Episode 1: Elsie’s Yoga Kula (The Beginning of Deepening Community)

the First episode of Elsie’s Yoga Kula

Where we share, cultivate relationship and deepen our yoga by entering the community of the heart, which is both your own heart, AND it’s the heart manifesting as the company we keep.

Deepening the Connection With The Listeners

I’ve been talking a lot about getting new facet of the podcast up. And it’s finally here! Some of you guys may have been listening for a while so you may be a bit more aware of my story, but some of you may just have started to listen so I’ll just do a quick recap. I lived in Los Angeles and taught in yoga in Los Angeles until October 2007. While I was there I was blessed to have lots of fabulous classes and an incredible community of both students and teachers that I could delve into and cultivate. The LA yoga community is thriving and abundant. Now I live in Pittsburgh. I transported to the Burgh for LOVE. I’m very happy being here. I have the best family ever ever ever! with my soon to be husband and my 9 month old little daughter Hunter. The only thing that I’m lacking (other than Jamba Juice…but I digress) is the yoga community. Having started teaching again after my baby was born and being able to once again post my classes has given me a connection to you all, and I cannot tell you how much it means to me. The power of this medium and our ability to share together this incredible practice is one of the greatest blessings in my life, so I decided to share a little bit more! I want you guys, all of you that are part of this podcast and practice together, to get to know each other a little bit, plus it also gives me the opportunity to share a little bit more about other yoga related things You guys up for it? So to begin, here we go with our first voice mail, It’s Nikki from DeMoines!

Please listen to the Podcast to hear the Voice Mail

You are so welcome! You know, I have to do another one of those deep savasana (Episode 61: Chill the Body Out, A 13 Minute Full Body Relaxation) and yoga nidra episodes (Episode 62: Yoga Nidra Yourself Out, a 65 Minute Deep Meditative Relaxation). Personally …. I LOVE those!!! I used to practice yoga nidra a lot more than I have an opportunity to now. One of these days I’m sure I’ll be able to again…oh the Mommy life Thanks for the call!

The YoGeek in Me Comes Out

I’m a very big RSS lover. RSS is sorta like using a DVR to record the shows that you wanna watch. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication, which means that you can syndicate or publish material ’simply’. Most websites now days, have a feed associated with them. If you subscribe to the feed, then whenever new content is published to that feed you receive it automatically. This brings me back to the DVR metaphor, so you can read, listen or watch that content whenever you want. The way that you are subscribing to this podcast is via it’s RSS feed. When you are in iTunes (for the majority of you subscribe via iTunes) and you subscribe to any podcast, you are subscribing via RSS feed. Sorry for the long winded explanation, just doing it for those of you that may wanna clarify a bit In order to receive the content you need to have some sort of RSS reader, such as iTunes. iTunes deals primarily with audio and video feeds. My personal favorite RSS reader that deals with audio, video, but mainly text feeds is Google Reader. I subscribe to A LOT of feeds and love reading them on my cell phone. Google Reader has a really easy and simple mobile site that I check countless times a day. The reason for this huge discussion is that I’m going to share with you guys, blogs, posts, videos, etc. that I find inspiring from Google Reader! So, here we go! I’m not sure how I found this blog, but I’m loving every post. It’s called Rose Garden Yoga by a yoga teacher named Elizabeth Goodman AND she’s a certified Anusara Yoga teacher! I’m thrilled every time I see a new post. I’m inspired by her eloquence and her love of the garden. It is soooooo worth your time. Great insight into the yoga of every day Another blog that I’m diggin’ is the Everything Yoga Blog at itsallaboutyoga.com. I enjoy this persons posts very much. I always end up with some new information, whether it be about a specific point of view, some sort of new product or website, whatever. I believe that I enjoy reading the posts so much because the author’s voice is so natural and absolutely down to earth. Check those 2 blogs out, AND use Google Reader! You can read so many more blogs in one place! Kinda like having your own special magazine

Sharing Products, Prenatal Yoga Tips & Trainings, Plus Podcasts

Here’s a nifty little product that I LOVED! Found out about it via the Everything Yoga Blog I just mentioned. Ok, I’m sure y’all have come across SIGG water bottles, those really cool bottles from sweden? Well you can totally MAKE YOUR OWN PERSONALIZED ONES!!!!! O M G. I have 2 already, and I LOVE THEM! So if you go to http://www.cafepress.com/designer/sigg/ You can see how to do it! It really is the coolest thing ever, plus if you don’t know about Cafe Press you’ll get a chance to check out that site! It’s a GREAT resource for creating your own stuff.

And now for our next voice mail: Mary from Houston

Dude, Mary, totally humbled. Thank you! You are way too sweet. I’m soooo glad that the podcasts are able to serve you, honestly. I’m very glad. I absolutely know how you feel. Totally get it, AND I’m working hard at this whole Mommy thing, doing my best at that and all the other stuff. I think at times the will to do it all comes from a desire to connect and to serve fully. Thanks again

And now for our first email of the episode from Nora in North Carolina This is all about Prenatal Yoga!!!

You can hear the email conversation and what I have to say if you listen to the episode

Empowering your Prenatal Yoga Practice: Advise from Yogi Mama to New Yogi Mama

Speaking of prenatal yoga, Sue Elkind is doing a prenatal yoga teacher training in Athens Greece!!!!!

Sept 7-11 Athens, Greece Prenatal Teacher Training www.NYSYstudios.com

Check it out at www.sueelkind.com

If you decide to do this…please email sue and tell her that you heard it from me! snyoga (at) mac (dot) com

Another email: Lina from Malasyia!!! how exciting is that????

Thank you so much Lina! Now I’m not going to answer this question here, I’ve (actually we, my dear friend Hillary Rubin and I) Have just answered this question and lots of other neat little teacher type discussion topics over at Mudra Moments. You can subscribe via RSS in iTunes or listen straight from the website at Mudramoments.com! I’ve already let Lina know that we addressed her question in Mudra Moments Episode 13, but I thought some of you guys may be interested in still hearing the question!

One of the reasons that I’m doing this also is so that I can share with you the listeners stuff that you care about and would like to share yourself. I got an email from someone that I got to know in LA, although they lived in Las Vegas:

Yoga Rants and Raves (http://www.yogarantsandraves.com) and they are on twitter! http://twitter.com/yogasanctuary)
plus, this is their WEBSITE: http://www.lasvegasyoga.com

And our last voice email of the day, Anne NC

thank you sweetie, I think Hunter is FAMOUS!!!

I still have a lot more of your emails, comments and phone calls to share! I contacted some of you to see if I could use your email, please know that I will, it’s just that I didn’t want to make this a REALLY long show…just enough to make it fun. If you want to be on the show, or share something about yourself or something you are doing that you would like me to check out and share with the Kula, send me an email eyogaclass@gmail.com, comment at elsiesyogakula.com or CALL ME!!!!!!!!! it’s soooooo easy to do it, and how fun is it to hear yourself on the show!!!!! woo hoooo 310 651 6238 or you can record your own MP3 and send it to me!

Please let me know if you enjoyed this. It’s really another way that I can deepen our relationship and allow us all to get to know each other better! Hope to hear from you!

Oh yea…one last thing The 3rd year anniversary of this podcast is coming up at the end of July. I hope to put up a special episode, plus some fun giveaways, so if you wanna be part of that episode, send me a voice mail sharing with me a special time that you practiced with it, or something along those lines so I can put it on the show!

Much love and blessings

Ways to Connect With Me:

Episode 71: Agni in Body, Mind, and Breath A Level 1-2 75 min Yoga Class

Fire in the neighborhood

The Power of Fire

Hunter and I got the opportunity to see fire at it’s most powerful, as it blazed across the street from our home. I was in awe of watching it burn. I had a visceral reaction to the flames, as I felt it’s strength and felt it’s power of destruction deep into my bones. As much as this fire was destroying the building across the street, I also new that it was transforming not only the building, but the entire neighborhood.

In Ayurveda, fire or Agni, is incredibly important. It is this fire that maintains and sustains optimal vibrant health…when it’s in alignment Listen to this week’s yoga podcast and practice along to connect with your inner fire in body, mind and breath

Love the Feedback!

• email me- eyogaclass (at) gmail (dot) com

• leave me a message- 310 651 6238 (I’d love to play you guys on the episodes! Plus you can promote your stuff that way!)

• or comment on this blog!

Other ways to connect with me:

This week’s Yoga Class Online is a level 1-2 75 min class

The Sequence of Yoga Poses in this week’s Yoga Podcast Episode are:

Balasana

Downward Facing Dog

Straight Legged Lunge into a Straight Front Leg x 3

Plank

Salabasana

Lunge sequence on second side

Plank

Chattarunga

Cobra

Downward Facing Dog

Uttanasana

Uttanasana/Ardha Uttanasana x 3

Tadasana

Surya Namaskar

Lunge/Crescent Pose (with airplane arms into the full pose)

Plank/Chattarunga/Plank

Downward Facing Dog

Plank/Chattarunga/Plank

Downward Facing Dog

Parsvakonasana

Virabhidrasana II

Modified Parsvotanasana into Trikonasana

Standing Hip Opener

Skiers Pose into Uttanasana

Deep Lunge on Forearms/Pigeon

Setubandha x2

Urdhva Dhanurasana

Modified Supta Padangustasana

Easy Supine Twist

Episode 70: Does Your Yoga Help You Be A Better Person? A Level 1-2 75 min Yoga Class

A Yogic Conversation?

The Path of the Yogi Within Social Networks

I’ve been on Twitter since the Spring of 2007, way before it became so CRAZY mainstream. When I first got on Twitter, there were only a handful of people that I had actually met face to face. In fact, the people on twitter that I interacted with were basically all from the podcasting/new media community and 90% of them where out of state or out of the country. There was not one person from my yoga community.

That has now all changed.

I would say in 2009 the yoga community on Twitter has skyrocketed. I’m in awe of the amazing amount of tweets about yoga, from yoga practitioners, teachers and studios. It’s yoga yoga yoga all the time now! I love it because now I can literally feel my yoga kula around me here in Pittsburgh because many of my Anusara yoga friends in LA and from other parts of the country are now on Twitter, including John Friend (the founder of Anusara Yoga)! Needless to say, that’s some serious growth!

In the past 2.5 yrs that I’ve been on Twitter, I have not ONCE had a negative experience with anyone I followed or followed me. In fact I’ve developed some pretty special friendships with some folks on Twitter that I would have never come in contact with otherwise. I’m a bit saddened to say that I’ve had my first ‘negative’ experience on Twitter, and it was with a fellow yogi.

This episode’s artwork is a snapshot of the initial dialogue.

I think all of us have every right to have our own preferences and opinions about yoga and about what yoga system or philosophy we align with. In fact that goes for your spiritual and religious life. One of my fellow Anusara teachers referred to yoga philosophy as ‘resonant energy’.

resonance |ˈrezənəns|

noun

the quality in a sound of being deep, full, and reverberating : the resonance of his voice.

• figurative the ability to evoke or suggest images, memories, and emotions : the concepts lose their emotional resonance.

• Physics the reinforcement or prolongation of sound by reflection from a surface or by the synchronous vibration of a neighboring object.

• Mechanics the condition in which an object or system is subjected to an oscillating force having a frequency close to its own natural frequency.

• Physics the condition in which an electric circuit or device produces the largest possible response to an applied oscillating signal, esp. when its inductive and its capacitative reactances are balanced.

• Physics a short-lived subatomic particle that is an excited state of a more stable particle.

• Astronomy the occurrence of a simple ratio between the periods of revolution of two bodies about a single primary.

• Chemistry the state attributed to certain molecules of having a structure that cannot adequately be represented by a single structural formula but is a composite of two or more structures of higher energy.

ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French, from Latin resonantia ‘echo,’ from resonare ‘resound’ (see resonant ).

Which Yoga Philosophy Is Right? Which Yoga Philosophy is the Best?

If a philosophy resonates with you, you will be more harmonious, more sensitive, more open both with yourself and with others around you. You will in fact be able to add more beauty, goodness, auspiciousness to the world through your thoughts, actions and unique presence. You will embed the philosophy so deeply inside of yourself that you will be able to serve those around you and yourself in ever deepening and refined ways. If whatever you choose opens you to recognize the blessing of your life, your wisdom, your auspiciousness, and in turn shows you that you are part of something much Greater, and of the Intrinsic Goodness of life, than you are in optimal alignment. It’s not about which yoga is the best: Ashtanga, Iyengar, Power, Viniyoga, etc, nor what philosophy, Tantra, Advaita Vedanta, Classical, etc. but how do your actions, your thoughts, your words offer the most auspicious part of yourself AT EVERY MOMENT. How do you feel in your own authentic heart, and how well are you able to serve and uplift those around you?

If you lock your fulfillment into how other people receive it you will never be fulfilled.

We always have a choice. If we do disagree with a particular style of yoga’s philosophy, or teacher, or practice, in what way are you going to communicate that with those around you so that you show through your actions, interactions and WORDS the highest integrity, always aligning to the Highest most Auspicious part of ourselves? Bottom line, do the actions you take make you a better person. Are you being authentic? It’s not easy, especially when confronted by someone that happens to get under your skin

Be very mindful of what you put out into the world, especially when it is written down and sent out into the world. It holds power, and it speaks loudly.

Love the Feedback!

• email me- eyogaclass (at) gmail (dot) com

• leave me a message- 310 651 6238 (I’d love to play you guys on the episodes! Plus you can promote your stuff that way!)

• or comment on this blog!

Other ways to connect with me:

This week’s class is a grounding Level 1-2 Yoga Class.

The class can be modified to be more basic or more advanced by choosing to do the full poses instead of the modification.

You are more than welcome to use as many yoga props as necessary to offer you the optimal alignment of your poses. Have your props near you so you can grab them as needed.

Or you can click onto the player and listen straight from this post

The Asana Sequence:

Seated with Arms Overhead

Easy forward bend in Siddhasana

Hands and Knees

Downward Facing Dog/High Lunge/Lunge Twist

Plank/Chattarunga

Salabhasana

Downward Facing Dog

Uttanasana with Arms Interlaced behind the back

1/2 Sun Salutes x 2

Surya Namaskar C x 3

Crescent Pose (jump switch)

Parsvakonasana

Vira II/Humble Warrior/Deep Lunge with forearms on the ground

Vashistasana Prep

Balasana

Downward Facing Dog

Uttanasana/Ardha Chandrasana

Standing Hip Stretch

Pigeon

Deep Funky Pigeon

Uttanasana

Supine Twist

Savasana

Episode 69: Take a Moment To Stay Steady Level 1-2 70 min Yoga Class

Steady....I'm trying!

Always doing SO many things at once.

I know for myself it is very rare that I do just ONE thing at a time. Now being a Mom, it becomes even harder. The mind races from one place to the next, things become so cluttered and often times takes us away from our center. Practicing some asana and taking even just a few moments to pause quietly and feel can give us so much access to the vast wealth of steadiness that we all posses. When we see that steadiness, when we find the Center, we can make better and better choices regarding our lives, our health, our relationships and how we choose to step into the world. Let’s practice together!

The ‘I Forgot To Teach My Yoga Class’ post.

Love the Feedback!

• email me- eyogaclass (at) gmail (dot) com

• leave me a message- 310 651 6238 (I’d love to play you guys on the episodes! Plus you can promote your stuff that way!)

• or comment on this blog!

Other ways to connect with me:

By Free Marketing Directory

This week’s class is an uptempo Level 1-2 Yoga Class.

You are more than welcome to use props, especially blocks for poses like Trikonasana. I also really love to have a blanket by so I can sit on it during the centering at the beginning of class

Try out this fancy little player and listen and practice

The Asana Sequence:

Hands and Knees

Downward Facing Dog/Eka Pada Adho Mukha Svanasana

Twisting Lunge

Plank

Cobra

Uttanasana

Uttanasana/Ardha Uttanasana x 2

Tadasana/Urdhva Hastasana

Surya Namaskar x 2

Crescent Pose (jump switch)

Parsvakonasana

Parsvotanasana

Trikonasana

Tree Pose

Malasana

Ardha Chandrasana

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana

Ardha Bhekasana

Lunge Twisting Thigh Stretch

Dhanurasana x 3

Knees to Chest

Supine Twist with Legs Crossed

Savasana

Episode 68: Align and Re-Align with Sensitivity- Level 1-2 75 min Yoga Class

Be Open to Uncertainty

Aligning and Re-Aligning

My baby girl has recently started having solid food. She got constipated. One would imagine that the only thing that it would affect, would be her demeanor, as she was pretty uncomfortable. In fact, this constipation made other things come out of alignment. She was unable to process her food properly because nothing was really moving She threw up. A lot. This made me very worried, as she had never done that before! This is this week’s yoga class theme. Listen to find out what my very wise Randy had to say and how it all turned out Oh yeah, the class was recorded on April 22 at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association

Thank you all for your comments!

Just to let you all know. I’m plan on supplementing the live yoga classes with little extra episodes sprinkled here and there. Since the yoga classes themselves are so long, I never want to make my intro more than 6 minutes, as you really need to be getting to practicing! Given this predicament, I’ve decided to address emails, questions and feedback that I get from you guys in another supplement of the podcast, this is going to be all about Elsie’s Yoga Kula, meaning both YOU GUYS (your feedback, your questions, etc) and a little bit of extra sharing on my part, thoughts, focused classes, or practices, or even news about yoga products or any other online yoga tools that I have found helpful.

What do you think about that? Let me know!

To add just a bit more to my plate I have started a new website/business YoGeek.Me. I have posted my very first blog post there: Top 10 Ways That Technology Empowers Yoga Professionals. Check it out! I would love for you to leave your comments, especially if you are a yoga teacher or maybe someone that simply feels a bit awkward with technology!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL THE LOVELY MAMAS OUT THERE!!!!!

You all know how to reach me:

• email me- eyogaclass (at) gmail (dot) com

• leave me a message- 310 651 6238 (I’d love to play you guys on the episodes! Plus you can promote your stuff that way!)

• or comment on this blog!

Other ways to connect with me:

By Free Marketing Directory

All right, so here we go.

Or you can use this nifty little player!

This week’s online yoga class podcast is a 75 min Level 1-2 Class

The Asana Sequence

Seated side stretch

Hands and knees

Downward Facing Dog

Child’s pose

Hands and knees

Downward Facing Dog

Downward Facing Dog with knees bent

Eka Pada Adho Mukha Svanasana

Uttanasana

Uttanasana/Ardha Uttanasana x 2

Straight Legged Lunge

Plank

Chattarunga

Cobra

Downward Facing Dog

Uttanasana/Ardha Uttanasana x 2

Tadasana

Arm Salutations

Half Sun Salutation

Surya Namaskar

Crescent Pose

Parvakonasana

(Random TMI- sorry about that!)

Downward Facing Dog Opening the hip

Pavrita Parsvakonasana Prep or full

PICTURES FOR THE FOLLOWING POSES ARE COMING!

Uttanasana Twist (slide)

Utkatasana Twist

Utthita Hasta Padangustasana Prep

Modified Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana Sequence

Eka Pada Gomukhapaschimotanasana

Baddha Konasana

Supine Twist

Savasana

Episode 67: Why Listen? Level 2 75 Minute Yoga Class

Hunter Listens

I’m going to stop saying that I’m going to post more episodes more often. I absolutely don’t know! Agh! Mind you, I’m now all set up technically, finally! I’ve been recording more consistently, so now it’s just a about editing and posting I have recorded more than one class, and I’m refining my workflow so that I can TRULY post more episodes. I’m sure you all know by now, I’m a new Mom. My little baby is 7 months as I write this post. She has now settled into herself more, which is allowing me time to step into my own self. The only time that I have to upload, edit, post, etc. is when Hunter is sleeping. Those naps are the sacred time when I can do fun stuff like this podcast, PLUS all of the gazillion things that I have to catch up on: dishes, showers, general clean up, answering emails, paying bills, you get the picture. All I can say is that there aren’t enough hours in the day to do ALL that I want to do. My life continues to ebb and flow and my biggest focus is on always remembering to constantly re-align….OH, that’s the next episode!

In this week’s episode I talk about LISTENING. It was all brought about by my latest venture: teaching other yoga teachers/professionals to podcast. I actually did my first ‘virtual’ workshop! It was very cool. Anyway, within the workshop I explained why I’m partial to an AUDIO yoga class as opposed to VIDEO. Y’all can listen to my intro to find out why

And my new site!
YoGeek.Me

Thank you for continuing to listen. I so appreciate you guys very very much.

Enjoy the yoga class!

Here are all the places that you can find me!

By Free Marketing Directory

In this yoga podcast, we have a level 2 class! Can you believe it? It has been a while

The class was recorded at Yoga Matrika in Pittsburgh!

Props needed: a yoga block

DOWNLOAD MP3 DIRECTLY

THE SEQUENCE

Hands and Knees

Downward Facing Dog/Eka Pada Downward Facing Dog/Opening the Hip in Down Dog/High Lunge

Plank

chattarunga

Downward Facing Dog

Uttanasana/Ardha Uttanasana x 3

Tadasana

Surya Namaskar x 3

Crescent Pose

Vira II into Reverse Vira

Trikonasana

Uttanasana with arms interlaced behind the back

Tadasana (with eyes closed)

Vira II into Reverse Warrior (with eyes closed)

Trikonasana (with eyes closed)

Tree Pose

Pincha Mayurasana Prep

Pigeon

Pigeon with Block on top of front thigh

Pigeon with Thigh stretch

Setubandha into Urdhva Dhanurasana x 3

Downward Facing Dog with knees bent into Straight legged

Child’s Pose

Supine Twist

Knees to Chest

Savasana

Empowering your Prenatal Yoga Practice: Advise from Yogi Mama to New Yogi Mama

Wild Thing With My Baby Girl!

I have had a lot of requests to share my prenatal yoga practice, so I decided to use some info from emails that I sent to a couple of you already and made it into this post! Enjoy

Yes, there is a lot of conflict from so many sources regarding what to do or not to do while pregnant and practicing yoga asana. One thing that I found out about practicing while pregnant is that it’s so much about YOU. YOU will have more insight than anyone. It’s your body, and just as no pregnancy, labor and birth is the same, neither is your experience with the practice of prenatal yoga. Now, given that, I’ll give you hints as to how I approached my practice and of course there are general guidelines of what to do and what not to do. Again, honor your body and listen to your body, as it’s no longer just you, but a source of life for another human being that relies on your willingness to take responsibility for your own health.

My personal choices:

1st trimester:

Totally took it easy. I did not feel like doing asana practice and if I did anything I kept it really mellow. I meditated. I did very gentle restorative, I barely moved. I also felt that was due to coming out of winter as I got pregnant in late January in Pittsburgh I was also very tired, and I wanted to make sure that my baby clamped on to me really well! When I got pregnant I was 36 and according to the medical community, that is “high risk”. I knew in my heart that all would be ok, BUT was also very afraid that things would not work out, so I chose to take it easy as much as possible. Ok….let me be honest….I WAS PARANOID!!! I refused to connect with my baby. I felt I could not take the heart ache if this little soul’s body was not ready to be born. Randy (my beloved), was so sweet and supportive and simply provided himself, whenever I got all emotional. She seemed to me my sacred little secret I was not teaching during my 1st trimester. I started teaching during my 2nd, not by choice really but because I got a teaching opportunity then!

This is not always true. Some women practice the same sort of practice in the first trimester that they have been practicing and they feel absolutely ok with it. In fact it may help them with fatigue and nausea. I did not have any morning sickness (fantastic blessing)

Regarding physical postures. I found that I was able to do all postures. No restrictions, except very deep twists (makes absolute sense) Start to be very careful with stretchy poses, especially hip openers. During your pregnancy you will become more stretchy due to the hormone ‘relaxin’, which does exactly that, relaxes your connective tissue so that your body can adapt to your growing baby. Choose to engage your muscles as much as possible (Muscular Energy) especially in wide legged poses, such as Upavista Konasana, Baddha Konasana, and even poses like Prasarita Padotanasana, and Vira II. The latter standing poses will serve to strengthen your inner thigh muscles (if you isometrically pull to the midline) which is KEY as you get bigger. One thing that I stayed away from the beginning was back bends on my belly that involved no support such as Dhanurasana, and Locust variations. Those poses did NOT feel good when I did them. That’s what I mean about YOU knowing. You have to be ever more sensitive to your choices.

2nd Trimester:

Totally stepped into asana. I did everything, arm balances, sun salutes, forward bends, standing poses, hip openers, backbends, inversions (handstand and forearm balance), and even some twists. I felt good. I watched my blood pressure. You have to sloooooooow things down so much. so so so much. Tried to keep myself warm but not over heated. I took as many breaks as needed. Somedays I had more energy than other days. I followed my instincts. I listened. Doing hip openers were very important to me, they relieved a lot of tension. I found for myself that backbends felt very good for my body.

This is not at all true for all pregnancies. My teacher, when she had her first baby did very deep backbends all through her pregnancy, during her second, they did not feel good AT ALL, so she cut them out completely. Follow your body and your baby. Make sure you pause. The pause is where the baby lives, always listen. Any abdominal crunches and strengtheners I stayed away from, although I found great value from holding plank and learning to use my whole spine for support, not just your belly. This is key! I also used my knees a lot when doing chattarunga. I found that less stressful on my belly and was able to really focus on using a lot of arm strength, which you do need to build so you can carry your baby for hours!!!!!

Now having my baby for 6 months I recognize that standing poses, especially those that work the quadriceps are key to keeping alignment. I’m not sure how Mom’s with weak leg muscles do it. Crouching down to pick things up holding a baby is pretty challenging, especially doing it in alignment so you don’t tweak yourself! I would do a lot more utkatasana variations at the wall and holding a block in between my shins.

3rd Trimester:

I found myself still pretty strong. Didn’t find too many things that I avoided, other than the fact that I did everything at half the time. My backbends took me a long time to do because I rested in between for about 2 min to bring my blood pressure back to normal. One way to see if you over did it somehow is to see if you got a headache afterwards, or your eyes are tired and bit unfocused. That means that your heart worked way to hard. Choose to slow things down and like I mentioned before, use your muscles as much as you can to get circulation all over your body. I have experienced, the dreaded Charley Horse on my calves during about the 25th week. The belly starts to grow so much more that it begins to slow the circulation to your legs. It is necessary to stretch out the legs, the calves, the hamstrings, and the outer hips a lot, as well as keeping your inner thigh muscles strong. I’m not sure if you’ve had a chance to watch my foot video. Some of those exercises I do all the time at night, to open up my feet, and calves and hamstrings. It has really helped with the Charley Horses. Man those things hurt. I’ve never had one before!

I did not restrict too many things. I’ve been practicing for a while and know my body, so have you. I believe in empowering women to make their own choices. Educate yourself by observing how your body reacts. The biggest communicator, your breath. Be very mindful. Listen to your heartbeat, as it’s beat is also the one that beats with your baby. Your blood flow is increasing exponentially, so honor the process of observing it and keeping yourself cool

The main focus of my yoga practice at this time was very gentle hip openers, very easy and light upper body twists, shoulder openers and relaxation. I didn’t feel I could retain the strength that I need to do a full practice with long holds, especially with standing poses. Lunges, no way, (no poses that are in any way assymetrical) they just pulled me apart too much and I end up pulling my SI out of wack. There are way too many hormones getting you ready to expand in a way that you’ve never expanded before. Those last few weeks were all about the ‘let go’. Relaxation and Rest, that’s it.

Let Go And Soften

If I were to give you advice that I will heed myself if I am blessed with another baby it’s this: start the Let Go as soon as you know you are pregnant. Don’t think you HAVE to do anything. Enjoy softness, enjoy softening all over, your muscles, your heart, your spirit, your emotions, your breath. Be vulnerable, cry, feel, allow, don’t hold on to emotions but certainly let them wash all over you. We as women are so strong because we are like water, we feel and let go. Such a fantastic clearing. If you have scary thoughts, insecurities, fears, don’t try to hide them or push them away. See them, meet them with your vulnerable self, your baby will be better for it, having a Mami with the strength to step into herself. It also gives you the deep knowledge that you will need to guide and teach your child You will speak from experience.

Keep your belly soft, as soft as possible. Let me say that again…Keep your belly soft, as soft as possible, no yogini abs. I didn’t understand why in my prenatal teacher trainings we were taught to tell our ladies not to do core work. I was able to do it while pregnant. I could still hold plank pretty well, and keep my core engaged in every pose, but sometimes too much so, which is why I believed my little girl was breech. (Turned out that the muscle strength had some influence but the underlying reason is that I had an undiagnosed placenta previa) She has no room to move in my tight belly. My muscles were crazy strong and provided a very protected and secure little home, but she didn’t get too much of a chance to roam around in the womb Think softness. I also don’t mean for you not to work your core AT ALL!!! just be mindful. Find that beautiful balance that we as yogis are always searching for….sukha/sthira…..more sukha!!!

For all you yogini Mamas out there it would be awesome if you shared your experiences of practicing yoga while pregnant. I (we) would love to hear from you! Leave your thoughts, feelings and advice in the comments!

A Virtual Student Recognizes Loving Your Body

One thing that I will always be thankful for: My virtual students.

All of you that I’ve never physically met. All of you that have never emailed me, nor contacted me but faithfully practice. All you that I’ve gotten to know via comments and emails. All of you that have sent me voice feedback. All of you that were my real live students and now have shifted to listening to me.

All of you are my teachers. I learn from each bit of communication that I get from you. You are also absolute proof to me that yoga, as an eloquent system of what I would call ‘becoming more of who you are’, WORKS.

Each one of us hears what we are meant to hear from these teachings. Each one of us expresses ourselves individually and honestly, and as we do that, we touch soooooo many around us, and inspire many to do be the best person that they can be.

Here is the magnificent Tracee Sioux of The Girl Revolution. One of YOU virtual students that I have had the blessing to meet virtually. Watch her tell the story of Yoga: Love Your Body, and mentions me in the process.

Totally humbled

Go Tracee! Thank YOU!

Yes, I Forgot To Teach My Yoga Class-Embrace Self Reflection

Self Reflection

We are always going to make mistakes.
We are going to continue to make choices that are not the best.
There will always be times that those choices will affect others, in a bad way.

I know that.

So what do we do with that?

We do better the next time around.

How?

Self Reflection

This is something that often times in this wonderful society of ours is left to others. My experience both for myself and observing others is that we don’t SELF reflect, but OTHER reflect. We first look outside of ourselves for what we have to do next. We look outward to know what’s inside. We look to the mirror of friends, family, media, etc. to either affirm or console us. Yes, this is incredibly important within our society, BUT it’s not the first step.

First step: Self Reflection

Taking the time to honestly look inside, and to ask questions that refine the deepest inner knowing, so that next time, that innate knowing will kindly inform us what the next, and ever more refined choice will be. Self reflection after making a mistake is challenging, it’s not comfortable and it’s definitely not pretty. In the midst of this reflection there are feelings of despair, anxiety, fear, anger- you get the idea . That’s part of our divine nature. It’s in the dark that we can begin to see the light. It’s through our willingness to step in there that we can better look outward. I find that writing is one of the ways in which I step inside. I look in and write from my heart, what has either already been resolved or what is in the process of being resolved.

The more truthful the expression the more that others can relate…and thus, the community aspect comes into play. Usually, what we receive from the conversation, either by affirming, consoling or condemning is that we are not alone. We get tons of guidance and advice to refine and deepen our choice making process. We wouldn’t be able to really digest the wealth of information that is the community if we hadn’t become more efficient in our own discernment, that is, self reflection.

Forgetting to go teach class? That absolutely sucked. Seriously. It made me feel horrible. I was anxious, disappointed, scared and angry. Those sort of emotions don’t really resonate well with me. Most of you know me, if not personally, through my yoga podcast classes or simply by browsing through this blog, so you know that I’m not the  ‘beat myself up’ kinda girl, or the ’sit around moping and feeling sorry for myself’ kinda girl. I would say that 95% of the time I’m GREAT! When I’m not, I welcome it as I know that I ‘m going to be doing some great learning, some great knowing.

I wrote yesterday’s post because I believe the process of stepping into the uncomfortable places deserves to be expressed. In fact it must. So many times we cover from the world all the negative experiences, especially if we are in ‘the public eye’. Sort of like keeping up appearances. As much knowledge as I may have, as much innate joy that I may posses doesn’t keep me from totally messing up and feeling bad about it. That’s the gift of being human Perfection is imperfect. It is exactly who we are, unfinished. We get a chance to strive to create the best of ourselves all the time.

My forgetfulness has given me the opportunity to find new ways to do ‘what I used to be able to do.’ How many times have we said that when we practice yoga? “I used to be able to touch my toes”, “I used to be able to do handstands,” “I used to be more flexible.” Are we willing to do the best job that we can, to make the optimal choice given our current circumstances? Can we be the best of ourselves right now? This is not easy, as life is always changing, but are we willing to shift our perspective, and use what we do have to our advantage, now.

That’s how we step into the flow of Grace.

Thank you everybody for the love!!!!

I forgot to go teach my yoga class!

I forgot

This week I did something I’ve never done before. I absolutely forgot, FORGOT, to show up to a yoga class that I had made a commitment to substitute.

I’ve never done anything like that. I’ve been teaching since 2001 and I have never NOT shown up to a class. I’ve been late to teach less than a handful of times, and I have always called to let people know.

I wrote down the dates in my Google Calendar. I confirmed with the studio owner. We even had conversations about me coming as they were going to be out of town and I would be in charge of signing in students and closing up the studio. I was quite excited to do it actually. The studio owner even sent a very detailed email kindly confirming the different substitute teachers coming in to teach while she was out of town. I browsed at that email, stored away the information that I already knew, and went about my business. I ‘knew’ I had to teach. I really did. Then what in the world happened?

I am now a mother.

I am not using it as an excuse by any means. I just continue to find that motherhood has taken up the majority of my brain. I used to be able to store information in many different parts of my brain, now they get pushed out. I absolutely HAVE  to write everything down, plus set up countless reminders for myself, as many ways as I can. I didn’t set up a reminder for teaching yoga BECAUSE I’VE NEVER FORGOTTEN TO GO TEACH! I’ve forgotten to pay bills, I’ve forgotten to send out emails, I’ve forgotten to make phone calls, but never anything to do with teaching yoga I was mortified. My stomach was just a huge knot. I so wished to have a really good reason for not showing up. I even conjured up in my head the only reasons I wouldn’t show up to teach without even a phone call, and all the reasons would be awful ones that involved family catastrophe, illness, and *gulp* death.

When you step into the role of mother it’s all encompassing. All the other identities that you had prior to being MOTHER are still there, but in to way are they in any way as clearly formed as they were before. Mother, takes over, and I would venture to say, 50% of the time without me choosing it. Mother power is it’s own energy that overwhelms the others. This energy is imprinted within, and it’s primal resonance at times is palpable. My daughter is 24 weeks, and she needs Mother. I believe as her needs for Mother become less immediate, my brain will begin to open up again to receive input that includes things other than mothering and I may be able to use my brain as I had before. Or…I may just forever rely on some sort of ‘external brain’, such as an iPhone

Yes, you can set boundaries to Mother energy. You can subdue the impulses. You can step away from being Mother, by choosing to close the mind and create space between you and your child and of course mothering. We’ve all seen the Super Mom’s, the ones that do it all. My question is, what is the price we pay using our Will to subdue our innate Mother? Does it thrive optimally if allowed to just pulsate as it does? Would squelching the instincts create less sensitivity as Mother? Just questions to think about.

On the evening of my missed class, during class time, I was making sure that my fiancee was supported. His back ‘went out’ you could say, and he was in a great amount of pain. He couldn’t really do anything but lay down flat in bed, as he had piercing nerve pain if he did anything else. We had gone out earlier in the day and simply watching him get in and out of the car was pretty excruciating. I can’t imagine what it actually felt like In order to give him some space to relax into the pain, because there was no getting away from it, my daughter and I went out for a walk. My mind was full of making sure my family was ok, and we all had the space we needed to feel what we needed to. As I got home, I received a phone call from the studio owner. I missed the call, as usually my phone is set to silent and I miss phone calls. I knew when I saw her name why she was calling.  My stomach tightened

I let many people down.

I hate that.

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry BYS Yoga Studio. You guys are amazing and I apologize for my mistake.

I’m sorry to all those folks that I have not returned emails and phone calls to. I’m sorry to all those folks that I haven’t followed up with for a while. I’m sorry to all those that I’ve committed to do something only to recognize that I am not able to…not right now.

I am Mother and it is good. I’m still getting used to it, as it’s wrecking havoc in me at times, and I’m slowly getting to know how best to navigate this great new world. I am ready and willing to continue to churn, and deeply grateful to get the opportunity of this great blessing.