First Class Free

  By Laura Mills

    The Beatles recorded a song called “The Long and Winding Road,” which I admit—even as one of my generation’s most enthusiastic Beatles fans—I usually skip when it rolls around on an album or collection. To be fair, the song is a stylistic masterpiece; much like the long and winding road they describe, the melody and lyrics curve back and forth, up and down, meandering from beginning to end. Style points aside, though, the plodding tempo makes me downright antsy after just a few moments. 

    Ironically, when I’ve attempted to meditate lately the image of a long and winding road has come to mind. Stretching infinitely ahead, curving into the distance, my heart tells me it’s my road. This image doesn’t surprise me, really, this being May… it’s the month in which I encounter my most notable life “landmarks.” Last week, for example, was the one-year anniversary of the day I first met my daughter. My second Mother’s Day was this past Sunday. My birthday occurs in May, as does my wedding anniversary. This month more than any other, I can’t help but feel a profound sense of time passing and of change. I also feel gratitude for the distance already traveled, as well as anxiety about the unexplored terrain ahead.

    I know the experience of a long and winding road, quite literally, as many times in the middle of a long walk or hike I’ve looked into a distance that both invited and frightened me. This translates so well into a metaphor for life, which leads me back to that Beatles song…which perhaps at some level, like the month of May, reminds me that plodding or no I am always on the move. It’s not always easy, and it’s not always pretty, but one foot in front of the other, my calling is to make every footfall count.

 

    Happy Earth Week! It’s hard to believe it’s that time again, I know…the one week we celebrate you and during which all life seems a little “greener.” My yard is sure greener these days, with all the rain. I’m really looking forward to the flowers finally blooming once you warm up for the season!

    Anyway, enough small talk. I know you haven’t been feeling that great, but I hope you are managing well enough. I’ve been thinking about you, especially this week. Actually, I’ve been thinking about you a lot more overall these last few years—funny how practicing yoga and becoming a parent have totally increased my concern for you! I am so sorry you’ve had to deal with the stress we’ve put upon you. We’ve added toxins to your air and water while we’ve removed trees and other resources; we’ve ruined much of what we’ve touched and wasted a good part of the rest…no wonder you’ve been out-of-sorts lately. I don’t blame you at all. Like so many others I’ve taken you for granted most of my life. And even though I’ve recently tried to make a little difference, like using mostly CFL bulbs, buying more organic, recycling everything I can, so much more needs to be done. 

    I know it hurts, Earth, but please don’t give up. Hang on as long as you can. True, the situation is bleak now and no one knows how or even if things will shift. But know that you are loved. Know that you are needed. We don’t tell you or show you often enough, I know—one week a year?—but the fact is, of course, that none of us would be here without you.

    Your strength inspires me.

 Namaste, Laura Mills

  By Laura Mills

     The anticipation of “springing forward” was very stressful for me. Just prior to changing my clocks I have always felt rushed and tired, as my to-do list always looks longer than usual and I can never stop thinking about that hour’s loss of sleep. In addition, as a new parent this year, I was terribly concerned about the time change’s immediate effects on my daughter’s sleep schedule. I felt bleak and unsettled even as the world was getting lighter and coming together....

    At times like this I believe what helps is focus on extension, the idea that in order to get past unsettledness we must extend like never before—but NOT by adding to the to-do list or working extra hard to cram everything in. Instead, extension in this context means approaching a situation with a more open attitude. Maybe it involves actually removing something from the to-do list, or tossing that particular list altogether…or else maybe it means adding in a bit of impromptu rest. Maybe extension means breathing better, not necessarily bigger or deeper, but only with more focus. Maybe it involves seeking something unique in the “same-old” Child’s Pose or Downward Facing Dog. Maybe extension means just approaching the day not as one hour shorter, for example, but as 23 hours more of opportunity.

    Like the practice of asanas, extension of this kind requires dedication and patience…the fruits of which are balance and peace. It’s off-the-mat yoga of the highest order as we suspend resistance and instead just flow, realizing that 23 hours is still a lot of time to make the moments count.

  By Laura Mills

  Even though I enjoy the fall, at this time of year I notice a tremendous decrease in my energy. Yes, I do believe that to feel my best I should attend to nature and follow its cues on cycling with the world around me. However, in spite of this and in spite of my sentiment for fall, I find I hold tightly to summer; among other things, I still eat lots of cold foods and drink many cold beverages, and I don’t always utilize the extent of my fall outerwear. No wonder that this year so far I’ve felt cold and sluggish inside and out. Even though fall is in full swing, I have yet to “change my colors.”  

  I don’t believe that choosing hot soup for lunch or bundling up to run errands will instantly improve my energy. But I do believe I would benefit if I stopped fighting myself and instead, as nature does with seasonal change, flowed along with it. Am I tired? Then I should breathe and slow down. Am I cold? Then I should change clothes. Am I hungry? Then I should ask myself what my body really wants. And to assist in all these areas, I should re-think my yoga practice. I know I cheat myself on the days I push my cold and tired body through vigorous Vinyasa…I also know I can nurture myself with gentle practices and meditation on the days when energetic asana isn’t the way to go.  

  I’ve heard it said that much of living involves finding comfort with where we are, not reaching a different place. I believe it, and I'm trying.

 

  By Laura Mills

   I’ve never been very active in conservation or environmental activism. Sure, I recycle, I try not to waste paper, I only turn on the washing machine and dishwasher when they’re full…but I’ve never done anything out of the ordinary to lessen my impact on the planet. This summer, though, as the hotter-than-usual temperatures kept appearing on the weather outlook, I started to think more and more about my impact.

  I know if I really wanted, I could take any of a number of actions like joining an environmental group or “greening” my daily routine as much as possible. But I wanted to do something IMMEDIATE, like in the ten minutes before I left for class one particular afternoon. So, remembering a few suggestions from a magazine, I closed all curtains to keep the house cooler and unplugged all unnecessary appliances and electronics to conserve energy.

   No, I’m not congratulating myself on single-handedly ending climate change; I didn’t for a minute believe I would save the planet by darkening my living room or unplugging my bedside lamp. But I did survive just fine without conveniences ready at a moment’s notice, which as a human being today IS a very big deal. The planet may not be better off from my efforts, but I am, as I added just a little more simplicity—not to mention what I believe is good karma—to the world around me.

   And besides, first steps are often pretty small, anyway. 

Perspective Reflection

 

By Laura Mills

 

After this summerís heat, the first 65-degree day felt so good; my sweatshirt seemed like a hug from an old friend, and walking around in it was one of the highlights of my week. As was sleeping with the windows open, huddled under a blanket, snuggling with my cats.

Am I looking forward to fall weather? Yes. For now.

In the midst of rejoicing over the crisper weather I did realize I wasnít celebrating the weather itself, but merely the change. A 65-degree day in June, I know, would irritate me to no end. I would lament summerís delay and wish more than anything for a temperature reading of 90-plus just to kick-start the season. In June, I am always thrilled by that first really warm day, which in fact never fails to inspire me to fold the sweatshirts away.

If nothing else, I believe we should frequently pause to appreciate the changing nature of our perspectives, the extent to which our individual opinions, feelings, and even actions depend on variables like circumstances and timing.

Really makes one stop and think.

 

Calendar Caution

  By Laura Mills

   With regards to the passage of time, in my experience two categories of people exist: those who dread it, and those who welcome it. I’ve known people who refuse to discuss “next month” or “next year” for fear of what the future may bring, people who view the world as an inherently dangerous place in which nothing ever goes right. On the other hand, I’ve known people who anticipate the future as an opportunity for further fullness of life, people whose “What if…?” questions end with positive words, hopeful smiles and playful laughs.
   The most interesting thing to me, here, is that in one way or another both categories of people believe anything is possible. We all consider the unknown ahead and sense that it’s loaded with possibilities; at some level, we all have that openness that allows practices like yoga to change our lives. But if we automatically dread those possibilities, I think we close doors that just might present us with the path we’ve been looking for all along.
   As we continue to move forward through days, months and years, none of us will succeed at keeping all doors always open. But we are capable of considering the unknown ahead one day at a time, breathing, and remembering we at least always have a choice.    

April 20, 2011 “People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them."  The Alchemist

 I have faced more than my share of fears.  The biggest one is of losing love, of being happy and then losing that happiness. As the Alchemist also goes on to talk about how the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering.  It is NOT about whether or not we are afraid. Of course we are all afraid of something.  But the question is do we allow fear to stop our experiences of life or let it inspire us?  Do you allow things to scare you so much that you ignore them, freeze, run away, fight them?  

Learning how to attempt the impossible to see that our fears are mere opinions nothing more or less is at the heart of the practice. And just as easily we can change that thought to believe in the impossibility of things.  You can by facing your fears learn to talk to yourself differently.  So here below was our playlist I hope you enjoyed the practice and that you see how deserving you are of living life FULL BLAST, inspire of your fear and try for your most important dreams!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

 

Twin Blue, Millions & Millions

Dreamcatcher, Bahramji And Maneesh De Moor

Those To Come, The Shins

Johnny B Goode, Peter Tosh

Track 11, Keiner+Carl

High Grade, Richie Spice

What a Feeling, Collie Buddz

Track 09, Keiner+Carl

Lively Up Yourself, Bob Marley

Stay Human, Michael Franti

Om Namah Shivaya, Govindas

Incense, Erykah Badu

 

April 11, 2011. Change is happening all around us.  And it’s easy to convince ourselves to go faster and do more, collect more in order to feel like we can control the changes happening.  But at the end of the day, end of class, end of our life: the person with the most poses doesn’t win anything more than anyone else.  The same can be said of life. If we insist on speeding up and collecting more work hours like we collect poses or we focus on doing more and faster we won’t get anything in particular for our super human efforts.  We need not push or shove or pull at change but learn how to get along with it keeping our hand on the tiller so to speak but without it letting it speed us up into hysteria or confusion.

Slowing down in sanskrit is SHANI. 

And science tells us straight out that our brains function at a faster frequency than our bodies. It’s like being in the same car with two radio stations dialed.  The noise of listening to two different types of music simultaneously can give anyone a headache. This is what is made more obvious the more stressed out we are.  Our minds get faster and faster, our bodies more tired and slow.

Yoga is that practice of bringing things into balance and tuning our dials.  Chapter 2.46 in the yoga sutras talks about this as sthira and sukha this balance between effort and letting go, doing and being, stability and freedom, steadiness and sweetness.  If the mind is spinning wildly then we come to the mat to slow it down, shani dude.  And if the body needs to energize we learn to move through poses.  Yoga dials us into the same radio station and the breath is that link to slow down the mind and encourage the body away from inertia.  Mindful moving helps us leave in a sweet state of SHANI. 

Today we used balancing poses to help us focus the mind more quickly and get our bodies going straight from the start.  And by the end you could feel the effect of the practice.  Savasana was sweeter than ever. Ah yes! Mind and Heart and Body as one again.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

 

TODAY’S PLAYLIST

Chandra (The Moon), Michael Mandrell and Benjy Wertheimer

Child's Eyes (Jenny's Song), scott Cossu

The Hill, Markéta Irglová

Big Medicine, Mari Boine

Lumière [MAIN], Blue Scholars

Nungabunda, Ganga Giri

Grid Lok'd, Govindas

Diarabi, Issa Bagayogo

Pitchblack Darkness (feat. Reazun, Paradox), Kyteman

One Moment More, Mindy Smith

Wonderwall, Ryan Adams

Wash Away, Joe Purdy

Samba Sadashiva, Donna De Lory

 

February 10, 2011.  Day 1 of blogging about love for 21 days in 2011.  Thank goodness I think to myself I didn't agree to blog for 201 days!  I am overwhelmed about where to start. The topic of love is just so enormous, infinite, profound...well even without the adjective overload you know what I mean.  Last year was the Year of the Tiger a period of change, turbulence, confrontation of our fears, friction and constant tapping into the courage well of the heart.  This now is the Year of the Rabbit. A more gentle earthy year in which to cultivate peaceful contentment.  This is a year of calm and quiet to focus on home and family.  

And so I find myself engaged fully with the year of the Rabbit because I need it and also at the same time at odds with it because it doesn't come naturally. I loved the year of the Tiger! I was tuned into the warrior energy of creating and promoting and building. I have that energetic vata/pitta thing of the Fire element going on without trying.  I sometimes even love with fierceness.  But Rabbit? This is going to be a real test of my love skills.

You see I am a doer and survivor! In many ways I loved the year of the Tiger. Even now I sometimes want to scream out BRING BACK THE TIGER!  But wait, last year was one of the most difficult of my life, felt like I was in a constant battle...yeah, on second thought i need the rabbit. And that makes more sense to the fact my sign is the Earth Monkey with traits like calm, considerate and honest.

When I feel the most grounded I feel in sync with love both from myself and from others.  Even my yoga poses get more stable, sthira and centered.  And from the yoga of promoting earth energy I feel more grounded, balanced, and centered with so much more to offer those I love.  I have never been more ready to welcome a peaceful love and will do all I can to manifest a drama-free year of my best possibilities! I hope you do the same because you deserve it.  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

PS: The video here has nothing to do with anything or maybe everything to do with everything either way I liked it's gentle loving vibe. The Weepies: Be My Honeypie. Dedicate to my honeypie JMY!   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeZMTOSeHVw&feature=player_embedded

NOVEMBER 19, 2010.  Dreams do come true!!  Kathy Harold just told me on TBY facebook that TBY was featured (briefly) on Oprah's Favorite Things show today. When she showed the Groupon site TBY coupon was on it! I am just stunned and amazed! I always wanted to be on Oprah. I love her and of all the things we've done this made it! Yup only 1,040 TBY Groupons SOLD, and sold out!

Why did we do it? Well, really after giving away $141,000 of free classes in 8 years we thought what else can we do?  All of us at TBY want everyone to practice yoga. No kidding. Everyone.  And this was our contribution to helping make the yoga more accessible for every "body"  And once you start changing someone's life with yoga it never stops.  

Thank you all for your love and energy!  Stay stoked! Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

On the Mat and in Life

By Julia Jonson Cohn

10/27/10

I felt like I was packing for vacation. Snacks, check. More snacks, check. Oh yeah, magazines, drinks and a few odds and ends to share with my classmates. Wow, can‘t wait to see them again! Lip balm, yoga mat, travel tea mug and a couple of pens. OK, everything’s here. For two days, I piled stuff onto my kitchen counter in anticipation of one day of yoga teacher training.

Our group showed up ready to continue our yogic studies. Many of us talked about subtle and awesome changes we’d been experiencing in our daily lives since embarking on this journey. After just four days of learning, many of us were eating better, smiling more and arguing less. Maybe that’s why I was so eager for more -- I’m just feeling plain good.

We started our day with a yoga class taught by Rachel, another expert yoga instructor who will be guiding us through training.  She had us practicing kapalabhati breathing and we worked on two Rasas. Shringara, or love and shanta, or peace. We engaged our shins and our thighs. I felt spectacular, balanced and ready to learn.

Back in the classroom, we spent our day learning about asana and the benefits of the different categories of poses. We talked less about life this time and more about proper alignment in our bodies. Funny thing is, it was obvious the lessons about postures mirror daily living.

Rachel taught us the importance of a good foundation - if your feet are where they should be, if you have a strong foundation, everything else falls into place in standing poses.  I thought that’s the same with me. When my inner foundation is strong, life is mostly good. Then we talked about how groups of poses in class get students ready for the pinnacle, which is the most challenging pose of the practice. Rachel says it’s important to choose the proper tools (or poses) to help achieve the more challenging poses. Once again, yoga practice mimicking real life. I couldn’t help but think of daily difficulties, or even some of the biggest obstacles I’ve faced in my own life. Wouldn’t Oprah call this an ah-ha moment?! As I looked at the peaceful faces around the room and watched our leader Rachel sharing her knowledge, I took great comfort in knowing I’d chosen to be here.

In two weeks our group will meet again for several days of study. And I’m certain I’ll be packing up again.

OCTOBER 19, 2010 When I learned that we all don»t mature at the same rate in all aspects of our lives at the same time a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders! Up until that point I believed that everything was supposed to mature at the same exact rate. And I felt some sense of failure that I couldn»t be like everyone else. Earlier in my career while in the corporate world I had financial maturity but was physically immature (poor eating, sleeping habits, workaholism) and I was in adolescent spiritual maturity and emotionally in grade school. Then yoga found me and I took a breath and asked myself "what is maturity?" And does maturity mean the same thing as perfect?

"We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present." - Anais Nin

This whole time, up until that point, I was expecting that my physical, mental and emotional maturing was meant to be the same everywhere. And I thought life was often moving backwards. But life doesn»t move backwards. The sun that rises today will not be the same sun that rises again tomorrow. Even when we feel like we aren»t making progress we are always maturing on some level, just not everywhere at the same time. To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly. - Henri Bergson

So what does it mean to mature? I believe that this means when we are aware of our physical, emotional,and spiritual needs and can make the sensitive adjustments to determine what is necessary to maintain a healthy balance in our lives. Now this is like an umbrella definition but maturity the yoga sutras tells us are like layers working on multiple dimensions. These are the layers or koshas of ourselves. Think of Russian dolls, our physical layer or kosha is the outer most one, then we travel through our breath layer pranamayakosha and keep going inside deep into our hearts and spiritual maturity.

Three of these layers can be thought of as:
1. Physical Maturity


2. Emotional Maturity/Mental Maturity


3. Spiritual Maturity

What is Physical Maturity? Do you know what your body needs to be healthy in terms of oxygen, food, sleep, quiet time away from the tv? If yes then these are like a sort of destination and therefore physical maturity is the easiest to measure our progress. On my annual physical where I score 99% I know with proof how I am doing. Do you understand your physical nature and use your humanness in a positive way? Treating your body like a temple.

What is Emotional/Mental Maturity? Well there are two levels: with yourself and with others. That saying where instead of saying "it got lost" we evolve to that place where we take responsibility and say "i lost it." We no longer blame other people for how we feel. As yoga teaches we create our world from the inside out. And as we mature we tame our own thoughts and take responsibility for living from love and moving away from fear. Emotional maturity is where we want to self-heal and self-comfort rather than waiting for someone (knight in shining armor) or something (alcohol or chocolate) do it for us. We start to do the work of becoming more expert in our own humanness and as a result have healthier more honest relationships with others.

What is Spiritual Maturity? To be inspired is to be "in spirit" with the blessings around us. It is something we can see exactly. So what do you mean to "progress spiritually?" What does spiritual maturity look like? Is there a destination or goal to spiritual maturity? To me to mature spiritually is to ask better questions. Not that we get all the answers but we are wiser and more grown up in the questions we pose ourselves. We are willing to SEEK. Or maybe that»s it, spiritual maturity is to embrace your role as a seeker. And you won»t see the result, it is like all great things something beyond the mind...things like faith, hope, love.

OCTOBER 17, 2010.  "People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them."  The Alchemist

This is about Fear.  That we limit ourselves mentally, emotionally as a result and unless we can see the fear as illusion, just a mental game we are playing it will paralyze us, stiffen us, make us brittle.  As the Alchemist also goes on to talk about how the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering.  It is NOT about whether or not we are afraid. Of course! We all are afraid of something.  But instead how we either allow this fear to stop our experiences of life or let it fuel the bouncing back.  We try, we experiment, we get a result, maybe not the one we wanted but still a result a karma and we bounce back to try again.

 

What is your bounce back factor?

 

Do you allow things to scare you so much that you ignore them, freeze, run away, fight them?  Today the family of poses we used to help us move beyond the illusion of fear was arm balances.  Learning to concentrate regardless of what was physically achievable.  Learning how to attempt the impossible to see that this opinion was only a thought...nothing more or less. And just as easily we can change that thought to believe in the impossibility of things.  You can by facing your fears learn to talk to yourself differently.  So here below was our class plan (not as cleaned up as usual but for sake of time I wanted to share it with you as is).  I hope you enjoyed the practice and that you see how deserving you are of living life FULL BLAST, get past the veil of fear and try for your most important dreams!  Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

Theme: Solving the "mystery" of arm balances. If this family of asana have you spooked or scared let's face that fear together and see what's really going on.

CLASS PLAN

 WAVE 1

Twist

Supine Bridge to Waterfall abs with brick

Core cultivation:  

Brick in inner thighs

cobbler abs, two bricks

step on brick get the twist

Pigeon abs

(Side 2)

Bridge

 

WAVE 2

Upward Facing plank, hands on bricks

--- pull backs

Janu sirsana forward, parsva janu sirsana

Vasistasana variation kneeling

Parsva Vasistasana other wise

Marichyasana C

Pascimotanasana

Side 2

Upward facing on bricks

Malasana (move bricks forward)

 

WAVE 3

Sun Sal A variations hands on bricks (3-4 times)

Half Moon A - different each time

 

 

WAVE 4

I leg dog

High Lunge to transverse lunge back foot

Standing splits, baby eagle once

High lunge, lunge push up, up fold in half repeat 3 x's

Revolved Lunge

Transverse lunge: bind, sit inside like parsva janu sirsasana

Face back

Basic vinyasa

Jump forward finish like Sun Sal A all the way to Down Dog

Right leg up again

High Lunge to transverse lunge

Standing Splits

HIgh Lunge, lunge push up to hands to ground standing splits 3's

Last time transition from standing splits

Pyramid

Revolved Triangle

Revolved Prasarita

Jump to prasarita

Exit back to front, right foot

Standing Splits

Crane to 1 leg pigeon chair (hands on bricks - prep for arm balance)

Plank, basic vinyasa with bricks all the way to down dog

Begin mandala side 2

 

WAVE 5

Frog

Malasana

Bakasana with head on brick, lift head

Downward Dog

I leg dog, hip open

Pigeon - twist and hold back foot for backbend

Swing back leg forward Janu sirsasana

Seated Pigeon

-- twist it

Stand from tip toe balance to Eka Pada Galavasana

Plank, basic vinyasa

Side 2

 

WAVE 6

Bhujaphidasana

Tittibasana with partner to crow or crow jump back

 

CLOSING WAVE

Cooling postures

Savasana

Meditation

 

PS CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW FALL TEACHER TRAINEES WHO ARE FACING FEARS AND CHALLENGING THEMSELVES TO LOOK WITHIN!

OCTOBER 8, 2010.Yes we are in the season of Change.&amp;nbsp; Everthing around is us evolving from one thing to another and yoga philosophy reminds us that change is an inherant part of life. Life will move forward nonetheless so for us it is a choice as to how we align with that forward momentum or fight what is here now.&amp;nbsp; This transition, as all transitions in life, is more challenging than actually arriving at one's destination. And during times of transition a more easeful yoga practice is helpful.&amp;nbsp; This is when amadhurya, the "sweetness" of universal intelligence, is calling to us to take our experiences and churn them in the beehive of our hearts.&amp;nbsp; While your heart and mind churn the honey in the beehive you can be more gentle with yourself, allowing the practice to nourish you as things change around you and within you.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</p>
<p>&lt;p&gt;I hope to see you return to your yoga practice to nourish the parched places inside and to help you be as elegant as you are in navigating the currents of grace and change herself! Please bring a friend and they will &lt;strong&gt;receive 30 days UNLIMITED yoga for $30 &lt;/strong&gt;and YOU get entered to win 2 months UNLIMITED yoga.&amp;nbsp; The more friends you bring, the more lives you change, and the more times you get entered to win!&amp;nbsp; Help us share more yoga this month.&amp;nbsp; Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia&lt;/p&gt;</p>
<p>&lt;p&gt;*And don't forget $350 off trip to Moab November 4-7, 2010, Alchemy Tours&lt;/p&gt;</p>

Namaste Yogis, 

Have you ever thought in class or in life, "no I can't do this...this is too hard.. I am too old...my hamstrings are too tight..etc?" I know I have, especially when a yoga teacher makes something look so easy when I find it so hard. But my thoughts can either hinder or help my ability to move forward in my practice. I've realized the worst thing I can do is to not try. Please join me tomorrow when we will dive into ourselves to uncover our own power and potential through some core cultivation. Oh no, I just lost some of you...no this doesn't mean crunches...it means cultivating a connection to our source, enjoying our power all the while with a calm mind and open heart. It is through the trying, the laughing, and the believing in ourselves that our practice deepens in our bodies, minds and hearts. 

In specific, we'll talk about Yoga Sutra 11.33: When presented with disquieting thoughts or feelings, cultivate an opposite, elevated attitude. I think about this sutra often when I find myself experiencing frustration, irritation and anxiety, on and off the mat. No longer can I tell myself that it is the situation at hand that is causing me to feel the way I feel. I now know that it is my reactions to life that are creating my experience. This sutra is telling us to cultivate feelings and actions that fill our hearts to combat the times we feel off. So when we experience frustration, this sutra is suggesting we try to focus on ease. If we are tied up in fear, we can elicit courage. And if we are filled with anger, the answer is always to fill with love. This is not to deny our feelings but to remember that we have the ability to change our attitude. This is what tantra philosophy is all about: EMPOWERMENT!

So whether you feel fantastic and want to celebrate your power or if you need a little action and empowerment to remember your own unlimited potential, please come join me for class tomorrow. Level 1 at 11:00 and Basics at 12:30. Also wonderful David Romanelli is back for a weekend of yoga fun at 4:30 on Saturday, all levels.

Namaste! Mara

www.totalbodyyoga.com 

**Don't forget your October Special:  Refer anyone new to TBY and they can receive 30 days unlimited yoga for $30 and YOU get entered into raffle for 2 months of Unlimited Yoga!

OCTOBER 1, 2010

The resistance to the disturbance IS THE disturbance.  ~ Siddiqui Ray

We all have that feeling of living inside a snow globe and having it shaken up resulting in utter chaos, stuff flying everywhere!  Yeah.  That happens.  Yoga philosophy helps us to see that the stuff flying around is not the problem.  The resistance to the disturbance IS THE disturbance.  We may not be able to control situations or people but we are responsible for how we think about the situation, person or thing.  And if our minds choose to fight which is resistance then we are in effect creating the disturbance.  Does that make sense?

So how do we know if we are resisting life?  Just ask yourself a real, simple question:  “Are you happier today than you were yesterday, last week, last month?” Well, are you? And if you're not then you are producing resistance in your life because the Yoga Sutras say that our lives are constantly evolving towards greater experiences of happiness (if we get out of our own way).  Let me put it like this.  In Seattle in August I was driving my best friends stick shift Element on hilly, steep streets. I was so afraid at times I was going to roll backwards into the person behind me that once I got going I'd be driving around wondering why I wasn't going faster or smoother and then realize I was driving with my brakes on.  (Ok don't tell him ok?)

But the question of resistance is one of whether or not WE ARE LIVING LIFE WITH OUR BRAKES ON.  I know at times I have found this to be the case for me.  Instead of a full blast effort something less because of fear, worry about what others might think or some other equally old story.  And then this practice of yoga wakes me up and I realize that I am holding back and only making it harder.  At that point everything changes and the flow returns and I feel grace carrying me once more on her easy current rather than fighting my way upstream.  So today, take a good look at yourself, where are you living with the brakes on?  And get out of your own way and try easier. It is what you think about your life that either creates the disturbance or lets you move forward gently.  Love yourself, Love your day, Love your life! Silvia

The resistance to the disturbance IS THE disturbance.  ~ Siddiqui Ray

 

*Spaces still left for Moab Nov 4-7, $250 OFF, hope you can join me and Alchemy Tours now or on one of our 10 retreats next year! Friend us on facebook and learn more.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010.   

In 1948 a study began known as the Framingham Heart Study.  It was the most comprehensive of its kind.  Now 60 plus years later scientists have studied other aspects beyond just heart disease.  One of their findings ins related to happiness theory.  And of the factors studied a key part is that happiness is being connected to other people.  We experience happiness through social connections.  And therefore are very much influenced by clusters of other people around us.  Check this out:  a change in one person effects you and all in the cluster, your probability for increased happiness improves 15% if your most immediate friend is happy, 10% if a friend of your friend is happy, and so on until four degrees of separation. 

They are figuring out and measuring what yogis have known for thousands of years:  happiness is contagious.  

This means everyday we have the opportunity to save someone's life.  You practice yoga today, so you can practice tomorrow.  What you do to manage your thoughts to create happy cells impacts not only you but those around you.  In this way we are creating our world thought by thought, day by day.  And it can be heaven on earth!  Maybe it is.  The sutras spell out that if we are imbalanced mentally, physically, emotionally which means we are not living our true nature - which is naturally happy then we must practice chapter 2.33 Pratipaksha Bhavana.  Engage happy thoughts.  So simple.  It is our Namaste:  Seek the still point where the words "you" and "I" lose meaning, where we meet and merge as one. 

Try this breath meditation when you need to elevate your attitude. And be the change you want to see in the world (Ghandi). Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

 

Inhale: I welcome happiness,

Exhale: I am grateful

Inhale:  I welcome inspiration

Exhale:  I am grateful

Inhale:  I welcome love

Exhale:  I am grateful

Inhale: I welcome hope

Exhale: I am grateful

 

“Heartfelt gratitude really is the fastest way to experience happiness now.  It is impossible to be truly grateful and neurotic; it is impossible to be truly grateful and not happy.”  (Happiness coach Barry Kaufman author of Happiness Is A Choice)

AUGUST 12, 2010.  I have a full library of books on communication.  As a love anthropologist I am fascinated by why people use certain words versus others to convey the same thing.  And this interest in words has grown ever more engaging as face to face communication has decreased.  And quite frankly my desire to understand has increased as I receive really harsh sometimes downright mean emails on an almost daily basis.  The proverbial "why" is there lingering in the background.(as in "why would someone say that and be so nasty for no reason?")

What I have realized through yogic and spiritual awakefulness is that much of what is behind the angry words chosen is a disconnect to their impact.  I believe that when someone is intentionally hurtful in words they are not completely in tune with the long term impact of what that energy does to the world.

"If we are unconscious of the power of words, we run the risk of creating a noisy disturbance."  - Unknown Author

Getting on the mat makes us more mindful of what we think, say and do.  And when what we are thinking is in alignment with our actions we are in a state of natural happiness.  So today, before you send an email reread it, take a lap, pause and be awake to what you are saying and how you are saying it.  Yup the concern is whether this will take up more time?  YES it will. But that extra 60 seconds will change the world.  And its up to you.

Love yourself, love your day, love your ilfe!  Silvia

Dear Beautiful Friends,

Today is my birthday!  And just this week my friend Steve and I were reminiscing about the lovely birthday party my friend Diana offered me last year.  The point of the conversation was looking back at the past year at how much things had changed.
This is a powerful yogic lesson.  Change is an inherent part of life.  The less we fight this truth and align with it, the easier it is to "Be the Change We Want to See in the World" (Ghandi)

Our birthday's really serve as our personal New Year's.  They remind us to look back at how far we've come appreciate it and endeavor to be clear about our intentions for where we are going.  Join me today in taking 5 minutes to reflect on all you've accomplished since this day a year ago and write down 3 things you want to experience in a year from now.  Then every year on my birthday I will remember to think of not only my own reflections and intentions but yours as well.  This will remind us all to keep tapping into our most unlimited potentiality for the best life ever!  Love yourself, love your day, love your LIFE!  With immense gratitude and love, Silvia

Dear Beautiful Friends,

Today is my birthday!  And just this week my friend Steve and I were reminiscing about the lovely birthday party my friend Diana offered me last year.  The point of the conversation was looking back at the past year at how much things had changed.
This is a powerful yogic lesson.  Change is an inherent part of life.  The less we fight this truth and align with it, the easier it is to "Be the Change We Want to See in the World" (Ghandi)

Our birthday's really serve as our personal New Year's.  They remind us to look back at how far we've come appreciate it and endeavor to be clear about our intentions for where we are going.  Join me today in taking 5 minutes to reflect on all you've accomplished since this day a year ago and write down 3 things you want to experience in a year from now.  Then every year on my birthday I will remember to think of not only my own reflections and intentions but yours as well.  This will remind us all to keep tapping into our most unlimited potentiality for the best life ever!  Love yourself, love your day, love your LIFE!  With immense gratitude and love, Silvia

MARCH 28, 2010:  It wasn't so long ago that I was resistant to all the avenues of social networking. Then once I started I learned I loved it! I read an article about the Yoga of Facebook a couple days ago and something clicked. The way yoga has changed my life is that I now see yoga in everything.  There is a yoga of facebook, the yoga of ordering Starbucks, the yoga of being in line at Target, the yoga of friendship, the yoga is what reminds us about what it means to live in alignment with what truly allows you to be your best self while at the same time serving others as a positive contributing member of humanity.   And from being friends on facebook one of our clients asked if they could have a few minutes of time after class on Sunday to interview TBY students about how the yoga has changed their lives.  Of course I said, that's great! As a result they inspired me to bring this as the theme for class. So during the course of yoga practice I "interviewed" each student, their answers were silent for themselves.  I hope you take a moment if you couldn't join me Sunday and interview yourself about how your yoga has impacted your life.  And if you too have figured out, "it's all yoga."  And to my facebook friends, I love you guys!! Stay human, stay connected. Love, Silvia 

YOGA INTERVIEW:

For how long have you been practicing yoga?

And what kind of yoga do you like the most?

What drew you to the practice?

And what has kept you in the practice? 

What now inspires your current practice?

What changes have you noticed in your life since beginning and/or maintaining your practice?

Have you noticed any changes in your personal relationships (e.g. familial, work, friendships, romantic, random people on the street, pets, etc.)?

When you first commenced your practice did you notice any aspect of your life fluctuating—in good, bad, or ambiguous ways?

Please describe a circumstance in which the presence of yoga in your life has clearly demonstrated how you may handle situations differently.  

 

JANUARY 29, 2010:  9:15am & 6pm Class Themes Today were an opportunity to learn how to use the Psychology of Victory to get passed your Stuckness.  Believe it, our thoughts are "trainable" to focus on what we want in life - what you think creates your reality.  The world is not created “out there somewhere” and then experienced by us, it is first experienced inside us then that is what is reflected back to us.   

“The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives” (William James)   

This gets pretty radical.  Albert Einstein suggested that we cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.  So there is this idea within that that “the world has no sadness in it, only people thinking sad thoughts.” (Spiritual Solutions to Everyday Problems)

How this happens is we have to think something, do something or as Einstein says “nothing happens until something moves.” So in vinyasa flow yoga we move and breath in alignment with our internal energies.  We are not stuck our humanity is that of flow.  Valerie Hunt in her book, Infinite Mind of the Human Vibrations of Consciousness writes, “Motion is more natural to life than non-motion – things that keep flowing are inherently good.” What interferes with FLOW will have detrimental effects.” So the conclusion is that when we stop our flow and as a result of fear or worry or past experience stop the flow we get stuck and this can certainly have negative effects physically and emotionally.  Last week Yahoo News reported a story on January 20^th titled “Experts: sitting too much could be deadly”

To embrace the flow means we are hugging in to a psychology of victory! That we see we can evolve to ever greater happiness. We have a choice to keep aspiring and growing beyond our fears.  Of course we will hesitate but we need not make war with life, that is the ultimate stuckness.  Instead take these words to heart from Vivekenanda, “observe the blossoms of the fruit trees. The blossoms vanish of themselves as the fruit grows. The apples do not get into a deep conflict with the blossoms that are in their designated space on the branches of the tree.  There is no anger, no fear, no battle between the fruit and its blossoms. As the fruit grows the blossoms disappear.”  Allow yourself to life yourself to higher energies and keep flowing, life is too short to remain stuck another moment….as Saint Teresa of Avila advises, “let nothing disturb thee, let nothing dismay thee, all things pass.”  Love in all ways, Silvia

 

 

JANUARY 22, 2010:  At those times in my life where things haven’t made much sense whether it be the passing away of my Dad at a young 59 years old, or seeing the beloved grandmother of a friend ill with cancer or the injustice of nature made disasters like in Haiti.  The torture of trying to understand such things with the limitations of our human mind are not the answer.  Consciousness is united in the heart say the Yoga Sutras in the first chapter!  Our minds yoga teacher/poet Danna Faulds says “may never find the answers they seek so save your energy to swim with the tide.”  If we attempt to solve the incomprehensible with our mind we will simply go in circles maybe into madness.  The way to keep flowing, to keep living is to let the mind rest and listen with your heart. 

 

“Go to the truth beyond the mind.

Love is the bridge” (Stephen Levine)

 

The challenge of our humanity is so often we again forget the heart consciousness and go back to trying to make sense of why things happen with our mind. Here for a moment imagine your mind like a lake.  The heart under the surface of the water wants your mind to remain like a quiet lake.  But we allow our minds to get highly disturbed and the waters grow so rough that we lose clarity.  A smooth surface of water can reflect the outer world clearly (like trees or birds or clouds reflected in the mirror like surface of water). However if the surface is chopped up we cannot reflect the sky nor can we see under the surface deeper within ourselves.  The yoga will help you as does all meditation to quiet the water and dive into the heart.  That way you can understand not with your mind but with your heart. Then the heart’s wisdom is viewed as the quiet on the surface of the lake in our mind.

Emotional upheaval just churns up the water. But even in the washing machine at some point the machine stops and the clothes get to rest. So my friends come to yoga class and rest your mind.  Try not to over understand the why of things happening around you nor trouble the mind by over thinking the decisions you are making for yourself.  Instead just listen to your heart.

And remember that all is eternal. We are all but waves…and change is constant.  Love in all ways, Silvia

 

“Not with thoughts of your mind, but in the believing

Sweetness of your heart, you snap the link and open the

Golden door and disappear into the bright room, the

Everlasting ecstasy, eternal Now.   (Jack Kerouac)

JANUARY 11TH, 2010:  So tonight at 6:15pm Level 1 and 7:30pm Basics this was our philosophical focus. We used the poses and the breath to speak for themselves as they contributed to our ordinary happiness.  I think we all want to on some level make our lives work a little or a lot better.  This is part of our innate human spirit to evolve our happiness.  Many times students come to TBY wanting to make changes, aspiring to create meaning in their lives but they're so gosh darn busy keeping up with the day to day detail jam packed into their lives they can't see how to make them work any better. So we just keep going along in CHAOS.

Coming to a group class is where we can receive an inspiration talk, expert instruction and get back into our own bodies. We move from a state of chaos back to a feelign state and thinking state where we are once more in alignment.  Upon leaving class after this "tune-up" our lives work better.  Think of it like this: the student is like a piece of metal and the teacher and/or other students are like a magnet.  And then it's just plain science: 

“In a plain piece of metal, all the molecules are in chaos facing every which way.  A magnet is a similar piece of metal in which all the molecules are perfectly aligned – the north pol,es facing one way, and the south poles facing in the opposite direction.  Because of this alignment, the magnet gains the power to attract and hold other objects.  If you stroke the ordinary metal and the magnet together in one direction only, the magnet will align all the molecules in the plain metal with itself, causing a second magnet to emerge.  The power to attract and hold has been transmitted from one to the other, while amazingly enough the initial magnet retains its full strength.  As we align our energies this way through regulating our breath we maintain calm through the ordinary emotional rollercoaster rides we encounter each day.  We find that when we are upset, everything around us reflects the same disturbance, as if it is somehow contagious.  When tranquility prevails, it magnetizes everything with the same sense of calmness.” (Story from The Secret Power Of Yoga.) Love and peace, Silvia

NOVEMBER 22, 2009: Yoga is full of lessons for life. Gosh no doubt that the agitations of our lives makes our yoga harder but thank goodness the Yoga makes our lives easier. Just for you here is today’s playlist I put together special to go with our theme of Yoga as Conflict Management. We are using the metaphor of our lives as a washing machine where we use the practice on the mat to churn stuff up, to purposely agitate ourselves so that by the end of the class we experience the spin cycle of Savasana. The intention is that we leave the practice with our minds more clean and clear and hearts more open. It is better to experience friction on the mat than it is to keep carrying around these same old thoughts and habitual actions that are not bringing about the changes we wish for in our lives. To begin real change we have to change the way we ask for change. Love in all ways, Silvia

"You can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it." -- Albert Einstein


PLAYLIST NOVEMBER 22, 2009:
Friend Of The Devil, Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
Pulling On A Line, Great Lake Swimmers
Hey Ya, Obadiah Parker
Hey, Soul Sister, Train
Enter Galactic (Love Connection Part I), Kid Cudi
Heyy Babyy, Loy, Neeraj Sridhar, Pervez Quadir & Raman
Whatever Lola Wants (Gotan Project Remix), Sarah Vaughan & Gotan Project
Rotolando verso sud, Negrita
Hey Hey, Eric Clapton
This is How I Feel, Finley Quaye
You And I, Wilco
One Step Closer to You, Michael Franti & Spearhead
Ganesha, Wah!
Purnamadah, Shantala
Ahimsa, Baird Hersey & Prana

OCTOBER 13, 2009:  We have a gazillion opportunities to practice courage each and every day.  Not the land a plane safely, pick a car off a trapped person sort of courage but the quiet courage of daily life. There is nothing more heroic than not stopping the ride we’re on and just keep going.  We don’t know what the outcome of our actions will be and likely it may not be the outcome we want it to be.  Courage is saying Yes I don’t know what comes of this and Yes I will try none the less.

 

Courage in this practice comes from the heart.  And our hearts are more resilient than sometimes we give them credit for being.  “It is not easy to keep your heart open in the face of the trials of being human. Life can so often be difficult, disappointing. When we finally stop struggling with life, stop wanting it to be anything but what it is now – not giving up – then our heart will indeed fall open, and we shall know beyond all doubt that, however dark the night, all is already well.” (unknown author)

 

Fellow yoga teacher Sadie Nardini says “Alongside positive change, challenge appears. You will confront old fears, old ways of being, as you drive through to your soul. Along the road to your best life possible, be prepared for delays. There will be potholes, irritating construction, and long stretches of open space where nothing seems to be happening. That’s life, imperfectly perfect. The lag times and frustrations are necessary to hone your discipline and commitment to your path.” Yes having the courage to keep driving, not pull over and stop the car is like being in a pose in class and just staying with it or doing the same pose more than once in the same class, or practicing that pose over months of time where it still may be hard or nothing seems to be happening but nonetheless we keep showing up.  When we have the courage to keep going we are really embracing our humanness and by doing so we embrace the perfectly imperfect nature of all people.  We are doing the best we can, it simply is the doing the process itself that matters the most.  Wishing you your own best courage! Sat Nam, Silvia

 

 

 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2009:   Dear Friends Happy Namaste!

Ok, it’s Monday.  So my question to you is can we get out of our “Monday Mind”.  You know, that mind that says to us this is going to be the same week as last week and feelings of boredom, worry get all stirred.  So to get out of the Monday mind join me tonight at 6:15pm or 7:30pm for yoga to cut through the crap and get to the Truth of your experience. That truth is ours to face and then influence to evolve so we don’t replay this same pattern of Monday Mind every week.

 

So as meditation today try saying to yourself:

 

I AM READY FOR CHANGE

 

This is very 3^rd chakra work and being on the mat will reveal what is necessary for us to allow our evolution to unfold.  We get to see where we have resistance to change.  Or where we doubt ourselves or hesitate which are forms of resistance.  We all know what we want, what we need, what we are ready for and often replaying Monday Mind only serves to “hold us back”. 

 

So today start the week off in a positive way by saying I AM READY FOR CHANGE.  I don’t want any of us to hold ourselves back from life.  Why?  Because who are we to think that we can be ecstatic LATER if not now?  What we get later is what we DO now.  We set the tone through our dreams and intentions for what we want for our life.

 

Now I know this is challenging.  I have faced the fear of making positive changes in my life many times over (both work related and personal).  I have tried the avoidance of making a healthy change and sat on the razors edge for far too long.  And that’s not a good or comfortable way to live life.  It all begins with a dream, some call this the power of intention, I AM READY FOR CHANGE. 

 

With the courage that comes from the strength of your heart can you speak to yourself of your SECRET HOPES AND DREAMS?  Make a list of your dreams, add to it.  We just don’t make enough time for dreaming. Mark Twain said, Optimist means Day-dreamer more elegantly spelled.  I know it seems kind of silly at first, but believe me until you start actually writing out your dreams you aren’t fully admitting them not even to yourself. 

 

A friend asked me if we are limited in the number of dreams we have and what happens when they come true?  I said to them our dreams know no bounds, they are limitless.  There is no stop to the flow.  I know this because as I said to another friend (and I hope you don’t mind my sharing my thoughts here):  “For me as a lover of nature I look at mother earth and I see her dream of change in seasons, colors of leaves changing, she dreams of rebirth in the Spring, of being comforted and blanketed in the winter, of children playing in the waters of the oceans of winds blowing and reaching amazing heights to the tallest mountains.  If the earth is in a constant state of fantastical dreaming then I can be too.  She doesn’t seem to stop dreaming, manifesting and hatching new dreams.  So I believe I can live the rest of my life (a day, a year, 60+ years) always dreaming, planting new seeds, believing in them, seeing them come to fruition and making new dreams my realities.”

 

I would love for you to understand that YOU CREATE YOUR REALITY.  Your Monday Mind can influence the week in a dark way or change it out and dream big and each day of your life becomes as Rumi writes “a day of festival!”  Yes, it really will if you allow yourself to keep evolving in the direction of happiness which the yoga sutras say is our natural state.

 

Start now…I AM READY FOR CHANGE.           

 

Love to you, courage to all of us! Silvia

 

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009: 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009:   Today I realized as I was driving home after yoga class and my mind was freed up that I uncovered another Samskara.  Part of me said UGH! Not this again. And yet the other part of me after I stopped crying was like ok let me care for this and before I fall into the proverbial hole in the sidewalk (that I've been in before!) let's see what I can change.  But let me say seeing it doesn't make it easier to change especially as it relates to love it just makes you more responsible for yourself. And yup sometimes that's harder.

 

As is written in the Secret Power of Yoga my favorite translation of the Yoga Sutras, "our thoughts and feelings form these clusters of habitual patterns, tendencies and potentialities called Samskaras. These Samskaras accrue by the constant churning of our thoughts and emotions.  Whenever any thought or feeling is encountered it is easily fed into one of these patterns.  Then our habits and patterns become set.  The pattern of HABIT or samskara is difficult to change, as our consciousness is often unable to reconfigure the obvious."

 

You see our thoughts (all 60,000 per day) are trained by habit to flow in predictable patterns.  We are tuned out to most of these habits, especially the Unhealthy ones.  The practice of yoga inspires us to recognize who we really are, our true selves and we begin to see our "MINDLESS HABITS" (Samskaras).  We then begin making more conscious choices.  It is like we wake up.  Chapter 1.50 When experiencing the absolute true knowledge all previous Samskaras are left behind and new ones are prevented from sprouting. 

 

In the yogic model, two reasons exist for remaining stuck in negative emotions or unhealthy actions:

• The first is samskaras, or karmic knots, that develop over time.
• The second is a lack of prana, or vital life force, oxygen in our bodies. 

How yoga can help:

• Releases emotions/stress locked in the body.
• Brings in more oxygen/prana or life-force. (For instance we learn when we hold our breath)
• Balances the brain.
• Calms the mind and develops the “witness” - we see our thought pattern or physical habit.
• Helps us reconnect, become more awake or conscious. 
• According to Stephen Cope, MSW, LICSW, a psychotherapist and author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self (Bantam, 1999), hatha yoga's postures improve mood by moving energy through places in the body where feelings of grief, stress, worry or anger are stored. "Hatha yoga is an accessible form of learning self-soothing," he says. "These blocked feelings can be released very quickly, [creating a] regular, systemic experience of well-being." 

So today let's dedicate the metta meditation to where we are personally stuck in an less than healthy samskaras (patterns) and let's offer this practice to someone in our life that is living in the darkness, someone who doesn't see they are repeating the same negative cycle over and over again.  As I said to a friend yesterday, it is like being in a dark room and you have to first want to find the light switch, the thing is the light switch is always there on the wall (it doesn't move around) and it may take some crawling around to find it but all you have to do is flip the switch and all in your life will be illuminated! Sending you all courage to change your life for the better!! Love, Silvia

 

METTA (LOVINGKINDNESS) MEDITATION

May I be happy, may I be healthy, may I be peaceful and free

May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be peaceful and free

May we all be happy, may we be healthy, may we be peaceul and free

 

AUGUST 22, 2009:  In the sharing circle thank you to all the yogis today that shared what you are passionate about. I loved getting to learn about each of you!  We used that as a jumping off point for today we invoked the Fire Element in practice on the mat.  Fire in Sanskrit is AGNI.  Fire is the energy of transformation or change.  If you think about the power (Shakti) of fire it can take metal and change it into a beautiful gold ring.  Yesterday when I was at the pirates exhibit in Chicago I saw the form metal took as cups, bowls, eating utensils. Now there are changes that are not in our realm to control but also there are the positive changes we want to promote in our life. Invoking the fire element that governs our metabolism might mean we want to use it to help us lose 5 pounds or the fire of digestion (converting food into energy) might mean we want to increase our energy and improve a sluggish metabolism. Or it could mean more far reaching emotional or sensory changes.

 

The most difficult thing about change is that we meet our fear.  So we fire up the third chakra to promote feelings of courage and self-determination that help us be with the dynamic dance of change in our lives. Now we could just avoid it all. There is that.  But as Jon Kabat Zinn says about life, it’s like the lottery, you got play to have a chance at winning. Each day we have a choice to show up or not.  We have a constant opportunity to make decisions that guide our lives.  When we avoid what scares us then we turn over all our power to someone else.  They control our lives. And it’s hard to be enthusiastic about life when you’re avoiding making decisions or lack the fire in your belly to run your own race.

 

I know this is not easy. There is friction in making our own choices since we might make mistakes or fall down.  But at least we know we had the courage or Tapas to try.  This is no different than rubbing two sticks together to great friction, heat, or fire.  To bring this home we hatched a dream we’ve had for ourselves and took time to really give it life. Then was talked about sharing that dream out loud with another person. That by talking to someone about an intention we have for ourselves that’s like the two firesticks rubbing together to create fire. 

 

“Fire is not seen until one firestick rubs against another, though the fire remains hidden in the firestick. 

Let your body be the lower firestick; Let the heart be the upper. 

Rub them against each other in yoga and meditation.”  (ancient writing)

 

Fire is often symbolic of rebirth.  Fire cleanses, burns off the negative and energizes one to light the path forward.  This is the time to empower yourself towards transforming your life!  I wish you the courage of your heart, Silvia

 

AUGUST 19th, 2009:  Hi Total Body Yoga friends, I want to share my theme with you from class yesterday in case you weren't able to join us. I was inspired by the cyclical nature of life. In nature, we see the cycles of the seasons, as we now feel the height of summer beginning to crest and fall into autumn. The moon, the earth, the stars, the tides are all in their own cycles of life. I always loved being a school teacher since you are engaged in a yearly cycle with the students and staff and perhaps you are a parent or teacher about to make a turn into your own school year cycle.

The thing that inspires me about this succession of life is that it never ends. After every ending, there is a new beginning. For instance, when a bone breaks, some of the cells will die but the bone will quickly start regenerating and will actually seek out similar cells to mend. Then the place where it was broken but has come together now becomes the strongest part of the bone! It is the death, that allows the rebirth of a stronger, transformed body. Another example is the prairie, where the burning of fire is necessary to release the seeds that are captured in strong shells.

Shiva, the destroyer is celebrated in Hindu mythology as much as Bhrama, the creator, or Vishnu, the sustainer, since they are connected in a constant loop of life and death and rebirth. A study on longevity found a common thread among those who live long is their ability to endure loss. This shows me it is not the losses that define us but rather how quickly we recover our emotional equilibrium after difficulties and allow the healing cycle to take place.

The inspiration for me comes when we remember this succession of life as we live our yoga. When we are in a challenging situation in life, do we cling to the drama, rehashing it over and over, staying stuck in past and future? We can actually get in the way of nature's cycle by not loosening our grip on our difficulties. I know I do this as I over analyze my life, trying to figure out my next steps or trying to understand the why things happened the way they did. Yet, the gift of the present moment is constantly moving, with or without my connection with it. 

So we practice this on the mat; we present each other with challenges to learn about ourselves and practice the art of staying calm, centered and connected to the present moment. Our breath is there to help us on this journey and we practiced 4-part breath. We moved in circles to remind the brain that life is not a linear race but rather a series of cycles that expand and contract as we live our days.

As Rolf Gates states, We wake up, we are stiff, we are fatigued, our minds wander, we come to the mat, we forget, we loosen up, we relax, we have energy, we remember, we live, we sleep, we wake up, we are stiff, etc.

I hope to see you soon on the mat where we will continue to connect with our unique current moments within the cycles of life.  Much peace, Mara

AUGUST 18, 2009:  I remember as a little girl loving the story of Sleeping beauty.  I wasn’t so into Snow White, that story freaked me out. And Goldilocks was too much unlike me so I couldn’t relate. But Sleeping Beauty, I understood.  Now I tried living my life literally to this story, waiting for my prince to come, to get married and have all my problems solved.  That didn’t work out so great.  The prince was there but problems remained or grew worse.  So for me the practice of yoga taught me that there is no prince (as in another person coming to make us happy, saved, peaceful, etc). We are the lover and the beloved in yoga. We use the poses to and breath to wake up our sleeping limbs and awareness. 

Yoga kisses us awake one way or the other.

 

Stephen Levine in the book Be Happy puts it like this:  “Most of us live life half unborn”  It is an in your face way to phrase this concept of what we call in the yoga sutras “remembering the self” Vairagya (Chapter 1.15 for reference).  Remembering is waking up to who we really are and how we want to live our lives.  And quite frankly you have to ask yourself don’t you want to complete your birth before this ride is over?  As Gabrielle Roth writes about in the book Sweat Your Prayers we are giving birth to ourselves.  YESSS! To see some folks that are totally awake check out this clip that inspired me today:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpacvA_ZQQc 

• So right now in this moment what will it take to free up your life? 
• On a scale of 1-10 how resistance are you to life? 
• Are you afraid of what others will think of you if you start to live life on your terms? 
• Are you afraid of being happy?

Well it is not too late, as long as we are breathing to begin to remember it can be better.  Even the Buddha said, “it doesn’t matter how long you have forgotten only how soon you remember.”  And for how much you’ve forgotten well let the poses tell you that.  As it says on page 26 in the book Secret Power of Yoga (a translation of the Yoga Sutras, “We are all in a constant state of grace, yet how often do we remember?”

Starting today let’s be more awake to every moment.  You have the power to change your life!  Love yourself, your life, you day! Silvia

 

AUGUST 10TH, 2009: 

Folks often ask me how the practice has changed me over this last 15 years of practice and over 7,000 hours of Teaching Yoga and I think it has helped me be more patient with changes in life.  I realized that getting upset at those changes I cannot control only hurt me and was a waste of energy.  Instead of I have focused on opening my heart to the fullness of life and I have grown more calm and content as a result.  My mind became more flexible to new things, people and situations.

 

A lovely California teacher, Max Strom at my favorite San Fran studio called YogaTree says it like this "Yoga inspires change. It's a tool to help you drop negative habits and adopt helpful ones, to embrace whatever the present and future hold, I believe you must assess what you're hiding from and be willing to change. To me Vinyasa yoga has been a great way to release some of the tension in my life so I could transform my body, and learn to be present.  While doing so I transformed my mind to be more flexible too.  And have learned healthy ways of meeting life's changes, especially not letting tension consume me.  For what is tension if not resistance to change." 

 

I hope you will join me on the mat to use this practice as your personal laboratory to safely test out for yourself changes in the way you respond to stuff.  Like responding to poses with kindness, non-reactiveness, compassion, non-judgement, and ultimately acceptance.  This then translates into how you live, interact and relate to your external world.  Know that without a doubt your time on the mat is bringing about the peace we all aspire to - you are changing the world!  Or as Michael Franti (Power to the Peaceful, Spearhead) says "One thing that yoga has taught me is that the rate at which the world changes is exactly the rate at which I change"

 

I realize embracing change is difficult. So I will include a gentle practice to help you from this day forward when you need to find your center and be more graceful with the changes taking place in your life. Wishing you all the courage you need to respond even to the smallest change with patience, love and courage.  Love and light, Silvia

 

 

CLASS PLAN LEVEL 1-2:  AUGUST 10^TH, 2009

 

OPENING WAVE:

Seated easy pose, pranayama of alternate nostril breathing

Supine Cobbler over blanket roll

Cobbler mini core cultivation

Supine upward facing twist

Supine downward facing twist on blanket roll

 

WAVE 1:

Bharavajrasana seated twist and gentle flow of arms

Ardha Matsyendrasana seated twist

Seated baby cradle of leg

Seated Cobbler, twist

(Side two as above)

 

WAVE 2:

Malasana

Prasarita (standing wide legged forward fold)

Warrior 2, Triangle, Side Angle Pose, Triangle, Reverse Warrior 2 (right side)

Prasarita

Warrior 2, Triangle, Side Angle Pose, Triangle, Reverse Warrior 2 (left side)

FF

 

WAVE 3:
Sun Salutation A slow

 

WAVE 4:

Lizard

Half Splits

Half Warrior 2, Half Triangle, Half Side Angle, Half Triangle, Half Reverse Warrior 2 (right side)

Kneeling Side Plank

Parsva Vasistasana 2

Fallen Warrior (downward facing resting)

Pigeon (with shoulder opener more resting)

Ardha Matysendrasana

Bharavajrasana

Malasana, twist

Dog and rest before side 2

 

CLOSING WAVES: Done in class, if you want a copy just email me silvia@totalbodyyoga.com

 

AUGUST 8, 2009:  What I meditate about today is FAITH. Faith in the unknown and what comes next, a hopeful positive expectation for life.  Life is funny, it offers us a constant stream of challenges so we have an endless opportunity to demonstrate Faith in the flow of grace. Fundamentally the truism is that change is inevitable so that even the greatest challenges won’t last forever.  As Sharon Salzburg says, “No matter what is happening, whenever we see the inevitability of change, the ordinary, or even oppressive, facts of our lives can become alive with prospect. We see that a self-image we’ve been holding doesn’t need to define us forever, the next step is not the last step, what life was is not what it is now, and certainly not what it might yet be.”

 

“It is not easy to keep your heart open in the face of the trials of being human.  Life can so often be difficult, disappointing; our dreams are so easily broken.  How precious, then, those shafts of sunlight that sometimes break through our daily preoccupations, our anxieties, and reveal the beauty that was there all along.”  - Roger Housden 

                                                                            

The next step is not the last step…

 

“When we finally stop struggling with life, stop wanting it to be anything but what it is now – not giving up but giving it over – then our heart will indeed fall open, and we shall know beyond all doubt that, however dark the night, all is already well.” – Roger Housden

 

And the moment we let go of fear or the darkness of lost hope or peace of mind the sooner we find ourselves immersed in the journey of Faith once more.  She will always take us back all we have to do is say “I choose life, I align myself with the potential inherent in life, I give myself over to that potential.” It means being present.  That is what Sharon Salzberg in her book titled Faith speaks to when she writes, “With faith we can draw near to the truth of the present moment, which is dissolving into the unknown even as we meet it. We open up to what is happening right now in all its mutability and evanescence. A pain in our body, a heartache, and unjust treatment may seem inert, impermeable, unchanging. It may appear to be all that is, all that ever will be. But when we look closely, instead of solidity, we see porousness, fluidity, motion. We begin to see gaps between the moments of suffering. We see the small changes that are happening all the time in the texture, the intensity, the contours of our pain.”

 

During the course of our practice on the mat we flow and breath to remind us that faith in change is right there all the time inside our breath. One inhale leads us to the exhale and on into the next breath.  Faith in our own breath reconnects us to trust in our lives. 

 

“No matter what is happening, whenever we see the inevitability of change, the ordinary, or even oppressive, facts of our lives can become alive with prospect. We see that a self-image we’ve been holding doesn’t need to define us forever, the next step is not the last step, what life was is not what it is now, and certainly not what it might yet be.  Without faith in change we would be compelled to repeat patterns of suffering at least reassured by being able to predict mortification and pain. Without a sense of possibility, we would be stuck—isolated, hopeless, and unspeakably sad. No matter what is happening, whenever we see the inevitability of change, the ordinary, or even oppressive, facts of our lives can become alive with prospect. We see that a self-image we’ve been holding doesn’t need to define us forever, the next step is not the last step, what life was is not what it is now, and certainly not what it might yet be.  Without faith in change we would be compelled to repeat patterns of suffering at least reassured by being able to predict mortification and pain. Without a sense of possibility, we would be stuck—isolated, hopeless, and unspeakably sad.”

 

So I hope this inspires you all to step into the flow of grace.  Believe that grace is always there the current gentle to swoop us up in our most challenging moments or as Rumi writes, Be helpless, dumbfounded, unable to say yes or no. Then a stretcher will come from grace and gather us up.

 

Hope you can join me at 9:15am this morning for a sweet quiet practice of Faith.  Love, Light, Peace and Hope, Silvia

 

JULY 6, 2009:  In life change is constant.  There is a beginning, middle and end to everything.  We see this as we enter every breath, each new day.  Things are always dissolving, dying, being born.  And if we are lucky enough to wake up sooner rather than later we can stop taking even a single day for granted.  

 

We have the power to make ourselves.

 

So for your contemplation - Q:  If you were dying, what would you wish you had done that you are not doing now? Why aren't you doing it?

Or as Pantanjali says in the Yoga Sutras, "When you are inspired by some great purpose all of your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world!"  Be the cause of your own future happiness! 

And please know the universe loves you, nature loves you, your friends and family love you no matter what.  This is unconditional.  And you don't have to apply for the "job" of living your life.  You have the job so you have nothing to prove to anyone but to be true to your own heart.

 

Changes in relationship with our jobs, homes, partners can be progress for all involved, regardless of the outcome.  As author Brian Tracy writes, "resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change."  We may not be able to control the situations which force us to think differently about the way we do things, or to respond differently but we can continue to stay involved in the process to make sure good comes of it all.  Take to heart the words of Mary Engelbreit, "If you don't like something, change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it"

 

You see life is constantly evolving in the direction of happiness.  What this means is that we are always changing. Sometimes we change in the same way as those we love and sometimes the hurt happens when we don't change in the same direction. There are no bad people, no bad experiences just constant evolution. Have faith that whatever changes are taking place in your life are for the best for all involved.  Allow this quiet time on the mat to help you connect with you’re your truest essence, in yoga philosophy your soul is known as Atman. That way no matter what changes in your life you will always remain truthful, steadfast and real.  Love yourself, Love your day! Silvia

 

"Only as high as I reach can I grow,
Only as far as I seek can I go,
Only as deep as I look can I see,
Only as much as I dream can I be."
-Karen Ravn

JUNE 5TH, 2009: How’s this for a cool sign "Change is inevitable...growth is optional."

Most folks when they think of yoga think flexibility. I would agree there is that but not just the physical flexibility that develops but more importantly the emotional flexibility that grows if you let it (all of this held in quiet strength too). You see the thing is we can’t always control the situations that arise in our lives but we do have in our power the way we respond or adapt to these changes. We can learn to think differently even perhaps positively about the circumstances of our lives. We can look for the good in every situation. I’m not talking about in a Pollyannaish way because that’s inauthentic, so more along the lines of ok there’s that, now what can I do to find a learning here. "But personally to me the most important part is that we STAY INVOLVED in the process. It’s too easy to check out and engage in a victim mentality. Brian Tracy puts it like this, "Resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change "Resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change".

So we learn from Mary Engelbreit, "if you don't like something, change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it". We gain new perspective from the changes that flow our way maybe stretching our emotional muscles in a way that mirrors our physical stretching. For sure the mind muscle is the most difficult one to tone but worth the effort. It is certainly a lot more productive than resisting or letting tension consume us. So today come to the mat, let the flow of the poses encourage you and inspire the changes you want from your life. May we all find together that change really does bring about new opportunities for spiritual evolution. So bring it on! Let happiness flow!

Love the day, Silvia

MAY 27, 2009:  Change is happening all around us.  We need not push or shove or pull at change but learn how to get along with it keeping our hand on the tiller so to speak but with the inner knowing we can’t control people or situations outside ourselves.   So we practice gratitude for all that we have. Try it now:

 

INHALE THE GIFT OF THE UNIVERSE, YOUR LIFE ITSELF

EXHALE WITH GRATITUDE

 

Now with a more clear mind really feel that the changes you seek, which I call “dreams” are all around you like ghosts waiting to be seen.  So through this yogic practice love the gentle flow and let it lead you back to yourself.  Use your thoughts to keep your energy on positive changes while knowing we are always moving so there is no rush. Slow down, SHANI.  I understand more than you know how attached we can get to despairing thoughts that we want to run from. It only slows us down to be running from our suffering so take it easy, remain with your breath and let the river help you flow away from past pains.  And know this, you are not a prisoner. Everything is change, all is impermanent even the pain so keep flowing my friends.  This will keep your heart open and clear.  In the Alchemist its written,

 

“Continue in the direction of the Pyramids”, said the alchemist. “And continue to pay heed to the omens. Your heart is still capable of showing you where the treasure is.” 

 

“Is that the one thing I still need to know?”

 

“No”, the alchemist answered. “What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream.”

 

It will not only get better but as we progress mindfully towards positive changes, dreams we have for our lives we learn many lessons along the way. These are gifts as well, so slow down and be in the process.  With heartfelt love to all beautiful minds & hearts, Silvia

 

MAY 12, 2009:  I had this illuminating conversation with an old returning client this morning.  They had been away from yoga for 6 months and were coming back today to take one class.  I bow to their quiet courage to begin again. The first step towards changing your life is the most difficult. I know this.

 

At the same time you guys I asked why not make a bolder decision and see themselves of deserving of one hour per week from this day forward, whether it’s yoga class or a cup of tea or reading a book. From my heart I tried to encourage them to see that they are deserving of at least this I am sure they didn’t believe me (yet).  Because the gosh honest truth is that if you want to STOP THE NOISE in your head and find clarity, more importantly MAINTAIN mental and emotional clarity well you need to make a commitment of more than one hour every 6 months. 

 

It does take courage to change your life.  And no matter how badly I want it for you. You have to do it yourself. You must take action.  This is karma.

 

You must stand up for your rights as Bob & Ziggy Marley sing. If there is anything worth committing to it is your right to be peaceful and happy.  It is your choice.  Rascal Flats in this utube clip below puts it like this, “I hope the day comes easy and the moments pass slow and each road leads you to where you want to go and if you're faced with the choice and you have to choose I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_zi4OxJpY0&feature=related

 

The key thing here is to make the commitment to yourself to turn inside so you can stop all the EXTERNAL NOISE long enough to realize what changes we want, which choices, which roads mean the most to us.  I truly hope we can all find the courage within ourselves to heed the advice of the Yoga Sutras that ask us to observe within our hearts are we  “running away from the life we’re afraid of or are we running towards the changes that bring about the peace and health we want instead.”  STOP THE NOISE, get on the mat. Make healthier choices through your courage to change! Love yourself, Silvia

**Rumi says STOP THE NOISE**

MAY 10TH, 2009:  I remember when I was a kid my family and I visited Iceland during the period of the year when they experience 24 hour daylight!  Very cool.  You could hear folks partying all night long because you get lost in the activity of the daylight.  This is too much Rajas.  Then of course other time of the year they have 24 hour darkness, too much tamas.  During the course of the class you will be served a whole experience – Some rajas and some tamas. I liken this to being served a whole meal. Now it’s for you to know yourself enough to figure out how much of each course you should take and when to pull back a little bit.  This is like life itself. We can’t control what is offered to us any given day (the weather, the choices others make) but we can manage our responses and what we need to do to stay balanced.

If we honor who we truly are then love, peace and clarity is ours! During class I spoke to what variations of each pose were more Tamasic and which were more Rajasic so you could choose appropriately.  This is spoken of in the yoga sutras comprised by Pantanjali as follows:

 

Chap 1.16 When consciousness unites it remains clear and unaffected by the external changes of nature and things that happen around us, the Gunas.  This is the ultimate freedom.  Freedom is love.

The Gunas are the three universal attributes of nature that inhabit and influence the essence of all beings and material objects. Although one of the gunas may predominate, these three forces are in constant flux and interplay. The three gunas are:

Tamas: the energy of stability, solidity, inertia, darkness, confusion.  Tamas inactivity – manifests as inability to make decisions, immobilizes us through fear or fatigue – if healthy, allows us to draw inwards and sleep deeply

Rajas: the energy of activity, dynamism, vibrancy, change, passion, excitement.  Rajas overactivity – manifests as good to help us explore many things but too much we burn out

Sattva: the energy of luminosity, light, clarity, balance, contentment.  Sattva balance means dynamic stillness

 

The world and everything in it play between these 3.  If we can remember who we are, what we want from life then these are not able to influence us and throw us off our game. As long as we promote balance we can observe the changes but transcend them. However if we identify with the gunas rather than with ourselves the mind and our emotions are like a constantly changing rainbow (feeling blue, seeing red, turning green with envy)

We need all three gunas in nature. Tamas is the inert energy needed for sleep, rest, and stability. We need tamas for strong, dense bones. We use the energy of tamas in our asana practice for grounding and stability. Rajas is the energy of motion. It helps us move from a dull, lethargic state to a place of clarity and intelligence. In asana and pranayama, we use rajas to move and breathe with full awareness - channeling energy to develop and expand our consciousness. We need rajas to quickly adapt to new situations and to act rapidly in emergencies. Rajas is also the force of creativity and vitality. Sattva is the energy of light, when it shines we can see with clarity and we enlighten our true Self. We are sattvic when the body and mind are clear, alert, tranquil and spacious, whether this happens in meditation, a focused asana practice or in our daily life. In yoga and ayurveda, we always want to move toward increasing sattva, as this state of balance provides the space necessary for healing to occur and for the true knowledge of the Self to be revealed.

The gunas can also have negative aspects. When tamas is out of balance we may become dull, dense of mind and unable to see or remove obstacles. We become ignorant, pessimistic and doubtful. Tamas predominates when a person is depressed. They have no energy to work or to get out of bed. When rajas is out of balance we are hyperactive, turbulent, and agitated. We act without awareness, such as, an angry outburst at the slightest infraction by others. We can be overly rajasic when we overschedule our lives so much that we have no time for reflection. This can also be a way to avoid or deny our issues, which can only lose their power once they have been embraced. Sattva does not have a negative aspect as it is the healthy energy of a balanced state.

So the question is, how did you do today? Did you make choices that bring balance to your life?  And are you prepared to make the active sensitive adjustments to keep your personal sense of balance?  I hope the answer is YES! and more YES!  It is this way that you find love in yourself, your day, your life!  Peaceful courage abounds! Silvia

APRIL 13TH, 2009: This week join me in class to focus on a philosophy of living life BIG & BRIGHT, without limitations.  Now of course we can't control everything that happens around us or the choices that others make but this need not limit us. You have in a sense a "magic wand' that can transmute even the greatest challenge into an opportunity for greatness. Ghandi said, "be the change you wish to see in the world." Through the energy of your thoughts, which demonstrates your perspective, you can experience your limitless potential for happiness, peace and most of all love. 

The thing is you are already choosing moment by moment what you want your life to feel like, be like, look like. No one else is choosing your thoughts for you.  Consider it like this, (1) your heart and mind create your reality so you must be able to create other views, (2) if you can create different perspectives (victim, martyr, champion, lover) then you must have more than just one choice so that means you can choose which perspective you want. Well then why not accept responsibility to see your life as limitless in passion, prosperity, and Love?

There are two simple universal laws to better appreciate this: The law of abundance simply put says you can't be resentful and receive abundance at the same time. They can't co-exist, you have to choose one or the other.  You either think you're running out of stuff & are being picked on, victimized by the universe or you are grateful for your blessings. You either focus on what you don't have or acknowledge all that you do have.  You see and say YES to opportunities surrounding you everywhere or you force limitations on yourself and say no to life at every turn. These are mutually exclusive.  The law of attraction says Like attracts like. Positivity draws in more things that are positive. Negativity draws in more things that are negative.

What you put out there to the world comes back to you amplified. You can't look to someone else to manage your dreams or to highlight your potential to the world. You must do it yourself.  A boss I had at PwC once said to me, "no one wants to see you promoted more than you do yourself". We can engage in negative self-talk, self-doubt and obsessive worry but these will only create negative energy and won't get you promoted or loved or anything else good. Instead, if you think of yourself as your own "brand" and everyday you have a choice to promote your brand to the world as amazing & brilliant you will attract to you the best life possible.  

The world will give you back what you're sending out. So make this Spring a fresh start shift your perspective to one of INFINITE potential so you love yourself more, so you love your day more, so your love your life more! Silvia

 

APRIL 12TH, 2009:  It's easy to think sometimes that the universe is working against us but the yogic view is one that says the universe is really always working with us, it is on our side.  The universe (Spirit) wants us to live PEACEFULLY.  Our only job is to say Yes to peace.  So take a big breath right now and let it out slow.  Know you are loved.  Then as you quiet your breath, inhaling love and exhaling peace dedicate today to practicting to love the peace within your heart so that you can dedicate peace to your families, to your friends to the world!

You might say is this really my responsibility?  Yes. (Remember just say Yes)

The Dalai Lama says it like this, "Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace starts within each one of us." From a yogic viewpoint it's not that complicated you guys, its a simple theory: If we are to have true peace in this world, each one of us must find it in ourselves first.  If we don't like ourselves, we probably won't like other people. If we are in a constant state of inner conflict, we will proabably bring conflict into the world. If we are super angry (just plain pissed off all the time), then we are likely going to be angry at everyone around us.  We have to look inside ourselves for the meaning of peace, see our internal struggles rather than denying them, and only then can we create the changes we want. 

In class when we practice peace it's like we're all wearing a PEACE TEE under our clothing like superman or wonderwoman.  It is always our inner most garment, we just forget sometimes that we have it on.  So the practice helps us in some ways strip down to our truest selves and one way to do this is to use poses that offer sensation.  Then observe what comes up from the inside, let it out.  Once we see that our humanness is something to embrace (crankiness, fear, worry, frustration) then we can transcend the dark qualities and move into an everlasting state of peace.  This is why I often say, our lives can make our yoga hard but our yoga makes our lives easier.  Then its a matter of whether or not peace is something you want to choose. Or as Eckhart Tolle in his book A New Earth says, "if peace is reallly what you want, then you will choose peace. If peace mattered to you more than anything else you would remain non reactive when confronted with challenging people or situations."

So join me today, shed light through simple awareness and desire for serenity and peaceful existence on your own humanity.  Then through compassion, which is peace in action, initiate the flow of good peaceful energy into all aspects of your life.  And remember, when self doubt rears its head that PEACE IS LOVE.  So all this really means is that to live peacefully we must love ourselves. 

To listen to a video broadcast about self-love go to the Loving Your Day page of this website.  Love your day, love yourself, bring peace to the world! Silvia

 

FEBRUARY 23, 2009:  My teacher Shiva Rea says, "The teachings of yoga include a view called parinamavada, the idea that constant change is an inherent part of life.  Therefore, to proceed skillfully with any action, we must first assess where we are starting from today; we can’t assume we are quite the same person we were yesterday."  So when we step into the current of grace how can we manage to do our best – no more, no less, keeping in mind that doing our best is never going to be the same like our breath.  The Yoga Sutras suggest each pose be Sthira Sukham Asanam, steady and pleasant. More importantly in the incessant changing stream of life can we just keep trying?  The more you practice yoga the more you will respond YES!

 

The great thing is that when we DO OUR BEST then we give no reason for self-judgement, blame, guilt, negative self talk of any kind.  There are no regrets. 

 

To me doing our best is kind of scary.  From a western view it pulls us into that “no pain, no gain” mentality that life must hurt.  But that’s not it at all.  Doing our best means we are living our lives fully, in the present moment with enormous intensity because we want to be good to ourselves.  We want to make life all it can be aspiring to co-create with the universe for our optimal productivity.  Doing our best makes us connect to our innate happiness!  Why? Because it demonstrates our LOVE for life!

 

LOVE IS ACTIVE,

YES IS ACTIVE

DOING OUR BEST IS ACTIVE (INACTION IS THE WAY WE DENY LIFE)

Today we keep making the soil of our souls more fertile by contexualizing through asana practice the theme of "Always Doing Our Best.”  I hope this inspires you to make sensitive adjustments as you enjoy each and every breath.  All of this to make the space for the dreams you wish to hatch come the first day of Spring, March 20th!  My dear friends you were born with the right to be happy and as Deepok Chopra suggests why not then make Happiness the Goal of ALL other goals, and just do our best with this.  Please love your life, don’t let another breath pass without making it your best breath.  Love to you all, Silvia

FEBRUARY 4TH, 2009: 

William Shakespeare wrote, "Learning to trust ourselves is a worthy practice, the practice of authenticity.  This is the work of aligning with our deepest passions and dreams.  It's the work of making promises to ourselves and keeping them.  It's the work of knowing who we are without judgement."

Take a moment and think about what holds you back from taking custody of your life. Not just temporary custody but really owning your life, your entire life, not just the work life but your heart and soul too.  Is it enough to tell yourself that fear of the outcome will prevent you from living more fully?  The thing is if you are waiting for a guarantee, 100% certainty of the result you are never going to get it.  Life is uncertain. 

All we can do is be present to what is in front of us right now and set our intentions for the kind of energy we wish to attract but ultimately we will never know the outcome until its present.  We can simply manage our reactions to the details or our lives and just keep paying attention.  Best advice I can give is take time every day to BE STILL, BE PRESENT, Silvia

 

FEBRUARY 3, 2009:  We have a gazillion opportunites to practice courage each and every day.  Not the big splashy front page sort of courage but the quiet courage of daily life.  While on the slopes my ski instructor Patrick Vaughn's favorite word was "quiet".  He encouraged me to keep the movement quiet no matter what the external forces were around me (other skiers, the sunlight, the shadows, verticality of the run).  I am deeply inspired by his kindness and want to dedicate this lesson to him.

This quietness in skiing keeps you nonreactive and calm.  The splashy courage may help us initiate action in our lives but in order to "run the whole race" we have to maintain enough quiet courage that we can get to the bottom of the hill so to speak.  This peaceful courage is sustainable, and certainly there is an aspect of endurance to it.

The best practice of courage is to believe without what Judith Lasater calls "proof of the future, without confirmation that the outcome will be what we want it to be."  So it is easy to see that Faith is just another name for courage.  A way without conditions, prerequisites or judgement to be present allowing the next thing to unfold.  Living from this courageous place (which always comes from the heart the source of love and inner strength) is that state of non knowing that yoga teaches us. 

Today I encourage you all to run your own race, don't just get started or think about it but find the deep resorvoir of quiet courage that helps you get to the to bottom of the hill.  I wish you peace, Silvia   

JANUARY 21, 2009:  So let’s begin. Take a few deep breaths. As you inhale, inhale peace and wideness into the nervous system. As you exhale, breath out the memories of your day. Do this several times until your brain becomes calm and centered, and then relax deeply. What happened today is now in the past.  In life change is constant.  There is a beginning, middle and end to everything.  We see this as we enter a new day in the history of our nation.  Things are always dissolving, dying, being born.  And if we are lucky enough to wake up sooner rather than later we can stop taking even a single day for granted.  

 

"Attend the birthing of the radiant light within you"  - Vijnana Bhairava Tantra

 

So for your contemplation I asked the following two questions:

Q:  If you had all the time, money, and energy you wanted, what would you do?

Q:  If you were dying, what would you wish you had done that you are not doing now? Why aren't you doing it?

A lovely California teacher, Max Strom says it like this "Yoga inspires change. It's a tool to help you drop negative habits and adopt helpful ones, to embrace whatever the present and future hold, I believe you must assess what you're hiding from and be willing to change. To me Vinyasa yoga has been a great way to release some of the tension in my life so I could transform my body, and learn to be present.  While doing so I transformed my mind to be more flexible too.  And have learned healthy ways of meeting lifes changes, especially not letting tension consume me.  For what is tension if not resistance to change.  

 

We have an opportunity here to make a difference in the world as Ghandi says “to be the change we wish to see”.  Or Woodrow Wilson, 28^th President of the United States said it like this, “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."

 

Get to the mat, use it as your personal laboratory to safely test out for yourself changes in the way you respond to stuff.  Like responding to challenging poses with kindness, non reactiveness, laughter, compassion, non-judgement, and ultimately acceptance.  This then translates into how you live, interact and relate to your external world.  Know that without a doubt your time on the mat is bringing about the peace we all aspire to – you are changing the world!  Or as Michael Franti (Power to the Peaceful, Spearhead) says “One thing that yoga has taught me is that the rate at which the world changes is exactly the rate at which I change”

 

RIGHT ON!  ROCK ON!  BE ON!  Silvia

DECEMBER 17TH 2008:  Weird but sometimes we overwhelm ourselves on purpose.  I don't understand it, especially the "on purpose" part but I've done it too.  In my life this has led to illness, to a diminishing of my spirit and a general malaise where I was just "getting through it". 

We can use the practice of yoga to really be kind to ourselves. To TRY LESS.

Now that might seem like apathy but it is not at all.  Yoga is wise energy management.  So consider where in your life you are trying too hard and leaking energy, depleting yourself, now ask yourself the same thing in a pose.  The key here is the idea of being in the pose.  For it is not about getting into and out of the pose but the pose CHANGE YOU while you are in it.  This is where you get to try less and soften the edges. 

As you know I love the Thesaurus and I looked up the word TRY.  It said Struggle, Strive, Attempt. So today go easy on yourself STRUGGLE LESS, STRIVE LESS, ATTEMPT LESS AND ENJOY MORE!  Another way of seeing trying less is as a means to fight less, to meet challenges not with fists raised armor on quills raised but meet lifes challenges as they are in a more peaceful way, arms down.

Swami Satchidananda says, Look within, if you don't see the peace inside you  you won't be able to see the peace outside. You have to have that peaceful vision because it is you who sees the world outside."  So try less, receive more, fight less, relax more.  Thinking of you, Silvia

 

 

DECEMBER 16, 2008:  Being really fully human asks that we not shrink away from life or its challenges.  I understand it can be a bumpy road at times. I myself have had a really wild (sometimes horrific, sometimes blissfull) ride to get to this point.  But what keeps me going is the opportunity I have, you have, we all have to muster up the COURAGE TO TRY.  Or as Poonjali says, "Wake up and Roar!"

So in class we’ll repeat the same sequence (“flow of poses linked together with breath”) or during the course of a practice session we’ll repeat the same pose at different times.  We do this to help us remain persistent.  Or as Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”

 

Right on.  When we set our intentions for the class, for the year or for our life we have to revisit them time and again.  It is not just a matter of wishing once and then keeping our fingers crossed. Just like progressing in a pose, better understanding its application in your body means doing it more than once, more than hundreds of times!  Fred Rogers says, “What makes the difference between wishing and realizing our wishes? Lots of things, and it may take months or years for wish to come true, but it's far more likely to happen when you care so much about a wish that you'll do all you can to make it happen.”

 

So today and every day, wake up and roar, endeavor to have the courage to try.  And when things go well, celebrate, when things fall apart, pick yourself up and keep going.  Perhaps one of my favorite quotes of all time that I keep dear to me is this:   “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”  I am here, I will support you and I will encourage you to keep trying! Jai Ma, Silvia

 

NOVEMBER 1st, 2008:   There was a new moon this week. This new moon in Scorpio calls us to step into the new and let go of the old.  As a result we devoted our practice to jettison those patterns of holding tension in our bodies that have been stifling our growth and potential. We learned how to let go of self-limiting thoughts that we have clearly outgrown.  This is no different than why we clean out a closet of the summer stuff…so we can make room for the Fall clothing and shoes, right? 

So really take 5 minutes to ask yourself what is it that needs to be released from my life?  What is ready to be born in my life? 

Yup I know we’ve all been hearing a lot of messages about CHANGE lately. There must be a higher reason for that.  Let’s take that as a sign and apply it directly to the democracy of ourselves first and foremost.  What can I do to transform my life to welcome positive changes without fear of the unknown ripples those changes might bring?  Remember as Sharon Salzberg writes in Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, “The next step is not the last step.”    

SEPTEMBER 28TH, 2008: My inspiration today is a favorite author, role model: Sharon Salzberg.

The first step on the journey of faith is to recognize that everything is moving onward to something else, inside us and outside. Seeing this truth is the foundation of faith.
—Sharon Salzberg, from Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

 

“Life is transition, movement, and growth. However solid things may appear on the surface, everything in life is changing, without exception. Even Mount Everest—the perfect symbol of indomitable, unyielding, massively solid reality—is “growing” a quarter of an inch a year, as the landmass of India pushes under Asia. People come and go in our lives; possessions break or change; governments and whole systems of government are established or disintegrate. Eager anticipation precedes a meal, which soon ends. A relationship is difficult and disappointing, then transforms into a bond we trust. We might feel frightened in the morning, reassured in the afternoon, and uneasy at night. We know that at the end of our lives we die. There is change, breath, oscillation, and rhythm everywhere.

 

No matter what is happening, whenever we see the inevitability of change, the ordinary, or even oppressive, facts of our lives can become alive with prospect. We see that a self-image we’ve been holding doesn’t need to define us forever, the next step is not the last step, what life was is not what it is now, and certainly not what it might yet be.”

SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2008: Take a few deep breaths. As you inhale, inhale peace and wideness into the nervous system. As you exhale, breath out the memories of your day. Do this several times until your brain becomes calm and centered, and then relax deeply. What happened today is now in the past.  In life change is constant.  There is a beginning, middle and end to everything.  We see this as we enter FALL and transition from summer.  Things are always dissolving, diluting, dying.  We are most aware of life’s ever-changing nature in the gut-wrenching moments…loss, death, heartbreak. But it is all around us all the time. 

A lovely California teacher, Max Strom says it like this "Yoga inspires change. It's a tool to help you drop negative habits and adopt helpful ones, to embrace whatever the present and future hold, I believe you must assess what you're hiding from and be willing to change. For instance, when I'm resistant to my practice, it's often from fear that I'll have to face an emotional issue. We store and process emotions primarily through our bodies, so yoga brings them up."  Physical practice helps more than if it just stays in the head.

 

AUGUST 4TH, 2008:  Yoga practice really exposes the deepest parts of ourselves and all of our patterns or habits.  I looked it up and found that a Habit is defined as a pattern of behavior that's repeated, and the person usually isn't even aware of it.

 

To be honest human beings are very much creatures of habit and routine.  We can easily freeze in the rhythms of our lives.

 

Last night we were talking about playing rock paper scissors when we were little or freeze tag or monopoly and then reflecting on the habits we had as children (did you choose the same monopoly piece each time, did you play the same way over and over, did you pick your nose, bite your nails, procrastinate, brush and floss, eat your vegies).  Which habits were healthy?  Which one’s were unhealthy.  And now as adults what are your habits today?  Really most of life is habitual. If we don’t pay attention through yoga and meditation we’ll find that yes we do the same things today we did yesterday, the day before and every day for the last month or our entire lifetime.

 

Habits, good or bad, make you who you are. The key is controlling them. If you know how to change your habits, then even a small effort can create big changes. 

 

From a  yogic perspective a personal hero of mine famed yoga instructor Judith Lasater speaks to this when she writes:  THE BODY CRAVES CONSISTENCY; THE MIND CRAVES CHANGE

 

My interpretation of this is that if we don’t control this key habit then our minds stay hyper active and our bodies get weak or develop patterns of holding tension in the same way promoting imbalance that leads to a lack of ease, “disease” and pain.  Through our yoga practice last night we worked the body in fresh ways circling around the mat so as to bring newness to our bodies while staying really focused and consistent in our minds.  We can retrain the mind to keep steady on the breath like when we are in svasana and choose the habits that are most healing for our lives!  Love to you all, Silvia

JULY 30TH, 2008:  It never ceases to amaze me how good we all are (and I mean gold medal good) at making the questions of life super complicated.  The good news is that regardless of how complex we make the questions, the answers are simple.  So I pulled together a simple list of 5 of these answers based on my lifetime of yogic readings and experience to share with you.

 1. CHANGE IS CONSTANT – GROOVE WITH THE FLOW

The teachings of yoga include a view called parinamavada, the idea that constant change is an inherent part of life.  Therefore, to proceed skillfully with any action, we must first assess where we are starting from today; we can’t assume we are quite the same person we were yesterday.   Emerson says it like this, “There are no fixtures in nature. The universe is fluid.”
In life, change is constant. Things are always beginning, dissolving, dying.  And we are usually most aware of life’s ever-changing nature in the gut-wrenching moments…loss, death, heartbreak. In a nutshell we can respond to change in 2 ways.

1. One response is to race against time in an effort to accomplish as much as possible. When you realize “life is short” and no marriage, no person, nothing lasts forever, you want to squeeze it all in. This response is fun and exhilarating but ultimately can wear you out. “Time--when pursued like a bandit--will behave like one. Always remaining one county or one room ahead of you…slipping out the back door just as you’re banging thru the lobby with your newest search warrant.” (Elizabeth Gilbert)
2. The yogis prescribe another approach to best ride life’s ever-charging flow. By learning to relax, surrender, and let go, you realize that stillness is a magnet for contentment. As the German author Frank Kafka said, “..be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”
    

2.  IT’S OK TO ADMIT WE DON'T KNOW 

In reality, we DON’T KNOW WHAT COMES NEXT.  Just like there are poses in this practice we don’t understand, can’t yet do, may never be able to do or if we can perform have no idea why or how… 

·         When we practice Yoga we are really acknowledging that we are on the ROAD OF LIFE.  The path unfolds in this moment and in every moment while we are alive. And we don’t know what comes next. 

·         This means in part, even at most crucial times, acknowledging that we really have NO IDEA WHERE WE ARE GOING OR EVEN WHERE THE PATH LIES. 

·         We are not meant to understand why all things happen, we may never understand.  All we can do is keep flowing forward…

 

3. BE PRESENT

"We crucify ourselves between two thieves: regret for yesterday and fear of tomorrow."  -Fulton Oursler

What’s so important about being in the moment? Yoga teaches us that the present moment is the source of healing, love, inspiration, passion, creativity. In fact, the purest form of strength is that which is found in the present moment. The yogis call this power of presence shakti.  But to reap these benefits, one can’t just have fleeting moments of presence. We have to stay long enough in the present moment that we can really soak in its cleansing, healing, loving energy.

 

4.  LIVE FULLY NOW

“You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.”  ~Ruth E. Renkl
Steve Ross, LA Yogi and Author puts it like this:  "You are always already happy. The reason you don't experience it is that it's covered up by layers of suppressed emotions and negative thoughts. Shift your attention and your inherent happiness flashes forth."

 

5.  GET ALONG – SEEK HARMONY

A human being consists of 75 trillion cells each with a very specific task necessary to sustain one's life. Scientists and doctors are likening the 75 trillion cells to musicians in a giant symphony. The conscious human being could never possibly conduct this symphony, but the conscious human being is absolutely responsible for providing a harmonious environment in which the symphony can play without interruption. The paradigm for health is already shifting.  We can see it moving its priority from "fit body" to "open heart." The truly great workout of the future will not be "How far can I run" but "How best can I serve?"

 

My favorite advice is from Sri Swami Satchidananda

"Whatever you do, let it be a perfect act. What is a perfect act? It harms nobody, it brings at least some benefit to somebody. If you have control, you can use anything and everything to achieve some good purpose. Keep that in mind as your goal. Whatever you think, whatever you say or do, ask yourself: 'Will it harm anybody?' The answer should be, 'Absolutely no.' The next point is, 'Will it at least benefit somebody.' The answer should be 'Yes.' If it is not benefiting anybody, it is a waste. So, no harm to anybody, at least some benefit to somebody."

JULY 12TH, 2008: Enjoy the handout from this class with an exercise you can practice anytime! 

EXPERIENCE THE PROFOUND EFFECT OF CHANGING YOUR ATTITUDE

Sit or lie down comfortably.

Think of a quality that you would like to invite into your life.  A simple one or two word phrase is best.  It could be “peace” “joy” “patience”, etc. 

Bring forth as aspect of yourself that no longer fosters the person you want to be.  Can you tell where in your body it is stored?  If possible, put a name to it  - for example say to yourself “my hips feel stubborn”  or “my shoulders hold my anger” 

Now choose a quality that you would like to send out to the world.  It could be the same or a different one that you choose to bring into your life. 

Begin to take in and release deep, full breaths. 

As you breath in allow the mind and heart to integrate the quality of joy into your total body, heart and soul.  Feel joy infusing each cell, hugging the place where you are holding any anger or resentment and allow the unwanted feeling to dissipate.  

As you breath out, let joy transform resentment into peace and send it as your wish for the whole world.