks, parking space, and our back patio (our dogs need access to some free space to relieve themselves). By the time this snow storm is over, I will wear out the shovel.

Getting in some yoga before the big snow

2010-02-04T23:39:00.003-05:00

I made it to Thrive Yoga tonight and got in a hot vinyasa class before the region is shut down by a huge snow storm heading our way. I suspect that any yoga I fit in over the next four days will be in my own study or living room. We'll see how long it takes everyone to dig out. Despite the sweat dripping from head to toe, I repeated to myself, "Don't work so hard, Mike, grace and ease." It seemed to soothe my mind and body as we went through the sequences of postures -- until the instructor, Stephanie Rosenblatt, led us into abdominal work, and then I just caved in after a couple of sets of bicycle crunches.

These winter storm are becoming a real pain in the butt. It shuts down studios for 2-3 days so that means there's a hole in my routine, and shoveling snow does not make up for it. Home practice starts to look like a necessity. Where have I heard that before?

Golden rule of yoga practice

2010-02-02T23:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I broke a personal rule about my yoga practice. I talked myself out of going to yoga on Monday evening because I was tired, had things to do at home and did not feel all that gung-ho about doing yoga. I thought I would be able to grab my Tuesday night class, as usual. I had even talked my wife into taking the class with me. Well, another snow storm moved into the DC area and Thrive Yoga canceled the evening class as a precaution because of the bad weather. To make it an even bigger downer, both evenings at home got sidetracked and I did not get to be as productive as I wanted.

I have this personal rule for a reason: I grab classes when I can, as early in the week as possible. All kinds of circumstances crop up to interfere with my yoga practice and there are only a specific number of classes at Thrive Yoga that are available to me, unless I don't go to work. For all I know, I'll have an urgent task at work or the Metro will be delayed and I'll miss the Thursday class.

Of course, the skillful response to this predicament would be to have a complete daily home practice that would satisfy my yoga needs. Instead, I'll be lucky to get in 20 minutes of meditation before going to bed.

My second rule of yoga practice is that I get up the next day and try to do the best that I can.

Divided attention in the yoga studio

2010-01-30T17:30:00.005-05:00

I went to Thrive Yoga for my Saturday morning vinyasa flow 2/3 class just as the snow storm was hitting the DC area. There were treacherous driving conditions. I took my camera with me because I thought I'd try to take some cuts with a 50 mm f/1.8 lens, which gives some interesting effects. After about 15 minutes of practice, I stopped and picked up my camera to take some shots. I wish I hadn't. After about 20 minutes, I got back on my mat and I did not get into the full swing of the inspired vinyasa that Susan Bowen had put together.

During workshops, like the recent ones with Rumbaugh and Kest, the sessions are 2.5 hours long. There are natural pauses and interruptions. I sometimes need a blow. Even then, I felt that my mind was divided; that I was rushing through the shots without carefully surveying the full scene to capture the details in my mind before shooting; that I was skipping steps in making sure the camera had the right settings.

Norm classes are shorter (75-90 minutes) and the segments hang together more integrally. For instance, today, I missed a segment to loosen up my shoulders so I was not prepped for the segment on revolved bound side angle pose. On the other hand, taking good pictures requires concentration and patience to capture the right angle, light and pose. If I'm constantly thinking about when I should get back to my yoga practice, I am not giving the photography sufficient attention.

Lesson learned: in most daily circumstances, either practice yoga or take pictures; don't try to do both. I need my yoga just as much as I need to practice taking photos, if not more. I put an example of the shoot (on right) in this blog entry.

Bonus point: I did feel the difference for having practiced three days during the work week and doing some simple yoga on the other days. I also fit in a hot vinyasa class with Stephanie Rosenbltatt on Thursday so I pushed myself physically at least once during the week.

News that will put you to sleep

2010-01-28T10:29:00.004-05:00

I open my daily Google news alert e-mail this morning and a pattern immediately emerged from the selection.

WOOD TV8 Yoga for better sleep - informative five-minute video feature on a bedtime routine
Huffington Post How Laughing Yoga Helped Me Take Relaxation Seriously about this twist. Also see Yogalaff.com
Globe and Mail Night moves: Sleep yoga may be better than counting sheep- more info about yoga as "foreplay before bed to set the mood before sleep."
SFGate Restorative yoga for those who want to relax
Reuters Rwandans reach to yoga as a trauma therapy

I had made a decision to refrain from posting a lot of news items on yoga and meditation unless I could really add something to the content. These short entries were easy to fire off, but others sites, like YogaDorks, do this job well and with a lot more humor that I can muster about the yoga scene here in the States and around the world. I wanted to refocus my blog on my practice, photography, reading, and other assets that a reader would not find elsewhere.

And to contradict what I just said, let me close by pointing to this New York Times article, When Chocolate and Chakras Collide about the trend towards mixing yoga and food. Anything that appears in the NY Times is an indicator of what's happening culturally around yoga.

Nice pix from NYC's Yoga at the MoMA

2010-01-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

Let's just say that I appreciate the photographs of the Yoga Day USA event YoGA at MoMA. My problem when shooting at a yoga studio is that I have a limited range of angles from which to take a pictures, none of them giving me a wide shot that takes in the full array of yogis and yoginis. I also encourage you to take a look at the videos on Elena Brower's Virayoga. Elena was the lead instructor at the event, and has a beautiful practice. Better yet, I'll show it here.

Yoga's like a river

2010-01-26T22:08:00.002-05:00

At the Desirée Rumbaugh workshop, I was explaining my knee injury to Desirée and how I had recovered from the surgery. I told her that although the downtime from yoga had been felt, I did not look at it as a loss. In fact, it had helped in many respects; most importantly, it had allowed me to approach yoga from a beginner's vantage point. My muscles had softened, loosened up and become more malleable. I had to slow down my practice and become more aware and alert to what my body was telling me. And even though I was once again a beginner, I was not coming at yoga from the same point of five, six years ago. I had learned a lot about yoga; I was less fearful of "doing something wrong;" I understood the importance of consistency.

In other words, to paraphrase a quote from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, you can never step in the same river twice; for other waters flow flow over you. And, for that matter, you are never the same person.

It occurred to me that this is good advice to any beginner (or practitioner). You have to accept the injuries, the illnesses, the interruptions in practice, as opportunities to approach yoga from a fresh angle. The lapses are also chances to emphasize the other aspects of yoga beyond the physical asanas: meditation, pranayama, seva. After "backsliding," the first reaction is to feel regret or peeved.

Tonight I went to a Hatha yoga class with Marylou McNamara at Thrive Yoga. Some practitioners would look down on it and consider it only appropriate for novices. I call the Tuesday night session my "remedial" class because it always makes me come back to the basics. Last night, Marylou gave a masterful class that was full of nuances and subtleties grounded in Anusara principles. These details probably went over the heads of most people there because of the peculiar vocabulary of cuing that Anusara instructors use and because their practice probably is not yet mature enough to recognize the ins and outs of this type of instruction, but the yoga still did them a world of good and they will reap its benefits, as I did.

Getting grounded in seated position

2010-01-26T10:16:00.006-05:00

As part of my intention of "not working so hard" at my yoga, I've been practicing more seated poses, usually cross-legged Easy Pose (Sukhasana). In the evenings, I get up from my computer and take a seat on a zafu cushion in the middle of my study. I'll listen to some music, read or simply rest my attention on my body. I don't necessarily intend to meditate, but it often moves in that direction. Sometimes, I will transition into yoga nidra or a restorative pose as a release from being seated more than 15-20 minutes.

I notice that it takes a while to sink into the seated posture. It feels different after 10 minutes, and not just because my legs are losing sensation. I start working through my musculature, which is pretty substantial, lots of thick muscles working all day to keep me upright and moving. It takes time to get through the resistance and "touch bottom." By the end, I feel that I'm resting more on my sit bones than on the muscles. I also notice a change in my breathing as my upper torso (rib cage, diaphragm, solar plexus, thoracic spine) gains freedom from the lower half.

Obviously, if I lived in a non-Western culture, I would be spending a lot more time seated on the floor and the uniqueness of what I experience on the zafu would be routine.

One benefit I find so far is that it makes for much sounder sleep. Because I am really working my core in seated Easy Pose, my torso and thighs are really grateful for the relief of lying doing. I've exerted a lot of effort holding the upright position without really working up a sweat or increased aerobic activity. I sense that it bleeds off a lot of the nervous energy that builds up during the day.

Intention for the year 2010

2010-01-24T14:19:00.006-05:00

Every year, I set an intention for my yoga practice that I bring to the mat every time I take a class or do my home practice. Last year, it was "Listening with the whole body." In 2008, it was "discovery" and empowering my brother's health.

This year, my intention is a kind of mantra that I repeat silently to myself: "Mike, don't work so hard."

I've been practicing yoga for six years, often with explicit goals, like "changing my life," "managing my depression," "improving flexibillty," — and the list goes on. Any when I come up against my limits, whether physical, mental, spiritual, whatever, my instinct is to try harder, to redouble my efforts, to suck it up. But that approach does not necessarily get the results that I want. Yoga is different than Western disciplines and sports in that it requires that you be present in the moment, dwelling in the body as it is now, aware of the present. If I am constantly measuring my posture against some ideal or counting how long I can hold headstand, I am not fully grounded in the moment.

There will be times when I want to explore my edges, as during the Desirée Rumbaugh or Brian Kest workshops, or trying a pose that I had never attempted before. That's fine. But I also need to find the ease and grace that allows me to fully inhabit my body as it is here and now. At my recent workshops, I became aware of what could be called "black holes" in my body — areas that I could not touch or access so I could not move past them to attain certain poses because I could not exert any power or control over my "black holes." Pushing hard does not do anything.

What's required at this stage of my practice is to pause, pull back and focus on determining the topography of my "black holes." I have to let yoga itself show me the way, let yoga do the work. I don't have to "work harder," but sit back in patience, ready for a new compass to guide me forward.

Delayed Vision

2010-01-20T23:25:00.005-05:00

I am unable to write any comments about the Desirée Rumbaugh workshop; just no time to string together more than a few lines. I have posted more photographs on the Thrive Facebook gallery. I was trying to take shots without a flash, relying on opening my lens as wide as possible. The more settings and options you have, the more likely you'll forget something or just get it wrong. Plus people are moving, which may complicate things with slow shutter speeds. In other words, I am saying that there's a high failure rate in these photographs. I might be able to rescue some of them with Photoshop, but it's a steep learning curve.

Two quickies

2010-01-18T12:26:00.005-05:00

I want to spotlight to news items:

Detroit Free Press Matthew Sanford links yoga's self-awareness and healing about a paraplegic whose experience with yoga sheds light on the mind-body connection. Desirée mentioned Matthew at the workshop. She also recommended his book, Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence. He has a team of professionals working with him at MindBodySolutions. Here's a series of videos at a 2008 Yoga Journal confernce.
San Francisco Chronicle Restorative yoga for those who want to relax because I'm focusing on this facet of yoga and the reputation of West Coast yoga is usually the opposite: upbeat, intense and driven.

Yoga Workshop Fatigue

2010-01-17T21:51:00.008-05:00

I have put in ten hours of yoga in three days at Thrive Yoga, participating in the Desirée Rumbaugh workshop this weekend. It was intense, fulfilling and insightful, thanks for Desirée's infectious dynamism and deep knowledge of yoga. I also had the distraction of taking photographs whenever I could break free from the mat. I filled up one memory card with shots, and it will take a while to process them all. Since getting back home after the class, I have been blissed out (or burnt out) and don't think I could muster the energy to write too much about the experience.

Hip Openers and Resisting Temptation

2010-01-15T23:31:00.006-05:00

This weekend I am participating in the Desirée Rumbaugh's "Heart Stimulus Plan" workshop at Thrive Yoga as resident photographer and yogi pretender. Four two and a half hour sessions. Thankfully, we had MLK's birthday holiday on Monday so I will have a day to recover from this excess. Tonight, it was a sizeable class, but there was still room to spare. I've heard that there are still spaces available for the other sessions.

Tonight we worked on hip-openers and inversions: inversions were stuffed into the last 20 minutes (not a complaint), and Desiree really led us through a series of demos and highly focused postures that gradually led us deeper and deeper into the contradictions of how to spread your sit bones. This was not a vinyasa flow class with sequencing to work up a sweat and work the whole body (as with the Brian Kest workshop in October.) No, Desirée had us apply "shins forward and hugging to the midline, thighs back and spiraling inward, hips scooped to support the core and spine." Anyone who has taken an Anusara class knows the alignment principles that are repeated over and over again. If you confront this vocabulary for the first time, you're baffled, but Desirée does a good job of wittily describing and joyously demoing how the principles are applied in poses.

July 2008 workshop at Thrive and more comments
Tale of my knee injury coming out of the workshop

At the end of the class, I sat crosslegged in Easy Pose (Sukhasana) on my mat. In the past, my right hip was always so tight that my knee would jut up at a 45 degree angle. More recently, my left hip had actually opened up substantially and came close to resting on the ground ("cheating" with a blanket under my hips). Tonight both hips were open and I could rest both legs on the ground. Even though I was protecting of my right knee like crazy, not pushing it too far, pulling back from the edge, that's progress. Maybe I should not give up all hope of one day doing Lotus (Padmasana)

The danger with Desirée is that she is so inspired and energetic that you want to follow her off the deep end, take a pose to the next level and compete with your neighbor as to who can get deeper in a split (not me). Desiree warned us that we need to protect ourselves with the right tools and techniques.

Well, I have two sessions tomorrow so I should to bed. I need sleep.

Finding balance between gym and mat

2010-01-08T11:04:00.007-05:00

Over the past seven days, taking advantage of vacation time from work, I've tried to balance my yoga practice with daily trips to the gym to get in aerobic exercise so that I can increase my stamina and to burn off some of the pounds gained over the Holidays. I've included 30 minutes of stationary bicycle and another 30 minutes of either jogging/walking or elliptical trainer. Hopefully, I'll be able to continue this routine through the weekend. Next week, I am probably going to have to cut back the gym time to 30 minutes because I'll be back at work and unable to spend so much time on conditioning. The other objective is to get back into jogging and running, which I dropped after my knee injury. Running really helped my hips.

I've also tried to combine vinyasa with hatha, yin and restorative yoga, trying to cultivate more relaxing undertows in yoga to counteract the muscle activation in the flow. I wanted to acquire awareness and suppleness as well as muscle strength. In the past I've tended to harden around a partial flexibility in certain poses so that I could not deepen the postures. I don't know if I've succeeded. Last night, Susan Bowen led a hot vinyasa flow class at Thrive Yoga that really tested my physical edge. I had to stop repeatedly to catch my breath and my mat had puddles of sweat. I don't think she aimed to have an exceptionally difficult session, but the sequencing hit me where I feel the most vulnerability now, in the hips where I seem to be accessing a different combination of muscles.

At my age, the drop off in conditioning is unexpectedly sharp. For most of the last quarter of 2009, I could only grab practice sessions a few times a week, with no routine, and I even lost entire weeks because of family matters or travel. I do not have a home practice that can maintain a kind of physical and flexible foundation. Now I am paying the price. It's not something you can reverse in a week or two. I had been hoping to use my vacation time but weather and family matters kept me getting into a routine until this week. I also can't discount that my conditioning may also be a result of the lack of physical exercise following my knee injury, convalescence and recovery two years ago. It's only been a year since I really got back to yoga, and I've been treating myself gingerly over that time.

I have to find a way to create a full home practice, with active, yin and nidra yoga, as well as pranayama and meditation, while not being anal-obsessive about the whole routine. Understanding this need and taking action is probably what differentiates a beginner from an intermediate practitioner. It's not being able to achieve a certain level of difficulty in postures; that can depend just on hereditary traits or athleticism.

Indian chiefs and wheels on the yoga mat

2010-01-04T18:31:00.004-05:00

I took at morning vinyasa flow class with Susan Bowen at Thrive Yoga. It was my first physically demanding class in a week (if not more), and I really felt the lack of conditioning and ease. It seemed that I was fighting against myself the whole session, and I had to remind myself constantly to let the yoga do the work. I could tell that I was physically fatigued having done a lot of aerobic exercises the day before: 30 minutes of stationary bike and then another 30 minutes of jogging/walking, on top of Saturday's workout. After class, I could tell that I need recovery time so I did not go on to the gym for more aerobic work.

Yesterday, I took in Marylou McNamara's Hatha yoga class, which is strong on alignment, but does not make me break into a sweat, also at Thrive Yoga. That's not to say that the class did not have its challenges. I winced while holding Warrior II for what seemed like an eternity. Marylou focused a lot on opening up the shoulders, and I ended up doing a couple of strong wheel (upward facing bow or Urdhva Dhanurasana ) pose, which she complimented.

After class, I chatted with Marylou because she likes to put funny names to yoga poses adapted to other environments ("church yoga, bed yoga") and I had a pseudo-posture that helped me locate the muscles between my shoulder blades. I call it "Proud Indian Chieftain." I have this image in my head, probably from some drawing I saw in my childhood because I can't find anything like it on the Web, of an Indian warrior standing with his arms crossed over his chest, his head raised high. What's striking is how high the arms are positioned over his chest, almost as if he's posing by puffing up his rib cage. But really, his arms are pulled back fully into the shoulder joints, and the the rhomboids fully engaged so that the shoulders are broad and pulled back. What would be the Western antithesis in this pose? the folded arms would be resting on the lower rib cage because the shoulders are slumping forward. This is a posture acquired from slumping over keyboards.

Exercise and taking care of my feet

2010-01-02T22:26:00.006-05:00

There was some spillover from New Year into today as I could not get to sleep early last night and did not wake up in time for my yoga class. Bummer! So I punished myself by going to the gym and putting in 30 minutes on the stationary bike and 40 minutes on the treadmill, alternating between a brisk walk and jogging. I tried out my new Asics GT-2150 that I had my daughter give me for Christmas. I had been using Brooks Beasts, which are the running shoe with maximum support against pronation, for my running for the past two years, but I wanted to get something that did not get in the way of running. The new shoes are much lighter and fit my feet like gloves so I really enjoy using them. I will have to see how my feet and legs hold up under the renewed challenge of light running. I am not expecting to get back to what I was doing before my knee injury and surgery, but I want the option of jogging and running to supplement my yoga. It will also allow me to back off a bit and take my yoga with more ease and stamina.

On my trip to Miami in late November, a heel spur on my left foot became irritated and inflamed. In fact, I first notice the problem when I was doing savasana (in other words, lying flat on my back), and my legs rolled out and put pressure on my heels. I noticed a shot of pain on the heal and had to avoid putting weight on that spot. It did not bother me after class. But when I went to the airport for my flight to Miami, I wore my Brooks Beasts and those shoes irritated the heel spur even more. By the time I got into the hotel, I was limping from the constant pain. I started taking non-prescription anti-inflammatory drugs and putting ice on the heel and sole when I could. The other lucky break was that for the rest of the week I wore dress shoes that did not allow my heel to move around, and that allowed the inflammation to decline gradually. By the end of the week I no longer had to limp. When I got back to Washington, I decided to see a podiatrist since I could see the little knot on my heel and knew that it could be inflamed again. But the first available appointment was not until December 17 so by the time I got to see him, the worst symptoms had disappeared.

Since I knew that I wanted to get back to running, I asked the podiatrist multiple questions about my feet. First, the heel spur (a calcium deposit at the end of my plantar factia) is not something that will prevent me from running if I keep it from getting inflamed again. Second, I should not fear running because of my knee surgery. Third, my arches had not fallen as badly I thought. Getting fitted with a new pair of running shoes would get ahead of those three points, and he suggested JnR Sports in Rockville. I also learned that I was developing peripheral neuropathy in the sole of my feet. I had noticed some numbness as well as tingling sensations and pin pricks in my feet. This condition can be due to multiple causes -- I can immediately rule out some of the more obvious ones, such as diabetes and side effects from certain drugs. The doctor wanted to see how I respond to increased exercise so I'll be seeing him again this month.

At JnR Sports, I tried on Brook, Saucony and Asics shoes in multiple sizes and support levels, narrowing my choice down to the Asics GT2150. I got them in size 11, double E width, which is the first time that I've purchased a wider shoe. I got them in black because I am a bit tired of how most athletic shoes are decked out in swooshes, stripes and logos, in multiple colors and reflective surfaces. I also learned a couple of useful tricks to ensure that the shoes held my heels snugly, thus preventing any rubbing of my heel spur.

New yoga book comes highly recommended

2010-01-01T22:22:00.004-05:00

-- and I haven't even read it yet. Kelly McGonigal has written a book Yoga for Pain Relief: Simple Practices to Calm Your Mind & Heal Your Chronic Pain (New Harbinger Publications, 2009). Kelly is a health psychologist at Stanford University (and got the PhD to prove it) and teaches multiple classes on campus and in the San Francisco area, as well as workshops and teacher training. She is also the editor of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal of research on yoga and meditation.

Why am I so sure that Kelly's book would be worth reading? Because I took an online course on the question of "Can Yoga Really Change Your Life?" and I followed her career over the past six year. She was instrumental in steering me through the first year (maybe, more) of my yoga immersion. She came to yoga because of her own pain, helped others by becoming a teacher, applied the rigors of Western scientific methodology to yoga and finally shared her knowledge, skills and gifts by writing about yoga and editing others' articles.

I'll tell you more once I get my hands on the book.

Postscript: Kelly has contacted me and offered to send me the book.

Nice end to 2009

2009-12-31T23:50:00.000-05:00

Should have mentioned this sooner, but I picked up my dad from the hospital and took him home at noon. Both he and my mom were greatly relieved that he did not have a serious "cardiac event," as the doctors like to call a more generic heart phenomenon. He has a bad valve that is causing him shortness of breath and pain. In fact, his heart is strong, but the aortic value is not performing well. The only way to fix it is by replacing it through open heart surgery and my dad is not a good candidate for that, what with kidney problems, age and other complications. The doctors are going to adjust his medications to deal with the condition. We're gong to have to watch him to make sure he does not do any heavy work.

Busy day

2009-12-29T13:02:00.000-05:00

I made it to hot vinyasa yoga in the morning at Thrive Yoga. I threw out four full trash bags of junk that I had been hoarding for years. I went to see my father in Holy Cross Hospital and spent a couple of hours chatting with him, no interruptions; he was admitted for observation this morning because he woke up with chest pains and numbness in his arms. At 88, the doctors wanted to be sure that there were no other complications.

What I learned at yoga class this weekend

2009-12-27T17:09:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I took a vinyasa flow 2/3 class with Dana Cohen and today a Hatha yoga class with Marylou McNamara, both at Thrive Yoga. At the first class, I learned that I had lost conditioning and had to let the practice come to me, rather than trying to catch up with the sequencing; at the second, that the body quickly slips back into its old habits, and forgets to engage the right muscles for holding poses, especially in my core. Muscle memory has cultural roots: we Westerners spend too long sitting in chairs drooping our shoulders and arms over keyboards. Holding Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II) requires activating the manipura chakra (the energetic core that lies near the solar plexus, according to the yogic knowledge system). That's why yoga can sometimes seems so frustrating, even pointless, because a beginner is fighting against deeply ingrained muscular habits that are being constantly reinforced by our daily routines or absence of activity.

But each time I come back to the mat after a pause -- of a few days or months -- it's a fresh opportunity to become a beginner and start learning from a slightly different perspective than in the past. So I don't kick myself for having relapsed or lost ground; it's just a different spot in space and time that makes the process all the most enlivening and challenging.

It is also a conscious process in which what I learn about myself is even more important that the postures or the techniques. Sometimes, I can express that shifting awareness in this blog; other times, I just have to let it express itself silently in my practice.

Reminder to yoga instructors about intimidating students

2009-12-26T13:40:00.005-05:00

City Brights' Yumi Wilson reminds us with Yoga: Pleasure ... and pain that a drill sargeant is not needed to lead a yoga class:

Over the years, I've tried my hand at a variety of styles of yoga. In the '90s, I devoted myself to Bikram and returned periodically when I sought the need to stretch and sauna at the same time. In the first decade of 2000, I tried Hatha and Ashtanga or a combination thereof, hoping to calm my busy mind and loosen the tightness around my right hip. But each time I take a class, I am always left with the same question: When did group yoga become the new form of Basic Training?

It's so easy for an instructor to overdo the emphasis on alignment and perfection until it alienates students into avoiding the classes all together. You see so many students start out with the Fundamentals class for six or eight weeks, and then when they have to make the transition to a regular class, the sudden increase in just turns them off completely to yoga practice. Thrive Yoga, for instance, does a solid business with Fundamentals I and II, but I can't see that many of these students can make the transition to regular practice. Some will make it to the Hatha Yoga classes, but a vinyasa flow class is a "bridge too far." I think Thrive's teachers are not exceptionally overwhelming in their instruction style; if anything, they are adaptive to the skill level of each student. But it's so easy to make assumptions about ability based on one's own competence in practice. If students come out of the class feeling failure, rather than savoring the rewards of yoga no matter their skill level, then it's just going to make it more difficult to come back for another class.

Christmas Day Thoughts

2009-12-25T12:40:00.005-05:00

The Holiday season is a disruptive time. Routines are thrown to the wind. Even though I've been off work, I have not been able to fit yoga classes in since last Friday, a full week. The blizzard locked us in for two days, and then I was too sore to go to class on Monday. My wife has been using the car a lot so that pins me in the house, especially with the heavy snow and messy streets. And when I do have the car, I need to run my own errands to the stores or visit my parents. Because my daughter is coming back home to live, it's been doubly hard to clean up for the festivities. All the boxes (for storage, donations, and logistics) get hidden in my new office space.

Last night, after our guests left and my wife went to bed, I cleared out a spot in the middle of my office space and sat in meditation for about 20 minutes and then did an extended yoga nidra session. No special intention, just the need to find some stillness and dwell in it for a while. I got off my mat, went to bed and was asleep in seconds. I'll have to remember that trick the next time I can't seem to turn off the mental overdrive in the evening.

In any case, I want to wish all visitors to this site "Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year." May you all find renewal and faith in the stillness that comes in the wake of celebration and fellowship.

Why I missed yoga class today

2009-12-19T16:43:00.009-05:00

I went through the whole week, five days, topping each day off with a yoga class at Thrive Yoga. Today, I was unable to go to class -- for that matter, classes at Thrive were not offered. I guess I could say that my streak stands in tact because Thrive did not have classes. I doubt that we'll have classes on Sunday either, because the blizzard shows no signs of letting up and the roads are a mess.

These shots were taken at 3:00 pm and show my entrance way and the patio in the backyard. Not a few hours before, I had cleared out the sidewalk and access to the car for a second time today, but the blizzard had covered everything in three or four inches more.

Looking out over my neighborhood shows that the blizzard has hit hard. Not many neighbors have even tried to dig their cars out. For that matter, where would they go? The snow plow came through only once in the early morning. When it does again, we will have to clear out the parking slot again. Because this street is a cul de sac, the community association has to pay a private contractor to plow the road, and they are just as overworked as the street crews.

At least I got my exercise in for today. My back and shoulders ache, even though the snow is light and not packed. I suspect that we're going to be shut in for two or three days more. Of course, I am on vacation so snow emergencies do not do me any good.

Update: 10:30 pm I looked out my front door and the snow had stopped. No yoga classes tomorrow at Thrive. Will spend the day shoveling and hope that life starts getting back to normal. Now I will just try to be mindful in the silence.

Learn, Awaken and Focus: Kino MacGregor's Weekend Workshop at Woodley Park Yoga

2009-12-18T22:47:00.012-05:00

Guest bloggers: Mary Naeger and Donavan Wilson went to the Brian Kest workshop with me earlier this year. They both attended the Kino MacGregor weekend workshop.

Photos come from Kino MacGregor's personal site, and were not taken at her DC workshop, which I subsequently found to be here.

Kino MacGregor is the youngest women certified to teach Ashtanga Yoga by its founder, the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. A founding director of the Miami Life Center and devoted student of Ashtanga, Kino travels internationally leading classes, workshops and retreats in Ashtanga yoga and total life transformation. Recently on December 12-13, Kino held a weekend workshop at Woodley Park Yoga in Washington, DC. The workshops consisted of the following elements: a guided Ashtanga class, a Mysore class, a class on inversions, handstands and the art of balance and a class on hips and hamstrings. Through her dynamic presence, limitless energy, radiant personality, masterful instruction and graceful, consistent and strong demonstrations, Kino was a source of inspiration to all participants.

Guided Ashtanga: "Guided" is the term used to describe the traditional vinyasa yoga class in which students are led as a group through all or part of the Primary Series of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. The Primary Series (or First Series) is the first sequence of asanas (postures) taught to beginning Ashtanga yoga students and provides the foundation for all advanced postures in Ashtanga. The Primary Series consists of 75 poses that begins with Sun Salutations (five rounds of Surya Namaskar A and B) and moves on to standing postures, seated postures, inversions, and back-bends before ending with finishing postures and final relaxation.

Kino's Guided Ashtanga class was challenging and rigorous for even the most experienced Ashtanga student. She led the class through two intense hours of the entire 75 postures of the Primary Series using the traditional Sanskrit count of each vinyasa. Kino's habit of counting slowly and deliberately succeeded in intensifying the experience for each student turning it into a dynamic and painstaking class for both the experienced and novice student. Her expert guidance and appropriate adjustments enabled students to explore new heights (and depths) in their practice safely. Not a class for the fainthearted, students with limited experience practicing the full Primary Series and those with little or no proficiency in Sanskrit were challenged further by the vigorous physical demands of the practice and the absence of instruction in English.

Workshop Footnote: With two hours to spare between the two workshop classes on Saturday and another Guided Ashtanga class scheduled in the studio, most participants left the studio for a light lunch while Kino opted to practice in one of the changing rooms.

Inversions: Establish a Foundation

The second workshop of the day focused on inversions, handstands and the art of balance. Kino spent the first hour discussing a meticulous and analytical approach to inversions. Designed to instill a sense of confidence and hope in the most doubtful student, Kino taught students to embrace a new mantra of "pelvis forward" rather than "up" when approaching headstands and handstands along with techniques that students can employ to engage their upper back muscles to establish a strong, supportive foundation for the poses. For the yoga student used to "kicking up" to propel the torso into an inversion, Kino's approach proved challenging in that it required drishti (focus) and emphasized controlled movement initiating from the pelvis and not physical momentum using the strength of one's legs.

Mysore: A Symphony of Breath

The Mysore practice is an opportunity for each student to be taught individually in a class setting. Participants receive a one-on-one lesson based on where they are in the Primary Series. Students practice their own portion of the Primary Series at their own pace. The teacher assists each student individually through verbal instruction and physical adjustments. The smaller the class, the more individual attention a student can receive from a teacher. After the invocation and chanting, each participant began their practice with the Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar) at their own pace. The conditions for the Mysore class were mat-to-mat as it was for each segment of the workshop segment and participants were very accommodating to students who needed additional space or arrived late. The numbers or the mat-to-mat conditions did not affect the quality of instruction students received from Kino. Kino masterfully provided each student with adjustments, instruction and guidance. Kino moved throughout the studio floor and kept a keen eye on everyone. There is nothing so sublime as to watch students in their own movement and breath in the Mysore practice. The room was filled with Ujjayi breathing which was almost in complete concert with each participant.

Hips and Hamstrings: Open To The Possibilities

Some yoga students cringe when it comes to practicing certain postures because they are "tight" or stiff in the hamstrings and hips. Kino's "Hips and Hamstrings" class offered an approach to this predicament. Kino began the class with a short lecture on body mechanics and demonstrations on the important role of the pelvis, hips, and hamstrings in forward bends and balancing poses. In a fun and non-threatening way she sought to simplify the mystery of the bandhas and instruct the class in the foundation of healthy poses by emphasizing three key elements: 1) establish a strong foundation by pushing down through the heels; 2) engage the core by hollowing out the belly, and 3) achieve length and depth by elongating the spine. By applying these three elements and her techniques on proper hip and pelvic rotation, soon the once skeptical yogis and yoginis in class were "making phone calls" with their right or left foot while envisioning some day being able to place their feet behind their head without pain or stress on the neck.