I cannot even begin to share with you guys how often I get asked this question. Sometimes I feel a bit weird explaining it’s meaning as there’s so much more to it than just the definition.

Namaste holds a powerful relationship between people. It is a deep grounded in deep respect both in each other’s individuality and EVERYTHING that makes us the same.

One of my Facebook friends shared this video and I instantly fell in love with it.

If I could just have this little video with me all the time and play it whenever anyone asked me: what does Namaste mean? You betcha I’d play this puppy

Please watch. Enjoy the power and…well just watch

Sharing Enlivens The Heart of the Community

The voice mail that is played at the beginning of this episode is why I decided to do these episodes that I call Elsie’s Yoga Kula. There is so much power to sharing your journey. This practice of yoga can take you to so many absolutely fabulous places, not only on the mat but off the mat. I know that my yoga practice opened up so much for me, in fact it was the catalyst for gigantic growth in my life, and I’m in no way talking about the poses. They are the icing on the cake They provided me with the first courageous steps towards something more! Thank you sooo much for sharing Jeanne (sp?) ! I am thrilled when I hear stories like yours, those that are all about stepping deeper into your self, to see the vast goodness that dwells within! NICE! Oh, and I would be honored to have you come to my class! Even though I only teach 1 public class a week…but more to come, promise!

As you can hear, this message was actually sent ‘quite’ a while ago. I’m trying to go back and honor you guys that sent me messages long ago And if you haven’t sent a message to share with me and the kula DO SO. I’d love to help all of us stay inspired and feel that we are truly part of a world wide community! So call me to share at 310 651 6238

Hello everybody and welcome to Elsie’s Yoga Kula episode #3! Happy Autumn Oh man is Pittsburgh gorgeous when the leaves start to change! My most favorite changes, that of the ivy, it’s like fire snakes climbing up trees and buildings. So beautiful! So much has happened this year it’s unbelievable. truly. Last year right around this time I became a mother. Yep, my lovely Hunter is 1 year old as of October 2. Happy Happy birthday my baby girl! You have shifted me to become someone I honestly never knew was inside. I’ve gotten…sturdier, that’s for sure I started to finally teach public classes, I was laid off of my job last November, man! and now I’m in the process of developing my own consulting business. As soon as I get all my stuff in gear I’ll let you all know all about it. You can venture to YoGeek.Me, to see a gradual development of posts delving into the world of yoga and technology

It has been an incredible fortifying year, full of everything you can imagine, calm, love, fear, angst, courage, meltdowns, you name it. I have LIVED! You guys have made this year for me a sort of life line. Your emails and messages and support have provided me with hope and strength. If you are listening to the podcast I now read an email from Maria Rose from Vermont and my response to her email!

Listen to the Podcast!

EYK News:

Remember how I mentioned the cool personalized bottle from the company SIGG on EKY Episode 1? Well, I take that back. I used to love those bottles but the practices of their CEO has left me less than pleased. Here’s the quick scoop: SIGG CEO Steve Wasik recently announced that SIGG water bottles did in fact contain the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in its liners until August 2008. That means that any bottle that you purchased before 10/08 contains BPA. They are allowing customers that purchased a bottle prior to this date (you would know by the bronze liner instead of the pale yellow liner that are the new ones) to exchange their bottles.

But the Environmental Working Group is not satisfied with this. Here is letter sent by the President of EWG to SIGG:

On behalf of the Environmental Working Group (EWG), I write to ask that you issue an unambiguous apology for misleading consumers and retailers about whether SIGG bottles contain the toxic chemical bisphenol-A (BPA).
I further urge you to modify SIGG Switzerland CEO Steve Wasik’s recent announcement of a SIGG voluntary bottle exchange program. Consumers should be able to take SIGG bottles that contain BPA to an authorized SIGG retailer and receive a refund for the full retail value of the product. The cost of the refund should be covered by SIGG.
The announced exchange policy, which forces customers to accept a replacement SIGG bottle, puts them in the untenable position of having to trust Mr. Wasik and his team about the composition and safety of the replacement product.
It is our view that SIGG’s reputation will be difficult to restore while Mr. Wasik remains at the helm of the company.
Sincerely,

Kenneth A. Cook
President
Environmental Working Group

In case you want to exchange your product you can go to http://mysigg.com/bulletin/ to read all about it. I’ll post a link in the shownotes.

Just last week I was interviewed by David Spark about my new iPhone App! It was such a cool experience. He’s a really great guy. What was crazy about the whole thing is that I scheduled it specifically so that Hunter was in an optimal mood and she could keep herself occupied. The interview was supposed to take 10 min. Of course none of it went as planned. As we signed on in Skype, my camera decided not to work…ggrrrrrr. I had to trouble shoot for about 10 minutes! I did have an opportunity to see my lovely friend Inge’s face as I had my mini freak out. I asked her to help me but at that time she had no solutions for me. I figured it out FINALLY! then of course, the moment that David started recording the podcast Hunter fell down and conked her head. yep, of course she did. anyway, the whole thing ended up going really well. I’ll put a link in the shownotes for ya’ll.

• Here’s the article on David’s Blog: Elsie’s Yoga Class: Making Money From PodcastingHere’s the larger piece on Mashable! 9 Successful Techniques For Making Money From Podcasting

And speaking of my iPhone/iPod Touch app…Have you gotten a chance to buy it yet? It’s $3.99 and what you get is the ability to stream all of my content, all 70+ classes without downloading anything at all, at the push of a button! Plus, I’ll be adding a PDF of the sequences of my classes a little bit a time, so you can have it with you as you practice! Occasionally I may add little videos here and there and some other bits and pieces of content. Now, I have to clarify that if you happen to have an iPod Touch, the only time that you can stream the content is when you are connected via Wifi. Thank you Lisa for helping me be clear about this Full disclosure, there have been some issues with the 1st version of the app (the classes not streaming and the app itself not opening). The new version HAS been released which fixes the majority of the bugs. If you have downloaded the app and still experience problems, please feel free to contact me via email so we can get the issues resolved!

If you have wanted to support this podcast, this is a wonderful way to do it. I do get a teeny bit of money from the sale of each app. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all of you that have already downloaded the app, from the bottom of my heart, and I’d also like to thank all those of you that have donated to Elsie’s Yoga Kula. I’ll share that last months donations allowed me to make our car payment. It was a blessing. I’ve been doing this podcast for 3 years and I have never put up a donate button, until now. At this moment, I feel that I can and I have had requests from you guys, so it’s helped me make the decision. If you’d like to donate to the podcast please feel free to do so, if you’d like to donate to the podcast in another way other than in a monetary way, I have put up a page telling you of all sorts of ways in which you can ‘donate’ that don’t include money. Check it out. Any little thing totally helps and like the page says, Support the Podcast, support the family!

We have another voice mail from a listener! So listen up if you wanna hear

Here’s Vanessa Best’s Web site: The Spinal Space

Thank you Juli from Atlanta! I know it was a while ago, but she very kindly sent me an email and told me that I had inadvertedly tagged episode 69 with an ‘explicit’ tag, YIKES! Totally did not want to do that. I went in there and fixed it as soon as I could, although I know that a few of you got that episode with an explicit tag, and of course there was nothing explicit about it…

It’s all about listener emails!

Carli from Kansas

My 16 year old son talked me into trying Yoga with him. He plays football and his coach got them started on Yoga. I am a runner and lift weights, I took a yoga class once but it never stuck. So I started looking for yoga podcasts and came across yours. I loved it. It was very hard for me to follow at first because I am not familiar with the poses. So I went online and found your website! I flipped out when I realized I can look at the poses to the episodes online and follow that way. I’m so stuck on yoga now! I love your classes and how you describe things. You Rock!

Thank you so much Carli You know, I totally keep forgetting to tell you guys to come check out this site! The pictures are there, there are a couple of times where there are corresponding videos and extra links at times, especially when I mention an article or something like that in my theme oh, and the EYK episodes will be transcribed as a blog post (hence this post ), so if you wanna read, what I said, then all you have to do is go to the corresponding blog post!

Marie from Ol Miss

Hi Elsie!I hope you are well. I’ve just started listening to your podcasts, and they are so great! I have a random question for you. What kind or brand of mat would you recommend to someone who is just beginning yoga? I have a mat that I have had for a long time, (I’ve started and stopped yoga a few times), but it is starting to kind of thin and I’ve found a few holes. Also, do you have any other advice for a newbie like me? Thank you so much and have a great weekend! Marie

Here’s my answer to Marie

Hello Marie Great questions! Regarding the yoga mat…I’m a very big fan of the Jade Yoga Mats. At times they can bunch up a little bit off the floor, as they are not as ’sticky’ as the yoga mats that you would purchase almost anywhere. My fave from Jade is The Encore because I like my mats to have a bit more substance when I practice. The Encore is the one that I have (at least I have the prototype as they sent it to me before it was released. Also love Beinjoy yoga mats. They are soooooooooooooooooo pretty That gets some bonus points from me. They feel very good. Also I own 2 Manduka ™ mats, the purple PROlite and the Black Mat PRO. They have some eco friendly versions that are also available, which I’ve been meaning to try. My purple mat has lasted me for about 5 yrs! and it looks almost the same as when I bought it. The only thing thats wrong with it now is that my kitties got to it and scratched the tar out of it They also have a mat that supports an organization called ‘off the mat into the world’ which I think is pretty darn fabulous organization. Another company that I love is Prana. They have a FANTASTIC mat that I want to purchase the is wider than most mats out there. When I practice in order to have my shoulders properly aligned I honestly have to widen them so much that my pinky fingers end up being off the mat. I don’t mind, but their new Revolution mat takes care of that! Plus it’s eco friendly A lot of the mats that I have mentioned are pretty pricey, $60+ and UP! It is a lot of $ I know. You can get some mats from Prana, or Jade or even Lululemon that are eco friendly for between $35 and 40. I know that I have not needed another mat after buying my purple mat so long ago. I just like to try out other mats, and share about them Let me know if I can help you with anything else! As a beginner practitioner, I would merely say to take your time, to listen to yourself, and to choose to always be honest and open with yourself every time you get on the mat. Choose to step in deeper and enjoy your own body, with all it’s ‘limitations’. They make you the unique beauty that you are. If you get through a class and you haven’t smiled….I would make that my priority Smiling and laughing truly allows for a deeper moving into your heart to see what really matters!

Marie’s answer:

I ended up getting a Manduka Black Mat Pro and I love it!!! I’ve been practicing for three weeks and it has been really awesome to see how my body is responding. I also wanted to let yo u know that I started a blog about my yoga journey, girlmeetsmat.blogspot.com. I am wide open to any comments or suggestion Thank you so much for everything!!

NICE! I do love the Manduka Black mat. That thing is hardy, the thing for me is that I now tend to leave that one at home as trekking around with that puppy on a bike, or a bus, or any amount of walking that isn’t just a block or so, is soooooooo hard on my back. That mat is HEAVY Just to let you all know, there is a fantastic article by one of my Twitter/Facebook buddies, the mighty Nancy Alder and it’s all about this same exact subject. It really gets in to more detail about the mats and especially pricing and it’s a great read!

• Nancy Alder’s article: Ecologically Minded Yoga Mats

Meaghan Message

Hello! How are you on this beautiful day?! I am a fellow yoga teacher, brand new, and IN LOVE with your site. It is so inspirational and moving and every detail means so much. Thank you for keeping us involved with your journey.

I wanted to take a moment to personally invite you to take a peek at my website. I am training to run a half marathon to raise money for research towards Crohns, a disease incredibly close to my heart, which my boyfriend has struggled with for more than 20 years.

My website is : meaghansrun.net

The first ten people to raise 500 dollars in the next week will be matched 500 from a local company! So, if you are thinking you may be able to donate (any amount, big or small) — now would be a perfect time! And, it is tax deductible

.

Lots of love and thanks,

Meaghanxo

I saw the other day mighty Meaghan or Megan ) sorry if I mispronounced your name that you reached your goal! Congratulations, and if any of you would like to donate to the cause follow the link above! and thank you so much for sending this along!

Kate in Italy!

Hi Elsie, I am a Canadian living in Italy and have just started using your podcasts for my daily practice. Thank you! You say the phrase “scissor your legs asymmetrically together” quite a few times and I am very confused what this means…is it possible to get some clue about that? Thank you again for beaming your classes out for the world to access. In Italy classes are in Italian which makes English speaking me a little lost. Your classes are a big help. All the best.

You know what I wanted to do to answer this question? I wanted to ask my students to tell me what that means to them, as often times I (I think all teachers) tend to relly on saying things one way, and you guys may just have ‘better’ ways of explaining this. OK, so here goes a bit of an explanation. Isometric movements according to wikipedia:

Definition

Isometric exercise is a form of exercise involving the static contraction of a muscle without any visible movement in the angle of the joint. This is reflected in the name; the term “isometric” combines the prefix “iso” (same) with “metric” (distance), meaning that in these exercises the length of the muscle does not change[edit]
Isometric resistance
Resistance in isometric exercises typically involve contractions of the muscle using:
▪ the body’s own muscle (e.g., pressing the palms together in front of the body)
▪ structural items (e.g., pushing against a door frame).
▪ free weights, weights machines or elastic equipment (e.g. holding a weight in a fixed position)
▪ pressure plate type equipment that has a digital readout of maximal force.
Depending on the goal of the exercise, the exertion can be maximal, or sub-maximal.

Basically, you are engaging your muscles even though the poses are ’static’. There is an action that is involved always everytime that you are in a pose. In Anusara the principle that best describes isometric movement (or scissoring the legs together) is called Muscular Energy. Here’s the definition according to the Anusara Teacher Training Manual….( you’re just gonna have to listen as I’m NOT typing this whole thing out .

One way that I teach these actions, I learned from one of my teachers Noah Maze, is by getting 2 folded blankets, placing them on a non carpeted floor, placing one foot on one blanket and the other foot on the other blanket. Once you’re all set there, widen your feet apart and do a standing pose, like Warrior 2 for example. If you don’t pull energy to the midline, I guarantee you that you will be doing the splits! It’s a pretty cool exercise that teaches those actions, just for fun!

Well, that was a bit of a long explanation! I hope that makes sense Kate! And reaching out to yoga teachers out there, how about you sending me some ways in which you teach pulling to the midline, or muscular energy? It would be awesome to share you wisdom with the Kula email me or send call me 310 651 6238 (put that number in your cellphone!!!)

Ok, just 3 more things to address, as it looks like we’re running a bit long! Ahhhhhh

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I got an FB message from Isabella, she just wanted to say thank you to me, but she also mentioned that she was looking for a fan page for me. Well, I do have a Facebook Group! Search for Elsie’s Yoga Kula, I haven’t started a FB fan page….yet….I’m still figuring out what is best for me and for you guys. I know how crowded FB has gotten with soooooo many fan pages and groups and all sorts of other stuff, and I honestly don’t want to add to all that. When I feel that creating a Page will add value, and I can honestly keep it up and have it be a place were you guys and myself can participate more fully I’ll do it. I gotta really see how Fan Pages work. When and if I do that, I’ll send y’all a little not in the FB Group, OR post something on my blog!

This episode’s art work is a class that a long time listener Tracee Sioux hosted at her Bookclub weekend getaway. How cool is that???? LOVED it! It was podcast #10 from El Salvador and it was all about authenticity. She said “We were touched and those of us out of practice or beginning were also a little sore. LOL” Thank you sooooo much Tracee for sharing that picture, and it really warms my heart to know that these classes are being used it such fantastic ways!!!! If you wanna know a bit more about Tracee, check out my blog post on my other blog YoGeek.Me. She’s a pretty phenomenal woman with an incredible Web site calle The Girl Revolution, all about empowering girls, and I’m ALL FOR THAT!!!

And lastly, I’m going to close by letting you know about an Affiliate that I’m working with. I will only work with people and organizations that I whole hearted believe in and whose products I absolutely USE AND LOVE. Floracopeia is one of the most incredible companies that I have had the gift of coming into contact with. I’ll tell you more about the organization in a future episode, but right now I’d like to share with you 2 products that I use almost daily:

Hormonal Essential Oil Blend

Directly from the Floracopeia Website: For women who are interested in optimizing their endocrine health for long lasting vitality and radiance, the Hormonal Blend is a valuable addition to your every day pleasures. Two drops in the palms with a deep inhalation will deliver the healing benefit of this blend directly. In addition, the subtle floral perfume of this blend is a beautiful fragrance for any occasion. Its benefits include relaxant, aphrodisiac, anti-anxiety and mood enhancing effects. BUY THE HORMONAL ESSENTIAL OIL BLEND!

Relax Essential Oil Blend

Directly from the Floracopeia Website: Use the Relax Blend in times of stress or potentially stressful situations and environments. It is a lovely diffuser blend when you want to create a relaxing and pleasant environment in your home or elsewhere. It is a wonderful blend to diffuse around children, to apply on the car seat on long rides or the pillow before bedtime. Working people will gain great benefit from the Relax Blend and should consider it for use during the morning commute or before important meetings; there are rarely times when it is not useful. It has beautiful anti-axiety and mood enhancing effects that are subtle and intoxicating. BUY THE RELAX ESSENTIAL OIL BLEND!

Do consider purchasing either or both of these products. They are amazing AND they go to support a MUCH larger vision. MUCH MUCH larger, so the purchase is not only supporting your health, me (a teeny bit) and also the world LITERALLY. I’ll put links in the show notes so you can read a bit more about Floracopeia but do stay listening as I’ll also have a special show sharing more about it myself! If you DO want to buy these products, please use the links provided in this post, as when you purchase via that link, I get a little support for the podcast

Thank you guys for listening. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have such a wonderful community!!!!! Please continue to give me feedback, questions, problems. I still have so many more questions to get to, I should do these more often…! phone number, email, FB (profile and Group) and Elsie’s Yoga Kula!!!! It would be lovely if you’d consider leaving me a review in iTunes, those are deeply appreciated! Meet you on the mat later!

One year ago today, my sweet and magical daughter Hunter Rose came into the world. And yes, my life has changed completely. The lessons of this past year have been so many that I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around them. I do know this: Children are a gift from God. And I don’t only mean your own children, but children in general. They are a conduit to make us grown ups better and better people. I say this as the moments that are clearer in my head when I look back at this year are those that were the most challenging. The ones where what I wanted DIDN’T happen, as HER will overrode my control. The moments where I was on the brink of giving up, as I felt I just didn’t’ know how to do this mothering thing. Every day I’m reminded that “I am enough” and  I am not in control. My will power is at its optimal when it is aligned with something Bigger and it ebbs and flows to find it’s optimal expression in our lives. If I cling to an outcome or ‘want’ a specific result, I’m invariably reminded at times sweetly, but often times by loud crying or screeching that I need to let go, soften and allow.

It all began that way. I had all sorts of plans for what I wanted my birthing day to be. What I actually experienced was the exact opposite of what I planned. Hunter was born, in the way that was best for her AND for me. This humble let go is a lesson I learn and relearn at every moment of every day. In this often times uncomfortable challenge I say ‘Thank you my daughter, for you are casting light on our family every day. I am grateful for gifting us the refining process of becoming ever more clear at living ausipicious lives aligning with the Highest Divine Will’.

Here is her birth story, as her Daddy shared it a Year ago.

So here’s the skinny: Hunter Rose Miyan was born at Allegheny General Hospital, in the North Side of Pittsburgh, on Thursday October 2nd, at 2:16pm. She was 5 pounds 15 ounces, and 19 inches long right out of the love oven. She was born via cesarean. Shock and awe! That’s how it went down!

Here’s why: Hunter wasn’t due until October 21st at the earliest. For those of you who know a little bit of pregnancy theory, first babies cook a bit longer. So Hunter wasn’t due until week 39 or 40. However, in the greater scheme of gestation, she was good to come out at week 36, which was the end of Sept. / beginning of Oct. Elsie and I are both organic, green, healthy people. So, we arranged with the mid-wife center of Pittsburgh to do a natural birth at their center. We had birthing classes there, made good friends, connected with really knowledgeable and experienced nurse mid-wives, and learned an incredible amount about the birthing process. We both believe that the experience of naturally birthing a child, if possible, is one of the most, if not the most empowering experience of a woman’s life. We were natural all the way, and because of our health practices, we were awesome candidates for a great natural birthing experience. Everything was going as planned. However, we had one small glitch: the baby was breech.

As a matter of theory, the baby was actually “Frank Breech”. That is where the bum is down, the head is up, and the legs are jacked upward so the feet are in front of the face. Frank Breech…I want to steal that name for a Phillip Marlow type detective novel! Anyway, there are a lot of techniques and practices that one can use to try to help and turn the baby head down: chiropractic (Webster technique), Moxabustion at an acupressure point on the pinky toe (don’t laugh, New England Journal of medicine published clinicals that showed serious results), Yoga techniques, and this thing called External Cephalic Version or “Version”. A Version is where an OB tries to manually turn the baby from outside the belly. Pretty good success rate on that one as well. We were doing the Webster thing, doing the yoga thing, considering the moxabustion thing, and decided to go to an OB and try the Version.

When you go for a version, you have to try it around 37 weeks, because there is an incredibly small chance that the baby might have a big time distress, forcing an emergency C-section. So, the baby has to be cooked enough to come out. Well, we scheduled our Version for October 2nd. We went in figuring we would give the baby a nice toss-about, and then head to Whole Foods for a celebration. That didn’t happen. Here’s what happened: Hunter’s bum was way down in Elsie’s pelvis, so Dr. Thomas told us that there wasn’t a large chance that he was going to be able to turn her. In order to get a good turn, the butt has to be out of the mother’s pelvis – there has to be daylight between the bum and the mommy pelvis. So, what Dr. Thomas was going to attempt was to try to lift Hunter’s bum out of Elsie’s pelvis, check under-bum daylight with the ultra sound, and then give a spin. Dr. Thomas was able to get Hunter’s bum out of Elsie’s pelvis, but when he checked daylight with the ultra sound, he saw something else. Dr. Thomas saw something that he had never seen before in all of the decades that he had been practicing. Elsie had 3 accessory lobes to her placenta. That is, she had a big oval of a placenta with three small ovals growing out of the bottom of it. The main placenta, itself, was high in Elsie’s abdomen and in front of the baby. This is a good scenario as far as birthing goes. The placenta proper was out of the way. However, one of those vestigal lobes had managed to tuck itself under the baby, and was blocking Elsie’s cervix – the gateway out.

When the whole placenta covers the cervix that is called placenta previa. Placenta Previa is a very dangerous situation because labor will push the baby into the placenta, which will stuff itself into the cervix and block the way. The placenta then tears, and starts massive bleeding. So, in placenta previa, the mother bleeds massively and the baby is blocked. Over a century ago, if you had a placenta previa case, it often resulted in the death of the baby and the mother. Our previous ultrasounds showed no example of placenta previa, because the placenta proper was up high in the abdomen. In the previous ultrasounds, Hunters bum was blocking the view of the lobe blocking the cervix. So, it wasn’t a pure case of placenta previa. But it definitely was a distant cousin at best. There was still danger that labor could cause the bleeding/block phenomenon, so, once the lobe was verified, Dr. Thomas told us, out of the need for safety, we were having the baby that day, via cesarean.

We were, of course, shocked as hell and totally unprepared. Dr. Thomas scheduled us for 4pm in the afternoon (It was about 1pm when we were told we had to have the baby that day). While we were getting our plan together for dealing with everything, Elsie started bleeding a little bit. It wasn’t a big deal – probably due to Dr Thomas bumping the lobe when he pushed Hunter upward. Dr. Thomas’ take was that small spotting was how, in the old days, doctors could tell it was a placenta previa case. Anyway, once Elsie bled a bit, Dr. Thomas called an audible, moved the schedule around, and told us we were up next in the delivery room. It went from “We have 3 hours” to “We have 20 minutes”. Again, there was no panic, but we had ZERO time to absorb and process. Before I knew it, Elsie was getting taken into the delivery room and I was being handed some undersized scrubs. 20 minutes passed, they brought me into the D-room, I held Elsie’s hand for about 10 minutes, behind a curtain, as they pulled the baby out.

It was that fast.

So, Hunter is here. She is gorgeous like her Momma, and all is well. Oh…the name. Hunter? for a girl? yeah, we know, not really typical. Well, October is immensely powerful for us. We met in October and had incredible powerful experiences together. Especially around the full moon. The baby was also due in October. The moon in October is known as the Hunter’s Moon. That’s where the name originates.

Powerful huh?

I’m still recovering!

Happy Birthday my darling daughter!

Oh, and by the way. I would LOVE for you lovely folk to share wisdom that you have gained as you were gifted with the title of ‘parent’.

Ready to delve into the depth of your Heart? Yikes!

One of my all times favorite themes to teach is Sankalpa, or Intention. This isn’t a general intention, or a teeny tiny intention but your heart’s truest wish, your deepest heart’s desire embedded in the richness of your Self. I know that when I was first offered the opportunity to meditate, truly ponder my sankalpa, it began to shift me very deeply. In fact it was the mere asking of ‘what is my intention’ that facilitated living a more fulfilled and truthful life. It informs my life every day, and now it becomes even more important as it helps guide me to be a better mother. I also must be honest. The power of one’s own Sankalpa is very powerful, and at times requires a great shift from us if we are going to align with it fully. I felt my Sankalpa, I knew it in my cells and for many years I chose to ‘ignore’ it’s fullness, for lack of better words. I was not ready to truly embrace what living in my truth would require of me. It took me years, plus the help of those around me who knew me and loved me enough to require me to be absolutely honest with myself

I recorded this week’s yoga class at Yoga Matrika in Squirrel Hill, where I’ve had the opportunity to teach series classes, all with a connecting theme. This specific series was called “Yoga With Grace”, just a very welcoming way in which to offer yoga classes that were beyond just the yoga poses, beyond the asana. I had the opportunity to teach more from the Heart, from a deeper place of basic Anusara philosophy, tapping deeper into the Source.

Although this class is a very basic Level 1 yoga class, with a lot of basic alignment and instruction, the theme is always one that we can always step deeper into. If you are feeling a bit down, disconnected, lost, possibly need a tune up, do this yoga class Oh, and how about a piece of paper? and pen? Just to write down some thoughts, especially during the opening meditation. Let me know how it goes….

PS

If you would like to support this podcast, how about buying the iPhone App? $3.99, not bad Click here to go directly to the iTunes Music Store.

Also, like I mention in the show, Click here to find out a few other options to support the podcast

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 is a Level 1 Basic Class

Hello my sweet and mighty podcast virtual kula

I have a SWEEEEEET announcement:

Elsie’s Yoga Class has an iPhone/iPod Touch app!!! Wooo hoooo!!!!

The folks over at Wizzard Media were kind enough to offer to do it for me and voila

Now what does this mean?

If you have an iPhone or Touch you can purchase the app via the iTunes store for $3.99, and with that minimal investment, you get:

• All episodes available with one touch (no downloading onto the device, no hogging up any memory)
• Extra content!!!! Primarily a PDF file of the class sequence, but sometimes there will be extra audio or video content.
• One click connection – press a button and you can go directly to elsie’s yoga kula, or my twitter account, email me or call me right from the device!

How’s that for having over 70 yoga classes in your pocket at the touch of a button?

****if you have an iPod Touch, please note that the classes will only be available to you if you are connected via WiFi***

I’m currently working on getting the PDFs of the sequences together, so at this moment there is very little extra content, BUT what’s REALLY cool is that whenever I do upload the extra content you will have it. You don’t have to do anything else, just check the app, the particular episodes and see if there’s an ‘extra’ button. If that button is there, you’ve got some extra content!

I don’t generally ask much from you guys, but I’m going to ask for a bit of a favor. The way that the iTunes algorithm works is based on the amount of traffic that a particular app receives every week: purchases and reviews. I would really love to get up in the rankings with this app so more folks can find it organically. My humble request to you is to purchase the app and review it as soon as you can *bowing to you* Plus, full disclosure, I do make a teeny bit of money for every purchase, split between iTunes, Wizzard Media and I 

If you would like to donate a little something to the podcast? Buy the app and tell your friends

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me!

The link that follows takes you directly to the iTunes music store link, so if you have iTunes installed it will launch it for you. If you don’t want that to happen you can search for Elsie’s Yoga Class in the app store in iTunes

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=329177574&mt=8

Your feedback is greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!

]]> http://elsieyogakula.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/elsies-yoga-class-has-an-iphone-app/feed/ 5 elsie Elsie's Yoga Class Podcast iPhone App Artwork my signature http://elsieyogakula.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/episode-73-skillfully-attune-to-know-deeper-a-75-min-level-2-yoga-class/ http://elsieyogakula.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/episode-73-skillfully-attune-to-know-deeper-a-75-min-level-2-yoga-class/#comments Sun, 09 Aug 2009 03:12:34 +0000 Elsie http://elsieyogakula.wordpress.com/?p=786 ]]>

How Do We Truly Know Anything?

Man am I always a mess! Believe me, I do try to be neat…and tidy…and organized…but somehow I always end up with fantastic chaos all around me The worst part about this is that I was like this BEFORE I welcomed my beloved baby, so now with her in the picture my chaos(mess) has escalated to new heights. The good thing is that as the mess escalates my need to find clarity also grows and thus came the theme for this week’s yoga class

My teacher John guided me to recognize how one truly begins to know something. How do we acquire knowledge? Deep knowledge? How do we align with anything? You soften, feel and attune. We attune to the Highest. We attune by getting close to that which we wish to know. This learning is not a head thing, but a heart thing as we truly begin to ‘vibe’ with and resonate with each other at a much deeper level Listen and practice to the class and see if you can begin to attune to something bigger!

Finally something other than a Level 1 basic yoga class! This week’s class is a Level 2 Yoga Class, not quite an ‘advanced’ yoga class, but a bit faster in pace and a warmer practice. You will find within this class preparations for more advanced postures such as Urdhva Prasarita Ekapadasana into Handstand (Standing Splits into Handstand) and Archback (maybe even a drop back *yikes*). If you are a seasoned asana practitioner and are acquainted with these poses, please feel free to rock it in the comfort of your own sacred practice space

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:

Connect with the Yoga Podcast Community
Elsie’s Yoga Kula on Facebook Join us!

There is Enough...In The Park

The Yoga of Everyday Life and Podcasting!

I honestly have tried to post and episode for almost a month. Every day I think about it. Every day I decide THIS is the day to get it all done. Every day the day ends, I’m exhausted and focusing on editing, writing, encoding and uploading is the last thing that my brain is capable of doing

3 years ago I began to publish this podcast. 3 years ago Elsie’s Yoga Class: Live and Unplugged Podcasts came to life! So much has changed, and so much has stayed the same

A few things that have stayed the same:

• My love for podcasting

• My love for yoga

• My love for service

• My love for you guys!

• My love for legwarmers

Although I am no longer the care free legwarmer wearing bicycling full time yoga teacher from Los Angeles and have morphed into the occasional legwarmer wearing full time Mommy/Wife part-part time yoga teacher from Pittsburgh the deepest part of my heart still wants to continue this podcast, PLUS add better content to all those of you who would like it. I may not be consistent. I may say things that I want to happen only to have my life block me in some way, but I never forget what I’ve said. I’m still with you and plan to be with you for as long as you will have me!

This is Episode 2 of Elsie’s Yoga Kula.

I share a bit of an update and invite you to participate in a small mediation that helps us all that are dealing with financial challenge/stress. I know that finances are tight for a lot of people. I also know how economic matters may prove to be huge causes of stress, anxiety, fear, and even health problems. The short meditation in this podcast episode is just a simple way to reconnect with the abundance that we DO have, something we often forget. I tell you this from personal experience. I share this meditation with you because I know that I do this little meditation almost daily because it helps me to stay grounded, and I definitely need to keep my connection to the bigger Source. I share with you because it’s a great way to connect with one another so that we may through our thoughts create support for each other in these financially challenging times.

YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE MEDITATION EPISODE BY CLICKING THE BUTTON BELOW!

(it’s really a short one! Less than 20 min!)

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:

Oh yea!!!! I have a FACEBOOK GROUP!!!! Come join the rest of the virtual kula

Auspicious Flag Blowing in the Breeze

Declare Your Freedom

I had the opportunity to teach a yoga class at this year’s Annual Mensa Gathering in Pittsburgh! It was quite an exciting experience. It’s always such a treat to teach outside of the yoga studio, and it’s also very exciting not knowing who is going to be showing up I was thrilled to see a pretty good outcome of between 20-25 people. The majority of them did not have yoga mats and quite a few of them weren’t wearing what we would call ‘yoga clothing’.

You see, none of this matters. The practice can be done anywhere, no props nor specific attire needed!

How Do Your Choices Reflect Optimal Freedom?

This yoga class is what I would call a beginners class. Although one does not need to be a beginner to practice it. We as practitioners can bring complexity to any class as we choose to step deeper into it’s nuances and continue to make more meaning with every breath and every movement. Something simple can be ever so fulfilling and can become a gift to all of us who choose to pull the meaning of our hearts into it Let me know your thoughts! Enjoy the practice!

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 beginner yoga class

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

BEGINNING SEATED YOGA

Sukhasana with arms interlaced above head

Sukhasana side stretch

Sukhasana with arms over head

Sukhasana w/ eyes closed

BASIC YOGA STANDING SEQUENCE

Tadasana

Arms over head

One arm up over the head with palm of the hand facing forward

Arms interlaced overhead

Arms interlaced behind the back

Standing stretch to the side

Arm salutations

SIMPLE YOGA ASANA SEQUENCE AT THE WALL

Shower pose

L pose at the wall

Shoulder stretch at the wall

Modified Parvotanasana at the wall

Pavrita Trikonasana prep at the wall w/ clock arm

Tree Pose

Easy Seated Yoga Sequence

Dandasana

Marychiasana III

Gomukhasana

Agni Stambasana

UNCOMPLICATED SUPINE YOGA ASANA SEQUENCE

Modified supta padangustasana

Easy supine twist

Apanasana

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:

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: