True Refuge: Live Everything

It has been a long time folks since I've shared my experience with all of you.  Since November (the last time I wrote) I have had wonderful holidays with family, a long snowy winter, and have been indulging in lots of yoga on yogaglo (mostly restorative, slow flow, and just now getting back into core strength).  There is a part of me that constantly nags to get up and move around more, do more cardio but I am gentle and patient with myself as I open to more vigorous movement...waiting for winter to melt away (I do brisk walking for cardio).  

So, what am I up to these days in regards to inner life: 
I'm reading a book (of the many) called "True Refuge" by Tara Brach.  Ms. Brach is one of my favorite meditation/mindfulness teachers; love her dharma talk podcasts and her books.  Her book Radical Acceptance got me through Yoga Teacher Training like a good friend encouraging me to embrace myself as is, and open to the YTT experience fully without holding back.  Now I am slowly but surely making my way through this second book.  True Refuge is all about finding Peace and Freedom within.  Realizing that the mind is building stories and realities in record speed while we gaze into life but really, our gaze needs to turn inward, leave the stories behind and find refuge right there inside the uncomfortable feeling, negative thought, or charged emotion.  Peace is only a breath away inside you.
One of my favorite techniques that Brach invented is RAIN.  This may be applied any time that you are resisting experience whether it be pain, shame, blame, aversion, anger, sadness etc,.  Here's the technique:
R  Recognize what is happening
A  Allow life to be just as it is
I   Investigate inner experience with kindness
N  Non-identification

Sometimes, these techniques can help us remember that we do not need to feed in to each and every feeling or sense experience.  Just like yoga, we can find the pause between the in and out breath, the space between thoughts (freedom) investigate and question everything.  That is what a true yogi does! 

Remember nothing is final.  No feeling is final.  There is no beginning or end to a yoga pose. 


With that, I hope you will spend some time watching and witnessing experience.  Allowing yourself to truly be with what is, finding refuge and comfort within your own body and spirit. 

A FAVORITE QUOTE:

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, ...Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” -Rilke

What else am I doing?
Meditation 
Using Groupons: Hit up the Elephant Walk with the boyfriend this weekend
Walking: Took a long walk at Prospect Park in Waltham
Watching: Girls and the show Revenge.  I'm just addicted to the show but I totally don't believe in revenge! I'm also watching the Tudors....interesting show.
Eating: I just got off a stint of making and eating soups like crazy but now back to Kale and Qunoa.
Saving: I'm working on saving money and I've learned a lot about making myself happy, questioning what I need versus think I need.  I am debt free (except for student loans)...it took 1 year but I feel free! 
Reading: True Refuge, Glaciers by Alexis Smith, Age of Miracles.
Traveling: I'm heading out to Long Island this weekend.  I have never been to Suffolk County so looking forward. 
Teaching: Wednesday mornings now in addition to Sundays! So fun to practice before the sun rises and as it's coming up!
Practicing Yoga: My yoga practice is very organic, fitting it in when I can and doing what feels good!

What have you been up to this past winter?  Are you ready for Spring?

Peace to all,
Natalie       

 

 

Yoga for Menstruation

I get questions all the time about what to do when that time of month presents itself?   The good news is we do not have to abandon our practice, in fact, we can allow our practice to really support us as we slow down and receive peace and quiet in a restorative yoga sequence.

The sequence takes about 30-45 minutes.  The postures here are recommended by Gita Iyengar who has written about yoga and women's cycles extensively.

Please enjoy this sequence that I personally enjoy each month! Menstruation is a time to let go of inversions in your practice and to rest and encourage a downward flow of energy.  

1.Supine Baddha Konasana (On a bolster) 3-5 minutes
2.Supine Virasana (On a bolster) 3-5 minutes
3.Downward Facing Dog (Stretch) 3-5 minutes
4.Triangle Pose (10 breaths)
5.Balancing Half Moon Pose(10 breaths)
6. triang mukhaikapada paschimottanasana (1 minute) (bolster and blankets on extended leg)
7.. Upavista Konasana (Support in the middle--lay and rest).
8.  Side stretch in Upavista (both legs)---support on leg
9. Paschimottanasna
10. Viparita Kirani (Legs up the wall) (5-10 minutes)
11. Savasana (with bolster on the spine vertically) (3 min.)
12. Regular Savasana(5 min.)

ENJOY!

Falling into Newness

Wow.  Summer is not officially over (not until 9/22) but here in the "town of the bean", we know that once labor day is over a new wave of students crashes in to the city and all is changed.  I already bought my first Apple Candle and started planning to make pumpkin soup and butternut squash ravioli.  Talk about leaning into the future! Transition times are challenging perhaps because we are learning again how to be in the present; a new present.  Isn't that a gift?  The fact that we have a chance to learn new ways of being?  As the seasons and years go by, we can be assured we are growing stronger and wiser for it. So take it easy on yourself and find refuge through times of change with yoga, meditation, sipping a cup of hot tea.

I invite you to join me for Moon Salutations on the Harvest Full Moon of Sat. Sept. 29th at 2pm.  We will move through a coordinated breath and dance flow that is gentle, healing, and supportive. Soothe your soul and treat yourself to a yoga workshop or a yoga retreat in Autumn.  When was the last time you got away from it all?

As Fall nears I see visions of apple pies, changing colors of trees, Fall get-togethers, thanksgiving with family, apple picking, warm sweaters and nurturing fires to cozy up to.  What are you excited about?  A new job? A new relationship?  Tell all!

Peace,
Natalie

Post-Yoga Retreat Reflections

Another retreat has come and gone.  More time to reflect, be in nature, and be untouched by loud noises and bustling city life.  This year, I found myself thinking about last year and last year the same.  What a joy to have this space each year to reflect and compare.  This year I realized that I was in a good space and this hasn't happened in a looooooong time. The last couple of years have been marked by striving, building, and working really hard.  Looking back on this year though, I saw that I gained a healthy and supportive relationship which helped me to grow in so many ways, cleaned up my finances, streamlined the yoga business, got to travel to Alaska, and accepted a position at the Cambridge Public Library.  I also noticed that yes challenges did occur: Lost two weekday yoga classes at the Lily Pad which is 1/2 of the business, left Joint Ventures after trying to grow a yoga program that just wasn't going to grow, and saw some friendships dwindle.  Amidst both the loss and the tremendous gain, I found myself peaceful and secure. (Thank you yoga!)

It is known in the yoga world that the word OM is actually A-U-M and is made of three sounds Ah Oh MMMM.  The three parts symbolize the life cycle: Creation, Life, and Death OR is shown by the gods: Brahma: The Creator, Vishnu: The Sustainer, and Shiva: the Destroyer.  We will find ourselves in a Brahma stage when we are at the start of a venture or a Vishnu stage when we are sustaining or maintaining our lives with stability and a Shiva stage when we are leaving a relationship, losing a loved one, or letting go of an old part of ourselves. 

I used my retreat time this year to feel gratitude for Vishnu and honor Brahma the creator of all of the growth in my life since last year. I wished to celebrate that things are stable right now!  Of course I know that life is rocky and won't always be stable, it's nice to sit and enjoy it while it lasts!

Things I Took from This Year's Retreat:
 

• Meditation is key
• How to receive compliments
• Giving each other space to be different is important
• Drop expectations
• Yoga, Meditation, and Good Food/People is Enough
• Being there for others is so important even if just listening or sitting by them
• Doing your best is all you can do!

What are some things you took from your retreat experiences? Are you in a stable place, a state of change, or have you seen much loss in your life?  Who is predominantly reigning? Brahma, Vishnu, or Shiva?  Did you know that Shiva is the god of yoga?  Our job as yogis is to constantly destroy or let go of old parts of ourselves that don't work anymore or old ways of thinking that do not serve us.  Thoughts? 

Namaste,
Natalie

Getting some Northern Exposure in Alaska!

In short, Alaska was a blast!  Getting away from Boston got me reflecting on the rush and competition that East Coasters are known for. I am grateful for this opportunity to check in with myself about how I relate to competition and rushing in my own life.  

Alaska was absolutely breath-taking, even in Anchorage, snow-capped and green mountains stood over everything. The water was emerald green.  Things seemed to move more slowly, and get this: People were FRIENDLY!  That was a hard one to adjust to!

One of the highlights of the trip was being able to attend my boyfriend, Peter's talk at the University.  I had never heard him present his research to an audience.  It was really nice to forget my attachment to this person romantically and appreciate this whole other side of him, in his element. That was our initial reason for visiting Alaska.  

During our 7 day stay in Alaska we enjoyed cozy cabins, hot tubs, king salmon dinners, king crab legs, gorgeous hikes in both glacial and rain forest terrain, rafting near glaciers, wildlife, and a sea cruise. My favorite part of Alaska was that people seem to have a real relationship with nature, wildlife, and the environment.  Almost every conversation with an Alaskan brought up their fishing activities,  challenges with winter, and hikes that they had taken.  

I admit, my yoga practice in Alaska was not an asana-based one; at most I posed in Tree, Dancer, and Crow for the span of 5 minutes.  Instead my practice was observation, receiving beauty, and spending time with important people like Peter and his family during the last leg of our trip.

Now I turn it over to you:  What important journeys have you taken?  What is your relationship to beauty and nature? 

I'll see you on the mat!
Natalie

 

 

Future Thoughts

Well, here is my first post of 2012.  Although there are a lot of reasons why I stopped posting regularly I guess the main thing is, things have not been "regular.'  I went through a lot since last August: started a new relationship, left a home, lost a pet, and now am living in a brand new apartment with it's own challenges as well as trying to stay afloat as a full time yoga teacher.

I get lost just like everyone else and thank god I have my yoga to lead me back to Source and reality.  It can be very easy to fall down a dark hole if you listen to the mind's worries and constant chatter.

Lately, I have been dreaming of living a life in the woods surrounded by nature and immersing myself in healthy nurturing food, daily yoga, and giving my community the same.  I do love Inman Square for it's quirkiness and for the Lily Pad of course,  but I am now having visions of Western Mass. where I went to yoga school which feeds my soul and renews my spirit. I saw this renovated barn on Craigslist and pictured myself teaching beautiful yoga classes inside it's rustic walls while offering retreat space for teachers and their students.  I have never been a "city" person and so at the ripe age of 33 (turning 34 next week) it's starting to reach a zenith

A nice inquiry comes out of all of this.  How can we stay present whilst having high hopes and dreams for a different life?  I mean, it's great to have dreams and goals but how can we practice Santosha (conentment) with the life we have "now?" rather than later while still keeping an eye out for the future? 

In the meantime, I am basking in the joy of holding another wonderful yoga retreat at Sky Meadow Retreat Center on August 17-19th.  There are still 3 spots left so if you'd like to join us, believe me, you won't be disappointed.  Cella, Miles, and the Girls are wonderful hosts and really make everyone feel special and nurtured.

Remembering Pattabhois Jois' inspirational words: "Do your practice and all is coming." I need that reminder tonight. 

In Peace,
Natalie

Support Your Immune System This Season!

 It happens to the best of us. We wake up one morning sometime after Summer has officially ended and sense a scratchiness at the back of our throats. The first cold of the season! The good news is Yoga can help support you through just about anything and it doesn't stop short with these nasty bugs that hit us from time to time.

How Does Yoga Help?
Yoga helps lower stress hormones that compromise your immune system, while also conditioning the lungs and respiratory tract, stimulating the lymphatic system to oust toxins from the body, and bring oxygenated blood to the various organs to ensure their optimal function.

Below is a sequence to help keep your immune system in optimal working condition and a few tips  "off the mat" to support yourself this winter!

Yoga Practice for Colds and Flu
Start your practice with a few rounds of Dirgha Pranayama (Three Part Breath) while sitting in Sukhasana (Easy Pose). 

Begin with 3 rounds of Khapalabhati Breath (Rapid Breath through the nose) 
Moving Bridge Pose
(If you have enough energy do to 3 to 5 rounds of Sun Salutation A
Bhujangasana (Cobra)
Navasana (boat) lying on stomach
Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose)
Downward Facing Dog
Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)
Down Dog
Ustrasana (Camel Pose)
Head Stand (or Yoga Mudra on Head)
Down Dog
Pigeon Pose
Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle)
Wide Angle Seated
Matsyasana (Fish)
Legs up the Wall
Knee down Twist
Savasana

Off the Mat
Zinc Lozenges:  first on your list!  Start taking zinc lozenges within 48 hours of onset of your cold/flu and you just might prevent it from getting worse! Zinc Lozenges can be expensive so purchase the generic brand. You'll be saving money in the long run by getting better quicker.
Drop the Dairy! Unfortunately dairy products block the passage ways and when you have congestion in your nose and chest you want to encourage it to move out!  Choose clear liquids like broths, water, and apple juice.  Drop Yogurt, Ice Cream, Milk, and Cream Sauces.
Get your H2O on:  Drink at least 8 glasses of water per day! Add lemon or cucumber slices if you want to jazz up your water.
Sleep:  This one is obvious but it is so important to actually rest and let the body heal naturally. Don't do yoga if you are struck with the flu, in this case your yoga practice would consist of resting in your bed with tissues and tea nearby.
Drink Tea (Drop the coffee!)  
My go-to awkward but helpful meal:
Chicken Noodle Soup and a Peanut Butter Sandwich: Chicken Noodle Soup is an old favorite. No one knows why it works, but it does. Perhaps the salt is very good for your throat, the steamy broth helps clear nasal passages, and I believe my added Peanut Butter sandwich gives you energy with it's protein component. 
FAVORITE TEAS: 
Green Tea Kombucha by Yogi Tea is great for the immune system and tastes great!
Echinacea Elder by Traditional Medicinals, This one has a nice taste because of the elder berry and Echinacea reportedly helps kill a cold off quick.  This would be a great day time tea.
Cold Care PM by Traditional Medicinals, This one actually tastes decent and helps encourage you to relax and completely clears out your nasal passages.  This is my go-to tea when i'm sick and on my way to bed.  I always have a box of this tea in the cupboard just in case.
Emergen-C Packets: Try the Immune System Booster. 

I hope these tips and yoga sequence help you beat off your colds/flu this season but more importantly, lets take a preventative approach and practice yoga daily and treat ourselves well!

Peace,
Natalie

Post Yoga Retreat Thoughts

I have just returned from leading my third yoga retreat at Sky Meadow in Stannard, VT.  I had a wonderful experience again and as I began wondering what made this retreat so special I came to the same conclusion I always do; it's the people.

I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to spread the joy of yoga in such a serene setting that connects me back to source each time.  I know that no matter where I am in my life, I will certainly get guidance and re-assurance that I am exactly where I need to be.


If you've never been on retreat before it is a truly pure experience.  A chance to explore yourself, learn from others, nurture your body with clean food and yoga, relax your mind with meditation.  Being mindful was my favorite part.  Hearing just the breeze through the trees.  Savoring birds singing.  Savoring nature itself.

I've learned this year that my intention is to savor and be patient.  Quality and simplicity are much more important than doling out a product.  I would love, for example, to focus more on this blog in a way that is more organized and regular but also want to challenge myself to really write about things as a way of finding more peace.

One thing I always revisit with each retreat is the sense that we as humans judge ourselves way too much and for what?  Is it going to make us enjoy life more? Will we be happier comparing ourselves to impossible standards?  Never.

What I am Taking Back from This Year's Yoga Retreat

• Pure Food
• Smiles
• Love
• Openness 
• Drinking tea more than coffee
• The Attention Given to Preparing Food
• Vegetarian Cuisine
• Rice Dream Vanilla Ice Cream and Raspberry Cobbler
• Baking
• Desserts That Have Less Chocolate and Sugar
• Moments of Peace
• Nature
• The sound of the breeze through the trees and nothing else
• Swimming and playing in fresh water ponds
• Enjoying Friends
• Being More Playful
• Being less hard on myself
• Allowing myself rest and social recuperation when needed (I'm a closet introvert!).
• Appreciating Myself
• Dreaming Big
• Meditation
• Learning Conscious Communication
• Attention
• Going Slowly
• Eating Fruits for Snacks
• Conserving 
• Making the goal be to understand others rather than to relate to them or project my own experience.
• Being OFF the internet
• learning to dive

Week 6 and 7: Attachment and Aversion, Impermanence

Well what a week or two it has been!  I've been getting busier as I add on new clasess, mainly the Friday night class in Union Square and the classes I'm teaching for Joint Ventures aka Red Sox class and the class for Third Street Apartments location.
I am going to be taking a break from the blog as a teaching tool but continue to use it as a daily log for musings about yoga, health, inspiration, and poetry.
Last week we touched about Attachment and Aversion, asking ourselves what we hold onto and what we tend to push away.  Of course it is natural for the mind to seek more pleasure and to plan out how to avoid pain.  The teachings in yoga tell us that there is rest.  We do not have to constantly live in these two extreme modes of the mind, and with that comes true freedom.
Impermanence, the idea that nothing lasts forever is also very important in yoga.  When we let go of thinking that everything SHOULD be a certain way: permanent, we are heading towards trouble. The liberating thing about accepting impermanence is that we are no longer controlled by our circumstances.  For instance if we are going through a terrible time we dwell on it because it seems to be neverending but we can remind ourselves that just like happy times not lasting forever, hard times don't last forever either. It can be very comforting to  let go of assumptions that everything will always stay the same.
Where do you struggle with impermanence in your life?  Do you want circumstances to stay the same, different?  How much does this control you and your mind.  How does this thinking keep you stuck?
I'll see you all on the mat!!!
Natalie

Week 4 and 5: Compassion and Control

I'm going to start by saying, I am practicing Compassion for myself because I've been so busy with new yoga ventures that I've been unable to write as much as I'd like to.  I'm allowing life to flow and trying to not "control" so much the way that things happen.
Last week we touched upon Compassion being a nice "opposite" practice of self-judgment.  How do you use Compassion in your life?  Compassion come from the latin "Suffering With."  I think it's easy for me to have compassion for others but when it comes to myself I struggle.  Through my yoga practice I have learned that true compassion starts within.  If we can forgive ourselves, it's easier to offer forgiveness to others. If we judge ourselves, it's so much easier to judge others. Right?
A few words about Control.  This can come up frequently in our practice.  We want to control our bodies to do things it can't do perhaps, or we want others to act the way we want them to.  When things to don't out the way we set out for, we get disappointed or angry.  How are some ways you can let go of control and let the universe provide?

Take a moment to reflect upon Judgment, Control, Compassion.  What roles do these play in your life. Journal about this. Sip tea. Reflect.
Peace,
Natalie

Week 3: Judgment

I have a favorite poem of mine that I love to read in class. I first heard it when I was at my monthlong teacher training at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, MA.  At the time I had been actively judging myself for 30 years and at that moment was having lots of difficulty doing the vinyasa portion of a class that we were required to take. No matter what happened all the yoga teacher trainees were moving through these beautiful wave like motions of high to low push-up, chataranga, upward facing dog and into downward dog.  For me, I still needed to come into a modified low push up and was starting to hate that fact.  The more the teacher pushed us to do double chatarangas and the other teacher trainees were reveling in the challenge, the more I judged myself for not enjoying it and mostly because I couldn't do it! 
After the "toughest" class at teacher training was over, I silently walked very briskly back to my room to get my stuff and go out for a walk amongst the pines and in the mountains.  When I got to my room, I found a beautiful but simple bracelet left on my bed by a fellow student.  I had told her at the beginning of the month that I loved her bracelet.  Here it was now placed on my bed as a token of compassion.  My heart softened a little bit but still not towards myself and I stormed off with the bracelet into the quiet early evening mountain air.  The next thing I saw was one of the students smoking a cigarette by the shrine near a brook.  I was thinking to myself, "She can do that?!"  So I was judging her as well.  
When I returned to the school I decided to shrug the whole thing off for awhile and not think about it.  The next day was Saturday and that was the one day that we could do what we wanted during the day. The only unscheduled day. Most people did laundry and other rote activities since there was no time during the Sunday -Friday schedule.  I walked into the laundry room where the teacher trainees were marveling over the amazingness of the day before and the challenging yoga class. I chimed in right away and said, "is it okay that I hated the class? I mean why was the teacher being so tough about it and making jokes about how we're all going to hate her? Does she teach like this because she teaches in a prison?  Well, this is not a prison" and I went on and on.  Someone answered me with, "While vinyasa is not for everyone." It takes a lot of upper body strength to do the chatarangas etc,"   
I walked out of the laundry room that day with a new realization. 1.) I didn't have to LIKE chatarangas and 2.) If I really wanted to do it, I could just drop the judgment and work on my upper body strength.  This was huge for me.  Not once in my life was I able to separate the situation from being attached to my self-esteem.  My wise self or witness was there with me when I had this realization and from that day forward I worked more on staying in planks, ab work, and applied my strength to my chataranga.  My secret to this day went like this: as soon as I dropped the judgment, hate, and self-blame, I was doing chatarangas as beautifully as only I could do them.  They still didn't look like others, but they were a unique expression of me.  Just the switch in mindset is what I believe to have given me the strength to do the vinyasa sequence that I had always avoided.  I was doing them wonderfully a few days later! 
That's my story of catching myself in judgment, breaking down, and finally skillfully finding the means to support myself and let go of the story. 
Think about your story.  What do you tell yourself about yourself that keeps you stuck or makes you suffer.  How can you drop the judgment and find compassion?

By Swami Kripalu:

My beloved child, break your heart no longer.
Each time you judge yourself, you break your own heart.
You stop feeding on the love, which is the wellspring of your vitality.
The time has come. Your time. To live. To celebrate,
and to see the goodness that you are…
Do not fight the dark. Just turn on the light.
Let go, and breathe into the goodness that you are.

Week 2: Letting Go

 

What Can You Let Go of Right Now?

If anyone told you that "letting go" or "surrender" was an easy part of practicing yoga, chances are they had been practicing for hundreds of years!  Letting Go or letting things "be" is a life long practice and one that we use in our asana practice each day.  The list of what we can let go of can be quite lengthy when you really examine what you hold onto to "hold yourself together."  Yoga beckons us to "let it all fall apart" but how many of us are truly comfortable with letting our egos crumble, letting our judgments and beliefs drop, and truly being open to the way things actually are? What about hope and happiness? How hard is it to let those things go?

As I was thinking about this weeks lesson, I realized that I myself have been in a 3 years period of uncertainty when it comes to career, finance, and home stability.  It has been very scary to follow this path of teaching which I believe to be my Dharma (or life's work) but which is also not a stable enterprise.  My income depends mostly on who is coming to class minus the rent I'm paying.  I constantly seek positions that will provide a set amount of classes and a flat rate pay so at least I know what kind of paycheck I will be receiving in order to pay bills, rent, food, etc,.  What I have learned from this period of simply following my path step by step is that happiness has NOTHING to do with how many people are in class, how much money i'm making (or not making), whether I'll get a new class or not.   Circumstances are as they are and the only thing we can do instead of fighting them, is to simply "let them be."

So, my question to you this week is "what are you holding onto" what keeps you awake at night worrying?  These are the situations we need to pay attention to.  Here are some ways to think about where you can let go.

Physically:
1) Can you let go of the ideal body you think you "should" have and appreciate the one you're in today?

2.) Do you compare yourself to others?  Can you let go of thinking you should be different than you are?

3) Chronic Pain, Injuries etc,?  Can you practice letting go of wishing for a better circumstance? Not having the accident? Not living with this disease? etc,.

Mentally:

1.) Do you accept your intellect/intelligence level as it is?

2.) Do you put yourself down for "thinking too much" in meditation or not being able to "clear your mind."

3.)Can you accept your mind and all of it's distortions that are not based on reality sometimes?

Emotionally:

1.) Our emotions change like New England weather. Do you accept each state as passing or do you hold onto emotions such as "my sadness" or "my anger"?  Can it just be sadness?  Can you practice "sitting WITH anger?"

2.) Do you accept all of your emotions without labeling them as right or wrong?

3.) Can you let go of wanting things to be different, better, bigger, smaller, less painful, more happy etc,? 

As you go through your week I encourage you to be mindful of all the little moments when you can let go.  Furthermore, see if you can practice "Ishvara Pranidhana" :surrendering your problems etc, to a higher power or the universe.

Namaste,

Natalie

Yoga: The Journey to Your Authentic Self

This is the first post for our Eight Week Series at the Lily Pad entitled "Living Your Yoga."  We will be using the the practice of yoga in our daily lives for the next eight weeks but my hope is, that this will be a life long journey for all of you. 

You may ask, what exactly is the Yogic Journey?  The goal of yoga is happiness and transformation but what are we trying to change exactly?  What are we hoping to transform into?  Well, my friends, all that we are doing through our practice is stripping away what is NOT our authentic selves.  Yoga calls this atman.  So the question is, what happened to our authentic selves? This is what our yoga practice helps us to do.  It is essentially the quest for the True Self.  The action is in the practice itself as outlined below

Practicing to Live Better 
I first came to the mat with no expectations as a young teen seeking to try a new exercise. I had some idea of it being a "mystical" thing but no intention on changing anything about myself.  Once I grew older and found myself in college...having gone through several relationships good and bad and many challenges with school and life in general,  i found yoga to be a supportive tool to help me get through tough times.  This was the start of my yoga journey.  Now I know that I need to practice yoga on a daily basis in order to live a conscious life and see myself grow and fully live as ME.  

Life is Practice 
One of the key elements in "Living Your Yoga" is viewing life as practice.  Just like practicing triangle pose, you may need to practice patience....so do you with your "annoying" mother-in-law.  Every single situation that presents itself in daily life is an opportunity to practice.

Finding Authenticity
Your atman or authentic self is waiting to be found.  Through your yoga off and on the mat practices you will be able to uncover who is really there.  This is an important, sometimes scary journey for those of us who have never looked within but awareness is the first step.  Practice watching yourself, your thoughts, as an observer for the next week without trying to judge or change yourself....just notice where your mind goes.

Inquiries

1.) Please take a moment to reflect and share with the group why you started practicing yoga or why you want to practice yoga?

2.) What are some situations you find yourself in where you have been "practicing" your yoga already?
Are there situations that you need to find a new practice in? 

3.)Where do you need help?  What areas are not "balanced" in your life.  What is "draining" you?  Start to keep a journal or simply answer these questions in the blog.  What do you want to work on in your life "off the mat"?

4.) What part of your life is governed by your authentic self?  What part of life is structured around roles, ego, and the false self?
Next weeks Topic: Letting Go
Inquiries: "What Does Letting Go mean to you?

Living Your Yoga with Me

Hi All,
Starting next Thursday we begin our journey of "living our yoga."  I hope you are all as excited as I am.  Of course I am in practice already but it's really fun to delve deeper into it and challenge ourselves to see where we could improve, what we can learn to accept, and how we can be fully present for ourselves and others in an honest, authentic way.  This translates to how we are holding space in our relationships, jobs, parental roles, friendships, and most importantly: our relationship with ourselves.

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm in my early thirties.  There are things that I am grateful for to have at this stage in my life and things that I sometimes feel I'm lacking.  I am human just like everyone else. As yogis, we seek to find our divinity within each real life experience no matter what.  When I say "Divinity" I tend to mean our highest selves.  The parts of us that are seeing clearly in each experience setting aside ego and responding, rather than reacting to our circumstances.  This journey will allow us to open to our whole experience, letting go of labels, extremes, black and white thinking and bring real acceptance to our lives.

As we go through our eight week journey formally meeting Thursdays at 4pm, I invite you to share your thoughts on the blog post for each topic.  For instance one of our practices is "Santosha" or contentment.  Practicing contentment no matter what the circumstances is not an easy task.  Your boss criticizes your work, a relationship doesn't turn out the way you'd hoped, your paycheck isn't quite covering all the bills.  These are all opportunities to again respond with an inquiry of "what gift is possible in each seemingly "bad" experience."  Feel free to share your thoughts on the blog and I look forward to this journey with you.
Peace,
Natalie

What Are You Grateful For?

Gratitude is a powerful thing.  So often we fail to enjoy the abundance already present in this moment and instead focus on what's lacking.  Maybe we obsess over getting a better job, a different relationship, or a better body.  We fail to see the simple pleasures that really brings joy to our lives. 

Simple Pleasures:
1.) Sitting in bed at the end of the day with tea and journal/books
2.) The Purr and presence of my cat, Seymour.
3.) Soaking in the hot tub at Inman Oasis
4.) My dinner tonight: Chicken with Sage and Red Wine Sauce with Melted Havarti and Broccoli!
5.) My Job: Bringing Yoga, Rest, Relaxation, and Happiness to multitudes of people.
6.) My very gentle Yoga practice (since my fall off my bike and not so happy left leg).
7.) The ability to create, invent, and change my mind.
8.) My beautiful apartment
9.) Autumn Smells and Sights
10.) My London Fog at 1369  (Early Grey with Vanilla and Steamed Milk)...a great alternative to Coffee!
11.) ODD Eleven:  Feeling loved:-)

Working with Accidents/Injury

Desire sometimes causes accidents, and it sure did yesterday when I was craving my usual pumpkin spiced latte at Starbucks.   I decided to bike down Prospect St. in Cambridge, a street that is always torn apart and being worked on continuously.  In an attempt to save my life, I made my way over to the sidewalk but mid-way realized cops were everywhere and didn't want to 'break the law' so I tried to go back in the street.  BAD MOVE! I found my tire going sideways somewhere between the curb and the road and my body fell right over.  I used my yoga throughout the whole ordeal. Noticing my tendency to tell the stranger who offered help that, "no I'm fine, as I held back tears and excruciating pain in my leg.) Then I actually got on my bike and tried to power through telling myself I'll be fine if I just make it to starbucks going really slow.  Not so!  Just like holding a yoga pose can become torture if you are not ready to take it or go to the next level, you rest in child's pose.  So, I told myself to get off the bike and walk the bike which was a much gentler option (the child's pose option). I could hardly walk was the problem!  It has been challenging for an active person like myself to have this injury, not be able to walk anywhere, do yoga or teach!  It is challenging to know that I can't bend my left leg at all or else I get pain.   I am taking care of myself in the best way I know how.  Instead of worrying about not practicing my yoga, I took joy in doing a 20 minute yoga class on back and neck poses.  Just as satisfying as a vigorous practice because guess what?  It's what my body needs.  This injury has taught me that simply doing what you "can" and honoring those painful spots and not pushing is the most intelligent way you can work with yourself.
Sorry, I wasn't able to teach at Shanti today.  I will be back tomorrow and on but not DOING any poses, merely teaching from a seated position (and that too, will be perfect practice!).
Peace,
Natalie

Suffering is an Option

Feeling inspired sitting here with my favorite Yogi tea: Mayan Cocoa Spice w/organic whole milk.  Mainly, getting excited about leading my second yoga retreat up in a 150 year old homestead and barn in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.   Thinking about how much fun we are going to have practicing yoga with the backdrop of the mountain skyline and the pink setting sun at night.
I am thinking of doing a "letting go" bonfire and literally burning up the things that keep us stuck in our lives like self-judgment, perfection,...stuff like that.  I can already think of a few I could let go of!
I guess this came up because I have been thinking a lot about "how" we make ourselves suffer.  So many times I watch myself or others struggling in poses, especially the ones that aren't always easy to hold because they involve balancing.  We TRY so hard to balance that we forget that the point isn't to stay still like a statue, but to find a comfortable place inside the framework of a pose to open and breathe and eventually: Surrender.  So we inspect inside and say to ourselves, "Where can I ease up a bit in this pose?"  how can I make this "easy?"  That's the inquiry.  Notice how many times during your week you make life harder just by creating a framework or a judgment that says, "this is TOO difficult."  Do you give up or try to power through?  We've got to stop striving and EASE into the middle point by conversing with ourselves gently and listening to our body's wisdom that usually has our best interest in mind (unlike the Ego).

Just some things to think about on this chilly Autumn evening and before you start your work week.

Namaste!
Natalie

The Yoga of Poetry -Rilke

Here is another poem I happened upon as I was preparing for next week's Yoga classes.  I love the last two sentences:  "perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless
that wants help from us."

Fear of the Inexplicable
 
But fear of the inexplicable has not alone impoverished
the existence of the individual; the relationship between
one human being and another has also been cramped by it,
as though it had been lifted out of the riverbed of
endless possibilities and set down in a fallow spot on the
bank, to which nothing happens. For it is not inertia alone
that is responsible for human relationships repeating
themselves from case to case, indescribably monotonous and
unrenewed: it is shyness before any sort of new,unforeseeable
experience with which one does not think oneself able to cope.

But only someone who is ready for everything, who excludes
nothing, not even the most enigmatical, will live the relation
to another as something alive and will himself draw exhaustively
from his own existence. For if we think of this existence of
the individual as a larger or smaller room, it appears evident
that most people learn to know only a corner of their room, a
place by the window, a strip of floor on which they walk up and
down. Thus they have a certain security. And yet that dangerous
insecurity is so much more human which drives the prisoners in
Poe's stories to feel out the shapes of their horrible dungeons
and not be strangers to the unspeakable terror of their abode.

We, however, are not prisoners. No traps or snares are set about
us, and there is nothing which should intimidate or worry us.
We are set down in life as in the element to which we best
correspond, and over and above this we have through thousands of
years of accommodation become so like this life, that when we
hold still we are, through a happy mimicry,scarcely to be
distinguished from all that surrounds us. We have no reason to
mistrust our world, for it is not against us. Has it terrors,
they are our terrors; has it abysses, those abuses belong to us;
are dangers at hand, we must try to love them. And if only we
arrange our life according to that principle which counsels us
that we must always hold to the difficult, then that which now
still seems to us the most alien will become what we most trust
and find most faithful. How should we be able to forget those
ancient myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into
princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses
who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps
everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless
that wants help from us.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Love After Love

This was one of the first poems I heard in Savasana when I was taking David Vendetti's class back at Back Bay Yoga before I became a yoga teacher.  It really spoke to me then (2003) and again when I picked up the book "The Time Traveller's Wife" a couple of years later.  It graced the first page of the book and I remember again it's simple but potent message of coming back to ourselves.   That's when I started to read it to my classes.  I heard it again in a speech give by Jon Kabat-Zinn to Google employees a year or two ago.  Tonight it resurfaced in my brain and I thought...better share it with all of you.  You just might need to hear it.

LOVE AFTER LOVE  by Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Class Musings

Happy Happy First Days of Fall!
This week in class I've been very excited to share new poses, sequences, and mudras (hand gestures) as we transition into the fall season.  Happy New Year to all my Jewish friends and of course to all the rest of you.  September really is a time of new beginnings.  It just dawned on me that I've been teaching a new mudra this week called, "Ganesh Mudra" and  Ganesh is the Hindu God who symbolizes new beginnings. He is also the remover of all obstacles.  I have been guiding students into this Mudra after our centering and meditation at the start of class.

 GANESH MUDRA

This mudra helps us meet others with COURAGE, OPENNESS, and CONFIDENCE.  For instructions on how to come into this mudra please reference: Mudras, Yoga in Your Hands by Gertrd Hirschi. It's a little gem of a book I know you'll enjoy.

How do we achieve YOGA?
I also introduced the first 4 Verses of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.  I wanted to remind all of you what is really happening when you step onto your yoga mat.  The first verse states that "Yoga is Deliberately Stilling the Thought Waves of the Mind" and that in order to do so we must (Verse 2) "Practice"...and that Practice is "the steadfast effort to still these fluctuations.  Well, we ask, how must we practice our poses then?  What about effort?  Verse 3 states that "the Posture should be steady and comfortable."  Oh really?  You mean I don't have to painfully twist myself into a pretzel for the pose to be performed with "right effort?"  No, not at all!  According to verse 4: "Perfection in an asana (pose) is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless and the infinite being within is reached.

So it sounds like when we still the mind, time and space become irrelevant and we can then achieve this infinite "being" by relinquishing over efforting and surrendering into effortlessness.  BUT, remember, it all comes down to what?  PRACTICE.  Practice doesn't mean you seek perfection but rather that you show up on your mat day after day no matter how you feel.

The poem I've been reading in class this week is from Swami Vivekenanda about finding ourselves, not in "temples or churches" not in "earths or heavens" but finding ourselves as the "nearest of the near."  (Poem from "Yoga and the Quest for the True Self")

For the rest of your week, perhaps you can think about this posting.  Ganesh: remover of obstacles...what obstacles are you currently facing?  See if you can bring the power of Ganesh into your life this week and ask that something greater than yourself take care of these hardships.

Effort: Where in your life can you release this?  Find the balance between effort and ease.  Chances are if you are over efforting, you are making your own life difficult.  Remember: Suffering is an option.  You do not have control over what happens to you but you do have a choice on how you respond.

As always, I'll see you on the mat!  But,  remember! the work you do off the mat is where your real practice shines through.

Love and Light,
Natalie