Category Archives: Yoga

Intention

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the power of intention. Working with an intention is something that we do regularly in Yoga practice, and one of the items that I teach during our intro class. This week I had a big awakening in regards to intention.

Intention has to be present with you and intention must be something you are putting into action, right now. This is my point of growth.  I was thinking if I just got clear about what my intention is, that things will fall into place. And that just isn’t how it works. Intention requires work, intention requires action.

Setting a goal is different. Setting a goal can be having an expectation. I recently fell short on reaching a personal goal, and it was partly because my intention was in the wrong place. By setting an intention about where I thought I needed to be to reach my goal, I missed out on a great opportunity to be present with what was actually happening. Had my intention been in the right place, I might be further along.

The lesson for me is to get clarity on where things stand. To set intentions from where I am, and not from where I want to be, think I should be, or my goals. If the intention is clear and present, it can be put into action. Setting an intention that can’t be put into action, lead me to feel a bit unfulfilled.

40 Days to a Personal Revolution: Day 4

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Time flies when you are having fun! Today is day 4 of our 40 days to a personal revolution.  That means 36 days to go, and for me, 29 days until I leave for level 2 teacher training.

Since I stopped eating meat a few days early, I’m at 6 days without eating meat. I think I’m at 6 days without caffeine (maybe 5), and 4 days without (or very limited) sugar intake. I’ve found that 100% eliminating sugar is nearly impossible. Sugar, or some kind of syrup is in everything. Now, corn syrup and especially HFCS are right out, not having those at all. I’m trying to prefer things sweetened with honey first. I found some locally produced bread that is sweetened with honey. When that isn’t available, I have regular bread. For teacher training, I am going to have to switch to Ultima Replinisher (instead of Gatorade), but that isn’t a big deal. So, being truthful.  I can’t realistically eliminate 100% of my sugar intake, but I’m being very conscious about what I do intake.

I was thinking about why I’m doing this (the diet portion at least). And, to me, this isn’t about sacrificing things, it isn’t about sacrifice at all. This is about living a more balanced life. I’m not “giving up” meat during these 40 days, I’m adding a whole new list of healthy, vegetarian meals to my diet. I’m not sacrificing my free time for meditation and Yoga practice. I’m using those tools to achieve more balance in my life. The (twice) daily meditation practice is a little difficult. I’m still working on that routine. The daily Yoga practice is awesome! I’m at 5 days in a row right now.  6th day tonight, day off on Friday, and then 7 days straight before my next day of rest.

Day 1 (Again)

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If we are counting days, yesterday wasn’t really Day 1. It was the organizational meeting. Today is the real day 1 for our 40 days program.

So far, so good. I haven’t eaten meat since lunch on Friday. As a consequence, I’ve learned that I like Halibut. Well, I like Halibut when Ray’s Cafe cooks it.

Today, I went for the 6:15am Yoga class.  And, now I think it is time to go to bed!

Day 1

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Today is day 1 of going through the 40 Days to a Personal Revolution program. I started the day with some hot water with lemon and honey (part of the diet recommendations from Journey into Power) and Cheerios. We went to the 9:30 class this morning. I wanted get started with a practice day, rather than a rest day.

At the meeting today, we were given a choice of 4 categories, CATS. Caffeine, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Sugar. Of these 4, we were to choose one (or more) to give up for 40 days. Since I don’t smoke, giving up Tobacco wasn’t a sacrifice. I have cut back my caffeine intake quite a bit, and I only drink alcohol once a week. So, neither of those would be much of a sacrifice. This leaves me with sugar. I’m giving up all 4 of the items (well, 3 + tobacco).  On top of this, I am giving up meet on my own.

After the meeting, we went grocery shopping… and it is hard to find food that doesn’t contain sugar! I was looking at granola, and pretty much all of the granola contains sugar of some kind. Then bread, almost all of the bread contains sugar. I found a loaf of bread with honey instead of sugar.

That’s where I stand halfway through day 1. The yoga 6 days a week isn’t going to be a problem, but finding enough food without sugar is going to be a problem.

Day 0

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From my previous post, you know that our journey through 40 Days To a Personal Revolution begins tomorrow. I got some things in line today :)

I started the day with 8am Yoga. I admit it, I love practicing first thing on a Saturday morning. It is a great way to let go of the previous week and transition to the weekend. At 9:45, I assist the level 1.5 class. Today was the first day that I got to teach during this class. It was great! My opportunity in teaching is to “stop trying and start doing.” this has been a progression for me. At this point, I am ou. Of my own head enough that when I am teaching, things are just flowing. This is a recent development, but it is kind of awesome.

During the 40 days program, I have decided to eat vegetarian. Not necessarily giving up meat, but rather bringing in some more healthy choices into my diet. I started that today!

Tomorrow, things start off with a meeting at Shakti west. I’m going to practice before the meeting, knowing that I will be setting myself up for 8 consecutive days of practice.

I know there are going to be challenges along the way. Specifically, I am worried about 4 full days of flying that I’m doing in the next 40 days. We are going to Cincinnati and back, and I’m going to Mexico and back during the program. The Yoga and diet items will be taken care of during teacher training.  For Cincinnati and back, the Yoga schedule is going to be difficult. But no excuses. I’m committed to the program, I will make it work.

Almost 40 Days

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Starting April 11th, we will be participating in the 40 Days to a Personal Revolution program at Shakti. I’ve found excuses last year not to participate, but this year, I’m all in! The program is based on Baron Baptiste’s book of the same title, 40 Days to a Personal Revolution.

This means that we will be practicing Yoga six days a week, meditating morning and night, and attending weekly meetings with the whole group.  I have no idea how many people are participating, but I guess we will find out on Sunday.

I’m also a bit excited about the last week of the program, because starting on May 14th, I will be in Tulum, Mexico for level 2 teacher training with Baron Baptiste. I think it will be a great way to end the 40 days program.

Yoga Assistant

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Well – in December, I completed the Baptiste Level 1 Teacher Training in Mexico. It was an awesome experience, made even more awesome by attending as a couple. There is so much more I could say about this training, but I’m not going to. If anyone out there ever goes through this program, it is best if you enter with a completely open mind and have no expectations.

Last month, starting on Jan 12th, I started in the Teacher Mentorship Program at Shakti Vinyasa Yoga (where we practice). This is a pretty unique program in the Yoga world (from what I can tell anyway). As part of this program, I assist two nights a week in our 8 class intro series. Assisting takes multiple forms in this environment. We organize the room, teach some Yoga philosophy, demonstrate poses, and physically assist the class. Our studio is very hands on, with the teachers and assistants actually helping students with safe alignment and the deepening of poses.

My first month was a lot of fun. I was able to see a class from a different perspective. Literally. Viewing a class from the front of the room feels very different than being in the middle of the room, as part of the class.  It took 2 or 3 classes, but now I feel at home in the studio as one of the teachers. In the last week of my first intro series, I was able to teach 2 sections of the class (1 each on different days). Over the next few months, the amount of teaching that I get to do will increase. It is a lot of work to become a Yoga teacher this way, but it is the right way for me. Lots of training time, lots of hard work.

Lots of Training

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As usual, I’ve been very busy.   2 of the last 3 weekends, I participated in the Teacher Assisting Program (TAP) at Shakti Vinyasa Yoga.  This was about 24 hours of training, Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.   I supplemented both weekends with 8am Saturday practice, and the Sunday 9:30 practice.    Overall: awesome experience.

So, what exactly did I do?  We learned how to assist other people in Yoga poses.  Assisting always starts with safe alignment (the corrective assist).  Once you have someone in a safe position, all kinds of possibilities open up.   You can give support, spark awakening, help some one go deeper and expand their edge.   I had a great time, and learned a lot.

Since we all needed people to practice on, I ended up doing lots and lots of Yoga poses over the workshop, and holding some of them for a very long time (longer than I’m used to).   This turned out to be a very valuable experience.   I learned a lot of things to help deepen my own practice and to help others along their own path and learned how to analyze my own body in a pose and see where I can self adjust.

To top it all off – assisting is fun.  There are some standard templates to assists, but there is lots of room to be creative and really find the best way to help someone in this moment.  I had a chance on Sunday to assist someone for an entire class – and since some of the poses are taken several times, I already had a change to experiment a bit.

Next steps: I have already applied to enter the mentoring program at our studio.   I have an evaluation this weekend where I will assist one of our teachers during a class.   And we’ll see where it goes from there.

All of this experience should be a great help when we head to the Baptiste Level 1 teacher training.

Getting Ready for Mexico

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Our Baptiste teacher training bootcamp is approaching pretty quickly (less than 2 months now).   We have been putting in the physical preparation (4 to 5 practices a week).   I start every week wanting to go 6 times, but that is a huge time commitment, and just is not always a possibility.

16 changes of Yoga clothes

Shortly after signing up for the bootcamp, I went through a rough spot in my Yoga practice.  This was, as one might imagine, mostly related to rough spots in my other obligations.  Work has been (and continues to be) extremely stressful and mentally draining.   I let this carry over way too much, into my non-work life and into my Yoga.  This resulted in lots of mental distractions, physical missteps, and a generally bad quality of life.  Kind of depressing, I know.

So, I’m happier now than I was two weeks ago.  I’m more focused than I was two weeks ago.   Quantifying how this happened is a little difficult.   Of course, Cortny has been a big help, because she is probably the most supportative wife out there.  Thanks :)   Getting back to the Yoga, she even supports my crazy Yoga schedule.   She joins me most of the time, but she does like to skip Saturday at 8am… I don’t really blame her.   This support extends all he way to Mexico, as Cortny is also going to the teacher training (even though she doesn’t want to teach Yoga right now).

Over the last two weeks or so, I’ve been trying to change things.   I can’t get rid of the stressful work environment (unless you need an assistant professor of computer science).   What can I do?  Let it go.   Don’t react.   Those are the tools that I have at my disposal.   This is one reason I find Yogic philosophy so appealing, helpful tools for everyday life.   I’m not leaving things up to someone else, I am in control.   I don’t have to wait, I can make changes now.   This is just a sampling of what we’re learning and what we will be learning.    What really helps me, is that the asana practice (the physical part, what most people say then they mean Yoga) really ties it all together.

When we first started Yoga (intro series a year and a half ago), one of our teachers said that your Yoga mat is like a mirror.   The mat is like a mirror in that how you are on your mat reflects how you are in the real world.   Do you quickly react to adverse conditions, can you work through a difficult spot, can you keep your mind clear and focused?  These are tough issues.   What happens each time I come to the mat changes.  Sometimes I can hold a tough pose for a long period of time and not notice, sometimes 3 or 4 seconds in and we can’t move on fast enough.   The point is, I’m trying to make changes to get towards the non-reactive side, both in my Yoga and in my life.

It has been a long journey, and at times I feel like I’m still at the beginning. But here we are.

I can say that I’m ready to go to teacher training now.   Not only because I have enough clothes for 16 practices (I get very sweaty…), but because I am mentally ready.   I know that I am ready to let the experience happen and now to have expectations about what will happen, not because I can do every yoga pose with perfect alignment.

In 3 weeks, I start the teacher assisting program at our studio here.  24 hours of training over 2 weekends.   I’m very excited about this for 2 reasons: it will give me 2 weekends to just let go and be present in the Yoga studio, and it should be a great preview to our week long teacher training experience.

Wow – longer entry than I intended, and it went a totally different direction.  But I think I’m happy with the way it turned out!  I’m sure that some people have wondered why I’m always going to Yoga, maybe this sheds some light on that.

New Yoga Gear

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My current mat, a Prana Eko Mat is showing some wear.  It is a good mat, but it is almost a year old and is showing some wear.   I’m pretty rough on a mat, using it 4 to 6 times a week with some serious sweating.   I do use Yogi toes (anti-skid towel), because I have never been able to use just a mat.

So I was looking for something a little stronger.    I decided to go with a set of Manduka products.

I ordered

I went with the Black Mat, because it is supposed to be the most long lasting, heavy duty, non-slipping or bunching up-est mat out there.    The bag for… transport?   I’m going to be carrying my mat onto a plane twice in the near future, so I needed a bag.    The towels, because you can never have enough towels for hot Yoga.   This will be the second mat towel in my collection, and my first real hand towel (that isn’t a bathroom hand towel).    Now, I won’t have to do laundry every night!   With my current yogi-toes and new mat towel, I can do the laundry every other night.   I already have enough Yoga clothes for 4 days without washing, with quite ranging outfits, but 4 days none-the-less.

I will update with how everything works out.