I DON’T DO YOGA! I PRACTICE YOGA!

Just as a runner does not do a marathon, he or she spends hours, days, months and years training in order to run (do) marathons. Dancers don’t just wake up one day and perform complex choreography with ease, they practice daily for weeks, months and years.  

This is why, as a yoga teacher, I get weary of hearing “I can’t do that” or “I can’t do yoga”. I am weary because I couldn’t do 98% of what I do now when I started, either! I did not get to where I am now by magic; I wasn’t at all flexible when I started, my posture was poor, and my core and many other muscles were weak. Fortunately, I have had great teachers and attended many helpful workshops and training. I have been to classes ranging from horrible to excellent.  

Mostly, I work hard at it every day with my mind as focused as possible every moment of the practice.  And when I find a good teacher,  I stay with him or her so that they know me and know what is hard for me. (Because I try to avoid what is hard. Yup, I do this too!)

The other reason yoga teachers get tired of hearing “I can’t do that” or “I can’t do yoga” is that we know it is not true.   We see people practice yoga who let nothing stand in their way. Personally, I have practiced yoga with a person missing an arm, another person dealing with multiple sclerosis, and people recovering from cancer treatments and surgeries.

The main reason I am weary of hearing this (and I suppose most other teachers are also) is because it is a self-fulfilling-prophecy.  It keeps you from starting and inhibits progress when you do start.  

If you have ever tried to teach a kid to swim or ride a bike you know exactly what I am talking about. All those attempts when they didn’t believe they could do it didn’t bring success! Yet once they start to believe even slightly “maybe I can do this”, the attempts become successful.   This isn’t just true for kids!!!   It is true for adults as well.  I and my yoga friends often talk about why we struggle with certain poses, for example I was (still am) frightened of arm balances and handstand poses. I know the problem is in my mind – my thinking “I can’t do this” or fear “what if I fall, and get hurt”. Intellectually I know this is ridiculous because I can do these with a spotter or teacher standing next to and supporting me, and I have fallen and not gotten hurt.  It might be ten or one hundred more attempts before I believe I can do it and/ or get past fear enough to actually succeed. 

So keep trying, keep practicing, there is no finish line.

YES!  It is difficult, and yes it does take discipline. It is especially difficult if you are not active, athletic or young.  It is also especially difficult living the modern urban lifestyle.  I wrote a whole blog addressing this *WHY IS YOGA SO DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE LIVING MODERN, URBAN AND SUBURBAN LIFESTYLES?

 

All the best, Christina

Pure Sound

The Power of Pure Sound.

Chanting, sounding Om, Singing bowls, Gongs, Toning, flutes and Sound Healing. What is this stuff all about? I don’t know the how of it; I know there is something very real and wonderful going on. I am no authority on this subject, but I will share from my own experience. Then you will know why there is chanting and OM as part of  yoga Classes, and sometimes live gongs, singing bowls, flutes or with harmonic sound healing.
We all know the pure joy and satisfaction of listening to, singing playing a favorite song, sometimes over and over. We all know how some songs help us cry when our hearts feel broken. This is emotions for certain, yet perhaps more. There are studies showing the benefit of music for the elderly, for persons with depression and even heart conditions.  I do dance/music exercise with elderly people in assisted living many times as well.  Recently I was fortunate to hear Robert Tree Cody play native flute for these elderly people, we were outside under the New Mexico blue sky. They had done the breathing exercises which we always close class with. When flute music began, the healing effect was obvious, so different than when someone hears a “grand old song” they love. As they listened, a profound peacefulness settled over everyone. I saw their faces become more relaxed and felt something changing. I don’t know how to explain it, but I felt it and others there felt it. There were more smiles and eye contact between the elderly people and also with the staff that cares for them.
The experience of pure sound and Harmonic Sound is more than emotional. I know it resonates with-in our whole being, our consciousness.  Yoga includes chanting as part of Kundalini yoga and at Kirtans.  Many cultures have mystic practices involving sound, music singing or chanting.  In Tunisia I heard singing one night, a special singing called “Singing the heart/throat” hearing it from a distance and then up close it had an effect on me I have never been able to explain, I didn’t know the language enough for there to be any understanding of the words, it wasn’t like anything music-wise I normally enjoyed, but I could have listened to it all night, and will never forget it. This was over15 years ago.
 Pure sound began to be very interesting to me,  after my first one hour, silent, group meditation; we did 11 minutes of Om sounding afterward. There was a merging and amplification of everyone’s “energy”; I don’t know what else to call it- it was not simple emotion : there was a palpable raising or shift in everyone, I talked with others who had the same experience, and one person described it as “all the cells of their body were vibrating at a higher frequency”! That described it! We talked about the sound helping raise our consciousness.  

Shortly after that I went to a sound healing event in Santé Fe, (Renee S. Lebeau, http://www.ahkana.com/ who studied with Tom Kenyon, http://tomkenyon.com. (There is a wonderful documentary film about him, I recently saw).  The sound/music was amazing. The next event, I asked Renee if there was space to dance or do yoga in the back of the room.  I wanted to explore movement with this live pure sound. She said we could make that an option. That night she was collaborating with two others, there was a wooden flute. I listened and did yoga breathing and then began to move.  I did a combination of yoga and dance spontaneously, my mind was totally quite – void of thought, I moved in expanded ways and did yoga poses I thought were out-of my-reach and did them with amazing ease.  I experienced direct effect of the sound on my physical body, movement in the fascia and tissue deep within the body.  Whenever the flute was played, I felt as if I had wings and my shoulders became very flexible, again I did poses beyond my usual range with ease.
I was contacted to do Yoga to the sound of Gongs www.thegongtemple.com recently, and said yes! to complete strangers!!!  (Who turned out to be wonderful, kind and true sound healing artists). It was awesome to teach with the gongs, halo, singing bowls and Michelle's voice and share this experience.  I also participated in doing a healing circle, where healers did Reiki, and other types of healing, on massage tables, placed around the gongs. The energy, sound vibrations, harmonies amplified the healing effects. They are back May 6th, 2018  

The Gong Temple's photo of their gongs, halo and singing bowls....

Please share your thoughts and experiences with sound healing; toning, chanting, singing bowls gongs- I would love to hear more about people’s experiences and practices.

Walking; the most under-rated exercise.

 

 I was fortunate to grow up in a small town where we walked: to friends, to the park to play, ice skate, for concerts or picnics on the grass.  I also walked several blocks to school, a good thing for many reasons, such as; focusing the eyes on sights at various distances, (great for vestibular functioning & eyesight) enjoying nature, trees, the sky,  fresh air, and using systems of muscular integration to propel the body forward and remain balanced.

Humans were meant to walk. Walking is one way our body resets it's natural alignment.  It is weight bearing exercise, and it calms the mind. Walking is natural movement that involves moving all of your muscles and tissue, increasing metabolism, lubricating the joints, increasing blood flow and oxygen to all the cells of the body, nourishing our physical being. It energizes the body, as well as relaxes the mind: walking can even be a meditation.  Walking can also be calming for the emotions, through appreciating beauty, nature, fresh air, sunshine, rain, seeing the people of your neighborhood; all this can lift your spirits.

Even if you are very “active” if you are not walking regularly, you may not be resetting the body in an important natural way.  

In the past, (and for many people of the world, still today), our bodies were the primary tool of sustenance and survival, we used them with care and awareness.  Sedentary wasn’t an option.  Now, the many conveniences of modern life: cars, furniture, sit-toilets, TV, computers, cell phones, are not helping our health, in fact, they are making people less mobile, less flexible, less connected and less aware.  

It is a challenge to maintain healthy, activity habits in modern western culture. Creating time and following through with exercise, may mean letting some things go, in order to make time to nurture personal health and peace of mind.  Notice how your thoughts, self-talk, beliefs, activity and lifestyle affect starting and continuing your walking regularly. Notice who are your allies for healthy Living. Having work-out/walking buddies/partners increases success; who could be your buddy?   

Most of the people on the planet would be astounded to observe how very little walking a modern person, in many cities in the USA does.  The bits of walking are mostly to and from a car.   In a time and society where poor diets, excess weight, obesity and sedentary lifestyle are creating disease.

 More than once recently I listened to conversations between young people (early-mid 20’s) talking about shockingly numerous ailments, medications ,and procedures, which hadn't brought relief.  More than one said "I wish I was in shape to exercise".  I wondered if they knew a walking program was a possibility.

 I work with older people (70’s up to 102 years old) some who don’t spend any time talking about ailments and medicine; because they are busy living the life they have left and most of them don't have as many "ailments" as these young people!  These elder people have a sense of purpose and commitment to life which is strong: a contributing factor to a healthier life and aging process.

It is with-in your power to change this whole paradigm of sedentary lifestyle for yourself. Starting with a good daily walk, 30-45 minutes; it is sound, healthy, preventative medicine.  It is that simple. (I didn’t say easy- breaking habits, starting new habits isn’t easy) Yet, who knows, after this is a habit, you might find yourself doing yoga, maybe even dance, or taking a long hike, running a marathon, doing a triathlon, but for now, keep it simple.                   Namaste, Christina

  

100 reasons to get out in Nature.

1. Fresh air
2. Sunshine
3. Exercise
4. Enjoy the beauty of trees
5. Enjoy the beauty of terrain
6. Enjoy the beauty of the sky
7. Enjoy the beauty of clouds
8. Enjoy the beauty of stars
9. Enjoy the moon
10. Enjoy the moonlight world
11. Focus your eyes at different distances
12. Enjoy the beauty of plants
13. Remember the cycle of life
14. Enjoy the beauty of creatures
15. Enjoy the beauty of birds
16. Experience the environment
17. Enjoy the beauty of breezes, wind
18. Relax
19. Get creative inspiration
20. Enjoy the sense of smell
21. Enjoy the sense of touch
22. Eat, food tastes better outside.
23. Get away from screens
24. Get away from phones
25. Get away from traffic
26. Get away from day to day routines
27. Possibility for adventure is high
28. Remembering how change is a part of life
29. See something new
30. See something old
31. Hear your own intuition
32. Enjoy quiet
33. Enjoy the sounds of birds
34. Experience different temperatures
35. Experience rain
36. Experience snow
37. Feast your eyes on colors
38. Feast your eyes on textures
39. Feast you eyes on patterns
40. Explore
41. Play
42. Enjoy sunrises
43. Enjoy sunsets
44. Release emotions
45. Enjoy the beauty of flowers
46. Enjoy the smells of flowers and plants
47. See life all around you
48. Experience phenomena of the sky- rainbows, northern lights, shooting stars.
49. Experience stillness or storms
50. 50 to 100 enjoy all 50 things by sharing them in the company of different friends especially curious children!