Get ready for July! The online book club pick is "The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America" by Stephanie Syman. I am a quarter way through the book and am enjoying learning about the early roots of yoga. Did you know Emerson was the first American yogi??? Here are some links to enrich your book reading experience this upcoming July!
New York Times Book Review
http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=99099d3d8e49e86110255e6bf&id=8c7ba0cd50&e=868a839984
You Tube Author Reading: Stephanie Syman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8fu59KHnVI
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Miss you!!!!
N
Friday, June 28, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Online Yoga Book Club!
Greetings!
For all of you who know me well or even a little, you are aware of my love of knowledge and books. Working at the Cambridge Public Library gave me unlimited access to the best and newest books. Since I've moved, I've missed that. Maybe I just have too much time on my hands with only 2 classes to teach per week? Either way, I've been wanting to start an online yoga book club for as long as I can remember so here it is! I hope you will join me in reading the book and then discussing it as we go along. I look forward to practicing with you Off the Mat! I miss you Cambridge yogis more than I can say!!!! To join the book club "Follow" my blog so I know you are reading with me:-)
HAPPY READING!
July Online Book Club Pic:
"The Subtle Body: the Story of Yoga in America"
For all of you who know me well or even a little, you are aware of my love of knowledge and books. Working at the Cambridge Public Library gave me unlimited access to the best and newest books. Since I've moved, I've missed that. Maybe I just have too much time on my hands with only 2 classes to teach per week? Either way, I've been wanting to start an online yoga book club for as long as I can remember so here it is! I hope you will join me in reading the book and then discussing it as we go along. I look forward to practicing with you Off the Mat! I miss you Cambridge yogis more than I can say!!!! To join the book club "Follow" my blog so I know you are reading with me:-)
HAPPY READING!
July Online Book Club Pic:
"The Subtle Body: the Story of Yoga in America"
Sunday, June 23, 2013
How to be a Stranger
This morning was a strange Sunday morning in Long Island. For the last 5 years I have woken up to an alarm on Sundays to head over to the Lily Pad (a 5 min. walk from my house) and be greeted by my favorite people: my yoga students. It was so good to see everybody and I got the feeling that students were happy to see me. We waited all week for this!!! In most cases I knew everyone's bodies, mental fluctuations, family situations, life stress, and favorite yoga clothes. After an hour and 15 minutes of breathing, stretching, and letting go, we would om and open our eyes saluting each other in Namaste. I would wish everyone a great day by name and watch my yoga friends walk out the door in a much more peaceful state.
Today is a different day. I've left the Lily Pad behind to another teacher and I find myself in a strange studio in Stony Brook (a pretty house with gravel driveway) set off from the main road. The room is humid and the floor is wet with sweat. I was told there had been an Ashtanga yoga class just minutes before. The front desk people turned on the A/C in the room stating that the Hatha people didn't like to sweat and were picky about the temperature. I am thinking, "no kidding".....I am not into the sweaty yoga thing either. Minutes later the smell of sweat drifted away and was replaced by normal a/c summery room smell. The students trickled in and I was greeted by smiles but not warmly. The students seemed in shape, 40s and 50s, and serious. My students know that I am anything but serious!
So here I am feeling as if I need to win these yogis over in order for them to be open to the yoga process. I cheerleaded myself on with various phrases, testimonials heard just recently from Cambridge yogis, and the usual mantras. By the end of the class I felt good enough but not amazing. Normally after class, my Cambridge yogis and I talk a bit about whats going on in their lives, what they are up to for the day, and other various small talk. This did not happen. I felt strange, sized up, and NEW.
So what have I learned after all of this? I guess I learned that whoever said I wasn't like other yoga teachers was right. No, I don't think I'm enlightened, above anyone, or an authority on yoga. I feel that my mission is to get people to be more in touch with their hearts and authentic selves. I am learning that not everyone will be open to that and maybe they go to a different teacher. Maybe I haven't found "my" students yet. Maybe that's okay. I'm learning yoga every day and this is not the beginning or the end. This is part of the journey. I am trying hard to be gentle with myself. I'm stepping down from my Lily Pad pedestal and joining the world of the "new teacher' again. It's not easy but it's life.
I miss my Cambridge yogis more than ever. What joy we've created together. What openness and friendliness. I am so proud of all of my Cambridge students and of our community. But as yogis I guess we are all in this together and no matter where you go you'll find the teacher is always you.
Namaste!!
Love,
Natalie
Today is a different day. I've left the Lily Pad behind to another teacher and I find myself in a strange studio in Stony Brook (a pretty house with gravel driveway) set off from the main road. The room is humid and the floor is wet with sweat. I was told there had been an Ashtanga yoga class just minutes before. The front desk people turned on the A/C in the room stating that the Hatha people didn't like to sweat and were picky about the temperature. I am thinking, "no kidding".....I am not into the sweaty yoga thing either. Minutes later the smell of sweat drifted away and was replaced by normal a/c summery room smell. The students trickled in and I was greeted by smiles but not warmly. The students seemed in shape, 40s and 50s, and serious. My students know that I am anything but serious!
So here I am feeling as if I need to win these yogis over in order for them to be open to the yoga process. I cheerleaded myself on with various phrases, testimonials heard just recently from Cambridge yogis, and the usual mantras. By the end of the class I felt good enough but not amazing. Normally after class, my Cambridge yogis and I talk a bit about whats going on in their lives, what they are up to for the day, and other various small talk. This did not happen. I felt strange, sized up, and NEW.
So what have I learned after all of this? I guess I learned that whoever said I wasn't like other yoga teachers was right. No, I don't think I'm enlightened, above anyone, or an authority on yoga. I feel that my mission is to get people to be more in touch with their hearts and authentic selves. I am learning that not everyone will be open to that and maybe they go to a different teacher. Maybe I haven't found "my" students yet. Maybe that's okay. I'm learning yoga every day and this is not the beginning or the end. This is part of the journey. I am trying hard to be gentle with myself. I'm stepping down from my Lily Pad pedestal and joining the world of the "new teacher' again. It's not easy but it's life.
I miss my Cambridge yogis more than ever. What joy we've created together. What openness and friendliness. I am so proud of all of my Cambridge students and of our community. But as yogis I guess we are all in this together and no matter where you go you'll find the teacher is always you.
Namaste!!
Love,
Natalie
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Like New Shoes for the Spirit
NEW PRACTICE SPACE
This past week has been strange and strangely relaxing. I haven't had a giant change like moving in lots of years. Coming off of leading my Summer Yoga Retreat in Vermont just this past Sunday has been the perfect way to land into the unknown aka Long Island. I have a whole list of "news." New house, new neighborhood, not having roommates, driving when I'm used to walking everywhere, new yoga studios, new schedule, the list goes on and on. Within all this newness I find myself suprisingly fearless. Yes, you heard it right. I have already visited a yoga studio in Stony Brook that I will begin teaching at this Sunday! Of course I am unsure how the students will receive me, how I will receive them, or if this will be the right fit but I know this is nothing to worry about because the teaching is what counts. When you find your calling you can't be concerned about the tiny details because no matter what you are programmed to "Show up at the plate." It's refreshing to remember that when we can't know, we can't control. There is something freeing about relinquishing control and acting for the sake of acting. I do feel like I'm living Arjuna's fate in the bhagavad gita. This sacred text reminds us to act and to let go of results. Why? Because we can't possibly know any outcome.
I believe that the universe provides in the clearest of ways. For me it was hearing all of my students testimonials. I have used these kind words of encouragement and praise to assist me in my new auditions and interviews to teach. Thanks to all of my Cambridge students I have much more confidence in myself and my teaching than when I left Kripalu in February 2008 after my teacher training. I have been told I have "a gift for teaching." Well, if that is the case, I believe I have something to give you.
What about you? How has the universe provided for you in the last few months? How can you "show up" in the toughest of situations and remember to let go of outcomes?
I hope to see you on the mat!
Peace,
Natalie
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Not Goodbye: Letter to my Students
Hi All,
Tomorrow I will teach my last classes at the Lily Pad at 7am and 8:15am. It is with a heavy heart that I leave these classes and this city. I started classes at the Lily Pad 5 years ago in 2008. I was fresh out of yoga school. I was so passionate about yoga's ability to heal and transform lives that I walked right into the Lily Pad one afternoon and asked the owner if I could teach a yoga class on Sunday morning. I was scared to death! It seemed that no one else was teaching there except for one class on Saturday morning. (Later I found out Gill, the owner's wife: Caroline). We sparked a deal that I would clean the Lily Pad top to bottom every Sunday in order to teach the class. I made some very simple flyers for "Sunday Morning Yoga" and hung them up at the 1369 and surrounding private businesses.
I was amazed the day of my first class when one, two, four, ten people showed up. It was perhaps one of the most joyful moments in my life. And now I will spill the beans: I've always done things the hard way. My childhood was not a supportive place allowing me to thrive, in fact, I got my GED and went to college but I never graduated college. I was fighting and struggling through my adolescent and teen years...those years were dark. I don't know what it's like to celebrate those hallmark events that everyone else has. Graduation? Don't know! Prom? what? I DO know what it feels like to find your calling; to know and feel in your bones that you were meant for something and it was meant for you. To have so much passion that nothing can get in your way, on your way, to making your dreams a reality. This I do know.
The more I taught yoga, the more I saw lives changing in front of my eyes and what's more, testimonials came pouring in. What I saw wasn't me changing lives or yoga changing lives but the strength of all of us to connect within and find that spark, that light, that true authenticity that is just waiting to be called out. Yoga sets the stage for connection but it is YOU who are courageous, willing, and determined to live your authentic life. I am just so honored to have witnessed your becoming; your blossoming into Jivan Mukti (liberation).
As I move away I will no doubt find new students and continue the path of setting the stage for authenticity and joy. You will burn on in my mind. I will see your faces in my new students as we begin our first class, I will hold back a tear. You will burn on in my heart. I don't see this as goodbye because what we've created is infinite. What we've created is stone, is strong, is solid and can never be taken away.
Peace be with you always and may I see you in a future retreat or unexpected moment.
Love,
Natalie
Tomorrow I will teach my last classes at the Lily Pad at 7am and 8:15am. It is with a heavy heart that I leave these classes and this city. I started classes at the Lily Pad 5 years ago in 2008. I was fresh out of yoga school. I was so passionate about yoga's ability to heal and transform lives that I walked right into the Lily Pad one afternoon and asked the owner if I could teach a yoga class on Sunday morning. I was scared to death! It seemed that no one else was teaching there except for one class on Saturday morning. (Later I found out Gill, the owner's wife: Caroline). We sparked a deal that I would clean the Lily Pad top to bottom every Sunday in order to teach the class. I made some very simple flyers for "Sunday Morning Yoga" and hung them up at the 1369 and surrounding private businesses.
I was amazed the day of my first class when one, two, four, ten people showed up. It was perhaps one of the most joyful moments in my life. And now I will spill the beans: I've always done things the hard way. My childhood was not a supportive place allowing me to thrive, in fact, I got my GED and went to college but I never graduated college. I was fighting and struggling through my adolescent and teen years...those years were dark. I don't know what it's like to celebrate those hallmark events that everyone else has. Graduation? Don't know! Prom? what? I DO know what it feels like to find your calling; to know and feel in your bones that you were meant for something and it was meant for you. To have so much passion that nothing can get in your way, on your way, to making your dreams a reality. This I do know.
The more I taught yoga, the more I saw lives changing in front of my eyes and what's more, testimonials came pouring in. What I saw wasn't me changing lives or yoga changing lives but the strength of all of us to connect within and find that spark, that light, that true authenticity that is just waiting to be called out. Yoga sets the stage for connection but it is YOU who are courageous, willing, and determined to live your authentic life. I am just so honored to have witnessed your becoming; your blossoming into Jivan Mukti (liberation).
As I move away I will no doubt find new students and continue the path of setting the stage for authenticity and joy. You will burn on in my mind. I will see your faces in my new students as we begin our first class, I will hold back a tear. You will burn on in my heart. I don't see this as goodbye because what we've created is infinite. What we've created is stone, is strong, is solid and can never be taken away.
Peace be with you always and may I see you in a future retreat or unexpected moment.
Love,
Natalie
Saturday, June 8, 2013
No Longer Here Nor There
So that is what the days have been like since late May: weeks of lasts: last walk at Cat Rock Park, last walk at Assabet, last weekend in Weston, last day working at the library and ahead of me: last Sunday yoga class and finally, last class at the Lily Pad for a long time if not forever! Before I leave, I am leading a Yoga Retreat in Vermont (my 6th one I believe.) I love that I am ending my yoga time here with a retreat!!! It seems perfect.
It no longer feels strange to be in this state of flux. In fact, it might be more strange when I finally arrive in my new home where Peter has been settling in and setting up. I have missed him so. He is a professor and so it is quite normal for him to be away but he's starting our new life and I am back here! I am eager to get back to him and I suppose that's what makes it easier to focus on the new beginning. I suppose I am not sad as my journey is lining up the way I had hoped. I was blessed to teach yoga to so many wonderful people, find love with an exceptional person in every way, and start a life together.
While I don't think I'm a person who has a hard time with change to begin with, I sort of feel that my body is on automatic and I'm doing what needs to get done. Is this denial? The important thing is I've made peace with my mind, body, spirit in the state of flux and seem to be welcoming whatever comes my way. I welcome endings and beginnings. I welcome them in a state of celebration not regret, for new things to come and to all that I have built in the last 5 years: community, love, respect; honoring and accepting our deepest selves.
So with this blog post I toast to endings and welcome the state of limbo where I am no longer here nor there. Bring it on!
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Hot Day Breathing
I have officially changed the name of my blog from Urban Yogini Seeks Bliss. Why? Well, I will no longer be urban and I am not "seeking" bliss. I am living bliss. Back when I started this blog I was seeking many things. Through my practice over the last few years (growing stronger), I have built a new relationship around being content within and sometimes without. This is why I am now focusing on living in bliss. I hope you will focus on the same and let go of any seeking, any searching outside of yourself.
On the Mat
SHITALI BREATH:
Between the upcoming final move to Long Island and the final goodbyes and the heat, I needed an anchor. I found it in Shitali breath. This is a cooling breath that can be practiced on sweltering hot days like today or moments when you just need to cool down.
HOW TO PRACTICE SHITALI BREATH:
To practice this breathing, sit comfortably with your chin slightly dropped. Curl your tongue and take a deep sip of breath as if using a straw. Flatten your tongue against the roof of your mouth and hold your in breath for 5 counts. Then exhale slowly through your nose to complete 1 round. Practice 3 to 5 minutes of this followed by down dog, side angle, 2 sun salutations, pigeon pose, legs up the wall, and savasana!
Peace to all!
Natalie
On the Mat
SHITALI BREATH:
Between the upcoming final move to Long Island and the final goodbyes and the heat, I needed an anchor. I found it in Shitali breath. This is a cooling breath that can be practiced on sweltering hot days like today or moments when you just need to cool down.
To practice this breathing, sit comfortably with your chin slightly dropped. Curl your tongue and take a deep sip of breath as if using a straw. Flatten your tongue against the roof of your mouth and hold your in breath for 5 counts. Then exhale slowly through your nose to complete 1 round. Practice 3 to 5 minutes of this followed by down dog, side angle, 2 sun salutations, pigeon pose, legs up the wall, and savasana!
Peace to all!
Natalie
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