Feelings |
August 6, 2007 | ||
| In July I worked on my second chakra. Svadhisthana ((Sva DHis THana ) one's own place) is the creative center according to most descriptions. Anodea Judith asks us to look at it as the emotional center. Our emotions or "energy in motion" is the creative force. This was an interesting concept for me to watch in myself the past month. I observed the desires to get a donut (happy emotion, sweet), or vent at a fellow driver (angry emotion, impatient) and tried to get a deeper feeling of why they arise unbidden. I tried to see what was habit (yes, even anger can be a habit) and what was a legitimate response. For example, an unsafe driver endangering me deserves a response. Boy, am I a creature of habit! Actually, I have known this about me for quite awhile. So now I encourage myself to reflect and select instead of just reacting (re acting) to patterned responses. It's a lot harder than it sounds. But I believe I am making progress. On to August, and the third Chakra, Manipura (lustrous gem), energy, will. And maintain the focus on the two I am already working with. Om Kala Veda Namaha (Let me see the changes I need to make) |
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Being Grounded |
June 16, 2007 7:55PM | ||
| I went to a great Yoga Conference in San Rafael. It was all about yoga as physical therapy. I learned a lot. The weekend was so crammed with knowledge I was overwhelmed for awhile. I was most impressed in the chakra information I learned. The chakras are an area of yoga I always "pooh-poohed", and yet I painted a chakra mandala on the wall. I have taken Andrea Spence Chakra Workshops at CVY and enjoyed them, but I still did not get the connection. The speaker Anodea Judith showed how each chakra aligns with a nerve plexus in the body. For example, the third chakra / Manipura / Power chakra aligns with our solar plexus. She also presented information about body types and chakra blocks and it was amazing how they corresponded with my body. Yikes! I then went to her movement class which was Sun Salutations working up the chakras and loved it. So…I got her books and have been actively "doing" some chakras work. It is interesting seeking balance where I thought I was balanced. I have always been "grounded". What I did not realize was that I was too grounded in some areas. Some of you know I can be a little inflexible at times, and this is one of the ways I manifest an excessive Muladhra / Root chakra. I can hardly wait to get to the second chakra / Svadhisthana / emotions. Double Yikes! If you are interested: Chakra Balancing Anodea Judith This has a work book, two Audio CDs, and Chakra cards Or The Seven Fold Journey Anodea Judith This is a workbook that has deeper levels of knowledge. You can find out more or order books at www.sacredcenters.com |
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Getting away! |
May 7, 2007 8:07PM | ||
| As many of you know I went on a weekend Yoga retreat in Aptos. It was wonderful. We had 4 classes paced to achieve great opening in the body. We did not work on any "fancy" poses, but we did a lot of partner work. It was a blast. We meditated every morning as a group and that was empowering. When I meditate at home it's too easy for me to stop as soon as I loose my focus. Since I was in a group I "couldn't" leave so I just started again, which is as it should be. I know it's not something I'm going to "get" until I sit with it for awhile. (pun intended) Also the food was great. How lovely to have someone ring a bell when breakfast, lunch, and dinner are ready. I highly recommend going away to do some yoga. The group dynamic of people there just to do yoga is amazing. Plus as a whole, yogis are fun and easy going people. Forum Business: We do have a slight change in the format. To leave a comment or question you must send an e-mail to forum and I will post it. With the click through I was getting about 100 spams per actual comment. But please do send your comments. Otherwise it's not a forum, it's the me show. :) Blessings, Susan |
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Aparigraha and Intention |
03/15/07 07:39:14 pm | ||
| I am seeing Gwen the Ayurveda practitioner who teaches at CVY. I am learning to cook with spices to soothe my up-set stomach. I am also learning to pause before I eat, eat slowly and eat less. Aparigraha! Non-coveting! Sparingly! The good news is, when you keep getting the same lesson over and over again you finally get the message. As you know I set an intention to not shop compulsively this year. And I am doing well with this. What I am learning is that every time I come back to my intention, remind myself I really do not want to be a compulsive shopper, the longer “free” time I have before it arises again. And now that I have set an intention to pause and reflect prior to eating I am seeing the same results. It’s like the urge point gets set further out each time. |
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| Comment from: Yogini G | 04/19/07 @ 10:57 | ||
| So I was wondering, how are you doing applying Ayurveda to your life? What changes have you noticed? Would you recommend Ayurveda to others? |
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| Comment from: Susan | 04/19/07 @ 20:12 | ||
| I am doing fairly well applying Ayurveda to my life. There are some significant changes to eating habits and life style, so I do slip up from time to time. The main symptoms are gone. (except when I slip up) We are now watching to see if other "issues" clear up. I am learning a lot about myself. :) Not always so easy to look at. But I certainly recommend looking into Ayurveda for another way to get clarity in your life even if you do not have any obvious health issues. There is a link to Gwen, my practishioner, on our teachers page of the web site. |
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A question from a visiter. |
03/04/07 10:30:33 am | ||
| I was wondering if you could give me some information on certain poses to do and not to do for a student who has had a heart transplant. I'm an assistant teacher in training. |
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| Comment from: Eva | 03/05/07 @ 06:35 | ||
| Personally, I would not accept a student with a heart trransplant without a written OK from her specialist. Also, I would tell her to stop any pose that makes her heart pump faster. In reality, I would feel very insecure having such a brave, yet vulnerable student, in my class. |
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| Comment from: Nancy | 03/09/07 @ 23:05 | ||
| I salute you for seeking information to help a student courageously stepping into a yoga practice. I think rather than trying to prescribe certain poses, I would begin by finding a senior teacher with
whom to consult on an ongoing basis, someone who teaches in the lineage of your training. And then find out as much as you can about your student: how long ago was the transplant, what are vulnerabilities from medication and surgery,
age, previous yoga/exercise/fitness experience. There are many restorative poses (such as poses in Judith Lasater's Relax and Renew book) or adapted poses (such as those in Back Care Basics, by Mary Pulig Schatz, MD) that are supported
by props and gently allow the body and breath to open while the nervous system is soothed. A gentle practice, adapted to the needs of your student and your student's goals would seem a good starting point. As for any student with a
medical condition, I would ask her to consult with her doctor and even show the Dr. the types of poses and breathwork you would be doing. I also think it's wise to refer a student with special needs to someone with more experience;
e.g., a yoga teacher who is also a doctor or physical therapist. |
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Honamon (or the splits) |
02/28/07 07:53:27 pm | ||
| Last Friday I went to the Yoga Kula in Berkeley with Sherry. They were having a weekend intensive on Honamon. He is the little monkey demi-god. I was only able to go Friday night. As my students know, I work on the pose Honamon / the splits regularly. Mostly because I never thought I would ever be close to doing the splits, but I am. ? So, when Sherry called I was happy to go with her. It was great! We were given a lot of information about Honamon as we were practicing. We were encouraged to be carefree and monkey like in our attitude as we posed. Plus we explored the expression of the pose on a mental level. As your feet are reaching as far form each other as they can you need to draw in to support the pose. So it is like life where you need to find the center or balance between this and that, before and after, other and self. It made me appreciate the pose on a new level. Honamon was the pose I focused on in the first class I ever taught. What is your favorite or least favorite pose? |
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Good Intentions. |
02/20/07 04:03:09 pm | ||
| Good intentions. I got a bit further on my sewing room, and then I got the flu. I was down for a week and it took another week to feel good. My sauna arrived mid sick week. We did assemble it and I was able to get in and get some good sweats going. It really helped with that achy chill of the flu. The next week I started back to “cleaning”. It’s more like finding where I’m going to store stuff now. But I have not been able to rearrange the furniture that is in there so the sauna is smack in the middle of the room. I have kept to my intention of the Yama Aparigraha or “restraint” fairly well. I think resetting this intention each practice has truly helped. I have not been to Target, Kohl’s, or Mervyn’s on shopping sprees. I have been to Long’s but only got the items I needed, more pony holders for the studio. They were buy one get one free, so I got a lot. :) Hey, they keep. Do you have a compulsion that is hard to overcome? |
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A good start. |
01/17/07 09:12:51 pm | ||
| Well, I spent a lot of time in my sewing room on Sunday and I made a big dent in the mess. It’s not completely clean, but it’s manageable now. I found 4 huge shopping bags of stuff for the Salvation Army that I had forgotten about. There goes the 2006 tax write off. I will be camping this weekend so I guess it’s not going to be completed for a while yet. I have been better about keeping on top of things, and I have caught up on a few things. All my filing is done. :) Jeff and I were using a line last year, “Being nice to our future self”, when we planed ahead or did that extra bit so the next time the job was easier. I am adding the phrase back into my lexicon to help me continue with my new intention. |
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Twelve days in. |
01/13/07 08:27:05 am | ||
| I realize I need to set an intention to not procrastinate. But maybe I’ll do it tomorrow. I have always waited until the last minute to do things. I do get done what needs to be done, but a lot of the times it’s a movie in the afternoon instead of bookwork or cleaning. For example my sewing room is a mess. This room has been neglected for a good while, and everything gets thrown in there, so it’s a mess. I intended to work on it last Sunday but… So I’m working on the habit of doing things now. This is part of living in the moment. Daily life needs attending to. I read Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh. There is a part where he talks about the meditation of mowing grass. (Well, he was using a scythe and that did sound like fun.) So this Sunday I am going to find some peace and serenity while I clean. I’ll let you know how it works. Here is an interesting article on procrastination. |
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Holy cow where did the year go? |
12/30/06 05:33:28 pm | ||
| I hope you all had a good holiday. I had a blast cleaning the carpets and scrubbing the walls. Well, ok maybe not a blast, but I do seem to enjoy it more than is seemly. There is something about cleaning the studio. I mean it’s almost empty so it’s not like there is a lot to do. It makes me want to get rid of all my furniture. Except the large dresser that holds my eight million yoga tees. This year my key word is going to be one of the Yamas or “restraints”, Aparigraha. Loosely translated from Sanskrit it is non-coveted-ness. I have a tendency to buy (especially bright colored tees) things I do not really need. And while I know that it is very American of me, part of me is frustrated with it. I find my self “impulse” shopping, buying items just because they are cheap or pretty. Worse, when I go to Long’s just because I haven’t in awhile. So, Aparigraha or sparingly, my focus. Some of you have heard some of this in the classes leading up to the New Year. This is also my word to help me with my tendency to eat sweets. I also eat a lot of sweets, and it’s the same thing. I reach out for them without thought. I have things in my mouth before I realize it sometimes. So my intention for the New Year is to pause, breath and ask myself about the impulse. Hopefully coming to Satya (Truthfulness) with myself and changing a habit or two. |
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Thanksgiving |
11/15/06 08:49:05 pm | ||
| I’m most thankful for Jeff my husband and Alix my niece. Between them I am very happy with daily life. I am thankful for all of my family and friends. I am thankful for my great students at CVY. I’m thankful for my practice, it keeps me grounded. I have abundance in my life and am thankful for that. When I was a young woman I wanted a lot of things, literally things, clothes, jewelry, a hot car. I did “OK” as a hair dresser and got the clothes. They were part of the job. I soon realized I was not a jewelry girl. My first car was a used Datson it went for 350,000 plus miles. By the time it died I was not so into hot cars as cars that got good mileage. And this was when gas was under a dollar per gallon. So I’m thankful I realized for me it was not stuff I needed. What are you thankful for? Happy Thanksgiving! |
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New teachers and classes |
11/08/06 08:49:26 pm | ||
| Jennifer Bruno joins us with Inner Fire Yoga: A Hatha yoga practice with greater focus on marrying the breath to the pose and with the intention that yoga is available to all body types and person's unique boundaries. Inner Fire Yoga gently stokes the inner fire, seeking to empower the body as well as the whole individual. Thursdays 4:00 to 5:15PM Saturdays 6:00 to 7:30 PM Suzanne Kiehn joins us with Iyengar Flow: Blending precise alignment with flowing movement, this class offers the best of both worlds. We will explore subtleties of alignment, and get our sweat on in the flow. Mondays 4:00 to 5:15 PM Tuesdays 5:45 to 7:15 PM Laura Fan starts 11/30 with Ayni Yoga: A unique form of yoga combining Hatha, Chinese Chi Gong, and guided meditation aiming to bring harmony and balance within oneself, strengthen physically and increase flexibility. Thursdays 12:00 to 1:00 PM Gloria Capron 2nd Friday starts 12/8 with Kundalini: A most inclusive type of yoga practice. The sequences are made up of asanas [postures], pranayama [breath exercises], mantras [chanting], mudras [hand postures], Bandhas [body locks] and meditation. Kundalini can be thought of as the spiritual nerve seated in the base of the spine. Through practice of Kundalini Yoga this nerve can be stimulated and ascend until it reaches the Crown to Enlightenment. Sometimes called a drugless high as many say after only 3 minutes of practice you can alter your consciousness, explaining its great popularity when Yogi Bhajan first brought it to the West in the 1960's. Every 2nd Friday of the month 6:00 to 8:00 PM |
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Changes, my favorite thing. |
10/28/06 03:39:52 pm | ||
| Well not really, but it is reliable. You can count on it happening. This time one of the changes is more pro-active. I am interviewing teachers. I am looking to hand over some of my classes to other teachers and add a few classes to the schedule. I hope to fill some of the evening classes that closed this summer. It’s the first time I have put an ad out for teachers. All of the existing staff had been referred to C.V.Y. That’s pretty cool. One neat “change”. Sonia is coming in January to teach a workshop. I love that she keeps in touch. |
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Welcome to Castro Valley Yoga's Community Forum! |
09/23/06 01:41:07 pm | ||
| This forum is the brainchild of a lunch conversation between Susan and I as we indulged our penchant to check out the local Castro
Valley eateries and discuss everything under the sun. I am thankful for her support, patience and tenacity in keeping the proverbial ball rolling in spite of my procrastination,
because now we all have a wonderful place to engage the multiple aspects of our practice! Thank you Susan. So why set up a forum? If your experience is anything like mine, the few minutes before classes begin is a great time to catch up with friends. The chitchat is one of the qualities that give our Studio a feeling of welcoming and warmth. When we settle into our practice, a blanket of quiet descends upon the room broken usually only by music in the background and the teacher’s voice giving instructions to guide us further into a pose, and perhaps, offering kernels of other wisdom. Along with the wisdom we hear things that mystify, confuse, intrigue or just plain seem funny to us. Few feel comfortable blurting out questions like: What the heck does it mean to roll your armpits toward the floor in Downward Facing Dog anyway! And even if I knew, how would I accomplish THAT? The irony is that no one says it even though it’s likely that everyone else in the room is thinking the same thing. By the time class is over and we’ve come back from Savasana (corpse pose – which brings up the question of why yoga teachers are so entertained by using Sanskrit when there are perfectly understandable English names for poses) our question has gone off into the ether with all of our other thoughts. Even if we were so inclined to pursue it the teacher may be busy or we feel pressed to run out the door to meet our waiting obligations. It’s only the next time when we find ourselves in Downward Facing Dog puzzling over why we have errant armpits and what to do about them, that we contemplate what to do with these ideas. Our intention in launching this forum is to provide those of you who practice at the Studio a space for conversation that can take advantage of the time warp provided by cyberspace to get responses to your questions from teachers and your fellow students. Whether you want to ponder the big questions like: Is it necessary to be vegetarian to be a dedicated yoga practitioner? Can I engage with yoga philosophy and remain true to my own religious beliefs and practices?…or have short questions about postures (asanas), meditation, breathing (pranayama), yoga philosophy, the meaning of life (now you're taking risks!), bring them to our extended community conversation and share your insights with those who share your practice. I look forward your comments questions and yes, the occasional good news snippet about someone’s new job, newest addition to the family, or another richly satisfying accomplishment. Namaste, Loretta |
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| Comment from: Jeffrey | 10/05/06 @ 10:51 | ||
| I can't speak for other teachers that you may be referencing but I would like to tell you that I don't use the Sanskrit names of the poses strictly for my own entertainment, although they are fun to say. I use the Sanskrit names of the poses to honor the origins and lineage of yoga and its practitioners, including my teachers and my teachers teachers. I also use the Sanskrit names of the poses because they are their true names and only the true name of a thing carries its full original power and precise meaning. | |||
| Comment from: Jeff | 10/05/06 @ 20:22 | ||
| Speaking of teachers, today is World Teachers' Day. Anu Garg (from wordsmith.org) has this little story about honoring teachers: "Millions around the globe will celebrate World Teachers' Day on October 5. Growing up in India, I came to regard my teachers with the highest respect. Kabir, a mystic poet in 15th century India, wrote in one of his couplets (in Hindi), "Guru Govind dou khade, kaake laagoon paye Balihari guru aapki, Govind diyo milaye." Translated: I face both God and my guru. Whom should I bow to first? I first bow to my guru because he's the one who showed me the path to God. The word guru is from Sanskrit via Hindi where its literal meaning is venerable or weighty. Ultimately the word is derived from the same Indo-European root that gave us the word gravity. When I came to the US to attend graduate school, I was horrified to hear students addressing the professors by their names, even first names. Eventually, I persuaded myself to call my rofessors Dr. White or Dr. Kennedy but I could never address them Lee or Miles." Absit invidia, Jeff |
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| Comment from: Nancy | 10/15/06 @ 19:22 | ||
| Regarding Sanskrit names: I have to add a "me, too" to Jeffrey Fuchs' post - using the Sanskrit names does honor the lineage of yoga, and are precise and elegant. Sanskrit words are also mantras and have an energetic component, but that notwithstanding, I think it's cool to use the Sanskrit. In ballet classes teachers use the French terms, and over time that's what students learn. I'm happy to have learned Grand Jete rather than Big Jump and I prefer Trikonasana to Triangle. | |||
| Comment from: Susan | 10/28/06 @ 15:40 | ||
| Sanskrit, ieeya! My first teacher always said the pose in Sanskrit and then in English, and I was starting to learn the names. My next teacher was English only and I did not even notice… until I went into teachers training and it was a Sanskrit only zone. I can recognize most of the poses. but I have a very low level of confidence in using Sanskrit myself. So I don’t. Guess it’s time to start practicing that too. | |||
Oh no, what did I do? |
09/20/06 03:52:27 pm | ||
| Hi Everyone, As some of you know, I had a listing on the web page here called “Thoughts and Lessons”. I realized pretty soon that I was not completely comfortable posting my "thoughts" and who am I to give lessons? So I let it die a long and lingering death. But now I have a new option: C. V. Forum, where I am not “the voice” but one of the voices. (Much safer.) I hope you will join us with your feedback, questions, comments, and celebrations. After all, yoga is a community event. |
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